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Acute kidney injury (AKI) is associated with a high mortality rate. Pathologically, renal ischemia/reperfusion injury (RIRI) is one of the primary causes of AKI, and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α may play a defensive role in RIRI. This study assessed the role of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α)-mediated mitophagy in protection against RIRI in vitro and in vivo. The human tubular cell line HK-2 was used to assess hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R)-induced mitophagy through different in vitro assays, including western blotting, immunofluorescence staining, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL), and reactive oxygen species (ROS) measurement. Additionally, a rat RIRI model was established for evaluation by renal histopathology, renal Doppler ultrasound, and transmission electron microscopy to confirm the in vitro data. The selective HIF-1α inhibitor LW6 reduced H/R-induced mitophagy but increased H/R-induced apoptosis and ROS production. Moreover, H/R treatment enhanced expression of the FUN14 domain-containing 1 (FUNDC1) protein. Additionally, FUNDC1 overexpression reversed the effects of LW6 on the altered expression of light chain 3 (LC3) BII and voltage-dependent anion channels as well as blocked the effects of HIF-1α inhibition in cells. Pretreatment of the rat RIRI model with roxadustat, a novel oral HIF-1α inhibitor, led to decreased renal injury and apoptosis in vivo. In conclusion, the HIF-1α/FUNDC1 signaling pathway mediates H/R-promoted renal tubular cell mitophagy, whereas inhibition of this signaling pathway protects cells from mitophagy, thus aggravating apoptosis, and ROS production. Accordingly, roxadustat may protect against RIRI-related AKI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a model organism that has helped revolutionize life sciences, Caenorhabditis elegans has been increasingly used in nutrition research. Here we explore the tradeoffs between pros and cons of its use as a dietary model based primarily on literature review from the past decade. We first provide an overview of its experimental strengths as an animal model, focusing on lifespan and healthspan, behavioral and physiological phenotypes, and conservation of key nutritional pathways. We then summarize recent advances of its use in nutritional studies, e.g. food preference and feeding behavior, sugar status and metabolic reprogramming, lifetime and transgenerational nutrition tracking, and diet–microbiota–host interactions, highlighting cutting-edge technologies originated from or developed in C. elegans. We further review current challenges of using C. elegans as a nutritional model, followed by in-depth discussions on potential solutions. In particular, growth scales and throughputs, food uptake mode, and axenic culture of C. elegans are appraised in the context of food research. We also provide perspectives for future development of chemically defined nematode food ("NemaFood") for C. elegans, which is now widely accepted as a versatile and affordable in vivo model and has begun to show transformative potential to pioneer nutrition science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A debris jam causes extra load and associated scour on a bridge pier, and this significantly affects the safety of the bridge. Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the flow field around half-cone shaped debris jams of equal size, following the geometry in previous field studies, but with different surface roughness. The debris jams were assembled using dowels or by 3D printing. The results indicate three zones were observed behind the debris jam: the wake dead zone, high shear transition zone, and accelerated high-speed zone. A debris jam enlarges the dead zone while Reynolds shear stress was greatest in the transition zone for all debris jam cases. Additionally, the drag coefficient of debris jams built by dowels was greater compared with the 3D-printed debris jam, attributed to the debris jam roughness. In summary, debris jams form the wake dead zone behind the pier, increase downward flow in front of the pier, and enhance flow acceleration around the pier, highlighting the potential hazards to bridge safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new scheduling problem for patient visits with two objectives: minimizing patient waiting time and travel time. It also presents a novel encoding method for Genetic Algorithms (GA) that is well-suited for this problem. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed encoding method reduces optimization iterations by 17% compared to conventional methods, and the GA can decrease waiting time by up to 58.2% and travel time by up to 89.3% for specific examples. The novel scheduling problem and the encoding method are two main contributions of this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advent of mobile applications in health service systems, concerns such as security, privacy, usability, and resilience have been raised. We developed a system view of the concepts of security, privacy, resilience along with their relationship, and proposed a set of principles for designing a mobile application linking the resilience and security in privacy protection. Such study was not found in literature before. This system's view of privacy, security, and resilience has laid a foundation to develop a more effective service system. A case study is presented to illustrate how the proposed principles work in a mobile healthcare application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the problem of autonomous collision avoidance of unmanned vessels in the case of multiple vessels encountering at sea, this paper proposes a method for collision avoidance of vessels in open water based on the Mathematical Model Group (MMG) vessel motion mathematical model. This method uses Model Predictive Control (MPC) model algorithm, and considers vessel maneuverability and the International Regulations for Preventing Collision at Sea, 1972 (COLREGs), and uses fuzzy mathematics to analyze the collision risk of vessels during navigation, and then constructs the evaluation function of the collision avoidance algorithm. The vessel's autonomous collision avoidance is realized. The simulation results show that the algorithm can solve the problem of autonomous vessel collision avoidance in the case of multi-vessel encounters in open water, which verifies the effectiveness of the algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This note deals with the leader-following formation problem for multiple underactuated ships in the presence of structure uncertainties and the time-varying parameterized disturbances. Following this ideology, a novel robust fuzzy dynamic surface formation control algorithm is proposed by fusing of the dynamic surface control (DSC), minimal learning parameter (MLP) and low frequency gain-learning (LFG). In the control algorithm, the intermediate virtual control laws do not appear in the finally actual control effort, and only two fuzzy type approximators are introduced to compensate the model uncertainties and the external disturbances, which can effectively overcome the constraints of 'explosion of complexity' and 'curse of dimensionality' in the traditional approximation-based algorithm. Unlike the current DSC technique, no filter errors are required to be stabilized in the Lyapunov function by virtue of the filter compensation signal, which could optimize the calculation of stabilization analysis. Furthermore, benefiting from the LFG technique, the robustness and applicability of the proposed control algorithm can be improved. Based on the Lyapunov theory analysis, all signals of the closed-loop control system can be guaranteed to be semi-global uniformly ultimately bounded (SGUUB). Finally, the simulated experiment is provided to verify the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meteorology satellite visible-light images are critical for meteorologists. However, there are no satellite visible-light channels data at night, so we propose a method based on deep learning to create synthetic satellite visible-light images during night. Specifically, to produce realistic-looking products, we trained a generative adversarial network (GAN) model. The model can generate satellite visible-light images from corresponding satellite infrared (IR) channels data and numerical weather prediction (NWP) products. Considering to explicitly evaluating the contributions of different satellite IR channels and NWP products elements, we suggest using a channel-wise attention mechanic, e.g. a 'Squeeze and Extraction Block' (SEBlock) to quantitatively weigh the importance of different input data channels. The experiments based on the NWP products and the meteorology satellite data show that the proposed method is effective to create realistic synthetic satellite visible-light images during night. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) may undergo cognitive impairment. We aimed to explore the cognition of patients with cognitive impairment (CI) and no cognitive impairment (NCI) respectively and the effect of demographics, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), number of comorbidities (NCD), and hemoglobin on CI in Chinese patients with CKD at stage 3–5 treated by nondialysis by using the Beijing version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-BJ). A total of 120 patients with CKD were recruited from the Department of Nephrology at the Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine at in-patient and out-patient follow up. A logistic regression model was performed to assess the effect of these variables on CI of CKD patients. The results indicated that the CI group was mainly in the decline of visuospatial and executive function, abstraction, and memory, compared with the NCI group. In addition, years of education, eGFR and NCD were found as predictors of CI of CKD patients at stage 3–5. Specifically, lower eGFR, less years of education and more comorbidities were risk predictors of CI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The celebrated Black–Scholes model is well known for its elegant pricing formula for European options. However, like many other models, the Black–Scholes model is not perfect, which is largely due to the fact that assumptions in the model are idealized and not all empirically valid. One of the assumptions is that the market does not have transaction costs, which is not satisfied in a real market. Leland [H. Leland, Option pricing and replication with transactions costs, J. Financ. 40 (1985), pp. 1283–1301] pioneers a modified replicating strategy for European options by incorporating transaction costs. In this paper, we further consider the problem of pricing European options under a stochastic interest rate and stochastic volatility model with transaction costs, and derive a nonlinear partial differential equation (PDE) from this model. Then, we apply the finite-difference scheme to solve this PDE and conduct numerical experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spent cathode carbon (SCC) blocks of aluminum electrolytic cell were hazardous waste produced in the production of electrolytic aluminum. In this present work, a facile, rapid, and economical strategy was proposed to remove fluoride and other toxic substances in the SCC block by the flash joule heating method. SCC after flash joule heating (F-SCC) were prepared in different flash voltages and number of passes; the chemical composition, microscopic morphology and carbon configuration of the SCC and F-SCC were described in detail. The results show that the purification efficiency depends upon the flash voltages and pass number. In terms of flash voltage, 150 V (5.62 kJ/g) is the optimal voltage to maintain the micro-expansion characteristics of the cathode carbon. Multiple flash joule heating can not only maintain its high-graphitization carbon, but also improve its micro-expansion characteristics. In addition, the electrochemical performance of F-SCC was characterized, and F-SCC displayed excellence capacitance performance. The low-cost, rapid -regeneration method based on the flash joule heating provides an effective method for the clean recycling and high-value utilization of carbonized solid waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let D p 1 , p 2 , ... , p n = { z ∈ C n : ∑ j = 1 n | z j | p j < 1 } , p j > 1 , j = 1 , 2 , ... , n. We mainly establish the sharp estimates of main coefficients of all homogeneous expansions for starlike mappings and starlike mappings of order α on D p 1 , p 2 , ... , p n under some weak restricted conditions. Our derived results are the generalization of the corresponding classical results in one complex variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most small manufacturing enterprise (SME), production planning and scheduling are crucial operational management tasks required. A typical make-to-order company is plagued by frequent absenteeism and abrupt resignation of skilled workers, leading to an increase in late delivery of jobs and rework of returned jobs. The effects of some human factors, for example, job skill, job satisfaction, and job fatigue to mention a few were studied using statistical analysis. It was concluded that human factors may have significant effects on job performance in a SME. To our best knowledge, this conclusion is less known in enterprise systems in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indosasa hispida 'Rainbow' is a new horticultural plant variety for anthocyanin production, which has great ornamental value and huge market potential. The chloroplast genome is 139,690 bp in length, containing a large single-copy region (LSC) of 83,268 bp, a small single-copy region (SSC) of 12,830 bp, and a pair of 21,796 bp inverted repeats region (IR). The GC content of chloroplast genome is 38.9%. There are 130 genes in the cp genome, including 83 protein-coding genes, 8 ribosomal RNA genes, and 39 transfer RNA genes. In addition, phylogenetic analysis firmly supported that I. hispida 'Rainbow' constituted that a sister species with Pleioblastus maculatus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine the ablation zone, muscle contractions, and temperature increases in both rabbit liver and kidney models in vivo for a custom-made high-frequency irreversible electroporation (H-FIRE) generator. A total of 18 New Zealand white rabbits were used to investigate five H-FIRE protocols (n = 3 for each protocol) and an IRE protocol (n = 3) for the performance of the designed H-FIRE device in both liver and kidney tissues. The ablation zone was determined by using histological analysis 72 h after treatment. The extent of muscle contractions and temperature change during the application of pulse energy were measured by a commercial accelerometer attached to animals and fiber optic temperature probe inserted into organs with IRE electrodes, respectively. All H-FIRE protocols were able to generate visible ablation zones without muscle contractions, for both liver and kidney tissues. The area of ablation zone generated in H-FIRE pulse protocols (e.g., 0.3–1 μs, 2000 V, and 90–195 bursts) appears similar to that of IRE protocol (100 μs, 1000 V, and 90 pulses) in both liver and kidney tissues. No significant temperature increase was noticed except for the protocol with the highest pulse energy (e.g., 1 μs, 2000 V, and 180 bursts). Our work serves to complement the current H-FIRE pulse waveforms, which can be optimized to significantly improve the quality of ablation zone in terms of precision for liver and kidney tumors in clinical setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In present study, we constructed the direct protein-protein interaction network of insecticide resistance based on subcellular localization analysis. Totally 177 of 528 resistance proteins were identified and they were located in 11 subcellular localizations. We further analyzed topological properties of the network and the biological characteristics of resistance proteins, such as k-core, neighborhood connectivity, instability index and aliphatic index. They can be used to predict the key proteins and potential mechanisms from macro-perspective. The problem of resistance has not been solved fundamentally, because the development of new insecticides can't keep pace with the development speed of resistance, and the lack of understanding of molecular mechanism of resistance. As the further analysis to reduce data noise, we constructed the direct protein-protein interaction network of insecticide resistance based on subcellular localization analysis. The interaction between proteins located at the same subcellular location belongs to direct interactions, thus eliminating indirect interaction. Totally 177 of 528 resistance proteins were identified and they were located in 11 subcellular localizations. We further analyzed topological properties of the network and the biological characteristics of resistance proteins, such as k-core, neighborhood connectivity, instability index and aliphatic index. They can be used to predict the hub proteins and potential mechanisms from macro-perspective. This is the first study to explore the insecticide resistance molecular mechanism of Drosophila melanogaster based on subcellular localization analysis. It can provide the bioinformatics foundation for further understanding the mechanisms of insecticide resistance. It also provides a reference for the study of molecular mechanism of insecticide resistance of other insects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantity–intensity curves were used to evaluate the dynamics of soil potassium (K) at different soil depths under different K management. The equilibrium concentration ratio of K (CR0) increased with increasing K concentration. K fertilization and straw return increased soil K supplying capacity by increasing CR0, non-specific available K (-∆K0) and equilibrium K (CK0). The CR0 increase 107%, 392% and 577% at the 0–20 cm layer and 55%, 102% and 131% at the 20–40 cm layer, respectively, under K fertilization, straw return and the interaction of them. The CK0 and -∆K0 at the 0–20 cm layer significantly increased after K fertilization and straw return. The labile K varied from 0.11 to 0.19 cmol kg−1, contributed 85.3% to 107.6% of NH4OAc extracted K. Soil K potential buffering capacity showed significant differences in soil depths, while little difference was observed under different K management. Th e exchangeable K was meaningless for guiding K application when minimum exchangeable K took up 85.9% to 99.0% of equilibrium exchangeable K. Our results showed K fertilization and straw return was the optimal management to enhance soil K supplying capacity, especially at the 0–20 cm layer. N: nitrogen; P: phosphorus; K: potassium; RS: straw; Q/I: quantity/intensity; CR0: equilibrium concentration ratio of K; KL: labile K; non-specifically available K: -∆K0; PBCK: potential buffering capacity; EK0: equilibrium exchangeable K; CK0: equilibrium solution K; α: magnitude of conversion of added K to exchangeable pool; β: conversion of added K to non-exchangeable K pool; Emin: minimum exchangeable K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) may undergo cognitive impairment. We aimed to explore the cognition of patients with cognitive impairment (CI) and no cognitive impairment (NCI) respectively and the effect of demographics, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), number of comorbidities (NCD), and hemoglobin on CI in Chinese patients with CKD at stage 3-5 treated by nondialysis by using the Beijing version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-BJ). A total of 120 patients with CKD were recruited from the Department of Nephrology at the Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine at in-patient and out-patient follow up. A logistic regression model was performed to assess the effect of these variables on CI of CKD patients. The results indicated that the CI group was mainly in the decline of visuospatial and executive function, abstraction, and memory, compared with the NCI group. In addition, years of education, eGFR and NCD were found as predictors of CI of CKD patients at stage 3-5. Specifically, lower eGFR, less years of education and more comorbidities were risk predictors of CI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a new approach which is a three-stage pipeline to fast and accurate segment hand from a single depth image. Firstly, a depth frame is segmented into several regions by histogram-based thresholds selection algorithm and tracing the exterior boundaries of objects. We found that MINIMUM, MEAN and MEDIAN are effective ways to separate objects and the threshold in the valley between two maxima similar to MINIMUM algorithm with a minimum error. Then, each segmentation proposal is evaluated by a 3-layers shallow convolutional neural network (CNN) which is trained as a binary classification function to predict whether it is a partition of hand. Finally, all hand components are merged as our hand segmentation result. In our experiment, we use a set of real data containing more than 200,000 frames of depth images. Compared with the results achieved by approaches based on RDF and SegNet, results demonstrate that our approach achieves better performance in high-accuracy (88.34% mean IoU) within shorter processing time ( ≤ 8 ms). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic surfaced-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (D-SERS) has been widely applied in chemical analysis due to its simple operation and high sensitivity. A new method was developed for the quantitative determination of auramine O in bean curd sheets using D-SERS. Through the optimization of measurement time interval and determination and stability and other SERS conditions, effective and stable SERS measurements of auramine O were performed during the sample solution evaporation process. Dispersive solid phase extraction was applied to remove as many impurities as possible. Following the evaluation of the spectra, the peak at 1114 cm−1 in the SERS spectrum was selected to quantify the auramine O present in the bean curd sheets. A matrix standard curve-external standard method was used to conduct the statistical analysis. The results showed that there was good linearity between the chromatographic SERS peak and the concentration of auramine O across the range from 0.5 to 10 mg/L. The correlation coefficient (R2) was greater than 0.99. At spiked levels of 0.5, 1.0, and 5.0 mg/kg, the average recoveries of auramine O in the bean curd sheets were from 92.3% to 96% and the relative standard deviations were from 4.6% to 8.3%. The lowest spiked concentration was determined to be the limit of quantitation. As a consequence, this study provides a new stable, effective, rapid approach for the quantitative determination of auramine O in bean curd sheets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cyclonic–static microbubble flotation column (FCSMC) has been proven to be a promising technique for recovering fine-grained minerals. However, low recovery of coarse coal particles by the FCSMC has been reported due to utilization of a single mineralization step. In the present study, a novel modified flotation unit has been added to the conventional FCSMC to improve the recovery of coarse coal particles. The design aspects and operating procedures of the proposed modified cyclonic microbubble flotation column (MCMFC) were studied and the results were compared with the conventional FCSMC. Some data on the applications of MCMFC in industrial floatation processes have also been discussed. The results showed that MCMFC provided higher recovery of coarse coal particles compared to those by FCSMC. Specifically, for −500 + 250 μm coarse particles, the yield by MCMFC was 22.29% higher than that by FCSMC. Both concentrate yield and concentrate ash were found to be significantly affected by the inclusion of the modified flotation unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The necessity of understanding the potential limitations of fume hood applications is widely neglected because the user tends to consider that the fume hood itself has been certified prior to installation. However, a wide variety of conditions in real laboratory environments may create serious negative impacts on the performance of fume hood containment, consequently increasing the personnel exposure to hazardous materials. The work reported in this article aimed to understand these negative impacts through a comprehensive numerical simulation together with a field experiment. The simulation provided the information of the airflow pattern and contaminant distribution inside the fume hood. The accuracy of the model was verified by an on-site experiment with an electron capture detector and off-site gas chromatography analysis. It is noteworthy that the tracer gas emission character yields a much stronger correlation with the containment failure of a fume hood, compared with the thermal challenge. Better understanding of the effect of those influential factors can contribute to some reference value in engineering control of hazardous material exposure in the laboratory environment. The methodology taken in this study can be referred to by occupational health officers and ventilation engineers to investigate other causes of low hood containment performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We, the Editor, Publisher, and Authors of Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine and Biotechnology, have retracted the following article: Qian Li, Xia He, Qiao Yu, Yuan Wu, Mingyu Du, Jing Chen, Fanyu Peng, Wenjun Zhang, Jie Chen, Yan Wang, Hanbo Chen, Hairong Wang, Dan He & Qiang Wang. (2019). The Notch signal mediates macrophage polarization by regulating miR-125a/miR-99b expression. Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology. 47:1, 833-843, DOI: We are now cognizant that substantially similar images from this article were first published in Cancer Research. When asked, the Authors were cooperative and confirmed that the wrong images had been submitted. Further internal investigation of this article also revealed issues with the rigor of the editorial process, and therefore we have collectively agreed to retract the article. We have been informed in our decision-making by the guidance of COPE guidelines on retractions The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as "Retracted". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, settling tests were conducted to investigate the sedimentation and self-weight consolidation behavior of seafloor sediments from Isahaya Bay, Ariake Sea, Japan. During the tests, the density variations with depth and time were measured by a gamma-ray transmission radioisotope densitometer. The test results show that the settling process of the seafloor sediments can be classified into the flocculation stage, settling stage, and consolidation stage. The settling rate of the seafloor sediments in the settling stage is dependent on the temperature and initial water content, while the settling rate in the consolidation stage is independent of the temperature and initial water content. The density profile changes from a constant density profile to a linear density profile when the sedimentation process transitions to the self-weight consolidation process. The relations between the void ratio (e) and effective vertical stress (p') at very low pressures can be calculated from the measured density values, and this can be used for the analysis of the self-weight consolidation of seafloor sediments. For the seafloor sediments tested in this study, the undrained shear strength (su) values are almost the same when the density values are less than 1.14 g/cm3, and the su values increase linearly with an increase in density when the density values are in the range of 1.14–1.2 g/cm3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is technically demanding and requires rich experience to insert the translaminar facet screw(TFS) via the paramedian mini-incision approach. It seems that it is easy to place the TFS using computer-assisted design and rapid prototyping(RP) techniques. However, the accuracy and safety of these techniques is still unknown. The aim of this study is to assess the accuracy and safety of translaminar facet screw placement in multilevel unilateral transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion using a rapid prototyping drill guide template system. A patient-matched rapid prototyping translaminar facet screw guide was examined in fourteen cadaveric lumbar spine specimens. A three-dimensional (3D) preoperative screw trajectory was constructed using spinal computed tomography scans, from which individualized guides were developed for the placement of translaminar facet screws. Following bone tunnel establishment, the 3D positioning of the entry point and trajectory of the screws was compared to the preoperative plan as found in the Mimics software.Among 60 trajectories eligible for assessment, no cases of clinically significant laminar perforation were found. The mean deviation between the planned and the actual starting points on spinous process was 1.22 mm. The mean tail and submergence angle deviation was found to be 0.68°and 1.46°, respectively. Among all the deviations, none were found to have any statistical significance. These results indicate that translaminar facet screw placement using the guide system is both accurate and safe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cycle time forecasting (CTF) is one of the most crucial issues for production planning to keep high delivery reliability in semiconductor wafer fabrication systems (SWFS). This paper proposes a novel data-intensive cycle time (CT) prediction system with parallel computing to rapidly forecast the CT of wafer lots with large datasets. First, a density peak based radial basis function network (DP-RBFN) is designed to forecast the CT with the diverse and agglomerative CT data. Second, the network learning method based on a clustering technique is proposed to determine the density peak. Third, a parallel computing approach for network training is proposed in order to speed up the training process with large scaled CT data. Finally, an experiment with respect to SWFS is presented, which demonstrates that the proposed CTF system can not only speed up the training process of the model but also outperform the radial basis function network, the back-propagation-network and multivariate regression methodology based CTF methods in terms of the mean absolute deviation and standard deviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to understand the influence of liquid CO2 on ultrafine coal surface properties, the experiments of coal surface modification by liquid CO2 were performed in a column agitator. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, and microcalorimeter were used to analyze the variation of surface functional groups and wetting heat. The results show that liquid CO2 could change the percentage of hydrophilic and hydrophobic functional groups. The mineral particles with liquid CO2 penetrate into the pore of ultrafine coal, covering the inner surface and result in the increase of wetting heat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

pH-responsive Pickering emulsions were prepared, taking the hydrophobic modified calcium alginate nanoparticles (MCA) of pH sensitivity as emulsifiers. The MCAs were obtained via gelation between Ca2+ in emulsion and alginate sodium that reacted with diacetone acrylamide since alginate sodium was too hydrophilic to be used as a stabilizer. The effect of MCA characteristics, Ca2+ content, and pH on the preparation and property of emulsion was evaluated. Then, the released behaviors of MCA-stabilized emulsion loading oil-soluble drug of curcumin were investigated in vitro. The results demonstrated that Pickering emulsions released curcumin intestine-specifically (37% in 4 hours with a pH of 6.8), compared with the one in the gastric fluid (3% in 4 hours with a pH of 1.5), proving that MCA had similar pH sensitivity to alginates and probably as the promising candidate in oral drug controllable release. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to explore the enhancing effects and the mechanism of monocyclic monoterpene penetration enhancers (menthol and menthone) on the transdermal absorption of ligustrazine hydrochloride (LH). Franz-type diffusion cells were used to determine percutaneous parameters of LHin vitroand surface changes of porcine skin were studied by a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The effects of promoters on the biophysical natures of stratum corneum (SC) were researched by Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR). Penetration parameters of menthol (p < 0.01) and menthone groups (p < 0.05) were greater than those of the control; morphological changes of skin monitored by SEM demonstrated that the menthone group had the most disruption and desquamation of SC flakes, which resulted from extracted lipids. FT-IR measurements showed menthone had the greatest changes in peak shift and peak area, which resulted from C–H stretching vibrations of SC lipids. The results suggest that the penetration mechanism might include disturbing and extracting SC lipids and the hydrogen bond connection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim:The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of achieving relatively large coagulation zones (i.e. ≥3 cm in diameter) with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) by using a broad control system. Materials and methods:A broad control system consists of information such as (i) the area of the tumour tissue for feedback control, (ii) the set-point temperature and (iii) the control law. The proposed approach has advanced knowledge in (i) and (ii) in particular. RFA is known to be limited by tissue dehydration that occurs around the electrode, which results in impedance such that no further energy can be delivered to the tissues. We proposed the notion of “energy gate”, an area on the electrode, which is not covered by the dehydrated tissue and through which energy can still be delivered to the surrounding tissues. Given a specific size of energy gate, both (i) the area of the tissue in which the temperature is monitored and (ii) the set-point temperature were determined. A reliable finite element model or simulator for a commercially available electrode was used and the tissue surrounding the RFA electrode was divided into three areas for a comprehensive study of the issues (i) and (ii). Porcine liver tissue (30 specimens in total) and a custom-made RFA device with a RF power generator (100 W and 460 ± 30 kHz) and a Covidien cool-tip electrode (17 gauge and 30 mm exposure) were used to validate the findings regarding the area of the tissue for feedback control and the set-point temperature. Results:The size of coagulation zone achieved was maximised when the area of tissue surrounding the middle part of the active tip (i.e. Point 7) was used for feedback control and when the set-point temperature was set to 90^C (this temperature is determined based on the energy gate through a trial-and-error procedure). At both 80 and 90^C, the coagulation zones generated using Area II were significantly larger than that generated using Area I (p= 0.0028 and 0.0003, respectively) and Area III (P= 0.0010 and < 0.0001, respectively). A similar finding regarding the control area and set-point temperature was confirmed by thein-vitroexperiment. When compared with Pointa(p< 0.0001) and Pointc(p< 0.0001), the largest coagulation zone (1066.7 ± 36.1 mm2) was achieved by controlling the temperature of the tissue area surrounding the middle part of the active tip (i.e. Pointb) at 90 ^C. Conclusion:The judicious selection of the control area within the biological tissue for temperature monitoring and the set-point temperature for feedback control is critical in increasing the size of the coagulation zone in the treatment of RFA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UsingN-methyl-N-(1-phenyl)ethylcarbamoyl(trimethyl)silane as an amide source, the direct transformation of benzylic chlorides into the corresponding aryl acetamides through palladium-catalyzed aminocarbonylation is described. The electronic property and the relative position of substituents on the aromatic ring impact the coupling efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Introduction: Hypertension has shown to be an important risk factor for the decline in cognitive function. Aim of our study is to investigate the presence of cognitive impairment of the elders with hypertension and other confounding factors. Methods: This study was conducted on 400 veterans who were matched one-to-one with the confounding factors for assessing the presence of mild cognitive impairment using both MMSE and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The 13 related factors of patient data were studied. Results: The prevalence rate of cognitive impairment was 29.25%. Age (OR 2.679, 95%CI 1.663–6.875), sleep impairment (OR 1.117, 95%CI 1.754–7.422), uncontrolled hypertension (OR 1.522, 95%CI 1.968–4.454), type 2 diabetes (OR 2.464, 95%CI 1.232–4.931), and hyperlipidaemia (OR 1.411, 95%CI 1.221–8.988) are the risk factors for the cognitive deterioration, while the protective factors are high level of education (OR 0.032, 95%CI 0.007–0.149) and regular exercise (OR 0.307, 95%CI 0.115–0.818). Discussion: Because some vascular disease risk factors, such as hypertension, can be treated effectively, cognitive decline related to these risk factors, and vascular disease per se, may be prevented or its course modified through more aggressive treatment and improved compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Bexarotene (Bex) is a synthetic retinoid that exhibits anti-tumor activities. However, the low solubility of the compound hinders its development. In this study, bexarotene nanocrystal was developed and its surface was modified to improve the dissolution and absorption of the drug. The nanocrystals were prepared via precipitation, high-pressure homogenization method, and modified by folate-chitosan (FA-CS), which relied on the charge interaction between the negatively charged nanocrystals and the positively charged FA-CS. The physical–chemical properties in terms of particle size, size distribution, zeta potential, morphology and crystallinity were evaluated. The results showed that bexarotene nanocrystals with surface modification by folate–chitosan conjugates (FC–NC–Bex) with a mean particle size of 631.3 ± 2.7 nm, a polydispersity index of 0.33 ± 0.06 and a zeta potential of 24.6 ± 1.9 mV was obtained. The result of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) showed that the nanocrystals were still in crystalline state after the preparation procedure. In thein vitrodissolution test, FC-NC-Bex showed significant increase in dissolution rate compared to raw bexarotene (nearly 6.5-fold). Compared to bexarotene suspension, FC-NC-Bex exhibited significant increase inAUC0–∞(approximately 3-fold) andCmax(about 1.5-fold). Taken together, the results suggested that FC-NC-Bex may provide a potential opportunity in enhancing the dissolution rate of bexarotene and its gastrointestinal absorption. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is currently restricted to the treatment of target tissues with a small size (<3 cm in diameter). To overcome this problem with RFA, some phenomena need to be understood first. The study presented in this paper investigated the relationship between the area of target tissue necrosis (TTN) and the size of target tissue in pulsed radiofrequency ablation (PRFA).Materials and methods: Liver tumour, one of the common targets of RFA in clinical practice, was used as the target tissue in this study. Two types of pulsed RF power supply methods (half-square and half-sine) and three target tissues with different sizes (25 mm, 30 mm and 35 mm in diameter) were studied using finite element modelling. The finite element model (FEM) was validated by using an in vitro experiment with porcine liver tissue. The first roll-off occurrence or 720 s, whichever occurs first, was chosen as the ablation termination criterion in this study.Results: For each target tissue size, the largest TTN area was obtained using the maximum voltage applied (MVA) without roll-off occurrence. In this study, target tissues with a 25 mm diameter can be ablated cleanly but target tissues with 30-mm and 35-mm failed to be ablated.Conclusions: The half-square PRFA could achieve a larger TTN area than the half-sine PRFA. The MVA decreases with an increase in the target tissue diameter in both the half-square PRFA and the half-sine PRFA. The findings of this study are in agreement with the clinical results that lesions (≥3 cm in diameter) have less favourable results from RFA. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Several studies have found that IDH-prone patients have higher baseline plasma angiotensin II levels than those who are IDH-resistant, and activation of the RAAS is known to be involved in LVH development, independent of afterload [[3]]. Dear Sir, We have read with great interest the paper entitled 'High ultrafiltration rate induced intradialytic hypotension is a predictor for cardiac remodeling: a 5-year cohort study' by Yu et al. [[1]]. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the target tissue necrosis volume and the target tissue size during the radiofrequency ablation (RFA) procedure. Materials and methods: The target tissues with four different sizes ( dxy = 20, 25, 30 and 35 mm) were modelled using a two-compartment radiofrequency ablation model. Different voltages were applied to seek the maximum target tissue necrosis volume for each target tissue size. The first roll-off occurrence or the standard ablation time (12 min) was taken as the sign for the termination of the RFA procedure. Results: Four different maximum voltages without the roll-off occurrence were found for the four different sizes of target tissues ( dxy = 20, 25, 30 and 35 mm), and they were 36.6, 35.4, 33.9 and 32.5 V, respectively. The target tissues with diameters of 20, 25 mm can be cleanly ablated at their own maximum voltages applied (MVA) but the same finding was not found for the 35-mm target tissue. For the target tissue with diameter of 30 mm, the 50 °C isothermal contour (IT50) result showed that the target tissue can be cleanly ablated, but the same result did not show in the Arrhenius damage model result. Furthermore, two optimal RFA protocols with a minimal thermal damage to the healthy tissues were found for the target tissues with diameters of 20 and 25 mm, respectively. Conclusions: The study suggests that target tissues of different sizes should be treated with different RFA protocols. The maximum target tissue volume was achieved with the MVA without the roll-off occurrence for each target tissue size when a constant RF power supply was used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Submicron emulsion was prepared for rapid and effective nasal absorption of zolmitriptan (ZT). The different charge inducers and pH values of the formulations were evaluated to optimize the formulations. Submicron emulsion prepared by using stearylamine as positive charge inducer with pH of 5.0 was stable and most of ZT was freely dispersed in the aqueous phase of the preparation. In vitro release study demonstrated that ZT from the submicron emulsion preparation could be released as fast as that from the solution preparation. The pharmacokinetics was studied after intranasal administration of the submicron emulsion and solution preparation of ZT to beagle dogs. ZT from the submicron emulsion was absorbed much more rapidly and the absolute availability of the submicron emulsion preparation was significantly higher compared with the solution preparation. The nasal ciliotoxicity of the preparations was evaluated by using in situ toad palate model, which indicated that the submicron emulsion of ZT did not exhibit any obvious nasal ciliotoxicity. These results demonstrated that the submicron emulsion preparation of ZT was a relatively safe dosage form for rapid and effective intranasal delivery of ZT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was to evaluate submicron emulsion as a drug carrier for intranasal delivery of zolmitriptan (ZT). Since the drug distribution in submicron emulsion might influence the nasal absorption, two different formulations separately incorporating the drug in oily phase (ZTSE-1) and aqueous phase (ZTSE-2) were assessed. To find the better formulation for rapid-onset intranasal delivery and improvement in brain targeting of ZT, the in vivo nasal absorption of these two formulations was evaluated. The blood and cerebrospinalfluid (CSF) pharmacokinetics of ZTSE-1, ZTSE-2 and ZT solution (ZTS) were evaluated after intranasal administered to anesthetized Wistar rats. The results demonstrated that ZT from ZTSE-1 and ZTSE-2 had better brain targeting efficiency than the ZTS. In plasma and CSF, the ZTSE-2 reached peak concentration much faster than ZTSE-1 and ZTS. The ZTSE-2 also presented significantly higher initial ZT levels in CSF compared with the ZTSE-1 and ZTS. The results indicated that incorporation of ZT in the aqueous phase of submicron emulsion was effective for rapid intranasal delivery of drug to blood and brain, which would offer patients the benefits of rapid relief from migraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of H5N1 influenza outbreaks have occurred in aquatic birds in Asia. As aquatic birds are the natural reservoir of influenza A viruses and do not usually show clinical disease upon infection, the repeated H5N1 outbreaks have highlighted the importance of continuous surveillance on H5N1 viruses in aquatic birds. In the present study we characterized the biological properties of four H5N1 avian influenza viruses, which had been isolated from ducks, in different animal models. In specific pathogen free (SPF) chickens, all four isolates were highly pathogenic. In SPF mice, the S and Y isolates were moderately pathogenic. However, in mallard ducks, two isolates had low pathogenicity, while the other two were highly pathogenic and caused lethal infection. A representative isolate with high pathogenicity in ducks caused systemic infection and replicated effectively in all 10 organs tested in challenged ducks, whereas a representative isolate with low pathogenicity in ducks was only detected in some organs in a few challenged ducks. Comparison of complete genomic sequences from the four isolates showed that the same amino acid residues that have been reported to be associated with virulence and host adaption/restriction of influenza viruses were present in the PB2, HA, NA, M and NS genes, while the amino acid residues at the HA cleavage site were diverse. From these results it appeared that the virulence of H5N1 avian influenza viruses was increased for ducks and that amino acid substitutions at the HA cleavage site might have contributed to the differing pathogenicity of these isolates in mallards. A procedure for the intravenous pathogenicity index test in a mallard model for assessing the virulence of H5/H7 subtype avian influenza viruses in waterfowl is described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal gasification coarse slag (CGCS) has become a bulk coal-based solid waste that threatens the ecological environment. The high moisture content of carbon-rich coal coarse gasification slag (CR-CGCS) seriously limits its utilization. In this study, a pore water releasing method was proposed to promote the dewatering of CR-CGCS through size reduction with surface modification. Hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and kerosene were added during the grinding process, respectively. The results showed that kerosene can significantly improve the dewatering efficiency of CR-CGCS more than CTAB and SDS. The final moisture content of the CR-CGCS could be reduced from 47.50% to 33.01%. The SEM and FTIR results illustrated that kerosene could effectively reduce the content of oxygen-containing functional groups on the surface of CR-CGCS more than CTAB and SDS. Meanwhile, the PVM results showed that CR-CGCS modified by kerosene tended to form hydrophobic agglomerates. The LF-NMR results indicated that only the water in the macropores of CR-CGCS could be released in grinding process, but the water in micropores could be reduced when kerosene, CTAB, or SDS was added in grinding. This study provides new insight into enhancing the dewatering of CR-CGCS and theoretical support for the efficient utilization of CR-CGCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let D p 1 , p 2 , ... , p n = { z ∈ C n : ∑ j = 1 n | z j | p j < 1 } , p j > 1 , j = 1 , 2 , ... , n. We mainly establish the sharp estimates of main coefficients of all homogeneous expansions for starlike mappings and starlike mappings of order α on D p 1 , p 2 , ... , p n under some weak restricted conditions. Our derived results are the generalization of the corresponding classical results in one complex variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many heavy oil wells have been found in the Jilantai shallow depression in the Hetao Basin. The origin of heavy oil in the study area was analyzed comprehensively according to the physical properties and geochemical characteristics of heavy oil. Two sets of source rocks were detected in the Guyang and Linhe groups, in the Hetao Basin. During the Guyang Formation, the differences of sedimentary environments resulted in brackish water sedimentary environment in the south of the study area and freshwater reducing environment in the north of the study area. The high content of boron in the source rocks of Linhe Formation indicates its saltwater environment. By the method of oil source comparison, it is found that the Pr/Ph of the crude oil in Jilantai area and Linhe Formation is lower than 0.50, and the Pr/nC17 is between 0.7 and 3.5, which should come from the source rock of the first segment of the southern moderate lacustrine Guyang Formation. The C29 sterane 20S/(20S+20 R) and C29 sterane ββ/(αα+ββ) parameters indicate that the low maturity of crude oil is the main cause of heavy oil formation. The research on the genesis and geochemical characteristics of Jilantai crude oil indicates that the northern and central depression of the Hetao Basin is a rich area of favorable resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]