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Objective To explore the classification and changes of macrophage subsets in liver transplant rejection. Methods Rat liver transplantation model were established and divided into immune tolerance group (B-B), where the liver of BN rat donors was transplanted to BN rat recipients, and immune rejection group (L-B), in which the liver of Lewis rat donors was transplanted to BN rat recipients. Single-cell RNA sequencing and highthroughput RNA sequencing were used to distinguish the macrophage subsets of rat liver transplantation, and to find differential gene in rejection reactions. Immunohistochemistry was used to determine the changes and distribution of protein expression and cell subsets. Results CD68 positive macrophages were higher in the rejection group than that in the tolerance group (P < 0.05), and macrophages could be divided into 9 subsets. During the rejection reaction, the CXC chemokine ligand 9 (CXCL9) in the 8th subsets of macrophages was significantly increased, while the gene for white blood cell differentiation antigen 74 (CD74) in the 5th subsets was significantly increased (P < 0.05). CD74 ranked first in the differential gene synthesis of macrophages during rejection, followed by CXCL9. Compared with the tolerance group, a large number of CD74 positive macrophages were observed in the hepatic portal area of the rejection group, and the infiltration of CD74 positive macrophages in the hepatic sinuses was also significantly increased (P < 0.05), while a large number of CXCL9 positive macrophages were observed in the hepatic portal area and hepatic sinuses of the rejection group, especially in the portal area (P < 0.05), and CD14 positive cells were significantly increased (P < 0.05). Conclusions The CD74 positive macrophage subsets and CXCL9 positive macrophage subsets may be key subgroups in promoting liver transplant rejection, improving the mechanism of macrophage action in liver transplant rejection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient on-chip learning method based on neuron multiplexing is proposed in this paper to address the limitations of traditional on-chip learning methods, including low resource utilization and non-tunable parallelism. The proposed method utilizes a configurable neuron calculation unit (NCU) to calculate neural networks in different degrees of parallelism through multiplexing NCUs at different levels, and resource utilization can be increased by reducing the number of NCUs since the resource consumption is predominantly determined by the number of NCUs and the data bit-width, which are decoupled from the specific topology. To better support the proposed method and minimize RAM block usage, a weight segmentation and recombination method is introduced, accompanied by a detailed explanation of the access order. Moreover, a performance model is developed to facilitate parameter selection process. Experimental results conducted on an FPGA development board demonstrate that the proposed method has lower resource consumption, higher resource utilization, and greater generality compared to other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building a comprehensive project-based curriculum based on the PBL teaching philosophy to meet the requirements of cultivating practical and comprehensive innovative talents in high-level, challenging, and innovative first-class courses in universities. Guided by STEAM and taking the course of "practice and innovation training based on ukulele" as an example, this paper designs the teaching objectives and content of PBL teaching, analyzes the corresponding teaching organization and teacher team construction according to the teaching characteristics, and conducts teaching research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a malignant tumor of the digestive system that has a bad prognosis. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is involved in a wide variety of biological activities due to the fact that it is the most common form of mRNA modification in mammals. Numerous research has accumulated evidence suggesting that a malfunction in the regulation of m6A RNA modification is associated with various illnesses, including cancers. However, its implications in PC remain poorly characterized. The methylation data, level 3 RNA sequencing data, and clinical information of PC patients were all retrieved from the TCGA datasets. Genes associated with m6A RNA methylation were compiled from the existing body of research and made available for download from the m6Avar database. The LASSO Cox regression method was used to construct a 4-gene methylation signature, which was then used to classify all PC patients included in the TCGA dataset into either a low- or high-risk group. In this study, based on the set criteria of cor > 0.4 and p value < 0.05. A total of 3507 gene methylation were identified to be regulated by m6A regulators. Based on the univariate Cox regression analysis and identified 3507 gene methylation, 858 gene methylation was significantly associated with the patient's prognosis. The multivariate Cox regression analysis identified four gene methylation (PCSK6, HSP90AA1, TPM3, and TTLL6) to construct a prognosis model. Survival assays indicated that the patients in the high-risk group tend to have a worse prognosis. ROC curves showed that our prognosis signature had a good prediction ability on patient survival. Immune assays suggested a different immune infiltration pattern in patients with high- and low-risk scores. Moreover, we found that two immune-related genes, CTLA4 and TIGIT, were downregulated in high-risk patients. We generated a unique methylation signature that is related to m6A regulators and is capable of accurately predicting the prognosis for patients with PC. The findings might prove useful for therapeutic customization and the process of making medical decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accumulated evidence highlights the significance of the crosstalk between epigenetic and epitranscriptomic mechanisms, notably 5-methylcytosine (5mC) and N6-methyladenosine (m6A). Herein, we conducted a widespread analysis regarding the crosstalk between 5mC and m6A regulators in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: Pan-cancer genomic analysis of the crosstalk between 5mC and m6A regulators was presented at transcriptomic, genomic, epigenetic, and other multi-omics levels. Hub 5mC and m6A regulators were summarized to define an epigenetic and epitranscriptomic module eigengene (EME), which reflected both the pre- and post-transcriptional modifications. Results: 5mC and m6A regulators interacted with one another at the multi-omic levels across pan-cancer, including HCC. The EME scoring system enabled to greatly optimize risk stratification and accurately predict HCC patients' clinical outcomes and progression. Additionally, the EME accurately predicted the responses to mainstream therapies (TACE and sorafenib) and immunotherapy as well as hyper-progression. In vitro, 5mC and m6A regulators cooperatively weakened apoptosis and facilitated proliferation, DNA damage repair, G2/M arrest, migration, invasion and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in HCC cells. The EME scoring system was remarkably linked to potential extrinsic and intrinsic immune escape mechanisms, and the high EME might contribute to a reduced copy number gain/loss frequency. Finally, we determined potential therapeutic compounds and druggable targets (TUBB1 and P2RY4) for HCC patients with high EME. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that HCC may result from a unique synergistic combination of 5mC-epigenetic mechanism mixed with m6A-epitranscriptomic mechanism, and their crosstalk defines therapeutic response and pharmacogenomic landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article mainly investigates the state‐feedback L1$$ {L}_1 $$ finite‐time control problem for discrete‐time switched positive linear systems with mode‐dependent persistent dwell‐time (MDPDT) switching. The MDPDT switching is more general than the common dwell‐time and average dwell‐time switching because it can perfectly model a type of switched systems with hybrid slow and fast switching properties. Considering the positivity of the system, we adopt multiple linear copositive Lyapunov functions instead of traditional quadratic Lyapunov functions and derive sufficient criteria of finite‐time stability by utilizing the linear programming approach. Then the relationship between the lower bound of such switching signals and parameters of the constructed controllers is found successfully, and a sufficient condition to ensure that the closed‐loop switched system maintains positive and L1$$ {L}_1 $$ finite‐time bounded is proposed. Finally, the efficiency of our developed conclusions is validated by two illustrative examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generation of noise caused by the flow around a cylinder and its control are important in various engineering applications. Based on computational fluid dynamics with acoustic analogy and the vortex dynamics theory analysis, this study aims at investigating the ability of the wavy cylinder in improving aerodynamic performance and reducing aerodynamic noise. Noise control mechanisms with different Reynolds numbers are analyzed. The results show that the wavy cylinder is helpful for the reduction of the average drag coefficient and is efficient in suppressing fluctuation of the lift coefficient; consequently, the overall noise of the wavy cylinder is reduced. Specifically, the tonal noise is significantly suppressed or even eliminated under proper configurations. To explore the underlying noise suppression mechanisms, the process of vorticity generation around the wavy cylinder surface is examined in detail. The vorticity distribution on the surface of the wavy cylinder is profoundly improved, and the distribution of the boundary vorticity flux and boundary enstrophy flux is also remarkably weakened. As a result, the generation of vorticity near the wavy cylinder wall is diminished. These directly lead to a significant contraction of the vortex structure distribution in the wavy cylinder wake, especially for some large-scale vortex structures. Moreover, periodic vortex shedding is significantly suppressed in the case with high Reynolds numbers, which might be the main reasons for noise reduction. The interaction area of the positive and negative Lamb vector divergence, which is closely related to the noise generation, is decreased. This contributes to drag reduction and noise attenuation. This indicates that drag reduction and noise suppression are closely bounded in the wavy cylinder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the values of computed tomography (CT) imaging technology based on image segmentation algorithm (ISA). It was applied in the radial shock wave therapy (RSWT) to treat knee osteoarthritis (KOA), so its curative effect and rehabilitation effect on nerve function were mainly analyzed in this study. 84 patients with KOA were selected and grouped into an ultrasonic treatment group (group A) and a RSW group (group B). All the patients received the ISA-based CT examination and high-quality nursing intervention. There were comparisons on the effects of pain improvement, knee joint function, and nerve function rehabilitation of patients in groups A and B. Results showed that visual analogue scale (VAS) scores before and after treatment were markedly different among all patients, and the pain degree of patients in group B was lower than the degree of group A (P < 0.05). The knee joint function of group B after treatment was greatly better than group A (P < 0.05). Scandinavian stroke scale (SSS) scores of nerve function rehabilitation after nursing in patients from group B were sharply lower than the scores of group A (P < 0.05). Results indicated that ISA-based CT images could be applied in analysis of curative effect on KOA, and there was more obvious effect of RSWT in the treatment of KOA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The tumor-promoting roles of ST8SIA6-AS1 and miR-145-5p have been found in several cancers, but their function in cholangiocarcinoma (CHOL) remains speculative. The purpose of this study was to examine the regulatory functions of the ST8SIA6-AS1/MAL2/miR-145-5p pathway in CHOL progression. Methods: RT-qPCR assay was used to detect ST8SIA6-AS1 expression in CHOL tissues and cell lines. Cell migration, apoptosis, invasion, and proliferation abilities were assessed by RIP, RNA pull-down, and luciferase assays. CCK-8, BrdU, transwell, and FITC assays to investigate the regulatory functions of ST8SIA6-AS1, miR-145-5p, and MAL2 function in CHOL cells. Results: Findings revealed the enrichment of ST8SIA6-AS1 in CHOL tissues and cell lines. It was also found that ST8SIA6-AS1 facilitated cell growth and migration, but it reduced the apoptosis level of the CHOL cells. The results of experiments showed that ST8SIA6-AS1 sponged miR-145-5p, thereby allowing MAL2 to exert its biological function on CHOL cells. Conclusion: This research suggested that the ST8SIA6-AS1/miR-145-5p/MAL2 axis could enhance CHOL progression, which might be useful to improve the clinical outcomes of CHOL patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terminal differentiation induced ncRNA (TINCR), a newly identified lncRNA, has been found to be associated with different human cancers including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, little is known regarding the pathological mechanisms of TINCR in HCC progression. In this study, we confirmed that TINCR expression was upregulated in HCC tumors and cell lines, and high TINCR expression was associated with larger tumor size, advanced tumor node metastasis stage, and poor prognosis. Functionally, knockdown of TINCR facilitated apoptosis and suppressed viability, colony formation and invasion in Huh7 and Hep3B cells. Mechanically, TINCR functioned as competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) to regulate DEAD‐box helicase 5 (DDX5) expression through sponging miR‐218‐5p. Moreover, the miR‐218‐5p expression was downregulated and DDX5 expression was upregulated in HCC tumors. The silencing of miR‐218‐5p or ectopic expression of DDX5 abated the tumor‐suppressive effect of TINCR knockdown in vitro. Furthermore, si‐TINCR‐induced inactivation of AKT signaling was rescued by suppression of miR‐218‐5p or overexpression of DDX5. Also, the silencing of TINCR resulted in tumor growth inhibition in vivo. In summary, knockdown of TINCR suppressed HCC progression presumably by inactivation of AKT signaling through targeting the miR‐218‐5p/DDX5 axis, suggesting a novel TINCR/miR‐218‐5p/DDX5 pathway and therapy target for HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In clinical practice arterial anatomy evaluation is often determined using computed tomographic angiography (CTA); the effect of enhanced MRI has been neglected.Purpose: To evaluate whether multiple arterial phase (MAP) images from patients who underwent differential subsampling with Cartesian ordering (DISCO) acquisition would improve the hepatic arterial display compared with single arterial phase (SAP) and CTA.Study Type: A prospective, randomized trial.Subjects: In all, 130 patients (mean age, 55.81 ± 9.43 years; range, 35-78 years) including 89 men and 41 women.Field Strength/sequence: 3.0T, DISCO, liver acquisition with volume acceleration-flexible (LAVA-Flex), CTA.Assessment: A simple randomization was conducted and the study was subdivided into study part I (DISCO vs. SAP) and study part II (DISCO vs. CTA). Ten hepatic arterial segments were independently evaluated by three readers in the axial plane and the quality of hepatic arterial display was assessed using a four-point scale.Statistical Tests: Kendall's W-test, χ2 test, Mann-Whitney U-test, and Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test.Results: Excellent interobserver agreement was obtained for hepatic arterial display (all Kendall's W values >0.80). For study part I, the mean arterial display scores for the common hepatic artery (CHA), proper hepatic artery (PHA), left hepatic artery (LHA), right hepatic artery (RHA), left gastric artery (LGA), and gastroduodenal artery (GDA) obtained with DISCO were higher than that obtained with SAP imaging (all P < 0.01). For study part II, comparable image quality for CHA (P = 0.798), PHA (P = 0.440), LHA (P = 0.211), RHA (P = 0.775) LGA (P = 0.468), and GDA (P = 0.801) was obtained with DISCO and CTA.Data Conclusion: The use of MAP acquisition with DISCO is superior to the use of SAP in hepatic arterial display and compares favorably with CTA; in the future, DISCO possibly can replace the latter ionization-related method to provide a more comprehensive evaluation of the liver arterial vessels.Level Of Evidence: 1 Technical Efficacy Stage: 1 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2020;51:1766-1776. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alkyl β‐D‐maltosides are an important class of sugar‐based nonionic surfactants and have been widely studied. Nevertheless, it is still necessary to investigate further their amphiphilic structure‐surface property relationships. In this article, we reported a series of properties of synthetic alkyl β‐D‐maltosides (6a–6i, n = 6–18) including their hydrophilic–lipophilic balance (HLB) number, water solubility, hygroscopicity, moisture‐retention capacity, foaming ability, surface tension, thermotropic phase behavior, and skin irritation. Their HLB number and water solubility decreased with increasing alkyl chain length. Hexyl β‐D‐maltoside exhibited the strongest hygroscopicity and moisture‐retention capacity. Decyl β‐D‐maltoside and dodecyl β‐D‐maltoside possessed excellent foaming power and foaming stability. Furthermore, the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of alkyl β‐D‐maltoside (6a–6g, n = 6–14) and their surface tension at CMC decreased with increasing alkyl chain length. At last, alkyl β‐D‐maltosides (6a–6g) should be considered as safe surfactants by the skin irritation assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alkylα-D-galactopyranosides are sugar-based nonionic surfactants, and it is necessary to research their structure–property relationships since it is not quite clear that the change of the alkyl chain length has effects on a series of physicochemical properties. Here, alkylα-D-galactopyranosides were prepared by galactose and alcohols through three steps including acetylation, coupling with alcohols in the presence of a catalyst stannic chloride, and deprotection. Furthermore, their water solubility and other properties were investigated. Alkylα-D-galactopyranosides (4a ∼ 4e,n = 6 ∼ 10) were water soluble, and their dissolution process in water was an endothermic process. Nonylα-D-galactopyranoside (4d) showed excellent foaming ability and foam stability. Octylα-D-galactopyranoside (4c) had the strongest emulsifying ability for toluene and nonylα-D-galactopyranoside (4d) had the strongest emulsifying ability for rapeseed oil. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) values and surface tension at the CMC were decreasing with increasing alkyl chain length. Their standard free energy of adsorption (ΔGads) was more negative than their standard free energy of micellization (ΔGmic). The moisture-absorption abilities were weakening with increasing alkyl chain length. Alkylα-D-galactopyranosides (4a ∼4f) were thermally stable below 280°C. Alkylα-D-galactopyranosides (4c ∼4f) had the optical texture of the thermotropic liquid crystal smectic A phase. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Some steganography methods for gray-scale image can be extended to true RGB color image by treating each of its three color channels as a gray-scale image. In modern popular steganography, most embedding changes are highly concentrated on those complex textural regions with smaller embedding distortions. However, the existing steganalysis methods for color images directly extract steganalytic features from the whole image. In this paper, we propose a content-adaptive steganalysis strategy for color images. The new strategy aims to extract spatial rich model features from each color channel and just extract color rich model features from the pixels that may have been modified. In order to locate those suspected pixels, we first calculate the embedding costs of each channel, and then a subset of pixels with smaller embedding costs is selected. Experimental results show that the proposed strategy performs better than the state-of-the-art color image steganalysis method. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] BTG3 expression is frequently suppressed in NSCLC. [•] Two BTG3 isoforms present in lung cancer. [•] BTG3 inhibits lung cancer growth. [•] Restoration of BTG3 inhibits autophagy in lung cancer cells. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary This article proposes a novel angle representation method for floating‐point number, which eliminates the need for DSP (Digital Signal Processor) resources and reduces the resource usage when performing floating‐point multiplication. Compared with the implementation of floating‐point multiplier using IP cores, the implementation of approximate multiplication based on lookup tables can achieve an average reduction of 58.2% in LUTs (look‐up tables) and an average increase of 20.4% in frequency for mantissa widths ranging from 3 to 12 bits. Additionally, it can also save an average of 23.2% in registers. Analysis of PDP (power‐delay product)/LUT to MRED (mean relative error distance)/PRED (probability of relative error distance) among other approximate multipliers shows that the proposed design extends the Pareto front. At last, simulation of a three‐level inverter is implemented to verify the effectiveness of the multiplier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: T‐cell immunoglobulin domain and mucin domain‐4 (TIM‐4) is selectively expressed on antigen‐presenting cells (APCs) and modulates various immune responses. However, the role of TIM‐4 expressed by Kupffer cells (KCs) in liver fibrosis remains unclear. The present study aimed to explore whether and how TIM‐4 expressed by KCs is involved in liver fibrosis. Materials and Methods: Mice chronic liver fibrosis models were established and divided into the olive‐induced control group, CCL4‐induced control group, olive‐induced TIM‐4 interference group and CCL4‐induced TIM‐4 interference group. Different techniques were used to monitor the fibrotic effects of TIM‐4, including histopathological assays, Western blotting, ELISA and transmission electron microscopy. Additionally, mice liver transplant models were established to determine the fibrotic effects of TIM‐4 on fibrosis after liver transplantation (LT). Results: We found that the induction of liver fibrosis by CCL4 was associated with TIM‐4 expression in KCs. TIM‐4 interference essentially contributed to liver fibrosis resolution. KCs from the TIM‐4 interference group had decreased levels of pro‐fibrotic markers, reduced TGF‐β1 secretion and inhibited hepatic stellate cell (HSC) differentiation into myofibroblast‐like cells. In addition, we used GdCl3 to verify that KCs are the primary source of TGF‐β1 during fibrosis progression. Moreover, KCs from CCL4‐induced mice showed increased ROS production, mitophagy activation and TGF‐β1 secretion. However, TIM‐4 interference in the KCs inhibited Akt1‐mediated ROS production, resulting in the suppression of PINK1, Parkin and LC3‐II/I activation and the reduction of TGF‐β1 secretion during liver fibrosis. Additionally, TIM‐4 interference potentially attenuated development of fibrosis after LT. Conclusions: Our findings revealed the underlying mechanisms of TIM‐4 interference in KCs to mitigate liver fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on a study of the geochemical characteristics of the independent cadmium deposit at Niujiaotang, Duyun, Guizhou, China. Geological characteristics of the deposit; Distribution and mode of occurrence of cadmium; Geochemical characteristics of the fluid inclusions in the deposit; Summary.