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Objective To investigate the effects of metformin(Met) on the proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells under different glucose concentration culture conditions, and to find the potential role of miR-139-5p in the process. Methods PANC-1 cells were treated with different concentrations of metformin(0/5/10/20 mmol/L) in 25 mmol/L(high-glucose group,HG) or 5 mmol/L(normal-glucose group,NG) glucose culture, cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration and cell cycle were detected after 48 h. The expression of miR-139-5p was quantitatively detected by RT-qPCR, and the miR-139-5p mimics were transfected into PANC-1 cells to clarify the role of miR-139-5p. Results Metformin inhibited the proliferation, promoted apoptosis, and induced S phase and G2/M phase arrest of PANC-1 cells under in high glucose and normal glucose culture conditions, and its anti-proliferation and pro-apoptosis effects were more significant in the normal glucose groups. The expression of miR-139-5p was up-regulated by metformin treatment in normal but not in high glucose culture. Further studies showed that miR-139-5p mimics inhibited of PANC-1 cells proliferation without metformin pre-incubation and enhanced the anti-proliferation effect of 5 mmol/L metformin. The pro-apoptotic effect of 10 mmol/L metformin in normal glucose culture conditions. Conclusions In normal-glucose culture conditions, metformin can inhibit proliferation, induce apoptosis and cell cycle arrest of PANC-1 cells more significantly than in higher-glucose culture, which may be partly related to the up-regulation of miR-139-5p.

In this review, the research reports on the dispersion processes of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in aqueous cementitious materials are intensively introduced and summarized. The main processes for the CNTs dispersion in aqueous systems include high shear emulsification, ultrasonic treatment, covalent modification, and non-covalent modification. The influences of various factors on the dispersity of CNTs are evaluated, and the pros and cons of dispersion processes of CNTs are analyzed, along with the dispersion mechanism of CNTs in aqueous materials. Several novel techniques are also introduced, including arc thermal excitation and electromagnetic field-induced method, etc. In addition, the challenges when CNTs dispersion are further involved in cementitious alkali pore solution and the improvement means are also described in detail. And, the direct dispersion process (in situ growth process) of CNTs in cementitious materials has also been discussed in depth.

Ammonia nitrogen wastewater causes dissolved oxygen concentrations to decrease and the content of harmful substances to increase. To characterize the application properties of two novel strains of highly efficient ammonium transforming fungi—Pichia kudriavzevii N7 and Candida tropicalis N9—this study used both as compound microbial agents to treat nitrogenous wastewater. Here, we investigated the bioaugmentation effect of compound fungi N7 and N9 in the MBR bioreactor and the effect of N7 and N9 on the fungal and bacterial microbial communities in the system. The results revealed that in the first week after inoculation of N7 and N9, the average removal rate of ammonium in the experimental and control groups were 89.43% and 82.86%, respectively, and the NO3−-N accumulation concentrations were 12.56 mg·L−1 and 17.73 mg·L−1, respectively. The average transformation rate of total nitrogen in the experimental and control groups were 46.32% and 30.6%, respectively. ITS sequencing results indicated that N9 could be a dominant fungus in the complex MBR system. The results of 16S rRNA sequencing showed that the dominant bacterial communities in the system were changed by the inoculation of compound fungi. Therefore, the compound fungi can be applied to strengthen the treatment of nitrogenous wastewater due to its compatibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbial proton-pump rhodopsin (PPR)-based phototrophy, a light-harvesting mechanism different from chlorophyll-based photosystems, may contribute significantly to solar energy entry into the marine ecosystem. PPR transforms solar energy into cellular energy that is used for various metabolic processes in the cells or flagellar movement. Although rhodopsins or their encoding genes have been documented in a wide phylogenetic range of cultured dinoflagellates, information is limited about how widespread and how spatiotemporally dynamical dinoflagellate PPR (DiPPR) are in natural marine ecosystems. In this study, we investigated DiPPR in Long Island Sound (LIS), a temperate estuary of the Atlantic Ocean between Connecticut and Long Island, New York, USA. We isolated six novel full-length dinoflagellate proton-pump rhodopsin cDNAs, expanding the DiPPR database that is crucial to PPR research. Based on these new sequences and existing sequences of DiPPR, we designed primers and conducted quantitative PCR and sequencing to determine the abundance and diversity of DiPPR genes spatially and temporally throughout a year in the water samples collected from LIS. DiPPR genes were found year-round and throughout LIS but with higher abundances in the eutrophic Western Sound and in April and July. The gene diversity data suggest that there are at least five distinct rhodopsin-harboring groups of dinoflagellates throughout the year. The abundance of DiPPR genes, measured as copy number per mL of seawater, appeared not to be influenced by water temperature or nitrogen nutrient concentration but exhibited weak negative correlations with orthophosphate concentration and salinity and a positive correlation with the abundance of DiPPR-harboring dinoflagellates. This first quantitative profiling of PPR in natural plankton reveals the prevalence and dynamics of this plastid-independent photoenergy harvesting mechanism in a temperate estuary and provides efficient DiPPR primers potentially useful for future research. Furthermore, this study shed light on the potential role of DiPPR in phosphor nutrition and dinoflagellate population, which warrants further studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improper design of friction pendulum bearings can lead to poor seismic reduction performance and may result in the failure of local vulnerable components. And the parameter design of friction pendulum bearings mainly relies on experience and verification calculations at present. This paper proposes an adaptive genetic algorithm considering the overall evolution state of the population, adjusting crossover and mutation probabilities adaptively based on individual fitness and population diversity. Compared to traditional algorithms, it exhibits better global search capabilities and convergence efficiency. Combining the improved genetic algorithm with finite element models, a parameter optimization method is proposed. The parameters of friction pendulum bearings are optimized. In response to the situation in this paper, the optimal friction coefficient of the friction pendulum bearing is determined to be 0.01 and the optimal equivalent radius is 3.3 m. This can provide a reference for the design of seismic isolation devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Granite residual soil typically forms complex pore structures and exhibits high water sensitivity due to physical and chemical weathering processes. Changes in initial compaction conditions significantly affect the mechanical and hydraulic properties of in situ granite residual soil subgrades, with these variations fundamentally related to changes in pore structure and soil–water characteristics. This study investigates the pore structure and bimodal soil–water characteristic curve (SWCC) of a compacted granite residual soil through laboratory tests and mercury intrusion porosimetry tests. Nine initial conditions were selected based on potential in situ compaction conditions of subgrades, and their effects on the pore size distribution (PSD) and SWCC were thoroughly analyzed. The results show strong correlations between bimodal pore structure and SWCC. The size and volume of inter-aggregate pores exhibit noticeable changes with initial conditions, affecting SWCC within the low and middle suction range. Conversely, the intra-aggregate pores, which constitute over 60% of the pore structures, remain nearly intact across different initial conditions, resulting in similar SWCCs within the high suction range. As the compaction energy increases, the inter-aggregate pores are compressed and lead to a higher water retention capacity. In addition, as the compaction water content increases, the SWCC becomes less sensitive to compaction energy after the aggregates in the pore structure are fully saturated. Additionally, a three-dimensional bimodal SWCC equation is proposed and validated using test data with an R2 value above 0.98. These findings offer valuable insights for the design and quality control of granite residual soil subgrades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Typical (peridinin-containing) dinoflagellates possess plastid genomes composed of small plasmids named "minicircles". Despite the ecological importance of dinoflagellate photosynthesis in corals and marine ecosystems, the structural characteristics, replication dynamics, and evolutionary forcing of dinoflagellate plastid genomes remain poorly understood. Here, we sequenced the plastid genome of the symbiodiniacean species Fugacium kawagutii and conducted comparative analyses. We identified psbT -coding minicircles, features previously not found in Symbiodiniaceae. The copy number of F. kawagutii minicircles showed a strong diel dynamics, changing between 3.89 and 34.3 copies/cell and peaking in mid-light period. We found that F. kawagutii minicircles are the shortest among all dinoflagellates examined to date. Besides, the core regions of the minicircles are highly conserved within genus in Symbiodiniaceae. Furthermore, the codon usage bias of the plastid genomes in Heterocapsaceae, Amphidiniaceae, and Prorocentraceae species are greatly influenced by selection pressure, and in Pyrocystaceae, Symbiodiniaceae, Peridiniaceae, and Ceratiaceae species are influenced by both natural selection pressure and mutation pressure, indicating a family-level distinction in codon usage evolution in dinoflagellates. Phylogenetic analysis using 12 plastid-encoded proteins and five nucleus-encoded plastid proteins revealed accelerated evolution trend of both plastid- and nucleus-encoded plastid proteins in peridinin- and fucoxanthin-dinoflagellate plastids compared to plastid proteins of nondinoflagellate algae. These findings shed new light on the structure and evolution of plastid genomes in dinoflagellates, which will facilitate further studies on the evolutionary forcing and function of the diverse dinoflagellate plastids. The accelerated evolution documented here suggests plastid-encoded sequences are potentially useful for resolving closely related dinoflagellates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The soil–water characteristic curve (SWCC) is a key constitutive relationship for unsaturated soil which can be unimodal or bimodal. For the fine-grained compacted subgrade soil with a bimodal pattern, the determination of SWCC is complicated and needs a wide-range suction measurement. In this paper, the bimodal SWCC of a subgrade soil derived from the compaction condition was measured and determined by incorporating pore size distribution. For this purpose, a series of laboratory tests were conducted, including the pressure plate method, filter paper method, and vapor equilibrium method, which were used to measure SWCC at the low, medium, and high suction range, respectively. The pore size distribution (PSD) data were obtained by mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) tests and used to predict SWCC. Based on the analysis of hydraulic paths and SWCC-PSD correlations, the SWCC of the subgrade soil should be determined to follow the actual hydraulic path. SWCC within a low suction range can be filled by PSD-based data to improve the fitting accuracy. Then, a graphical method is applied to predict the bimodal SWCC by combining the filter paper method, vapor equilibrium method, and PSD-based data. The prediction curves fit well with the test data for all selected compaction conditions. Furthermore, the prediction method can still provide good prediction performance in the absence of high suction section data, which is beneficial for the application of bimodal SWCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the operation period of tunnels in urban deep aquifer zones, the geological environment around the tunnel is complex and the surrounding strata are rich in groundwater, which often poses a risk of structure cracking and groundwater leakage, seriously threatening the tunnel's safety. To reduce the risk of tunnel cracking, a theoretical calculation model and a three-dimensional concrete–soil interaction thermo-mechanical coupling numerical computing model was established to analyze the tunnel structure cracking risk under the influence of multiple factors in urban deep aquifer zones. The response mechanism of structural stress and deformation under the influence of the grade of rock and soil mass, overburden thickness, temperature difference, structure's length–height ratio, structure's thickness, and structure's elastic modulus was investigated, and the stress and deformation response characteristics of the structure with deformation joints were explored. The results show that the maximum longitudinal tensile stress of the structure increases with the increase in the grade of rock and soil mass, overburden thickness, temperature difference, structure's length–height ratio, and elastic modulus. The temperature difference has the most significant impact on the longitudinal tensile stress of the structure, with the maximum tensile stress of the structure increasing by 2.8 times. The tunnel deformation joints can effectively reduce the longitudinal tensile stress of the structure, and the reduction magnitude of the tensile stress is the largest at the deformation joints, which is 64.7%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pipe jacking method is gradually attracting increasing levels of attention and is becoming an important method for constructing underground engineering. However, jacking large-size concrete pipes in urban core areas subjected to complicated geological conditions is still a big problem preventing the employment of the pipe jacking method, and further studies related to pipe jacking are required. This paper presents a case study on the construction of three parallel large-size reinforced concrete circular pipes in the upper-soft and lower-hard composite formations, in which the construction work was implemented using the slurry balance pipe jacking method with the sequence of jacking the 1# and 3# pipes prior to the 2# pipe being implemented in field construction. This case study was implemented by employing numerical simulations with the aforementioned pipe jacking sequence, which focused on the stress and deformation variations of the reinforced concrete circular pipes, as well as the vertical settlement of the ground surface during the jacking processes, and considering the influences from the excavation pressure and grouting pressure of the drag-reducing thixotropic slurry. The simulation results revealed that a higher excavation pressure from the pipe jacking machine can easily induce an excessive pushing and squeezing effect of the excavated soil with the uplift phenomenon, while the increasing grouting pressure can be used to reduce the overall vertical settlement of the ground surface, whereas an excessive grouting pressure may have no effectiveness on protecting the reinforced concrete circular pipes. This work provides the numerical foundations for investigating the behavior of jacked parallel large-size reinforced concrete circular pipes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Besides, body composition affecting IR and islet beta cell function is not identical in male and female patients. The exclusion criteria were as follows: 1) patients previously diagnosed with diabetes or were taking hypoglycemic drugs; 2) patients diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, gestational diabetes, or other types of diabetes; 3) patients with a malignant tumor, severe cardiovascular, hepatic, or kidney disease. Keywords: body composition; diabetes mellitus; insulin resistance; islet beta cell function EN body composition diabetes mellitus insulin resistance islet beta cell function 723 732 10 04/14/23 20230301 NES 230301 Minglei Ma, Tao Jiang, Zhen Wen, Dongxue Zhang, Lei Xiu Department of Endocrinology, Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China Correspondence: Tao Jiang, Email [email protected] Background During the past few decades, the prevalence of diabetes has increased worldwide, with an estimated prevalence of 12.2% in adults (783.2 million) by 2045.[1] More and more overweight and obese people are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), among which 54.8% are obese and 85.2% are overweight or obese.[2] Insulin resistance (IR) and the gradual decline of islet beta cell function are two major defects contributing to the occurrence and development of T2DM.[3] These defects may also contribute to the development of impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), also known as pre-diabetes (pre-DM), which occur before the diagnosis of DM.[4] Obesity, especially central obesity, is a critical component of metabolic syndrome and a significant risk factor for metabolic diseases such as IR, T2DM, and cardiovascular disease (CVD).[5],[6] Body mass index (BMI) is a traditional indicator of obesity, which has been widely used because of its simplicity and convenience. [Extracted from the article]

The different creep-aging forming processes of 2524 aluminum alloy were taken as the research object, and the effects of creep-aging temperature and creep stress on the fatigue-crack propagation properties of the alloy were studied. The research results showed the following under the same sintering time of 9 h, at creep-aging temperatures of 100 °C, 130 °C, 160 °C, and 180 °C, respectively, with an increase in creep-aging temperature: the fatigue-crack propagation rate was promoted, the spacing of fatigue striations increased, and the sizes of dimples decreased while the number was enlarged; this proves that the fatigue property of the alloy was weakened. Compared with the specimens with creep deformation radii of 1000 mm and 1500 mm, the creep deformation stress was the smallest when the forming radius was 1800 mm, with a higher threshold value of fatigue-crack growth in the near-threshold region of fatigue-crack propagation (ΔK ≤ 8 MPa·m1/2). Under the same fatigue cycle, the specimens under the action of larger creep stress endured a longer fatigue stable-propagation time and a faster fracture speed. Comparing the effect of creep-aging temperature and creep stress, the creep-aging temperature plays a dominant role in the fatigue-crack propagation of creep-aged 2524 aluminum alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To analyze the clinical characteristics of patients with pancreatic cancer (PC) and diabetes and to explore the impact of diabetes duration, weight loss, and hypoglycemic drugs on the tumor biological behavior of PC. Methods: This is a retrospective study on patients with PC and diabetes. Subjects were grouped according to the onset age of PC, distant metastasis, duration of diabetes, degree of weight loss (∆Wt), and type of hypoglycemic drugs. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between diabetes duration, weight loss, hypoglycemic drugs, and early‐onset PC, distant metastasis. Results: Compared with late‐onset PC, patients with early‐onset PC had a higher proportion of new‐onset DM (35 [79.5%] vs. 217 [46.9%], p < 0.001), smoker, drinker, and more obvious weight loss (8.5 [3.8, 15] kg vs. 5 [0, 10] kg, p < 0.001). Patients with remote metastasis had an earlier diagnosis age, heavier weight loss, lower body mass index, and were more likely to be smokers but had cancer less likely to be localized in the head of pancreas. Regression analysis showed that new‐onset diabetes and weight loss were independently correlated to early‐onset PC: odds ratio (OR) = 3.38 (95% CI 1.36‐8.4, p = 0.09; OR = 1.56 (95% CI 1.16‐2.1), p = 0.003, respectively. In contrast, long‐term diabetes, and heavy weight loss were independently associated with remote metastasis: OR = 3.38 (95% CI 1.36‐8.4, p = 0.09; OR = 1.56 (95% CI 1.16‐2.1), p = 0.003, respectively. Conclusion: New‐onset diabetes and weight loss were common presentation and risk factors of early‐onset PC, which required more attention. Long‐term diabetes and heavy weight loss were risk factors contributing to distant metastases, indicating potential risk factors contributing to the adverse prognosis of patients with PC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bridge deck fires are a major concern in recent years because of the increasing number of relative accidents and the following serious consequences. This paper studies the process of bridge deck fire in the full-open environment by using numerical simulation method and then develops the simplified fire model with wind effects. Firstly, the essential parameters of fire scenarios simulation are determined based on previous research. Then, an existing fire experiment is simulated to verify the accuracy of FDS (Fire Dynamics Simulator) simulation program. Bridge deck fire processes with and without wind effects are simulated and the time-dependent temperature laws are obtained in FDS software. At last, a semi-empirical temperature model of bridge deck fire is established and the rationality and accuracy of the proposed model is verified. Results show that the wind effect can strongly influence the burning process of bridge deck fire. The simplified model can be adopted for heat transfer analysis of vehicle-induced bridge deck fire accidents conveniently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating photonics with CMOS electronics in silicon is essential to enable chip-scale, electronic-photonic systems that will revolutionize classical and quantum communication and computing systems. However, the lack of an on-silicon isolator, capable of blocking unwanted back reflections and ensuring the stable operation of the laser, precluded many previous demonstrations from providing single-chip solutions. For most optical systems employing a laser, magneto-optic isolators have been indispensable, but such isolators are incompatible with silicon. To stabilize on-chip lasers, reflections-cancellation circuits were proposed as a way to reduce the reflections going back to the laser. Yet, a stable laser against time-varying back reflections was never demonstrated. Here we demonstrate a stable quantum well-distributed feedback (QWDFB) laser against slowly time-varying reflections using a reflections-cancellation circuit (RCC) on a foundry-produced, silicon-photonic (SiP) chip. The optical spectrum and the relative intensity noise (RIN) of the laser when the RCC was running is comparable to when an isolator was used. By accurately locking the laser in a stable optical feedback regime, the RCC further enhances the QWDFB laser performance by reducing its linewidth by a factor of 100, down to 3 kHz. Both results are enabled using novel techniques in the design, calibration, tuning, and control of the proposed SiP RCC. The optical insertion loss of the RCC is less than 1.5 dB for reflections smaller than −20 dB and can yield isolation ranges of up to 64 dB. Our device paves the way towards the mass production of fully integrated, low-cost electronic-photonic silicon chips without attaching magneto-optic isolators between the laser and the SiP chip. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The self‐healable hydrogels have attracted increasing attention due to their promising potential for ensuring the durability and reliability of hydrogels. However, they still face a serious challenge to achieve a positive balance between mechanical and healing performance, especially for the room‐temperature autonomous self‐healable hydrogels. Herein, a simple but efficient strategy to fabricate a kind of dynamic boronate and hydrogen bonds dual‐crosslinked double network (DN) hydrogel based on a UV‐initiated one‐pot in situ polymerization of N‐acryloyl glycinamide (NAGA) in polyvinyl alcohol‐borax slime is reported. The obtained PN‐x/PB hydrogels, especially with high content of PNAGA, are shown to possess high mechanical strength, high toughness, and fatigue‐resistance properties as well as excellent self‐healability at room temperature (nearly 88% self‐healing efficiency based on the strain compression test), due to the dynamic DN structure, and the combination of the adaptable and reconfigurable dynamic boronate bonds and hydrogen bonds. Considering the easily available materials and simple preparation process, this novel strategy should offer not only a kind of dynamic DN hydrogel with robust mechanical performance and high self‐healing capability, but also enrich the methodological toolbox for synergistic integration of dynamic covalent bonds and hydrogen bonds to surmount the tradeoff between mechanical properties and self‐healing capacity of hydrogels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate automated adaptation, and stabilization of a silicon photonic wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM), polarization-independent receiver. A two-channel, tunable WDM polarization-independent receiver is designed, and used to demonstrate automated WDM polarization control. Using a control algorithm based on Barzilai, and Borwein's two-point step size gradient descent method, we realize automated polarization adaptation, and wavelength stabilization for two arbitrarily polarized input data streams. 10 Gb/s on-off keying, and 20 Gb/s pulse-amplitude modulation 4-level formats are generated as the high-speed input data streams. In addition, we implement a long-duration experiment, in which we measure the bit-error-ratio for continuously varying polarization states, and changing chip temperatures. The experimental results show that, with the automated control, the WDM polarization-independent receiver can adapt, stabilize, and track the arbitrary input polarization states from a standard optical fiber into the transverse electric mode of a silicon waveguide, and simultaneously stabilize the transmitted wavelength channels at various chip temperatures. We also show how the presented WDM polarization-independent receiver scales with N channels, and propose an improved design for large-scale WDM applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. In this study, we assessed the effects of dietary magnesium on leukocyte telomere length (LTL). Designs. The current cross-sectional analysis was based on data collected within a type 2 diabetes project. Settings. Dietary magnesium intake is associated with peripheral blood leukocyte telomere length (LTL). However, few epidemiological studies have evaluated the effects of magnesium on LTL in the clinical setting. Participants. This cross-sectional analysis included 467 participants (34.8% men). Measurements. Serum blood lipid profile, HbA1c, oxidative stress, and proinflammatory mediator levels were measured. Detailed dietary data were obtained using a 24 h food recall. LTL was assessed using a real-time PCR assay. Regression models and simple regulatory models were used for data analysis. Results. There was an inverse relationship between dietary magnesium and LTL (P < 0.001), with a between-extreme-quarter difference of -0.55. Conversely, there was a positive relationship between dietary magnesium and serum tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α, with an interquarter difference of 3.79 pmol/mL (P for trend = 0.006). Multivariate regression analysis revealed that the odds ratios (ORs) for shorter LTL and higher serum TNFα increased with magnesium intake, and the ORs of the differences between extreme quartiles were 2.60 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.31–5.36; P = 0.003) and 1.98 (95% CI: 1.09–3.59; P = 0.008). There was a direct negative effect of dietary magnesium intake on LTL (B = − 0.002 ; P = 0.001), which appeared to be indirectly influenced by TNFα (-0.002 to -0.0005). Conclusions. Dietary magnesium intake may be a critical component of the cellular aging process, and its effect could be partly mediated by TNFα. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Previous studies have revealed dysregulated circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Here, we explored the serum levels of miR-21, miR-25, miR-146a, and miR-181a in patients with autoimmune diabetes (T1D and latent autoimmune diabetes of adults (LADA)) compared with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and nondiabetic individuals. Design, patients, and measurements. The serum levels of miR-21, miR-25, miR-146a, and miR-181a in patients with T1D (n = 29), LADA (n = 16), and T2D (n = 31) and in nondiabetic individuals (n = 19) were determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were evaluated to determine the discriminatory performances of these four miRNAs. Furthermore, target genes and pathways potentially modulated by these four miRNAs were predicted by bioinformatics analysis to investigate the possible functions of these miRNAs in autoimmune diabetes. Subsequently, multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to identify independent predictors for autoimmune diabetes, and a nomogram was established. Results. miR-21, miR-25, miR-146a, and miR-181a were significantly downregulated in the serum of patients with autoimmune diabetes compared with those in T2D patients and nondiabetic individuals (p<0.001). The areas under the ROC curves of these four miRNAs were greater than 0.80 (p<0.001). Bioinformatics analysis suggested that miR-21, miR-25, miR-146a, and miR-181a regulated multiple genes in pathways associated with immunity, inflammatory responses, hyperglycemia, and metabolism, which are involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diabetes. Multiple logistic regression analysis identified miR-25 (odds ratio (OR): 0.001, p<0.05), miR-146a (OR: 0.136, p<0.05), and fasting C-peptide levels (OR: 0.064, p<0.05) as independent predictors of autoimmune diabetes. Conclusions. miR-25 and miR-146a may serve as potential circulating biomarkers and provide insights into the pathogenesis of autoimmune diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrocephalus may cause Parinaud's syndrome which consists of vertical gaze palsy, convergence palsy, lid retraction and pupil light-near dissociation. We are aware of only two prior reports of hydrocephalus presenting with bilateral ptosis. Both were cured by ventriculoperitoneal shunts. We report a 28-month-old girl who presented acute bilateral ptosis but full eye movements both sides. Neuroimages revealed chronic hydrocephalus and aqueductal stenosis. The bilateral ptosis resolved quickly after endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the work done by researchers at INRS and UBC in the field of integrated microwave photonics (IMWPs) using silicon based waveguide Bragg gratings (WBGs). The grating design methodology is discussed in detail, including practical device fabrication considerations. On-chip implementations of various fundamental photonic signal processing units, including Fourier transformers, Hilbert transformers, ultrafast pulse shapers etc., are reviewed. Recent progress on WBGs-based IMWP subsystems, such as true time delay elements, phase shifters, real time frequency identification systems, is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We experimentally demonstrate compact broadband directional couplers using subwavelength gratings for silicon-on-insulator wafers with silicon layers of 220 nm. The dispersion properties of the optical modes are engineered using subwavelength gratings, which allow broadband operation. Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD)-based band structure calculations, with significantly reduced simulation time, were used to analyze the design, which included both the structure and material dispersions. Compact broadband direction couplers, with device lengths shorter than 14 \mu\textm, which cover a bandwidth of 100 nm for power splitting ratios of 50/50, 40/60, 30/70, and 20/80, are designed and fabricated for the fundamental transverse electric mode with a central operating wavelength of 1550 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents an experimental investigation of the performances of concrete-filled glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) and GFRP externally wound steel circular tubes, subjected to freeze-thaw cycles ranging from -18°C to 18°C. The variation in hoop strains of the tubes during the freeze-thaw cycles was monitored by embedded fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) strain sensors in GFRP layers or between GFRP and steel tube. The residual hoop strain after each freeze-thaw cycle indicates the possible degradation of GFRP materials, such as cracks, debonding of GFRP-concrete or GFRP-steel due to mismatch of the coefficient of thermal expansion, as well as water immersion. A synergistic effect of FRP and steel tubes on the confinement of inside concrete was revealed, resulting in well-improved ductility. After 56 freeze-thaw cycles, remarkable degradation were found in the axial strength, modulus, and strain for concrete-filled GFRP tubes. However, the GFRP-steel tube system showed a negligible reduction in the ultimate axial strain by the freeze-thaw cycles with less degradation in the axial strength and modulus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]