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Roof plate-specific spondin 1 (R-spondin1, RSPO1) is a Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway activator that binds with Wnt ligands to stimulate the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, which is key to hair regeneration. However, it is not clear whether recombinant RSPO1 (rRSPO1) affects hair regeneration. Here, we treat C57BL/6 male mice with rRSPO1 and investigate the expression of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and the activation of hair follicle stem cells in the dorsal skin. The mouse skin color score and hair-covered area are determined to describe hair growth, and the skin samples are subjected to H&E staining, western blot analysis and immunofluorescence staining to evaluate hair follicle development and the expressions of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway-related proteins. We find that rRSPO1 activates mouse hair follicle stem cells (mHFSCs) and accelerates hair regeneration. rRSPO1 increases the hair-covered area, the number of hair follicles, and the hair follicle diameter and length. Moreover, rRSPO1 enhances the activity of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway-related proteins and the expressions of HFSC markers, as well as mHFSC viability. These results indicate that subcutaneous injection of rRSPO1 can improve hair follicle development by activating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, thereby promoting hair regeneration. This study demonstrates that rRSPO1 has the potential to treat hair loss by activating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

The intensity of air leakage not only increases the risk of spontaneous combustion of coal, but also is the cause of coal fire disasters caused by spontaneous combustion of coal left in the goaf. Aim to find the influence of the air leakage intensity on the spontaneous combustion characteristics of the remaining coal when the fire zone is opened, the coal spontaneous combustion characteristics measuring device is used to conduct a temperature-programming experiment on the coal samples, and then Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR) is used for analysis to obtain different gas environments. The relative content of functional groups changes at each characteristic temperature point. The results show that in the oxygen-containing groups, the content of -COOH increases as the temperature rises. Although the change range of -C-O- is not obvious with the rise of the temperature point, its content is relatively high; in the functional groups of -OH, it is present at all temperature stages. It exists and the peak intensity is obvious; among the aliphatic hydrocarbons, the peak areas of -CH3 and -CH2 are both large, and both dry air and nitrogen atmosphere participate in the reaction at various temperature points, and the activity is high. Through structural parameter value analysis, T120 is the key active point temperature. In the coal sample that is naturally cooled under dry air or nitrogen atmosphere, the functional groups of the raw coal react more violently in T120, and the functional groups change more. As a whole, the increasing and decreasing trend of functional group changes in nitrogen atmosphere is smaller than that in dry air atmosphere, and the risk of coal re-ignition is also reduced.

With the rapid development of sensors and other devices, precise control for the generation of new energy, especially in the context of highly stochastic wind power generation, has been strongly supported. However, large-scale wind farm grid connection can cause the power system to enter a low inertia state, leading to frequency instability. Battery energy storage systems (BESSs) have the advantages of a fast response speed and high flexibility, and can be applied to wind farm systems to improve the frequency fluctuation problem in the process of grid connection. To address the frequency fluctuation problem caused by the parameter error of the fuzzy membership function in the fuzzy control of a doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) and a BESS, this paper proposes an improved Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm based on multi-source sensor data for optimizing the fuzzy controller to improve the frequency control ability of BESSs and DFIGs. A Gaussian wandering mechanism was introduced to improve the ABC algorithm and enhance the convergence speed of the algorithm, and the improved ABC algorithm was optimized for the selection of fuzzy control affiliation function parameters to improve the frequency response performance. The effectiveness of the proposed control strategy was verified on the MATLAB/Simulink simulation platform. After optimization using the proposed control strategy, the oscillation amplitude was reduced by 0.15 Hz, the precision was increased by 40%, and the steady-state frequency deviation was reduced by 26%. The results show that the method proposed in this paper provides a great improvement in the frequency stability of coordinated systems of wind farms and BESSs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing researches do not consider that coal of different particle sizes in the goaf is affected by the axial stress generated by the collapsed coal rock and the residual coal pillars, which will cause major changes in the coal permeability, fracture structure and other parameters, thereby affecting the temperature rise process of coal spontaneous combustion and oxidation. In order to study the temperature rise characteristics of spontaneous combustion and oxidation of coal with different particle sizes under the effect of thermal-stress coupling, the change law of the temperature rise rate, oxygen consumption rate and heat production rate of coal with different particle sizes is measured by using load-and-pressure coal spontaneous combustion characteristic parameter measuring device and a gas chromatograph. The experiment show the results as follows. ① The temperature rise rate of coal samples of different particle sizes under different uniaxial stresses has a consistent trend with the increase of temperature, and the overall trend is to increase first and then decrease. When the uniaxial stress is 2, 4, 6, 8 MPa, as the particle size of the coal sample increases, the maximum temperature rise rate first increases and then decreases. When the uniaxial stress is 10 MPa, the maximum temperature rise rate increases with the increase of particle size. ② The oxygen consumption rate of coal samples with different particle sizes increases rapidly and then increases slowly during the temperature rise process. The oxygen consumption rate of coal samples with different particle sizes generally tends to increase with the increase of uniaxial stress. ③ The overall heat production rate of coal samples with different particle sizes tends to remain stable first and then increase and then decrease during the temperature rise process. As the particle size of coal samples increases, the maximum heat production rate of coal samples under appropriate uniaxial stress is greater than that without uniaxial stress.

The increasing proportion of new energy in the power system leads to a decrease in system inertia and weakens the frequency stability of the system. The use of grid-forming (GFM) control for inverters is an effective method to improve frequency stability in new energy generation systems. Due to uncertain disturbances in microgrids, it can cause changes in system frequency. A control strategy for linear active disturbance rejection control combined with model information (LADRC-MI) is proposed in this manuscript. In this method, the inertia level and damping of the system are improved by using virtual synchronous generator (VSG)-based GFM control. Then, the obtained part of the model information is written into the coefficient matrix of the linear extended state observer. The LADRC-MI is constructed to improve the immunity of the controller. Finally, the effectiveness of the strategy in improving the immunity and frequency stability of the converter is analyzed and verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spent LiFePO4 batteries are gradually increasing in popularity and interest, and their stable and insoluble olive-shaped structure poses a great challenge for the sustainable recycling of Li. In this study, a simple and sustainable Ca(ClO)2 system was proposed for the recovery of spent LiFePO4 battery cathode materials. The effects of both mechanochemical activation and hydrometallurgical enhanced leaching on the deconstruction of LiFePO4 and the leaching rates of Li and Fe in the Ca(ClO)2 system were studied. Compared with mechanochemical activation, Ca(ClO)2-assisted hydrometallurgical enhanced leaching can simultaneously achieve the separation and enrichment of the target components Li+ and Fe3+ and the Ca2+ impurities. The transformation path and reaction mechanism of LiFePO4 in the Ca(ClO)2 system were proposed based on the phase composition and micromorphology of the reaction products. In addition, the economic evaluation results show that Ca(ClO)2-assisted hydrometallurgical enhanced leaching has a high recovery economy. The developed Ca(ClO)2 system realizes the strong dissolution of spent LiFePO4 battery cathode materials and the sustainable comprehensive recovery of valuable components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Dysbiosis of gut microbiota is causally linked to impaired host glucose metabolism. We aimed to study effects of the new method of fecal microbiota transplantation, washed microbiota transplantation (WMT), on reducing glycemic variability (GV) in unstable diabetes. Methods: Fourteen eligible patients received three allogenic WMTs and were followed up at 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months. Primary outcomes were daily insulin dose, glucose excursions during meal tests, and GV indices calculated from continuous monitoring or self‐monitoring glucose values. Secondary outcomes were multiomics data, including 16S rRNA gene sequencing, metagenomics, and metabolomics to explore underlying mechanisms. Results: Daily insulin dose and glucose excursions markedly dropped, whereas GV indices significantly improved up to 1 month. WMT increased gut microbial alpha diversity, beta diversity, and network complexity. Taxonomic changes featured lower abundance of genera Bacteroides and Escherichia‐Shigella, and higher abundance of genus Prevotella. Metagenomics functional annotations revealed enrichment of distinct microbial metabolic pathways, including methane biosynthesis, citrate cycle, amino acid degradation, and butyrate production. Derived metabolites correlated significantly with improved GV indices. WMT did not change circulating inflammatory cytokines, enteroendocrine hormones, or C‐peptide. Conclusions: WMT showed strong ameliorating effect on GV, raising the possibility of targeting gut microbiota as an effective regimen to reduce GV in diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThere is a wide range of applications where the local extrema of a function are the key quantity of interest. However, there is surprisingly little work on methods to infer local extrema with uncertainty quantification in the presence of noise. By viewing the function as an infinite-dimensional nuisance parameter, a semiparametric formulation of this problem poses daunting challenges, both methodologically and theoretically, as (i) the number of local extrema may be unknown, and (ii) the induced shape constraints associated with local extrema are highly irregular. In this article, we build upon a derivative-constrained Gaussian process prior recently proposed by Yu et al. to derive what we call an encompassing approach that indexes possibly multiple local extrema by a single parameter. We provide closed-form characterization of the posterior distribution and study its large sample behavior under this unconventional encompassing regime. We show that the posterior measure converges to a mixture of Gaussians with the number of components matching the underlying truth, leading to posterior exploration that accounts for multi-modality. Point and interval estimates of local extrema with frequentist properties are also provided. The encompassing approach leads to a remarkably simple, fast semiparametric approach for inference on local extrema. We illustrate the method through simulations and a real data application to event-related potential analysis. Supplementary materials for this article are available online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A thermal energy storage–updraft gasification device is a type of reactor that should be considered for use in solid waste gasification research that can save energy. However, the operating parameters and internal flow field during its operation remain unclear. In this study, a numerical model of the thermal energy storage–solid waste gasification device based on the computational fluid dynamics dense discrete phase model (CFD-DDPM) which had almost never been used before was established, and an innovative method that causes particles to be piled to simulate the gasification process was proposed according to the updraft fixed bed gasification characteristics; meanwhile, solid waste gasification experiments were conducted on the device. This study focused on the influence of moisture content and excess air coefficient on the gasification process of solid waste particles, and the velocity, pressure, temperature, and species distribution of the internal flow field of the device were analyzed. Simulation results showed that the higher the moisture content of particles, the greater the amplitude of changes in the internal physical field of the device. The fluid pressure drop is around 25 Pa–75 Pa for different working conditions. The combustible species of the gas of moist particles raise slightly with the increase in excess air coefficient, while the dry particles have the opposite effect. Compared with other gasification devices of the same type, the hydrogen production of this device is about 2–3 times higher. Our findings could facilitate the analysis, predict the operation status, and provide a theoretical basis for the improvement of this device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep convolutional neural networks have achieved remarkable progress in recent years. However, the large volume of intermediate results generated during inference poses a significant challenge to the accelerator design for resource-constrained field-programmable gate array (FPGA). Due to the limited on-chip storage, partial results of intermediate layers are frequently transferred back and forth between on-chip memory and off-chip DRAM, leading to a nonnegligible increase in latency and energy consumption. In this article, we propose block convolution, a hardware-friendly, simple, yet efficient convolution operation that can completely avoid the off-chip transfer of intermediate feature maps at runtime. The fundamental idea of block convolution is to eliminate the dependency of feature map tiles in the spatial dimension when spatial tiling is used, which is realized by splitting a feature map into independent blocks so that convolution can be performed separately on individual blocks. We conduct extensive experiments to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed block convolution on both the algorithm side and the hardware side. Specifically, we evaluate block convolution on: 1) VGG-16, ResNet-18, ResNet-50, and MobileNet-V1 for the ImageNet classification task; 2) SSD and FPN for the COCO object detection task; and 3) VDSR for the Set5 single-image superresolution task. Experimental results demonstrate that comparable or higher accuracy can be achieved with block convolution. We also showcase two CNN accelerators via algorithm/hardware co-design based on block convolution on memory-limited FPGAs, and evaluation shows that both accelerators substantially outperform the baseline without off-chip transfer of intermediate feature maps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Persistent elevated concentrations of urinary protein can destroy proximal tubule epithelial cells (PTECs) by inducing lysosomal abnormalities, thereby aggravating PTEC damage and renal fibrosis. However, the specific mechanisms of these serial biochemical events and methods for treating or preventing PTEC damage upon proteinuria need further investigation. Results: In this study, electron microscopy and dual‐labeled immunofluorescence analysis for identifying lysosome type revealed inadequate primary lysosome biogenesis and secondary lysosome accumulation in the PTECs of patients with minimal change nephrotic syndrome or membranous nephropathy who suffered from proteinuria. In vitro studies on HK‐2 cells indicated that this abnormality was associated with decreased expression of transcription factor EB (TFEB). In contrast, TFEB overexpressing HK‐2 cells under urinary protein overload exhibited significantly reduced accumulation of secondary lysosomes and increased proportion and quantity of primary lysosomes as indicated by dual‐labeled immunofluorescence. Further, these cells could upregulate lysosomal degradation functions, as determined using Cathepsin L activity assays and flow cytometry for dye quenched‐albumin. Conclusions: These results indicate that abnormal TFEB expression is a key mechanism of lysosomal dyshomeostasis caused by protein overload in PTECs. TFEB is thus a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of urinary protein‐related kidney disease. Key Findings: Proteinuria destroys proximal tubule epithelial cells (PTECs) via lysosomal damage.TFEB expression in PTECs is decreased upon urinary protein treatment.TFEB overexpression PTECS prevents the lysosomal damage caused by urinary protein.TFEB is thus a therapeutic target for urinary protein‐related renal disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Findings: What is the central question of this study?Research has reported that some sensory input, such as auditory and olfactory input, can affect subliminal visual processing. However, it is important to address whether tactile input, another form of elementary sensory input, could influence the interocular rivalry process.What is the main finding and its importance?We present several pieces of evidence regarding the influences of familiar tactile shapes and temperature on continuous flash suppression. Our findings provide support for the hypothesis that there is a cross‐modal effect on subconscious visual semantic processing of Chinese characters. More specifically, tactile sensations affect subliminal processing of visual information. Tactile and visual sensations are the most vital human functions for obtaining environmental information. However, whether tactile information influences visual processing remains unclear. In this study, a breaking continuous flash suppression (b‐CFS) protocol was used to measure the extent to which tactile sensations facilitate visual processing subconsciously. In experiment 1, finger stimulation with cold and hot temperatures served as primers for the words 'cold' and 'hot', which were in turn suppressed by CFS. In experiment 2, subjects viewed the upright or inverted word 'cell phone', with or without tactile priming of holding a cell phone in their hand. Results demonstrated that the tactile primer significantly shortened the reaction time in the touch group compared with the control group in both experiments. Thus, the tactile sensation of a familiar article and/or temperature appears to facilitate corresponding visual semantic recognition to break CFS earlier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common clinical disease that can cause serious harm to the kidneys, but it has no effective treatment till now. The modulation of autophagy pathway regulation is considered a potentially effective therapeutic approach in AKI prevention and treatment. ZKSCAN3 has been shown to be an important transcription factor that negatively regulates autophagy activity in cancer tissues. In order to determine whether autophagy could be activated by knocking out ZKSCAN3 to exert the renal protective effect of autophagy, we constructed AKI models with Zkscan3 knockout (KO) mice and detected renal pathological changes and renal function changes as well as autophagy-related indicators. We found that Zkscan3 KO had no significant effect on kidney development. Besides, no significant changes in autophagy activity were observed under normal physiological or AKI conditions. In non-tumor tissues, ZKSCAN3 did not mediate transcriptional regulation of autophagy-related genes. These findings suggest that because ZKSCAN3 may not function in the transcriptional regulation of autophagy-related genes in non-tumor tissues, it may not be used as a therapeutic target for AKI. • The activity of the autophagy pathway in renal cortical tissue decreased with increased ZKSCAN3 expression after AKI. • Zkscan3 knockdown did not affect kidney development in mice. • Knockout of zkscan3 in mice failed to activate autophagy and to alleviate cisplatin-induced AKI and sepsis AKI. • ZKSCAN3 may have no function in the transcriptional regulation of autophagy-related genes in non-tumor tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The structural and electronic properties of individual titanium oxide nanotubes have been studied using both empirical and ab initio calculations. Two different types of titanium oxide nanotubes (A-nanotube and B-nanotube) have been constructed and energy-minimized by molecular mechanics calculations. We found that the A-nanotubes are energetically more favorable than the B-nanotubes. The electronic band structure of the titanium oxide nanotubes was also calculated with respect to the tubule diameter and the tubule type using the ab initio method. The band gap of the A-nanotube was reduced by up to 60% as the tubule diameter decreases from 1.2 nm to 0.5 nm. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Microcomputed tomography is now widely used for in vivo small animal imaging for cancer studies. Achieving high imaging quality of live objects requires the x-ray source to have both high spatial and temporal resolutions. Preliminary studies have shown that carbon nanotube (CNT) based field emission x-ray source has significant intrinsic advantages over the conventional thermionic x-ray tube including better temporal resolution and programmability. Here we report the design and characterization of a CNT based field emission x-ray source that also affords a high spatial resolution. The device uses modified asymmetric Einzel lenses for electron focusing and an elliptical shaped CNT cathode patterned by photolithography. Stable and small isotropic x-ray focal spot sizes were obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a method that allows direct, systematic, and accurate determination of the atomic structure of multiwalled carbon nanotubes by analyzing the scattering intensities on the nonequatorial layer lines in the electron diffraction pattern. Complete structure determination of a quadruple-walled carbon nanotube is described as an example, and it was found that the intertubular distance varied from 0.36 nm to 0.5 nm with a mean value of 0.42 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Mitochondrial injury promotes the occurrence and development of kidney diseases. • Existing assays used to determine mitochondrial function have limitations. • Elevated UmtDNA is a novel noninvasive biomarker for mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondrial injury plays an important role in the occurrence and development of kidney diseases. However, the existing assays to determine mitochondrial function restrict our ability to understand the relationship between mitochondrial dysfunction and kidney damage. These limitations may be overcome by recent findings on urinary mitochondrial DNA (UmtDNA). Elevated UmtDNA level may serve as a surrogate biomarker of mitochondrial dysfunction, kidney damage, and progression and prognosis of kidney diseases. Herein, we review the recent research progress on UmtDNA in kidney diseases diagnosis and highlight the research areas that should be expanded in future as well as discuss the future perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An elevated level of von Willebrand factor (VWF) in diabetic patients is associated with increased risk of thrombotic cardiovascular events. The underlying mechanism of how VWF expression is upregulated in diabetes mellitus is poorly understood. We now report that hyperglycemia-induced repression of microRNA-24 (miR-24) increases VWF expression and secretion in diabetes mellitus. In diabetic patients and diabetic mouse models (streptozotocin/high-fat diet-induced and db/db mice), miR-24 is reduced in both tissues and plasma. Knockdown of miR-24 in mice leads to increased VWF mRNA and protein levels and enhanced platelet tethering (spontaneous thrombosis). miR-24 tightly controls VWF levels through pleiotropic effects, including direct binding to the 3' untranslated region of VWF and targeting FURIN and the histamine H1 receptor, known regulators of VWF processing and secretion in endothelial cells. We present a novel mechanism for miR-24 downregulation through hyperglycemia-induced activation of aldose reductase, reactive oxygen species, and c-Myc. These findings support a critical role for hyperglycemic repression of miR-24 in VWF-induced pathology. miR-24 represents a novel therapeutic target to prevent adverse thrombotic events in patients with diabetes mellitus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the cerebrovascular endothelium, monocarboxylic acid transporter 1 (Mct1) controls blood–brain transport of short chain monocarboxylic and keto acids, including pyruvate and lactate, to support brain energy metabolism. Mct1 function is acutely decreased in rat brain cerebrovascular endothelial cells by β-adrenergic signaling through cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP); however, the mechanism for this acute reduction in transport capacity is unknown. In this report, we demonstrate that cAMP induces the dephosphorylation and internalization of Mct1 from the plasma membrane into caveolae and early endosomes in the RBE4 rat brain cerebrovascular endothelial cell line. Additionally, we provide evidence that Mct1 constitutively cycles through clathrin vesicles and recycling endosomes in a pathway that is not dependent upon cAMP signaling in these cells. Our results are important because they show for the first time the regulated and unregulated vesicular trafficking of Mct1 in cerebrovascular endothelial cells; processes which have significance for better understanding normal brain energy metabolism, and the etiology and potential therapeutic approaches to treating brain diseases, such as stroke, in which lactic acidosis is a key component. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose: To demonstrate the computed tomography, conformal irradiation, and treatment planning capabilities of a small animal radiation research platform (SARRP). Methods and Materials: The SARRP uses a dual-focal spot, constant voltage X-ray source mounted on a gantry with a source-to-isocenter distance of 35 cm. Gantry rotation is limited to 120° from vertical. X-rays of 80–100 kVp from the smaller 0.4-mm focal spot are used for imaging. Both 0.4-mm and 3.0-mm focal spots operate at 225 kVp for irradiation. Robotic translate/rotate stages are used to position the animal. Cone-beam computed tomography is achieved by rotating the horizontal animal between the stationary X-ray source and a flat-panel detector. The radiation beams range from 0.5 mm in diameter to 60 × 60 mm2. Dosimetry is measured with radiochromic films. Monte Carlo dose calculations are used for treatment planning. The combination of gantry and robotic stage motions facilitate conformal irradiation. Results: The SARRP spans 3 ft × 4 ft × 6 ft (width × length × height). Depending on the filtration, the isocenter dose outputs at a 1-cm depth in water were 22–375 cGy/min from the smallest to the largest radiation fields. The 20–80% dose falloff spanned 0.16 mm. Cone-beam computed tomography with 0.6 × 0.6 × 0.6 mm3 voxel resolution was acquired with a dose of <1 cGy. Treatment planning was performed at submillimeter resolution. Conclusion: The capability of the SARRP to deliver highly focal beams to multiple animal model systems provides new research opportunities that more realistically bridge laboratory research and clinical translation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]