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Background A nomogram is a tool that transforms complex regression equations into simple and visual graphs and enables clinicians and patients to conveniently compute output probabilities without needing medical knowledge and complex formulas. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a predictive nomogram to screen for severe caries among 12-year-old children based on risk factors in Sichuan Province, China. Methods A cross-sectional study of 4573 12-year-olds was conducted up to May 2016 in middle schools from three districts and three counties in Sichuan Province, China. All the children underwent oral examinations and completed questionnaires to assess general information, oral impacts on daily performance, dietary habits, subjective health conditions, history of dental trauma, frequency of toothache, dental visits, and knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours toward oral hygiene. Univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to determine which variables were significantly associated with severe caries (operationalized as DMFT ≥ 3). A nomogram was developed and validated by using the ‘rms’ package and two cross-validation methods. Results Severe caries was found in 537 of the 4573 children (11.74%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the following variables predicted a higher risk of severe caries: ‘female’ [odds ratio (OR) = 1.985, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.63–2.411], ‘urban’ (OR = 2.389, 95% CI: 1.96–2.91), ‘non-only child’ (OR = 1.317, 95% CI: 1.07–1.625), ‘very poor self-assessment of oral health status’ (OR = 2.157, 95% CI: 1.34–3.467) and ‘visited a dentist less than 6 months’ (OR = 1.861, 95% CI: 1.38–2.505). Multivariate logistic regression analysis also indicated that the following variables predicted a lower risk of severe caries: ‘middle level of urbanization’ (OR = 0.395, 95% CI: 0.32–0.495) and ‘high level of urbanization’ (OR = 0.466, 95% CI: 0.37–0.596). Both the fivefold and leave-one-out cross-validation methods indicated that the nomogram model built by these 6 variables displayed good disease recognition ability. Conclusions The nomogram was a simple-to-use model to screen children for severe caries. This model was found to facilitate non-dental professionals in assessing risk values without oral examinations and making referrals to dental professionals.

Histone acetylation which regulates about 2-10% of genes has been demonstrated to be involved in tumorigenesis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). In this study, we investigated the treatment response of ESCC to selective histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) LMK-235 and potential biomarker predicting the treatment sensitivity. We identified tensin-3 (TNS3) which was highly over-expressed in ESCC as one of the down-regulated genes in response to LMK-235 treatment. TNS3 was found positively correlated with the tumor malignancy and poor prognosis in the patients. Silencing TNS3 significantly inhibited ESCC cell proliferation both in vitro and in vivo, sensitizing the treatment response to LMK-235. Our findings provide an insight into understanding the oncogenic role of TNS3 in ESCC and its clinical application for HDAC targeted therapy of ESCC.

ATF3 (activating transcription factor 3) is a member of the mammalian activation transcription factor/cAMP-responsive element-binding (CREB) family. It plays a role in inflammation and innate immunity, and suggests that ATF3 is associated with atherosclerosis. In our study, we analyzed datasets of atherosclerosis from the NCBI-GEO (Gene Expression Omnibus) database and found that expression levels of ATF3 were lower in macrophages from ruptured atherosclerotic plaques than from stable atherosclerotic plaques. Expression levels of ATF3 correlated with the stability of atherosclerotic plaques. KEGG analysis of different expression genes (DEGs) between ruptured and stable atherosclerotic plaques was performed by Metascape database. The PI3K-AKT pathway may be a potential pathway of the formation of ruptured atherosclerotic plaques. High-fat diet-induced atherosclerosis apoE-/- mice were divided into two groups: a model group and an ATF3 overexpression (OE)-group. Tests on atherosclerotic plaques in the aortic root suggested that absence of ATF3 and increase of macrophages may be risk factors for the formation of ruptured atherosclerotic plaques. We found decreased areas of lesions in aortic roots and branches of aortic arch, as well as increased lesional content of macrophages as well as TUNEL-positive areas. Consistent with these results, we found reduced degradation and incidence of elastic plate cracks accompanied by suppressed MMPs expression and transduction pathway protein PI3K/AKT activation. These data suggest that ATF3 is a signaling molecule that mediates the progression and stability of atherosclerotic plaques. ATF3 could be a potential new biomarker for the prognosis of atherosclerosis and may be a therapeutic target to reduce atherosclerosis.

As the most favored high-quality biopolymer, silk fiber is widely used in the textile and medical industries owing to its impressive mechanical properties, wear comfort properties, and biocompatibility. However, its photoinstability, chemical instability, and thermal instability seriously hinder its utilization in luxurious fashionable apparels. Therefore, we herein report the preparation of an ultrathin and uniform TiO2-Al2O3 cloth with a thickness of just six in a thousand of fiber on silkworm silk fiber via atomic layer deposition. In this ultrathin composite cloth, the outer TiO2 layer acts as a sacrificial ultraviolet (UV) absorbent to dissipate large amounts of UV energy. Free radicals and electrons generated by the TiO2 layer are effectively blocked outside the surface of the bulk silk fiber by the inner insulating Al2O3 layer. The excellent UV-resistance of the modified silk fiber was confirmed by a lack of fade in the silk fabric after exposure to UV light for 60 min (equal to continuous exposure to strong sunlight for 3285 days). Compared with silk fiber, the tenacity of the prepared SF-200Al2O3-800TiO2 increased by 18.9% even after sunlight exposure. In addition, both the chemical and thermal stabilities of the modified silk fiber were improved. This technology is expected to have potential applications in various fields, such as high-end fabric development and smart materials, and will further guide material design for future innovations in functional fibers and devices.

A matricellular protein periostin has been documented to promote macrophage recruitment in atherosclerotic lesions. However, the role of periostin in macrophage foam cell formation is still unknown. In this study, we examined the expression and function of periostin in cholesterol homeostasis in macrophages. The role of periostin in mediating Ang II-induced foam cell formation was also investigated. The mechanism by which Ang II induced the expression of periostin was explored. It was found that oxLDL treatment significantly increased the expression and secretion of periostin in THP-1 macrophages. Knockdown of periostin blocked oxLDL-induced lipid accumulation and enhanced cholesterol efflux. In contrast, treatment with recombinant periostin protein enhanced oxLDL-induced macrophage foam cell formation. Ang II caused a time-dependent induction of periostin in THP-1 macrophages, which was ascribed to Twist2-mediated transactivation of periostin. Ang II treatment significantly augmented lipid accumulation in THP-1 macrophages, and knockdown of periostin blocked the effect of Ang II on foam cell formation. Moreover, periostin depletion restored cholesterol efflux in Ang II-treated THP-1 macrophages. Clinically, there was a significant positive correlation between serum periostin and Ang II levels in patients with atherosclerosis. Collectively, we show that periostin is essential for Ang II-induced enhancement of macrophage foam cell formation via suppression of cholesterol efflux.

Background Numerous studies have shown that the proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) were the pathological basis of restenosis occurrence. And Renin and prorenin could promote the proliferation of VSMCs through (pro)renin receptor ((P)RR). Therefore, this study aimed to observe the role of (P)RR in the proliferation of VSMCs in vitro and neointimal hyperplasia in the arterial injury model. Methods Cell proliferation was measured by CCK-8 and flow cytometry; RT-PCR and WB assays were used to detect the expressions of cyclin D1, PCNA, (P)RR, NOX1, and PI3K/AKT signal proteins; immunofluorescent staining was conducted to measure the expression of (P)RR; the levels of renin, PDGF-BB, inflammatory factors, and oxidative stress were determined by ELISA; pathological change was observed by HE staining. Results In this study, we demonstrated that renin could promote the proliferation of rat VSMCs by enhanced cell viability and cell cycle proteins, but silencing (P)RR restrained this. Then, we found that renin could enhance the levels of NOX1-mediated oxidative stress and inflammation by activating ERK1/2-AKT pathway in vitro. Similarly, inhibition of (P)RR resulted in opposite phenomenon. Importantly, inhibition of (P)RR could inhibit the neointimal hyperplasia in vivo after common carotid artery injury through restraining NOX1-mediated oxidative stress by down-regulating ERK1/2-AKT pathway. Conclusion We concluded that renin and (P)RR induced vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and neointimal hyperplasia by activating oxidative stress, inflammation and ERK1/2-AKT pathway in an angiotensin Ⅱ (Ang Ⅱ)-independent manner.

As a luxurious textile for more than five thousand years, silk fibers/products have always been favored by consumers and the markets, but the poor photostability seriously hinders its utilization in fashionable apparel. Even if enduing the functionality of silk fiber through surface modification, it is often at the expense of its comfort. Here, an ultra-thin amorphous titanium dioxide nano-film with a thickness of only five in a thousand of fiber diameter and the add-on percentage ≤ 5.33% was prepared on the surface of silk fibers/fabrics by atomic layer deposition (ALD) methods. The tensile strength of the modified silk fiber maintains 89.17% of the original fiber after exposure to UV light for 672 h. They can also withstand multi-cycle laundering and accelerate light-aging, which exhibiting an excellent UV resistance. Most importantly, the functional coating has a negligible impact on the comfortable and wearability performance of silk fibers/fabrics. In addition, ALD-coated silk fabric is also further used as an outdoor reflective cooling material and achieving a superior thermal insulation effect with the temperature reduction up to 10.1 °C.

With the development of Internet technology and Cloud Computing, more and more applications have to be confronted with the challenges of big data. NoSQL Database is fit to the management of big data because of the characteristics of high scalability, high availability and high fault-tolerance. And it is one of the technologies of the management of big data. We will improve the performance of massive data processing of NoSQL Database through the large scale data parallel data processing and data localize of computing. So how to allocate the data will be a big challenge of NoSQL Database. In this paper we will propose a data allocation strategy based on the nodes load, which can adjust the data allocation strategy by the execute status of the system. And it can keep the balance of data allocation by a small cost. At last we will use some experiments to verify the effectiveness of the strategy which is proposed in this paper. The experiments show that it can improve the systems performance than other allocation strategy.

MgVPO4F is proposed as a cathode material for rechargeable Mg ion batteries for the first time. First principles calculations were performed to study the electrochemical properties of MgVPO4F as a positive electrode material for rechargeable Mg ion batteries. Our theoretical study gives an expectation of good battery performance by MgVPO4F.

In this work, the resistive memory devices were fabricated based on all-inorganic CsPbBr3 nanocrystals (NCs) embedded into the insulating polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) with a configuration of Au/PMMA/PMMA: CsPbBr3 NCs/PMMA/indium tin oxide (ITO). The as-fabricated devices exhibit forming-free bipolar resistive switching with resistance ratio of HRS to LRS (R H/L ) evolving from metastable 106 to stable 10. In HRS with high R H/L , the devices witness the prompt photoresponse under light illumination of 365 nm, 405 nm, 420 nm, and 500 nm. Also, set voltages of resistive switching with low R H/L can be reduced by the illumination. Furthermore, the resistive switching and photoresponse of Au/PMMA/PMMA: CsPbBr3 NCs/PMMA/ITO devices were elucidated by considering the photosensitive property and role of trapping/de-trapping centers of CsPbBr3 NCs. This work suggests the tunable resistive switching of Au/PMMA/PMMA: CsPbBr3 NCs/PMMA/ITO devices through light illumination, and controllable photoresponse by resistive states.

Adiponectin (APN) is a potent cardioprotective molecule. The present study aims to investigate the underlying mechanism(s) for its cardioprotective effect. We isolated primary cardiomyocytes from neonatal rats and established an in vitro model of hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R). The cardiomyocytes were randomly divided into 6 groups: saline group (control), dithiothreitol group (5 mM dithiothreitol for 2 hours), H/R group, H/R + APN group (incubation with 30 μg/mL APN, followed by H/R), H/R + APN + SB203580 (SB) group (treatment with 30 μg/mL APN and 5 μM SB, followed by H/R), and H/R + SB group (exposure to 5 μM SB and then H/R). Cell death was detected by measuring lactate dehydrogenase release. The expression levels of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α and endoplasmic reticulum stress-related genes including GRP78, caspase-12, C/EBP homologous protein, and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase were examined. Cardiomyocytes exposed to H/R showed a significant increase in lactate dehydrogenase leakage and hypoxia-inducible factor 1α protein levels compared with the control cells ( P < 0.05). The H/R-provoked cell death was profoundly attenuated by the pretreatment with APN alone, SB alone, or both, which was coupled with decreased expression of GRP78, caspase-12, C/EBP homologous protein, and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase. These results provide new insights into the mechanism of APN-mediated cardioprotection, which may be partially due to inhibition of endoplasmic reticulum stress response.

ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) plays a crucial role in reverse cholesterol transport and has anti-atherosclerosis effects. It has been reported that microRNAs regulate the expression of ABCA1. Recent studies have shown that microRNA (miR)-20a/b might play an important role in

The aim of this study is to determine the antidiabetic activity of Ang-(1-7), an important component of the renin-angiotensin system, in a rat model of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). A total of 36 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: control group fed standard laboratory diet, DM group fed high-fat diet and injected with STZ, and Ang-(1-7) group receiving injection of STZ followed by Ang-(1-7) treatment. Body weight, blood glucose levels, fasting serum Ang II and insulin levels, and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were measured. The pancreas was collected for histological examination and gene expression analysis. Notably, the Ang-(1-7) group showed a significant decrease in fasting blood glucose and serum Ang II levels and HOMA-IR values and increase in fasting serum insulin levels. Pancreatic β cells in the control and Ang-(1-7) groups were normally distributed in the center of pancreatic islets with large clear nuclei. In contrast, pancreatic β cells in the DM group had a marked shrinkage of the cytoplasm and condensation of nuclear chromatin. Ang-(1-7) treatment significantly facilitated insulin production by β cells in diabetic rats. The DM-associated elevation of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), caspase-3, caspase-9, caspase-8, and Bax and reduction of Bcl-2 was significantly reversed by Ang-(1-7) treatment. Taken together, Ang-(1-7) protects against STZ-induced DM through improvement of insulin resistance, insulin secretion, and pancreatic β cell survival, which is associated with reduction of iNOS expression and alteration of the Bcl-2 family.

MgVPO4F is proposed as a cathode material for rechargeable Mg ion batteries for the first time. First principles calculations were performed to study the electrochemical properties of MgVPO4F as a positive electrode material for rechargeable Mg ion batteries. Our theoretical study gives an expectation of good battery performance by MgVPO4F.

With the development of Internet technology and Cloud Computing, more and more applications have to be confronted with the challenges of big data. NoSQL Database is fit to the management of big data because of the characteristics of high scalability, high availability and high fault-tolerance. The data partitioning strategy plays an important role in the NoSQL database. The existing data partitioning strategies will cause some problems such as low scalability, hot spot and low performance and so on. In this paper we proposed a new data partitioning strategy---HRCH, which can partitioning the data in a reasonable way. At last we use some experiments to verify the effectiveness of HRCH. It shows that the HRCH can improve the scalability of the system. It also can avoid the hot spot problem as far as possible. And it also can improve the parallel degree of processing to improve the system's performance in some processing.

Aiming at addressing difficulties in the development of embedded system, this paper proposes a new method. Based on the object-oriented concepts and by reference to the touching operating mode of the smart phones or tablet PCs, we achieved a new set of smart touching UI controls and device driver classes library in C# with the .NET Compact Framework environment. This method improves the programming efficiency of embedded system, greatly reducing the workload of programmers. Using this method, we have successfully developed a data acquisition and monitoring system based on the InsLink's iPC2016, the system is running for environmental monitoring.

With the development of Internet technology and Cloud Computing, more and more applications have to be confronted with the challenges of big data. NoSQL Database is fit to the management of big data because of the characteristics of high scalability, high availability, and high fault-tolerance. The data partitioning strategy plays an important role in the NoSQL database. The existing data partitioning strategies will cause some problems such as low scalability, hot spot, and low performance and so on. In this paper we proposed a new data partitioning strategy-HRCH, which can partitioning the data in a reasonable way. At last we use some experiments to verify the effectiveness of HRCH. It shows that HRCH can improve the system's scalability, avoid the hot spot problem as far as possible. At the same time it also can improve the parallel degree of processing, which can improve the system's performance in some processing.

In order to optimize the structure parameters of tread pattern and improve the efficiency of noise-reduction, self-adaptive fuzzy genetic noise-reduction algorithm (SFGNRA) has been proposed, which is also based on the prior fuzzy genetic algorithm (FGA). In the improved algorithm, the relationship between crossover probability and mutation probability and individual’s fitness is adopted, operators of simple genetic algorithms (SGAs) are improved, and simulated annealing methods are introduced after crossover to improve enhance the local search ability of genetic algorithm. Some experiments have been done by means of the software of TNT and ODS simulation, and the results show that the tread patterns noise should be reduced, and the merit project of structure parameters may be found. The research was successfully applied to the design of way for the low-noise tread patterns.

This study was designed to determine whether metformin, an antidiabetic agent, exerts antihypertensive effects in rats with salt-sensitive hypertension through attenuation of oxidative stress in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). Dahl salt-sensitive rats received a high-salt (HS, 8%

A distributed multichannel data acquisition system based on the IEEE802.3af protocol has been developed to address the need and trend of the data acquisition of the full scale static or fatigue test of the aircraft. The system is powered by the Ethernet network cable, the sensor cable of the system has a smart connector plug which allows the system to identify the sensor cable. The amount of the power cable and the connecting work of sensor cable in the test field can be reduced obviously. This distributed data acquisition system has been used in the full scale static and fatigue test of some sorts of aircraft successfully, the results show that the reliability of distributed data acquisition system has been improved a lot.

To construct the short hairpin small interfering RNA(shRNA) eukaryotic expression vector specific to mouse lectin like oxidized low density lipoprotein receptor 1(LOX-1) Gene and to observe its silencing effect on LOX-1 in RAW264.7 cells. (1) The pLOX-1-shRNA expression vector was constructed by

In this study, arterial blood pressure (BP) of the rats, renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA)and the expression of gp91phox, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), interleukin (IL)-1beta (IL-1β), interleukin (IL)-6 (IL-6) in the PVN had been determined. We conducted to assess whether Tan IIA

To study the immediate effect of injecting ATP and nitroglycerin into coronary artery on treating Coronary Slow Flow Angina(CSFA). 56 patients, complaining the Angina symptom, without stenotic lesions of epicardial major arteries and with slow flow in anterior descending branch (LAD), both of which