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The present study aimed to explore the methods and clinical outcomes of repairing skin defects caused by knee joint trauma with a saphenous flap. Fifteen patients with skin and soft tissue defects after knee joint trauma received saphenous flap transposition, and the rotation axis point of the pedicle and transposition method were modified. The flap was transposed through a “semi-open tunnel” using a subcutaneous tissue pedicle and by parallel “bilobed” flap transposition through an “open tunnel.” The whole flap survived after the surgery in all patients. The pedicle was not bulging, had no “cat’s ear” deformity, and was flattened. The donor site was sutured directly, and the wound healed by primary intention without postoperative complications. When a saphenous flap is applied to repair the knee joint trauma skin defects with small and medium size, by modifying the pedicle transposition method, the flap rotation angle is more flexible, surgery is safer and more reliable, and flap appearance is more optimized.

Task assignment is a critical part of human-robot collaboration. The traditional task assignment methods in the intuitionistic fuzzy (IF) environment only consider two options, i.e., the task is executed by humans or machines. However, some tasks may need to be completed by humans and machines working together, such as mecha. Therefore, we propose a human-robot task assignment method under the IF environment based on three-way decision (3WD) theory in this paper. By extending the traditional two-way assignment mode into the three-way one, our method can flexibly deal with the concerned situations. At first, the appropriateness of assigning each task to the machine is calculated by IF TOPSIS. When ranking the IF evaluation values, the decision maker's attitude toward uncertainty is considered. Then the appropriateness served as conditional probability and a cost-sensitive IF 3WD model is constructed to complete the assignment. Furthermore, we construct algorithms to deal with dynamic situations. Finally, a numerical example illustrates the feasibility of the proposed method.

Contrast-induced encephalopathy (CIEP) is a rare complication after endovascular therapy. The etiology of CIEP is still a matter of debate. We present a rare occurrence of CIEP in a known hypertensive and type 2 diabetic patient after endovascular coiling of cerebral aneurysm with oculomotor nerve palsy. A 68-year old female presented with seven days history of headache and left ptosis or blepharoptosis with mild mydriasis. The headaches were localized mainly at the left side of the nose, orbit, and upper forehead while the left ptosis was associated with blurred vision. Computed tomography angiography revealed an aneurysm in between the C4 segment of the left internal carotid artery (ICA) and the bifurcation of the left posterior communicating artery. Digital subtraction angiography further confirmed the aneurysm. We used the transarterial approach to assess the aneurysm and subsequent coiling. Iohexol (Omnipaque) contrast agent was used during the endovascular procedure. The patient’s condition deteriorated into acute confusion state with cardinal symptomology of CIEP immediately after the operation. Computed tomography scan revealed cortical contrast enhancement in the vascular territory of the ICA as well as edema. Her symptomatology resolved 48 hours after treated with anticonvulsants, intracranial pressure reduction and hydration. Chronic hypertension as well as type 2 diabetics may be critical predisposing factors to CIEP. CIEP should be suspected in patients presenting with acute confusion state after endovascular therapy. Massive edema with ischemic brain changes in white matter of the brain before endovascular procedure should rise suspicion of CIEP.

Recommendation system is a popular research field. In the age of information explosion, a reliable recommendation system is necessary for users. There are a certain number of approaches to do recommendation work. Reinforcement learning is one of the methods used in recommendation system. In this paper, we use reinforcement learning to recommend items to target users, and achieved a rather good result. To give a better user experience, we have added explanations for recommended items. The explanation is realized by Knowledge Graph. We use TransE to embed target users and items, and it helps manage the information of users and items. Our method KGDQN combines Knowledge Graph and reinforcement learning, which can decide the proper recommendation items, and find the reasoning paths from target users to recommended items. Redundant edges are pruned and the DQN model renders a reward function which gives back the result of recommended items, and the explanation paths of the recommendation. Experiments are conducted on Amazon datasets which show the superior performance of KGDQN

This study is to explore a newly configured data management system of Internet of Things and other intelligent technologies in ubiquitous computing based on semi-network OS architecture. Modern Internet of Things and other intelligent technologies have increasingly shown a trend of diversification and ubiquitous computing, and the usual mobile devices characterized by “single-task”, “stable”, “oriented”, and “immutable” are also bound to face the pressure and motion of reform and innovation. The advancement of merger of single-task mobile devices will be unstoppable, and the operating system rightfully needs to be divided into “base portion” and “expanded portion”, which just fits the concept of semi-network operating system architecture; the “base portion” is similar to existing “embedded operating system”, and the “expanded portion” is network resources. Today, the merger of single-task mobile devices and the formation of multi-task mobile devices have become general trend, and architecture of semi-network operating system can lay a new foundation for this wave of merger. The multi-task mobile device formed by merger of single-task mobile devices based on architecture of semi-network operating system has its special computing system: co-mobile computing system, where including a data management system. Multi-task mobile devices form a so-called co-mobile computing system, and also form a newly configured secure data management system, which is like a universal key to form a new working system for opening a lot of unspecified locks based on new principle and security mechanism.

Endovascular Embolization (EVE) of aneurysms is a very effective and efficient treatment modality. Nevertheless, a few complications have been reported after EVE of aneurysms. Our study therefore evaluated the safety and efficacy of Low-profile Visible Intraluminal Support (LVIS) stentassisted EVE for intracranial Dissecting Aneurysms (DAs). We conducted a retrospective study to identify patients with DAs who were treated with LVIS stent from July 2015 to September 2018. The DAs were categoried into ruptured and unruptured. The arteries harbouring the aneurysm were identified in all cases. LVIS device stent assisted coil EVE treatment modality was utilized to treat all the patients. Surgical safety, immediate surgery outcome, recurrence rate and imaging follow-up results of all patients were analysed. The Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) score of all patients where assessed during discharge. Cerebral angiography of all patients were reevaluated on scheduled visits from three months up to one year after their operations. A total of Six DA patients were identified during our analysis. Four of the cases were ruptured DAs while two cases were unruptured. The DAs originated from the Internal Carotid Artery (ICA) in two cases, while in the remaining four cases, the DAs originated from vertebral artery (VA). Stents and coils were successfully implanted in all six patients. The DAs were embolized satisfactorily and the parent arteries were patent immediately after the operations. We obsereved 5 points GOS score in four cases and 4 points in two cases. No aneurysmal recurrece, no stent collapse or displacement was obsereved in all cases during follow-ups. Our study suggests that, LVIS stent-assisted EVE is simple, safe and effective in the treatment of DAs.

The prognostic value of tumor characteristics for glioma has been controversial, partly because of a lack of knowledge about how these associations develop. Extent of resection may be factors that mediate the relationship between tumor characteristics and the hazard of death from glioma. Patients and Methods: This consecutive study retrospectively included a group of 393 treatment-naive patients with newly, pathologically confirmed glioma between January 2004 and December 2014. Information on patient age, gender, Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS), tumor grade, tumor size, tumor location, presence or absence of contrast enhancement on MRI and extent of tumor resection have all been collected. The discrete-time survival model integrating survival outcomes within structural equation models was employed to develop and evaluate a comprehensive hypothesis regarding the direct and indirect impact of tumor characteristics on the hazard of death from glioma, mediated by the extent of resection. Results: Except for tumor location, the indirect effects of tumor grade, contrast enhancement, and tumor size on PFS of glioma through extent of resection were found significant in the model. Conclusion: This study provides a better understanding of the process through which tumor characteristics is associated with hazard of death from glioma.

Background: Published studies have demonstrated that resistin, a recently discovered adipokine, is connected to insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, inflammation, and atherosclerotic vascular disease. A comprehensive study of the adipocytokine family and tumor pathogenesis indicates an intimate relationship between resistin and the incidence, progression, and metastasis of gastric cancer, esophageal cancer, choriocarcinoma, colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, and biliary tract cancer. To date, the connection between resistin and bladder cancer has not been thoroughly investigated and remains unclear. Methods: Overall, 322 patients with bladder cancer and 366 normal controls were included in the study. Two SNPs of the resistin gene, rs1862513 (also known as −420 C/G) and rs10401670 (3’UTR C/T) were genotyped across the entire cohort. Next, the association between the two SNPs and the incidence, risk factors, and prognosis of bladder cancer, were analyzed. Results: The frequency of T allele and CT/TT genotype of rs10401670 was significantly lower in bladder cancer patients (P=0.03, OR=0.79 and P = 0.018, OR = 0.68, respectively) compared to normal controls. No differences were found with regards to the rs1862513 genotype frequency and the distribution of allele frequency between the two groups. Stratified analyses showed that the CT heterozygous genotype of rs10401670 was associated with bladder cancer at an earlier age (OR=1.97, 95% CI=1.14–3.40) and the CG heterozygous genotype of rs1862513 was correlated with high incidence of bladder cancer in smokers (OR=1.73, 95 % CI=1.05–2.87). Multiple Cox regression analysis showed that for bladder cancer patients, the presence of a CG heterozygous genotype of rs1862513 was associated with a decrease in the risk of recurrence in MIBC patients (P = 0.04，OR= 0.49). Additionally, the rs1040167 CT/TT genotype (P = 0.03，OR= 2.45), especially the TT homozygous genotype (P = 0.02，OR= 3.00) was associated with high risk of death. These results indicate that the rs1040167 CT/TT and TT homozygous genotype may be a risk factor for overall survival of bladder cancer patients. Conclusions: Our results suggest that resistin genotype serves as a risk factors for the occurrence and prognosis of bladder cancer, and could be be a potential biomarker for this devastating disease.

Background Extramammary Paget’s disease (EMPD), a rare skin malignancy with non-specific manifestations, is often misdiagnosed as eczema of scrotum or tinea cruris. Although the diagnosis of EMPD could be confirmed by biopsy, it can be delayed as patients are reluctant to receive invasive operations. Herein, we investigated the serum miRNA expressions of EMPD patients and compared to that of the eczema of scrotum or tinea cruris patients as well as health volunteers for potential diagnostic markers for EMPD. Methods Altogether 45 subjects including 16 patients diagnosed with EMPD, 12 patients diagnosed with eczema of scrotum or tinea cruris and 17 healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. Serum from all of subjects were collected to identify miRNAs (by miRNA array global normalization, RT-PCR validation, and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis) that could be potential diagnostic markers for EMPD. Results The miRNA array analyses revealed that the expressions of 37 miRNAs from the EMPD patients were different (change ≥4-fold) from health volunteers. Among these miRNAs, the expression of miR-155 was significantly increased (p

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text., OBJECTIVES: The aim was to evaluate the effect of dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker on the prognosis for moderate-severe pulmonary acute respiratory distress syndrome in hypertension patients. DESIGN: A retrospective, observational, multicenter cohort study. SETTING: A total of 307 patients without propensity score matching and 186 adult inpatients with propensity score matching diagnosed with hypertension and moderate-severe pulmonary acute respiratory distress syndrome in five teaching hospitals in Jiangsu province, China, from December 2015 to December 2020 were enrolled. PATIENTS: A total of 307 patients without propensity score matching and 186 patients with propensity score matching diagnosed with hypertension and moderate-severe pulmonary acute respiratory distress syndrome were included in the final analysis. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Demographic characteristics and clinical characteristics were recorded. The propensity score matching method was used to eliminate the difference between group with dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker and group without dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. We used univariate and multivariate regression analyses for both patients with or without propensity score matching to assess the effect of these variables on mortality. In the subset of 186 patients with propensity score matching, in-hospital mortality was 53.2%. Inpatient mortality was significantly higher in patients treated with dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker than in those not treated with dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker of patients without propensity score matching (65.4% vs 40.4%; p < 0.01). Multivariate analysis for patients without propensity score matching showed that dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker (hazard ratio, 1.954; 95% CI, 1.415–2.699), lactate dehydrogenase greater than or equal to 600 U/L (hazard ratio, 3.809; 95% CI, 2.106–4.531), and lactate greater than or equal to 2 mmol/L (hazard ratio, 1.454; 95% CI, 1.041–2.029) were independently associated with in-hospital mortality. Based on univariate analysis for patients with propensity score matching, dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker (hazard ratio, 2.021; 95% CI, 1.333–3.064), lactate dehydrogenase greater than or equal to 600 U/L (hazard ratio, 4.379; 95% CI, 2.642–7.257), and lactate greater than or equal to 2 mmol/L (hazard ratio, 2.461; 95% CI, 1.534–3.951) were independently associated with in-hospital mortality. In contrast, patients not treated with dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker had a significant survival advantage over those treated with dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker in both patients without or with propensity score matching (p < 0.001; p = 0.001 by Kaplan-Meier analysis). CONCLUSIONS: Dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker, lactate dehydrogenase greater than or equal to 600 U/L, and lactate greater than or equal to 2 mmol/L at admission were independent risk factors for patients with hypertension and moderate-severe pulmonary acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Prolyl 4-Hydroxylase Subunit Alpha 1 (P4HA1) is the active catalytic component of prolyl 4-hydroxylase and plays a crucial role in modulating extracellular matrix hemostasis. P4HA1 has been reported to promote tumor progression by enhancing invasion and angiogenesis. Overexpression of P4HA1 is associated with decreased survival for patients with breast and prostate cancer. However, the prognostic significance of P4HA1 for glioma patients remains undefined.The expression of P4HA1 in 290 gliomas (WHO grade II-IV) and 10 normal brain tissues was examined with TMA-based immunohistochemistry assay. The correlation between P4HA1 expression and clinicopathological parameters as well as the prognosis of glioma patients was investigated.Cytoplasmic expression of P4HA1 is high in 37.93% of all glioma cases, with 44.98% in high-grade gliomas and 19.75% in low-grade gliomas respectively. Increased P4HA1 level was correlated with advanced histological grade (p0.01) and old age (p=0.01). Upregulation of P4HA1, as well as histological grade, was an independent risk factor for unfavorable prognosis. Subgroup analysis demonstrated that high P4HA1 expression was significantly associated with poor prognosis for high-grade gliomas (p0.01) but not for low-grade gliomas.P4HA1 was upregulated in gliomas. High expression of P4HA1 was correlated with the malignancy of gliomas and could serve as a prognostic indicator for patients with high-grade gliomas.

We investigated the functional status of adult supratentorial superficial low-grade glioma (ASS-LGG) after surgery and analyzed its relevant factors to guide the therapeutic strategy and improve the life quality of these patients. Clinical materials from January 2008 to December 2010 in 104 adults with ASS-LGG were analyzed retrospectively. The follow-up period ranged from 6 months to 1.5 years. The logistic regression was used to evaluate the preoperative and postoperative variation of functional status in patients to disclose the relevant factors affecting postoperative functional status, such as age, gender, the duration of symptom, size and location of the tumor, hemisphere, resection degree, and tumor pathologic grade and preoperative Karnofsky performance status (Pre-KPS). Four out of nine candidate factors are related to the postoperative functional status. They are age less than 40 years, the size of tumor less than 5 cm in diameter, tumor located in the right hemisphere, and limited resection of tumor in the eloquent area. It seems more meaningful to evaluate the functional status of the patients with ASS-LGG on the basis of these clinical features, involving age, tumor size, location, and extent of resection.

Open-graded friction course (OGFC) is a commonly used highway pavement material. The relatively low strength and low stiffness of OGFC create a concern on its interfacial bond and shear strength with the underlying dense-graded asphalt concrete (AC). The bond and shear strength may be particularly low if OGFC is directly placed on an existing milled AC layer during resurfacing operation. To address this concern, both the OGFC layer and the underlying AC layer are often resurfaced together in resurfacing operation, with the expectation that better bonding develops between two new layers. However, this practice may result in resource and monetary wastes if the bond and shear strength between the OGFC and milled AC layer are adequate. This paper reports research findings on the bond and shear strength issue based on in situ bond strength test, analysis of traffic-induced tractive force and interfacial shear stress, interfacial shear strength test, and site trials.

This study administered the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire to a convenience sample of 106 workers at custom-beverage vendors in Taiwan (who prepare drinks through manual shaking) to explore their work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) and identify risk factors for these disorders symptoms. Wrist posture for twenty workers were also measured for three shaking methods using an electrogoniometer. The prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort in the past year among the respondents was 88.6%. Most of them reported discomfort in their hands/wrists (67.9%), followed by the lower back/waist (44.3%), knees (39.6%), and shoulders (38.7%). Hands/wrists and low back/waist discomforts varied significantly by the worker's gender and the number of working days per week, and hands/wrists discomfort also by the shaking method. Knee discomfort was affected by age and whether rest periods at work were scheduled, whereas shoulder discomfort by work experience, number of working days per week, and number of drink orders prepared per day. Measurements in wrist postures exhibited that repetitive activity for each wrist was as high as 4 time/s for a cup preparation (10 s). Among shaking methods, curve swing can constrain the shakers' wrists in a relatively neutral position and a smaller range of movement than others, regardless of the sex. Relevance to industry Because of the nature of shaking-based beverage preparation work, the respondents have a higher prevalence of discomfort in the hands/wrists, lower back/waist, knees, and legs/ankles than their counterparts in other industries. These findings are expected to inform the prevention and alleviation of musculoskeletal discomfort in custom-beverage workers.

For the problems of the complicated installation and removal of dynamometer card detection equipment, high cost, not convenient for real-time detection, prone to failure and maintenance workload, a kind of low cost wireless dynamometer is developed. With the implement of wireless transmission gateway, comprehensive monitoring software is programmed. This system consists of a pumping dynamometer, gateway, monitoring software and indicator diagram measuring algorithm. Finally, the wireless dynamometer was installed at RenQiu oil field, and the data shows that the system works well and can be used for the long-term working and operating state of pumping oil field monitoring.

Metabolic syndrome (MS), overlapping type 2 diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and/or hypertension, based on high-fat diet, poses risk for cardiovascular disease. A critical feature associated with such risk is the functional impairment of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). Dipeptidyl dipeptidase-4 inhibitors are known not only to inhibit degradation of incretins to control blood glucose levels, but also to improve EPC bioactivity and induce anti-inflammatory effects in tissues. In the present study, we investigated the effects of such an inhibitor, MK-06266, in ischemia model of MS using diet-induced obese (DIO) mice. EPC bioactivity was examined in MK-0626-administered DIO mice and non-treated control group, using an EPC colony-forming assay and bone marrow cKit+ Sca-1+ lineage-cells, and peripheral blood-mononuclear cells. Our results showed that, in vitro, the effect of MK-0626 treatment on EPC bioactivities and differentiation was superior in comparison with non-treatment. Further, in vivo hindlimb ischemia model experiment indicated that microvascular density and pericyte-recruited arteriole number were increased in MK-0626-administered group, but not control group. Lineage profiling of isolated cells from ischemic tissues disclosed that MK-0626 administration has an inhibitory effect on unproductive inflammation. This occurred via a decrease in the influx of total blood cells and pro-inflammatory cells such as neutrophils, total macrophages, M1, total T-cells, cytotoxic T-cells, and B-cells, with a concomitant increase in number of regeneration-associated cells, such as M2/M ratio and Treg/T-helper. Laser Doppler analysis revealed that at day 14 after ischemic injury, blood perfusion in hindlimb was grater in DIO mice treated with MK-0626, but not in control. In conclusion, the dipeptidyl dipeptidase-4 inhibitor has a positive effect on EPC differentiation in MS model of DIO mice. Following ischemic injury, DPP-4 i sharply reduces recruitment of pro-inflammatory cells into ischemic tissue, and triggers regeneration and reparation process. Thus, DPP-4 i is a promising therapeutic agent for MS treatment.

Sevoflurane is an experimental potent yet volatile anesthesia agent characterized by a low blood/gas partition coefficient. However, exposure to sevoflurane in neonatal mice has been speculated to result in learning deficits and abnormal social behavior. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between sevoflurane and miR-96, in an attempt to identify the means by which it mediates IGF1R to influence the cognitive dysfunction (CD) in neonatal rats. Relationship between differentially expressed miRNAs and sevoflurane concentration was identified. The potential underlying regulatory mechanisms involved with sevoflurane were investigated through the administration of varying concentrations of the agent (1%, 2% and 4%), combined with miR-96 mimic or an inhibitor. A target prediction program was utilized, while the luciferase activity was determined in order to verify whether miR-96 targets IGF1R. The mRNA and protein levels of IGF1R, Bcl-2, Bax, and caspase-3 were measured followed by the determination of hippocampal neuron apoptosis. Learning and memory performance was assessed using the Morris water maze (MWM) test and step-down test. The obtained results highlighted a positive correlation between miR-96 and the concentration of sevoflurane, while miR-96 was confirmed to negatively target IGF1R. Our analyses indicated that 4% sevoflurane had a significantly stronger effect on reducing the levels of IGF1R and Bcl-2, while elevating the levels of miR-96, Bax and caspase-3 more so than that of 1% or 2% sevoflurane, which resulted in increased hippocampal neuron apoptosis but diminished the learning and memory performance of the rats. The addition of miR-96 mimic was demonstrated to exacerbate the influence of sevoflurane on hippocampal neurons as well as the cognitive function of the rats. The key findings of our study highlighted the role of miR-96 in the potential mechanism of sevoflurane anesthesia-induced CD in neonatal rats through the downregulation of IGF1R.

Background Anterior chest wall numbness after plate fixation of clavicular shaft fractures is a common complication. This is usually related to damage of the branches of the supraclavicular nerve in conventional open plating. We investigated whether the use of minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis could reduce the incidence of post-operative numbness and improve patients' satisfaction compared to open plating. Methods Between August 2012 and October 2015, 73 patients with acute clavicle shaft fracture (Robinson classification 2A2-2B2) were treated with plate fixation at our institution. Thirty-eight patients underwent minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis (MIPO), and the other 35 patients received conventional open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF). The incidence of anterior chest wall numbness, numbness area, and patient satisfaction were evaluated at 2 weeks, 3 months and 1 year after the operation by questionnaires. Shoulder joint function was evaluated using the Constant-Murley score and the Disability of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) score, and pain was measured using a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Results The patients in the MIPO group had a lower incidence and smaller area of anterior chest wall numbness than the ORIF group at each follow-up interval. The patients who underwent MIPO reported higher satisfaction with the operation. There was no significant difference in the Constant-Murley score, DASH score and VAS of the 2 groups at 1-year follow-up. Conclusion The MIPO technique for clavicle shaft fractures is an effective way to reduce post-operative numbness and improve patients' satisfaction compare to conventional open plating. Surgeons could consider using this technique as an alternative procedure to prevent iatrogenic supraclavicular nerve damage and subsequent anterior chest wall numbness.

Adaptive collaboration (AC) is essential for group performance optimization in collaborative systems. This paper begins by introducing AC within the context of solving a real-world problem. Next, AC problems are formalized based on the environment-class, agent, role, group, and object (E-CARGO) model. Three algorithms are proposed for solving AC problems. They are based on three different scenarios: 1) the current group state (GS); 2) the GS after a specific period; and 3) the GS throughout the collaboration. More complex AC problems and their solutions are then investigated. Derived from the above-mentioned algorithms, two additional algorithms are presented. They consider reassignment costs. Experiments are developed to analyze the performance of each proposed algorithm. Results indicate that the proposed algorithms perform better than static collaboration where there are no reassignment costs. If reassignment costs exist, we also provide a way of determining whether to adopt an AC approach. This paper provides insights into the AC process and its effectiveness in various scenarios.

Prosaposin (PSAP) is a conserved glycoprotein, which is found to express in brain, acting as neurotrophic factor. Recent studies have demonstrated that overexpression of PSAP is related to the occurrence and development of prostate cancer and breast cancer. However, there is no research about the role of PSAP in glioma. Our study firstly found that PSAP was highly expressed and secreted in clinical glioma specimens, glioma stem cells, and glioma cell lines. It was associated with poor prognosis. We found that PSAP significantly promoted the proliferation of glioma stem cells and cell lines. Moreover, PSAP promoted tumorigenesis in subcutaneous and orthotopic models of this disease. Furthermore, GSEA and KEGG analysis predicted that PSAP acts through the TLR4 and NF-κB signaling pathways, which was confirmed by western blot, immunoprecipitation, immunofluorescence, and use of the TLR4-specific inhibitor TAK-242. The findings of this study suggest that PSAP can promote glioma cell proliferation via the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway and may be an important target for glioma treatment. Funding: This work was funded by Chinese National Foundation of National Sciences (Nos. 81101917, 81270036, 81201802, 81673025), Program for Liaoning Excellent Talents in University (No. LR2014023), and Liaoning Province Natural Science Foundation (Nos. 20170541022, 20172250290). Declarations of Interests: The authors have declared that no conflict of interest exists. Ethics Approval Statement: This study was approved by the ethics committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University and written informed consent was obtained from each patient.

This case study preliminarily collected 60 Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) data of workers from handmade drinks stores to understand their discomforts on various body sites. The NMQ results indicate that the overall prevalence of musculoskel-etal disorders was 88.0% within 1-year. In terms of discomfort, 66.4% of the respondents experienced discomfort at hands/wrists, followed by lower back/waist (41.5%), knees (38.2%), and shoulders (36.5%). The discomfort level of hands/wrists was significantly affected by the gender (female) and the weekly work days (> 5 days). The impact on the knees was the age (≤ 22 yrs) and the rest time arrangement (no), and the impact on the shoulders included the job tenure (> 2 yrs), the daily work hours (> 6 hrs), and the daily shaking cups (> 100 cups). The findings of this study can be served as references for the prevention from the musculoskeletal disorders resulting from the drinks handmade task.

Recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) is often used as a pavement base or sub-base material. One unique concern of RCA used for such purposes is re-cementation. Although re-cementation increases the stiffness and bearing capacity of RCA, it may induce cracking if RCA becomes bound or partially bound. Four approaches were used in this study to investigate RCA re-cementation in pavement sub-base, including long-term monitoring of a trial site, test of RCA samples retrieved from the site, performance simulation based on mechanistic-empirical pavement design guide (ME-PDG), and numerical analysis. The trial site reveals that RCA becomes partially bound after 11 years of road use. The bound material exhibits properties similar to those of cement-treated base (CTB). However, due to variations in the content and composition of fines in RCA, the extent of re-cementation is not uniform in sub-base. According to the analysis results generated by ME-PDG, reflective cracking occurs if RCA is assumed to be CTB. Conversely, if bound RCA is non-monolithic, it may not have significantly negative effect on pavement performance. The fine content or composition of fines in RCA may be specified to further reduce the risk of RCA re-cementation.

Shale of rich organic matter presents in Upper Carboniferous in Qaidam Basin, Northwest of China. Carboniferous shale thickness is between 100 ~ 300m in the Qaidam Basin, the shale includes silty mudstone shale, calcareous mudstone, shale and carbonaceous shale, and it is very favorable lithology type for shale gas. According to the shale organic geochemical analysis, the abundance of organic matter reaching the middle - good degree of hydrocarbon source rocks; the type of organic matter is mainly II2 and III type. The maturity of organic matter is mainly between 1 % -1.3 %. The Upper Carboniferous shale thermal evolution is in mature oil and gas stage. The Upper Carboniferous hydrocarbon-rich shale distribute stability, with great thickness. Shale gas potential in Upper Carboniferous is quite large.

Lack of dynamic reactive power compensation result in power system transient voltage instability. To improve the transient voltage stability, an optimization strategy for setting the excitation system difference coefficient of the generator is presented in this paper. The concept of the excitation system difference coefficient is introduced. Then the impacts of difference coefficients of generator excitation system on generator stability are analyzed and adjustment range is proposed. The calculation results of Guangdong province system show that the transient voltage stability level is enhanced effectively after optimizing the excitation system difference coefficient.

Features of different kinds of wind power generators worldwide are firstly overviewed. Then the latest development trend and research progress of modeling and simulation for wind power generator are analyzed and compared. Finally, the developing directions of the modeling and simulation technology for wind power generator are presented, hoping to offer study idea and reference for deeply researches.

High expression of fibrinogen and platelets are often observed in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with local regional or distant metastasis. However, the role of these factors remains unclear. The aims of this study were to evaluate the prognostic significance of plasma fibrinogen concentration and platelet count, as well as to determine the overall survival of NSCLC patients with brain metastases. A total of 275 NSCLC patients with brain metastasis were enrolled into this study. Univariate analysis showed that high plasma fibrinogen concentration was associated with age≥65 years (P = 0.011), smoking status (P = 0.009), intracranial symptoms (P = 0.022), clinical T category (P = 0.010), clinical N category (P = 0.003), increased partial thromboplastin time (P < 0.001), and platelet count (P < 0.001). Patients with low plasma fibrinogen concentration demonstrated longer overall survival compared with those with high plasma fibrinogen concentration (median, 17.3 months versus 11.1 months; P≤0.001). A similar result was observed for platelet counts (median, 16.3 months versus 11.4 months; P = 0.004). Multivariate analysis showed that both plasma fibrinogen concentration and platelet count were independent prognostic factors for NSCLC with brain metastases (R2 = 1.698, P < 0.001 and R2 = 1.699, P < 0.001, respectively). Our results suggest that high plasma fibrinogen concentration and platelet count indicate poor prognosis for NSCLC patients with brain metastases. Thus, these two biomarkers might be independent prognostic predictors for this subgroup of NSCLC patients.

With the increase of power system load, the demand for reactive power is also increasing. In order to ensure the power quality and improve equipment utilization, transmission of reactive power in power grid can lead to network loss and the voltage of the electricity. Installing reactive power compensation device in power grid is the essential means to meet the demand of power grid reactive power [1].The parallel capacitor reactive power compensation device is equipped in the coal mine 3.3 kV system reactive power compensation [2]. Introducing the parallel capacitor reactive power compensation principle and related problems, analysis of the current commonly uses contactor, relay and thyristor switch device, chooses the contactor and breaks pipe parallel composite switch which can have contact and non-contact switch to solve their problems [3]. Using software EMTP simulation composite switch voltage zero input, the result is very good to restrain the impact flow; Compound switch off after current zero avoids the contactor breaking arc, the simulation thyristor compound switch and diode in parallel.

People have learnt from biological system behaviours and structures to design and develop a number of different kinds of optimisation algorithms that have been widely used in both theoretical study and practical applications in engineering and business management. An efficient supply chain is very important for companies to survive in global competitive market. An effective SCM (supply chain management) is the key for implement an efficient supply chain. Though there have been considerable amount of study of SCM, there have been very limited publications of applying the findings from the biological system study into SCM. In this paper, through systematic literature review, various SCM issues and requirements are discussed and some typical biological system behaviours and natural-inspired algorithms are evaluated for the purpose of SCM. Then the principle and possibility are presented on how to learn the biological systems' behaviours and natural-inspired algorithms for SCM and a framework is proposed as a guide line for users to apply the knowledge learnt from the biological systems for SCM. In the framework, a number of the procedures have been presented for using XML to represent both SCM requirement and bio-inspiration data. To demonstrate the proposed framework, a case study has been presented for users to find the bio-inspirations for some particular SCM problems in automotive industry.

A study was done on agricultural enterprises technology innovation based on the management bionics method. From the perspective of bionics, this study investigates influence factors, mechanisms and team building of agricultural enterprises technology innovation based on the scientific and normative analysis of management bionics. Through standardized management bionic analogy analysis, the following analogies were drawn: agricultural enterprises technology innovation influence factors and the onion biological form, agricultural enterprises technology innovation mechanism and the biological enzyme catalytic reaction mechanism, agricultural enterprises technology innovation team building with the bee biological group effect. Therefore, three bionic element models of agricultural enterprises technology innovation were built, namely agricultural enterprises technology innovation onion model, technology innovation enzyme catalytic reaction bionic model and the bees’ team effect bionic model. This study ends with the corresponding bionic strategies and suggestions about agricultural enterprises technology innovation, which may provide references for the development of agricultural enterprises technology innovation in China. At the same time, this study also enriches the research range and theoretical system of management bionics.

By theoretical analysis and computer simulation,this paper has successfully solved the compatibility problembetween the Leakage protection with additional DCand zero-sequence power direction Leakage protection, and realized the goal of the two different ways of leakage protection sharingone set of electrical leakage protection system.This paper focuses on the basic components of "EDS-336/660 centralized-distributed selective leakage protection system"and its practical usage in Lvjiatuo Coal Mine.

In this paper, we conducted intensive research on evaluating the performance apprises of the power corporations, and put forward the network SBM model. Using data of ten power corporations, the new model was tested and the results show the new model can overcome the drawbacks of the traditional SBM model which ignore the internal structures of DMUs.

In this paper a speed tracking controller is designed for Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) integrated starter generator (ISG) operation in the starter based on adaptive backstepping technique. The PMSM drive system is often faced with some parameter variations and unknown disturbances. The designed controller can make the internal combustion engine (ICE) reach ignition speed quickly and meet the torque small pulsating and speed goes smoothly requirements. Then establish the controller model and simulate the ISG operation in the starter. Some simulation results verify the feasibility and illustrate the performance of the controller under the various conditions.

The monitoring and control system based on CAN bus was designed in order to implement the data reliable transmission between all nodes in the control system of the vehicle-mounted rig. Firstly, the hardware structure of the monitoring system was designed in the paper, and two CAN network was built, which one CAN network used CANopen protocol and the other used J1939 protocol and CAN2.0B protocol, that it saved the resource of hardware and software. Secondly, all CAN protocols , program flow chart and software with Labview were designed in detail. The application results of the actual engineering showed that it realized the function of data transmission with each console and real-time monitoring.

This paper presents principles of a down-converted mixer for four sub-harmonic and proposes a particle swarm optimization algorithm as a global search algorithm, and the performance equation is used as the assessment of the mixer circuit optimization method. Dielectric substrate adopts Electronic Materials with RF/Duroid 5880 whose dielectric constant is 2.20 and 5mil in thickness. The optimization algorithm can quickly get optimal results. The simulation results show that this mixer achieves higher 1 dB compression point, loss of frequency conversion which is less than 15 dB and good linearity.

This paper introduces the basic structure of narrow-band FIR filter and conducts detailed analysis on the various components of narrow-band FIR filter. Based on the CIC and HBF, this paper further designs narrow-band FIR filter with the sampling rate of 100 KHz. The materials of filter adopt the piezoelectric ceramic vibrator with high mechanical quality factorand high stability .Moreover, the simulation results indicate that this filter can greatly reduce the calculation amount and storage capacity so as to satisfy the real-time processing requirements of the signals.

HVDC technology is more and more common in practical projects, of which reliability will affect the whole power system. As different evaluation methods, FTA and FD method had their own advantages and disadvantages, this paper combined FTA method with FD method. Firstly FTA method was used to get basic parameters of each subsystem, then combined each subsystem to a whole equivalent model with FD method. What's more, different capacities of AC filters were also under consideration. Finally, an actual example was given to demonstrate validity of the method that this paper proposed. Compared with Zusim software, the result is more accurate.

With the widespread popularity of wireless mobile devices, the demands of emerging applications have been proposed, such as video telephony and HD video play. The next generation of wireless mobile computing devices needs to have higher data transfer rate, more complex algorithms, as well as low power consumption. This paper gives out a variable-width SIMD processor architectures controller and data transfer module designing method. The controller designing focused on controlling the program flow and initializing the data transfer module. By simulating the architecture on Xilinx ISE Design Suite, the fundamental modules have been designed and tested. The results of simulation verify the correctness of the controller and data transfer module design.

In this paper, we conducted intensive research on the application of DEA-DA model and method on quality control in production process, and put forward the applied train of thought and the measure. Otherwise we chose 10 kinds of equipment to verify the model. At last, we put forward the measure to distinguish the well quality product from newcome ones and determined a newcome sample’s quality well or not.

Background: The present study presents 18 cases of Chinese patients harboring a Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) of the skull. Methods: Eighteen consecutive patients were diagnosed as LCH of the skull and confirmed pathologically between March 2002 and February 2014. In the present study, the patients of LCH without skull involvement were excluded. According to disease extent at diagnosis, the 18 LCH patients with skull involvement were divided into three groups: (I) unifocal-monosystem group, including ten cases with solitary skull lesion; (II) multifocal-monosystem group, including two cases with multiple bone lesions and no extra-skeletal involvement; (III) multisystem group, including six cases with LCH lesions involving both skeletal and extra-skeletal system. In unifocal-monosystem group, excision of the skull lesion was performed in eight of ten cases, a low dosage of local radiotherapy and a purposeful observation was accept by the remaining two cases of this group after biopsy respectively. In multifocal-monosystem group, both of the two cases were received chemotherapy. In multi-system group, all the six cases were managed with systemic chemotherapy, after their diagnoses of LCH were confirmed. Results: The mean age at the time of diagnosis was 9.4 years. There was a male predominance in this disease male/female ratio was 3.5:1. In our cases, a skull mass with or without tenderness was the most common chief complaint (13 cases, 72.2%), and frontal bone was the most frequent affected locations of skull (6 cases, 33.3%). In unifocal-monosystem group, nine of ten remained free from LCH, the remain one lesion recurred 22 months after his surgical excision. In multifocal-monosystem group, a complete response (CR) was obtained in one of them, and a stable disease (SD) of multiple osseous lesions was obtained in another one. In the multi-system group, a CR in four cases and a partial response (PR) in one case were obtained, and a progressive disease (PD) was observed in the remaining one. Conclusions: The unifocal-monosystem of LCH of the skull is a clinicopathological entity with a good outcome, and resection, irradiation or purposeful observation are also can be been utilized as the choice of treatment. For the multifocal bone lesions and multisystem lesions of LCH, chemotherapy is an effective treatment as a systemic therapy. There is no enough publication literature to determine guidelines or indications for managing this disease.

Preoperative prognostic nutritional index (PNI) has been widely demonstrated to predict survival of patients with malignant tumors. Its utility in predicting outcomes in patients with high-grade gliomas (HGG) remains undefined. A retrospective study of 188 HGG patients was conducted. An optimal PNI cut-off value was applied to stratify patients into high PNI (≥52.55, n = 78) and low PNI (

With rapid development of science, technology and economy, requirements of production quality control were more and more stringent. A new method to solver the problem was given in this paper. First we made up the index system of production quality control. Second the steps of the DEA-Benchmark model which was derived from deviation DEA model were put forward. At last, applying the model, we measured the quality of ten varieties of production.

The traditional K-means clustering algorithm prematurely plunges into a local optimum because of sensitive selection of the initial cluster center. Hierarchical clustering algorithm can be used to generate the initial cluster center of K-means clustering algorithm. The geometric features of input data can achieve a good distribution by means of pretreatment and feature extraction and selection. In the learning of fuzzy neural network, Java language is used to write source code of the algorithm. The experimental results show that new algorithm has improved the clustering quality effectively.

This paper presents principles of a down-converted mixer for four sub-harmonic designed by ADS software. The LO and RF frequencies are 23GHz, 92-94GHz respectively. The structure of ridge waveguide to microstrip transitions is optimized by CST simulation software, and W-band signals are directed to mixer RF side. The simulation results show that this mixer achieves higher 1 dB compression point, loss of frequency conversion less than 15 dB and good linearity.

In order to research the nonlinear dynamic respond analysis of a new braced steel frame with wedge devices under the action of earthquake, its damping mechanism is analyzed, and the computational model is obtained. Based on the mechanism of multiple resistant lateral system, the explicit nonlinear dynamic analysis and dynamic contact algorithm are adopted to separately analyze the steel frame with no brace, with centric and eccentric brace, and with the new braced wedge block. During the analysis, in order to take the material and geometrical bi-nonlinear into account, the material model is chosen as the bilinear equivalent strength, and the explicit centered difference algorithm is adopted. It can be obtained from structural deformation and energy and so on. The results show that the stiffness of structure decays after plastic deformation in the earthquake effect, and the hysteresis energy consumption and system dumping appear. The nonlinear dynamic response of steel frame is affected by resistant lateral stiffness, plastic deformation, and system damping. The braced steel frame with wedge block regulates the displacement and acceleration response with yield energy dissipation of brace, as it provides resistance lateral stiffness to control the deformation. This kind of structure has strong adaptability to earthquake intensity and good seismic performance.

The appearance and growth of the microcracks in the structure is an important factor that influences the structure safety and its service life. Thus it is very important to detect the crack and monitor its growth at the beginning of the crack. Aiming at the main style of failures in metal structure - fatigue fracture, this paper research acoustic emission waveforms analysis that base on wavelet packets feature extraction, through processing acoustic emission signal to test metal fatigue fracture. First, this paper analyses the reason of metal fatigue fracture and introduces the theory of acoustic emission. Based on that, we establish the time domain module of acoustic emission signal and extract the feature of acoustic emission signal using wavelet packets. According to the experimental results bending specimen, acoustic emission techniques monitoring fatigue crack propagation is certificated not only to resemble variable rule of fatigue crack propagation but also to catch generation of fatigue crack in real time. Compared with the method of parameter extraction, this method can not only realize real-time and dynamic monitoring, but also get the result that is similar with fatigue crack expanding rate curve.

Nip type flexible a-Si solar cells for application in building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) were deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method. In order to improve the efficiency and stability of the device, p-type microcrystalline silicon (μc-Si:H) film was used as the window layers. H plasma treatment was applied on the p/i interface and nucleation layer was introduced to enhance the deposition of p-type μc-Si:H film on the surface of a-Si:H. Results suggest that with the application of H plasma treatment and the nucleation layer introduction, high quality p-type μc-Si:H film and high efficiency flexible solar cells were obtained.

Mn3+ ions doped in YAG:Ce phosphors as a co-activator and host lattice element by co-precipitation method, which have enlarged the emission spectral of pure YAG:Ce phosphor in the emission spectral, caused by 5T2-5E and 5T2-1T2 transition. Respectively, the manganese co-doped yttrium aluminum garnet doped cerium blended with YAG:Ce phosphor would show an improved white light emission.

Since the existence of the ionosphere contamination, results of high-frequency radar has been greatly affected. This paper addresses a new method based on temporal correlation matrix to correct phase distortion for HF sky-wave radars. Strong point echoes, such as target, clutter, transponder and so on, which are highly temporal correlated, can be used to structure temporal correlation matrix. And the matrix contains angles of echoes and phase distortions information. In this paper, we use two-dimension FFT to estimate angle of strong point echo, and then obtain the corrections. Computer simulations are conducted to show the validity of the new method, and some of performances of PGA were compared.

In this paper, a chopper-stabilized high-pass Delta-Sigma Modulator (DSM) is reported with experimental results. A new circuit technique to suppress the residual offset caused by the chopper switch charge injection is proposed. Enabled by an amplifier sharing architecture, the technique diverts the error charge generated by the critical chopper to the second stage of the modulator such that the resulted error becomes first-order high-pass shaped. Fabricated in a [email protected] CMOS technology, the 2nd-order DSM realizes 82dB dynamic range over a 1kHz bandwidth while consuming [email protected] from a 1.8V supply. The offset is [email protected] and the flicker noise is invisible in the measured output spectrum down to 4Hz. The core area of the chip is 0.16mm^2.

This paper presents a driving scheme based on FPGA for the 17.8 cm(7 in) active matrix organic light emitting display(AMOLED) using μc-Si TFT technology.This scheme is easy to be implemented.It doesn't require external cache,and consequently the difficulty of PCB layout and system control is reduced.It presents a method connecting screen with IC to resolve the problem that it is not matching between AMOLED with LCD Driver IC.Architecture of the system and operating principle of each module within the FPGA are presented in detail.And the simulation results by computer and the results tested by oscillograph on the timing and controlling signals are provided.The results indicate this design can implement the dynamic video display on AMOLED with 64 gray scales.