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Space is a resource that is constantly being depleted, especially in mega-cities. Underground workspaces (UGS) are increasingly being included in urban plans and have emerged as a realistic and essential component of vertical cities. While progress had been made on the engineering aspects associated with the development of high-quality UGS, public attitudes towards UGS as work environment (i.e. concerns public has on the design of UGS) are relatively unknown. Here, we present the first large-scale study examining preferences and attitudes towards UGS, surveying close to 2,000 participants from four cities in three continents (Singapore, Shanghai, London and Montreal). Contrary to some anecdotal or qualitative beliefs, air quality (and not lack of windows) is the major concern of prospective occupants. Windows, temperature and lighting emerged as additional key architectural features for UGS. Importantly, early adopters (i.e. individuals more willing to accept UGS and thus more likely to be the first occupants) across all cities prioritised air quality. Present results suggest that (perceived) air quality is a key architectural feature for UGS that needs to be communicated to prospective occupants as this will improve their attitudes and views towards UGS. This study highlights the importance of indoor air quality for the public. Ministry of National Development (MND) National Research Foundation (NRF) Accepted version This research is supported in part by the Singapore Ministry of National Development and the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office under the Land and Liveability National Innovation Challenge (L2 NIC) Research Programme (L2 NIC Award No L2 NIC FP1-2013-2).

Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effects and mechanism of Qufeng Zhitong (QFZT)capsule for the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) in a rat model. Methods 8-10-week-old male Sprague–Dawley rats were randomly divided into the sham group (vehicle-treated), OA group (vehicle-treated), high-dose, middle-dose, low-dose of QFZT capsule-treated groups. OA was induced by transecting the medial collateral ligament and the medial meniscus in the right limb. The Sprague–Dawley rats were treated daily for 12 weeks with different concentrations of QFZT capsule: low (QFZT-L, 128 ​mg/kg), medium (QFZT-M, 256.5 ​mg/kg), and high (QFZT-H, 513 ​mg/kg) by gavage administration for a period of 4 and 12 weeks respectively. Vehicle-treated rats served as controls and administered 0.5% Carboxymethyl Cellulose Sodium (CMC-Na) by gavage on the same schedule. Weekly measurement of dynamic weight-bearing capacity, grip strength, joint swelling was were performed to monitor the progression of disease for 3 weeks. After euthanasia, the knee joints were articular cartilage changes. Pro-inflammatory gene expression in synovial joints was examined to assess the bone and cartilage changes. Gene expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines in synovial joints was measured to determine the therapeutic effect of QFZT. Results 2 weeks after the treatment, the grip strength and weight-bearing capacity were significantly increased in the QFZT-M and QFZT-H groups, compared with the OA group. The joint widths were decreased significantly in the QFZT-L and QFZT- H groups, compared with the OA group as well. The mRNA level in the articular cartilage of knee joint of IL-1β in the QFZT-L group and IL-6 in the QFZT-H group was significantly suppressed at week 4, compared with the OA group. The radiology score was significantly decreased in the QFZT-H group compared with the OA group 12 weeks after treatment. Furthermore, the rats on QFZT treatment decreased the progression of OA, which was characterised by decreased cartilage degradation. However, the bone changes were no different in OA group and QFZT groups. Conclusion In a rat model of OA, QFZT capsule shows the tendency to reduce the destruction of cartilage, joint swelling and bone erosion which provides new evidence for the therapeutic potential of QFZT capsule in the treatment of OA in clinics. The translational potential of this article The QFZT capsule can improve the symptoms of the OA in rodent animal rats by attenuating pain and retarding cartilage damage. This study indicated that the QFZT capsule has the potential clinical application of in OA therapy.

The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the efficacy of anatomic thoracoscopic pulmonary segmentectomy performed based on three-dimensional computed tomography bronchography and angiography (3D-CTBA) in children and infants. Totally, 22 patients received thoracoscopic segmentectomy from October 2019 to February 2020. The procedures were performed virtual segmentectomy based on 3D-CTBA. The preoperative planning depended on the 3D-CTBA result. All of the 22 cases ( 1 left S1, 1 right S3, 1 left S1 + 2, 1 left S1 + 2 + 3, 1 left S4 + 5, 1 right S6, 1 right S10, 1 left S10, 2 right S9 + 10, 3 left S9 + 10, 1 right S7 + 8 + 9 + 10, 8 left S7 + 8 + 9 + 10) were received thoracoscopic segmentectomy successfully. The mean procedure length was 76.6 ± 17.2 min, and the intraoperative blood loss was 16.5 ± 2.8 ml. The mean duration of chest tube insertion was 3.2 ± 0.7 days, and the mean hospital stay was 8.2 ± 2.8 days. Postoperative complications included infection (n = 1), atelectasis (n = 1), hydropneumothorax (n = 1) and pneumothorax (n = 1). No recurrence or mortality was observed during the short-term follow-up period of 3 months. Based on the 3D-CTBA technique, the specific pulmonary segments invaded by the lesions and the relationship between the corresponding pulmonary vessels and bronchi can be acknowledged before the operation, which is of positive significance for the resection of complex pulmonary segments and good preoperative surgical planning. It’s worth popularizing in the pediatric population.

Coal mining, regarded as a high-risk industry, has a strong demand for virtual reality (VR) to fulfill safety and emergency rescue training. In the past ten years, VR technology has significantly improved miner training on both the hardware and software side. However, it still has some drawbacks, such as expensive and unsuitable hardware, lack of satisfactory user experience, without direct browser access, and lack of humanized and intelligent design. To solve these problems, a cloud-based VR system is designed for the training of coal miners in this paper. The system, with browser/client architecture, includes eight modules demonstrating the full procedure of an underground coal mine. The online cloud-rendered video streaming is adopted to provide enough computing and rendering power and hence a better browser-based user experience. Furthermore, game artificial intelligence (AI) is also introduced into the system to increase the emotional exchange between the system and users. Unlike traditional VR training software, this system designs two virtual miners to enhance the experience of trainees. The first virtual miner is a task-oriented non-player-character (NPC) which conveys general knowledge about the mine and guides the users in visiting the underground work sites. The second virtual miner is a disaster-oriented character which prepares the users for typical disasters. The system has been successfully implemented in a laboratory environment, and its performance has been validated. Yet, further practices are needed to stimulate more innovative applications of VR-based miner training and disaster drilling.

In this study, the collapse-resistant performance of two, one-third scale composite beam–column substructures, with bolt and welded (WUF) connections and cover plate reinforced (WUFG) connections, were investigated by performing quasi-static tests. The experimental results demonstrated that the cover plate of the WUFG connections contributes to an increased displacement and bearing capacity in comparison with that of the WUF connections. Additionally, in comparison with the corresponding steel substructures, the maximum bearing capacities of the WUF and WUFG increased by approximately 18.0% and 19.9%, respectively. Multi-scale modeling method, which combined different types of elements with a reasonable connection, using the principle of displacement consistency, was calibrated by the experimental results. The results revealed that multi-scale models not only ensured the accuracy of the model calculation results, but also significantly improved the calculation efficiency. Based on the validated models, the influence of the surrounding members on the collapse-resistant performance of the composite beam–column substructure was analyzed. The results indicated that the axial constraint provided by the surrounding members demonstrated a greater impact on the collapse-resistant performance of the beam–column substructures in a certain range. Moreover, the multi-scale models were further extended to study the effect of important parameters on the collapse-resistant performance of the beam–column substructures, including the beam height, the beam span, the boundary condition, and the outermost column section, after which suitable ranges of these parameters were suggested.

Our aim was to evaluate the effect of a vacuum bell (VB) combined with a three-dimensional (3D) scanner for the noninvasive treatment of pectus excavatum (PE). A VB was used to create a vacuum at the anterior chest wall with a patient-activated hand pump, and it should be applied regularly for more than 2 h each day at home. Eighty-two patients required to be followed up every three months were included in this retrospective study and distributed into four stages (stage 1: treated for 3 months, stage 2: treated for 6 months, stage 3: treated for 9 months, and stage 4: treated for 12 months). In addition, the deformity in the chest wall was scanned by a 3D scanner at the clinic, and the 3D depth (3D-DE) and 3D Haller index (3D-HI) of PE were calculated through Geomagic studio 2013 software. Eighty-two patients (12/2017–12/2019) met the criteria at the clinic, and 24 patients (29.3%) achieved excellent correction (3D-DE ≤ 3 mm). When comparing the improvement in 3D-DE and 3D-HI of PE to the patient's treatment time, a statistically significant difference was observed between stages 2 and 1 (3D-DE p

In this retrospective study, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy of percutaneous catheter drainage (PCD) in patients with acute pancreatitis (AP) for management of pancreatic fluid collections (PFCs). A total of 111 AP patients were included with 34 patients in conservative treatment group (received nutrition support and liquid resuscitation during hospitalization) and 77 patients in PCD group (accepted PCD during hospitalization). The APACHE II score, CRP value, procalcitonin (PCT) value, and WBC count of included patients were recorded for further comparison. The inflammation response of patients in both groups was assessed by measuring the mean time for the recovery of CRP level, WBC count, and amylase/lipase. Mortality, length of hospital stay, new-onset ICU admission or readmission, and new-onset multi-organ failure were also compared between the two groups. The pre-conditions of patients in both groups indicate the comparison of the two groups. The inflammatory response in PCD group was attenuated when compared with conservative treatment group evidenced by decreased mean time for recovery of CRP level in PCD group. In addition, patients in PCD groups had less complication rate (multi-organ failure and surgical debridement) than that in conservation treatment group. Patients in conservation treatment group had shorter hospital stay, but failed to achieve statistical significance. Evidence supported that PCD is an effective approach for management of PFCs after conservation treatment failure with decreased complication rate and attenuated inflammation responses.

The platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) is a novel biomarker to predict the prognosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. The study aimed to evaluate the in-hospital outcomes of elderly patients with AMI and assessed the prognostic value of PLR on in-hospital adverse events. A total of 1,001 patients were divided into an older group (n = 560) and a younger group (n = 441) based on age ≥ 60 years and successfully underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) within 12 h after presentation. Total white blood cells (WBCs), neutrophils, lymphocytes, and platelets counts were measured at admission. The incidence of heart rupture, acute heart failure, total adverse events, and death resulting from all events were significantly higher in patients ≥ 60 years than in younger patients, whereas the incidence of postoperative angina and reinfarction were similar between groups. Regarding blood counts, total white blood cells, neutrophils, lymphocytes, and platelets were lower in the older group than in the younger group. The platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) was significantly higher in the older group. In receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, high PLR > 147 predicted adverse events (specificity 72% and sensitivity 63%). In multiple logistic regression analysis, age, hypertension, and PLR were identified as independent predictors of adverse events. The in-hospital outcomes of elderly patients with acute myocardial infarction were poor. PLR was an independent risk factor for in-hospital adverse events, which suggested that strong inflammation and prothrombotic status may contribute to the poor prognoses of elderly patients.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common type of autoimmune arthritis. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) as a transcription factor in response to hypoxia suggests that it could be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of RA. In this study, we assessed whether the HIF pathway blockade attenuates the manifestations of RA in the collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) rat model. We constructed a short hairpin RNA (shRNA) lentiviral expression vector targeting HIF-1α (pLVX-shRNA-HIF-1α) and to achieve HIF-1α RNA interference. Quantitative RT-PCR, immunofluorescence staining, and western blot were used to detect the expressions of HIF-1α, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), phsopho (p)-p65, and p-IКBɑ mRNA and protein, respectively. Micro-computed tomography was used to investigate joint morphology at different time points after CIA induction. Moreover, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to monitor the expression of inflammatory cytokines. In vitro analyses revealed that pLVX-shRNA-HIF-1α effectively inhibited the expression of HIF-1α and VEGF and led to the activation of p-65 and p-IКBɑ, as well as decreased proinflammatory cytokine expression in cell culture. Inhibition of HIF-1α in rats decreased signs of a systemic inflammatory condition, together with decreased pathological changes of RA. Moreover, downregulation of HIF-1α expression markedly reduced the synovitis and angiogenesis. In conclusion, we have shown that pharmacological inhibition of HIF-1 may improve the clinical manifestations of RA. Keywords: lentivirus, rheumatoid arthritis, HIF-1α, shRNA

In recent years, with the rapid development of the flexible electronics industry, there is an urgent need for a large-area, multilayer, and high-production integrated manufacturing technology for scalable and flexible electronic products. To solve this technical demand, researchers have proposed and developed microtransfer printing technology, which picks up and prints inks in various material forms from the donor substrate to the target substrate, successfully realizing the integrated manufacturing of flexible electronic products. This review retrospects the representative research progress of microtransfer printing technology for the production of flexible electronic products and emphasizes the summary of seal materials, the basic principles of various transfer technology and fracture mechanics models, and the influence of different factors on the transfer effect. In the end, the unique functions, technical features, and related printing examples of each technology are concluded and compared, and the prospects of further research work on microtransfer printing technology is finally presented.

Local failure of one or more components due to abnormal loading can induce progressive collapse of a building structure. Herein, improved structural robustness is targeted to improve steel frame performance against progressive collapse. A multi-scale analysis model is constructed; then, the anti-collapse performance of a plane steel frame structure with a flush end plate connection is comprehensively analyzed using nonlinear static analysis. To enhance the anti-collapse capability of the steel frame structure, reasonable addition of infill panels in indirect- and direct-influence areas is proposed. Infill panels properly arranged in direct influence area can give full play to the Vierendeel mechanism, and effectively improve combined ability of the remaining structure. And then 1/8–1/6 of the net span is recommended as the length of the infill steel panel for the steel frame structure with flush end plate connection.

The rapid quantitative assessment of a structure’s resistance is critical to the structural design process in order to prevent the occurrence of progressive collapse. In this study, a three-bar component model of a top-seat angle with a double web angle connection was constructed based on the component method by dividing and simplifying its geometry. The proposed component model was then applied to a model of an unequal span substructure. An explicit calculation method and a numerical simulation method were proposed to describe the nonlinear static responses of the unequal span substructure under a scenario of interior column failure. These two methods were carefully validated against previously collected experimental data and were determined to accurately reflect the main responses of the structure, including the load–displacement relationship, development of internal forces, and deformation behaviour. The explicit calculation procedure, conducted using a step-by-step process in an Excel spreadsheet, was successfully applied to rapidly analyse and quantitatively evaluate the resistance of the unequal span steel substructure, which will lay the foundation for the resistance prediction and performance analysis of the whole structure against progressive collapse.

“Double first-class” is the grand strategy of the country to build a powerful country in higher education, which has been paid more and more extensive attention by the academic circle and even the whole society. In this process, the internal structure and external environment of the development of local normal universities also face bran-new opportunities and challenges. The research holds that the orientation of running a school, discipline construction, teaching staff construction, funds for running schools and other aspects are the main challenges faced by local normal universities. But at the same time in top-level policy innovation, direction of differential development, talent flow mechanism improvement, and special fund connection and other opportunities to obtain a rare opportunity. On this basis, the study puts forward four orientations: Highlighting the role of comprehensive normal universities, focusing on the construction of down to earth discipline, paying attention to application-oriented school-running orientation and enhancing the substantive effect of dialogue international, so as to provide optional strategies for the development of local normal universities.

Background Intradiaphragmatic extralobar pulmonary sequestration(IDEPS) is a rare type of pulmonary sequestration (PS) and has been reported in very few studies. The purpose of this study is to access diagnosis and operative treatment of an IDEPS.Methods Patients with PS who were diagnosed and treated in our center from January 2015 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed, in order to identify patients with IDEPS. Clinical datas regarding diagnosis, surgical procedures and outcomes were documented.Results From January 2015 to December 2020, 215 patients with PS were surgically treated in our center, including 87 patients with extralobar pulmonary sequestration(EPS). 10 cases were identifed as IDEPS ( 2 males, 8 females; age, 5 months to 21 months). Prenatal ultrasounds and enhanced computed tomography (CT) showed the presence of IDEPS in 4 cases and 7 cases, respectively, and a three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction software was perfectly performed to identify the location of the lesions in 3 cases. The surgeries were smoothly performed by laparoscopic surgery in 1 case, video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) in 5 cases(Group 1) and Da Vinci robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery(DVRATS) in 4 cases(Group 2). In Group 1 (5 females; the mean age, 8.0 months), the average operative duration, intraoperative blood loss volume, length of stay after operation, and postoperative thoracic catheter indwelling duration were 48 minutes, 3.8ml, 6.4 days and 2.2 days, respectively. That of Group 2(1 male, 3 females; the mean age, 9.5 months) were 80 minutes, 3.5ml, 4.3 days and 1.5 days, respectively. The IDEPS cases who followed up rang from 3 months to 36 months were included in this retrospective study and no side effect had appeared.Conclusions It’s challenging to diagnose an IDEPS through prenatal ultrasound or CT, and a 3D reconstruction software was proved to be capable to assist on the assessment of an IDEPS. We suggested early surgery to removel of an IDEPS, and the best path was accessing the mass from the chest. DVRATS or VATS for the treatment of an IDEPS is safe, feasible and effective. Furthermore, compared with VATS, DVRATS is 3D magnified view, more flexibility and precision.

The multi-frame super-resolution techniques have been prosperous over the past two decades. However, little attention has been paid to the combination of deep learning and multi-frame super-resolution. One reason is that most deep learning-based super-resolution methods cannot handle variant numbers of input frames. Another reason is that it is hard to capture accurate temporal and spatial information because of the misalignment of input images. To solve these problems, we propose an optical-flow-based multi-frame super-resolution framework, which is capable of dealing with various numbers of input frames. This framework enables to make full use of the input frames, allowing it to obtain better performance. In addition, we use a spatial subpixel alignment module for more accurate subpixel-wise spatial alignment and introduce a dual weighting module to generate weights for temporal fusion. Both two modules lead to more effective and accurate temporal fusion. We compare our method with other state-of-the-art methods and conduct ablation studies on our method. The results of qualitative and quantitative analyses show that our method achieves state-of-the-art performances, demonstrating the advantage of the designed framework and the necessity of proposed modules.

The role of IL-33/ST2 signaling in cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is not fully addressed. Here, we investigated the role of IL-33/ST2 signaling in allograft or recipient in CAV respectively using MHC-mismatch murine chronic cardiac allograft rejection model. We found that recipients ST2 deficiency significantly exacerbated allograft vascular occlusion and fibrosis, accompanied by increased F4/80+ macrophages and CD3+ T cells infiltration in allografts. In contrast, allografts ST2 deficiency resulted in decreased infiltration of F4/80+ macrophages, CD3+ T cells and CD20+ B cells and thus alleviated vascular occlusion and fibrosis of allografts. These findings indicated that allografts or recipients ST2 deficiency oppositely affected cardiac allograft vasculopathy/fibrosis via differentially altering immune cells infiltration, which suggest that interrupting IL-33/ST2 signaling locally or systematically after heart transplantation leads different outcome.

IntroductionThis study aims to explore the effect and mechanism of miR�489-3p on the proliferation and apoptosis of pancreatic acinar cells in acute pancreatitis (AP).Material and methodsX-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) and miR-489-3p expression in serum of AP patients, pancreatic AR42J cells, and rat AP tissues were measured using quantitative reverse transcription poly�merase chain reaction and western blot. The effect of miR-489-3p on pro�liferation and apoptosis was determined by MTT assay and flow cytometry. The relationship between XIAP and miR-489-3p was verified using luciferase assay RNA immunoprecipitation assay. Histological changes in rat pancreatic tissues were observed via haematoxylin and eosin staining.ResultsMeasurement of miR-489-3p and XIAP expressions in AP patients revealed a negative correlation between miR-489-3p and XIAP. Increased miR-489-3p expression in AP patients indicated a poor prognosis. Cerulein was used to induce AP in AR42J cells and standard deviation rats. Exper�iments in cells and AP rat models showed that miR-489-3p can increase cell apoptosis and inhibit cell proliferation by regulating XIAP, as shown by elevated expressions of pro-apoptotic proteins (p53 and Bax) and decreased expression of proliferation indicator (Ki-67) after transfection of miR-489- 3p mimics. Meanwhile, knockdown of miR-489-3p abrogated the inhibitory effects of miR-489-3p on cell proliferation and the promotion on cell apop�tosis. Luciferase assay and RNA immunoprecipitation assay confirmed that XIAP can directly bind miR-489-3p.ConclusionsWe concluded that miR-489-3p modulates cell proliferation and apoptosis in AP by targeting XIAP. Given that high expression of miR�489-3p in AP indicated poor prognosis, it raises the possibility that miR�489-3p might be a novel and valuable therapeutic target and a prognosis indicator for AP.

Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) charactered with aberrant remodeling and fibrosis usually leads to the loss of graft after heart transplantation. Our previous work has reported that extracellular high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) participated in the CAV progression via promoting inflammatory cells infiltration and immune damage. The aim of this study was to investigate the involvement of HMGB1 in the pathogenesis of CAV/fibrosis and potential mechanisms using a chronic cardiac rejection model in mice. We found high levels of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 in cardiac allografts after transplantation. Treatment with HMGB1 neutralizing antibody markedly prolonged the allograft survival accompanied by attenuated fibrosis of cardiac allograft, decreased fibroblasts-to-myofibroblasts conversion, and reduced synthesis and release of TGF-β1. In addition, recombinant HMGB1 stimulation promoted release of active TGF-β1 from cardiac fibroblasts and macrophages in vitro, and subsequent phosphorylation of Smad2 and Smad3 which were downstream of TGF-β1 signaling. These data indicate that HMGB1 contributes to the CAV/fibrosis via promoting the activation of TGF-β1/Smad signaling. Targeting HMGB1 might become a new therapeutic strategy for inhibiting cardiac allograft fibrosis and dysfunction.

The viral proliferation process of envelop viruses including invasion, assembly, and release process is impacted by glycosylation. Sialic acid modification mainly exists in the terminal glycosylation of proteins and lipids. In this study, the effect of porcine sialylglycosyltransferase (ST3GAL2) on virus proliferation, as well as regulation of inflammatory factor in PRRSV-infected 3D4/21 cell model were analyzed. The expression of ST3GAL2 was up-regulated in PRRSV-infected 3D4/21 cells. The expression of ST3GAL2 that promote the proliferation of PRRSV was determined by overexpression and interference experiment. The ST3GAL2 localizes to Golgi apparatus and interacts with PRRSV structural protein GP2a was verified by confocal microscopy and co-immnoprecipitation array, which may play roles in the assembly of PRRSV envelope and virus proliferation. The expression of ST3GAL2 also impacts the expression of inflammatory cytokines, which regulate cellular immunity and promote the immune escape of PRRSV from innate immunity. Our results highlighted a potential mechanism whereby ST3GAL2 promotes PRRSV proliferation and offers the anti-inflammatory role of ST3GAL2 in cellular immunity.

Background: The anterior nucleus of thalamus (ANT) has been suggested as an extended hippocampal system. The circuit of ANT and hippocampus has been widely demonstrated to be associated with memory function. Both lesions to each region and disrupting inter-regional information flow can induce working memory impairment. However, the role of this circuit in working memory precision remains unknown. Objective: To test the role of the hippocampal-anterior thalamic pathway in working memory precision, we delivered intracranially electrical stimulation to the ANT. We hypothesize that ANT stimulation can improve working memory precision. Methods: Presurgical epilepsy patients with depth electrodes in ANT and hippocampus were recruited to perform a color-recall working memory task. Participants were instructed to point out the color they were supposed to recall by clicking a point on the color wheel, while the intracranial EEG data were synchronously recorded. For randomly selected half trials, a bipolar electrical stimulation was delivered to the ANT electrodes. Results: We found that compared to non-stimulation trials, working memory precision judgements were significantly improved for stimulation trials. ANT electrical stimulation significantly increased spectral power of gamma (30-100 Hz) oscillations and decreased interictal epileptiform discharges (IED) in the hippocampus. Moreover, the increased gamma power during the pre-stimulus and retrieval period predicted the improvement of working memory precision judgements. Conclusion: ANT electrical stimulation can improve working memory precision judgements and modulate hippocampal gamma activity, providing direct evidence on the role of the human hippocampalanterior thalamic axis in working memory precision. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Background: Anthracyclines are widely used to treat childhood cancers; however, they cause cardiotoxicity. To address the paucity of clinical data from Asian populations, this study investigated the epidemiology of pediatric anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity, during and after chemotherapy, in a multiethnic Asian population.Procedure: This was a single-center, retrospective analysis of 458 anthracycline-treated pediatric oncology patients at KK Women's and Children's Hospital, a tertiary children's hospital in Singapore from 2005 through 2015. We investigated cardiotoxicity (defined as left ventricular fractional shortening Results: Over a follow-up period of almost 4 years, we found that 7% (32/458) of the cohort developed cardiotoxicity, with 37.5% (12/32) of these manifesting as clinical heart failure, whilst the rest were asymptomatic. The cardiotoxic cohort demonstrated a significantly higher mortality rate compared to the non-cardiotoxic group at 46.9 vs. 19.2% (p < 0.001), of whom 3 (9.4%) died from end-stage heart failure. We found that traditional predictors such as female sex, age at diagnosis, and cumulative doxorubicin equivalent dose were not predictors of cardiotoxicity.Conclusion: Our study reaffirms that freedom from symptoms does not ensure normal heart function and suggests that children with abnormal ventricular systolic function have higher mortality risk compared to those with normal systolic function. The findings contribute to improved understanding of the Asian burden to aid development of measures to prevent or reduce the risk of cardiotoxicity.

We highlight two distinct cases of myocardial infarction occurring concurrently with anaphylaxis at our centre in Singapore. The first case had cardiac symptoms and electrocardiogram changes concomitant with his anaphylaxis presentation, suggestive of Kounis syndrome, while the second case presented with anaphylaxis and only developed cardiac symptoms and electrocardiogram changes after treatment with intramuscular epinephrine, suggestive of epinephrine-induced myocardial infarction. Both these conditions are uncommon and under-recognised, and we review the current literature to compare the similarities and differences in their clinical manifestations, pathophysiology, and management. Kounis syndrome occurs secondary to mast cell degranulation ultimately resulting in coronary vasospasm, platelet activation and inflammatory response, whereas epinephrine causes platelet aggregation. Therefore, treatment priorities of Kounis syndrome are treatment of allergy, treatment of vasospasm, and treatment with anti-platelet therapy and revascularization if coronary plaques are present. For epinephrine-induced myocardial infarction, after epinephrine treatment is discontinued, considerations in management are re-vascularisation or pharmacotherapy. Further research will help with better understanding of both conditions and formulation of clinical management guidelines.

Blockchain Decentralized Applications (Blockchain Dapps or Dapps in short) have been implemented in many different industrial applications, including recent Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT) and Cyber Physical Systems (CPS). In this paper, we propose an architectural design that integrates both a permissioned blockchain network and an IIoT infrastructure for establishing a decentralized IIoT data marketplace. The decentralized IIoT data marketplace allows both data providers and data consumers, to share the available IIoT datasets without any centralized third-party user authorization. First, our proposed Dapp is enabled to connect with a time series database that is considered as a persistent storage of IIoT machine and sensor data. Second, by defining the written data via a smart contract, we ensure that all transactional records between data providers and data consumers are traceable and immutable. Third, we deploy a distributed file system in our proposed architecture to strengthen data privacy by converting the output results into cryptographic hashes. Besides, we demonstrate the designated role-based web user interfaces (UIs) for our proposed Dapp. Finally, we perform an experimental study by utilizing a time series database benchmark tool as an exemplary IIoT system to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed Dapp.

With the onset of the fourth industrial revolution (industry 4.0), IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) connectivity has greatly evolved, making a significant impact in a Smart Factory. This implies the ability of having interconnected sensors and devices, crucial in supporting such industry 4.0 developments and applications. However, different vendors, protocols and technologies hinder the development as it requires arguably specific skillsets and their implementation is not straightforward, requiring a high level of training and specific knowledge that may not be available all the time. This could potentially prevent or slow down the adoption of smart factory technologies in the current manufacturing industry. In this paper, we introduce a unified IIoT cloud platform to solve interoperability problems, by using Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) within a cloud platform. Our solution tries to bridge some of the gaps in implementing connectivity technologies in a smart factory context. The proposed solution is implemented as a configurable edge connector to stream telemetry data meant to be used for new IIoT projects, without the need to develop new platforms from scratch. A multi-platform analytic dashboard is included for different project needs. The platform serves to achieve “True IIoT” by being able to provide sensor data beyond the corporate firewall securely in the cloud, supporting the digital transformation of the factory.

Much industrial equipment integrates multiple types of sensors for data collection and real-time connection with the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) at now. With the popularity and application of miniaturized and low-cost sensors, to manage the health of equipment in the IIoT, such as evaluating the current health indicator (HI) of the equipment, and predicting its remaining useful life (RUL), the machine learning-based method reflects a broader application prospect due to its good at data mining and analysis. A RUL prediction method of equipment in this paper is proposed. First, a specific data processing method is proposed according to the characteristics of the data, the outputs of the hidden layer of stacked denoising autoencoder (SDAE) as the features of the data set which are extracted to complete the HI construction. Then, the trajectory pointwise difference and similarity method are proposed to generate predicted equipment RUL. This paper uses the C-MAPSS engine data set for experimental verification. The experimental results show that the method proposed in this paper can effectively use the data of multi-dimensional sensor data to get the degradation progress of the equipment, thereby assessing the health of the equipment and more accurately estimating the RUL.

Aiming at the problems of unreasonable distribution routes in the current logistics distribution field, without considering the impact of real-time road conditions, and the inability to reduce the impact on the timeliness of distribution, this paper proposes a dynamic vehicle distribution path optimization method based on the collaboration of cloud, edge and end devices. This method considers the requirements of demand points for the delivery time and considers the changes in road traffic conditions caused by random road traffic incidents. Combining the characteristics of vehicle speed and time penalty cost in the vehicle delivery process establishes a logistics delivery vehicle path optimization model. Solve it and optimize it with the A* algorithm and dynamic schedule. This method collects road condition data in real-time through terminal equipment, evaluates and judges road conditions at the edge, and makes real-time adjustments to the distribution plan made in advance at the cloud data center. Through simulation experiments on application examples, the vehicle path optimization method proposed in this paper that considers real-time road conditions changes and the optimization method that does not consider road conditions are compared and analyzed, verifying the effectiveness of this method. Experimental results show that this method can reduce distribution costs, reduce distribution time, and reduce the impact of changes in road conditions on the distribution results.

With rapid urbanization and increasing traffic, distribution path planning has become an important challenging issue. Traditional vehicle distribution route planning mostly relies on static road information or historical traffic data for route planning. However, route planning based on such information may be unreasonable, because many uncertainty factors involve in the vehicle distribution process. Edge intelligence can help to handle such uncertainty factors, as it can offer smart services in close proximity to the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) environment with low latency and less cost. Therefore, in this paper, a model for dynamic distribution path planning with IoV and edge intelligence is constructed, and a corresponding planning strategy is proposed. The result of simulation experiments shows its effectiveness.

This paper presents a complete model of a gated lateral PNP transistor in CMOS technology covering all modes of operations - vertical and lateral BJTs as well as the MOSFET regions of operations seamlessly. A sub-circuit model combining p-MOSFET, lateral PNP and vertical PNP is presented. The sub-circuit model accounts for high- and low-beta regions of the lateral BJT, MOSFET operation and vertical PNP BJT including temperature dependence for all the devices. A novel phenomenon of the increase in reverse (positive) base current with increasing magnitude of the emitter-base forward bias is explained and modeled, for the first time. The benefit that the lateral BJT brings to the implementation of bandgap reference circuits is discussed.

Background Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a highly vascular tumor and patients with low risk metastatic RCC of clear-cell histological sub-type (mccRCC) are treated with tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (TKIs), sunitinib, as the first-line of treatment. Unfortunately, TKI resistance eventually develops, and the underlying molecular mechanism is not well understood. Methods RCC cell-line with metastatic clear-cell histology (Caki-1), and patient samples were analysed to identify the role of Y-box binding protein 1 (YB-1) and ATP-binding cassette sub-family B member 1 (ABCB-1) in acquired sunitinib-resistance development. Caki-1 was conditioned with increasing sunitinib doses to recapitulate acquired resistance development in clinics. Sunitinib-conditioned and wild-type Caki-1 were subjected to cell viability assay, scratch assay, chicken embryo chorioallantoic membrane engraftment and proteomics analysis. Classical biochemical assays like flow cytometry, immunofluorescent staining, immunohistochemical staining, optical coherence tomography imaging, Western Blot and RT-PCR assays were applied to determine the possible mechanism of sunitinib-resistance development and the effect of drug treatments. Publicly available data was also used to determine the role of YB-1 upregulation in ccRCC and the patients’ overall survival. Results We demonstrate that YB-1 and ABCB-1 are upregulated in sunitinib-resistant in vitro, ex vivo, in vivo and patient samples compared to the sensitive samples. This provides evidence to a mechanism of acquired sunitinib-resistance development in mccRCC. Furthermore, our results establish that inhibiting ABCB-1 with elacridar, in addition to sunitinib, has a positive impact on reverting sunitinib-resistance development in in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo models. Conclusion This work proposes a targeted therapy (elacridar and sunitinib) to re-sensitize sunitinib-resistant mccRCC and, possibly, slow disease progression.

Coal mining, regarded as a high-risk industry, has strongly demand on Virtual Reality (VR) training environment for safety mining and emergency rescue. In order to solve the problems of the current VR platform of lack of immersive experience and interest, a Browser/Client VR simulation system are designed and realized. Three key techniques are studies, including cloud rendering, AI behavior tree and mining disaster animation. Unlike WebGL and HTML5, cloud rendering provides photo-realistic quality. 2 AI characters are designed to guide users to have an overall understanding of the mine and experience the effect mine disasters. The system has been successfully applied in the Virtual Reality Teaching and Experiment Laboratory for undergraduate in China University of Mining & Technology-Beijing. The research, as a new tool for miner training and disaster drilling, has a signification meaning of the work safety IT construction.

Guaranteeing the safety of equipment is extremely important in industry. To improve reliability and availability of equipment, various methods for prognostics and health management (PHM) have been proposed. Predicting remaining useful life (RUL) of industrial equipment is a key aspect of PHM and it is always one of the most challenging issues. With the rapid development of industrial equipment and sensing technology, an increasing amount of data on the health level of equipment can be obtained for RUL prediction. This paper proposes a hybrid data-driven approach based on stacked denoising autoencode (SDAE) and similarity theory for estimating remaining useful life of industrial equipment, which is named RULESS. Our work is making the most of stacked SDAE and similarity theory to improve the accuracy of RUL prediction. The effectiveness of the proposed approach was evaluated by using aircraft engine health data simulated by commercial modular Aero-Propulsion system simulation (C-MAPSS).

In view of the poor robustness of fully welded connections, energy dissipation cover-plates (EDCs) were proposed in this study with the aim of improving their anti-progressive collapse capacity. First, the stress law and failure modes of the EDCs were revealed through the study of 13 uniaxial tensile test specimens, and the calculation formulas for the collapse resistance and corresponding deformation of the EDC were determined by theoretical analysis. Then, a design method for a fully welded connection with EDCs was proposed according to the forming principle of the double plastic regions and the deformation coordination principle of the EDC and beam flange. The analysis results show that the design method verified by analyzing three series of numerical examples is reasonable. The collapse resistance and deformation of the substructures with EDCs were increased by 78%–120% and 140%–182%, respectively, compared with those of substructures without EDCs. Moreover, the substructures with EDCs formed an obvious resistance improvement stage. The beam members in the substructure with EDCs can yield completely before connection failure, which enhances the catenary mechanism and delays the failure of the connection. The energy generated by the vertical load dissipation in the structure with EDCs can be increased to approximately twice that of the original structure. Therefore, adding EDCs is conducive to the dissipation of the energy generated by vertical loads and to the improvement of the collapse resistance of a fully welded connection.

Background Rapid stratification and appropriate treatment on admission are critical to saving lives of patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE). None of the clinical prediction tools perform well when applied to all patients with acute PE. It may be important to integrate respiratory features into the 2014 European Society of Cardiology model. First, we aimed to assess the relationship between the arterial partial pressure of oxygen/fraction of inspired oxygen (PaO2/FIO2) ratio and in-hospital mortality, determine the optimal cutoff value of PaO2/FIO2, and determine if this value, which is quick and easy to obtain on admission, is a predictor of in-hospital mortality in this population. Second, we aimed to evaluate the potential additional determinants including laboratory parameters that may affect the in-hospital mortality. We hypothesized that the PaO2/FiO2 ratio would be a clinical prediction tool for in-hospital mortality in patients with acute PE. Methods A prospective single-center observational cohort study was conducted in Beijing Hospital from January 2010 to November 2017. Arterial blood gas analysis data captured on admission, clinical characteristics, risk factors, laboratory data, imaging findings, and in-hospital mortality were compared between survivors and non-survivors. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for in-hospital mortality based on the PaO2/FiO2 value was determined, and the association between the parameters and in-hospital mortality was analyzed by using logistic regression analysis. Results Body mass index, history of cancer, PaO2/FiO2 value, pulse rate, cardiac troponin I level, lactate dehydrogenase level, white blood cell count, D-dimer level, and risk stratification measurements differed between survivors and non-survivors. The optimal cutoff value of PaO2/FiO2 for predicting mortality was 265 (AUC = 0.765, P 2/FiO2 ratio P = 0.004), history of cancer (95% CI 1.161–15.927, P = 0.029), and risk stratification (95% CI 1.047–16.957, P = 0.043) continued to be associated with an increased risk of in-hospital mortality of acute PE. Conclusion A simple determination of the PaO2/FiO2 ratio at 2/FiO2 ratio

This paper explores the transborder infrastructure along the Chinese mainland-Hong Kong boundary at Shenzhen through a case study of Luohu Port. Such exploration is timely because the increasing supranational and subnational transborder activities have formed a system of connections that is contested by multiscalar forces from the state, corporations, and the market. Luohu Port at Shenzhen exhibits how the transborder infrastructure engages with the multiscalar activities and complex geopolitical tensions between mainland China and Hong Kong. Despite the long-standing social and economic gap across the boundary, infrastructural innovations were employed to lubricate the border crossing experience. Advancement in technologies, transportation, and space design is essential in the construction of a more permeable border (or boundary). This paper uses a multi-dimensional analytic tool that is based on the TPSN framework to identify the stakeholders involved in shaping Luohu Port. This investigation arrives at the conclusion that the existing ad hoc strategy for the mainland-Hong Kong boundary should give way to a more responsible and foresighted plan targeting long-term regional cooperation.

Although a lot of studies have shown serum uric acid (SUA) could be a marker of adverse prognosis in patients with acute myocardial infarction, the role of SUA as a risk factor for myocardial infarction is controversial. This study aimed to evaluate the association between hyperuricemia and short-term outcomes of elderly patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Six hundred and seventy-three elderly patients (≥ 60 years) were divided into high-SUA-level group (group H: N = 168) and low-SUA-level group (group L: N = 505) according to the SUA levels on admission. The following primary end points were evaluated within 30 days of AMI. The adverse events included postoperative angina pectoris, heart failure (Killip class ≥ II), and death. The comparisons were made between two groups in clinical and angiographic characteristics. The incidences of postoperative angina pectoris, heart failure, and the total adverse cardiovascular events were significantly higher in group H than in group L. But the incidence of death was similar between groups. In group H, heart rate (HR), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, SUA, homocysteine (HCY), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and creatine kinase myocardial band (CKMB) peak were clearly higher compared with those in group L. The results of logistic regression showed that the incidence of 30-day adverse events was closely related to TG, HCY and SUA. An elevated SUA level may be related to the short-term outcomes and seems to be an independent predictor of 30-day cardiovascular events in elderly patients with STEMI.

Heterotopic ossification (HO) is a pathological phenomenon in which ectopic lamellar bone forms in soft tissues. HO involves many predisposing factors, including congenital and postnatal factors. Postnatal HO is usually induced by fracture, burn, neurological damage (brain injury and spinal cord injury) and joint replacement. Recent studies have found that patients who suffered from bone fracture combined with severe traumatic brain injury (S-TBI) are at a significantly increased risk for HO occurrence. Thus, considerable research focused on the influence of S-TBI on fracture healing and bone formation, as well as on the changes in various osteogenic factors with S-TBI occurrence. Brain damage promotes bone formation, but the exact mechanisms underlying bone formation and HO after S-TBI remain to be clarified. Hence, this article summarises the findings of previous studies on the relationship between S-TBI and HO and discusses the probable causes and mechanisms of HO caused by S-TBI. The translational potential of this article: A better understanding of the probable causes of traumatic brain injury–induced HO can provide new perspectives and ideas in preventing HO and may support to design more targeted therapies to reduce HO or enhance the bone formation.

In practice, when building structures are subjected to local damage caused by extreme loads, all stories above the failure column consequently deform and play a major role in the internal force redistribution and rebalancing for resisting the external load. However, because of the high cost and laboratory space constraints, most existing experimental tests on progressive collapse are primarily focused on single-story sub-assemblages. In a previous experimental work, to investigate the collapse performance of a multi-story composite frame, a 1/3 scale three-story composite sub-frame with top and seat with double web angle (TSDWA) connections was tested quasi-statically. However, whereas many factors have a significant influence on the progressive collapse performance, the corresponding experimental data proved too limited to allow their analysis. Consequently, to address these limitations and explore the effects of key parameters on the progressive collapse behavior of multi-story composite frames, a series of progressive collapse simulations were conducted in this study and the corresponding critical parameters identified. First, a finite element model of the three-story composite sub-frame was established and validated with the prior experimental results. Then, the effects of composite slabs and lateral restraints on the collapse performance were investigated using a refined model. Subsequently, the effect of model size was determined and parametric analyses were carried out to investigate the effects of key parameters on the progressive collapse performance, including number of stories, span-to-depth ratio, and column-removal position. Finally, the TSDWA connections were reinforced by adding stiffeners on both sides of the top and seat angles, which effectively improved the collapse resistance of the multi-story composite frame under different collapse conditions.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common type of leukemia in western countries and typically occurs in elderly individuals. There will be an estimated 21,250 newly diagnosed cases in the United States this year and 4,320 deaths. Due to the highly variable clinical course of this disease, prognostication and risk stratification methods are necessary for guiding decisions on clinical management. Integrated prognostic models incorporating laboratory testing for multiple molecular, cytogenetic, and other biomarkers have recently been proposed by major clinical guidelines to classify patients into risk subgroups. The current NCCN Guidelines for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia/Small Lymphocytic Leukemia describe such an integrated prognostic model known as the Rossi model that includes TP53, NOTCH1, SF3B1, and BIRC3 mutations along with the cytogenetic abnormalities detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to classify CLL patients into 4 distinct prognostic subgroups: high-risk (TP53 and/or BIRC3 abnormalities), intermediate-risk (NOTCH1 and/or SF3B1 mutations and/or deletion 11q), low-risk (trisomy 12 and wild-type for all genetic lesions), and very low-risk (deletion 13q only). The 10-year survival rates for these subgroups are 29%, 37%, 57%, and 69%, respectively. To assess the clinical value of an integrated biomarker testing approach, we analyzed results of 651 consecutive cases submitted to our clinical diagnostic laboratory for testing on our integrated panel of molecular and cytogenetic biomarkers for CLL. Our panel includes detection of genomic alterations by FISH (deletion 6q, 13q, 11q, 17p, trisomy 12, IGH rearrangement, and IGH/CCND1 translocation) and detection of sequence variants in BIRC3, BTK, MYD88, NOTCH1, PCLG2, SF3B1, and TP53 by next-generation sequencing (NGS). In total, 472 cases had positive findings by either FISH (90%) or NGS (46%) for a detection rate of 72.5%. Using the Rossi integrated prognostic model, 17.5% of cases fell into the high-risk subgroup, 20% of cases fell into the intermediate-risk subgroup, 43.5% of cases fell into the low-risk subgroup, and 19% of cases fell into the very low-risk subgroup. Importantly, among cases with positive FISH findings, 40.1% of cases also had positive molecular findings. In approximately 84% of cases belonging to the low-risk cytogenetic subgroups by FISH assessment alone, the incorporation of molecular findings resulted in reclassification into a higher-risk subgroup. Among the FISH-negative cases, 17% were classified as high-risk or intermediate-risk based on the molecular findings. Together, these findings support the clinical value of an integrative biomarker testing approach that includes both molecular and cytogenetic biomarkers to stratify CLL patients into risk subgroups to help guide decisions on clinical management. Disclosures Prathapam: Quest Diagnostics: Current Employment. Maharjan: Quest Diagnostics: Current Employment. Powers: Quest Diagnostics: Current Employment. Freitas: Quest Diagnostics: Current Employment. Sun: Quest Diagnostics: Current Employment. Tan: Quest Diagnostics: Current Employment. Gupta: Quest Diagnostics: Current Employment. Hucthagowder: Quest Diagnostics: Current Employment. Graham: Quest Diagnostics: Current Employment. Whitman: Quest Diagnostics: Current Employment. Khadgi: Quest Diagnostics: Current Employment. Daniel: Quest Diagnostics: Current Employment. Racke: Quest Diagnostics: Current Employment. Champion: Quest Diagnostics: Current Employment.

Following the sudden removal of an internal column from a steel-frame composite-floor system, the two-bay beams connected to the failed column play a key role in the internal force redistribution and rebalancing of the remaining structure. Moreover, the span–depth ratios of the adjacent two-bay beams have a significant influence on the collapse-resistant performance of the structure. To date, studies on structural progressive collapse of beams with unequal spans have been limited. In this study, based on the results of static loading tests on composite beam–column assemblies with cover-plate joints under three different span ratios, the finite element modeling method was validated and numerical models of the beam–column assemblies with three unequal spans were established. The influence of the unequal span of two-bay beams on the internal force development and load-resisting mechanisms of the composite beam–column assemblies were analyzed in detail. To gain deeper insight into the load-resisting mechanisms, the contributions of the flexural and catenary mechanism resistances to the total resistance of two-bay beams were quantitatively separated using the energy equilibrium theory, and it was found that the resistant contributions of the catenary mechanism, in general, account for less than a half of the structure’s resistance capacity. Moreover, theoretical formulas for the different resistant contributions of two-bay beams were proposed as recommendations for structural progressive collapse design and practical engineering applications. The analysis of results demonstrated that the span–depth ratios of two-bay beams determined the resistant contribution coefficients for the flexural mechanism, whereas the span ratios of two-bay beams determined the resistant contribution coefficient for the catenary mechanism, whereas the beam depth had little influence thereon.

The impact of alternative farming systems on fruit quality of orchard crops has been rarely examined. This study compared the effect of two management regimes with or without effective microorganisms (EMs) on fruit quality of sweet cherry (Prunus avium L. cultivar Sweetheart). After 4 years, EMs had no effect on quality; however, fruit from regime 2 based on organic amendments and no herbicide had higher total soluble solids and malic acid concentration but reduced size, compression firmness, and stem retention force than fruit from regime 1, which was based on current conventional fertigation and herbicide practices. Fruit quality of all treatments was of export standard.

Background The vast majority of prostate cancer presents clinically localized to the prostate without evidence of metastasis. Currently, there are several modalities available to treat this particular disease. Despite radical prostatectomy demonstrating a modest prostate cancer specific mortality benefit in the PIVOT trial, several novel modalities have emerged to treat localized prostate cancer in patients that are either not eligible for surgery or that prefer an alternative approach. Methods Athymic nude mice were subcutaneously inoculated with prostate cancer cells. The mice were divided into four cohorts, one cohort untreated, two cohorts received docetaxel (10 mg/kg) either subcutaneously (SC) or intravenously (IV) and the fourth cohort was treated using the magnetically-actuated docetaxel delivery device (MADDD), dispensing 1.5 μg of docetaxel per 30 min treatment session. Treatment in all three therapeutic arms (SC, IV, and MADDD) was administered once weekly for 6 weeks. Treatment efficacy was measured once a week according to tumor volume using ultrasound. In addition, calipers were used to assess tumor volume. Results Animals implanted with the device demonstrated no signs of distress or discomfort, neither local nor systemic symptoms of inflammation and infection. Using an independent sample t-test, the tumor growth rate of the treated tumors was significant when compared to the control. Post hoc Tukey HSD test results showed that the mean tumor growth rate of our device cohort was significantly lower than SC and control cohorts. Moreover, IV cohort showed slight reduction in mean tumor growth rates than the ones from the device cohort, however, there was no statistical significance in tumor growth rate between these two cohorts. Furthermore, immunohistochemistry demonstrated an increased cellular apoptosis in the MADDD treated tumors and a decreased proliferation when compared to the other cohorts. In addition, IV cohort showed increased treatment side effects (weight loss) when compared to the device cohort. Finally, MADDD showed minimal expression of CD45 comparable to the control cohort, suggesting no signs of chronic inflammation. Conclusions In conclusion, this study showed for the first time that MADDD, clearly suppressed tumor growth in local prostate cancer tumors. This could potentially be a novel clinical treatment approach for localized prostate cancer.

Bladder cancer is the ninth most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world and fth in the USA and Canada (1,2). Patients presenting with bladder cancer are initially treated with transurethral resection and specimens are graded and staged.

IL-33 is constitutively expressed in the skin. Psoriasis is a common skin inflammatory disease. The roles of IL-33 in psoriasis have not been well-elucidated. We identified that keratinocytes (KCs) are the predominant cells expressing IL-33 and its receptor, suppression of tumorigenicity 2, in the skin. KCs actively released IL-33 on psoriasis inflammatory stimuli and induced psoriasis-related cytokine, chemokine, and inflammatory molecules genes transcription in KCs in an autocrine manner. IL-33‒specific deficiency in KCs ameliorated imiquimod-induced psoriatic dermatitis. In addition, intradermal injection of recombinant IL-33 alone induced psoriasis-like dermatitis, which is attributed to the transcriptional upregulation of genes enriched in IL-17, TNF, and chemokine signaling pathway in KCs on recombinant IL-33 stimulation. Our data demonstrate that the autocrine circuit of IL-33 in KCs promotes the progression of psoriatic skin inflammation, and IL-33 is a potential therapeutic target for psoriasis.

This paper reviewed the 3rd NTIRE challenge on single-image super-resolution (restoration of rich details in a low-resolution image) with a focus on proposed solutions and results. The challenge had 1 track, which was aimed at the real-world single image super-resolution problem with an unknown scaling factor. Participants were mapping low-resolution images captured by a DSLR camera with a shorter focal length to their high-resolution images captured at a longer focal length. With this challenge, we introduced a novel real-world super-resolution dataset (RealSR). The track had 403 registered participants, and 36 teams competed in the final testing phase. They gauge the state-of-the-art in real-world single image super-resolution.

Chinese spelling check is an automatic mechanism to detect Chinese spelling errors in the text. State-of-the-art Chinese Spelling Check systems using bidirectional LSTM, which does not consider the constraint between output labels. In this paper, we introduce a novel neural network architecture that combines the bidirectional LSTM and CRF. This model takes char sequence of a sentence as input, and BLSTM learns the order information, feeds the probability vector to the CRF layer, then CRF output predict best tag sequences. Our system is effective and efficient, requiring no feature engineering or data preprocessing, thus making it applicable to many tasks. We evaluate our system on two datasets — the Sogou News dataset and the Literary Novels dataset. Compared with BLSTM models, we achieve a 5% and 3% relative f1-score improvement in Sogou News and Literary Novels, respectively.

The Zhaoshan long-baseline Atom Interferometer Gravitation Antenna (ZAIGA) is a new type of underground laser-linked interferometer facility, and is currently under construction. It is in the 200-meter-on-average underground of a mountain named Zhaoshan which is about 80 km southeast to Wuhan. ZAIGA will be equipped with long-baseline atom interferometers, high-precision atom clocks, and large-scale gyros. ZAIGA facility will take an equilateral triangle configuration with two 1-km-apart atom interferometers in each arm, a 300-meter vertical tunnel with atom fountain and atom clocks mounted, and a tracking-and-ranging 1-km-arm-length prototype with lattice optical clocks linked by locked lasers. The ZAIGA facility will be used for experimental research on gravitation and related problems including gravitational wave detection, high-precision test of the equivalence principle of micro-particles, clock based gravitational red-shift measurement, rotation measurement and gravito-magnetic effect., 20 pages, 15 figures