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Recently, depth map super-resolution (DSR) has obtained remarkable performance with the development of convolutional neural networks (CNNs). High-resolution (HR) depth map can be inferred from a low-resolution (LR) one with the guidance of its corresponding HR intensity image. However, most of the existing CNNs-based methods unilaterally transfer structures information of guidance image to the input depth map, which ignores the corresponding relations between the depth map and the intensity map. In this paper, we propose a novel dual auto-encoder attention network (DAEANet) for DSR. The proposed DAEANet includes two auto-encoder networks, where guidance auto-encoder network (GAENet) and target auto-encoder network (TAENet) aim to extract feature information from intensity image and depth map. Specifically, all auto-encoder networks are similar and trained simultaneously to ensure structural consistency. Furthermore, to preserve the structure information in the process of training, the attention mechanism is employed to our DAEANet. Extensive experiments on several popular benchmarks show that the proposed DAEANet outperforms existing state-of-the-art algorithms.

Dysregulated long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to contribute to the pathogenesis of ischemic stroke. However, the potential role of lncRNAs in post-stroke microglial activation remains largely unknown. Here, we uncovered that lncRNA-U90926 was significantly increased in microglia exposed to ischemia/reperfusion both in vivo and in vitro. In addition, adenovirus-associated virus (AAV)-mediated microglial U90926 silencing alleviated neurological deficits and reduced infarct volume in experimental stroke mice. Microglial U90926 knockdown could reduce the infiltration of neutrophils into ischemic lesion site, which might be attributed to the downregulation of C-X-C motif ligand 2 (CXCL2). Mechanistically, U90926 directly bound to malate dehydrogenase 2 (MDH2) and competitively inhibited the binding of MDH2 to the CXCL2 3' untranslated region (UTR), thus protecting against MDH2-mediated decay of CXCL2 mRNA. Taken together, our study demonstrated that microglial U90926 aggravated ischemic brain injury via facilitating neutrophil infiltration, suggesting that U90926 might be a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for ischemic stroke.

The accumulation of insoluble amyloid β (Aβ) peptides is one of the pathological changes in Alzheimer's disease (AD), which induced synaptic plasticity impairment and excitatory amino acid toxicity associated with decreased memory function. Xingnaojing (XNJ), a well-known prescription in traditional Chinese medicine, has been used for the treatment of stroke for many years in China. In this study, we aim to investigate the therapeutic effects of XNJ in a hippocampus of Aβ1–42 induced mouse model of AD which showed significant memory loss and impaired synaptic morphology and function. Treatment of XNJ could attenuate spatial and working memory dysfunction, increase dendritic spine density and improve long-term potential (LTP) induction. In addition, XNJ treatment significantly increased the level of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) and inhibit the NMDA/α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate (AMPA) ratio in AD mice. XNJ treatment also activated the AKT/mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, while inhibition of the mTOR pathway by rapamycin could reverse the protective effects of XNJ treatment. In conclusion, XNJ protected against synaptic plasticity and memory impairment in AD mice via the activation of AKT/mTOR signaling pathway, suggesting XNJ as an alternative treatment for AD.

Sequential invasive-noninvasive ventilation (NIV) improves the outcomes of patients with respiratory failure caused by acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD); however, there is no clear consensus on the optimal timing of the switch to sequential invasive-NIV in these patients. In the present study, a potential role for the modified Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score to guide sequential weaning was investigated. Patients with AECOPD and respiratory failure were prospectively recruited from three study centers (Wenling Hospital Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University and Changsha Central Hospital) between January 1st 2016 and December 31st 2018. Patients were randomly assigned to group A and B, with the switching point for sequential weaning strategy in the two groups being a modified GCS score ≥13 and 10 points, respectively. Each group included 240 patients. Baseline demographic characteristics were comparable in the two groups. The duration of invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) in group A was significantly shorter than that in group B. However, there were no significant between-group differences with respect to the incidence of re-intubation, ventilator-associated pneumonia, in-hospital mortality or the length of hospital stay. Use of a modified GCS score ≥13 as the switching point for sequential invasive-NIV may help decrease the duration of IMV in patients with AECOPD and respiratory failure.

CD8+ T cells are recognized as key players in exacerbation of ischemic stroke; however, the underlying mechanism in modulating the function of CD8+ T cells has not been completely elucidated. Here, we uncovered that FasL enhanced the cytotoxicity of CD8+ T cells to neurons after ischemic stroke. Inactivation of FasL specific on CD8+ T cells protected against brain damage and neuron loss. Proteomic analysis identified that PDPK1 functioned downstream of FasL signaling and inhibition of PDPK1 effectively reduced cytotoxicity of CD8+ T cells and improved ischemic neurological deficits. Taken together, these results highlight an intrinsic FasL-PDPK1 pathway regulating the cytotoxicity of CD8+ T cells in ischemic stroke.

RNA-binding protein with serine-rich domain 1 (RNPS1) is essential for modulating mRNA metabolism, but its role in ischemic stroke is unknown. In this study, we found that RNPS1 expression was significantly up-regulated in the brains of ischemic stroke mice and primary cortical neurons after oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) treatment. Knockdown of RNPS1 significantly aggravated ischemic brain injury after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) and promoted neuronal death. In addition, knockdown of RNPS1 exacerbated ischemia induced neuronal apoptosis, and downregulated the expression of anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl-xL and Mcl-1. Our study suggested that RNPS1 might be a potential therapeutic target for alleviating neuronal death in ischemic stroke.

Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is one of the most common malignant tumors in the world. Reactive oxidative species (ROS) and nuclear factor-related factor 2 (Nrf2) -antioxidant response element (ARE) signal pathway are known to play important roles in the development of NSCLC. In this study, we identified Peroxiredoxin 5 (PRDX5) as a novel binding partner for Nrf2. PRDX5 was significantly increased in human NSCLC specimens and cell lines. Nrf2 interacted with PRDX5 in H2O2-stimulated NCSLC cells, and the interaction promoted the expression of NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) protein in NSCLC cells. Further, high expression of Nrf2 and PRDX5 were associated with worsened prognosis in patients with NSCLC significantly. Moreover, animal studies showed that the growth of tumors treated with Nrf2 and PRDX5 shRNA was significantly lower than that of the other groups. All these data indicated that overexpressed PRDX5 in NSCLC promoted binding with Nrf2 and enhanced NQO1 expression and NSCLC development. Overall, our studies demonstrated that PRDX5 can be a novel binding partner of Nrf2 in promoting NCSLC development under oxidative stress and provide potential opportunity for improving NSCLC therapy.

Background: Female age over 35 years has been considered a determinant factor and increases the risk of infertility. However, paternal age has been virtually ignored, and its potential role is still poorly investigated. There is no current consensus on the effects of paternal age on assisted reproductive technology（ART）outcomes. Methods: In total, 381 in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles of nonmale factor infertility (paternal age Results: Among different paternal age groups, fertilization rate and high-quality embryos were not significantly different (P> 0.05). Compared with the 0.05), but significantly lower in the ≥ 40 y group(P < 0.05). Additionally, we found a statistically significantly lower implantation rate for men aged ≥40 years (18.8%) compared to the group of men aged 0.05). The miscarriage rate was significantly higher in the 35–39 y (44.8%) than that in the 0.05). There were no significant differences in the preterm birth or multiple pregnancy rates among the different paternal age groups (P >0.05). Ectopic pregnancy was only found in the paternal age Conclusion: Paternal age over 40 years is a key risk factor that influences the ART success rate even with good semen parameters, though has no impact on embryo development.

This study compares the impact of Prospective Plantings, Acreage, Crop Production, Crop Production Annual Summary, Grain Stocks, WASDE, Cattle on Feed, and Hogs and Pigs reports on corn, soybean, wheat, cotton, live cattle, and lean hogs markets over 1985-2018. Simultaneous releases of several reports are handled by evaluating the impact of report clusters. Our approach allows us to demonstrate the relative impact of various information releases and shows when the markets tend to be affected the most. The findings of this study provide evidence and guidance for future policy decision regarding the role of USDA information in modern agricultural markets. Office of the Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of Agriculture [58-0111-15-014] Published version Funding support from the Office of the Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of Agriculture under Cooperative Agreement No. 58-0111-15-014 is gratefully acknowledged. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Public domain – authored by a U.S. government employee

This paper studies the bionic tubercle airfoils based on the NACA 0020 prototype airfoil, with 7 models derived from different designs of the span-chord ratios and different tubercle types, along with the option of the wave airfoil surface matching the leading-edge tubercle. Open water experiments are conducted to test the airfoil profile at a Reynolds number of 3×105 and an angle of attack of 0°–30°. Data are recorded by a four-component force balance and the resulted lift, drag, and force moment are analyzed. From the analysis of the hydrodynamic characteristics and the flow field characteristics, it is shown that the stall of the tubercle airfoils is milder without an evident stalling angle as compared with that of the normal airfoil profile. The lift coefficient of the optimized airfoil is significantly elevated at the angle where the NACA 0020 airfoil is in the stall condition. The lift-drag ratio is also markedly improved at the same angle. The optimal airfoil profile is finally identified and a further optimization plan is proposed based on the comparison results against the CFD numerical simulation.

Aims Effects of dl‐3‐n‐butylphthalide (NBP) on white matter damage and cognitive impairment in vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) have not been well studied. This study aimed to investigate the effects of NBP treatment on chronic cerebral hypoperfusion‐induced white matter lesions and cognitive dysfunction in mice. Methods Mice were subjected to bilateral common carotid artery stenosis (BCAS) for over 30 days. The cerebral blood flow was detected using a laser Doppler flowmetry. Cognitive functions were assessed by several behavioral tests. We also evaluated the effects of NBP on the blood‐brain barrier (BBB) disruption and reactive astrogliosis, using Evans Blue extravasation, Western blot, CBA, and immunofluorescence in BCAS mice and cultured astrocytes. Results The results indicated that NBP treatment attenuated spatial memory dysfunction while promoted cerebral perfusion and white matter integrity in BCAS mice. Moreover, NBP treatment prevented BBB leakage and damage of endothelial cells, as well as disruption of endothelial tight junctions. Furthermore, NBP administration effectively decreased the number of activated astrocytes and pro‐inflammatory cytokines, as well as the production of MMPs, in BCAS‐induced mice and LPS‐stimulated astrocytes. Conclusion Our results indicated that NBP represents a promising therapy for chronic cerebral hypoperfusion‐induced white matter damage and cognitive impairment.

Transparent p–n diodes based on heterojunctions of p-type CuI polycrystalline layers and n-type amorphous In-Ga-Zn-O (a-IGZO) layers can be fabricated at room temperature. CuI effectively absorbs UV light owing to the simultaneous occurrence of band-to-band and excitonic transitions at room temperature. As a result, the CuI/a-IGZO heterojunction diodes exhibit clear photovoltaic effect under weak UV irradiation, even though the CuI layers are as thin as ∼30 nm. The photocurrent at zero bias quickly tracks the on/off signals of the UV irradiation, and thus the CuI/a-IGZO heterojunctions serve as a UV photodetector (UVPD) operating in self-powered mode. The CuI/a-IGZO-based UVPD features a wide dynamic range and excellent linearity of the responsivity against UV radiation intensity. Therefore, the CuI/a-IGZO heterojunction is a promising candidate to produce a self-powered rapid-response wide-dynamic-range UVPD that exhibits excellent linearity.

Zn3-3xMg3xN2 alloy layers with x ≤ 0.3 can be epitaxially grown at a temperature as low as 140 °C. The bandgap (Eg) of Zn3-3xMg3xN2 widens from 1.2 to 2.5 eV with increasing x. The Eg value of 1.4 eV is obtained at x = 0.18, and the x = 0.18 film has a large absorption coefficient (104–105 cm−1) in the visible region. The Zn3-3xMg3xN2 with Eg = 1.4 eV shows n-type conductivity with a reasonably high electron mobility of 47 cm2 V−1 s−1. Therefore, Zn3-3xMg3xN2 is a candidate for an earth-abundant solar absorber that can be fabricated at low temperatures.

Assisted hatching (AH) is initially developed to provide an artificial manipulation of the zona pellucida (ZP) to help embryos hatch and improve the capacity of the embryos to implant. However, these effects remain unclear and controversial because of variation in patient characteristics, and it is critical to ascertain the indications for AH and to identify those patients who might benefit from AH. Here, this study aimed to assess the effect of laser-assisted zona thinning hatching technology (LAH) during the frozen-thawed D3 embryos on pregnancy outcomes in patients with previous repeated failures in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET). To the best of our knowledge, these relationships have not been previously investigated. A retrospective cohort analysis was carried out. Infertility patients with previous repeated failure who underwent assisted reproductive therapy at our in vitro fertilization (IVF) center from May 2014 to May 2016 were enrolled. A total of 415 cleavage FET cycles (225 in the LAH group and 190 in the control group) were analyzed. Clinical outcomes including clinical pregnancy, implantation, live birth, miscarriage, and multiple gestation rates after transfer were compared between the LAH and control groups. The clinical pregnancy (49.3% versus 38.9%) and implantation rates (31.2% versus 24.6%) were significantly higher for the LAH group than the control group (P 0.05). The live birth (44.8% versus 35.8%), multiple pregnancy (32.4% versus 31.0%), preterm birth (22.8% versus 17.1%), miscarriage (7.2% versus 5.4%), and ectopic rates (1.9% versus 0%) did not differ significantly between the two groups (P 0.05). This study showed that LAH via zona pellucida (ZP) thinning significantly improves clinical outcomes, particularly clinical pregnancy and implantation rates, associated with FET cycles among patients with previous repeated failure.

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) have been an important research area focused on improving the efficiency of future transportation systems. In an ITS, vehicular networks are used to collect and transmit data from various points of interest. In these vehicular networks, the Roadside Unit (RSU) is a key infrastructure component facilitating communications among all elements of the transportation system.Inspired by the concept of edge computing, we believe RSUs can store data from points of interest and perform certain pre-processing tasks before further uploading the data to the Cloud. It is important to carefully deploy RSUs in vehicular networks in order to ensure full coverage of data generators. However, RSUs have limited data storage capacities and restricted communication ranges. In this paper, we jointly consider these two aspects with a goal of deploying the minimal number of RSUs while still covering all points of interest. Performance evaluation demonstrates our solution improves coverage performance under these constraints.

Ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy is a well-established technique for real-time analyzing contaminants in finished drinking water and wastewater. However, it has struggled in surface water because surface water such as river water has more complex chemical compositions than drinking water and lower concentrations of nutrient contaminants such as nitrate. Previous spectrophotometric analysis using absorbance peak at UV region to estimate nitrate in drinking water performs poorly in surface water because of interference from suspended particles and dissolved organic carbon which absorb light along similar wavelengths. To overcome these challenges, the paper develops a machine learning approach to utilize the entire spectral wavelengths for accurate estimation of low concentration of dissolved nutrients from surface water background. The spectral training data used in this research are obtained by analyzing water samples collected from the US-Canada bi-nationally regulated Detroit River during agricultural seasons using A.U.G. Signals' dual channel spectrophotometer system. Confirmatory concentrations of dissolved nitrate in these samples are validated by laboratory analysis. Several commonly used supervised learning techniques including linear regression, support vector machine (SVM), and deep learning using convolutional neural network (CNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM) network are studied and compared in this work. The results conclude that the SVM with linear kernel, CNN with linear activation function, and LSTM network are the best regression models, which are able to achieve a cross validation root-mean-squared-error (RMSE) less than 0.17 ppm. The results demonstrate effectiveness of the machine learning approach and feasibility of real-time UV-Vis spectral analysis to monitor dissolved nutrient levels in the surface watersheds.

Mechanisms underlying cognitive impairment (CI) in hypertensive patients remain relatively unclear. The present study aimed to explore the relationship among serum exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs), cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR), and cognitive function in hypertensive patients. Seventy-three hypertensive patients with CI (HT-CI), 67 hypertensive patients with normal cognition (HT-NC), and 37 healthy controls underwent identification of exosomal miRNA, multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, and neuropsychological tests. CVR mapping was investigated based on resting-state functional MRI data. Compared with healthy subjects and HT-NC subjects, HT-CI subjects displayed decreased serum exosomal miRNA-330-3p. The group difference of CVR was mainly found in the left frontal lobe and demonstrated that HT-CI group had a lower CVR than both HT-NC group and control group. Furthermore, both the CVR in the left medial superior frontal gyrus and the miRNA-330-3p level were significantly correlated with executive function (r = −0.275, P = 0.021, and r = −0.246, P = 0.04, respectively) in HT-CI subjects, and the CVR was significantly correlated with the miRNA-330-3p level (r = 0.246, P = 0.040). Notably, path analysis showed that the CVR mediated the association between miRNA-330-3p and executive function. In conclusion, decreased miRNA-330-3p might contribute to CI in hypertensive patients by decreasing frontal CVR and could be a biomarker of early diagnosis.

Edge computing is a novel computing paradigm that can improve the performance of many data intensive applications. Edge servers offer computing and data storage services closer to the locations of data sources. Data storage is an important issue in edge computing. Data need to be carefully allocated and stored in the system. In this paper, we investigate where to store data from data sources. We consider the scenario that data sources upload their data to edge servers or to the cloud. We show the impact of data storage and point out three goals, i.e., maximizing total data access frequencies supported by the edge server, minimizing total data uploading time, and maximizing the number of data sources uploading data to the edge server. We explore the tradeoff among these goals and propose different solutions. Performance evaluation shows these three goals can be achieved by our solutions respectively.

Ischemic stroke is a severe and acute neurological disorder with limited therapeutic strategies currently available. Oxidative stress is one of the critical pathological factors in ischemia/reperfusion injury, and high levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) may drive neuronal apoptosis. Rescuing neurons in the penumbra is a potential way to recover from ischemic stroke. Endogenous levels of the potent ROS quencher glutathione (GSH) decrease significantly after cerebral ischemia. Here, we aimed to investigate the neuroprotective effects of γ-glutamylcysteine (γ-GC), an immediate precursor of GSH, on neuronal apoptosis and brain injury during ischemic stroke. Middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) and oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) were used to mimic cerebral ischemia in mice, neuronal cell lines, and primary neurons. Our data indicated that exogenous γ-GC treatment mitigated oxidative stress, as indicated by upregulated GSH and decreased ROS levels. In addition, γ-GC attenuated ischemia/reperfusion-induced neuronal apoptosis and brain injury in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, transcriptomics approaches and subsequent validation studies revealed that γ-GC attenuated penumbra neuronal apoptosis by inhibiting the activation of protein kinase R-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK) and inositol-requiring enzyme 1α (IRE1α) in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress signaling pathway in OGD/R-treated cells and ischemic brain tissues. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to report that γ-GC attenuates ischemia-induced neuronal apoptosis by suppressing ROS-mediated ER stress. γ-GC may be a promising therapeutic agent for ischemic stroke.

Recently spiking neural networks (SNNs), the third-generation of neural networks has shown remarkable capabilities of energy-efficient computing, which is a promising alternative for deep neural networks (DNNs) with high energy consumption. SNNs have reached competitive results compared to DNNs in relatively simple tasks and small datasets such as image classification and MNIST/CIFAR, while few studies on more challenging vision tasks on complex datasets. In this paper, we focus on extending deep SNNs to object tracking, a more advanced vision task with embedded applications and energy-saving requirements, and present a spike-based Siamese network called SiamSNN. Specifically, we propose an optimized hybrid similarity estimation method to exploit temporal information in the SNNs, and introduce a novel two-status coding scheme to optimize the temporal distribution of output spike trains for further improvements. SiamSNN is the first deep SNN tracker that achieves short latency and low precision loss on the visual object tracking benchmarks OTB2013/2015, VOT2016/2018, and GOT-10k. Moreover, SiamSNN achieves notably low energy consumption and real-time on Neuromorphic chip TrueNorth.

Background In the central nervous system (CNS), connexin 43 (Cx43) is mainly expressed in astrocytes and regulates astrocytic network homeostasis. Similar to Cx43 overexpression, abnormal excessive opening of Cx43 hemichannels (Cx43Hcs) on reactive astrocytes aggravates the inflammatory response and cell death in CNS pathologies. However, the role of excessive Cx43Hc opening in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) injury is not clear. Methods Hemin stimulation in primary cells and collagenase IV injection in C57BL/6J (B6) mice were used as ICH models in vitro and in vivo. After ICH injury, the Cx43 mimetic peptide Gap19 was used for treatment. Ethidium bromide (EtBr) uptake assays were used to measure the opening of Cx43Hcs. Western blotting and immunofluorescence were used to measure protein expression. qRT-PCR and ELISA were used to determine the levels of cytokines. Coimmunoprecipitation (Co-IP) and the Duolink in situ proximity ligation assay (PLA) were applied to measure the association between proteins. Results In this study, Cx43 expression upregulation and excessive Cx43Hc opening was observed in mice after ICH injury. Delayed treatment with Gap19 significantly alleviated hematoma volume and neurological deficits after ICH injury. In addition, Gap19 decreased inflammatory cytokine levels in the tissue surrounding the hematoma and decreased reactive astrogliosis after ICH injury in vitro and in vivo. Intriguingly, Cx43 transcriptional activity and expression in astrocytes were significantly increased after hemin stimulation in culture. However, Gap19 treatment downregulated astrocytic Cx43 expression through the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway without affecting Cx43 transcription. Additionally, our data showed that Gap19 increased Yes-associated protein (YAP) nuclear translocation. This subsequently upregulated SOCS1 and SOCS3 expression and then inhibited the TLR4-NFκB and JAK2-STAT3 pathways in hemin-stimulated astrocytes. Finally, the YAP inhibitor, verteporfin (VP), reversed the anti-inflammatory effect of Gap19 in vitro and almost completely blocked its protective effects in vivo after ICH injury. Conclusions This study provides new insight into potential treatment strategies for ICH injury involving astroglial Cx43 and Cx43Hcs. Suppression of abnormal astroglial Cx43 expression and Cx43Hc opening by Gap19 has anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects after ICH injury.

Currently, the “2019-CoV-2” has been raging across the world for months, causing massive death, huge panic, chaos, and immeasurable economic loss. Such emerging epidemic viruses come again and again over years, leading to similar destructive consequences. Air-borne transmission among humans is the main reason for the rapid spreading of the virus. Blocking the air-borne transmission should be a significant measure to suppress the spreading of the pandemic. Considering the hospital is the most “dangerous” place to occur massive cross-infection among patients as emerging virus usually comes in a disguised way, an air distribution optimization of a general three-bed hospital ward in China is carried out in this paper. Using the Eulerian-Lagrangian method, sneeze process from patients who are assumed to be the virus carrier, which is responsible for a common event to trigger cross-infection, is simulated. The trajectory of the released toxic particle and the probability of approaching others in the same ward are calculated. Two evaluation parameter, total maximum time (TMT) and overall particle concentration (OPC) to reflect the particle mobility and probability to cause cross-infection respectively, are developed to evaluate the proposed ten air distributions in this paper. A relatively optimized air distribution proposal with the lowest TMT and OPC is distinguished through a three-stage actively analysis. Results show that a bottom-in and top-out air distribution proposal is recommended to minimize the cross-infection., Highlights • A ward-based sneeze process from a patient with epidemic disease is modeled. • Air distribution (AD) affects the flow pattern of the sneeze-induced virus particles. • Ten AD proposals are developed to evaluate the their probability of cross-infection. • Two parameters are proposed to judge which proposals is better quantitatively. • The direct probability of cross-infection can be decreased by 95% via optimization.

Cerebral ischaemia/reperfusion (CI/R) injury is a major challenge due to the lack of effective neuroprotective drugs. Hederagenin (HE) is the aglycone part of saponins extracted from Hedera helix Linné that has exhibited anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory effects; however, the role of HE in CI/R has not been elucidated. In this study, mice were intraperitoneally (i.p.) injected with HE (26.5, 53, or 106 μmol/kg body weight) for 3 days after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Neural function and brain infarct volume were evaluated. HE treatment attenuated CI/R-induced apoptosis and inflammatory cytokine expression within the infarcted areas. HE treatment also decreased the activation of the MLK3 signalling pathway, which potentiates CI/R damage via the MAPK and NFκB pathways. Due to HE’s safety profile, it has potential to be used for the clinical treatment of ischaemic stroke.

Data centers are important platforms and resources for many data intensive applications. A data center typically consists of many servers, which store a huge amount of data and perform computing tasks. Initial data needs to be transferred to the data center for users to access. It is usually necessary to replicate data for better reliability and fault tolerance. In this paper, we consider that the data center loads data from external storage devices. We investigate how to allocate and replicate data. We particularly emphasize the impact of data replication and present three goals, i.e., maximizing total data access frequencies, maximizing total replicas, and balancing the number of replicas. We propose different solutions to explore the tradeoff. Performance evaluation shows these solutions can handle various goals well and efficiently replicate data.

Introduction: Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) refers to a group of clinical syndromes involving cerebral arterioles, perforating arterioles, capillaries and venules, which is characterized by abnormal emotion, abnormal gait, urinary dysfunction, stroke, dementia and so on. It’s five to six times as much as stroke, and accounts for 45% of AD. Early forecast and early intervention can slow down the occurrence and development of cognitive impairment. Ethics number: 2016-134-01; Clinical Registration number: ChiCTR-OOC-17010562. Methods: 195 patients were enrolled in a case-control study and a cohort study. Exosomes were extracted by miRNeasy Serum/Plasma KIT (Qiagen). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) and exosome reference particle size technique were used to identify exosomes, than, miRNA sequencing was performed and the results were analyzed and verified. Patients underwent neuropsychological measurement including the general cognitive examination and multiple cognitive domain assessments. Results: There were 5 differentially expressed exosome miRNAs between patients with cognitive impairment and the normal subjects, that was miRNA-330/miRNA-339/miRNA-432/miRNA-625/miRNA-6852 were associated with overall cognitive score ( P < 0.001). Among the miRNAs, Significant correlations were observed between miRNA-330 and executive function, as well as processing speed (Pearson’s r = 0.30 after log transformation, P = 0.002; Pearson’s r = 0.24 after log transformation, P = 0.039, respectively). miRNA-432 was significantly correlated to verbal fluency (Pearson’s r = -0.33 after log transformation, P < 0.001). Conclusions: Peripheral blood exosome miRNAs are markers for overall cognitive impairment and correlates with impairment in the domains executive function, verbal fluency and processing speed. It is of great significance for clinical early prevention and early treatment.

Introduction: Microglia are the main type of resident immune cells in the brain. Under different stimuli, microglia exhibit two entirely different functional activated states, termed the pro-inflammatory (M1) phenotype and the anti-inflammatory (M2) phenotype. Almost all cell types can release exosomes, which are considered as important mediators in cell-to-cell communication. Cell-derived exosomal cargo contains a variety of proteins and nucleic acids, which can work locally or stably transferred to recipient cells. Here, we explored the effects of different phenotypes of microglia-derived exosomes on ischemia-induced brain injury. Methods: Primary microglial cells (PMGs) were treated with LPS or IL-4 to induce the M1 or M2 phenotype, respectively. Exosomes were isolated from the cell culture supernatant. Neuronal apoptosis was examined after oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) treatment with different exosomes. Transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) was used as the in vivo ischemic stroke model to observe the effects of different phenotypes of microglia-derived exosomes on brain injury. Protein profiles were investigated to screen the candidate molecules that mediate distinct functions. Results: Exosomes derived from different phenotypes of microglia have similar diameter, density and exosomal markers. PMGs-derived exosomes can be taken up by neurons. M1 microglia-derived exosomes increased neuronal apoptosis after OGD treatment than OGD alone, while M2 microglia-derived exosomes attenuated neuronal apoptosis. In vivo results revealed that M2 microglia-derived exosomes alleviated brain infarct size and neurological deficits. Besides, M1 microglia-derived exosomes aggravated brain damage. Proteomic analysis showed that the expression of complement-related proteins in M1 microglia-derived exosomes was significantly upregulated than that of M2 microglia-derived exosomes, while the underlying mechanism mediated by specific proteins needs further verification. Conclusions: We demonstrated that M1 microglia-derived exosomes could aggravate ischemic brain injury, while M2 microglia-derived exosomes attenuated this phenomenon. We will explore the detailed mechanisms in the future.

To report a case with multiple embryo transfers failure. A 30-year-old woman, married for 10 years, has undergone five ovulation stimulation cycles, and eight transfers cycles without achieving clinical pregnancy. A successful pregnancy was obtained after day 2 cleavage stage embryo combined with the day 5 blastocyst transfer, and a healthy male infant was delivered at 39+3 weeks.

Background. Acute kidney injury (AKI) has long been recognized as a common and important complication of acute pancreatitis (AP). In the study, machine learning (ML) techniques were used to establish predictive models for AKI in AP patients during hospitalization. This is a retrospective review of prospectively collected data of AP patients admitted within one week after the onset of abdominal pain to our department from January 2014 to January 2019. Eighty patients developed AKI after admission (AKI group) and 254 patients did not (non-AKI group) in the hospital. With the provision of additional information such as demographic characteristics or laboratory data, support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), classification and regression tree (CART), and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) were used to build models of AKI prediction and compared to the predictive performance of the classic model using logistic regression (LR). XGBoost performed best in predicting AKI with an AUC of 91.93% among the machine learning models. The AUC of logistic regression analysis was 87.28%. Present findings suggest that compared to the classical logistic regression model, machine learning models using features that can be easily obtained at admission had a better performance in predicting AKI in the AP patients.

If the associated differential inter-system biases (DISBs) are priori known, only one common reference satellite is sufficient, which is called the inter-system model. The inter-system model can help to maximize the redundancy of the positioning model, and thus can improve the positioning performance, especially in harsh environment. However, in practice use not all receivers can be calibrated with DISBs in advance. In this paper, taking combined GPS and BDS pseudorange positioning as the example, we compare three positioning models and their positioning performance. One is traditional intra-system model, and the other two belongs to the inter-system models, i. e. the model with calibration of DISB and the model with real-time estimation of DISB parameter. Positioning performance using the three models is evaluated with simulated obstructed environments. It will be shown that besides the model with calibration of DISB, the model with real-time estimation of DISB parameter can also effectively improve positioning accuracy and reliability compared with the traditional intra-system model, especially for the severely obstructed environment with only a few satellites observed. When no more than 7 satellites visible, the positioning accuracies in each directions can be improved by no less than 15 %. The proposed model can be used alternatively when no priori DISB calibration is available.

Psoriasis-specific proteins dysregulated in keratinocytes and involved in the pathophysiological process of psoriasis remains elusive. We report here that epidermal galectin-3 expression is significantly downregulated in lesional skin, but not in non-lesional skin in psoriasis patients, nor in a group of diseases known as psoriasiform dermatitis clinically and histologically similar to psoriasis. The deficiency of epidermal galectin-3 is sufficient to promote development of psoriatic lesions, as evidenced by more severe skin inflammation in galectin-3 knockout (gal3-/-) mice, compared to wild-type mice, after imiquimod treatment, and in skin from gal3-/- mice grafted onto wildtype mice. The development of psoriatic-like lesions is attributable to 1) the spontaneously tuning up of psoriasis signatures in keratinocytes through JNK pathway; and 2) neutrophil accumulation caused by the enhanced leukocyte-recruiting capacity associated with overexpression of S100A7-9 and CXCL-1, 8 in keratinocytes with impaired galectin-3 expression. Psoriasis-like skin inflammation is significantly improved in gal-3-/- mice both by inhibition of neutrophils accumulation with a selective CXCR2 antagonist of SB225002, and by intracutaneous injection of recombinant galectin-3. Overall, these findings offer promising galectin-3-related diagnostic and therapeutic resolutions of psoriasis.

For natural language processing problems, the short text classification is still a research hot topic, with obviously problem in the features sparse, high-dimensional text data and feature representation. In order to express text directly, a simple but new variation which employs one-hot with low-dimension was proposed. In this paper, a Densenet-based model was proposed to short text classification. Furthermore, the feature diversity and reuse were implemented by the concat and average shuffle operation between Resnet and Densenet for enlarging short text feature selection. Finally, some benchmarks were introduced to evaluate the Falcon. From our experimental results, the Falcon method obtained significant improvements in the state-of-art models on most of them in all respects, especially in the first experiment of error rate. To sum up, the Falcon is an efficient and economical model, whilst requiring less computation to achieve high performance.

The control design of target search and hunting using multi-robot remains a challenge in recent years. In this paper, we propose a control algorithm of multi-robot for target search and hunting inspired by potential field-based particle swarm optimization (PPSO). Firstly, a potential field function is established according to the initial positions of the obstacles, un-search area and targets. Then, the fitness function of PSO's (particle swarm optimization) is determined by the potential function of the work area. Lastly, multi-robot start performing target search and hunting missions driven by the proposed PPSO algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate that the PPSO algorithm is applicable and feasible for multi-robot cooperation to search and hunting targets. Compared with other commonly used methods for control of multi-robot, simulation results indicate that the PPSO algorithm has more stability and higher efficiency.

Clothes dryers play an important role in modern daily life which consumes a lot of residential electricity. The closed-loop heat pump clothes dryer is a typical energy-saving application in heat pump drying. To predict and analyze both electricity consumption and drying time, a quasi-steady-state model of the closed-loop heat pump dryer was developed, which consists of a dynamic fabric drying model and a steady-state heat pump system model. Simulation results reached a good agreement with test data of a household heat pump clothes dryer. The error of drying time is within 3 min and that of electricity consumption is −2.3%. Based on the model, the effects of compressor size, area ratio of the evaporator to total, circulating air flow rate, condensing temperature upper bound, and refrigerant charge on specific moisture extraction rate (SMER) and drying time were analyzed. Moreover, comprehensive optimization was performed using response surface method with the Box-Behnken design. The SMER of the redesigned clothes dryer is 2.92 kg/kWh, showing an increase of 5.8%, and the drying time is 129 min, showing a decrease of 14.6% compared with the original design.

Thin films of near-infrared (NIR)-transparent and highly conductive Mo-doped In2O3 (IMO) were prepared as transparent electrodes in thin-film photovoltaic cells and energy-efficient windows. The fabrication process was rapidly optimized by the combined use of atmospheric-pressure mist chemical-vapor deposition (mist-CVD) and sputtering. Mist-CVD was used to rapidly deposit IMO thin films with various Mo-dopant concentrations. We obtained highly conductive IMO thin films with transmittance above 70% in a wide wavelength range of 0.3–2.5 μm when the Mo-dopant concentration was ~ 1 at% and the Mo dopants had an oxidation state of + 4. The IMO films with the optimum Mo-dopant concentration of ~ 1 at% had low resistivities of (3–4) × 10− 4 Ω cm resulting from high electron mobilities exceeding 80 cm2 V− 1 s− 1and suppressed electron densities of (2–3) × 10− 4 cm− 3, which prevented the degradation of transparency in the NIR region. We applied these findings to the growth of IMO thin films by sputter deposition, which is readily extendable from laboratory scale to industrial scale. As a result, a high-performance IMO film was successfully obtained in only a few deposition runs. The optimized sputtered IMO film exhibited an extraordinarily high electron mobility of 93 cm2 V− 1 s− 1 and relatively low electron density of 1.5 × 1020 cm− 3, leading to a plasma wavelength that was longer than 4 μm. This optimized IMO film allowed passage of the full solar spectrum and exclusively reflected far-infrared light corresponding to thermal radiation at room temperature, allowing it to be used as transparent electrodes in photovoltaic cells and heat-reflective electrodes in energy-efficient electrochromic windows. We believe the combination of mist-CVD and sputtering can be extended to rapid optimization of other functional oxide systems.

Refrigerant vapor-compression cycle usually works with variable temperature heat sources in reality, which causes remarkable irreversible losses in heat exchange process. This paper proposed the stepped pressure cycle to modify the vapor-compression cycle using refrigerant, particularly pure refrigerant. Refrigerant is designed to flow through a series of heat transfer units with stepped pressures so that the irreversible losses can be reduced. Theoretical proof confirmed the stepped pressure cycle with pure refrigerant can approach the Lorenz cycle, the most efficient cycle under variable temperature heat sources. Numerical analysis on cycle performance demonstrated that a dual-step suction and discharge pressure cycle using R32 can achieve 11.5% cooling COP improvement for residential air conditioner, while a dual-step discharge pressure cycle using R134a can bring 9.8% heating COP increase for heat pump water heater. A pilot system was made and preliminarily tested. Compared to the single cycle system, 12.3% and 18.7% COP increase were achieved in the pilot system by applying dual and triple subcycles, respectively.

ContextAndrogen excess is a key feature of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), but the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear.ObjectiveTo determine the role and mechanism of novel long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) highly up-regulated in PCOS (HUPCOS) in the androgen excess of PCOS patients.DesignThe lncRNA expression profile in granulosa cells derived from PCOS and non-PCOS women were analyzed by using microarray assay. Human granulosa cell line KGN was used for mechanism investigation.SettingThis was a university-based study.PatientsThirty-eight PCOS and 38 control patients were recruited: 8 PCOS and 8 control samples used for microarray discovery, the remaining 30 PCOS cases and 30 controls for quantitative RT-PCR validation.Main Outcome MeasuresThe aberrant expression lncRNA profile of PCOS patients was measured using microarray. The relationship of HUPCOS and follicular fluid testosterone was measured. Aromatase expression were analyzed after HUPCOS downregulation. HUPCOS interaction protein was confirmed by RNA pull-down.ResultsThe significantly elevated lncRNA in PCOS granulosa cells was named HUPCOS, which was positively correlated with follicular fluid testosterone of PCOS patients. HUPCOS downregulation increased aromatase expression and promoted conversion of androgen to estrogen. RNA-binding protein with multiple splicing (RBPMS) was the most likely protein that combined with HUPCOS.ConclusionsOur findings suggested that HUPCOS mediated androgen excess in follicular fluid of PCOS patients by suppressing aromatase expression via interaction with RBPMS.

Background: Peroxiredoxins (Prxs) comprise antioxidant factors that are widely found in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Abnormal expression of Prxs is closely related to tumorigenesis. Methods: This study examined the prognostic value and expression of Prxs in lung cancer by Human Protein Atlas (HPA), Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA), UALCAN, Kaplan-Meier Plotter, cBioPortal and Functional Enrichment Analysis Tool (FunRich) databases. Results: We found that Prx1/2/3/4/5 were overexpressed in both lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) and lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) relative to normal lung cells. However, the expression level of Prx6 was lower in LUAD and higher in LUSC than normal lung cells. The level of Prx3 and Prx6 were associated with pathological stage. Prognostic analysis showed that elevated Prx1 and Prx2 expression were correlated with low Overall Survival (OS), whereas high Prx5 and Prx6 expression level predicted high OS. Conclusions: Our results effectively revealed the level of Prxs in lung cancer and its influence on the prognosis of lung carcinoma, contributing to the study of the role of Prxs in tumorigenesis.

The inflammatory response plays a pivotal role in Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) destruction following ischemic brain injury. Enhanced leukocyte adhesion to vascular endothelial cells is an essential event in the inflammatory process. TMEM16A, a newly discovered protein regulating calcium-activated chloride channels, is widely expressed in eukaryotes. Recent studies have suggested that upregulated expression of TMEM16A is associated with the occurrence and development of many diseases. However, the role of TMEM16A in regulating BBB integrity after ischemic stroke has not been fully investigated. In this study, we found that TMEM16A is mainly expressed in brain endothelial cells and upregulated after ischemic stroke in the mouse brain. Caccinh-A01, an TMEM16A inhibitor that reduced its upregulation, attenuated brain infarct size and neurological deficits after ischemic stroke. ICAM-1 and MPO expression and BBB permeability were decreased after TMEM16A inhibitor administration. In addition, TMEM16A silencing rescued oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R)-induced transendothelial permeability in vitro accompanied by decreased ICAM-1 expression and leukocyte adhesion. Furthermore, our mechanistic study showed that TMEM16A knockdown alleviated NF-κB activation and nuclear translocation, indicating that TMEM16A knockdown downregulated OGD/R-induced ICAM-1 expression in an NF-κB-dependent manner. Finally, NF-κB inhibitor treatment also alleviated OGD/ R-induced BBB permeability, confirming that activated NF-κB and increased ICAM-1 are essential factors involved in ischemia-induced BBB damage. Thus, our research provides a promising treatment strategy against BBB destruction after ischemic stroke, and TMEM16A may become a potential target for the treatment of ischemic stroke.

Background Previous studies have demonstrated that progestin-primed ovarian stimulation (PPOS) protocol was a feasible and efficient method in in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle. However, its application in women with advanced age has not been determined yet. The purpose of this study was to investigate its efficacy in women aged ≥40 years old. Methods This retrospective cohort study included patients with ages of ≥40 years old at the time of ovarian stimulation. The embryonic and clinical outcome of mild stimulation and PPOS were compared. Primary outcome was top-quality embryo rate on day 3, and secondary outcome was clinical pregnancy rate. Results Baseline characteristics of patients was similar in mild stimulation (122 cycles) and PPOS (47 cycles). No significant difference was found in the number of retrieved and mature oocytes and the fertilization and cleavage rates. Of interest, the rate of top-quality embryos was significantly higher in PPOS group (50.08% vs 33.29%, p = 0.015), with an increasing trend of viable embryo rate (73.55% vs 61.16%). A greater amount of gonadotropin was observed in PPOS group (2061.17 ± 1254.63 IU vs 1518.14 ± 547.25 IU, p Conclusions Higher percentage of top-quality embryos on Day 3 and comparable clinical pregnancy rate was obtained in PPOS protocol, which could be considered as a feasible ovarian stimulation protocol in women aged above 40 years old.

Data centers have been prevalent resources for many years in data intensive applications. Typically, there are multiple servers in a data center to store data and perform computing. One of the last steps of provisioning a data center is to populate the servers with data.In this paper, we consider the scenario that data are transferred from external storage devices. We investigate data placement strategy with the consideration of two competing objectives for data transfer, reducing completion time and enhancing spatial locality. We propose a heuristic solution to jointly consider these two objectives and explore their tradeoff. Performance evaluation shows that with an adjustable balance ratio, a flexible data transfer performance can be achieved.

Background Activation of microglial cells plays an important role in neuroinflammation after ischemic stroke. Inhibiting the activation of microglial cells has been suggested as a potential therapeutic approach in the treatment of ischemic stroke. Methods Oxygen-glucose deprivation in primary microglial cells and transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in C57BL/6 mice were used as the in vitro and in vivo ischemic stroke models. Microarray analysis was performed to investigate the overall impact of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) on the inflammation status of microglial cells. RT-qPCR was used to evaluate the lncRNA levels and mRNA levels of cytokines and microglial cell markers. ELISA was taken to measure the level of cytokines. Immunofluorescence was used to observe the activation of microglial cells. Western blotting was performed to test the p65 phosphorylation. Results In this study, we showed that LncRNA-1810034E14Rik was significantly decreased in LPS-treated or oxygen-glucose deprivation-induced microglial cells. Overexpression of 1810034E14Rik decreased the infarct volume and alleviated brain damage in MCAO mice. 1810034E14Rik overexpression reduced the expression of inflammatory cytokines not only in ischemic stroke mice but also in oxygen-glucose deprivation-induced microglial cells. Moreover, 1810034E14Rik overexpression could suppress the activation of microglial cells and inhibit the phosphorylation of p65. Conclusions LncRNA-1810034E14Rik plays an anti-inflammatory role in ischemic stroke and regulates p65 phosphorylation, making it a potential target for stroke treatment. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12974-019-1464-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Significance In the present study, we found a significantly up-regulated CD3+CD4−CD8− T cell (double-negative T cell; DNT) population in the peripheral blood of patients with acute stroke compared with age-matched healthy subjects. Interestingly, infiltrating DNTs were mainly located close to microglia in the ischemic brain tissues of both stroke patients and middle cerebral artery occlusion mice. DNTs amplified the proinflammatory microglia and subsequently enhanced the neuroinflammation and exacerbated the brain injury after ischemic stroke. Mechanistically, DNT-intrinsic FasL and PTPN2 collaboratively regulate the level of CD86+ microglia via production of TNF-α. Taken together, these data reveal that infiltrating DNTs are the critical driving force in promoting microglia-mediated neuroinflammation and ischemic brain injury., CD3+CD4−CD8− T cells (double-negative T cells; DNTs) have diverse functions in peripheral immune-related diseases by regulating immunological and inflammatory homeostasis. However, the functions of DNTs in the central nervous system remain unknown. Here, we found that the levels of DNTs were dramatically increased in both the brain and peripheral blood of stroke patients and in a mouse model in a time-dependent manner. The infiltrating DNTs enhanced cerebral immune and inflammatory responses and exacerbated ischemic brain injury by modulating the FasL/PTPN2/TNF-α signaling pathway. Blockade of this pathway limited DNT-mediated neuroinflammation and improved the outcomes of stroke. Our results identified a critical function of DNTs in the ischemic brain, suggesting that this unique population serves as an attractive target for the treatment of ischemic stroke.

Histone deacetylases 3 (HDAC3) modulates the acetylation state of histone and non-histone proteins and could be a powerful regulator of the inflammatory process in stroke. Inflammasome activation is a ubiquitous but poorly understood consequence of acute ischemic stroke. Here, we investigated the potential contributions of HDAC3 to inflammasome activation in primary cultured microglia and experimental stroke models. In this study, we documented that HDAC3 expression was increased in microglia of mouse experimental stroke model. Intraperitoneal injection of RGFP966 (a selective inhibitor of HDAC3) decreased infarct size and alleviated neurological deficits after the onset of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). In vitro data indicated that LPS stimulation evoked a time-dependent increase of HDAC3 and absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2) inflammasome in primary cultured microglia. Interestingly, AIM2 was subjected to spatiotemporal regulation by RGFP966. The ability of RGFP966 to inhibit the AIM2 inflammasome was confirmed in an experimental mouse model of stroke. As expected, AIM2 knockout mice also demonstrated significant resistance to ischemia injury compared with their wild-type littermates. RGFP966 failed to exhibit extra protective effects in AIM2-/- stroke mice. Furthermore, we found that RGFP966 enhanced STAT1 acetylation and subsequently attenuated STAT1 phosphorylation, which may at least partially contributed to the negative regulation of AIM2 by RGFP966. Together, we initially found that RGFP966 alleviated the inflammatory response and protected against ischemic stroke by regulating the AIM2 inflammasome.

Background The traditional Chinese medicine Ginseng-Angelica-Shanseng-Pulvis (GASP) has been used to treat stroke for 300 years. This present study investigated if it can induce increases in neurogenesis following cerebral ischemic injury. Methods Rats following middle cerebral artery occlusion were orally treated with high, medium, and low doses of a standardized GASP extract. Results After 14 days, treatment with GASP improved regional blood flow and infarction volume by magnetic resonance imaging scanning, enhanced Ki67+ expression in the subventricular zone, increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) secretion, Nestin, and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) 2/4 expressions in the hippocampus in a dose-dependent manner. Interestingly, low-dose treatment with GASP downregulated doublecortin and Notch1 expressions in the hippocampus, as well as upregulated glial fibrillary acidic protein expression in the subgranular zone and hairy and enhancer of split (Hes) 5 expression in the hippocampus, while treatment with middle and high doses of GASP reversed these results. Meanwhile, the consumed time was shortened in the basket test and the adhesive removal test and the spending time on exploring novel objects was prolonged by GASP treatment whose effects were more obvious at day 14 post-ischemia. Conclusion Our study demonstrates that treatment with GASP increases neurogenesis and ameliorates sensorimotor functions and recognition memory. We hypothesize that these effects are thought be mediated by an effect on the BMP2/4 pathway and Notch1/Hes5 signal. Due to its beneficial efficacy, GASP can be recognized as an alternative therapeutic agent for ischemic stroke.

Enhancer of zeste homolog-2 (EZH2), a histone methyltransferase, has been recognized to play a pivotal role in regulating the immune response in various diseases. However, its role in the inflammatory response induced by ischaemic stroke remains to be further investigated. The aim of this study was to determine the role of EZH2 in microglia-associated inflammation in ischaemic stroke and to further detect the effects of the EZH2 inhibitor, 3-deazaadenosine A (DZNep), in ischaemic brain injury. Here, we found that both in vivo ischemic/reperfusion (I/R) injury and in vitro oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) treatment induced a marked upregulation of EZH2 in microglia. The administration of the EZH2 inhibitor DZNep improved behavioural performance and reduced the infarct volume in mice after experimental stroke. Furthermore, we showed that DZNep blocked pro-inflammatory (CD86+) microglial activation and triggered anti-inflammatory (CD206+) microglial polarization in experimental stroke. Pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and CXCL10 were also significantly downregulated by DZNep. In addition, it was found that DZNep blocked the phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) in microglia, which was increased by I/R injury and OGD. Collectively, we demonstrated that EZH2 is implicated in regulating microglial activation and exacerbates neurological deficits after ischaemic stroke, probably via activating STAT3, and that the EZH2 inhibitor DZNep can exert neuroprotective effects after ischaemic stroke.

Most researches on EEG emotion recognition are based on multi-electrode EEG signal acquisition equipment. There are few studies on single-electrode EEG equipment and the classification accuracy obtained is not ideal. In order to further improve the classification accuracy, the paper proposes an EEG emotion recognition method based on the combination of multiple features in the time-frequency domain. Firstly, the wavelet transform is used to decompose the EEG signals under the three types of emotion labels and extracts the time-frequency information of four frequency bands, including alpha, low beta, high beta, and gamma, and then uses different sizes of sliding time windows to calculate separately their statistical characteristics in the time-frequency domain. Finally, the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network with time-frequency domain characteristics is used to extract the sequence information of the deep features and combine the output results of the softmax classifier. The results of experiments show that the average accuracy of the proposed method is 93.09% and 98.36% on emotion food and emotion state dataset, respectively. Compared with traditional machine learning methods and other deep learning methods, the time-frequency LSTM model named TF-LSTM in this paper has better EEG generalization ability and classification performance, and also provides a new feasible scheme for emotion recognition research based on single-electrode EEG signal.

Target search in 3-D underwater environments is a challenge in multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (multi-AUVs) exploration. This paper focuses on an effective strategy for multi-AUV target search in the 3-D underwater environments with obstacles. First, the Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence is applied to extract information of environment from the sonar data to build a grid map of the underwater environments. Second, a topologically organized bioinspired neurodynamics model based on the grid map is constructed to represent the dynamic environment. The target globally attracts the AUVs through the dynamic neural activity landscape of the model, while the obstacles locally push the AUVs away to avoid collision. Finally, the AUVs plan their search path to the targets autonomously by a steepest gradient descent rule. The proposed algorithm deals with various situations, such as static targets search, dynamic targets search, and one or several AUVs break down in the 3-D underwater environments with obstacles. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is capable of guiding multi-AUV to achieve search task of multiple targets with higher efficiency and adaptability compared with other algorithms.

Electronic expansion valve (EEV) plays a crucial role in controlling refrigerant mass flow rate of refrigeration or heat pump systems for energy savings. However, complexities in two-phase throttling process and geometry make accurate modeling of EEV flow characteristics more difficult. This paper developed an artificial neural network (ANN) model using refrigerant inlet and outlet pressures, inlet subcooling, EEV opening as ANN inputs, refrigerant mass flow rate as ANN output. Both linear and nonlinear transfer functions in hidden layer were used and compared to each other. Experimental data from multiple sources including in-house experiments of one EEV with R410A were used for ANN training and test. In addition, literature correlations were compared with ANN as well. Results showed that the ANN model with nonlinear transfer function worked well in all cases and it is much accurate than the literature correlations. In all cases, nonlinear ANN predicted refrigerant mass flow rates within ±0.4% average relative deviation (A.D.) and 2.7% standard deviation (S.D.), meanwhile it predicted the EEV opening at 0.1% A.D. and 2.1% S.D.