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Two new (1 and 2) compounds, together with five known (3–7) chromone derivatives, were isolated from the whole plants of Cassia pumila. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods, including extensive 1D and 2D NMR techniques. Compounds 1–7 were evaluated for their anti-methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (anti-MRSA) activity. The results revealed that compounds 1, 2, 5, and 6 showed good inhibition with IZD of 13.4 ± 2.5, 12.2 ± 2.0, 14.6 ± 2.2, and 14.2 ± 2.6 mm, and compounds 3, 4, and 7 showed weak inhibition with IZD of 10.7 ± 2.2, 11.3 ± 2.0, and 10.8 ± 2.1 mm, respectively.

Two new compounds (1 and 2), together with five known (3–7) stilbene derivatives, were isolated from the leaves and stems of Bletilla striata. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods, including extensive 1D and 2D NMR techniques. Compounds 1 and 2 were evaluated for their cytotoxicity against five human tumor cell lines. Compound 1 showed cytotoxicity against SHSY5Y and MCF7 cells with IC50 values of 2.8 and 2.2 μM. Compound 2 showed cytotoxicity against SHSY5Y and MCF7 cells with IC50 values of 2.2 and 2.4 μM, respectively. Moreover, compound 1 was found to trigger both apoptosis and autophagy in Hela cells, as indicated by increased cleaved PARP and LC3B, respectively. The enhanced autophagy induced by compound 1 was further confirmed by imaging detection of more autophagosomes (mRFP–GFP–LC3+ puncta) and autolysosomes (mRFP–LC3+ puncta), as well as a low GFP/RFP fluorescence ratio of GFP-LC3-RFP. Signal pathway analysis indicated compound 1 might inhibit mTOR signaling to stimulate autophagy.

A type of grafted acrylate copolymer resins, containing 3‐oxo‐N‐allyl‐1,2‐benzisothiazole‐2(3H)‐carboxamide monomer and heterocyclic monomers, was synthesized through the copolymeri‐ zation of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and butyl acrylate (BA) with functional monomers. The structures of the monomers and copolymers were validated by infrared (IR) and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopies. The inhibitory activities of the copolymers on algae, bacteria, and barnacle larvae were measured, and the antifouling potencies against marine macrofouling organisms were investigated. The results showed that the grafted resin had significant inhibitory effects on the growth of three marine algae (Isochrysis galbana, Nannochloropsisoculata, and Chlorella pyrenoidosa), and three bacteria (Vibrio coralliilyticus, Staphylococcus aureus,and Vibrio parahaemolyticus). The target copolymers also showed excellent inhibition of the survival of barnacle larvae. Additionally, the release rate of the antifoulant and the results of the marine field tests indicated that the grafted copolymers had outstanding antifouling potency against the attachment of marine macrofouling organisms., Grafted acrylate copolymer resins containing 3‐oxo‐N‐allyl‐1,2‐benzisothiazole‐2(3H)‐carboxamide monomer and heterocyclic monomers, have been prepared via copolymerization of methyl methacrylate and butyl acrylate with functional monomers. The structures of the monomers and copolymers were validated by infrared and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopies. The inhibitory activities of the copolymers on algae, bacteria, and barnacle larvae were measured, and the antifouling potencies against marine macrofouling organisms were investigated.

Background The ongoing transmission of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in the Middle East and its expansion to other regions are raising concerns of a potential pandemic. An in-depth analysis about both population and molecular epidemiology of this pathogen is needed. Methods MERS cases reported globally as of June 2020 were collected mainly from World Health Organization official reports, supplemented by other reliable sources. Determinants for case fatality and spatial diffusion of MERS were assessed with Logistic regressions and Cox proportional hazard models, respectively. Phylogenetic and phylogeographic analyses were performed to examine the evolution and migration history of MERS-CoV. Results A total of 2562 confirmed MERS cases with 150 case clusters were reported with a case fatality rate of 32.7% (95% CI: 30.9‒34.6%). Saudi Arabia accounted for 83.6% of the cases. Age of ≥ 65 years old, underlying conditions and ≥ 5 days delay in diagnosis were independent risk factors for death. However, a history of animal contact was associated with a higher risk (adjusted OR = 2.97, 95% CI: 1.10–7.98) among female cases OR = 0.31, 95% CI: 0.18–0.51) among male cases ≥ 65 years old. Diffusion of the disease was fastest from its origin in Saudi Arabia to the east, and was primarily driven by the transportation network. The most recent sub-clade C5.1 (since 2013) was associated with non-synonymous mutations and a higher mortality rate. Phylogeographic analyses pointed to Riyadh of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates as the hubs for both local and international spread of MERS-CoV. Conclusions MERS-CoV remains primarily locally transmitted in the Middle East, with opportunistic exportation to other continents and a potential of causing transmission clusters of human cases. Animal contact is associated with a higher risk of death, but the association differs by age and sex. Transportation network is the leading driver for the spatial diffusion of the disease. These findings how this pathogen spread are helpful for targeting public health surveillance and interventions to control endemics and to prevent a potential pandemic. Graphical abstract

Objective To report a case series of calcaneal fracture–dislocations, which have not been described previously in China, and to provide a systematic review to explore the clinic manifestations, methods for diagnoses, and treatments. Methods Between January 2018 and December 2019, 4 patients (4 men; average age, 33.0 ± 16.67 years; range, 15–50 years) were diagnosed with fracture–dislocation of the calcaneus and treated by surgery. We also reviewed published cases and studies of calcaneal fracture–dislocations through the databases of PubMed and Web of Science between January 1977 and December 2019. Results Between January 2018 and December 2019, 4 cases were identified as calcaneal fracture–dislocations in our hospital. The main clinical manifestations include hindfoot pain, swelling, and deformity. The diagnoses were confirmed via radiographic examination. Two patients underwent open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) and two were treated with a minimally invasive approach. Diagnosis had been missed in one patient and, consequently, presented with early signs of post‐traumatic arthritis, which may require extra subtalar arthrodesis in the future. Two patients were diagnosed inaccurately but achieved satisfactory outcomes through open reduction and internal fixation. The average follow‐up period was 9.75 ± 5.19 months. Except for the 1 misdiagnosed patient, the other 3 patients showed functional improvement. Only 23 fracture–dislocations of calcaneus cases were reported in the literature between January 1977 and December 2019. There were 15 Sanders type II fractures (65.22%) and 7 (30.43%) Sanders type III fractures, and there was 1 grade II open calcaneal fracture. Among them, 1 was a medial dislocation and 2 were “joint‐elevation” dislocations; the rest of them (20/23, 86.96%) were lateral dislocations. A total of 11 patients (47.83%) exhibited the double‐density sign, and varus tilt of the talus was revealed on plain radiographs for 9 patients (39.13%). Increased Bohler's angle was evident in lateral X‐ray films for 2 patients (2/23, 8.70%). A total of 21 cases (86.96%) were treated with surgical intervention and achieved satisfactory outcomes. Only 1 patient was treated with external fixation. Another 2 patients were treated conservatively and had poor clinic outcomes. Conclusion Calcaneal fracture–dislocation is a rare injury that is challenging to treat. Clinical manifestations such as fibular tendon dislocation, the double‐density sign on profile radiography, and abnormal talar tilt in the distal talofibular joint are important signs that may indicate this rare injury pattern. Timely surgical intervention is essential for satisfactory clinic outcomes. Orthopaedic surgeons should be aware of this uncommon injury to avoid misdiagnosis or inappropriate treatment., Fracture‐dislocation of calcaneus is a rare injury. The mechanism involves axial compression on an inverted foot. Fibular tendon dislocation, the double‐density sign, and abnormal talar tilt on profile radiography are important clinical signs that may indicate this rare injury pattern. Timely surgical interventions are essential to treat this injury.

In order to find a new type of antifouling coating with higher biological activity and more environmental protection, heterocyclic compounds and benzisothiazolinone were introduced into acrylic resin to prepare a new type of antifouling resin. In this study, a series of grafted acrylic resins simultaneously containing benzoisothiazolinone and heterocyclic monomers were prepared by the copolymerization of an allyl monomer with methyl methacrylate (MMA) and butyl acrylate (BA). Inhibitory activities of the copolymers against marine fouling organisms were also investigated. Results revealed that the copolymers exhibit a clear synergistic inhibitory effect on the growth of three seaweeds: Chlorella, Isochrysis galbana and Chaetoceros curvisetus, respectively, and three bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio coralliilyticus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus, respectively. In addition, the copolymers exhibited excellent inhibition against barnacle larvae. Marine field tests indicated that the resins exhibit outstanding antifouling potency against marine fouling organisms. Moreover, the introduction of the heterocyclic group led to the significantly enhanced antifouling activities of the resins; the addition of the heterocyclic unit in copolymers led to better inhibition than that observed in the case of the resin copolymerized with only the benzoisothiazolinone active monomer.

The ongoing enzootic circulation of the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in the Middle East and North Africa is increasingly raising the concern about the possibility of its recombination with other human-adapted coronaviruses, particularly the pandemic SARS-CoV-2. We aim to provide an updated picture about ecological niches of MERS-CoV and associated socio-environmental drivers. Based on 356 confirmed MERS cases with animal contact reported to the WHO and 63 records of animal infections collected from the literature as of 30 May 2020, we assessed ecological niches of MERS-CoV using an ensemble model integrating three machine learning algorithms. With a high predictive accuracy (area under receiver operating characteristic curve = 91.66% in test data), the ensemble model estimated that ecologically suitable areas span over the Middle East, South Asia and the whole North Africa, much wider than the range of reported locally infected MERS cases and test-positive animal samples. Ecological suitability for MERS-CoV was significantly associated with high levels of bareland coverage (relative contribution = 30.06%), population density (7.28%), average temperature (6.48%) and camel density (6.20%). Future surveillance and intervention programs should target the high-risk populations and regions informed by updated quantitative analyses.

Background The growing epidemics of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), an emerging tick-borne disease in East Asia, and its high case fatality rate have raised serious public health concerns. Methods Surveillance data on laboratory-confirmed SFTS cases in China were collected. The spatiotemporal dynamics and epidemiological features were explored. The socioeconomic and environmental drivers were identified for SFTS diffusion using survival analysis and for SFTS persistence using a two-stage generalized boosted regression tree model. Results During 2010‒2018, a total of 7721 laboratory-confirmed SFTS cases were reported in China, with an overall case fatality rate (CFR) of 10.5%. The average annual incidence increased >20 times and endemic areas expanded from 27 to 1574 townships, whereas the CFR declined from 19% to 10% during this period. Four geographical clusters—the Changbai Mountain area, the Jiaodong Peninsula, the Taishan Mountain area, and the Huaiyangshan Mountain area—were identified. Diffusion and persistence of the disease were both driven by elevation, high coverages of woods, crops, and shrubs, and the vicinity of habitats of migratory birds but had different meteorological drivers. Residents ≥60 years old in rural areas with crop fields and tea farms were at increased risk to SFTS. Conclusions Surveillance of SFTS and intervention programs need to be targeted at areas ecologically suitability for vector ticks and in the vicinity of migratory birds to curb the growing epidemic., This retrospective study determined the spatiotemporal patterns of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) and socioeconomic and environmental risk drivers for its diffusion and persistence, which bridges the knowledge gap in the epidemiology and ecology of the disease. The ecological model can be used to assess risks of STFS in countries where the disease or vector ticks are emerging to guide the planning of surveillance and controls.

In recent years, solar steam generation technology has received widespread attention in seawater desalination, but existence of some problems, namely difficulty in salt cleaning and high expense, limited it further development. Herein, in this work, a carbon black gauze membrane (CBGM), with low cost and easy to clean properties, was developed by stacking macroporous membrane to construct 3D optical absorption holes, which were favorable to an enhancement of light absorption. The 4-layer CBGM evaporation device displayed an improved solar steam generation performance, which was corresponded to the evaporation rate of 1.60 kg m−2h−1 and the evaporation efficiency of 96.0% under 1 kW m−2, respectively. Likewise, the 4-layer CBGM evaporation device exhibited superior recyclability, long life and excellent desalination performance, as well as was able to effectively produce potable freshwater from seawater. Consequently, the CBGM was regarded as a promising alternative for high-efficiency solar-driven seawater desalination.

Background For pediatric pneumonia, the meteorological and air pollution indicators have been frequently investigated for their association with viral circulation but not for their impact on disease severity. Methods We performed a 10-year prospective, observational study in 1 hospital in Chongqing, China, to recruit children with pneumonia. Eight commonly seen respiratory viruses were tested. Autoregressive distributed lag (ADL) and random forest (RF) models were used to fit monthly detection rates of each virus at the population level and to predict the possibility of severe pneumonia at the individual level, respectively. Results Between 2009 and 2018, 6611 pediatric pneumonia patients were included, and 4846 (73.3%) tested positive for at least 1 respiratory virus. The patient median age was 9 months (interquartile range, 4‒20). ADL models demonstrated a decent fitting of detection rates of R2 > 0.7 for respiratory syncytial virus, human rhinovirus, parainfluenza virus, and human metapneumovirus. Based on the RF models, the area under the curve for host-related factors alone was 0.88 (95% confidence interval [CI], .87‒.89) and 0.86 (95% CI, .85‒.88) for meteorological and air pollution indicators alone and 0.62 (95% CI, .60‒.63) for viral infections alone. The final model indicated that 9 weather and air pollution indicators were important determinants of severe pneumonia, with a relative contribution of 62.53%, which is significantly higher than respiratory viral infections (7.36%). Conclusions Meteorological and air pollution predictors contributed more to severe pneumonia in children than did respiratory viruses. These meteorological data could help predict times when children would be at increased risk for severe pneumonia and when interventions, such as reducing outdoor activities, may be warranted.

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging infectious disease with increasing spread. Currently SFTS transmission has expanded beyond Asian countries, however, with definitive global extents and risk patterns remained obscure. Here we established an exhaustive database that included globally reported locations of human SFTS cases and the competent vector, Haemaphysalis longicornis (H. longicornis), as well as the explanatory environmental variables, based on which, the potential geographic range of H. longicornis and risk areas for SFTS were mapped by applying two machine learning methods. Ten predictors were identified contributing to global distribution for H. longicornis with relative contribution ≥1%. Outside contemporary known distribution, we predict high receptivity to H. longicornis across two continents, including northeastern USA, New Zealand, parts of Australia, and several Pacific islands. Eight key drivers of SFTS cases occurrence were identified, including elevation, predicted probability of H. longicornis presence, two temperature-related factors, two precipitation-related factors, the richness of mammals and percentage coverage of water bodies. The globally model-predicted risk map of human SFTS occurrence was created and validated effective for discriminating the actual affected and unaffected areas (median predictive probability 0.74 vs. 0.04, P

Two new anti-tobacco mosaic virus (anti-TMV) xanthones, 4,7-dimethoxy-5-hydroxymethyl-1-methylxanthone (1) and 7-hydroxy-5-hydroxymethyl-4-methoxy-1-methylxanthone (2), were isolated from the whole plants of Comastoma pedunculatum. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods, including extensive 1D and 2D NMR techniques. Compounds 1 and 2 showed high anti-TMV activity with inhibition rates of 48.5 and 63.6%, respectively. These rates are higher than that of positive control.

As data volumes grow rapidly, distributed computations are widely employed in data-centers to provide cheap and efficient methods to process large-scale parallel datasets. Various computation models have been proposed to improve the abstraction of distributed datasets and hide the details of parallelism. However, most of them follow the single-layer partitioning method, which limits developers to express a multi-level partitioning operation succinctly. To overcome the problem, we present the NDD (Nested Distributed Dataset) data model. It is a more compact and expressive extension of Spark RDD (Resilient Distributed Dataset), in order to remove the burden on developers to manually write the logic for multi-level partitioning cases. Base on the NDD model, we develop an open-source framework called Bigflow, which serves as an optimization layer over computation engines from most widely used processing frameworks. With the help of Bigflow, some advanced optimization techniques, which may only be applied by experienced programmers manually, are enabled automatically in a distributed data processing job. Currently, Bigflow is processing about 3 PB data volumes daily in the data-centers of Baidu. According to customer experience, it can significantly save code length and improve performance over the intuitive programming style.

A series of indole-1-carboxylic acid aryl esters was synthesized with indole and substituted phenols as raw materials. The structures of the target compounds were validated by IR and 1H-NMR spectroscopies. The inhibitory activities of the target compounds and their potencies against marine fouling organisms were investigated. The results showed that the target compounds had significant inhibitory effects on the growth of three seaweeds: Isochrysis galbana, Platymonas subcordiformis, and Navicula, and the target compounds also had excellent inhibition on the survival of barnacle larvae. The substituent structure–activity relationships revealed a significant effect on biological inhibition activity: Compounds substituted by electron-withdrawing groups had greater bioactivities than those containing electron-donating groups. Release rate of antifoulant and marine field tests indicated the final compounds had an outstanding antifouling potency against marine fouling organisms.

In order to take advantage of both immunotherapeutic and metabolic antitumor agents, novel dual indoleamine 2,3- dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) and thioredoxin reductase 1 (TrxR1) inhibitors were designed. Thioredoxin reductase 1 (TrxR1) is a main ROS modulator within CRC cells. Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO1) is crucial controller for tryptophan (Trp) metabolism that is also important for CRC immunotherapy. Herein, ten compounds 12a-j containing hydroxyamidine scaffold were designed, synthesized and evaluated for inhibitory activities against IDO1/TrxR1 enzyme and CRC cells. Among these compounds, the most active compound 12d (ZC0109) showed excellent and balanced activity against both IDO1 (IC

Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco) has attracted interest as one of the most economically important industrial crops widely cultivated in China, whose dried leaves are popularly consumed medicinally and recreationally by human societies. In this study, five undescribed alkaloids derivatives, isoaspergillines A-E, together with eight known alkaloids, notoamide D, (1R,4S)-4-benzyl-1-isopropyl-2,4-dihydro-1H-pyrazino-[2,1-b]quinazoline-3,6-dione, protuboxepin K, notoamide C, notoamide M, deoxybrevianamide E, cyclo (D-Pro-L-Trp), and versicolamide B, were obtained from the culture of the Nicotiana tabacum-derived fungus Aspergillus versicolor. Their structures were mainly elucidated through comprehensive analyses of spectroscopic data. Bioactivity evaluation of all isolated compounds revealed that isoaspergilline A and notoamide M exhibited anti-TMV activities with IC

A reliable braking system is an important guarantee for safe operation of mine hoist. In order to make full use of the monitoring data in the operation process of mine hoist, identify the operation status of the hoist, and further carry out fault diagnosis on it, the deep learning method was introduced into the fault diagnosis of the hoist, and a fault diagnosis method of hoist braking system based on convolution neural network has been proposed. Firstly, the working principle and fault mechanism of disc brake and its hydraulic station in hoist braking system are analyzed, and the monitoring parameters of this study are determined; then, based on massive monitoring data, the convolutional neural networks (CNN) is established, the one-dimensional signal collected by the sensor is transformed into two-dimensional image for coding, the neural network is trained by gradient descent method, and the network structure parameters are modified according to the training results. Finally, the fault diagnosis model is compared and verified by using the sample set based on the traditional back propagation neural network (BP) and CNN. The results show that the accuracy of CNN is higher than that of BP, and the accuracy rate can reach 99.375% after reducing the involvement between samples. This method can make full use of the monitoring data for diagnosis, without subjective intervention of experts, and improve the accuracy of diagnosis.

The expression of angiopoietin (ANGPT) 1, ANGPT2, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) A, VEGFB, VEGFC, VEGFD, and placental growth factor (PGF) is significantly higher in tumor tissues than in normal tissues in both unpaired and paired hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) samples. ANGPT2, VEGFB, VEGFC, and PGF are primarily involved in regulating the activation of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition pathway; ANGPT1 is primarily involved in regulating the activation of the RAS/mitogen-activated protein kinase and receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) pathways; VEGFA is engaged in regulating the RTK activation pathway; and VEGFD is mainly involved in regulating the activation of the tuberous sclerosis protein/mammalian target of rapamycin pathway. There is a significant difference in overall survival between HCC patients with high and low expression of ANGPT2, PGF, VEGFA, and VEGFD. Disease free survival (DFS) is significantly shorter in HCC patients with high ANGPT2, PGF, and VEGFA expression than in those with low ANGPT2, PGF, and VEGFA expression.

Endoscopic ectomy of large nonpedunculated colorectal lesions (≥ 20 mm) might cause significant adverse incidents, such as delayed perforation and delayed bleeding, despite the closure of mucosal lesions with clips. The conventional utilization of prophylactic clipping has not decreased the risk of postprocedural delayed adverse events, and additional outcomes and cost-effectiveness research is needed for patients with proximal lesions ≥ 20 mm, in whom prophylactic clipping might be useful. Coverage of the wound after endoscopic excision offers shield protection against delayed concomitant diseases.

Increasing attention has been attracted in developing new technologies to remove chlorofene (CF) and dichlorofene (DCF), which were active agents in antimicrobials for general cleaning and disinfecting. This study investigated the significant influences of bicarbonate (HCO3−) on the degradation of CF and DCF in the Cu(II)-mediated Fenton-like system Cu2+/H2O2. Our results indicate that HCO3− may play a dual role to act 1) as a ligand to stabilize Cu(II), forming soluble [CuII(HCO3−)(S)]+ species to catalyze H2O2 producing hydroxyl radical ( OH) and superoxide ion (O2− ) and 2) as a OH scavenger. Furthermore, the reaction kinetics, mechanisms, and intermediates of CF and DCF were assessed. The apparent rate constants of CF and DCF were enhanced by a factor of 8.5 and 5.5, respectively, in the presence of HCO3− at the optimized concentration of 4 mM. Based on the intermediate identification and frontier electron densities (FEDs) calculations, the associated reaction pathways were tentatively proposed, including C–C scission, single or multiple hydroxylation, and coupling reaction. In addition, significant reduction in the aquatic toxicity of CF and DCF was observed after treatment with Cu2+/H2O2–HCO3- system, evaluated by Ecological Structure Activity Relationships (ECOSAR) program. These findings provide new insights into Cu(II)-mediated reactions to better understand the environmental fate of organic contaminants in carbonate-rich waters.

The all-in-one solar steam generation device renders a feasible technical support for freshwater supply in arid areas, where traditional large-scale desalination cannot be applied. In this work, we designed and assembled a paper-based integrated evaporation device (IED) for efficient solar steam generation, in which the self-hardening polyurethane foam was ingeniously fixed on the carbon nanotube (CNT) loaded filter paper connecting with four paper belts to perfectly integrate light absorption, water supply and thermal insulation into one device. Moreover, the effects of CNT concentration and illumination intensity on evaporation performance were experimentally investigated. The results showed that the maximum thermal conversion efficiency of the IED was as high as 88.1% at 1 kW m−2. Our research indicated that the IED as an easily-enlarged and all-in-one evaporation device was one of the ideal choices for applications in solar steam generation and provided a new resource for seawater desalination.

As a typical nanomaterial, graphene oxide (GO) can be easily dispersed in water and may affect the aqueous environment. In this paper, the degradation of triclosan (TCS) in a Fenton-like system Fe3+/H2O2 in GO aqueous solution was investigated. Interestingly, it was observed that GO at low concentration (2.0 mg/L) could exhibit significant catalytic effect on TCS removal. Meanwhile, results of XPS, Raman and TEM spectroscopy suggested the structure and chemical composition of GO did not exhibit significant change after the oxidation process within 30 min. As per the radical quenching experiments and ESR tests, hydroxyl radical (·OH) was mainly responsible for the decomposition of TCS. Further mechanism study indicated that the reaction activation energy (Ea) could be lowered and the production of ·OH be promoted in the presence of GO, respectively. A total of nine intermediates of TCS degradation were detected by TOF-LC-MS after SPE procedure. Finally, ecotoxicity assessment revealed that degradation of TCS by Fe3+/H2O2 system in GO aqueous solution could yield by-products of smaller toxicity compared with parent compounds.

High-efficiency solar steam generation through interfacial solar heating of the membrane is a promising approach to alleviate the shortage of freshwater resources. In this work, we developed a membrane distillation device (MDD), consisting of a carbon nanotube (CNT) membrane as solar absorption layer, a qualitative filter paper as water transmission pipeline and an aerogel blanket as thermal insulator to achieve efficient solar harvesting and heat localization for enhancing water evaporation. The results illustrated that the MDD achieved a thermal conversion efficiency of up to 84.6% at a light intensity of 1 kW m−2 and showed superior cyclic stability for 10 cycles test. As a consequence, the self-assembled and reusable MDD was suitable as a promising candidate for seawater desalination.

Long-noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) is involved in the development of diverse diseases, including leukemia, while the role lncRNA HOX transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR) played in leukemia remains unclear and in need of further investigation. Therefore, this study was conducted to explore the effects of lncRNA HOTAIR on the immunologic rejection of leukemia cells through the Wnt/β-catenin in mice. Mice were administrated with HOTAIR mimics as well as small interfering RNA HOTAIR to explore the regulatory role of HOTAIR. The numbers of white blood cell (WBC) and platelet (PLT) and the content of hemoglobin in peripheral blood (PB) were determined. The cytokine level in PB was measured. T-lymphocyte proliferation activity, Ig production by B cells, natural killer (NK) cell activity, and the proportion of cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4)/CD8 T cell subsets were detected. Expression of HOTAIR, β-catenin, cyclinD1, GSK-3β, and c-Myc in bone marrow was determined. It was revealed that the WBC number increased, while the PLT number along with the hemoglobin content in PB decreased with the upregulated HOTAIR. Additionally, elevated HOTAIR led to decreased levels of transforming growth factor-β, interferon-γ, interleukin-10, and tumor necrosis factor-α in PB, proliferation activity in T-lymphocyte, and inhibited Ig production, NK cell activity, and the ratio of CD4/CD8 T cell subsets in B-lymphocyte. Furthermore, Wnt/β-catenin was activated by overexpressing HOTAIR. Enhanced survival and proliferation were shown with increased expression of cyclinD1, GSK-3β, and c-Myc in the bone marrow of mice induced by overexpressing HOTAIR. These results indicate that restored HOTAIR reduces the immunologic rejection of leukemia cells in mice by activating Wnt/β-catenin pathway.

Background: Intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion weighted imaging (IVIM-DWI) can not only observe the diffusion of tissue water molecules but also reflect the blood perfusion information of tissue microcirculation. IVIM-DWI has been applied in many clinical areas. However, few studies have addressed the use of IVIM-DWI for the evaluation of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) response in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to explore the role of IVIM-DWI for the therapeutic response of TACE for HCC. Materials and Methods: Twenty patients underwent IVIM-DWI scan on a 3.0T magnetic resonance imaging instrument 1 - 3 days before and 30 to 40 days after TACE. The values of IVIM-DWI parameters, including standard apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), pure diffusion coefficient (Dslow), pseudo-diffusion coefficient (Dfast) and perfusion fraction (f) were measured. The values of IVIM-DWI parameters before and after TACE were compared using paired t tests. The values between responsive and non-responsive groups were compared using independent-samples t test. P 0.05 indicated statistical significance. Results: After TACE, the ADC and Dslow values in the tumors increased significantly, and the values of Dfast decreased significantly, while the values of f value did not change obviously. The ADC values in responsive group were remarkably higher than those in non-responsive group, the Dfast values in responsive group were significantly lower than those in non-responsive group, but the values of Dslow and f between the two groups were not different significantly. Conclusions: IVIM-DWI parameters can be used as potential markers for the therapeutic response of TACE for HCC.

Atorvastatin (ATV), a second generation cholesterol-lowering drug, is detected frequently in natural water because of its extensive use and incomplete removal from wastewater. In this study, the photochemical behavior of ATV under simulated solar irradiation was systematically investigated in order to assess the potential of photolysis as its transformation pathway in aquatic environment. The quantum yield of ATV direct photolysis was determined to be 0.0041. Among various water components investigated, including pH, Suwannee River Fulvic Acid (SRFA), Fe3+, HCO3-, SO42- and NO3-, the major factors contributing to the indirect photolysis of ATV were SRFA and NO3-, and the co-existence of SRFA and NO3- showed no interaction in synthetic water containing the above water components. The results were further verified in natural water samples. Singlet oxygen (1O2) played dominant role in the indirect photolysis of ATV, and the contributions of 1O2 and ·OH to the photolysis of ATV in the solution with optimum combination of water components were calculated to be 67.14% and 0.66%, respectively. Nine phototransformation intermediates were identified by liquid chromatography - time-of-flight - mass spectrometry (LC-TOF-MS), and the degradation pathways were speculated as hydroxyl addition, pyrrole-ring open and debenzamide reactions. In addition, the evolution of products in the degradation process showed that the ring-opened product P416 and hydroxylation product P575 still remained at a certain level after two days of photodegradation, which may accumulate and cause additional ecological risks. This study provides significant information for understanding the risk and fate of ATV in aquatic environment.

In this paper, network pharmacology method and molecular docking technique were used to investigate the target genes of Olibanum and Myrrha compatibility and the possible mechanism of action in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis(RA). Our team obtained the main active components of Olibanum-Myrrha based on literatures study, relevant traditional Chinese medicine systematic pharmacological databases and literature retrieval, and made target prediction of the active components through SwissTargetPrediction database. At the same time, RA-related targets were collected through DrugBank, GeneCards and Therapeutic Target Database(TDD) databases; and VENNY 2.1 was use to collect intersection targets to map common targets of drug and disease of Venn diagram online. The team used STRING database to construct PPI protein interaction network diagram, and screen out core targets according to the size of the interaction, and Cytoscape 3.6.0 software was used to construct network models ofquot;traditional Chinese medicine-component-targetquot;quot;traditional Chinese medicine-component-target-diseasequot; and core target interaction network model. The intersection target was analyzed by using DAVID 6.8 online database for GO function analysis and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis, and Pathon was used to visualization. AutoDock Vina and Pymol were used to connect the core active components with the core targets. Sixteen active components of Olibanum-Myrrha pairs were found and collected in the laboratory, and 320 relevant potential targets, 468 RA-related targets and 62 intersection targets were obtained through the Venn diagram. It mainly acted on multiple targets, such as IL6, TNF, IL1 B and MAPK1, involving TNF signaling pathway and Toll-like receptor signaling pathway in RA treatment. Finally, in this study, possible targets and signaling pathways of Olibanum-Myrrha compatibility therapy for RA were discussed, and molecular docking between core targets and core active components was conducted, which could provide scientific basis for the study on the mechanism of Olibanum-Myrrha compatibility.

The traditional centralized data processing model represented by cloud computing cannot meet the data processing requirements that are gradually tending to the edge. Therefore, a new distributed computing model coordinated by the end devices, edges and cloud has become the main development direction. However, artificial intelligence algorithms that are widely used in cloud-only approach are difficult to embed in resource-constrained distributed frameworks. To address this issue, we propose Triple-partition Network, a neural network model augment with three exit points. The structure of three exit points allows to segment the traditional neural network and deploying them on the end devices, edges, and cloud. By setting up suitable exit points through the Entropy Topsis comprehensive evaluation model, part of the data can exit the network in advance to improve the efficiency of computing services. In this experiment, the classic neural networks (Alexnet, Resnet) are used to study the Triple-partition Network on a state-of-art platform and show that trained Triple-partition Network can greatly reduce the end-to-end latency by over 3x while achieving high accuracy.