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Gut microbial dysbiosis and altered metabonomics have been implicated in the pathogenesis of Crohn’s disease (CD). The aim of our study was to characterize the gut microbiome structure and metabolic activities in pediatric CD patients with different clinical outcomes after infliximab (IFX) therapy. Fecal samples were collected from 20 healthy children and 29 newly diagnosed pediatric CD patients. 16S rRNA/ITS2 gene sequencing and targeted metabolomics analysis were applied to profile the gut bacterial microbiome, mycobiome, and metabolome, respectively. Pediatric CD patients exhibited lower relative abundances of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs)-producing bacteria including Faecalibacterium, Clostridium clusters IV and XIVb, Roseburia, and Ruminococcus, which were correlated with reduced fecal levels of SCFAs. Decreased unconjugated bile acids (BAs) pool size and a lower unconjugated/conjugated BAs ratio were associated with reduced relative abundances of Bifidobacterium and Clostridium clusters IV and XIVb which contain bile salt hydrolases (BSH) genes. IFX treatment enriched the BSH-producing bacteria in CD subjects, which may explain a decreased level of conjugated BAs and an increase in unconjugated BAs as well as the unconjugated/conjugated BAs ratio. Furthermore, a sustained response (SR) of IFX therapy was associated with higher abundances of Methylobacterium, Sphingomonas, Staphylococcus, and Streptococcus, and higher fecal concentrations of amino acids, including L-aspartic acid, linoleic acid, and L-lactic acid at baseline. Our study suggests that the effects of IFX might be partially mediated by enriching bacteria taxa that producing SCFAs and BSH thereby inhibiting inflammation and restoring the BA metabolism. Some fecal bacteria and metabolites may be predictive of outcomes of IFX therapy for pediatric CD patients.

Neuroblastoma (NB) is one of the most common solid tumors in childhood. To date, targeting MYCN, a well-established driver gene in high-risk neuroblastoma, is still challenging. In recent years, inhibition of bromodomain and extra terminal (BET) proteins shows great potential in multiple of Myc-driven tumors. ARV-825 is a novel BET inhibitor using proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) technology which degrades target proteins by the proteasome. In this study, we investigated the effect of ARV-825 in neuroblastoma in vitro and in vivo. Our results showed that ARV-825 treatment robustly induced proliferative suppression, cell cycle arrest, and apoptosis in NB cells. Moreover, ARV-825 efficiently depleted BET protein expression, subsequently repressing the expression of MYCN or c-Myc. In the NB xenograft model, ARV-825 profoundly reduced tumor growth and led to the downregulation of BRD4 and MYCN expression in mice. Taken together, these findings provide evidence that PROTAC BET inhibitor is an efficient way to achieve MYCN/c-Myc manipulation, and ARV-825 can be used as a potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of neuroblastoma.

Posttranslational modifications of protein cysteine thiols play a significant role in redox regulation and the pathogenesis of human diseases. Herein, we report the characterization of the cellular redox landscape in terms of quantitative, site-specific occupancies of both S-glutathionylation (SSG) and total reversible thiol oxidation (total oxidation) in RAW 264.7 macrophage cells under basal conditions. The occupancies of thiol modifications for ~4000 cysteine sites were quantified, revealing a mean site occupancy of 4.0% for SSG and 11.9% for total oxidation, respectively. Correlations between site occupancies and structural features such as pKa, relative residue surface accessibility, and hydrophobicity were observed. Proteome-wide site occupancy analysis revealed that the average occupancies of SSG and total oxidation in specific cellular compartments correlate well with the expected redox potentials of respective organelles in macrophages, consistent with the notion of redox compartmentalization. The lowest average occupancies were observed in more reducing organelles such as the mitochondria (non-membrane) and nucleus, while the highest average occupancies were found in more oxidizing organelles such as endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and lysosome. Furthermore, a pattern of subcellular susceptibility to redox changes was observed under oxidative stress induced by exposure to engineered metal oxide nanoparticles. Peroxisome, ER, and mitochondria (membrane) are the organelles which exhibit the most significant redox changes; while mitochondria (non-membrane) and Golgi were observed as the organelles being most resistant to oxidative stress. Finally, it was observed that Cys residues at enzymatic active sites generally had a higher level of occupancy compared to non-active Cys residues within the same proteins, suggesting site occupancy as a potential indicator of protein functional sites. The raw data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD019913.

ABSTRACT The co-occurrence of gut microbiota dysbiosis and bile acid (BA) metabolism alteration has been reported in several human liver diseases. However, the gut microbiota dysbiosis in infantile cholestatic jaundice (CJ) and the linkage between gut bacterial changes and alterations of BA metabolism have not been determined. To address this question, we performed 16S rRNA gene sequencing to determine the alterations in the gut microbiota of infants with CJ, and assessed their association with the fecal levels of primary and secondary BAs. Our data reveal that CJ infants show marked declines in the fecal levels of primary BAs and most secondary BAs. A decreased ratio of cholic acid (CA)/chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) in infants with CJ indicated a shift in BA synthesis from the primary pathway to the alternative BA synthesis pathway. The bacterial taxa enriched in infants with CJ corresponded to the genera Clostridium, Gemella, Streptococcus, and Veillonella and the family Enterobacteriaceae and were negatively correlated with the fecal BA level and the CDCA/CA ratio but positively correlated with the serological indexes of impaired liver function. An increased ratio of deoxycholic acid (DCA)/CA was observed in a proportion of infants with CJ. The bacteria depleted in infants with CJ, including Bifidobacterium and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, were positively and negatively correlated with the fecal levels of BAs and the serological markers of impaired liver function, respectively. In conclusion, the reduced concentration of BAs in the gut of infants with CJ is correlated with gut microbiota dysbiosis. The altered gut microbiota of infants with CJ likely upregulates the conversion from primary to secondary BAs. IMPORTANCE Liver health, fecal bile acid (BA) concentrations, and gut microbiota composition are closely connected. BAs and the microbiome influence each other in the gut, where bacteria modify the BA profile, while intestinal BAs regulate the growth of commensal bacteria, maintain the barrier integrity, and modulate the immune system. Previous studies have found that the co-occurrence of gut microbiota dysbiosis and BA metabolism alteration is present in many human liver diseases. Our study is the first to assess the gut microbiota composition in infantile cholestatic jaundice (CJ) and elucidate the linkage between gut bacterial changes and alterations of BA metabolism. We observed reduced levels of primary BAs and most secondary BAs in infants with CJ. The reduced concentration of fecal BAs in infantile CJ was associated with the overgrowth of gut bacteria with a pathogenic potential and the depletion of those with a potential benefit. The altered gut microbiota of infants with CJ likely upregulates the conversion from primary to secondary BAs. Our study provides a new perspective on potential targets for gut microbiota intervention directed at the management of infantile CJ.

Detection of water leakage is one of the most important regular tasks for underground tunnel inspection. In this paper, a new method is proposed for the water leakage detection in underground tunnels by using the corrected intensity data and 3-D point cloud of a terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) sensor. In the proposed method, the distance effect on the TLS intensity is first corrected based on a piecewise linear interpolation by using a reference target. Then, the distance-corrected intensity data are used to determine the surface roughness parameter that is specially considered to correct the incident angle effect. After corrections of distance and incident angle effects, the corrected intensity data are used to detect the water leakage regions in the underground tunnel. Finally, the appendages on the tunnel wall are removed by using the 3-D point cloud data to eliminate their influence on water leakage detection. To validate the feasibility of the proposed method, a case study in an underground tunnel in Beijing, China, was conducted by using a TLS sensor. Experimental results have demonstrated that the water leakage regions in the underground tunnel can be well extracted by using the corrected intensity data and 3-D point cloud, especially when the surface roughness is considered.

Abstract Extensive burns and full-thickness skin wounds are difficult to repair. Autologous split-thickness skin graft (ASSG) is still used as the gold standard in the clinic. However, the shortage of donor skin tissues is a serious problem. A potential solution to this problem is to fabricate skin constructs using biomaterial scaffolds with or without cells. Bioprinting is being applied to address the need for skin tissues suitable for transplantation, and can lead to the development of skin equivalents for wound healing therapy. Here, we summarize strategies of bioprinting and review current advances of bioprinting of skin constructs. There will be challenges on the way of 3D bioprinting for skin regeneration, but we still believe bioprinting will be potential skills for wounds healing in the foreseeable future.

Abstract In recent years, the Middle East region countries have experienced rapid population and economy growth, which has resulted in large increase of energy and power demand. Although the traditional fossil fuels remain the majority for supplying the domestic demand, additional generating capacity and fuel supply are necessary according to current situation and future demand forecast. The renewable energy provides an alternative resource for satisfying demand, especially in this region with high potential of solar and wind energy. Besides the development of renewable energy, interconnected electricity networks also enable the cross-border power exchange to fulfil electricity demand. Many Middle East countries have already started developing renewable energy and reforming the national power sector for regional electricity integration. However, none of them has already implemented their targets and the challenges are still huge. This study reviews current conditions of electricity and energy interconnection development, and analyzes the process of regional electricity network integration and national power sector reforms and provides suggestion for regions’ plan. Finally, the technology developments for future power grid interconnection and renewable energy integration are also reviewed.

This paper explores whether and how corruption and competition-for-promotion motives affect urban land supply in the People's Republic of China. Conditional on demand-side factors, we find that corruption is highly correlated with an increase in land supply. The corruption effects are strongest for commercial land, followed by residential land, and then industrial land. To shed light on the competition motives among prefectural leaders, we examine how the number of years in office affects land supply and distinguish among different hypotheses. Our empirical results show robust rising trends in land sales. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that among prefectural leaders the impatience and anxiety in later years from not being promoted may contribute to an increase in land sales revenue in later years. We also find that prefectural leaders may aim for more land sales revenue over their first few years in office instead of seeking higher revenue in their first 1–2 years.

Abstract Background Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a devastating disease that lacks sufficient treatment. Studies have shown that the Nod-like receptor family, pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome contributes to PAH pathogenesis, but the role of the upstream molecular P2X7 receptor (P2X7R) has remained unexplored. We investigated the role of P2X7R in the pathogenesis of PAH. Methods and results PH was induced by a single subcutaneous injection of monocrotaline (MCT) (60 mg/kg) on left pneumonectomised Sprague-Dawley rats, as validated by significant increases in pulmonary artery pressure and vessel wall thickness. Marked P2X7R was detected by predominant PA immunostaining in lungs from PH rats. Western blot revealed a significant increase in the protein levels of P2X7R as well as NLRP3 and caspase-1 in the diseased lung tissue compared with normal tissue. The rats received A-740003 (a selective P2X7 receptor antagonist, 30 mg/kg) daily starting from 1 week before or 2 weeks after MCT injection. Consequently, A-740003 reversed the NLRP3 inflammasome upregulation, significantly decreased the mean right ventricular (RV) pressure and RV hypertrophy, and reversed pulmonary arterial remodelling 4 weeks after MCT injection, as both a pretreatment and rescue intervention. Notably, A-740003 significantly reduced macrophage and pro-inflammatory cytokine levels, as measured via bronchoalveolar lavage. The recruitment of macrophages as well as collagen fibre deposition in the perivascular areas were also reduced, as confirmed by histological staining. Conclusions P2X7R contributes to the pathogenesis of PH, probably in association with activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome. Blockade of P2X7R might be applied as a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of PAH.

In this work, the distribution of organic phosphorus (Po) species in sediment profiles of five shallow lakes was analyzed and its effect on the photo-release of dissolved phosphate (Pi) was investigated during sediment resuspension under simulated sunlight irradiation. The results show that Po was highly enriched in the surface sediment and gradually decreased as sediment depths increased: 33.10 ± 2.55–96.71 ± 7.60 mg/kg, 33.55 ± 2.34–142.86 ± 5.73 mg/kg, 57.50 ± 3.46–149.68 ± 7.67 mg/kg, 55.18 ± 4.67–168.73 ± 8.31 mg/kg, 98.75 ± 7.56–275.74 ± 10.70 mg/kg for Lake Hou, Lake Tuan, Lake Tangling, Lake Guozheng and Lake Miao, respectively. The photo-release amount of dissolved Pi in the resuspension composed of surface sediments was also higher than that of deep sediment during sediment resuspension under the simulated sunlight irradiation for 9 h. The potential reasons for these results are: (1) difference in morphology and composition of sediments at different depths: the mean particle size of sediment decreased first and then increased as sediment depths increased; (2) difference in composition of Po species with depths in the sediment profiles: more photolytic Po species existed in surface sediments confirmed by sequential extraction and 31P NMR analysis; and (3) more OH production in the resuspension composed of surface sediment under simulated sunlight irradiation, which directly influence the photo-release of dissolved Pi from photodegradation of organic phosphorus. All of these results indicate that the distribution of organic phosphorus species in the sediment profiles plays an important role in P cycle and its photodegradation during sediment resuspension may be one of the potential pathways for phosphate supplement in shallow lakes. Keywords: Sediment, Organic phosphorus, Photo-release, 31P NMR, Phosphate

Sympathetic nerve hyperactivity is a primary reason for fatal ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) following myocardial infarction (MI). Pro-inflammatory cytokines produced in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) post-MI are associated with sympathetic overexcitation; however, the precise mechanism needs further investigation. Our aim was to explore the mechanism of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and its downstream molecular pathway in mediating sympathetic activity post-MI within the PVN. A rat MI model was developed via left anterior descending coronary artery ligation. TLR4 was primarily localized in microglia and increased markedly within the PVN at 3 days in MI rats. Sympathoexcitation also increased, as indicated by high levels of renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA) and norepinephrine (NE) concentration. TLR4 knockdown via shRNA microinjection to the PVN resulted in decreased activation of Fos protein (+) neurons in the PVN and peripheral sympathetic nerve activity. TLR4 knockdown also exhibited a lower arrhythmia score following programmed electrical stimulation than those treated with MI surgery only, indicating that the knockdown of TLR4 decreased the incidence of malignant ventricular arrhythmias following MI. LPS-induced inflammatory response was analyzed to explore the underlying mechanism of TLR4 in sympathetic hyperactivity. High levels of NF-κB protein, the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and TNF-α, and ROS production were observed in the LPS group. PVN-targeted injection of the NF-κB inhibitor PDTC attenuated NF-κB expression and sympathetic activity. Taken together, the results suggested that knockdown of microglial TLR4 within the PVN decreased sympathetic hyperactivity and subsequent VAs post-MI. The downstream NF-κB pathway and ROS production participated in the process. Interventions targeting TLR4 signaling in the PVN may be a novel approach to ameliorate the incidence of VAs post-MI. Keywords: Myocardial infarction, Sympathetic hyperactivity, PVN, TLR4, NF-κB, ROS

The “bidirectional gene pair” indicates a particular head-to-head gene organization in which transcription start sites of two genes are located on opposite strands of genomic DNA within a region of one kb. Despite bidirectional gene pairs are well characterized, little is known about their expression profiles and regulation features in tumorigenesis. We used RNA-seq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset for a systematic analysis of the expression profiles of bidirectional gene pairs in 13 cancer datasets. Gene pairs on the opposite strand with transcription end site distance within one kb or on the same strand with the distance of two genes between 1–10 kb and gene pairs comprising two randomly chosen genes were used as control gene pairs (CG1, CG2, and random). We identified and characterized up-/down-regulated genes by comparing the expression level between tumors and adjacent normal tissues in 13 TCGA datasets. There were no consistently significant difference in the percentage of up-/down-regulated genes between bidirectional and control/random genes in most of TCGA datasets. However, the percentage of bidirectional gene pairs comprising two up- or two down-regulated genes was significantly higher than gene pairs from CG1/2 in 12/11 analyzed TCGA datasets and the random gene pairs in all 13 TCGA datasets. Then we identified the methylation correlated bidirectional genes to explore the regulatory mechanism of bidirectional genes. Like the differentially expressed gene pairs, the bidirectional genes in a pair were significantly prone to be both hypo- or hyper-methylation correlated genes in 12/13 TCGA datasets when comparing to the CG2/random gene pairs despite no significant difference between the percentages of hypo-/hyper-methylation correlated genes in bidirectional and CG2/random genes in most of TCGA datasets. Finally, we explored the correlation between bidirectional genes and patient’s survival, identifying prognostic bidirectional genes and prognostic bidirectional gene pairs in each TCGA dataset. Remarkably, we found a group of prognostic bidirectional gene pairs in which the combination of two protein coding genes with different expression level correlated with different survival prognosis in survival analysis for OS. The percentage of these gene pairs in bidirectional gene pair were significantly higher than the gene pairs in controls in COAD datasets and lower in none of 13 TCGA datasets.

Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has been shown as an effective treatment for recurrent clostridium difficile infection (RCDI) in adults. In this study, we aim to evaluate the clinical efficacy of FMT in treating children with RCDI, and explore fecal microbiota changes during FMT treatment. A total of 11 RCDI subjects with a median age of 3.5 years were enrolled in this single-center prospective pilot study. All patients were cured (11/11, 100%) by FMT either through upper gastrointestinal tract route with a nasointestinal tube (13/16, 81.2%) or lower gastrointestinal tract route with a rectal tube (3/16, 18.8%). The cure rate of single FMT was 63.6% (7/11), and 4 (4/11, 36.4%) cases were performed with 2 or 3 times of FMT. Mild adverse events were reported in 4 children (4/11, 36.4%), including transient diarrhea, mild abdominal pain, transient fever and vomit. Gut microbiota composition analysis of 59 fecal samples collected from 34 participants (9 RCDI children, 9 donors and 16 health controls) showed that the alpha diversity was lower in pediatric RCDI patients before FMT than the healthy controls and donors, and fecal microbial community of pre-FMT samples (beta diversity) was apart from that of healthy controls and donors. No significant differences in alpha diversity, beta diversity or phylogenetic distance were detected between donors and healthy controls. Both the richness and diversity of gut microbiota were improved in the pediatric RCDI patients after FMT, and the bacteria community was shifted closer to the donor and healthy control group. Furthermore, FMT re-directed gut microbiome functions of pediatric RCDI toward a health state. Our results indicate that it is safe and tolerant to use FMT in treating pediatric RCDI. FMT shifted the gut microbiome composition and function in children with RCDI toward a healthy state.

Capturing the spatial heterogeneity and characteristic scale is the key to determining the spatial patterns of land surfaces. In this research, the core observation area of the middle reaches of the Heihe River Basin was selected as the study area, and the scale identification of several typical objects was carried out by implementing experiments on moderate- and high-resolution remotely sensed ASTER and CASI NDVI images. The aim was to evaluate the potential of the local variance and semivariance analysis to characterize the spatial heterogeneity of objects, track their changes with scale, and obtain their scales. Our results show that natural objects have multiscale structures. For a single object with a recognizable size, the results of the two methods are relatively consistent. For continuously distributed samples of indistinctive size, the scale obtained by the local variance is smaller than that obtained by the semivariance. As the image resolution becomes coarser and the research scopes expand, the scales of objects are also increasing. This article also indicates that with a small research area of uniform objects, the local variance and semivariance are easy to facilitate researchers to quickly select the appropriate spatial resolution of remote sensing data according to the research area.

The fast estimation of blue-green laser transmission characteristics through the fluctuating sea surface, such as refraction angles and transmittance, is very important to correct operating parameters, detection depth and anti-detection warning in airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) applications. However, the geometry of the sea surface is changed by complex environment factors, such as wind and wave, which significantly affect the rapid acquisition of the blue-green laser transmission characteristics. To address this problem, a fast analysis method is provided to rapidly compute the blue-green laser transmittance and refraction angles through the fluctuating sea surface driven by different wind directions and speeds. In the method, a three-dimensional wave model driven by the wind was built to describe the wave spatial distribution varying with time. Using the wave model, the propagation path of the scanning laser footprint was analyzed using the proposed meshing method, thus the transmittance and refraction angles of the optical path can be fast obtained by using parallel computing. The simulation results imply that the proposed method can reduce the time consumption by 70% compared with the traditional analytical method with sequential computing. This paper provides some statistical laws of refraction angles and transmittance through the fluctuating sea surface under different wind conditions, which may serve as a basic for fast computation of airborne LiDAR transmission characteristics in complex environments.

ObjectiveTo characterize the patterns of brain atrophy and perfusion as measured by arterial spin labeling (ASL)-MRI, in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients with varying levels of cognitive deficit, including ALS with frontotemporal dementia (FTD).MethodsA total of 55 ALS patients and 20 healthy controls (HCs) were included, and all participants underwent neuropsychological assessments and MRI scans. According to their cognitive performance, ALS patients were further subclassified into ALS with normal cognition (ALS-Cn, n = 27), ALS with cognitive impairment (ALS-Ci, n = 17), and ALS-FTD (n = 11). Voxel-based comparisons of gray matter (GM) changes and cerebral blood flow (CBF) were conducted among the subgroups.ResultsThe whole-brain comparisons of GM changes and CBF among ALS-Ci, ALS-Cn, and HCs were not significantly different. However, the ALS-FTD patients demonstrated a similar pattern of GM loss and hypoperfusion with more significant alterations in the left frontal and temporal lobe compared with the HCs, ALS-Cn, and ALS-Ci patients. Decreased CBF was found in many of the same brain areas wherein structural alterations occurred, although isolated GM loss and hypoperfusion were also observed. In addition, for both GM and CBF abnormalities, a similar pattern of changes was found in the comparisons of ALS-FTD vs. ALS-Ci, ALS-FTD vs. ALS-Cn, and ALS-FTD vs. HCs, with the differences being most significant between ALS-FTD and HCs.ConclusionThe cognitive status of ALS patients is associated with different patterns of GM changes and cerebral perfusion. ASL-MRI might be a useful tool with which to investigate the pathological burden of ALS and to disclose the early signature of possible cognitive impairment.

A new spray approach is proposed to overcome the disadvantages of the traditional single-orifice nozzle, such as uneven coatings, overspray, and low efficiency. Both the experimental measurements and numerical simulation are used to investigate the spray characteristics of the multiorifice nozzle. The results show the new nozzle structure is able to disperse the particles in a wider regime and reduce the central pressure. It is an effective way to produce uniform ultrafine coatings.

The locally unsteady flow field near the orifice outlet of an aerostatic thrust bearing causes the gas pressure fluctuation on the bearing surface, which induces microvibration even if an invariable load acts on the bearing. In this article, flow field disturbance structure was designed for the air chamber of an aerostatic thrust bearing to change the microscopic flow field inside the bearing. Numerical calculation showed that flow field disturbance structure altered the gas flow characteristics in local flow field near the orifice outlet. Moreover, the fluctuating pressure on the bearing surface decreased obviously. Experiments demonstrated that the microvibration of the bearing with flow field disturbance structure was suppressed evidently. Furthermore, the influence of flow field disturbance structure parameters on the microvibration was analyzed experimentally.

Noise in ECG signals will affect the result of post-processing if left untreated. Since ECG is highly subjective, the linear denoising method with a specific threshold working well on one subject could fail on another. Therefore, in this Letter, sparse-based method, which represents every segment of signal using different linear combinations of atoms from a dictionary, is used to denoise ECG signals, with a view to myoelectric interference existing in ECG signals. Firstly, a denoising model for ECG signals is constructed. Then the model is solved by matching pursuit algorithm. In order to get better results, four kinds of dictionaries are investigated with the ECG signals from MIT-BIH arrhythmia database, compared with wavelet transform (WT)-based method. Signal–noise ratio (SNR) and mean square error (MSE) between estimated signal and original signal are used as indicators to evaluate the performance. The results show that by using the present method, the SNR is higher while the MSE between estimated signal and original signal is smaller.

With the emergence of all kinds of location services applications, massive location data are collected in real time. A hierarchical fast density clustering algorithm, DBSCAN(density based spatial clustering of applications with noise) algorithm based on Gauss mixture model, is proposed to detect clusters and noises of arbitrary shape in location data. First, the gaussian mixture model is used to fit the probability distribution of the dataset to determine different density levels; then, based on the DBSCAN algorithm, the subdatasets with different density levels are locally clustered, and at the same time, the appropriate seeds are selected to complete the cluster expansion; finally, the subdatasets clustering results are merged. The method validates the clustering effect of the proposed algorithm in terms of clustering accuracy, different noise intensity and time efficiency on the test data of public data sets. The experimental results show that the clustering effect of the proposed algorithm is better than traditional DBSCAN. In addition, the passenger flow data of the night peak period of the actual site is used to identify the uneven distribution of passengers in the station. The result of passenger cluster identification is beneficial to the optimization of service facilities, passenger organization and guidance, abnormal passenger flow evacuation.

To improve the accuracy and efficiency of fault data identification of traffic detectors is crucial in order to decrease the probability of unexpected failures of the intelligent transportation system (ITS). Since convolutional fault data recognition based on traffic flow three-parameter law has a poor capability for multiscale of fault data, PCA (principal component analysis) is adopted for traffic fault data identification. This paper proposes the fault data detection models based on the PCA model, MSPCA (multiscale principal component analysis) model and improved MSPCA model, respectively. In order to improve the recognition rate of traffic detectors’ fault data, the improved MSPCA model combines the wavelet packet energy analysis and PCA to achieve traffic detector data fault identification. On the basis of traditional MSPCA, wavelet packet multi-scale decomposition is used to get detailed information, and principal component analysis models are established on different scale matrices, and fault data are separated by wavelet packet energy difference. Through case analysis, the feasibility verification of traffic flow data identification method is carried out. The results show that the improved method proposed in this paper is effective for identifying traffic fault data.

With advantages of multispatial resolutions, a high retrieval accuracy, and a high temporal resolution, the satellite-derived land surface temperature (LST) products are very important LST sources. However, the greatest barrier to their wide application is the invalid values produced by large quantities of cloudy pixels, especially for regions frequently swathed in clouds. In this study, an effective method based on the land energy balance theory and similar pixels (SP) method was developed to reconstruct the LSTs over cloudy pixels for the widely used MODIS LST (MOD11A1). The southwest region of China was selected as the study area, where extreme drought has frequently occurred in recent years in the context of global climate change and which commonly exhibits cloudy and foggy weather. The validation results compared with in situ LSTs showed that the reconstructed LSTs have an average error < 1.00 K (0.57 K at night and −0.14 K during the day) and an RMSE < 3.20 K (1.90 K at night and 3.16 K in the daytime). The experiment testing the SP interpolation indicated that the spatial structure of the LST has a greater effect on the SP performance than the size of the data-missing area, which benefits the LST reconstruction in the area frequently covered by large clouds.

Poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) and poly(d-lactic acid) (PDLA) blend as-spun fibers (50/50, wt.%) were prepared by melt spinning. Structure mediation under temperature and stress and properties of poly(l-lactic acid)/poly(d-lactic acid)(PLLA/PDLA) as-spun fibers were investigated by wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results show that highly oriented stereocomplex (SC) crystals can be formed in PLLA/PDLA blend fibers drawn at 60 °C and annealed at 200 °C. However, at drawn temperature of 80 °C, only lower oriented SC crystals can be formed. For PLLA/PDLA blend fibers drawn twice at 60 °C (PLLA/PDLA-60-2), the crystallinity of SC crystals increases with annealing temperature in the range of 200 to 215 °C, while the degree of orientation decreases slightly. When the annealing temperature is 210 °C, the crystallinity and orientation of SC crystals in PLLA/PDLA-60-2 fibers reach 51% and −0.39, respectively. Moreover, PLLA/PDLA-60-2-210 fibers exhibit excellent heat-resistant property even at 200 °C. The results indicate that the oriented PLLA/PDLA blend fibers with high SC crystals content can be regulated in a short time.

Mortality remains one of the most important end-point quality control parameters to evaluate a burn care system. We retrospectively reviewed the characteristics and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) patterns of burn deaths in our center from January 2003 to December 2009. The mortality rate during this time period was 2.3%. Fifty-six patients died, including 49 males and 7 females. The mean survival time was 28.45 ± 24.60 days. The burn percentage was (76.70 ± 26.86) % total burn surface area (TBSA), with (27.74 ± 24.95) % deep-partial thickness burns and (46.88 ± 33.84) % full-thickness burns. Inhalation injury was diagnosed in 36 (64.29%) patients. Patients who had undergone an operation, particularly in the first week post-burn, had a significantly longer survival time. An average of 5.50 ± 1.35 malfunctioning organs per patient and a mean sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score of 13.91 ± 3.65 were observed. The most frequently malfunctioning organs were involved in the respiratory, hematologic, circulatory, and central nervous systems. Most of the organ damage occurred during the first week post-burn, followed by 4 weeks later, with relatively less organ damage observed in the third week. Among patients with a TBSA over 50%, non-survivors had larger burn sizes (particularly larger full-thickness burns) and a higher incidence of inhalation injury compared with survivors; non-survivors were also more likely to have microorganism-positive blood and sputum cultures. In conclusion, burn deaths are related to a higher burn percentage, inhalation injury, MODS, and infection. Early operation may help improve survival duration.

Intestinal epithelial cell (IEC) apoptosis induced by hypoxiacompromise intestinal epithelium barrier function. Both Akt andHsp90 have cytoprotective function. However, the specific roleof Akt and Hsp90β in IEC apoptosis induced by hypoxia has notbeen explored. We confirmed that hypoxia-induced apoptosiswas reduced by Hsp90β overexpression but enhanced bydecreasing Hsp90β expression. Hsp90β overexpressionenhanced BAD phosphorylation and thus reduced mitochondrialrelease of cytochrome C. Reducing Hsp90β expression hadopposite effects. The protective effect of Hsp90β againstapoptosis was negated by LY294002, an Akt inhibitor. Furtherstudy showed that Akt phosphorylation was enhanced byHsp90β, which was not due to the activation of upstream PI3Kand PDK1 but because of stabilization of pAkt via directinteraction between Hsp90β and pAkt. These results demonstratethat Hsp90β may play a significant role in protecting IECs fromhypoxia-induced apoptosis via stabilizing pAkt to phosphorylateBAD and reduce cytochrome C release. [BMB Reports 2013;46(1): 47-52]

Degradation of RC structures due to chloride penetration followed by reinforcement corrosion is a serious problem in civil engineering. The numerical simulation methods at present mainly involve finite element methods (FEM), which are based on mesh generation. In this study, element-free Galerkin (EFG) and meshless weighted least squares (MWLS) methods are used to solve the problem of simulation of chloride diffusion in concrete. The range of a scaling parameter is presented using numerical examples based on meshless methods. One- and two-dimensional numerical examples validated the effectiveness and accuracy of the two meshless methods by comparing results obtained by MWLS with results computed by EFG and FEM and results calculated by an analytical method. A good agreement is obtained among MWLS and EFG numerical simulations and the experimental data obtained from an existing marine concrete structure. These results indicate that MWLS and EFG are reliable meshless methods that can be used for the prediction of chloride ingress in concrete structures.

As fuel temperature increases, both its viscosity and surface tension decrease, and this is helpful to improve fuel atomization and then better combustion and emission performances of engine. Based on the self-regulated temperature property of positive temperature coefficient material, this article used a positive temperature coefficient material as electric heating element to heat diesel fuel in fuel pipeline of diesel engine. A kind of BaTiO 3 -based positive temperature coefficient material, with the Curie temperature of 230°C and rated voltage of 24 V, was developed, and its micrograph and element compositions were also analyzed. By the fuel pipeline wrapped in six positive temperature coefficient ceramics, its resistivity–temperature and heating characteristics were tested on a fuel pump bench. The experiments showed that in this installation, the surface temperature of six positive temperature coefficient ceramics rose to the equilibrium temperature only for 100 s at rated voltage. In rated power supply for six positive temperature coefficient ceramics, the temperature of injection fuel improved for 21°C–27°C within 100 s, and then could keep constant. Using positive temperature coefficient material to heat diesel in fuel pipeline of diesel engine, the injection mass per cycle had little change, approximately 0.3%/°C. This study provides a beneficial reference for improving atomization of high-viscosity liquids by employing positive temperature coefficient material without any control methods.

Time of flight (TOF) based light detection and ranging (LiDAR) is a technology for calculating distance between start/stop signals of time of flight. In lab-built LiDAR, two ranging systems for measuring flying time between start/stop signals include time-to-digital converter (TDC) that counts time between trigger signals and analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that processes the sampled start/stop pulses waveform for time estimation. We study the influence of waveform characteristics on range accuracy and precision of two kinds of ranging system. Comparing waveform based ranging (WR) with analog discrete return system based ranging (AR), a peak detection method (WR-PK) shows the best ranging performance because of less execution time, high ranging accuracy, and stable precision. Based on a novel statistic mathematical method maximal information coefficient (MIC), WR-PK precision has a high linear relationship with the received pulse width standard deviation. Thus keeping the received pulse width of measuring a constant distance as stable as possible can improve ranging precision.

Terrestrial laser scanning sensors deliver not only three-dimensional geometric information of the scanned objects but also the intensity data of returned laser pulse. Recent studies have demonstrated potential applications of intensity data from Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS). However, the distance and incident angle effects distort the TLS raw intensity data. To overcome the distortions, a new intensity correction method by combining the piecewise fitting and overlap-driven adjustment approaches was proposed in this study. The distance effect is eliminated by the piecewise fitting approach. The incident angle effect is eliminated by overlap-driven adjustment using the Oren–Nayar model that employs the surface roughness parameter of the scanned object. The surface roughness parameter at a certain point in an overlapped region of the multi-station scans is estimated by using the raw intensity data from two different stations at the point rather than estimated by averaging the surface roughness at other positions for each kind of object, which eliminates the estimation deviation. Experimental results obtained by using a TLS sensor (Riegl VZ-400i) demonstrate that the proposed method is valid and the deviations of the retrieved reflectance values from those measured by a spectrometer are all less than 3%.

A pulsed time-of-flight (TOF) measurement-based Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system is more effective for medium-long range distances. As a key ranging unit, a time-pickoff circuit based on automatic gain control (AGC) and constant fraction discriminator (CFD) is designed to reduce the walk error and the timing jitter for obtaining the accurate time interval. Compared with Cramer–Rao lower bound (CRLB) and the estimation of the timing jitter, four parameters-based Monte Carlo simulations are established to show how the range precision is influenced by the parameters, including pulse amplitude, pulse width, attenuation fraction and delay time of the CFD. Experiments were carried out to verify the relationship between the range precision and three of the parameters, exclusing pulse width. It can be concluded that two parameters of the ranging circuit (attenuation fraction and delay time) were selected according to the ranging performance of the minimum pulse amplitude. The attenuation fraction should be selected in the range from 0.2 to 0.6 to achieve high range precision. The selection criterion of the time-pickoff circuit parameters is helpful for the ranging circuit design of TOF LiDAR system.

Ebola is an emerging infectious disease caused by a deadly virus belonging to the family Filoviridae, genus Ebolavirus. Based on their geographical distribution, Ebolavirus has been classified into total five species so far, mainly Zaire, Sudan, Taï Forest, Bundibugyo and Reston. It is important to be able to differentiate the Ebolavirus species as they significantly differ in pathogenicity and more than one species can be present in an area. We have developed a one-step step-down RT-PCR detecting all five Ebolavirus species with high sensitivity (1 copy of Ebolavirus DNA, 10 copies of RNA and 320 copies of RNA spiked in 1 ml whole blood). The primers and FRET-probes we designed enabled us to differentiate five Ebolavirus species by distinct Tm (Zaire: flat peaks between 53.0°C and 56.9°C; Sudan: 51.6°C; Reston: flat peaks between 47.5°C and 54.9°C; Tai Forest: 52.8°C; Bundibugyo: dual peaks at 48.9°C and 53.5°C), and by different amplicon sizes (Zaire 255 bp, Sudan 211 bp, Reston 192 bp, Taï Forest 166 bp, Bundibugyo 146 bp). This one-size-fit-all assay enables the rapid detection and discrimination of the five Ebolavirus species in a single reaction.

Nerve growth factor (NGF) is involved in nerve sprouting, hyper-innervation, angiogenesis, anti-apoptosis, and preservation of cardiac function after myocardial infarction (MI). Positively modulating NGF expression may represent a novel pharmacological strategy to improve post-infarction prognosis. In this study, lentivirus encoding NGF short interfering RNA (siRNA) was prepared, and MI was modeled in the rat using left anterior descending coronary artery ligation. Rats were randomly grouped to receive intramyocardial injection of lentiviral solution containing NGF-siRNA (n = 19, MI-SiNGF group), lentiviral solution containing empty vector (n = 18, MI-GFP group) or 0.9% NaCl solution (n = 18, MI-control group), or to receive thoracotomy and pericardiotomy (n = 17, sham-operated group). At 1, 2, 4, and 8 wk after transduction, rats in the MI-control group had higher levels of NGF mRNA and protein than those in the sham-operated group, rats in the MI-GFP group showed similar levels as the MI-control group, and rats in the MI-SiNGF group had lower levels compared to the MI-GFP group, indicating that MI model was successfully established and NGF siRNA effectively inhibited the expression of NGF. At 8 wk, echocardiographic and hemodynamic studies revealed a more severe cardiac dysfunction in the MI-siRNA group compared to the MI-GFP group. Moreover, rats in the MI-siRNA group had lower mRNA and protein expression levels of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and growth-associated protein 43-positive nerve fibers (GAP-43) at both the infarcted border and within the non-infarcted left ventricles (LV). NGF silencing also reduced the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression and decreased the arteriolar and capillary densities at the infarcted border compared to the MI-GFP group. Histological analysis indicated a large infarcted size in the MI-SiNGF group. These findings suggested that endogenous NGF silencing attenuated sympathetic nerve sprouting and angiogenesis, enlarged the infarct size, aggravated cardiac dysfunction, and potentially contributed to an unfavorable prognosis after MI.

With the development of wind power technology, the security of the power system, power quality, and stable operation will meet new challenges. So, in this paper, we propose a recently developed machine learning technique, relevance vector machine (RVM), for day-ahead wind speed forecasting. We combine Gaussian kernel function and polynomial kernel function to get mixed kernel for RVM. Then, RVM is compared with back propagation neural network (BP) and support vector machine (SVM) for wind speed forecasting in four seasons in precision and velocity; the forecast results demonstrate that the proposed method is reasonable and effective.