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Purpose: The purpose of this study is to use the data in the GEO database to analyze, screen biomarkers that can diagnose tuberculosis, and verification of candidate biomarkers.Materials and methods: GSE158767 dataset were used to process WGCNA analysis, differential gene analysis, Gene ontology and KEGG analysis, protein-protein network analysis and hub genes analysis. Based on our previous study, the intersect between WGCNA and differential gene analysis could be used as candidate biomarkers. Then, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to validate candidate biomarkers, and receiver operating characteristic was used to assess diagnose ability of candidate biomarkers.Results: A total of 412 differential genes were screened. And we obtained 105 overlapping genes between DEGs and WGCNA. GO and KEGG analysis showed that most of the differential genes were significantly enriched in innate immunity. A total of 15 hub genes were screened, and four of them were verified by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. CCL5 performed well in distinguishing the healthy group from the TB group (AUC = 0.723). And CCL19 performed well in distinguishing the TB group from the ORD groups (AUC = 0.811).Conclusion: CCL19, C1Qb, CCL5 and HLA-DMB may play important role in tuberculosis, which indicated four genes may become effective biomarkers and could be conveniently used to facilitate the individual tuberculosis diagnosis in Chinese people.

Osteoporosis is an osteolytic disease with a disrupted balance between the resorption and formation of bone as well as bone microstructure degeneration, leading to bone loss and increased fracture risk, which greatly affects patients' quality of life. Currently, inhibition of osteoclast bone resorption remains the mainstream treatment for osteoporosis. Onc201, a new compound, induces the gene expression of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) and has an efficient anticancer effect in clinical trials. However, its effects on osteolytic disease and the mechanism of action are unclear. We examined the effect of Onc201 on nuclear factor κB ligand-receptor activator (RANKL)-induced osteoclasts via Cell Counting Kit-8, bone resorption assay, luciferase reporter assay, immunofluorescence staining, calcium ion intensity assay and employed an ovariectomy model to investigate the effect of Onc201 on osteoporosis in the mice. Results showed that Onc201 inhibited the function and formation of osteoclasts induced by RANKL in a manner that was dependent on time and concentration, and did not cause cytotoxicity. Mechanistically, Onc201 inhibited osteoclast-relevant genes and NFATc1 expression, the main transcriptional regulatory factor of the formation of osteoclasts induced by RANKL; meanwhile, downregulating the expressions of the osteoclast cytoskeleton key signal molecules integrin αvβ3, focal adhesion kinase (FAK), c-Src, and spleen-associated tyrosine kinase (SYK). In addition, Onc201 had a protective effect on the mouse model of bone loss caused by ovariectomy-induced estrogen deficiency, which is consistent with the in vitro results. Our findings suggest that the new small-molecular compound Onc201 has the potential to prevent osteoclast-related osteolytic diseases.

Osteoclasts are of hematopoietic lineage and have the ability to degrade mineralized bone tissues. Abnormalities in osteoclastic activity under certain pathological conditions are common in bone diseases such as osteoporosis, osteosclerosis, and arthritis. Although many kinds of drugs are currently used to treat osteoporosis, they have obvious adverse reactions and limitations. CYT387 is a new small-molecule Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor involved in hematopoiesis, immune modulation, fertility, lactation, and embryonic development. However, it has remained unclear whether CYT387 functionally impacts osteoclast formation. Our study demonstrated through osteoclast formation assay

Background. Hepatic ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury is one of the severe complications associated with liver surgery and leads to liver dysfunction. PPARγ is always linked with various physiologic pathways, and it can alleviate liver damage in IR injury. Aim. In this study, we explored the potential mechanism of PPARγ in the pathogenesis of hepatic IR injury by mice model. Methods. After treated with si-PPARγ or rosiglitazone, mice were subjected to hepatic ischemia-reperfusion. Liver tissue and blood samples were collected to evaluate liver injury and detected relative mRNA and protein expressions. Results. The expression of PPARγ was increased after reperfusion. And the alleviation of PPARγ aggravated the liver damage in IR; at the same time, upregulation of the expression of PPARγ released the liver damage. And these effects of PPARγ in IR were related to the AMPK/mTOR/autophagy signaling pathway. Conclusion. PPARγ plays an important role in hepatic IR injury at least partly via the AMPK/mTOR/autophagy pathway.

The chloroplast genomes of the five Crataegus species were shown to have a conserved genome structure. Complete chloroplast genome sequences were more suitable than highly variable regions for the identification and phylogenetic analysis of Crataegus species. Hawthorn, which is commonly used as a traditional Chinese medicine, is one of the most popular sour fruits and has high economic value. Crataegus pinnatifida var. pinnatifida and C. pinnatifida var. major are frequently adulterated with other Crataegus species on the herbal medicine market. However, most Crataegus plants are difficult to identify using traditional morphological methods. Here, we compared five Crataegus chloroplast (CP) genomes comprising two newly sequenced (i.e., C. pinnatifida var. pinnatifida and C. pinnatifida var. major) and three previously published CP genomes. The CP genomes of the five Crataegus species had a conserved genome structure, gene content and codon usage. The total length of the CP genomes was 159,654–159,865 bp. A total of 129–130 genes, including 84–85 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes and 8 rRNA genes, were annotated. Bioinformatics analysis revealed 96–103 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and 48–70 long repeats in the five CP genomes. Combining the results of mVISTA and nucleotide diversity, five highly variable regions were screened for species identification and relationship studies. Maximum likelihood trees were constructed on the basis of complete CP genome sequences and highly variable regions. The results showed that the former had higher discriminatory power for Crataegus species, indicating that the complete CP genome could be used as a super-barcode to accurately authenticate the five Crataegus species.

Previous investigation on the crashworthiness of braided composite tubes did not take the relationship between adiabatic shear failure and temperature rise into account during dynamic loading. In this study, transient temperature rise caused by adiabatic effect was detected and captured for the three-dimensional braided carbon/epoxy composite specimens during axial impact compression under 600–800/s. A mesostructure model was established based on three-dimensional braided tube architecture to numerically characterize the mechanical and thermal response in material. Based on the results, non-uniform temperature distribution shows good correlation with adiabatic shear failure in the material. Key scientific issues are discovered including the position, morphology, time sequence, and response process of the temperature rise. The catastrophic shear behavior with accelerated temperature rise occurs after the peak force and accompanies the progressive failure process. Nodes having room temperature in the adiabatic shear zone indicates that some positions in plastic zone may still behave as elastic state. There exists different plastic slip distances due to shear instability in the path along or crossing the adiabatic shear band. Through this investigation, the model considering the adiabatic effect was able to show the dynamic shear mechanism involving the fracture position, morphology, and progressive thermo-mechanical response of the temperature rise, which cannot be revealed by experimental testing.

Objective Hepatocellular carcinima is one of the most common tumors in clinic and also one of the leading causes of death from cancer worldwide. Quercetin shows significant effects on blocking the development of various cancers. Methods We used the human hepatocellular carcinoma LM3 and nude mice tumor model to assess the effects of quercetin in hepatocellular carcinoma and clarify its mechanism of action. We collected LM3 cell line treated with different doses of quercetin at different time periods and determined the vital indexes. The liver tissues of mice were collected and used for western boltting (WB), Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) and TUNEL staining. Results Results indicated that quercetin suppressed the Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) growth both in vivo and in vitro. Quercetin could disturb LM3 cells proliferation and cell cycle distribution, thus inducing apoptosis. At the same time, quercetin inhibited LM3 cells migration and invasion and promoted HCC autophagy. These effects at least partly depended on the down‐regulation of the activation of JAK2 and STAT3 by quercetin. Conclusion Quercetin inhibited hepatocellular carcinoma progression by modulating cell apoptosis, migration, invasion, and autophagy; and its effects were at least partly related with the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway.

Background Liver fibrosis is a wound‐healing process of liver featured by the over‐deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) and angiogenesis. However, the effective treatment is lacking. Procyanidin B2 (PB2) is a flavonoid extract abundant in grape seeds with anti‐oxidant, anti‐inflammatory and anti‐cancer properties. The present study aimed to determine effects of PB2 on liver fibrosis. Method The CCl4‐induced mouse liver fibrosis model and a human hepatic stellate cell (HSC) line (LX2 cells) were used to study the activation, ECM production and angiogenesis of HSCs through Western blotting analysis, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence staining, flow cytometry and tubulogenesis assay. A Hedgehog (Hh) pathway inhibitor (cyclopamine) and Smoothened agonist (SAG) were used to investigate the role of PB2 on Hh pathway. Results The results showed that PB2 could inhibit the proliferation and induce apoptosis of HSCs. PB2 could also down‐regulate the expressions of VEGF‐A, HIF‐1α, α‐SMA, Col‐1 and TGF‐β1 of HSCs in vivo and in vitro. The application of SAG and cyclopamine proved that PB2 targets on Hh pathway. Conclusions PB2 inhibited the Hh pathway to suppress the activation, ECM production and angiogenesis of HSCs, therefore reverses the progression of liver fibrosis in vivo and in vitro.

Nylon fabrics are used as the reinforcing upper layer. A warp-knitted spacer fabric that is saturated with flexible polyurethane foam is used as the lower layer. They are combined in order to form innovative impact energy absorbent composite sandwiches employing a two-step foam process. The quasi-static compressive strength, bursting strength, and dynamic shock cushioning characteristic of the composite sandwiches are evaluated, the latter of which is tested using a drop weight impact tester in order to simulate the impact resistance corresponding to complex environments. The experimental results suggest that a combination of warp-knitted spacer fabric increases the compressive strength and bursting strength of composite sandwiches by 107% and 60%, respectively. The shapes of impactors determine the contact force and dynamic impact time. The greater contact area results in the smaller contact force, indicating that the composite sandwiches have greater cushioning efficacy. Designed with a gradient combination, the flexible polyurethane foam strongly bonds the upper polyamide nonwoven fabric and the lower warp-knitted spacer fabric. The optimal compression resistance, a bursting strength of 1677 N, and a maximum energy absorption of 90% at a 15 J impact energy are presented. The innovative composite sandwiches have a promising perspective in packaging and individual impact protection in the future.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) nonwoven fabrics, carbon fabrics (CF), and flexible polyurethane (PU) foams are made into novel sandwich composites using one-step molding. The flame retradance and mechanical properties of the sandwich composites are evaluated, examining the influences of the content of flame retardant agent (20, 30, 40, and 50 wt%) and areal density of PET panels (200, 300, and 400 g/m2). The test results show that the PET/CF/PU sandwich composites are rated flame retardant as V0 and do not generate melts. The failure mode of PET/CF/PU sandwich composites converts from overall fracture to layered fracture as a result of increasing the flame retardant agent. The tensile strength at break of PET/CF/PU sandwich composites with corresponding PET panels is 650 N for 200 g/m, 928 N for 300 g/m, and 1744 N for 400 g/m2, which are 42.63 %, 60.48 %, and 77.85 % greater than those of the PET/PU sandwich composites. Moreover, the bursting strength of PET/CF/PU sandwich composites with corresponding PET panels is 3322 N for 200 g/m2, 3869 N for 300 g/m2, and 4978 N for 400 g/m2, which are 195%, 180%, and 143% greater than those of the PET/PU sandwich composites.

Background Hepatic ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury is a common medical phenomenon that occurs during a number of clinical conditions, such as liver transplantation, severe injuries, and shock. In our study, we determined the protective functions of levo-tetrahydropalmatine (L-THP) on hepatic IR injury in mice by inhibiting the ERK/NF-κB signaling pathway. Method BALB/c mice were randomly divided into six groups as follows: normal control (NC); sham; L-THP (40 mg/kg); IR; L-THP (20 mg/kg) + IR; and L-THP (40 mg/kg) + IR. Liver tissues and sera were collected at three time points after reperfusion (2, 8, and 24 h). The liver enzyme, inflammatory factor, and other protein levels in the serum and liver tissues were detected. Results L-THP pretreatment alleviated hepatocyte injury caused by IR and reduced the production of proinflammatory cytokines, such as IL-6 and TNF-α. Furthermore, L-THP could inhibit the ERK/NF-κB signaling pathway to attenuate hepatocyte apoptosis and autophagy. And the protective effect of L-THP is positively correlated with its dose. Conclusion L-THP protects the liver from IR injury by inhibiting the release of inflammatory factors and alleviating liver cell apoptosis and autophagy. The protective functions of L-THP may be partly based on the downregulation of the ERK/NF-κB pathway.

Quasi-static 4-point bending behaviors and failure characteristics of a large scale composite C-beams fastened with multi-bolt joints were investigated experimentally and numerically. Strain gauge measurement and acoustic emission (AE) monitor system were used to monitor the mechanical response and damage development during loading process. The global and local characteristics of damage are presented and analyzed. A nonlinear numerical model with simplified bolt joints on ABAQUS platform was also established which could be used to efficient analyze the load distribution of bolts and accurately predict the nonlinear response of the composite C-section beams. The numerical results were verified by the experimental results within 10% error. From the finite element (FE) model results, the bolt load distribution and load transfer path were discussed. The results show that the surface skins of the beam take a higher portion of the load than beam web under pure bending load. The beam catastrophic failure is due to the bending load matches the compressive strength of the top composite skin. The FE model is capable to well catch mechanical response details of multi-bolts joint structures for engineers.

Glass geotextile reinforcement and needle-punch bonding are applied to compensate for the low mechanical strength of a geotextile clay liner (GCL) and reduce damage under complicated service condit...

In this study, a new type of flexible sandwich composite with nonwoven facesheets and core reinforced by polyurethane (PU) grid sealing shear thickening fluid (STF) has been presented. With the specific design, the STF was sealed into PU grids as the core to provide shear thickening effect against impact. Rheological property of STF with different mass ratio and PU morphology after first and second foaming were evaluated and optimized for sandwich composite preparation. Both static compression and dynamic impact tests were carried out to obtain the impact dynamic response and investigate the effects of typical parameters including STF volume, core thickness and striker height on low-velocity impact behavior. The test results showed that the optimal concentration of STF was 20 wt.%, whose critical shear rate was 100s−1. The presence of STF had a positive influence on the static compression strength and dynamic impact strength. In particular, the 70% STF volume fraction contributed to the highest compression modulus. The compression modulus was 445 MPa and 466 MPa when the sample thickness was 2 cm and 3 cm, respectively. As for dynamic impact strength with corresponding STF volume fractions, it was 4535.31 mJ for 30%, 4599.72 mJ for 50%, and 4827.46 mJ for 70%, all of which were much higher than that (2348 mJ) of control group (without STF). Regardless of whether the STF volume being 30%, 50% and 70%, the impact displacement of composite was within 10 mm, showing better impact resistance than control group (13.16 mm). Besides, this composite with special PU grid sealing, STF structure demonstrated a certain strain rate effect. The higher the impact energy, the greater the energy absorption was. Specifically, impact energy absorption rate of composite with a thickness of 3 cm was as high as 52.3% under 350 mm impact height.

In order to deeply explore the fiber characteristics influencing on stab resistance of shear thickening fluid (STF)- impregnated fabrics, two different weaving fabrics, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fabric and Kevlar fabrics are saturate the various concentrations and particle size of STFs. Result shows that, SiO2/PEG-200 blends demonstrate quick shear-thickening property, and the critical shear rate lowers to 1.2-45 s-1 with higher concentration of 75 nm SiO2. STF concentration and particle size significantly affect spike puncture resistance property, but the knife stab resistance mainly depends on fiber characteristics. Comparatively, STF-UHMWPE composite fabrics exhibit better knife stab resistance but weaker spike puncture resistance than STF-Kevlar fabrics. This study can provide an optimization for structure design of stab resistance armors in the future.

Mechanoluminescence (ML) materials have attracted much attention for potential applications in many real-time nondestructive detection and anti-counterfeiting fields; however, obtaining an orange-red emission color remains a challenge. As one of the red activators, Mn2+ has excellent optical performance. Herein, elastico-ML materials with self-reduction of Mn4+ to Mn2+ were developed by selecting piezoelectric hosts with flexible frames and a large defect capacity. The divalent state of Mn was demonstrated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, and X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy. A tunable luminescence from red to orange was realized and a bright red light was observed under weak mechanical stimulation. The optical and structural characteristics revealed that a unit cell with a low stiffness and large space to accommodate cation defects is a fundamental factor for the ML phenomena. This study not only offers a unique insight for understanding the self-reduction and ML phenomena of Mn2+-doped functional materials, but also expands the applications of advanced optical functional materials in stress sensors and optical information storage.

3D woven composites offer various high-performance characteristics and wide applications due to their lightweight, high strength, and good integrity. However, to exploit their structural advantages, it is necessary to improve the interface properties between reinforcement and matrix, and carbon nanotubes with excellent mechanical properties provide a good solution to improve the interface properties of composites. Based on this motivation, the goal of this study is to investigate the impact of multiwalled carbon nanotubes on the tensile and bending properties of basalt fiber through-angle interlocking 3D woven composite, layered-angle interlocking 3D woven composite and orthogonal 3D woven composite. The obtained results indicated that the maximum warp and weft tensile loads of the layered-angle interlocking composites increased by 19.3% and 28.5% from 91,091.3N and 8,409.5N to 9,288.4N and 11,761.4N, respectively. The maximum warp and weft bending loads of 3D orthogonal composites were increased by 26.4% and 19.6% from 566.7N and 635.4N to 770.0N and 790.3N, respectively. O-MWCNTs contain -OH, -COOH and the unsaturated double bond can active functional groups and basalt fiber on the surface of the Si-OH and unsaturated double bonds in the reaction to form epoxy resin covalent bond to improve the interface between the fiber and matrix effect, which solved the key problem of interface outstanding performance of 3D woven modified-basalt fiber composites.

Metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is a new disease definition, and is proposed to replace the previous name, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Globally, MAFLD/NAFLD is the most common liver disease, with an incidence rate ranging from 6% to 35% in adult populations. The pathogenesis of MAFLD/NAFLD is closely related to insulin resistance (IR), and the genetic susceptibility to acquired metabolic stress-associated liver injury. Similarly, the gut microbiota in MAFLD/NAFLD is being revaluated by scientists, as the gut and liver influence each other via the gut-liver axis. Ferroptosis is a novel form of programmed cell death caused by iron-dependent lipid peroxidation. Emerging evidence suggests that ferroptosis has a key role in the pathological progression of MAFLD/NAFLD, and inhibition of ferroptosis may become a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of NAFLD. This review focuses on the main mechanisms behind the promotion of MAFLD/NAFLD occurrence and development by the intestinal microbiota and ferroptosis. It outlines new strategies to target the intestinal microbiota and ferroptosis to facilitate future MAFLD/NAFLD therapies.

Metal-Oxide Arresters are important equipment to ensure the reliable operation of power systems. An experimental protocol for judging the nature of MOA defects accurately is introduced in this paper and applied to engineering practice. Through diagnostic tests and dismantling inspections, it is determined that a certain batch of 110kV line MOA has a familial defect of poor sealing. Then, the reasons for dampness are analyzed, and other defects except the dampness of the varistor are discovered. Besides, the improvement of manufacturing process is proposed from aspects of terminal structure and the coating material on the side of varistor;the actual data proves that adding fillers such as quartz sand or silica gel inside the MOA can reduce the failure rate effectively. This article provides a certain technical reference for the manufacture and defect disposal of MOAs.

The chloroplast genomes of the five Crataegus species were shown to have a conserved genome structure. Complete chloroplast genome sequences were more suitable than highly variable regions for the identification and phylogenetic analysis of Crataegus species. Hawthorn, which is commonly used as a traditional Chinese medicine, is one of the most popular sour fruits and has high economic value. Crataegus pinnatifida var. pinnatifida and C. pinnatifida var. major are frequently adulterated with other Crataegus species on the herbal medicine market. However, most Crataegus plants are difficult to identify using traditional morphological methods. Here, we compared five Crataegus chloroplast (CP) genomes comprising two newly sequenced (i.e., C. pinnatifida var. pinnatifida and C. pinnatifida var. major) and three previously published CP genomes. The CP genomes of the five Crataegus species had a conserved genome structure, gene content and codon usage. The total length of the CP genomes was 159,654-159,865 bp. A total of 129-130 genes, including 84-85 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes and 8 rRNA genes, were annotated. Bioinformatics analysis revealed 96-103 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and 48-70 long repeats in the five CP genomes. Combining the results of mVISTA and nucleotide diversity, five highly variable regions were screened for species identification and relationship studies. Maximum likelihood trees were constructed on the basis of complete CP genome sequences and highly variable regions. The results showed that the former had higher discriminatory power for Crataegus species, indicating that the complete CP genome could be used as a super-barcode to accurately authenticate the five Crataegus species.

There is increased interest in using virtual reality in education, but it often remains an isolated experience that is difficult to integrate into current instructional experiences. In this work, we adapt virtual production techniques from filmmaking to enable mixed reality capture of instructors so that they appear to be standing directly in the virtual scene. We also capitalize on the growing popularity of live streaming software for video conferencing and live production. With XRStudio, we develop a pipeline for giving lectures in VR, enabling live compositing using a variety of presets and real-time output to traditional video and more immersive formats. We present interviews with media designers experienced in film and MOOC production that informed our design. Through walkthrough demonstrations of XRStudio with instructors experienced with VR, we learn how it could be used in a variety of domains. In end-to-end evaluations with students, we analyze and compare differences of traditional video vs. more immersive lectures with XRStudio.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most common liver disorder in both China and worldwide. It ranges from simple steatosis and progresses over time to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), advanced liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, or hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC). Furthermore, NAFLD and its complications impose a huge health burden to society. The microbiota is widely connected and plays an active role in human physiology and pathology, and it is a hidden 'organ' in determining the state of the host, in terms of homeostasis, or disease. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are members of the nuclear receptorsuperfamily and can regulate multiple pathways involved in metabolism, and serve as effective targets forthe treatment of many types of metabolic syndromes, including NAFLD. The purpose of this review is to integrate related articles on gut microbiota, PPARs and NAFLD, and present a balanced overview on how the microbiota can possibly influence the development of NAFLD through PPARs.

The East Asian monsoon system is an important part of global atmospheric circulation, however, records of the East Asian monsoon from different regions exhibit different evolutionary rhythms. Here, we show a high-resolution record of grain size and pollen data from a lacustrine sediment core of Dajiuhu Lake in Shennongjia, Hubei Province, China, in order to reconstruct the paleovegetation and paleoeclimate evolution of the Dajiuhu Basin since the late Middle Pleistocene (~237.9 ka to the present). The results show that grain size and pollen record of the core DJH-2 are consistent with the δ18O record of stalagmites from Sanbao Cave in the same area, which is closely related to the changes of insolation at the precessional (~20-kyr) scale in the Northern Hemisphere. This is different from the records of the Asian summer monsoon recorded in the Loess Plateau of North China, which exhibited dominant 100-kyr change cyclicities. We suggest that the difference between paleoclimatic records from North and South China is closely related to the east–west-oriented mountain ranges of the Qinling Mountains in central China that blocked weakened East Asia summer monsoons across the mountains during glacial periods.

Objective. The aim of this study is to confirm the hepatocellular protective functions of apigenin and the molecular mechanism on liver fibrosis in mice. Methods. Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) and bile duct ligature (BDL) mouse fibrosis models were used to investigate the effects of apigenin on liver fibrosis. Sixty-six male C57 mice were randomly divided into eight groups, including the vehicle group, CCl4 group, CCl4+L-apigenin (20 mg/kg) group, CCl4+H-apigenin (40 mg/kg) group, sham group, BDL group, BDL+L-apigenin(20 mg/kg) group, and BDL+H-apigenin(40 mg/kg) group. Serum liver enzymes (ALT and AST), proteins associated with autophagy, and indicators linked with the TGF-β1/Smad3 and p38/PPARα pathways were detected using qRT-PCR, immunohistochemical staining, and western blotting. Results. Our findings confirmed that apigenin could decrease the levels of ALT and AST, suppress the generation of ECM, inhibit the activation of HSCs, regulate the balance of MMP2 and TIMP1, reduce the expression of autophagy-linked protein, and restrain the TGF-β1/Smad3 and p38/PPARα pathways. Conclusion. Apigenin could alleviate liver fibrosis by inhibiting hepatic stellate cell activation and autophagy via TGF-β1/Smad3 and p38/PPARα pathways.

Multilingual Neural Machine Translation (MNMT) has aroused widespread interest due to its efficiency. An exciting advantage of MNMT models is that they could also translate between unsupervised (zero-shot) language directions. Language tag (LT) strategies are often adopted to indicate the translation directions in MNMT. In this paper, we demonstrate that the LTs are not only indicators for translation directions but also crucial to zero-shot translation qualities. Unfortunately, previous work tends to ignore the importance of LT strategies. We demonstrate that a proper LT strategy could enhance the consistency of semantic representations and alleviate the off-target issue in zero-shot directions. Experimental results show that by ignoring the source language tag (SLT) and adding the target language tag (TLT) to the encoder, the zero-shot translations could achieve a +8 BLEU score difference over other LT strategies in IWSLT17, Europarl, TED talks translation tasks., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, Accepted by the Findings of ACL2021

The design and fabrication of preforms for advanced composites have gained considerable attention in light of recently developed textile preforming techniques. It is within this realm of preforming technology that a full advantage of the knowledge to a process-structure-property relationship of three-dimensional (3D) braided composites may be realized. The fabrication history of these preforms directly determines composite microstructures and resulting mechanical properties. This chapter mainly reports the history of development, architecture, and processing techniques of 3D four-step braiding preforms and composite materials. The modeling strategy of three repeat unit cells (inner, surface, and corner repeat unit cell (RUC)) representing the entire braiding structure is presented along with corresponding structure characterization and mechanical properties of RUCs. Finally, the static, dynamic, and fatigue behaviors of 3D four-step composites under three-point bending, impact loading, and cyclic loading are reported.

Multilingual neural machine translation aims at learning a single translation model for multiple languages. These jointly trained models often suffer from performance degradation on rich-resource language pairs. We attribute this degeneration to parameter interference. In this paper, we propose LaSS to jointly train a single unified multilingual MT model. LaSS learns Language Specific Sub-network (LaSS) for each language pair to counter parameter interference. Comprehensive experiments on IWSLT and WMT datasets with various Transformer architectures show that LaSS obtains gains on 36 language pairs by up to 1.2 BLEU. Besides, LaSS shows its strong generalization performance at easy extension to new language pairs and zero-shot translation.LaSS boosts zero-shot translation with an average of 8.3 BLEU on 30 language pairs. Codes and trained models are available at https://github.com/NLP-Playground/LaSS., Comment: ACL2021

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary liver malignancy and is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally, with few effective therapeutic options. Bile acids (BAs) are synthesized from cholesterol in the liver and can be modulated by farnesoid X receptor (FXR) and G-protein coupled BA receptor 1 (GPBAR1/TGR5). Alterations in BAs can affect hepatic metabolic homeostasis and contribute to the pathogenesis of liver cancer. Increasing evidence points to the key role of bacterial microbiota in the promotion and development of liver cancer. They are also involved in the regulation of BA synthesis and metabolism. The purpose of this review is to integrate related articles involving gut microbiota, BAs and HCC, and review how the gut microbiota-BA signaling axis can possibly influence the development of HCC.

Temporal information is crucial for recommendation problems because user preferences are naturally dynamic in the real world. Recent advances in deep learning, especially the discovery of various attention mechanisms and newer architectures in addition to widely used RNN and CNN in natural language processing, have allowed for better use of the temporal ordering of items that each user has engaged with. In particular, the SASRec model, inspired by the popular Transformer model in natural languages processing, has achieved state-of-the-art results. However, SASRec, just like the original Transformer model, is inherently an un-personalized model and does not include personalized user embeddings. To overcome this limitation, we propose a Personalized Transformer (SSE-PT) model, outperforming SASRec by almost 5% in terms of NDCG@10 on 5 real-world datasets. Furthermore, after examining some random users’ engagement history, we find our model not only more interpretable but also able to focus on recent engagement patterns for each user. Moreover, our SSE-PT model with a slight modification, which we call SSE-PT++, can handle extremely long sequences and outperform SASRec in ranking results with comparable training speed, striking a balance between performance and speed requirements. Our novel application of the Stochastic Shared Embeddings (SSE) regularization is essential to the success of personalization. Code and data are open-sourced at https://github.com/wuliwei9278/SSE-PT.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors in the world. HCC incidence rate is sixth and mortality is fourth worldwide. However, HCC pathogenesis and molecular mechanisms remain unclear. The incidence of HCC is associated with genetic, environmental, and metabolic factors. The role of gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of HCC has attracted researchers’ attention because of anatomical and functional interactions between liver and intestine. Studies have demonstrated the involvement of gut microbiota in the development of HCC and chronic liver diseases, such as alcoholic liver disease (ALD), nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and liver cirrhosis. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are a group of receptors with diverse biological functions. Natural and synthetic PPAR agonists show potential for treatment of NAFLD, liver fibrosis, and HCC. Recent studies have demonstrated that PPARs take part in gut microbiota inhabitation and adaptation. This manuscript reviews the role of gut microbiota in the development of HCC and precancerous diseases, the role of PPARs in modulation of gut microbiota and HCC, and potential of gut microbiota for HCC diagnosis and treatment.

Three-dimensional braided composite has a unique spatial network structure that exhibits the characteristics of high delamination resistance, damage tolerance, and shear strength. Considering the characteristics of braided structures, two types of high-performance materials, namely, aramid and carbon fibers, were used as reinforcements to prepare braided composites with different hybrid structures. In this study, the longitudinal and transverse shear properties of 3D braided hybrid composites were tested to investigate the influences of hybrid and structural effects. The damage characteristics of 3D braided hybrid composites under short beam shear loading underwent comprehensive morphological analysis via optical microscopy, water-logging ultrasonic scanning, and X-ray micro-computed tomography methods. It is shown that the shear toughness of hybrid braided composite has been improved at certain degrees compared with the pure carbon fiber composite under both transverse and longitudinal directions. The hybrid braided composites with aramid fiber as axial yarn and carbon fiber as braiding yarn exhibited the best shear toughness under transverse shear loading. Meanwhile, the composites with carbon fiber as axial yarn and aramid fiber as braiding yarn demonstrated the best shear toughness in the longitudinal direction. Due to the different distribution of axial and braiding yarns, the transverse shear property of hybrid braided structure excels over the longitudinal shear property. The failure modes of the hybrid braided composite under the two loading directions are considerably different. Under transverse loading, the primary failure mode of the composites is yarn fracture. Under longitudinal loading, the primary failure modes are resin fracture and fiber slip. The extensive interfacial effects and the good deformation capability of the hybrid braided composites can effectively prevent the longitudinal development of internal cracks in the pattern, improving the shear properties of braided composites.

Syntax errors combined with obscure error messages generated by compilers usually annoy programmers and cause them to waste a lot of time on locating errors. The existing models do not utilize the structure in the code and just treat the code as token sequences. It causes low accuracy and poor performance on this task. In this paper, we propose a novel deep supervised learning model, called Graph-based Grammar Fix(GGF), to help programmers locate and fix the syntax errors. GGF treats the code as a mixture of the token sequences and graphs. The graphs build upon the Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) structure information. GGF encodes an erroneous code with its sub-AST structure, predicts the error position using pointer network and generates the right token. We utilized the DeepFix dataset which contains 46500 correct C programs and 6975 programs with errors written by students taking an introductory programming course. GGF is trained with the correct programs from the DeepFix dataset with intentionally injected syntax errors. After training, GGF could fix 4054 (58.12%) of the erroneous code, while the existing state of the art tool DeepFix fixes 1365 (19.57%) of the erroneous code.

Background and purpose Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is considered to be one of the most common chronic liver diseases across worldwide. Astaxanthin (Ax) is a carotenoid, and beneficial effects of astaxanthin, including anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumour activity, have been identified. The present study aimed to elucidate the protective effect of astaxanthin against NAFLD and its underlying mechanism. Experimental approach Mice were fed either a high fat or chow diet, with or without astaxanthin, for up to 12 weeks. L02 cells were treated with free fatty acids combined with different doses of astaxanthin for 48 h. Histopathology, expression of lipid metabolism, inflammation, apoptosis, and fibrosis-related gene expression were assessed. And the function of mitochondria was also evaluated. Key results The results indicated that astaxanthin attenuated HFD- and FFA-induced lipid accumulation and its associated oxidative stress, cell apoptosis, inflammation, and fibrosis both in vivo and in vitro. Astaxanthin up-regulated FGF21 and PGC-1α expression in damaged hepatocytes, which suggested an unrecognized mechanism of astaxanthin on ameliorating NAFLD. Conclusion and implications Astaxanthin attenuated hepatocyte damage and mitochondrial dysfunction in NAFLD by up-regulating FGF21/PGC-1α pathway. Our results suggest that astaxanthin may become a promising drug to treat or relieve NAFLD.

Background Postoperative prognosis of stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) undergoing lymph node dissection is heterogeneous. Therefore, we sought to construct a novel survival prediction model for stage I NSCLC undergoing lymph node dissection. Method: Based on the data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program, we successfully determined and incorporated independent prognostic markers to construct the nomogram. The constructed nomogram was further subjected to external validation with an independent cohort of patients. The performance of the survival prediction model was assessed by concordance index, calibration plots, and risk subgroup classification. Results A total of 23394 patients from SEER registries (training cohort), as well as 7016 patients (verification cohort) was included. Age, gender, race, histology, differentiation grade, stage, and lymph node dissection mode were identified as significant prognostic parameters. A novel nomogram was developed and externally validated. The model displayed good discrimination with a C-index of 0.666 (95% CI, 0.652 to 0.681) and good calibration. Calibration plots demonstrated an optimal consistency between the nomogram predicted and actual observed probability of survival. Conclusion This novel nomogram incorporating the age, gender, race, histology, differentiation grade, stage, and lymph node dissection mode could be conveniently used to facilitate the individual prognosis prediction in stage I NSCLC patients.

Cell cryopreservation plays a key role in the development of reproducible and cost-effective cell-based therapies. Trehalose accumulated in freezing- and desiccation-tolerant organisms in nature has been sought as an attractive nontoxic cryoprotectant. Herein, we report a coincubation method for very rapid and efficient delivery of membrane-impermeable trehalose into ovine erythrocytes through reversible membrane permeabilization using pH-responsive, comb-like pseudopeptides. The pseudopeptidic polymers containing relatively long alkyl side chains were synthesized to mimic membrane-anchoring fusogenic proteins. The intracellular trehalose delivery efficiency was optimized by manipulating the side chain length, degree of substitution, and concentration of the pseudopeptides with different hydrophobic alkyl side chains, the pH, temperature, and time of incubation, as well as the polymer-to-cell ratio and the concentration of extracellular trehalose. Treatment of erythrocytes with the comb-like pseudopeptides for only 15 min yielded an intracellular trehalose concentration of 177.9 ± 8.6 mM, which resulted in 90.3 ± 0.7% survival after freeze-thaw. The very rapid and efficient delivery was found to be attributed to the reversible, pronounced membrane curvature change as a result of strong membrane insertion of the comb-like pseudopeptides. The pseudopeptides can enable efficient intracellular delivery of not only trehalose for improved cell cryopreservation but also other membrane-impermeable cargos.

To characterize the interfacial microstructure and interaction at a nanoscale has a significant meaning for the interface improvement of the nanocomposites. In this study, the interfacial microstructure and features of aligned multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWNT) and conjugated polymer polyimide (PI) with three molecular structures were investigated using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), wide-angle x-ray diffraction (WAXD), and fluorescence emission spectroscopy. It was found that aligned MWNT/PI nanocomposites had a nonideal two-phase system with the interfaces belonging to long period stacking ordered structure. Attributed to the &pi, &ndash, &pi, stacking effect, MWNT/BTDA-MPD presented the most regular arrangement verified by fractal dimension. By adopting a one-dimension correlation function, each phase dimension in aligned MWNT/PI nanocomposites was calculated and verified by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The &pi, stacking was demonstrated to be an important interaction between MWNT and PI via WAXD and fluorescence emission spectroscopy, and it was influenced by the linkage bond between benzene rings in PIs. This work is of significance to reveal the interfacial features between conjugated polymer and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which is favorable for the interface design of CNT-based high performance nanocomposites.

Millions of tonnes of plastics have been released into the environment. Although the risk of plastics to humans is not yet resolved, microplastics, in the range of 1 μm - 5 mm, have entered our bodies, originating either from ingestion via the food chain or from inhalation of air. Generally there are two sources of microplastics, either directly from industry, such as cosmetic exfoliants, or indirectly from physical, chemical and biological fragmentation of large (>5 mm) plastic residues. We have found that microplastics can be generated by simple tasks in our daily lives such as by scissoring with scissors, tearing with hands, cutting with knives or twisting manually, to open plastics containers/bags/tapes/caps. These processes can generate about 0.46–250 microplastic/cm. This amount is dependent on the conditions such as stiffness, thickness, anisotropy, the density of plastic materials and the size of microplastics.This finding sends an important warning, that we must be careful when opening plastic packaging, if we are concerned about microplastics and care about reducing microplastics contamination.

We have measured the concentrations of toxic elements (Cd, Pb, As, and Hg) in 29 samples from agricultural soils in an iron ore mining area in the northern piedmont of Mount Wutai in Shanxi Province, China. The aim was to evaluate the potential health risks to local inhabitants based on the health risk assessment model derived from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The results show that the concentrations of the four heavy metals exceed their background values, especially in the case of Hg. The pollution level of the four heavy metals can be ordered as follows: Hg &gt, Cd &gt, Pb &gt, As. The spatial distribution of the concentrations of the four heavy metals was uneven: pollution levels were lowest in the basin of the E River, and centered on the E River there was an increasing trend towards the Yukou River in the west and the Yangyan River in the east. In terms of the degree of pollution, this trend can be summarized as: Qingyang River &gt, Yangyan River &gt, Yukou River &gt, E River. The main form of ingestion of the metals was via mouth and nose, and the risk to children is higher than for adults. Iron ore mining was the main cause of the increased concentrations of As and Cd, which represent a cancer risk for humans.