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Background Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) is the most common inflammatory factor that mediates the activation and apoptosis of macrophages. Cyclophilin A (CyPA) is expressed following oxidative stress, hypoxia, and infection. However, the role of CyPA in the activation and apoptosis of macrophages is unclear. The aims of the study were to determine whether CyPA mediates the ox-LDL-induced activation and apoptosis in RAW264.7 cells and to analyze potential mechanisms. Methods and results Through Western blot and ELISA test, the expression of CyPA induced by ox-LDL is time-dependent in RAW264.7 cells. Gene silencing of CyPA reduced the generation of lipid droplets in the cytoplasm and downregulated the expression of the surface markers of macrophage activation, namely, CD80, CD86, and major histocompatibility complex class 2 antigen. Cell apoptosis is significantly decreased and the level of anti-apoptosis protein bcl-2 is increased in CyPA silent cells compared with the control group. Finally, autophagy-related protein LC3-II/LC3-I ratio level significantly decreased in CyPA silent cells with less autophagosome formation while the blocked autophagy flux was recovered. The differences in the activation and apoptosis between CyPA silent cells and the control cells were inhibited by pre-treatment with class III PI 3-kinase inhibitor 3-MA. Conclusions These results indicate that CyPA mediates the ox-LDL-induced activation and apoptosis in RAW264.7 cells by regulating autophagy.

Brittleness is a key controlling parameter for rock engineering projects such as hydrocarbon production and other applications. In this paper, commonly used methods based on stress–strain curves of Class I for the calculation of rock brittleness are reviewed. In order to describe the rock brittleness more reasonable, the new index B i was proposed based on the stress drop rate obtained from post-peak stress–strain curve and the ratio of elastic energy released during failure to the total energy stored before the peak strength. Then the validity of B i is verified with experimental tests conducted on rock specimens drilled from the interlayer and oil layer through a well of Shengli Oilfield. Moreover, numerical simulation is performed to analyze the effects of primary mechanical parameters on the brittleness of rock masses. Based on experimental tests and numerical simulation results, the acoustic emission modes influenced by brittleness index B i are summarized. At last, correlation between acoustic emission mechanism and index B i is verified by comparing the acoustic emission modes of limestone under different levels of confining pressure and various types of coal.

A new organogelator, L-phenylalanine dihydrazide derivative (BOC-Phe-HdHz) has been designed, synthesized and characterized. In addition, the gelling behaviors of BOC-Phe-HdHz were studied. The organogelator has been shown to be capable of forming stable thermoreversible organogels in various organic solvents at extremely low concentrations (

Stand-off laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (ST-LIBS) has attracted increasing attention as a valuable method for the remote analysis of materials. In this work, a multi-collector (MC) system combining low cost small lenses imitating the structure and shape of an artificial optical compound eye (AOCE) is presented to enhance the spectral intensity of ST-LIBS. The volume of the MC system is one eighteenth smaller than that of a telescope system and the number of collectors can be flexibly changed according to the requirements. The mechanisms of spectral enhancement are also discussed. In order to illustrate the performance of the MC system, the spectral intensities and the limits of detection (LoDs) of Mn and Cr elements acquired by the telescope system and the MC system were compared at a distance of 2 meters. The results showed that the spectral intensity acquired from the MC system was enhanced by 2.2 times, and the LoDs of Mn and Cr were decreased to 294 μg g−1 and 49 μg g−1. These results indicate that the MC system has great potential in providing a portable, flexible and effective collection method for remote detection.

Smart dressings, which show obvious advantage and potential in wound treatment and real-time monitoring, attract widespread attention in recent years. Real-time and dynamic acquiring wound information is vital to the treatment and prognosis of wound. Further research on smart dressings is helpful for wound management, personalized treatment, and realization of medical application translation of health monitoring technology. In the article, we categorize smart dressings and conclude their functions according to the type of micro-environment information of wound gathered by smart dressings.智能传感敷料因在创面治疗和实时监护方面展现出的明显优势及发展潜力，近些年受到广泛关注。实时、动态获取创面相关信息对创面的治疗及预后的评估至关重要。对智能传感敷料的进一步研究将有助于创面管理与个体化治疗，并实现健康监测技术的医学应用转化。本文根据智能传感敷料采集创面微环境信息的类别对智能传感敷料分类并对其功能进行综述。.

Melanoma is regarded as one common malignancy in skin cancers, and there is growing evidence that microRNAs (miRNAs) play a vital role in the oncogenesis of tumors. This study aimed to investigate the roles and mechanism of miR-22 in melanoma.Quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) was utilized to detect the expressions of miR-22 and mRNA. The functions of miR-22 in melanoma cell proliferation, migration and invasion were investigated with functional assays, including MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) and transwell assay. Western blots were utilized to examine the protein expressions. Luciferase reporter analysis was conducted to confirm the interactions between formin-like 2 (FMNL2) and miR-22 in melanoma cells. FMNL2 expression levels in melanoma tissues were investigated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) assays.The qRT-PCR analysis demonstrated significant decreased miR-22 expressions in melanoma tissues. Decreased miR-22 in melanoma tissues were correlated with adverse clinicopathologic features and poor prognosis. Functional assays indicated that upregulation inhibited melanoma cell proliferation, invasion and migration capacities. Luciferase reporter assays showed that FMNL2 was targeted by miR-22 in melanoma cells. Western blots indicated that miR-22 exerted anti-tumor functions by regulating the Wnt/β-catenin and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT).Our findings showed that miR-22 served as a tumor suppressor in melanoma progression, implying that miR-22 may function as a novel therapeutic target and prognostic biomarker for melanoma treatments.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the most important complications of diabetes (DM) and the leading cause of blindness in adults. Bradykinin (BK) is involved in several pathophysiological processes, such as inflammation, pain, cell proliferation, and tumors. It plays a crucial role in corneal epithelial cells, corneal stromal cells, and fibroblasts. However, the role of BK in DR retinal endothelial injury remains unclear.Human retinal microvascular endothelial cells (hRECs) were cultured in vitro and randomly divided into 3 groups, control group in which hRECs were cultured in normal glucose concentration, high glucose group in which hRECs were cultured in the presence of high glucose, and BK group in which hRECs were cultured in the presence of high glucose with 1 μM BK. The MTT assay (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) was used to detect cell proliferation. Caspase-3 activity was adopted to detect Caspase-3 activity in hRECs. The colorimetric method was selected to determine lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and ROS content. Western blot was used to test HMGB-1/NF-κB and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression changes. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to detect the secretion of inflammatory factor tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β).In the presence of high glucose, hRECs cells proliferation was significantly reduced, Caspase-3 activity was enhanced, LDH and ROS levels were increased, SOD activity was declined with increased expression of HMGB-1, NF-κB, VEGF, as well as secretion of TNF-α and IL-1β compared with control group (p0.05). BK significantly inhibited the proliferation of hRECs cells, enhanced Caspase-3 activity, decreased the content of LDH and ROS, increased SOD activity, reduced the expressions of HMGB-1 and NF-κB protein, attenuated the expression of VEGF, and restrained the secretion of TNF-α and IL-1β compared with high glucose group (p0.05).BK can inhibit the growth and proliferation of retinal endothelial cells by regulating HMGB-1/NF-κB signaling pathway, attenuating oxidative stress and inflammation, thereby delaying DR development and progress.

Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) has two subtypes, i.e., mTORC1 and mTORC2, which contain the Raptor and Rictor core molecules, respectively. The effect of Raptor and Rictor on hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-1α, HIF-2α, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in colorectal cancer (CRC) is unclear. In this work, we investigated the correlations among Raptor, Rictor, HIF-1α, HIF-2α, and VEGF expression in CRC. We subsequently analyzed the clinicopathological features of patients. Immunohistochemistry, western blot, and RT-PCR analyses were performed to detect the expression of Raptor, Rictor, HIF-1α, HIF-2α, and VEGF in 120 cases of CRC and 60 cases of normal colorectal mucosa. CD34 was used to label microvascular density (MVD), which was found to be higher in patients with positive Raptor or Rictor than in those with negative Raptor or Rictor. The positive rates of Raptor, Rictor, HIF-1α, HIF-2α, and VEGF in CRC were significantly higher than in normal colorectal mucosa. Raptor expression was positively correlated with HIF-1α and VEGF but not with HIF-2α expression. By contrast, Rictor expression was positively correlated with HIF-2α and VEGF but not with HIF-1α expression. Survival analysis further indicated that Raptor, Rictor, HIF-1α, HIF-2α, VEGF and lymph node metastasis were independent prognostic factors in CRC. To conclude, Raptor and Rictor expression was related to the initiation and development of CRC and angiogenesis in different ways. The combined detection of Raptor and Rictor is important for patients with colorectal carcinoma in prognosis and optimal therapy.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the hemodynamic changes in standing-up test of children and adolescents with postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and to compare hemodynamic parameters of POTS patients with decreased cardiac index (CI) and those with not-decreased CI. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted to show the trends of CI, total peripheral vascular resistance index (TPVRI), heart rate and blood pressure in standing-up test of 26 POTS patients and 12 healthy controls, and to compare them between the two groups. The POTS patients were divided into two groups based on CI decreasing or not in standing-up test, namely decreased CI group (14 cases) and not-decreased CI group (12 cases). The trends of the above mentioned hemodynamic parameters in standing-up test were observed and compared between decreased CI group and not-decreased CI group. RESULTS: In standing-up test for all the POTS patients, CI (F=6.936, P=0.001) and systolic blood pressure (F=6.049, P 0.05). Among the POTS patients, CI was significantly different between decreased CI group and not-decreased CI group (F=14.723, P 0.05). Age was an independent factor for decreased CI patients (P=0.013, OR=2.233; 95% CI, 1.183 to 4.216). CONCLUSION: POTS patients experience vital hemodynamic changes in standing-up test, part of them suffering from decreased CI, but others from not-decreased CI. Age is an independent factor for patients suffering from decreased CI.

In recent years, several circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been identified to play important roles in human cancers. However, the exact effects and molecular mechanisms of circRNAs in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) progression are still unknown. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of circular hsa_circ_000984 on NSCLC.Quantitative real-time PCR was performed to detect the expression levels of hsa_circ_000984 in NSCLC tissues and cell lines. The associations between the expression of hsa_circ_000984 and clinicopathological parameters and patients' survival were analyzed. The cell growth was detected by CCK-8 assay and colony formation assay. Cell migration and invasion assays were used to study the changes in cell migration and invasion capacity. Western blot was performed to analyze the possible relationship between hsa_circ_000984 and the genes downstream of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway.We found that hsa_circ_000984 was highly expressed in NSCLC tissues and cell lines and correlated with advanced TNM stage and lymph nodes metastasis. The clinical assays indicated that patients with high hsa_circ_000984 expression had shorter overall survival and disease-free survival. The functional investigations showed that the knockdown of hsa_circ_000984 suppressed NSCLC cells proliferation, migration, invasion, and EMT. Moreover, hsa_circ_000984 displayed its oncogenic roles by modulating the activation of Wnt/β-catenin pathway, which was demonstrated by measuring the expression levels of, β-catenin, c-myc, and cyclin D1.Our findings may facilitate a better understanding of hsa_circ_000984, and it might be a potential prognostic biomarker and treatment target for NSCLC patients.

Non-coding RNAs, especially miRNAs, have been shown to be important regulators in multiple human diseases, including malignant tumors, congenital disease, and autoimmune disease. In this study, we screened the metastasis-associated miRNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Based on the miRNA microarray screening, miR-1203 was confirmed to be the most significant miRNA and was also highly associated with HCC metastases. Bioinformatics prediction indicated direct binding of miR-1203 in SOCS3, which was also confirmed by a dual luciferase reporter assay, resulting in suppression of SOCS3. Increased miR-1203 also promoted invasion of HCC cells through suppressing SOCS3, while no effect on cell proliferation or apoptosis was detected. Circulating expression of miR-1203 and SOCS3 might serve as a predictor of metastases and poor prognosis in HCC patients. In conclusion, miR-1203 might promote HCC metastasis by decreasing SOCS3. MiR-1203 predicts a poor outcome in HCC patients and thus might serve as a potential therapeutic target for the prevention of HCC.

Tumour necrosis factor-stimulated gene 6 (TSG6) is a protective inflammatory reaction gene which is upregulated by inflammatory processes. Recent studies suggest that TSG-6 exhibits anti-scarring effects. However, the mechanism of TSG-6 action in the scar formation remains poorly understood. We investigated whether TSG-6 affects growth of the human hypertrophic scar fibroblasts (HSFs) via Fas/FasL signalling pathway. Cultured HSFs were transfected with a vector carrying the TSG6 gene (pLVX-Puro-TSG-6) or with a vector not containing the TSG6 gene (pLVX-Puro). Untransfected HSFs served as a control group to both transfected HSFs. The expressions level of TSG-6 was up-regulated in the pLVX-Puro-TSG-6 group at the protein and mRNA level. MTT and flow cytometry were used to assess the effect of TSG-6 on the growth and apoptotic status of HSFs. Finally, qRT-PCR and western blot were used to measure the expression levels of Fas, FasL, FADD, caspase-3 and caspase-8 in each group. The apoptosis rate was significantly enhanced and the growth rate reduced in the HSFs transfected with the TSG6 gene vector. The expression levels of Fas, FasL, FADD, caspase-3 and caspase- 8 were significantly raised in the TSG-6 overexpressing HSFs. It is concluded that increased expression of TSG-6 may induce apoptosis of human hypertrophic scar fibroblasts via activation of the Fas/FasL signalling pathway.

近期由于多项新的临床研究结果发表，阿司匹林在心血管疾病一级预防中的地位再次引起争议。本文根据最新国际阿司匹林一级预防研究的荟萃分析，强调在具有多重危险因素，10年心血管疾病风险≥10%，并且能有效预防出血副作用的人群，阿司匹林一级预防的总获益大于风险。.

Previous studies have confirmed that lncRNAs are involved in the progression of multiple tumors. However, the role of lncRNAs in renal cancer remains unclear. Our study focused on investigating the expression and function of LINC00982 in renal cancer progression.Quantitative Real time-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assay was used to detect the expression of LINC00982 in renal cancer tissues and cell lines. LINC00982 expression was upregulated by transfecting with lentivirus. Western blot assay was used to detect the alteration expression levels of the relative protein involved PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.Downregulated LINC00982 expression was significantly observed in cancer samples when compared with the adjacent specimens, and was related to tumor size and TNM stage. Upregulation of LINC00982 inhibited proliferation and promoted apoptosis of ACHN and A-498 cell lines. LINC00982 could regulate the activity of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.Upregulation of LINC00982 inhibits cell proliferation and promotes cell apoptosis by regulating the activity of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in renal cancer.

The $^{12}\mathrm{C}(\ensuremath{\alpha},\ensuremath{\gamma})^{16}\mathrm{O}$ reaction plays a key role in the evolution of stars with masses of $Mg0.55\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{M}_{\ensuremath{\bigodot}}$. The cross-section of the $^{12}\mathrm{C}(\ensuremath{\alpha},\ensuremath{\gamma})^{16}\mathrm{O}$ reaction within the Gamow window (${E}_{\text{c.m.}}=300\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{keV}, {T}_{9}=0.2$) is extremely small (about ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}17}$ barn), which makes the direct measurement in a ground-based laboratory with existing techniques unfeasible. Up until now, the cross-sections at lower energies can only be extrapolated from the data at higher energies. However, two subthreshold resonances, located at ${E}_{x}=7.117\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{MeV}$ and ${E}_{x}=6.917\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{MeV}$, make this extrapolation more complicated. In this work, the 6.917 MeV subthreshold resonance in the $^{12}\mathrm{C}(\ensuremath{\alpha},\ensuremath{\gamma})^{16}\mathrm{O}$ reaction was investigated via the $^{12}\mathrm{C}(^{11}\mathrm{B},^{7}\mathrm{Li})^{16}\mathrm{O}$ reaction. The experiment was performed using the Q3D magnetic spectrograph at the HI-13 tandem accelerator. We measured the angular distribution of the $^{12}\mathrm{C}(^{11}\mathrm{B},^{7}\mathrm{Li})^{16}\mathrm{O}$ transfer reaction leading to the 6.917 MeV state. Based on the finite-range distorted wave Born approximation (FRDWBA) and coupled-reaction-channel (CRC) analysis, we derived the asymptotic normalization coefficient (ANC) of the 6.917 MeV level in $^{16}\mathrm{O}$ to be ($1.10\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.29$) $\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{10}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{fm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$, with which the reduced $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ width was computed to be $18.0\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}4.7\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{keV}$ at the channel radius of 6.5 fm. Finally, we calculated the astrophysical ${S}_{E2}(300)$ factor of the ground-state transitions to be 46.2 $\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}$ 7.7 keV b. The result for the astrophysical ${S}_{E2}(300)$ factor confirms the values obtained in various direct and indirect measurements and presents an independent examination of the most important data in nuclear astrophysics.

Low initiation frequency is one of the main barriers in applying somatic embryogenesis to the clonal production of Pinus species. Factors affecting initiation, including basal medium, plant growth regulators, and Phytagel concentration, have been investigated in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.). BM1 basal medium proved superior to DCR1 and LP (LP basal salts plus BM1 organic nutrients). No extrusion from megagametophytes was exhibited on LP medium. The combination of 3 mg/l 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 0.5 mg/l 6-benzylaminopurine (BA) resulted in a higher extrusion frequency than that of 11 mg/l 2,4-D, 4.5 mg/l BA and 4.3 mg/l kinetin. Phytagel at 1 g/l resulted in the highest explant browning, but the lowest extrusion frequency, while 4 g/l Phytagel induced some dry embryogenic extrusions. Phytagel at 2 g/l was regarded as the best level for initiation of embryogenic cultures.

经支气管镜导航系统包括虚拟导航支气管镜和电磁导航支气管镜，这些导航工具能够引导支气管镜按照术前规划好的路径或者实时引导气管镜到达病灶部位，从而实施对周围型肺病变（PPL）的诊断或者治疗。本文旨在综述将导航系统应用于PPL治疗方面的可行性分析，如引导外科术前定位、光动力学疗法、射频消融术等，以期为PPL寻找一种简便精准的定位方法及为不能手术的周围型肺癌患者探索一种新的微创精准的治疗模式。.

Autoimmune epilepsy is an under-recognized condition, and the mechanisms of antibody-mediated epileptogenesis are unknown. The N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor subunit 3 peptide B (NR3B) modulates Mg2+ sensitivity and Ca2+ mobilization of glutamate responses in the central nervous system (CNS). The levels of antibodies against NR3B (NR3B Ab's) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and the correlations between NR3B Ab's and cognitive comorbidities of epilepsy patients remain unclear.CSF samples were collected from 36 patients with consecutive epilepsy and 17 healthy controls. The levels of NR3B Ab's in the CSF were measured by ELISA. The cognitive function was assessed by Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE).The results showed that the levels of NR3B Ab's were significantly higher in patients with epilepsy than those in the controls (p0.01). Thirteen of 36 patients had higher levels of NR3B Ab's exceeding mean+ 2SD of all patients, and the scores of MMSE and MoCA of these 13 patients were significantly lower than the other 23 patients and controls (p0.01; p0.001). However, there were no significant differences in the scores of MMSE and MoCA between the 23 patients and the controls. Correlation analysis indicated a significant negative correlation between the levels of NR3B Ab's and the scores of MMSE (correlation coefficient: r=-0.543; p0.01) or the scores of MoCA (correlation coefficient: r=-0.548; p0.01).We suggest that some patients with epilepsy may have immune process after onset and the presence of NR3B Ab's may be associated with cognitive comorbidities in patients with epilepsy.

大环内酯类抗生素较特殊的抗菌作用及抗菌外作用使其在难治性哮喘患者中有一定应用，低剂量、长疗程应用大环内酯类抗生素有可能改善难治性哮喘患者的呼吸功能、症状控制、临床结局及生活质量等，可能对不同临床亚型皆有作用，未发现严重药物不良反应，但不同试验效果差异较大，实际临床效应尚未确定。.

Temperature is one of the most important parameters in climate modeling, as it has significant impacts on various geophysical processes such as evaporation and precipitation. Applying multiple climate models for prediction generally outperforms the use of individual climate models, and neural networks perform well at capturing nonlinear relationships, which can provide more reliable temperature projections. In this study, three neural network algorithms, including Multi-layer Perceptron (MLP), Time-lagged Feed-forward Neural Networks (TLFN) and Nonlinear Auto-Regressive Networks with exogenous inputs (NARX), were used to develop data-driven models for predicting daily mean near-surface temperature based on North American Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (NA-CORDEX) output. A case study of Big Trout Lake in Ontario, Canada was carried out to demonstrate the applications and to evaluate the performance of the proposed neural network based models. The results showed that MLP, TLFN, and NARX performed well in generating accurate daily near-surface temperature predictions with the coefficient of determination (R2) values above 0.84. The three neural network based models had similar performance with no significant difference in terms of root mean square error and R2. Neural network based climate prediction models outperformed each of the individual regional climate models and generated smoother predictions with less fluctuation. This study provides a technical basis for generating reliable predictions of daily temperature using neural networks based model.

We perform analysis of the three-dimensional kinematics of Milky Way disk stars in mono-age populations. We focus on stars between Galactocentric distances of $R=6$ and 14 \,kpc, selected from the combined LAMOST DR4 red clump giant stars and Gaia DR2 proper motion catalogue. We confirm the 3D asymmetrical motions of recent works and provide time tagging of the Galactic outer disk asymmetrical motions near the anticenter direction out to Galactocentric distances of 14\,kpc. Radial Galactocentric motions reach values up to 10 km s$^{-1}$, depending on the age of the population, and present a north-south asymmetry in the region corresponding to density and velocity substructures that were sensitive to the perturbations in the early 6 \,Gyr. After that time, the disk stars in this asymmetrical structure have become kinematically hotter, and are thus not sensitive to perturbations, and we find the structure is a relatively younger population. With quantitative analysis, we find stars both above and below the plane at $R\gtrsim 9$ kpc that exhibit bending mode motions of which the sensitive duration is around 8 \,Gyr. We speculate that the in-plane asymmetries might not be mainly caused by a fast rotating bar, intrinsically elliptical outer disk, secular expansion of the disk, or streams. Spiral arm dynamics, out-of-equilibrium models, minor mergers or others are important contributors. Vertical motions might be dominated by bending and breathing modes induced by complicated inner or external perturbers. It is likely that many of these mechanisms are coupled together., Comment: 17 pages, 17 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Tectonic controls on near-surface CH4 and CO2 concentrations were investigated by measuring CH4 and CO2 concentrations at the surface and a height of 1.5 m, in the different tectonic units that comprise the northwestern margin of Ordos Block, China, which has a complex tectonic structure and a history of strong earthquakes. CH4 and CO2 concentrations varied from 1905 to 2472 ppb and 397.5 to 458.5 ppm, respectively. Surface CH4 and CO2 concentrations were generally higher than those measured at 1.5 m, but showed similar trends, indicating that the measured CH4 and CO2 predominantly originated from underground gases. The CH4 and CO2 concentrations increased with an increasing strike-slip rate across the faults, and concentrations in the blocks with high internal deformation were much higher than those measured in the stable blocks. Regions of extensional deformation had higher gas concentrations than regions that had experienced compressional deformation. The spatial distribution of CH4 and CO2 at the study site had similar trends to faults associated with the Yinchuan Graben. The results of this study indicated that gas source, gas migration pathway, and tectonic stress were the main factors that influenced gas emission. The key factor is tectonic stress, which controlled the formation of tectonic structures, changed the pathway of degassing, and acted as the driving force for gas migration. The results of this study clarify the mechanism of CH4 and CO2 degassing in faulted regions and suggest that CH4 and CO2 concentrations may be useful precursors in the monitoring of seismic activity. The results may also help inform future assessments of the contribution of geological sources to greenhouse gas emissions.

Recurrent spontaneous abortion is one of the common complications in women of childbearing age during pregnancy. The immune factor accounts for a large proportion of many causes. Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome is the most common type of acquired thrombophilia disease. Autoimmune diseases that cause thrombosis and obstetric complications under the action of antibodies are also the most common type of immune-related recurrent abortion. At present, there is no unified opinion on the treatment of this disease, especially the treatment of immunoglobulins and other drugs like glucocorticoid. Here we reviewed the progress of diagnosis and treatment of antiphospholipid antibody-related recurrent abortions and retrospectively analyzed and summarized the drug regimens and pregnancy outcomes of this disease with pregnancy patients in our hospital. A total of 75 patients were included. According to their clinical manifestations and laboratory results, these patients were basically divided into two categories: classical antiphospholipid syndrome and non-classical antiphospholipid syndrome. The latter was further divided into serum-negative antiphospholipid syndrome and antiphospholipid antibody-related recurrent abortion patients based on their clinical manifestations and antiphospholipid antibody results. The patients were divided into four categories: aspirin + hydroxychloroquine, aspirin + low molecular weight heparin, aspirin + low molecular weight heparin + hydroxychloroquine, aspirin + hydroxychloroquine + low molecular weight heparin + low dose glucocorticoids. Among them, aspirin + hydroxychloroquine + low molecular weight heparin + low dose glucocorticoid treatment regimen was most commonly used. Most of the patients who received the above different treatment regimens achieved full-term infants, and a small number of patients had adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as premature delivery, placental abruption, eclampsia, and fetal malformation. And adverse pregnancy outcomes also occurred in this group. It might be related to the severity of the disease and the potential adverse effects of maternal fetal. However, further statistical analysis is needed for the risk factors affecting the pregnancy outcome of this part of patients.

Lower extremity arteriosclerosis is one of leading causes of death worldwide. Arteriosclerosis is closely related to microvascular endothelial cells. This study was aimed to explore the role of long non-coding RNA ROR in regulations of growth, migration, and angiogenesis of microvascular endothelial cells.Angiogenesis was determined by the number of tube-like cells on a matrigel extracellular matrix. Cell viability, apoptosis, and migration were determined by CCK-8 assay, PI/FITC-Annexin V staining method, and transwell assay, respectively. Relative RNA expression of ROR, miR-26, and angiogenesis-associated genes were analyzed by qRT-PCR. The protein expression of apoptosis- and angiogenesis-associated genes, as well as main factors in NF-κB and JAK1/STAT3 pathways, were analyzed by Western blot.LncRNA ROR silence inhibited viability, migration, and angiogenesis of HMEC-1 cells but promoted apoptosis of them. miR-26 expression was promoted after knocking down ROR expression. miR-26 overexpression enhanced the inhibitory effects of ROR silence on growth, migration, and angiogenesis in HMEC-1 cells, whereas, miR-26 silence impaired the effects of ROR silence. Finally, we found that NF-κB and JAK1/STAT3 signaling pathways were inhibited by ROR down-regulation. Similarly, miR-26 overexpression enhanced the inhibitory effect of ROR down-regulation on the pathways and miR-26 inhibition abrogated it.Down-regulating lncRNA ROR inhibited growth, migration and angiogenesis of microvascular endothelial cells possibly through up-regulation of miR-26. During this process, the activations of NF-κB and JAK1/STAT3 pathways were inhibited after interaction of ROR and miR-26.

We present a versatile and cost-efficient objective with a five-lens configuration, which consists completely of commercial singlets. The home-built objective has a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.44 and a long working distance of 35.9 mm, making it suitable for ex vacuo utilization. A diffraction-limited resolution of 1.08 μm and a field of view of about 210 μm are achieved when a 780 nm light passes through a 5 mm thick vacuum window. Moreover, such a design can be well adapted to a broad range of laser wavelengths (560–1000 nm) and vacuum window thicknesses (0–6 mm) by simply modifying one lens spacing, while maintaining a NA of above 0.43. The characteristics of the objective are evaluated experimentally, which are in good agreement with the simulations. Also, the objective has been successfully used for single-atom trapping and detecting in experiments. We believe that it will find more applications in various cold atom experiments.

The effect of Nb element on the corrosion resistance of Fe-based metallic glasses in the alkaline environment has been investigated with various techniques like potentiodynamic polarization test, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and potentiostatic tests. With increasing the Nb content, the passivation stability of as spun Fe87-xB13Nbx (x = 0, 7 and 10) glassy ribbons increases and the thickness of their passive film decreases according to XPS analysis. In the potentiostatic test, the ribbons have a transition potential Etrans of −0.58, −0.47 and −0.38 VSCE with x = 0, 7 and 10 respectively, showing an increasing passivation stability with increasing x, which is more sensible than the potentiodynamic parameters like ipass and Epit. Meanwhile, Nb element has the ability to repair pitting holes. In potentiostatic test, the long constant potential treatment below Etrans may enhance the generation of ribbon’s passivation film, indicating that the potentiostatic test can tune the passivation behavior of metallic alloys.

In this letter, we report the discovery of an intriguing HVS (J1443+1453) candidate that is probably from the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal galaxy (Sgr dSph). The star is an old and very metal-poor low-mass main-sequence turn-off star (age $\sim14.0$ Gyr and [Fe/H] $= -2.23$ dex) and has a total velocity of $559.01^{+135.07}_{-87.40}$ km s$^{-1}$ in the Galactic rest-frame and a heliocentric distance of $2.90^{+0.72}_{-0.48}$ kpc. The velocity of J1443+1453 is larger than the escape speed at its position, suggesting it a promising HVS candidate. By reconstructing its trajectory in the Galactic potential, we find that the orbit of J1443+1453 intersects closely with that of the Sgr dSph $37.8^{+4.6}_{-6.0}$ Myr ago, when the latter has its latest pericentric passage through the Milky Way. The encounter occurs at a distance $2.42^{+1.80}_{-0.77}$ kpc from the centre of Sgr dSph, smaller than the size of the Sgr dSph. Chemical properties of this star are also consistent with those of one Sgr dSph associated globular cluster or of the Sgr stream member stars. Our finding suggests that J1443+1453 is an HVS either tidally stripped from the Sgr dSph or ejected from the Sgr dSph by the gravitational slingshot effect, requiring a (central) massive/intermediate-mass black hole or a (central) massive primordial black hole in the Sgr dSph., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in ApJL

To investigate the value of dual-energy spectral computed tomography (DESCT) for evaluating the histological subtypes of solid-dominant invasive lung adenocarcinoma (SILADC).Sixty-seven patients with SILADC were enrolled. All patients underwent DESCT and were divided into Group I (those with a lepidic/acinar/papillary predominant pattern) and Group II (those with a solid/micropapillary predominant pattern) based on their correlation with prognosis. Patient clinicopathological characteristics, DESCT morphological features, and quantitative parameters of the tumours were compared between both groups. Multiparametric analysis was performed using binary logistic regression with DESCT findings. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to assess the diagnostic performance of single-parameter and multiparametric analysis.Patient gender, lymph nodes status, pathological TNM stage, and histological differentiation significantly differed between the two groups (all p0.05). Moreover, significant differences were observed between both groups in DESCT morphological features including tumour size, necrosis, calcification, air bronchogram, and vascular convergence sign, and quantitative parameters including KDESCT was useful for differentiating histological subtypes with different prognosis of SILADC.

To meet the miniature requirement, a frequency modulated continuous wave synthetic aperture radar (FMCW SAR) puts tight constraint on the compactness, which causes the interference of narrow band noise. The aim of this study is to suppress the strong noise for an FMCW SAR. First, the quantitative analysis of the noise is performed. It is found that a strong spurious noise of the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is introduced from interferences and significantly affects the image quality; the other noise components are sufficiently small, thus having ignorable influences. Then, a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) based method of noise suppression is proposed to eliminate the ADC strong spurious noise, adopting an ADC and a field programmable gate array (FPGA). Finally, using the real Ku-band FMCW SAR data, the level of the noise components is measured and the effectiveness of the proposed noise suppression method is validated. The results show that the measured noise level coincides with the theoretical noise level, and the proposed noise suppression method effectively eliminates the ADC strong spurious noise.

A series of lanthanum/beta-zeolite catalysts was prepared via hydrothermal ion exchange, and characterized by inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and ammonia temperature-programmed desorption. The lanthanum-doping effect on beta-zeolite catalysts was investigated through catalytic cracking of supercritical methylcyclohexane under the system pressure of 4.0 MPa and the mass flow rate of 1.0 g/s. For lanthanum/beta catalyst of the Cat-2 type, the gas yield of 28.3% and heat sink of 3.35 MJ·kg−1 could be achieved at the temperature of 700°C, much higher than those for the pure beta zeolite without lanthanum modification and for the thermal pyrolysis. Correspondingly, Cat-2 has a better performance on coking inhibition with the reduction of 56.2 and 29.5% at 700°C compared to beta zeolite and thermal cracking. Therefore, it was indicated that beta zeolite with the suitable lanthanum content, still maintaining its high activity ...

This paper summarizes the test data obtained from an experimental investigation of nanoparticles and steel fiber-reinforced concrete. Tests were conducted to investigate the effect of prefabricated crack length on determining fracture parameters of concrete composite. The results reveal that most of the fracture parameters and the fracture relational curves of the concrete composite are influenced greatly by the prefabricated crack length of beam specimens, while the prefabricated crack length has little effect on the critical crack tip opening displacement. There is a tendency for effective crack length and the critical crack mouth opening displacement to increase with the increase in prefabricated crack length, while the initial fracture toughness, unstable fracture toughness and fracture energy gradually decrease. Besides, when the prefabricated crack length decreases from 50 to 20 mm, these relational curves become much larger, and the nonlinear stage of the curves become longer and longer, and the descent stage of the curves become flatter and flatter.

Based on two sets of TiAl powder, two kinds of porous TiAl were separately fabricated by powder metallurgical route including four stages. The porous TiAl with single pore structure (SPS) was prepared using pre-alloyed TiAl powder prior mechanical ball milling. Another porous TiAl with composite pore structure (CPS) was manufactured depending on composite mixture of Ti/Al elemental powders. The sintering was achieved at much lower temperature for the pre-alloyed power than for the elemental composite mixture. Compressive mechanical tests indicate that much higher mechanical strength can be obtained for SPS than for CPS at the same porosity. It was suggested that the difference of mechanical properties is ascribed to the variety of the compressive deformation process.

The covariance of covariance (CoC) matrix is formed from the auto/cross-correlation function of acceleration responses of a structure under white noise ambient excitation. The components are function of the modal parameters of the structure and contain more information on the vibration modes of the structure compared to the general existing methods for extracting the modal parameters. This paper makes use of the CoC matrix and a new pattern match criterion for long-term health monitoring, damage localization and quantification of a five-bay three-dimensional frame structure. A large amount of measured data from an in-service suspension bridge is also analyzed. Only the acceleration responses are required to compute the covariance of covariance matrix. The components of the matrix are analyzed and the effects of the traffic flow and environmental temperature are studied. Finally, a strategy to identify the abnormal state of the bridge is presented based on the properties of the CoC components of the bridge. The CoC matrix is shown suitable for analyzing huge amount of measured data for the output-only structural damage detection without need of an analytical model.

Actinidia kolomikta (Rupr. & Maxim.) Maxim. leaves showed dramatic colour changes during plant growth phases, and we studied structure and optical properties of variegated leaves. Leaf surface cells were smooth, and there were no surface appendages (wax or trichomes) observed in variegated leaves. Palisade tissue cells in white and pink leaves were looser and contained relatively fewer chloroplasts. White leaves contained many intercellular spaces between the epidermal and mesophyll cells or within the palisade cell layer. Variegated leaves had three distinct radiation reflection patterns: a bright white area, a spotted pattern, and a polygonal pattern. Reflectance at 450–1100 nm from the adaxial surface of white leaves was greater than that of green leaves, but anthocyanin accumulation in pink leaves decreased the reflectance at 500–600 nm. When variegated leaves turned green, the reflectance at 500–600 nm increased. On abaxial surfaces, the reflectance of variegated leaves was similar to green leaves at 450–700 nm. In conclusion, reflection patterns and the formation of variegated leaves of A. kolomikta were significantly correlated with the leaf anatomy. The white and pink colours of leaves were a result of an internal reflection between air spaces and cells in the leaves, chlorophyll deficiency in palisade tissue, and anthocyanin accumulation. Variegated leaves turned green when the chlorophyll content in palisade tissue increased.