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Our study aimed to compare the difference of LV mass regression and remodeling in regard of conduction disturbances (CD) following transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). A prospective analysis of 152 consecutive TAVR patients was performed. 53 patients (34.9%) had CD following TAVR, including 30 (19.7%) permanent pacemaker implantation and 23 (15.2%) new left bundle branch block. In 123 patients with 1-year follow-up, significant improvement of LV ejection fraction (LVEF) (baseline vs 12-month: 65.1±13.2 vs 68.7±9.1, P=0.017) and reduced LV end-systolic volume (LVESV) (39.8±25.8 vs 34.3±17.1, P=0.011) was found in non-CD group (N=85), but not in CD group (N=38). Both groups had significant decrease in LV mass index (baseline vs 12-month: 148.6±36.9 vs. 136.4±34.7 in CD group, p=0.023; 153.0±50.5 vs. 125.6±35.1 in non-CD group, p

With the recent advent of genetic engineering, numerous genetically modified (GM) crops have been developed, and field planting has been initiated. In open-environment cultivation, the cross-pollination (CP) of GM crops with wild relatives, conventional crops, and organic crops can occur. This exchange of genetic material results in the gene flow phenomenon. Consequently, studies of gene flow among GM crops have primarily focused on the extent of CP between the pollen source plot and the adjacent recipient field. In the present study, Black Pearl Waxy Corn (a variety of purple glutinous maize) was used to simulate a GM-maize pollen source. The pollen recipient was Tainan No. 23 Corn (a variety of white glutinous maize). The CP rate (%) was calculated according to the xenia effect on kernel color. We assessed the suitability of common empirical models of pollen-mediated gene flow (PMGF) for GM maize, and the field border (FB) effect of the model was considered for small-scale farming systems in Asia. Field-scale data were used to construct an optimal model for maize PMGF in the maize-producing areas of Chiayi County, southern Taiwan (R.O.C). Moreover, each model was verified through simulation and by using the 95% percentile bootstrap confidence interval length. According to the results, a model incorporating both the distance from the source and the FB can have optimal fitting and predictive abilities.

Dengue virus (DENV) infection is a significant public health threat in tropical and subtropical regions, however, there is no specific antiviral drug. Accumulated studies have revealed that DENV infection induces several cellular responses, including autophagy and apoptosis. The crosstalk between autophagy and apoptosis is associated with the interactions among components of these two pathways, such as apoptotic caspase-mediated cleavage of autophagy-related proteins. Here, we show that DENV-induced autophagy inhibits early cell apoptosis and hence enhances DENV replication. Later, the apoptotic activities are elevated to suppress autophagy through cleavage of Beclin-1, an essential autophagy-related protein. Inhibition of cleavage of Beclin-1 by a pan-caspase inhibitor, Z-VAD, increases both autophagy and viral replication. Regarding the mechanism, we further found that DENV nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) is able to interact with Beclin-1 during DENV infection. The interaction between Beclin-1 and NS1 attenuates Beclin-1 cleavage and facilitates autophagy to prevent cell apoptosis. Our study suggests a novel mechanism whereby NS1 preserves Beclin-1 for maintaining autophagy to antagonize early cell apoptosis, however, elevated caspases trigger apoptosis by degrading Beclin-1 in the late stage of infection. These findings suggest implications for anti-DENV drug design.

When genetically modified (GM) maize is planted in an open field, it may cross-pollinate with the nearby non-GM maize under certain airflow conditions. Suitable sampling methods are crucial for tracing adventitious GM content. By using field data and bootstrap simulation, we evaluated the performance of common sampling schemes to determine the adventitious GM content in small maize fields in Taiwan. A pollen dispersal model that considered the effect of field borders, which are common in Asian agricultural landscapes, was used to predict the cross-pollination (CP) rate. For the 2009���1 field data, the six-transect (Tsix), JM method for low expected flow (JM[L]), JM method for high expected flow (JM[H]), and V-shaped transect (TV) methods performed comparably to simple random sampling (SRS). Tsix, TV, JM(L), and JM(H) required only 13% or less of the sample size required by SRS. After the simulation and verification of the 2009���2 and 2010���1 field data, we concluded that Tsix, TV, JM(L), and systematic random sampling methods performed equally as well as SRS in CP rate predictions. Our findings can serve as a reference for monitoring the pollen dispersal tendencies of maize in countries with smallholder farming systems.

From the back-end data system point of view, the primary personal information protection mechanism is to block the direct accessing of sensitive data. The possibility that sensitive data may be indirectly inferenced by public information, have not been addressed. In United States, there are cases and discussions about "Mosaic theory". And responsibilities of data holders were legally stated. But no known researches were invested to create a responsible mechanism. This research explores the functional dependencies, and compute risky column sets based on them. We can then process users’ queries and initiate protection operation if risky data are involved.

The purpose of this study is to understand the key factors which result in the success of female direct selling businesses. Investigate the reasons why women support most of their performance in the direct selling industry. According to the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission's 2018 direct selling industry survey report, the total direct selling of Taiwan in 2018 was 83.027 billion NTD, with a total of 3.0838 million distributors. There were 2.158 million female distributors, accounting for 3.083 million total distributors. It is a proportion of 69.99 percentage points, an increase of 1.67 percentage points compared with 2017. This proportion is also comparable to 74% of global distributors is female, calculated by the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations(WDSFA)! The number of female distributors is more than twice that of men. The proportion is getting higher and higher! In the literature review, issues such as “female enterpriser” related literature and “gender roles” and “personality traits," “erotic capital” in the “direct selling industry” have been used as the main resource axis for collecting relevant domestic and foreign literature. Based on the literature summary and the expression of the expert's intention, the expert questionnaire will be based on the professors and the female distributors who have been in the top direct selling companies in Taiwan for more than two years in 2018 to find indicators of success factors, and then use the Analytic Hierarchy Process Method (AHP) Design a general questionnaire. The general questionnaire is for the distributors in Taiwan. Expected to recover 100 copies in the web questionnaire, After obtaining the resources, it will be processed and analyzed. The research results show that the influence facets and factors may have: Female Entrepreneur, Gender roles, Personality Traits, and direct selling business. In particular, the female gender role play and erotic capital may have a greater impact on the results of operating the direct selling business. The study includes the following topics are understanding the background of the female direct selling entrepreneurs, explain the challenges and difficulties of female direct selling entrepreneurs, relevant resources related to female direct selling entrepreneurs and research on the key success factors of female direct selling business.Today, female entrepreneurs are very hard and required to play multiple roles. Between family and business, how do female entrepreneurs make a good performance? I hoped that through this study, key factors could be identified in order to minimize entrepreneurial risks and allocate resources effectively.

Background Reablement is a philosophy of change in long-term care (LTC). Assessing the knowledge and competence of LTC professionals who provide reablement services is vital in LTC research. This study aimed to develop a scale for the assessment of long-term care reablement literacy (LTCRL) and employ this scale to assess the performance of home care workers in Taiwan. Methods To develop this scale, we employed the modified Delphi technique based on the theoretical framework of health literacy and the content of service delivery in reablement. Home care workers from northern, central, and southern Taiwan were selected through purposive sampling (N = 119). Participants answered a self-administered questionnaire that included items related to basic demographic characteristics and questions to assess LTCRL. Results Based on the experts’ consensus on the procedure of the modified Delphi technique, the LTCRL assessment sale consists of 29 questions on four aspects of knowledge acquisition: the abilities to access/obtain, understand, process/appraise, and apply/use. The results revealed that higher education levels and better Chinese language proficiency are associated with higher LTCRL outcomes among home care workers. Conclusions The LTCRL assessment scale based on a modified Delphi technique is useful and feasible for evaluating LTCRL in home care workers who provide reablement services in Taiwan.

This study investigated coal-mine drainage (AMD) and municipal wastewater (MWW) contaminant concentrations and conducted the combined treatment in phases I and II: phase I, evaluating the effects of mixing the two based on the extent of acid neutralization and metals removal; phase II: conducting anaerobic batch reactor treatment of AMD and MWW under varying COD/sulfate ratios (0.04-5.0). In phase I, acid mine drainage water quality conditions are as follows: pH 4.5, acidity 467.5 mg/L as CaCO3, alkalinity 96.0 mg/L as CaCO3, Cl- 11.8 mg/L, SO4 2- 1722 mg/L, TDS 2757.5 mg/L, TSS 9.8 mg/L, BOD 14.7 mg/L, Fe 138.1 mg/L, Mg 110.8 mg/L. Mn 7.5 mg/L, Al 8.1 mg/L, Na 114.2 mg/L, and Ca 233.5 mg/L. Results of the mixing experiments indicated significant removal of selected metals (Fe 85~98%, Mg 0~65%, Mn 63~89%, Al 98~99%, Na 0~30%), acidity (77~95%) from the mine water and pH was raised to above 6.3. The Phase II results suggested under the wide range of COD/ sulfate ratios, COD and sulfate removal varied from 37.4%-100% and 0%-93.5% respectively. During biological treatment, alkalinity was generated which leads to pH increase to around 7.6-8.5. The results suggested feasibility of the proposed technology for co-treatment of AMD and MWW. A conceptual design of co-treatment system which is expected to remove a matrix of pollutants has been provided to utilize all the locally available water resources to achieve the optimum treatment efficiency. The technology also offers an opportunity to significantly reduce capital and operating costs compared to the existing treatment methodologies used. Featured Application: In this study, we have measured the concentrations of contaminants in acid mine drainage (AMD) and municipal wastewater (MWW) and conducted the combined treatment in phases I and II. This is significant because in previous years there was a massive fish kill that is linked to the high total dissolved solids (TDS) and salinity content in the water. With the current proposed combined treatment technology, it shows high potential in reducing TDS and salinity content in the combined wastewater which will prevent similar accident (Dunkard creek fish kill in 2019) happening again.

Stigma among healthcare professionals may lead to poor quality of healthcare services for patients with mental illness. This study conducts a network meta-analysis to estimate the relative efficacy between different types of anti-stigma interventions for healthcare professionals.Network meta-analysis.The attitudes and behavior intension of healthcare professionals toward mental illness.A total of 18 studies (22 trials) from 9 countries are included in the analysis. In the network meta-analysis, rank probabilities show interventions with indirect contact plus lecture (SUCRA = 81.5%), direct contact plus problem-based learning workshop (SUCRA = 77.4%), and indirect contact (SUCRA = 72.2%) having the highest probability of being ranked first, second, and third, respectively.Our findings suggest that education combining social contact is the most effective anti-stigma intervention, which can be implemented in clinical practices to help reduce this stigma and improve healthcare services for patients with mental illness.

The Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project dissects how genetic variation affects gene expression and splicing. Some human genetic variants affect the amount of RNA produced and the splicing of gene transcripts, crucial steps in development and maintaining a healthy individual. However, some of these changes only occur in a small number of tissues within the body. The Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project has been expanded over time, and, looking at the final data in version 8, Aguet et al. present a deep characterization of genetic associations and gene expression and splicing in 838 individuals over 49 tissues (see the Perspective by Wilson). This large study was able to characterize the details underlying many aspects of gene expression and provides a resource with which to better understand the fundamental molecular mechanisms of how genetic variants affect gene regulation and complex traits in humans. Science, this issue p. 1318; see also p. 1298 The Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project was established to characterize genetic effects on the transcriptome across human tissues and to link these regulatory mechanisms to trait and disease associations. Here, we present analyses of the version 8 data, examining 15,201 RNA-sequencing samples from 49 tissues of 838 postmortem donors. We comprehensively characterize genetic associations for gene expression and splicing in cis and trans, showing that regulatory associations are found for almost all genes, and describe the underlying molecular mechanisms and their contribution to allelic heterogeneity and pleiotropy of complex traits. Leveraging the large diversity of tissues, we provide insights into the tissue specificity of genetic effects and show that cell type composition is a key factor in understanding gene regulatory mechanisms in human tissues. We thank the donors and their families for their generous gifts of organ donation for transplantation and tissue donations for the GTEx research project; the Genomics Platform at the Broad Institute for data generation; J. Struewing for support and leadership of the GTEx project; M. Khan and C. Stolte for the illustrations in Fig. 1; and R. Do, D. Jordan, and M. Verbanck for providing GWAS pleiotropy scores. Funding: This work was supported by the Common Fund of the Office of the Director, U.S. National Institutes of Health, and by NCI, NHGRI, NHLBI, NIDA, NIMH, NIA, NIAID, and NINDS through NIH contracts HHSN261200800001E (Leidos Prime contract with NCI: A.M.S., D.E.T., N.V.R., J.A.M., L.S., M.E.B., L.Q., T.K., D.B., K.R., and A.U.), 10XS170 (NDRI: W.F.L., J.A.T., G.K., A.M., S.S., R.H., G.Wa., M.J., M.Wa., L.E.B., C.J., J.W., B.R., M.Hu., K.M., L.A.S., H.M.G., M.Mo., and L.K.B.), 10XS171 (Roswell Park Cancer Institute: B.A.F., M.T.M., E.K., B.M.G., K.D.R., and J.B.), 10X172 (Science Care Inc.), 12ST1039 (IDOX), 10ST1035 (Van Andel Institute: S.D.J., D.C.R., and D.R.V.), HHSN268201000029C (Broad Institute: F.A., G.G., K.G.A., A.V.S., X.Li., E.T., S.G., A.G., S.A., K.H.H., D.T.N., K.H., S.R.M., and J.L.N.), 5U41HG009494 (F.A., G.G., and K.G.A.), and through NIH grants R01 DA006227-17 (University of Miami Brain Bank: D.C.M. and D.A.D.), Supplement to University of Miami grant DA006227 (D.C.M. and D.A.D.), R01 MH090941 (University of Geneva), R01 MH090951 and R01 MH090937 (University of Chicago), R01 MH090936 (University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill), R01MH101814 (M.M.-A., V.W., S.B.M., R.G., E.T.D., D.G.-M., and A.V.), U01HG007593 (S.B.M.), R01MH101822 (C.D.B.), U01HG007598 (M.O. and B.E.S.), U01MH104393 (A.P.F.), extension H002371 to 5U41HG002371 (W.J.K.), as well as other funding sources: R01MH106842 (T.L., P.M., E.F., and P.J.H.), R01HL142028 (T.L., Si.Ka., and P.J.H.), R01GM122924 (T.L. and S.E.C.), R01MH107666 (H.K.I.), P30DK020595 (H.K.I.), UM1HG008901 (T.L.), R01GM124486 (T.L.), R01HG010067 (Y.Pa.), R01HG002585 (G.Wa. and M.St.), Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation GBMF 4559 (G.Wa. and M.St.), 1K99HG009916-01 (S.E.C.), R01HG006855 (Se.Ka. and R.E.H.), BIO2015-70777-P, Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad and FEDER funds (M.M.-A., V.W., R.G., and D.G.-M.), la Caixa Foundation ID 100010434 under agreement LCF/BQ/SO15/52260001 (D.G.-M.), NIH CTSA grant UL1TR002550-01 (P.M.), Marie-Skłodowska Curie fellowship H2020 Grant 706636 (S.K.-H.), R35HG010718 (E.R.G.), FPU15/03635, Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (M.M.-A.),R01MH109905, 1R01HG010480 (A.Ba.), Searle Scholar Program (A.Ba.), R01HG008150 (S.B.M.), 5T32HG000044-22, NHGRI Institutional Training Grant in Genome Science (N.R.G.), EU IMI program (UE7-DIRECT-115317-1) (E.T.D. and A.V.), FNS funded project RNA1 (31003A_149984) (E.T.D. and A.V.), DK110919 (F.H.), F32HG009987 (F.H.), Massachusetts Lions Eye Research Fund Grant (A.R.H.), Wellcome grant WT108749/Z/15/Z (P.F.), and European Molecular Biology Laboratory (P.F. and D.Z.). Peer Reviewed "Article signat per 1 autors/es del BSC membres del THE GTEX CONSORTIUM: Marta Mele Messeguer"

In this study, the effects of different fruit parts and extraction conditions on the antioxidant properties of jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) fruit were investigated. Five in vitro antioxidant models and statistical analyses were performed. The results revealed that jujube peel with pulp (peel pulp) exhibited better antioxidant capacity than did seeds. Overall, jujube peel pulp extracted using 50% ethanol at 60 &deg, C exhibited the best antioxidant capacity in terms of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity (0.3 &plusmn, 0 mg/mL), 2,2-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical scavenging activity (0.5 &plusmn, 0 mg/mL), total phenolic content (38.3 &plusmn, 0.4 mg gallic acid equivalent per gram dry weight), total flavonoid content (43.8 &plusmn, 0.2 mg quercetin equivalent per gram dry weight), and reducing power (41.9 &plusmn, 2.2 mg ascorbic acid equivalent per gram dry weight). The results indicated that jujube peel pulp is a more potential natural antioxidant than seeds.

The feasibility of using iron extracted from acid mine drainage (AMD) as Fenton's reagent for removal of organics pollutants from polymer and plastics manufacturing effluent was investigated in this study. AMD iron dose, H

Objectives The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the treatment of patient with aortic valve stenosis is unknown and there is uncertainty on the optimal strategies in managing these patients. Methods This study is supported and endorsed by the Asia Pacific Society of Interventional Cardiology. Due to the inability to have face to face discussions during the pandemic, an online survey was performed by inviting key opinion leaders (cardiac surgeon/interventional cardiologist/echocardiologist) in the field of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) in Asia to participate. The answers to a series of questions pertaining to the impact of COVID-19 on TAVI were collected and analyzed. These led subsequently to an expert consensus recommendation on the conduct of TAVI during the pandemic. Results The COVID-19 pandemic had resulted in a 25% (10-80) reduction of case volume and 53% of operators required triaging to manage their patients with severe aortic stenosis. The two most important parameters used to triage were symptoms and valve area. Periprocedural changes included the introduction of teleconsultation, preprocedure COVID-19 testing, optimization of protests, and catheterization laboratory set up. In addition, length of stay was reduced from a mean of 4.4 to 4 days. Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted on the delivery of TAVI services to patients in Asia. This expert recommendation on best practices may be a useful guide to help TAVI teams during this period until a COVID-19 vaccine becomes widely available.

Physical exercise and cognitive training were previously demonstrated to improve the physical functioning and decrease the incidence of falls for older adults. This study aimed to utilize an interactive exergame mat system to develop a novel cognitive–physical training program and explore the training effects on physical performance, cognitive function, dual-task walking (DTW), and fall risk compared to the control condition. In this quasi-experimental non-randomized controlled intervention study, 110 community-dwelling older adults participated. The exercise group (n = 56; mean age, 70.7 ± 4.6 years) performed ladder-type, three-by-three grid-type, and circle-type mat exergames with simultaneous cognitive–physical training (EMAT), while the control group (n = 54; mean age, 72.0 ± 5.7 years) underwent a multicomponent exercise intervention focused on physical and cognitive training. A 2 h training session was completed weekly for 3 months. Functional fitness (including upper- and lower-extremity strength and flexibility, grasp strength, aerobic endurance, static balance, dynamic balance and agility), a foot tapping test (FTT), the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), DTW, and a fall risk questionnaire (FRQ) were assessed before and after the interventions. The EMAT program enhanced upper-extremity strength, lower-extremity strength and flexibility, aerobic endurance, and dynamic balance and agility; improved DTW and FTT performances; and decreased FRQ score. EMAT also showed a significant advantage over control in terms of lower-extremity strength and flexibility, aerobic endurance, dynamic balance and agility, and FRQ score (all P < 0.05). The current study provides evidence of the effects of a novel mat exergaming program on physical and cognitive performance. EMAT effectively reduced the fall risk and increased the dual-task ability of walking, factors that are important in fall prevention for community-dwelling older adults.

Radiotherapy often causes unwanted side effects such as radiation-induced fibrosis and second malignancies. Fucoidan, a sulfated polysaccharide extracted from brown seaweed, has many biological effects including anti-inflammation and anti-tumor. In the present study, we investigated the radioprotective effect of Oligo-Fucoidan (OF) using a zebrafish animal model. Adult zebrafish of wild-type and transgenic fish with hepatocellular carcinoma were orally fed with Oligo-Fucoidan before irradiation. Quantitative PCR, Sirius red stain, hematoxylin, and eosin stain were used for molecular and pathological analysis. Whole genomic microarrays were used to discover the global program of gene expression after Oligo-Fucoidan treatment and identified distinct classes of up- and downregulated genes/pathways during this process. Using Oligo-Fucoidan oral gavage in adult wild-type zebrafish, we found Oligo-Fucoidan pretreatment decreased irradiation-induced fibrosis in hepatocyte. Using hepatitis B virus X antigen (HBx), Src and HBx, Src, p53&minus, /+ transgenic zebrafish liver cancer model, we found that Oligo-Fucoidan pretreatment before irradiation could lower the expression of lipogenic factors and enzymes, fibrosis, and cell cycle/proliferation markers, which eventually reduced formation of liver cancer compared to irradiation alone. Gene ontology analysis revealed that Oligo-Fucoidan pretreatment increased the expression of genes involved in oxidoreductase activity in zebrafish irradiation. Oligo-Fucoidan also decreased the expression of genes involved in transferase activity in wild-type fish without irradiation (WT), nuclear outer membrane-endoplasmic reticulum membrane network, and non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) transgenic fish. Rescue of those genes can prevent liver cancer formation. Conclusions: Our results provide evidence for the ability of Oligo-Fucoidan to prevent radiation-induced fibrosis and second malignancies in zebrafish.

Water quality is one of the key determinants for assessing effectiveness and success of water diversions, but rarely studied at a spatial scale that crosses large river basins. Multiple statistical methods and the water quality index (WQI) were used to assess overall condition and detect spatiotemporal patterns of water quality in a series of impounded lakes along the Eastern Route of China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project. Principal components analysis and analysis of variances identified three groups with distinct water quality characteristics: upstream Gaoyou Lake and Hongze Lake showing relatively higher nutrients, turbidity, and total suspended solids; downstream Dongping lake and Donghu Lake showing higher conductivity, total hardness, and chloride; and Luoma Lake and Nansi Lake intermediate between the two former groups. The WQI indicated overall "Good" water quality with an improving trend from upstream to downstream lakes. The upstream Gaoyou Lake had over 55% of the monitoring sites with "Moderate" water quality in all the seasons. Management should focus on preventing high nitrogen, phosphorus, turbidity, and total suspended solids in upstream lakes, high chloride in downstream lakes, high nitrogen during water diversion seasons, and high phosphorus during non-water diversion seasons. These findings greatly improved our understanding of the spatiotemporal water quality patterns of the impounded lakes, and can be used to develop water quality management strategies. This study exemplifies a methodology for investigating and securing water quality for inter-basin water transfer projects.

The interactions between phospholipids and cholesterol have been extensively studied in the aqueous systems because of their vital functionalities in the cell membrane. In this study, instead of the self-assembly in water, we explored the microphase-separated structures of phospholipids in bulk and thin films in the absence of solvents and created a series of ordered nanostructures by incorporation of cholesterol into phospholipids. Three zwitterionic two-tailed phospholipids, that is, phosphatidylcholines (PCs), with different numbers of double bonds on the hydrocarbon tails were investigated, including egg PC, 1,2-dioleoyl- sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC), and 1,2-dipalmitoyl- sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC). We find that the nanostructures are highly dependent on the conformation of the tails on the PCs, which can be tailored by the number of double bonds on tails and the molar ratio of cholesterol to PC. By changing the molar ratio, egg PC with one double bond organizes into rich microdomains, including lamellae, spheres, and cylinders, whereas DOPC with two double bonds form spheres and cylinders and DPPC with no double bond forms lamellae only. The sizes of the microdomains are less than 3 nm, smaller than those of typical block copolymers. The biomolecule-based nanopatterns developed in this work provide a platform toward future applications of nanotechnology and biotechnology.

An innovative process consisting of Fe(II)-dosed anaerobic bioreactors and an oxidizing basin was used to continuously treat a synthetic wastewater (COD/sulfate mass ratio 2:1 and Fe/S molar ratio 1:1). Sludge recycling effects were evaluated on ten occasions, in which anaerobic sludge was collected, biochemically oxidized with mechanical aeration in the oxidizing basin before being mixed with the wastewater influent. The sludge recycling resulted in better effluent quality compared to the baseline operation without recycling. More Fe and S were retained as sludge in the bioreactors with sludge recycling (Fe 94%, S 91%) than those when the bioreactors were operated without sludge recycling (Fe 76%, S 86%). Scanning electron microscopic analysis showed that bacterial cells and iron sulfide intermixed in the anaerobic sludge and the presence of microbial exopolymeric substances. X-ray spectroscopic analyses showed amorphous FeS formed from the dosed ferrous iron and biogenic bisulfide, and suggested long-term conversion of the amorphous FeS to more stable crystalline FeS and FeS2 in the anaerobic bioreactors. In the oxidizing basin, oxidation of iron sulfides was of both chemical and biological nature, and their oxidized forms including amorphous FeO/Fe2O3 mixture and partially/fully oxidized sulfurs. Experimental results also indicated amorphous FeS was more readily oxidized than FeS2. Phylogenetic analysis revealed microorganisms related to Desulfomonile tiedjei (sulfur reducing) and Alkaliphilus metalliredigens (iron reducing) in the anaerobic bioreactors, and Thiobacter subterraneus (sulfur oxidizing) and Rubrivivax gelatinosus (iron oxidizing) related microorganisms in the oxidizing basin.

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has recently emerged as a promising multiple access technique for LTE enhancements and 5G due to its better cell coverage and potentially higher throughput than the traditional orthogonal multiple access. In its simplest form that superimposes only two constellations in the power domain, we investigate the optimal inter-constellation rotation based on the minimum distance (MD) criterion over an uplink NOMA scenario in this paper. In comparison with existing work that adopts constellation-constrained mutual information (MI) as the optimization criterion and hence can only determine the optimal inter-constellation rotation angle numerically, closed-form expressions for the MD-maximizing inter-constellation rotation angle as well as its achievable largest minimum distance among joint constellation points can be obtained for usual combinations of modulation schemes. Since the MD-maximizing inter-constellation rotation has nothing to do with the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), as contrary to the MI-maximizing inter-constellation rotation, a more feasible SNR-independent system formulation can be established. Simulation results show that the MD-maximizing design not only can maintain a much more robust error performance than the SNR-dependent MI-maximizing design but achieves a better fairness among users.

Dysregulation of the enzymes involved in the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) is known to promote tumorigenesis. Our recent study demonstrated that ribose-5-phosphate isomerase (RPIA), a key regulator of the PPP, regulates hepatoma cell proliferation and colony formation. Our studies in zebrafish reveal that RPIA-mediated hepatocarcinogenesis requires extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and β-catenin signaling. To further investigate RPIA-mediated hepatocarcinogenesis, two independent lines of transgenic zebrafish expressing human RPIA in the liver were generated. These studies reveal that RPIA overexpression triggers lipogenic factor/enzyme expression, steatosis, fibrosis and proliferation of the liver. In addition, the severity of fibrosis and the extent of proliferation are positively correlated with RPIA expression levels. Furthermore, RPIA-mediated induction of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) requires the ERK and β-catenin signaling pathway but is not dependent upon transaldolase levels. Our study presents a mechanism for RPIA-mediated hepatocarcinogenesis and suggests that RPIA represents a valuable therapeutic target for the treatment of HCC., Using a transgenic zebrafish model, we found overexpression RPIA in the liver facilitate the steatosis at 5-months, fibrosis at 7-month, and promote hyperplasia or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) at 9 and 11 months. We discovered p-ERK was elevated as early as 5-months, and β-catenin signaling pathway were activated from 7-months revealed by IHC. Using oral gavage to treat 7-months RPIA transgenic fish with the inhibitors for one month, we found blockade ERK pathway diminished the expression of lipogenic factor, while β-catenin inhibitor reverted the upregulation of cell cycle/proliferation markers mediated by RPIA overexpression. The combination of β-catenin and ERK inhibitors synergistically reduced the RPIA-induced cellular proliferation in xenotransplantation assay. Our data suggested activation of ERK pathway induce lipogenesis while activation of β-catenin pathway promoting cancer formation at later stage, inhibition of ERK and β-catenin signaling can significantly reduce HCC progression.

Dengue virus, the causative agent of dengue disease which may have hemorrhagic complications, poses a global health threat. Among the numerous target cells for dengue virus in humans are monocytes, macrophages and mast cells which are important regulators of vascular integrity and which undergo dramatic cellular responses after infection by dengue virus. The strategic locations of these three cell types, inside blood vessels (monocytes) or outside blood vessels (macrophages and mast cells) allow them to respond to dengue virus infection with the production of both intracellular and secretory factors which affect virus replication, vascular permeability and/or leukocyte extravasation. Moreover, the expression of Fc receptors on the surface of monocytes, macrophages and mast cells makes them important target cells for antibody-enhanced dengue virus infection which is a major risk factor for severe dengue disease, involving hemorrhage. Collectively, these features of monocytes, macrophages and mast cells contribute to both beneficial and harmful responses of importance to understanding and controlling dengue infection and disease.

Background Kawasaki disease (KD) is a prevalent pediatric disease worldwide and can cause coronary artery aneurysm as a severe complication. Typically, DNA methylation is thought to repress the expression of nearby genes. However, the cases in which DNA methylation promotes gene expression have been reported. In addition, globally, to what extent DNA methylation affects gene expression and how it contributes to the pathogenesis of KD are not yet well understood. Methods To address these important biological questions, we enrolled subjects, collected DNA and RNA samples from the subjects’ total white blood cells, and performed DNA methylation (M450K) and gene expression (HTA 2.0) microarray assays. Results By analyzing the variation ratios of CpG beta values (methylation percentage) and gene expression intensities, we first concluded that the CpG markers close (− 1500 bp to + 500 bp) to the transcription start sites had higher variation ratios, reflecting significant regulation capacities. Next, we observed that, globally speaking, gene expression was modestly negatively correlated (correlation rho ≈ − 0.2) with the DNA methylation status of both upstream and downstream CpG markers in the promoter region. Third, we found that specific CpG markers were hypo-methylated in disease samples compared with healthy samples and hyper-methylated in convalescent samples compared with disease samples, promoting and repressing S100A genes’ expressions, respectively. Finally, using an in vitro cell model, we demonstrated that S100A family proteins enhanced leukocyte transendothelial migration in KD. Conclusions This is the first study to integrate genome-wide DNA methylation with gene expression assays in KD and showed that the S100A family plays important roles in the pathogenesis of KD. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13148-018-0557-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The problem of sending independent messages to a receiver which already has been informed a subset of messages as side information is studied. Which messages are available at the receiver is assumed to be oblivious to the transmitter. A simple yet powerful construction of codes for informed receivers based on polar codes is proposed to efficiently and fairly convert side information into reduction in probability of errors for any message side information. Compared with existing designs based on codes on graph or algebraic codes, the proposed construction is both conceptually and practically simple. Moreover, the codes inherit many good properties of polar codes, including explicit construction and low-complexity encoding and decoding scaling such as $\mathcal {O}(N\log N)$ where $N$ is the blocklength. Extensions to high-order modulation and block fading channels are also proposed. Simulation results indicate that for every side information configuration, the proposed codes can convert side information into reduction in signal-to-noise ratio of roughly 6 dB/bit at bit error rate of 10−5 under additive white Gaussian noise channel or block fading channel.

Dengue is the most prevalent mosquito-borne disease in Southeast Asia, where the incidence of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is approximately 30 to 53 per 100,000. Severe dengue, however, is rarely reported among individuals with SLE. Here, whether sera of patients with SLE cross-neutralize dengue virus (DENV) was investigated. Serum samples were obtained from individuals with SLE who were dengue IgG and IgM serology negative. Neutralization assays were performed against the three major DENV serotypes. Of the dengue serology negative sera of individuals with SLE, 60%, 61% and 52% of the sera at 1/320 dilution showed more than 50% inhibition against dengue type-1 virus (DENV-1), DENV-2 and DENV-3, respectively. The neutralizing capacity of the sera was significantly greater against DENV-1 (P < 0.001) and DENV-3 (P < 0.01) than against DENV-2 (P < 0.05). Neutralization against the DENV correlated with dengue-specific IgG serum titers below the cut-off point for dengue positivity. Depletion of total IgG from the sera of patients with SLE resulted in significant decreases of up to 80% in DENV inhibition, suggesting that IgG plays an important role. However, some of the SLE sera was still able to neutralize DENV, even with IgG titers

Inflammation, oxidative stress, and formation of advanced glycated end products (AGEs) and advanced lipoxidation end products (ALEs) are important for atherosclerosis. Vascular adhesion protein-1 (VAP-1) participates in inflammation and has semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO) activity, which catalyzes oxidative deamination to produce hydrogen peroxide and aldehydes, leading to generation of AGEs and ALEs. However, the effect of VAP-1/SSAO inhibition on atherosclerosis remains controversial, and no studies used coronary angiography to evaluate if plasma VAP-1/SSAO is a biomarker for coronary artery disease (CAD). Here, we examined if plasma VAP-1/SSAO is a biomarker for CAD diagnosed by coronary angiography in humans and investigated the effect of VAP-1/SSAO inhibition by a specific inhibitor PXS-4728A on atherosclerosis in cell and animal models. In the study, VAP-1/SSAO expression was increased in plaques in humans and in apolipoprotein E (ApoE)-deficient mice, and colocalized with vascular endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells (SMCs). Patients with CAD had higher plasma VAP-1/SSAO than those without CAD. Plasma VAP-1/SSAO was positively associated with the extent of CAD. In ApoE-deficient mice, VAP-1/SSAO inhibition reduced atheroma and decreased oxidative stress. VAP-1/SSAO inhibition attenuated the expression of adhesion molecules, chemoattractant proteins, and proinflammatory cytokines in the aorta, and suppressed monocyte adhesion and transmigration across human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Consequently, the expression of markers for macrophage recruitment and activation in plaques was decreased by VAP-1/SSAO inhibition. Besides, VAP-1/SSAO inhibition suppressed proliferation and migration of A7r5 SMC. Our data suggest that plasma VAP-1/SSAO is a novel biomarker for the presence and the extent of CAD in humans. VAP-1/SSAO inhibition by PXS-4728A is a potential treatment for atherosclerosis.

Parameter estimation in evidence-accumulation models of choice response times is demanding of both the data and the user. We outline how to fit evidence-accumulation models using the flexible, open-source, R-based Dynamic Models of Choice (DMC) software. DMC provides a hands-on introduction to the Bayesian implementation of two popular evidence-accumulation models: the diffusion decision model (DDM) and the linear ballistic accumulator (LBA). It enables individual and hierarchical estimation, as well as assessment of the quality of a model’s parameter estimates and descriptive accuracy. First, we introduce the basic concepts of Bayesian parameter estimation, guiding the reader through a simple DDM analysis. We then illustrate the challenges of fitting evidence-accumulation models using a set of LBA analyses. We emphasize best practices in modeling and discuss the importance of parameter- and model-recovery simulations, exploring the strengths and weaknesses of models in different experimental designs and parameter regions. We also demonstrate how DMC can be used to model complex cognitive processes, using as an example a race model of the stop-signal paradigm, which is used to measure inhibitory ability. We illustrate the flexibility of DMC by extending this model to account for mixtures of cognitive processes resulting from attention failures. We then guide the reader through the practical details of a Bayesian hierarchical analysis, from specifying priors to obtaining posterior distributions that encapsulate what has been learned from the data. Finally, we illustrate how the Bayesian approach leads to a quantitatively cumulative science, showing how to use posterior distributions to specify priors that can be used to inform the analysis of future experiments.

This paper presents a method for kinematic error analysis and tolerance design of cycloidal gear reducers. The relationships between parameters concerning geometry, manufacturing, and precision performance for the cycloidal gear reducer are introduced and then investigated via the theory of gearing. First, an algorithm based on the discretization of the cycloidal tooth profile is developed to perform tooth contact analysis of the cycloidal gear reducer. Then, a computer-aided procedure using the Monte Carlo method is established to analyze the distribution of kinematic error once the tolerance distributions of the geometric and manufacturing parameters are known. Finally, the tolerances of the parameters are optimized with the objective of minimizing the manufacturing cost. The reliability of the optimization results is also verified by analyzing samples using the previously developed computer-aided algorithm. Two examples are given to demonstrate the design procedure used in applications of the findings of this study.

The magneto-optical Faraday effect is a powerful tool to study the interaction between magnetism and light. In this study, a highly sensitive in vitro immunoassay platform based on the magneto-optical Faraday effect and biofunctionalized magnetic nanoparticles (BMNs) has been demonstrated for the detection of C-reactive protein (CRP). The BMNs employed in this study were magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) coated with CRP antibody (anti-CRP). The Faraday effect was used to observe the conjugation of the BMNs with CRP in a liquid under ac magnetic fields. When anti-CRP conjugates with CRP, BMNs aggregate to form larger magnetic clusters. We observed that the Faraday rotation angle changes during the clustering of BMNs and gradually reaches an equilibrium when the association of anti-CRP and CRP is complete. By monitoring the variations of the Faraday rotation angle, the CRP concentration can be calculated. We achieved a detection limit of 0.53 ng/mL for CRP via the collaboration of the Faraday effect technique and BMNs. In summary, we have developed a novel high-sensitivity magneto-optical platform for in vitro immunoassay.