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Exercise-induced fatigue is accumulated when lactic acid cannot be timely eliminated after intensive exercise, resulting in sport injuries. Traditional lactic acid removal methods are limited in timeliness, metabolic burden, and potential toxicity. To solve the thorny problems, in this study, nanomedicine was introduced for lactic acid removal. Magnesium trisilicate was coated on the surface of magnetic nanoparticles. These nanoparticles exhibited a prompt and efficient lactic acid adsorbing behavior. Moreover, they have favorable magnetic properties and good biocompatibility. The results showed that the prepared nanoparticles hold great potential in the removal of lactic acid for preventing exercise-induced fatigue.

Low latency/delay is one of the most critical requirements for the application of vehicular networks. However, frequent real-time information update caused by vehicles high mobility is liable to aggravate the delay. Meanwhile, the task migration between different vehicular edge computing (VEC) servers results in an amount of delay if the computing cannot be completed before the vehicle moves out of the coverage of the current VEC server. In this paper, the problem is concluded as when and to whom to offload the task for VEC, which is formulated as a finite horizon Markov decision process (MDP) to minimize the delay with respect to the communication, computing, handover and migration. Through characterizing the time-space correlation of vehicles mobility, the curse of dimensionality problem in MDP is resolved. Meanwhile, a general expression of the transition probabilities is derived. On this basis, the specific results of highway, 2-D street and real-data scenarios are provided as well. For practical implementation considerations, the transition probabilities are commonly uncertain primarily due to random driver behavior, inaccurate sample data and complex path environment. Under this uncertain environment,a robust time-aware MDP-based task offloading algorithm (RTMDP) is proposed, which has been proved to perform well even under the high uncertain transition probabilities by simulation results.

We report herein the design of a novel electrochemical sensing strategy for sensitive detection of pesticide based on graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)/graphene oxide(GO) nanocomposite covalently bound to a ferrocene containing dendrimer(Fc-TED). The g-C3N4 with sufficient N atoms for providing lone pairs of electrons to an electron acceptor so as to enhance the adsorption towards organic molecules. The Fc-TED dendrimers with the native redox signaling center (Fe3+/Fe2+) can increase the electron transition of g-C3N4 from valence to conduction band. While GO can accelerate the electron transfer from g-C3N4 surface and Fc-TED to glassy carbon electrode(GCE), which would amplify the electrochemical signal of g-C3N4/GO/Fc-TED/GCE sensor and then improve the sensing performance. It is found that the fabricated electrode demonstrated an admirable electrochemical sensing performance towards metolcarb in terms of low detection limit (8.3 nM), wide concentration range (0.045–213 μM) and rapid response time (2s). The proposed sensor can selectively detect the metolcarb and easily discriminated metolcarb from the possible interfering species. The practical applicability of the sensor was successfully evaluated in real vegetable sample and achieved satisfactory recoveries with good precision and accuracy.

The flowability of microcrystalline cellulose is related to its particle morphology and structure, but this relation is difficult to characterize quantitatively, due to irregularity in particle shape. This study uses fractal dimension combined with shape factors (circularity, elongation, compactness, solidity) for characterization of six microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) powder samples of different particle morphology. Fractal dimension was shown to be the main factor affecting the powder flowability. The K-means clustering method and box plot were used to analyze the morphological differences of three types of MCC particles with large flowability differences as well as small flowability differences with large size differences. Among the four shape factors, circularity was shown to exert the greatest influence on powder flowability. Validating these results, a thorough statistical multivariate regression analysis was conducted. This treatment eliminated the other shape factors, to yield a two-parameter equation characterizing the quantitative relationship between the MCC powder flowability and morphology.

A sandwich structured bifunctional nanocarrier (rGO@msilica) composed of an inner layer of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and an outer layer of mesoporous silica (msilica) was developed for synergistic chemo-photothermal therapy. The rGO@msilica not only acted as a pH-triggered drug nanocarrier but also worked as a near-infrared (NIR) photothermal agent. The loaded drug, doxorubicin (DOX), in the rGO@msilica nanocarrier was controllably released in the acidic tumor microenvironment. Moreover, the cancer cells were ablated by laser irradiation (808 nm), contributing to the high photothermal conversion efficiency of the rGO core. With this two-in-one system

Methanol dehydrogenation to formaldehyde or dehydration to dimethyl ether are high-value-added industrial processes. Here, we applied oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (oCNTs) in a methanol conversion reaction in the presence of oxygen. oCNT catalysts exhibit a methanol conversion of 60% under gentle reaction conditions, yielding DME (65%) and FA (30%) as the main products, and long term stability for over 150 h is achieved. The catalytic performance of oCNTs is even comparable to industrial metal catalysts. An in situ site titration experiment revealed that carboxyl groups were the active sites for the formation of dimethyl ether. Small organic molecules as model catalysts suggested that quinoidic carbonyl groups may be responsible for methanol ODH producing formaldehyde, while both quinoidic and ketonic carbonyl groups are responsible for total oxidation to carbon dioxide. Basic reaction kinetics and mechanisms such as reaction orders, apparent activation energy, rate determining step, etc. for the oxidative dehydrogenation and dehydration of methanol were studied systematically. A unique gentle redox catalytic activity of oCNT catalysts could be realized to reduce the overoxidation losses.

The search for active, stable and cost-efficient carbocatalysts for selective oxidation and reduction reactions could make a substantial impact on the catalytic technologies that do not rely on conventional metal based catalysts. Here we report a facile strategy for the synthesis of boron (B) and nitrogen (N) co-doped carbon nanosheets (BNC) by using biomolecule guanine as a carbon (C) and N source and boric acid as the B precursor. The whole synthesis process which leads to the formation of a two dimensional (2D) structure and mesoporosity with high surface areas is simple, metal-free and template-free. The as-synthesized carbon nanosheets possess a series of merits, such as relatively high specific surface area, satisfactory pore structure, enough structural defects, abundant B and N dopants as well as oxygen functional groups. The catalytic assessments demonstrate that the presented carbon catalyst is highly active and selective for the liquid phase oxidation of ethyl lactate to ethyl pyruvate and the reduction of nitrobenzene to aniline and outperforms other equivalent benchmarks. Control experiments confirm the importance of the B and N co-doping as well as the carbon matrix which benefit the electron transfer. The carbonyl group masking test indicates that carbonyl groups play an important role in both the selective oxidation and reductions. Given the diversity in the structure of the nucleobase moiety, they represent ideal building blocks for the catalyst-free and metal-free formation of 2D carbon architectures, only induced by hydrogen bonds. This B and N co-doped synthesis strategy provides guidance for the design of carbon-based catalysts for selective oxidation and reductions.

Wireless networks have been generating a plethora of unstructured and highly-correlated big data with hidden anomalies. The anomalies may bring inaccurate predictions of network behaviors, which further lead to inefficient system designs such as proactive caching placement. Current Random Matrix Theory (RMT) approaches are unable to detect hidden anomalies with a satisfying tolerance of data correlation. We present a novel data Decomposition aided Random Matrix Theory (DC-RMT) framework, which enables a real-time anomaly detection of large scale multi-dimensional and highly-correlated data. The detection results show that the proposed DC-RMT methodology can detect anomalies with an accuracy of 28 times better than RMT applied without data decomposition. The prediction results present a 6 times higher accuracy than data with anomaly, which will facilitate the identification of regions of interests, and contribute to the improvement of resource allocation efficiency and user QoE.

Fe-based Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) catalysts, promoted by graphitic carbon (GC) and potassium, were directly prepared by a novel modified sol–gel method without further reduction. The effects of the GC promoter and K contents on the catalyst structures and FTS performance were systematically studied. The significant improvement of FTS performance was attributed to GC, which acted as a reductant for synthesizing metallic Fe0 from Fe3+ in the chelating complexes, and effectively enhanced the strength of SiO2 channels. Meanwhile, an appropriate amount of K ions promoted CO chemisorption and inhibited H2 chemisorption by affecting the electronic properties of iron, resulting in a lower hydrogenation capacity and a higher olefin selectivity. Transmission electron microscopy and CO-TPD characterization proved that FeK@SiO2-GC catalysts had well-defined core–shell structures and higher CO chemisorption. The FTS results indicated that the introduction of a small amount of GC and K (K/Fe/GC, 1.5/100/100) improved the reduction and dispersion of iron during the calcination process, and significantly enhanced the FTS activity. The CO conversion and C2–C4 olefin selectivity of the catalyst increased rapidly from 21.1% and 23.7% to 53.5% and 41.3% after GC and K promotion. The GC and K promoted Fe-based catalysts prepared by a modified sol–gel method, which omits the complex and high energy consumption reduction process, can be used directly for highly efficient FTS and thus will be more promising in the future.

Increasing near-surface temperature over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) has led to permafrost degradation and increasing active layer thickness (ALT). In this study, the ALT was estimated based on ground subsidence monitored by multitemporal interferometric synthetic aperture radar (MT-InSAR) and temporal-spatial multilayer soil moisture data. For the ground subsidence monitoring, a modified Stefan piecewise elevation change model based on air temperature data was integrated into a new small baseline subset (NSBAS) chain. A total of 33 scenes of Sentinel-1 data (S-1) were collected over one year to build the MT-InSAR analysis network. Moreover, both soil moisture active/passive (SMAP) L4 surface and root zone soil moisture data and ERA-Interim reanalysis data were used to build an ALT retrieval model. In particular, the global-scaled soil moisture data (SMAP and ERA-Interim) fraction was separated based on the Sentinel-1 amplitude-based land cover classification results and in situ soil moisture data. A typical ALT estimation method based on the point scale groundwater information was also performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. Based on the validation of the ground-based ALT observations, the proposed method outperformed the traditional point scale groundwater information-based method, with a correlation coefficient of 0.67, RMSE of 0.70 and ubRMSE of 0.51, respectively. The ERA-Interim-based estimation results were underestimated due to the overestimation of the ERA-Interim soil moisture data. Obvious differences were observed between the ALT of the alpine meadow areas and alpine desert areas. Our results demonstrate that the combination of temporal-spatial multilayer soil moisture data and the MT-InSAR method with S-1 images is a promising approach for the large-scale characterization of ALT.

Purpose To investigate molecular characteristics and antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of clinical isolates of Elizabethkingia in Shanghai, China. Methods Elizabethkingia isolates were collected in a university-affiliated hospital in 2012-2015 and 2017-2018. They were re-identified to species level by 16S rRNA gene and species-specific gene sequencing. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing, screening for metallo-beta-lactamase production, identification of antimicrobial resistance genes and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) were performed. Results Among 52 Elizabethkingia isolates, E. anophelis was the most prevalent species (67.3%), followed by E. meningoseptica (26.9%). High carriage rates of bla CME, bla BlaB and bla GOB genes were consistent with the poor in vitro activity of most β-lactams including carbapenems. Nevertheless, β-lactamase inhibitors increased susceptibility rates significantly for cefoperazone and piperacillin. Susceptibility rates for minocycline, tigecycline, rifampin and levofloxacin were 100%, 78.8%, 76.9% and 71.2%, respectively. Ser83Ile or Ser83Arg substitution in the DNA gyrase A unit was associated with resistance to fluoroquinolones. MIC50/MIC90 values of vancomycin and linezolid were 16/16 mg/L and 16/32 mg/L, respectively. Molecular typing showed twenty-one different types of PFGE and more than one indistinguishable isolates were observed in each of the eight subtypes. Conclusion Tetracyclines, tigecycline, β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations, rifampin and fluoroquinolones demonstrated high rates of in vitro activity against clinical isolates of Elizabethkingia. Both genetic diversity and clonality were observed from this health-care facility. Our report provides potential alternative treatment options for Elizabethkingia infections.

Cohesin mediates chromatin loop formation across the genome by extruding chromatin between convergently oriented CTCF-binding elements. Recent studies indicate that cohesin-mediated loop extrusion in developing B cells presents immunoglobulin heavy chain (Igh) variable (V), diversity (D) and joining (J) gene segments to RAG endonuclease through a process referred to as RAG chromatin scanning. RAG initiates V(D)J recombinational joining of these gene segments to generate the large number of different Igh variable region exons that are required for immune responses to diverse pathogens. Antigen-activated mature B cells also use chromatin loop extrusion to mediate the synapsis, breakage and end-joining of switch regions flanking Igh constant region exons during class-switch recombination, which allows for the expression of different antibody constant region isotypes that optimize the functions of antigen-specific antibodies to eliminate pathogens. Here, we review recent advances in our understanding of chromatin loop extrusion during V(D)J recombination and class-switch recombination at the Igh locus.

China and Australia have maintained good economic and trade relations in the 21st century. However, since 2018, the Australian government has re-oriented its attitude towards China and provoked Sino-Australia trade friction regardless of its economic interests. This thesis provides a new perspective to explain the deterioration of China-Australia relations from security dilemma theory. Australia views China as a political and economic threat due to the consideration of geopolitics and export dependency, thus adopting policies against China. Accordingly, after going through stages of suspicion and warning, China took action against Australia. Consequently, China and Australia sank deeper and deeper into a security dilemma. A systematic study of China-Australia relations helps explain the Australian government’s perverse moves and provides theoretical support for peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region.

This paper answers the meaning of “post-humanism” and explains the characteristics of Cybopunk digital media style under the influence of post-humanism. Based on this, we analyze the application of this art style in games by taking Cybopunk 2077 as an example. Finally, I will explain the value of posthumanism to modern media technology and digital culture. To explain the value of post-humanism in modern media technology and digital culture is to better convey the art philosophy of “post-humanism” and the artistic attitude behind it to the public, promote the development of media technology, and further promote and expand the diversity of digital culture.

Dysphagia is one of the common complications after stroke. Dysphagia significantly increases the probability of serious adverse consequences. The purpose of this study was to compare the characteristics of submental muscles electromyography and hyoid motion parameters between patients with dysphagia after stroke and healthy controls, and whether there is a synergistic effect between the function of the submental muscles and the movement of the hyoid.Fifteen patients with post-stroke dysphagia and fifteen healthy adults simultaneously underwent the videofluoroscopic and surface electromyography of the submental muscles while swallowing 5 ml of concentrated liquid barium sulphate. The electromyographic signal of the submental muscles was analysed along with parameters of hyoid movement.Stage transition duration and duration of surface electromyographic activity were extended significantly in post-stroke dysphagia patients(P 0.05). Surface electromyography amplitude and hyoid movement were significantly reduced in patients (P 0.05). There was a significant correlation between the maximum hyoid movement distance and the peak sEMG amplitude in healthy controls (r = 0.660, P = 0.014), but not in patients with dysphagia after stroke (r = 0.425, P = 0.148).Submental muscles electromyographic signal changes in patients may be the result of uncoordinated muscle contractions and decreased muscle strength. Furthermore, the reduced hyoid movement distance may be due to impaired function of the submental muscles. In addition, the submental muscles and hyoid movement or other swallowing structures functions were impaired to varying degrees, resulting in the disappearance of the correlation between the maximum movement distance of the hyoid and the peak amplitude.

Leilei Wang,1,2 Yuancheng Chen,1– 3 Renru Han,1,2 Zhiwei Huang,1– 3 Xuefei Zhang,1,2 Fupin Hu,1,2 Fan Yang1,2 1Institute of Antibiotics, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 2Key Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacology of Antibiotics, Ministry of Health, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China; 3Phase I Clinical Research Center, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Fan Yang; Fupin HuInstitute of Antibiotics, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, No. 12 Middle Wulumuqi Road, Shanghai, 200040, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 21 52888193Email fanyang9@fudan.edu.cn; hufupin@fudan.edu.cnPurpose: To evaluate in vitro activities of β-lactam antibiotics alone and in combination with sulbactam at different ratios against Acinetobacter baumannii clinical strains from China.Methods: A total of 300 clinical isolates of A. baumannii were collected from 29 hospitals across China in 2018. Susceptibility to common antibiotics was assessed, and β-lactamase genes were detected. In vitro activity of ampicillin, cefoperazone and imipenem was tested alone and in combination with sulbactam at the ratios of 2:1, 1:1, 1:1.5, 1:2, 1:2.5 and 1:3.Results: High resistant rates for common antibiotics were observed except tigecycline and polymyxin B. Among carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii, 97.3% isolates harbored blaOXA-23. MIC50 and MIC90 values for sulbactam were 32 mg/L and 64 mg/L, respectively. High resistant rates for ampicillin, cefoperazone and imipenem were observed (92.3%, 93% and 85.3%, respectively). A stepwise increase in the ratio of sulbactam to partner β-lactam antibiotics led to a stepwise decrease in the MICs and a stepwise increase in the susceptible rates. The susceptible rates for imipenem-sulbactam 1:3, ampicillin-sulbactam 1:3 and cefoperazone-sulbactam 1:3 reached 16.3%, 58.3% and 91%, respectively.Conclusion: The increasing proportion of sulbactam could enhance antimicrobial activities of imipenem-sulbactam, ampicillin-sulbactam and cefoperazone-sulbactam combinations against A. baumannii clinical strains in China, with cefoperazone-sulbactam as the most potent compound.Keywords: sulbactam, ampicillin, cefoperazone, imipenem, Acinetobacter baumannii

Water was the source of life, in order to solve the serious water pollution problem facing the world, researchers have proposed many solutions. Among them, photoelectric catalytic technology based on semiconductor materials was an ideal and sustainable solution. Herein, by combining successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) with sol-gel electrospinning two strategies, a novel S-scheme heterojunction based on flexible and hierarchical BiOI/TiO

Background: Dai antidotes are the most distinctive medicine and treatment in traditional Dai medicine. Clerodendrum chinense var. simplex, Marsdenia tenacissima (Roxb.) Moon and Arundina graminifolia (D. Don) Hochr are three Dai antidotes widely used for their “detoxifying effects”, and their use is rooted in a theoretical system significantly different and much less understood than Western or traditional Chinese medicines. This study aims to provide the mechanistic insights into the detoxifying effects of Dai antidotes, providing a modern scientific basis for understanding and developing Dai medicine as well as encouraging its use in other regions.Methods: We successively extracted the three Dai antidotes using petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, n-butanol, or water, and prepared their decoctions. Their contents of total flavonoids and polyphenols were determined by colorimetric method. Their antioxidant activity were tested by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl(DPPH), hydroxyl radical (·OH) and 2,2′-Azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radicals scavenging assays. Anti-bacterial activity were evaluated in terms of minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs), minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBCs) and zones of inhibition (ZOI) against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Their anti-inflammatory activity were studied in macrophages stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) through measuring the production of nitric oxide, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β, and interleukin-6.Results: The content of total flavonoids in three Dai antidotes ranged from 22.41 to 586.39 mg/g, which is higher than the content of total polyphenols (2.76 to 28.66 mg/g). The various extracts were found to scavenge radicals of DPPH, ·OH and ABTS. They scavenged ABTS radicals much more efficiently (IC50 9.54 μg/mL) than other radicals (IC50 > 380 μg/mL). They weakly inhibited the growth of E. coli, P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. Notably, even at low concentration 60 μg/mL, the extracts can significantly down-regulate nitric oxide production, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β, and interleukin-6 by macrophages stimulated with lipopolysaccharide. Conclusion: In conclusion, our results provide the first mechanistic insights into the detoxifying effects of three Dai antidotes, providing a basis for their optimization and for future research to strengthen Dai medicine through modern scientific practices.

Purpose To evaluate in vitro activities of β-lactam antibiotics alone and in combination with sulbactam at different ratios against Acinetobacter baumannii clinical strains from China. Methods A total of 300 clinical isolates of A. baumannii were collected from 29 hospitals across China in 2018. Susceptibility to common antibiotics was assessed, and β-lactamase genes were detected. In vitro activity of ampicillin, cefoperazone and imipenem was tested alone and in combination with sulbactam at the ratios of 2:1, 1:1, 1:1.5, 1:2, 1:2.5 and 1:3. Results High resistant rates for common antibiotics were observed except tigecycline and polymyxin B. Among carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii, 97.3% isolates harbored blaOXA-23. MIC50 and MIC90 values for sulbactam were 32 mg/L and 64 mg/L, respectively. High resistant rates for ampicillin, cefoperazone and imipenem were observed (92.3%, 93% and 85.3%, respectively). A stepwise increase in the ratio of sulbactam to partner β-lactam antibiotics led to a stepwise decrease in the MICs and a stepwise increase in the susceptible rates. The susceptible rates for imipenem-sulbactam 1:3, ampicillin-sulbactam 1:3 and cefoperazone-sulbactam 1:3 reached 16.3%, 58.3% and 91%, respectively. Conclusion The increasing proportion of sulbactam could enhance antimicrobial activities of imipenem-sulbactam, ampicillin-sulbactam and cefoperazone-sulbactam combinations against A. baumannii clinical strains in China, with cefoperazone-sulbactam as the most potent compound.

As a key technology of 5G, network slicing can meet the different needs of different users and realize customized services. In some uRLLC application scenarios, network slicing can be combined with edge computing technology to better realize low latency service and ensure that data will not be uploaded to the core network. It can realize local storage and computing of data, to better protect the privacy of user data. Therefore, network slicing combined with edge computing is meaningful. To achieve this, we firstly propose a network slicing architecture in edge computing and realize the user access authentication to prove the advantage of the architecture. Secondly security constraints are described by trust degree, to meet the security requirements. Lastly we formulate the model as a mixed-integer linear program (MILP) and then evaluate our solution against a typical solution. Simulation results show that our scheme can provide a secure and efficient resource allocation solution. In short, this paper can be referred to when deploying secure network slicing in edge computing.

The rapidly growing spatio-temporal correlated data in wireless networks provide a natural platform for Integrated Sensing, Computation and Communication (ISCC). Random Matrix Theory (RMT) is an effective tool to analyze anomaly network behaviors in multi-dimensional datasets. But real-time anomaly detection methods based on RMT spectral analyses may fail to analyze low-dimensional datasets such as Internet of Things (IoT), thus yield unsatisfactory detection accuracies. In this paper, we propose a dimension increasing RMT (DI-RMT) anomaly detection method to analyze low-dimensional random matrices. A random matrix is formulated using the signal plus noise model, with preserved key performance indicators as the augmented matrix and the status data as the rest part of the matrix. On the basis of the tensor product, we put forward a dimension increasing method, which can detect and localize anomalies in real time, and is robust enough to cope with random disturbances and measurement errors. A case study with real-world low-dimensional datasets indicates that our proposed method can achieve a 4.45 times higher accuracy than the traditional RMT approach, which validates the feasibility to apply RMT to the anomaly detection of low-dimensional datasets.

The qnrE family was designated in 2017. To date, two qnrE alleles have been discovered that are carried by plasmids. Here, we identified a new quinolone resistance gene, qnrE3, in the chromosome of Enterobacter mori clinical isolate 08-091 in China. qnrE3 conferred decreased susceptibility to fluoroquinolones, similar to qnrE1 and qnrE2. To investigate the precise origin of qnrE1, qnrE2, and qnrE3, 79 qnrE-bearing strains producing 30 qnrE variants were retrieved from the NCBI database. Phylogenetic analysis illustrated two major clusters, QnrEEmo and QnrEEas, produced mainly by the E. mori and E. asburiae strains, respectively. Comparison of the genetic context of qnrE alleles demonstrated that qnrE3 and qnrEEas2 alleles presumably were captured by ISEcp1 and mobilized from the E. mori and E. asburiae strains to the E. xiangfangensis and Escherichia coli strains, respectively. qnrEEas2 was proposed to be named qnrE4, since it has spread to another genus. All the qnrE alleles were harbored by the Enterobacter species, except those captured by ISEcp1 and mobilized into other species of Enterobacterales. E. mori is probably the source of qnrE1 to qnrE3 alleles, and E. asburiae is the reservoir of qnrE4.

BackgroundAcinetobacter baumanniiis a common nosocomial pathogen that poses a huge threat to global health. Owing to the severity ofA. baumanniiinfections, it became necessary to investigate the epidemiological characteristics ofA. baumanniiin Chinese hospitals and find the reasons for the high antibiotic resistance rate and mortality. This study aimed to investigate the epidemiologic and genetic characteristics ofA. baumanniiisolated from patients with hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP), bloodstream infection (BSI) and urinary tract infection (UTI) in China and uncover potential mechanisms for multi-drug resistance and virulence characteristics ofA. baumanniiisolates.ResultsAll isolates were classified into two primary clades in core gene-based phylogenetic relationship. Clonal complex 208 (CC208) mainly consisted of ST195 (32 %) and ST208 (24.6 %). CC208 and non-CC208 isolates had carbapenem resistance rates of 96.2 and 9.1 %, respectively. Core genes were enriched in ‘Amino acid transport and metabolism’, ‘Translation’, ‘Energy production and conversion’, ‘Transcription’, ‘Inorganic ion transport and metabolism’ and ‘Cell wall/membrane/envelope synthesis’. Most isolates possessed virulence factors related to polysaccharide biosynthesis, capsular polysaccharide synthesis and motility. Eleven isolates belong to ST369 or ST191 (oxford scheme) all had the virulence factorcap8Eand it had a higher positive rate in UTI (35.3 %) than in BSI (18.9 %) and HAP (12.9 %). ABGRI1 antibiotic resistance islands were responsible for streptomycin, tetracycline and sulfonate resistance. TheblaOXA−23gene was the most probable cause for carbapenem resistance, although theblaOXA−66gene with nonsynonymous SNPs (F82L, I129L) was not.ConclusionsA. baumanniiis a genomically variable pathogen that has the potential to cause a range of infectious diseases. There is high proportion of carbapenem resistance in isolates from all three infection sites (HAP, BSI and UTI), which can be attributed to theblaOXA−23gene. CC208 is the predominant clone inblaOXA−23-carryingA. baumanniithat should be monitored. Virulence factors involving bacteria motility and polysaccharide biosynthesis which are widespread in clinicalA. baumanniistrains deserve our attention.

The qnrE family was designated in 2017. To date, two qnrE alleles have been discovered that are carried by plasmids. Here, we identified a new quinolone resistance gene, qnrE3, in the chromosome of Enterobacter mori clinical isolate 08-091 in China. qnrE3 conferred decreased susceptibility to fluoroquinolones, similar to qnrE1 and qnrE2. To investigate the precise origin of qnrE1, qnrE2, and qnrE3, 79 qnrE-bearing strains producing 30 qnrE variants were retrieved from the NCBI database. Phylogenetic analysis illustrated two major clusters, QnrE(Emo) and QnrE(Eas), produced mainly by the E. mori and E. asburiae strains, respectively. Comparison of the genetic context of qnrE alleles demonstrated that qnrE3 and qnrE(Eas2) alleles presumably were captured by ISEcp1 and mobilized from the E. mori and E. asburiae strains to the E. xiangfangensis and Escherichia coli strains, respectively. qnrE(Eas2) was proposed to be named qnrE4, since it has spread to another genus. All the qnrE alleles were harbored by the Enterobacter species, except those captured by ISEcp1 and mobilized into other species of Enterobacterales. E. mori is probably the source of qnrE1 to qnrE3 alleles, and E. asburiae is the reservoir of qnrE4.

The next generation wireless network will be a heterogeneous network with multiple access networks, and Mobile Edge Computation (MEC) is oriented to heterogeneous users with various security authentication mechanisms. However, compared to the central servers, the lightweight and the limited computing power make MEC servers hard to support multiple security authentication mechanisms at the same time. To resolve this issue, this paper introduces a blockchain based unified authentication with Zero-knowledge Proof (ZPB authentication) system. Blockchain is adopted to recorder the authentication results, so there is no need to perform secondary authentication in HetNet handoff. A non-interactive Schnorr Zero-knowledge Proof scheme is used to avoid privacy issues caused by blockchain, and it can calculate parameters in advance to reduce real-time overhead of MEC. At the same time, the mechanism of anonymous code updating periodically also makes the system more secure. Through performance analysis and simulation, it can be seen that the authentication system proposed in this paper can achieve both security and effectiveness, and is suitable for HetNet access authentication in MEC scenario.

Intelligent transportation systems (ITSs) play an important role in emerging smart cities (SCs), improving the time and energy efficiency of transportation in the cities. A key enabler of the ITS is autonomous vehicle (AV) that is equipped with communication and computing capabilities. The AVs are also empowered by big data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) and can quickly react and adapt to the changing road conditions of SCs. This chapter first describes the characteristics of big data in an SC, and vehicular mobility models based on big data analytics. Two examples of big-data-driven intelligent management of AVs are provided. Then, a network calculus (NC)-based fleet management method is presented to improve the energy efficiency of AVs and meanwhile offers passengers the best possible experience. At last, a federated learning (FL)-based autonomous driving framework is described to achieve privacy-preserving, intelligent management of the AVs in emerging SCs.

Background Previous investigations have revealed that miR-563 is associated with a number of diseases including the ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament, Parkinson's disease or drug resistance to leukemia. Yet, the role of miR-563 and its molecular mechanism in the initiation and progression of cancers has not been previously explored. In this study, we aimed to provide clues to the function of miR-563 and its direct target in lung cancer. Methods Online informatics software was applied to predict the target genes of miR-563. MiR-563 targeting LIN28B was evaluated through the luciferase reporter gene analysis. The effect of miR-563 on LIN28B at the level of RNA and protein was detected using RT-PCR and immunoblotting. The ability of proliferation of human lung cancer A549 was examined by MTT assay. RNA interference targeting LIN28B was examined through immunoblotting. The level of miR-563 and LIN28B and their correlation were analyzed in 27 cases of lung tumor tissues by real-time PCR. Results Oncogenic LIN28B was identified as one of the target genes of miR-563 in lung cancer cells. MiR-563 dose-dependently decreased the LIN28B RNA level and subsequently its protein level in the cells. Cell proliferation was suppressed by ectopic miR-563 expression and was accelerated after endogenous miR-563 was knocked down by its inhibitor. However, silence in LIN28B reversed promotion of cell proliferation by the inhibition of miR-563. In lung cancer tissues, miR-563 was decreased and negative correlation of miR-563 and LIN28B was shown. Conclusion MiR-563 plays a tumor suppressive role in lung cancer progression via targeting oncogenic LIN28B.

Antibody class switch recombination (CSR) in B lymphocytes replaces immunoglobulin heavy chain locus (Igh) Cμ constant region exons (CHs) with one of six CHs lying 100–200 kb downstream1. Each CH is flanked upstream by an I promoter and long repetitive switch (S) region1. Cytokines and activators induce activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID)2 and I-promoter transcription, with 3′ IgH regulatory region (3′ IgHRR) enhancers controlling the latter via I-promoter competition for long-range 3′ IgHRR interactions3–8. Transcription through donor Sμ and an activated downstream acceptor S-region targets AID-generated deamination lesions at, potentially, any of hundreds of individual S-region deamination motifs9–11. General DNA repair pathways convert these lesions to double-stranded breaks (DSBs) and join an Sμ-upstream DSB-end to an acceptor S-region-downstream DSB-end for deletional CSR12. AID-initiated DSBs at targets spread across activated S regions routinely participate in such deletional CSR joining11. Here we report that chromatin loop extrusion underlies the mechanism11 by which IgH organization in cis promotes deletional CSR. In naive B cells, loop extrusion dynamically juxtaposes 3′ IgHRR enhancers with the 200-kb upstream Sμ to generate a CSR centre (CSRC). In CSR-activated primary B cells, I-promoter transcription activates cohesin loading, leading to generation of dynamic subdomains that directionally align a downstream S region with Sμ for deletional CSR. During constitutive Sα CSR in CH12F3 B lymphoma cells, inversional CSR can be activated by insertion of a CTCF-binding element (CBE)-based impediment in the extrusion path. CBE insertion also inactivates upstream S-region CSR and converts adjacent downstream sequences into an ectopic S region by inhibiting and promoting their dynamic alignment with Sμ in the CSRC, respectively. Our findings suggest that, in a CSRC, dynamically impeded cohesin-mediated loop extrusion juxtaposes proper ends of AID-initiated donor and acceptor S-region DSBs for deletional CSR. Such a mechanism might also contribute to pathogenic DSB joining genome-wide. Chromatin loop extrusion has fundamental mechanistic roles in immunoglobulin heavy chain class switch recombination.

Glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) has been confirmed to inhibit ferroptosis in cancer cells, however, whether GPX4 serves as an oncogene is not clear. In this study, the expression of GPX4 and its influence to survival of patients with cancer were analyzed via public databases. Furthermore, the epigenetic regulation of GPX4 and the relation between GPX4 and chemoresistance of different anticancer drugs was also detected. Most importantly, cytological assays were performed to investigate the function of GPX4 in cancer cells. The results showed that GPX4 was higher expressed in cancer tissues than normal and was negatively associated with prognosis of patients. Furthermore, at upstream of GPX4 there was low DNA methylation sites and enhanced level of H3K4me3 and H3K27ac, indicating that high level of GPX4 in cancer may resulted from epigenetic regulation. Moreover, GPX4 was positively related to chemoresistance of anticancer drugs L-685458, lapatinib, palbociclib, and topotecan. In addition, GPX4 may potentially be involved in translation of protein, mitochondrial respiratory chain complex I assembly, electron transport oxidative phosphorylation, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and metabolic pathways. Finally, we detected that GPX4 inhibited ferroptosis in cancer cells, the inhibition of GPX4 via RSL3 could enhance the anticancer effect of cisplatin in vitro and in vivo. In conclusion, GPX4 acts as an oncogene and inhibits ferroptosis in cancer cells, the anticancer effect of cisplatin can be enhanced by GPX4 inhibition.

To develop a full-biodegradable thermoresponsive polymer with a wide temperature range, a hydrophilic, biodegradable and biocompatible thermoresponsive polymer having a polylactide backbone polymer and a side chain norbornene group was synthesized by ring-opening polymerization of a norbornene-functionalized lactide, followed by graft of backbone polymer with polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether (MPEG) and modification with isopropylamide (IPA), the latter of which critically influences the phase transition temperature of the copolymer. The effects of polymerization degree (DP), molecular weight of MPEG, the proportion of MPEG and IPA, and the concentration of polymer on the behaviors of the thermoresponsive polymer solution were systematically studied. The Cp ranged from 32 to 72 °C, and it was found that higher number of the MPEG moiety led to higher Cp, whereas the longer isopropylamide group resulted in lower Cp. It is noteworthy that with the unique characteristics, thermosensitivity at body temperature, biodegradability, and a well-defined copolymer structure, the developed thermoresponsive polymer is promising for biomedical applications as an essential material.

As a high-energy-consumption and high-CO2-emission industry in China, the transportation sector has been under increasing pressure to improve its performance. This paper develops a novel parallel DEA approach to measure Chinese transportation sector’s energy and environmental performance (EEP) over all possible weights, which is to avoid the risk of using the extreme or the most favorable weights in performance evaluation. In our method, the transportation sector is consisted of two parallel subsystems (passenger transportation and freight transportation) with shared inputs and undesirable shared outputs. All possible weights are considered in the EEP evaluation, then the EEP of a transportation sector is represented by a ranking interval. Finally, the proposed approach is applied to the transportation sectors in 30 Chinese provinces. Results show that the best and the worst ranking of most provinces vary greatly. Besides, the EEP of most provinces is hard to dominate others strictly, but the general tendency is the EEP of eastern provinces better than western provinces. Furthermore, the EEP difference of some adjacent provinces with similar features is distinct. These findings are not all the same as previous studies, which verifies the necessity of considering all possible weights in performance evaluation. Therefore, our method provides a new point of view in performance evaluation and can give more robust results for decision makers.