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Tracking the behavior trajectories in pigs in group is becoming increasingly important for welfare feeding. A novel method was proposed in this study to accurately track individual trajectories of pigs in group and analyze their behavior characteristics. First, a multi-pig trajectory tracking model was established based on DeepLabCut (DLC) to realize the daily trajectory tracking of piglets. Second, a high-dimensional spatiotemporal feature model was established based on kernel principal component analysis (KPCA) to achieve nonlinear trajectory optimal clustering. At the same time, the abnormal trajectory correction model was established from five dimensions (semantic, space, angle, time, and velocity) to avoid trajectory loss and drift. Finally, the thermal map of the track distribution was established to analyze the four activity areas of the piggery (resting, drinking, excretion, and feeding areas). Experimental results show that the trajectory tracking accuracy of our method reaches 96.88%, the tracking speed is 350 fps, and the loss value is 0.002. Thus, the method based on DLC–KPCA can meet the requirements of identification of piggery area and tracking of piglets’ behavior. This study is helpful for automatic monitoring of animal behavior and provides data support for breeding.

Biological tissue damage monitoring is an indispensable part of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment. As a nonlinear method, multi-scale permutation entropy (MPE) is widely used in the monitoring of biological tissue. However, the traditional MPE method neglects the amplitude information when calculating the time series complexity, and the stability of MPE is poor due to the defects in the coarse-grained process. In order to solve the above problems, the method of improved coarse-grained multi-scale weighted permutation entropy (IMWPE) is proposed in this paper. Compared with the MPE, the IMWPE method not only includes the amplitude of signal when calculating the signal complexity, but also improves the stability of entropy value. The IMWPE method is applied to the HIFU echo signals during HIFU treatment, and the probabilistic neural network (PNN) is used for monitoring the biological tissue damage. The results show that compared with multi-scale sample entropy (MSE)-PNN and MPE-PNN methods, the proposed IMWPE-PNN method can correctly identify all the normal tissues, and can more effectively identify damaged tissues and denatured tissues. The recognition rate for the three kinds of biological tissues is higher, up to 96.7%. This means that the IMWPE-PNN method can better monitor the status of biological tissue damage during HIFU treatment.

Background: Laboratory test in transport is a critical component of patient care, and capillary blood is a preferred sample type particularly in children. This study evaluated the performance of capillary blood testing on the epoc Point of Care Blood Analysis System (Alere Inc). Methods: Ten fresh venous blood samples was tested on the epoc system under the capillary mode. Correlation with GEM 4000 (Instrumentation Laboratory) was examined for Na+, K+, Cl-, Ca2+, glucose, lactate, hematocrit, hemoglobin, pO2, pCO2, and pH, and correlation with serum tested on Vitros 5600 (Ortho Clinical Diagnostics) was examined for creatinine. Eight paired capillary and venous blood was tested on epoc and ABL800 (Radiometer) for the correlation of Na+, K+, Cl-, Ca2+, glucose, lactate, hematocrit, hemoglobin, pCO2, and pH. Capillary blood from 23 apparently healthy volunteers was tested on the epoc system to assess the concordance to reference ranges used locally. Results: Deming regression correlation coefficients for all the comparisons were above 0.65 except for ionized Ca2+. Accordance of greater than 85% to the local reference ranges were found in all assays with the exception of pO2 and Cl-. Conclusion: Data from this study indicates that capillary blood tests on the epoc system provide comparable results to reference method for these assays, Na+, K+, glucose, lactate, hematocrit, hemoglobin, pCO2, and pH. Further validation in critically ill patients is needed to implement the epoc system in patient transport. Impact of the study: This study demonstrated that capillary blood tests on the epoc Point of Care Blood Analysis System give comparable results to other chemistry analyzers for major blood gas and critical tests. The results are informative to institutions where pre-hospital and inter-hospital laboratory testing on capillary blood is a critical component of patient point of care testing. Keywords: Epoc, Capillary, Transport, Blood gas, Point of care

Abstract Background Persistent post-surgical pain is a difficult clinical problem. In this study, we intend to explore the mechanism underlying the persistent post-surgical pain in SMIR (skin/muscle incision and retraction) rats. Methods First of all, the expression of membrane protein Nav1.7 and p-p65 (Phosphorylation of p65) were detected in ipsilateral L4–6 DRGs of SMIR rats by western-blot and immunostaining. Then with ProTx-II (Nav1.7 blocker) or PDTC (p65 inhibitor) were intrathecally injected while the change of Nav1.7 expression and mechanical withdrawal threshold were detected. Finally chromatin immunoprecipitation assay method was used to detect whether could p-p65 bind in the Nav1.7 gene promoter region directly. Results The results shows that mechanical hyperalgesia occurs following SMIR model, from 5 day (d) and lasted more than 20d after surgery. Meanwhile, the expression of Nav1.7 was up-regulated at 10d, 15d and 20d after surgery compared with naïve group. The expression of p-p65 was up-regulated at 10d and 15d compared with incision group. The mechanical hyperalgesia induced by SMIR was reversed after blocking Nav1.7 or inhibiting p65. Furthermore, Nav1.7 expression was down-regulated when p-p65 was inhibited and p-p65 could combine with the Nav1.7 gene promoter region directly. Conclusion Membrane protein Nav1.7 could participate in the peripheral sensitization of persistent post-surgical pain, which may be regulated by p-p65.

The first step in the analysis of high-throughput experiment results is often to identify genes or proteins with certain characteristics, such as genes being differentially expressed (DE). To gain more insights into the underlying biology, functional enrichment analysis is then conducted to provide functional interpretation for the identified genes or proteins. The hypergeometric P value has been widely used to investigate whether genes from predefined functional terms, e.g., Reactome, are enriched in the DE genes. The hypergeometric P value has several limitations: (1) computed independently for each term, thus neglecting biological dependence; (2) subject to a size constraint that leads to the tendency of selecting less-specific terms. In this paper, a Bayesian approach is proposed to overcome these limitations by incorporating the interconnected dependence structure of biological functions in the Reactome database through a CAR prior in a Bayesian hierarchical logistic model. The inference on functional enrichment is then based on posterior probabilities that are immune to the size constraint. This method can detect moderate but consistent enrichment signals and identify sets of closely related and biologically meaningful functional terms rather than isolated terms. The performance of the Bayesian method is demonstrated via a simulation study and a real data application.

Abstract The digit ratio has been used as a retrospective noninvasive biomarker to investigate the putative effects of prenatal exposure to androgens. In recent years, many scholars have paid attention to the association between 2D:4D (the second and fourth digits) and prostatic cancer. This study explored the prognostic significance of digit ratio in prostate cancer patients. We reviewed the progressive status and survival of 382 prostate cancer patients who had received hormone therapy at our institutions. Survival of clinicopathological variables analyzed as categorical variables were determined by the log-rank test. According to Cox’s proportional hazards analysis, R2D:4D, L2D:4D, PSA at 6 month,bone metastasis were significant independent factors for prostate cancer. The risk of any progression of prostate cancer similarly depressed with increasing 2D:4D, for any progression (R2D:4D HR = 0.71, p = 0.003; L2D:4D HR = 0.67, p = 0.001), for cancer-specific death (R2D:4D HR = 0.67, p = 0.025; L2D:4D HR = 0.74, p = 0.036). Digit ratio may not only have predictive value in risk but also prognosis of prostatic cancer. This finding suggests that low 2D:4D can be used as prognostic factors to identify patients with a poor prognosis. These patients may benefit from more aggressive management.

Abstract Soil moisture and salt play key roles in regulating desert plant nutrient cycles on a local scale. However, information on the response of plant nutrient stoichiometric patterns to soil water and salt gradients is limited. Here, we assessed leaf N and P levels of 18 species of desert plants and measured the corresponding soil nutrient, water and salt concentrations, at four dry sites, five humid-saline sites and four humid-non-saline sites (reference sites) along a transect in a temperate desert in Xinjiang Province, northwest China. Our results indicated that the desert plants had lower N and P concentrations and higher N:P mass ratios in dry and humid-saline sites than in the humid-non-saline sites. Unlike the single-factor effect of salinity driving the plasticity of species N concentration, aridity and salinity interacted in their impact on the plasticity of plant P and the N:P ratio. Moreover, the plant community N and P concentrations and N:P ratio exhibited significant positive linear and nonlinear correlations with soil moisture in shallow and deep soil, respectively. Aridity reduced the N plasticity and increased P plasticity of the plant community. The results strongly supported the hypothesis that soil moisture and salt concentration were the dominant drivers of leaf N and P concentrations and their plasticity across species and community scales.

In this paper, we study three-body decays B(s)→ρf0(X)→ρπ−π+ in the perturbative QCD (pQCD) factorization approach. By using two-pion distribution amplitudes (DAs), these decays can proceed mainly via quasi-two-body channels. The Flatté model for the f0(980) resonance and the Breit–Wigner formula for the f0(500), f0(1500), and f0(1790) resonances are adopted to parameterize the time-like scalar form factors. We also use Bugg's model for the wide f0(500) as a comparison. We evaluate S-wave resonance contributions, and show the contributions to the B(s)→ρπ+π− decay spectrums with respect to the two-pion invariant mass M(π+π−). The pQCD prediction of B→ρf0(500) is B(B0→ρ0f0(500))=4.43×10−8, B(B+→ρ+f0(500))=3.84×10−8 for Breit–Wigner model, and B(B0→ρ0f0(500))=4.91×10−8, B(B+→ρ+f0(500))=4.07×10−8 for Bugg's model. We also predict other resonance contributions B(Bs→ρ0f0(980))=8.91×10−8, B(Bs→ρ0f0(1500))=1.43×10−8 and B(Bs→ρ0f0(1790))=2.78×10−9. This study in pQCD approach can provide a ready reference to the running and forthcoming experiments. Further improvements in theories and experiments are expected so that we can understand the inner structure of the scalar mesons f0.

Abstract Background During weaning, babies and young animal often experience diarrhea from food intolerance and/or decreasing levels of maternal antibodies, and diarrhea tends to be particularly severe during the early-weaned period, which often exhibits an underdeveloped immune system, a disturbed gut environment and results in nutrient malabsorption and dehydration. It was deduced that neuroendocrine might have close relation with diarrhea, especially 5-HT. Methods To explore the role of serotonin (5-HT) in weaning mice subjected to stress-induced diarrhea, 21-day-old weaned mice were divided into the following groups: control group, stress-induced diarrhea group (restrained by binding the hind limbs and intragastric administration of folium sennae with 0.4 g/mL, 15 mL/kg body weight) and para-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA) + stress-induced diarrhea group (30 mg/mL, 300 mg/kg body weight PCPA intraperitoneal injection before stress-induced diarrhea treatment). Results Based on results from enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, histological staining, lymphocyte proliferation assays and flow cytometry analysis, we found that the mice experienced increases in several stress markers, which coincided with severe diarrhea and an increase in 5-HT levels. However, pre-treatment with PCPA resulted in a decrease in the stress indicators and the severity of diarrhea, which correlated with decreased 5-HT levels. Interestingly, stress-induced diarrhea caused changes in various aspects of the immune system, including the amount of intraepithelium lymphocytes, CD4+/CD8+ T lymphocyte populations, B and T lymphocyte proliferation, and the secretion of sIgA and cytokines in the small intestine and ileum. However, these immune system changes could be reversed upon treatment with PCPA. Conclusions We observed a distinct correlation between 5-HT levels and the occurrence of stress-induced diarrhea in weaning mice, which may result in the deregulation of the mucosal immune system.

The computational uncertainty principle states that the numerical computation of nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) should use appropriately sized time steps to obtain reliable solutions. However, the interval of effective step size (IES) has not been thoroughly explored theoretically. In this paper, by using a general estimation for the total error of the numerical solutions of ODEs, a method is proposed for determining an approximate IES by translating the functions for truncation and rounding errors. It also illustrates this process with an example. Moreover, the relationship between the IES and its approximation is found, and the relative error of the approximation with respect to the IES is given. In addition, variation in the IES with increasing integration time is studied, which can provide an explanation for the observed numerical results. The findings contribute to computational step-size choice for reliable numerical solutions.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is essential for cognitive and memory functions. Abnormal BDNF expression in the central nervous system may impair these functions. Anaesthesia and surgery can induce perioperative neurocognitive disorders (PND). Clinical studies show that BDNF expression is decreased in patients presenting with cognitive impairment after anaesthesia and surgery. However, the molecular mechanism is still unclear. Epigenetic regulation plays an important role in cognition. The hypermethylation of H3K9 is crucial for transcriptional silencing and the onset of cognitive disorders. Here, we hypothesised that H3K9 trimethylation repressed BDNF expression and impaired memory formation or recall during anaesthesia and surgery. Laparotomy under isoflurane inhalation anaesthesia, behavioural tests, Western blotting, quantitative real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), and immunohistochemistry were used in this study. BDNF expression was decreased in the hippocampus after anaesthesia and surgery. Cognitive impairment affected memory formation but not recall. The trimethylation of H3K9 downregulated BDNF expression. The overexpression of BDNF or use of exogenous BDNF improved the impairment of memory formation caused by anaesthesia and surgery. Therefore, inhibiting H3K9 trimethylation and increasing the expression of BDNF may help prevent PND in the clinical setting.

Objective: To identify the incidence and related factors for hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) among older bedridden patients in China.Study design and setting: This multicenter registry data-based study conducted between November 2015 and March 2016 surveyed 7,324 older bedridden patients from 25 hospitals in China (six tertiary, 12 non-tertiary, and seven community hospitals). The occurrence of HAP among all participants was monitored by trained investigators. Demographics, hospitalization information and comorbidity differences were compared between patients with and without HAP. A multilevel regression analysis was used to explore the factors associated with HAP.Results: Among 7,324 older bedridden patients, 566 patients were diagnosed with HAP. The incidence of HAP in this study was 13.9 per 1,000 person-days. There were statistical differences in gender, age, length of bedridden days, BMI, smoking, department, undergoing general anesthesia surgery, ventilator application, Charlson comorbity index (CCI) score, disturbance of consciousness, tranquilizer use, glucocorticosteroid use, and antibiotic use between patients with HAP and patients without HAP (all p < 0.05). Multilevel regression analysis found no significant variance for HAP at the hospital level (0.332, t = 1.875, p > 0.05). There were significant differences for the occurrence of HAP among different departments (0.553, t = 4.320, p < 0.01). The incidence density of HAP was highest in the ICU (30.1‰) among the selected departments, followed by the departments of neurosurgery (18.7‰) and neurology medicine (16.6‰). Individual patient-level factors, including older age, disturbance of consciousness, total CCI score, ICU admission, and glucocorticoid and antibiotic use, were found to be associated with the occurrence of HAP (all p < 0.05).Conclusion: A relatively high incidence density of HAP among older bedridden patients was identified, as well as several factors associated with HAP among the population. This suggests that attention should be paid to the effective management of these related factors of older bedridden patients to reduce the occurrence of HAP.

Abstract Culturing embryonic stem cells (ESCs) in vitro usually requires animal‐derived trophoblast cells, which may cause pathogenic and immune reactions; moreover, the poor repeatability between batches hinders the clinical application of ESCs. Therefore, it is essential to synthesize a xenogeneic‐free and chemically well‐defined biomaterial substrate for maintaining ESC pluripotency. Herein, the effects of structurally tunable reduced graphene oxide (RGO) substrates with different physicochemical properties on ESC pluripotency are studied. Colony formation and CCK‐8 assays show that the RGO substrate with an average 30 µm pore size promotes cell survival and proliferation. The unannealed RGO substrate promotes ESC proliferation significantly better than the annealed substrate due to the interfacial hydrophilic groups. The RGO substrate can also maintain ESC for a long time. Additionally, immunofluorescence staining shows that ESCs cultured on an RGO substrate highly express E‐cadherin and β‐catenin, whereas after being modified by Dickkopf‐related protein 1, the RGO substrate is unable to sustain ESC pluripotency. Furthermore, the cell line that interferes with E‐cadherin is also unable to maintain pluripotency. These results confirm that the RGO substrate maintains ESC pluripotency by promoting E‐cadherin‐mediated cell–cell interaction and Wnt signaling.

Cardiac fibrosis is the most important mechanism contributing to cardiac remodeling after myocardial infarction (MI). VPO1 is a heme enzyme that uses hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to produce hypochlorous acid (HOCl). Our previous study has demonstrated that VPO1 regulates myocardial ischemic reperfusion and renal fibrosis. We investigated the role of VPO1 in cardiac fibrosis after MI. The results showed that VPO1 expression was robustly upregulated in the failing human heart with ischemic cardiomyopathy and in a murine model of MI accompanied by severe cardiac fibrosis. Most importantly, knockdown of VPO1 by tail vein injection of VPO1 siRNA significantly reduced cardiac fibrosis and improved cardiac function and survival rate. In VPO1 knockdown mouse model and cardiac fibroblasts cultured with TGF-β1, VPO1 contributes to cardiac fibroblasts differentiation, migration, collagen I synthesis and proliferation. Mechanistically, the fibrotic effects following MI of VPO1 manifested partially through HOCl formation to activate Smad2/3 and ERK1/2. Thus, we conclude that VPO1 is a crucial regulator of cardiac fibrosis after MI by mediating HOCl/Smad2/3 and ERK1/2 signaling pathways, implying a promising therapeutic target in ischemic cardiomyopathy. Keywords: Cardiac fibrosis, Myocardial infarction, Vascular peroxidase1, Cardiac remodeling, Cardiac fibroblasts

BackgroundGreen light penetrates the skull and has directly affected on the secretion of melatonin in plasma, which regulates the endocrine activities to influence the muscle growth, satellite cell mitotic activity and quality properties of meat from the embryonic period to posthatch in chick. Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide 6-38 (PACAP6-38) could inhibit the synthesis and secretion of pineal melatonin. Finding a new way for exploring the mechanism of light-regulated muscle growth in ovo is essential for promoting the productive performance in poultry.MethodsChick embryos were exposed to darkness (D-group) and green light (G-group) throughout the embryonic period, and injected with PACAP6-38 or saline at embryonic day 8. Plasma hormone, skeletal muscle fiber areas, satellite cell proliferation activity, paired domain homeobox transcription factor 7 and myogenic regulatory factors were observed.ResultsBy saline treatment, the percentage of proliferating cell nuclear antigen immunoreactive cells and mitotic activity of satellite cells in skeletal muscle were higher in G-group than those of in D-group at post-hatching day 0. With the increase of plasma melatonin, green light promoted the secretion of growth hormone (GH) and insulin like factor 1 (IGF-1) in plasma, the satellite cell proliferation, the size of muscle fiber, as well as the mRNA expressions of Pax7, myogenic regulatory factors and IGF-1R. After PACAP6-38 treatment to inhibit the secretion of melatonin in ovo, aforementioned parameters were remarkably decreased and the difference of these parameters was disappeared between D-group and G-group.ConclusionThese data indicated that stimulation with monochromatic green light during incubation enhanced the secretion of melatonin and up-regulation of GH-IGF-1 axis to activate the satellite cells proliferation and myofiber formation, involving the expression of Pax7 and myogenic regulatory factors.

On a global scale, the demand for mineral products has increased substantially with economic development. Consequently, the mining of mineral resources results in the production and accumulation of a large number of tailings, causing many problems with respect to mining, the environment, and the economy. In the mining process, tailings must be reasonably treated to prevent them from entering the water cycle through rivers. The storage of tailings under water can effectively hinder the chemical reactions that they undergo. Therefore, it is a critical practice to store these substances in ponds or impoundments behind dams. However, tailings dams frequently fail, resulting in the discharge of significant quantities of tailings into the natural environment, thereby causing grievous casualties and serious economic losses. This paper discusses reasons including seepage, foundation failure, overtopping, and earthquake for tailings dam failures and explores failure mechanisms by referring to the available literature. This research has determined that the failure of tailings dams is closely related to the state of the country’s economy. Most of the tailings dam breakages in developed countries occurred decades ago. In recent years, the proportion of tailings dam failures in developing countries has been relatively high. Considering the serious damages caused by tailings dam breakage, it is important to understand the main reasons and mechanisms for their failure. The purpose of this review is to provide a reference for the design and construction to the building of the tailing dams and to reduce the occurrences of their failure.

Purpose. To investigate the association of ptosis, levator, and jaw winking in Marcus Gunn jaw-winking synkinesis (MGJWS), and the risk factor of preservation and outcomes of the unilateral levator excision and frontalis suspension. Methods. Clinical features of MGJWS case series from 2011 to 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. Association between jaw winking and ptosis/levator function was statistically analyzed. The patients underwent unilateral levator excision and frontalis suspension using silicone rod or autogenous fascia lata. Clinical outcomes were evaluated in operated patients and the independent risk factors of residual jaw winking were investigated after a long follow-up. Results. There were 42 MGJWS patients in 2011 to 2018, accounting for 2.87% of all congenital blepharoptosis. 80% of mild jaw winking was accompanied with mild ptosis and fair levator function, and moderate-to-severe jaw winking was often accompanied with moderate-to-severe ptosis and poor levator function (P

Background: The ability to distinguish between a normal thymus, thymic hyperplasia, and thymoma should aid in clinical management and decision making for patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). We sought to determine the accuracy of routine radiological examinations in predicting thymic pathology.Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the records of patients with MG who had undergone thymectomy from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. Each patient received at least one initial radiological diagnosis and one histological diagnosis, and the patients were classified into the all-patient, CT, contrast CT, and MRI groups. The sensitivity, accuracy and specificity of each group were calculated for different histological types.Results: This study included 114 patients. All sensitivity, specificity and accuracy values except for sensitivity to hyperplasia in each group for different histological types were satisfactory. MRI had higher sensitivity (68.4, 95% CI: 43.5–87.4%) to histological hyperplasia than did CT (14.3, 95% CI: 0.4–57.9%) and contrast CT (26.7, 95% CI: 7.8–55.1%). Contrast CT had higher specificity (97.9, 95% CI: 88.9–99.95%) for histological hyperplasia than did MRI (88.5, 95% CI: 69.9–97.6%).Discussion: For patients with MG, CT, contrast CT, and MRI examinations can effectively identify thymoma. Additionally, compared with CT or contrast CT, MRI may have a stronger ability to distinguish thymoma and detect hyperplasia.

Flaviviruses are still a hidden threat to global human safety, as we are reminded by recent reports of dengue virus infections in Singapore and African-lineage-like Zika virus infections in Brazil. Therapeutic drugs or vaccines for flavivirus infections are in urgent need but are not well developed. The Flaviviridae family comprises a large group of enveloped viruses with a single-strand RNA genome of positive polarity. The genome of flavivirus encodes ten proteins, and each of them plays a different and important role in viral infection. In this review, we briefly summarized the major information of flavivirus and further introduced some strategies for the design and development of vaccines and anti-flavivirus compound drugs based on the structure of the viral proteins. There is no doubt that in the past few years, studies of antiviral drugs have achieved solid progress based on better understanding of the flavivirus biology. However, currently, there are no fully effective antiviral drugs or vaccines for most flaviviruses. We hope that this review may provide useful information for future development of anti-flavivirus drugs and vaccines.

Background: Lung-transplant (LT) recipients are at high risk for COVID-19 due to immunosuppression and respiratory tropism of SARS-CoV-2. The information on the effect of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines to elicit immunogenic responses after a two-dose (2D) regimen in LT recipients is sparse. Thus, we assessed the effect of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines’ 2D regimen on anti-spike responses in immunocompromised LT recipients. Methods: We utilized serum samples from LT recipients vaccinated for SARS-CoV-2 with 2D of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines and 2D-vaccinated naïve (non-transplanted and non-exposed to COVID-19) group. Antibody responses were assessed using the FDA-approved SARS-CoV-2 anti-nucleocapsid protein IgG assay (IgGNC), the SARS-CoV-2 anti-spike protein IgM assay (IgMSP), and the SARS-CoV-2 anti-spike protein IgG II assay (IgGSP). CD4+ T-cell activity was assessed as a marker of immune competence using the ImmuKnow® assay. Results: About 25% (18/73) of SARS-CoV-2 uninfected-LT patients generated a positive spike-IgG response following 2D of vaccines, with 36% (9/25) in the Moderna cohort and only 19% (9/48) in the Pfizer cohort. 2D in LT patients elicited a significantly lesser median IgGSP response (1.7 AU/mL, 95% CI: 0.6–7.5 AU/mL) compared to non-transplanted, uninfected naïve subjects (14,209 AU/mL, 95% CI: 11,261–18,836 AU/mL; p < 0.0001). In LT patients, the Moderna-evoked seropositivity trend was higher than Pfizer. Conclusion: 2D COVID-19 vaccination elicits a dampened serological response in LT patients. Whether assessing other arms of host immunity combined with a higher vaccine dose can better capture and elicit improved immunogenicity in this immunocompromised population warrants investigation.

Cardiotoxicity is one of the main side effects of doxorubicin (Dox) treatment. Dox could induce oxidative stress, leading to an opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) and apoptosis in cardiomyocytes. Previous studies have shown that Cryptotanshinone (Cts) has potential cardioprotective effects, but its role in Dox-induced cardiotoxicity (DIC) remains unknown. A Dox-stimulated H9C2 cell model was established. The effects of Cts on cell viability, reactive oxygen species (ROS), superoxide ion accumulation, apoptosis and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) were evaluated. Expressions of proteins in Akt-GSK-3β pathway were detected by Western blot. An Akt inhibitor was applied to investigate the effects of Cts on the Akt-GSK-3β pathway. The effects of Cts on the binding of p-GSK-3β to ANT and the formation of the ANT-CypD complex were explored by immunoprecipitation assay. The results showed that Cts could increase cell viability, reduce ROS levels, inhibit apoptosis and protect mitochondrial membrane integrity. Cts increased phosphorylated levels of Akt and GSK-3β. After cells were co-treated with an Akt inhibitor, the effects of Cts were abolished. An immunoprecipitation assay showed that Cts significantly increased GSK-3β-ANT interaction and attenuated Dox-induced formation of the ANT-CypD complex, thereby inhibiting opening of the mPTP. In conclusion, Cts could ameliorate oxidative stress and apoptosis via the Akt-GSK-3β-mPTP pathway.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

While atmospheric deposition plays a vital role in cleaning air pollutants, it also supplies toxic heavy metals and metalloids (MMs) to the receiving terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and threatens human health through food chains. To characterize the input of atmospheric deposition to agricultural soils, bulk rain samples were collected on an event basis at a rural site in the North China Plain during 2016–2020. The results show that higher concentrations of MMs in bulk rain samples were associated with western and southern air masses passing polluted areas. In addition, the annual deposition flux of MMs tends to decline during the study period, coinciding with the inter-annual variations of particulate matter rather than the precipitation amounts. Of note, the deposition flux of MMs that exist entirely in fine particles declined significantly compared to those that exist in coarse particulate form, indicating that the clean air actions implemented in recent years were highly effective in reducing ambient MMs from anthropogenic emissions. The positive matrix factorization receptor model was also applied to the whole data set for bulk depositions and five sources were identified as agricultural (biomass burning and soil), dust, coal combustion, industrial and traffic emissions. These factors contributed 41%, 24%, 21%, 9% and 5% of the chemical components in bulk depositions, respectively. Future control strategies should tighten the emissions from combustion and soil/dust in the North China Plain to protect agriculture from atmospheric MMs depositions.

Previous studies have shown genetic associations between leprosy and 18 different genes/loci. Here, Wang and colleagues perform genome-wide association study in Han Chinese leprosy patients and describe four novel loci to be associated to the disease.

Field investigations were conducted to identify environmental variables influencing phytoplankton dynamics in Lake Poyang. The results showed that diatoms predominated in the phytoplankton community. Concentrations of nutrients were high, and levels of phytoplankton biomass and chlorophyll a were low. During the low water level period (WLP), from January to May 2013, phytoplankton biomass was low. It increased from July 2013 and peaked in September 2013 during the high WLP. From October 2013 to January 2014, phytoplankton biomass decreased again. Highest values were generally measured in the middle district and lowest in the northern district. It decreased from October 2013 to January 2014. Redundancy analysis showed that water temperature and suspended solids (SS) concentrations were the principal factors regulating the growth of phytoplankton. The variations in SS were contrary to the biomass variations at the spatial level. During the high WLP, the blocking effect of the Yangtze River led to decreased water velocity and prolonged water retention time in Lake Poyang. Due to both the SS sedimentation and increase in water temperature, phytoplankton grew rapidly. Based on these findings, the variety of phytoplankton dynamics was caused by the combined effects of the Yangtze River effect, water temperature, and SS.

The underlying mechanisms between family income and mental health of children merit further investigation. Based on the family stress model and the psychological factors model, we proposed that familial factors (parental depression and parenting) and the individual factor (child self-esteem) would mediate the relationship between family income and child depression concurrently. Data were obtained from a nationally representative longitudinal survey (i.e., the China Family Panel Studies), involving 1,283 families (2,732 parents and 1,384 children). The age of the children ranged from 4 to 15 years (M[subscript age] = 8.04, SD = 1.87) at baseline. Path analysis showed that the effect of family income (in 2010, T1) on child depression (in 2014, T3) was mediated by parental depression (in 2012, T2), parental bonding (in 2012 or 2014, T2 or T3), and child self-esteem (in 2012 or 2014, T2 or T3), in a parallel rather than sequential manner. The findings indicate that health policies and psychosocial interventions that simultaneously improve parental depression, parenting techniques, and child self-esteem would be an effective approach to alleviate the impact of family income on child depression.

The limited lifetime of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) inhibits the further development of the fuel cell industry. Prediction is one of the most effective means for managing the lifetime of a fuel cell because it can assist in the implementation of mitigation actions before a vehicular fuel cell fails by estimating the residual lifetime. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a PEMFC lifetime prediction method for online applications. This paper presents the online prediction method developed for the residual lifetime of a vehicular fuel cell, which utilises data processing with an adaptive extended Kalman filter and a prediction formula. The formula considers different operating conditions and the external environment, which is in accord with the actual operating conditions of fuel cell vehicles. This method realises the online prediction of the residual lifetime of a vehicular fuel cell by updating weight coefficients for the operating conditions and environmental factors. This prediction method was validated and analysed using a simulation. The influences of key parameters on the stability and prediction accuracy of the algorithm were evaluated. The prediction method proposed in this paper can provide a reference for studies on fuel cell lifetime prediction.

Waterlogging has a negative effect on peanut production, but few studies have focused on the relationship between the geographical origin and waterlogging tolerance of peanut varieties. To explore this problem, three different peanut ecotypes (Zhanhong 2, Zhongkaihua 1, and Huayu 39) were waterlogged for 5, 10, and 15 days at seedling stage (S), flowering and pegging stage (F), and pod-filling stage (P), respectively. The relationship between the ecotype and waterlogging tolerance was determined by analyzing the effects of waterlogging on dry matter accumulation, photosynthetic characteristics, yield, and the yield components of peanut. The soil and plant analysis development (SPAD), net photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (Gs), transpiration rate (Tr), and intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci) values in leaves decreased under waterlogging stress, which led to a significant decrease in yield and yield components. The most noticeable effect of waterlogging stress appeared at the P stage and deleterious effects increased with an extension of the duration of waterlogging, where the yield loss was mainly attributed to the decrease in the number of total pods (TP) and the number of full pods (FP). Significant relationships were found between total dry weight (TDW), leaf dry weight (LDW), pod dry weight (PDW), TP, and FP, and the waterlogging stress tolerance index (WTI). Additionally, the waterlogging tolerance of peanut ecotypes is closely related to their geographic origin, where the most waterlogging-resistant ecotype was Zhanhong 2, followed by Zhongkaihua 1 and Huayu 39. Finally, breeding backgrounds and screening indices (SPAD, Pn, dry matter accumulation, and pod characteristics) beneficial to waterlogging tolerance breeding are suggested.

With the increase in the use of renewable energy, especially the development and utilization of solar energy resources, accurate photovoltaic power generation prediction technology will help the promotion of photovoltaic power generation. The amount of photovoltaic power generation depends on weather conditions, and it is easy to produce large fluctuations under different weather conditions. Its power generation has the characteristics of randomness, fluctuation and intermittency. In view of the shortcomings of the traditional BP neural network prediction method, this paper proposes an improved artificial bee colony algorithm. The improved artificial bee colony algorithm is used to optimize the network parameter weights in the traditional BP algorithm, and the two algorithms are merged in global iteration. Based on the characteristics of training light intensity, weather, temperature and historical power value of photovoltaic output power,a photovoltaic power generation prediction model is established. The simulation results show that the improved artificial bee colony algorithm in the neural network’s photovoltaic power generation forecast improves the accuracy and convergence speed of the traditional BP neural network convergence solution, and can provide more comprehensive information for grid power dispatch and control.

Background Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a critical molecular signal in the development of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) formation. Vascular peroxidase 1 (VPO1) catalyzes the production of hypochlorous acid (HOCl) from H2O2 and significantly enhances oxidative stress. The switch from a contractile phenotype to a synthetic one in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) is driven by reactive oxygen species and is recognized as an early and important event in AAA formation. This study aims to determine if VPO1 plays a critical role in the development of AAA by regulating VSMC phenotypic switch. Methods and Results VPO1 is upregulated in human and elastase‐induced mouse aneurysmal tissues compared with healthy control tissues. Additionally, KLF4, a nuclear transcriptional factor, is upregulated in aneurysmatic tissues along with a concomitant downregulation of differentiated smooth muscle cell markers and an increase of synthetic phenotypic markers, indicating VSMC phenotypic switch in these diseased tissues. In cultured VSMCs from rat abdominal aorta, H2O2 treatment significantly increases VPO1 expression and HOCl levels as well as VSMC phenotypic switch. In support of these findings, depletion of VPO1 significantly attenuates the effects of H2O2 and HOCl treatment. Furthermore, HOCl treatment promotes VSMC phenotypic switch and ERK1/2 phosphorylation. Pretreatment with U0126 (a specific inhibitor of ERK1/2) significantly attenuates HOCl‐induced VSMC phenotypic switch. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that VPO1 modulates VSMC phenotypic switch through the H2O2/VPO1/HOCl/ERK1/2 signaling pathway and plays a key role in the development of AAA. Our findings also implicate VPO1 as a novel signaling node that mediates VSMC phenotypic switch and plays a key role in the development of AAA. Clinical Trial Registration URL: www.chictr.org.cn. Unique identifier: ChiCTR1800016922.

Several microRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported as oncogenes or tumor suppressors in many cancers, including gastric cancer (GC). However, the role and molecular mechanism of miR-3129 in GC is largely unknown. We aimed to explore the function and the underlying molecular mechanism of miR-3129 in GC. Cancer tissues and corresponding adjacent tissues were collected from 50 patients with GC, and the expression of miR-3129 was detected by RT-qPCR. The expression of miR-3129 and pRb in human GC cell line SCG7091 was altered by transient transfection. Thereafter, MTT and flow cytometry assays were used to analyze cell viability and cell cycle. The expression of cyclin E, CDK2, CDK2 inhibitors (p16 and 21), and pRb were detected by RT-qPCR and western blot. A significant up-regulation of miR-3129 was observed in GC tissues compared to adjacent tissues. Overexpression of miR-3129 significantly improved cell viability after 4 days of post-transfection. Flow cytometry assay results showed that the miR-3129 overexpression arrested more SGC7901 cells at S phase. Moreover, overexpression of miR-3129 down-regulated the expression of CDK2 inhibitors while it up-regulated the expression levels of cyclin E, CDK2, and pRb. Interestingly, we found that pRb inhibition reversed the effect of miR-3129 inhibitor on cell proliferation in SGC7901 cells, increased cell viability, reduced cells at G0/1 phase, and modulated the expression of proliferation-related factors. Our results revealed that miR-3129 functioned as an oncogene through positive regulation of pRb and may prove to be a promising option for molecular therapy of GC.

According to the speckle feature in Optical coherence tomography (OCT), images with speckle indicate not only noise but also signals, an improved wavelet hierarchical threshold filter (IWHTF) method is proposed. At first, a modified hierarchical threshold-selected algorithm is used to prevent signals from being removed by assessing suitable thresholds for different noise levels. Then, an improved wavelet threshold function based on two traditional threshold functions is proposed to trade-off between speckle removing and sharpness degradation. The de-noising results of an OCT finger skin image shows that the IWHTF method obtains better objective evaluation metrics and visual image quality improvement. When α=0.2, β=5.0 and K=1.2, the improved method can achieve 9.58dB improvement in signal-to-noise ratio, with sharpness degraded by 3.81%.

PURPOSE:To describe the association between major complications of immobility (pressure ulcer, pneumonia, deep vein thrombosis and urinary tract infection) during hospitalization and the patients' health-related quality of life after discharge. METHODS:The data were obtained from a multi-center study conducted in 2015. Complications of immobility during hospitalization was measured by case report form and quality of life after discharge was measured using the EQ-5D scale by telephone interview. Multilevel mixed-effects models were used to explore the association of complications and responses in the EQ-5D dimensions after controlling for important covariates. RESULTS:Among the 20,515 bedridden patients, 2,601(12.72%) patients experienced at least one of the major complications of immobility during hospitalization, including pressure ulcer (527, 2.57%), deep vein thrombosis (343, 1.67%), pneumonia (1647, 8.16%), and urinary tract infection (265, 1.29%). Patients with any of the four complications during hospitalization reported more problems in all EQ-5D dimensions except for pain/discomfort, and had lower mean EQ-VAS scores than those without any complications. The four complications all showed significant associations with the proportion of reported problems in certain dimensions after adjustment for confounding variables. CONCLUSIONS:Major complications of immobility were significantly associated with reduced health related quality of life. Prevention of complications is critical to reduce the burden of decreased quality of life for bedridden patients.

Identifying the plants aphids have fed on can increase our understanding of their roles in food webs, and help in improving management and implementation control strategies in agricultural systems. Field sampling and laboratory experiments were carried out to determine the stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15 N) in three different varieties of cotton and the aphids (Aphis gossypii) that fed on these varieties. The results were used to test the hypothesis that stable isotope signatures of aphids that have fed on different varieties of cotton differ. Two-dimensional plots of stable isotope signatures for aphids and the cotton varieties they fed on displayed a non-overlapping pattern, indicating that stable isotope signatures of the three cotton varieties and the aphids that fed on them differed. The results indicate that stable isotope analysis can potentially be used to identify aphids that have fed on different varieties of cotton. When the stable isotope signatures of diets clearly differ then it is highly likely the consumers will be distinguishable.

Over the past few decades, urban freeway congestion has been highly recognized as a serious and worsening traffic problem in the world. To relieve freeway congestion, several active traffic and demand management (ATDM) methods have been developed. Among them, variable speed limit (VSL) aims at regulating freeway mainline flow upstream to meet existing capacity and to harmonize vehicle speed. However, congestion may still be inevitable even with VSL implemented due to extremely high demand in actual practice. This study modified an existing VSL strategy by adding a new local constraint to suggest an achievable speed limit during the control period. As a queue is a product of the congestion phenomenon in freeway, the incentives of a queue build-up in the applied coordinated VSL control situation were analyzed. Considering a congestion occurrence (a queue build-up) characterized by a sudden and sharp speed drop, speed contours were utilized to demonstrate the congestion distribution over a whole freeway network in various scenarios. Finally, congestion distributions found in both VSL control and non-VS control situations for various scenarios were investigated to explore the impact of the applied coordinated VSL control on the congestion distribution. An authentic stretch of Whitemud Drive (WMD), an urban freeway corridor in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, was employed to implement this modified coordinated VSL control strategy; and a calibrated micro-simulation VISSIM model (model functions) was applied as the substitute of the real-world traffic system to test the above mentioned performance. The exploration task in this study can lay the groundwork for future research on how to improve the presented VSL control strategy for achieving the congestion mitigation effect on freeway.

Endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress likely play roles in PM2.5-induced harmful effects. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), the major polyphenolic constituent of green tea, is a potent antioxidant that exerts protective effects on cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in part by scavenging free radicals. The exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is responsible for certain CVDs. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether EGCG could also inhibit PM2.5-induced oxidative stress by activating the nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) pathway in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). PM2.5 (200 μg/mL) increased both cell death and intracellular ROS levels significantly, whereas EGCG (50–400 μM) inhibited these effects in a concentration-dependent manner. Western blotting and PCR demonstrated that EGCG increased Nrf2 and HO-1 expression in HUVECs that had been exposed to PM2.5. PD98059 (a selective inhibitor of extracellular signal regulated kinase [ERK]-1/2) and SB203580 (a selective inhibitor of p38 MAPK), but not SP600125 (a selective inhibitor of c-jun N-terminal kinase [JNK]), attenuated the EGCG-induced Nrf2 and HO-1 expression. In addition, silencing Nrf2 abolished EGCG-induced Nrf2 and HO-1 upregulation and enhancement of cell viability. The present study suggests that EGCG protects HUVECs from PM2.5-induced oxidative stress injury by upregulating Nrf2/HO-1 via activation of the p38 MAPK and the ERK1/2 signaling pathways.

Peripheral nerve injury increased the expression of the DNA methyltransferase 3A (Dnmt3a) mRNA and its encoding Dnmt3a protein in injured dorsal root ganglia (DRG). This increase is considered as an endogenous instigator in neuropathic pain genesis through epigenetic silencing of pain-associated genes (such as Oprm1) in injured DRG. However, how DRG DNMT3a is increased following peripheral nerve injury is still elusive. We reported here that peripheral nerve injury caused by the fifth spinal nerve ligation (SNL) downregulated microRNA (miR)-143 expression in injured DRG. This downregulation was required for SNL-induced DRG Dnmt3a increase as rescuing miR-143 downregulation through microinjection of miR-143 mimics into injured DRG blocked the SNL-induced increase in Dnmt3a and restored the SNL-induced decreases in Oprm1 mRNA and its encoding mu opioid receptor (MOR) in injured DRG, impaired spinal cord central sensitization and neuropathic pain, and improved morphine analgesic effects following SNL. Mimicking SNL-induced DRG miR-143 downregulation through DRG microinjection of miR143 inhibitors in naive rats increased the expression of Dnmt3a and reduced the expression of Oprm1 mRNA and MOR in injected DRG and produced neuropathic pain-like symptoms. These findings suggest that miR-143 is a negative regulator in Dnmt3a expression in the DRG under neuropathic pain conditions and may be a potential target for therapeutic management of neuropathic pain.

Mature spermatozoa have highly condensed DNA that is essentially silent both transcriptionally and translationally. Therefore, post translational modifications are very important for regulating sperm motility, morphology, and for male fertility in general. Protein sumoylation was recently demonstrated in human and rodent spermatozoa, with potential consequences for sperm motility and DNA integrity. We examined the expression and localization of small ubiquitin-related modifier-1 (SUMO-1) in the sperm of water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) using immunofluorescence analysis. We confirmed the expression of SUMO-1 in the acrosome. We further found that SUMO-1 was lost if the acrosome reaction was induced by calcium ionophore A23187. Proteins modified or conjugated by SUMO-1 in water buffalo sperm were pulled down and analyzed by mass spectrometry. Sixty proteins were identified, including proteins important for sperm morphology and motility, such as relaxin receptors and cytoskeletal proteins, including tubulin chains, actins, and dyneins. Forty-six proteins were predicted as potential sumoylation targets. The expression of SUMO-1 in the acrosome region of water buffalo sperm and the identification of potentially SUMOylated proteins important for sperm function implicates sumoylation as a crucial PTM related to sperm function.

Nav1.3 is a tetrodotoxin-sensitive isoform among voltage-gated sodium channels that are closely associated with neuropathic pain. It can be up-regulated following nerve injury, but its biological function remains uncertain. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous non-coding RNAs that can regulate post-transcriptional gene expression by binding with their target mRNAs. Using Target Scan software, we discovered that SCN3A is the major target of miR-30b, and we then determined whether miR-30b regulated the expression of Nav1.3 by transfecting miR-30b agomir through the stimulation of TNF-α or by transfecting miR-30b antagomir in primary dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. The spinal nerve ligation (SNL) model was used to determine the contribution of miR-30b to neuropathic pain, to evaluate changes in Nav1.3 mRNA and protein expression, and to understand the sensitivity of rats to mechanical and thermal stimuli. Our results showed that miR-30b agomir transfection down-regulated Nav1.3 mRNA stimulated with TNF-α in primary DRG neurons. Moreover, miR-30b overexpression significantly attenuated neuropathic pain induced by SNL, with decreases in the expression of Nav1.3 mRNA and protein both in DRG neurons and spinal cord. Activation of Nav1.3 caused by miR-30b antagomir was identified. These data suggest that miR-30b is involved in the development of neuropathic pain, probably by regulating the expression of Nav1.3, and might be a novel therapeutic target for neuropathic pain.Perspective: This study is the first to explore the important role of miR-30b and Nav1.3 in spinal nerve ligation-induced neuropathic pain, and our evidence may provide new insight for improving therapeutic approaches to pain.

Calcineurin (CN) is a serine/threonine phosphatase which plays important roles in meiosis maturation in invertebrate oocytes; however, the role of CN in mouse oocytes is relatively unexplored. In this study, we examined the expression, localization and functional roles of CN in mouse oocytes and granulosa cells. The RT-PCR results showed that the β isoform of calcineurin A subunit (Cn A) expressed significantly higher than α and γ isoforms, and the expression of Cn Aβ mRNA obviously decreased in oocytes in which germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) occurred, while only B1 of calcineurin B subunit (Cn B) was detected in oocytes and stably expressed during oocytes maturation. The following fluorescence experiment showed that Cn A was mainly located in the nucleus of germinal vesicle (GV) stage oocytes and gruanlosa cells, and subsequently dispersed into the entire cytoplasm after GVBD. The decline of Cn A in oocytes suggested that it may play an important role in GVBD. To further clarify the role of calcineurin during meiotic maturation, FK506 (a calcineurin inhibitor) was used in the culture medium contained hypoxanthine (HX) which could keep mouse oocytes staying at GV stage. As expected, FK506 could induce a significant elevation of GVBD rate and increase the MPF level of denuded oocytes (DOs). Furthermore, FK506 could also play an induction role of GVBD of oocytes in COCs and follicles, and the process could be counteracted by MAPK kinase inhibitor (U0126). Above all, the results implied that calcineurin might play a crucial role in development of mouse oocytes and MPF and MAPK pathways are involved in this process.

In this paper, the thermal properties of graphene oxide (GO) with vacancy defects were studied using a non-equilibrium molecular dynamics method. The results showed that the thermal conductivity of GO increases with the model length. A linear relationship of the inverse length and inverse thermal conductivity was observed. The thermal conductivity of GO decreased monotonically with an increase in the degree of oxidation. When the degree of oxidation was 10%, the thermal conductivity of GO decreased by ~90% and this was almost independent of chiral direction. The effect of vacancy defect on the thermal conductivity of GO was also considered. The size effect of thermal conductivity gradually decreases with increasing defect concentration. When the vacancy defect ratio was beyond 2%, the thermal conductivity did not show significant change with the degree of oxidation. The effect of vacancy defect on thermal conductivity is greater than that of oxide group concentration. Our results can provide effective guidance for the designed GO microstructures in thermal management and thermoelectric applications.

The extra-cellular microenvironment has a fundamental role in tumor growth and progression, strongly affecting the migration strategies adopted by single cancer cells during metastatic invasion. In this study, we use a novel microfluidic device to investigate the ability of mesenchymal and epithelial breast tumor cells to fluidize and migrate through narrowing microstructures upon chemoattractant stimulation. We compare the migration behavior of two mesenchymal breast cancer cell lines and one epithelial cell line, and find that the epithelial cells are able to migrate through the narrowest microconstrictions as the more invasive mesenchymal cells. In addition, we demonstrate that migration of epithelial cells through a highly compressive environment can occur in absence of a chemoattractive stimulus, thus evidencing that they are just as prone to react to mechanical cues as invasive cells.

In this article, the state-of-the-art multi-wave and hybrid imaging techniques in the field of nondestructive evaluation and structural health monitoring were comprehensively reviewed. A new direction for assessment and health monitoring of various structures by capitalizing the advantages of those imaging methods was discussed. Although sharing similar system configurations, the imaging physics and principles of multi-wave phenomena and hybrid imaging methods are inherently different. After a brief introduction of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) , structure health monitoring (SHM) and their related challenges, several recent advances that have significantly extended imaging methods from laboratory development into practical applications were summarized, followed by conclusions and discussion on future directions.

BackgroundThe arachidonate 5‐lipoxygenase enzyme plays a crucial role in mediating inflammation to maintain homeostasis, yet certain allelic variants of the 5‐lipoxygenase gene, ALOX5, may increase risk of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease (CHD). Further, relations between ALOX5 and disease outcomes may be enhanced or attenuated depending on the bioavailability of 5‐lipoxygenase enzyme substrates. By using a candidate gene approach in 6153 Multi‐Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) participants, associations were determined among 1348 ALOX5 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and carotid intima‐media thickness (cIMT) as well as incident CHD, and interactions with plasma concentrations of arachidonic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, or docosahexaenoic acid were tested. Methods and ResultsMultivariable linear regression was used to test for associations between cIMT and ALOX5 SNPs, and Cox regression was used for incident CHD. Bonferroni correction was used for multiple hypothesis testing. No significant associations between ALOX5 SNPs and cIMT or CHD events were observed. Levels of arachidonic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, or docosahexaenoic acid concentrations did not modify the relations of ALOX5 with either outcome. ConclusionsALOX5 gene variants do not appear to be related to clinical CHD events or subclinical atherosclerosis regardless of bioavailable enzyme substrate levels in this multiethnic cohort. Further studies that directly examine protein expression or enzyme activity may better define the arachidonate 5‐lipoxygenase pathway in disease development and progression.

Reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) is a powerful analytical technique for the measurement of gene expression, which depends on the stability of the reference gene used for data normalization. Suaeda aralocaspica, an annual halophyte with heteromorphic seeds and possessing C4 photosynthesis pathway without Kranz anatomy, is an ideal plant species to identify stress tolerance-related genes and compare relative expression at transcriptional level. So far, no molecular information is available for this species. In the present study, six traditionally used reference genes were selected and their expression stability in two types of seeds of S. aralocaspica under different experimental conditions was evaluated. Three analytical programs, geNorm, NormFinder and BestKeeper, were used to assess and rank the stability of reference gene expression. Results revealed that although some reference genes may display different transcriptional profiles between the two types of seeds, β-TUB and GAPDH appeared to be the most suitable references under different developmental stages and tissues. GAPDH was the appropriate reference gene under different germination time points and salt stress conditions, and ACTIN was suitable for various abiotic stress treatments for the two types of seeds. For all the sample pools, β-TUB served as the most stable reference gene, whereas 18S rRNA and 28S rRNA performed poorly and presented as the least stable genes in our study. UBQ seemed to be unsuitable as internal control under different salt treatments. In addition, the expression of a photosynthesis-related gene (PPDK) of C4 pathway and a salt tolerance-related gene (SAT) of S. aralocaspica were used to validate the best performance reference genes. This is the first systematic comparison of reference gene selection for qRT-PCR work in S. aralocaspica and these data will facilitate further studies on gene expression in this species and other euhalophytes.

BackgroundEndothelial cells (ECs) form blood vessels through angiogenesis that is regulated by coordination of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Notch, transforming growth factor β, and other signals, but the detailed molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Methods and ResultsSmall RNA sequencing initially identified miR‐342‐5p as a novel downstream molecule of Notch signaling in ECs. Reporter assay, quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis indicated that miR‐342‐5p targeted endoglin and modulated transforming growth factor β signaling by repressing SMAD1/5 phosphorylation in ECs. Transfection of miR‐342‐5p inhibited EC proliferation and lumen formation and reduced angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo, as assayed by using a fibrin beads–based sprouting assay, mouse aortic ring culture, and intravitreal injection of miR‐342‐5p agomir in P3 pups. Moreover, miR‐342‐5p promoted the migration of ECs, accompanied by reduced endothelial markers and increased mesenchymal markers, indicative of increased endothelial–mesenchymal transition. Transfection of endoglin at least partially reversed endothelial–mesenchymal transition induced by miR‐342‐5p. The expression of miR‐342‐5p was upregulated by transforming growth factor β, and inhibition of miR‐342‐5p attenuated the inhibitory effects of transforming growth factor β on lumen formation and sprouting by ECs. In addition, VEGF repressed miR‐342‐5p expression, and transfection of miR‐342‐5p repressed VEGFR2 and VEGFR3 expression and VEGF‐triggered Akt phosphorylation in ECs. miR‐342‐5p repressed angiogenesis in a laser‐induced choroidal neovascularization model in mice, highlighting its clinical potential. ConclusionsmiR‐342‐5p acts as a multifunctional angiogenic repressor mediating the effects and interaction among angiogenic pathways.

Purpose. The study aimed to investigate canalicular/lacrimal sac mucosal folds (CLS-MFs) in vivo and in cadavers in order to explore their functional roles in the lacrimal drainage system. Method. The observations of CLS-MFs in vivo were performed on 16 patients with chronic dacryocystitis after undergoing an endonasal endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy (EE-DCR). The lacrimal sacs and common canaliculi of 19 adult cadavers were dissected. The opening/closing of an orifice and mucosal fold was recorded. All of the specimens were subjected to a histological examination. Results. The upper and lower lacrimal canaliculi in all of the samples united to form a common canaliculus that opened to the lacrimal sac. CLS-MFs were observed in 10 of the 16 patients (62.5%) and 9 of the 19 cadavers (47.4%). The orifices or mucosal folds could be opened or closed when related muscles contracted or relaxed. Histological sections showed a mucosal fold at one side of an orifice. Conclusion. Common canaliculus is the most common type that the canaliculus opens to lacrimal sac. CLS-MFs exist in a certain ratio that can be opened/closed with the movement of the orifices. They may be involved in the drainage of tears or the pathogenesis of acute dacryocystitis or lacrimal sac mucocele.