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A class of Schwarz problems with the conditions concerning the real and imaginary parts of high-order partial differentiations for polyanalytic functions was discussed first on the bicylinder. Then, with the particular solution to the Schwarz problem for polyanalytic functions, a Dirichlet problem for bi-polyanalytic functions was investigated on the bicylinder. From the perspective of series, the specific representation of the solution was obtained. In this article, a novel and effective method for solving boundary value problems, with the help of series expansion, was provided. This method can also be used to solve other types of boundary value problems or complex partial differential equation problems of other functions in high-dimensional complex spaces.

In this paper, we study a Riemann-Hilbert problem related to inhomogeneous complex partial differential operators of higher order on the unit disk. Applying the Cauchy-Pompeiu formula, we find out the solvable conditions and obtain the representation of the solutions. Then, we investigate the boundary value problems for bi-polyanalytic functions with the Dirichlet and Riemann-Hilbert boundary conditions, obtain the specific solution and the solvable conditions, and extend the conclusion to the corresponding higher-order problems. Therefore, we obtain the solution to the half-Neumann problem of higher order for bi-polyanalytic functions.

Purpose: Due to resistance to gemcitabine (GEM), patients with pancreatic cancer (PC) usually have poor prognosis and low survival rate. The purpose of our research was to explore the impact of exosome PPP3CB on GEM resistance in PC, and concurrently analyze the regulatory role of the miR-298/STAT3 signaling pathway. Methods: Exosomes isolated from PC cells were verified by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) and western blotting (WB). The interaction between PPP3CB and miR-298 was verified using dual-luciferase reporter gene assay, followed by evaluation of cell growth and death using CCK8 assay, EdU staining, and flow cytometry. Results: Increased PPP3CB expression was observed in GEM-resistant PC cells. Exosomes from PC cells and GEM-resistant PC cells were successfully extracted by ultra-high speed centrifugation. Confocal microscopy showed internalization of fluorescein amide (FAM)-labeled GEM-resistant exosomes by PC cells. PPP3CB enhanced the proliferation of GEM-resistant PC cells and inhibited their apoptosis, whereas down-regulation of PPP3CB promoted the death of PC cells and inhibited the proliferation of GEM-resistant PC cells, and enhance the susceptibility of PC cells to GEM. Additionally, PPP3CB positively regulated STAT3 expression in PC cells by down-regulating miR-298, thus promoting the growth and inhibiting the death of PC cells. Conclusion: PC cell-derived exosome PPP3CB enhances STAT3 expression by downregulating miR-298, stimulating cell growth, and suppressing cell death, thereby increasing the resistance of PC cells to GEM.

Abstract Background Cue exposure therapy is used to treat alcohol dependence. However, its effectiveness is controversial due to the limitations of the clinical treatment setting. Virtual reality technology may improve the therapeutic effect. The aim of this study is to explore whether virtual reality-based cue exposure therapy can reduce the psychological craving and physiological responses of patients with alcohol dependence. Methods Forty-four male alcohol-dependent patients were recruited and divided into the study group (n = 23) and the control group (n = 21) according to a random number table. The control group received only conventional clinical treatment for alcohol dependence. The study group received conventional clinical treatment with the addition of VR cue exposure (treatment). The primary outcome was to assess psychological craving and physiological responses to cues of patients before and after treatment. Results After virtual reality-based cue exposure therapy, the changes in VAS and heart rate before and after cue exposure in the study group were significantly lower than those in the control group (P 0.05). The changes in VAS and heart rate before and after cue exposure in the study group were significantly lower than those before treatment (P 0.05). The changes in VAS, heart rate, skin conductance and respiration before and after cue exposure in the control group were not significantly different from those before treatment (P > 0.05). Conclusion Virtual reality-based cue exposure therapy can reduce the psychological craving and part of the physiological responses of alcohol-dependent patients during cue exposure in the short term and may be helpful in the treatment of alcohol dependence. Trial registration The study protocol was registered at the China Clinical Trial Registry on 26/02/2021 ( www.chictr.org.cn ; ChiCTR ID: ChiCTR2100043680).

Co-inhibitory immune checkpoints play a crucial role in tumor progression, and PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor has been a breakthrough for treating multiple refractory tumors in last decade. Nevertheless, results of several phase III clinical trials of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor are unsatisfactory in high grade gliomas recently. This article reviews the promising biomarkers which can predict the efficacy of PD-1/PD-L1 blockade immunotherapy and current status of emerging strategies involving PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors, especially the combination treatment and neoadjuvant PD-1 therapy in gliomas. In addition, B7-H4, one of the most promising immune checkpoints, is also briefly reviewed here for its clinical significance, regulatory mechanism and developing immunotherapeutic strategies in pre-clinical glioma models.

Prostate cancer is the only human malignancy that generates predominantly osteoblastic bone metastases, and osteoblastic bone metastases account for more than 90% of osseous metastases of prostate cancer. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) plays an important role in the osteoblastic bone metastasis of prostate cancer, which can promote osteomimicry of prostate cancer cells, suppress osteoclast differentiation, and facilitate osteoblast proliferation and activation at metastatic sites. In the meantime, it can activate osteogenic factors, including insulin-like growth factor, transforming growth factor β2 and urokinase-type plasminogen activator, and meanwhile suppress osteolytic factors such as parathyroid hormone-related protein. To recapitulate, PSA plays a significant role in the osteoblastic predominance of prostate cancer bone metastasis and bone remodeling by regulating multiple cells and factors involved in osseous metastasis.

Idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN) is a leading pathological type of the adult primary nephrotic syndrome. Some patients develop end-stage renal disease due to poor response to treatment with steroid and immunosuppressive agents. In order to explore the molecular mechanism of IMN, we collected renal tissue samples from IMN patients and healthy controls and performed analysis by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). A total of 11 kidney cell clusters were identified, including multiple myeloid cell clusters, NK/T cell clusters, and B cell clusters. Most kidney parenchymal and immune cells were enriched in the regulation of immune response, inflammation, fibrosis and endoplasmic reticulum stress. The macrophage population in the IMN group showed a highly activated profile with up-regulated genes related to chemotaxis, inflammation, phagocytosis and fibrosis. CD8+ T cells continued to be cytotoxic in IMN; however, a transition to “inflammageing” GZMK+ CD8+ T cells was observed. The proportion of activated B cells in renal tissues of IMN patients was much higher than that of normal controls, indicating that B cells in IMN might be activated by constant antigenic stimulation. Moreover, the cell-cell interaction analysis revealed the potential communication between renal glomerular cells and immune cells in IMN. Overall, scRNA-seq was applied to IMN to unravel the characteristics of immune cells and elucidate possible underlying mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of IMN.

A field trial in Changsha, China, involving the release of a triple Wolbachia-infected strain of the mosquito, Aedes albopictus, demonstrates the feasibility of using an incompatible insect technique to suppress disease vector mosquito populations in urban subtropic environments.

Abstract Background Bladder cancer is one of the most common malignancies but the corresponding diagnostic methods are either invasive or limited in specificity and/or sensitivity. This study aimed to develop a urine-based methylation panel for bladder cancer detection by improving published panels and validate performance of the new panel with clinical samples. Methods Related researches were reviewed and 19 potential panels were selected. RRBS was performed on a cohort with 45 samples to reassess these panels and a new panel inherited best markers was developed. The new panel was applied with qMSP platform to 33 samples from the RRBS cohort and the results were compared to those of RRBS. Lastly, another larger cohort with 207 samples was used to validate new panel performance with qMSP. Results Three biomarkers (PCDH17, POU4F2 and PENK) were selected to construct a new panel P3. P3 panel achieved 100% specificity and 71% sensitivity with RRBS in corresponding cohort and then showed a better performance of 100% specificity and 84% sensitivity with qMSP platforms in a balanced cohort. When validated with 207-sample cohort, P3 with qMSP showed a performance of 97% specificity and 87% sensitivity which was modestly improved compared to the panels it derided from. Conclusions Overall, the P3 panel achieved relatively high sensitivity and accuracy in bladder cancer detection.

Abstract Bladder cancer (BC) is one of the most frequent cancer in the world, and its incidence is rising worldwide, especially in developed countries. Urine metabolomics is a powerful approach to discover potential biomarkers for cancer diagnosis. In this study, we applied an ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) method to profile the metabolites in urine from 29 bladder cancer patients and 15 healthy controls. The differential metabolites were extracted and analyzed by univariate and multivariate analysis methods. Together, 19 metabolites were discovered as differently expressed biomarkers in the two groups, which mainly related to the pathways of phenylacetate metabolism, propanoate metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, pyruvate metabolism, arginine and proline metabolism, glycine and serine metabolism, and bile acid biosynthesis. In addition, a subset of 11 metabolites of those 19 ones were further filtered as potential biomarkers for BC diagnosis by using logistic regression model. The results revealed that the area under the curve (AUC) value, sensitivity and specificity of receiving operator characteristic (ROC) curve were 0.983, 95.3% and 100%, respectively, indicating an excellent discrimination power for BC patients from healthy controls. It was the first time to reveal the potential diagnostic markers of BC by metabolomics, and this will provide a new sight for exploring the biomarkers of the other disease in the future work.

tRNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs) represent a novel category of small non-coding RNAs and serve as a new regulator of gene expression at both transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. Growing evidence indicates that tsRNAs can be induced by diverse stimuli and regulate stress-responsive target genes, allowing plants to adapt to unfavorable environments. Here, we discuss the latest developments about the biogenesis and classification of tsRNAs and highlight the expression regulation and potential function of tsRNAs in plant biotic and abiotic stress responses. Of note, we also collect useful bioinformatics tools and resources for tsRNAs study in plants. Finally, we propose current limitations and future directions for plant tsRNAs research. These recent discoveries have refined our understanding of whether and how tsRNAs enhance plant stress tolerance.

CRISPR-Cas12a system has been shown promising for nucleic acid diagnostics due to its rapid, portable and accurate features. However, cleavage of the amplicons and primers by the cis- and trans-activity of Cas12a hinders the attempts to integrate the amplification and detection into a single reaction.Through phosphorothioate modification of primers, we realized onepot detection with high sensitivity using plasmids of SARS-CoV-2, HPV16 and HPV18. We also identified the activated Cas12a has a much higher affinity to C nucleotide-rich reporter than others. By applying such reporters, the reaction time required for a lateral-flow readout was significantly reduced. Furthermore, to improve the specificity of the strip-based assay, we created a novel reporter and, when combined with a customized gold-nanopaticle strip, the readout was greatly enhanced owing to the elimination of the nonspecific signal. This established system, termed Targeting DNA by Cas12a-based Eye Sight Testing in an Onepot Reaction (TESTOR), was validated using clinical cervical scrape samples for human papillomaviruses (HPVs) detection.Our system represents a general approach to integrating the nucleic acid amplification and detection into a single reaction in CRISPR-Cas systems, highlighting its potential as a rapid, portable and accurate detection platform of nucleic acids.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) are a serious threat to the health of people and the ecological environment. With this problem becoming more and more serious, more countries made research on the ARB, and the research number has been sharply increased particularly over the past decade. Therefore, it is quite necessary to globally retrace relevant researches on the ARB published from 2010 to 2020. This will help researchers to understand the current research situation, research trends and research hotspots in this field. This paper uses bibliometrics to examine publications in the field of ARB from 2010 to 2020 that were retrieved from the Web of Science (WOS). Our study performed a statistical analysis of the countries, institutions, journals, authors, research areas, author keywords, Essential Science Indicators (ESI) highly cited papers, and ESI hotspots papers to provide an overview of the ARB field as well as research trends, research hotspots, and future research directions in the field. The results showed that the number of related studies is increasing year by year; the USA is most published in the field of ARB; China is the most active in this field in the recent years; the Chinese Acad Sci published the most articles; Sci. Total Environ. published the greatest number of articles; CM Manaia has the most contributions; Environmental Sciences and Ecology is the most popular research area; and “antibiotic resistance,” “antibiotics,” and “antibiotic resistance genes” were the most frequently occurring author keywords. A citation analysis showed that aquatic environment-related antibiotic resistance is a key research area in this field, while antimicrobial nanomaterial-related research is a recent popular topic.

Drug repurposing has become an effective approach to drug discovery, as it offers a new way to explore drugs. Based on the Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-E) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) databases of the Web of Science core collection, this study presents a bibliometric analysis of drug repurposing publications from 2010 to 2020. Data were cleaned, mined, and visualized using Derwent Data Analyzer (DDA) software. An overview of the history and development trend of the number of publications, major journals, major countries, major institutions, author keywords, major contributors, and major research fields is provided. There were 2,978 publications included in the study. The findings show that the United States leads in this area of research, followed by China, the United Kingdom, and India. The Chinese Academy of Science published the most research studies, and NIH ranked first on the h-index. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mt Sinai leads in the average number of citations per study. Sci Rep, Drug Discov. Today, and Brief. Bioinform. are the three most productive journals evaluated from three separate perspectives, and pharmacology and pharmacy are unquestionably the most commonly used subject categories. Cheng, FX; Mucke, HAM; and Butte, AJ are the top 20 most prolific and influential authors. Keyword analysis shows that in recent years, most research has focused on drug discovery/drug development, COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2/coronavirus, molecular docking, virtual screening, cancer, and other research areas. The hotspots have changed in recent years, with COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2/coronavirus being the most popular topic for current drug repurposing research.

A gas power engine is expected to output work or power through cycle, and the work is expected as much as possible in terms of viewpoints of a unit fuel, a unit volume of an engine, or a unit displaced volume of an engine. Evaluation of gas power engines with thermal efficiency, especially for reciprocating engines, instead of specific cycle net-work (SCNW) might mislead the engineering applications. Based on the generalized property diagrams for the gas power cycles proposed by the authors, an ideal Otto cycle and an ideal Miller-Diesel cycle are analyzed for they are relatively simple gas power cycles. The optimum compression ratio (or the pressure ratio) for the maximum SCNW or the maximum mean effective pressure (MEP) is analyzed and optimized. Detailed analyses of a four-stroke Otto engine operating at three compression ratios show the mass of working fluid is saved 0.45–0.49% operating at the maximum SCNW condition, even though the thermal efficiency is not the highest. The ideal Otto and the ideal Miller-Diesel cycles, and also other gas power cycles, are concluded that the operation under the condition of maximum SCNW or maximum MEP, instead of that of higher efficiency, is more reasonable and economic.

Premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) poses a great threat to reproductive-age women. Ovarian fibrogenesis is a basic histologic feature of POI. Ovarian theca–stroma cells are responsible for ovarian fibrosis, but few studies have focused on the ovarian microenvironment. The role and mechanism of chemokines in the development of POI remain unclear. Here, we evaluated C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 10 (CXCL10) in biochemical POI patients, POI patients, and a POI mouse model. CXCL10 levels in serum and follicular fluid were higher in both bPOI and POI patients than in controls. An increased level of CXCL10 was also observed in a POI mouse model. CXCL10 concentrations in serum and follicular fluid were positively associated with follicle-stimulating hormone and negatively associated with antral follicle count. Our study for the first time found that CXCL10 induced COL1A1 and COL1A2 production, two subunits of collagen I in mouse theca–stroma cells by activating the JNK/c-Jun pathway. Inhibition of JNK and c-Jun attenuated the increases of COL1A1 and COL1A2 caused by CXCL10. Moreover, CXCL10 had no effects on hormone synthesis, proliferation, and apoptosis in human luteinized granulosa (hGL) cells. Our findings revealed a potential diagnostic value of CXCL10 in the early stage of POI and shed new insights into the biological function of CXCL10 in ovarian fibrosis.

Abstract Background Accumulating evidence suggests androgen receptor splice variant 7 (AR-V7) may be associated with the prognosis of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) received novel hormonal therapy while its characteristic and prognosis value in hormonal sensitive prostate cancer is unclear. Methods We aimed to evaluate the prognostic role of AR-V7 by progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in hormonal sensitive prostate cancer (HSPC), and the AR-V7-positive-proportion difference in HSPC and CRPC. A search of PubMed, Embase, and the Web of Science was performed using the keywords prostate cancer, prostate tumor, prostate neoplasm, prostate carcinoma; AR-V7, AR3, androgen receptor splicing variant-7, or androgen receptor-3. Seventeen trials published due December 2019 were enrolled. Results AR-V7-positive proportion in CRPC was significantly larger than newly diagnosed prostate cancer (PCa) (odds ratio [OR] 7.06, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.52–19.83, P

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA), a class of RNA molecules without protein coding potential, are more than 200 nucleotides in length and widely present in a variety of species. Although increasing progress in regard to the determination of lncRNA function has been made in vertebrates, Aedes aegypti lncRNAs were only identified recently and the functions of few lncRNAs have been annotated so far. Herein, the genome-wide alteration of the lncRNA expression profile trigged by Wolbachia wAlbB infection was investigated by comparing A. aegypti Aag2 cells and W-Aag2 cells infected with Wolbachia wAlbB. Based on lncRNA sequencing, 3035 differentially expressed lncRNAs (DE lncRNAs) in total were identified upon Wolbachia infection, which were further validated by quantitative PCR. The constructed co-expression network of DE lncRNAs and mRNAs revealed that Wolbachia-induced DE lncRNAs were highly enriched in the oxidative phosphorylation pathway via trans-activity, according to the KEGG pathway enrichment analyses. In addition, the established competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network identifies the DE lncRNAs enriched in cellular oxidant detoxification based on GO enrichment analysis. Furthermore, silencing of aae-lnc-7598, the significantly up-regulated lncRNA with the highest fold change induced by Wolbachia, caused a significant reduction of antioxidant catalase 1B (CAT1B) gene expression as well as the enhancement of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in living cells. These findings indicate that Wolbachia manipulates lncRNA to balance intracellular ROS stress and ensure its endosymbiosis in host A. aegypti. Notably, the function assay demonstrated that aae-lnc-0165 suppressed by Wolbachia could induce expression of the REL1 gene, the key regulator of downstream Toll pathway, through the sequence-specific binding of aae-miR-980-5p, which contributes to the activation of Toll pathway. Moreover, the depletion of aae-lnc-0165 caused the suppression of mitochondrial ROS levels in living cells. Our data reveal that Wolbachia activates the anti-dengue Toll pathway through a lncRNA-ceRNA pattern. Taken together, our finding suggested that Wolbachia utilizes lncRNAs to activate host anti-dengue Toll pathway via a ceRNA network. Moreover, Wolbachia employs lncRNAs to ensure ROS homeostasis for ROS-based anti-dengue defense through either trans-regulation or the ceRNA network. This study identifies novel potential molecular biomarkers for prevention and control of epidemic dengue.

Abstract Synthesis of structurally controlled graphene materials is critical for realizing their practical applications. The electrochemical exfoliation of graphite has emerged as a simple method to produce graphene materials. This review examines research progress in the last 5 years, from 2015 to 2019. Graphene material synthesis methods generally have a trade‐off between increasing production yield and achieving better material property control. The synthesis conditions for synthesizing pristine graphene, graphene oxide (GO), and graphene composites are significantly different. Thus, in this review, we first discuss synthesis methods for graphene materials with high C/O ratios from four aspects: graphite electrodes, equipment engineering, electrolytes, and additional reduction methods. Next, we survey synthesis methods for GO and examine how the pretreatment of the graphite electrodes, electrolytes, and operation parameters, such as applied voltages, electrolyte temperatures, and mechanical forces, affect the quality of GO. Further, we summarize electrochemical exfoliation methods used to dope graphene materials, introduce covalent functional groups, incorporate various nanoparticles, and assembly of graphene architectures. For all synthesis methods, we compare the properties of resulting graphene materials such as C/O ratios, lateral size, layer numbers, and quality characterized by Raman spectroscopy. Lastly, we propose our perspectives on further research. We hope this review stimulates more studies to realize the on‐demand production of graphene materials with desired properties using electrochemical exfoliation methods.

The indisputable wide use of the Eddy Dissipation Concept (EDC) implies that the resulting mean reaction rate is reasonably well modeled. To model turbulent combustions, an amount of EDC constants that differ from the original values was proposed. However, most of them were used without following the nature of the model or considering the effects of the modification. Starting with the energy cascade and the EDC models, the exact original primary and secondary constants are deduced in detail in this work. The mean reaction rate is then formulated from the primary constants or the secondary constants. Based on the physical meaning of fine structures, the limits of the EDC constants are presented and can be used to direct the EDC constant modifications. The effects of the secondary constant on the mean reaction rate are presented and the limiting turbulence Reynolds number used for the validity of EDC is discussed. To show the effects of the constants of the EDC model on the mean reaction rate, 20 combinations of the primary constants are used to simulate a laboratory-scale turbulent jet flame, i.e., Sandia Flame D. After a thorough and careful comparison with experiments, case 8, with a secondary constant of 6 and primary constants of 0.1357 and 0.11, can aptly reproduce this flame, except for in the over-predicted mean OH mass fraction.

PurposeThis study aimed to evaluate the prognostic role of AR-V7 in terms of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) in CRPC patients treated with novel hormonal therapy (NHT) (Abiraterone and Enzalutamide) or taxane-based chemotherapy (Docetaxel and Cabazitaxel).MethodsA comprehensive literature search was conducted on PubMed, Embase, and the Web of Science from inception to February 2020. Studies focusing on the prognostic values of AR-V7 in CRPC patients treated with NHT or chemotherapy were included in our meta-analysis. The OS and PFS were analyzed based on Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Furthermore, Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs were summarized for the AR-V7 conversion after treatment and the PSA response.ResultsThe AR-V7 positive proportion increased significantly after NHT treatment (OR 2.56, 95% CI 1.51–4.32, P

Objective This study was performed to evaluate the endocrine and glycolipid metabolism characteristics of diminished ovarian reserve (DOR) in Chinese patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Methods In total, 1179 patients with PCOS and 70 healthy women who presented to the Department of Gynecological Endocrinology in Ren Ji Hospital from June 2015 and June 2019 were enrolled in this study. Parameters of endocrine and glycolipid metabolism were measured. The differences in indices among the control group, simple PCOS group, and PCOS with DOR group were analyzed. Results The prevalence of DOR in Chinese women with PCOS was 20.8%. The body mass index and waist/hip ratio were significantly higher in the simple PCOS group than in the PCOS with DOR group. There were significant differences in the concentrations of luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, estradiol, testosterone, and androstenedione among the three groups. The fasting serum insulin concentration and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance were significantly higher in the simple PCOS group than in the PCOS with DOR group. Conclusions The endocrine and glycolipid metabolism characteristics were different between the simple PCOS group and PCOS with DOR group.

We adopted a weight of evidence approach to establish a causal analysis of an impaired land ecosystem on a regional scale; namely, Daye, a traditional mining city in China. Working processes, including problem statements, a list of candidate causes, and a conceptual model were developed to represent a causal hypothesis for describing land degradation. Causal criteria were applied to integrate multiple lines of evidence. Then, various pieces of evidence were scored to either strengthen or weaken our causal assumptions. Results showed that habitat alteration, heavy metal accumulation, organic pollutants, water eutrophication, and nutrient runoff were the probable causes of land ecosystem impairment in Daye. Meanwhile, noxious gas, toxicants, altered underground runoff, atmospheric deposition, and acid rain were identified as possible causes. The most unlikely causes were altered hydrology, altered earth surface runoff, and soil erosion. Soil salinization, soluble inorganic salts, biological species invasion, and pathogens were deferred as delayed causes due to lack of adequate information. The causal analysis approach was applied to identify the primary causes of land degradation and implement accurate protective measures in an impaired land ecosystem.

Sarcophaga scopariiformis (Diptera: Sarcophagidae), a potential vector of pathogens as well as one of the important flesh fly specie in forensic entomology. We have firstly sequenced and assembled the whole mitogenome of S. scopariiformis in this study. The circular mitogenome is 15,325 bp in length, consisting of A (39.3%), G (9.4%), T (36.8%), and C (14.5%). It showed in a typical mitochondrial genome similar to other sarcophagids species, which is composed of 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNA), 2 ribosomal RNA genes (rRNA), and a non-coding AT-rich region. Moreover, the phylogenetic analysis based on 13 PCGs has been conducted. The topological structure of the phylogenetic tree clearly indicated that S. scopariiformis was more closed to the species of Sarcophaga peregrina in genetic distance, compared to the other sarcophagids species. This study provided a useful data reference for genetic structure and phylogenetic analysis of Sarcophagidae.

Sarcophaga kanoi Park, 1962, a widely distributed flesh fly in Southeast Asia, is important in forensic entomology. Notably, its mitochondrial genome could provide the unique and accurate molecular information in species identification which facilitate forensic practices in estimation of postmortem interval especially in putrefied cadaver cases. Thus, we sequenced and characterized the whole mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of S. kanoi for the first time, which was collected from Southern China in this study. The 15,319 bp mitogenome contained 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNA), 2 ribosomal RNA genes (rRNA), and a putative control region. The total nucleotide composition of this circular genome was 39.7% for A, 9.3% for G, 14.2% for C, and 36.8% for T. To better understand the genetic relationship, the phylogenetic analysis was constructed according to the 13 PCGs sequence of S. kanoi and other 11 species. The phylogenetic tree showed that the S. kanoi was placed in a sub-clade with S. similis. Our study updated the new genetic information for dipteran mitogenomes, which could broaden the background knowledge for forensic entomology, molecular genetics and developmental biology. It has the potential application on the species identification using genetic markers.

The reasonably accurate numerical simulation of methane–air combustion is important for engineering purposes. In the present work, the validations of sub-models were carried out on a laboratory-scale turbulent jet flame, Sandia Flame D, in comparison with experimental data. The eddy dissipation concept (EDC), which assumes that the molecular mixing and subsequent combustion occur in the fine structures, was used for the turbulence–chemistry interaction. The standard k-ε model (SKE) with the standard or the changed model constant C1ε, the realizable k-ε model (RKE), the shear-stress transport k-ω model (SST), and the Reynolds stress model (RSM) were compared with the detailed chemical kinetic mechanism of GRI-Mech 3.0. Different reaction treatments for the methane–air combustion were also validated with the available experimental data from the literature. In general, there were good agreements between predictions and measurements, which gave a good indication of the adequacy and accuracy of the method and its further applications for industry-scale turbulent combustion simulations. The differences between predictions and measured data might have come from the simplifications of the boundary settings, the turbulence model, the turbulence–reaction interaction, and the radiation heat transfer model. For engineering predictions of methane–air combustion, the mixture fraction probability density function (PDF) model for the partially premixed combustion with RSM is recommended due to its relatively low simulation expenses, acceptable accuracy predictions, and quantitatively good agreement with the experiments.

Introduction: Ventricular arrhythmia is a major cause of sudden cardiac death in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Our recent study demonstrates that N-type Ca2+ currents in intracardiac ganglionic neurons are reduced in the late stage of CHF rats. Rat intracardiac ganglia are divided into the atrioventricular ganglion (AVG) and sinoatrial ganglion. Only AVG nerve terminals innervate the ventricular myocardium. In this study, we tested the correlation of electrical remodeling in AVG neurons with ventricular arrhythmogenesis in CHF rats.Methods and Results: CHF was induced in male Sprague-Dawley rats by surgical ligation of the left coronary artery. The data from 24-h continuous radiotelemetry ECG recording in conscious rats showed that ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation (VT/VF) occurred in 3 and 14-week CHF rats but not 8-week CHF rats. Additionally, as an index for vagal control of ventricular function, changes of left ventricular systolic pressure (LVSP) and the maximum rate of left ventricular pressure rise (LV dP/dtmax) in response to vagal efferent nerve stimulation were blunted in 14-week CHF rats but not 3 or 8-week CHF rats. Results from whole-cell patch clamp recording demonstrated that N-type Ca2+ currents in AVG neurons began to decrease in 8-week CHF rats, and that there was also a significant decrease in 14-week CHF rats. Correlation analysis revealed that N-type Ca2+ currents in AVG neurons negatively correlated with the cumulative duration of VT/VF in 14-week CHF rats, whereas there was no correlation between N-type Ca2+ currents in AVG neurons and the cumulative duration of VT/VF in 3-week CHF.Conclusion: Malignant ventricular arrhythmias mainly occur in the early and late stages of CHF. Electrical remodeling of AVG neurons highly correlates with the occurrence of ventricular arrhythmias in the late stage of CHF.

In this paper, we mainly seek conditions on which the geometric properties of subclasses of biholomorphic mappings remain unchanged under the perturbed Roper-Suffridge extension operators. Firstly we generalize the Roper-Suffridge operator on Bergman-Hartogs domains. Secondly, applying the analytical characteristics and growth results of subclasses of biholomorphic mappings, we conclude that the generalized Roper-Suffridge operators preserve the geometric properties of strong and almost spiral-like mappings of type β and order α, SΩ⁎(β,A,B) as well as almost spiral-like mappings of type β and order α under different conditions on Bergman-Hartogs domains. Sequentially we obtain the conclusions on the unit ball Bn and for some special cases. The conclusions include and promote some known results and provide new approaches to construct biholomorphic mappings which have special geometric characteristics in several complex variables.

In the hot strip rolling process, many process parameters are related to the quality of the final products. Sometimes, the process parameters corresponding to different steel grades are close to, or even overlap, each other. In reality, locating overlap regions and detecting products with abnormal quality are crucial, yet challenging. To address this challenge, in this work, a novel method named kernel entropy component analysis (KECA)-weighted cosine distance is introduced for fault detection and overlap region locating. First, KECA is used to cluster the training samples of multiple steel grades, and the samples with incorrect classes are seen as the boundary of the sample distribution. Next, the concepts of recursive-based regional center and weighted cosine distance are introduced. For each steel grade, the regional center and the weight coefficients are determined. Finally, the weighted cosine distance between the testing sample and the regional center is chosen as the index to judge abnormal batches. The samples in the overlap region of multiple steel grades need to be focused on in the real production process, which is conducive to quality grade and combined production. The weighted cosine distances between the testing sample and different regional centers are used to locate the overlap region. A dataset from a hot steel rolling process is used to evaluate the performance of the proposed methods.

A model-free damage identification method for grid structures based on displacement difference is proposed. The inherent relationship between the displacement difference and the position of structural damage was deduced in detail by the Sherman−Morrison−Woodbury formula, and the basic principle of damage localization of the grid structure was obtained. That is, except for the tensile and compressive deformations of the damaged elements, the deformations of other elements were small, and only rigid body displacements occurred before and after the structural damage. According to this rule, a method for identifying the position of the damage was proposed for the space grid structure by using the rate of change of length for each element. Taking a space grid structure with a large number of elements as an example, the elastic modulus reduction method was used to simulate the damage to the elements, and the static and dynamic test parameters were simulated respectively to obtain the difference in displacement before and after the structural damage. The rate of change of length of each element was calculated based on the obtained displacement difference, and data noise was added to the simulation. The results indicated that the element with the larger length change rate in the structure was the most likely to be damaged, and the damaged element can be accurately evaluated even in the presence of noise in data.

As natural frequencies can be easily and accurately measured, structural damage evaluation by frequency changes is very common in engineering practice. However, this type of method is often limited by data, such as when the available natural frequencies are very few or contaminated. Although much progress has been made in frequency-based methods, there is still much room for improvement in calculation accuracy and efficiency. To this end, an enhanced singular value truncation method is proposed in this paper to evaluate structural damage more effectively by using a few lower order natural frequencies. The main innovations of the enhanced singular value truncation method lie in two aspects: The first is the normalization of linear systems of equations; the second is the multiple computations based on feedback evaluation. The proposed method is very concise in theory and simple to implement. Two numerical examples and an experimental example are employed to verify the proposed method. In the numerical examples, it was found that the proposed method can successively obtain more accurate damage evaluation results compared with the traditional singular value truncation method. In the experimental example, it was shown that the proposed method possesses more precise and fewer calculations compared with the existing optimization algorithms.

We mainly discuss the properties of a new subclass of starlike functions, namely, almost starlike functions of complex order λ, in one and several complex variables. We get the growth and distortion results for almost starlike functions of complex order λ. By the properties of functions with positive real parts and considering the zero of order k, we obtain the coefficient estimates for almost starlike functions of complex order λ on D. We also discuss the invariance of almost starlike mappings of complex order λ on Reinhardt domains and on the unit ball B in complex Banach spaces. The conclusions contain and generalize some known results.

Distinguishing and characterizing different landscape patterns have long been the primary concerns of quantitative landscape ecology. Information theory and entropy-related metrics have provided the deepest insights in complex system analysis, and have high relevance in landscape ecology. However, ideal methods to compare different landscape patterns from an entropy view are still lacking. The overall aim of this research is to propose a new form of spatial entropy (Hs) in order to distinguish and characterize different landscape patterns. Hs is an entropy-related index based on information theory, and integrates proximity as a key spatial component into the measurement of spatial diversity. Proximity contains two aspects, i.e., total edge length and distance, and by including both aspects gives richer information about spatial pattern than metrics that only consider one aspect. Thus, Hs provides a novel way to study the spatial structures of landscape patterns where both the edge length and distance relationships are relevant. We compare the performances of Hs and other similar approaches through both simulated and real-life landscape patterns. Results show that Hs is more flexible and objective in distinguishing and characterizing different landscape patterns. We believe that this metric will facilitate the exploration of relationships between landscape patterns and ecological processes.

Oxidative and nitrative stress is a well-known phenomenon in cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity. The purpose of this work is to study the role of two metalloporphyrins (FeTMPyP and MnTBAP), water soluble complexes, in cisplatin-induced renal damage and their ability to scavenge peroxynitrite. In cisplatin-induced nephropathy study in mice, renal nitrative stress was evident by the increase in protein nitration. Cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity was also evident by the histological damage from the loss of the proximal tubular brush border, blebbing of apical membranes, tubular epithelial cell detachment from the basement membrane, or intra-luminal aggregation of cells and proteins and by the increase in blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine. Cisplatin-induced apoptosis and cell death as shown by Caspase 3 assessments, TUNEL staining and DNA fragmentation Cisplatin-induced nitrative stress, apoptosis and nephrotoxicity were attenuated by both metalloporphyrins. Heme oxygenase (HO-1) also plays a critical role in metalloporphyrin-mediated protection of cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity. It is evident that nitrative stress plays a critical role in cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in mice. Our data suggest that peroxynitrite is involved, at least in part, in cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity and protein nitration and cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity can be prevented with the use of metalloporphyrins.

The trajectory tracking accuracy of high-clearance mobile robots could be affected by phenomena such as wheel slippage caused by changes in the working surface material and motion state. To reveal the impact of slippage factor and improve the tracking precision of wheeled mobile robots, this study proposed a sliding mode of trajectory tracking control with soft switching. Considering the slippage working environment of mobile robots, a three-degrees-of-freedom kinematic model of mobile robots containing slip rate was established. Based on the kinematic model of the system, a trajectory tracking controller utilizing soft switching sliding mode control was developed, followed by a comprehensive stability analysis. The MATLAB platform was utilized to verify the circular trajectory tracking performance of the mobile robot under both slipping and nonslipping conditions. Results demonstrate that: (1) Under ideal conditions (disregarding wheel slippage), the sliding mode tracker based on model design quickly achieves high-precision tracking of the robot's trajectory, with the tracking error controlled at 0.002 m within 0.6 s in a circular trajectory, capable of adjusting and tracking the desired circular trajectory in a short time and maintaining consistent posture. (2) When considering the effect of slippage, the uncompensated sliding mode control produces a larger periodic tracking error (the amplitude of the circular trajectory reaches 0.065 m) and a larger direction angle error at the trough of the lateral position, causing a sudden change in the direction angle. Nevertheless, the proposed sliding compensation in this study can improve its accuracy by about twice, with the tracking error controlled around 0.03 m in circular trajectories, effectively improving the system's tracking accuracy. This study expands the working environment of mobile robots and provides a basis for their high-performance operation in complex environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]