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Abstract Sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (SA-AKI) increases the risk of death in patients with sepsis, and its major pathological change is the death of renal tubular cells. However, the mechanism of its occurrence remains unclear. Sepsis can lead to circadian dysregulation, and the rhythm gene NFIL3 has been reported to regulate lipid metabolism. There is compelling evidence that has demonstrated that lipid peroxidation can cause cellular ferroptosis. In this study, we established the in vitro and in vivo models of SA-AKI and confirmed the presence of ferroptosis of the renal tubular epithelial cells in SA-AKI. In addition, analysis of the GEO database showed that NFIL3 was highly expressed in sepsis patients and was highly correlated with the key molecule of ferroptosis, ACSL4. The in vitro and in vivo data suggested that NFIL3 was involved in ferroptosis and inflammation in SA-AKI. Subsequently, loss-of-function experiments revealed that NFIL3 knockdown attenuated ferroptosis and inflammation in renal tubular epithelial cells by downregulating ACSL4 expression, thus protecting SA-AKI. In conclusion, this study is the first to illustrate the involvement of the rhythm gene NFIL3 in SA-AKI, providing new insights and potential therapeutic targets for SA-AKI.

Abstract Background To analyze the economic benefits of paliperidone palmitate in the treatment of schizophrenia. Methods We collected 546 patients who met the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia according to the 《International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems,10th》(ICD-10). We gathered general population data such as gender, age, marital status, and education level, then initiated treatment with paliperidone palmitate. Then Follow-up evaluations were conducted at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after the start of treatment to assess clinical efficacy, adverse reactions, and injection doses. We also collected information on the economic burden before and after 12 months of treatment, as well as the number of outpatient visits and hospitalizations in the past year to analyze economic benefits. Results The baseline patients totaled 546, with 239 still receiving treatment with paliperidone palmitate 12 months later. After 12 months of treatment, the number of outpatient visits per year increased compared to before (4 (2,10) vs. 12 (4,12), Z=-5.949, P 0.05); the indirect costs of patients after 12 months of treatment (lost productivity costs for patients and families, economic costs due to destructive behavior, costs of seeking non-medical assistance) decreased compared to before (300(150,600) vs. 150(100,200), P

In the present work, a novel high-V high-Mn twinning induced plasticity (TWIP) steel for cryogenic storage tank applications was developed. Furthermore, innovative two-stage cooling processes encompassing ultra-fast cooling and the subsequent furnace cooling were proposed. Effects of cooling process on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the experimental steel were investigated. It was observed that with the change in cooling process (the initial temperature of furnace cooling rised gradually), the dwell time of hot-rolled plates above 600 °C was extended. The extension in dwell time facilitated the precipitation of secondary phase particles, leading to the change in average diameter and volume fraction of secondary phase particles. The yield strength increased with the increasing initial temperature of furnace cooling due to the combined effect of small-sized secondary phase particles inside the grains and large-sized ones located at the grain boundaries. The occurrence of intergranular cracking, primarily caused by the presence of large-sized secondary phase particles at the grain boundaries, was the main factor responsible for the significant reduction in total elongation. The small-sized secondary phase particles inside the grains inhibited deformation twinning, while the large-sized ones at the grain boundaries weaken the binding force between grain boundaries, which ultimately resulted in a decrease in cryogenic impact toughness. The implementation of two-stage cooling processes effectively mitigated the trade-off between yield strength and cryogenic impact toughness, offering a novel approach and valuable insights for optimizing the strength and toughness characteristics of cryogenic high-Mn steels.

Rare earth elements are widely used in permanent magnet, metallurgy, hydrogen storage materials and other fields due to their special properties, and their consumption is increasing year by year. China is a big country with rare earth element reserves. By 2020, China's rare earth element mineral production in the world accounted for a decline year by year, and has rebounded in recent years, but it is necessary to find and develop other materials that can be used as a supply source of rare earth elements. Coal, as a kind of organic mineral, can enrich rare earth elements during its formation. Deeply recognizing the content and occurrence state of rare earth elements in coal is of great significance for the subsequent research on the occurrence, extraction and recovery of rare earth elements in combustion products. Scholars at home and abroad studied the content of rare earth elements in coal by era, region and coal grade, and the research on the occurrence state of rare earth elements in coal and its combustion products was summarized to clearly understand the distribution characteristics of rare earth elements in coal and its combustion products in China. Current research shows that the average rare earth element content in China's coal is twice the average rare earth element content in coal in the world. Late Permian period coal is relatively rich in rare earth elements. Rare earth elements in coal mainly exist in Portland state. The properties of rare earth elements are stable, and the coal can be enriched several times to tens of times in the combustion products after combustion, mainly in the non-magnetic fine fly ash particles. In order to improve the representativeness and accuracy of statistical data, factors such as the coverage rate of coal mining area, sample processing method and trace element testing method should be comprehensively considered in the statistics of rare earth elements content in coal. Direct observation, characterization test methods, stepwise chemical extraction methods and mathematical statistical methods were synthesized to obtain a more reliable occurrence state. China has a considerable amount of coal consumption, with the main energy supply being thermal power generation. The production of coal-fired products is huge, and rare earth elements in coal can be enriched dozens of times in coal-fired products. The distribution pattern of rare earth elements in coal-fired products of power plants is explored, and corresponding recovery processes are proposed based on the difficulty of extraction, in order to achieve the resource utilization of coal-fired products.

Exposing C-section infants to the maternal vaginal microbiome, coined “vaginal seeding”, partially restores microbial colonization. However, whether vaginal seeding decreases metabolic disease risk is unknown. Therefore, we assessed the effect of vaginal seeding of human infants on adiposity in a murine model. Germ-free mice were colonized with transitional stool from human infants who received vaginal seeding or control (placebo) seeding in a double-blind randomized trial. There was a reduction in intraabdominal adipose tissue (IAAT) volume in male mice that received stool from vaginally seeded infants compared to control infants. Higher levels of isoleucine and lower levels of nucleic acid metabolites were observed in controls and correlated with increased IAAT. This suggests that early changes in the gut microbiome and metabolome caused by vaginal seeding have a positive impact on metabolic health.

IntroductionMental health literacy is viewed as a significant factor that may facilitate an individual’s pursuit of professional psychological assistance. However, it is important to explore further influencing factors that might underlie this association. This study, employing the framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), aims to examine the relationship between mental health literacy and the behavior of seeking professional psychological help, with a focus on the potential mediating roles of perceived stigma and social support in this context.MethodsWe surveyed 911 college students in seven regions of China (406 males and 505 females, aged between 19 and 25 years old; Mage = 19.65, SD = 1.41) utilizing self-report measures, including the Mental Health Literacy Questionnaire, Professional Psychological Help-Seeking Behavior Scale, Professional Psychological Help-Seeking Stigma Scale, and Perceived Social Support Scale. A chain mediation model was developed to analyze the interconnections between mental health literacy, stigma related to seeking psychological help, perceived social support, and professional psychological help-seeking behaviors.ResultsThe mediation effect analysis indicates that: (1) mental health literacy significantly positively correlates with professional psychological help-seeking behaviors; (2) both perceived social support and professional psychological help-seeking stigma significantly mediate the relationship between mental health literacy and professional psychological help-seeking behavior; (3) perceived social support and the stigma associated with seeking professional psychological help play a chained mediating effect between mental health literacy and the behavior of seeking professional psychological help.DiscussionThis study found that mental health literacy indirectly facilitates professional psychological help-seeking behaviors by enhancing the perception of social support and reducing the stigma associated with seeking such help. These findings help in understanding how improving mental health literacy and perceived social support while reducing stigma can increase the likelihood of individuals seeking professional psychological assistance. The results are significant for enhancing the utilization of mental health services and implementing mental health education programs in universities.

An intelligent fault diagnosis method of rolling bearings based on a depth feature fusion network was proposed to solve the problems of a single original signal, large noise interference and difficult diagnosis of varying working conditions of rolling bearings. Using various transform domain signals can make the input contain comprehensive information, extract useful fault features, and conduct feature fusion through the attention mechanism feature fusion method to enhance the ability to obtain effective features. In addition, an improved dense network integrates the pooling layer with dense blocks and introduces a multi-scale convolution kernel and squeeze excitation module. It can promote feature reuse, reduce the dimensions of the feature map, and automatically measure the importance of the weight of each feature channel, enhancing the useful features of the current task and suppressing useless features. Hence, the model has an optimum feature extraction capability. The bearing dataset of Case Western Reserve University was selected to verify the fault diagnosis ability of the proposed method. The recognition accuracy rates under ideal, anti-noise and generalization tests were 99.75%, 97.81% and 96.88%, respectively. The recognition accuracy rate was higher than that of the other depth learning models. Experiments and comparative analysis showed that the proposed method has good anti-noise and generalization abilities compared to traditional methods.

The high content of water-soluble sodium, chlorine and sulfate ions in Xinjiang’s high-alkali coal seriously affects the clean and efficient utilization of Xinjiang’s coal. The combination mode of water-soluble elements in high-alkali coal and the influence on coal quality has become a basic problem to be solved in the scientific understanding and evaluation of Xinjiang’s coal. We collected coal seam and commercial coal samples from Dajing, Xiheishan, Santanghu, Naomaohu and Shaerhu mining areas in eastern Xinjiang, as well as surface soil overlying on the coal seams, roof and gangue samples in different mining areas, including surface salt rock samples from some mining areas. The content of water-soluble ions in relevant samples was determined by the leaching experiment. Based on the method of coal ash composition, proportion of water-soluble ions, water-soluble ions ratio parameter and Piper trilinear diagram, the difference of the combined characteristics of water-soluble elements in coal in different mining areas were analyzed. The possible causes and influencing factors of water-soluble elements in coal were discussed by comparing the variations of water-soluble ions in coal seams, other rock layers of coal-bearing strata and surface soil. The result shows that there are significant differences in the content and combination modes of water-soluble elements in coal from different mining areas in eastern Xinjiang, and the degree of difference in content can be about 3 times. In terms of combination modes, there are Cl-Na type and Cl·HCO3-Na type, as well as other types of combinations such as SO4-Na·Ca type and SO4·HCO3-Na type. The ratio parameters of various water-soluble ions show that there have been ion-exchange between water-soluble ions in the coal. The formation of high-alkali coal in Xinjiang is a modern geological processes currently still in development. There has been a distinct possibility that water-soluble ions in the salt rock and soil on the surface were carried gradually into the coal seams along with the groundwater infiltration, which leads to the formation of high-alkali coal, and the process is relatively complex. Affected by ion-exchange and precipitation, the combination forms and occurrence states of alkali metals, alkali earth metals, chlorine, sulfur and other elements in coal become more complex, but the water-soluble state is still the main form.

Abstract Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a traumatic condition of the central nervous system that causes paralysis of the limbs. Micro electric fields (EF) have been implicated in a novel therapeutic approach for nerve injury repair and regeneration, but the effects of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell-derived small extracellular vesicles that are induced by micro electric fields (EF-sEVs) stimulation on SCI remain unknown. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether EF-sEVs have therapeutic effects a rat model of SCI. EF-sEVs and normally conditioned human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells-derived small extracellular vesicles (CON-sEVs) were collected and injected intralesionally into SCI model rats to evaluate the therapeutic effects. We detect the expression of candidate long noncoding RNA metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (lncRNA-MALAT1) in EF-sEVs and CON-sEVs. The targets and downstream effectors of lncRNA-MALAT1 were investigated using luciferase reporter assays. Using both in vivo and in vitro experiments, we demonstrated that EF-sEVs increased autophagy and decreased apoptosis after SCI, which promoted the recovery of motor function. We further confirmed that the neuroprotective effects of EF-sEVs in vitro and in vivo correlated with the presence of encapsulated lncRNA-MALAT1 in sEVs. lncRNA-MALAT1 targeted miR-22-3p via sponging, reducing miR-22-3p’s suppressive effects on its target, SIRT1, and this translated into AMPK phosphorylation and increased levels of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2. Collectively, the present study identified that the lncRNA-MALAT1 in EF-sEVs plays a neuroprotective role via the miRNA-22-3p/SIRT1/AMPK axis and offers a fresh perspective and a potential therapeutic approach using sEVs to improve SCI.

Pan-video refers to the business that takes video as the form of information presentation and interaction.It is mainly divided into three categories: traditional video business, emerging video business and derivative video business.However, how to accurately evaluate the quality of video playback has always been a problem.A pan-video playback quality evaluation model and parameters were proposed, which mainly included: video switching delay, video start delay, video playback pause times and duration, etc.It has been applied in the IPTV quality monitoring system of the current network, and the practice shows that the application effect is good.The proposed research results can be further applied to all pan-video application scenarios in the field of video network products.

In the present work, the microstructure, strain hardening behavior, segregation and corrosion resistance of a high-Mn TWIP steel joint fabricated by electron beam welding (EBW) method were investigated. It was observed that in the fusion zone (FZ), columnar dendritic structure and cellular structure were formed and the texture component of ⟨100⟩∥X-axis was developed. Annealing twinning events hardly occurred during the solidification of weld metal since few Ʃ3 and Ʃ9 grain boundaries existed in the FZ. The 0.2% yield strength (YS) of the joint is comparable to that of the base metal (BM). Deformation twinning played an important part in increasing the strain hardening rate. C, Mn and Si elements were found to segregate in the interdendritic regions, nevertheless, Al element was discovered to concentrate in the centres of the dendrites. The microsegregation of alloying elements and the formation of (Fe,Mn)3C cementites increased the corrosion sensitivity of interdendritic regions, which led to the occurrence of preferential corrosion in these regions and then reduced the corrosion resistance of the joint.

Drying shrinkage of alkali-activated slag (AAS) has gained significant attention since the volumetric instability of this material can generate premature cracking and degrade the long-term durability of concrete structures. The unique shrinkage behavior of AAS originates mainly from the particular characteristics of its main hydrated products. However, few studies have even at-tempted to investigate the shrinkage behavior of hydrated products in AAS materials. This paper presented a new method of investigating drying shrinkage behavior of AAS using focused ion beam (FIB) combined with environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM). This innovative experimental method allowed the in-situ measurement of phase-specific shrinkage. The results showed FIB/ESEM technique can be successfully implemented to cementitious material to prepare phase-specific samples. Furthermore, object-oriented finite element method (OOF2) has been utilized to compute the shrinkage behavior of AAS concrete using a proposed multi-scale scheme. The computations can be made at multi-scales which highlight the effect of hydration products on shrinkage behaviors. OOF2 calculation at the micro-length scale predicted an increase in the shrinkage due to the well-dispersed hydration products inside the matrix. At larger scale, the decrease in the overall shrinkage is related to the extremely low shrinkage value by aggregates. The findings reveal OOF2 offers the capability to accurately measure local stress and strain distribution within heterogeneous materials, a feature notably absent in conventional numerical homogenization approaches. The importance of this benefit is highlighted particularly in the context of free-restrained shrinkage prediction, as conventional homogenization methods fail to account for stress.

High-pressure torsion (HPT) was applied to the Ni50.6Ti49.4 (at. %) alloy ingot up to 1/4, 2, 16, 32 and 48 turns under a pressure of 6.0 GPa. The samples were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and microhardness measurement. The results indicate that martensitic transformation and formation of amorphous phase occurred during the HPT process. As the HPT turns increased, more amorphous phase formed. The fraction of amorphization was analyzed based on the X-ray results. The microhardness increased with the HPT turns, which may be related to strain-induced martensite transformation, formation of the amorphous phase, increased dislocation densities and grain refinement. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) test revealed that shape memory alloys can be produced by HPT and post-HPT annealing from a NiTi ingot.

Introduction: The application of Fe- (BC-Fe) and Mg-modified (BC-Mg) biochars for the remediation of heavy-metal-contaminated soil has become a research hotspot in recent years. It is critical to select suitable biochar for soil rejuvenation under the same pollution condition.Methods: In this study, the biochars were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In addition, the adsorption and passivation effects of BC-Fe and BC-Mg were comprehensively evaluated through batch adsorption experiments and soil incubation experiments, and the effects of Cd-contaminated soil on plant growth were also demonstrated by pot experiments.Results: SEM, FTIR, and XRD showed that MgO and Fe3O4 nanoparticles were successfully loaded on the biochar surface. The maximum adsorption efficiencies of BC-Fe and BC-Mg for Cd were 52.63 and 66.23 mg g−1, which was 9.05 and 7.19 times higher than that of the original biochar (7.32 mg g−1), respectively. Soil culture experiment showed that 5% BC-Fe and BC-Mg significantly reduced soil DTPA-Cd content by 38.86% and 50.85% at 120 days, respectively. In addition, BC-Fe and BC-Mg promoted the conversion of acid-soluble Cd to the oxidizable and residual states. Pot experiments revealed that BC-Fe and BC-Mg reduced the Cd content in shoots of the maize by 3.97 and 6.09 times, respectively, and both significantly increased the dry and fresh weights of the shoots and roots of the maize plants. Moreover, BC, BC-Fe, and BC-Mg provided nutrients required for plant growth to the soil and increased the activities of soil dehydrogenase, urease, and peroxidase. The adsorption–passivation mechanism of BC-Fe on Cd mainly included electrostatic attraction, while the adsorption–passivation mechanism of BC-Mg on Cd included precipitation and ion exchange.Discussion: Overall, the results showed that BC-Mg can be used as an efficient functional material for heavy-metal pollution remediation, and this study provided guidance on the selection of passivator materials for heavy-metal-contaminated soil remediation.

Abstract Background Common mental disorders are general term for mental disorders with high disability rates and significant social burden. The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of long-term disability associated with common mental disorders and to interpret the relationship between common mental disorders and long-term disability. Methods Participants in the 2013 China Mental Health Survey were followed up by telephone between April and June 2018. This study evaluated long-term disability over a five-year period using the World Health Organization’s Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0. Poisson regression was used to analyze the relationship between common mental disorders and long-term disability. Results A total of 6269 patients were followed up by telephone. In patients with common mental disorders, the prevalence of disability ranged from 7.62% to 43.94%. The long-term disabilities were significantly associated with dysthymic disorder (DD, RR:2.40; 95% CI:1.87-3.03), major depressive disorder (MDD, RR:1.63; 95% CI:1.34-1.98), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD, RR:1.95; 95% CI:1.15-3.09), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD, RR:1.68; 95% CI:1.24-2.22) and alcohol use disorder (AUD, RR: 1.42; 95% CI:0.99-1.96). Conclusions In China, common mental disorders raise the risk of long-term disability, and there is a critical need for monitoring patients with DD, MDD, GAD, OCD, and AUD. For improved quality of life and reduced disability levels, more resources need to be dedicated to mental health in the future.

Al is generally employed as a key alloying element to tailor the austenite mechanical stability and mechanical properties in medium Mn TRIP steels. However, the effect of Al on the austenite stability has been limitedly studied, leaving contradictory results without a self-consistent explanation. This study addressed this issue through a systematic study of medium Mn TRIP steels with compositions of 0.2C–8Mn-0/1.5/3Al (wt.%), while providing new insights into the factors influencing austenite stability and mechanical properties. It was found that the variation of the Mn distribution in austenite from non-equilibrium to near-equilibrium state and the weakened strain incompatibility between phases due to sufficient recovery of tempered martensite can be achieved with the addition of Al, which contributed to slowed strain-induced martensite transformation (SIMT) and improved austenite stability in the experimental steels annealed at low temperatures in the two-phases region, resulting in a decrease in ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and an increase in total elongation (TE). Furthermore, fully recovered tempered martensite with the hardness much lower than that of austenite was obtained in the 3Al steel annealed at a high temperature in the two-phase region, which led to a significant reduction in yield strength and thus low UTS. Meanwhile, heterogeneous strain distribution was induced by the remarkable gap in hardness between the two phases, which can be responsible for the relatively high austenite mechanical stability. The varying strain states and variation of Mn distribution in austenite can be achieved for the medium Mn TRIP steels with different Al contents, contributing to a wide range of UTS&TE combination with high strength and elongation product (≥40 GPa·%). And the elucidation of the effect of different strain states also opens a new window to adjust the austenite stability and mechanical properties of medium Mn TRIP steels.

In the original publication [...]

In order to improve the accuracy of gearbox fault diagnosis and accurately express the health status of the gearbox， combined with deep learning algorithms， a GAF-inceptionResNet model for gear fault diagnosis is proposed. The model can directly take the original one-dimensional vibration signal after GAF transformation to form photos as the input of the model. Through the stem-block， residual inception， residual module and classification layer， the residual inception network can broaden the network depth and improve the training time and accuracy， the residual block uses identity mapping to greatly reduce the training difficulty of the model. Therefore， the model can effectively mine the information between the signal features and enhance the feature learning ability of the model， thereby improving accuracy and accurately determine the faults. The test results show that the model can achieve a fault diagnosis accuracy of 99.59%. It can effectively achieve good gearbox fault identification and classification.

High-pressure torsion (HPT) was applied for the Ni49.6Ti35.4Hf15 (at.%) alloy up to 1/4, 2 and 16 turns under a pressure of 4.0 GPa. The samples were examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and microhardness measurements. The results indicate that the mixture of an amorphous and nanocrystalline microstructure developed in the investigated NiTiHf alloy as the number of HPT turns was increased to two. The average hardness of the samples increased from 330 Hv to 500 Hv after 16 turns of HPT. Very fine martensite developed when the HPT-processed samples were annealed at 550 °C and the finer microstructures were attained with higher HPT turns. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) tests were performed in the post-HPT annealing samples to clarify the transformation behavior after severe plastic deformation in HPT and subsequent annealing, so as to provide an experimental basis for the application of the shape memory alloy. The transformation temperature of the alloy decreased remarkably when the number of turns of HPT reached 16. It is suggested that the deformation extent and annealing temperatures should be considered in order to maintain a high transformation temperature while utilizing the strengthening effect of HPT in the NiTiHf alloy.

Accurate bearing remaining life prediction guarantees safety and continued profitability for the industry. Variable operating conditions of the bearing and difficulty in obtaining corresponding data labels in the industry result in low prediction accuracy of the model. To solve these problems, a bearing life prediction model based on an improved temporal convolutional network and transfer learning is proposed. First, the squeeze-and-excitation network is used to mine and recalibrate the deep features of source domain data. Second, the temporal convolutional network is used to calibrate the relationship between the features and lifetime, and the optimal source domain model is trained. Finally, the transfer learning training is conducted with the source domain model to obtain the transfer model, which can accurately predict the remaining life of the multi-operating condition signal. Comparative experiments were performed on IEEE PHM Challenge 2012 bearing life dataset. The results show that the proposed method can better mine the inherent degradation trend of bearings and effectively improve the prediction accuracy of the remaining useful life. Compared with the existing popular prediction methods, the prediction error was reduced by “20.8%” to “51.5%”, which proves the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method.

Abstract Background SWI/SNF, a well-known ATP-dependent chromatin-remodeling complex, plays an essential role in several biological processes. SNF5, the core subunit of the SWI/SNF remodeling complex, inactivated in 95% of malignant rhabdoid tumors (MRT), highlighting its significance in tumorigenesis. However, the role of SNF5 in bladder cancer (BC) remains unknown. In this study, we aimed to investigate the function and potential clinical applicability of SNF5 in BC. Methods Data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) databases were used to evaluate the clinical significance of SNF5 in BC. We performed Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) and functional assays to investigate the role of SNF5 in BC. Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer (GDSC) and drug-susceptibility tests were performed to identify the potential value of SNF5 in the treatment of BC. Results Low SNF5 expression conferred a poor prognosis and was significantly associated with the N-stage in BC. ROC curves indicated that SNF5 could distinguish BC from the normal tissues. In vitro and in vivo functional assays demonstrated that attenuated SNF5 expression could promote cell proliferation and enhance migration by STAT3 activation. We imputed that low SNF5 expression could confer greater resistance against conventional first-line drugs, including cisplatin and gemcitabine in BC. GDSC and drug-resistance assays suggested that low SNF5 expression renders T24 and 5637 cells high sensitivity to EGFR inhibitor gefitinib, and combination of EZH2 inhibitor GSK126 and cisplatin. Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, the present study, for the first time, showed that low SNF5 expression could promote cell proliferation and migration by activating STAT3 and confer poor prognosis in BC. Importantly, SNF5 expression may be a promising candidate for identifying BC patients who could benefit from EGFR-targeted chemotherapy or cisplatin in combination with EZH2 inhibitor treatment regimens.

Exceptional points are singularities in the parameter space of a physical system where two or more eigenvalues, and their associated eigenvectors, simultaneously coalesce. Here, it is shown that non-local acoustic metagratings that enable precise control over their multiple orders of diffraction, can serve as a robust platform for investigating higher-order exceptional points in free space.

Self-driving and recreational vehicle (RV) camps are a new form of industry module with the integration of transportation and tourism in China, thus the scientific and reasonable site selection plays an important role in the success of camps’ construction and operation. In terms of relying resources and development factors, camps can be divided into five categories: scenic-spot-based, transportation-based, environment-based, project-based and leisure and vacation-based. According to whether it is of excludability and competitiveness, the camps in China mainly embody the attribute of private products. Based on the combination of subjective evaluation and objective calculation, the evaluation model of spatial site selection is constructed and the weight of each index is calculated by using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method and entropy coefficient method. The results show that traffic condition factor is the priority to the selection of campsite, and whether it is on the popular main self-driving route and the grade of trunk roads are the dominant indices. The second factor taken into consideration is the social factors, in which government policy supports and land cost play a key role. The third factor is the market, in which the urban economic level, partnership with the government and tourist resource conditions are of great importance. The fourth factor of the campsite selection includes natural elements, in which the quality of ecological environment and water source conditions are mostly considered. In the future, it is suggested that a camp pattern of “public goods” plus “private goods” should be built and the construction of camps in underdeveloped areas should be highly developed so as to form camp spatial network from individual points to a series of campsite and finally the campsite group in China will be set up.

Abstract Background Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are key regulators in the processes of tumor initiation, progression, and recurrence. The mechanism that maintains their stemness remains enigmatic, although the role of several long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) has been highlighted in the pancreatic cancer stem cells (PCSCs). In this study, we first established that PCSCs overexpressing lncRNA NORAD, and then investigated the effects of NORAD on the maintenance of PCSC stemness. Methods Expression of lncRNA NORAD, miR-202-5p and ANP32E in PC tissues and cell lines was quantified after RNA isolation. Dual-luciferase reporter assay, RNA pull-down and RIP assays were performed to verify the interactions among NORAD, miR-202-5p and ANP32E. We then carried out gain- and loss-of function of miR-202-5p, ANP32E and NORAD in PANC-1 cell line, followed by measurement of the aldehyde dehydrogenase activity, cell viability, apoptosis, cell cycle distribution, colony formation, self-renewal ability and tumorigenicity of PC cells. Results LncRNA NORAD and ANP32E were upregulated in PC tissues and cells, whereas the miR-202-5p level was down-regulated. LncRNA NORAD competitively bound to miR-202-5p, and promoted the expression of the miR-202-5p target gene ANP32E thereby promoting PC cell viability, proliferation, and self-renewal ability in vitro, as well as facilitating tumorigenesis of PCSCs in vivo. Conclusion Overall, lncRNA NORAD upregulates ANP32E expression by competitively binding to miR-202-5, which accelerates the proliferation and self-renewal of PCSCs.

Abstract Aims Skeletal muscle (SkM) abnormalities may impact exercise capacity in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). We sought to quantify differences in SkM oxidative phosphorylation capacity (OxPhos), fibre composition, and the SkM proteome between HFpEF, hypertensive (HTN), and healthy participants. Methods and results Fifty‐nine subjects (20 healthy, 19 HTN, and 20 HFpEF) performed a maximal‐effort cardiopulmonary exercise test to define peak oxygen consumption (VO2, peak), ventilatory threshold (VT), and VO2 efficiency (ratio of total work performed to O2 consumed). SkM OxPhos was assessed using Creatine Chemical‐Exchange Saturation Transfer (CrCEST, n = 51), which quantifies unphosphorylated Cr, before and after plantar flexion exercise. The half‐time of Cr recovery (t1/2, Cr) was taken as a metric of in vivo SkM OxPhos. In a subset of subjects (healthy = 13, HTN = 9, and HFpEF = 12), percutaneous biopsy of the vastus lateralis was performed for myofibre typing, mitochondrial morphology, and proteomic and phosphoproteomic analysis. HFpEF subjects demonstrated lower VO2,peak, VT, and VO2 efficiency than either control group (all P

BackgroundBladder cancer (BCa) is one of the most frequent malignant tumors globally, with a significant morbidity and mortality rate. Gene expression dysregulation has been proven to play a critical role in tumorigenesis. Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate3 (RAC3), which is overexpressed in several malignancies and promotes tumor progression, has been identified as an oncogene. However, RAC3 has important but not fully understood biological functions in cancer. Our research aims to reveal the new functions and potential mechanisms of RAC3 involved in BCa progression.MethodsWe explored the expression level of RAC3 and its relationship with prognosis by publicly accessible BCa datasets, while the correlation of RAC3 expression with clinicopathological variables of patients was analyzed. In vitro and in vivo proliferation, migration, autophagy, and other phenotypic changes were examined by constructing knockdown(KD)/overexpression(OE) RAC3 cells and their association with PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway was explored by adding autophagy-related compounds.ResultsCompared with non-tumor samples, RAC3 was highly expressed in BCa and negatively correlated with prognosis. KD/OE RAC3 inhibited/promoted the proliferation and migration of BCa cells. Knockdown RAC3 caused cell cycle arrest and decreased adhesion without affecting apoptosis. Inhibition of RAC3 activates PI3K/AKT/mTOR mediated autophagy and inhibits proliferation and migration of BCa cells in vivo and in vitro. Autophagy inhibitor 3MA can partially rescue the metastasis and proliferation inhibition effect caused by RAC3 inhibition. Inhibit/activate mTOR enhanced/impaired autophagy, resulting in shRAC3-mediated migration defect exacerbated/rescued.ConclusionRAC3 is highly expressed in BCa. It is associated with advanced clinicopathological variables and poor prognosis. Knockdown RAC3 exerts an antitumor effect by enhancing PI3K/AKT/mTOR mediated autophagy. Targeting RAC3 and autophagy simultaneously is a potential therapeutic strategy for inhibiting BCa progression and prolonging survival.

Abstract The spinal cord is part of the central nervous system (CNS) and serves to connect the brain to the peripheral nervous system and peripheral tissues. The cell types that primarily comprise the spinal cord are neurons and several categories of glia, including astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and microglia. Ependymal cells and small populations of endogenous stem cells, such as oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, also reside in the spinal cord. Neurons are interconnected in circuits; those that process cutaneous sensory input are mainly located in the dorsal spinal cord, while those involved in proprioception and motor control are predominately located in the ventral spinal cord. Due to the importance of the spinal cord, neurodegenerative disorders and traumatic injuries affecting the spinal cord will lead to motor deficits and loss of sensory inputs. Spinal cord injury (SCI), resulting in paraplegia and tetraplegia as a result of deleterious interconnected mechanisms encompassed by the primary and secondary injury, represents a heterogeneously behavioral and cognitive deficit that remains incurable. Following SCI, various barriers containing the neuroinflammation, neural tissue defect (neurons, microglia, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes), cavity formation, loss of neuronal circuitry, and function must be overcame. Notably, the pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory effects of cell–cell communication networks play critical roles in homeostatic, driving the pathophysiologic and consequent cognitive outcomes. In the spinal cord, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and microglia are involved in not only development but also pathology. Glial cells play dual roles (negative vs. positive effects) in these processes. After SCI, detrimental effects usually dominate and significantly retard functional recovery, and curbing these effects is critical for promoting neurological improvement. Indeed, residential innate immune cells (microglia and astrocytes) and infiltrating leukocytes (macrophages and neutrophils), activated by SCI, give rise to full-blown inflammatory cascades. These inflammatory cells release neurotoxins (proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, free radicals, excitotoxic amino acids, nitric oxide (NO)), all of which partake in axonal and neuronal deficit. Given the various multifaceted obstacles in SCI treatment, a combinatorial therapy of cell transplantation and biomaterial implantation may be addressed in detail here. For the sake of preserving damaged tissue integrity and providing physical support and trophic supply for axon regeneration, MSC transplantation has come to the front stage in therapy for SCI with the constant progress of stem cell engineering. MSC transplantation promotes scaffold integration and regenerative growth potential. Integrating into the implanted scaffold, MSCs influence implant integration by improving the healing process. Conversely, biomaterial scaffolds offer MSCs with a sheltered microenvironment from the surrounding pathological changes, in addition to bridging connection spinal cord stump and offering physical and directional support for axonal regeneration. Besides, Biomaterial scaffolds mimic the extracellular matrix to suppress immune responses. Here, we review the advances in combinatorial biomaterial scaffolds and MSC transplantation approach that targets certain aspects of various intercellular communications in the pathologic process following SCI. Finally, the challenges of biomaterial-supported MSC transplantation and its future direction for neuronal regeneration will be presented.

The repair and motor functional recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI) has remained a clinical challenge. Injury-induced gliosis and inflammation lead to a physical barrier and an extremely inhibitory microenvironment, which in turn hinders the recovery of SCI. TLR4-NF-κB is a classic implant-related innate immunomodulation signaling pathway and part of numerous biomaterial-based treatment strategies for SCI. Numerous experimental studies have demonstrated that the regulation of TLR4-NF-κB signaling pathway plays an important role in the alleviation of inflammatory responses, the modulation of autophagy, apoptosis and ferroptosis, and the enhancement of anti-oxidative effect post-SCI. An increasing number of novel biomaterials have been fabricated as scaffolds and carriers, loaded with phytochemicals and drugs, to inhibit the progression of SCI through regulation of TLR4-NF-κB. This review summarizes the empirical strategies for the recovery after SCI through individual or composite biomaterials that mediate the TLR4-NF-κB signaling pathway.

ABSTRACT Fusobacteria are commonly associated with human colorectal cancer (CRC), but investigations are hampered by the absence of a stably colonized murine model. Further, Fusobacterium nucleatum subspecies isolated from human CRC have not been investigated. While F. nucleatum subspecies are commonly associated with CRC, their ability to induce tumorigenesis and contributions to human CRC pathogenesis are uncertain. We sought to establish a stably colonized murine model and to understand the inflammatory potential and virulence genes of human CRC F. nucleatum, representing the 4 subspecies, animalis, nucleatum, polymorphum, and vincentii. Five human CRC-derived and two non-CRC derived F. nucleatum strains were tested for colonization, tumorigenesis, and cytokine induction in specific-pathogen-free (SPF) and/or germfree (GF) wild-type and ApcMin/+ mice, as well as in vitro assays and whole-genome sequencing (WGS). SPF wild-type and ApcMin/+ mice did not achieve stable colonization with F. nucleatum, whereas certain subspecies stably colonized some GF mice but without inducing colon tumorigenesis. F. nucleatum subspecies did not form in vivo biofilms or associate with the mucosa in mice. In vivo inflammation was inconsistent across subspecies, whereas F. nucleatum induced greater cytokine responses in a human colorectal cell line, HCT116. While F. nucleatum subspecies displayed genomic variability, no distinct virulence genes associated with human CRC strains were identified that could reliably distinguish these strains from non-CRC clinical isolates. We hypothesize that the lack of F. nucleatum-induced tumorigenesis in our model reflects differences in human and murine biology and/or a synergistic role for F. nucleatum in concert with other bacteria to promote carcinogenesis. IMPORTANCE Colon cancer is a leading cause of cancer morbidity and mortality, and it is hypothesized that dysbiosis in the gut microbiota contributes to colon tumorigenesis. Fusobacterium nucleatum, a member of the oropharyngeal microbiome, is enriched in a subset of human colon tumors. However, it is unclear whether this genetically varied species directly promotes tumor formation, modulates mucosal immune responses, or merely colonizes the tumor microenvironment. Mechanistic studies to address these questions have been stymied by the lack of an animal model that does not rely on daily orogastric gavage. Using multiple murine models, in vitro assays with a human colon cancer cell line, and whole-genome sequencing analysis, we investigated the proinflammatory and tumorigenic potential of several F. nucleatum clinical isolates. The significance of this research is development of a stable colonization model of F. nucleatum that does not require daily oral gavages in which we demonstrate that a diverse library of clinical isolates do not promote tumorigenesis.

Abstract Background Frailty, which is defined as aging-related multisystem impairments, can lead to adverse health outcomes. However, evidence for such a connection in Chinese older adults remains lacking. This study examined the association between frailty and future falls and disability among community-dwelling Chinese older adults. Methods Data were obtained from the 2011 and 2015 waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Participants were aged 60 years and above at baseline in 2011 and completed the follow-up survey in 2015. Outcome measures were future falls, incident disability in activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), and worsening performance of ADLs and IADLs. A multivariate logistic regression was conducted to examine the association between frailty phenotype and falls, incident disability, and worsening disability during a four-year period. Results We found that frail participants were at increased risk at follow-up for: falls (OR 1.54, 95% CI, 1.14–2.08); developing new ADL difficulties (OR 4.10, 95% CI, 2.79–6.03) and IADL difficulties (OR 3.06, 95% CI, 2.03–4.61); and worsening ADLs performance (OR 2.27, 95% CI, 1.27–4.06), after adjusting for potential confounders. Prefrailty was also significantly associated with future falls, incident disability in ADLs and IADLs, but with a lower magnitude of effect. Conclusions Frailty phenotype is an independent predictor of future falls, incident disability, and worsening performance in ADLs among Chinese older adults. The association suggests the need to pay special attention in caring for frail and prefrail elders and improving individuals’ frailty status.

Abstract Background A routine blood examination is one of the most rapid, convenient and inexpensive clinical examinations that can reflect a patient’s inflammatory status and other blood conditions, and the prognostic value of routine preoperative blood parameters in MIBC patients is still unclear, so we evaluated the prognostic value of routine preoperative blood parameters in muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) following radical cystectomy (RC). Methods Data on 202 patients with MIBC who underwent RC at our institution were retrospectively collected between October 2007 and August 2018. The median preoperative neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and hemoglobin (HGB) values were used as cutoffs to form the low and high NLR, low and high PLR, and low and high HGB groups, respectively. The clinicopathologic characteristics of each group were compared by chi-square and t tests. Kaplan-Meier survival and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to analyze prognosis. Results The median NLR, PLR and HGB values were 2.42, 112 and 125 g/L, respectively. Kaplan-Meier results showed that the low HGB group had poor progression-free survival (PFS), cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS). A high NLR and high PLR groups correlated only with poor OS. Multivariate Cox analyses showed that pathological T3/4 stage, positive lymph node status and low HGB were independent risk factors for PFS, CSS and OS, and age was the only independent risk factor for OS. Conclusion Preoperative peripheral blood HGB is an independent risk factor for the prognosis of MIBC patients. These data suggest that HGB may be a useful prognostic marker for MIBC patients undergoing RC.

ABSTRACTIn the present study, a total of 7793 samples from 5 different types of hosts were collected and tested, with a seroprevalence of 2.4% (184/7793). Although the seroprevalence of human and animal brucellosis is relatively low, numbers of human brucellosis cases reported have increased continuously from 2004 to 2018. A total of 118 Brucella strains containing 4 biotypes were obtained, including Brucella melitensis bv.1 (n = 8) and bv.3 (n = 106), Brucella abortus bv.3 (n = 3) and bv.7 (n = 1). Twenty-one shared MLVA-16 genotypes, each composed of 2 to 19 strains obtained from different hosts, suggest the occurrence of a brucellosis outbreak epidemic with multiple source points and laboratory infection events. Moreover, 30 shared MLVA-16 genotypes were observed among 59.6% (68/114) B. melitensis isolates from Zhejiang and strains from other 21 different provinces, especially northern provinces, China. The analysis highlighted the imported nature of the strains from all over the northern provinces with a dominant part from the developed areas of animal husbandry. These data revealed a potential transmission pattern of brucellosis in this region, due to introduced infected sheep leading to a brucellosis outbreak epidemic, and eventually causing multiple laboratory infection events. It is urgent to strengthen the inspection and quarantine of the introduced animals.

Abstract Background Peripheral Retinal neovascularization is well-described as a complication of X-linked retinoschisis, but less often observed in myopic and primary retinoschisis. We present a case of a myopic female who developed retinal microvascular abnormalities due to retinoschisis and subsequent vitreous hemorrhage which would cause severe visual damage without timely and proper treatment. Case presentation A 38-year-old highly myopic Chinese female complained of blurred vision in her right eye. Her best corrected visual acuitiy was 20/20 OU, and her refraction was − 9.00S OU. Dilated fundus examination revealed mild vitreous hemorrhage and abnormal vascular network nasal to the optic disc in her right eye. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT)- angiography (OCTA) B-Scan showed superficial retinoschisis and well-depicted abnormal retinal microvascular network in inner retinal layer. Sectoral scatter laser photocoagulation was administered. Regression of most abnormal vessels was achieved in 1 month, but the patient experienced an unexpected episode of vitreous hemorrhage 3 months after the initial treatment, which was absorbed spontaneously in 2 weeks. Supplemental laser photocoagulation was applied and regular follow-up visit was suggested. Conclusion Superficial retinoschisis in pathological myopia can be a driver of retinal microvascular abnormalities, possibly neovascularization, an extremely rare but severe complication which can be vision-threatening without timely and proper intervention.

A combined algorithm based on traveling wave (TW) theory and time-frequency characteristics is proposed to estimate the DC line fault location in modular multilevel converter-high voltage direct current (MMC-HVDC) systems. The relationship between instantaneous frequency and TW propagation velocity is analysed, and the local voltage signal is utilized to extract fault features. A TW distortion-based scheme is improved to obtain the approximate fault location and accurately detect TW arrival times. The arrival times of the initial TW from the fault point and opposite terminal are determined using intrinsic mode functions under variational mode decomposition. Given the attenuation property of the TW-based method, the Teager energy operator is used to overcome the weakness in fault feature extraction. The instantaneous frequency of the TW front is obtained via ensemble empirical mode decomposition and Hilbert-Huang transform. The fault location is predicted with the detected TW arrival times and corresponding TW propagation velocity. The effectiveness and superiority of this method are verified through simulations in PSCAD/EMTDC and computation in MATLAB.

Background & Aims: In short-bowel syndrome (SBS), inadequate intestinal adaptation is responsible for the majority of complications, including sepsis, liver failure, and death. In this study, we sought to further delineate the adaptive response to identify potential therapeutic targets. Methods: We performed a 75% small-bowel resection (SBR) or sham operation on C57Bl/6J wild-type (WT), lipocalin-2 (LCN2)-/-, and interleukin 22 (IL22)-/- mice. Exogenous IL22 was administered to SBR WT mice. Cecal fecal matter from SBR WT and SBR LCN2-/- mice were transplanted into germ-free mice. Intestinal permeability, inflammation, proliferation, and the microbiome were evaluated 1 week after surgery. CD4+IL22+ laminal propria lymphocytes were sorted by flow cytometry. Naïve T cells were polarized to T-helper cells with or without LCN2. Results: A 75% SBR in a mouse re-creates the increased intestinal permeability, enterocyte proliferation, and intestinal dysbiosis seen in SBS. LCN2 expression increases after 75% SBR, and this increase can be abrogated with broad-spectrum antibiotic treatment. LCN2-/- mice have less intestinal inflammation, increased IL22 expression, and greater adaptation as evidenced by less intestinal permeability, increased carbohydrate enzyme expression, less weight loss, and less dysbiosis after 75% SBR than WT mice. The proinflammatory and anti-adaptive effects of LCN2 can be transferred to germ-free mice via a fecal transplant. Administration of exogenous IL22 improves adaptation and restores the normal microbiome after 75% SBR in WT mice. Conclusions: LCN2 promotes inflammation and slows intestinal adaptation through changes in the microbiome and IL22 inhibition in a mouse SBS model. Strategies to reduce LCN2 may offer novel therapeutic approaches to enhance adaptation in SBS.

Timbre, as one of the essential elements of sound, plays an important role in determining sound properties, whereas its manipulation has been remaining challenging for passive mechanical systems due to the intrinsic dispersion nature of resonances. Here, we present a meta-silencer supporting intensive mode density as well as highly tunable intrinsic loss and offering a fresh pathway for designable timbre in broadband. Strong global coupling is induced by intensive mode density and delicately modulated with the guidance of the theoretical model, which efficiently suppresses the resonance dispersion and provides desirable frequency-selective wave-manipulation capacity for timbre tuning. As proof-of-concept demonstrations for our design concepts, we propose three meta-silencers with the designing targets of high-efficiency broadband sound attenuation, efficiency-controlled sound attenuation and designable timbre, respectively. The proposed meta-silencers all operate in a broadband frequency range from 500 to 3200 Hz and feature deep-subwavelength sizes around 50 mm. Our work opens up a fundamental avenue to manipulate the timbre with passive resonances-controlled acoustic metamaterials and may inspire the development of novel multifunctional devices in noise-control engineering, impedance engineering, and architectural acoustics.

Background: Anxiety disorders (ADs) are a group of disorders with a high disability rate and bring a huge social burden. In China, information on future trends in the disability among community ADs patients and its determinants are rare. The objectives of this study are to describe the future trends in the disability among ADs patients living in community and to investigate the determinants of the disability.Methods: Participants diagnosed with 12-month ADs in the China Mental Health Survey (CMHS) were followed up by telephone from April to June 2018 to assess the future trends in the disability in a 5-year interval using the World Health Organization's Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0. The disability rate was reported and its determinants were analyzed by complex sample design multivariate logistic regression.Results: Totally 271 patients were interviewed by telephone and 33 informants finished proxy interviews. The disability rates were 45.9% and 14.3% among ADs patients at baseline and during the follow-up. Patients with general anxiety disorder (GAD) or agoraphobia with/without panic disorder (AGP) had the lower decrease and higher disability during the follow-up than patients with other subtypes. Patients aged in middle age (aged 40–49 years old, OR = 11.12, 95% CI: 4.16–29.72), having disability at baseline (OR = 7.18, 95% CI: 1.37–37.73), having comorbidity with three or more physical diseases (OR = 9.27, 95% CI: 2.48–34.71), and having comorbidity with other mental disorders (OR = 3.97, 95% CI: 1.13–13.96) had higher disability during the follow-up.Conclusions: The disability rate tends to decrease among ADs patients living in communities. Treatment priority should be given for ADs patients with disability and those in middle age. Treatments for the comorbidity of other mental disorders or physical diseases should be considered when treating anxiety.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) may cause long-term physical impairment and bring a substantial burden to both the individual patient and society. Existing therapeutic approaches for SCI have proven inadequate. This is mainly owing to the incomplete understanding of the cellular and molecular events post-injury. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) represent a new class of non-coding RNAs with a covalently closed annular structure that participates in regulating the transcription of certain genes and are linked to various biological processes and diseases. Mounting evidence is indicative that circRNAs are highly expressed in the spinal cord and they play key roles in multiple processes of neurological diseases. Recently, a role for circRNAs as effectors of SCI has emerged, leading to the continuity of relevant research. In this review, we presented current studies with regards to the abnormality of circRNAs mediating SCI by affecting mechanisms of autophagy, apoptosis, inflammation, and neural regeneration. Furthermore, the potential clinical value of circRNAs as therapeutic targets of SCI was also analyzed.

The arid region of northwest China is a hotspot for global desertification research, because it is affected by the combined effects of climate change and human activities, and it has had a huge impact on human society in recent years. Based on multiple meteorological and spatial attribute data sets, NDVI-Albedo feature space principle and geographic detectors were used to analyze the main drivers to the spatiotemporal changes of desertification in the arid region of northwest China from 2003 to 2018. The results are shown that: (1) The area of severe desertification in the arid region of northwestern China shows a downward trend, and the area of high desertification and non-desertification regions increases correspondingly, the area of medium and low desertification remains basically unchanged. The desertification divided index (DDI) is the highest in the mid-altitude region. The DDI of middle and lower reaches of the Tarim River has the fastest rising rate, due to the impact of human agricultural activities and ecological water conveyance. (2) According to the analysis results of the geographic detector model, precipitation is the main factor driving the spatial distribution of desertification, especially the interpretive ability of the interaction between land use and precipitation is more than 50% for the spatial distribution of DDI. Land use change and its interaction with other factors have the highest degree of explanation for desertification changes. Therefore, human activities, especially land use and ecological water conservancy projects, are the most important factors to improve desertification in the arid area of northwest China. This study provides a scientific basis for agricultural management and ecological engineering construction in arid region.

Fe-Mn-Al-C lightweight steels have been investigated intensely in the last a few years. There are basically four types of Fe-Mn-Al-C steels, ferritic, ferrite-based duplex/triplex (ferrite + austenite, ferrite + austenite + martensite), austenite-based duplex (ferrite + austenite), and single-austenitic. Among these steels, austenite-based lightweight steels generally exhibit high strength, good ductility, and outstanding weight reduction effects. Due to the addition of Al and high C content, κ’-carbide and κ-carbide are prone to form in the austenite grain interior and at grain boundaries of lightweight steels, respectively, and play critical roles in controlling the microstructures and mechanical properties of the steels. The microstructural evolution, strengthening mechanisms, and deformation behaviors of these lightweight steels are quite different from those of the mild conventional steels and TRIP/TWIP steels due to their high stacking fault energies. The relationship between the microstructures and mechanical properties has been widely investigated, and several deformation mechanisms have also been proposed for austenite-based lightweight steels. In this paper, the current research works are reviewed and the prospectives of the austenite-based Fe-Mn-Al-C lightweight steels are discussed.

Abstract Background The fatality and recurrence rates of bladder cancer (BC) have progressively increased. DNA methylation is an influential regulator associated with gene transcription in the pathogenesis of BC. We describe a comprehensive epigenetic study performed to analyse DNA methylation-driven genes in BC. Methods Data related to DNA methylation, the gene transcriptome and survival in BC were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). MethylMix was used to detect BC-specific hyper-/hypo-methylated genes. Metascape was used to carry out gene ontology (GO) enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses. A least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO)-penalized Cox regression was conducted to identify the characteristic dimension decrease and distinguish prognosis-related methylation-driven genes. Subsequently, we developed a six-gene risk evaluation model and a novel prognosis-related nomogram to predict overall survival (OS). A survival analysis was carried out to explore the individual prognostic significance of the six genes. Results In total, 167 methylation-driven genes were identified. Based on the LASSO Cox regression, six genes, i.e., ARHGDIB, LINC00526, IDH2, ARL14, GSTM2, and LURAP1, were selected for the development of a risk evaluation model. The Kaplan–Meier curve indicated that patients in the low-risk group had considerably better OS (P = 1.679e−05). The area under the curve (AUC) of this model was 0.698 at 3 years of OS. The verification performed in subgroups demonstrated the validity of the model. Then, we designed an OS-associated nomogram that included the risk score and clinical factors. The concordance index of the nomogram was 0.694. The methylation levels of IDH2 and ARL14 were appreciably related to the survival results. In addition, the methylation and gene expression-matched survival analysis revealed that ARHGDIB and ARL14 could be used as independent prognostic indicators. Among the six genes, 6 methylation sites in ARHGDIB, 3 in GSTM2, 1 in ARL14, 2 in LINC00526 and 2 in LURAP1 were meaningfully associated with BC prognosis. In addition, several abnormal methylated sites were identified as linked to gene expression. Conclusion We discovered differential methylation in BC patients with better and worse survival and provided a risk evaluation model by merging six gene markers with clinical characteristics.

DC fault protection is a major issue in multiterminal high-voltage DC current transmission systems. Most studies have focused on primary protection, which considers a different theory. However, the poor sensitivity of primary protection under high-resistance fault and maloperation still affect the protection feasibility to a certain extent. Thus, backup protection is definitely required to enhance the stability of an entire system considering the limit in primary protection. This paper proposes a backup-protection strategy based on wavelet-packet-energy entropy as mitigation for primary protection. The pole-to-ground (PG) fault with high resistance is highlighted because detecting the fault transient of PG fault with high resistance is difficult in the most primary relay. Fault detection and classification are achieved using the proposed backup-protection method based on theoretical study and simulation verification. The proposed method also presents the expected robustness of fault resistance, fault distance and different operating conditions.

Appropriate predictive maintenance is critical to shearers under poor working conditions to prevent major safety accidents and casualties. A predictive maintenance method for shearer key parts based on qualitative and quantitative analysis of monitoring data is proposed. Firstly, a high-fidelity model and hyper-realistic behavior simulations of the shearer key parts are implemented based on offline monitored data and online monitoring data, the obtained position, posture, trajectory and other information can be used for qualitative analysis. Subsequently, an autoencoder (AE) combined with a deep bidirectional gated recurrent unit (bi-GRU) prediction model is constructed to predict the RUL based on online monitoring data for quantitative analysis. The adjusted_R2 value obtained for the deep bi-GRU model was 0.9916, determined in a model-accuracy verification test. Finally, taking the rocker arm of shearer as an example, its working status is visualized using digital mirror from physical space to virtual space, and then its RUL is predicted based on the AE bi-GRU prediction model. The decision-making that guides predictive maintenance can be obtained based on the synthesis of qualitative and quantitative analysis. The application test results demonstrate that the proposed method can be effective for improving the intelligence of predictive process and the accuracy of predictive results.

The capacity for T cells to become activated and clonally expand during pathogen invasion is pivotal for protective immunity. Our understanding of how T cell receptor (TCR) signaling prepares cells for this rapid expansion remains limited. Here we provide evidence that the E3 ubiquitin ligase Cullin-4b (Cul4b) regulates this process. The abundance of total and neddylated Cul4b increased following TCR stimulation. Disruption of Cul4b resulted in impaired proliferation and survival of activated T cells. Additionally, Cul4b-deficient CD4+ T cells accumulated DNA damage. In T cells, Cul4b preferentially associated with the substrate receptor DCAF1, and Cul4b and DCAF1 were found to interact with proteins that promote the sensing or repair of damaged DNA. While Cul4b-deficient CD4+ T cells showed evidence of DNA damage sensing, downstream phosphorylation of SMC1A did not occur. These findings reveal an essential role for Cul4b in promoting the repair of damaged DNA to allow survival and expansion of activated T cells.

In this study, the stain accumulation during friction stir welding of pure Mg was predicted and verified at different rotation speeds, together with the detailed microstructural evolution. The results indicate that the strain accumulation can be divided into three stages: 1) acceleration flow, 2) high velocity flow, and (III) decelerate and constant velocity flow. The rate of strain accumulation was relatively low at both stage I and stage III, while it became extremely high at stage III. The higher the speed of rotation, the severe plastic deformation more easily occurred within the material. The accumulated strain of pure Mg were determined to be approximately 12.8 and 14.5 at the rotation speed of 1,000 and 1,500 rpm, respectively. Relatively believable equations were established by calculation and derivation. In addition, the microstructural evolution shows that that the friction stir welding processed pure Mg first experienced significant grain refinement during plastic deformation but led to an obvious grain growth at the later stage due to the heat effect by high temperature field.

The microstructure, properties and deformation behavior of Fe-28.7Mn-10.2Al-1.06C high specific strength steel were studied. The results showed that the density of experimental steel is about 6.59 g/cm3 and the microstructure is austenite. With the increase in the annealing temperature, the tensile strength decreases and the elongation increases. When the annealing temperature is 950 °C, the strength-plastic product of the experimental steel is 54.82 GPa%, and the specific strength is 1.48 × 105 N·m/kg. Compared with 20Mn2CrNb high strength automobile steel, the specific strength of laboratory steel is increased by more than 20%. The deformation behavior of experimental steel is mainly: At the low strain, spacing of slip surface decreases; at high strain, dislocation walls and micro-strips are formed, and the austenite grains are segmented, increasing the dislocation density and starting more secondary slips.