Search

Abstract Nuclear lamin B1 (LMNB1) is a member of the nuclear lamin protein family. LMNB1 can maintain and ensure the stability of nuclear structure and influence the process of cell senescence by regulating chromatin distribution, DNA replication and transcription, gene expression, cell cycle, etc. In recent years, several studies have shown that the abnormal expression of LMNB1, a classical biomarker of cell senescence, is highly correlated with the progression of various malignant tumors; LMNB1 is therefore considered a new potential tumor marker and therapeutic target. However, the mechanism of action of LMNB1 is influenced by many factors, which are difficult to clarify at present. This article focuses on the recent progress in understanding the role of LMNB1 in cell senescence and malignant tumors and offers insights that could contribute to elucidating the mechanism of action of LMNB1 to provide a new direction for further research.

Background: The association between small-bowel adenocarcinoma (SBA) tumor size and prognosis is unclear, and we used the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to assess the prognostic value of SBA tumor size. Methods: Patients with postoperative SBA were selected from the SEER database, and overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) were used as outcome variables. Tumor size was used as a categorical and continuous variable, respectively, to adjust for confounders and analyze the association between SBA tumor size and prognosis using Cox proportional hazard regression, and the results were visualized using restricted cubic splines (RCS). Spearman correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the statistical correlation between tumor size and tumor invasion depth (T-stage). Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to estimate OS at different T stages. Results: When the tumor size was analyzed as a quantitative variable, the adjusted covariate model showed that the HR was 1.008 (P = 0.04) for OS and 1.021 (P = 0.03) for CSS. And regardless of OS or CSS, when the tumor size < 3–4 cm, there was a close linear relationship between tumor size and HR. What's more, in the SEER database, the 5-year survival rates of T1, T2, T3 and T4 patients were 81.8 %, 81.1 %, 66.0 % and 50.9 % (P

Not available.

In the past decades, as the world has placed emphasis on green energy, solar energy has become a favorable option. Different piled foundations have been designed to strengthen the structure supporting the solar panels. These piled foundations include rectangular and circular hollow section piles, as well as H-shaped piles. With various environmental loadings, lateral soil displacement will be encountered when large solar panels are installed on the supporting structure at an inclined angle. Presently, helical pipe piles are widely used in solar farms as part of the supporting structure. In this paper, the pile–soil interaction of steel pipe piles and helical pipe piles with wind loads is analyzed using ABAQUS. The Finite Element Method (FEM) models are assessed with varying strength moduli and cohesions of clay. Further, this paper examines the pile soil system, considering different clay stiffnesses, including very soft, soft, firm, stiff, very stiff, and hard. It is found that the helical piles’ horizontal capacity increases with soil strength and Young’s modulus, but the capacity increment rate reacts differently. This study has a guiding effect on the construction of solar farms using the “tracker” solar system.

BackgroundBreast cancer (BC) diagnosis and treatment rely heavily on molecular markers such as HER2, Ki67, PR, and ER. Currently, these markers are identified by invasive methods.ObjectiveThis meta-analysis investigates the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound-based radiomics as a novel approach to predicting these markers.MethodsA comprehensive search of PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases was conducted to identify studies evaluating ultrasound-based radiomics in BC. Inclusion criteria encompassed research on HER2, Ki67, PR, and ER as key molecular markers. Quality assessment using Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS-2) and Radiomics Quality Score (RQS) was performed. The data extraction step was performed systematically.ResultsOur meta-analysis quantifies the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound-based radiomics with a sensitivity and specificity of 0.76 and 0.78 for predicting HER2, 0.80, and 0.76 for Ki67 biomarkers. Studies did not provide sufficient data for quantitative PR and ER prediction analysis. The overall quality of studies based on the RQS tool was moderate. The QUADAS-2 evaluation showed that the studies had an unclear risk of bias regarding the flow and timing domain.ConclusionOur analysis indicated that AI models have a promising accuracy for predicting key molecular biomarkers' status in BC patients. We performed the quantitative analysis for HER2 and Ki67 biomarkers which yielded a moderate to high accuracy. However, studies did not provide adequate data for meta-analysis of ER and PR prediction accuracy of developed models. The overall quality of the studies was acceptable. In future research, studies need to report the results thoroughly. Also, we suggest more prospective studies from different centers.

To solve the problem of low diagnostic accuracy caused by the scarcity of fault samples and class imbalance in the fault diagnosis task of box-type substations, a fault diagnosis method based on self-attention improvement of conditional tabular generative adversarial network (CTGAN) and AlexNet was proposed. The self-attention mechanism is introduced into the generator of CTGAN to maintain the correlation between the indicators of the input data, and a large amounts of high-quality data are generated according to the small number of fault samples. The generated data are input into the AlexNet model for fault diagnosis. The experimental results demonstrate that compared with the SMOTE and CTGAN methods, the dataset generated by the self-attention-conditional tabular generative adversarial network (SA-CTGAN) model has better data relevance. The accuracy of fault diagnosis by the proposed method reaches 94.81%, which is improved by about 11% compared with the model trained on the original data.

IntroductionAn intraretinal macrocyst is a cavity located in the outer plexiform layer of the retina. It is commonly filled with liquid or blood. To date, few case reports of intraretinal macrocysts with crystalline content and retinal detachment have been published.Case presentationA 44-year-old woman with no history of other diseases complained of decreased vision in her right eye that had persisted for 20 days. The best corrected visual acuity of the right eye was hand motion. Comprehensive ophthalmic examinations were performed, including a vision test, slit lamp fundus examination, ocular B-scan ultrasound, and orbital magnetic resonance imaging. We performed vitrectomy and retinotomy to sufficiently remove the macrocyst and relieve retinal traction. We then reattached the retina and filled it with silicone oil. During the surgery, we found that the cyst had crystalline content, which has not been previously reported, to the best of our knowledge. Finally, the pathological results confirmed a final diagnosis of intraretinal macrocyst. Six months later, we performed a second operation to remove the silicone oil and implant an intraocular lens. After both surgeries, the best corrected visual acuity of the patient's right eye was restored to 20/200, and the retina had repositioned.ConclusionIntraretinal macrocysts are very rare. Both orbital magnetic resonance imaging and ocular B-scan ultrasound are essential for their diagnosis. Our results indicated that vitrectomy was the best way to remove the cyst and reattach the retina.

ObjectiveTo determine if the early response assessments can predict the long-term efficacy of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) treatment for macular edema secondary to retinal vein occlusion (RVO-ME).MethodsA retrospective study of patients with diagnosis of RVO-ME and intravitreal anti-VEGF treatment was conducted. Clinical characteristics including age, gender, disease subtype and disease duration were recorded at baseline. The best corrected visual acuity (BCVA and logMAR), intraocular pressure (IOP), and central macular thickness (CMT) were recorded at baseline, 2 weeks, and every month (months 1–6) after injection. Further, we compared the early response assessments between the cured group (6-month CMT ≤ 250 μm) and the uncured group (6-month CMT > 250 μm).ResultsA total of 164 eyes in 164 patients (77 male and 87 female) were included. At each post-injection time point, both BCVA and CMT are significantly decreased from baseline (all P < 0.001). Spearman’s test showed that 2-week CMT reduction rate after the first injection was negatively correlated with BCVA at 6 months (r = −0.359, P < 0.001). Compared with the uncured group (47 cases), the cured group (117 cases) was younger (59.53 ± 11.68 vs. 65.19 ± 13.10 years old, P < 0.01), had more BRVO patients (76.1% vs. 44.7%, P < 0.01), a shorter disease duration (1.92 ± 2.43 vs. 5.05 ± 4.32 months, P < 0.01), lower baseline CMT (527.09 ± 154.95 vs. 768.96 ± 287.75 μm, P < 0.01), and lower baseline BCVA (0.86 ± 0.44 vs. 1.31 ± 0.51, P < 0.01). At each post-injection time point, the cured group had lower CMT and BCVA values when compared to the uncured group (all P < 0.01), and the 2-week CMT reduction rate was identified as the earliest response time to predict the long-term treatment efficacy. Moreover, ROC curve analysis indicated that a 2-week CMT reduction rate >37% yielded the best cut-off point for predicting the long-term cure of anti-VEGF treatment at 6 months (P < 0.001). Multivariable logistic regression confirmed that the 2-week CMT reduction rate >37% was independently associated with the 6-month cured rate (OR = 9.639, 95% Cl = 1.030–90.227, P = 0.047).ConclusionAge, disease duration, baseline CMT, and baseline BCVA are associated with visual outcomes at 6-month of anti-VEGF treatment for RVO-ME. The “2-week CMT reduction rate >37%” after the first injection is an independent factor to predict better long-term outcomes.

Acute appendicitis is the most common surgical emergency in children. Despite the high incidence rate of appendicitis, it is sometimes misdiagnosed or missed. Complex appendicitis (CA) in children is characterized by a critical condition, several complications, and high mortality. Precision distinguishing between simple appendicitis and CA correctly is key to choosing appropriate treatment. A safe, cheap, rapid, extensive and accurate diagnostic marker of appendicitis will be of great significance for emergency general surgeons to treat suspected CA. Many studies have investigated possible diagnostic markers for the diagnosis of CA in children. In this study, studies related to CA in children in recent years are summarized, and the related markers and scoring system for the diagnosis of CA in children are summarized.

We present a zero-index–based heterostructured magnetic metamaterial (HSMM) composed of two arrays of ferrite rods with different radii and lattice separations, which exhibits unidirectional propagation of electromagnetic (EM) waves, and the unidirectionality is reconfigurable dependent on the bias magnetic field (BMF). By calculating the photonic band diagrams and the effective constitutive parameters, it is shown that, for the MMs with two groups of lattice separations and ferrite rod radii, the effective refractive index is switched either from effective zero index (EZI) to effective positive index (EPI) by decreasing the BMF for one MM or from EZI to effective negative index (ENI) for the other MM by increasing the BMF. As a result, two kinds of HSMMs can be constructed with the combination of either EZI and ENI or EZI and EPI, both of which can be used to implement the unidirectional transport of EM waves and exhibit reconfigurable unidirectionality by either decreasing or increasing the BMF, thus providing us with more degrees of freedom. The concept put forward in the present work can be possibly extended to the heterostructured metamaterials made of phase-change materials and realize reconfigurable EM properties in optical frequency by tuning the temperature.

Radiation-induced lung injury (RILI) is a form of radiation damage to normal lung tissue caused by radiotherapy (RT) for thoracic cancers, which is most commonly comprised of radiation pneumonitis (RP) and radiation pulmonary fibrosis (RPF). Moreover, with the widespread utilization of immunotherapies such as immune checkpoint inhibitors as first- and second-line treatments for various cancers, the incidence of immunotherapy-related lung injury (IRLI), a severe immune-related adverse event (irAE), has rapidly increased. To date, we know relatively little about the underlying mechanisms and signaling pathways of these complications. A better understanding of the signaling pathways may facilitate the prevention of lung injury and exploration of potential therapeutic targets. Therefore, this review provides an overview of the signaling pathways of RILI and IRLI and focuses on their crosstalk in diverse signaling pathways as well as on possible mechanisms of adverse events resulting from combined radiotherapy and immunotherapy. Furthermore, this review proposes potential therapeutic targets and avenues of further research based on signaling pathways. Many new studies on pyroptosis have renewed appreciation for the value and importance of pyroptosis in lung injury. Therefore, the authors posit that pyroptosis may be the common downstream pathway of RILI and IRLI; discussion is also conducted regarding further perspectives on pyroptosis as a crucial signaling pathway in lung injury treatment.

The study of the mechanical properties between the pile and soil is limited when an enlarged head is added at the bottom of the pile foundation, which acts as anchor stabilization. This study investigates the blade pile foundation used in a solar panel project, which is subjected to lateral wind load action. The parametrical study is performed through the numerical simulation of the blade pile that is embedded in clay soil. The study considers both the soil modulus and the strength parameter of cohesion and concludes that the blade pile foundation capacity has a positive correlation with both. Moreover, when adding blades to a normal circular hollow section (CHS) pile, if the clay cohesion is less than 35 MPa, the capacity improvement rate will be greater. It analyzes the simulated load versus the soil displacement by considering clay in the soil states of very soft, soft, firm, stiff, very stiff and hard. This study finds that the blade application increases the lateral capacity of the pile foundation. In addition, when the soil is very soft to firm, adding blades results in a higher percentage of capacity improvement, which is up to 14.8% for the standard 1.5-m CHS pile with an outside diameter of 76.1 mm.

Summary: Most mitochondrial proteins are synthesized as precursors in the cytosol and post-translationally transported into mitochondria. The mitochondrial surface protein Tom70 acts at the interface of the cytosol and mitochondria. In vitro import experiments identified Tom70 as targeting receptor, particularly for hydrophobic carriers. Using in vivo methods and high-content screens, we revisit the question of Tom70 function and considerably expand the set of Tom70-dependent mitochondrial proteins. We demonstrate that the crucial activity of Tom70 is its ability to recruit cytosolic chaperones to the outer membrane. Indeed, tethering an unrelated chaperone-binding domain onto the mitochondrial surface complements most of the defects caused by Tom70 deletion. Tom70-mediated chaperone recruitment reduces the proteotoxicity of mitochondrial precursor proteins, particularly of hydrophobic inner membrane proteins. Thus, our work suggests that the predominant function of Tom70 is to tether cytosolic chaperones to the outer mitochondrial membrane, rather than to serve as a mitochondrion-specifying targeting receptor.

A bi-directional static load test (BDSLT) is one of the most effective methods for accurately estimating pile bearing capacity, in which the test pile is divided into two portions by activating the single-loading device welded along the pile shaft. BDSLT, thus, eliminates the safety concerns and space limitations imposed by the reaction system, as compared to conventional static load tests (kentledge). Based on this study’s project requirements, two loading devices (supercells) were welded along the pile shaft to provide sufficient bearing capacity under the BDSLT, and an equivalent method was applied to interpret the measured load–settlement response. Since the sacrificial loading device welded along the pile shaft cannot be re-used, BDSLTs lead to increased construction costs; however, their capacity for rapid set-up in a limited space and reliable application for long piles are benefits that easily justify their use. Therefore, researchers must understand how BDSLTs perform, especially regarding double-loading devices. As informed by site investigation, this paper validates the conventional analytical solutions regarding test piles in preliminary designs, including Alpha and Beta and semi-empirical methods. In terms of a soil stiffness reduction model, modified closed-form analytical solutions based on Randolph’s analytical method were applied to predict the load–settlement response.

Vital signs monitoring in physical activity (PA) is of great significance in daily healthcare. Impulse Radio Ultra-WideBand (IR-UWB) radar provides a contactless vital signs detection approach with advantages in range resolution and penetration. Several researches have verified the feasibility of IR-UWB radar monitoring when the target keeps still. However, various body movements are induced by PA, which lead to severe signal distortion and interfere vital signs extraction. To address this challenge, a novel joint chest–abdomen cardiopulmonary signal estimation approach is proposed to detect breath and heartbeat simultaneously using IR-UWB radars. The movements of target chest and abdomen are detected by two IR-UWB radars, respectively. Considering the signal overlapping of vital signs and body motion artifacts, Empirical Wavelet Transform (EWT) is applied on received radar signals to remove clutter and mitigate movement interference. Moreover, improved EWT with frequency segmentation refinement is applied on each radar to decompose vital signals of target chest and abdomen to vital sign-related sub-signals, respectively. After that, based on the thoracoabdominal movement correlation, cross-correlation functions are calculated among chest and abdomen sub-signals to estimate breath and heartbeat. The experiments are conducted under three kinds of PA situations and two general body movements, the results of which indicate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed approach.

This study investigated the compressive behaviour of super-long pile foundations with large diameters. Three 52 m, 73 m, and 83 m long piles with a diameter of 1500 mm, 1500 mm, and 1800 mm were cast and tested, respectively. Given that large loading was required, an improved compressive static load test was introduced, and the load transfer mechanism, shaft resistance development, and distribution were analysed. This study found that the transferred load decreased along the pile during each applied load, but the gradients were different. For most layers, when increasing the load, the shaft resistance developed in the upper layers first, while the shaft resistance from the lower part did not always fully develop. Moreover, the “mutual compensation” phenomenon was discovered, which was when the shaft softening occurred from one soil layer, the shaft hardening of the other soil would occur simultaneously. Under consideration of the soil layer differences around these piles, it was recommended that shaft and base grouting should be applied on 52 m and 73 m piles, while only shaft grouting should be applied on the 83 m pile. For this longest pile design, whose toe resistance was discovered to be very small, increasing the pile length was not appropriate; thus, it was preferable to increase the pile diameter to increase the ultimate bearing capacity.

In practice, inappropriate test set-up and design will result in pile eccentricity, reducing pile bearing capacity. Also, inappropriate piling will reduce the strength of the upper part of concrete. These pile elements under inappropriate design and construction are easy to be overlooked since they are invisible. Because the research focuses on the pile failure behaviour under different conditions, this paper aims to determine the outcomes of pile foundation under eccentric loading, pile with inadequate concrete strength, and pile with punching failure. Four concrete piles were cast, and compressive static load tests (SLTs) were performed. The top part of the first pile was cast with inadequate concrete strength. The other two piles were cast with achieved concrete strength; however, one of these applied with eccentric loading. The third pile was the standard pile, and the fourth pile was tested until punching failure occurred. For the fourth pile, the T-Z method was used for determining the failure characteristics. It is discovered that, for the pile with inadequate concrete strength, the cracks occurred at the pile head, and the concrete crushed at 0.9–1.2 m below the ground; for the pile suffering eccentricity, the partial concrete crushed, and the concrete from the opposite side suffered tension fracture; for the pile suffering punching failure, the crack on the soil extends up to 50 mm. Traditional result presentations and interpretations were also provided. Furthermore, it was found that, for the pile suffering punching failure, the shaft resistance increased as the loads increased, and after the loading achieved the maximum resistance, the loading transferred to the pile tip and finally led to the destruction of the pile-soil system.

This paper examines shaft and base grouted concrete piles by conducting vertical static load tests (SLTs) and dynamic load tests. Three concrete piles with shaft and base grouting, with base grouting only, and without grouting techniques were selected, and compressive SLTs were conducted. Two piles with grouting were also assessed with dynamic load tests. Another two uplift SLTs were conducted to one shaft and base grouted pile and one pile without grouting. Traditional presentations were provided to check whether the bored piles reached the design requirement. Interpretations of test results were also provided to determine the ultimate pile capacity. Results from these 5 SLT programs indicated that double-tangent and DeBeer's methods are close to each other, and Chin's method overestimates the pile capacity. Comparison of the results from the SLTs and dynamic load tests shows that the results from Chin's method are close to dynamic results, and Mazurkiewicz's method overestimates for friction resistance. The results also demonstrate that base and shaft grouted pile and base grouted pile increase by 9.82% and 2.89% in compressive capacity, respectively, and compared to the uplift SLTs; there is a 15.7% increment in pile capacity after using base and shaft grouting technology.

Deproteinization is an indispensable process for the elimination of antigenicity in xenograft bones. However, the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) deproteinized xenograft, which is commonly used to repair bone defect, exhibits limited osteoinduction activity. The present study was designed to develop a new method for deproteinization and compare the osteogenic capacities of new pepsin deproteinized xenograft bones with those of conventional H2O2 deproteinized ones.Bones were deproteinized in H2O2 or pepsin for 8 hours. The morphologies were compared by HE staining. The content of protein and collagen I were measured by the Kjeldahl method and HPLC-MS, respectively. The physical properties were evaluated by SEM and mechanical tests. For in vivo study, X-ray, micro-CT and HE staining were employed to monitor the healing processes of radius defects in rabbit models transplanted with different graft materials.Compared with H2O2 deproteinized bones, no distinct morphological and physical changes were observed. However, pepsin deproteinized bones showed a lower protein content, and a higher collagen content were preserved. In vivo studies showed that pepsin deproteinized bones exhibited better osteogenic performance than H2O2 deproteinized bones, moreover, the quantity and quality of the newly formed bones were improved as indicated by micro-CT analysis. From the results of histological examination, the newly formed bones in the pepsin group were mature bones.Pepsin deproteinized xenograft bones show advantages over conventional H2O2 deproteinized bones with respect to osteogenic capacity; this new method may hold potential clinical value in the development of new biomaterials for bone grafting.

This paper examines the suitability of three different soil constitutive models to assess soil movement in the embankment of a railway bridge. As population and traffic demand continue to increase, the implementation of underpasses for roads beneath existing railways has emerged as a viable solution for enhancing current transport infrastructure. The section where the road intersects with railway tracks can be accommodated by constructing a frame bridge. From a stability perspective, the abutments are the crucial locations that may affect the operation of the railway. Numerical analysis is a crucial tool for examining the safety of projects by adopting an appropriate soil constitutive model. This paper analyses the characteristics of commonly used constitutive models for earth bodies. It combines this analysis with actual engineering cases to assess the applicability of these models during the construction of the transition section between the road and bridge on both sides of the railway jacking frame bridge. Considering the elasticity, the plasticity of the soil, and stress changes during actual loading and unloading conditions, three different constitutive models, namely, Mohr-Coulomb, modified Mohr-Coulomb, and HSS Model, are compared and analyzed using the finite element software Midas GTS NX. The results indicate that the HSS model provides numerical results similar to the field monitoring data. Considering that the numerical analysis results showed a similar trend with the field monitoring data, this study establishes a baseline for selecting the constitutive model for the bridge abutments on both sides of the top-in-frame bridge of the railway business line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]