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Objective. To explore the effects and mechanisms of Bufei Huoxue Capsule (BHC) on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) based on network pharmacology. Methods. The effective components and related targets of BHC were collected by searching TCMSP, HERB, and ETCM databases, after which the related targets of COPD were obtained on GeneCards and OMIM databases. The common targets were imported into the STRING database and Cytoscape database to construct a target interaction network and screen core targets. Next, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses were performed on the Metascape platform. According to the prediction results of network pharmacology, the action mechanism was further examined in an animal model of COPD. The pathological changes of lung tissue were observed by HE staining; goblet cells and mucus secretion in lung tissue were observed by AB-PAS staining, airway collagen deposition was observed by Masson staining, and the expression of NE, TGF-β1, P-EGFR/EGFR, P-ERK1/2/ERK1/2, P-JNK/JNK, and P-P38/P38MAPK protein was detected by Western blot analysis. Results. A total of 379 targets related to BHC and 7391 targets related to COPD were obtained, including 313 potential targets of BHC in treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, with JUN, AKT1, TNF, IL6, EGFR, MAPK1, and MAPK14 as the core targets. Through enrichment analysis, BHC may interfere with COPD by regulating the MAPK signal pathway, HIF-1 signal pathway, NF-κB signal pathway, cAMP signal pathway, cGMP-PKG signal pathway, and so on. Animal experiments showed that the BHC could reduce airway inflammatory cell infiltration, inhibit airway epithelial goblet cell proliferation, reduce mucus secretion, and improve small airway collagen fiber deposition in COPD model rats. Besides, BHC could downregulate the protein expression of NE, TGF-β1, P-EGFR, P-ERK1/2, and P-P38MAPK. Conclusion. BHC can reduce airway inflammation, inhibit mucus hypersecretion, and improve airway remodeling by regulating the MAPK signal transduction pathway.

Traditionally, herbal medicine is consumed by drinking decoctions produced by boiling herbs with water. The functional components of the decoction are heat stable. Small RNAs (sRNAs) were reported as a new class of functional components in decoctions. However, the mechanisms by which sRNAs survive heat treatment of the decoction and enter cells are unclear. Previous studies showed that plant-derived exosome-like nanoparticles (ELNs), which we call botanosomes, could deliver therapeutic reagents in vivo. Here, we report that heat-stable decoctosomes (ELNs) from decoctions have more therapeutic effects than the decoctions in vitro and demonstrate therapeutic efficacy in vivo. Furthermore, sRNAs, such as HJT-sRNA-m7 and PGY-sRNA-6, in the decoctosome exhibit potent anti-fibrosis and anti-inflammatory effects, respectively. Decoctosome is comprised of lipids, chemical compounds, proteins, and sRNAs. A medical decoctosome mimic is called bencaosome. A single lipid sphinganine (d22:0) identified in the decoctosome was mixed and heated with the synthesized sRNAs to form the simplest bencaosome. This simple bencaosome structure was identified by critical micelle concentration (cmc) assay that sRNAs coassembled with sphinganine (d22:0) to form the lipid layers of vesicles. The heating process facilitates co-assembly of sRNAs and sphinganine (d22:0) until a steady state is reached. The artificially produced sphinganine-HJT-sRNA-m7 and sphinganine- PGY-sRNA-6 bencaosomes could ameliorate bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis and poly(I:C)-induced lung inflammation, respectively, following oral administration in mice. Our study not only demonstrates that the herbal decoctosome may represent a combinatory remedy in precision medicine but also provides an effective oral delivery route for nucleic acid therapy.

Plant-derived microRNAs have recently been reported to function in human blood and tissues. Controversy was immediately raised due to possible contamination and the lack of large sample sizes. Here, we report thousands of unique small RNAs derived from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) herbs found in human blood cells and mouse lung tissues using a large-scale analysis. We extracted small RNAs from decoctions of 10 TCM plants (Ban Zhi Lian, Chai Hu, Chuan Xin Lian, Di Ding Zi Jin, Huang Qin, Jin Yin Hua, Lian Qiao, Pu Gong Ying, Xia Ku Cao, and Yu Xing Cao) and obtained millions of RNA sequences from each herb. We also obtained RNA-Seq data from the blood cells of humans who consumed herbal decoctions and from the lung tissues of mice administered RNAs from herbal decoctions via oral gavage. We identified thousands of unique small RNA sequences in human blood cells and mouse lung tissues. Some of these identified small RNAs from Chuan Xin Lian and Hong Jing Tian could be mapped to the genomes of the herbs, confirming their TCM plant origin. Small RNAs derived from herbs regulate mammalian gene expression in a sequence-specific manner, and thus are a superior novel class of herbal drug components that hold great potential as oral gene-targeted therapeutics, highlighting the important role of herbgenomics in their development.

Airway mucus hypersecretion is the main pathogenic factor in acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) and the control of mucus secretion is closely associated with survival. Louqin Zhisou decoction (LQZS) has been found to improve lung function and reduce sputum in AECOPD patients, but the mechanism remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the mechanism of LQZS against mucus hypersecretion in lung tissues of rat AECOPD model. Wistar rats were used to establish AECOPD model by intratracheal instillation of LPS in combination with the continuous cigarette smoking. Rats were administrated LQZS/clarithromycin (CAM)/distilled water via gavage every day and all rats were sacrificed after 30 days. BALF and lung tissues were obtained. Lung morphology, cytokines levels, MUC5AC mRNA transcription and protein expression, phosphorylation of the EGFR-PI3K-AKT signaling pathway, and molecules involved in Th17/Treg balance were evaluated. The results demonstrated that LQZS protected rats from decline in pulmonary function and ameliorated lung injury. LQZS treatment decreased the number of goblet cells in airway and suppressed MUC5AC mRNA and protein expression of lung tissues. Furthermore, LQZS attenuated the level of phospho-EGFR, phospho-PI3K and phospho-AKT in AECOPD rats. In addition, LQZS could inhibit the production of proinflammatory cytokines in BALF, including IL-6 and IL-17A and downregulate the secretion of NE and MCP-1, indicating that LQZS could limit inflammatory responses in AECOPD. Moreover, LQZS reversed RORγt and Foxp3 expression, the key transcription factors of Th17 and Treg, respectively. In conclusion, this research demonstrated the inhibitory effects of LQZS against mucus hypersecretion in AECOPD via suppressing EGFR-PI3K-AKT signaling pathway and restoring Th17/Treg balance.

Following the published article, we noticed an error duplication in Figure 5G "control" and "PGY-6" that was introduced during the revised process, with an attempt to replace it with higher-resolution images. Here we provide the original data in the first submitted manuscript (Figure 5G).

Geometric Dilution of Precision (GDOP) represents the magnification positioning error in satellite navigation, smaller GDOP represents high positioning accuracy. The analytic results of relevant methods to derive the minimum of GDOP by geocentric coordinate system cannot be achieved in reality, because it does not think fully about the satellite visibility constrains. This article employs the elevation angle to express the satellite visibility, and on basis of the local Cartesian coordinates coordinate system, the essay derives the minimum of GDOP with constraint of four satellites visible. Based on the information track of Beidou satellite navigation system, the minimum of GDOP is verified by using the STK simulation software.

As a recycling center, lysosomes are filled with numerous acid hydrolase enzymes that break down waste materials and invading pathogens. Recently, lysosomal cell death has been defined as “lysosomal membrane permeabilization and the consequent leakage of lysosome contents into cytosol.” Here, we show that the neuraminidase (NA) of H5N1 influenza A virus markedly deglycosylates and degrades lysosome-associated membrane proteins (LAMPs; the most abundant membrane proteins of lysosome), which induces lysosomal rupture, and finally leads to cell death of alveolar epithelial carcinoma A549 cells and human tracheal epithelial cells. The NA inhibitors peramivir and zanamivir could effectively block the deglycosylation of LAMPs, inhibit the virus cell entry, and prevent cell death induced by the H5N1 influenza virus. The NA of seasonal H1N1 virus, however, does not share these characteristics. Our findings not only reveal a novel role of NA in the early stage of the H5N1 influenza virus life cycle but also elucidate the molecular mechanism of lysosomal rupture crucial for influenza virus induced cell death. IMPORTANCE The integrity of lysosomes is vital for maintaining cell homeostasis, cellular defense and clearance of invading pathogens. This study shows that the H5N1 influenza virus could induce lysosomal rupture through deglycosylating lysosome-associated membrane proteins (LAMPs) mediated by the neuraminidase activity of NA protein. NA inhibitors such as peramivir and zanamivir could inhibit the deglycosylation of LAMPs and protect lysosomes, which also further interferes with the H5N1 influenza virus infection at early stage of life cycle. This work is significant because it presents new concepts for NA's function, as well as for influenza inhibitors' mechanism of action, and could partially explain the high mortality and high viral load after H5N1 virus infection in human beings and why NA inhibitors have more potent therapeutic effects for lethal avian influenza virus infections at early stage.

Influenza infection and pneumonia are known to cause much of their mortality by inducing acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which is the most severe form of acute lung injury (ALI). Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which is a negative regulator of angiotensin II in the renin–angiotensin system, has been reported to have a crucial role in ALI. Downregulation of ACE2 is always associated with the ALI or ARDS induced by avian influenza virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus, respiratory syncytial virus and sepsis. However, the molecular mechanism of the decreased expression of ACE2 in ALI is unclear. Here we show that avian influenza virus H5N1 induced the upregulation of miR-200c-3p, which was then demonstrated to target the 3′-untranslated region of ACE2. Then, we found that nonstructural protein 1 and viral RNA of H5N1 contributed to the induction of miR-200c-3p during viral infection. Additionally, the synthetic analog of viral double-stranded RNA (poly (I:C)), bacterial lipopolysaccharide and lipoteichoic acid can all markedly increase the expression of miR-200c-3p in a nuclear factor-κB-dependent manner. Furthermore, markedly elevated plasma levels of miR-200c-3p were observed in severe pneumonia patients. The inhibition of miR-200c-3p ameliorated the ALI induced by H5N1 virus infection in vivo, indicating a potential therapeutic target. Therefore, we identify a shared mechanism of viral and bacterial lung infection-induced ALI/ARDS via nuclear factor-κB-dependent upregulation of miR-200c-3p to reduce ACE2 levels, which leads increased angiotensin II levels and subsequently causes lung injury.

The NH code modulation of Beidou B2 satellite navigation signal causes the problem of high bit reversal rate, which results in difficulty to directly apply the coherent integration over periods longer than 1 ms as capturing weak Beidou B2 satellite signal. Besides, it needs to search again to determine the acquisition of NH code chip position. Based on half-bit acquisition algorithm, an improved acquisition algorithm is proposed which combines the feature sequence and half-bit algorithm according to the characteristics of B2 signal. The proposed algorithm handles both of high bit reversal rate problem and NH code chip positioning problem. Experimental result shows that the performance of the proposed algorithm is not only improved about 2 dB compared to the non-coherent algorithm, but also does not need additional steps to determine the NH code phase.

This paper proposes a network coding (NC) based hybrid ARQ (HARQ) algorithm for video broadcast over wireless networks. The sender applies NC technique to combine the lost packets of different terminals, so that multiple terminals can recover their lost packets via per transmission from the sender. The proposed algorithm combines the advantage of FEC scheme and NC based ARQ scheme so as to maximize not only wireless throughput but also video quality for broadcast communication. Simulation results show that our algorithm significantly improves both wireless throughput efficiency and video quality, compared with ARQ and HARQ schemes.

This paper presents an adaptive unequal loss protection (ULP) scheme for robust transmission of scalable video streaming over wireless networks. By jointly exploiting the temporal dependency between frames in a group of pictures (GOP) and the quality dependency between the scalable layers in each frame, the proposed scheme adoptively assigns unequal amount of forward error correction (FEC) codes across packets to each layer and adjusts the sending rate by dynamically selecting the number of layers to transmit, according to the available network bandwidth and the packet loss rate. To prevent the video transmission error propagation, an algorithm is developed to achieve efficient FEC assignment for the base layers in a GOP in the sense of minimizing the decoder distortion. The simulation results show that the proposed adaptive ULP scheme can provide better video quality under varying network conditions and can achieve more graceful degradation as packet loss increasing and available bandwidth decreasing.

Nowadays, throughputs, average path utilization and transmission efficiency are still the important factors which affect the quality of satellite communication. Recently, MORE (MAC-independence Opportunistic Routing) protocol was put forward to improve the throughput and transmission efficiency in ground wireless network. However, MORE is not appropriate for satellites network because satellites available do not have the monitor ability which is necessary in MORE and it is also too expensive to monitor in satellites. In this paper, an improved MORE protocol was proposed to apply to satellites, which is called path scalable network coding (PSNC) protocol. The theoretical analysis reveals the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The simulation results show that the algorithm can effectively increase the average path utilization and the innovative packet ratio over satellite networks.

Satellite communications have been rapidly developed due to its advantageous of wide coverage and large capacity. However, an efficient and robust transmission scheme still needs carefully designed due to the time-varying and unreliable nature of links of the satellite networks. In this paper, we consider cooperative communications by selecting relays dynamically via setting an appropriate threshold according to the real-time channel conditions to avoid error propagation and then apply opportunistic network coding (ONC) to further enhance network throughput. Considering the sparse representation of natural images, block based compressive sensing (BCS) and the proposed ONC are combined in a novel way forming an energy-efficient image processing system which is easy to be implemented. Simulation results show that the scheme we proposed can gain better performances compared with traditional cooperative and network coding methods.

Recently, providing reliable transmission over satellite networks is still a challenging problem due to the dynamic changes of the satellite topology, the large delay and the high error rate of the satellites’ links. The benefits of network coding are well understood to solve those problems above for a large class of wireless networks. In this paper, a new coding-aware routing algorithm is proposed to decrease the large delay and improve the transmission efficiency by performing network coding opportunistically instead of using network coding always or using the shortest path routing only. The theoretical analysis and simulation results show the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

In this study, curcumin (Cur) loaded mixed micelles (Cur-PF), composed of Pluronic P123 (P123) and Pluronic F68 (F68), was prepared using the thin-film hydration method and evaluated in vitro. The preparation process was optimized with a central composite design (CCD). The average size of the mixed micelles was 68.2 nm, and the encapsulating efficiency for Cur was 86.93%, and 6.996% for drug-loading. Compared with the Cur propylene glycol solution, the in vitro release of Cur from Cur-PF presented the sustained-release property. The in vitro cytotoxicity assay showed that the IC(50) values on MCF-7 cells for Cur-PF and free Cur in DMSO solution were 5.04 μg/mL and 8.35 μg/mL, while 2.52 μg/mL and 8.27 μg/mL on MCF-7/ADR cells. It could be concluded from the results that P123/F68 mixed micelles might serve as a potential nanocarrier to improve the solubility and biological activity of Cur.

Compressive sensing is a new technique in signal processing which can recover a sparse signal vector via a much smaller of non-adaptive, linear measurements than the dimension of the signal vector. In this paper, we applied compressive sensing to a joint source compression-channel coding scheme. With analysis of the reconstruction error of the sparse representation of natural image signals, we argue that recovering the large coefficients exactly as many as possible in the transform domain would obtain higher PSNR than reconstructing the best approximation of the original images directly. Then a threshold-based coefficient cutting method was proposed in order to guarantee the accurate recovery of the large coefficients. The experimental results show that with the proposed coefficient cutting algorithm, the reconstructed quality of image could be greatly improved and matches or exceeds that of the popular but computationally expensive Minimizing Total Variation algorithm.

In this paper, we propose an error concealment algorithm based on non-uniform Lagrange interpolation for H.264 standard. To increase the accuracy of error concealment algorithm we utilize the 4 4 pixel block interpolation mode supported by H.264 standard, each of 4 4 pixel block has several directional interpolation modes, total MV (Motion Vector) directional histogram of all candidate interpolation nodes is counted to select the most similar interpolation mode and node as the maximum value of directional histogram. Lagrange interpolation model is applied in this paper and simulation result expresses that distance between nodes which is select for interpolation is non-uniform. Experiment result show that this scheme can highly improve the quality of reconstructed video and obtain a gain of about 0.2~0.5dB in PSNR, compared with Lagrange interpolation in spatial field in the condition of packet loss rate with 15%.

In EDCA-based wireless networks, all video packets are identically mapped without differentiation into one of four access categories to be transmitted so that the delivery performance is restricted. Even though some researches remapped video packets by differentiating their significance according to packets types, they refrained from more gains since they adopted a type of fixed significance model and mapping scheme. In this paper, a new model for video packet significance is built and then a dynamically mapping algorithm based on the packet significance model is proposed to improve the performance of video delivery over EDCA-based wireless networks. The proposed algorithm detects periodically the available resources of each AC and makes full use of the all ACs to transmit video packets. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm improves performance of video delivery and increases the image quality.

Nowadays, providing reliable broadcast and multicast transmission over wireless networks is still a challenging problem, due to the erratic and time-varying nature of a wireless channel. An efficient retransmission strategy is very important to the reliability of transmission and the bandwidth utility of the wireless network. In this paper, an opportunistic network coding retransmission algorithm based on packet loss pattern is proposed to improve the transmission efficiency of broadcast and multicast over wireless networks. The theoretical analysis reveals the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The simulation results show that the algorithm can effectively reduce the retransmission times and increase the transmission efficiency over wireless networks.

One of the most challenging issues in video transmission over wireless networks is to address the rigid time bounded constraint for video delivery. We propose in this paper a deadline-aware transmission framework (DATF) for video over IEEE 802.11e EDCA wireless networks. In this new framework, we estimate the deadline for time bounded video delivery for each packet in queues at MAC layer according to the sequence number of a frame a given video data packet belonging to as well as the current network delay. Then, the MAC layer determines whether a packet should be sent or should be dropped based on the estimated deadline information. To accomplish the scheme of DATF, we propose to modify the mapping scheme in IEEE 802.11e EDCA to facilitate unequal deadline requirement of video packets. Instead of mapping all video packets into class AC_VI, which is defined for video data in IEEE 802.11e EDCA, we differentiate video packets further based on the dependency characteristics of a given frame type. The proposed DATF scheme has been implemented with NS-2 simulation based on the scenario of wired-cum-wireless network architecture. We compare the proposed approach with several competing schemes and the simulation results show that the proposed scheme outperforms these competing schemes in terms of both wireless networking metrics and received video quality.

Scalable video representation of the state-of-art scalable extension of the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC (SVC) and its combined 3d scalability feature offer an excellent solution to flexible video multicast over IP network. In order to relieve the impact of the severe bandwidth fluctuations and packet loss to the reconstructed quality in heterogeneous networks like the internet, a GOP-adaptive layer-based priority ordering algorithm for SVC is proposed in this paper. The method ordered the SVC bit stream according to the rate distortion contribution of different layer to the whole performance within a GOP, which makes the transmission more efficient and robust under the same bandwidth condition. Simulation results of different sequences are given to demonstrate that the proposed algorithms offer better performance in video quality as compared the default SVC ordering method and the SNR-based ordering method.

Summary form only given. This paper proposes a new partition method for reliable H.264 video transmission over wireless channels wherein the impact of each inter MB to error propagation is analyzed. A relationship between image quality and the correctly received MB is established and this helps the encoder find the truncation point to satisfy the quality requirement. The inter partition (or C type) data are further divided into several partitions, then unequal error protection (UEP) can be applied to them with the use of the priority encoding transmission (PET) method. The use of a new fast iteratively improved bidirectional local search algorithm is suggested. Simulation results show that the proposed approach can achieve better results than conventional H.264 coding method when transmitting over wireless channel and can obtain more graceful degradation with the increasing of packet loss rate.

A new error resilient method based on data partitioning and unequal error protection for H.264 video transmission over wireless network is proposed in this paper. By introducing the Impact factor of Inter MB and /spl rho/-curve, the method further divides the C type partition into several subtypes according to their effects to error propagation, then unequal error protection are applied to each partition including that of A, B and C partition. The theoretical model of rate allocation and a fast bidirectional local search algorithm based on iteratively improvement are also presented. The simulation results show that our proposed approach can achieve better results than conventional H.264 coding method (about 0.2-0.6 dB's gain in PSNR) when transmitting over wireless channel and can obtain more graceful degradation with the increasing of packet loss rate.

The coxsackievirus B4 (CVB4) belongs to human enterovirus B species within the family Picornaviridae . Here we report a novel complete genome sequence of a recombinant CVB4 strain, CVB4/GX/10, which was isolated from a patient with a fatal case of hand, foot, and mouth disease in China. The complete genome consists of 7,293 nucleotides, excluding the 3′ poly(A) tail, and has an open reading frame that maps between nucleotide positions 742 and 7293 and encodes a 2,183-amino-acid polyprotein. Phylogenetic analysis based on different genome regions reveals that CVB4/GX/10 is closest to a CVB4 strain, EPIHFMD-CLOSE CONTACT-16, in the 5′ half (VP4∼2B) of the genome, although it is closer to a Chinese CVB5 strain, CVB5/Henan/2010, in the 3′ half (2C∼3D) of the genome. Furthermore, similar bootscan analysis based on the whole genomes demonstrates that recombination has possibly occurred within the 2C domain and that CVB4/GX/10 is a possible progeny of intertypic recombination of the CVB4 strain EPIHFMD-CLOSE CONTACT-16 and CVB5/Henan/2010 that occurred during their cocirculation and evolution, which is a relatively common phenomenon in enteroviruses.