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The objective of this study is to evaluate the gastric emptying in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with gastrointestinal involvement using three-dimensional (3D) ultrasonography.The gastric emptying times at 25% (T1), 50% (T2), and 75% (T3) of SLE patients with gastrointestinal involvement (n = 40) and healthy controls (n = 80) were evaluated and compared. In addition, the correlations among the gastric wall thickness, SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI), and upper gastrointestinal symptoms were calculated.The gastric wall thickness was correlated with the SLEDAI (r = 0.928, p 0.001) and the upper gastrointestinal symptom index (r = 0.848, p 0.001). The emptying times T1, T2, and T3 of the SLE patients were 17.08 ± 2.65 min (mean ± standard deviation), 39.85 ± 6.54 min, and 83.58 ± 7.12 min, respectively. For healthy controls, they were 19.65 ± 5.39 min, 41.08 ± 7.51 min, and 70.34 ± 8.03 min. The T1 of the SLE patients was shorter (p 0.01), while the T3 was longer (p 0.001). Moreover, T3 in the SLE group had the best correlation with the upper gastrointestinal symptom index (r = 0.553, p 0.001). T1 in the SLE group was anti-correlated with early satiety (r = -0.366, p 0.05).Combining the emptying times T1 and T3, as well as the gastric wall thickness, the SLEDAI and the upper gastrointestinal symptoms index can provide accurate clinical diagnosis of SLE with gastric involvement.

Background It has been observed that lncRNAs have been taking part in many cancer progressions, including non-small cell lung cancer and gastric cancer. Meanwhile, lncRNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 22 (SNHG22) has been studied, taking part in the progression of ovarian epithelial carcinoma. However, we know little about the function of SNHG22 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods In this study, we will explore the inner mechanism of SNHG22 in ESCC. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) assay was implemented in ESCC cells for detecting the expression of lncRNA, SNHG22, and miR-429. Also, functional experiments, including CCK8 and colony formation assay, were implemented to assess the growth of ESCC cells. Meanwhile, flow cytometry analysis was conducted to test the apoptosis of ESCC cells. The immunofluorescence (IF) assay and western blot were conducted to verify the autophagy of ESCC cells. Results Inhibition of SNHG22 was found that can inhibit the progression and promotes autophagy and apoptosis of ESCC cells. Meanwhile, as subcellular fraction assay and FISH assay found that SNHG22 mainly in the cytoplasm, miR-429 was found can bind to SNHG22 and SESN3 by RIP assay and luciferase reporter assay. SESN3 was found it can play the oncogene in ESCC cells. Conclusions SNHG22 promotes the progression of ESCC by the miR-429/SESN3 axis.

Parametric sensitivity to static behavior and dynamic characteristics of Long-span Arch-truss String Structures (ATSS), which is based on statistical distribution of parameter errors including elastic modulus of the material, effective area and pre-stress of cable, and thickness of steel pipe, etc., was studied by Monte Carlo simulation method of ANSYS. The error of sectional area of cable is found to be the most sensitive parameter and the natural frequencies are greatly sensitive to the errors of modulus of members. The results help to determine suitable updating parameters of ATSS, and provide valuable advices to guide the construction control.

With the continuous development of national economy and the construction technology, a lot of large-span spatial structures with unique form and complex construction are emerging. The health monitoring system that mainly used in bridge structure is applied in large-span spatial structures gradually. Parameter identification and damage alarming are the core technology of health monitoring. In this paper some structural modal parameter identification methods based on ambient excitation are introduced. Finally, for large span structures with characteristics of low-intensive modes, the response data based on large span structures for modal parameter identification method was summed up, and the critical issues for further research in this field are also presented.

The static stability capacity is the main index to measure the whole mechanical performance of single-layer latticed shells. Three single-layer cylindrical latticed shells with different height to span ratio were modeled, and their seismic damage were assessed by the degradation of static stability capacity incurred by earthquakes. Two different static load patterns were considered: dead load and the combination of dead load and half span live load. The results show that the damage assessment method is applicable to single-layer cylindrical latticed shells, and the static load patterns have no big influence on the damage assessment of the single-layer cylindrical latticed shells.

To analysis progressive collapse behavior of single-layer reticulated shell under severe earthquake, based on spatial fiber beam element failure criteria, a simulation method on progressive collapse of shell is presented, which account of mechanical properties of components after buckling and damage accumulation effect of combine hardening material. And a computation program is developed correspondingly. At last the method and program proves to be applicable by an example.

Polycystic kidney disease-like (PKDL) genes that are expressed in sour taste cells have been proposed to be involved in the transduction of sourness by producing off-responses, which shows a large inward current after withdrawing the acid stimuli. However, the underlying mechanisms of off-responses are still unclear. Here, we demonstrate that an alkali-activated mechanism is responsible for eliciting off-responses, as evidenced by both experimental and theoretical analyses. In addition, we showed that the decaying phase of offset responses in PKD2L1/PKD1L3 channels was substantially accelerated by extracellular Ca(2+).

Improvement in regional blood flow has been shown to ameliorate diabetic gastroparesis. We compared the gastric blood supply in patients with diabetes with gastroparesis with that in healthy subjects, by using contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS).30 healthy subjects and 40 patients with diabetic gastroparesis were enrolled. The CEUS parameters of greater curvatures of the antrum (GCOA) and lesser curvatures of the antrum (LCOA), including peak intensity (PI) and the area under the curve (AUC), were compared between the two groups.Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for PI in healthy subjects measured on CEUS were 0.831-0.857 and 0.803-0.823, respectively. Intra-ICC and inter-ICC values for AUC were 0.805-0.823 and 0.813-0.815, respectively. In both groups, no significant difference was observed in PI and AUC values of GCOA and LCOA (p 0.05). The PI and AUC of GCOA and LCOA in the diabetes group were less than those in the normal group (p 0.05).CEUS can assess stomach wall vascularity with a high reproducibility. Microcirculation in the antrum of patients with diabetic gastroparesis is poorer than that of normal group, which is consistent with the mechanisms of diabetic neuropathy. CEUS can be used for evaluation of microvascular perfusion in patients with stomach wall disease. Advances in knowledge: This was the first study to use CEUS for assessment of blood supply of the gastric wall and to compare microvascular perfusion between healthy individuals and patients with diabetes with gastroparesis.

A field experiment was conducted to study the effects of different tillage patterns, i.e., deep plowing once, no-tillage, subsoiling, and conventional tillage, on the flag leaf senescence and grain yield of winter wheat, as well as the soil moisture and nutrient status under dry farming. No-tillage and subsoiling increased the SOD and POD activities and the chlorophyll and soluble protein contents, decreased the MDA and O2(-.) contents, and postponed the senescence of flag leaf. Under non-tillage and subsoiling, the moisture content in 0-40 cm soil layer at anthesis and grain-filling stages was decreased by 4.13% and 6.23% and by 5.50% and 9.27%, respectively, and the contents of alkali-hydrolysable N, available P, and available K in this soil layer also increased significantly, compared with those under conventional tillage. Deep plowing once decreased the moisture content and increased the nutrients contents in 0-40 cm soil layer, but the decrement and increment were not significant. The post-anthesis biomass, post-anthesis dry matter translocation rate, and grain yield under no-tillage and subsoiling were 4.34% and 4.76%, 15.56% and 13.51%, and 10.22% and 9.26% higher than those under conventional tillage, respectively. It could be concluded that no-tillage and subsoiling provided better soil conditions for the post-anthesis growth of winter wheat, under which, the flag leaf senescence postponed, post-anthesis dry matter accumulation and translocation accelerated, and grain yield increased significantly, being the feasible tillage practices in dry farming winter wheat areas.