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Background. Thyroid cancer (TC) tends to be a common malignancy worldwide and results in various outcomes due to its different subtypes. The tumor microenvironment (TME) was demonstrated to play crucial roles in various malignancies, including thyroid cancer. This study combined the ESTIMATE and CIBERSORT algorithms, identified four TME-related genes, and evaluated their correlation with clinical characteristics. These findings revealed the malignant performance of TME in TC, and the TME-related DEGs might serve as prognostic biomarkers, which can be utilized for the prediction of immunotherapy effects in patients with TC. Methods. The clinical and gene expression profiles of TC patients were collected from the TCGA dataset. The ESTIMATE algorithm was utilized to estimate stromal and immune scores and predict the level of stromal and immune cell infiltration. The differential expressed genes related to TME were filtered by the “limma” package in R, and the PPI network was constructed by a string website. KEGG pathway and GO analyses were performed to investigate the biological progression and molecular functions of TME-related DEGs. Then, univariate Cox regression analysis was employed to screen four genes correlated with clinical characteristics. GSEA was conducted to assess their roles in the TME of TC. To further investigate the association between TME-related genes and tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs), the CIBERSORT algorithm was performed. Finally, the malignancy behaviors of the two genes were verified by RT-qPCR, IHC, MTT, colony formation, and transwell assays. Results. Four TME-related DEGs, LRRN4CL, HS3ST3A1, PCOLCE2, and CAPN8, were identified and were significantly predictive of poor overall survival. KEGG and GO pathway analysis established that the TME-related DEGs were involved in immune responses and pathways in cancer. Furthermore, the malignancy behaviors of HS3ST3A1 and CAPN8 were verified by cellular functional experiments. These results revealed that the TME-related genes HS3ST3A1 and CAPN8 were able to serve as predictors of prognosis in patients with TC. Conclusion. HS3ST3A1 and CAPN8 may serve as valuable prognostic biomarkers and TME indicators, which can be utilized for the prediction of immunotherapy effects and provide novel treatment strategies for patients with TC.

This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of early secretory antigenic target-6 (ESAT-6) and culture filtrate protein-10 (CFP-10) in immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) associated with renal tuberculosis (RT).Forty patients with IgAN (IgAN group), 32 patients with RT (RT group), and 52 patients with IgAN associated with RT (IgAN + RT group) were retrospectively selected for this study. A tuberculin skin test (TST) was conducted, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) antibody levels were measured. Immunohistochemistry and western blotting were used to determine the expression of ESAT-6 and CFP-10 proteins in renal tissues.The positive results of TST and levels of serum and urinary MTB antibodies were higher in the RT group than in the IgAN + RT group. The expression levels of ESAT-6 and CFP-10 proteins were the highest in the IgAN + RT group and lowest in the IgAN group. The receiver operating characteristic curves indicated that the area under curve (AUC) value of the ESAT-6 protein for the diagnosis of IgAN associated with RT was 0.907 and the cut-off value of the integral optical density (IOD) was 26.72. Diagnosis based on ESAT-6 protein levels showed 75% sensitivity and 94.2% specificity. The AUC value of the CFP-10 protein for the diagnosis of IgAN associated with RT was 0.8 and the cut-off value of IOD was 25.67. Detection based on CFP-10 protein levels showed 63.9% sensitivity and 84.6% specificity.Our study provides evidence for the potential of ESAT-6 and CFP-10 proteins as candidate markers in the diagnosis of IgAN associated with RT.

Background: Low-molecular citrus pectin (LCP) is a pectin polysaccharide with low molec-ular weight, low degree of crux, and no branching. It is obtained by degrading natural citrus pectin (CP) through physical, chemical and enzymatic methods. LCP has received considerable attention in recent years due to its potential applications in the medical and biological fields. Methods: In our previous study, LCP was prepared from CP by using recombinant Bacillus subtilis pectate lyase B. Monosaccharide comparative analysis revealed that the galacturonic acid content of LCP was higher than that of CP. The cell viability effect of LCP was elucidated by using HepG2 cells and the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) staining, Annexin V-FITC/PI staining, and flow cytometer propidium iodide stain-ing were performed to detect the effects of LCP on apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in HepG2 cells. Mi-tochondrial membrane potential (MMP) was observed through 5,5′,6,6′-tetrachloro-1,1′,3,3′-tetraethyl-imidacarbocyanine assay. Results & discussion: The Mw of the prepared LCP was 7.6 kDa, which was significantly lower than that of CP (140 kDa). Cell viability decreased with the increase in the concentration of LCP. The half-inhibitory concentration of 1.46 ± 0.02 mg/mL was determined. Treatment with 1.6 mg/mL LCP in-duced the apoptosis of HepG2 cells with the inhibition rate of 83.10% ± 4.72%, and the cell cycle was arrested in the S phase. Furthermore, the MMP of HepG2 cells decreased with the increase in LCP concentration. Conclusion: The enzymatically prepared LCP could inhibit the proliferation of HepG2 cells. This study provided a partial experimental basis and reference for LCP to become a potential functional food for anti-liver cancer.

Thin film lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI), as an emerging photonic material, provides a promising platform to realize compact, high-speed, and high-efficient electro-optic (EO) modulators. However, due to the large coupling loss caused by the large mode field mismatch between standard single mode fibers and the LNOI waveguides, edge or grating couplers are indispensable to LNOI modulators. In this paper, we propose a novel edge coupler employing staircase structure. The proposed coupler is feasible with i-line lithography and avoids high precise alignment. Moreover, such coupler can be applied to wafer-scale manufacture with low cost. The simulation results show that a low input/output coupling loss of 1.14 dB/1.62 dB can be achieved at 1.55 m wavelength for transverse electric (TE) polarized light signals. Specifically, benefited from the novel staircase design, the proposed edge coupler shows a unique property of polarization extinction ratio larger than 10 dB, which will further improve the modulation efficiency and depth of the EO modulators based on X-cut LNOI.

At present, there are still no anti-Zika virus (ZIKV) drugs or vaccines approved by FDA with accurate targets and antiviral mechanisms. Considering the RNA G-quadruplex sequences in ZIKV genome, it is very meaningful to develop G-quadruplex binders as potential anti-ZIKV drugs with novel and accurate targets. In this paper, five classical G-quadruplex binders including Ber, Braco 19, NiL, 360A and PDS have been chosen to discuss their interaction with ZIKV RNA G-quadruplexes. PDS shows higher binding affinity and thermal stability than the other G-quadruplex binders. This property is further evidenced in cells by immunofluorescence microscopy. And PDS shows higher anti-ZIKV activity (EC50 = 4.2 ± 0.4 μM) than the other G-quadruplex binders as well as the positive control ribavirin, with a low cytotoxicity. By time-of-addition assay, PDS exerts antiviral activity at the post-entry process of ZIKV replication cycle, thus inhibiting ZIKV mRNA replication and protein expression. Furthermore, PDS combines with ZIKV NS2B-NS3 protease and reduces its catalytic activity. This study suggests that G-quadruplex binder PDS is an effective multi-target ZIKV inhibitor, which provides more guidance to design some novel anti-ZIKV drugs targeting ZIKV RNA G-quadruplexes.

Building an excellent model is crucial for the near-infrared technology used in various fields. Full-spectrum model building has negative influence on the predictive ability of models owing to the ...

In this paper, a high-performance electro-optical tunable grating-assisted directional coupler (GADC) is proposed and demonstrated experimentally. Our proposed GADC consists of a two-mode waveguide (TMW) and a single-mode waveguide (SMW) formed with lithium niobite (LN). By introducing a long-period waveguide grating into the side-wall of the TMW to compensate for the phase mismatch of the fundamental modes of the SMW and TMW, the fundamental modes of the two waveguides can be coupled efficiently each other at a specific wavelength. Furthermore, push-pull electrode structure is introduced to achieve the electro-optic (EO) tuning function featuring high speed, low driving voltage, and large tuning range. The best LN GADC we fabricated on x-cut LN substrate using annealing proton exchange process shows a high isolation of ~ 34 dB at 1532.9 nm wavelength, quite large EO tuning efficiency of 1.195 nm/V (1526.4-1549.1 nm) or 1.736 nm/V (1576.1-1602.2 nm), and a thermo-optic tuning efficiency of 0.128 nm/°C (22 °C-60 °C). Our proposed LN GADC can find applications in the fields of high-speed tunable wavelength filtering, mode filtering, and EO modulation.

The hybrid drive wind turbine (WT) can be friendly connected to the power grid by using a speed regulating differential mechanism (SRDM) instead of partially or fully rated converters, which has been considered as a promising solution for the stable consumption of large-scale wind power generation. To further improve the on-grid performance of hybrid drive WTs, this paper develops a multi-source power generation scheme, in which a hydrogen storage system (HSS) is integrated for mitigating the wind power generation intermittencies. The overall architecture and kinematic principles of the proposed wind–hydrogen generation system, called SRDM-based WT with HSS, are first analyzed. Then, the graphical descriptions of mathematical models are finalized via the Energetic Macroscopic Representation method, by which the physical characteristics and energy flow relationships are revealed. To ensure the economical and stable operation of the proposed wind–hydrogen scheme, an effective optimal allocation framework, considering the uncertainties from wind power output and load demand, is presented to HSS, targeting the maximum annual revenue. The effects of several key HSS parameters on the capacity allocation results are also investigated. Moreover, aiming at the different system working modes, an energy management approach is synthesized to achieve the interaction analysis and power supervision between energy sources and storage elements. Finally, experimental and simulation case studies are demonstrated. Results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches and the optimal performance for uninterrupted on-grid operation of the proposed wind–hydrogen energy system.

We propose a long-period grating assisted directional coupler in lithium niobate (LN) for the realization of electro-optic tunable mode filtering functionality. Our typical device, fabricated with the annealed proton-exchange process and designed for filtering out the fundamental mode in a two-mode LN waveguide, achieves a maximum mode extinction ratio of 29 dB at 1551.7 nm wavelength and a –20 dB bandwidth of ∼2.5 nm with an electrical wavelength tuning sensitivity of 0.182 nm/V.

To investigate the efficacy and safety of haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (haplo-HSCT) in combination of ATG and post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy) -induced immune tolerance after transplantation in treatment of childhood myelodysplastic syndromes(MDS）.From July 2016 to November 2020, a total of 8 children with MDS receiving the haploidentical allo-HSCT combined with ATG and PTCy-induced immune tolerance after transplantation in our hospital were enrolled, whose clinical data were retrospected and analyzed.Median age at diagnosis of the 8 children (1 male and 7 females) was 6.4 (range, 10 months to 15 years) years old. The median medical history of MDS was 2.7 years (range, 3 months to 8 years). Among the 8 patients, 7 cases were diagnosed with refractory cytopenia of childhood and one with refractory anemia with excess of blasts. The HSC donors were father, mother or brother of patients and HLA matching in 6-9/12 loci were identical. All the donors were healthy and didn't carry the same pathogenic genes as the recipients. The median age of donors was 36.4 (range, 25 to 49) years old. The median mononuclear cell (MNC) number of the graft was 19.8, ranging in (13.2-47.3)×10Haplo-HSCT combined with ATG and PTCy-induced immune tolerance after transplantation is a safe and effective treatment for children with MDS.ATG联合PTCy的Haplo-HSCT方案治疗儿童骨髓增生异常综合征.探讨ATG联合后置环磷酰胺（PTCy）诱导免疫耐受的单倍体型造血干细胞移植（haplo-HSCT）方案治疗儿童骨髓增生异常综合征（MDS）的疗效及安全性.回顾并分析2016年7月至2020年11月在本中心接受ATG联合PTCy诱导免疫耐受的Haplo-HSCT方案治疗的8例儿童MDS患者的临床资料.8例儿童MDS患者中，男1例，女7例，中位年龄6.4岁（10个月-15岁），病史中位数27年（3个月-8年），7例诊断为难治性血细胞减少症，1例诊断为难治性贫血伴原始细胞增多。供者为患者父亲、母亲或哥哥，HLA配型（6-9）/12位点相合，供者经筛查均为健康供者，未携带受者致病基因，中位年龄364（25-49）岁，回输单个核细胞中位数 19.8(13.2-47.3) ×10ATG联合PTCy诱导免疫耐受的Haplo-HSCT方案是治疗儿童MDS安全有效的方法.

By choosing pyridostatin (PDS) with high thermal stabilization towards mixed-type G-quadruplexes as the monomer in dimers, three novel polyether-tethered PDS dimers (1a-c) were first synthesized and their interaction with human telomere G-quadruplex dimers (G2T1) was studied. Through the regulation of the linker length in PDS dimers, the dimer with a medium-length polyether linker (1b) showed higher binding selectivity and thermal stabilization (ΔTm = 29.5 °C) towards antiparallel G2T1 over G-quadruplex monomers (G1). Furthermore, the dimer with the longest-length polyether linker (1c) showed higher binding selectivity and thermal stabilization towards mixed-type G2T1 over mixed-type G1, c-kit 1, c-kit 2, c-myc and ds DNA. This work provides new insights into the development of G2T1 binders, especially mixed-type G2T1 binders, which could be promoted by a polymer formed with a mixed-type G-quadruplex binder. In addition, dimer 1c exhibited stronger telomerase inhibition than dimers 1a and 1b.

Family with sequence similarity 60A (FAM60A) has been reported as a new cancer-related protein that affects the malignant progression of some cancers. However, whether FAM60A plays a part in pancreatic carcinoma is undetermined. This work was designed to examine the impact of FAM60A in pancreatic carcinoma. Abundant expression of FAM60A was observed in the primary tumor tissue of pancreatic carcinoma. Moreover, a high FAM60A level was related to a poor overall survival in pancreatic carcinoma patients. Malignant behaviors of pancreatic carcinoma cells, such as proliferation and invasiveness, were markedly affected by FAM60A depletion. In addition, FAM60A depletion enhanced the drug sensitivity of pancreatic carcinoma cells to gemcitabine. Further study revealed that FAM60A depletion impaired the activities of Akt and β-catenin. Inhibiting the activity of Akt abolished FAM60A-mediated β-catenin activation. Re-expression of β-catenin partially diminished the FAM60A-depletion-mediated cancer suppressive effect in pancreatic carcinoma cells. In vivo experiments demonstrated that FAM60A depletion prohibited the xenograft formation of pancreatic carcinoma cells, with concurrent reductions of Akt and β-catenin activities. Collectively, our findings indicate that FAM60A exerts a cancer-promoting role in pancreatic carcinoma through affection of the Akt/β-catenin pathway. This work indicates that FAM60A acts as a tumor promoter in pancreatic carcinoma and can be utilized as a potential target for anti-pancreatic carcinoma therapy development.

Background Realizing imaging detection of water and nitrogen content in different regions of plant leaves in-site and real-time can provide an efficient new technology for determining crop drought resistance and nutrient regulation mechanisms, or for use in precision agriculture. Near-infrared imaging is the preferred technology for in-situ real-time detection owing to its non-destructive nature; moreover, it provides rich information. However, the use of hyperspectral imaging technology is limited as it is difficult to use it in field because of its high weight and power. Results We developed a smart imaging device using a near-infrared camera and an interference filter; it has a low weight, requires low power, and has a multi-wavelength resolution. The characteristic wavelengths of the filter that realize leaf moisture measurement are 1150 and 1400 nm, respectively, the characteristic wavelength of the filter that realizes nitrogen measurement is 1500 nm, and all filter bandwidths are 25 nm. The prediction result of the average leaf water content model obtained with the device was R2 = 0.930, RMSE = 1.030%; the prediction result of the average nitrogen content model was R2 = 0.750, RMSE = 0.263 g. Conclusions Using the average water and nitrogen content model, an image of distribution of water and nitrogen in different areas of corn leaf was obtained, and its distribution characteristics were consistent with the actual leaf conditions. The experimental materials used in this research were fresh leaves in the field, and the test was completed indoors. Further verification of applying the device and model to the field is underway.

To observe the effect of Lingnan fire needling combined with artificial tears in the treatment of xerophthalmia.A total of 86 xerophthalmia patients were equally and randomly divided into treatment group and control group. The patients of both groups were received treatment with 0.1% sodium hyaluronate eye drops in their eyes 3 times a day, one drop in each eye. In addition, the patients of treatment group also treated by Lingnan fire needling on bilateral Shaoze (SI1), Neichengqi and beside lacrimal puncta once a week. The treatment was conducted for 4 consecutive weeks. Before and after 4 weeks of treatment, the clinical efficacy, visual acuity, intraocular pressure, ocular symptom score, OSDI score, fluorescence staining （FL） score, schemer I, tear menisci height, tear film break-up time (BUT) and eye redness index were recorded and evaluated.After the treatment, self-comparison showed that the symptom score, OSDI score, FL score and eye redness index were significantly decreased (Lingnan fire needling combined with 0.1% sodium hyaluronate eye drops is more effective than simple sodium hyaluronate eye drops for xerophthalmia patients, with significant curative effect and no adverse reactions.

The microstructure in welding heat-affected zones of 5 wt.% manganese steels was studied, and its effect on impact toughness was analyzed. The simulated coarse-grained heat-affected zone (CGHAZ) had the lowest impact toughness of ~ 39 J at − 40 °C because of coarse-grained structure and least volume fraction of retained austenite (RA) of 1.2 vol.%. The impact toughness of simulated intercritical heat-affected zone (ICHAZ) and fine-grained heat-affected zone (FGHAZ) were ~ 165 and ~ 45 J, respectively, at − 40 °C. The effective grain size of simulated FGHAZ was smaller than that of the simulated ICHAZ. Furthermore, microstructural investigation revealed that the simulated FGHAZ and ICHAZ had similarity in volume fraction and stability of RA. However, tempered martensite was present in ICHAZ and absent in FGHAZ. It is proposed that the presence of tempered martensite contributed to good impact toughness in simulated ICHAZ.

To identify relationships between busulfan (Bu) exposure and outcomes of a cohort pediatric patients receiving hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), along with a targeted busulfan-based conditioning regimen. We retrospectively evaluated targeted busulfan concentrations in 53 pediatric patients (age 0.4-16 years) who received busulfan 4 times daily according to recommended weight-based doses in a single-center analysis between 2018 and 2020. In this trial, individual busulfan pharmacokinetics were performed following dose 5 of the conditioning regimen. Twenty four of 53 patients (45.3%) studies did not require dose adjustments. Equal number of patients (24/53) required one dose adjustments while two-dose adjustment applied for 5 of 53 (9.4%). Twenty-one percent of the patients exhibited ll-lV aGVHD. The incidence of veno-occlusive disease (VOD) was in 3.8% of the 53 patients, while incidence of hemorrhagic cystitis (II-III) reached to 9.7%. Engraftment was successful in 98% of the 53 patients with relapse in 2% of cases. The probability of overall survival and disease-free survival at day 100 was 96% and 94%, respectively. In conclusion, therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) and individualization of Bu dosage are essential to improve the efficacy and safety of busulfan-based regimen in Chinese pediatric HSCT recipients.

To investigate the effect of invisalign on anterior and posterior upper airway and maxillary bone changes in the treatment of high-angle skeletal Class II malocclusion.Thirty-seven patients with malocclusion undergoing invisible orthodontic treatment in Hospital of Stomatology of Xi'an Jiaotong University from June 2016 to June 2018 were enrolled. Before and 18 months after correction, the correction effect was evaluated. Cone-beam CT (CBCT) was performed to measure the upper airway volume and tongue position. Cephalometric examination was performed to determine the anteroposterious diameter of the upper airway and the position of hyoid bone. The pre-therapy and post-treatment facial profile images of patients and stars were graded by 0-10 numerical rating scale. SPSS 20.0 software package was used to analyze the data.After correction, oropharyngeal volume, glossopharyngeal volume and minimum cross-sectional area of upper airway significantly increased(P0.05). Sagittal diameter of the upper airway at mandibular plane significantly increased after correction (P0.05). After correction, ANB angle, GoGn-SN angle, OPP-SN angle, Y-axis angle, UI-SN angle, UI-PP angle, UI-AP angle, and UI-AP distance significantly decreased, SNB angle and UI- LI angle significantly increased(P0.05). The aesthetics scores of facial profile images significantly increased after correlation(P0.05), which was significantly lower than that of the stars(P0.05).Invisalign can effectively correct open upper airway and malocclusion, achieving better treatment results and satisfactory facial aesthetics effect.

Ferulic acid (FA) has been shown to have a neuroprotective effect on Alzheimer's disease induced by amyloid-beta (Aβ) neurotoxicity. This work aims to ascertain the structure-activity relationship of FA and its alkyl esters (FAEs) for evaluating the antioxidant activities in PC12 cells and Aβ1-42 aggregation inhibitory activities in vitro, as well as the signaling mechanisms against oxidative stress elicited by Aβ1-42 in PC12 cells. Our data showed that alterations in the subcellular localization and cytotoxicity of FAEs caused by the lipophilicity of FA were crucial when evaluating their antioxidant capacities. Pre-treating cells with butyl ferulate (FAC4) significantly attenuated Aβ1-42-evoked intracellular ROS formation. Besides, FAC4 exhibited the highest Aβ1-42 aggregation inhibitory effectiveness. The molecular docking results showed that FAC4 binds to amide NH in Gln15 and Lys16 via a hydrogen bond. Notably, FAC4 could upregulate antioxidant defense systems by modulating the Keap1-Nrf2-ARE signaling pathway. Identification of the functions of FAEs could be useful in developing food supplements or drugs for treating AD.

Molecular tools for double or multimeric G-quadruplexes have recently received high attention due to the possibility to increase detection sensitivity, thermal stabilization and cell imaging opportunities, in oder to determine roles and functions of G-quadruplex aggregation in medical context. In this study, two smart berberine-bisquinolinium conjugates (Ber-360A and Ber-PDS), obtained by linking the berberine fluorophore to established G-quadruplex binders (with bisquinolinium scaffold), have been synthesized and evaluated for their G-quadrulex affinity, as well as to establish mechanisms of aggregation. The conjugates are two highly selective, sensitive and fluorescent sensors able to distinguish human telomere double G-quadruplexes from other type of G-quadruplexes and ds DNA. These ligands are the first example of fluorescent tools that bind to two adjacent G-quadruplex units and optically recognize double structures. Furthermore, microscopy experiments demonstrate that the conjugate Ber-PDS enters the nucleoli and targets G-quadruplex DNA in these organelles, by simultaneously displaying a strong telomerase inhibition and antitumor activity.

Background: This study evaluated the diagnostic value of early secretory antigenic target 6 (ESAT-6) and culture filtrate protein 10 (CFP-10) in immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) associated with renal tuberculosis (RT).Methods: Between January 2013 and January 2016, 40 patients with IgAN (IgAN group), 32 patients with RT (RT group), and 52 patients with IgAN associated with RT (IgAN + RT group) were selected for this study. A Tuberculin skin test (TST) was conducted, and serum Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) antibody levels were measured. Urine samples were collected to culture MTB. Immunohistochemistry and western blotting were used to determine the expression of ESAT-6 and CFP-10 in renal tissues. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate the diagnostic values of ESAT-6 and CFP-10 in IgAN associated with RT.Results: TST, serum MTB antibody, and urine MTB assessments were negative in the IgAN group. The positive rates of the TST and serum MTB antibody and urine MTB testing were higher in the RT group than in the IgAN + RT group. Among the three groups, expression levels of ESAT-6 and CFP-10 were found to be the highest in the IgAN + RT group and were found to be the lowest in the IgAN group. The ROC curves indicated that the area under curve (AUC) value of ESAT-6 protein for IgAN + RT diagnosis was 0.907 with a cut-off of 26.72 as the critical value. Detection by ESAT-6 protein levels achieved 75.0% sensitivity and 94.2% specificity. The AUC value of the CFP-10 protein for diagnosis of IgAN + RT was 0.800, with a cut-off of 25.665 as the critical value. Detection by the protein levels of CFP-10 showed 63.9% sensitivity and 84.6% specificity.Conclusions: Our study provides evidence for the potential of the proteins ESAT-6 and CFP-10 as candidate markers for the diagnosis of IgAN associated with RT.

We propose a novel scheme for coupling between fibers and submicron lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) waveguides. LNOI is bonded on D-shaped SMF to realize efficient evanescent coupling. © 2020 The Author(s)

Lithium niobate-on-insulator (LNOI) has recently emerged as a promising material platform for high-density and advanced photonics integrated circuits (PICs). And single-mode waveguides (SMW) are the most basic building blocks for structuring various PICs. In this paper, single-mode conditions (SMCs) for shallowly etched LNOI rib waveguides in x-cut LNOI wafer are investigated with the finite element method (FEM) in consideration of the lateral leakage and the magic width for the first time, to our best knowledge. Our results indicate that due to the lateral leakage and the magic width these shallowly etched x-cut LNOI rib waveguides have unique and complex SMCs. Our method and results provide a guidance in designing low-loss LNOI SMW and high-performance PICs.

Straw mulching allows for effective water storage in dryland wheat production. Finding a suitable straw mulching model that facilitates wheat growth was the objective of this study. A 2-year field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of two straw mulching patterns (FM, full coverage within all the rows; HM, half coverage within alternate rows) and two mulching rates (4.5 and 9.0 t ha−1) on soil moisture, soil temperature, grain yield, and water use efficiency (WUE) of winter wheat in northern China, with no mulching (M0) as the control. Results showed that mulching increased the soil water storage in all growth stages under high mulching rates, with a stronger effect in later growth stages. Water storage under the HM model was greater in later stages than under the FM model. Soil water content of HM groups was higher than that of FM groups, especially in surface soil layers. Evapotranspiration decreased in mulched groups and was higher under high mulching rates. Aboveground biomass during each growth stage under the HM model was higher than that under M0 and FM models with the same mulched rate, leading to a relatively higher grain yield under the HM model. Mulching increased WUE, a trend that was more obvious under HM9.0 treatment. Warming effect of soil temperature under the HM pattern persisted longer than under the FM model with the same mulching rates. Accumulated soil temperature under mulched treatments increased, and the period of negative soil temperature decreased by 9–12 days under FM and by 10–20 days under HM. Thus, the HM pattern with 9.0 t ha−1 mulching rate is beneficial for both soil temperature and water content management and can contribute to high yields and high WUE for wheat production in China.

Targeting G-quadruplexes in the c-myc gene promoter region is one of the few therapeutic opportunities through inhibiting the c-myc protein overexpression. However, the design of probes recognizing c-myc G-quadruplexes with high selectivity and specificity and the more evaluation of cellular system still remain a big challenge. Here, two novel bisquinolinium-fluorescein conjugates (1a and 1b) with the alkyl linkers, have been designed and evaluated their selectivity and specificity for parallel c-myc Pu22 G-quadruplex. Compared with conjugate 1b with longer alkyl linker, conjugate 1a with shorter alkyl linker, exhibited higher fluorescence response and specificity towards c-myc Pu22 G-quadruplex than other wild-type c-myc G-quadruplexes, human telomere G-quadruplexes, other G-quadruplexes in the promoter regions and double-stranded DNA. According to the binding mode, the interaction of compound 1a with the 2nd loop around the 3′-end G-quartet through regulating the length of the alkyl linker, excited its fluorescence and enhanced its selectivity towards c-myc Pu22 G-quadruplex. Furthermore, conjugate 1a could selectively recognize c-myc Pu22 G-quadruplex DNA in cells through microscopy experiments, and inhibit cell proliferation possibly by reducing c-myc protein expression in cancer cells. This study provides guidance to design the high-performance fluorescence probes towards c-myc G-quadrulex by regulating the alkyl linker in the conjugate of G-quadruplex binder and fluorescence ligand, and develop anticancer drugs targeting c-myc G-quadruplex.

The finite element model of diffusion bonding was established based on the analysis software of ANSYS, and the stress distribution characteristics of AZ31B/LY12 vacuum diffusion welded joint using Cu foil as the intermediate layer were analyzed. The effects of three factors, the welding temperature, the thickness of the intermediate layer Cu foil and the welding pressure, on the stress distribution of the AZ31B/Cu/LY12 joint were studied. The simulation results show that, when diffusion bonding of AZ31B and LY12 with intermediate layer Cu, the stress located on the center area of joint distribution is uniform, while the edge stress value is larger; welding parts along the axial stress distribution does not change significantly, while the maximum axial stress increases slightly when the temperature increases from 520 to 540 °C; when the thickness of intermediate layer Cu foil changes from 50 to 100 μm, the maximum shear stress value increases, while the position of that has no significant change; The stress distribution does not change, while the region of high stress increases when the welding pressure changes from 1 to 3 MPa.

Wedelolactone (WED) is commonly used for the treatment of doxorubicin (DOX)-induced kidney damage, but its efficacy is limited by its poor solubility and bioavailability. In this study, we developed a novel delivery system of WED-loaded micelles (WED-M) with Solutol® HS15 and lecithin at an optimized ratio of 7:3 to improve the poor permeability and bioavailability of WED and to enhance its efficacy. The spherically shaped WED-M (particle size: 160.5 ± 3.4 nm; zeta potential: -30.1 ± 0.9 mV; entrapment efficiency: 94.41 ± 1.64%; drug loading: 8.58 ± 0.25%; solubility: 1.89 ± 0.06 mg/ml) has continuous stability over 14 days and a sustained release profile. The permeability of WED-M in Caco-2 cells indicated a significant 1.61-fold higher Papp AP to BL ratio than WED alone. Additionally, pharmacokinetic evaluation of WED-M demonstrated that the bioavailability of WED was increased 2.78-fold. Both HE staining and transmission electron microscopy showed an obvious improvement of pathological damage in WED-M treatment. Moreover, WED-M significantly enhanced the ROS level in mice and MPC5 podocytes. We concluded that using this micelle delivery system for WED could improve its permeability and bioavailability to attenuate DOX-induced oxidative injury in podocytes. This study provided important information on the fact that the micelle delivery system, WED-M, showed a significant improvement of renal damage.

Identifying plant pathogens for disease diagnosis and disease control strategy making is of great significance. In this study, based on near-infrared spectroscopy, a method for identifying three kinds of pathogens causing wheat smuts, including Tilletia foetida, Ustilago tritici, and Urocystis tritici, was investigated. Based on the acquired near-infrared spectral data of the teliospore samples of the three pathogens, pathogen identification models were built in different spectral regions using distinguished partial least squares (DPLS), backpropagation neural network (BPNN), and support vector machine (SVM). Satisfactory identification results were achieved using the DPLS, BPNN, and SVM models built in each of the 22 spectral regions. By contrast, the modeling effects of DPLS and SVM were better than those of BPNN. The modeling ratio of the training set to the testing set affected the identification results of the BPNN models more than those obtained using the DPLS and SVM models. In this study, a rapid, accurate, and nondestructive method was provided for plant pathogen identification, and some basis was provided for disease diagnosis, pathogen monitoring, and disease control. Moreover, some methodological references and supports were provided for identification of quarantine wheat smut fungi in plant quarantine.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary palm oil inclusion levels on growth performance, serum antioxidative status and cytokines in Sanhuang broiler chickens. A total of 208 one-day-old female Sanhuang chickens were randomly allocated to four treatment groups with four replicates per group and of 13 birds each for a 42-day feeding trial. Dietary treatments were basal diet without palm oil (control) and diets containing 2%, 4% or 6% palm oil. During days 22 to 42 and the overall experimental period, chickens fed diets supplemented with 4% and 6% palm oil had a lower average daily feed intake (ADFI) (p = 0.019) and feed to gain ratio (F/G) (p = 0.031). Average daily gain (ADG) tended to be higher (p = 0.089) for palm oil inclusion treatments compared with the control treatment from days 1 to 42. Dietary 2% and 4% palm oil treatments significantly lowed serum malondialdehyde concentration on day 21 when compared to the control and 6% palm oil treatments (p = 0.027). Dietary 6% palm oil treatment significantly reduced the catalase (CAT) activity (p = 0.018) and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) (p = 0.027) in serum in comparison with the control treatment on day 21. No significant differences were observed in superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities in serum among dietary treatments on day 21. There were no significant differences in T-AOC, CAT, SOD and GSH-Px activities among dietary treatments on day 42. Dietary inclusion of 4% and 6% palm oil significantly increased (p = 0.01) serum interleukin-1β (IL-1β) content, but improved transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) content in serum on both days 21 and 42 (p = 0.032 and 0.022 respectively) as well as IL-10 content on day 42 (p = 0.022) when compared with the control treatment. Furthermore, dietary inclusion of 6% palm oil significantly reduced tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) content on days 21 and 42 (p = 0.021 and 0.001 respectively) compared with the control treatment. These results suggest that dietary inclusion of 4% and 6% palm oil could improve the growth performance, modulate the balance between pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, and show limited effect on antioxidative status in Sanhuang broiler chickens.

Improving the safety and stability of power systems by adjusting the controllable load to improve the wind power integration has become a hot research topic. However, the methodology of accurately controlling the load and fundamentally improving the wind power integration capacity has yet to be studied. Therefore, this paper proposes an intelligent regulation method for a controllable load. This method takes the new energy consumption assessment as feedback, and it combines the wind power acceptance assessment and scheduling plan to form the internal and external loop control structure, and it derives the controllable load intelligent regulation architecture. The load curve is decomposed by an interactive load observer, and the load curve is adjusted by the interactive load controller according to a given standard, thereby improving the new energy acceptance capability. Finally, based on the actual grid operation data of a provincial power grid in Northeastern China, the source grid load balancing process and the interactive load regulation model of the wind power system are simulated. The above method verifies the validity and rationality of the proposed method.

The conventional qualitative analysis of near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) commonly uses one single classification model. This paper focused on the fusion of multiple classifiers based on different single classifiers by using the fused classifier to determine different varieties of red-wines. NIR spectra of 170 red-wine samples were collected by using Fourier transform near-infrared spectrometer. Red-wine classification models were established respectively, based on PLS-DA, SVM, Fisher and Ada-Boost. Then these models were selected to obtain some different base classifiers according to Diversity Measure Feature Selective (DMFS). The highest accuracy rate of determining different varieties of red-wine test samples of four single base classifiers was up to 88.24%, and at the same time the lowest discriminant accuracy rate was 81.18%. At last, we got the fused classifier, which combined four base classifiers with weighted voting principle, and determined its test set again by using the fused classifier. The final classification accuracy rate for red-wine varieties increased to 92.94%, In contrast with one single classifier, the lowest misjudged number of fused classifiers decreased from 9 to 6.These results suggested that the performance of fused classifier is superior to one single classifier. It is feasible to use fused classifier combined with near infrared spectroscopy to determine different varieties of red-wines.