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Abstract Feature selection is a difficult but highly important preliminary step for bearings remaining useful life (RUL) estimation. To avoid the weights setting problem in hybrid metric, this work devotes to conduct feature selection by using a single metric. Due to noise and outliers, an existing feature selection metric, called monotonicity, used for estimating bearings RUL, requires data smoothing processing before adequate implementation. Such a smoothing process may remove significant part of meaningful information from data. To overcome this issue, a mixture distribution analysis-based feature selection metric is proposed. Moreover, based on this new metric, a feature selection approach for bearings RUL estimation is proposed. Numerical experiments benchmarking the proposed method and the existing metric monotonicity method on available real datasets highlight its effectiveness.

Atomu Yamaguchi,1 Noriaki Maeshige,1 Xiaoqi Ma,1 Mikiko Uemura,1 Hikari Noguchi,1 Mami Matsuda,2 Yuya Nishimura,2 Tomohisa Hasunuma,2,3 Hiroyo Kondo,4 Hidemi Fujino1 1Department of Rehabilitation Science, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe, Japan; 2Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan; 3Engineering Biology Research Center, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan; 4Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Nagoya Women’s University, Nagoya, JapanCorrespondence: Noriaki Maeshige, Department of Rehabilitation Science, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, 7-10-2 Tomogaoka, Kobe, 654-0142, Hyogo, Japan, Tel +81 78 796 4582, Email nmaeshige@pearl.kobe-u.ac.jpBackground: Itaconate is a key metabolite in the innate immune system and exerts strong anti-inflammatory effects in macrophages. For the production of itaconate in macrophages, immune-responsive gene 1 (IRG1) is an imperative enzyme, and activating the IRG1-itaconate pathway is reported to alleviate inflammatory diseases by upregulating nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2). However, there are very few reports on strategies to increase itaconate production. Ultrasound therapy is a widely used intervention for anti-inflammatory and soft-tissue regeneration purposes. Here we show the effect of ultrasound irradiation on the production of itaconate in macrophages.Methods: Murine bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) were exposed to pulsed ultrasound (3.0 W/cm2) for 5 minutes. Three hours after irradiation, the intracellular levels of metabolites and mRNA expression levels of Irg1 and Nrf2 were measured using CE/MS and qPCR, respectively. To evaluate macrophage inflammation status, 3 h after irradiation, the cells were stimulated with 100 ng/mL lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 1.5 h and the mRNA expression levels of pro-inflammatory factors (Il-1β, Il-6, and Tnf-α) were measured. Student’s t-test, one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s multiple comparison test were used for statistical processing, and the significance level was set to less than 5%.Results: Ultrasound irradiation significantly increased the intracellular itaconate level and the expression levels of Irg1 and Nrf2 in BMDMs. Upregulation of Il-1β, Il-6, and Tnf-α by LPS was significantly suppressed in BMDMs treated with ultrasound. Ultrasound irradiation did not affect cell viability and apoptosis.Conclusion: Ultrasound irradiation induces the production of itaconate by upregulating Irg1 expression and attenuates inflammatory responses in macrophages via Nrf2. These results suggest that ultrasound is a potentially useful method to increase itaconate production in macrophages.Keywords: itaconate, IRG1, NRF2, pulsed-ultrasound, macrophage, inflammation

Considering the occurrence of serious heart failure in a gene knockout mouse of PIP5Kγ and in congenital abnormal cases in humans in which the gene was defective as reported by others, the present study attempted to localize PIP5Kγ in the heart during prenatal stages. It was done on the basis of the supposition that phenotypes caused by gene mutation of a given molecule are owed to the functional deterioration of selective cellular sites normally expressing it at significantly higher levels in wild mice. PIP5Kγ‐immunoreactivity was the highest in the heart at E10 in contrast to almost non‐significant levels of the immunoreactivity in surrounding organs and tissues such as liver. The immunoreactivity gradually weakened in the heart with the prenatal age, and it was at non‐significant levels at newborn and postnatal stages. Six patterns in localization of distinct immunoreactivity for PIP5Kγ were recognized in cardiomyocytes: (1) its localization on the plasma membranes and subjacent cytoplasm without association with short myofibrils and (2) its localization on them as well as short myofibrils in association with them in cardiomyocytes of early differentiation at E10; (3) its spot‐like localization along long myofibrils in cardiomyocytes of advanced differentiation at E10; (4) rare occurrences of such spot‐like localization along long myofibrils in cardiomyocytes of advanced differentiation at E14; (5) its localization at Z‐bands of long myofibrils; and (6) its localization at intercellular junctions including the intercalated discs in cardiomyocytes of advanced differentiation at E10 and E14, especially dominant at the latter stage. No distinct localization of PIP5Kγ‐immunoreactivity of any patterns was seen in the heart at E18 and P1D. The present finding suggests that sites of PIP5Kγ‐appearance and probably of its high activity in cardiomyocytes are shifted from the plasma membranes through short myofibrils subjacent to the plasma membranes and long myofibrils, to Z‐bands as well as to the intercalated discs during the mid‐term gestation. It is further suggested that PIP5Kγ is involved in the differentiation of myofibrils as well as intercellular junctions including the intercalated discs at later stages of the mid‐term gestation. Failures in its involvement in the differentiation of these structural components are thus likely to cause the mid‐term gestation lethality of the mutant mice for PIP5Kγ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tomohiko Nishigami,1 Satoshi Nakao,2 Hiroshi Kondo,3 Shota Oda,3 Akira Mibu1 1Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health and Welfare, Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Hiroshima 723-0053, Japan; 2Department of Rehabilitation, Aihotto Home-Visit Nursing Station Ainan, Ehime 798-4131, Japan; 3Department of Rehabilitation Center, Kochi Medical School Hospital, Kochi 783-8505, JapanCorrespondence: Tomohiko NishigamiDepartment of Nursing and Physical Therapy, Konan Woman’s University, 6-2-23, Morikita-machi, Higashinada-ku, Kobe 658-0001, JapanTel +81 78 413 3648Fax +81 78 413 3742Email t-nishi@konan-wu.ac.jpPurpose: Cold therapy on the operated area after surgery is often used as an analgesic and to reduce pain, swelling, and increase range of motion. However, evidence to support the results of cold therapy is still scarce and the mechanism underlying its effectiveness remains unclear. The present study aimed to investigate whether a pleasant sensation evoked by icing the treated knee or a site distant from the treated site (the hand) influenced the acute effect on pain intensity in patients who have undergone total knee arthroplasty (TKA).Patients and methods: A total of 37 patients with knee OA who underwent TKA were enrolled in this study. This prospective, randomized, cross-over study was performed for 2 days consecutively between days 8 and 15 postoperatively. Cold pack was placed on the anterior surface of the treated knee and palm for 10 mins, respectively. The main primary outcomes were the intensity of knee pain during maximal passive knee flexion.Results: The two-way ANOVA showed significance only in the main effect of a pleasant sensation (F = 11.3, p = 0.001), but not in the icing site (F = 0.005, p = 0.94) and interaction (F = 0.65, p = 0.42).Conclusion: This study shows that a pleasant sensation evoked by knee or hand icing influenced the effect on pain intensity during maximal knee flexion in patients after TKA. Even if knee icing has no effect on pain and evokes no pleasant sensation, it may be worthwhile to conduct hand icing to reduce pain.Keywords: total knee arthroplasty, Icing, pleasant sensation, descending pain inhibition system

For all 2≤n∈N, the four vertices (00),(n0),(2nn),(nn) of the Pascal Triangle expanded from level 0 to level 2n define the greatest embedded rhomboid sub-block denoted n−GRSB in this paper. The n−GRSB is canonically partitioned into two triangular sub-blocks G and g, with respective vertex sets {(00),(n0),(nn)} and {(n+11),(2nn),(n+1n)}. The G-sub-block (resp. g-sub-block) has twelve distinct triangular matrix arrangements, numbered from 1 to 12 and designated here G-matrix set (resp. g-matrix set): three northeast, three northwest, three southwest and three distinct triangular southeast arrangements. From the n−GRSB we define thirty-six full matrix forms of the Pascal triangle (FP-matrices for short) simply adding pairwise complementary subblocks of the G- and g-matrices. We then identify and present the invariant groups underlying two significant partitions of the FP-matrix set. The insight gained from a previous study of the twelve G-matrices led us to derive the 36 full matrix forms presented in this paper. Several papers in the literature have dealt with some matrix forms of the Pascal Triangle. Only two of these are so far encountered in the literature. Our work is the first to focus on the hitherto little known 36 full matrix forms as mathematical objects in their own right. As novelty, this paper presents, for the first time, the set of the thirty-six full Pascal matrices. This work focuses on a systematic study of matrix forms derived from the Pascal Triangle, on the individual properties of these forms, their applications, and on the groups of transformations that structure their relations.

Pooling different renewable energy sources (hydrogen, solar, wind, geothermal, etc.) enables developing a standalone energy micro-grid. The energy flows from these various sources are neither constant nor equivalent. Therefore, control and balancing mechanisms should be established for optimal energy utilization through an intelligent system based on interconnected microcontrollers networked with sensors. Our contribution addresses this issue by proposing an original architecture of an intelligent and distributed control system based on a sensor network and a strategy to share the electric power through the micro-grid. In our work we consider a micro-grid powered by sources of wind turbine, pv panels and battery which energy flows are controlled and balanced through our system depending on power demand of the loads. Alternating Current (AC) bus and Direct Current (DC) bus are tied together by an inverter. A set of microcontroller-sensor-actuators (which we named S.A.D for Sensor/Actuator Device) are deployed at strategic points in the micro-grid providing constantly data from power generated and consumed, equipment health and status. A control algorithm developed in relation to a network control strategy is implemented by combining the performance different microcontroller boards. Relying on existing literature works, a review of solution approaches to the challenging problem, of the power flows balancing between the different energy sources and storage batteries embedding appropriate IoT technologies and exploiting energy big-data platforms, is presented

Yuji Shimizu,1,2 Shin-Ya Kawashiri,1 Hirotomo Yamanashi,3,4 Jun Koyamatsu,3 Shoichi Fukui,1 Hideaki Kondo,1,4 Mami Tamai,1 Seiko Nakamichi,4 Takahiro Maeda1,3–41Department of Community Medicine, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan; 2Department of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, Osaka Center for Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, Osaka, Japan; 3Department of Island and Community Medicine, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan; 4Department of General Medicine, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, JapanPurpose: Age-related reduction in bone marrow activity has been shown to cause anemia, and hypertension and endothelial dysfunction (atherosclerosis) are age-related diseases. However, recent studies have revealed a close association between bone marrow activity and endothelial maintenance. This study aimed to determine the association between elevated reticulocyte levels in conjunction with vigorous bone marrow activity and hypertension and atherosclerosis among the elderly.Study population and Methods: To determine the associations between reticulocyte levels and hypertension and atherosclerosis, we conducted a cross-sectional study of 2,098 elderly Japanese individuals, aged between 60 and 89 years, who had participated in an annual health check-up in 2014.Results: Of the total study population, 1,348 individuals were diagnosed with hypertension (systolic blood pressure ≥140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mmHg and/or having used antihypertensive medication), and 393 were diagnosed with atherosclerosis (carotid intima-media thickness ≥1.1 mm). Reticulocyte levels were found to be significantly positively associated with hypertension and inversely associated with atherosclerosis. Cardiovascular risk factor-adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for hypertension and atherosclerosis, when raised incrementally by 1 standard deviation to determine reticulocyte levels (5.5×104 cells/μL for men and 5.0×104 cells/μL for women), were 1.12 (1.01, 1.25) and 0.83 (0.72, 0.94), respectively.Conclusion: Along with established cardiovascular risk factors, reticulocyte levels in elderly Japanese individuals were found to be positively associated with hypertension and inversely associated with atherosclerosis. This finding may help clarify the background mechanisms concerning the association between bone marrow activity and vascular remodeling.Keywords: atherosclerosis, hypertension, reticulocyte