Search

Abstract Obesity is a global issue that warrants the identification of more effective therapeutic targets and a better understanding of the pivotal molecular pathogenesis. Annexin A1 (ANXA1) is known to inhibit phospholipase A2, exhibiting anti-inflammatory activity. However, the specific effects of ANXA1 in obesity and the underlying mechanisms of action remain unclear. Our study reveals that ANXA1 levels are elevated in the adipose tissue of individuals with obesity. Whole-body or adipocyte-specific ANXA1 deletion aggravates obesity and metabolic disorders. ANXA1 levels are higher in stromal vascular fractions (SVFs) than in mature adipocytes. Further investigation into the role of ANXA1 in SVFs reveals that ANXA1 overexpression induces lower numbers of mature adipocytes, while ANXA1-knockout SVFs exhibit the opposite effect. This suggests that ANXA1 plays an important role in adipogenesis. Mechanistically, ANXA1 competes with MYC binding protein 2 (MYCBP2) for interaction with PDZ and LIM domain 7 (PDLIM7). This exposes the MYCBP2-binding site, allowing it to bind more readily to the SMAD family member 4 (SMAD4) and promoting its ubiquitination and degradation. SMAD4 degradation downregulates peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) transcription and reduces adipogenesis. Treatment with Ac2-26, an active peptide derived from ANXA1, inhibits both adipogenesis and obesity through the mechanism. In conclusion, the molecular mechanism of ANXA1 inhibiting adipogenesis was first uncovered in our study, which is a potential target for obesity prevention and treatment.

Background Our study aimed to investigate the embryological characteristics and clinical outcomes of oocytes with indented zona pellucida (iZP).Methods Cases with all oocytes containing iZP were compared with subjects whose oocytes presented morphologically normal ZP (nZP, controls), regarding embryological and clinical outcomes. Cases consisted of 56 subjects that underwent 109 assisted reproductive treatment (ART) cycles, and controls were made of 574 patients that were enrolled in 1095 ART cycles.Results Patients with iZP presented a significantly prolonged duration of infertility and were more likely to have primary infertility. Regarding embryonic development, cases with iZP evidenced significantly lower rates of retrieved oocytes, oocyte maturity, fertilisation, embryo cleavage, high-quality embryo and blastocyst (p

Summary: Heart failure (HF) is a global concern, particularly HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), lacking effective treatments. Understanding the differences of metabolic profiles between HFpEF and HFrEF (heart failure with reduced ejection fraction) patients is crucial for therapeutic advancements. In this study, pseudotargeted metabolomics was employed to analyze for disparities of plasma metabolic profiles between HFpEF and HFrEF in two cohorts: discovery (n = 514) and validation (n = 3368). Plasma-free carnitine levels were significant changed in HF patients. A non-linear and U-shaped (for HFpEF) or J-shaped (for HFrEF) association between circulating free carnitine levels and the composite risk of cardiac events were observed. Interestingly, HFpEF patients with low free carnitine (≤40.18 μmol/L) displayed a poorer survival, contrasting with HFrEF where higher levels (≥35.67 μmol/L) were linked to poorer outcomes, indicating distinct metabolism pathways. In conclusion, these findings offer insights into HFpEF metabolic profiles, suggesting potential therapeutic targets.

Abstract Determining the precise course of bacterial infection requires abundant in vivo real‐time data. Synchronous monitoring of the bacterial load, temperature, and immune response can satisfy the shortage of real‐time in vivo data. Here, we conducted a study in the joint‐infected mouse model to synchronously monitor the bacterial load, temperature, and immune response using the second near‐infrared (NIR‐II) fluorescence imaging, infrared thermography, and immune response analysis for 2 weeks. Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) was proved successfully labeled with glucose‐conjugated quantum dots in vitro and in subcutaneous‐infected model. The bacterial load indicated by NIR‐II fluorescence imaging underwent a sharp drop at 1 day postinfection. At the same time, the temperature gap detected through infrared thermography synchronously brought by infection reached lowest value. Meanwhile, the flow cytometry analysis demonstrated that immune response including macrophage, neutrophil, B lymphocyte, and T lymphocyte increased to the peak at 1 day postinfection. Moreover, both M1 macrophage and M2 macrophage in the blood have an obvious change at ~ 1 day postinfection, and the change was opposite. In summary, this study not only obtained real‐time and long‐time in vivo data on the bacterial load, temperature gap, and immune response in the mice model of S. aureus infection, but also found that 1 day postinfection was the key time point during immune response against S. aureus infection. Our study will contribute to synchronously and precisely studying the complicated complex dynamic relationship after bacterial infection at the animal level.

Periampullary carcinoma is a malignant gastrointestinal tumor originating from the head of the pancreas, distal bile duct, duodenum, or the ampulla of Vater. Currently, surgery remains the primary treatment option, yet the postoperative recurrence rate remains high. Chemotherapy is the main approach for controlling postoperative recurrence. Histologically, periampullary carcinoma is categorized into two types: intestinal (IN) and pancreaticobiliary (PB) subtype. Each subtype requires different therapeutic approaches, with the PB type primarily treated with gemcitabine and the IN type with 5-FU. Despite these options, patient outcomes are still unsatisfactory. In recent years, the feasibility of immunotherapy in tumor treatment has been increasingly evidenced, although research on its efficacy in periampullary carcinoma treatment is still limited. In this report, we present a case of a periampullary carcinoma patient who experienced recurrence and metastasis after undergoing radical pancreatoduodenectomy and receiving gemcitabine-based chemotherapy post-surgery. Through next-generation sequencing (NGS), we identified high expression levels of programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) with a combined positive score (CPS) of 35, high tumor mutation burden (TMB-H), and high microsatellite instability (MSI-H) in this patient. Therefore, we implemented a combination therapy using Tislelizumab and chemotherapy. According to the latest follow-up, the tumors are effectively controlled. Our utilization of immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy holds significant implication for the treatment of periampullary carcinoma.

Effects of different nitrogen fertilizer application rates on fruit quality of pitaya under the condition of calcareous soil in karst area were discussed in order to investigate the effects of nitrogen fertilizer application level on fruit quality of pitaya under calcareous soil condition in karst area. The ‘Taiwan Dahong’ pitaya were used as the experiment material. Based on 0.216 kg of phosphorus (P) and 0.324 kg of potassium (K), four nitrogen (N) application levels (CK, T1, T2, T3) were setted. Twenty-one fruit quality indexes were determined, and the quality differences of pitaya with different N application levels (CK, T1, T2, T3) were compared. At the same time, eleven appearance quality indexes were comprehensively analyzed by principal component analysis. The results were as follows: (1) Compared with the control, N application could increase the contents of soluble sugar and soluble solids of fruit, reduce the contents of protein and dietary fiber, and the high nitrogen treatment (T3) was significantly different from other treatments. With the increase of N application, the contents of titratable acid and vitamin C of fruit increased firstly and then decreased, while the solid-acid ratio decreased firstly and then increased. T3 significantly increased the fruit vertical and horizontal diameters, fruit shape index and single fruit weight. (2) Compared with the control, N application treatment reduced the N content of pitaya fruit and increased the P content, and the N and P contents of each treatment were significantly different. The K content of fruit increased with the increase of N application. N application increased fruit boron (B) content and decreased fruit cuprum (Cu) content. The contents of manganese (Mn), ferrum (Fe), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) in different treatments were ranked as T3 > T1 > CK > T2. The content of zinc (Zn) decreased firstly and then increased with the increase of N application. (3) The principal component comprehensive evaluation score of the high N treatment was the highest, indicating that when selecting brown calcareous soil in Guilin karst area to grow pitaya, supplemented by a certain amount of P and K fertilizers, high N treatment was more conducive to improving the quality of pitaya. Therefore, in actual production, it is necessary to make appropriate adjustments according to the soil fertility status of the plantation.

Anticipating others’ actions is innate and essential in order for humans to navigate and interact well with others in dense crowds. This ability is urgently required for unmanned systems such as service robots and self-driving cars. However, existing solutions struggle to predict pedestrian anticipation accurately, because the influence of group-related social behaviors has not been well considered. While group relationships and group interactions are ubiquitous and significantly influence pedestrian anticipation, their influence is diverse and subtle, making it difficult to explicitly quantify. Here, we propose the group interaction field (GIF), a novel group-aware representation that quantifies pedestrian anticipation into a probability field of pedestrians’ future locations and attention orientations. An end-to-end neural network, GIFNet, is tailored to estimate the GIF from explicit multidimensional observations. GIFNet quantifies the influence of group behaviors by formulating a group interaction graph with propagation and graph attention that is adaptive to the group size and dynamic interaction states. The experimental results show that the GIF effectively represents the change in pedestrians’ anticipation under the prominent impact of group behaviors and accurately predicts pedestrians’ future states. Moreover, the GIF contributes to explaining various predictions of pedestrians’ behavior in different social states. The proposed GIF will eventually be able to allow unmanned systems to work in a human-like manner and comply with social norms, thereby promoting harmonious human–machine relationships.

Abstract Scalable, high-capacity, and low-power computing architecture is the primary assurance for increasingly manifold and large-scale machine learning tasks. Traditional electronic artificial agents by conventional power-hungry processors have faced the issues of energy and scaling walls, hindering them from the sustainable performance improvement and iterative multi-task learning. Referring to another modality of light, photonic computing has been progressively applied in high-efficient neuromorphic systems. Here, we innovate a reconfigurable lifelong-learning optical neural network (L2ONN), for highly-integrated tens-of-task machine intelligence with elaborated algorithm-hardware co-design. Benefiting from the inherent sparsity and parallelism in massive photonic connections, L2ONN learns each single task by adaptively activating sparse photonic neuron connections in the coherent light field, while incrementally acquiring expertise on various tasks by gradually enlarging the activation. The multi-task optical features are parallelly processed by multi-spectrum representations allocated with different wavelengths. Extensive evaluations on free-space and on-chip architectures confirm that for the first time, L2ONN avoided the catastrophic forgetting issue of photonic computing, owning versatile skills on challenging tens-of-tasks (vision classification, voice recognition, medical diagnosis, etc.) with a single model. Particularly, L2ONN achieves more than an order of magnitude higher efficiency than the representative electronic artificial neural networks, and 14× larger capacity than existing optical neural networks while maintaining competitive performance on each individual task. The proposed photonic neuromorphic architecture points out a new form of lifelong learning scheme, permitting terminal/edge AI systems with light-speed efficiency and unprecedented scalability.

Constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detector is a common method for ship detection in polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) images. CFAR detectors greatly depend on the clutter modeling that can be easily affected by the contamination caused by both lower- and higher-intensity outliers, such as spilled oil and intensive targets. Traditional CFAR detectors perform detection in a pixel-by-pixel manner, which ignores the spatial information. Both the bias in clutter modeling and the absence of spatial information can degrade the ship target detection performance. In this study, a superpixel-level polarimetric bilateral truncated statistics CFAR detector is proposed to promote the ship target detection performance in complex ocean scenarios. As the preprocessing of the PolSAR image, the superpixel segmentation is conducted based on the multilook polarimetric whitening filter result to select candidate ship target superpixels for bilateral truncation and background clutter modeling. The elliptical truncation is expanded to a complex situation and the relationship between the second moments before and after truncation is derived. The maximum-likelihood estimation estimator of the equivalent number of looks based on the bilateral truncation distribution is derived and compared with other parameter estimators. The influence of the truncation depth on estimator performance is analyzed, according to which the adaptive bilateral truncation method is determined. The Gaussian mixture model and the Parzen window kernel method are compared with the model-based method and utilized for data fitting. The proposed method performs bilateral truncation based on the superpixel segmentation result to provide pure clutter samples for accurate parameter estimation and clutter distribution modeling, reducing time consumption and false alarms. The method is validated efficient on both simulated and measured data from RADARSAT-2.

BackgroundLaparoscopic left hemihepatectomy (LLH) is commonly used for benign and malignant left liver lesions. We compared the benefits and drawbacks of LLH from the head side approach (LLHH) with those of conventional laparoscopic left hemihepatectomy (CLLH). This study was conducted to investigate the safety and feasibility of LLHH by comparing it with CLLH.MethodsIn this study, 94 patients with tumor or hepatolithiasis who underwent LLHH (n = 39) and CLLH (n = 55) between January 2016 and January 2023 were included. The preoperative features, intraoperative details, and postoperative outcomes were compared between the two groups.ResultsFor hepatolithiasis, patients who underwent LLHH exhibited shorter operative time (p = 0.035) and less blood loss (p = 0.023) than those who underwent CLLH. However, for tumors, patients undergoing LLHH only showed shorter operative time (p = 0.046) than those undergoing CLLH. Moreover, no statistically significant differences in hospital stay, transfusion, hospital expenses, postoperative white blood cell (WBC) count, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were observed between the two groups (p > 0.05) for tumor or hepatolithiasis. For hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), no differences in both overall survival (p = 0.532) and disease-free survival (p = 0.274) were observed between the two groups.ConclusionLLHH is a safe and feasible surgical procedure for tumors or hepatolithiasis of the left liver.

PurposeThe aim of this study was to evaluate the bioequivalence of two formulations of rupatadine (10-mg tablets) under fasting and fed conditions in healthy Chinese subjects.MethodsA total of 72 subjects were randomly assigned to the fasting cohort (n = 36) and fed cohort (n = 36). Each cohort includes four single-dose observation periods and 7-day washout intervals. Blood samples were collected at several timepoints for up to 72 h post-dose. The plasma concentration of rupatadine and the major active metabolites (desloratadine and 3-hydroxydesloratadine) were analyzed by a validated HPLC–MS/MS method. The non-compartmental analysis method was employed to determine the pharmacokinetic parameters. Based on the within-subject standard deviation of the reference formulation, a reference-scaled average bioequivalence or average bioequivalence method was used to evaluate the bioequivalence of the two formulations.ResultsFor the fasting status, the reference-scaled average bioequivalence method was used to evaluate the bioequivalence of the maximum observed rupatadine concentration (Cmax; subject standard deviation > 0.294), while the average bioequivalence method was used to evaluate the bioequivalence of the area under the rupatadine concentration–time curve from time 0 to the last detectable concentration (AUC0-t) and from time 0 to infinity (AUC0-∞). The geometric mean ratio (GMR) of the test/reference for Cmax was 95.91%, and the upper bound of the 95% confidence interval was 95.91%. For AUC0-t and AUC0-∞ comparisons, the GMR and 90% confidence interval (CI) were 98.76% (93.88%–103.90%) and 98.71% (93.93%–103.75%), respectively. For the fed status, the subject standard deviation values of Cmax, AUC0-t, and AUC0-∞ were all

Abstract Optoelectronic neural networks (ONN) are a promising avenue in AI computing due to their potential for parallelization, power efficiency, and speed. Diffractive neural networks, which process information by propagating encoded light through trained optical elements, have garnered interest. However, training large-scale diffractive networks faces challenges due to the computational and memory costs of optical diffraction modeling. Here, we present DANTE, a dual-neuron optical-artificial learning architecture. Optical neurons model the optical diffraction, while artificial neurons approximate the intensive optical-diffraction computations with lightweight functions. DANTE also improves convergence by employing iterative global artificial-learning steps and local optical-learning steps. In simulation experiments, DANTE successfully trains large-scale ONNs with 150 million neurons on ImageNet, previously unattainable, and accelerates training speeds significantly on the CIFAR-10 benchmark compared to single-neuron learning. In physical experiments, we develop a two-layer ONN system based on DANTE, which can effectively extract features to improve the classification of natural images.

At present, the demand for heavy-duty hydraulic automatic transmission in engineering machinery and other equipment is increasing. As one of the core components of such kind of transmission, the design of hydraulic torque converters requires better accuracy and efficiency. Due to the difference of scale and torque, the design method of common torque converters is no longer applicable. The torque converter parametric design process is separated from the 3D software model generation process currently, which prolongs the design cycle. Therefore, this study presents a parametric design method for torque converters of the heavy-duty hydraulic automatic transmission and develops the parametric design software. Firstly, the geometric model of torus is established by constructing the middle streamline by two elliptical arcs, the camber line is designed with the quartic B-spline curve, and a method of controlling the shape of the camber line through the two-level inlet and outlet angles and vertex coordinates is proposed. The connection is established between the blade camber line shape control method and the curve control points, and the constraint conditions of camber line control parameters are designed. The automatic design program of torque converters is developed based on the NX Open software, and the central scheduling data processing framework is established with parameter rationality checking as the constraints. The instance results show that the design method can make the torque converter get reasonable shape quickly.

Abstract To improve the development efficiency of ultradeep fault‐controlled carbonate reservoirs, the deformation and connectivity mechanism of fractures was revealed through large‐scale rock mechanical experiments. The in situ stress field and fracture activity distribution law of fault‐control carbonate reservoirs were clarified through geomechanical modeling. It is revealed that the fracture activity in different directions and the connectivity of the fracture and cavity in different parts are significantly different, the development effect of different well trajectories is analyzed, and the integrated working method of geological engineering is proposed to scientifically guide the well trajectory design and water injection scheme optimization. The results show that: (1) Large‐scale fractures and high‐angle fracture systems in the deformation of strike–slip faults are the key factors affecting reservoir quality. High‐pressure water injection can activate preexisting fractures, and it can extend on the basis of preexisting fractures, and even generate new fractures, which promote the interconnection of fault‐controlled fracture‐cave bodies in the vertical and horizontal directions. (2) During the process of high‐pressure water injection, the coupling change between mechanics and flow occurs inside the fracture body, the seepage environment is improved, and the oil and gas recovery factor is improved through cyclic lifting. (3) According to the shape and occurrence of the fault body and the dynamic shear deformation connectivity of the fault surface, the best well point and well trajectory of the directional well can be optimized, and the water injection scheme can be optimized. (4) The single‐well production increased by 1.45 × 104 t through high‐pressure water injection, the cumulative oil increase of the same fracture‐cavity body increased by 4.63 × 104 t. This method is highly efficient for ultradeep fault‐controlled oil reservoirs. The development provides a good theoretical basis and technical support, and plays a leading and exemplary role.

Abstract Background Spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the most disabling neurological conditions, afflicting thousands of human beings. Edaravone, a well-known reactive oxygen species scavenger, is expanding its new scope in field of SCI. The objective of this systematic review is to determine the neuroprotective effects and discuss the underlying mechanism of edaravone in management of SCI. Methods The systematic review will include the controlled studies evaluating the neurological roles of edaravone on experiment rat models following SCI. The primary outcome will be the 21-point Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan locomotor rating scale. The secondary outcomes will include the preservation of white matter areas and malondialdehyde levels. Two researchers will independently search PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus and Cochrane Library from their inception date. Following study selection, data extraction, and assessment of methodological quality in included studies using the SYRCLE’s RoB tool, data from eligible studies will be pooled and analyzed using random-effects models with RevMan 5.3 software. In case of sufficient data, subgroup analyses with respect to species, age, gender, injury characteristics, or administration details will be carried out to explore the factors modifying efficacy of edaravone. For exploring the appropriate dose of edaravone, a network meta-analysis approach will be conducted based on the Bayesian method. Importantly, the proposed mechanisms and changes of related molecules will be also extracted from included studies for comprehensively investigating the mechanisms underlying the neuroprotective effects of edaravone. Discussion In this study, we aim to quantitatively analyze the role of edaravone in locomotor recovery and tissue damage in SCI rat model. The efficacy of edaravone in distinct scenarios will be investigated by subgroup analyses, and we expect to predict the candidate dose that offers a superior treatment effect using network meta-analyses. Moreover, a comprehensive framework regarding the neuroprotective mechanisms behind edaravone will be constructed via a combination of systematic and traditional review. This study will bring implications for future preclinical studies and clinical applications of SCI. Nonetheless, in light of the anticipated limitations in animal experimental design and methodological quality, the results in this review should be interpreted with caution.

Seriola aureovittata is a long-distance migratory oceanic species belonging to the Carangidae family; it is also known as yellowtail kingfish. It inhabits temperate and subtropical marine waters worldwide. We reached a significant breakthrough in S. aureovittata seedlings production in 2017, enabling current massively juvenile rearing in China, which became a promising candidate for the farming industry, especially for the rapidly growing open ocean aquaculture. However, sudden larvae death caused by environmental changes-related stresses during the early life stages of S. aureovittata leads to great losses. Thus, exploring the physiological mechanism of larvae responses to environmental stresses during seedlings' production under artificial breeding conditions is urgently needed. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) play an important function in the physiological regulation of stress and immune responses in vertebrates, including fish. HSP70 is a member of the HSPs family studied in dozens of fish species, with physiological roles in protein homeostasis, DNA protection, and stress tolerance enhancement, among others. To investigate the possible physiological effects of HSPs on early growth and development of S. aureovittata, we cloned and obtained the full-length cDNA sequence of the hsp70 gene. Furthermore, the structure and spatial and temporal expression patterns of hsp70 during embryonic development, larval and juvenile growth and development of S. aureovittata were determined. The results showed that the full-length cDNA sequence of the hsp70 gene contains 2 332 bp, wherein the 5'-UTR is 187 bp, the ORF is 1 920 bp, and the 3'-UTR is 225 bp in length. A 639 amino acids protein with a molecular weight of 70.1 kDa is encoded by hsp70. The hsp70 spatial expression exhibited a sex dimorphism pattern, with significantly high expression levels in the gill, heart, spleen, and ovary in females, whereas in males, the significantly high expression levels were found in the pituitary, gill, head kidney, and testis. Notably, the highest hsp70 expression levels were observed in the ovary of females and the testis of males. During the S. aureovittata embryonic development, the hsp70 mRNA was detected in fertilized eggs before cleavage, indicating that hsp70 is parentally inherited. Additionally, the hsp70 mRNA could be detected at all stages of embryonic development, wherein the lowest expression levels were observed before the low blastula stage, with a significant increase at the early gastrula stage maintained until the hatching stage. The high levels of hsp70 mRNA were detected in one-day-old larva, which decreased in four-day-old larva, followed by an increase in 15-day-old larva. Remarkably, the hsp70 mRNA level once again decreased in 20-day-old larva, maintaining an average level until 60-day-old juveniles. The results from the present study may provide insights into the origin and physiological function of hsp70 during the early life stages of S. aureovittata.

Abstract The optical microscope is customarily an instrument of substantial size and expense but limited performance. Here we report an integrated microscope that achieves optical performance beyond a commercial microscope with a 5×, NA 0.1 objective but only at 0.15 cm3 and 0.5 g, whose size is five orders of magnitude smaller than that of a conventional microscope. To achieve this, a progressive optimization pipeline is proposed which systematically optimizes both aspherical lenses and diffractive optical elements with over 30 times memory reduction compared to the end-to-end optimization. By designing a simulation-supervision deep neural network for spatially varying deconvolution during optical design, we accomplish over 10 times improvement in the depth-of-field compared to traditional microscopes with great generalization in a wide variety of samples. To show the unique advantages, the integrated microscope is equipped in a cell phone without any accessories for the application of portable diagnostics. We believe our method provides a new framework for the design of miniaturized high-performance imaging systems by integrating aspherical optics, computational optics, and deep learning.

Abstract Aim To evaluate the effect of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS)‐optimized management system with nurse‐led multidisciplinary cooperation. Design A quasi‐experimental design. Methods Nursing department cooperated with medical and clinical department to establish an ERAS‐optimized management system. After the system was developed, it was applied in surgical departments of the hospital. Using convenience sampling, 220 selective surgical patients, 82 nurses and 98 doctors from January 1st, 2021 to July 31st, 2021 were selected as the trial group. 220 selective surgical patients, 82 nurses and 98 doctors were selected as the control group from January 1st, 2020 to July 31st, 2020. ERAS observation indicators were compared between the two groups before and 6 months after implementation. The nurse professional identity scores and satisfaction of medical cooperation scores of the two groups at different time points were analysed by repeated analysis of variance. Results After the implementation, ERAS observation indicators in the trial group were better than the control group (p

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254070.].

Sensing and understanding large-scale dynamic scenes require a high-performance imaging system. Conventional imaging systems pursue higher capability by simply increasing the pixel resolution via stitching cameras at the expense of a bulky system. Moreover, they strictly follow the feedforward pathway: That is, their pixel-level sensing is independent of semantic understanding. Differently, a human visual system owns superiority with both feedforward and feedback pathways: The feedforward pathway extracts object representation (referred to as memory engram) from visual inputs, while, in the feedback pathway, the associated engram is reactivated to generate hypotheses about an object. Inspired by this, we propose a dual-pathway imaging mechanism, called engram-driven videography. We start by abstracting the holistic representation of the scene, which is associated bidirectionally with local details, driven by an instance-level engram. Technically, the entire system works by alternating between the excitation–inhibition and association states. In the former state, pixel-level details become dynamically consolidated or inhibited to strengthen the instance-level engram. In the association state, the spatially and temporally consistent content becomes synthesized driven by its engram for outstanding videography quality of future scenes. The association state serves as the imaging of future scenes by synthesizing spatially and temporally consistent content driven by its engram. Results of extensive simulations and experiments demonstrate that the proposed system revolutionizes the conventional videography paradigm and shows great potential for videography of large-scale scenes with multi-objects.

Introduction Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is an evidence-based treatment widely recommended to promote hand motor recovery after ischaemic stroke. However, the therapeutic efficacy of rTMS over the motor cortex in stroke patients is currently restricted and heterogeneous. This study aimed to determine whether excitatory rTMS over the contralesional dorsal premotor cortex (cPMd) facilitates the functional recovery of the upper limbs during the postacute stage of severe ischaemic stroke.Methods and analysis This study will be conducted as a single-blind, controlled, randomised study, in which 44 patients with poststroke hemiplegia with a course of disease ranging from 1 week to 3 months and Fugl-Meyer upper limb score ≤22 will be enrolled. The study participants will be randomly assigned to groups A (n=22) and B (n=22). The two groups are based on routine rehabilitation training and drug treatment; group A will be treated with low-frequency (1 Hz) rTMS over the contralesional primary motor cortex (cM1), and group B will be treated with high-frequency (10 Hz) rTMS over cPMd. For 2 weeks, rTMS will be administered once a day, 5 days a week. The primary outcome is the Fugl-Meyer assessment of the upper limb. The secondary outcomes include the Arm Subscore of the Motricity Index, Hong Kong edition of Functional Test for the Hemiplegic Upper Extremity, Modified Barthel Index and Modified Ashworth Scale score of the paralysed pectoralis major and biceps brachii. Furthermore, data of diffusion tensor imaging and functional MRI will be collected. These outcomes will be assessed before and after the completion of the intervention.Ethics and dissemination This study has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University (2020 SR-266). The findings of this study will be spread through networks of scientists, professionals and the general public as well as peer-reviewed scientific papers and presentations at pertinent conferences.Trial registration number ChiCTR2000038049

AbstractBackground The treatment of refractory nephrotic syndrome (RNS) is full of challenges and the role of rituximab (RTX) is not well-established, thus this study aims to demonstrate the role of RTX in RNS.Methods This was a multicenter retrospective study of all adult patients receiving RTX for RNS. Patients enrolled were divided into two groups according to pathological pattern: 20 patients as a group of podocytopathy (including minimal change disease [MCD] and focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis [FSGS]), and 26 patients as membranous nephropathy (MN) group. The remission rate, relapse rate, adverse effects, and predictors of remission were analyzed.Results A total of 75 patients received RTX for RNS and 48 were available for analysis after exclusion criteria. No significant difference in the remission rate at 6 or 12 months was observed between the MCD/FSGS and MN cases (p > 0.05). The median duration of the first complete remission (CR) was 1 month in the podocytopathy group and 12.5 months in the MN group. Three relapses were associated with infection as the ultimate outcome, and 6 out of 48 remained refractory representing a response rate of 87.5% in RNS. Clinical predictors of cumulative CR were estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR)

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a catastrophic condition with few therapeutic options. Astaxanthin (AST), a natural nutritional supplement with powerful antioxidant activities, is finding its new application in the field of SCI. Here, we performed a systematic review to assess the neurological roles of AST in rats following SCI, and assessed the potential for clinical translation. Searches were conducted on PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, the Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang data, Vip Journal Integration Platform, and SinoMed databases. Animal studies that evaluated the neurobiological roles of AST in a rat model of SCI were included. A total of 10 articles were included; most of them had moderate-to-high methodological quality, while the overall quality of evidence was not high. Generally, the meta-analyses revealed that rats treated with AST exhibited an increased Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan (BBB) score compared with the controls, and the weighted mean differences (WMDs) between those two groups showed a gradual upward trend from days 7 (six studies, n = 88, WMD = 2.85, 95% CI = 1.83 to 3.87, p

Objective To evaluate the application of nursing skills competition in teaching of Surgical Nursing. Methods Totally 183 nursing students were divided into the observation group (n=93)and control group (n=90) by lottery method. Conventional teaching method was adopted in the control group, and the nursing skills competition combined with practical teaching was used in teaching of Surgical Nursing in the observation group. The teaching effect, student’s independent learning ability, problem analyzing-solving ability were measured and compared between two groups. Results Students in the observation group achieved higher scores of theoretical test and practice skills assessment compared with those in the control group (P＜0. 01). Higher level of independent learning ability and problem analyzing-solving ability were evaluated in the observation group than those in the control group (P＜0. 01). Conclusion Nursing skills competition is an effective approach of improving the quality of clinical teaching and training. (目的 探讨护理竞赛在《外科护理学》教学中的应用效果。方法 选取某医学院2019级护理专业学生共183名作为研究对象, 采取抽签法分为观察组(n=93)和对照组(n=90)。对照组采用常规教学方法, 观察组在对照组基础上增加护理技能竞赛并结合实践教学分析。对两组学生的教学效果、考试成绩、技能掌握情况进行比较。结果 研究组学生理论考核和技能操作实践考核成绩优于对照组, 差异有统计学意义(P＜0. 01); 观察组学生自主学习能力、分析和解决问题能力评价高于对照组, 差异有统计学意义(P＜0. 01)。结论 在《外科护理学》课程教学中融入护理技能竞赛, 能有效提高教学水平, 提升临床护理人才培养质量, 对改善教学效果具有重要作用。)

Summary: Objective: To investigate the feasibility and clinical efficacy of laparoscopic ureteroplasty with oral mucosal graft for ureteral stricture and describe the initial experience of eighteen operations. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of 18 patients who underwent laparoscopic ureteroplasty with oral mucosal graft for long segment or complex ureteral stricture admitted to the Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from July 2018 to June 2021. After the stricture ureter segment was freed during the operation, the ureteral stenosis segment was longitudinally cut. The required oral mucosa is removed according to the length of the stenosis. Oral mucosal grafts were harvested and placed in the ureter as an anterior onlay with omental wrapping. Results: Ureteral repair was performed laparoscopically in all cases, with no conversion to open surgery and no serious complications. The median length of ureteral stenosis was 3 cm (range, 2–7 cm), the mean operative time was 205.8 ± 33.4 min, indwelling time of the drainage tube was 4.9 ± 1.6 days, and the median length of postoperative stay was 7 days (range, 4–14 days). The double J tube was removed three to six weeks postoperatively. One of the eighteen patients had restenosis after surgery, and the other patients showed no deterioration of the severity of the obstructive uropathy after follow-up imaging examination. Conclusion: Laparosopic ureteroplasty with oral mucosal graft is a simple, safe and efficient option for the treatment of ureteral stricture. Although the results of the initial experience are encouraging, a large cohort study with longer follow-up period is need to be done.

Due to the high viscosity and bulk complexity of crude oil samples, it poses a grand challenge to determine hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in them. Although many methods have been developed for the analysis of H2S in complex systems, these methods generally have complex processes, large analysis error and low sensitivity. In the study, based on the reaction between triazine and H2S by generating thiadiazine, a small volume of complex crude oil sample was introduced directly into a triazine solution using acetonitrile as solvent for transferring H2S into detectable species by organic mass spectrometry. The experimental parameters of solution composition, acetic acid content, reaction time and reaction temperature were optimized, and the method of paper spray ionization-mass spectrometry (PSI-MS) was established for rapid analysis of H2S in complex crude oil samples. An optimal performance was achieved when the reaction of triazine and H2S was carried out at 30 ℃ for 2 h with acetonitrile containing 0.1% acetic acid as solvent. The standard curve for the quantitative analysis of H2S was constructed according to the linear relationship between MS signal intensity of resulting thiadiazine and the concentration of H2S, which was applied for actual crude oil samples from different sources. The results showed that the linear range and the limit of detection (LOD) were 0.1-1 000 μg/L and 0.041 μg/L with intra-day precision of 3.04% and inter-day precision of 3.18%, respectively. The PSI-MS was also employed to determine H2S in different actual crude oil samples, and the spiked recovery was 91.7%-103.5% with relative standard deviation (RSD) of 1.2%-4.5%. This method has the advantages of easy operation, low cost, high sensitivity and less contamination to mass spectrometer, which is promising for the direct and fast analysis of H2S in complex crude oil samples.

Abstract Voriconazole is a first‐line medicine for treating invasive fungal infections. We evaluated the pharmacokinetics (PK) and safety of single/multiple doses of voriconazole injection of Hailing Pharmaceutical Group (Test, T), an imitation of Vfend® (Reference, R). Healthy subjects (n = 36) randomly received a once‐daily dose of T or R 3 or 4 mg/kg on Day 1 (single dose), a once‐daily dose of T or R 6 mg/kg on Day 4, and then six consecutive days for twice‐daily doses of T or R 3 or 4 mg/kg (multiple doses). The plasma was collected up to 72 h at time points after dosing on Day 1/10. Samples were measured by the liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method. PK parameters were confirmed according to a non‐compartmental model. The relationship between the PK profiles of T and R revealed the different behavior in 3‐ and 4‐mg/kg groups. After single/multiple doses in the 3‐mg/kg group, the mean value for the area under the plasma concentration–time curve (AUC0−t, AUC0−∞) of R is about twice T. However, there was a high degree of similarity in the 4‐mg/kg group. The maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) of T and R showed no noticeable difference in the two groups. The median Tmax of T and R were within 2.0–2.13 h in the 3‐mg/kg group and 2.0–2.17 h in the 4‐mg/kg group. Severe adverse events did not occur. No clinically significant differences were found in safety and tolerance between T and R. This clinical study indicated that voriconazole injection might provide a safer alternative medicine.

The metaverse is attracting considerable attention recently. It aims to build a virtual environment that people can interact with the world and cooperate with each other. In this survey paper, we re-introduce metaverse in a new framework based on a broad range of technologies, including perception which enables us to precisely capture the characteristics of the real world, computation which supports the large computation requirement over large-scale data, reconstruction which builds the virtual world from the real one, cooperation which facilitates long-distance communication and teamwork between users, and interaction which bridges users and the virtual world. Despite its popularity, the fundamental techniques in this framework are still immature. Innovating new techniques to facilitate the applications of metaverse is necessary. In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI), especially deep learning, has shown promising results for empowering various areas, from science to industry. It is reasonable to imagine how we can combine AI with the framework in order to promote the development of metaverse. In this survey, we present the recent achievement by AI for metaverse in the proposed framework, including perception, computation, reconstruction, cooperation, and interaction. We also discuss some future works that AI can contribute to metaverse.

We develop Monet: a multichannel optical neural network architecture for a universal multiple-input multiple-channel optical computing based on a novel projection-interference-prediction framework, solving real-world advanced machine vision tasks optically.

Abstract Inspired by human brains, optoelectronic synapses are expected as one of significant steps for constructing neuromorphic systems. In addition, intensive attention has been paid to biodegradable and biocompatible materials for developing green electronics. In this regard, environmentally friendly organic optoelectronic synaptic transistors based on wood-derived cellulose nanopaper (WCN) as dielectric/substrate and nature chlorophyll-a as photoactive material are demonstrated. Both WCN and chlorophyll-a are biocompatible and biodegradable materials from natural organisms. Versatile synaptic behaviors have been well mimicked by the modulation of both electrical and optical signals. More significantly, optical wireless communication is experimentally emulated and the information processing capability is also verified in pattern recognition simulation. Furthermore, the flexible synaptic transistors exhibit no apparent synaptic performance degradation even when the bending radius is reduced to 1 mm. Our work may develop a promising approach for the development of green and flexible electronics in neuromorphic visual systems.

Abstract Objectives To investigate the safety and efficacy of complete laparoscopic ileal augmentation cystoplasty for the treatment of low bladder capacity and compliance. Methods The clinical data of 13 patients with low bladder capacity and compliance were retrospectively analyzed. Therapeutic efficacy was evaluated at follow-up. The Clavien system was used to evaluate the severity of postoperative complications. Results All 13 operations were successfully completed laparoscopically. The operation duration was 140–248 min (average: 189.9 ± 29.6 min), the time to postoperative recovery of bowel function was 1–10 days (average: 2.9 ± 2.3 days). There were 4 cases of grade I complications and 1 case of grade II complications (i.e., paralytic ileus caused by urinary leakage from the anastomosis of the augmented bladder). Cystography showed that the morphology of the bladder was close to normal, and the maximum safe capacity and compliance of the bladder were significantly increased [103.8 ± 16.6 mL and 332.3 ± 20.5 mL, p

There is a significant relationship between in-situ stress and reservoir quality, to reinvent the theoretical understanding and technical methods of reservoir evaluation from the perspective of in-situ stress. Based on rock mechanical test and logging data, combined with regional evolution and structural deformation, this study carried out systematic geomechanics research, proposing the quantitative characterization of stress concentration parameters to realize the optimization of favorable zones. The results show that in-situ stress and fracture permeability under its control are important factors in determining the productivity in the ultra-deep reservoir. It is preferable to choose a location with low stress and good fracture activity, rather than an adverse location such as a local stress concentration area characterized by frequent borehole breakouts. The imbalance between in-situ stress and rock strength causes high stress. Moreover, the accuracy of reservoir classification is improved by incorporating the relevant parameters under the influence of in-situ stress into the evaluation method of reservoir quality. It is vital to fully utilize the multiple advantages of highly deviated wells with various favorable areas and multiple vertical fractures to address complex problems and improve the efficiency of exploration and development.

In polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (POLSAR), it is of great significance for civil and military applications to find novel model-based decomposition methods suitable for ship detection in different detection backgrounds. Based on the physical interpretation of polarimetric decomposition theory and the Lasso rule for sparse features, we propose a four-component decomposition model, which is composed of surface scattering (Odd), double-bounce scattering (Dbl), volume scattering (Vol), and ±45° oriented dipole (Od). In principle, the Od component can describe the compounded scattering structure of a ship consisting of odd-bounce and even-bounce reflectors. Moreover, the pocket perceptron learning algorithm (PPLA) and support vector machine (SVM) are utilized to solve the linear inseparable problems in this study. Using large amounts of RADARSAT-2 (RS-2) fully polarized SAR data and AIRSAR data, our experimental results show that the Od component can make a great contribution to ship detection. Compared with other conventional decomposition methods used in the experiments, the proposed four-component decomposition method has better performance and is more effective and feasible to detect ships.

The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) facilitates various applications from all areas but also poses great challenges in its hardware implementation in terms of speed and energy because of the explosive growth of data. Optical computing provides a distinctive perspective to address this bottleneck by harnessing the unique properties of photons including broad bandwidth, low latency, and high energy efficiency. In this review, we introduce the latest developments of optical computing for different AI models, including feedforward neural networks, reservoir computing, and spiking neural networks (SNNs). Recent progress in integrated photonic devices, combined with the rise of AI, provides a great opportunity for the renaissance of optical computing in practical applications. This effort requires multidisciplinary efforts from a broad community. This review provides an overview of the state-of-the-art accomplishments in recent years, discusses the availability of current technologies, and points out various remaining challenges in different aspects to push the frontier. We anticipate that the era of large-scale integrated photonics processors will soon arrive for practical AI applications in the form of hybrid optoelectronic frameworks.

Polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) is an important tool for marine remote sensing. In the past two decades, subaperture decomposition is considered as an alternative method to extract ship targets, especially in complex conditions where the detection based on intensity performs not well. The introduction of polarization information can enhance the detection ability of radar. The combination of sublook techniques and polarization will lead to more precise target extraction. The first methods jointly using information of polarization and sublook is the polarimetric internal Hermitian product (Pol-IHP), which nowadays has been corrected as Pol-HIP. However, it is limited by the number of sublooks and recently developed as generalized multi-sublooks correlation. In this article, a novel sublook polarimetric covariance matrix (SPCM) is established, based on which a sublook-polarimetric whitening filter (sub-PWF) is further proposed for ship detection. The SPCM represents a given pixel using a high-dimensional covariance matrix which utilizes the spectral correlation in imaging progress and the scattering characteristics of different polarization channels. The superiority of sub-PWF based on SPCM is validated via the measured single look complex PolSAR data from RadarSAT-2 and GaoFen-3. Results show this new method can improve the target to clutter ratio and reduce the clutter fluctuation. The ROC curves in both small and large scenes proves that sub-PWF can reach ideal detection performance.

Gallbladder cancer (GBC) and cholangiocarcinoma are common cancers of the biliary system and are associated with a poor prognosis. Surgery and chemotherapy provide limited benefit to patients with advanced biliary tract carcinoma. Novel immunotherapies and molecularly targeted therapies are more effective options; however, few patients benefit and drug resistance is a concern. Here, we report five cases of advanced GBC with either high programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression or a high tumor mutation burden (TMB-H). The patients were treated with a combination therapy of tislelizumab and S-1. The tumors were effectively controlled in most patients. One patient developed immune-related pneumonia (irP) during treatment, which resolved after hormone therapy, and the patient underwent surgery. Tislelizumab and S-1 were administered again after surgery; however, recurrent irP required discontinuation, and the tumor progressed after drug withdrawal. These cases demonstrate that combined therapy of anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1) antibodies and S-1 is a safe and effective regimen with few side effects for GBC patients, especially for sensitive populations (patients with TMB-H, microsatellite instability, deficient mismatch repair, or high expression of PD-L1). To our knowledge, this is the first time that tislelizumab in combination with S-1 has been used to treat patients with advanced GBC.

Facing the problem of increased production of deep tight gas reservoirs, this study takes the Dibei gas reservoir in Tarim Basin as an example, carries out geomechanical research, and reveals the rock mechanical properties, in situ stress, and fracture characteristics of the tight reservoir. From the perspective of the in situ stress field and the effectiveness of fractures, the study reveals their impacts on reservoir quality, wellbore stability, and fracturing networks. The results show that the in situ stress and the effectiveness of fracture mechanics under its control have obvious control over the production capacity in the Dibei gas reservoir. The positions and intervals with low in situ stress, high fracture density, and fracture effectiveness are often favorable parts. A directional well has the dual advantages of overcoming reservoir heterogeneity and safety and stability. Understanding the geomechanical characteristics can quantitatively optimize the best wellbore trajectory, reduce the difficulty of fracturing from the source of well location deployment, improve the efficiency of hydraulic fracturing, and then realize the stimulation of gas reservoirs. In addition, the favorable borehole trajectory considers both the sweet spot penetration and borehole wall stability, which will reduce the difficulty of fracturing and is conducive to the efficient stimulation of tight gas reservoirs. Geomechanics research has built an integrated bridge between geology and engineering, which plays a significant role in increasing gas production.

Abstract Background Adherent perinephric fat (APF), characterized by inflammatory fat surrounding the kidney, can limit the isolation of renal tumors and increase the operative difficulty in laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN). The aim of this study was to investigate the predictors of APF and its impact on perioperative outcomes during LPN. Methods A total of 215 consecutive patients undergoing LPN for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) from January 2017 to June 2019 at our institute were included. We divided these patients into two groups according to the presence of APF. Radiographic data were retrospectively collected from preoperative cross-sectional imaging. The perioperative clinical parameters were compared between the two groups. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to evaluate the predictive factors of APF. Results APF was identified in 41 patients (19.1%) at the time of LPN. Univariate analysis demonstrated that APF was significantly correlated with the male gender (P = 0.001), higher body mass index (P = 0.002), lower preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate (P = 0.004), greater posterior perinephric fat thickness (P < 0.001), greater perinephric stranding (P < 0.001), and higher Mayo Adhesive Probability (MAP) score (P < 0.001). The MAP score (P < 0.001) was the only variable that remained an independent predictor for APF in multivariate analysis. We found that patients with APF had longer operative times (P < 0.001), warm ischemia times (P = 0.001), and greater estimated blood loss (P = 0.003) than those without APF. However, there were no significant differences in surgical approach, transfusion rate, length of postoperative stay, complication rate, or surgical margin between the two groups. Conclusions Several specific clinical and radiographic factors including the MAP score can predict APF. The presence of APF is associated with an increased operative time, warm ischemia time, and greater estimated blood loss but has no impact on other perioperative outcomes in LPN.

Mirror-enhanced scanning light-field microscopy (MiSLFM) achieves long-term high-speed 3D imaging at near-isotropic subcellular resolution with a single objective, facilitating native observations of various intracellular and intercellular interactions.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC), as one of the most common urological malignancies, has many histologic and molecular subtypes, among which clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is one of the most common causes of tumor-related deaths. However, the molecular mechanism of ccRCC remains unclear. In order to identify the candidate genes that may exist in the occurrence and development of ccRCC, microarray datasets GSE6344, GSE16441, GSE36895, GSE53757 and GSE76351 had been downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Apart from that, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened through Bioinformatics & Evolutionary Genomics. In addition, the protein-protein interaction network (PPI) was constructed, and the module analysis was performed using STRING and Cytoscape. By virtue of DAVID online database, GO/KEGG enrichment analysis of DEGs was performed. Consequently, a total of 118 DEGs were screened, including 24 up-regulated genes and 94 down-regulated genes. The plug-in MCODE of Cytoscape was adopted to analyze the most significant modules of DEGs. What’s more, the genes with degree greater than 10 in DEGs were selected as the hub genes. The overall survival (OS) and disease progression free survival (DFS) of 9 hub genes were analyzed through GEPIA2 online platform. As shown by the survival analysis, SLC34A1, SLC12A3, SLC12A1, PLG, and ENO2 were closely related to the OS of ccRCC, whereas SLC34A1 and LOX were closely related to DFS. Among 11 SLC members, 6 SLC members were highly expressed in non-cancerous tissues (SLC5A2, SLC12A1, SLC12A3, SLC34A1, SLC34A2, SLC34A3). Besides, SLC12A5 and SLC12A7 were highly expressed in ccRCC. Furthermore, SLC12A1-A7, SLC34A1 and SLC34A3 were closely related to OS, whereas SLC12A2/A4/A6/A7 and SLC34A1/A3 were closely related to DFS. In addition, 5 algorithms were used to analyze hub genes, the overlapping genes were AQP2 and KCNJ1. To sum up, hub gene can help us understand the molecular mechanism of the occurrence and development of ccRCC, thereby providing a theoretical basis for the diagnosis and targeted therapy of ccRCC.

Abstract Background Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most fatal digestive system cancers. tripartite motif-29 (TRIM29) has been reported as oncogene in several human cancers. However, the precise role and underlying signal cascade of TRIM29 in PC progression remain unclear. Methods Western blot, qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry were used to analyze TRIM29 and Yes-associated protein 1 (YAP1) levels. CCK8 assays, EdU assays and flow cytometry were designed to explore the function and potential mechanism of TRIM29 and YAP1 in the proliferation of PC. Next, a nude mouse model of PC was established for validating the roles of TRIM29 and YAP1 in vivo. The relationship among TRIM29 and YAP1 was explored by co-immunoprecipitation and in vitro ubiquitination assay. Results TRIM29 and YAP1 was significantly upregulated in PC patient samples, and TRIM29 expression was closely related to a malignant phenotype and poorer overall survival (OS) of PC patients. Functional assays revealed that TRIM29 knockdown suppresses cell growth, arrests cell cycle progression and promotes cell apoptosis of PC cells in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, the rescue experiments demonstrated that TRIM29-induced proliferation is dependent on YAP1 in PC cells. Mechanistically, TRIM29 regulates YAP1 expression by directly binding to YAP1, and reduced its ubiquitination and degradation. Conclusion Taken together, these results identify a novel mechanism used by PC growth, and provide insight regarding the role of TRIM29 in PC.

Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is the most common side effect of chemotherapy for breast cancer (BC). Acupuncture treatment has an anti-fatigue effect and can regulate gut microbiota disturbance in fatigue patients. Related studies have shown that the gut microbiota-gut-brain axis is closely related to the occurrence of CRF. In this study, we first investigated the alterations of acupuncture on fatigue-like behavior, gut microbiota, gut inflammation and neuroinflammation response, gut barriers, HPA axis, and serum metabolomics in CRF mice after BC chemotherapy. Then, the correlation analysis of gut microbiota and other indicators was discussed. Our results showed that acupuncture treatment could exert an anti-fatigue effect and ameliorate the gut barrier, gut inflammation, neuroinflammation, and dysfunction of the HPA axis in CRF mice after chemotherapy for BC. 16S rRNA sequencing showed that acupuncture treatment could enhance the abundance of Candidatus Arthromitus, Lactobacillus, and Clostridia_UCG-014_unclassified and decrease the abundances of Escherichia-Shigella, Burkholderia-Caballeronia-Paraburkholderia, and Streptococcus. Serum metabolomics analysis showed that acupuncture treatment could regulate the differential metabolites N-methylnicotinamide, beta-glycerophosphoric acid, geranyl acetoacetate, serotonin and phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis, taurine and hypotaurine, and beta-alanine metabolic pathways. Correlation analysis indicated that there are certain correlations between gut microbiota and gut inflammation, neuroinflammation, gut barrier, HPA axis function and serum metabolites. In conclusion, our findings revealed that the anti-fatigue mechanism of acupuncture treatment may be closely related to the gut microbiota-gut-brain axis. This study also provided a new reference for basic and clinical research on CRF after breast cancer chemotherapy.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating condition with few treatment options. Metformin, a classical antidiabetic and antioxidant, has extended its application to experimental SCI treatment. Here, we performed a systematic review to evaluate the neurobiological roles of metformin for treating SCI in rats, and to assess the potential for clinical translation. PubMed, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang data, SinoMed, and Vip Journal Integration Platform databases were searched from their inception dates to October 2021. Two reviewers independently selected controlled studies evaluating the neurobiological roles of metformin in rats following SCI, extracted data, and assessed the quality of methodology and evidence. Pairwise meta-analyses, subgroup analyses and network analysis were performed to assess the roles of metformin in neurological function and tissue damage in SCI rats. Twelve articles were included in this systematic review. Most of them were of moderate-to-high methodological quality, while the quality of evidence from those studies was not high. Generally, Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan scores were increased in rats treated with metformin compared with controls, and the weighted mean differences (WMDs) between metformin and control groups exhibited a gradual upward trend from the 3rd (nine studies, n = 164, WMD = 0.42, 95% CI = −0.01 to 0.85, P = 0.06) to the 28th day after treatment (nine studies, n = 136, WMD = 3.48, 95% CI = 2.04 to 4.92, P < 0.00001). Metformin intervention was associated with improved inclined plane scores, tissue preservation ratio and number of anterior horn motor neurons. Subgroup analyses indicated an association between neuroprotection and metformin dose. Network meta-analysis showed that 50 mg/kg metformin exhibited greater protection than 10 and 100 mg/kg metformin. The action mechanisms behind metformin were associated with activating adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase signaling, regulating mitochondrial function and relieving endoplasmic reticulum stress. Collectively, this review indicates that metformin has a protective effect on SCI with satisfactory safety and we demonstrate a rational mechanism of action; therefore, metformin is a promising candidate for future clinical trials. However, given the limitations of animal experimental methodological and evidence quality, the findings of this pre-clinical review should be interpreted with caution.

The Kuqa Depression boasts rich cretaceous ultra-deep hydrocarbon resources. However, it is in complex geological conditions. At present, sufficient understandings on the in situ stress distribution and influencing factors are lacking, which restricts the process of hydrocarbon exploitation. Therefore, in this study, the Bozi gas field is selected as an example, and a 1D mechanical earth model (1D MEM) is established with the drilling data and logging data through the geomechanical method to clarify the in situ stress distribution of the wellbore. A 3D heterogeneous geomechanical model (3D HGM) is established with the constraint of 1D HEM to clarify the distribution characteristics of the 3D in situ stress field in the Bozi gas field and discuss its influencing factors. The results show that: 1) the Bozi gas field is in an extremely strong in situ stress condition with high stress values. The minimum horizontal principal stress (Sh) of the cretaceous system is 153∼180 MPa, and the maximum horizontal principal stress (SH) is nearly 200 MPa; 2) the in situ stress in the Bozi gas field has obvious vertical stratification characteristics, which can be divided into three stress sequences of “low–high–low”, with great differences in interlayer stress; 3) the in situ stress distribution of the Bozi gas field is greatly affected by the types of faulted anticline. Different types indicate different stress distribution; 4) within the influence range of overthrusts, the in situ stress in the footwall is lower than that of the hanging wall. The greater the fault offset, the greater the in situ stress difference between the hanging wall and footwall. Moreover, the lower the stress in the footwall, the higher is the degree of overthrust, and the larger is the range of footwall stress area; and 5) the means of highly deviated wells is more helpful to the Bozi gas field for hydrocarbon exploitation.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been detected throughout the human body. Whether exposure to PAHs is associated with the incidence of type 1 diabetes mellitus should be investigated. To this end, pregnant mice were exposed to mixed PAHs (5, 50, or 500 μg/kg) once every other day during gestation. The adult male offspring displayed impaired glucose tolerance and reduced serum levels of glucagon and insulin. Immunohistochemical staining revealed increased numbers of apoptotic β-cells and a reduced β-cell mass in these males. The downregulated expression of pancreatic estrogen receptor α, androgen receptor, and transcription factor PDX1 was responsible for impacting β-cell development. The relatively reduced α-cell area was associated with downregulated ARX expression. The transcription of Isn2 and Gcg in pancreatic tissue was downregulated, which indicated that the function of β-cells and α-cells was impaired. Methylation levels in the Isn2 promotor were significantly elevated in mice prenatally exposed to 500 µg/kg PAHs, which was consistent with the change in its mRNA levels. The number of macrophages infiltrating islets was significantly increased, indicating that prenatal PAH exposure might reduce islet cell numbers in an autoimmune manner. This study shows that prenatal exposure to PAHs may promote the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Abstract Background This study aimed to introduce a novel method for ureteroileal anastomosis, explore its clinical effectiveness, observe the incidence of postoperative anastomotic stricture, and compare the postoperative complications with those of other types of ureteroileal anastomosis reported in the literature. Methods Both ureters were first anastomosed at their distal ends and then inserted into the proximal end of the ileal loop. A postoperative follow-up analysis was performed to evaluate major complication indicators, including anastomotic stricture, anastomotic leak, and hydroureteronephrosis. Results We successfully performed ureteral distal ends anastomosis combined with end-to-end insertion into the ileum for 143 patients. The mean postoperative follow-up lasted 37 months (range: 10–68 months). There was no occurrence of an anastomotic leak. The incidence of anastomotic stricture combined with hydronephrosis, ileal conduit stones, urinary tract infection, and renal dysfunction were 2.1%, 0.7%, 2.1%, and 4.2%, respectively. Conclusion Ureteral distal ends combined and inserted into the ileum were simple to perform and helped achieve precise anastomosis with fewer postoperative complications.

Abstract Array cameras removed the optical limitations of a single camera and paved the way for high-performance imaging via the combination of micro-cameras and computation to fuse multiple aperture images. However, existing solutions use dense arrays of cameras that require laborious calibration and lack flexibility and practicality. Inspired by the cognition function principle of the human brain, we develop an unstructured array camera system that adopts a hierarchical modular design with multiscale hybrid cameras composing different modules. Intelligent computations are designed to collaboratively operate along both intra- and intermodule pathways. This system can adaptively allocate imagery resources to dramatically reduce the hardware cost and possesses unprecedented flexibility, robustness, and versatility. Large scenes of real-world data were acquired to perform human-centric studies for the assessment of human behaviours at the individual level and crowd behaviours at the population level requiring high-resolution long-term monitoring of dynamic wide-area scenes.

High-performance supercapacitor (SC) electrodes typically require excellent rate capabilities, long cycle life, and high energy densities. In this work, ethylenediamine (EDA) functionalized graphene hydrogels (FGHs) with a high capacitor performance were prepared from graphene oxide (GO) dispersions using a two-step hydrothermal method. In addition, we used a very small amount of EDA to achieve the partial reduction and functional modification of GO, and the synthesized FGH-4 binder-free electrodes exhibited a high specific capacitance of −240 F/g at 1 A/g. We also successfully fabricated a symmetric SC device based on the FGH-4 electrode, with a wide voltage window of 3.0 V. More importantly, the as-assembled symmetric SC delivered a high specific energy of 39 Wh/kg at a specific power of 749 W/kg, while still maintaining its superior cycle life (retaining 88.09% of its initial capacitance after 10,000 cycles).