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The main concern for the limited practical applications of strain-hardening cementitious composite, especially in China, is the high cost of imported materials, mainly polyvinyl alcohol fibers. This study uses local ingredients to develop strain-hardening cementitious composite reinforced with non-oil-coated Chinese polyvinyl alcohol fiber. The cementitious matrix consisting of cement, fly ash, viscosity-modifying agent, and silica fume was prepared, and the matrix tailoring was performed to achieve improved mechanical performance. The prepared composites were evaluated by rheology, three-point bending, and tensile characterizations. It is found that with the given local ingredients and matrix modification, the toughness index value of 100 ( I40) according to the American Society for Testing and Materials can be achieved. Besides, the tensile results showed the improvement of 45% and 60% for first-cracking strength and peak tensile strength values, respectively. The effects of matrix modification are also analyzed statistically using the analysis of variance for the mechanical properties of the cementitious composite. The post hoc statistical analysis using the Tukey–Kramer honestly significant difference illustrated the optimum cementitious mix from the experimental data. The presented results of cost-effective strain-hardening cementitious composite are expected to promote the practical applications of strain-hardening cementitious composite in China.

Background: By associated with inflammation intraplaque, Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) increase the risk of atherosclerotic plaque rupture and has been identified as the independent predictor of cardiovascular events. However, the underlying mechanism is yet unclarity. Accumulating studies have established the critical role of NOD-like receptor thermal protein domain associated protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome in mediating intraplaque inflammation and plaque progression. Here, we discussed the role of NLRP3 inflammasome in aggravating ox-LDL-induced macrophage inflammation response to TMAO and its potential mechanism. Results: Our results showed that TMAO enhanced ox-LDL-induced inflammation in THP-1cells. Adding to TMAO remarkably upregulated the expression or mRNA level of NLRP3, Cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase 1(caspase-1) p20 and Apoptosis associated speck-like protein containing CARD(ASC) and enhanced the activity of caspase-1. An NLRP3 inhibitor (MCC950) reversed the promoting effect of NLRP3 inflammasome activation by TMAO and subsequently macrophage inflammation. Significantly, TMAO also boosted the activation of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB) pathway in ox-LDL-induced cells, manifested as the increasing expression of p-NF-κB, Bip and phosphorylated protein kinase R-like ER kinase (p-PERK). Activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome by TMAO was reversed by the ERS inhibitor 4-PBA or the NF-κB phosphorylation inhibitor JSH-23. Meanwhile, 4-PBA further inhibited the NF-κB phosphorylation and alleviated the NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Conclusions: We concluded that TMAO exacerbates ox-LDL-induced NLRP3 inflammasomes activation and subsequently interleukin (IL)-18 and IL-1b release in THP-1 macrophages, which partly regulated by the activating of the PERK/NF-κB signaling pathway.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a highly heterogenous cancer in hematopoiesis, and its subtype specification is greatly important in the clinical practice for AML diagnosis and prognosis. Increasing evidence has shown the association between microRNA (miRNA) phenotype and AML therapeutic outcomes, emphasizing the need for novel techniques for convenient, sensitive, and efficient miRNA profiling in clinical practices. Here, we describe a nanoneedle-based discrete single-cell microRNA profiling technique for multiplexed phenotyping of AML heterogeneity without the requirement of sequencing or polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In virtue of a biochip-based and non-destructive nature of the assay, the expression of nine miRNAs in large number of living AML cells can be simultaneously analyzed with discrete single-cell level information, thus providing a proof-of-concept demonstration of an AML subtype classifier based on the multidimensional miRNA data. We showed successful analysis of subtype-specific cellular composition with over 90% accuracy and identified drug-responsive leukemia subpopulations among a mixed suspension of cells modeling different AML subtypes. The adoption of machine learning algorithms for processing the large-scale nanoneedle-based miRNA data shows the potential for powerful prediction capability in clinical applications to assist therapeutic decisions. We believe that this platform provides an efficient and cost-effective solution to move forward the translational prognostic usage of miRNAs in AML treatment and can be readily and advantageously applied in analyzing rare patient-derived clinical samples.

The rate of second primary malignancies (SPM) is gradually increasing. Yet, the risk of death from primary cancer vs. SPM is still not well understood. In this study, we investigated the survival of patients with colorectal cancer (as SPM) who had cancer in the past (prior cancer) and the risk factors of SPM death in this population.Based on the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, we identified 1866 colon cancer patients with prior cancer in our main cohort and 43,959 colon cancer patients, including 37,440 patients with colon cancer as only malignancy and 6519 patients with colon cancer as subsequent colon cancer (SCC), in a second cohort and 3429 colon cancer patients, including 2371 patients with prior colon cancer (PCC) and 1058 patients with colon cancer as SPM, in a third cohort. After propensity score matching, 6519 pairs of subjects were identified in second cohort.Patients with prior prostate and breast cancer had a higher risk of developing colon cancer compared to those with gastrointestinal cancer. Also, colon cancer patients with different prior cancer had different survival rates. Furthermore, except for prior lung cancer (52.78 vs. 25.93%), most subjects died due to colon cancer complications. The ratio of colon cancer deaths to prior cancer deaths in patients with a low stage and high stage was 1.51 and 6.64, respectively. In addition, colon cancer-specific survival (CSS) and OS rates were significantly lower in subjects with colon cancer as the SPM than in those with PCC. Also, compared with PCC, SPM was associated with OS and CSS with HR 1.59 (95 CI 1.43-1.78) and HR 2.00 (95% CI 1.70-2.36). Furthermore, compared with only colon cancer, SCC was associated with OS and CSS with HR 1.23 (95 CI 1.17-1.29) and HR 1.13 (95% CI 1.06-1.21).Prior cancer was found to have an adverse impact on OS in patients with colon cancer (secondary cancer), most of whom died due to colon cancer as secondary cancer itself rather than prior cancer. Early detection and treatment strategies should be investigated in this population.

To improve the intrinsic electronic conductivity of Na3V2(PO4)2F3 (NVPF), zirconium (Zr) was introduced into the NVPF/C compound through a carbothermal reduction reaction with citric acid as the carbon source. The effects of Zr4+ doping on the crystal structure and morphology of the as-prepared materials were analyzed. Electrochemical and kinetic properties of the samples were investigated by galvanostatic charge-discharge, CV and EIS test. It is confirmed that moderate Zr4+ doping can improve the electrochemical performance of NVPF. Among all Na3V2-xZrx(PO4)2F3/C (x = 0, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1) samples, Na3V1·95Zr0·05(PO4)2F3/C shows the best rate and cycle performance. It exhibits the highest specific capacity of 121.8 and 110.3 mAh/g at 0.2 and 10 C, respectively, and maintains a capacity retention of approximately 83.6% after 1000 cycles at 5 C. The kinetic properties results show that the excellent electrochemical performance of Na3V1·95Zr0·05(PO4)2F3/C can be attributed to the increase in electronic conductivity and ion diffusion coefficient.

A photonics-aided dual-functional system that can simultaneously implement high-speed communication and high-resolution radar detection is proposed. In the proposed system, high-speed orthogonal frequency division multiplexing signals and broadband linear frequency modulated signals are simultaneously realized based on photonic heterodyning. Based on this system, a net rate of 46.55 Gbit/s and radar with a 15 GHz bandwidth in the W-band were achieved.

The ICT infrastructures of medium and large organisations that offer ICT services (infrastructure, platforms, software, applications, etc.) are becoming increasingly complex. Nowadays, these environments combine all sorts of hardware (e.g., CPUs, GPUs, storage elements, network equipment) and software (e.g., virtual machines, servers, microservices, services, products, AI models). Tracking, understanding and acting upon all the data produced in the context of such environments is hence challenging. Configuration management databases have been so far widely used to store and provide access to relevant information and views on these components and on their relationships. However, different databases are organised according to different schemas. Despite existing efforts in standardising the main entities relevant for configuration management, there is not yet a core set of ontologies that describes these environments homogeneously, and which can be easily extended when new types of items appear. This paper presents an ontology network created with the purpose of serving as an initial step towards an homogeneous representation of this domain, and which has been already used to produce a knowledge graph for a large ICT company.

Strain-hardening cementitious composites (SHCC) are a special class of high-performance fiber reinforced cementitious composites developed with 2% fiber content or lower. In order to promote the wider applications of SHCC in China, the domestic PVA fibers were treated with an oiling agent. The fiber-matrix interfacial properties were tailored to meet the micromechanics-based design requirements for strain-hardening and saturated multiple-cracking. The single fiber pull-out tests were conducted to study the interfacial behavior and tensile test was carried out to analyze the effects of treatment on the composite level. Oiling treatment has shown considerable improvement in modifying the interfacial properties for chemical debonding energy and frictional bond value respectively. In addition, finite element analysis for single fiber pull-out behavior has also showed good agreement with the experimental results. Moreover, the oil treated PVA fiber uniaxial tensile test results demonstrated significant improvement in mechanical performance with satisfactory strain-hardening in comparison with untreated composite. The present study suggests that the surface modified domestic PVA fibers could be feasible to produce cost-effective SHCC.

Background: Delirium is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in critically ill patients. Research on risk factors for delirium allows clinicians to identify high-risk patients, which is the basis for early prevention and diagnosis. Besides the risk factors for delirium that are commonly studied, here we more focused on the less-studied therapeutic interventions for critically ill patients which are potentially modifiable. Materials and methods: A total of 320 non-comatose patients admitted to the ICU for more than 24 hrs during 9 months were eligible for the study. Delirium was screened once daily using the CAM-ICU. Demographics, admission clinical data, and daily interventions were collected. Results: Ninety-two patients (28.75%) experienced delirium at least once. Delirious patients were more likely to have longer duration of mechanical ventilation, ICU stay, and hospital stay. Most of the less-studied therapeutic interventions were linked to delirium in the univariate analysis, including gastric tube, artificial airway, deep intravenous catheter, arterial line, urinary catheter, use of vasoactive drugs, and sedative medication. After adjusting with age and ICU length of stay, mechanical ventilation (OR: 5.123; 95% CI: 2.501-10.494), Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score≥20 at admission (OR: 1.897; 95% CI: 1.045-3.441), and gastric tube (OR: 1.935, 95% CI: 1.012-3.698) were associated with increased risk of delirium in multivariate analysis. Conclusion: Delirium was associated with prolonged mechanical ventilation, ICU stay, and hospital stay. Multivariate risk factors were gastric tube, mechanical ventilation, and APACHE II score. Although being a preliminary study, this study suggests the necessity of earliest removal of tubes and catheters when no longer needed.

A new class of high-performance fiber reinforced cementitious composite, namely Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) reinforced with Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers, is characterized by strain-hardening, multiple-cracking and tight crack width. Due to the high cost of imported PVA fibers, the practical applications of ECC are limited, especially in China. In the present study, different oiling agents are utilized to modify the local PVA fiber surface. A direct single fiber pull-out method was utilized to study the interfacial behavior after fiber surface treatment. The composite flexural performance was studied using a three-point bending test. Different flexural parameters such as first-cracking and post-cracking strength, first-cracking toughness and post-cracking toughness, ultimate load and toughness indices were determined from the load–deflection curves. The oil treatments have proven effective in modifying the fiber-matrix interface with the reduced chemical debonding energy ( G d ) values of 50%–85% in comparison to untreated PVA fiber. Chemical debonding energy as low as 2.8 J/m2 and frictional bond strength ( τ 0 ) 1.8 Mpa have been observed. Flexural strength varies between 4.5 Mpa and 8.2 Mpa depending on the oiling treatment. The oiling treatments have shown increased toughness values and toughness index up to I60 by using 2% volume of fibers. With most of the treated fibers have shown strain-hardening performance, presenting possible potential of utilizing Chinese PVA fiber in the design of cost-effective strain-hardening cementitious material.

Na3V2(PO4)2F3 (NVPF) with NASCION (Na superionic conductor) is recognized as a potential cathode material owing to its high theoretical capacity. However, the electronic conductivity of NVPF is much lower than its ionic conductivity, which seriously affects the properties of this material. The carbon layer can be used as the conductive medium to enhance the conductivity of NVPF. In this study, we propose a single-step solid-state reaction method based on mechanical activation with pitch as the carbon source to synthesize NVPF/C composites. The crystallographic structure and morphology of all as-prepared samples were investigated by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, BET measurement, thermal analysis, SEM and TEM. Furthermore, the electrochemical performance and kinetic properties were analyzed by CV, galvanostatic charge–discharge and EIS tests. These tests outcomes demonstrated that the NVPF/C-2 composite with a carbon content of 12.14 wt% showed an excellent rate performance and cycle stability. It presented reversible capacities of 103 and 95 mA h g−1 at 0.2 and 10C, respectively, and an outstanding retention of 91.9% after 500 cycles at 5C. These excellent properties of the NVPF/C-2 composite are attributed to its high ion diffusion coefficient and small charge transfer impedance.

In biological imaging, the use of long-wavelength-emitting (>650 nm) fluorescent probes can significantly reduce the interference from cell auto-fluorescence and thus greatly improve the imaging resolution because intrinsic biomolecules rarely absorb light and emit fluorescence in the long-wavelength region. In this work, a long-wavelength-emitting two-photon fluorescent probe (TTNO) for nitric oxide (NO) detection in living cells is designed and synthesized. TTNO shows ∼28-fold enhanced fluorescence intensity (at 658 nm) with a low detection limit of 9 nM, a fast response to NO within ∼40 seconds and a high selectivity for NO. In addition, it is worth mentioning that TTNO can also be excited with near-infrared light via two-photon absorption. Its biological application for real-time imaging of exogenous and endogenous NO in living cells is successfully demonstrated by using one-photon and two-photon microscopy, respectively.

Small interfering RNA (siRNA) that mediates target gene silencing through RNA interference (RNAi) has attracted increasing interest in exploring gene functions as well as treating a variety of diseases. However, the inefficient delivery of the unstable and negatively charged siRNA into cells restricts the progress of the RNAi-based therapeutics. In this work, we describe the development of a nanoplatform based on conjugated polymer dots (Pdots) for efficient siRNA delivery. The cationic lipid G0C14 was introduced in the Pdots for siRNA complexing. The G0C14-containing polymer dots (G-Pdots) not only retained the outstanding fluorescence properties but also enhanced cellular uptake of siRNA. The positively charged G0C14 was able to interact with the negatively charged siRNA via electrostatic interactions, while the G-Pdot/siRNA complexes still remained negatively charged. A prominent property of this nanoplatform was the low cytotoxicity as compared to the commercial agent Lipofectamine, while the gene silencing efficiency was comparable. Our results indicate that biocompatible G-Pdots represent a promising platform for imaging-guided siRNA delivery.

Verifying the intelligent substation Chinese operation order is an important step to ensure the accuracy of substation operations. The current manual verification method based on experience has strong subjectivity, low efficiency and low reliability. In view of this, this paper proposes an automatic verification method of operation order based on the Chinese semantic deep learning model: Global vectors for word representation-convolution Recurrent Neural Network (Glove-RCNN). By combining the text vectorization model Glove and text mining model RCNN, this method is feasible in realizing the semantic discrimination and automatic verification of correctness and error of the operation order texts. The experimental result shows that the MicroF score and MacroF score of the operation order verification model is 93.98% and 94.19%, which can accurately judge the correctness of the operation order, so as to effectively improve the verification efficiency.

In urban renewal, the leaving and rebuilding of markets is a topic that is frequently discussed. Fairs are usually difficult to manage due to open air and non-fixed conditions, they are gradually unable to meet the needs of modern business. But European markets have a long history and show a Forward loop. The article hopes to explore the formation mechanism of European markets, select ten typical cases among them, and analyze the process and main points of the formation from stalls to markets. Finally, it summarizes the appropriate market development form in the urban expansion and renewal.

Hypoxia is closely related to multiple diseases, especially in tumors, which increases the aggressiveness and drug resistance of cancer cells. Precise hypoxia imaging is of great significance for cancer diagnosis and the evaluation of therapeutic effects. A kind of hydrophobic polymer (i.e., PFPtTFPP) as an imaging probe for hypoxia with fluorene as an energy donor and an oxygen-sensitive PtII porphyrin as an energy acceptor was developed. Compact polymer dots (Pdots) with a small size were prepared by nanoprecipitation. The PFPtTFPP Pdots showed excellent hypoxia sensing in solution with high sensitivity and full reversibility. The emission intensity, quantum yields, lifetime, and single-particle brightness significantly increased under hypoxia conditions. Remarkably, hypoxia imaging in vitro and in vivo was realized, and a clear increase in brightness was observed under hypoxia conditions and in the tumor area. Excellent hypoxia imaging ability is beneficial to potential applications in cancer diagnosis.

Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a liver inflammatory disease via induction of debris-like necrosis in the liver portal area, which is characterized by hypergammaglobulinemia and a variety of autoantibodies. And its performance is very similar to viral hepatitis, but with absolutely different treatment. The pathogenesis of AIH is not clear, genetic susceptibility is considered to be the main factor. AIH is a cause of multiple pathogenic disease, and can induce viruses, bacteria, chemicals and drugs which are potential causes for genetic sensitive individuals, to participate in inflammatory disease processes. Due to the destruction of immune tolerance, liver-specific membrane proteins were expressed on the surface of liver cells, asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGP-R) and microsomal cytochrome P4502D6 are considered to be more clearly present to stimulate AIH antigen. Activation of CD4+ T cells by direct exposure and release of cytokines stimulates B cells to produce antibodies that initiate immune injury responses. At the same time cytokine activation of CD8+ T cells mediates antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) effect to kill hepatocytes, activating tumour necrosis factor (TNF) or Fas-mediated hepatocellular death. However, AIH patients are always proved to be lack of immunoregulatory function, which is newly considered to be the cardinal cause of AIH. Genetic susceptibility, molecular simulation theory, and immune pathogenesis are main points of this review article. Especially, in-depth statement has been made from several aspects of AIH’s immune pathogenesis such as cellular immune mechanism, humoral immunity with ADCC, immunosuppressive effects of regulatory T cells, and cytokine theory. Thus, a better understanding of the pathogenesis of AIH is of great importance. Keywords: Autoimmune hepatitis, Molecular simulation theory, Immune pathogenesis

We synthesized a series of acridone derivatives for specific binding ligands of i-motifs. Subsequent evaluations showed that B19 could selectively bind to and stabilize the c-myc promoter i-motif without significant binding to the G-quadruplex and duplex DNA. This caused down-regulation of c-myc transcription and expression, resulting in tumor cell apoptosis.

Background Telomeric repeat–containing RNA (TERRA) is a large non-coding RNA in mammalian cells, which forms an integral component of telomeric heterochromatin. TERRA can bind to an allosteric site of telomeric repeat factor 2 (TRF2), a key component of Shelterin that protect chromosome termini. Both TERRA and TRF2 have been recognized as promising new therapeutic targets for cancer treatment. Methods Our methods include FRET assay, SPR, CD, microscale thermophoresis (MST), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), colony formation assays, Western blot, immunofluorescence, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis detection, and xCELLigence real-time cell analysis (RTCA). Results In our routine screening of small molecule libraries, we found that a Quindoline derivative, CK1-14 could bind to and stabilize TERRA G-quadruplex structure, which could bind more tightly with an allosteric site of a telomeric binding protein TRF2, resulting in dissociation of TRF2 from telomeric DNA. Further in cellular studies indicated that the above effect of CK1-14 on TERRA G-quadruplex could activate DNA-damage response and cause cell cycle arrest, resulting in inhibition of U2OS cell proliferation and causing cell apoptosis. Conclusions Our mechanistic studies indicated that interaction of CK1-14 with TERRA induces telomeric DNA-damage response in U2OS cancer cells through inhibition of TRF2. CK1-14 could be further developed as a promising lead compound targeting telomere for cancer treatment. General significance Our present study provides the first evidence that allosteric modulation of TRF2 by TERRA G-quadruplex with a binding ligand could become a promising new strategy for cancer treatment especially for ALT tumor cells.

Telomeric repeat factor 2 (known as TRF2 or TERF2) is a key component of telomere protection protein complex named as Shelterin. TRF2 helps the folding of telomere to form T-loop structure and the suppression of ATM-dependent DNA damage response activation. TRF2 has been recognized as a potentially new therapeutic target for cancer treatment. In our routine screening of small molecule libraries, we found that Curcusone C had significant effect in disrupting the binding between TRF2 and telomeric DNA, with potent antitumor activity against cancer cells. Our result showed that Curcusone C could bind with TRF2 without binding interaction with TRF1 (telomeric repeat factor 1) although these two proteins share high sequence homology, indicating that their binding conformations and biological functions in telomere could be different. Our mechanistic studies showed that Curcusone C bound with TRF2 possibly through its DNA binding site causing blockage of its interaction with telomeric DNA. Further in cellular studies indicated that the interaction of TRF2 with Curcusone C could activate DNA-damage response, inhibit tumor cell proliferation, and cause cell cycle arrest, resulting in tumor cell apoptosis. Our studies showed that Curcusone C could become a promising lead compound for further development for cancer treatment. Here, TRF2 was firstly identified as a target of Curcusone C. It is likely that the anti-cancer activity of some other terpenes and terpenoids are related with their possible effect for telomere protection proteins.

Context Urinary iodine (UI) is commonly used for evaluating iodine status, whereas serum iodine (SI) is more closely correlated with bioavailable iodine. However, no reliable reference intervals (RIs) for clinical use are available. We aimed to establish RIs for SI, UI, and a ratio of UI to urinary creatinine (U-Cre) applicable to the Chinese population. Methods This multicenter cross-sectional study enrolled 930 apparently healthy adults from six representative cities in China (Beijing, Dongying, Guiyang, Urumqi, Shenzhen, and Qiqihar) in 2017. Thyroid ultrasonography and thyroid function tests, including antithyroid antibody tests, were performed to exclude individuals with latent thyroid diseases. An iodine intake-related questionnaire survey was performed. SI and UI were measured using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Possible influencing factors of iodine levels were evaluated using multiple regression analysis. Results Post-exclusion, the final analysis included 894 individuals. Seafood intake frequency was positively correlated with SI (standardized partial regression coefficient = 0.23) but not with UI and UI/U-Cre. SI was positively correlated with serum TT4 (Spearman correlation coefficient: 0.40), TT3 (0.23), and FT4 (0.18). SI and UI showed no age- or sex-specific variations. Significantly higher UI/U-Cre values were observed in Qiqihar than in Beijing, Guizhou, and Shenzhen. Shenzhen showed the lowest UI levels among all evaluated cities. With application of latent abnormal values exclusion procedurere, the RIs for SI, UI, and UI/U-Cre in the population were 36.0–79.3 μg/L, 19–385 μg/L, 22–450 μg/g, respectively. Conclusions We established RIs for UI and SI among healthy Chinese individuals with no thyroid nodule or dysfunction.

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