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While the significance of obtaining restful sleep at night and maintaining daytime alertness is well recognized for human performance and overall well-being, substantial variations exist in the development of sleepiness during diurnal waking periods. Despite the established roles of the hypothalamus and striatum in sleep-wake regulation, the specific contributions of this neural circuit in regulating individual sleep homeostasis remain elusive. This study utilized resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and mathematical modeling to investigate the role of hypothalamus-striatum connectivity in subjective sleepiness variation in a cohort of 71 healthy adults under strictly controlled in-laboratory conditions. Mathematical modeling results revealed remarkable individual differences in subjective sleepiness accumulation patterns measured by the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS). Brain imaging data demonstrated that morning hypothalamic connectivity to the dorsal striatum significantly predicts the individual accumulation of subjective sleepiness from morning to evening, while no such correlation was observed for the hypothalamus-ventral striatum connectivity. These findings underscore the distinct roles of hypothalamic connectivity to the dorsal and ventral striatum in individual sleep homeostasis, suggesting that hypothalamus-dorsal striatum circuit may be a promising target for interventions mitigating excessive sleepiness and promoting alertness.

Abstract Background Deleterious BRCA1/2 (BRCA) mutation raises the risk for BRCA mutation-related malignancies, including breast, ovarian, prostate, and pancreatic cancer. Germline variation of BRCA exhibits substantial ethnical diversity. However, there is limited research on the Chinese Han population, constraining the development of strategies for BRCA mutation screening in this large ethnic group. Methods We profile the BRCA mutational spectrum, including single nucleotide variation, insertion/deletion, and large genomic rearrangements in 2,080 apparently healthy Chinese Han individuals and 522 patients with BRCA mutation-related cancer, to determine the BRCA genetic background of the Chinese Han population, especially of the East Han. Incident cancer events were monitored in 1,005 participants from the healthy group, comprising 11 BRCA pathogenic/likely pathogenic (PLP) variant carriers and 994 PLP-free individuals, including 3 LGR carriers. Results Healthy Chinese Han individuals demonstrated a distinct BRCA mutational spectrum compared to cancer patients, with a 0.53% (1 in 189) prevalence of pathogenic/likely pathogenic (PLP) variant, alongside a 3 in 2,080 occurrence of LGR. BRCA1 c. 5470_5477del demonstrated high prevalence (0.44%) in the North Han Chinese and penetrance for breast cancer. None of the 3 LGR carriers developed cancer during the follow-up. We calculated a relative risk of 135.55 (95% CI 25.07 to 732.88) for the development of BRCA mutation-related cancers in the BRCA PLP variant carriers (mean age 42.91 years, median follow-up 10 months) compared to PLP-free individuals (mean age 48.47 years, median follow-up 16 months). Conclusion The unique BRCA mutational profile in the Chinese Han highlights the potential for standardized population-based BRCA variant screening to enhance BRCA mutation-related cancer prevention and treatment.

To address the issue of large positioning errors in complex environments within non-contact RFID-based positioning systems, RFreeTrack system was proposed.Commercial RFID equipment was used to calculate the reflected signals from targets, achieving high-precision non-contact positioning in complex environment.Firstly, a search method based on time-series similarity was proposed to employ for calibrating static signals, thus significantly enhanced the robustness of target reflection signal extraction.Secondly, a non-contact positioning method based on differential phase holography was introduced to eliminate the influence of the reader antenna’s position, thus the accuracy of positioning was improved and the complexity of system was deployment reduced as well.Finally, a high-precision non-contact positioning system prototype was realized.Experimental results indicate that in complex environments, the phase of the target reflection signals extracted using the calibrated static signals has a 68.8% lower error compared to existing methods.Based on the previously calibrated static reflection signals, the average positioning error using differential phase holography in complex environments is 0.040 8 m, and has a 50.6% improvement on location over existing methods.

IntroductionHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), representing more than 80% of primary liver cancer cases, lacks satisfactory etiology and diagnostic methods. This study aimed to elucidate the role of programmed cell death-associated genes (CDRGs) in HCC by constructing a diagnostic model using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data.MethodsSix categories of CDRGs, including apoptosis, necroptosis, autophagy, pyroptosis, ferroptosis, and cuproptosis, were collected. RNA-seq data from blood-derived exosomes were sourced from the exoRBase database, RNA-seq data from cancer tissues from the TCGA database, and scRNA-seq data from the GEO database. Subsequently, we intersected the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of the HCC cohort from exoRBase and TCGA databases with CDRGs, as well as DEGs obtained from single-cell datasets. Candidate biomarker genes were then screened using clinical indicators and a machine learning approach, resulting in the construction of a seven-gene diagnostic model for HCC. Additionally, scRNA-seq and spatial transcriptome sequencing (stRNA-seq) data of HCC from the Mendeley data portal were used to investigate the underlying mechanisms of these seven key genes and their association with immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy. Finally, we validated the expression of key molecules in tissues and blood-derived exosomes through quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) and immunohistochemistry experiments.ResultsCollectively, we obtained a total of 50 samples and 104,288 single cells. Following the meticulous screening, we established a seven-gene diagnostic model for HCC, demonstrating high diagnostic efficacy in both the exoRBase HCC cohort (training set: AUC = 1; testing set: AUC = 0.847) and TCGA HCC cohort (training set: AUC = 1; testing set: AUC = 0.976). Subsequent analysis revealed that HCC cluster 3 exhibited a higher stemness index and could serve as the starting point for the differentiation trajectory of HCC cells, also displaying more abundant interactions with other cell types in the microenvironment. Notably, key genes TRIB3 and NQO1 displayed elevated expression levels in HCC cells. Experimental validation further confirmed their elevated expression in both tumor tissues and blood-derived exosomes of cancer patients. Additionally, stRNA analysis not only substantiated these findings but also suggested that patients with high TRIB3 and NQO1 expression might respond more favorably to ICB therapy.ConclusionsThe seven-gene diagnostic model demonstrated remarkable accuracy in HCC screening, with TRIB3 emerging as a promising diagnostic tool and therapeutic target for HCC.

BackgroundUpper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) and bladder urothelial carcinoma (BLCA) both originate from uroepithelial tissue, sharing remarkably similar clinical manifestations and therapeutic modalities. However, emerging evidence suggests that identical treatment regimens may lead to less favorable outcomes in UTUC compared to BLCA. Therefore, it is imperative to explore molecular processes of UTUC and identify biological differences between UTUC and BLCA.MethodsIn this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) on three UTUC cases and four normal ureteral tissues. These data were combined with publicly available datasets from previous BLCA studies and RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data for both cancer types. This pooled analysis allowed us to delineate the transcriptional differences among distinct cell subsets within the microenvironment, thus identifying critical factors contributing to UTUC progression and phenotypic differences between UTUC and BLCA.ResultsscRNA-seq analysis revealed seemingly similar but transcriptionally distinct cellular identities within the UTUC and BLCA ecosystems. Notably, we observed striking differences in acquired immunological landscapes and varied cellular functional phenotypes between these two cancers. In addition, we uncovered the immunomodulatory functions of vein endothelial cells (ECs) in UTUC, and intercellular network analysis demonstrated that fibroblasts play important roles in the microenvironment. Further intersection analysis showed that MARCKS promote UTUC progression, and immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining revealed that the diverse expression patterns of MARCKS in UTUC, BLCA and normal ureter tissues.ConclusionThis study expands our multidimensional understanding of the similarities and distinctions between UTUC and BLCA. Our findings lay the foundation for further investigations to develop diagnostic and therapeutic targets for UTUC.

Abstract Background Muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) is a highly aggressive disease with a poor prognosis. B cells are crucial factors in tumor suppression, and tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs) facilitate immune cell recruitment to the tumor microenvironment (TME). However, the function and mechanisms of tumor-infiltrating B cells and TLSs in MIBC need to be explored further. Methods We performed single-cell RNA sequencing analysis of 11,612 B cells and 55,392 T cells from 12 bladder cancer patients and found naïve B cells, proliferating B cells, plasma cells, interferon-stimulated B cells and germinal center-associated B cells, and described the phenotype, gene enrichment, cell–cell communication, biological processes. We utilized immunohistochemistry (IHC) and immunofluorescence (IF) to describe TLSs morphology in MIBC. Results The interferon-stimulated B-cell subtype (B-ISG15) and germinal center-associated B-cell subtypes (B-LMO2, B-STMN1) were significantly enriched in MIBC. TLSs in MIBC exhibited a distinct follicular structure characterized by a central region of B cells resembling a germinal center surrounded by T cells. CellChat analysis showed that CXCL13 + T cells play a pivotal role in recruiting CXCR5 + B cells. Cell migration experiments demonstrated the chemoattraction of CXCL13 toward CXCR5 + B cells. Importantly, the infiltration of the interferon-stimulated B-cell subtype and the presence of TLSs correlated with a more favorable prognosis in MIBC. Conclusions The study revealed the heterogeneity of B-cell subtypes in MIBC and suggests a pivotal role of TLSs in MIBC outcomes. Our study provides novel insights that contribute to the precision treatment of MIBC.

This study explores the efficient conversion of castor oil to sebacic acid utilizing iron oxide (Fe2O3) loaded on activated carbons as catalysts. Through a combination of saponification, acidification, and catalytic cracking, sebacic acid was produced with a notable yield improvement. The process involved using liquid paraffin as a thinning agent, overcoming the limitations of traditional toxic agents. The catalysts were prepared via adsorption-precipitation-calcination methods, with ultrasonication pretreatment to enhance iron adsorption on activated carbons. The chemical composition, structure, and morphology properties were investigated by different characterizations; such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TG/DTG). Systematic investigations into the adsorption capacity, catalytic activity, and operational parameters like temperature, reaction time, and catalyst recycling were conducted. The optimized method achieved a sebacic acid yield of 83.4%, significantly higher than traditional methods (60.2%), with improved safety and environmental impact. The study provides valuable insights into sustainable and efficient sebacic acid production which is crucial for industrial applications in processing of castor oil.

Prevention of cardiovascular implantable electronic devices (CIED) infection is crucial for successful outcomes. In this study, we report an adhesive and antibacterial hydrogel coating for CIED infection treatment, by immobilizing polyethylene glycol (PEG) and 2′-O-hydroxypropyl trimethyl ammonium chloride chitosan (HAC) on Ti surface. Initial alkali and APTES treatment caused the formation of –NH2 to enhance the adhesion of the hydrogel coating to Ti implants, followed by immobilizing a photo-cross-linkable PEG/2′-O-HTACCS hydrogel on Ti/OH/NH2 surface. Surface characterization of Ti/OH/NH2 sample and adhesion testing of hydrogel on Ti/OH/NH2 surface confirm successful immobilization of hydrogel onto the Ti/OH/NH2 surface. In vitro and in vivo antimicrobial results exhibited that the photo-cross-linkable PEG/HAC composite hydrogel has excellent antimicrobial capabilities against both Grampositive (S. aureus and S. epidermidis) and Gram-negative (P. aeruginosa and E. coli) bacteria. The outcome of this study demonstrates the photo-cross linked PEG/HAC coating hydrogels can be easily formed on the Ti implants, and has great potential in preventing CIED pocket infection.

Selenium (Se) is a trace element that is essential for human health. Daily dietary Se intake is governed by the food chain through soil-plant systems. However, the cadmium (Cd) content tends to be excessive in seleniferous soil, in which Se and Cd have complex interactions. Therefore, it is a great challenge to grow crops containing appreciable amounts of Se but low amounts of Cd. We compared the effects of five Se-transforming bacteria on Se and Cd uptake by Brassica rapa L. in a native seleniferous Cd-polluted soil. The results showed that three Se-oxidizing bacteria (LX-1, LX-100, and T3F4) increased the Se content of the aboveground part of the plant by 330.8%, 309.5%, and 724.3%, respectively, compared to the control (p

Abstract Background To improve early diagnosis and chemotherapy efficacy monitoring in primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) exosomal microRNA (miRNA) studies were performed. Method Small RNA sequencing was performed to identify candidate exosomal miRNAs as CSF biopsy biomarkers from two patients with de novo PCNSL and two patients in remission after chemotherapy. miR-200c and miR-141 expression in CSF exosomes was further validated using relative quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in patients with PCNSL (n = 20), patients with other neurological diseases (n = 10), and normal subjects (n = 10). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses of miR-200c and miR-141 in the diagnosis and prediction of chemotherapy efficacy in PCNSL were performed in patients treated with methotrexate. Additionally, bioinformatics tools were utilized to predict the potential targets of miR-200c and miR-141. Results Exosomal miR-200c and miR-141 levels in CSF from patients with PCNSL were significantly lower than those in control subjects. Importantly, miR-200c and miR-141 were upregulated in patients with PCNSL after chemotherapy (P = 0.002). There was a significant correlation between the levels of miR-141 and IL-10 in CSF (P = 0.04). The combination of miR-200c and miR-141 yielded an area under the ROC curve of 0.761 for distinguishing PCNSL with sensitivity and specificity of 60.0% and 96.7%, respectively. The potential target genes of miR-200c and miR-141 in PCNSL included ATP1B3, DYNC1H1, MATR3, NUCKS1, ZNF638, NUDT4, RCN2, GNPDA1, ZBTB38, and DOLK. Conclusion Collectively, miR-200c and miR-141 are likely to be upregulated in CSF exosomes after chemotherapy in patients with PCNSL, highlighting their potential as reliable liquid biopsy biomarkers for PCNSL diagnosis and chemotherapy efficacy monitoring.

“Not In My Back Yard” (NIMBY) conflicts have emerged as a significant challenge in the siting and construction of power grid projects. Traditional risk management methods are often inadequate for addressing the complex interactions between the multiple factors involved in such projects. To explain the relationship between different influencing factors, this paper constructs the hierarchy between the influencing factors using the Interpretive Structural Model (ISM) and carries out a causal analysis of NIMBY conflicts in power grid construction projects using the Bayesian network model. The results of the ISM hierarchical map show that high risk perception and construction practices lacking refinement are the most direct causes of NIMBY incidents. The Bayesian network model indicates that poor construction practices, negative public opinion, high risk perception, inadequate risk assessment and emergency response mechanisms, and negative externalities are the most sensitive factors within the causal system of NIMBY incidents and require priority attention. An increase in risk perception is also found to significantly escalate the severity of NIMBY conflicts. The insights gleaned in this study may provide valuable guidance for managing NIMBY conflicts in power grid construction projects.

IntroductionSince the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, vaccines have demonstrated their effectiveness in resisting virus infection, reducing severity, and lowering the mortality rate in infected individuals. However, due to the rapid and ongoing mutations of SARS-CoV-2, the protective ability of many available vaccines has been challenged. Therefore, there is an urgent need for vaccines capable of eliciting potent broadly neutralizing antibodies against various SARS-CoV-2 variants.MethodsIn this study, we developed a novel subunit vaccine candidate for SARS-CoV-2 by introducing a series of shielding glycans to the Fc-fused receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the prototypic spike protein. This approach aims to mask non-neutralizing epitopes and focus the immune response on crucial neutralizing epitopes.ResultsAll modified sites were confirmed to be highly glycosylated through mass spectrometry analysis. The binding affinity of the glycan-shielded RBD (gsRBD) to the human ACE2 receptor was comparable to that of the wildtype RBD (wtRBD). Immunizing mice with gsRBD when combined with either Freund’s adjuvant or aluminum adjuvant demonstrated that the introduction of the glycan shield did not compromise the antibody-inducing ability of RBD. Importantly, the gsRBD significantly enhanced the generation of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses compared to the wtRBD. Notably, it exhibited remarkable protective activity against Beta (B.1.351), Delta (B.1.617.2), and Omicron (B.1.1.529), approximately 3-fold, 7- fold, and 17-fold higher than wtRBD, respectively.DiscussionOur data proved this multiple-epitope masking strategy as an effective approach for highly active vaccine production.

Accurately predicting the price change of steel (main building materials) is an effective means to control and manage the cost of construction projects. It is one of the ways for construction enterprises to reasonably allocate building materials, save resources, reduce carbon emissions and reduce environmental pollution. Based on the monthly historical price data of 100 steel rebar (16 mm) from November 2010 to February 2019, the separation and retrieval process of the four components in the time series are improved. The improved multiplicative and additive models were used to make separate predictions, and the reasonable weight is given to combine the multiplication and addition model by the reciprocal of variance method. Finally, an improved prediction model of steel bar price combination with higher prediction accuracy is obtained. The prediction results show that the improved multiplication model and addition model have higher prediction accuracy, their MAPE are 2.62% and 2.36% respectively. Moreover, the prediction accuracy of the combined model is even higher, its MAPE is 2.29%. The prediction accuracy of the improved composite model is higher than that of the individual models. The improved combined prediction model of reinforcement price based on time series method can provide some reference and help for cost control and management in construction engineering, further reduce resource waste and construction non-point source pollution.

Objective: Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is still the principal treatment option for prostate cancer (PCa). In addition to reactivation of androgen receptor signaling, the resistance of PCa to apoptosis during ADT also contributes to castration resistant PCa (CRPC). A previous study reported that gene transfer of IL-13Rα2 into PCa cells sensitized the cells to the IL-13R-targeted cytotoxin IL13Rα1, leading to apoptosis. Compared with IL-13Rα2, IL13Rα1 is more constitutively expressed in PCa cells, but its function in PCa remains to be established. Methods: We determined the role and expression of IL13Rα1 in PCa cancer cells using western blotting, flow cytometry, and cell proliferation assays. Co-immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry were used to identify the proteins that interacted with IL13Rα1, to elucidate its function. Results: In this study, we showed that IL13Rα1 was selectively suppressed in androgen-deprived PCa cells and that its suppression tended to be associated with poor prognoses of PCa patients. IL13Rα1 overexpression promoted apoptosis and inhibited tumor growth under androgen-deprived or castrated conditions (P < 0.01). Mechanistically, IL13Rα1 recruited and facilitated ubiquitin protein ligase E3C-mediated ubiquitination and degradation of hexokinase 2 (HK2), resulting in glycolytic inhibition and eventually leading to PCa cell apoptosis. Furthermore, our data revealed that mutated ataxia-telangiectasia kinase phosphorylated and facilitated the selective ubiquitin proteasome-mediated degradation of HK2. Notably, IL13Rα1-overexpressing PCa cells were more susceptible to apoptosis and exhibited reduced tumor growth after exposure to the HK2 inhibitor, 2-deoxy-D-glucose (P < 0.01). Conclusions: Our data identified a tumor suppressor role for IL13Rα1 in preventing the resistance of PCa cells to apoptosis during androgen deprivation by inhibiting glycolysis. IL13Rα1-mediated signaling involving HK2 may therefore provide a novel treatment target and strategy for CRPC.

Abstract Both proton exchange membrane fuel cells and uranium‐based nuclear techniques represent two green and advanced energies. However, both of them still face some intractable scientific and industrial problems. For the former, established proton‐conduction materials always suffer one or another defect such as low proton conductivity, high activation energy, bad durability, or just small‐scale product; while for the later, there still lacks available adsorbent to selectively recover of UO22+ from concentrated nitric acid (>1 M) during the spent fuel reprocessing due to the deactivation of the adsorption site or the decomposition of adsorbent under such rigorous conditions. It is found that the above two issues can be well solved by the construction of sulfonic‐pendent vinylene‐linked covalent organic frameworks (COFs), since these COFs contain abundant sulfonic units for both intrinsic proton conduction and UO22+ capture through strong coordination fixation and vinylene linkage that enhances the stability up to 12 M nitric acid (one of the best materials surviving in 12 M HNO3).

Abstract Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are generally considered as a group of clonal diseases derived from hematopoietic stem cells, but a number of studies have suggested that they are derived from myeloid progenitor cells. We aimed to identify the cell of origin in MDS by single-cell analyses. Targeted single-cell RNA sequencing, covering six frequently mutated genes (U2AF1, SF3B1, TET2, ASXL1, TP53, and DNMT3A) in MDS, was developed and performed on individual cells isolated from the CD34+ and six lineage populations in the bone marrow of healthy donors (HDs) and patients with MDS. The detected mutations were used as clonal markers to define clones. By dissecting the distribution of clones in six lineages, the clonal origin was determined. We identified three mutations both in HDs and patients with MDS, termed clonal hematopoiesis (CH) mutations. We also identified fifteen mutations only detected in patients with MDS, termed MDS mutations. Clonal analysis showed that CH clones marked by CH mutations and MDS clones marked by MDS mutations were derived from hematopoietic stem cells as well as various hematopoietic progenitor cells. Most patients with MDS showed the chimeric state with CH clones and MDS clones. Clone size analysis suggested that CH mutations may not contribute to clonal expansion of MDS. In conclusion, MDS comprise multiple clones derived from hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells.

Abstract The existing privacy protection schemes for Location‐Based Service (LBS) only protect users' location privacy or query privacy, which can not adopt both of the privacy protections simultaneously in the LBS system. Moreover, these schemes cannot take into account the spatial‐temporal correlation and background knowledge. In response to the above mentioned questions, the LBS Privacy Protection Scheme Based on Differential Privacy (DPLQ) is proposed. The method contains two kinds of privacy protection algorithms: users' location privacy protection algorithm and users' query privacy protection algorithm. The users' location privacy protection algorithm divides the map using the Voronoi diagram, choosing l fake location points based on the improved k‐means algorithm and l‐diversity idea, and protects users' location privacy with the Laplace mechanism. Based on the k‐anonymous algorithm, the users' query privacy protection algorithm builds a query k‐anonymous set according to the neighbour users' query requests at the same time t in the cluster and the historical query probability of the region’s POI and protects users' query privacy with the exponential mechanism. Through setting the privacy protection intensity of the algorithm by the users, the generated location dataset and query k‐anonymous set can resist a variety of attacks from malicious attackers. Theoretical analysis and experimental results show that the scheme can effectively protect the location privacy and query privacy of users.

Abstract. Radioprotection was previously considered as a function of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). However, recent studies have reported its activity in hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs). To address this issue, we compared the radioprotection activity in 2 subsets of HSCs (nHSC1 and 2 populations) and 4 subsets of HPCs (nHPC1–4 populations) of the mouse bone marrow, in relation to their in vitro and in vivo colony-forming activity. Significant radioprotection activity was detected in the nHSC2 population enriched in lymphoid-biased HSCs. Moderate radioprotection activity was detected in nHPC1 and 2 populations enriched in myeloid-biased HPCs. Low radioprotection activity was detected in the nHSC1 enriched in myeloid-biased HSCs. No radioprotection activity was detected in the nHPC3 and 4 populations that included MPP4 (LMPP). Single-cell colony assay combined with flow cytometry analysis showed that the nHSC1, nHSC2, nHPC1, and nHPC2 populations had the neutrophils/macrophages/erythroblasts/megakaryocytes (nmEMk) differentiation potential whereas the nHPC3 and 4 populations had only the nm differentiation potential. Varying day 12 spleen colony-forming units (day 12 CFU-S) were detected in the nHSC1, nHSC2, and nHPC1–3 populations, but very few in the nHPC4 population. These data suggested that nmEMk differentiation potential and day 12 CFU-S activity are partially associated with radioprotection activity. Reconstitution analysis showed that sufficient myeloid reconstitution around 12 to 14 days after transplantation was critical for radioprotection. This study implied that radioprotection is specific to neither HSC nor HPC populations, and that lymphoid-biased HSCs and myeloid-biased HPCs as populations play a major role in radioprotection.

Human fetal adrenal glands produce substantial amounts of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), which is one of the most important precursors of sex hormones. However, the underlying biological mechanism remains largely unknown. Herein, we sequenced human fetal adrenal glands and gonads from 7 to 14 gestational weeks (GW) via 10× Genomics single-cell transcriptome techniques, reconstructed their location information by spatial transcriptomics. Relative to gonads, adrenal glands begin to synthesize steroids early. The coordination among steroidogenic cells and multiple non-steroidogenic cells promotes adrenal cortex construction and steroid synthesis. Notably, during the window of sexual differentiation (8–12 GW), key enzyme gene expression shifts to accelerate DHEA synthesis in males and cortisol synthesis in females. Our research highlights the robustness of the action of fetal adrenal glands on gonads to modify the process of sexual differentiation.

AbstractAn energy pile undertakes the functions of supporting the superstructure and controlling the indoor temperature of the building, and the thermal-mechanical coupling response of an energy pile makes its load transfer mechanism different from that of conventional engineering piles. Moreover, the thermal-mechanical coupling responses of the energy piles in summer and winter conditions are also different and need to be explored separately. Based on a ground source heat pump pile foundation workshop project in Kunshan city, Jiangsu Province, a multiphysics simulation study was carried out. The simulation results of the outlet water temperature and pile settlement are consistent with the real-world measurements, which verifies the reliability of the numerical simulation. The responses of the temperature distribution, axial stress, lateral shear stress, and settlement of the energy pile in summer and winter were analyzed, and the response laws of the energy pile in different seasons were obtained. Compared with the pure conventional load state, under the effect of thermal-mechanical coupling in winter conditions, the maximum compressive stress of the pile body is reduced by about 11.5%, but the settlement of the pile top increases by about 47.66%. Therefore, the winter conditions should be used as the design energy for the normal use of the pile. The control condition of the limit state: compared with the pure conventional load state, the maximum compressive stress of the pile increases by about 12% and the settlement of the pile top decreases by about 7.23% under the thermal-mechanical coupling effect of the summer condition. Therefore, the summer condition is the pile control conditions for the limit state of the body’s carrying capacity.

The hydrolysis acidification process is an economical and effective method, but its efficiency is still low in treating azo dye wastewater. It is therefore crucial to find more suitable and efficient means or techniques to further strengthen the process of treating azo dye wastewater by a hydrolytic acidification process. In this study, a hydrolytic acidification aerobic reactor was used to simulate the azo dye wastewater process. The change of wastewater quality during the reaction process was monitored, and the deep enhancement effect of single or composite biological intensification technology on the treatment of azo dye wastewater by the hydrolytic acidification process was also explored. Co-substrate strengthening and the addition of fructose co-substrate can significantly improve the efficiency of hydrolytic acidification. Compared with the experimental group without the addition of fructose, the decolorization ratio of wastewater was higher (93%) after adding fructose co-substrate. The immobilization technology was strengthened, and the immobilized functional bacteria DDMZ1 pellet was used to treat the simulated azo dye wastewater. The results showed that the composite technology experimental group with the additional fructose co-matrix had a better decolorization efficiency than the single immobilized bio-enhancement technology, with the highest decolorization ratio of 97%. As a composite biological intensification method, the fructose co-matrix composite with immobilized functional bacteria DDMZ1 technology can be applied to the treatment of azo dye wastewater.

To analyze the rigid–flexible coupling effects on the dynamic performance of a robot system, a dynamic model of a parallel robot with flexible spatial links is derived in detail using a floating frame of reference (FFR) formulation. Compared to the previous rigid–flexible coupling model where the kinematic chains are all flexible links or where the joints are all flexible components, the inertia matrix and the stiffness matrix are not constant matrix which leading to the differences in respect of dynamic performance in model. To verify the correctness of the derived dynamics equations, the dynamics solutions of the spatial parallel robot from an ideal rigid–body model and the FFR model containing rigid and flexible coordinates were established by an FFR formulation. Furthermore, a finite element analysis (FEA) model, which included rigid links and flexible spatial links, was constructed for comparison. The comparison of the three models showed that the trajectory trends were the same, but the motion trajectories of the end-effector obtained by the FFR and FEA models varied within a certain range, and the maximum variations occurred at the peaks of the trajectories. However, since the FFR model considered the coupling effects of rigid and flexible links and the micro-displacement of the end-effector, the amount of deformation was the largest.

The migratory animals are capable of traveling long distances by fusing varied information, such as the halteres, the star positions, and the polarization pattern. Motivated by the navigation strategy of migratory animals, a bio-inspired navigation strategy based on polarized skylight, starlight, and halteres is presented in this paper. To enhance the environmental adaptability of the polarization navigation system, a sun vector calculation method tightly fusing the degree of polarization (DoP) and the azimuth of polarization (e-vector) is proposed. By setting the threshold of DoP values of the observation points, the DoP and the e-vector within the threshold range can be selected to deduce the sun position. As such, the robustness and reliability of the sun position can be improved. Concerned with the issue of attitude and heading determination in GNSS-challenged conditions, an integrated navigation strategy combined with polarized light and starlight is proposed. In addition, a Kalman filter is adopted to fuse the navigation data of polarized light, starlight, and inertial sensors. Finally, simulations are conducted to validate the performance of the integrated model. The results illustrated that the proposed navigation strategy is capable of determining the attitude and heading in the scenarios of which the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is disturbed.

Background. Evidence regarding the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and cognitive function was limited. Therefore, the objective of this research is to investigate whether BMI is independently related to cognitive function in Chinese patients with atrial fibrillation after adjusting for other covariates. Methods. The present study is a cross-sectional study. A total of 281 patients with atrial fibrillation who were hospitalized at the Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University in Shandong Province from January 2021 to November 2021 were included in the study. The target independent variable and the dependent variable were BMI and cognitive function in patients with atrial fibrillation, respectively. The patients’ general information, BMI, past history, medication history, and other disease-related data were collected. The Montreal cognitive assessment scale (MoCA) was used to evaluate cognitive function. Results. A total of 244 patients with atrial fibrillation were collected in this study, with an average age of (67.28 ± 10.33) years, of whom 55.3% were male. The average BMI was (25.33 ± 4.27) kg/m2, and the average cognitive function score was (19.25 ± 6.88) points. The results of the smooth curve fitting and threshold effect tests showed that there was a curve correlation between BMI and cognitive function score, and its inflection point was 24.56 kg/m2. To the left of the inflection point, the relationship was significant; the effect size and the confidence interval were 0.43 and 0.01–0.85, respectively. To the right of the inflection point, there was no significant correlation between BMI and cognitive function (P=0.152). Conclusion. When BMI is lower than 24.56 kg/m2, the cognitive function score increases by 0.43 points for each unit increase in BMI in patients with atrial fibrillation. An increase in BMI at this time is a protective factor for cognitive function. Within the normal range of BMI, the higher the BMI in atrial fibrillation patients, the higher the cognitive function score. We encourage atrial fibrillation patients with normal BMI to maintain their current weight.

BackgroundRenal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type of kidney cancer. Studying the pathogenesis of RCC is particularly important, because it could provide a direct guide for clinical treatment. Given that tumor heterogeneity is probably reflected at the mRNA level, the study of mRNA in RCC may reveal some potential tumor-specific markers, especially single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq).MethodsWe performed an exploratory study on three pathological types of RCC with a small sample size. This study presented clear-cell RCC (ccRCC), type 2 pRCC, and chRCC in a total of 30,263 high-quality single-cell transcriptome information from three pathological types of RCC. In addition, scRNA-seq was performed on normal kidneys. Tumor characteristics were well identified by the comparison between different pathological types of RCC and normal kidneys at the scRNA level.ResultsSome new tumor-specific markers for different pathologic types of RCC, such as SPOCK1, PTGIS, REG1A, CP and SPAG4 were identified and validated. We also discovered that NDUFA4L2 both highly expressed in tumor cells of ccRCC and type 2 pRCC. The presence of two different types of endothelial cells in ccRCC and type 2 pRCC was also identified and verified. An endothelial cell in ccRCC may be associated with fibroblasts and significantly expressed fibroblast markers, such as POSTN and COL3A1. At last, by applying scRNA-seq results, the activation of drug target pathways and sensitivity to drug responses was predicted in different pathological types of RCC.ConclusionsTaken together, these findings considerably enriched the single-cell transcriptomic information for RCC, thereby providing new insights into the diagnosis and treatment of RCC.

Bilateral renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a rare disease that can be classified as either familial or sporadic. Studying the cellular molecular characteristics of sporadic bilateral RCC is important to provide guidance for clinical treatment. Cellular molecular characteristics can be expressed at the RNA level, especially at the single-cell degree. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) was performed on bilateral clear cell RCC (ccRCC). A total of 3,575 and 3,568 high-quality single-cell transcriptome data were captured from the left and right tumour tissues, respectively. Gene characteristics were identified by comparing left and right tumours at the scRNA level. The complex cellular environment of bilateral ccRCC was presented by using scRNA-seq. Single-cell transcriptomic analysis revealed high similarity in gene expression among most of the cell types of bilateral RCCs but significant differences in gene expression among different site tumour cells. Additionally, the potential biological function of different tumour cell types was determined by gene ontology (GO) analysis. The transcriptome characteristics of tumour tissues in different locations at the single-cell transcriptome level were revealed through the scRNA-seq of bilateral sporadic ccRCC. This work provides new insights into the diagnosis and treatment of bilateral RCC.

Ultra-high frequency radio frequency identification (UHF RFID) technology has been widely used in many areas, and RFID localization becomes a research hotspot. There are many kinds of research on absolute localization; however, due to some disadvantages of absolute localization, relative localization is more effective in some situations. At present, there are some problems with relative localization: existing methods have low localization accuracy, and it is difficult for them to deal with high-density tags. Aiming at these problems, this paper proposes PRDL: relative localization method of RFID tags via phase and RSSI based on deep learning. By using deep learning, the variation characteristics of RFID phase and RSSI are extracted with limited data accuracy conditions. On this basis, we can infer the relative positional relationship of RFID tags with high accuracy, and design the corresponding sorting algorithm to obtain the sequence arrangement. PRDL has experimented with bare tags and actual books, and the experimental results show that PRDL can achieve better results than the traditional relative localization methods. A series of tests also showed that PRDL has good robustness and generalization ability.

Privacy protection in data publishing is an extremely important issue that has been the focus of extensive research in recent years. However, the existing methods have a host of limitations, especially for high-dimensional data publishing. Aiming at the problem of poor availability of publishing results caused by “the curse of dimensionality” in high-dimensional data publishing, we present PPDP-PCAO (Privacy Preserving Data Publishing with Principal Component Analysis Optimization) method, which can better address the problem of the lower utility of release results because of the high noise introduced by the curse of dimensionality. PPDP-PCAO improves the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) algorithm by employing the attribute importance, and reduces the dimension of the data with the improved PCA, which reduces the time and space cost. PPDP-PCAO introduces the evaluation mechanism based on mutual-information into data release, which evaluates the data generated by setting the different quantities of principal components to determine the optimal quantities. PPDP-PCAO considers the existence of multi-sensitive attributes in high-dimensional data, while the traditional methods of allocating privacy budgets cannot satisfy the personalized privacy protection. PPDP-PCAO introduces the sensitivity preference, combines the optimal matching theory, and designs the sensitive attribute hierarchical protection strategy. Extensive experimental results on different real datasets demonstrate that PPDP-PCAO not only guarantees the privacy of published dataset, but also significantly improves the accuracy and data utility than other high-dimensional data publishing methods.

ObjectivesEmotional manipulation is an important strategy in social interaction. The English version of MEOS-SF has been developed to make the measurement of such manipulation ability more efficient. The purpose of the current study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of MEOS-SF.MethodsExplore factor analysis and Confirmatory factor analysis were adopted to examine the Chinese version of the MEOS-SF factor structure in 645 Chinese participants (mean age = 24.68 ± 6.01 years) recruited online.ResultsFactor analysis supported a new three-factor model that included Conceal, Prosocial, and Non-prosocial, different from the original English MEOS-SF. Enhance and Divert merged to Prosocial factor while Worsen and Inauthentic merged to Non-prosocial factor because both prosocial and non-prosocial pairs had similar objectives, which would be perceived as the same thing by people in Eastern culture. As expected, MEOS-SF factors were found to be correlated with the Big Five, psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and trait EI.ConclusionsOur results suggested that the Chinese version of MEOS-SF had acceptable psychometric properties and could be used to assess emotional manipulation.

Background. The risk of cognitive impairment in patients with atrial fibrillation is significantly increased. Its occurrence may be related to blood hypercoagulable state and immune inflammatory reaction. Platelets can mediate immune inflammatory response, but there is no evidence about the relationship between platelet count and cognitive function in patients with atrial fibrillation. Purpose. To explore whether there is a certain correlation between platelet count and cognitive function in patients with atrial fibrillation. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted in a single center in China, including 254 patients with atrial fibrillation. Cognitive function assessment and clinical and laboratory examinations were performed on all participants. After adjusting the related confounding factors, the relationship between platelet count and cognitive function was analyzed. Results. A total of 254 subjects with an average age of 59.71 ± 11.14 years were included. The average platelet count was 208.15 ± 68.30, and the average score of cognitive function was 19.29 ± 6.78. Result of fully adjusted binary logistic regression showed platelet count was negatively associated with the cognitive function score after adjusting confounders (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.000, 95%CI −0.01, 0.01). A nonlinear relationship was detected between platelet count and the cognitive function score, whose point was 230. The effect sizes and the confidence intervals of the left and right sides of the inflection point were 0.03 (0.01–0.05, P for nonlinearity = 0.011) and −0.03 (−0.05–0.00, P for nonlinearity = 0.023), respectively. Conclusion. Platelets have a nonlinear relationship with cognitive function in patients with atrial fibrillation. This finding suggests that, in patients with atrial fibrillation, platelets should be maintained at about 230.

Objective To investigate the association of body mass index (BMI) with multivessel coronary artery disease in patients with myocardial infarction. Methods This study was performed in 1566 patients with myocardial infarction in the Department of Cardiology, Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University, China. Independent and dependent variables were BMI measured at baseline and multivessel coronary artery disease, respectively. The covariates examined in this study were age, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, creatinine, uric acid, bilirubin, cholesterol, triacylglycerol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, left ventricular ejection fraction, sex, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, stroke, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and smoking. Results A nonlinear relationship was detected between BMI and multivessel coronary artery disease, and this was an inverted U-shaped curve and the cutoff point was 26.3 kg/m 2 . The effect sizes and confidence intervals on the left and right sides of the inflection point were 1.10 (1.01–1.20) and 0.85 (0.74–0.97), respectively. Conclusions There is an obesity paradox for BMI > 26.3 kg/m 2 . Future studies should examine the relationship between BMI and prognosis in patients with myocardial infarction, which may be important for improving the prognosis through control of BMI.

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) is widely used in clinical settings to mobilize hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) into the circulation for HSC harvesting and transplantation. However, whether G-CSF directly stimulates HSCs to change their cell cycle state and fate is controversial. HSCs are a heterogeneous population consisting of different types of HSCs, such as myeloid-biased HSCs and lymphoid-biased HSCs. We hypothesized that G-CSF has different effects on different types of HSCs. To verify this, we performed serum-free single-cell culture and competitive repopulation with cultured cells. Single highly purified HSCs and hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) were cultured with stem cell factor (SCF), SCF + G-CSF, SCF + granulocyte/macrophage (GM)-CSF, or SCF + thrombopoietin (TPO) for 7 days. Compared with SCF alone, SCF + G-CSF increased the number of divisions of cells from the lymphoid-biased HSC-enriched population but not that of cells from the My-bi HSC-enriched population. SCF + G-CSF enhanced the level of reconstitution of lymphoid-biased HSCs but not that of myeloid-biased HSCs. Clonal transplantation assay also showed that SCF + G-CSF did not increase the frequency of myeloid-biased HSCs. These data showed that G-CSF directly acted on lymphoid-biased HSCs but not myeloid-biased HSCs. Our study also revised the cytokine network at early stages of hematopoiesis: SCF directly acted on myeloid-biased HSCs; TPO directly acted on myeloid-biased HSCs and lymphoid-biased HSCs; and GM-CSF acted only on HPCs. Early hematopoiesis is controlled differentially and sequentially by a number of cytokines.

Background. Evidence regarding the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and 1-year unplanned readmission was limited. Therefore, the objective of this research is to investigate whether BMI was independently related to 1-year unplanned readmission in Chinese patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) after percutaneous transluminal coronary intervention (PCI) after adjusting for other covariates. Methods. The present study was a cohort study. A total of 214 participants with AMI after PCI were involved in a hospital in China from 1st January 2017 to 1st January 2018. The target independent variable and the dependent variable were BMI measured at baseline and 1-year unplanned readmission, respectively. Covariates involved in this study included age, gender, TC, triglyceride, HDL-C, LDL-C, PT, APTT, INR, creatinine, HGB, LVEF, discharge medication, marital status, educational level, COPD, diabetes mellitus, heart failure, history of ischemic stroke, history of hemorrhagic stroke, arrhythmia, and hypertension. Results. The average age of 172 selected participants was 60.2 ± 10.8 years old, and about 68.6% of them was male. The rate of readmission in patients with AMI was 26.14%. The result of fully adjusted binary logistic regression showed BMI was negatively associated with risk of readmission after adjusting confounders (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.1, 95% CI 0.93–1.29). Nonlinear relationship was detected between BMI and 1-year unplanned readmission, whose point was 29.3. The effect sizes and the confidence intervals of the left and right sides of inflection point were 0.9 (0.7–1.2, P for nonlinearity = 0.530) and 2.8 (1.3–5.8, P for nonlinearity = 0.008), respectively. Conclusion. BMI has a nonlinear relationship with 1-year unplanned readmission in patients with myocardial infarction. The 1-year unplanned readmission rate of overweight patients (BMI > 29.3 kg/m2) has increased significantly. Obesity paradox does not exist in terms of readmission of Chinese patients with myocardial infarction after PCI.

Abstract Background Androgen deprivation (AD) as the first-line treatment for advanced prostate cancer (PCa) is insufficient for a long-term effect. Castration resistance remains the greatest obstacle in PCa clinical therapy. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can migrate into PCa tissues contributing to tumor progression, therefore, in this study we explored the effect of AD on MSC migration to PCa and elicited its importance for the emergence of castration resistance. Methods MSC migration assay was performed in several PCa cells (LNCaP, VCaP, and 22Rv1) using in-vivo and in-vitro approaches. Reactive oxygen species generation was evaluated by fluorescence assay. IL-1β was analyzed by immunohistochemistry, and neutralization experiments were conducted using neutralization antibody. Stem markers (CD133, CD44, and SOX2) were quantified by real-time PCR analysis. The concentration of chemokine ligand 5 was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and small hairpin RNA was used for functional analyses. Results AD could significantly contribute to PCa recruitment of MSCs in vivo and in vitro. AD-induced oxidative stress could promote the inflammatory response mediated by IL-1β secretion via activating the NF-κB signaling pathway. Moreover, N-acetylcysteine could significantly inhibit MSC recruitment to PCa sites when AD is performed. Furthermore, we found MSCs could increase stemness of PCa cells via promoting chemokine ligand 5 secretion in the AD condition, and consequently accelerate emergence of castration resistance. Conclusions Our results suggest that castration in clinical PCa therapy may elicit oxidative stress in tumor sites, resulting in increased MSC migration and in tumor cell growth in an androgen-independent manner. Blocking MSC migration to the tumor may provide a new potential target to suppress castration-resistant PCa emergence.

Polymorphisms of the lysosomal‐associated protein transmembrane‐4 beta (LAPTM4B) gene are related to various forms of tumour susceptibility, which led us to hypothesize that some unique transcription factors targeting this polymorphism region may affect the biological function of LAPTM4B in tumour progression. In this study, we found that the transcription factor AP4 directly binds to the polymorphism region of the LAPTM4B gene promoter and induces its transcription. In addition, we demonstrated that AP4 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell proliferation and metastasis and depresses chemotherapy sensitivity via LAPTM4B by activating the PI3K/AKT signalling pathway and caspase‐dependent pathway. Interestingly, we found that AP4 could not only regulate LAPTM4B by directly binding to the promoter, but also be regulated via a positive feedback mechanism involving LAPTM4B acting on c‐myc. Finally, we showed that AP4 and LAPTM4B are highly coexpressed in HCC tissues, and their coexpression may be a marker of poor prognosis. These findings provide evidence of the expression and functional coupling between AP4 and LAPTM4B and shed light on the regulation of LAPTM4B and its function in liver cancer.

Abstract Background The mechanisms and prevention of progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after insufficient radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has been preliminarily investigated, therefore, new strategy needs to be investigated to prevent the process. Whether metformin could be used to inhibit the growth of HCC after insufficient RFA and further prevent the progression of residual HCC remains unclearly. Methods MTT assay, colony formation assay and transwell assay were used to observe the cell viability, migration and invasion. Western blot and immunohistochemistry methods were used to observe the expression of proteins. Xenograft model was used to evaluate the growth of HCC cells in vivo. Results Metformin inhibited the enhanced proliferation, migration and invasion of HepG2 and SMMC7721 cells after insufficient RFA (named as HepG2-H and SMMC7721-H). Metformin deregulated the expression of p-Akt in HepG2 and SMMC7721 cells after insufficient RFA through AMPK/PTEN pathway. HepG2-H cells also exhibited larger tumor size in vivo. Higher expression of Ki-67 and CD31 and lower expression of E-cadherin were observed in HepG2-H tumors. Metformin blocked the enhanced growth of HepG2 cells in vivo after insufficient RFA. Metformin had no apparent toxicity on nude mice. Conclusions Metfromin inhibited the growth of HCC cells after insufficient RFA, and may be used to prevent the progression of HCC after RFA.

An accidental fall seriously threatens the health and safety of the elderly. The injuries caused by a fall have a lot to do with the different postures during the fall. Therefore, recognizing the posture of falling is essential for the rescue and care of the elderly. In this paper, a novel method was proposed to improve the classification and recognition accuracy of fall postures. Firstly, the wavelet packet transform was used to extract multiple features from sample data. Secondly, random forest was used to evaluate the importance of the extracted features and obtain effective features through screening. Finally, the support vector machine classifier based on the linear kernel function was used to realize the falling posture recognition. The experiment results on “Simulated Falls and Daily Living Activities Data Set” show that the proposed method can distinguish different types of fall postures and achieve 99% classification accuracy.

In this paper, to address the problem of positioning accumulative errors of the inertial navigation system (INS), a bionic autonomous positioning mechanism integrating INS with a bioinspired polarization compass is proposed. In addition, the bioinspired positioning system hardware and the integration model are also presented. Concerned with the technical issue of the accuracy and environmental adaptability of the integrated positioning system, the sun elevation calculating method based on the degree of polarization (DoP) and direction of polarization (E-vector) is presented. Moreover, to compensate for the latitude and longitude errors of INS, the bioinspired positioning system model combining the polarization compass and INS is established. Finally, the positioning performance of the proposed bioinspired positioning system model was validated via outdoor experiments. The results indicate that the proposed system can compensate for the position errors of INS with satisfactory performance.

Investigating celestial polarization patterns in the case of different environments is important for exploring the atmospheric radiative transfer mechanism. Although intensive studies on clear sky, foggy sky, and even total solar eclipse sky have been conducted, the polarization distribution generated by the moonlight has not been well investigated. This study analyzes celestial polarization patterns generated by the Super Blue Blood Moon (SBBM) through several comparative studies. The polarization patterns under the SBBM are collected, analyzed, and compared with both those generated by the ideal single-scattering Rayleigh model and those in the normal sky. From the analysis of the relative variation of the celestial polarization characteristics including the Degree of Polarization (DoP) and Angle of Polarization (AoP), the changes of the extremum, frequency, symmetric line, and neutral points are discussed. As a result, SBBM polarization patterns change at the beginning of the partial eclipse, and the neutral points vary from traditional neutral points. The value of DoP gradually decreases as the obscuration ratio of the Moon increases. The AoP is no longer symmetrical about the celestial meridian. As a conclusion, it is suggested that the variation of the polarized skylight during the SBBM should be considered in atmospheric model calculation for nocturnal biological activity and navigation information computation.

Pancreatic carcinoma is an aggressive malignancy with particularly low 5-year survival rate. In order to improve the dismal survival rate, identification of new potential susceptibility risk factors for the prevention and early detection of pancreatic carcinoma is of utmost importance. Lysosomal protein transmembrane 4 beta has two alleles designated as LAPTM4B *1 and LAPTM4B *2. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between lysosomal protein transmembrane 4 beta gene polymorphism and the risk of pancreatic carcinoma in China. A population-based case-control analysis was performed in 233 patients with pancreatic carcinoma and 842 control subjects. The genotypes of lysosomal protein transmembrane 4 beta were determined by utilizing polymerase chain reaction based on specific primers. The χ 2 test was used to analyze the differences of categorical variables and Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. Odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals were computed using an unconditional logistic regression model. A significant difference in the frequency of LAPTM4B *2 was observed between the patients and the controls (33.05% vs 27.55%, p = 0.03). LAPTM4B *2 had a 1.33-fold (95% confidence interval: 1.04–1.71) higher risk for developing pancreatic carcinoma when compared with LAPTM4B *1 carriers. We found that the frequency of LAPTM4B *1/2 + *2/2 in pancreatic carcinoma group was higher than that in the control group (57.94% vs 48.34%, p = 0.01). However, no significant association was observed between lysosomal protein transmembrane 4 beta genotypes and gender, age, family history of cancer, smoking/alcohol status, histopathological differentiation, lymph node metastasis, clinical stage, or serum cancer antigen 19-9 level. These findings indicate that the LAPTM4B *2 allele is associated with the high risk of pancreatic carcinoma and carrying LAPTM4B *2 may be a susceptible factor to Chinese pancreatic carcinoma patients.

Lysosomal-associated protein transmembrane 4 beta (LAPTM4B) is known as an oncogene associated with many human malignant tumors. There are two alleles of the gene, LAPTM4B*1 and LAPTM4B*2. Previous studies have shown that LAPTM4B polymorphism contributes to the risk of many cancers. This case-control study was to investigate the relationship between LAPTM4B gene polymorphism and susceptibility of malignant melanoma. The genotypes of LAPTM4B were determined in 617 control subjects and 220 patients with malignant melanoma by utilizing polymerase chain reaction based on specific primers. The genotypic distribution of LAPTM4B and Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium were analyzed by χ2 test. Odds ratio and 95% confidence interval was calculated by unconditional logistic regression. The distributions of LAPTM4B genotypes were significantly different between melanoma patients (45.9% for *1/1, 46.4% for *1/2 and 7.7 for *2/2) and controls (54.5% for *1/1, 39.9% for *1/2 and 5.7 for *2/2). LAPTM4B *1/2 and LAPTM4B *2/2 had a 1.396-fold and 1.619-fold higher risk for melanoma occurrence than *1/1, and subjects with LAPTM4B*2 have a 1.308-fold higher risk than LAPTM4B*1 carriers. No association between LAPTM4B genotypes and gender, age, subtype, Clark level of invasion, Breslow thickness, ulceration, clinical stage, and C-KIT, BRAF gene mutation status was observed. LAPTM4B*2 is associated with the high risk of malignant melanoma and carrying LAPTM4B *2 may be a susceptible factor to Chinese melanoma patients.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) has been widely applied in outdoor positioning, but it cannot meet the accuracy requirements of indoor positioning. Comprising an important part of the Internet of Things perception layer, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) plays an important role in indoor positioning. We propose a novel localization scheme aiming at the defects of existing RFID localization technology in localization accuracy and deployment cost, called ANTspin: Efficient Absolute Localization Method of RFID Tags via Spinning Antenna, which introduces a rotary table in the experiment. The reader antenna is fixed on the rotary table to continuously collect dynamic data. When compared with static acquisition, there is more information for localization. After that, the relative incident angle and distance between tags and the antenna can be analyzed for localization with characteristics of Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) data. We implement ANTspin using COTS RFID devices and the experimental results show that it achieves a mean accuracy of 9.34 cm in 2D and mean accuracy of 13.01 cm in three-dimensions (3D) with high efficiency and low deployment cost.

BACKGROUND:Lysosome-associated transmembrane-4 beta (LAPTM4B) is an oncogene that participates tumorgenesis in a variety of human solid tumors, and it has two alleles named as LAPTM4B*1 and *2. The present study aimed to identify the association of LAPTM4B genotype with clinicopathological features and prognosis in colorectal and esophageal cancer patients. METHOD:Genotypes of LAPTM4B were determined by PCR in 167 colon cancer cases (72 patients in a discovery cohort and 95 patients in a testing cohort), 160 rectal cancer cases and 164 esophageal cancer cases. Association between the LAPTM4B gene polymorphism and clinicopathological variables was calculated by Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test. Patient survival differences were calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Prognostic factors were determined with Log-rank test and Cox regression model. RESULTS:LAPTM4B *1/1 was more frequently detected in colon cancer patients with lymph node metastasis and TNM III+IV stages in total colon cancer (discovery + testing cohorts). LAPTM4B *2/2 decreased in recurrent patients in total colon cancer patients (P = 0.045). Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Log-rank test showed that LAPTM4B*1 was correlated with shorter overall survival (OS) in discovery and testing cohorts of colon cancer (P = 0.0254 and 0.0292, respectively), but not in rectal and esophageal cancer cases (P = 0.7669 and 0.9356, respectively). Multivariate analysis showed that LAPTM4B genotype was an independent prognostic factor for OS in total colon cancer [P = 0.004, hazard ratio (HR) = 0.432; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.243-0.768], but not in rectal and esophageal cancers (P = 0.791, HR = 1.073, 95% CI = 0.638-1.804 and 0.998, HR = 1.000, 95% CI = 0.663-1.530, respectively). CONCLUSION:These findings suggested that LAPTM4B allele *1 was a risk factor associated with poor prognosis in patients with colon cancer, but not in patients with rectal or esophageal cancers. LAPTM4B genotype status might be a useful prognostic indicator for patients that need surgical operation in colon cancer.