Search

Abstract Background Amphetamine-type stimulant (ATS) abuse is strongly associated with an elevated risk of HIV infection and transmission. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) serves as the primary approach for managing HIV infection and AIDS progression. However, ATS abuse diminishes the efficacy of ART in HIV/AIDS patients, amplifying the vulnerability to immunological non-response (INR) and ultimately increasing the incidence rate and mortality of opportunistic infections. Currently, no effective interventions targeting INR exist. Acupuncture has demonstrated promise in bidirectionally modulating the body’s immune response and may be beneficial for INR in HIV/AIDS combined with ATS abuse. Nevertheless, further research and comprehensive evaluation are imperative to substantiate these findings. Methods This study is a two-center, randomized, non-acupoint controlled, single-blind clinical trial. It will be conducted in two large drug rehabilitation centers in western China, involving 114 INR patients receiving ART. The participants will be randomly assigned to either the Transcutaneous Electrical Acupoint Stimulation (TEAS) + ART group or the sham-TEAS + ART group, in a 1:1 ratio. Both groups will receive a 48-week treatment. The primary outcome measure assessed after treatment is the CD4 + T cell count. Secondary outcome measures include the immune reconstitution efficiency of HIV patients, CD4/CD8 ratio, CD4 + CD45RA + and CD4 + CD45RO + counts, CD4 + CD28 + counts, CD4 + CD38 + and CD8 + CD38 + counts, CD4 + ki67 + and CD8 + ki67 + counts, JC mitochondrial membrane potential testing, the incidence of opportunistic infections, and the HIV/AIDS PRO scale. Adverse events occurring during the study observation period will be documented. Discussion This study will investigate the effect of TEAS on immune reconstitution in patients with amphetamine abuse and HIV infection. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR 2300076363. Registered on October 7, 2023, https://www.chictr.org.cn/ .

Abstract Primary glomerular disease (PGD) is an idiopathic cause of renal glomerular lesions that is characterized by proteinuria or hematuria and is the leading cause of chronic kidney disease (CKD). The identification of circulating biomarkers for the diagnosis of PGD requires a thorough understanding of the metabolic defects involved. In this study, ultra-high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry was performed to characterize the amino acid (AA) profiles of patients with pathologically diagnosed PGD, including minimal change disease (MCD), focal segmental glomerular sclerosis (FSGS), membranous nephropathy, and immunoglobulin A nephropathy. The plasma concentrations of asparagine and ornithine were low, and that of aspartic acid was high, in patients with all the pathologic types of PGD, compared to healthy controls. Two distinct diagnostic models were generated using the differential plasma AA profiles using logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic analyses, with areas under the curves of 1.000 and accuracies up to 100.0% in patients with MCD and FSGS. In conclusion, the progression of PGD is associated with alterations in AA profiles, The present findings provide a theoretical basis for the use of AAs as a non-invasive, real-time, rapid, and simple biomarker for the diagnosis of various pathologic types of PGD.

PTFE coatings were deposited on YT15 carbide substrates using spray technology. A series of examinations were conducted, including the use of surface and cross-section micrographs to analyze the structural integrity of the coatings. The surface roughness, the adhesion force between the PTFE coatings and the carbide substrate, and the micro-hardness of the coated carbide were also evaluated. Additionally, the friction and wear behaviors were assessed through dry sliding friction tests against WC/Co balls. The test results indicated that while the PTFE-coated carbide exhibited a rougher surface and reduced micro-hardness, it also demonstrated a significant reduction in surface friction and adhesive wear. These findings suggest that the PTFE coatings enhance the overall wear resistance of the carbides. The lower surface hardness and shear strength of the coatings influenced the friction performance, leading to specific wear failure mechanisms, such as abrasion wear, coating delamination, and flaking. Overall, the deposition of PTFE coatings on carbide substrates presents a promising strategy to enhance their friction and wear performance. This approach not only improves the durability of carbide materials but also offers potential applications in industries where reduced friction and wear are critical for performance.

Abstract Background Recently, many studies have been conducted to examine immune response modification at epigenetic level, but the candidate effect of RNA 5‐methylcytosine (m5C) modification on tumor microenvironment (TME) of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is still unknown at present. Methods We assessed the patterns of m5C modification among 417 AML cases by using nine m5C regulators. Thereafter, we associated those identified modification patterns with TME cell infiltration features. Additionally, stepwise regression and LASSO Cox regression analyses were conducted for quantifying patterns of m5C modification among AML cases to establish the m5C‐score. Meanwhile, we validated the expression of genes in the m5C‐score model by qRT‐PCR. Finally, the present work analyzed the association between m5C‐score and AML clinical characteristics and prognostic outcomes. Results In total, three different patterns of m5C modification (m5C‐clusters) were identified, and highly differentiated TME cell infiltration features were also identified. On this basis, evaluating patterns of m5C modification in single cancer samples was important for evaluating the immune/stromal activities in TME and for predicting prognosis. In addition, the m5C‐score was established, which showed a close relation with the overall survival (OS) of test and training set samples. Moreover, multivariate Cox analysis suggested that our constructed m5C‐score served as the independent predicting factor for the prognosis of AML (hazard ratio = 1.57, 95% confidence interval = 1.38–1.79, p

Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) are at a high risk of recurrence and multimodal therapy have not significantly improved survival in recent decades. Although immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are effective in a small proportion of HNSCC patients, the majority do not respond. In this study, we for the first time revealed that xenobiotic metabolic process was significantly associated with resistance to programmed death-1 (PD-1)/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitors in HNSCC and found that ATP binding cassette subfamily B member 11 (ABCB11) accumulated in immature tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs) predicted worse progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) after PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors therapy. Moreover, the expression of cytochrome P450 1A2 (CYP1A2), a cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzyme that participates in xenobiotic metabolic process, was significantly upregulated in CD45+ABCB11+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) compared with CD45+ABCB11−TILs in HNSCC tissues. Whole slide scans of 110 HNSCC tissues with hematoxylin-eosin (HE) and multispectral immuno-fluorescent (mIF) staining revealed that ABCB11 had a high co-expression with CYP1A2 in immature TLSs, and colocalization of ABCB11 and CYP1A2 in immature TLs significantly associated with high infiltration of immunosuppressive T-regulatory (Treg). Our study revealed that ABCB11 accumulated in immature TLSs might upregulate CYP1A2 to mediate xenobiotic metabolic process, thus increase the immunosuppressive Treg infiltration, and induce resistance to PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in HNSCC.

ObjectiveFamilial dysalbuminemic hyperthyroxinemia (FDH) has not been thoroughly studied in the Chinese population to date. The clinical characteristics of FDH in Chinese patients were summarized, and the susceptibility of common free thyroxine (FT4) immunoassay methods was evaluated.MethodsThe study included 16 affected patients from eight families with FDH admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. The published FDH patients of Chinese ethnicity were summarized. Clinical characteristics, genetic information, and thyroid function tests were analyzed. The ratio of FT4 to the upper limit of normal (FT4/ULN) in three test platforms was also compared in patients with R218H ALB mutation from our center.ResultsThe R218H ALB mutation was identified in seven families and the R218S in one family. The mean age of diagnosis was 38.4 ± 19.5 years. Half of the probands (4/8) were misdiagnosed as hyperthyroidism previously. The ratios of serum iodothyronine concentration to ULN in FDH patients with R218S were 8.05–9.74 for TT4, 0.68–1.28 for TT3, and 1.20–1.39 for rT3, respectively. The ratios in patients with R218H were 1.44 ± 0.15, 0.65 ± 0.14, and 0.77 ± 0.18, respectively. The FT4/ULN ratio detected using the Abbott I4000 SR platform was significantly lower than Roche Cobas e801 and Beckman UniCel Dxl 800 Access platforms (P < 0.05) in patients with R218H. In addition, nine Chinese families with FDH were retrieved from the literature, of which eight carried the R218H ALB mutation and one the R218S. The TT4/ULN of approximately 90% of patients (19/21) with R218H was 1.53 ± 0.31; the TT3/ULN of 52.4% of patients (11/21) was 1.49 ± 0.91. In the family with R218S, 45.5% of patients (5/11) underwent TT4 dilution test and the TT4/ULN was 11.70 ± 1.33 and 90.9% (10/11) received TT3 testing and the TT3/ULN was 0.39 ± 0.11.ConclusionsTwo ALB mutations, R218S and R218H, were found in eight Chinese families with FDH in this study, and the latter may be a high-frequency mutation in this population. The serum iodothyronine concentration varies with different mutation forms. The rank order of deviation in measured versus reference FT4 values by different immunoassays (lowest to highest) was Abbott < Roche < Beckman in the FDH patients with R218H.

Abstract Obesity, especially abdominal obesity, is correlated to increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. It is urgent to search a simply method to predict visceral fat area (VFA). Herein, we evaluated the correlation of waist circumference (WC) measured by anthropometry and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), and VFA estimated by BIA or measured by quantitative computed tomography (QCT) in China. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 25.09 ± 3.31 kg/m2 and the mean age was 49.16 ± 9.19 years in 2754 subjects. VFA-BIA were significantly smaller than VFA-QCT in both BMI and age subgroups between male and female (p 24 kg/m2), whereas the good reliability was lost in men (ICC = 0.174). The kappa analysis showed a moderate consistency for VFA measured by BIA and QCT (Kappa = 0.522 with age

To improve the surface friction characteristics of cemented carbide, a Cr coating was deposited on cemented carbide substrate with the multiple arc plating technique. The surface and cross-section micrographs, adhesion force and micro-hardness of the Cr-coated cemented carbide were tested. The anti-friction and anti-wear behaviors of cemented carbide with and without Cr coating were investigated via the sliding friction test against a WC/Co ball. The tribological properties of cemented carbide were examined using a scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. The test results showed that Cr-coated cemented carbide possessed good adhesion properties and lower hardness. The average coefficient of friction for Cr-coated cemented carbide was reduced by 10–20% compared with that of an uncoated one. The primary wear modes of the Cr-coated sample were delamination of coating, flaking and abrasion wear. It can be found that the preparation of a Cr coating is an effective way to enhance the friction and wear performance of traditional cemented carbide.

ObjectiveA Rathke’s cleft cyst (RCC) is a common, benign, cystic disease that often leads to hypophyseal dysfunction or head symptoms. The relationship between RCCs and pituitary gland function is not clear. We therefore carried out a study to examine this relationship in greater detail.MethodsThe study was a retrospective, cohort design in patients diagnosed with a RCC between January 2019 to July 2021 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, China.ResultsA total of 221 patients were enrolled and then divided into study cohorts according to the diameter of the RCC, clinical manifestations, and surgical treatment received. The majority of patients were symptomatic (143/221), including 83 cases of dizziness and headache, 9 of vision loss and visual field defect, and 2 of diabetes insipidus. 52 cases had abnormal pituitary function, with 8 cases interestingly showing high adrenocorticotropic-hormone (ACTH) and cortisone levels, while 8 juvenile cases had developed central precocious puberty. Patients with larger RCCs were more likely to present with headaches and dizziness, with subjects who suffered from these symptoms having high ACTH and cortisone levels.ConclusionAlthough the size of a RCC is not an important factor influencing hypopituitary function, we consider that endocrine evaluation should be carried out in all patients with a RCC.

Osteoporosis (OP) is a chronic disease in the elderly, and China is entering an aging demographic trend. In recent years, increasing evidence has demonstrated that probiotics can treat osteoporosis. This study aimed to explore the relevant mechanisms and to validate the beneficial effect on osteoporosis by high-throughput metagenome-wide gene sequencing in humans. In this study, compared with controls, several species had altered abundances, and specific functional pathways were found in the OP group. At the species level, the species that had increased in OP individuals were positively correlated to bone resorption markers and negatively correlated to 25-OH-D3 and bone formation markers, with Streptococcus sanguinis showing the strongest relevance, followed by Streptococcus gordonii, Actinomyces odontolyticus, and Olsenella unclassified. Additionally, Actinomyces graevenitzii, enriched in the OP group, was positively correlated to inflammation indicators that included white blood cell (WBC), neutrophil count (NEC), and the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (p < 0.05). Conversely, the levels of Akkermansia muciniphila, Bacteroides eggerthii, Bacteroides fragilis, Bacteroides uniformis, and Butyricimonas synergistic were increased in the control group, which had a negative correlation with bone resorption markers and positive correlation with bone formation markers and 25-OH-D3. Additionally, Bacteroides fragilis had a negative correlation with inflammation indicators (WBC, NEC, and NLR) and the above pathways (p < 0.05). Functional prediction revealed that 106 metabolic pathways, enriched in the OP group, were significantly higher than in the control group (p < 0.05). In particular, pathways related to LPS biosynthesis, phytate degradation, lactate acid, and ethanol fermentation were more abundant in the OP group than in the control and were positively related to WBC and NEC. Taken together, several species with altered abundances and specific functional pathways were found in OP individuals. The role of phytases in OP provides novel epidemiological evidence to elucidate the underlying microbiota-relevant mechanisms in bone mineralization and should be explored further.

Generally, structural uncertainty of the robot dynamics system refers to model error caused by parameter identification, unstructured uncertainty is the unmodeled dynamic characteristic. No matter how elaborate modeling methods are used, there always be uncertainty. Therefore, this article applies deep learning for the first time to aid robot dynamic parameter identification of 6 degrees of freedom robot manipulator for compensation of uncertain factors. Firstly, the relatively accurate prediction of torque is obtained by the physical dynamic model using the parameters identification method (errors are less than 10% of the maximum torques). Secondly, we propose a novel deep neural network based approach called Uncertainty Compensation Model (UCM) to compensate the torque error introduced by the uncertainty. The UCM mainly composed by proposed Input Control Module (ICM) and Error Learning Models (ELMs) based on Long-Short-Term Memory and attention mechanism. The proposed ICM, which effectively avoids the unnecessary interference, is used to control valid input for ELMs. The ELMs, consisted by ELM units, concern extracting salient features from sequence data to predict the joint error. Also, this article summarizes the effects of valid input, timestep and attention mechanism on the performance of the UCM. Finally, the verification of parameter identification and torques compensation is carried out by a Universal Robot 5 manipulator. Compared with the prediction torques of physical dynamic model, the proposed UCM has a good ability to capture the friction characteristics and compensate for the error of local maximum torques, which effectively solves the deficiency of the physical dynamics model and improves prediction accuracy (errors are less than 6% of the maximum torques).

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a wide-ranging disorder, which includes insulin resistance, altered glucose and lipid metabolism, and increased blood pressure and visceral obesity. MetS symptoms combine to result in a significant increase in cardiovascular risk. It is therefore critical to treat MetS in the early stages of the disorder. In this study, 123 MetS patients and 304 controls were recruited to determine whether the gut microbiome plays a role in MetS development and progression. By using whole-genome shotgun sequencing, we found that the gut microbiomes of MetS patients were different from those of controls, with MetS patients possessing significantly lower gut microbiome diversity. In addition, 28 bacterial species were negatively correlated with waist circumstance, with Alistipes onderdonkii showing the strongest correlation, followed by Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, Clostridium asparagiforme, Clostridium citroniae, Clostridium scindens, and Roseburia intestinalis. These species were also enriched in controls relative to MetS patients. In addition, pathways involved in the biosynthesis of carbohydrates, fatty acids, and lipids were enriched in the MetS group, indicating that microbial functions related to fermentation may play a role in MetS. We also found that microbiome changes in MetS patients may aggravate inflammation and contribute to MetS diseases by inhibiting the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Taken together, these results indicate the potential utility of beneficial gut microbiota as a potential therapeutic to alleviate MetS.

The shelly chenier is a dike-like accumulation formed by waves, currents, and other hydrodynamic forces pushing the shells and their debris in the intertidal zone to the high tide line. It is a special type of coastal dike. The shelly chenier located in Wangzi Island of northern Shandong Province is the last well-preserved chenier of the Bohai Bay with natural attributes exposed on the surface. It has unique and irreplaceable attributes among the shell beaches of China. Based on remote sensing interpretation, field investigation, and GPS-RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) measurement, this paper investigates the coastal erosion and progradation evolution of the Binzhou Shelly Chenier in China usingcomparisons between normal and typhoon hydrodynamics. The results show that: (1) There are two kinds of shelly chenier in the study area, the first is “the tidal channel shelly chenier” which is significantly affected by the tidal current, and the second is “the open shelly chenier”, which is significantly affected by direct scouring and silting of waves. The open shelly chenier is continuously eroding under the normal hydrodynamics and the shell beach is supplied by a large number of shells and their debris under the typhoon hydrodynamics, while the tidal channel shelly chenier is gradually developed due to the action of alongshore currents and in–out flows. (2) The energy of waves and currents under normal hydrodynamics is insufficient to transport the shells and their debris in the intertidal zone to the shell-beach. On the contrary, the continuous action of waves makes the shells and their debris on the open-shell beach finer and transports the shells and their debris to the sea causing erosion and retreat of the shelly chenier. (3) The action of typhoons and other strong winds and waves results in the original accumulation on the open shell-beach being further transported to the land and provides a large amount of shells and debris from the intertidal zone to the shelly chenier. Based on GPS-RTK monitoring data from 2020–2021, it was found that the transport volume of shells and debris caused by a typhoon storm surge is equivalent to the annual transport volume under normal ocean dynamics.

In smart cities and factories, robotic applications require high dexterity and security, which requires precise inverse dynamics model. However, the physical modeling methods cannot model the uncertain factors of the manipulator such as flexibility, joint clearance and friction, etc. As an alternative, artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have become increasingly popular in robotics for smart cities and factories. In this paper, deep learning neural network based on LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory) is adopted to predict the manipulator inverse dynamics. This study aims to summarize the influence of the hyper-parameter settings on model performance and to explore the applicability of the LSTM model to joint torque prediction of multiple degrees of freedom series manipulator. Furthermore, the feasibility of using only joint position as input data for torque prediction is verified. Simulation result has shown that, for the proposed deep learning architecture, the effects of the number of maximum epochs on model performance should be prioritized. The effects of the number of hidden nodes on model performance are limited, while prediction accuracy will deteriorate as the number of hidden layers increases. It is proved that it is feasible to predict inverse dynamics when input data is joint position only. The experimental results show that the training time increases with the increase of hidden layers, neurons and epochs.

Neutron beams are useful studying fundamental physics problems, fusion process and material properties. Here the authors use intense laser irradiation of deuterated nanowire array targets to create high energy density plasmas capable of efficient generation of ultrafast neutron pulses.

In smart cities and factories, robotic applications require high accuracy and security, which depends on precise inverse dynamics modeling. However, the physical modeling methods cannot include the nondeterministic factors of the manipulator, such as flexibility, joint clearance, and friction. In this paper, the Semiparametric Deep Learning (SDL) method is proposed to model robot inverse dynamics. SDL is a type of deep learning framework, designed for optimal inference, combining the Rigid Body Dynamics (RBD) model and Nonparametric Deep Learning (NDL) model. The SDL model takes advantage of the global characteristics of classic RBD and the powerful fitting capabilities of the deep learning approach. Moreover, the parametric and nonparametric parts of the SDL model can be optimized at the same time instead of being optimized separately. The proposed method is validated using experiments, performed on a UR5 robotic platform. The results show that the performance of SDL model is better than that of RBD model and NDL model. SDL can always provide relatively accurate joint torque prediction, even when the RBD or NDL model is not accurate.

A 2-RPU&2-SPS spatial parallel mechanism (SPM) is researched. Firstly, the number and property of degrees of freedom (DOF) of the SPM are analyzed by screw theory. There are two rotational and two translational movements (2R2T) of the mechanism that can be achieved. Secondly, the position analyses are researched. For the inverse position analysis, the explicit expression can be obtained from the independent motion parameters of the given mechanism, and the forward position problem is solved by calculating a set of nonlinear equation systems. Then we obtained the workspace of the mechanism based on the analytic formulae of the inverse displacement. Finally, by establishing the Jacobian matrix of the mechanism, the singularity of the mechanism is obtained, and the kinematics transmission performance of the mechanism is studied by using the index of the output efficiency of the limb output of the mechanism. This work will provide the theoretical basis for prototype development and application of the mechanism.

The driving mechanism of solar flares and coronal mass ejections is a topic of ongoing debate, apart from the consensus that magnetic reconnection plays a key role during the impulsive process. While present solar research mostly depends on observations and theoretical models, laboratory experiments based on high-energy density facilities provide the third method for quantitatively comparing astrophysical observations and models with data achieved in experimental settings. In this article, we show laboratory modeling of solar flares and coronal mass ejections by constructing the magnetic reconnection system with two mutually approaching laser-produced plasmas circumfused of self-generated megagauss magnetic fields. Due to the Euler similarity between the laboratory and solar plasma systems, the present experiments demonstrate the morphological reproduction of flares and coronal mass ejections in solar observations in a scaled sense, and confirm the theory and model predictions about the current-sheet-born anomalous plasmoid as the initial stage of coronal mass ejections, and the behavior of moving-away plasmoid stretching the primary reconnected field lines into a secondary current sheet conjoined with two bright ridges identified as solar flares.