Search

To investigate the differences and their clinical significance in the intestinal microbiota in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) in comparison to those in healthy controls.20 patients with PD who received treatment in the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College between January 2019 and December 2019 were selected as the research subjects to form the PD group, while 20 age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers were selected as the control group. Fecal samples from the two groups were collected, and the V4 region of 16S-ribosomal ribonucleic acid was selected for high-throughput sequencing analysis to explore any differences, as well as their significance, in the intestinal microbiota abundance at the class, family, and genus levels between the two study groups.The operational taxonomic unit cluster analysis revealed a high degree of overlap between the patients with PD and the controls. Compared with the controls, the relative abundance ofCompared with the healthy subjects, the abundance of specific microflora was significantly different in the PD patients at the class, family, and genus level. Intestinal flora may act as a potential biomarker for PD and provide a theoretical basis for microflora transplantation therapy.

Metabolic reprogramming, especially Warburg effect, is a key event in tumor initiation and progression. ZEB1 plays a vital role in metastasis of various cancers. We previously found that ZEB1 was excessively expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its high expression was closely correlated with metastasis and recurrence of HCC. We want to know whether glycolytic enzymes are regulated by ZEB1 and contribute to carcinogenesis and metastasis of HCC. Methods: To explore whether ZEB1 could enhance glycolysis in HCC, we knocked down ZEB1 by short hairpin RNA (shRNA) in MHCC-97H and HCC-LM3 cells and performed glucose uptake, lactate production, ECAR and OCR assays. To investigate how ZEB1 enhances glycolysis, the protein levels of glycolytic enzymes were detected in the same cell lines using Western blot. The regulatory effect of ZEB1 on PFKM mRNA level was confirmed by RT-qPCR, luciferase report assay and ChIP assay. In order to assess the role of ZEB1-PFKM axis in cell proliferation, cell counting and CCK-8 assays were performed in MHCC-97H and HCC-LM3 cell lines knocked down for ZEB1 and further re-expressed for either ZEB1 or PFKM or not. To explored whether the ZEB1-PFKM axis also functions in HCC cell migration, invasion and metastasis, the same MHCC-97H and HCC-LM3 cell lines were performed for wound healing assays, transwell assays and colony formation assays, meanwhile, MHCC-97H cell lines were performed for orthotopic liver transplantation assays. Finally, the expression of ZEB1 and PFKM were examined in human liver cancer specimens and non-tumorous liver tissues using immunohistochemical and Western blot. Results: We found that ZEB1 transcriptionally upregulates the expression of the muscle isoform of phosphofructokinase-1 (PFKM), a rate-limiting enzyme in glycolysis. Intriguingly, a non-classic ZEB1-binding sequence in the promoter region of PFKM was identified through which ZEB1 directly activates the transcription of PFKM. Silencing of ZEB1 in MHCC-97H and HCC-LM3 cell leads to impaired PFKM expression, glycolysis, proliferation and invasion, and such impairments are rescued by exogenous expression of PFKM. Importantly, in-situ HCC xenograft assays and studies from TCGA database demonstrate that ZEB1-PFKM axis is crucial for carcinogenesis and metastasis of HCC. Conclusions: Our study reveals a novel mechanism of ZEB1 in promoting HCC by activating the transcription of PFKM, establishing the direct link of ZEB1 to the promotion of glycolysis and Warburg effect and suggesting that inhibition of ZEB1 transcriptional activity toward PFKM may be a potential therapeutic strategy for HCC.

Two mixed spectral-element methods (MSEMs) are proposed to solve Maxwell’s eigenvalue problems with Bloch (Floquet) periodic and open resonators to remove the dc spurious modes present in the traditional numerical methods. The first MSEM combines the variational form of Gauss’s law to make the electric field satisfy the divergence-free condition. This method does not need to modify the Arnoldi algorithm for the eigenvalue problems, but the number of degrees of freedom (DOFs) is larger than that of the traditional spectral-element method (SEM). The second MSEM, as a generalization of the tree–cotree technique, can eliminate the dc spurious modes by imposing the constrained equations on the Ritz vectors in the Arnoldi algorithm without increasing the DOF from the traditional SEM. We expand the electric field in terms of the edge basis functions associated with the cotree edges and the gradient of the nodal basis functions so that the discrete gradient matrix $\bar {\bar {\mathrm {G}}}$ consists of the identity matrix $\bar {\bar {\mathrm {G}}}_{t}$ and the zero matrix $\bar {\bar {\mathrm {G}}}_{c}$ , making the matrix inversion of $\bar {\bar {\mathrm {G}}}_{t}$ trivial. Finally, in the numerical experiments, we compare the computational costs of the MSEMs and finite-element method (FEM) in COMSOL to illustrate the high efficiency of the MSEMs.

A progressive interlaminar damage model, based on the Northwestern University theory and a trapezoidal trilinear traction-separation law, is presented to predict the initiation and propagation of delamination in layered composites under Mode I and Mode II loadings. The capability and reliability of the damage model proposed is assessed by comparing its results with experimental data. It was found that the model was able to accurately predict the maximum load and postfailure behavior of composite laminates. The model proposed was also compared with the Abaqus inbuilt cohesive surface model, which is also based on a bilinear tractionseparation law, and our model was found to give more accurate results.

Ampullary cancer is a relatively rare gastrointestinal malignancy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate prognostic factors for survival and assess the benefits of adjuvant therapy following pancreaticoduodenectomy for this entity. Medline and EMBASE databases were searched to identify eligible studies from January 2000 to August 2019. Review Manager 5.3 statistical software was used for meta-analysis. 71 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the analysis for a total of 8280 patients. The median (range) 5-year overall survival and disease-free survival rates were 58% (32–82%) and 51% (28–73%) respectively. In meta-analysis, age >65 years at diagnosis, tumor size >20 mm, poor differentiation, pancreaticobiliary histotype, pT3-4 stage disease, presence of metastatic lymph node, number of metastatic nodes, perineural invasion, lymphovascular invasion, vascular invasion, pancreatic invasion, and positive surgical margins were independently associated with worse overall survival, whereas adjuvant therapy was associated with improved overall survival. In summary, in patients with ampullary cancer undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy, tumor factors are the main predictors of worse survival and adjuvant treatment confers a survival benefit.

The high efficiency, convenience and diversity of clustered regular interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated (Cas) systems are driving a technological revolution in the gene editing of lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Cas-RNA cassettes have been adopted as tools to perform gene deletion, insertion and point mutation in several species of LAB. In this article, we describe the basic mechanisms of the CRISPR-Cas system, and the current gene editing methods available, focusing on the CRISPR-Cas models developed for LAB. We also compare the different types of CRISPR-Cas-based genomic manipulations classified according to the different Cas proteins and the type of recombineering, and discuss the rapidly evolving landscape of CRISPR-Cas application in LAB.

Nitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) with different acrylonitrile contents were eroded by quartz slurry using a self-made erosion testing apparatus to study the erosion wear behavior. Quartz slurry with a concentration of 33 wt.% was used to impact the specimen surface at 45° sample angle. The experimental data, such as erosion rate, hardness and swelling increment were compared and analyzed. The morphologies of worn surfaces were characterized using the field emission scanning electron microscopy to reveal the wear mechanism. The results showed that the acrylonitrile content in the molecular chains had a significant effect on the erosion performance of NBR. Furthermore, a static swelling test was conducted as a contrast experiment to investigate the effect of erosion on the swelling behavior of rubber surface. By comparing the results it could be found that the dynamic swelling increment during the erosion test was almost four or five times larger than that of static swelling. Mechanism of the interaction between swelling and erosion was also discussed.

A new wheeled rolling robot is designed based on planar 3-RRR parallel mechanism and spoke wheel with variable diameter, by adjusting the 3-DOF outputs of the planar 3-RRR parallel mechanism, the deformation and rolling motion of the rolling robot are realized, the rotation output of the parallel mechanism realizes the differential change of the diameter of the two supporting wheels of the rolling robot, and the moving output of the parallel mechanism changes the mass distribution of the system, so that the rolling robot can complete the forward, backward, turning and other motions. Based on the introduction of the performance parameters, driving system, variable diameter wheel configuration and motion mechanism of the rolling robot, the eccentric driving torque is analysis and the existing space of the eccentric torque is given, so as to further complete the selection of the driving motor of the robot. This article analysis three typical motions of robots and its performance parameters, such as straight movement, turn movement, climbing exercise, and builds a simple prototype under laboratory conditions to verify the feasibility of the three movements.

Improving the assessment of breast imaging reporting and data system (BI-RADS) 4 lesions and reducing unnecessary biopsies are urgent clinical issues. In this prospective study, a radiomic nomogram based on the automated breast volume scanner (ABVS) was constructed to identify benign and malignant BI-RADS 4 lesions and evaluate its value in reducing unnecessary biopsies. A total of 223 histologically confirmed BI-RADS 4 lesions were enrolled and assigned to the training and validation cohorts. A radiomic score was generated from the axial, sagittal, and coronal ABVS images. Combining the radiomic score and clinical-ultrasound factors, a radiomic nomogram was developed by multivariate logistic regression analysis. The nomogram integrating the radiomic score, lesion size, and BI-RADS 4 subcategories showed good discrimination between malignant and benign BI-RADS 4 lesions in the training (AUC, 0.959) and validation (AUC, 0.925) cohorts. Moreover, 42.5% of unnecessary biopsies would be reduced by using the nomogram, but nine (4%) malignant BI-RADS 4 lesions were unfortunately missed, of which 4A (77.8%) and small-sized (

The study of regional historical climate change is limited by the availability of observational data, which is not conducive to understanding long-term climate change. In this study, we used the tree-ring cores of区域历史气候变化研究受观测数据限制,不利于认识长时间尺度上气候变化情况。本研究采用山西省东南部油松树轮样芯,建立采样区树轮年表,分析降水变化与树轮宽度年表之间的关联。结果表明: 树轮差值年表(RES)与1—6月的降水量变化有较好的相关性,(

A tree-ring width chronology (STD) was established using tree-ring cores of利用滇西地区两个不同海拔采样点的云南松树轮样本,建立树轮宽度标准化年表,研究其径向生长对气候和水文要素的响应。结果表明:滇西云南松径向生长主要受降水量、气温和径流量的影响,其中高海拔(2413.3 m)云南松径向生长受夏季高温的制约和季风季节径流量影响,而低海拔(1062.6 m)云南松径向生长受生长季的降水量和全年径流量影响。滇西高海拔云南松径向生长对气温变化的响应受温度阈值影响表现出不稳定性;低海拔云南松径向生长对降水量和径流量的响应,在20世纪80年代均受到东亚夏季风的减弱而出现波动。滇西不同海拔云南松径向生长与亚洲夏季风活动及厄尔尼诺存在联系。.

Triclocarban (TCC) is in great market demand especially after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, becoming an emerging pollutant. However, the impacts of TCC on the performance of nitrifying granular sludge system and the occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) were still unknown. This work explored the impacts of different concentrations TCC on nitrifying granular sludge. Results showed that TCC suppressed the activities of ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms and decreased the abundance of Nitrospira. Adsorption was the main way for the removal of TCC and the biodegradation efficiency of TCC increased to 28.00% under 19.70 mg/L TCC addition. TCC enriched the ARGs and promoted the risks of their transferring in microorganisms. Pseudomonas might not only have strong resistance to TCC, but also spread ARGs. The removal process of TCC and bacterial communities were important factors to promote the spread of ARGs. Thus, the existence of TCC presented a great environmental risk.

Defect and doping are effective methods to modulate the physical and chemical properties of materials. In this report, we investigated the structural stability, electronic properties and quantum capacitance (Cdiff) of Zr2CO2 by changing the dopants of Si, Ge, Sn, N, B, S and F in the substitutional site. The doping of F, N, and S atoms makes the system undergo the semiconductor-to-conductor transition, while the doping of Si, Ge, and Sn maintains the semiconductor characteristics. The Cdiff of the doped systems are further explored. The B-doped system can be used as cathode materials, while the systems doped by S, F, N, Sn atoms are promising anode materials of asymmetric supercapacitors, especially for the S-doped system. The improved Cdiff mainly originates from Fermi-level shifts and Fermi-Dirac distribution by the introduction of the dopant. The effect of temperature on Cdiff is further explored. The result indicates that the maximum Cdiff of the studied systems gradually decreases with the increasing temperature. Our investigation can provide useful theoretical basis for designing and developing the ideal electrode materials for supercapacitors.

The tribological properties and wear mechanisms of ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) with different carbon black contents under dry friction conditions are studied on an UMT Tribolab friction and wear tester. The variation of carbon black content in EPDM does not lead to the formation of new compounds. However, it significantly improves the shore hardness and tribological properties of EPDM. In addition, significant stick-slip phenomenon occurs during the wear process of EPDM with different carbon black content. During the wear process of EPDM, there are both adhesive wear and abrasive wear, and adhesive wear is the main wear form. Therefore, the results reveal the relationship between carbon black content and tribological properties of EPDM, which can contribute to improve the tribological properties of EPDM.

Though the great success of paclitaxel, the variable response of patients to the drug limits its clinical utility and the precise mechanisms underlying the variable response to paclitaxel remain largely unknown. This study aims to verify the role and the underlying mechanisms of CD147 in paclitaxel resistance. Immunostaining was used to analyze human non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and ovarian cancer tissues. RNA-sequencing was used to identify downstream effectors. Annexin V-FITC/propidium iodide and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining were used to detect apoptosis. Co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP), fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) were performed to determine protein interactions. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) was performed to measure the speed of microtubule turnover. Xenograft tumor model was established to evaluate sensitivity of cancer cells to paclitaxel in vivo. In vitro and in vivo assays showed that silencing CD147 sensitized the cancer cells to paclitaxel treatment. CD147 protected cancer cells from paclitaxel-induced caspase-3 mediated apoptosis regardless of p53 status. Truncation analysis showed that the intracellular domain of CD147 (CD147ICD) was indispensable for CD147-regulated sensitivity to paclitaxel. Via screening the interacting proteins of CD147ICD, Ran binding protein 1 (RanBP1) was identified to interact with CD147ICD via its C-terminal tail. Furthermore, we showed that RanBP1 mediated CD147-regulated microtubule stability and dynamics as well as response to paclitaxel treatment. These results demonstrated that CD147 regulated paclitaxel response by interacting with the C-terminal tail of RanBP1 and targeting CD147 may be a promising strategy for preventing paclitaxel resistant.

We reported the sequence and characteristics of the complete mitochondrial genome of an ecologically important stingless bee, Lepidotrigona flavibasis (Hymenoptera: Meliponini), that has suffered serious population declines in recent years. A phylogenetic analysis based on complete mitogenomes indicated that L. flavibasis was first clustered with another Lepidotrigona species (L. terminata) and then joined with the other two Melipona (Hymenoptera: Meliponini) stingless bees (M. scutellaris and M. bicolor), forming a single clade of stingless bees. The stingless bee clade has a closer relationship with bumblebees (Bombus) (Hymenoptera: Apidae) than with honeybees (Apis) (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Extremely high gene rearrangements involving tRNAs, rRNAs, D-loop regions, and protein-coding genes were observed in the Lepidotrigona mitogenomes, suggesting an overactive evolutionary status in Lepidotrigona species. These mitogenomic organization variations could provide a good system with which to understand the evolutionary history of Meliponini.

Ligusticum jeholense is an important medicinal plant. Chloroplast genome information is helpful for the development of molecular markers and the study of plant phylogeny. In this study, we report the complete chloroplast genome sequence of L. jeholense. The genome sequence is 148,493 bp in size (GenBank accession number MN652885), with 37.25% GC contents. There are 127 genes in the genome, including 83 known protein-coding genes (PCGs), 36 transfer RNAs (tRNAs), and 8 ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs). The maximum-likelihood method are used to construct phylogenetic tree of 32 species. These data will provide certain theoretical basis for plant genetics research.

The stingless bee, Tetragonula gressitti (Sakagami, 1978), was firstly identified from South of Vietnam in 1978, and later on discovered in east India in 2013. We report the first discovery of T. g...

Cerebral syphilitic gumma is a rarely reported disease of the central nervous system. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an important diagnostic method for syphilitic gumma. The present study aimed to describe and characterize neuroimaging results from 6 patients with pathologically diagnosed cerebral syphilitic gumma. The 6 patients (age, 32-61 years) underwent brain CT and MRI, with 1 patient also undergoing whole-body 2-deoxy-2-(fluorine-18)fluoro-D-glucose-positron emission tomography/CT (18F-FDG PET/CT). Non-enhanced CT, conventional T1 weighted imaging (T1WI) and T2WI, diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and gadolinium-enhanced T1WI images were acquired for all patients. The CT and MRI scans were retrospectively reviewed by two experienced radiologists for consensus on the location, number, size, T1WI, T2WI and DWI signal intensity characteristics, extent of vasogenic oedema, and enhancement patterns. In total, the 6 patients exhibited 10 lesions, nine of which were located in the cerebral hemisphere, primarily in the grey matter. The remaining lesion was located in the fourth ventricle, leading to mild-to-moderate hydrocephalus. The diameters of the identified 10 lesions ranged from 0.9-6.5 cm, with a mean diameter of 3.9 cm. The main feature observed in CT was low density and in MRI the features were T1WI and DWI hypointensity and T2WI hyperintensity. A single case exhibited syphilis gumma with massive haemorrhage. Ring-like or strip-like signs (n=5), accompanied by the dural tail sign (n=2) and homogeneous enhancement (n=1), were noted on T1WI with gadolinium. The 18F-FDG PET/CT performed in one patient of a cerebral syphilis gumma revealed low uptake and metabolism. The present study indicated that gadolinium-enhanced MRI combined with 18F-FDG PET/CT and laboratory examinations are helpful in distinguishing cerebral syphilitic gumma from brain tumors and infectious diseases, therefore avoiding unnecessary surgery.

Summary: Little is known about the clinical outcome of pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) for locally advanced gastric cancer invading the duodenum and/or pancreas. The aim of this study was to define the clinical outcome and prognostic determinants of PD for locally advanced gastric cancer through a systematic review and pooled analysis of relevant data in the literature. A total of 13 articles involving 69 patients were eligible for inclusion. Postoperative morbidity and mortality were 59.4% and 1.4%, respectively. Overall 5-year survival and median survival were 39.3% and 26 months, respectively. Positive peritoneal lavage cytology represented the only independent prognostic factor for the poor outcome at multivariate analysis (hazard ratio 3.470, 95% confidence interval 1.011–11.909; P = 0.048). In summary, PD is a feasible option for locally advanced gastric cancer invading the duodenum and/or pancreas with an acceptable operative risk and offers survival benefits in selected patients. Keywords: Pancreaticoduodenectomy, Gastric cancer, Prognostic factors

The survival benefit of additional surgery after non-curative endoscopic resection of early gastric cancer is a matter of debate. This meta-analysis is intended to draw a convincing conclusion on this issue based on data currently available. A systematic review of PubMed/Medline database was performed from 2010 to 2018 for studies comparing survival outcomes of additional surgery versus simple follow-up after non-curative endoscopic resection for early gastric cancer. Differences between groups were calculated using either the fixed effects model or random effects model. Ten retrospective studies with 4225 patients met the inclusion criteria. Additional surgery significantly provided better 5 years overall survival [odds ratios (OR) 3.50, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 2.89–4.24] and disease-specific survival (OR 3.99, 95% CI 2.50–6.36). Additional surgery offers survival benefits to patients undergoing non-curative endoscopic resection of early gastric cancer.

Background Signet ring cell carcinoma (SRC) is a rare histological subtype of gallbladder adenocarcinoma. The current study evaluates the clinicopathologic features and prognosis of SRC. Methods Patients with adenocarcinoma of the gallbladder were identified in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database from 1973 to 2016. Overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) of patients who had SRC were compared with those of patients who had non-SRC using Cox regression and propensity score methods. Results Of 22,781 gallbladder adenocarcinomas retrieved, 377 (1.7%) were SRC and the other 22,404 were non-SRC. SRC was more significantly associated with older age, female gender, poor differentiation, advanced tumor stage, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, and advanced AJCC stage. The 5-year OS and CSS in the SRC group were 7.2 and 6.5%, respectively, both of which were significantly worse than the 13.2 and 13.3% seen in the SRC group (P = 0.002 and P = 0.012, respectively). This survival disadvantage persisted in multivariable analyses [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.256, P = 0.021 and HR = 1.211, P = 0.036] and after propensity score matching (OS: HR = 1.341, P = 0.012 and CSS: HR = 1.625, P = 0.005). Surgery in combination with chemotherapy improved OS of gallbladder SRC patients compared with surgery alone (HR = 0.726, P = 0.036) or chemotherapy alone (HR = 0.433, P Conclusion Patients with SRC of the gallbladder have distinct clinicopathological features with poor prognosis. Surgery in combination with chemotherapy can improve survival.

Linear proportional solenoid (LPS) is widely applied in different linear motion control systems as the electromagnetic actuator since its high reliability and low cost. LPS is difficult to optimize by changing a single variable due to amounts of structural design parameters, and each design parameter has a nonlinear relationship with the static electromagnetic force. This paper aims to improve LPS’s push force and response performance through magnetostatic finite element analysis (FEA) by ANSYS MAXWELL. This study compares FEA 2D model, 3D model and measurement results underrated coil current to verify the accuracy of FEA 2D model. In order to reveal the nonlinear relationship between shape design parameters and electromagnet design objectives, this study compares the influence degree of each variable on each design objective by conventional type LPS 2D FEA model. And for the purpose of improving LPS’s push force and response performance, a multi-objective optimization method has been proposed in this study based on genetic algorithm (GA) and magnetostatic FEA 2D model for optimizing the shape design parameters. All the study results were validated in both static conditions and dynamic conditions. The comparison between manufactured optimal type and conventional type results shows that the static push force in working stroke is improved 30.1%, displacement step response rise time is reduced 5.2% and 43.4%, and force step response rise time is reduced 20.5% and 44.6% with different return spring stiffness. Above all, LPS static and dynamic performance has been improved directly and the validation of proposed optimization method is verified in this paper.