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Pyroptosis is a unique mode of programmed cell death extensively accepted to outperform apoptosis in inducing rapid cell death and evoking potent immune responses for further inhibiting tumor progression, recurrence, and metastasis. Therefore, developing a safe and efficient pyroptosis inducer of cancer cells is highly desired. In this study, a biocompatible amphiphilic tetraphenylporphyrin–lysophospholipid conjugate (PPNH2-PC) was synthesized and further self-assembled with perfluorooctyl bromide (PFOB), forming PFOB-encapsulated porphyrin–lipid nanoparticles (PFOB@PPNH2-PC NPs) with a narrow size distribution of about 64.1 nm. Compared with the PPNH2-PC NPs without PFOB, the PFOB@PPNH2-PC NPs exhibited higher reactive oxygen species (ROS)-generating capability under light irradiation and induced more cellular death. We found that PFOB@PPNH2-PC NPs induced approximately 12 times more pyroptosis bubbles than PPNH2-PC NPs after 5-min light irradiation. Further analysis showed that pyroptosis was induced via caspase 3–mediated gasdermin E cleavage. Hence, this PFOB-encapsulated lipid NP holds the potential for further development as a photoactivatable pyroptosis inducer for cancer therapy.

A major challenge of gene therapy is to achieve highly specific transgene expression in tissues of interest with minimized off-target expression. Ultrasound in combination with microbubbles can transiently increase permeability of desired cells or tissues and thereby facilitate gene transfer. This kind of ultrasound-driven transgene expression has gained increasing attention due to its deep tissue penetration and high spatiotemporal resolution. However, successful genetic manipulation in vivo with ultrasound need to well optimize various aspects involved in this process. Ultrasound parameters, microbubble dose, and gene vectors need to be optimized for highly increased transgene expression in the cells of interest. Conversely, the potential off-target transgene expression and toxicities need to be reduced by modification of gene vectors and/or promoter sequence. This review will discuss some major strategies for enhanced specificity of the ultrasound-mediated gene transfer in vivo. Five major strategies will be discussed, including the integration of real-time imaging methods, local injection, targeted microbubbles loaded with nucleic acids, stealth nanocarriers, and cell-specific promoter. The advantages and limitations of each strategy were outlined, hoping to provide a guideline for researchers in achieving high specific ultrasound-driven gene expression.

Information sensor can realize the ubiquitous connection between objects and humans by distributed fiber-optic sensor array, i.e., emerging infrastructure for Internet of Things, in which optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) with its high spatial resolution plays an important role in achieving intelligent perception and identification of the objects. However, given a certain fiber length, there are tradeoffs among the processing speed, the spatial resolution, and the strain measurement range. In this paper, a time optimization interpolation method and a distance domain compensation method are reported and experimentally verified to break the aforementioned tradeoffs for the first time. First, a full theoretical analysis on how to reduce the interpolation number and the reason why it is difficult to achieve high spatial resolution and large strain measurement and how to resolve it is made. Second in the proof-of-concept experiment, measurements of large strains up to 10000le are realized along the sensing fiber with a spatial resolution of 2mm using a conventional OFDR system. Also, the processing time is shortened by 76 times compared with the traditional processing method. This paper makes a significant step toward high-performance OFDR system with fast processing, high spatial resolution and wide strain measurement.

The frequency response of phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry (Φ-OTDR) is strictly limited by the repetition rate of the injected sampling pulses in conventional sensing scheme. To fully reconstruct an arbitrary vibration signal, the pulse repetition rate is required to be lower bounded by twice the maximum frequency of the vibration signal according to the Nyquist sampling theorem and at the same time upper bounded by the sensing fiber length to avoid generations of mixed Rayleigh backscattered signals from more than one optical pulse within the sensing fiber, making high-frequency vibration sensing over long distance impossible. In this work, we propose a novel method based on the serial multi-coset sampling (MCS) strategy which can recover sparse broadband vibration signals with sub-Nyquist sampling rates, which is thus able to break through the tradeoff between the measurable vibration frequency bandwidth and the sensing range. Pulses with non-uniform intervals are adopted to realize MCS for the Rayleigh backscattered lights along the entire sensing fiber rather than the traditional uniform pulse train. A continuous to finite (CTF) block is used to determine the active spectrum ranges of the sparse signal. By using a serial MCS sequence with an average sampling rate of 4.8 kHz, both a 4 kHz single-frequency sinusoidal signal and a 0.2 kHz bandwidth chirped signal with a center frequency of 4.6 kHz were sampled and recovered successfully in the simulation. In experiments, a single frequency vibration signal of 15 kHz and a chirped vibration signal with frequency ranging from 15 to 16 kHz were successfully identified and reconstructed over a sensing distance of 4 km using an average sampling rate of 21.6kHz, respectively, which however is not possible in conventional Φ-OTDR system. Furthermore, accurate identification of a broadband vibration signal with a maximum frequency of 6 kHz over a 10km-long sensing fiber shows that this method is also practically valid in long-distance sensing.

We have experimentally analyzed and compared the performance of optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) assisted by image processing methods including wavelet transform and Gaussian filter arithmetic in terms of strain measurement range. The incomplete space similarity in the distributed strain measurement is used to recover the accurate strain gradient information by the image processing methods. The distributed spectrum shifts of the cross-correlation calculation along the sensing fiber between reference signal and measurement signal is regarded as a two-dimension (2D) image which is disposed by the proposed methods rather than extracting the spectrum shifts immediately. Compared with the traditional processing method, the proposed image processing method is able to remove and smoothen the fake peaks or outliers caused by the spatial mismatch of stretched fiber in OFDR system. In the experiments, strain gradient information up to 7000 μϵ can be identified by the proposed methods with a 4 mm spatial resolution. Furthermore, the wavelet transform is discussed in detail in order to determine the value of the suitable decomposition level in OFDR data processing scheme. The proposed methods provide a new idea to achieve the wide strain measurement range in OFDR system, which is a significant step toward a high-performance distributed sensing system, especially for occasions when a wide range of strain measurement is required.

Measurement accuracy of the optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) will be deteriorated severely when the spatial resolution is improved due to the influence of the random noise, especially in long range distributed fiber optical sensing system. In order to eliminate the random noise, we have experimentally compared and analyzed the performance of OFDR system with and without the image processing methods in term of spatial resolution. The data arrays of the cross-correlation results are obtained after processing the collected distributed Rayleigh scattering signals along the sensing fiber, which can be used to construct a two-dimension (2D) image with the spectrum shift information induced by the strain. Thus, the image denoising methods can be applied to remove the random noise and improve the measurement accuracy. Based on this principle, two image denoising methods including the total variation method and the 2D Gaussian filter arithmetic are introduced to realize distributed sensing with high spatial resolution in long distance OFDR system. Experimental results show that the random noise can be suppressed and the outliers can be removed by the proposed methods. The strain gradients with high spatial resolution are identified effectively when the image denoising methods are used. Furthermore, spatial resolution with 1.3mm is achieved by the proposed methods with a wavelength sweeping rate of 20nm/s in 52m sensing fiber. The proposed methods provide a potential solution for OFDR system in long distance sensing with high spatial resolution, which is a significant step toward a high-performance OFDR system for practical applications.

The electrochemical characteristics in the degradation process of epoxy zinc-rich coating (80 wt% zinc particles) and epoxy varnish coating in 3.5% NaCl solution were studied comparatively by using open-circuit potential and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests. The coating morphology, the consumption and corrosion products of zinc particles and chemical changes in the coatings were observed and analyzed with the methods of scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The results show that the zinc-rich coating provides effective cathodic protection to the carbon steel substrate at the initial stage and still provides certain cathodic protection in the period when the barrier protection by the formation of zinc corrosion products begins to dominate. Because the zinc particles are conductive and active, the values of the coating resistance and capacitance of zinc-rich coatings are lower than those of the varnish coating. When the value of |Z|0.01Hz decreases to 8 × 104 Ω cm2, the zinc-rich coatings still provide protection to the steel substrate, but when the value decreases to about 2 × 104 Ω cm2, rusted spots were observed on the coating surface. Based on the results, a reference criterion of failure for the zinc-rich epoxy coatings is suggested to be about 5 × 104 Ω cm2 (2 × 104 – 8 × 104 Ω cm2), which is different from the one (106 Ω cm2) reported in the literature for typical organic coatings without conductive particles.

Hypoxic tumor microenvironment and nonspecific accumulation of photosensitizers are two key factors that limit the efficacy of photodynamic therapy (PDT). Herein, a strategy of oxygen microbubbles (MBs) boosting photosensitizer micelles is developed to enhance PDT efficacy and inhibit tumor metastasis by self-assembling renal-clearable ultrasmall poly(ethylene glycol)-modified protoporphyrin IX micelles (PPM) and perfluoropentane (PFP)-doped oxygen microbubbles (OPMBs), followed by ultrasound imaging-guided OPMB destruction to realize the tumor-targeted delivery of PPM and oxygen in tumor. Doping PFP into oxygen MBs increases the production of MBs and stability of oxygen MBs, allowing for persistent circulation in blood. Following co-injection, destruction of OPMBs with ultrasound leads to ∼2.2-fold increase of tumor-specific PPM accumulation. Furthermore, the burst release of oxygen by MB destruction improves tumor oxygenation from 22 to 50%, which not only raises the production of singlet oxygen but also significantly reduces the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha and related genes, thus preventing angiogenesis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition. It is verified that this strategy effectively eradicates orthotopic breast cancer and inhibits lung metastasis. Furthermore, the survival rate of mice bearing orthotopic pancreatic tumor is significantly extended by such interventional PDT strategy. Therefore, the combination of ultrasmall PPM and OPMBs represents a simple but effective strategy in overcoming the limitations of PDT.

Introduction:the aim was to investigate the demographic characteristics, primary colonoscopy findings, main indications, and feature of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients at Mnazi Mmoja Referral Hospital in the Zanzibar Archipelago, Tanzania. Methods:between December 2013 and October 2021, a total of 448 eligible participants were finally enrolled in present cross-sectional study. Demographic information and primary colonoscopy findings of each participant were retrieved. Results:among all enrolled subjects, 205 (45.80%) are females, remaining 243 (54.20%) are males. The median age of present cross-sectional study was 47 years old (ranging from 8 to 90 years). The main presenting indications included diarrhea (22.54%), abdominal pain (21.21%), hematochezia (18.53%), difficult defecation (16.96%), mucoid stool (10.49%), and anemia (8.70%). The common identified colonoscopy findings comprised colitis (28.57%), colonic polyps (25.22%), CRC (17.63%), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (13.52%), hemorrhoids (4.24%), and colonic diverticulum (4.02%), respectively. Unconditional logistic regression analyses demonstrated the elder group had significant higher risk of CRC (OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.01-1.03, P< 0.001), meanwhile a significant higher possibility of suffering hematochezia (OR, 2.29; 95% CI, 1.32-3.99, P=0.003) and anemia (OR, 2.96; 95% CI, 1.46-6.00, p= 0.003) in CRC group. Conclusion:the present study demonstrated that colitis, colonic polyps, CRC, and IBD are the most common colonoscopy diagnoses in Zanzibar. The indication of hematochezia or anemia showed a statistically higher risk of CRC.

The fidelity of a speech signal deteriorates severely in a distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) system due to the influence of the random noise. In order to improve the measurement accuracy, we have theoretically and experimentally compared and analyzed the performance of the speech signal with and without a recognition and reconstruction method-based deep learning technique. A complex convolution recurrent network (CCRN) algorithm based on complex spectral mapping is constructed to enhance the information identification of speech signals. Experimental results show that the random noise can be suppressed and the recognition capability of speech information can be strengthened by the proposed method. The random noise intensity of a speech signal collected by the DAS system is attenuated by approximately 20 dB and the average scale-invariant signal-to-distortion ratio (SI-SDR) is improved by 51.97 dB. Compared with other speech signal enhancement methods, the higher SI-SDR can be demonstrated by using the proposed method. It has been effective to accomplish high-fidelity and high-quality speech signal enhancement in the DAS system, which is a significant step toward a high-performance DAS system for practical applications.

A sub-Nyquist random single-pulse sampling method based compressive sensing technique is proposed firstly to reconstruct signals under test in phase-sensitive optical time domain reflectometry (ϕ-OTDR). The key information of Rayleigh backscattering curves can be recognized after sparse transformation, which can be successfully reconstructed with far smaller number of measurements by orthogonal matching pursuit algorithm. Unlike the uniform sampling in conventional ϕ-OTDR system, pulse intervals are randomly modulated to generate a random single-pulse sequence in the proposed method in order to achieve random single-pulse sampling along every sensing point of the fiber. Experimental results verify that pulse sequences with average pulse repetition rate less than 2-kHz can be efficiently utilized to reconstruct an 8-kHz signal under test and obtain its frequency information, as well as to realize the detection of high frequency signals at different locations along the sensing fiber. It is demonstrated that the sampling rate is reduced greatly without any hardware modification compared to that required in the conventional method. This method can break the limits of the traditional Shannon-Nyquist sampling theorem to reconstruct signal, which is of great significance for the sensor performance enhanced in traditional ϕ-OTDR system.

Jing-Min Zheng,1,&ast; Han-Xi Zhou,1,&ast; Hong-Yuan Yu,1,&ast; Yu-Hui Xia,2 Qing-Xin Yu,2 Hang-Shuai Qu,1 Jia-Qian Bao1 1Department of Urology, Taizhou Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Linhai, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Pathology, Taizhou Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Linhai, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this work.Correspondence: Jing-Min ZhengDepartment of Urology, Taizhou Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, 150 Ximen Road, Linhai, Zhejiang, 317000, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-576-85133065Fax +86-576-85199800Email zhengjingmin@enzemed.comBackground: Contradictive results about the direct role of C5a/C5aR1 axis in different cancer cells have been reported. The direct effect of C5a on human renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cells and the underlying mechanism are not clear. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of C5a/C5aR1 axis in RCC cells and its working mechanism.Methods: RCC cells were infected with lentivirus Lenti-C5a, which was designed to over-express secretory C5a in the cells, or directly treated with recombinant C5a, the influence of these treatments in the cells and the underlying mechanism were explored.Results: Transfection of RCC cells with Lenti-C5a markedly increased the production of C5a and significantly increased the proliferation, migration, and invasion of RCC cells, but direct addition of C5a to the cell culture medium had no such effects though it indeed induced a transient intracellular calcium rise. RCC cells were found to express carboxypeptidase D and M, which reportedly to inactivate C5a. Also, the RCC cells stably transfected with Lenti-C5a produced larger transgrafted tumors in nude mice compared with the non-transfected or control virus transfected cells. In addition, over-expression of C5a significantly increased the expression and phosphorylation of STAT3 as well as the phosphorylated JNK level. Furthermore, the effect of C5a over-expression on RCC cells’ proliferation, migration, and invasion could be blocked by Stattic, a STAT3-specific inhibitor.Conclusion: Chronic over-activation of C5a/C5aR1 axis could directly increase RCC cells’ proliferation, migration, and invasion and thus contribute directly to the progression of the disease. Over-activation of STAT3 pathway is among the underlying mechanism.Keywords: C5a, C5aR1, renal cell carcinoma, STAT3

An efficient signal processing method based on compressive sensing (CS) is presented for vibration sensing in phase sensitive optical time domain reflectometry system ( φ -OTDR), which allows for compressing and denoising the raw data simultaneously. The main information of Rayleigh backscattering curves can be identified by sparse transformation. Then the data is compressed by observation matrix while the unwanted information is discarded. Orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) algorithm is used to recovery the signal under the sparsity determined by a threshold rule. Experiment results show that the SNR is increased to 34.39 dB with the compression ratio of 18.9 for the vibration event of 100 Hz along 3 km sensing fiber which indicates the prominent performance of the novel method for vibration detection.

China is a major agricultural country with vast crop planting area, but largely depending on traditional agricultural production means, which leads to low production efficiency, insufficient resource utilization, and failure to meet the requirements of energy conservation and environmental protection. In view of this problem, this paper combines agricultural production automation process with the concept of “Internet +”, and designs a set of intelligent greenhouse control system based on “Internet +”, thus achieving internal environment perception of the plastic greenhouse and control of equipment. By virtue of interconnection between the intelligent agricultural management cloud platform, network access equipment and intelligent nodes in the greenhouse, the system realizes real-time and precise perception of temperature, humidity, light and other environments in the greenhouse. Also, it realizes full-course recording of crop growth process, so that the entire process of agricultural products from planting to harvest is truly traceable. By deep interconnection of multi-human-machine interface devices, users can grasp sensor data and control the greenhouse equipment anytime and anywhere through portable electronic devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. The system with ZigBee wireless sensing technology has solar power supply capability. There is no need for wiring in the greenhouse during installation, so advantages of convenient installation and low maintenance cost are possible. Through the simulation platform test, the system can implement remote management and automatic control of the sensors and actuators in the plastic greenhouse. The system with stable operation, rich functions, and good scalability is expected to greatly improve intelligence of the greenhouse planting process, increase agricultural product quality as well as utilization rate of resources such as water, electricity, etc. Moreover, it will increase labor comfort, reduce the production cost of greenhouse agriculture, thus having the potential to be applied in other fields such as industry and exploration.

Additional flie 1. The MCCC2-associated proteins identified by IP-MASS spectrometry.

Background: The treatment for spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is still controversial, especially for hematomas in the basal ganglia. A retrospective case-control study with propensity score matching was performed to compare the outcomes of conventional craniotomy and conservative treatment for patients with minor ICH in the basal ganglia.Methods: We retrospectively collected the data of consecutive patients with minor basal ganglia hemorrhage from January 2018 to August 2019. We compared clinical outcomes of two groups using propensity score matching. The extended Glasgow outcome scale obtained by phone interviews based on questionnaires at 12 months follow-up was used as the primary outcome measure. On the basis of their clinical status at admission, patients were divided into good and poor prognosis groups to obtain a dichotomized (favorable or unfavorable) outcome as the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes included hospitalized complications, mortality and modified Rankin score at 12 months.Results: A total of 54 patients were analyzed, and the baseline characteristics of patients in the surgery and conservative treatment groups were well matched. The primary favorable outcome at 12 months was significantly higher in the conservative treatment group than in the surgery group (81% vs 44%; OR 1.833, 95% CI 1.159–2.900; P=0.005). The incidence of pneumonia in the surgery group was significantly higher than that in the conservative treatment group (p=0.005).Conclusions: It is not recommended to undertake conventional craniotomy for patients with a minor hematoma (25–40 ml) in the basal ganglia. An open craniotomy might induce worse long-term functional outcomes than the conservative treatment.