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Abstract Doxorubicin (DOX) is an effective chemotherapy drug, but its clinical use has adverse effects on male reproduction. However, there are few studies about the specific biological processes related to male reproduction or strategies for improving fertility protection. In this paper, we examined the effects of DOX on spermatogenesis and sperm function, and tested the possible protective role of melatonin (MLT) against DOX’s reproductive toxicity. DOX-treated mice showed signs of significantly impaired spermatogenesis, including vacuolated epithelial cells, decreased testis weights, and lowered sperm counts and motility. DOX also reduced germ cell proliferation (PCNA) and meiosis-related proteins (SYCP3), but this effect could be partially improved with MLT administration. HSPA2 expression was maintained, which indicated that although MLT did not improve sperm motility, it did have a significant protective effect on elongated sperm. IVF results showed that MLT could partially promote two-cell and blastocyte development that was restricted by DOX. MLT reversed DOX-driven changes in the testes, including the antioxidant indices of SOD1, CAT and PRDX6, and the apoptotic indices of BAX and Caspase3. These results suggest that MLT effectively prevents DOX-induced early reproductive toxicity, and increase our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying DOX’s effects on male reproduction and the protective mechanism of MLT.

To study the fatigue properties and microstructure variation of salt rock under cyclic loading, uniaxial fatigue tests under different maximum cycling stresses were carried out on salt rock specimens. Meanwhile, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) instruments were utilized to analyze the microstructure variation in salt rock before and after the test. The results indicated that the cracks growth mode in salt rock under cyclic loading is mainly the development of intergranular cracks, and the number of cracks increases with the maximum stress ratio (the ratio of the maximum cycling stress to the uniaxial compressive strength). After cyclic loading (12 000 cycles), the number of large pores and total pores in salt rock both increase, whereas the number of small pores decreases; and with the increase of maximum stress ratio, the increasing number of large pores and total pores and the decreasing number of small pores both increase. When the maximum stress ratio is 0.40 and the cycle number N≤2 000, the numbers of small pores, large pores and total pores all increase with cycle number; but the increase rate of small pores is faster than that of large pores, showing that the pore structure variation in salt rock is dominated by the initiation of small pores. When the maximum stress ratio is 0.40 and the cycle number N > 2 000, the number of large pores and total pores still increase with cycle number, whereas the number of small pores decreases, demonstrating that the formation of large pores accounts for the main change of pore structure. By solving the inverse function of S-shaped function, an empirical fatigue model with simpler form and fewer parameters was established, which can describe the whole process of irreversible deformation development of salt rock with a unified function, and the rationality of the model was verified by the fatigue test results of salt rock.

As a fundamental component of heatmap-based human pose estimation methods, heatmap decoding is to transform heatmaps into joint coordinates. We found that previous heatmap decoding methods generally ignored the effect of systematic errors introduced by the resolution increaseing operations in the network decoder. This work fills the gap by taking the systematic errors in heatmap decoding into consideration. We proposed a fast method to reduces the systematic and random errors in one shot by error compensation. The proposed method outperforms the previous best method on the COCO and the MPII datasets while being over 2 times faster. Extensive experiments with different networks, resolutions, metrics and datasets have proved the rationality of the proposed idea.

Tribological properties of oleic acid modified natural serpentine ultrafine mineral powders as lubricating oil additive were investigated by a reciprocating sliding wear tester. The effects of the four factors including load, reciprocating frequency, sliding time and concentration of serpentine on the properties of serpentine additive were analyzed. Results indicate that the anti-wear and friction-reducing properties of the base oil are significantly improved by the addition of the modified serpentine powders. The order that affects the friction-reducing performance of the serpentine additive is:concentration, reciprocating frequency, load, sliding time, and the optimal tribological conditions are 100 N, 5 Hz, 180 min, 0.5%(mass fraction). While that affects the anti-wear property is:load, concentration, reciprocating frequency, sliding time, and the optimal conditions are 100 N, 50 Hz, 180 min, 0.3%. Serpentine minerals forms a tribofilm consisting of various oxides, graphite and organic compounds on the friction surface, which is the key to improving anti-wear and friction-reducing properties.

Distinct expression of the miRNAs has rarely been explored in basal cell carcinoma (BCC) of skin, and the regulatory role of miRNAs in BCC development remains quite opaque. Here, we collected control tissues from adjacent noncancerous skin (n=15; control group) and tissues at tumor centers from patients with cheek BCC (n=15; BCC group) using punch biopsies. After six small RNA sequencing- (sRNA-seq-) based miRNA expression profiles were generated for both BCC and controls, including three biological replicates, we conducted comparative analysis on the sRNA-seq dataset, discovering 181 differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) out of the 1,873 miRNAs in BCCs. In order to validate the sRNA-seq data, expression of 15 randomly selected DEMs was measured using the TaqMan probe-based quantitative real-time PCR. Functional analysis of predicted target genes of DEMs in BCCs shows that these miRNAs are primarily involved in various types of cancers, immune response, epithelial growth, and morphogenesis, as well as energy production and metabolism, indicating that BCC development is caused, at least in part, by changes in miRNA regulation for biological and disease processes. In particular, the “basal cell carcinoma pathways” were found to be enriched by predicted DEM targets, and regulatory relationships between DEMs and their targeted genes in this pathway were further uncovered. These results revealed the association between BCCs and abundant miRNA molecules that regulate target genes, functional modules, and signaling pathways in carcinogenesis.

The innovative sandwich wall panel studied in this paper can be used as the load-bearing member of the structure. In addition to the traditional sandwich panel structure, the new panel system also has the characteristics of spiral stirrups along the section of the core column, 650mm column spacing, foam concrete for insulation layer and self-compacting concrete for outer layer. In addition, in order to improve the overall strength and stiffness of the panel, a unique wire system consisting of two vertical wire mesh connected by a short horizontal steel bar is adopted in the concrete layer. In order to study the mechanical properties of the new panel system at high temperature, ABAQUS simulation was carried out. The simulation results show that the new precast concrete sandwich wall system has good resistance to high temperature and still has good bearing capacity after high temperature.

As a driving aid system, automotive radar plays a more and more important role in reducing traffic accidents. In this paper, a simple and efficient automotive radar system based on MFSK (Multiple frequency shift keying) is designed, the system structure and implementation algorithm is presented. This system uses FPGA as the signal processing unit to ensure the response speed. In addition, the designed MFSK waveform algorithm achieved high precision and unambiguous measurement. The effectiveness of the system is verified by experiments and field measurements.

Anomaly detection has gained widespread interest especially in the industrial conditions. Contextual anomalies means that sensors of industrial equipment are interrelated and a sensor data instance called anomalous should be in a specific context. In this paper we propose a scheme for temporal sensor data monitor and anomaly detection in thermal power plant. The scheme is based on Regularized Vector Auto Regression, which is used to capture the linear interdependencies among multiple time series. The advantage is that the RVAR model does not require too much knowledge about the forces influencing a variable. The only prior knowledge needed is a list of variables which can be hypothesized to affect each other. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme is efficient compared with other methods such as SVM, BPNN and PCA.

Background: Infertility is a prevalent global condition, and emerging reproductive technologies may enhance its evaluation and treatment. Understanding the current features of randomized clinical trials in infertility is crucial for improving study design and ensuring the translation of results for patient benefits. Objectives: To investigate the primary characteristics of randomized clinical trials related to infertility and areas where require improvement. Materials and methods: We conducted a search on the International Clinical Trials Registry platform for eligible infertility trials between 2003 and 2022. The distribution ratio of various characteristics uploaded by infertility‐related studies on the platform was analyzed and compared according to sex and registration year. Results: Out of the total trials, 85.3% (1,906) included only women, 8.6% (192) included only men, and 6.1% (136) included couples. The majority of retrieved trials followed a parallel arm design (91.0%) and were non‐industry‐funded (92.2%), with a median planned sample size of 131 patients (interquartile range 75–270). Among these trials, 54.5% (1,217) were conducted in Asia. The most common primary purpose of infertility‐related trials was treatment (88.8%), with over half of the investigated interventions focusing on medication (57.9%). Discussion: Asia is the leading region for research, and the drug therapy is still widely used and updated. However, support care for infertile couples has also received some preference. Areas that require improvement and promotion include addressing male infertility and focusing on underserved regions like Africa. The results also highlight deficiencies in trial registration and masking methods, emphasizing the need for better regulation and facilitation of infertility trials in the post‐COVID‐19 era. Conclusion: Based on the current status of infertility RCT studies, greater attention should be paid to infertile men and populations in underdeveloped regions like Africa in future studies, together with a standardized registration and implementation procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Premature ejaculation (PE) is linked with abnormal brain activity that is modifiable by electroacupuncture (EA). Aim In this study we aimed to explore the central pathological mechanism underlying EA in treating PE. Methods Six-week-old male Sprague–Dawley rats were divided into a PE group (n = 8) and a control group (n = 8) according to ejaculatory frequency during copulatory behavior. All rats underwent EA at the Zusanli acupoint (ST-36) for 4 weeks. Magnetic resonance imaging data were collected before and after EA. Outcomes The behavioral parameters, plasma norepinephrine levels, fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (fALFF), and regional homogeneity (ReHo) were evaluated. Results The PE group ejaculated more times with shorter latency compared with controls. After EA, the ejaculation frequency of the PE group decreased, and the ejaculation latency period increased, with no changes observed in the control group. Norepinephrine levels were higher in the PE group than in the controls and were positively correlated with ejaculation frequency and negatively correlated with ejaculation latency. The PE group showed lower fALFF in the right striatum and higher ReHo in the brainstem compared with controls. After EA, controls showed decreased fALFF in the right striatum, left olfactory bulb, and dorsal fornix and increased ReHo in the right interpeduncular nucleus, as well as decreased ReHo in the left striatum, prelimbic system, right basal forebrain region, septal region, and olfactory bulb, while the model group exhibited increased fALFF in the right hypothalamic region, decreased fALFF in the left globus pallidum and right basal forebrain region and increased ReHo in the right interpeduncular nucleus, as well as decreased ReHo in the left striatum, olfactory bulb, basal forebrain region, dentate gyrus, right dysgranular insular cortex, and striatum. Compared with the controls after EA, the model group showed increased ReHo of the right hypothalamic region and decreased ReHo of the right dysgranular insular cortex. Clinical Implications These findings might enhance the understanding of PE and contribute to new, targeted therapies for PE. Strengths and Limitations The therapeutic effects might be achieved by EA inhibiting the activity in brain regions involved in ejaculatory behavior. However, the curative effect of acupuncture might be underestimated due to some curative effects of sham acupuncture used in the control group. Conclusion In conclusion, the ejaculatory frequency of rats may be reduced and ejaculation latency could be extended by EA at ST-36, which might be achieved by the effects of this treatment on brain activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]