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Objective • To compare the difference in the effectiveness of ranibizumab (LU) and aflibercept (AF) in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy (DR). Methods • Ninety-four patients with DR admitted to Sunshine Union Hospital from August 2020 to February 2022 were selected for the study and were divided into LU group (n = 47) and AF group (n = 47) according to the random number table method. Both groups underwent 25G vitrectomy in our hospital, with LU injected into the vitreous before surgery in the LU group and AF in the AF group. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) in the pre-and post-injection atrial water were compared between the two groups, and the operative time, intraoperative bleeding, and the occurrence of medically induced fissures were recorded in both groups. In addition, the expression of best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), Central Macular Thickness (CMT), and inflammatory factors were compared before and after surgery. Finally, patients were counted for adverse reactions and prognosis of DR recurrence during treatment. Results • After injection, VEGF decreased and PEDF increased in both groups (P < .001). There were no differences in operative time (P = .604), intraoperative bleeding rate (P = .694), the incidence of medically induced fissure (P = .557), BCVA [P = .665 (T0), P > .999 (T1), P = .727 (T2)], and CMT [P = .688 (T0), P = .065 (T1), P = .148 (T2)] between the two groups, while IL-6, IL-8, and MMP-9 were lower in the AF group than in the LU group at 2 months after surgery (P < .001). Finally, there was no difference between both groups in terms of adverse effects and prognosis of DR recurrence rate (P = 1.000, .478). Conclusion • Both vitreous cavity injections of LU and AF can effectively reduce the expression of vascular-related factors in the atrial fluid of DR patients, but AF has a more significant inhibitory effect on the level of inflammatory factors in patients in the short term after treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the relationship between mineral elements and plum gummosis disease, Prunus salicina Lindl. trees with four grades of gummosis were used as the experimental materials. The contents of N, P, K, Ca, Mg, B, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu in the branches and leaves were measured, and the correlation between mineral elements and gummosis was systemically analyzed through multiple comparisons, binary logistic regression analysis, and ordinal logistic regression analysis. In addition, the effects of prevention and control of the necessary mineral elements on the gummosis disease of P. salicina were verified after a fertilization experiment. The results indicate that the contents of nitrogen and manganese positively correlate with the occurrence of gummosis. In contrast, the contents of calcium and boron significantly negatively correlate with the occurrence of gummosis. A fertilization experiment facilitated the discovery that the control of nitrogen, as well as the increased application of boron and calcium fertilizers, contributed to the prevention and control on gummosis disease in P. salicina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The space special environment mainly includes microgravity, radiation, vacuum and extreme temperature, which seriously threatens an astronaut's health. Bone loss is one of the most significant alterations in mammalians after long-duration habitation in space. In this review, we summarize the crucial roles of major factors--namely radiation and microgravity--in space in oxidative stress generation in living organisms, and the inhibitory effect of oxidative stress on bone formation. We discussed the possible mechanisms of oxidative stress-induced skeletal involution, and listed some countermeasures that have therapeutic potentials for bone loss via oxidative stress antagonism. Future research for better understanding the oxidative stress caused by space environment and the development of countermeasures against oxidative damage accordingly may facilitate human beings to live more safely in space and explore deeper into the universe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drug resistance is the predominant cause of mortality in late-stage patients with ovarian cancer. Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACis) have emerged as a novel type of second line drug with high specificity for tumor cells, including ovarian cancer cells. However, HDACis usually exhibit relatively low potencies when used as a single agent. The majority of current clinical trials are combination strategies. These strategies are more empirical than mechanism-based applications. Previously, it was reported that the adhesion molecule cluster of differentiation 146 (CD146) is significantly induced in HDACi-treated tumor cells. The present study additionally confirmed that the induction of CD146 is a common phenomenon in vorinostat-treated ovarian cancer cells. AA98, an anti-CD146 monoclonal antibody (mAb), was used to target CD146 function. Synergistic antitumoral effects between AA98 and vorinostat were examined in vitro and in vivo. The potential effect of combined AA98 and vorinostat treatment on the protein kinase B (Akt) pathway was determined by western blotting. The present study found that targeting of CD146 substantially enhanced vorinostat-induced killing via the suppression of activation of Akt pathways in ovarian cancer cells. AA98 in combination with vorinostat significantly inhibited cell proliferation and increased apoptosis. In vivo, AA98 synergized with vorinostat to inhibit tumor growth and prolong survival in ovarian cancer. These data suggest that an undesired induction of CD146 may serve as a protective response to offset the antitumor efficacy of vorinostat. By contrast, targeting CD146 in combination with vorinostat may be exploited as a novel strategy to more effectively kill ovarian cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are one of the major transmembrane protein families found in all organisms and play important roles in transporting a variety of compounds across intra and extra cellular membranes. In some species, ABC transporters may be involved in the detoxification of substances such as insecticides. The diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.), a destructive pest of cruciferous crops worldwide, is an important species to study as it is resistant to many types of insecticides as well as biological control Bacillus thuringiensis toxins. Results: A total of 82 ABC genes were identified from our published P. xylostella genome, and grouped into eight subfamilies (ABCA-H) based on phylogenetic analysis. Genes of subfamilies ABCA, ABCC and ABCH were found to be expanded in P. xylostella compared with those in Bombyx mori, Manduca sexta, Heliconius melpomene, Danaus plexippus, Drosophila melanogaster, Tetranychus urticae and Homo sapiens. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that many of the ABC transporters in P. xylostella are orthologous to the well-studied ABC transporter genes in the seven other species. Transcriptome- and qRT-PCR-based analysis elucidated physiological effects of ABC gene expressions of P. xylostella which were developmental stage- and tissue-specific as well as being affected by whether or not the insects were from an insecticide-resistant strain. Two ABCC and one ABCA genes were preferentially expressed in midgut of the 4th-instar larvae of a susceptible strain (Fuzhou-S) suggesting their potential roles in metabolizing plant defensive chemicals. Most of the highly expressed genes in insecticide-resistant strains were also predominantly expressed in the tissues of Malpighian tubules and midgut. Conclusions: This is the most comprehensive study on identification, characterization and expression profiling of ABC transporter genes in P. xylostella to date. The diversified features and expression patterns of this gene family may be associated with the evolutionary capacity of this species to develop resistance to a wide range of insecticides and biological toxins. Our findings provide a solid foundation for future functional studies on specific ABC transporter genes in P. xylostella, and for further understanding of their physiological roles and regulatory pathways in insecticide resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of filaggrin knockdown on the function of normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEKs). Filaggrin expression levels in NHEKs were knocked down by lentivirus (LV) encoding small hairpin RNA (shRNA), with control cells infected with nonsense shRNA or not infected. Cell migration and invasion were assayed using Transwell inserts, cell adhesion and proliferation by the Cell Counting kit-8 assay, and apoptosis and cell cycle progression by flow cytometry. shRNA efficiently suppressed expression of filaggrin protein. The LV group had significantly decreased cell migration, adhesion and proliferation, and increased apoptosis compared with the control groups (P=0.027). In addition, the proportion of cells in G1 and G2 phases were significantly increased in the LV group compared with control groups (P=0.018). The results of the present study demonstrate that filaggrin knockdown inhibits NHEK migration, adhesion and proliferation, promotes apoptosis and disturbs cell cycle progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solidification samples of undercooled Co-24 at%Sn eutectic alloy containing a small amount of Mn (<1.0 at%) were prepared by the glass fluxing technique. The surface and internal solidification microstructures of the samples were observed by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and an optical microscope (OM), respectively. The experiment results revealed that the addition of 0.5 at%Mn remarkably changed the solidification behaviors of the undercooled Co-24 at%Sn eutectic alloy. The addition of 0.5 at%Mn influenced the morphological selection of eutectic growth interface by increasing the interface energy anisotropy during the solidification of the undercooled Co-24 at%Sn eutectic melt. As undercooling increases, the coupled eutectic growth interface morphology successively experienced dendritic pattern, factual seaweed pattern and compact seaweed pattern. Besides, the addition of 0.5 at%Mn decreased the critical undercooling for the formation of anomalous eutectic by introducing a new formation mechanism of anomalous eutectic, i.e. divorce eutectic mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A direct N-trifluoromethylation method has been developed by the use of the in situ generated [ArICF3]+ species as the electrophilic trifluoromethyl source. Upon treatment of N-H ketimines with Ruppert-Prakash reagent in the presence of PhI(OAc)2 and KF, or with Togni's reagent II catalyzed by copper salt, N-trifluoromethylated imine products were obtained in moderate to good yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine the free amino acid contents of chamomile flowers using reverse-phase high-performance column chromatography preceded by pre-column derivatization with 6-aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxysuccinimidyl carbamate (AQC), and to determine the reliability of this method. Materials and Methods: Derivatization with reconstituted AQC was used to prepare the samples and standards for injection into the chromatography column. The peaks were analyzed by fluorescence detection (Δexcitation, 250 nm; Δemission, 395 nm. Results: Alanine, proline, and leucine were the most abundant amino acids, whereas tyrosine and methionine were the least abundant. The linearity of the method was found to be good with amino acid concentrations of 0.012-0.36 μM. The precision was 0.05-1.36%; average recovery, 91.12-129.41%; and limit of detection, 0.006-0.058 μM. Conclusion: The method is reliable for determining the free amino acid content of different types of chamomile flowers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epithelial ovarian carcinoma is the most lethal gynecological cancer due to its silent onset and recurrence with resistance to chemotherapy. Overexpression of oncogene c-Myc is one of the most frequently encountered events present in ovarian carcinoma. Disrupting the function of c-Myc and its downstream target genes is a promising strategy for cancer therapy. Our objective was to evaluate the potential effects of small-molecule c-Myc inhibitor, 10058-F4, on ovarian carcinoma cells and the underlying mechanisms by which 10058-F4 exerts its actions. Using MTT assay, colony formation, flow cytometry and Annexin V FITC assays, we found that 10058-F4 significantly inhibited cell proliferation of both SKOV3 and Hey ovarian cancer cells in a dose dependent manner through induction of apoptosis and cell cycle G1 arrest. Treatment with 10058-F4 reduced cellular ATP production and ROS levels in SKOV3 and Hey cells. Consistently, primary cultures of ovarian cancer treated with 10058- F4 showed induction of caspase-3 activity and inhibition of cell proliferation in 15 of 18 cases. The response to 10058-F4 was independent the level of c-Myc protein over-expression in primary cultures of ovarian carcinoma. These novel findings suggest that the growth of ovarian cancer cells is dependent upon c-MYC activity and that targeting c-Myc-Max heterodimerization could be a potential therapeutic strategy for ovarian cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elevated serum heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) levels are atheroprotective; however, the role of HSP27 after arterial injury is unknown. Human endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) were treated with recombinant (r)HSP27 (50 μg/ml) or its inactive C1 terminus, and gene expression was characterized before functional studies were performed in vitro and in vivo. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was markedly up-regulated by rHSP27 (10- and 6-fold increases in mRNA and secretion, respectively). Pretreat-ment of EPCs with rHSP27 resulted in a 60% reduction hi reendothelialization (RE) time in a scratch assay, an effect diat was blocked with VEGF-neutralizing antibodies. Mice overexpressing HSP27 demonstrated more robust mobilization of EPCs at the time of arterial injury, as well as a 67% increase in RE and a 45% reduction in neointima (NI) formation at 28 d. Implantation of rHSP27-eluting stents in rabbit carotid arteries resulted in a marked improvement in RE at 7 and 28 d and transient attenuation of NI formation by 42% at 7 d. Hence, extracellular HSP27 up-regulated VEGF and improved EPC migration in vitro. Augmented systemic or local levels of HSP27 markedly unproved RE after vascular injury, an effect that is of particular relevance to the safety profile of vascular stents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most existing differential receivers for ultra-wideband (UWB) communications employ Gaussian approximation for multiple access interference (MAI). However, for a system with strong interference caused by a small number of active users, significant performance degradation is found for differential UWB receivers due to the impreciseness of Gaussian approximation on impulsive MAI. In this paper, we propose new differential UWB receivers based on the generalized Gaussian (GG) distribution, which subsumes Gaussian distribution and Laplace distribution as special cases. Numerical results show that the GG distribution approximates MAI well. In addition, we show that GG-based multiple-symbol differential receivers can be formulated as the same form as the conventional multiple-symbol differential receivers, which can be efficiently solved using existing algorithms. Simulations are conducted to demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed receivers to that of the existing differential UWB receivers when the interference caused by a small number of active users is strong. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background Stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) plays a critical role in adult brain injury repair including neurogenesis and vasculogenesis. However, the effects of recombinant SDF-1(rSDF-1) treatment on hypoxic-ischemic (HI) brain injury in neonatal mice are not clear. Materials and Methods Seven-day-old (P7) C57BL/6J mice were divided into sham group, control group, and rSDF-1 group. Mice brains were collected to determine histopathological damage and the expression level of SDF-1, caspase-3, and Ki67 on P8, P10, P14, and P21. Passive avoidance and elevated plus-maze tests were also assessed on P20 and P21. Results Compared with control group, rSDF-1 treatment increased the weight ratio of left and right brain hemisphere (p < 0.05), reduced the number of electric foot shocks (p < 0.05) and the percentage of time spent in the open arms (p < 0.05), meanwhile, increased the retention latency (p < 0.05) and the percentage of time spent in the enclosed arms (p < 0.05) on P20 and P21. High expression of Ki67 and low expression of caspase-3 were also observed. Discussion This study showed that rSDF-1 treatment effectively alleviated brain injury shown by reducing in caspase-3 expression and increasing in Ki67 expression. Moreover, rSDF-1 treatment significantly improved behavioral performances in juvenile mice after HI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reaction of LAlH2 (L = HC(CMeNAr)2, Ar = 2,6-iPr2C6H3) (1) with 3-methylphenylboronic acid and 3-fluorophenylboronic acid resulted in the boroxine-linked aluminum compounds LAl[OB(3-CH3C6H4)]2(μ-O) (2) and LAl[OB(3-FC6H4])2(μ-O) (3), respectively. LAl[OB(2-PhC6H4)(OH)]2 (4) was synthesized by the reaction of 1 with 2-biphenylboronic acid. Compound 4 is the intermediate analogue to those, which we postulated for the formation of 2 and 3. The reaction of 1 with 3-hydroxyphenylboronic acid resulted in the first metal benzoboroxole oxide LAl[OB(o-CH2O)C6H4]2 (5), which is formed from a compound with B—(OH)2 and C—OH functionalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Recent clinical trials suggest an LDL-independent superiority of intensive statin therapy in reducing target vessel revascularization and peri-procedural myocardial infarctions in patients who undergo percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). While animal studies demonstrate that statins mobilize endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) which can enhance arterial repair and attenuate neointimal formation, the precise explanation for the clinical PCI benefits of high dose statin therapy remain elusive. Thus we serially assessed patients undergoing PCI to test the hypothesis that high dose Atorvastatin therapy initiated prior to PCI mobilizes EPCs that may be capable of enhancing arterial repair. Methods and Results: Statin naïve male patients undergoing angiography for stent placement were randomized to standard therapy without Atorvastatin (n = 10) or treatment with Atorvastatin 80 mg (n = 10) beginning three days prior to stent implantation. EPCs were defined by flow cytometry (e.g., surface marker profile of CD45dim/34+/133+/117+). As well, we also enumerated cultured angiogenic cells (CACs) by standard in vitro culture assay. While EPC levels did not fluctuate over time for the patients free of Atorvastatin, there was a 3.5-fold increase in EPC levels with high dose Atorvastatin beginning within 3 days of the first dose (and immediately pre-PCI) which persisted at 4 and 24 hours post-PCI (p<0.05). There was a similar rise in CAC levels as assessed by in vitro culture. CACs cultured in the presence of Atorvastatin failed to show augmented survival or VEGF secretion but displayed a 2-fold increase in adhesion to stent struts (p<0.05). Conclusions: High dose Atorvastatin therapy pre-PCI improves EPC number and CAC number and function in humans which may in part explain the benefit in clinical outcomes seen in patients undergoing coronary interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Drug-eluting stents (DESs) reduce neointima area and in-stent restenosis but delay re-endothelialization. Recently, we demonstrated that pharmacological expansion and functional enhancement of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) can be achieved by treatment with a glycogen synthase kinase-3β inhibitor (GSKi)—even for feeble cells derived from coronary artery disease patients. GSKi treatment enhanced EPC adhesion via up-regulated expression of the α-4 integrin, ameliorated re-endothelialization, and reduced neointima formation in denuded murine arteries. Hence, we hypothesized that GSKi-coated stents (GSs) will enhance EPC adhesion and attenuate delayed vascular healing associated with rapamycin, a key DES agent. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Large-scale distributed systems such as sensor networks usually experience dynamic topology changes, data losses, and node failures in various catastrophic or emergent environments. As such, maintaining data persistence in a scalable fashion has become critical and essential for such systems. The existing major efforts such as coding, routing, and traditional modulation all have their own limitations. In this work, we propose a novel network modulation (NeMo) approach to significantly improve the data persistence. Built on algebraic number theory, NeMo operates at the level of modulated symbols (so-called "modulation over modulation"). Its core notion is to mix data at intermediate network nodes and meanwhile guarantee the symbol recovery at the sink(s) without prestoring or waiting for other symbols. In contrast to the traditional thought that n linearly independent equations are needed to solve for n unknowns, NeMo opens a new regime to boost the convergence speed of achieving persistence. Different performance criteria (e.g., modulation and demodulation complexity, convergence speed, finite-bit representation, and noise robustness) have been evaluated in the comprehensive simulations and real experiments to show that the proposed approach is efficient to enhance the network data persistence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microencapsulated phase change materials slurries (MEPCM slurries) have the advantage that they can be used as heat transport and storage medium, and therefore provide improved continuity of energy transport. Energy transportation capability of a MEPCM slurry based on Rubitherm RT6 through a cold storage-air handling system was investigated for various concentrations and pump powers. The transport properties of the MEPCM have been identified. The optimum concentration for maximum energy transportation capability and energy transportation effectiveness of the system has been found. This investigation is intended for determination of the optimum concentration of MEPCM slurry for an air conditioning system that uses MEPCM slurry as a secondary cooling medium directly into air handling units and stored for load shifting. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demand on wireless communications to provide high data rates, high mobility, and high quality of service poses more challenges for designers. To contend with deleterious channel fading effects, both the transmitter and the receiver must be designed appropriately to exploit the diversity embedded in the channels. From the perspective of receiver design, the ultimate goal is to achieve both low complexity and high performance. In this article, we first summarize the complexity and performance of low-complexity receivers, including linear equalizers and decision feedback equalizers, and then we reveal the fundamental condition when LEs and DFEs collect the same diversity as the maximum-likelihood equalizer. Recently, lattice reduction techniques were introduced to enhance the performance of low-complexity equalizers without increasing the complexity significantly. Thus, we also provide a comprehensive review of LR-aided low-complexity equalizers and analyze their performance. Furthermore, we describe the architecture and initial results of a very-large-scale-integration implementation of an LR algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Macrocyclic compounds, such as crown ethers, azacrown ethers, thiacrown ethers, calixarenes and porphyrins, which act as ionophores in lead(II) ion-selective electrodes, are systematically summarized based on the latest literatures. The molecular structure characteristics of the ionophores are generalized. The modification regulations for the substituted ionophores are elaborated with the purpose of improving the response features of the lead(II) ion-selective electrodes assembled by them. It is pointed out that the introduction of pendant moieties which contain soft base coordination centers like N, S and P atoms is in favor of adjusting the cavity size and conformation of the macrocyclic compounds. Furthermore, there is synergic effect between the cavity and the donor sites of the ligand and thus the selective complexation of lead ions is easily realized, resulting in significant avoidance of the interference from other metal ions. The macrocyclic ionophore having the best response characteristics thus far was found to be N,N′-dimethyIcyanodiza-18-crown-6 With the detection limit of 7.0x10-8 (14.5 μg/L), which is one of the uncommon ionophores that can really eliminate the interference from silver and mercury ions. The selectivity coefficients of the ionophore for lead ions over other metal ions, such as alkali, alkaline earth and transition metal ions are in the order of 10-4 or smaller, where the selectivity coefficient of lead(II) over mercury(II) ions is much lower, down to 8.9x10-4. The structure design idea for high-performance ionophore is proposed according to present results. The incorporation of nitrogen atom, especially cyano group or thiocyano group or amino/imino groups, rather than thio atom alone could result in new excellent lead ionophores. The aborative design for metacyclophanes containing aromatic nitrogen atoms with the aim of creating excellent ionophores would also become a potential research trend. The lead(II) ion-selective electrodes have shown widely potential applications in the potentiometric titration, and flow injection potentiometry, and in the direct determination of lead in stack emissions of lead smelters, and assay of lead in rocks, particularly in the direct measurements of trace amount of lead(II) in human hair, blood, edible oil, food, water, and air. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results of a thermal conductivity test carried out on microencapsulated phase change materials, to be used as a cooling storage and transport medium in a solar-driven air conditioning system. The microencapsulated slurries can be used not only as an energy storage medium but also as an energy transport medium, and this helps the system to be designed as compact as possible. The test has been carried out on two recently developed microencapsulated phase change materials. A convenient measurement system using transient line heat source technique is introduced, and the results of these measurements are presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linear equalizers (LEs) have been widely adopted for practical systems due to their low computational complexity. However, it is also well known that LEs provide inferior performance relative to a maximum-likelihood equalizer (MLE) or other near- MLEs, because LEs usually cannot collect the diversity order enabled by the transmitter and at the same time they lose mutual information. More importantly, unlike MLE or near-MLEs, the performance of LEs has not been well quantified. This hinders more general applications of LEs in wireless systems. In this paper, we reveal a fundamental link between a channel parameter-orthogonality deficiency (od) of the channel matrix-and the diversity and capacity of LEs. We identify that when the od of channel matrix has an upper bound strictly less than 1, the same diversity order as that of MLEs is collected by LEs and the outage capacity loss relative to MLEs is also a constant over signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). These results can be applied to designing a framework for hybrid equalizers. Furthermore, by studying the statistical properties of the od and comparing the complexity of different equalizers, we show that hybrid equalizers can trade off between performance and complexity by tuning the channel matrix od. The theoretical analysis is corroborated by computer simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographical routing is powerful for its ability to discover a path to the destination without the help of global states. However, stateless geographical routing usually involves a large number of hops when detouring around voids of the network. In this paper, we propose an efficient path pruning (PP) strategy to reduce the excessive number of hops caused by the detouring mode of geographical routing protocols. The PP algorithm finds routing shortcuts by exploiting the channel listening capability of wireless nodes and is able to reduce a large number of hops with the help of a little state information passively maintained by a subset of nodes on the route. We also discuss algorithm properties and implementation considerations and provide simulation results demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in shortening the routing path and improving delivery rate when it is applied to existing geographical routing protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A photocatalytic side-emitting optical fibre mop fan prototype was designed, constructed and tested. The performance was compared with a previously tested polymer fibre mop fan. It was found that the system has better efficiency than the polymer fibre mop fan due to a more reasonable UV lamp arrangement and even UV-light transmittance. It was also found that the final room pollutant concentration depends on the pollutant generating rate by using the photocatalyst mop fan air cleaning system. The system is more compact than the polymer fibre mop fan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Allograft coronary disease is the dominant cause of increased risk of death after cardiac transplantation. While the percutaneous insertion of stents is the most efficacious revascularization strategy for allograft coronary disease there is a high incidence of stent renarrowing. We developed a novel rabbit model of sex-mismatched allograft vascular disease as well as the response to stent implantation. In situ hybridization for the Y-chromosome was employed to detect male cells in the neointima of stented allograft, and the population of recipient derived neointimal cells was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and characterized by immunohistochemistry. To demonstrate the participation of circulatory derived cells in stent neointima formation we infused ex vivo labeled peripheral blood mononuclear cells into native rabbit carotid arteries immediately after stenting. Fourteen days after stenting the neointima area was 58% greater in the stented vs. non-stented allograft segments (p = 0.02). Male cells were detected in the neointima of stented female-to-male allografts. Recipient-derived cells constituted 72.1±5.7% and 81.5±4.2% of neointimal cell population in the non-stented and stented segments, respectively and the corresponding proliferation rates were only 2.7±0.5% and 2.3±0.2%. Some of the recipient-derived neointimal cells were of endothelial lineage. The ex vivo tagged cells constituted 9.0±0.4% of the cells per high power field in the stent neointima 14 days after stenting. These experiments provide important quantitative data regarding the degree to which host-derived blood-borne cells contribute to neointima formation in allograft vasculopathy and the early response to stent implantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems equipped with multiple antennas have well documented merits in combating fading and enhancing data rates. MIMO V-BLAST transmission is a widely adopted method to achieve high spectral efficiency and low-complexity implementation. When the maximum likelihood (ML) or near-ML detector is employed, receive diversity is collected for MIMO V-BLAST systems to enhance the performance. However, because of its exponential complexity, ML detector may be infeasible for practical systems when the number of antennas and/or the constellation size is large. On the other hand, linear equalizers have much lower complexity but come with inferior performance. In this paper, we analytically quantify the diversity order of linear detectors for MIMO V-BLAST systems. Then, we adopt low-complexity complex lattice-reduction (LR) aided linear equalizers for V-BLAST systems to improve the performance and prove that LR-aided linear equalizers collect the same diversity order as that exploited by the ML detector but with much lower complexity. Relative to the existing real LR-aided equalizers, we illustrate that the complex LR further reduces the complexity while keeping the same performance. Simulation results corroborate our theoretical claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of novel aluminum heterobimetallic selenides were reported. The reaction of LAI(SeH)2 (1) with LiN(SiMe3)2 resulted in the formation of [LAI(SeLi)2(THF)2] (2) (L = HC(CMeNAr)2, Ar = 2,6-iPr2C6H3). Compound 2 reacted with Me2GeCl2, Ph2GeCl2, Cp2TiCl2, and Cp2ZrCl2, respectively, to produce LAI(μ-Se)2GeMe2 (3), LAI(μ-Se)2GePh2 (4), LAI(u-Se)2TiCp2 (5), and LAI(μ-Se)2ZrCp2 (6) in moderate yields. Compounds 2-6 were characterized by elemental analysis, NMR, and electron impact-MS. The X-ray single-crystal structure of 3 is reported and confirms the spirocyclic arrangement of the aluminum atom within the six-membered AlN2C3 and four-membered AlSe2Ge rings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first crystallographically characterized molybdenum(vi) selenoether complex [Mo2O4(OC3H6SeC3H6O)2] and its thioether analogue [Mo2O4(OC3H6SC3H6O)2] were synthesised. Their structural, electrochemical and oxygen atom transfer properties are compared. This is relevant for the molybdenum cofactors of the DMSO reductase family where the coordination of the active site metal occurs through O (serine/aspartate), S (cysteine) or Se (selenocysteine). Both structures are almost identical except for those parameters that are directly derived from the different sizes of the varied ligand atoms (Se and S). No trans influence was observed. The metal centered redox process (MoV↔MoVI) is at slightly lower voltage for the sulfur than for the selenium complex. The selenium compound catalyses the oxygen atom transfer from DMSO to PPh3 by a different mechanism and at a higher rate than the sulfur compound, which is an indication that cysteine and selenocysteine might be used for a purpose in the different molybdenum and tungsten cofactors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three novel aluminum-containing tin(IV) heterobimetallic sulfides are reported. The reaction of [LAI(SLi)2(THF)2]2 (1) [L = HC(CMeNAr)2, Ar = 2,6-/Pr2C6H3] with Ph2SnCl2, Me2SnCl2, and SnCl4 in THF respectively afforded LAl(μ-S)2SnPh2 (2), LAl(μ-S)2SnMe2 (3), and LAl(μ-S)2Sn(μ-S)2AIL (4) in moderate yields. Compounds 2, 3, and 4 were characterized by elemental analysis, NMR, electron-impact mass spectrometry, and single-crystal X-ray structural analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differential encoding is known to simplify receiver implementation because it by-passes channel estimation. However, over rapidly fading wireless channels, ext!a transceiver modules are necessary to enable differential transmission. Relying on a basis expansion model for time and frequency selective (doubly selective) channels, we derive such a generalized block-differential (BD) codec and prove that it achieves maximum Doppler and multipath diversity gains, while affording low-complexity maximum-likelihood decoding. We further show that existing BD systems over frequency-selective or time-selective channels follow as special cases of our novel system. Simulations using the widely accepted Jakes' model corroborate our theoretical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation for orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) has caught attention as OFDM systems have become widely adopted in recent years. In this paper, we design a novel double-differential (DD) codec with low computational complexity. Our design bypasses CFO and channel estimation, and is easy to implement at both transmitter and receiver. It also guarantees full multipath diversity, and reduces the peak-to-average power ratio from the number of subcarriers to the channel order. In addition, it is robust to CFO drifting. The closed form of the performance for our design is derived for OFDM transmissions over frequency-selective channels with CFO. Thorough simulation results corroborate our claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coping with time-selective fading channels is challenging but also rewarding, especially with multiantenna systems, where joint space-Doppler diversity and coding gains can be collected to enhance performance of wireless mobile links. These gains have not been quantified, and space-time coded systems maximizing joint space-Doppler benefits have not been designed. Based on a parsimonious basis expansion model for the underlying time-selective (and possibly correlated) channels, we quantify these gains in closed form. Furthermore, we develop space-time-Doppler coded systems that guarantee the maximum possible space-Doppler diversity, along with the largest coding gains within all linearly coded systems. Our three novel designs exploit knowledge of the maximum Doppler spread, and each offers a uniquely desirable tradeoff, including high spectral efficiency, low decoding complexity, and high performance. Our analytical results are confirmed by simulations and reveal the relative of merits of our three designs in comparison with an existing approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We design novel space-time multipath (STM) coded multi-antenna transmissions over frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channels. We develop STM coded systems that guarantee the maximum possible space-multipath diversity, along with large coding gains, and high bandwidth efficiency for any number of transmit-receive antennas. By incorporating subchannel grouping, we also enable desirable tradeoffs between performance and complexity. Our designs rely on digital phase sweeping or block circular delay operations and apply to both single- and multi-carrier systems. Their merits are confirmed by corroborating simulations and comparisons with existing approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermoelectric modules should be selected or designed to meet the specific cooling/heating requirements of a particular application and in most cases, the cooling/heating capacity and the working temperatures (hot and cold side temperature of thermoelectric devices) are known. Computer modelling can be used to assist the selection process by determining the relationships between the cooling/heating requirements and optimum thermoelectric parameters thermoelectric modules suited to large capacity thermoelectric heat pump applications. Copyright 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews research carried out to improve the coefficient of performance of thermoelectric cooling systems during the past decade. This includes development of new materials for thermoelectric modules, optimisation of module design and fabrication, system analysis and heat exchange efficiency. Several conclusions are drawn. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exciting recent developments in wireless multiantenna communications have led to designs aiming mainly at one of two objectives: either high-performance by enabling the diversity provided by multi-input multi-output (MIMO) channels or high-rates by capitalizing on space-time multiplexing gains to realize the high capacity of MIMO fading channels. By concatenating a linear complex-field coder (a.k.a. linear precoder) with a layered space-time mapper, we design systems capable of achieving both goals: full-diversity and full-rate (FDFR), with any number of transmit- and receive-antennas. We develop FDFR designs not only for flat-fading but for frequency-selective, or, time-selective fading MIMO channels as well. Furthermore, we establish the flexibility of our FDFR designs in striking desirable performance-rate-complexity tradeoffs. Our theoretical claims are confirmed by simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this correspondence, we consider the sequence adaptation problem for cellular asynchronous code-division multiple-access (CDMA) systems. A game-theoretic approach is used to investigate the stability issues of distributed adaptation algorithms. It is shown that the Nash equilibrium may not exist for cellular CDMA systems if the traditional interference measure is used. In turn we propose a new interference measure which ensures system stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High data rates give rise to frequency-selective propagation, whereas carrier frequency-offsets and mobility-induced Doppler shifts introduce time-selectivity in wireless links. To mitigate the resulting time- and frequency-selective (or doubly selective) channels, optimal training sequences have been designed only for special cases: pilot symbol assisted modulation (PSAM) for time-selective channels and pilot tone-assisted orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) for frequency-selective channels. Relying on a basis expansion channel model, in this paper, we design low-complexity optimal PSAM for block transmissions over doubly selective channels. The optimality in designing our PSAM parameters consists of maximizing a tight lower bound on the average channel capacity that is shown to be equivalent to the minimization of the minimum mean-square channel estimation error. Numerical results corroborate our theoretical designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determines gender differences in medium-chain dicarboxylic aciduria in alcoholics. Effects of gender and alcohol consumption on urinary excretion of dicarboxylic acid; Effects of gender and alcohol consumption on urinary excretion of adipic, suberic or sebacic acids; Urinary adipic/sebacic acid ratio; Effect of obesity on dicarboxylic aciduria.

The paper constructs an evolutionary game model on dynamic alliance of engineering project and analyzes the process of the game. Finally, it is concluded that the expected return, risk and alliance resources are the important factors that affect dynamic alliance of engineering project. On the basis, a solution of dynamic alliance is proposed to accelerate the development of the construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the design effect of venues, this paper establishes the evaluation model of indoor thermal comfort for the humid and hot subtropical areas, which provides theoretical reference for venue design. This paper investigates the thermal sensation of basketball players by questionnaire, analyzes the relationship between thermal sensation vote and standard effective temperature, predicted mean vote, and wet bulb globe temperature, and develops an index called predicted thermal sensation by using the least square method. The relationship between outdoor air temperature and indoor working temperature under neutral conditions is obtained by measuring data. The results show that the correlation between thermal sensation vote and air temperature is the strongest, R² is 0.753, while the relationship between thermal sensation vote and air speed is weak, R² is 0.012. Thermal sensation vote and set, predicted mean vote and wet bulb globe temperature are not suitable for athletes in the field environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Immunotherapy has brought new hope to gastric cancer (GC) patients. Exploring the immune infiltration pattern in GC and the key molecules is critical for optimizing the efficacy of immunotherapy. Aldo-keto reductase family 1 member B10 (AKR1B10) is an inflammatory regulator and is closely related to the prognosis of patients with GC. However, the function of AKR1B10 in GC remains unclear. Methods: In the present study, the CIBERSORT algorithm was used to analyze the immune infiltration pattern in 373 samples in the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were seared by combing the TCGA database and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, and the key molecule AKR1B10 was identified by weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA). The biological functions of AKR1B10 in stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD) were investigated in vitro. Results: Macrophage polarization was the main immune infiltration pattern in GC, and the state of macrophage polarization was closely related to the pathological grading of GC and the clinical stage of patients. AKR1B10, MUC5AC, TFF2, GKN1, and PGC were significantly down-regulated in GC tissues. Low AKR1B10 expression induced M2 macrophage polarization and promoted the malignant phenotype of GC. Conclusion: M2 macrophage polarization is the main immune infiltration pattern in GC. Low AKR1B10 expression induces M2 macrophage polarization and promotes the malignant transformation of GC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Soft-tissue sarcomas during infancy are rare and understudied. With no data on this specific condition, we performed a retrospective study of infant-onset sarcomas based on a multi-institutional cohort in Beijing, China, collected over the past decade. We reviewed infantile soft-tissue sarcomas' clinical characteristics, treatments, and outcomes. Materials and Methods: The patients with soft-tissue sarcoma diagnosed from 0 to 12 months in four primary children's hospitals in Beijing from January 2010 to December 2019 were evaluated. Results: Fifty-one patients were enrolled, including 31 males and 20 females. The median age at the diagnosis was five months (range, 0-12), and seven (13.7%) patients were diagnosed in the first month of their life. Histologically, twenty-five patients were diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), six were diagnosed with extraosseous Ewing sarcoma (EES), and twenty were diagnosed with nonrhabdomyosarcoma soft-tissue sarcoma (NRSTS). The treatment principles and details of RMS focused on reference to the Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study Group (IRSG) protocols. For EES and NRSTS, chemotherapy was prescribed according to children's oncology group protocols. The five-year EFS/OS rates of RMS were 26.4% ± 19.5%/56.2 ± 17.8%, the five-year EFS/ OS rate of EES was 50% ± 20.4%, and the five-year EFS/OS of NRSTS was 85.2% ± 9.8%/100%. Conclusions: Infant-onset soft-tissue sarcoma is heterogeneous. The primary location of the abdominal or pelvic cavity of RMS and EWS was at a later stage and had a poorer prognosis. Multimodal therapy resulted in successful disease control for the majority of patients. Standardization of treatment protocols will facilitate care for such challenging conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We comparably performed polarized Raman scattering studies of MoTe2 and WTe2. By rotating crystals to tune the angle between the principal axis of the crystals and the polarization of the incident/scattered light, we obtained the angle dependence of the intensities for all the observed modes, which is perfectly consistent with careful symmetry analysis. Combining these results with first-principles calculations, we clearly identified the observed phonon modes in the different phases of both crystals. Fifteen Raman-active phonon modes (10 Ag + 5 Bg) in the high-symmetry phase 1T'-MoTe2 (300 K) were well assigned, and all the symmetry-allowed Raman modes (11 A1 + 6 A2) in the low-symmetry phase Td-MoTe2 (10 K) and 12 Raman phonons (8 A1 + 4 A2) in Td-WTe2 were observed and identified. The present paper provides basic information about the lattice dynamics in transition-metal dichalcogenides and may shed some light on the understanding of the extremely large magnetoresistance in this class of materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have performed polarized and temperature-dependent Raman scattering measurements on extremely large magnetoresistance compounds TaAs2 and NbAs2. In both crystals, all the Raman active modes, including six Ag modes and three Bg modes, are clearly observed and well assigned with the combination of symmetry analysis and first-principles calculations. The well-resolved periodic intensity modulations of the observed modes with rotating crystal orientations verify the symmetry of each assigned mode and are fitted to experimentally determine the elements of Raman tensor matrices. The broadening of two Ag modes seen in both compounds allows us to estimate the electron-phonon coupling constant, which suggests a relatively small electron-phonon coupling in the semimetals TaAs2 and NbAs2. The present study provides the fundamental lattice dynamics information on TaAs2 and NbAs2 and may shed light on the understanding of their extraordinary large magnetoresistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which investigated the reaction of LAIH2 (2) with PhB(OH)2 to take advantage of the different polarity of the hydrogen atoms in both compounds. Two similar concerted mechanisms were assumed for the progress of the two reactions. The exothermic formation of the Al-O bonds is the driving force in the reaction.

Information technology (IT) has brought significant changes in people's lives. As an important part of the IT industry, data centres (DCs) have been rapidly growing in both the number and size over the past 40 years. Around 30% to 40% of electricity consumption in DCs is used for space cooling, thus leading to very inefficient DC operation. To identify ways to reduce the energy consumption for space cooling and increase the energy efficiency of DCs' operation, a dedicated investigation into the energy usage in DCs has been undertaken and a novel high performance dew point cooling system was introduced into a DC operational scheme. Based on the cooling load in DCs, a case study was carried out to evaluate the energy consumptions and energy usage effectiveness when using the novel dew point cooling system in different scales of DCs in various climates. It was found that by using the novel dew point cooling system, for 10 typical climates a DC can have a much lower power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.10 to 1.22 compared to that of 1.7 to 3.7 by using existing traditional cooling systems, leading to significantly increased energy efficiency of the DC operation. In addition, the energy performance by managing the cooling air supply at the different levels in DCs, i.e., room, row and rack level, was simulated by using a dynamic computer model. It was found that cooling air supply at rack level can provide a higher energy efficiency in DCs. Based on the above work, the energy saving potential in DCs was conducted by comparing DCs using an the novel dew point cooling system and the optimum management scheme for the cooling air supply to that using traditional air cooling systems and the same supply air management. Annual electricity consumptions for the two cases were given. It was found that by using the novel dew point cooling system and optimum management system for the cooling air supply, an 87.7~91.6% electricity consumption saving for space cooling in DCs could be achieved in 10 typical cities at 10 selected climatic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]