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Abstract Background The use of forced-air warming (FAW) blankets is widely recognized for preventing shivering and hypothermia in patients under general anesthesia. Various types of products are currently available for hospitals, and we have conducted a preliminary evaluation of insulation equipment based on expert opinions and initial parameters. However, we lack real-world experiments and accurate clinical data to validate these parameters and the accuracy of our decision-making results. This study aims to confirm the effectiveness of different FAW systems by assessing the thermal protection and operational characteristics of the equipment in both experimental and clinical settings, thereby enhancing our evaluation database. Methods In the manikin test, we conducted six tests including heat distribution and heating rate, heater outlet temperature stability, etc. In the clinical study, patients were randomly assigned to four groups [Group A (Bair Hugger Therapy, 3 M, St. Paul, MN, USA; 63500); Group B (EQUATOR® level I, Smith Medical ASD, MN, USA; Snuggle Warm, SW-2013); Group C (Jiang Men Da Cheng Medical Devices Co., Ltd, China; IOB-006); and Group D (Shang Hai Nest Tech Medical Materials Co., Ltd, China; BH-017)], with each group comprising 30 individuals. At the start of anesthesia induction, the FAW blanket was activated and set to 43 °C until the completion of surgery. The primary endpoint was the average core body temperature during surgery. Secondary endpoints included hemodynamic and surgical variables, adverse events, and recovery metrics. Results In the manikin test, the observed results of the experimental parameters (heat distribution, air pressure difference, and hole observation test) for Group A are superior to those of the other groups. In the clinical study, although the mean perioperative core body temperature remained above 36 °C across all groups [Group A: 36.31 ± 0.04; Group B: 36.26 ± 0.06; Group C: 36.17 ± 0.03; Group D: 36.25 ± 0.05], patients in Group A maintained higher temperatures compared to the other groups (p

Elevated concentrations of sulfate in waterways are observed due to various anthropogenic activities. Elevated levels of sulfate can have harmful effects on aquatic life in freshwaters: sulfate can cause osmotic stress or specific ion toxicity in aquatic organisms, especially in soft waters where Ca2+ and Mg2+ concentrations are low. Formerly, chronic toxicity test data in soft water have been scarce. The chronic and acute sulfate toxicity tests conducted with aquatic organisms from 10 families across various trophic levels in this study multiplied the number of tests conducted in soft freshwater conditions and enabled derivation of the species sensitivity distribution (SSD) and sulfate hazardous concentrations for soft freshwaters. The cladoceran Daphnia longispina and freshwater snail Lymnaea stagnalis were the most sensitive to sulfate among the studied species. Harmful effects on the reproduction of D. longispina were observed at 49 mg SO4 /L while growth of L. stagnalis was inhibited at 217 mg SO4 /L. Most studied organisms tolerated high sulfate concentrations: the median of chronic effective concentrations (EC10 or LC10) was 1008 mg/L for all the species tested in this study. Based on the species sensitivity distribution of the studied species the hazardous concentration for 5 % of aquatic organism (HC5) in soft waters was 117–194 mg SO4/L. Different data set combinations were used to demonstrate the data variability in SSD-based HC5 estimates. The lowest values were produced from combining biotest results from the present study and earlier literature, while the highest values were calculated from the present study only. The derived chronic no-effect concentrations (PNEC) varied between 39 and 65 mg SO4/L.

Objectives:With the growth of the automotive market, the road carrying pressure is increasing. However, due to the dynamics, complexity and poor communication environment of Internet of vehicles (IoV), as well as the rapidly changing distance and occlusion between vehicles, frequent chain scission and signal fading among the nodes of the network. It is difficult to control the topology of network. In order to build a more stable and reasonable IoV, fuzzy inference and other methods was used to extract vehicle features, and a graph embedding method for the IoV environment was proposed to make full use of vehicle features to build a network, so as to realize the topology discovery and control of IoV. Methods:The proposed label-range graph embedding (LRGE) method was used to discover and control the topology of IoV. The first thing is to establish the vehiclar network model. The road was reasonably divided into several sub networks according to the road side unit (RSU). The driver assistance system was used to obtain the relevant historical information of the vehicle. Fourier transform and fuzzy inference methods were used to extract the driving features of the drivers, and the low-dimensional feature vector was obtained by processing the vehicle information. Then, proposed range based cold boot method was applied to the vehicles newly added to the network. According to the vehicle features of the target vehicle in join area, the feature vector was updated and modified to make it easier to establish the connections with the vehicle nodes in the new network. Finally, based on the application environment of the IoV, the LRGE method was used to perform random walk among vehicle nodes, and then the established random walk was optimized according to the LRGE model to determine the adjacency matrix. This matrix was dynamically updated according to the historical sequence information. According to the characteristics of the actual IoV, this method fused the feature vector and the driver feature label to realize topology discovery and control. The flat fading composite channel model was used to simulate the actual communication environment and the actual effect was tested on the NGSIM dataset. Results:From the simulation results under NGSIM dataset and flat fading composite channel, it can be seen that LRGE method could basically achieve more reasonable network topology control. Vehicles with more aggressive driving styles prefer to establish connections with forward vehicle clusters, and vehicles with similar driving styles are able to establish stable connections for a longer time. It is contrasted with random network, DeepWalk methods,Node2Vec methods and dynamic growth (DN) algorithm. By testing the established connection number, chain scission probability and average hops between reachable nodes, it is found that the networks established by Node2Vec method and LRGE method are more reasonable, with low chain scission probability, less network redundancy and more practical network topology. In order to reflect the difference of the main target, connectivity and robustness of the network, the connected probability, the importance distribution represented by PageRank and the proportion of cut-vertices were contrasted. The network established by LRGE method has higher connected probability. Its centrality distribution of nodes is flat, and the proportion of cut-vertices is relatively small, so it has advantages in connectivity and robustness. The experimental results were further verified by comparing the relative relations under different communication environment. Conclusions:Although the high dynamics and complexity of IoV make it difficult to build a reasonable and stable network, vehicles and drivers have different features. Therefore, these features can be extracted and used to assist in controlling the topology of network. Driver features are extracted through fuzzy inference and other methods, and the graph embedding method for IoV can make full use of vehicle feature information. Hence, the network topology can be constructed more reasonably and effectively. Moreover, the graph embedding method is simple to calculate, and the performance of established network is better. It can make a rapid response to the dynamic IoV, update the network topology in time, and finally realize the topology control of IoV with good dynamics, connectivity and robustness.

The potential of neural stem cells (NSCs) for neurological disorders the treatment has relied in large part upon identifying the NSCs fate decision. The hormone leptin has been reported to be a crucial regulator of brain development, able to influence the glial and neural development, yet, the underlying mechanism of leptin acting on NSCs’ biological characteristics is still poorly understood. This study aims to investigate the role of leptin in the biological properties of NSCs. In this study, we investigate the possibility that leptin may regulate the NSCs’ fate decision, which may promote the proliferation and neuronal differentiation of NSCs and thus act positively in neurological disorders. NSCs from the embryonic cerebral cortex were used in this study. We used CCK-8 assay, ki67 immunostaining, and FACS analysis to confirm that 25–100 ng/mL leptin promotes the proliferation of NSCs in a concentration-dependent pattern. This change was accompanied by the upregulation of p-AKT and p-ERK1/2, which are the classical downstream signaling pathways of leptin receptors b (LepRb). Inhibition of PI3K/AKT or MAPK/ERK signaling pathways both abolished the effect of leptin-induced proliferation. Moreover, leptin also enhanced the directed neuronal differentiation of NSCs. A blockade of the PI3K/AKT pathway reversed leptin-stimulated neurogenesis, while a blockade of JAK2/STAT3 had no effect on it. Taken together, our results support a role for leptin in regulating the fate of NSCs differentiation and promoting NSCs proliferation, which could be a promising approach for brain repair via regulating the biological characteristics of NSCs.

Abstract Background Peritoneal dialysis (PD) can be associated with abnormal cardiac structure and function and increased mortality risk. Therefore, in this study, we analyzed the cardiac structure and function dynamic changes using echocardiography during the first 2 years of PD therapy. We also assessed its associations with all-cause mortality risk after 2 years of follow-up. Methods End-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients that have started PD from 2011 to 2017, and had echocardiography at baseline and years 1 and 2, were included in this study. Echocardiographic parameters were compared between baseline and year 2. Multivariable Cox models were used to estimate the association between echocardiographic parameters changes and all-cause mortality risk. Results We finally enrolled 72 PD patients in this study. The mean right ventricular diameter (RVD) increased from baseline (18.31 mm) to year 1 (18.75 mm) and year 2 (19.65 mm). We also observed a significant decrease in cardiac output (CO) between baseline and year 2. Additionally, a slight decrease trend in ejection fraction (EF) was observed. Finally, every 1 % increase in RVD was associated with a 68.2 % higher mortality risk after dialysis (HR, 1.682; 95 % CI, 1.017–2.783). Conclusions Our results demonstrated a susceptibility for deteriorated right cardiac structure and function during the first 2 years of PD treatment. Also, higher all-cause mortality risk was observed after 2 years of PD. Altogether, these results highlighted the need for additional focus on regular echocardiographic examinations during long-term PD management. Trial registration The PD-CRISC cohort, registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ( ChiCTR1900023565 ).

Topological nanomaterials generally exhibit different defect structures, high specific surface areas, and varying bandgaps. These special geometries, energy-level structures, and interfacial interaction properties provide possibilities to explore interesting properties in the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Such properties offer unexplored possibilities for exploring interesting physics and materials science in the field of SERS physical property research and further enhancing substrate materials’ SERS activity. In this paper, the ZnSe topological nanowire crystallite structure was grown using the chemical vapor deposition method, twin defects were introduced, and a topological branched structure that caused the corresponding changes in SERS activity was systematically investigated. On topological ZnSe nanowires, rhodamine 6G (R6G), methylene blue (MB), and crystalline violet (CV) molecules were detected using Raman spectroscopy. The Raman signal enhancement of MB on topological branched nanowires was about 1.9 times that of the trunk nanowires. Finally, the national standard measurement of malachite green (MG) content in water bodies were realized. The results suggest that semiconductor ZnSe topographical nanowires are an emerging class of SERS substrates, and a thorough investigation into the relationship between material structure and SERS performance in specific topological regions will provide new evidence for the principle of chemical enhancement of SERS, as well as recommendations for developing precisely functionalized SERS substrate nanomaterials.

The interaction between microglia and astrocytes exhibits a relatively balanced state in order to maintain homeostasis in the healthy central nervous system (CNS). Disease stimuli alter microglia–astrocyte interaction patterns and elicit cell-type-specific responses, resulting in their contribution to various pathological processes. Here, we review the similarities and differences in the activation modes between microglia and astrocytes in various scenarios, encompassing different stages of neural development and a wide range of neural disorders. The aim is to provide a comprehensive understanding of their roles in neural development and regeneration and guiding new strategies for restoring CNS homeostasis.

Nuclease is a type of protein that degrades nucleic acids, which plays an important role in biological processes, including RNA interference efficiency and antiviral immunity. However, no evidence of a link between nuclease and Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) infection in silkworm B. mori has been found. In this study, a protein asteroid (BmAst) containing the PIN domain and XPG domain was identified in silkworm B. mori. BmAst gene was highest expressed in hemocytes and fat body of the 5th instar larvae, and high expression in the pupa stage. The transcriptional levels of the BmAst gene in 5th instar larvae were significantly induced by BmNPV or dsRNA. After knocking down BmAst gene expression by specific dsRNA, the proliferation of BmNPV in B. mori was increased significantly, whereas the survival rate of larvae was significantly lower when compared with the control. Our findings indicate that BmAst is involved in silkworm resistance to BmNPV infection.

Traumatic brain injury is a leading cause of neuroinflammation and anxiety disorders in young adults. Immune-targeted therapies have garnered attention for the amelioration of TBI-induced anxiety. A previous study has indicated that voluntary exercise intervention following TBI could reduce neuroinflammation. It is essential to determine the effects of voluntary exercise after TBI on anxiety via inhibiting neuroinflammatory response. Mice were randomly divided into four groups (sham, TBI, sham + voluntary wheel running (VWR), and TBI + VWR). One-week VWR was carried out on the 2nd day after trauma. The neurofunction of TBI mice was assessed. Following VWR, anxiety behavior was evaluated, and neuroinflammatory responses in the perilesional cortex were investigated. Results showed that after one week of VWR, neurofunctional recovery was enhanced, while the anxiety behavior of TBI mice was significantly alleviated. The level of pro-inflammatory factors decreased, and the level of anti-inflammatory factors elevated. Activation of nucleotide oligomerization domain-like thermal receptor protein domain associated protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome was inhibited significantly. All these alterations were consistent with reduced microglial activation at the perilesional site and positively correlated with the amelioration of anxiety behavior. This suggested that timely rehabilitative exercise could be a useful therapeutic strategy for anxiety resulting from TBI by targeting neuroinflammation.

With the deteriorating effects resulting from global warming in many areas, geographically distributed data centers contribute greatly to carbon emissions, because the major energy supply is fossil fuels. Considering this issue, many geographically distributed data centers are attempting to use clean energy as their energy supply, such as fuel cells and renewable energy sources. However, not all workloads can be powered by a single power sources, since different workloads exhibit different characteristics. In this paper, we propose a fine-grained heterogeneous power distribution model with an objective of minimizing the total energy costs and the sum of the energy gap generated by the geographically distributed data centers powered by multiple types of energy resources. In order to achieve these two goals, we design a two-stage online algorithm to leverage the power supply of each energy source. In each time slot, we also consider a chance-constraint problem and use the Bernstein approximation to solve the problem. Finally, simulation results based on real-world traces illustrate that the proposed algorithm can achieve satisfactory performance.

Abstract Background Most end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients undergo open surgical techniques for peritoneal dialysis (PD) catheter placement. An alternative method to PD catheter implantation is the half-percutaneous (“Half-Perc”) technique based on a modified trocar that is performed by a nephrologist. The single-center, retrospective, observational, cohort study presented here aimed to compare the effects of the “Half-Perc” technique with the traditional open surgery on peritoneal catheter insertion. Methods From January 2015 to January 2018, 240 ESRD patients who received initial PD catheter placement were divided into two groups based on the “Half-Perc” technique or open surgery. All patients were followed up for 365 days or until loss of initial PD catheter or death. Prism 5 software was used to analyze baseline characteristics, operation-related parameters, mechanical complications and clinical outcomes. Results The “Half-Perc” technique showed shorter operation time, shorter incision length, lower postoperative pain scores and quick initiation of the PD program compared to the open surgery. After the 365-day follow-up, the “Half-Perc” group showed a higher rate of catheter dysfunction (4% versus 0.9%) that was corrected by conservative treatment in most patients and a lower rate of peritonitis (4% versus 9.6%) but mechanical complications and clinical outcomes did not differ between the two groups. There was also no significant difference based on overall patient mortality or catheter removal. One-year initial catheter survival and true catheter survival were not statistically different between the groups. Conclusion The “Half-Perc” placement of the PD catheter using a modified metal trocar appears to be a non-inferior alternative method and carries minimal invasiveness and risk compared to open surgical placement.

Abstract Background Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) as a widespread and pivotal epigenetic molecule participates in the occurrence and progression of malignant tumors. DRAIC, a kind of lncRNA whose coding gene location is on 15q23 chromatin, has been found to be weakly expressed in a variety of malignant tumors and acts as a suppressor, but its characteristics and role in gastric cancer (GC) remain to be elucidated. Methods Sixty-seven primary GC tissues and paired paracancerous normal tissues were collected. Bioinformatics is used to predict the interaction molecules of DRAIC. DRAIC and NFRKB were overexpressed or interfered exogenously in GC cells by lentivirus or transient transfection. Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) and western blotting were used to evaluate the expression of DRAIC, UCHL5 and NFRKB. The combinations of DRAIC and NFRKB or UCHL5 and NFRKB were verified by RNA-IP and Co-IP assays. Ubiquitination-IP and the treatment of MG132 and CHX were used to detect the ubiquitylation level of NFRKB. The CCK-8 and transwell invasion and migration assays measured the proliferation, migration and invasion of GC cells. Results DRAIC is down-regulated in GC tissues and cell lines while its potential interacting molecules UCHL5 and NFRKB are up-regulated, and DRAIC is positively correlated with NFRKB protein instead of mRNA. Lower DRAIC and higher UCHL5 and NFRKB indicated advanced progression of GC patients. DRAIC could increase NFRKB protein significantly instead of NFRKB mRNA and UCHL5, and bind to UCHL5. DRAIC combined with UCHL5 and attenuated binding of UCHL5 and NFRKB, meanwhile promoting the degradation of NFRKB via ubiquitination, and then inhibited the proliferation and metastasis of GC cells, which can be rescued by oeNFRKB. Conclusion DRAIC suppresses GC proliferation and metastasis via interfering with the combination of UCHL5 and NFRKB and mediating ubiquitination degradation.

In this paper, a new cooperative occupancy decision-making problem for multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in beyond-visual-range (BVR) air combat is proposed; that is, UAV formation on each side first decides the occupancy positions of their own UAVs, then decides the target that each UAV will confront, so that each side can occupy the greatest predominance and be subject to the smallest threat possible. By analyzing the influence of the occupancy positions of the UAVs on the predominance gained by both sides and the threat against them, the problem is described as a zero-sum matrix game. Because the strategy combinations of this game are very numerous, as the best algorithm for the zero-sum matrix game, the Double Oracle (DO) algorithm still has difficulty solving the game model effectively. Therefore, we propose a DO combined with neighborhood search (DO-NS) algorithm to deal with the large-scale zero-sum matrix game. The results show that compared with the DO algorithm, the DO-NS algorithm can ensure the effectiveness of the computational time and solution quality.

Background: Fungal peritonitis (FP) is a rare but severe complication that can appear in patients receiving peritoneal dialysis (PD). This study aimed to investigate the incidence rate and clinical characteristics of FP, evaluate clinical outcomes between FP and bacterial peritonitis (BP) patients on PD, and especially estimate the risk factors for FP outbreak.Methods: All episodes of FP diagnosed in our hospital from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2020, were reviewed in this single-center study. FP cases were analyzed and compared with patients diagnosed with BP in a 1:6 ratio matching for case-control study. Patient information, including clinical information, biochemical analysis, and outcomes, was recorded. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression model were used to analyze the risk factors for FP.Results: A total of 15 FP episodes were observed in 15 PD patients, with an FP rate of 0.0071 episodes per patient-year. Seventeen strains of fungi were isolated and identified. Candida was the most common pathogen (15 strains, 88.2%), followed by Aspergillus fumigatus (2 strains, 11.8%). Between the groups, FP group showed a higher rate of HD transfer and catheter removal, and a lower rate of PD resumption in the short-term outcome (all P < 0.01), while no significant difference in the mortality was noted during the whole study period. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that longer PD duration (odds ratio [OR] 1.042, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.012–1.073, P < 0.01), higher serum potassium (OR 3.373, 95% CI 1.068–10.649, P < 0.05), elevated estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (OR 1.845, 95% CI 1.151–2.955, P < 0.05), reduced serum albumin level (OR 0.820, 95% CI 0.695–0.968, P < 0.05) and peritoneal effluent polymorphonuclear (PMN) count (OR 0.940, 95%CI 0.900–0.981, P < 0.01) were significantly increased the risk for FP.Conclusion: These results suggested that FP leads to higher rate of catheter removal and HD transfer, and a lower rate of PD resumption than BP, and that additional attention should be paid to hypoalbuminemia, increased serum potassium, long PD duration, and low peritoneal effluent PMN in PD patients.

Objective: Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) has become the major cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) associated with the progression of renal fibrosis. As gut microbiota dysbiosis is closely related to renal damage and fibrosis, we investigated the role of gut microbiota and microbiota-related serum metabolites in DKD progression in this study.Methods: Fecal and serum samples obtained from predialysis DKD patients from January 2017 to December 2019 were detected using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, respectively. Forty-one predialysis patients were divided into two groups according to their estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR): the DKD non-ESRD group (eGFR ≥ 15 ml/min/1.73 m2) (n = 22), and the DKD ESRD group (eGFR < 15 ml/min/1.73 m2) (n = 19). The metabolic pathways related to differential serum metabolites were obtained by the KEGG pathway analysis. Differences between the two groups relative to gut microbiota profiles and serum metabolites were investigated, and associations between gut microbiota and metabolite concentrations were assessed. Correlations between clinical indicators and both microbiota-related metabolites and gut microbiota were calculated by Spearman rank correlation coefficient and visualized by heatmap.Results: Eleven different intestinal floras and 239 different serum metabolites were identified between the two groups. Of 239 serum metabolites, 192 related to the 11 different intestinal flora were mainly enriched in six metabolic pathways, among which, phenylalanine and tryptophan metabolic pathways were most associated with DKD progression. Four microbiota-related metabolites in the phenylalanine metabolic pathway [hippuric acid (HA), L-(−)-3-phenylactic acid, trans-3-hydroxy-cinnamate, and dihydro-3-coumaric acid] and indole-3 acetic acid (IAA) in the tryptophan metabolic pathway positively correlated with DKD progression, whereas L-tryptophan in the tryptophan metabolic pathway had a negative correlation. Intestinal flora g_Abiotrophia and g_norank_f_Peptococcaceae were positively correlated with the increase in renal function indicators and serum metabolite HA. G_Lachnospiraceae_NC2004_Group was negatively correlated with the increase in renal function indicators and serum metabolites [L-(−)-3-phenyllactic acid and IAA].Conclusions: This study highlights the interaction among gut microbiota, serum metabolites, and clinical indicators in predialysis DKD patients, and provides new insights into the role of gut microbiota and microbiota-related serum metabolites that were enriched in the phenylalanine and tryptophan metabolic pathways, which correlated with the progression of DKD.

This research proposes a new medical procurement decision-making tool named Evaluation of Medical Technology Procurement (EMTP), which combines Mini-health Technology Assessment (Mini HTA) with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), as well as the intuitionistic linguistic multi-criteria group decision model for multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). This tool was applied to a medical device procurement decision in a large provincial general hospital with more than 5000 beds in China as a case study. Specifically, the AHP evaluation framework is first established to determine the evaluation dimensions and criteria. This goal is achieved by applying the AdHopHTA Mini-HTA template and gathering data from questionnaires completed by experts from 33 major public hospitals in Anhui Province, China. The professionals within the application hospital were invited to evaluate the alternative products in a pairwise comparison and obtain a ranking of their advantages and disadvantages. This goal is achieved using the intuitionistic linguistic fuzzy model to deal with the subjectivity and uncertainty that may be present in the professional evaluation by experts in different fields. At the same time, the Keeney-Raiffa MCDA (KRM) method was used to demonstrate the accuracy of the application results. The results show that our tool can achieve the same effect as the verification method while being more efficient, easier to use, and requiring fewer participants. The advantages and disadvantages of several evaluation methods combined with multi-criteria methods are discussed, including verification methods, pointing out the advantages and limitations of this research tool as well as the prospects for the future.

Maternal obesity or exposure to a high-fat diet (HFD) has an irreversible impact on the structural and functional development of offspring brains. This study aimed to investigate whether maternal HFD during pregnancy and lactation impairs dentate gyrus (DG) neurogenesis in offspring by altering neural stem cells (NSCs) behaviors. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a chow diet (CHD) or HFD (60% fat) during gestation and lactation. Pups were collected on postnatal day 1 (PND 1), PND 10 and PND 21. Changes in offspring body weight, brain structure and granular cell layer (GCL) thickness in the hippocampus were analyzed. Hippocampal NSCs behaviors, in terms of proliferation and differentiation, were investigated after immunohistochemical staining with Nestin, Ki67, SOX2, Doublecortin (DCX) and NeuN. Maternal HFD accelerated body weight gain and brain structural development in offspring after birth. It also reduced the number of NSCs and their proliferation, leading to a decrease in NSCs pool size. Furthermore, maternal HFD intensified NSCs depletion and promoted neuronal differentiation in the early postnatal development period. These findings suggest that maternal HFD intake significantly reduced the amount and capability of NSCs via reducing type–2 NSCs and promoting premature neuronal differentiation during postnatal hippocampal development.

This paper focused on evaluating the effect of TLR4-MyD88-NF-κB signaling pathway in the progression of secondary hepatic injury and fibrosis in hepatolithiasis. The levels of inflammatory factors (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α) and serum biochemical values (ALT, AST, Tbil, Dbil, ALP, GGT) were detected by ELISA. IHC was used to detected the expression level of TLR4 in liver tissues of hepatolithiasis patients and mice. The pathological changes of liver tissue were observed by HE staining. The levels of MyD88, NF-κB, IκB, Laminin (LN), and chitosan enzyme 3-like protein 1 (CHI3L1) were detected by western blotting. In hepatolithiasis patients, the levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 were distinctly raised and proteins associated with TLR4-MyD88-NF-κB signaling pathway (such as TLR4, MyD88, NF-κB, and IκB) in liver tissues were significantly up-regulated. In Bile duct ligation (BDL) model of mice, the results showed that in addition to the significant increase of inflammatory factors, liver function indexes, and fibrosis indexes in BDL mice were also significantly up-regulated. Additionally, TLR4-MyD88-NF-κB signaling pathway was activated in BDL mice. After TLR4 knockdown in BDL mice, inflammatory factors, liver function indexes, and fibrosis indexes were significantly down-regulated. TLR4-MyD88-NF-κB signaling pathway proteins were restrained. TLR4-MyD88-NF-κB signaling pathway took part in the progression of secondary hepatic injury and fibrosis in hepatolithiasis. Inhibition of TLR4-MyD88-NF-κB signaling pathway can reduce the progression of secondary hepatic injury and fibrosis in hepatolithiasis.

Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is an essential enzyme of the plant antioxidant system that responds to oxidative damage caused by adverse conditions. However, little is known about the SOD gene family in Vitis vinifera (Vv). In the present study, ten SOD genes, including 6 copper/zinc SODs, 2 iron SODs, and 2 manganese SODs, were identified in the grapevine genome where they were unevenly distributed on 12 chromosomes. Ten VvSOD genes were divided into three main groups based on phylogenetic analysis, subcellular localization, and the distribution of conserved protein motifs. Additionally, many cis-elements related to different stresses were found in the promoters of the 10 VvSOD genes. Syntenic analysis revealed that VvMSD1 and VvMSD2 were derived from segmental duplication, and VvCSD4 and VvCSD5 belong to a pair of tandemly duplicated genes. Gene expression analysis based on microarray data showed that the 10 VvSOD genes were expressed in all the tested tissues. Interestingly, the segmentally duplicated gene pair (VvMSD1 and VvMSD2) exhibited differential expression patterns in various organs. In contrast, the tandemly duplicated gene pair (VvCSD4 and VvCSD5) displayed similar expression patterns in the tested organs. Our results provide a basis for further functional research on the SOD gene family in grapevine.

To reduce the workload of inspectors and improve the inspection efficiency of urban transmission towers, a new inspection method is proposed in this paper, in which an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and vehicle cooperate with each other. We investigate the cooperative path planning problem of a UAV and a vehicle for transmission tower inspection and develop a new 0−1 integer programming model to address the problem. An odd-even layered genetic algorithm (O-ELGA) is proposed to efficiently solve the model. Finally, the effectiveness of the algorithm is further verified by simulation experiments.

Wind has a significant effect on the control of fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), resulting in changes in their ground speed and direction, which has an important influence on the results of integrated optimization of UAV task allocation and path planning. The objective of this integrated optimization problem changes from minimizing flight distance to minimizing flight time. In this study, the Euclidean distance between any two targets is expanded to the Dubins path length, considering the minimum turning radius of fixed-wing UAVs. According to the vector relationship between wind speed, UAV airspeed, and UAV ground speed, a method is proposed to calculate the flight time of UAV between targets. On this basis, a variable-speed Dubins path vehicle routing problem (VS-DP-VRP) model is established with the purpose of minimizing the time required for UAVs to visit all the targets and return to the starting point. By designing a crossover operator and mutation operator, the genetic algorithm is used to solve the model, the results of which show that an effective UAV task allocation and path planning solution under steady wind can be provided.

Recently，online social network（OSN）has become essential tools for information sharing and communication in people’s work and life.How to cognitive massive，complex，large-area and spatiotemporal association user behavior information and provide personalized re1commendation services have become problems need special attention in development of OSN.Thus，a frame of collaborative recommendation for OSN based on user behavior cognitive was proposed which used collaborative filtering algorithm to provide personalized recommendation services on the basis of analysis of behavior of user characteristics，text information and interest preferences，etc.Experimental results verify that the proposed collaborative recommendation strategy based on user behavior cognitive has good stability and actual application effect.

The use of cryptographic techniques such as encryption and hashing largely increases the energy consumption of sensors, which aggravates the original critical energy constraint problem of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). To reduce the burden of sensors, compression can be utilized. Since the traditional chaos-based schemes are not directly applicable for WSNs, we present a hybrid security solution. The hybrid security consists of 8-bit integer chaotic block encryption and a chaos-based message authentication codes. It aims to promote the security and performance of data gathering. In this paper, a hybrid security and compressive sensing-based scheme for multimedia sensor data gathering is presented. It has light security mechanism and thus decreases the complexity and energy consumption of system. Performance analysis about security and compression is carried out. The results show that our scheme is more applicable for WSNs multimedia data gathering from security and compression efficiency.

A novel fault-tolerant communication topology management method for the leader–follower unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) formation is proposed to minimize the formation communication cost while keeping the formation shape, even in the case of communication faults during the formation flight. This method is based on Edmonds’ algorithm for the minimum cost arborescence problem in graph theory. When a formation shape is given before the formation flight, this method can get the optimal initial communication topology with the minimum formation communication cost for keeping the formation shape. When some communication faults occur during the formation flight, which will cause the formation shape cannot be kept, this method can reconfigure the communication topology in time to guarantee the safety of all UAVs and recover the formation shape, and then it can reoptimize the communication topology by UAV position reconfiguration in the formation shape to minimize the formation communication cost for continuously keeping the formation shape. The effectiveness of this method is demonstrated through several simulation experiments.