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Abstract Aiming at the problems of inaccuracy in detecting the α phase contour of TB6 titanium alloy. By combining computer vision technology with human vision mechanisms, the spatial characteristics of the α phase can be simulated to obtain the contour accurately. Therefore, an algorithm for α phase contour detection of TB6 titanium alloy fused with multi-scale fretting features is proposed. Firstly, through the response of the classical receptive field model based on fretting and the suppression of new non-classical receptive field model based on fretting, the information maps of the α phase contour of the TB6 titanium alloy at different scales are obtained; then the information map of the smallest scale contour is used as a benchmark, the neighborhood is constructed to judge the deviation of other scale contour information, and the corresponding weight value is calculated; finally, Gaussian function is used to weight and fuse the deviation information, and the contour detection result of TB6 titanium alloy α phase is obtained. In the Visual Studio 2013 environment, 484 metallographic images with different temperatures, strain rates, and magnifications were tested. The results show that the performance evaluation F value of the proposed algorithm is 0.915, which can effectively improve the accuracy of α phase contour detection of TB6 titanium alloy.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) is a compound composed of carbon and hydrogen atoms. Chemically, large PAHs contain at least two benzene rings and exist in a linear, cluster, or angular arrangement. Hexagonal systems are a typical class of PAHs. The Clar covering polynomial of hexagonal systems contains many important topological properties of condensed aromatic hydrocarbons, such as Kekulé number, Clar number, first Herndon number, which is an important theoretical quantity for predicting the aromatic stability of PAH conjugation systems, and so on. In this paper, we first obtained some recursive formulae for the Clar covering polynomials of double hexagonal chains and proposed a Matlab algorithm to compute the Clar covering polynomial of any double hexagonal chain. Moreover, we presented the characterization of extremal double hexagonal chains with maximum and minimum Clar covering polynomials in all double hexagonal chains with fixed $ s $ naphthalenes.

Abstract The pathogenesis of colon cancer, a common gastrointestinal tumour, involves complicated factors, especially a series of cell cycle‐related genes. E2F transcription factors during the cell cycle play an essential role in the occurrence of colon cancer. It is meaningful to establish an efficient prognostic model of colon cancer targeting cellular E2F‐associated genes. This has not been reported previously. The authors first aimed to explore the links of E2F genes with the clinical outcomes of colon cancer patients by integrating data from the TCGA‐COAD (n = 521), GSE17536 (n = 177) and GSE39582 (n = 585) cohorts. The Cox regression and Lasso modelling approach to identify a novel colon cancer prognostic model involving several hub genes (CDKN2A, GSPT1, PNN, POLD3, PPP1R8, PTTG1 and RFC1) were utilised. Moreover, an E2F‐related nomogram that efficiently predicted the survival rates of colon cancer patients was created. Additionally, the authors first identified two E2F tumour clusters, which showed distinct prognostic features. Interestingly, the potential links of E2F‐based classification and ‘protein secretion’ issues of multiorgans and tumour infiltration of ‘T‐cell regulatory (Tregs)’ and ‘CD56dim natural killer cell’ were detected. The authors’ findings are of potential clinical significance for the prognosis assessment and mechanistic exploration of colon cancer.

Immune recognition of excessive neurotoxins by microglia is a trigger for the onset of neuroinflammation in the brain, leading to neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Blocking active recognition of microglia while removing neurotoxins holds promise for fundamentally alleviating neurotoxin-induced immune responses, but is very challenging. Herein, an engineered macrophage-biomimetic versatile nanoantidote (OT-Lipo@M) is developed for inflammation-targeted therapy against AD by neurotoxin neutralization and immune recognition suppression. Coating macrophage membranes can not only endow OT-Lipo@M with anti-phagocytic and inflammation-tropism capabilities to target inflammatory lesions in AD brain, but also efficiently reduce neurotoxin levels to prevent them from activating microglia. The loaded oxytocin (OT) can be slowly released to downregulate the expression of immune recognition site Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) on microglia, inhibiting TLR4-mediated pro-inflammatory signalling cascade. Benefiting from this two-pronged immunosuppressive strategy, OT-Lipo@M exhibits outstanding therapeutic effects on ameliorating cognitive deficits, inhibiting neuronal apoptosis, and enhancing synaptic plasticity in AD mice, accompanied by the delayed hippocampal atrophy and brain microstructural disruption by in vivo 9.4T MR imaging. This work provides new insights into potential AD therapeutics targeting microglia-mediated neuroinflammation at the source.

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the effect of modular nursing model for typical issues on enteral nutrition status, immune function, and quality of life in patients with colon cancer. Methods: The clinical data of 106 colorectal cancer patients who came to our hospital from January 2020 to January 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were randomized into the control and observation group based on the different nursing models, with 53 cases in each group. The patients in the control group received a simple enteral nutrition nursing model, while these in the observation group were administrated with a modular nursing model for typical issues on the basis of the control group. The differences in enteral nutrition status, immune function, and quality of life indicators of patients before and after nursing were counted and compared between the two groups. Results: After the nursing, the contents of albumin, serum albumin, and transferrin were all elevated in both two groups compared with these before the nursing (P

Abstract Background Hypoxia-mediated radioresistance is the main obstacle to the successful treatment of glioblastoma (GBM). Enhancing hypoxic radiosensitivity and alleviating tumor hypoxia are both effective means to improve therapeutic efficacy, and the combination of the two is highly desirable and meaningful. Results Herein, we construct a low-dose pleiotropic radiosensitive nanoformulation consisting of a high-Z atomic nanocrystal core and mesoporous silica shell, surface-modified with angiopep-2 (ANG) peptide and loaded with nitric oxide (NO) donor and hypoxia-activated prodrug (AQ4N). Benefiting from ANG-mediated transcytosis, this nanoformulation can efficiently cross the BBB and accumulate preferentially in the brain. Low-dose radiation triggers this nanoformulation to exert a three-pronged synergistic therapeutic effect through high-Z-atom-dependent dose deposition enhancement, NO-mediated hypoxia relief, and AQ4N-induced hypoxia-selective killing, thereby significantly inhibiting GBM in situ growth while prolonging survival and maintaining stable body weight in the glioma-bearing mice. Meanwhile, the proposed in vivo 9.4 T BOLD/DWI can realize real-time dynamic assessment of local oxygen supply and radiosensitivity to monitor the therapeutic response of GBM. Conclusions This work provides a promising alternative for hypoxia-specific GBM-targeted comprehensive therapy, noninvasive monitoring, and precise prognosis. Graphical Abstract

To study the influence of Chinese Pinyin on detecting and correcting text errors in speech recognition, a text proofreading model based on Chinese semantic and phonological information was proposed.Five Pinyin coding methods were designed to construct the character-Pinyin embedding vector that was employed as the input of the Seq2Seq model based on gated recurrent unit.At the same time, the attention mechanism was adopted to extract the Chinese semantic and phonological information of sentences to correct speech recognition errors.Aiming at the problem of insufficient labeled corpus, a data augmentation method was introduced, which could automatically obtain annotated corpora by exchanging the initials or finals of Chinese Pinyin.The experimental results on AISHELL-3’s public data show that phonological information is conducive to the text proofreading model to detect and correct text errors after speech recognition, and the proposed data augmentation method can improve the error detection performance of the model.

IntroductionAir pollution imposes a significant burden on public health. Compared with the popular air quality index (AQI), the air quality health index (AQHI) provides a more comprehensive approach to measuring mixtures of air pollutants and is suitable for overall assessments of the short-term health effects of such mixtures.MethodsWe established an AQHI and cumulative risk index (CRI)-AQHI for Tianjin using single–and multi-pollutant models, respectively, as well as environmental, meteorological, and daily mortality data of residents in Tianjin between 2018 and 2020.Results and discussionCompared with the AQI, the AQHI and CRI-AQHI established herein correlated more closely with the exposure-response relationships of the total mortality effects on residents. For each increase in the interquartile range of the AQHI, CRI-AQHI and AQI, the total daily mortality rates increased by 2.06, 1.69 and 0.62%, respectively. The AQHI and CRI-AQHI predicted daily mortality rate of residents more effectively than the AQI, and the correlations of AQHI and CRI-AQHI with health were similar. Our AQHI of Tianjin was used to establish specific (S)-AQHIs for different disease groups. The results showed that all measured air pollutants had the greatest impact on the health of persons with chronic respiratory diseases, followed by lung cancer, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The AQHI of Tianjin established in this study was accurate and dependable for assessing short-term health risks of air pollution in Tianjin, and the established S-AQHI can be used to separately assess health risks among different disease groups.

Abstract Background Sirtuin 1 (Sirt1) is a recognized longevity gene and has been shown to be associated with aging and its related diseases. Hippocampal volume is considered to be the most sensitive brain imaging phenotype for cognition, but the effect of Sirt1 on hippocampal morphology during aging has not been reported. Results Herein, we investigated the effect of conditional Sirt1 knockdown on hippocampal volume in middle-aged mice, as well as its cognitive function and the underlying molecular mechanisms. Brain structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed that adeno-associated virus (AAV) mediated hippocampal Sirt1 knockdown caused hippocampal atrophy in 8-month-old mice. Open field test (OFT) and Morris Water Maze (MWM) test revealed that hippocampal Sirt1 knockdown significantly weakened spatial learning and memory of mice without effect on anxiety and exploratory behavior. Western blotting analysis showed that P-tau levels at serine 396 epitope were significantly increased with slightly decreased T-tau levels, while PSD95 and NMDAR2B levels were obviously reduced, indicating that hippocampal Sirt1 knockdown could activate tau hyperphosphorylation and synaptic damage. Conclusions This work revealed that Sirt1 is an important protective gene against hippocampal atrophy and its induced cognitive impairment during aging, providing potential therapeutic targets for the prevention and intervention of aging-related neuropsychic diseases.

The multi-layer network topology structures directly affect the robustness of network consensus. The different positions of edges between layers will lead to a great difference in the consensus of double-layer chain networks. Finding the optimal positions of edges for consensus can help to design the network topology structures with optimal robustness. In this paper, we first derive the coherence of double-layer chain networks with one and two connected edges between layers by graph theory. Secondly, the optimal and worst connection edges positions of the two types of networks are simulated. When there is one edge between layers, the optimal edge connection position is found at 1/2 of each chain, and the worst edge connection position is found at the end node of the chain. When there are two edges between layers, the optimal edges connection positions are located at 1/5 and 4/5 of each chain respectively, and the worst edges connection positions are located at the end node of the chain and its neighbor node. Furthermore, we find that the optimal edge connection positions are closely related to the number of single-layer network nodes, and obtain their specific rules.

Abstract Background Hyperinsulinemia is independently associated with increased risk and mortality of pancreatic cancer. We recently reported that genetically reduced insulin production resulted in ~ 50% suppression of pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) precancerous lesions in mice. However, only female mice remained normoglycemic, and only the gene dosage of the rodent-specific Ins1 alleles was tested in our previous model. Moreover, we did not delve into the molecular and cellular mechanisms associated with modulating hyperinsulinemia. Methods We studied how reduced Ins2 gene dosage affects PanIN lesion development in both male and female Ptf1a CreER;Kras LSL-G12D mice lacking the rodent-specific Ins1 gene (Ins1 -/-). We generated control mice having two alleles of the wild-type Ins2 gene (Ptf1a CreER;Kras LSL-G12D;Ins1 -/-;Ins2 +/+) and experimental mice having one allele of Ins2 gene (Ptf1a CreER;Kras LSL-G12D;Ins1 -/-;Ins2 +/-). We then performed thorough histopathological analyses and single-cell transcriptomics for both genotypes and sexes. Results High-fat diet–induced hyperinsulinemia was transiently or modestly reduced in female and male mice, respectively, with only one allele of Ins2. This occurred without dramatically affecting glucose tolerance. Genetic reduction of insulin production resulted in mice with a tendency for less PanIN and acinar-to-ductal metaplasia (ADM) lesions. Using single-cell transcriptomics, we found hyperinsulinemia affected multiple cell types in the pancreas, with the most statistically significant effects on local immune cell types that were highly represented in our sampled cell population. Specifically, hyperinsulinemia modulated pathways associated with protein translation, MAPK-ERK signaling, and PI3K-AKT signaling, which were changed in epithelial cells and subsets of immune cells. Conclusions These data suggest a potential role for the immune microenvironment in hyperinsulinemia-driven PanIN development. Together with our previous work, we propose that mild suppression of insulin levels may be useful in preventing pancreatic cancer by acting on multiple cell types.

Abstract Background Parent-child separation is a considerable adversity for left-behind children (LBC), but there is little evidence on the association between detailed characteristics of parent-child separation and social-emotional development among LBC. This study examined the characteristics of parent-child separation and its impacts on developmental delay among under-3 LBC in poor rural China. Methods We used data from 811 LBC surveyed in five poor counties in rural China in 2018. Detailed characteristics of their parental migration were recalled by their primary caregivers in face-to-face interviews. The children’s social-emotional development was measured by using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social-Emotional. Logistic regression was employed to examine the association of detailed characteristics of parent-child separation with early social-emotional problems after adjusting for the children’s and primary caregivers’ sociodemographic characteristics. Results 287 (35.4%) children were left behind by fathers and cared for by mothers (FM-MC), while 524 (64.6%) were left behind by both parents and cared for by grandparents (PM-GC). The rate of social-emotional problems among LBC was 36.8% (PM-GC vs FM-MC: 40.6% vs 29.5%; aOR 1.51, 95% CI: 1.06 to 2.16). For paternal migration, the medians of the child’s age at the first migration and average duration per migration were 3 months (IQR: 1 to 9 months) and 4.48 months (IQR: 2.38 to 7.54 months), respectively. For maternal migration, the corresponding values were 9 months (IQR: 6 to 13 months) and 4.65 months (IQR: 2.71 to 7.62 months), respectively. On average, LBC had been separated from fathers for 72% of their life due to paternal migration and from mothers for 52% of their life due to maternal migration. No significant association was found between the detailed characteristics of paternal migration and social-emotional development among LBC, while social-emotional problems among LBC were significantly associated with the proportion of cumulative duration of maternal migration in the child’s lifetime (aOR 2.83; 95% CI: 1.13 to 7.10). Conclusions LBC under 3 years had a high risk of social-emotional problems in poor rural China. Cumulative exposure to maternal migration may be detrimental to LBC’s early social-emotional development. Programs are necessary to support these children as well as their families.

Handan is a typical city affected by regional particulate pollution. In order to investigate particulate matter (PM) characterization, source contributions and health risks for the general populations, we collected PM samples at two sites affected by a pollution event (12–18 May 2020) during the COVID-19 pandemic and analyzed the major components (SNA, OCEC, WSIIs, and metal elements). A PCA-MLR model was used for source apportionment. The carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks caused by metal elements in the PM were assessed. The results show that the renewal of old neighborhoods significantly influences local PM, and primarily the PM10; the average contribution to PM10 was 27 μg/m3. The source apportionment has indicated that all other elements came from dust, except Cd, Pb and Zn, and the contribution of the dust source to PM was 60.4%. As PM2.5 grew to PM10, the PM changed from basic to acidic, resulting in a lower NH4+ concentration in PM10 than PM2.5. The carcinogenic risk of PM10 was more than 1 × 10−6 for both children and adults, and the excess mortality caused by the renewal of the community increased by 23%. Authorities should pay more attention to the impact of renewal on air quality. The backward trajectory and PSCF calculations show that both local sources and short-distance transport contribute to PM—local sources for PM10, and short-distance transport in southern Hebei, northern Henan and northern Anhui for PM2.5, SO2 and NO2.

Lung cancer is one of the cancers with the highest incidence in the world, and there is no standard treatment plan after second-line progression. Tumor angiogenesis has now been identified as an important therapeutic target for malignant tumors. Small molecule multi-target vascular kinase inhibitors can inhibit tumor angiogenesis by inhibiting angiogenesis-related signal pathways. At present, a lot of clinical trials of small molecule anti-angiogenic drugs for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have been carried out, and some vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (VEGFR-TKIs) have been approved for the treatment of advanced NSCLC. Based on the development status of multiple small molecule anti-angiogenic drugs at home and abroad for the treatment of NSCLC, this article summarizes the efficacy and safety studies of multiple VEGFR-TKIs and fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR)-TKI single agents or combination treatments [including combined with chemotherapy, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-TKIs, immunotherapy, and radiotherapy, etc.] for NSCLC, and at the same time discussed the possible existence of VEGFR-TKIs drug resistance mechanisms and efficacy predictors, etc., and prospect the future development trend and potential problems of anti-vascular treatment of NSCLC, and provide new ideas for the follow-up precision and individualized treatment of lung cancer.

Sleep deprivation is a potent stress factor that disrupts regulatory pathways in the brain resulting in cognitive dysfunction and increased risk of neurodegenerative disease with increasing age. Prevention of the adverse effects of sleep deprivation could be beneficial in older individuals by restoring healthy brain function. We report here on the ability of SS31, a mitochondrial specific peptide, to attenuate the negative neurological effects of short-term sleep deprivation in aging mice. C57BL/6 female mice, 20 months old, were subcutaneously injected with SS31 (3 mg/kg) or saline daily for four days. Sleep deprivation was 4 h daily for the last two days of SS31 treatment. Mice were immediately tested for learning ability followed by collection of brain and other tissues. In sleep deprived mice treated with SS31, learning impairment was prevented, brain mitochondrial ATP levels and synaptic plasticity regulatory proteins were restored, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inflammatory cytokines levels were decreased in the hippocampus. This observation suggests possible therapeutic benefits of SS31 for alleviating adverse neurological effects of short-term sleep loss.

The intention of this paper is to develop some new Hermite–Jensen–Mercer type inequalities for p−convex functions via k−fractional conformable integrals. Several existing results are also discussed which can be deduced from our results.

Energy of a graph is defined as the sum of the absolute values of the eigenvalues of the adjacency matrix associated with the graph. In this research work, we find color energy, distance energy, Laplacian energy, and Seidel energy for the Dutch windmill graph of cycle lengths 4, 5, and 6. Also, we find the lower bounds of the double-wheel graph for energy, Seidel energy, color energy, distance energy, Laplacian energy, and Harary energy.

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were modified by oxidation and acidification with concentrated HNO3 and H2SO4, and the modified multiwalled carbon nanotubes (M-MWCNTs) and raw MWCNTs were characterized by several analytical techniques. Then the demanganization effects of MWCNTs and M-MWCNTs were well investigated and elucidated. The experimental data demonstrated that the adsorption efficiency of Mn(II) could be greatly promoted by M-MWCNTs from about 20% to 75%, and the optimal adsorption time was 6 h and the optimal pH was 6. The results of the kinetic model studies showed that Mn(II) removal by M-MWCNTs followed the pseudo-second-order model. Isothermal studies were conducted and the results demonstrated that the experimental data fitted well with the three models. The reliability of the experimental results was well verified by PSO–BP simulation, and the present conclusion could be used as a condition for further simulation. The research results provide a potential technology for promoting the removal of manganese from wastewater; at the same time, the application of various mathematical models also provides more scientific ideas for the research of the mechanism of adsorption of heavy metals by nanomaterials.

Antioxidation and adjustable treatment strategies are critical for the effective treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we design a dual-targeted Prussian blue nanoformulation (PTCN) that can cross the blood-brain barrier and target amyloid beta aggregates further exert antioxidant effects. An adjustable gradient dosing strategy with PTCN is used for the first time to design the preventive and therapeutic trials based on the severity of oxidative stress at different AD stages. The results show that PTCN could effectively ameliorate AD-related pathological processes, improve the cognitive decline, and rescue hippocampal atrophy of APP/PS1 mice in both preventive and therapeutic trials. Altogether, PTCN provided here is a successful combination of three traditional biomaterials with good biosafety, which has broad prospects for the early prevention, mild remission, and late treatment of AD, and is expected to be developed into personalized therapeutic drugs and healthcare products for clinical AD in the future. Public summary: • Dual-targeted PTCN that were assembled from traditional biomaterials can traverse the blood-brain barrier, target Aβ aggregates, exert antioxidant effects and ameliorate other pathological processes • The adjustable PTCN dosing strategy designed according to the OS level of AD stages can improve cognitive decline and hippocampal atrophy of APP/PS1 mice in both preventive and therapeutic trials • PTCN has broad prospects for the early prevention, mild remission and late treatment of AD

Natural molecules with favorable safety profile and broad pharmacological activities have shown great promise in the treatment of various neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs). Current studies applying natural molecules against NDDs mainly focus on well-recognized conventional pathogenesis, such as toxic protein aggregation, oxidative stress, and neuroinflammation. However, accumulating evidence reveals that some underlying pathogenic mechanisms are involved earlier and more deeply in the occurrence and development of NDDs, such as ferroptosis, energy metabolism disorders, autophagy-lysosomal dysfunction, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and gut dysbiosis. Therefore, determining whether natural molecules can play therapeutic roles in these emerging pathogenic mechanisms will help clarify the actual targets of natural molecules and their future clinical translation. Furthermore, how to overcome the inability of most poorly water-soluble natural molecules to cross the blood–brain barrier is also critical for effective NDD treatment. This review summarizes emerging pathogenic mechanisms targeted by natural molecules for NDD treatment, proposes nanocarrier-based drug delivery and intranasal administration to enhance the intracerebral bioavailability of natural molecules, and summarizes the current state of clinical research on natural product-based therapeutics.

Abstract Background Intestinal metaplasia (IM) of the gastric mucosa is classified as complete (Type I) and incomplete IM (Type II and III) subtypes, which showed significantly different risk for developing to gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC). GCRG213, a variant of L1-endonuclease (L1-EN), first identified in our lab, was upregulated in GAC tissue. However, the relationship between GCRG213 and IM subtypes is not clear. Our study explored the association of GCRG213 protein (GCRG213p) with IM subtypes. Methods Gastric cancer and/or para-tumor tissue samples were collected from 123 patients who underwent gastrectomy for intestinal type gastric adenocarcinoma. The subtypes of IM were characterized with Alcian blue-periodic acid-Schiff and High Iron Diamine-Alcian blue staining methods. Immunohistochemistry of GCRG213p was performed, and its expression in gastric adenocarcinoma and para-tumor tissue including dysplasia, IM, and normal mucosa were analyzed. Results GCRG213p was expressed in 48.94% IM, 57.14% dysplasia and 55.32% GAC, respectively. GCRG213p expression was higher in well and moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma (P = 0.037). In IM glands, GCRG213p expressed mainly in the cytoplasm of absorptive enterocytes with defined brush borders, but not in goblet cells. The expression of GCRG213p in type I IM (90.00%) was significantly higher than that in type II (36.36%) and type III (25.00%) (P

Air pollution places a considerable disease burden on the public. Compared with the widely applied air quality index (AQI), the air quality health index (AQHI) provides a more comprehensive measure of multiple pollutants. In this study, AQHI was constructed using environmental data, meteorological data, and the daily mortality data of Beijing residents from 2018 to 2020. Factors increasing the susceptibility of the population to the health effects of air pollution were identified to aid the construction of a specific AQHI (S-AQHI) for susceptible populations. The findings indicated that older adults, women, and people with respiratory disease are more susceptible to the short-term health effects of air pollution. The relative deviation in the AQHI and S-AQHI for changes in daily mortality percentage of various specific populations ranged from only 1.4% to 10.3%, indicating the universality of the AQHI in its capacity to predict health risks. The Spearman coefficient of correlation between the AQHI and AQI was 0.78 (p < 0.01). Each increase in the interquartile range of the AQHI and AQI results in an increase of 1.894% and 1.029% in the total daily mortality, respectively, demonstrating the stronger capacity of the AQHI to predict daily mortality compared to the AQI.

The voice line based on VoIP and adopting PON access has become the mainstream solution for the enterprise private voice line service market.The traditional TDM voice line still retained the reliability advantage based on the SDH access.Therefore,a new VoIP line reliability optimization solution that didn’t rely on SDH and transmission protection technology was proposed.The lower cost and high efficiency of the solution was demonstrated and the specific method of the scheme was analyzed to achieve the networking goal through multi-network collaboration.Through both laboratory test and present network trial,the rationality,feasibility and stability of the solution was verified.

Abstract Background The purpose of this study was to validate the Chinese Catquest-9SF questionnaire in community screenings and explore the correlation between Catquest-9SF scores and Lens Opacities Classification System (LOCS) III cataract grading. Methods This was a prospective questionnaire validation study. The Catquest-9SF questionnaire was translated into Chinese and was completed by 104 Chinese cataract patients who were diagnosed in community screening. Rasch analysis was used to assess its psychometric properties, and Spearman correlation coefficient was employed to determine the correlation between Catquest-9SF scores and LOCS III cataract grading. Results The Catquest-9SF questionnaire demonstrated ordered response categories and unidimensionality (item fit statistics range: 0.70–1.35); the PSI and PR of the category probability curves were 2.00 and 0.80, respectively. There was a fair but statistically significant correlation between Catquest-9SF (Q6, Q7, and Q8) and LOCS III scores and a moderate correlation between Q4 in Catquest-9SF and subcapsular components for the better eye (r = − 0.546, p

Abstract Background The communication between carcinoma associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and cancer cells facilitate tumor metastasis. In this study, we further underlying the epigenetic mechanisms of CAFs feed the cancer cells and the molecular mediators involved in these processes. Methods MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells were treated with CAFs culture conditioned medium, respectively. Cytokine antibody array, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, western blotting and immunofluorescence were used to identify the key chemokines. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and luciferase reporter assay were performed to explore the transactivation of target LncRNA by CAFs. A series of in vitro assays was performed with RNAi-mediated knockdown to elucidate the function of LncRNA. An orthotopic mouse model of MDA-MB-231 was conducted to confirm the mechanism in vivo. Results Here we reported that TGF-β1 was top one highest level of cytokine secreted by CAFs as revealed by cytokine antibody array. Paracrine TGF-β1 was essential for CAFs induced EMT and metastasis in breast cancer cells, which is a crucial mediator of the interaction between stromal and cancer cells. CAF-CM significantly enhanced the HOTAIR expression to promote EMT, whereas treatment with small-molecule inhibitors of TGF-β1 attenuated the activation of HOTAIR. Most importantly, SMAD2/3/4 directly bound the promoter site of HOTAIR, located between nucleotides -386 and -398, -440 and -452, suggesting that HOTAIR was a directly transcriptional target of SMAD2/3/4. Additionally, CAFs mediated EMT by targeting CDK5 signaling through H3K27 tri-methylation. Depletion of HOTAIR inhibited CAFs-induced tumor growth and lung metastasis in MDA-MB-231 orthotopic animal model. Conclusions Our findings demonstrated that CAFs promoted the metastatic activity of breast cancer cells by activating the transcription of HOTAIR via TGF-β1 secretion, supporting the pursuit of the TGF-β1/HOTAIR axis as a target in breast cancer treatment.

Objective To obtain a better understanding of the prevalence and management of pain in patients undergoing radiotherapy for cancer in Shandong Province, China. Methods This cross-sectional study used a questionnaire during face-to-face interviews to collect data from physicians and patients regarding the recognition, prevalence and treatment of pain during the waiting period before commencement of radiotherapy and during the radiotherapy period. Physicians and patients were recruited from 10 tertiary Class A hospitals across Shandong Province, China. Results A total of 184 patients and 87 physicians were recruited to the study. During the waiting period, pain was reported by the physicians according to their experience to affect 26.0% of patients, which almost agreed with the patients’ data (36.5%; 160 of 438). During the radiotherapy period, there was a significant difference in the reported prevalence of pain during the radiotherapy period between the physicians’ data (23.0%) based on their experience and the patients’ data (84.1%; 169 of 201 patients). The majority of physicians (98.9%; 86 of 87) agreed to the use opioids for pain management and 90.8% (79 of 87) were satisfied with the analgesic effect, but more than half of the patients who received pain treatment reported inadequate analgesia. Conclusion There was a high incidence of cancer pain, but insufficient assessment, inadequate treatment and inadequate education about pain in both the waiting and radiotherapy periods.

Salient region detection is important for many computer vision tasks. The saliency detection results may serve as the basis for further high‐level vision tasks like object segmentation and tracking. In this study, the authors propose an integration approach to detect salient region based on three principles from psychological evidence and observations of images, including colour contrast in a global context, spatially compact colour distribution, multi‐scale image abstraction. Based on the above‐mentioned principles, the authors’ saliency analysis approach can be formulated in a unified framework. Moreover, they introduce the weighted salient image centre into their saliency estimation model which can boost the performance of saliency detection. They have evaluated the results of their method on the two publicly available databases, including MSRA‐1000 and MSRA‐5000. The experimental results on the datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the approaches against the other approaches to analyse image saliency.

Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) is a key factor for the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), whose function is known to be mediated by TNF receptor 1 (TNFR1) or 2. However, the precise role of the two receptors in IBD remains poorly understood. Herein, acute colitis was induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) instillation in TNFR1 or 2-/- mice. TNFR1 ablation led to exacerbation of signs of colitis, including more weight loss, increased mortality, colon shortening and oedema, severe intestinal damage, and higher levels of myeloperoxidase compared to wild-type counterparts. While, TNFR2 deficiency had opposite effects. This discrepancy was reflected by alteration of proinflammatory cytokine and chemokine production in the colons. Importantly, TNFR1 ablation rendered enhanced apoptosis of colonic epithelial cells and TNFR2 deficiency conferred pro-apoptotic effects of lamina propria (LP)-immune cells, as shown by the decreased ratio of Bcl-2/Bax and enhanced nuclear factor (NF)-κB activity.

Tight oil reservoirs hold immense development potential but are characterized by challenging reservoir properties, severe heterogeneity, and extremely low permeability and porosity. Massive hydraulic fracturing of horizontal wells is applied to achieve sustainable production in these reservoirs. The swift assessment of pressure depletion in tight reservoirs is essential for their successful and cost-effective development. Traditional pressure testing methods necessitate well shutdown, impacting subsequent production, while numerical simulation methods demand significant computational resources and expertise from technical personnel. To identify the sensitivity parameters influencing the reservoir pressure drop, this study uses a Plackett-Burman design and variance analysis. Using numerical simulations, variance analysis and multi-linear regression, we formulate evaluation indices and surrogate models for individual well depletion. The method's reliability is validated through multiple experiments along with testing data. Our rapid evaluation method accurately assesses pressure depletion in typical well groups, with a fitting rate exceeding 85%. In regions where the pressure maintenance is below 80%, indicating severe reservoir depletion, enhanced oil recovery treatments, e.g., gas or water injection, are applied based on the evaluation results. The proposed method for evaluating individual well pressure depletions provides crucial guidance for realizing the efficient development of tight oil reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]