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Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of circulating regulatory T cells (Tregs) as a novel marker associated with liver metastases and treatment response to transarterial embolization (TAE) in patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs). Methods: Circulating Tregs, defined as the CD4+CD25+CD127low/− population, were examined by flow cytometry in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with GEP-NETs. Clinicopathological parameters, radiologic response, and hepatic progression-free survival (hPFS) data were collected. Results: The association between circulating Tregs and clinicopathological parameters was analyzed in 139 GEP-NET patients. Higher Treg levels were significantly associated with more progressive clinical features, including a higher WHO grade, more advanced TNM stage, and the presence of liver metastases. A Treg level ≥8.015% distinguished between patients with and without liver metastases. Among a cohort of 51 GEP-NET patients who were subjected to TAE for reducing liver metastasis burden, patients with higher Treg levels depicted unfavorable responses and significantly reduced hPFS after TAE treatment. We also revealed that patients with Treghigh (≥8.975%) displayed significantly shorter median hPFS than patients with Treglow (<8.975%). Additionally, after adjusting for other confounding clinical parameters, the association between Tregs and treatment response as well as hPFS remained significant, suggesting that Tregs may have a strong and independent prognostic impact in GEP-NETs. Conclusion: Our data suggest that circulating Tregs are a novel immunological marker associated with liver metastases and treatment response to TAE in patients with GEP-NETs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of financial information technology, cyber security events on the financial system have also increased greatly. Active defense plays an important role in improving the defense level of defined private network. How to quickly and effectively deploy and apply honeypot to capture and attack behavior, analyze the attack intention and raise the threshold of attack is the key to ensure the security of the defined private network. From the perspective of active defense, the advantage of honeypot active defense was analyzed, an active defense and defense filling passive defense integration was designed, and a honeypot within private network experimental environment was set up, the results show that the active defense technology can effectively improve the threshold of the attacker's attack, so as to improve the security level of the whole network.

The bearings are important paths for the shaft vibration transmitting to the hull structure. A new scenario based on non-contact electromagnetic actuators mounted at bearing pedestals is proposed to suppress the vibration transmission from the shaft to the elastic foundation. The dynamic model of a shafting system with the non-contact electromagnetic actuators is established on the Hamilton's principle. With this model, the influence of the displacement stiffnesses of the electromagnetic actuators on the vibration transmission is discussed, and the feasibility of active control is investigated. A multi-harmonic vibration suppression method is adopted and the performance is evaluated. Numerical results show that the vertical control by the electromagnetic actuators is able to attenuate the vibration transmission from the shaft to the foundation. With the addition of horizontal control, the foundation vibration is further decreased due to the reduction of power flow generated by the moments between the bearing pedestals and foundation. The results of a proof-of-principle experiment have also verified the effectiveness of the vertical control by the non-contact electromagnetic actuators in vibration transmission suppression and the foundation acceleration responses are remarkably reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bearings in a shafting system are important paths for the lateral vibration of the shaft to transmit to the hull structure and induce underwater sound. An auxiliary active magnetic bearing for suppressing the lateral vibration at the stern support of a shafting system is investigated. The active magnetic bearing situated close to the stern bearing generates electromagnetic forces to support the shaft, which decreases the contact stiffness as well as the friction between the shaft and the stern bearing and accordingly reduces the stern support acceleration. A dynamic model is established using the Timoshenko beam theory and Hamilton's principle and the performance of the active magnetic bearing in vibration suppression of the shafting system is evaluated with position control. An experimental system is also built to verify the effectiveness of the active magnetic bearing. Numerical and experimental results have shown that the active magnetic bearing is able to suppress the stern support acceleration responses after the shaft is suspended by the active magnetic bearing. Moreover, the orbit of the shaft center is controlled as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Active vibration control of a shaft bracket-plate coupled system is investigated. The vibration of the plate is controlled with electromagnetic vibration absorbers (EVAs), which are mounted around the feet of the shaft bracket to impede the transmission of vibration from the bracket apex to the plate. A dynamic model is established on the Timoshenko beam theory and the Kirchhoff thin plate theory to reveal the mechanism of vibration transmission. It is exhibited that all the induced forces and moments at the coupling points contribute much to the transverse responses of the plate. The feasibility of active control with the EVAs is evaluated numerically based on the controllability of the plate vibration. It is demonstrated that the two-point in-plane control is able to attenuate the plate vibration under the excitation of in-plane disturbance forces, while the multi-point control is effective in reducing the plate vibration regardless of the directions of disturbance forces. An experimental system is built to verify the performance of the two-point in-plane control. The results have shown that with the help of adaptive control, the two-point in-plane control is capable of suppressing the vibration of the foundation induced by the in-plane forces acting on the shaft bracket. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]