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The purpose of our study was to develop a simple clinical pre‐procedure risk model based on clinical characteristics for the prediction of contrast‐induced nephropathy (CIN) and major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with diabetes. A total of 1113 patients with diabetes who underwent PCI with contrast exposure were randomized into a development group (n = 742) and a validation group (n = 371) in a 2:1 ratio. CIN was defined as an increase of either 25% or 0.5 mg/dL (44.2 μmol/L) in serum creatinine within 72 hours after contrast infusion. A simple CIN risk score based on independent predictors was established. Four variables were identified for our risk score model: LVEF < 40%, acute coronary syndrome (ACS), eGFR < 60, and contrast volume > 300 mL. Based on this new CIN risk score, the incidence of CIN had a significant trend with increased predicting score values of 5.9%, 32.9% and 60.0%, corresponding to low‐, moderate‐ and high‐risk groups, respectively. The novel risk assessment exhibited moderate discrimination ability for predicting CIN, with an AUC of 0.759 [95% CI 0.668‐0.852, P =.001] in the validation cohort. It also had similar prognostic values for one‐year follow‐up MACE (C‐statistic: 0.705 and 0.606 for new risk score and Mehran score, respectively). This novel risk prediction model could be effective for preventing nephropathy in diabetic patients receiving contrast media during surgical procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Roessle-Fatemi's hardness method (HM) and Muralidharan-Manson's modified universal slopes method (MUSM) were employed to determine the uniaxial fatigue properties of steels from easily obtained tensile properties. Both methods give good life predictions, while the Roessle-Fatemi's HM is somewhat better. Furthermore, for predicting multiaxial fatigue lives of steels in the absence of any fatigue data, the Li's modified Wang-Brown model (MWB) was used in combination with the HM method (MWB-HM) as well as the MUSM method (MWB-MUSM), respectively. Correlation between the yield strength and the Brinell hardness was also developed to estimate the multiaxial fatigue lives of steels based only on hardness and elasticity modulus. It is shown that multiaxial fatigue lives were predicted fairly well by all the methods, and the MWB-MUSM method is slightly more accurate. In addition, a computer-based procedure for multiaxial fatigue life assessment incorporating MWB-MUSM approach was proposed and implemented to predict the fatigue life of an intermediate compressor casing. The predicted results are promising. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The collision among robots often occurs when a multi-robot system performs the SLAM operation. However, the collision avoidance is different from the general obstacle avoidance, because the obstacles are generally not moving in the obstacle avoidance problem. In order to solve the collision avoidance problem among robots, a benefit based collision avoidance strategy for multi-robot systems is proposed. The strategy mainly focuses on improving the efficiency of multi-robot systems, and determines the order when the robots pass the intersection. Besides, the dynamic collision avoidance is considered and the algorithm of determining the order of robots' passing the intersection is given. Finally, a simulation example of robots' avoiding collision is given in order to illustrate the process of the strategy and the simulation results are analyzed. And the reasonable assumption is given for the spatial relationship between the robots and targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the computational complexity in the signature element based local sub-map matching for hierarchical Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) algorithm, a signature vector based matching approach was proposed in this paper. Since there may be a difference between the two trajectories that the robot passed the same sub-region at first time and at second time, the approach was improved by combining a landmark localization technique to realize more reliable loop closing calculation. In addition, the constraints equation was discussed for the case that two or more closed loops share a common sub-path for obtaining a global optimized map of the environment Finally, a demonstration case was given to show the application of our approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studied the impacts of different dose ultraviolet irradiation (254 nm, UVC) on the sperm motility and longevity of Acipenser baerii. Ultraviolet irradiation had significant impacts on the sperm motility, its fast motion time, and longevity. With the increasing dose of ultraviolet irradiation, the sperm motility decreased rapidly first, increased rapidly then, and decreased rapidly again. The sperm fast motion time had the similar variation trend as the sperm motility, but the sperm longevity kept decreasing with increasing dose of ultraviolet irradiation. When the ultraviolet irradiation dose increased to 288 mJ·cm-2, the sperm fast motion disappeared; when the ultraviolet irradiation dose increased up to 324 mJ·cm-2, the sperm had no motility and died. According to the "Hertwig effect", the optimum ultraviolet irradiation dose for inactivating A. baerii sperm was 216 mJ·cm-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studied the effects of different storage medium (coelomic fluid, Hepes solution, and modified Ringer's solution), temperature (4 °C and 16°C), and duration (4 h, 8 h, 16 h, and 24 h) on the short?term storage of Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii) eggs. The results showed that storage medium, temperature, and duration all had significant effects on the fertilization rate, hatching success, and malformation of newly hatched larvae (P<0.05). With the increase of storage duration, the fertilization and hatching rates decreased, while the malformation rate of hatched larvae increased. The A. baerii eggs stored at 16 °C had higher fertilization, hatching, and malformation rates but shorter holding time than those stored at 4 °C. The optimal conditions for the short-term storage of A. baerii eggs were Hepes solution prepared according to the biochemical composition of A. baerii coelomic fluid, 16 °C, and 4 h, under which, 86.36% fertilization rate, 94.74% hatching rate, and zero malformation would be obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common male malignancies as well as one of the frequent causes of tumor-induced death. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are RNA transcripts that are more than 200 nucleotides in length, lack an open reading frame, and do not encode proteins. LncRNAs are abnormally expressed in most tumors including PCa and closely related to the recurrence, metastasis and prognosis of PCa. LncRNAs regulate gene expressions at multiple levels such as epigenetics, transcription and post-transcription, change metabolic pathways, and play a carcinogenic or anti-tumor role in the development and progression of PCa. Continuous androgen receptor (AR) signal transduction is one of the key features of castration-resistant PCa. This review briefly introduces the role of lncRNAs as oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes in the development and progression of PCa, and expounds the possible molecular mechanisms of lncRNAs mediating PCa through the AR signaling pathway, post-transcriptional regulation represented by ceRNA, and tumor metabolism, aiming to provide potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of PCa.

Objective: To investigate the expression of Linc00662 in PCa and its influence on the biological function of PCa cells., Methods: Using qRT-PCR, we detected the expression of Linc00662 in the PCa tissue and cell lines and that in the adjacent normal prostatic tissue and epithelial WPMY-1 cells and analyzed the correlation between the expression of Linc00662 and the clinicopathological features of the PCa tissue. We transfected PC-3 and DU145 cells with siRNA, and verified the interference efficiency by qRT-PCR. We examined the effects of interfering with the Linc00662 expression on the proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasiveness of PC-3 and DU145 cells by CCK-8 assay, Caspase 3/9 activity assay, wound-healing assay and Transwell invasion assay., Results: The expression of Linc00662 in the PCa tissue and cell lines was significantly up-regulated compared with that in the adjacent normal prostatic tissue and epithelial cells (P < 0.01), and the high expression of Linc00662 was positively correlated with the tumor stage (P = 0.002), primary tumor size (P = 0.006), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.001) and distant metastasis (P = 0.001). Transfection of si-Linc00662 into the PC-3 and DU145 cells significantly reduced the expression of Linc00662 (P < 0.01). Compared with the normal control, the PC-3 and DU145 cells in the Linc00662 interference group showed remarkably decreased proliferation, invasion and migration abilities (P < 0.01), but an increased rate of apoptosis (P < 0.01)., Conclusions: Linc00662 is highly expressed in PCa tissues and cells relatively. Knockdown of the Linc00662 expression may inhibit the proliferation, migration and invasiveness and promote the apoptosis of PCa cells. Therefore, Linc00662 could be considered as a new marker of PCa.

This paper studied the impacts of different dose ultraviolet irradiation (254 nm, UVC) on the sperm motility and longevity of Acipenser baerii. Ultraviolet irradiation had significant impacts on the sperm motility, its fast motion time, and longevity. With the increasing dose of ultraviolet irradiation, the sperm motility decreased rapidly first, increased rapidly then, and decreased rapidly again. The sperm fast motion time had the similar variation trend as the sperm motility, but the sperm longevity kept decreasing with increasing dose of ultraviolet irradiation. When the ultraviolet irradiation dose increased to 288 mJ x cm(-2), the sperm fast motion disappeared; when the ultraviolet irradiation dose increased up to 324 mJ x cm(-2), the sperm had no motility and died. According to the "Hertwig effect", the optimum ultraviolet irradiation dose for inactivating A. baerii sperm was 216 mJ x cm(-2).

This paper studied the effects of different storage medium (coelomic fluid, Hepes solution, and modified Ringer's solution), temperature (4 degrees C and 16 degrees C), and duration (4 h, 8 h, 16 h, and 24 h) on the short-term storage of Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii) eggs. The results showed that storage medium, temperature, and duration all had significant effects on the fertilization rate, hatching success, and malformation of newly hatched larvae (P < 0.05). With the increase of storage duration, the fertilization and hatching rates decreased, while the malformation rate of hatched larvae increased. The A. baerii eggs stored at 16 degrees C had higher fertilization, hatching, and malformation rates but shorter holding time than those stored at 4 degrees C. The optimal conditions for the short-term storage of A. baerii eggs were Hepes solution prepared according to the biochemical composition of A. baerii coelomic fluid, 16 degrees C, and 4 h, under which, 86.36% fertilization rate, 94.74% hatching rate, and zero malformation would be obtained.