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Chemical plants face safety hazards and security threats that may induce catastrophic scenarios. Safety and security barriers are employed widely to protect chemical plants from accidental and intentional undesired events and mitigate consequences. Managing safety and security barriers effectively and economically is a research topic with practical significance. The analysis of undesired event scenarios, including both accidental and intentional adverse scenarios, and assessing associated safety and security barriers are critical regarding cost-efficient barrier maintenance. This study proposes a novel approach for optimizing safety and security barrier maintenance strategy considering economic constraints. This approach consists of three steps: scenario building and barrier identification, barrier modeling, and determining optimal barrier maintenance intervals. In the proposed approach, accident scenarios in terms of safety and physical security are constructed using the extended bow-tie diagrams. After associated safety and security barriers are identified, a system simulation model is developed to conduct barrier modeling based on MATLAB/Simulink simulations, in which the barrier maintenance, the impacts of human and organizational barriers, and the correlations between barriers caused by shared components are considered. Finally, a combination of cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) and genetic al-gorithm (GA) is employed to support the decision-making on barrier maintenance optimization. An illustrative case is employed in this study to validate the feasibility of the proposed approach.

Intestinal ischemia/reperfusion (II/R) injury is a highly-lethal clinical problem and communication between intestine-brain axis is vital. Unfortunately, the mechanisms underlying the changes are yet unclear. The present study aimed to determine whether FNDC5/irisin plays a role in the progressive cerebral injury and cognitive deficit following II/R and reveal the mechanisms. Herein, the II/R-treated FNDC5/irisin knockout mice models demonstrated that FNDC5/irisin deficiency aggravates cognitive deficit, the pro-inflammation microglia activation, oxidative injury, inflammatory response, and neuronal apoptosis, while recombinant FNDC5/irisin promotes the beneficial phenotype polarization of microglia and improves the 7-day survival rate, cognitive deficit, and cerebral injury after II/R. Mechanistically, TXNIP/NLRP3 pathway was activated in the II/R-induced cerebral injury and was deteriorated in FNDC5/irisin knockout mice. However, supplementing with recombinant FNDC5/irisin suppressed the TXNIP/NLRP3 pathway. The in vitro results showed that FNDC5/irisin promotes the M2 microglial phenotype in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated BV2 cells, thereby alleviating the LPS-induced neurotoxic effects of BV2 cells on hippocampal HT22 neurons. Furthermore, the overexpression of TXNIP abolished the recombinant FNDC5/irisin-mediated improvements, in vivo and in vitro. These data provided novel insights into the pathogenesis of II/R-induced cerebral injury and cognitive deficit, and defined FNDC5/irisin as a promising therapeutic target for improving II/R-mediated acute neuropsychiatric phenotypes.

As the scale of the power grid becomes larger, the requirements for transmission reliability are getting higher. Due to the large geographical span and the harsh environment of the power transmission line, it has become the most severely affected equipment of the power grid by natural factors. However, the quantitative assessment of transmission line tripping accidents caused by multiple natural hazards has rarely been investigated. In this study, a risk analysis method to probabilistically analyze the tripping accidents of power transmission lines caused by wildfire, lightning, strong wind and ice storm was proposed. The analysis process consists of comprehensively identifying the risk of tripping accidents based on fault tree analysis and dynamically performing the predictive analysis of tripping accident evolution process in transmission line from causes to consequences based on Bayesian network. Critical risk evolution paths corresponding to four natural hazards are determined through a 72-node BN. The source risks of the four critical risk evolution paths are artificial ignition source from the wildfire path, aging from the lightning path, thoughtless of surrounding environment from the strong wind path and wind effect from the ice storm path. The countermeasures of tripping accidents are derived through the source risks and synergy between risks in three scenario analysis. This study is expected to examine the key challenges of risk management in power grid tripping accidents, which provides technical supports for accident preventing, handling and recovering of tripping accidents of the power transmission line according to “scenario–response”-based hazard response strategy.

Recent years have seen increasing school safety events along with growing numbers of students in China. In this paper, more than 400 serious school safety events between 2000 and 2018 in China were collected. The causes and characteristics of these events, taking into account the occurrence years, months, regions, education stages and types, were investigated. The results indicate that the number of school safety events has generally increased annually from 2000 to 2018 and can significantly vary each month, showing a higher frequency of occurrence during the “First Semester” (generally from September to December in China). Moreover, spatial distribution of school safety events is normally related to regional economic development; it was found that Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shandong is a first-level occurrence hotspots, followed by Zhejiang, Henan, Hebei and Sichuan, which are secondary occurrence hotspots. Furthermore, statistical analysis shows that the number of school safety events that occurred in kindergartens, primary schools and middle schools are approximately equal (around 1/3). Finally, it was found that the school safety events caused by “Accident” (such as school bus accidents, school fires, crowded stampedes and the collapses of school buildings) occupy a large proportion (57%).

INTRODUCTION Sepsis is a kind of maladjustment response to bacterial infection and activation of coagulation, which can induce neuromuscular dysfunction. However, there is scarce of experimental evidence about the relationship between Schwann cells (SCs) and sepsis in neuromuscular dysfunction. We therefore set out to identify the potential role of SCs in sepsis-induced neuromuscular dysfunction and to explore the underlying molecular mechanism. METHODS Primary SCs were isolated from the left hind limb sciatic nerve of sepsis mice, which was constructed by cecal ligation and puncture. Then, the SCs were infected with adenovirus encoding toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), MyD88, or IL-1R (with lipopolysaccharide stimulation), and the Raw 264.7 macrophages were injected with adenovirus with CCR2 silencing (with mMCP-1 stimulation). Further investigation of the interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β) and macrophage cationic peptide 1 (MCP-1) expressions, we followed reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay techniques, the F4/80 and Ki67 expressions was observed by immunofluorescence staining, while the expressions of CCR2, FAK/p-FAK, nuclear factor-κB (NFκB)/p-NFκB, and ERK1/2/p-ERK1/2 were determined by Western blot analysis. Last, but not the least, the cell migration ability and cell proliferation ability were detected by Transwell assay and Flow cytometry respectively. RESULTS Our results showed that in sepsis mice, the TLR4/MyD88/ERK pathway was activated in SCs, which triggered the cells to secrete IL-1β and MCP-1. The secreted IL-1β bound with IL-1β receptor on the surface of SCs, thereby activating the IL-1β/IL-1R/MyD88/ERK pathway and further promoting the secretion of MCP-1 by SCs. MCP-1 was found to bind to CCR2 on the surface of Raw264.7 macrophages to activate the TLR4/MyD88/ERK pathway which caused the inhibition of neuromuscular function. CONCLUSION Sepsis significantly promotes the infiltration of macrophages by activating the TLR4/MyD88 pathway in SCs, thereby impeding neuromuscular function. Consistently, our study provides a novel concept in the area of neuromuscular dysfunction therapeutics following sepsis.

As a kind of critical infrastructure of energy transportation, so-called 'utility tunnels' have been developed around the world. Hosting a natural gas pipeline inside the natural gas compartment of a utility tunnel facilitates its maintenance but also brings potential explosion concerns due to the confined space. Although some work focuses on the risk analysis of the natural gas pipeline inside utility tunnels, a resilience assessment is needed for dynamically modeling leakage with interacting safety barriers. In this paper, a resilience assessment model of the natural gas compartment of utility tunnels is elaborated based on numerical simulation considering interacting barrier modeling, including sensors, a ventilation system, and the possibility of emergency shutdown. Based on the calculated (natural gas compartment) resilience for casualty and economic loss, ventilation strategies and sensor layouts can be recommended and optimization is possible. Meanwhile, the delay effect of safety barriers is investigated in this work, and the unequal interval layouts of sensors are explored and proven to be effective without any further cost. The proposed resilience assessment model can be important to further improve the safety management of utility tunnels and other confined spaces where hazardous gases are transported.

BACKGROUND Continuous positive airways pressure (CPAP) with a CPAP machine and mask has been shown to be more effective at minimising hypoxaemia than other devices under deep sedation. However, the efficacy of a new and simple CPAP device for spontaneously breathing obese patients during colonoscopy is unknown. OBJECTIVE We hypothesised that oxygenation and ventilation in obese patients under deep sedation during colonoscopy using CPAP via a new nasal mask (SuperNO2VA) would be better than routine care with oxygen supplementation via a nasal cannula. DESIGN Randomised study. SETTING Single-centre, June 2017 to October 2017. PATIENTS A total of 174 patients were enrolled and randomly assigned to Mask group or Control group. Thirty-eight patients were excluded and data from 136 patients underwent final analysis. INTERVENTION Patients in the Mask group were provided with nasal CPAP (10 cmH2O) at an oxygen flow rate of 15 l min. In the Control group, patients were given oxygen via a nasal cannula at a flow rate of 5 l min. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The primary outcome was elapsed time from anaesthesia induction to the first airway intervention. RESULTS The elapsed time from anaesthesia induction to the first airway intervention was 19 ± 10 min in the Mask group (n=63) vs. 10 ± 12 min in the Control group (n=73, P

Background: Delirium, contributing to subsequent increased morbidity and mortality, is common in hospitalized patients, especially in patients undergoing major surgery. Published systematic reviews suggest that certain medications for delirium management may decrease pain scores and analgesic requirements, at the expense of troublesome side effects. People are urgently seeking non-medication strategies for delirium. Acupuncture and related techniques (ART) are increasingly used to provide medical care and have potential to prevent delirium, however, the efficacy of ART on delirium remains controversial.Methods: In accordance with the PRISMA-P guidelines, we will search PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library (Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL)), Web of Science, Medline and the Cochrane Library for clinical trials on ART use in people, without language restrictions. The incidence of delirium will be defined our primary outcome. Additional outcomes will be the incidence of adverse events, pain score, consumption of analgesics, number of cumulative delirious days, hemodynamics, length of hospital stay. Two researchers independently complete further review work and data abstraction based on pre-specified inclusion and exclusion criteria. Any discrepancy will be solved by negotiation or a third investigators. Cochrane Risk of Bias tool will be used to assess the methodological quality of all the studies that are finally included. Statistical heterogeneity was assessed by forest plots, confidence intervals (CI) and I² statistic. If feasible, a meta-analysis of included results will be performed.Conclusions: This protocol will be favorable to bridge the gap between non-medication strategies and clinical diseases, and potential to help future guideline development in management of preventing delirium.Systematic review registration: The protocol was prospectively registered on the homepage of the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO): https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO.

Increasing quantities of natural gas are transported as liquefied natural gas (LNG) worldwide, and LNG is also proposed for use as a clean fuel for ships and trucks. This scenario raises concerns for the safety of LNG bunkering and storage at ports, due to the potentially severe accidents that may arise from LNG leakage. In this paper, an integrated quantitative risk assessment model for LNG bunkering and storage at ports based on Bayesian-Catastrophe-EPE (Energy transfer theory, Preliminary hazard analysis and Evolution tree) method was proposed. The energy-based EPE model was used to derive Bayesian network (BN) causal structure, and the catastrophe theory was employed to deal with experts’ judgment to determine the conditional probability tables of BN. The proposed BN-based risk assessment model can provide a novel perspective to identify hazards and risks, and to assess the evolution process of LNG accidents from causes to consequences. The results of scenario analysis of typical LNG accidents demonstrate the soundness and applicability of the proposed model. Moreover, sensitivity analysis was implemented to identify critical hazards and quantify the correlations between each element considered in LNG accidents. The proposed risk assessment framework is of great significance to widen the technical tools available to support safety assessment and loss prevention of LNG bunkering and storage at ports.

With the increasing demand for electricity transmission and distribution, single-phase grounding accidents, which cause great economic losses and casualties, have occurred frequently. In this study, a Bayesian network (BN)-based risk assessment model for representing single-phase grounding accidents is proposed to examine accident evolution from causes to potential consequences. The Bayesian network of single-phase grounding accidents includes 21 nodes that take into account the influential factors of environment, management, equipment and human error. The Bow-tie method was employed to build the accident evolution path and then converted to a BN. The BN conditional probability tables are determined with reference to historical accident data and expert opinion obtained by the Delphi method. The probability of a single-phase grounding accident and its potential consequences in normal conditions and three typical accident scenarios are analyzed. We found that &ldquo, Storm&rdquo, is the most critical hazard of single-phase grounding, followed by &ldquo, Aging&rdquo, and &ldquo, Icing&rdquo, This study could quantitatively evaluate the single-phase grounding accident in multi-hazard coupling scenarios and provide technical support for occupational health and safety management of power transmission lines.

In recent years, concerns about the safety of laboratories have been caused by several serious accidents in school laboratories. Gas leaks in the laboratory are often difficult to detect and cause serious consequences. In this study, a comprehensive model based on the Bayesian network is established for the assessment of the gas leaks evolution process and consequences in school laboratories. The model can quantitatively evaluate the factors affecting the probability and consequences of gas leakage. The results show that a model is an effective tool for assessing the risk of gas leakage. Among the various factors, the unsafe behavior of personnel has the greatest impact on the probability of gas leakage, and the concentration of toxic and harmful gases is the main factor affecting the consequences of accidents. Since the probability distribution of each node is obtained based on the experience of experts, there is a deviation in the quantitative calculation of the probability of gas leakage and consequences, but does not affect the risk analysis. This study could quantitatively assess the probability and consequences of gas leakage in the laboratory, and identify vulnerabilities, which helps improve the safety management level of gas in the school laboratory and reducing the possibility of gas leakage posing a threat to personal safety.

With the development of urbanization, the construction of the utility tunnel facilitates people's lives, but also brings some new potential hazards. For example, gas explosion occurring in the natural gas compartment can pose great threats to the safe operation of utility tunnels. In this paper, an experimental apparatus for modeling the process of the natural gas explosion in utility tunnels is established to investigate the effects of the gas compartment length and pressure relief conditions on the flame behaviors, and several parameters related to the consequence severity of gas explosion are studied comprehensively. The results indicate that ancillary facilities in the natural gas compartment (seen as obstacles) that cannot generate the large-scale recirculation zone but cause the small size of turbulence. The maximum overpressure firstly increases and then decays with the increase of the length of the gas compartment. Besides, it is also found that different pressure relief locations and strengths have a great influence on explosion characteristics in utility tunnels. This study can provide technical supports for safe management of utility tunnels. Meanwhile, some suggestions are put forward for the explosion suppression techniques and the design of pressure relief ports in the utility tunnel.

Frequent mine gas explosion accidents in recent years have caused catastrophic casualties and economic loss in China. In this paper, based on expert knowledge with treatment by the Delphi method to determine conditional probabilities, a Bayesian network (BN) has been developed to investigate the factors influencing mine gas explosion accidents. Based on case analysis of typical mine gas explosion accidents and further evaluation by experts, twenty BN nodes are proposed to represent mine gas explosion process from occurrence causes to explosion impacts, and final consequences. The results of case studies and Sensitivity Analysis (SA) with the proposed Bayesian model indicate that the integration of Bayesian network and Delphi method is an effective framework for dynamically assessing mine gas explosion accident, which could provide a more realistic assessment for emergency decision-making on mine gas explosion disaster response and loss prevention.

Efficient air removal from a vascular access line is a key step to prevent air embolism. Existing devices, especially for rapid infusers, are far from optimum. In this study, we developed a novel device, vascular access line air removal device (VALARD), and compared its efficiency of air removal and pause time of forward bulk flow with a commonly used device, the Belmont pump. Part I experiment, saline was infused at a forward bulk flow rate of 250, 500, and 750 mL/min. Meanwhile, air was introduced into the infusion line at a rate of 5, 10, and 15 mL/min for each bulk flow rate. Air bubbles > 10 µL downstream from either the VALARD or the Belmont pump and the fraction of pause time of the forward bulk flow were determined. Part II experiment, 120 mL of air was rapidly introduced into the VALARD at a bulk flow rate of about 500 mL/min. Air bubbles > 10 µL downstream from the VALARD, fraction of pause time of the forward bulk flow, and the transit time of the 120 mL of air at the working chamber were recorded. The VALARD: no air bubbles > 10 µL were detected during any tested combination of air injection and bulk flow rates without pause of forward flow. The Belmont pump: air bubbles > 10 µL were detected in 60% of the tests with pause of the forward flow. The VALARD eliminates air efficiently without pause of the forward bulk flow. Further clinical trials are needed to compare the VALARD with other devices and to assess its efficiency, safety, and user friendliness.

With the rapid urbanization, urban underground utility tunnels have seen fast growth in China in the past few years. Urban utility tunnels can house various kinds of city ‘lifelines’ such as natural gas pipeline, heat pipeline, water supply system, sewer pipeline, electricity and telecommunication cables, which are of great significance to guarantee essential flows of energy, information and logistics for urban life. If a utility tunnel accident occurs, the consequences could be catastrophic. Risk assessment has been an important tool to examine the safety performance of industrial facilities and the effectiveness of safety measures. In this study, an integrated model based on dynamic hazard scenario identification (DHSI), Bayesian network (BN) modeling and risk analysis is proposed for risk assessment of urban utility tunnels. The worst-case scenario of urban utility tunnel accidents is identified by DHSI and modelled by BN. Meanwhile, risk analysis is conducted based on the results of BN considering casualties and economic losses. Finally, the integrated method is applied to evaluate the risk level of a real-world utility tunnel. The results indicate that the integrated quantitative risk assessment framework is an alternative and effective tool for safety assessment and land-use planning of urban utility tunnels.

Sepsis is a serious and elusive syndrome caused by infection, which is accompanied by a high mortality worldwide. Recent evidence has documented the regulatory role of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) during the inflammatory process, the effects of which in the development of sepsis have become the focus of the current study. An in vivo mouse model and in vitro cell model of sepsis induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were developed. High expression of lncRNA MALAT1 along with low expression of breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 (BRCA1) were identified in septic mice and human skeletal muscle cells of sepsis. Then, lncRNA MALAT1 expression was altered in vivo and in vitro to examine serum levels of inflammatory factors, as well as skeletal muscle cell apoptosis. lncRNA MALAT1 was noted to regulate the expression and export from the nucleus of BRCA1 by recruiting zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) in skeletal muscle cells of sepsis. Silencing lncRNA MALAT1 resulted in reduced serum levels of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), neutrophil migration, skeletal muscle cell apoptosis, and AKT-1 phosphorylation. Taken together, lncRNA MALAT1 interacting with EZH2 stimulated AKT-1 phosphorylation and decreased BRCA1 expression, consequently aggravating the progression of sepsis, highlighting a promising therapeutic option for sepsis.

To test the hypothesis that patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) contributes to improvement of hemorheology in patients undergoing hip arthroplasty.120 patients, aged 60 - 75 years old, undergoing hip arthroplasty under spinal anesthesia, were randomly divided into group PCA (n = 60) and control group (n = 60). Patients in PCA group received PCA in postoperative 3 days. Blood samples from the median cubital vein were collected at five time points: before anesthesia (T1), after surgery (T2), 6 h after surgery (T3), 24 h after surgery (T4), 48 h after surgery (T5). Hemorheological parameters were measured, including whole blood viscosity at a high shear rate (Hηb), whole blood viscosity at a low shear rate (Lηb), reduced viscosity (ηr), plasma viscosity (ηp), hematocrit (Hct), erythrocyte aggregation index(EAI) and erythrocyte deformation index (EDI). Noninvasive blood pressure and heart rate at T1-5 and pain scoring of visual analogue scale (VAS) score at T2-5 were recorded.(1) Compared with T1, Hηb, Lηb, ηp, ηr decreased significantly at T3-5 with EAI decreased significantly at T5 in group PCA (p 0.05), EDI increased significantly at T5 in group C (p 0.05). (2) Compared with group C, Hηb, Lηb, ηp, ηr, EAI decreased significantly at T5 with Lηb concurrently decreased at T4 in group PCA (p 0.05).Postoperative pain may increase blood viscosity in patients undergoing hip arthroplasty, mainly via plasma viscosity, erythrocyte aggregation and rigidity, and which could be improved by postoperative PCA.ZIEL: Prüfung der Hypothese, dass die patientengesteuerte Analgesie (PCA) bei Patienten nach Hüftarthroplastik zur Verbesserung der Hämorheologie beiträgt. METHODEN: 120 Patienten im Alter von 60 – 75 Jahren, die sich einer Hüftarthroplastik unter Spinalanästhesie unterzogen, wurden per Randomisierung der PCA-Gruppe (n = 60) bzw. der Kontrollgruppe (n = 60) zugewiesen. Patienten der PCA-Gruppe wurden postoperativ über 3 Tage mittels PCA behandelt. Zu fünf Zeitpunkten wurden Blutproben aus der Ellenbeugenvene entnommen: vor der Anästhesie (T1), nach der Operation (T2), 6 h nach der Operation (T3), 24 h nach der Operation (T4) und 48 h nach der Operation (T5). Als hämorheologische Parameter wurden die Viskosität des Vollbluts bei hoher Schergeschwindigkeit (Hηb), die Viskosität des Vollbluts bei geringer Schergeschwindigkeit (Lηb), die reduzierte Viskosität (ηr), die Plasmaviskosität (ηp), der Hämatokrit (Hct) sowie der Erythrozytenaggregationsindex (EAI) und der Erythrozytendeformationsindex (EDI) erhoben. Zudem wurden nichtinvasive Blutdruck- und Herzfrequenzmessungen zu den Zeitpunkten T1 – 5 sowie Schmerzbeurteilungen anhand einer visuellen Analogskala (VAS) zu den Zeitpunkten T2 – 5 aufgezeichnet. ERGEBNISSE: (1) In der PCA-Gruppe hatten sich die Parameter Hηb, Lηb, ηp und ηr zu den Zeitpunkten T3 – 5 und der EAI zum Zeitpunkt T5 signifikant vermindert, jeweils gegenüber Zeitpunkt T1 (p 0,05); in der Kontrollgruppe hatte sich der EDI zum Zeitpunkt T5 signifikant erhöht (p 0,05). (2) Im Vergleich zur Kontrollgruppe wurde in der PCA-Gruppe zum Zeitpunkt T5 eine signifikante Verminderung der Parameter Hηb, Lηb, ηp, ηr und EAI bei gleichzeitiger Verminderung der Lηb zum Zeitpunkt T4 beobachtet (p 0,05). SCHLUSSFOLGERUNG: Bei Patienten, die sich einer Hüftarthroplastik unterziehen, können postoperative Schmerzen die Blutviskosität erhöhen, überwiegend über die Plasmaviskosität, Erythrozytenaggregation und -rigidität, was sich mittels postoperativer PCA verbessern ließ.

With rapid urbanization in China, many underground utility tunnels have been established these years. This huge underground construction facilitates city life, but may introduce societal risks due to the installation of high‐risk pipelines. Natural gas pipelines have the potential to cause catastrophic accident if a gas leakage and a subsequent explosion occurs. The potential hazards in the gas compartments of a utility tunnel are quite different from those in conventional directly buried gas pipelines. This study developed a dynamic quantitative risk analysis method for natural gas pipelines in a utility tunnel. First, potential accident scenarios of natural gas pipelines situated in a utility tunnel were identified and implemented in a Bow‐tie diagram based on case studies of typical gas pipeline accidents and expert experience. Then, a Bayesian network was established from the Bow‐tie diagram using a mapping algorithm. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the results of probability updating and sensitivity analysis, critical influencing factors were identified. The proposed framework provides a predictive analysis of the gas pipeline accident evolution process from causes to consequences and examines key challenges in gas pipeline risk management in utility tunnels

Background: Sepsis is a serious and elusive syndrome caused by infection, which is accompanied by a high rate of mortality worldwide. Studies have speculated the role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in sepsis. However, the potential role of metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) in sepsis is largely unknown. Thus, the present study intended to investigate the possible role of MALAT1 in relation to the development of sepsis and to explore the underlying mechanism. Methods: In vivo mouse model and in vitro cell model of sepsis induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were constructed. Then in order to evaluate the effect of MALAT1 on the progression of sepsis, the expression of MALAT1 was silenced in sepsis mice, followed by the measurement of number of neutrophils in peripheral blood, serum levels of inflammatory factors, as well as skeletal muscle cell apoptosis. Furthermore, interactions among MALAT1, EZH2 and BRCA1 and the regulatory role of MALAT1/EZH2 on sepsis were determined in skeletal muscles cells of sepsis. Results: High expression of MALAT1 along with low expression of BRCA1 was detected in sepsis. MALAT1 was observed to regulate the expression and nucleation of BRCA1. Silencing MALAT1 resulted in reduced serum levels of IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α, neutrophil migration, skeletal muscle cell apoptosis, number of EZH2 positive cells, extent of AKT-1 phosphorylation along with stimulated BRCA1 expression. Furthermore, MALAT1 regulated the expression and localization of BRCA1 by recruiting EZH2. Conclusion: Taken together, the key observations of the study provide evidence that MALAT1 interacting with EZH2 stimulated AKT-1 phosphorylation and decreased BRCA1 expression, consequently aggravating the progression of sepsis, highlighting a promising therapeutic option for sepsis. Funding Statement: This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81772128). Declaration of Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Ethics Approval Statement: All animal experiment protocols were approved by the Animal Care Committee of The First Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University and were in compliance with the guidelines established by the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.

In recent years, with the increasing demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) worldwide, a large amount of LNG is stored, processed, and transported in ports. The port's LNG storage tanks may become a hot target for terrorist attacks because the failure or destruction of these facilities will put markets, cities, and the environment at high risk. This article presents a new risk analysis method of terrorist attacks on the port's LNG Storage tanks. The steps are as follows: (1) Identify risk factors from a multidimensional perspective. (2) Analyze the risk using the Bayesian network and event tree. (3) Evaluate and quantify the accident consequence. (4) Use knowledge graph to store risk knowledge. We verify the effectiveness of the method through case studies. The defence capabilities of the police and different prevention strategies were studied. The results show significant differences in accident consequence between different defensive and emergency response forces. We also conducted nine scenario analysis, which could provide a theoretical basis and method support for public security and urban risk management departments' security prevention decisions.

With the rapid urbanization and development of China, urban utility tunnels (UUTs) that combine various city lifelines are developing quickly. However, along with the convenience brought by UUTs, these concentrated lifelines also create more potential hazards. To overcome the shortage of traditional hazard identifications and match the characteristics of UUTs, the EPE model (Energy transfer theory - Preliminary hazard analysis - Evolution tree) is proposed in this paper. Based on the EPE model, a series of well-organized hazard lists of UUTs are presented, including 189 hazards in 28 categories, covering common hazards, specific hazards and risks of multi-hazards of UUTs. Following the identification of worst-case accident scenarios, a comparison analysis of UUTs and traditional pipelines is performed. Moreover, several practical suggestions regarding long-term planning, durability, classification and regulation of UUTs are proposed. This research may be helpful to establish safer, more coordinated and efficient UUTs to facilitate city life.

Sepsis-induced skeletal muscle atrophy is a pathological condition characterized by the loss of strength and muscle mass. Cytokine-induced apoptosis and impaired myogenesis play key roles in the development of this condition. However, the complete underlying mechanism remains largely unknown. Neuregulins are glial growth factors essential for myogenesis that regulate muscle metabolism. We investigated the role of neuregulin-1β (NRG-1β) in sepsis-induced apoptosis and myogenesis in skeletal muscle using a serum-based in vitro sepsis model. C2C12 myoblasts were differentiated by treatment with proliferative medium for 7 days. Then, cells were treated with 2% sham mouse serum, 1 nM NRG-1β in 2% sham mouse serum, 2% septic mouse serum (SMS), or 1 nM NRG-1β in 2% SMS. Exposure to SMS induced apoptosis, impaired myogenesis, and downregulated PPARγ. NRG-1β co-incubation remedied all these effects and inhibited NF-κB transcriptional activity. A specific PPARγ antagonist (GW9662) was also administered as a 2-h pretreatment to block PPARγ-mediated signaling and appeared to attenuate the effects of NRG-1β. Taken together, our results demonstrate that NRG-1β functions via a PPARγ/NF-κB-dependent pathway to modulate myogenesis and protect against apoptosis in SMS-treated C2C12 myotubes.

PurposeThe aim is to investigate and group the strategic motives that firms engage in cooperative R&D by exploring a new method.Design/methodology/approachFour theories are adopted to explain the motives and they are cited as the base to categorize the motives into four factors. A survey questionnaire of participants in the aluminum industry is used to examine the empirical prevalence and clustering of these different categories of strategic motives. Factor analysis is used to test this measurement modeling.FindingsThe results of the confirmatory factor analysis support this grouping of strategic motives as reliable and valid method. Research limitations/implications – The techniques used in this study when applied to group other motives or other similar issues could produce useful information in business and management research. Moreover, the theories employed in this research can help in hypothesis development and the relationship test between the factors and the formation of R&D alliances.Practical implicationsThe incentives such as strategic motives and the formation of R&D alliances studied in this paper can be used to investigate how they might be related to the aluminum or any other industry characteristics.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the modeling of measurement model in management by exploring a new method.