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We propose the Wasserstein Divergence GAN with an identity expert and an attribute retainer for facial age transformation. The Wasserstein Divergence GAN (WGAN-div) can better stabilize the training and lead to better target image generation. The identity expert aims to preserve the input identity at output, and the attribute retainer aims to preserve the input attribute at output. Unlike the previous works which take a specific model for identity and attribute preservation without giving a reason, both the identity expert and the attribute retainer in our proposed model are determined from a comprehensive comparison study on the state-of-the-art pretrained models. The candidate networks considered for identity preservation include the VGG-Face, VGG-Face2, LightCNN and ArcFace. The candidate backbones for making the attribute retainer are the VGG-Face, VGG-Object and DEX networks. This study offers a guidebook for choosing the appropriate modules for identity and attribute preservation. The interactions between the identity expert and attribute retainer are also extensively studied and experimented. To further enhance the performance, we augment the data by the 3DMM and explore the advantages of the additional training on cross-age datasets. The additional cross-age training is validated to make the identity expert capable of handling cross-age face recognition. The performance of our approach is justified by the desired age transformation with identity well preserved. Experiments on benchmark databases show that the proposed approach is highly competitive to state-of-the-art methods.

Tissue-derived RNA, DNA and protein samples become more and more crucial for molecular detection in clinical research, personalized and targeted cancer therapy. This study evaluated how to biobanking colorectal tissues through examining the influences of cold ischemic time and freeze-thaw cycles on RNA, DNA and protein integrity. Here, 144 pairs of tumor and normal colorectal tissues were used to investigate the impact of cold ischemic times (0-48h) on RNA, DNA and protein integrity at on ice or room temperature conditions. Additionally, 45 pairs of tissues experienced 0-9 freeze-thaw cycles, and then the RNA, DNA and protein quality were analyzed. On ice, RNA, DNA and protein from colorectal tumor and normal tissues were all stable up to 48h after surgery. At room temperature, RNA in colorectal tumor and normal tissues began to degrade at 8h and 24h, respectively. Meanwhile, the tumor tissues DNA degradation occurred at 24h after surgery at room temperature. Similarly, the protein expression level of tumor and normal tissues began to change at 24h after the surgery at room temperature. Interestingly, tissue RNA and DNA remained stable even after 9 freeze-thaw cycles, whereas the proteins levels were remarkably changed after 7 freeze-thaw cycles. This study provided a useful evidence on how to store human colorectal tissues for biobanking. Preserving the surgical colorectal tissue on ice was an effective way to prevent RNA, DNA and protein degradation. Importantly, more than 7 repeated freeze-thaw cycles were not recommended for colorectal tissues.

Redevelopment of abandoned coal mine industrial sites (ACMISs) has been one of the critical research topics in recent years. The ecological system of ACMISs, which involves environmental, economic, and social characteristics, is an environment-economy-society (EES) composite system. Many factors with conflicting effects are involved in the sustainable development of this system. The matter-element analysis method presented in this paper can transform counteracting problems among influencing factors into compatible problems. This analytical approach leads to a reduction of the uncertainty of these influencing factors and provides a suitable research method to solve the complexity when selecting the most suitable reuse mode of the ACMIS. In this study, eight state-owned ACMISs in the suburbs of Beijing were investigated, and a suitability evaluation index system based on the EES conceptual framework was built. Targeting four reuse modes, including the residential area, the park, the scientific research and office campus, and the business district, we established a matter-element decision-making model to evaluate the priority of reuse mode selections scientifically. The results of our calculations show that the optimal reuse mode for the Qianjuntai, Muchengjian, and Huapogen ACMISs is the park; for the Da’anshan and Changgouyu ACMISs is the business district; for the Datai ACMIS is the scientific research and office campus; and for the Wangping ACMIS is the residential area. Since the suitability level of reusing the Anjiatan ACMIS in any of the four reuse modes is relatively low, it is recommended to reserve it for governmental strategically reserved open space. These real cases demonstrate that the research method is feasible and can be applied to reuse mode decisions for similar abandoned coal mines.

Facial age is an important soft biometric trait for better identification of a human subject. The development of a facial age estimation system requires a large collection of age-labeled data. However, the imbalanced data distribution across age poses a major challenge to making a decent model to describe the variation of facial appearance caused by age. The cross-age data imbalance can be observed in common facial age datasets, for example, the MORPH [8], FG-NET [7] and the MIVIA dataset [3] considered in the GTA Contest. It can be often seen that insufficient data are provided for younger ages and senior ages, and the insufficiency becomes worsened as the age moves close to both ends. To deal with the data imbalance issues, many approaches implement various data augmentation schemes. In our approach, we propose a data augmentation scheme built upon the Age-Style GAN (ASGAN), which we propose for facial age regression and progression. In addition to the ASGAN-based data augmentation, we leverage the mean-variance loss to improve the age classification accuracy, and exploit face alignment as an auxiliary scheme to augment the whole dataset with an aligned subset. We conducted extensive experiments on the MIVIA dataset for verifying the performance of our approach.

PARK7 mutations are accountable for the inherited Parkinson's disease. An induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line FJMUUHi001-A was generated by expressing five reprogramming factors, OCT3/4, SOX2, c-MYC, KLF4 and BCL-XL, in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from a 32-year old patient carrying a homozygous mutation of c.189dupA in PARK7. The iPSCs with a normal karyotype had the abilities to differentiate into three germ layers and expressed pluripotency markers without detectable residual plasmids. The cell line FJMUUHi001-A carrying the truncating protein PARK7 could be a useful tool to help comprehend the function of PARK7 in the iPSCs and differentiated cells from them.

Charcot‑Marie‑Tooth (CMT) disease is a group of motor and sensory neuropathies with a high degree of pathological and genetic heterogenicity. The present study described 2 patients with CMT in a Chinese Han pedigree. The proband exhibited the classic manifestation of CMT with slowly progressing muscular atrophy and weakness. Electrophysiological examination highlighted axonal and demyelinating features. His mother did not have any symptoms, but did exhibit abnormal electrophysiological results. Next‑generation sequencing technology was employed to screen mutations in the genes associated with inherited motor never diseases. A novel mutation, c.528_530delAGT, in the gap junction protein beta 1 (GJB1) gene for CMTX, and a rare variation, c.2369C>T, in the dehydrogenase E1 and transketolase domain containing 1 (DHTKD1) gene for CMT disease type 2Q (CMT2Q), were identified in the proband and his mother. The results were verified by Sanger sequencing. Although the in silico analysis predicted no change in the 3‑dimensional structure, the clinical and electrophysiological presentation in the pedigree and the high evolutionary conservation of the affected amino acid supported the hypothesis that the c.528_530delAGT mutation in the GJB1 gene may be pathogenic in this pedigree. In silico analysis and high evolutionary conservation suggested the pathogenicity of the c.2369C>T mutation in the DHTKD1 gene; however, the clinical and electrophysiological performances of the proband and his mother did not conform to those of CMT2Q caused by the DHTKD1 gene. The present study provided additional information concerning the range of mutations of the GJB1 gene, which facilitated the understanding of the genotype‑phenotype association of CMT.

The diagnosis of PD might be in difficulty, especially in the early stages. Therefore, the identification of novel biomarkers is imperative for the diagnosis and monitoring disease progression in PD. DJ-1 and α-synuclein, are two proteins that are critically involved in the pathogenesis of PD, and they have been examined as disease biomarkers in studies. However, no study exists regarding DJ-1 in plasma neural-derived exosomes. In the present study, the levels of DJ-1 and α-synuclein in plasma neural-derived exosomes were studied together in order to investigate novel biomarkers for PD. DJ-1 and α-synuclein in plasma and plasma neural-derived exosomes of the patients with PD and controls were quantified by ELISAs. The data revealed that the levels of DJ-1 and α-synuclein in plasma neural-derived exosomes and the ratio of plasma neural-derived exosomal DJ-1 to total DJ-1 were significantly higher in patients with PD, compared with controls, while levels of the two proteins in plasma exhibited no difference between the patients with PD and controls. However, no relationship was identified between biomarkers and disease progression. In addition, significant positive correlations between DJ-1 and α-synuclein in plasma neural-derived exosomes were found in the patients with PD and in healthy individuals. We hypothesize that DJ-1 in plasma neural-derived exosomes may be used as a potential biomarker as α-synuclein in PD and they might participate in the mechanism of PD together.

Objective To explore the risk factors associated with acute/subacute cerebral infarction (ASCI) in HIV-negative patients with cryptococcal meningitis (CM). Methods This case-control study included 10 HIV-negative CM patients with ASCI and 30 age- and sex-matched HIV-negative control (1:3) CM patients without ASCI. The clinical manifestations and neuroimaging findings were collected. Risk factors for ASCI in the HIV-negative CM patients were confirmed by conditional logistic regression analysis. Results Among the 10 HIV-negative CM patients with ASCI, all cases had lacunar infarctions. Single infarctions were found in 6 patients, and multiple infarctions in 4. Hydrocephalus (p = 0.020, OR = 23.77, 95% CI, 1.67–339.33) and smoking (p = 0.039, OR = 11.63, 95% CI, 1.14–118.96) were found to be independently associated with the occurrence of ASCI. Conclusions Hydrocephalus and smoking may increase the risk of ASCI in HIV-negative CM patients. In the clinical course, cerebral infarction should be strongly suspected in CM patients with hydrocephalus or smoking histories.

This work presents a fuzzy optimisation model for the synthesis of refinery hydrogen networks under uncertainty. Based on a generic superstructure that incorporates all the possible connections between the hydrogen system elements (sources, sinks, compressors etc.), the mathematical formulation consists mainly of flowrate and impurity load balances, where fuzzy intervals are introduced to account for parametric uncertainties. Pressure constraints and the optimal placement of compressors are also taken into account. A case study is presented to illustrate the proposed approach.

The Leigh syndrome (LS), characterized by psychomotor retardation, seizures, nystagmus, ophthalmoparesis, optic atrophy, ataxia, dystonia, or respiratory failure, is one of the most severe mitochondrial diseases. In the majority of cases, the disease is fatal and patients die before age 5. Mutation m.10197 G>A was found to relate to the severe phenotype of the Leigh syndrome. Here, we describe the first Chinese Leigh syndrome pedigree with this mutation. The proband had the characteristic brain lesions of the Leigh syndrome and presented a decrease in exercise tolerance and mild face paralysis. Sequencing the NADH dehydrogenase, subunit 3 (ND3) gene in the pedigree, revealed that the proband, as well as her unaffected brother, have a high mutant load in the ND3 gene, compared to their mother. Following one‑year treatment with the coenzyme Q10, an obvious improvement in clinical features was observed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the proband. Our study and previous reports highlight the variability of phenotypic expression of the m.10197 G>A mutation, and suggest that pathogenesis of the syndrome may be affected by a number of factors. This is the first report on successful treatment of an LS patient carrying the mutation m.10197 G>A with the coenzyme Q10, indicating that Q10 may attenuate the mitochondrial dysfunctions caused by the m.10197 G>A mutation.

Endothelial dysfunction, regarded as a key step in the pathophysiological course of diabetic vascular complications, is initiated and deteriorated by advanced glycation end products (AGEs). DL-3-n-butylphthalide (DL-NBP) has been proven to have protective effects on neurons and vascular endothelial cells against ischemic and anoxic damage. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether NBP is able to attenuate AGE-induced endothelial dysfunction in vitro, and also elucidate the possible underlying mechanism. An injury model of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) induced by AGEs (200 µg/ml) was established. The results demonstrated that pretreatment with NBP (1-100 µM) significantly increased HUVEC viability and inhibited the apoptosis induced by AGEs. In addition, AGEs stimulated the expression levels of the receptor for AGEs protein and the downstream protein nuclear factor-κB in HUVECs, which were inhibited by pretreatment with NBP. Furthermore, it significantly reduced reactive oxygen species generation and the level of the inflammatory cytokines, intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 and monocyte chemotactic protein-1, in HUVECs mediated by AGEs. The current findings indicated that NBP attenuated AGE-induced endothelial dysfunction by ameliorating inflammation and oxidative stress responses.

Gene therapy is a promising clinical solution to hearing loss. However suitable gene carriers for the auditory system are currently unavailable. Given the unique structure of the inner ear, the route of delivery and gene transfer efficiency are still not optimal at present. This study presented a non-viral delivery system of in vivo delivery of Atoh1 gene (a potentially therapeutic gene for hearing loss) to rat cochlea. We treated polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers by activating and modifying with Na-carboxymethyl-beta-cyclodextrins (CM-beta-CD) in sequence. A novel gene carrier (CM-beta-CD modified activated PAMAM dendrimers, CMAP) was then constructed. CMAP nanoparticles could bind pRK5-Atoh1-EGFP plasmids to form vector-DNA complexes (dendriplexes) with a mean particle size of 132 +/- 20 nm and zeta potential of 31 +/- 3 mV. These dendriplexes were locally applied on the round window membrane and delivered to the inner ear by passive gradient permeation. Results showed that the Atoh1 gene was successfully transferred into the cells as indicated by the green fluorescence detected in the inner ear. A relatively selective gene transfer with high efficiency was achieved in the auditory hair cells but not much in other cell types in the cochlea. Auditory brainstem response was determined seven days after inoculation, indicating good tolerance. This approach may provide a novel tool for inner ear gene therapy and initiate the applications of biomaterials to treat auditory disorders.

To investigate chloride channel 1 (CLCN1) gene mutation and clinical features of 2 Chinese patients with myotonia congenita.Clinical data of a patient from a family affected with myotonia congenita in addition with a sporadic patient from Fujian province were analyzed. Exons of CLCN1 gene were amplified and sequenced.The proband from the affected family was found to carry a c.1024GA heterozygous missense mutation in exon 8, whilst the sporadic patient has carried a c.1292CT heterozygous missense mutation in exon 11.Detection of CLCN1 gene mutation is an effective method for the diagnosis of myotonia congenita. Exon 8 of CLCN1 gene may be a mutational hotspot in Chinese patients with myotonia congenita.

In discussions on brownfields there is a general consensus among researchers that brownfield sites have the potential to be reused as green spaces, art parks, commerce centers, recreational areas and residential lots. From the various kinds of brownfield redevelopment (BR) activities, residential brownfield redevelopment (RBR) is growing quickly within the US. RBR is considered to match city smart growth goals, and it is more cost-effective for economic development than other brownfield reuse activities. The paper addresses the opportunities and challenges in restructuring RBR's ecological environment and economical benefits. To reduce or eliminate obstacles we observe a collaborative model through public-private partnership (PPP) utilized in RBR: PPP creates an institutional framework in which the public sectors provide strategic profits to the private sectors, while the private entities implement and develop the public sector's plan. In order to explore specific and significant factors affecting brownfield redevelopment in housing context, we review literature on PPP in brownfield redevelopment and discuss the compositions and characteristics of both public and private sectors in RBR. From this analysis we point out that there are three key elements for the success of RBR: (1) consensus between public and private sectors, (2) the type of landowner and (3) participation of academic institutions. To clarify the argument, two RBR projects named Summerset at Frick Park and Hazelwood (LTV), both in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, were selected as case studies in our analysis. Through the comparison of successful and unsuccessful cases, our statement is future concluded: consensus, public owned properties and involvement of academic institutions contributed notably in PPP and RBR. Additionally, the successful case in restructuring ecological environment and promoting sustainable development also provides a paradigm for other cities that are withstanding similar RB or RBR issues.