Effects of Wuwei Xiaodu Decoction on Uterine Energy Metabolism and Serum Inflammatory Factors in Rats with Acute Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

[Objectives]To observe the effects of Wuwei Xiaodu Decoction on uterine energy metabolism and serum inflammatory factors in the acute pelvic inflammatory disease(APID)model.[Methods]75 Wistar rats(females)were randomly divided into control group,model group and Wuwei Xiaodu Decoction low,medium and high dose groups(n=15).Except for the control group,the rat APID model was established by right uterine inoculation.On the fifth day after inoculation,the low,medium and high dose groups of Wuwei Xiaodu Decoction were administered at 4,8 and 16 g/kg,and the control group and model group received normal saline.Rats were killed 12 h after nondose administration,blood was collected from the abdominal aorta and measured by ELISA for serum interleukin-6(interleukin-6,IL-6),IL-8,and C-reactive proteins(CRP);the right uterus of rats was tested for high-energy phosphate adenosine phosphate(AMP),adenosine diphosphate(ADP),adenosine triphosphate(ATP)and total adenine nucleotides(TAN)level to evaluate the uterine energy metabolism.[Results]AMP,ADP,ATP and TAN were significantly higher in the Wuwei Xiaodu Decoction of low,medium and high dose than the model group,while the serum IL-6,IL-8 and CRP were significantly lower than the model group,and the difference between the low,medium and high doses(P<0.05).[Conclusions]The Wuwei Xiaodu Decoction can dose-dependent promote uterine energy metabolism and inhibit inflammatory response in APID model rats.

Breeding and Characteristics of a New Wheat Variety Jike 33

Jike 33 is a new disease-resistant high-yield multi-ear wheat variety with strong gluten bred by Anhui New Century Agricultural Co.,Ltd. in 2001 with Yannong 19 as the female parent and the self-selected Jike 19( variant of Lumai 14) as the male parent. In 2011-2012,the variety participated in the semi-winter wheat regional test in Huaibei area of Anhui Province,and exhibited a yield of 519. 5 kg/667 m^2,which was 7. 83% higher than that of Wanmai 50 as the CK. In the semi-winter wheat regional test in Huaibei area of Anhui Province in 2012-2013,it showed an average yield of 522. 1 kg/667 m^2,which was 14. 5% higher than that of Wanmai 50 as the CK. and in 2013-2014,the variety participated in the semi-winter wheat production test in Anhui Province,and showed an average yield of 589. 30 kg/667 m2,which was 7. 30% higher than that of Wanmai 52 as the CK. Jike 33 was approved by the Anhui Crop Variety Approval Committee in July,2015.

Shock response of cyclotetramethylene tetranitramine(HMX)single crystal at elevated temperatures

To investigate the shock response of cyclotetramethylene tetranitramine(HMX)single crystals at elevated temperatures(below the phase transition point),plate impact experiments at elevated temperatures were designed and conducted.The HMX/window interface particle velocities at temperatures of 300 K,373 K,and 423 K were measured by the velocity interferometry system for any reflector(VISAR)technique.To further analyze the related mesoscale deformation mechanisms,a nonlinear thermoelastic-viscoplastic model was developed,which considers thermal activation and phonon drag dislocation slip mechanisms.The proposed model could well reproduce the measured thermal hardening behavior of Hugoniot elastic limit(HEL)of HMX single crystals.At elevated temperatures,the reduced dislocation mobility was observed,which stems from both phonon scattering and radiative damping effects.Comparatively speaking,radiative damping contributes less than phonon scattering to thermal hardening behavior.The calibrated model was further used to predict shock response of HMX single crystals with different thicknesses at different initial temperatures.Both the stress relaxation and elastic precursor decrease with thickness are mainly due to the rapid dislocation generation.These insights shed light on the interplay between dislocation motion and dislocation generation in thermal hardening behavior,stress relaxation,and elastic precursor decay,which serves to reveal the mesoscale deformation mechanisms at elevated temperatures.

多发性骨髓瘤微小残留病检测的研究进展

近年来随着新药物的临床应用,多发性骨髓瘤(multiple myeloma,MM)患者的预后有了根本性的改善,但目前仍不能达到临床治愈。主要障碍为微小残留病(minimal residual diseases,MRD)的存在,其对于患者无进展生存期(progression-free survival,PFS)和总生存期(overall survival,OS)具有重要影响。考虑到患者的克隆异质性、基因不稳定性和无效免疫监视,准确定义和精准检测MRD对制定临床治疗决策十分重要,同时MRD阴性也是患者维持治疗的理论终点和新药临床试验的重要研究终点之一。迄今为止,在检测精度、标准化和普遍适用性方面尚缺乏完美的MRD检测手段。本文综述包括流式细胞术和各种分子生物学检测方法在内的检测MM患者MRD的主要技术,对其各自的优缺点和未来发展方向予以阐述。

Complement C3a activates osteoclasts by regulating the PI3K/PDK1/SGK3 pathway in patients with multiple myeloma

Objective:Myeloma bone disease(MBD)is the most common complication of multiple myeloma(MM).Our previous study showed that the serum levels of C3/C4 in MM patients were significantly positively correlated with the severity of bone disease.However,the mechanism of C3 a/C4 a in osteoclasts MM patients remains unclear.Methods:The formation and function of osteoclasts were analyzed after adding C3 a/C4 a in vitro.RNA-seq analysis was used to screen the potential pathways affecting osteoclasts,and the results were verified by Western blot,q RT-PCR,and pathway inhibitors.Results:The osteoclast area per view induced by 1μg/m L(mean±SD:50.828±12.984%)and 10μg/m L(53.663±12.685%)of C3 a was significantly increased compared to the control group(0μg/m L)(34.635±8.916%)(P<0.001 and P<0.001,respectively).The relative m RNA expressions of genes,OSCAR/TRAP/RANKL/cathepsin K,induced by 1μg/m L(median:5.041,3.726,1.638,and 4.752,respectively)and 10μg/m L(median:5.140,3.702,2.250,and 5.172,respectively)of C3 a was significantly increased compared to the control group(median:3.137,2.004,0.573,and 2.257,respectively)(1μg/m L P=0.001,P=0.003,P<0.001,and P=0.008,respectively;10μg/m L:P<0.001,P=0.019,P<0.001,and P=0.002,respectively).The absorption areas of the osteoclast resorption pits per view induced by 1μg/m L(mean±SD:51.464±11.983%)and 10μg/m L(50.219±12.067%)of C3 a was also significantly increased(33.845±8.331%)(P<0.001 and P<0.001,respectively)compared to the control.There was no difference between the C4 a and control groups.RNA-seq analysis showed that C3 a promoted the proliferation of osteoclasts using the phosphoinositide 3-kinase(PI3 K)signaling pathway.The relative expressions of PIK3 CA/phosphoinositide dependent kinase-1(PDK1)/serum and glucocorticoid inducible protein kinases(SGK3)genes and PI3 K/PDK1/p-SGK3 protein in the C3 a group were significantly higher than in the control group.The activation role of C3 a in osteoclasts of MM patients was reduced by the SGK inhibitor(EMD638683).Conclusions:C3 a activated osteoclasts by regulating the PI3 K/PDK1/SGK3 pathways in MM patients,which was reduced using a SGK inhibitor.Overall,our results identified potential therapeutic targets and strategies for MBD patients。

Social Sensors (S^2ensors): A Kind of Hardware-Software-Integrated Mediators for Social Manufacturing Systems Under Mass Individualization

Currently, little work has been devoted to the mediators and tools for multi-role production interactions in the mass individualization environment. This paper proposes a kind of hardware-software-integrated mediators called social sensors （S2ensors） to facilitate the production interactions among customers, manufacturers, and other stakeholders in the social manufacturing systems （SMS）. The concept, classification, operational logics, and for- malization of S2ensors are clarified. S2ensors collect sub- jective data from physical sensors and objective data from sensory input in mobile Apps, merge them into meaningful information for decision-making, and finally feed the decisions back for reaction and execution. Then, an S2en- sors-Cloud platform is discussed to integrate different S2- ensors to work for SMSs in an autonomous way. A demonstrative case is studied by developing a prototype system and the results show that S2ensors and S2ensors- Cloud platform can assist multi-role stakeholders interact and collaborate for the production tasks. It reveals the mediator-enabled mechanisms and methods for production interactions among stakeholders in SMS.

RFID-based Production Data Analysis in an IoT-enabled Smart Job-shop

Under industry 4.0, internet of things(IoT), especially radio frequency identification(RFID) technology, has been widely applied in manufacturing environment. This technology can bring convenience to production control and production transparency. Meanwhile, it generates increasing production data that are sometimes discrete, uncorrelated, and hard-to-use. Thus,an efficient analysis method is needed to utilize the invaluable data. This work provides an RFID-based production data analysis method for production control in Io T-enabled smart job-shops.The physical configuration and operation logic of Io T-enabled smart job-shop production are firstly described. Based on that,an RFID-based production data model is built to formalize and correlate the heterogeneous production data. Then, an eventdriven RFID-based production data analysis method is proposed to construct the RFID events and judge the process command execution. Furthermore, a near big data approach is used to excavate hidden information and knowledge from the historical production data. A demonstrative case is studied to verify the feasibility of the proposed model and methods. It is expected that our work will provide a different insight into the RFIDbased production data analysis.

Effectiveness of entomopathogenic fungal strains against poplar/willow weevil(Cryptorhynchus lapathi L.)larvae

The poplar and willow weevil,Crypto rhynchus lapathi L.,a major universally destructive wood-boring insect has become one of the important quarantine pests that is extremely destructive to forestry development and needs to be controlled.Entomopathogenic fungi(EPF) are considered safe and friendly for humans and the environment and play important roles in controlling insect pest populations.In this study,the screening of entomopathogenic fungi for control of C.lapathi is reported through the evaluation of virulence of four fungal Beauveria bassiana(CFCC81428,CFCC83116,CFCC83486,CFCC87297)strains,one B.brongniartii(CFCC83487) strain and one Metarhizium anisopliae(CFCC88953) strain.The virulence of the different strains was appraised by correct mortality rate,cumulative mortality rate,median lethal concentration(LC_(50)) and median lethal time(LT_(50)).B.bassiana strains CFCC81428 and CFCC83116 were the most virulent among the six strains with a mortality up to 100%,and the LT_(50) were 2.7 and 3.1 days.Five conidia concentrations of three strains(CFCC81428,CFCC83116 and CFCC87298) that caused high virulence was screened for dose-relationship.Their effect on controlling C.lapathi larvae were also determined under field condition by brushing conidia suspensions on C.lapathi larvae infested in a poplar trunk.The cumulative rate in the field was lower than those obtained from the laboratory,but the order of the virulence of different strains did not change.Mortality in all three strains occurred at their highest concentration(1.0 × 10^(8) conidia mL^(-1)).Under field conditions,the CFCC81428 strain was the most effective,causing mortalities of 80.3% and 75.2%in two plots in Beipiao and Lindian counties,respectively,followed by CFCC83116(69.1%,66.6%) and CFCC87298(60.7%,59.3%).Based on our results,the B.bassiana strain CFCC81428 has the potential as a biological insecticide to control C.lapathi larvae.

PRAME Gene Expression in Acute Leukemia and Its Clinical Significance

Objective To investigate the expression of the preferentially expressed antigen of melanoma（PRAME） gene in acute leukemia and its clinical significance. Methods The level of expressed PRAME mRNA in bone marrow mononuclear cells from 34 patients with acute leukemia（AL） and in 12 bone marrow samples from healthy volunteers was measured via RT-PCR.Correlation analyses between PRAME gene expression and the clinical characteristics（gender,age,white blood count,immunophenotype of leukemia,percentage of blast cells, and karyotype） of the patients were performed. Results The PRAME gene was expressed in 38.2%of all 34 patients,in 40.7%of the patients with acute myelogenous leukemia （AML,n=27）,and in 28.6%of the patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia（ALL,n=7）,but was not expressed in the healthy volunteers.The difference in the expression levels between AML and ALL patients was statistically significant.The rate of gene expression was 80%in M3,33.3%in M2,and 28.6%in Ms.Gene expression was also found to be correlated with CD15 and CD33 expression and abnormal karyotype,but not with age,gender,white blood count or percentage of blast cells. Conclusions The PRAME gene is highly expressed in acute leukemia and could be a useful marker to monitor minimal residual disease.This gene is also a candidate target for the immunotherapy of acute leukemia.

Use of a New Algorithm with an Internally Cooled Electrode for Radiofrequency Ablation of Small Hepatocellular Carcinomas

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy of a new algorithm to increase the volume of tissue ablation via gradual ramp-up of power using an internally cooled electrode for ablating hepatomas 3 cm or less. Materials and Methods: 44 patients with 62 hepatomas were treated from March 4, 2004 to May 24, 2009. Ablation with a gradual ramp-up of power was performed using a single needle with an internally cooled electrode. Evaluation for tumor response was performed with 4-phase CT at 24 hours and 3 months. All immediate and follow-up complications were recorded. Results: Complete tumor ablation was achieved in 86%. The ablation volumes were 16 cm3 +/- 12 cm3 for tumors 3 +/- 12 cm3 for tumors 2 - 3 cm. Out of 68 total ablation sessions, there were 2 major complications (pleural effusions) requiring intervention (thoracentesis). Conclusion: Compared with existing techniques using a constant full-power setting, ablation of small hepatomas using an algorithm of gradual ramp-up of power provides comparable rate of complete tumor ablation, adequate ablation volumes, and a low rate of complications that require treatment.

SRY-Box transcription factor 9 triggers YAP nuclear entry via direct interaction in tumors

The translocation of YAP from the cytoplasm to the nucleus is critical for its activation and plays a key role in tumor progression.However,the precise molecular mechanisms governing the nuclear import of YAP are not fully understood.In this study,we have uncovered a crucial role of SOX9 in the activation of YAP.SOX9 promotes the nuclear translocation of YAP by direct interaction.Importantly,we have identified that the binding between Asp-125 of SOX9 and Arg-124 of YAP is essential for SOX9-YAP interaction and subsequent nuclear entry of YAP.Additionally,we have discovered a novel asymmetrical dimethylation of YAP at Arg-124(YAP-R124me2a)catalyzed by PRMT1.YAP-R124me2a enhances the interaction between YAP and SOX9 and is associated with poor prognosis in multiple cancers.Furthermore,we disrupted the interaction between SOX9 and YAP using a competitive peptide,S-A1,which mimics anα-helix of SOX9 containing Asp-125.S-A1 significantly inhibits YAP nuclear translocation and effectively suppresses tumor growth.This study provides the first evidence of SOX9 as a pivotal regulator driving YAP nuclear translocation and presents a potential therapeutic strategy for YAP-driven human cancers by targeting SOX9-YAP interaction.

Research progress in ZnO single-crystal:growth, scientific understanding, and device applications

Zinc oxide,a wide band-gap semiconductor,has shown extensive potential applications in high-efficiency semiconductor photoelectronic devices,semiconductor photocatalysis,and diluted magnetic semiconductors.Due to the undisputed lattice integrity,ZnO single crystals are essential for the fabrication of high-quality ZnO-based photoelectronic devices,and also believed to be ideal research subjects for understanding the underlying mechanisms of semiconductor photocatalysis and diluted magnetic semiconductors.This review,which is organized in two main parts,introduces the recent progress in growth,basic characterization,and device development of ZnO single crystals,and some related works in our group.The first part begins from the growth of ZnO single crystal,and summarizes the fundamental and applied investigations based on ZnO single crystals.These works are composed of the fabrication of homoepitaxial ZnO-based photoelectronic devices,the research on the photocatalysis mechanism,and dilute magnetic mechanism.The second part describes the fabrication of highly thermostable n-type ZnO with high mobility and high electron concentration through intentional doping.More importantly,in this part,a conceptual approach for fabricating highly thermostable p-type ZnO materials with high mobility through an integrated three-step treatment is proposed on the basis of the preliminary research.

Investigation on induction brazing of profiled cBN wheel for grinding of Ti-6Al-4V

Profiled monolayer cBN wheel was induction brazed for grinding of titanium dovetail slot in this study.Aimed at acquiring a uniform temperature distribution along the profiled surface and reducing the thermal deformation of the brazed wheel,a finite element model was established to investigate the temperature uniformity during induction brazing.A suitable induction coil and the related working parameters were designed and chosen based on the simulation results.Ag-Cu-Ti alloy and cBN grains were applied in the induction brazing experiment.The results showed geometric deformation of the brazed wheel was no more than 0.01 mm and chemical reaction layer were found on the brazed joint interface.Further validation tests were carried out by grinding of Ti-6 Al-4 V alloy.Compared to the electroplated wheel,the brazed wheel showed better performance such as low specific grinding energy and good ground quality in grinding of Ti-6 Al-4 V alloy.Abrasion wear was found to be the main failure mode for the induction brazed wheel,while adhesion and grains pull-out were the main failure mode for the electroplated wheel.

Prevention of carbon migration in 9% Cr/CrMoV dissimilar welded joint by adding tungsten inert gas overlaying layer

High chromium （9-12% Cr） steels with excellent heat resistance and CrMoV steels with good toughness were potential candidates for combined rotor for steam turbine operated over 620℃. Two welding techniques were used to fabricate 9% Cr and CrMoV dissimilar welded joint. The results show that the carbon migration only appears in the specimen using narrow gap submerged arc welding （NG-SAW） technique, yet it can be effectively prevented by adding tungsten inert gas （TlG） overlaying process before the NG-SAW. The carbon migration occurred in NG-SAW resulting from the sharp transition of the strong carbide-forming element Cr between the weld （-2.7 wt%） and the base metal （- 9 wt%）. On the contrary, the application of TIG overlaying layers can promote the diffusion of Cr element, and therefore result in its much smaller concentration gradient. That is to say, a gentle transition zone of Cr element can be created among the SAW weld, TIG overlaying layers and the base metal, which effectively prevents the carbon migration and therefore produces a decreased carbon concentration adjacent to the fusion line.

Anomalous residual austenite formation in root of welding layers of 9% Cr/CrMoV dissimilar welded joint

The morphology and distribution of residual austenite in the welded zone of 9% Cr/CrMoV dissimilar welded joint were observed by color metallographic method. Moreover, the details of the distribution, shape, length, length-to-width ratio, and the content of residual austenite in each welding layer were systematically characterized using Image-Pro Plus image analysis software. Different from the techniques such as X-ray diffraction, vibrating sample magnetometer, and electron backscatter diffraction that only involve the content of residual austenite, color metallographic method can offer much more details of the residual austenite, including the location, shape, size, and content, helping evaluate the overall characteristics of the residual austenite produced in the weld. It is interesting that a large amount of block-like and film-like residual austenite was found in the root of each welding layer, while rare at the top. The area fraction of residual austenite located in this zone was approximately 7.5% compared with only 0.5% at the top. In addition, the average area, length, and length-to-width ratio of dispersed residual austenite were quantitatively evaluated to be （4.7 ± 0.6）μm2, （5.1 ±0.6） μm, and （1.1 ± 0.1） μm, respectively. This variety of residual austenite was resulted from the tempering effect by latter welding layer on the previous one and different cooling rates in these two regions during the welding process.

Auto Insurance Fraud Detection with Multimodal Learning

In recent years,feature engineering-based machine learning models have made significant progress in auto insurance fraud detection.However,most models or systems focused only on structural data and did not utilize multi-modal data to improve fraud detection efficiency.To solve this problem,we adapt both natural language processing and computer vision techniques to our knowledge-based algorithm and construct an Auto Insurance Multi-modal Learning(AIML)framework.We then apply AIML to detect fraud behavior in auto insurance cases with data from real scenarios and conduct experiments to examine the improvement in model performance with multi-modal data compared to baseline model with structural data only.A selfdesigned Semi-Auto Feature Engineer(SAFE)algorithm to process auto insurance data and a visual data processing framework are embedded within AIML.Results show that AIML substantially improves the model performance in detecting fraud behavior compared to models that only use structural data.

Design and test of 4ZZ-4A2 full-hydraulic self-propelled jujube harvester

The cultivated area of jujube in Xinjiang has increased rapidly in recent years.While the jujube harvest by hand has the shortage of high labor intensity,low efficiency and high labor cost,in addition,the harvesting machinery applying to dwarf and dense planting mode of jujubes is unavailable in Xinjiang.The 4ZZ-4A2 based on the full-hydraulic self-propelled jujube harvester was designed to solve the above problems.The harvester was mainly composed of a frame,a vibrating device,a jujube collecting and conveying device,an air separation device,a steering system,a hydraulic system and a jujube suction device and was capable of completing vibration,collection,conveying,cleaning and sundries removal work of jujubes through one step.The jujubes dropped on the ground were picked up at the same time.The AMESim simulation software was adopted to perform simulation analysis on the overall hydraulic system.The results showed that the speed of the vibrating motor was stable at about 650 r/min(the corresponding vibration frequency is 10.83 Hz)with the torque of 80 N·m,the speed of the conveyor motor was stable at 77 r/min with the torque of 77 N·m;the speed of the fan motor was stable at 54 r/min with the torque of 53.6 N·m;the speed of the walking motor fluctuated around 100 r/min with the torque of about 1000 N·m;the hydraulic steering system responded rapidly and could satisfy the actual working requirements of the jujube harvester.The jujube garden test results showed that the harvester could reach to the optimum harvesting effect when running at the speed of 0.5 m/s.Under such speed,the ground jujube picking rate was 45.1%,the tree jujube harvesting rate was 93.2%,the loss rate was 2.9%,and the damage rate was 0.9%.This study can provide theoretical basis and technical support for the jujube harvester.

High starter phosphorus fertilization facilitates soil phosphorus turnover by promoting microbial functional interaction in an arable soil

Microbial phosphorus(P)turnover is critical in C utilization efficiency in agroecosystems.It is therefore necessary to understand the P mobilization processes occurring during P fertilization in order to ensure both crop yield and environmental quality.Here,we established a controlled pot experiment containing soil amended with three different levels of starter P fertilizer and collected soil samples after 30,60,and 90 days of incubation.Quantitative microbial element cycling(QMEC)smart chip technology and 16S rRNA gene sequencing were used to investigate functional gene structures involved in carbon,nitrogen and P cycling and the bacterial community composition of the collected samples.Although P fertilization did not significantly affect the structure of the soil microbial community,some rare microbiota were changed in particular phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria were enriched at the high P fertilization level,suggesting that the rare taxa make an important contribution to P turnover.P fertilization also altered the functional gene structure,and high P concentrations enhanced the functional gene diversity and abundance.Partial redundancy analysis further revealed that changes in rare taxa and functional genes of soil microorganisms drive the alteration of soil P pools.These findings extend our understanding of the microbial mechanisms of P turnover.

Profiling the antibiotic resistome in soils between pristine and human-affected sites on the Tibetan Plateau

With increasing pressure from anthropogenic activity in pristine environments,the comprehensive profiling of antibiotic resistance genes(ARGs)is essential to evaluate the potential risks from human-induced antibiotic resistance in these under-studied places.Here,we characterized the microbial resistome in relatively pristine soil samples collected from four distinct habitats on the Tibetan Plateau,using a Smart chip based high-throughput q PCR approach.We compared these to soils from the same habitats that had been subjected to various anthropogenic activities,including residential sewage discharge,animal farming,atmospheric deposition,and tourism activity.Compared to pristine samples,an average of23.7%more ARGs were detected in the human-affected soils,and the ARGs enriched in these soils mainly encoded resistances to aminoglycoside and beta-lactam.Of the four habitats studied,soils subjected to animal farming showed the highest risks of ARG enrichment and dissemination.As shown,the number of ARGs enriched(a total of 42),their fold changes(17.6 fold on average),and the co-occurrence complexity between ARGs and mobile genetic elements were all the highest in fecal-polluted soils.As well as antibiotics themselves,heavy metals also influenced ARG distributional patterns in Tibetan environments.However,compared to urban areas,the Tibetan Plateau had a low potential for ARG selection and exhibited low carriage of ARGs by mobile genetic elements,even in environments impacted by humans,suggesting that these ARGs have a limited capacity to disseminate.The present study examined the effects of multiple anthropogenic activities on the soil resistomes in relatively pristine environments.

How to disentangle microbially functional complexity: an insight from the network analysis of C, N, P and S cycling genes

A complete ecosystem is also a complex network in which multifarious species interact with each other to achieve system-level functions, such as nutrient biogeochemistry (1)Microbial community is commonly considered as the primary driving force of ecosystem nutrient mobilization and metabolism, especially carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), sulfur (S) and methane coupling process (2)The rise of metagenomics and high-throughput array (e.g. PhyloChip, GeoChip, etc.