bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
β-Klotho deficiency shifts the gut-liver bile acid axis and induces hepatic alterations in mice
Authors: Somm Emmanuel , Henry Hugues , Bruce Stephen J. , Bonnet Nicolas , Montandon Sophie A. , Niederländer Nicolas J. , Messina Andrea , Aeby Sébastien , Rosikiewicz Marta , Fajas Lluis , Sempoux Christine , Ferrari Serge L. , Greub Gilbert , Pitteloud Nelly
Published: June 2018

β-Klotho (encoded by Klb) is an obligate coreceptor, mediating both fibroblast growth factor (FGF)15 and FGF21 signaling. Klb−/−mice are refractory to metabolic FGF15 and FGF21 action and exhibit derepressed (increased) bile acid (BA) synthesis. Here, we deeply phenotyped male Klb−/−mice on a pure C57BL/6J genetic background, fed a chow diet focusing on metabolic aspects. This aims to better understand the physiological consequences of concomitant FGF15 and FGF21 signaling deficiency, in particular on the gut-liver axis. Klb−/−mice present permanent growth restriction independent of adiposity and energy balance. Klb−/−mice also exhibit few changes in carbohydrate metabolism, combining normal gluco-tolerance, insulin sensitivity, and fasting response with increased gluconeogenic capacity and decreased glycogen mobilization. Livers of Klb−/−mice reveal pathologic features, including a proinflammatory status and initiation of fibrosis. These defects are associated to a massive shift in BA composition in the enterohepatic system and blood circulation featured by a large excess of microbiota-derived deoxycholic acid, classically known for its genotoxicity in the gastrointestinal tract. In conclusion, β-Klotho is a gatekeeper of hepatic integrity through direct action (mediating FGF21 anti-inflammatory signaling) and indirect mechanisms (mediating FGF15 signaling that maintains BA level and composition).
Hair Loss: Evidence to Thallium Poisoning
Authors: Yang Guifang , Li Changluo , Long Yong , Sheng Lijuan
Published: June 2018

In clinical practice, thallium poisoning is very hard to diagnose, because it is a very uncommon disease and its clinical manifestations are extremely complicated. In the present study, we investigated a case of a 53-year-old man who was hospitalized for persistent stabbing pain in the abdomen and lower extremities for 20 days. Physical examination revealed diffuse alopecia of the scalp. The final diagnosis of thallium poisoning was confirmed based on high blood and urine thallium levels. The patient was cured by an oral administration of Prussian blue combined with hemoperfusion and continuous veno-venous hemofiltration.
Perception of Nurses on Needs of Family Members of Patient Admitted to Critical Care Units of Teaching Hospital, Chitwan Nepal: A Cross-Sectional Institutional Based Study
Authors: Khatri Chhetri Ishwori , Thulung Bedantakala
Published: June 2018

Background. Critical care units’ nurses should seek to develop collaborative relationships with patients’ family members based on their needs and help them to cope with their distress. The objective of this study was to find out the perception of nurses on needs of family members of patients admitted to critical care units.Methods. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Chitwan Medical College Teaching Hospital among all 65 nurses working in critical care units. Ethical clearance was obtained from Chitwan Medical College Institutional Review Committee. Data were collected from March 27 to April 25, 2016, using Critical Care Family Needs Inventory (CCFNI). Obtained data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.Results. This study found that mean age of the nurses was 23.98 ± 4.05 years. More than half of the nurses had completed PCL in nursing (52.3%) and had 1-5 years of experience in critical care units (58.5%). Nurses ranked the needs for assurance as most important needs with mean percent (86.25%) followed by needs for information (78.58%), need for comfort (69.59%), needs for closeness (69%), and needs for support (64.13%). Out of 45 family needs, 81.5% of nurses perceived that knowing about patient treatment is very important for family members. Married nurses perceived the needs for support to be more important than unmarried nurses (p=0.04) whereas unmarried nurses perceived the needs for information to be more important than married (p=<0.01). There was significant difference on perception of nurses on needs of assurance with ethnicity (p=0.009) and critical care experience (p=0.04).
Multiplicative Fault Estimation‐Based Adaptive Sliding Mode Fault‐Tolerant Control Design for Nonlinear Systems
Authors: Ben Brahim Ali , Dhahri Slim , Ben Hmida Fayçal , Sellami Anis
Published: June 2018

This article deals with the sliding mode fault‐tolerant control (FTC) problem for a nonlinear system described under Takagi‐Sugeno (T‐S) fuzzy representation. In particular, the nonlinear system is corrupted with multiplicative actuator faults, process faults, and uncertainties. We start by constructing the separated FTC design to ensure robust stability of the closed‐loop nonlinear system. First, we propose to conceive an adaptive observer in order to estimate nonlinear system states, as well as robust multiplicative fault estimation. The novelty of the proposed approach is that the observer gains are obtained by solving the multiobjective linear matrix inequality (LMI) optimization problem. Second, an adaptive sliding mode controller is suggested to offer a solution to stabilize the closed‐loop system despite the occurrence of real fault effects. Compared with the separated FTC, this paper provides an integrated sliding mode FTC in order to achieve an optimal robustness interaction between observer and controller models. Thus, in a single‐step LMI formulation, sufficient conditions are developed with multiobjective optimization performances to guarantee the stability of the closed‐loop system. At last, nonlinear simulation results are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed FTC to treat multiplicative faults.
Changes in the Responsiveness of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Gonadal Axis to Kisspeptin-10 Administration during Pubertal Transition in Boys
Authors: Nabi Ghulam , Ullah Hamid , Khan Suliman , Wahab Fazal , Duan Pengfei , Ullah Rahim , Yao Lunguang , Shahab Muhammad
Published: June 2018

In human, no studies are available regarding changes in kisspeptin1 receptor (KISS1R) sensitivity during pubertal transition. In this study, healthy boys were classified into 5 Tanner stages of puberty (n=5/stage). Human kisspeptin-10 was administered to boys at each Tanner stage and to adult men (n=5) as an IV bolus for comparison. Serial blood samples were collected for 30 min pre- and 120 min post-kisspeptin injection periods at 30 min interval for measuring plasma LH and testosterone levels. There was insignificant effect of kisspeptin on LH and testosterone levels in boys of Tanner stages I–III. At Tanner stage IV, the effect of kisspeptin on plasma LH was insignificant. However, a paired t-test on a log-transformed data showed a significant (P<0.05) increase in mean peak post-kisspeptin testosterone level. In Tanner stage V, a significant (P<0.05) increase was observed in mean post-kisspeptin peak LH level as compared to the mean basal LH value. Post-kisspeptin plasma testosterone levels were also significantly (P<0.05) increased as compared to the pre-kisspeptin level in Tanner stage V. Our data suggest that sensitivity of KISS1R on GnRH neurons with reference to LH stimulation in boys develops during the later part of puberty reaching to adult level at Tanner stage V. This trial is registered with WHO International Clinical Trial Registration ID NCT03286517.
One‐Pot Facile Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles Using Seed Extract of Phoenix dactylifera and Their Bactericidal Potential against MRSA
Authors: Ansari Mohammad Azam , Alzohairy Mohammad A.
Published: June 2018

Due to the great economic, health, and medicinal importance, Phoenix dactylifera seeds were chosen for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) because of their ecofriendly, nonhazardous, cost effectiveness advancement over physical and chemical methods, as green methods are safe, one step, and simple and did not require any chemical reducing and stabilizing agents. The green synthesized AgNPs were characterized by UV‐Vis spectroscopy, SEM, HR‐TEM, and DLS. Further, the bactericidal activity of synthesized AgNPs against Methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was investigated by determining MIC/MBC, agar diffusion methods, and electron microscopy. TEM images of the so‐formed AgNPs revealed that the NPs were spherical in shape, with a size range of 14–30 nm. The MIC and MBC of AgNPs for MRSA were found to be 10.67±0.94 and 17.33±1.89 μg/ml, respectively. The antibacterial activities were found to be increased with the increasing concentration of AgNPs. The zone of inhibition was greater (24mm) at highest concentrations (500μg/ml) of AgNPs, while smaller (11mm) at lowest concentrations (7.8μg/ml). The SEM images of treated MRSA cells showed wrinkled and damaged cell wall, indicating the disruption and disorganization of membrane. HR‐TEM analysis exhibits extensive injury and complete disintegration of cell wall and membrane. Large translucent zones have been seen in the cytoplasm, due to either localized or complete separation of the cell membrane from the cell wall. Overall, these results indicate that green synthesized AgNPs should be considered as an effective treatment and prevention option for the medical devises related infections caused by deadly MRSA and other drug resistant pathogens.
Clinical Oral Health Recommended Care and Oral Health Self-Report, NHANES, 2013-2014
Authors: Wiener R. Constance , Dwibedi Nilanjana , Shen Chan , Findley Patricia A. , Sambamoorthi Usha
Published: June 2018

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine the concordance of self-reported responses to oral health questions versus clinically evaluated recommended need for oral healthcare by calibrated dentists to determine usefulness of the questions for epidemiological studies. We additionally examined other factors associated with concordant self-reports versus clinical evaluations. Materials and Methods. We used a cross-sectional study design with 4,205 participants, ages 30 years and above, who had complete oral health self-perception data and dental referral data in the NHANES 2013-14. Calibrated dentists completed clinical oral healthcare assessments. The assessments were dichotomized to (1) recommendation for immediate care and (2) routine oral health care. Self-reported oral health needs were measured with 6 items (an overall oral health self-perception question, oral pain within the previous year, impact on job/school, suspected periodontal disease, tooth appearance, and tooth mobility). The key item of interest was the overall oral health self-perception question. Results. Concordance with clinically evaluated recommended need for oral healthcare varied from 52.0% (oral pain) to 65.4% (overall oral health self-perception). Many subgroup differences were observed. Conclusions. The overall self-perception of oral health and the clinical evaluation of oral healthcare need were substantially concordant; other self-reported measures were moderately concordant. This is useful information and points to the need for a minimum set of measures that can provide actionable information and capture the need for clinical dental care.
Changes in Denitrification Potentials and Riverbank Soil Bacterial Structures along Shibetsu River, Japan
Authors: Uchida Yoshitaka , Mogi Hirosato , Hamamoto Toru , Nagane Miwako , Toda Misato , Shimotsuma Moe , Yoshii Yui , Maeda Yuto , Oka Miyuki
Published: June 2018

Riverbank soil ecosystems are important zones in terms of transforming inorganic nitrogen (N), particularly nitrate (NO3−-N), in soils to nitrous oxide (N2O) gases. Thus, the gasification of N in the riverbank soil ecosystems may produce a greenhouse gas, N2O, when the condition is favourable for N2O-producing microbes. One of the major N2O-producing pathways is denitrification. Thus, we investigated the denitrification potentials along Shibetsu River, Hokkaido, Japan. We sampled riverbank soils from eight sites along the Shibetsu River. Their denitrification potentials with added glucose-carbon (C) and NO3−-N varied from 4.73 to 181 μg·N·kg−1·h−1. The increase of the denitrification after the addition of C and N was negatively controlled by soil pH and positively controlled by soil NH4+-N levels. Then, we investigated the changes in 16S rRNA bacterial community structures before and after an anaerobic incubation with added C and N. We investigated the changes in bacterial community structures, aiming to identify specific microbial species related to high denitrification potentials. The genus Gammaproteobacteria AeromonadaceaeTolumonaswas markedly increased, from 0.0 ± 0.0% to 16 ± 17%, before and after the anaerobic incubation with the excess substrates, when averaged across all the sites. Although we could not find a significant interaction between the denitrification potential and the increase rate of G. AeromonadaceaeTolumonas, our study suggested that along the Shibetsu River, bacterial response to added excess substrates was similar at the genus level. Further studies are needed to investigate whether this is a universal phenomenon even in other rivers.
The Risk Factors of Acquiring Severe Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease: A Meta-Analysis
Authors: Sun Bai Jun , Chen Hui Jie , Chen Ye , An Xiang Dong , Zhou Bao Sen
Published: June 2018

Objectives. The incidence of severe hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is not low, especially in mainland China in almost every year recently. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis to generate large-scale evidence on the risk factors of severe HFMD to provide suggestions on prevention and controlling. Methods. PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang (Chinese) were searched to identify relevant articles. All analyses were performed using Stata 14.0. Results. We conducted a meta-analysis of 11 separate studies. Fever (odds ratio (OR) 7.396, 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.565–15.342), fever for more than 3 days (OR 5.773, 95% CI 4.199–7.939), vomiting (OR 6.023, 95% CI 2.598–13.963), limb trembling (OR 42.348, 95% CI 11.765–152.437), dyspnea (OR 12.869, 95% CI 1.948–85.017), contact with HFMD children (OR 5.326, 95% CI 1.263–22.466), rashes on the hips (OR 1.650, 95% CI 1.303–2.090), pathologic reflexes (OR 3057.064, 95% CI 494.409–19000), Lethargy (OR 31.791, 95% CI 3.369–300.020), convulsions (OR 23.652, 95% CI 1.973–283.592), and EV71 infection (OR 9.056, 95% CI 4.102–19.996) were significantly related to the risk of severe HFMD. We did not find an association between female sex (OR 0.918, 95% CI 0.738–1.142), scatter-lived children (OR 1.347, 95% CI 0.245–7.397), floating population (OR 0.847, 95% CI 0.202–3.549), rash on the hands (OR 0.740, 95% CI 0.292–1.874), rash on the foot (OR 0.905, 95% CI 0.645–1.272), the level of the clinic visited first (below the country level) (OR 5.276, 95% CI 0.781–35.630), breast feeding (OR 0.523, 95% CI 0.167–1.643), and the risk of severe HFMD. Conclusions. Fever, fever for more than 3 days, vomiting, limb trembling, dyspnea, contact with HFMD children, rashes on the hips, pathologic reflexes, lethargy, convulsions, and EV71 infection are risk factors for severe HFMD.
Robust Finite-Time H-Infinity Control with Transients for Dynamic Positioning Ship Subject to Input Delay
Authors: Lin Xiaogong , Liang Kun , Li Heng , Jiao Yuzhao , Nie Jun
Published: June 2018

This paper presents the problem of robust finite-time H∞ control with transients for ocean surface vessels equipped with dynamic positioning (DP) system in presence of input delay. The main objective of this work is to design a finite-time H∞ state feedback controller, which ensures that all states of ship do not exceed a given threshold over a fixed time interval, with better robustness and transient performance subject to time-varying disturbance. Based on a novel augmented Lyapunov-Krasovskii-like function (LKLF) with triple integral terms and a method combining the Wirtinger inequality and reciprocally convex approach, a less conservative result is derived. In particular, an H∞ performance index with nonzero initial condition is introduced to attenuate the overconservatism caused by the assumption of zero initial condition and enhance the transient performance of ship subject to external disturbance. More precisely, the controller gain matrix for the DP system can be achieved by solving the linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), which can be easily facilitated by using some standard numerical packages. Finally, a numerical simulation for a ship is proposed to verify the effectiveness and less conservatism of the controller we designed.
TLR4 Activation Promotes the Progression of Experimental Autoimmune Myocarditis to Dilated Cardiomyopathy by Inducing Mitochondrial Dynamic Imbalance
Authors: Wu Bangwei , Li Jian , Ni Huanchun , Zhuang Xinyu , Qi Zhiyong , Chen Qiying , Wen Zhichao , Shi Haiming , Luo Xinping , Jin Bo
Published: June 2018

Mitochondrial dynamic imbalance associates with several cardiovascular diseases. However, the role of mitochondrial dynamics in TLR4 activation‐mediated dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) progress remains unknown. A model of experimental autoimmune myocarditis (EAM) was established in BALB/c mice on which TLR4 activation by LPS‐EB or TLR4 inhibition by LPS‐RS was performed to induce chronic inflammation for 5 weeks. TLR4 activation promoted the transition of EAM to DCM as demonstrated by increased cardiomyocyte apoptosis, myocardial fibrosis, ventricular dilatation, and declined heart function. TLR4 inhibition mitigated the above DCM changes. Transmission electron microscope study showed that mitochondria became fragmented, also with damaged crista in ultrastructure in EAM mice. TLR4 activation aggravated the above mitochondrial aberration, and TLR4 inhibition alleviated it. The mitochondrial dynamic imbalance and damage in DCM development were mainly associated with OPA1 downregulation, which may be caused by elevated TNF‐α level and ROS stress after TLR4 activation. Furthermore, OMA1/YME1L abnormal degradation was involved in the OPA1 dysfunction, and intervening OMA1/YME1L in H9C2 significantly alleviated mitochondrial fission, ultrastructure damage, and cell apoptosis induced by TNF‐α and ROS. These data indicate that TLR4 activation resulted in OPA1 dysfunction, promoting mitochondrial dynamic imbalance and damage, which may involve in the progress of EAM to DCM.
Comparison of Acceptable Noise Level Generated Using Different Transducers and Response Modes
Authors: Xia Liang , He Jingchun , Sun Yuanyuan , Chen Yi , Luo Qiong , Shi Haibo , Feng Yanmei , Yin Shankai
Published: June 2018

The acceptable noise level (ANL) was defined by subtracting the background noise level (BNL) from the most comfortable listening level (MCL) (ANL = MCL − BNL). This study compared the ANL obtained through different methods in 20 Chinese subjects with normal hearing. ANL was tested with Mandarin speech materials using a loudspeaker or earphones, with each subject tested by himself or by the audiologist. The presentation and response modes were as follows: (1) loudspeaker with self-adjusted noise levels using audiometer controls (LS method); (2) loudspeaker with the subject signaling the audiologist to adjust speech and noise levels (LA method); (3) earphones with self-adjusted noise levels using audiometer controls (ES method); and (4) earphones with the subject signaling the audiologist to adjust speech and noise levels (EA method). ANL was calculated from three measurements with each method. There was no significant difference in the ANL obtained through different presentation modes or response modes sound. The correlations between ANL, MCL, and BNL obtained from each two methods were significant. In conclusion, the ANL in normal-hearing Mandarin listeners may not be affected by presentation modes such as a loudspeaker or earphones nor is it affected by self-adjusted or audiologist-adjusted response modes. Earphone audiometry is as reliable as sound field audiometry and provides an easy and convenient way to measure ANL.
Twist Expression in Circulating Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells Predicts Metastasis and Prognoses
Authors: Yin Liang-Chun , Luo Zhen-Chao , Gao Yan-Xin , Li Yang , Peng Qing , Gao Yi
Published: June 2018

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading malignancies worldwide. Enumeration of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) has been demonstrated to be a prognostic indicator in HCC. Twist plays a critical role in metastasis and has been proposed as a biomarker for epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). However, links between the expression of Twist in CTCs and HCC clinical parameters are still unclear. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between Twist expression in CTCs and clinicohistopathological risk factors of HCC. Between June 2015 and July 2017, 80 HCC patients and 10 healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. CTCs were isolated and analyzed by the optimized CanPatrol™ CTC-enrichment technique. Our analysis showed that Twist+ CTCs were detected in 54 of the 80 (67.5%) HCC patients. The positive ratios of Twist+ CTCs correlated with portal vein tumor thrombi, TNM staging, AFP, cirrhosis, tumor number, tumor size, and microvascular invasion. Meanwhile, the follow-up results of the 33 HCC patients who underwent hepatectomy showed that the positive ratios of Twist+ CTCs were closely correlated with the rate of metastasis or recurrence and the mortality rate. The ROC curve analyses suggested that the prognostic evaluation of Twist+ CTCs outperforms CTCs alone. Twist+ CTCs showed higher expression in Glypican-3 protein. In conclusion, Twist expression in CTCs could serve as a biomarker for evaluating HCC metastasis and prognosis.
Design and Implementation of Acoustic Sensing System for Online Early Fault Detection in Industrial Fans
Authors: Gong Cihun-Siyong Alex , Lee Huang-Chang , Chuang Yu-Chieh , Li Tien-Hua , Su Chih-Hui Simon , Huang Lung-Hsien , Hsu Chih-Wei , Hwang Yih-Shiou , Lee Jiann-Der , Chang Chih-Hsiung
Published: June 2018

Industrial fans play a critical role in manufacturing facilities, and a sudden shutdown of critical fans can cause significant disruptions. Ensuring early, effective, and accurate detection of fan malfunctions first requires confirming the characteristics of anomalies resulting from initial damage to rotating machinery. In addition, sensing and detection must rely on the use of sensors and sensing characteristics appropriate to various operational abnormalities. This research proposes an online industrial fan monitoring and fault detection technique based on acoustic signals as a physical sensing index. The proposed system detects and assesses anomalies resulting from preliminary damage to rotating machinery, along with improved sensing resolution bandwidth features for microphone sensors as compared to accelerometer sensors. The resulting Intelligent Prediction Integration System with Internet (IPII) is built to analyze rotation performance and predict malfunctions in industrial fans. The system uses an NI cRIO-9065 embedded controller and a real-time signal sensing module. The kernel algorithm is based on an acoustic signal enhancement filter (ASEF) as well as an adaptive Kalman filter (AKF). The proposed scheme uses acoustic signals with adaptive order-tracking technology to perform algorithm analysis and anomaly detection. Experimental results showed that the acoustic signal and adaptive order analysis method could effectively perform real-time early fault detection and prediction in industrial fans.
Grain Size Effect on the Mechanical Behavior of Cohesionless Coarse‐Grained Soils with the Discrete Element Method
Authors: Wen Renjie , Tan Cai , Wu Yong , Wang Chen
Published: June 2018

Biaxial compression tests with the same specimen size and different maximum grain sizes were simulated for coarse‐grained soils using the discrete element method to study the influence of grain size on the mechanical properties and force chain. The maximum grain sizes were 40, 20, 10, and 5 mm, respectively. The grading with self‐similar fractal structure in mass is designed to ensure the same pore structure for soils. The shear strength increased with the increase in maximum grain size. Evident increase in shear strength and significant size effect were observed when the ratio of the specimen diameter to maximum grain size was less than five. The shear dilation of coarse‐grained soils increases with the increase in maximum grain size. The contact force distribution was uniform when maximum grain size was small but tends to be uneven with the increase in maximum grain size, thereby causing the increase in shear strength by stable strong force chains. This finding demonstrates size effect on the mechanical properties and force chain of cohesionless coarse‐grained soils under the biaxial compression condition.
Anti‐Inflammatory and Antioxidant Effects of Kelong‐Capsule on Testosterone‐Induced Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia in Rats
Authors: Zhang Ling , Fan Xin-Rong , Xie Hui , He Qing-Hu , Nie Yu-Song , Zhang Min , Yan Miao
Published: June 2018

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common disease in the current ageing male population. This research aims to study the effects of Kelong‐Capsules (KLC) on testosterone‐induced BPH. Thirty rats were randomly divided into normal group, model group, and three treatment groups. Three treatment groups were given KLC (3.6 g/kg), KLC (7.2 g/kg), and finasteride (0.9 mg/kg), respectively, for 28 days after establishing the animal model. The BPH rat models were evaluated by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) symptoms and prostate index (PI). Results indicated that three treatment groups all alleviated the pathological changes of prostate and kidney at different levels. Compared with the model group, the PI of the groups treated with KLC (7.2 g/kg) and finasteride decreased significantly. The expressions of NF‐E2 related factor 2 (Nrf‐2) and quinine oxidoreductase (NQO1) in the group treated with KLC (3.6 g/kg) increased markedly (p < 0.01). The cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) protein expression of the group treated with KLC (7.2 g/kg) was increased (p < 0.01). In conclusion, KLC could obviously inhibit the growth of prostate, and KLC (3.6 g/kg) could promote the expressions of Nrf2 and NQO1.
Robust and Low‐Complexity Cooperative Spectrum Sensing via Low‐Rank Matrix Recovery in Cognitive Vehicular Networks
Authors: Liu Xia , Zeng Zhimin , Guo Caili
Published: June 2018

In cognitive vehicular networks (CVNs), many envisioned applications related to safety require highly reliable connectivity. This paper investigates the issue of robust and efficient cooperative spectrum sensing in CVNs. We propose robust cooperative spectrum sensing via low‐rank matrix recovery (LRMR‐RCSS) in cognitive vehicular networks to address the uncertainty of the quality of potentially corrupted sensing data by utilizing the real spectrum occupancy matrix and corrupted data matrix, which have a simultaneously low‐rank and joint‐sparse structure. Considering that the sensing data from crowd cognitive vehicles would be vast, we extend our robust cooperative spectrum sensing algorithm to dense cognitive vehicular networks via weighted low‐rank matrix recovery (WLRMR‐RCSS) to reduce the complexity of cooperative spectrum sensing. In the WLRMR‐RCSS algorithm, we propose a correlation‐aware selection and weight assignment scheme to take advantage of secondary user (SU) diversity and reduce the cooperation overhead. Extensive simulation results demonstrate that the proposed LRMR‐RCSS and WLRMR‐RCSS algorithms have good performance in resisting malicious SU behavior. Moreover, the simulations demonstrate that the proposed WLRMR‐RCSS algorithm could be successfully applied to a dense traffic environment.
Multifractal Analysis of Charged Particle Multiplicity Distribution in the Framework of Renyi Entropy
Authors: Bhattacharyya Swarnapratim , Haiduc Maria , Neagu Alina Tania , Firu Elena
Published: June 2018

A study of multifractality and multifractal specific heat has been carried out for the produced shower particles in nuclear emulsion detector for16O-AgBr,28Si-AgBr, and32S-AgBr interactions at 4.5AGeV/c in the framework of Renyi entropy. Experimental results have been compared with the prediction of Ultra-Relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics (UrQMD) model. Our analysis reveals the presence of multifractality in the multiparticle production process in high energy nucleus-nucleus interactions. Degree of multifractality is found to be higher for the experimental data and it increases with the increase of projectile mass. The investigation of quark-hadron phase transition in the multiparticle production in16O-AgBr,28Si-AgBr, and32S-AgBr interactions at 4.5 AGeV/c in the framework of Ginzburg-Landau theory from the concept of multifractality has also been presented. Evidence of constant multifractal specific heat has been obtained for both experimental and UrQMD simulated data.
A Novel Approach for Predicting Disease-lncRNA Associations Based on the Distance Correlation Set and Information of the miRNAs
Authors: Zhao Haochen , Kuang Linai , Wang Lei , Xuan Zhanwei
Published: June 2018

Recently, accumulating laboratorial studies have indicated that plenty of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in various biological processes and are associated with many complex human diseases. Therefore, developing powerful computational models to predict correlation between lncRNAs and diseases based on heterogeneous biological datasets will be important. However, there are few approaches to calculating and analyzing lncRNA-disease associations on the basis of information about miRNAs. In this article, a new computational method based on distance correlation set is developed to predict lncRNA-disease associations (DCSLDA). Comparing with existing state-of-the-art methods, we found that the major novelty of DCSLDA lies in the introduction of lncRNA-miRNA-disease network and distance correlation set; thus DCSLDA can be applied to predict potential lncRNA-disease associations without requiring any known disease-lncRNA associations. Simulation results show that DCSLDA can significantly improve previous existing models with reliable AUC of 0.8517 in the leave-one-out cross-validation. Furthermore, while implementing DCSLDA to prioritize candidate lncRNAs for three important cancers, in the first 0.5% of forecast results, 17 predicted associations are verified by other independent studies and biological experimental studies. Hence, it is anticipated that DCSLDA could be a great addition to the biomedical research field.
Wind Power Prediction Based on Nonlinear Partial Least Square
Authors: Wang Qian , Lei Yang , Cao Hui
Published: June 2018

Wind power prediction is important for the smart grid safe operation and scheduling, and it can improve the economic and technical penetration of wind energy. The intermittent and the randomness of wind would affect the accuracy of prediction. According to the sequence correlation between wind speed and wind power data, we propose a method for short-term wind power prediction. The proposed method adopts the wind speed in every sliding data window to obtain the continuous prediction of wind power. Then, the nonlinear partial least square is adopted to map the wind speed under the time series to wind power. The model carries the neural network as the nonlinear function to describe the inner relation, and the outputs of hidden layer nodes are the extension term of the original independent input matrix to partial least squares regression. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, the real data of wind power with different working conditions are adopted in experiments. The proposed method, backpropagation neural network, radial basis function neural network, support vector machine, and partial least square are performed on the real data and their effectiveness is compared. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has higher precision, and the real power running curves also verify that the proposed method can predict the wind power in short-term effectively.
Detection of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Status of Circulating Tumor Cells in Patients with Esophageal Squamous Carcinoma
Authors: Han Dingpei , Chen Kai , Che Jiaming , Hang Junbiao , Li Hecheng
Published: June 2018

Purpose. To investigate the correlation between the status of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods. The demographic data and blood samples of 21 patients with ESCC were collected retrospectively. CTCs were enriched by using optimized CanPatrolTM CTC enrichment technique. CTCs were identified and characterized according to the EMT markers (e-CTCs: epithelial CTCs; mix-CTCs: epithelial-mesenchymal-mixed CTCs; m-CTCs: mesenchymal CTCs). The correlation between CTCs and demographic data was analyzed. Results. Total 129 CTCs were detected in all the patients: 11(8.5%) CTCs of them were e-CTCs, 76(58.9%) were mix-CTCs, and 42(32.6%) were m-CTCs. The average number of CTCs from each patient was 6.1±7.1 which included 0.5±0.9 of e-CTCs, 3.6±5.2 of mix-CTCs, and 2.0±2.7 of m-CTCs; the difference between the three groups was significant (P=0.017): the number of total CTCs was correlated with the number of mix-CTCs (R2=0.883, P<0.01) and m-CTCs (R2=0.639, P<0.01) but not e-CTCs (R2=0.012, P=0.641) and the number of CTCs was correlated with the N stage and TNM stage in this study (R2=0.698 and R2=0.359). Conclusions. Mix-CTCs and m-CTCs might play an important role in progression of ESCC; the number of CTCs in ESCC might have the potential to be a predictor of prognosis.
Development of Hypereutectic AlSi Alloy Powder Injection Molding Feedstocks by Rheological Analysis
Authors: Ni Jiaqi , Han Keqing , Yu Muhuo
Published: June 2018

The comprehensive properties of a feedstock have a critical influence on the powder injection molding process. Proper feedstock with homogeneous structure, favorable flow characteristic, and moldability is the prerequisite for obtaining a final part with excellent comprehensive properties. The objective of the present work was to develop an optimal feedstock for fabrication of hypereutectic AlSi (20 wt.%) alloy parts by the powder injection molding technique. For this purpose, micron‐sized hypereutectic AlSi (20 wt.%) alloy powder was mixed with different amounts of a binder which consisted of 35 wt.% high‐density polyethylene, 62 wt.% carnauba wax, and 3 wt.% stearic acid. The binder contents of the feedstocks were in the range from 13 wt.% to 21 wt.%. The influences of binder content, shear rate, and temperature on the rheological behaviors of feedstocks have been investigated via a capillary rheometer. The feedstock with 21 wt.% binder exhibited a variable flow behavior and was culled. The rest of the feedstocks showed a pseudoplastic behavior. Comprehensive analysis of rheological parameters such as the flow behavior index, yield stress, flow activation energy, and the general moldability index, the feedstock with 17 wt.% binder exhibited the best rheological performance and favorable moldability. The molded part with 17 wt.% binder had constant density, good shape retention, and stiffness as well as homogeneous distribution of the powder and binder. After solvent debinding, the debound item showed a homogeneous porous structure which is suitable for the subsequent thermal debinding and sintering processes.
Factors Associated with HIV Status Disclosure and Its Effect on Treatment Adherence and Quality of Life among Children 6–17 Years on Antiretroviral Therapy in Southern Highlands Zone, Tanzania: Unmatched Case Control Study
Authors: Bulali Regina Edward , Kibusi Stephen Matthew , Mpondo Bonaventura C. T.
Published: June 2018

Background. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that children should be informed of their HIV status at ages 6 to 12 years and full disclosure of HIV and AIDS be offered in a caring and supportive manner at about 8 to 10 years. The objective of this study was to determine factors associated with HIV status disclosure and its effect on treatment adherence and health-related quality of life among children between 6 and 17 years of age living with HIV/AIDS in the Southern Highlands Zone, Tanzania, 2017. Methods. A hospital based unmatched case control study was conducted between April and September 2017. A total of 309 children between 6 and 17 years on ART for at least six months were enrolled in this study. Simple random sampling was employed in selecting the children from existing treatment registers. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire which included the WHO Quality of Life standard tool (WHOQOL-BREF 2012 tool) and treatment adherence manual. Multiple logistic regression was used to test for the independent effect of HIV status disclosure on treatment adherence and quality of life at p value less than 0.05. Results. Out of 309 children, only 102 (33%) had their HIV status disclosed to them. The mean age at HIV status disclosure was 12.39 (SD=3.015). HIV status disclosure was high among girls (51%), children aged 10-13 years (48.3%), and those living with their biological parents (59.8%). After adjusting for confounders, being aged between 10-13 and 14-17 years was associated with HIV status disclosure (AOR 19.178, p<0.05 and AOR=65.755, p<0.001, respectively). HIV status disclosure was associated with ART adherence (AOR=8.173, p<0.05) and increased the odds of having good quality of life (AOR=3.283, p<0.001). Conclusions. HIV status disclosure significantly improved adherence to treatment and quality of life among children living with HIV/AIDS.
Intelligent Situational Control of Small Turbojet Engines
Authors: Andoga Rudolf , Főző Ladislav , Judičák Jozef , Bréda Róbert , Szabo Stanislav , Rozenberg Róbert , Džunda Milan
Published: June 2018

Improvements in reliability, safety, and operational efficiency of aeroengines can be brought in a cost-effective way using advanced control concepts, thus requiring only software updates of their digital control systems. The article presents a comprehensive approach in modular control system design suitable for small gas turbine engines. The control system is based on the methodology of situational control; this means control of the engine under all operational situations including atypical ones, also integrating a diagnostic system, which is usually a separate module. The resulting concept has been evaluated in real-world laboratory conditions using a unique design of small turbojet engine iSTC-21v as well as a state-of-the-art small turbojet engine TJ-100. Our results show that such advanced control system can bring operational quality of an engine with old turbocompressor core iSTC-21v on par with state-of-the-art engines.
An Experimental Investigation on the Relationship between MS Frequency Response and Coal and Gas Outburst
Authors: Zhu Quanjie , Li Qingsong , Feng Yu , Heng Xianwei , Li Shaoquan , Yang Tao
Published: June 2018

Microseismic (MS) frequency response is an important part of high‐efficiency data mining to achieve the aim of coal and gas outburst (CGOB) early warning. Based on the variation pattern of acoustic emission (AE) signal in the coal failure process, the experimental characteristics of MS activity and typical signals CGOB were obtained in this study. First, the AE behavior of coal failure experiment was studied, and an explanation of laws was provided as follows: the fracture behavior of coal sample exhibits certain characteristics of AE response in terms of AE event count, signal amplitude, and frequency; each stage has its own physical meaning during the process of loading test. Based on these laws, CGOB experiments were carried out using a large CGOB physical simulation system with a MS monitoring system. Notching filter and wavelet packet transform technique were used in the denoising and feature extraction of six typical MS events (signals). The features of each stage, including the time‐frequency domain, were extracted and quantitatively expressed. We finally arrive at the following conclusions: (1) CGOB exhibits significantly periodic characteristics, and each CGOB stage corresponds to the significant response characteristics of MS. CGOB presents varying characteristics, such as “valley‐peaks‐valley”. (2) From the incubation stage to happen stage of outburst, the spectrum significantly moved from extremely low frequency (100‐200 Hz) to high‐frequency band (approach to 1600 Hz). During the residual stage, MS frequency manifested the concentration distribution (50 Hz) and offered the advantage of energy concentration. (3) The phenomenon of signal energy also shows the trend of energy transform low to high and to low modes along with the process. Signals total energy distribution (42.81%, 1,437.5‐1,812.5 Hz) in the happen stage are markedly larger than those of events in incubation stage (7.01%) and residual stage (1.44%). The methodology presented in this paper for CGOB signal analysis provides a new method to obtain MS response precursor and predict CGOB disaster. This approach can be useful for rockburst anticipation and control during mining in gas and highly stressed coal mines.
Experimental Investigation on CO2 Injection in Block M
Authors: Chen Peng , Wang Linlin , Zhang Sidun , Fan Junqiang , Lu Song
Published: June 2018

The purpose of this report was to perform an experimental evaluation of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) using CO2 injection. A slim tube test and PVT experiment are used to determine the minimum miscibility pressure as well as a few related physical properties. Combined with a long core displacement experiment and nuclear magnetic resonance, CO2 flooding and CO2-water alternate flooding are simulated, and the displacement efficiency of different types of pores is evaluated. The results indicate that the minimum miscibility pressure is 32.6 MPa, and the CO2 flooding is at near-miscible conditions at the current formation pressure. The CO2 solubility of crude oil is large, and the crude oil has a strong expansion ability after the CO2 injection, which is beneficial for improving the recovery of CO2. The EOR of CO2-water alternate flooding is 3.97% higher than that of continuous CO2 flooding, and the EOR in the small and middle pores in the CO2-water alternate flooding is clearly higher. These results will be relevant for the future development of Block M.
Neimark-Sacker-Turing Instability and Pattern Formation in a Spatiotemporal Discrete Predator-Prey System with Allee Effect
Authors: Zhang Huayong , Cong Xuebing , Huang Tousheng , Ma Shengnan , Pan Ge
Published: June 2018

A spatiotemporal discrete predator-prey system with Allee effect is investigated to learn its Neimark-Sacker-Turing instability and pattern formation. Based on the occurrence of stable homogeneous stationary states, conditions for Neimark-Sacker bifurcation and Turing instability are determined. Numerical simulations reveal that Neimark-Sacker bifurcation triggers a route to chaos, with the emergence of invariant closed curves, periodic orbits, and chaotic attractors. The occurrence of Turing instability on these three typical dynamical behaviors leads to the formation of heterogeneous patterns. Under the effects of Neimark-Sacker-Turing instability, pattern evolution process is sensitive to tiny changes of initial conditions, suggesting the occurrence of spatiotemporal chaos. With application of deterministic initial conditions, transient symmetrical patterns are observed, demonstrating that ordered structures can exist in chaotic processes. Moreover, when local kinetics of the system goes further on the route to chaos, the speed of symmetry breaking becomes faster, leading to more fragmented and more disordered patterns at the same evolution time. The rich spatiotemporal complexity provides new comprehension on predator-prey coexistence in the ways of spatiotemporal chaos.
The Influence of BuqiHuoxueTongluo Formula on Histopathology and Pulmonary Function Test in Bleomycin‐Induced Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis in Rats
Authors: Yu Xiaolin , Zhang Yanxia , Yang Xiaohua , Zhang Xiaomei , Wang Xinxiang , Liu Xuemei , Yan Yan
Published: June 2018

BuqiHuoxueTongluo Formula (BHTF) is an effective herbal prescription based on traditional Chinese medicine for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The aim of this study was to elucidate the influence of BHTF on induced IPF model through the aspect of histopathology and pulmonary function test. Wistar rats with bleomycin‐induced IPF were given BHTF via intragastric gavage. After 14 days and 28 days of treatment, respectively, on these two time points, we first performed pulmonary function test, performed ventilation measure, and traced the Pressure‐Volume Loop under anesthesia. Then, rats were sacrificed for hematoxylin‐eosin and Masson’s trichrome staining, immunohistochemistry staining of TGF‐β1 and α‐SMA, and observation through transmission electron microscope. BHTF reduced infiltration of inflammation cells, collagen deposition, and fibrosis proliferation in pulmonary mesenchyme, inhibited the expression of TGF‐β1 and α‐SMA, and avoided the abnormality of ultrastructure and quantities of lamellar bodies. It also ameliorated the parameters of FVC, MVV, PEF, FEF25, and Cdyn, maintained the shape of the Pressure‐Volume Loop, and improved hysteresis. BHFT relieved the histopathologic changes, improved ventilation function, compliance, and work of breathing, meliorated the capacity and elasticity of the lungs, and stabilized the alveolar surface tension. Further speaking, it had a potential impact on the secretion of pulmonary surfactant.
Image Translation by Domain-Adversarial Training
Authors: Li Zhuorong , Wang Wanliang , Zhao Yanwei
Published: June 2018

Image translation, where the input image is mapped to its synthetic counterpart, is attractive in terms of wide applications in fields of computer graphics and computer vision. Despite significant progress on this problem, largely due to a surge of interest in conditional generative adversarial networks (cGANs), most of the cGAN-based approaches require supervised data, which are rarely available and expensive to provide. Instead we elaborate a common framework that is also applicable to the unsupervised cases, learning the image prior by conditioning the discriminator on unaligned targets to reduce the mapping space and improve the generation quality. Besides, domain-adversarial training inspired by domain adaptation is proposed to capture discriminative and expressive features, for the purpose of improving fidelity. Effectiveness of our method is demonstrated by compelling experimental results of our method and comparisons with several baselines. As for the generality, it could be analyzed from two perspectives: adaptation to both supervised and unsupervised setting and the diversity of tasks.