Klebsiella pneumoniae has been the dominant pathogen for liver abscesses in several Asian countries. Although the prevalence of K. pneumoniae liver abscess (KLA) in mainland China is increasing ...recently, the clinical and microbiological characteristics of KLA in China have not been elucidated.
Clinical and microbiology characteristics of 45 consecutive patients with KLA from a tertiary teaching hospital in China between June 2008 and June 2012 were retrospectively evaluated.
Vast majority of the strains were susceptible to main antimicrobial agents. Most of K. pneumoniae strains from pyogenic liver abscess patients belonged to K1/K2 serotype (68.9% for K1 serotype and 20% for K2 serotype). All K. pneumoniae strains were rmpA positive, and 68.9% of these strains were magA positive. Overall, 57.8% (26/45) of K. pneumoniae strains belonged to ST23. Twenty-five of 26 ST23 K. pneumoniae isolates (96.2%) from KLA patients were magA-positive and K1 serotype. Only 28.9% (13/45) of KLA isolates exhibited hypermucoviscous phenotype, which is clinically used as the characteristic of hypervirulent K. pneumoniae (hvKP). Liver abscess sizes in patients infected with hvKP were tend to be larger than those in patients infected with cKP. There was no significant association between the microbiological and clinical characteristics including serotypes, magA and rmpA genotypes, and STs with the metastatic infection and prognosis of KLA.
Neither the serotypes, magA and rmpA genotypes, nor the STs of K. pneumoniae were associated with the metastatic infection and prognosis of KLA. However, further studies with larger sample are needed in the future.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Lin28B and its paralog Lin28A are small RNA binding proteins that have similar inhibitory effects, although they target separate steps in the maturation of let-7 miRNAs in mammalian cells. Because ...Lin28B participates in the promotion and development of tumors mostly by blocking the let-7 tumor suppressor family members, we sought to explore the associated mechanisms to gain insights into how Lin28B might be decreased in human cancer cells to increase let-7 levels and reverse malignancy.
We demonstrated that the histone acetyltransferase PCAF, via its cold shock domain, directly interacts with and subsequently acetylates Lin28B in lung adenocarcinoma-derived H1299 cells. RT-qPCR assays showed that both let-7a-1 and let-7g were increased in PCAF-transfected H1299 cells. Lin28B is acetylated by ectopic PCAF and translocates from the nucleus to the cytoplasm in H1299 cells.
The effects of acetylated Lin28B on let-7a-1 and let-7g are similar to that of stable knockdown of Lin28B in H1299 cells. The new role of PCAF in mediating Lin28B acetylation and the specific release of its target microRNAs in H1299 cells may shed light on the potential application of let-7 in the clinical treatment of lung cancer patients.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Cryptococcosis is a significant life-threatening fungal infection in worldwide, mainly reported in immunocompromised patients. Pleural effusion presentation of cryptococcal infection as the only ...clinical presentation is rarely seen in pulmonary cryptococcosis, which may lead to be misdiagnosed, and the study on this subject will provide further insights.
A 64-year-old man was hospitalized in our department and diagnosed as hepatic B cirrhosis. A computed tomography (CT) of the thorax showed a massive right pleural effusion without pulmonary parenchymal abnormalities. He was started on empirical treatment for pleural tuberculosis (TB). However, during his hospitalization, a right pleural effusion developed and fever was not controlled.
On day 14 admission, pleural fluid cultured positive for Cryptococcus neoformans. The C neoformans isolate belonged to ST5 and molecular type VNI (var. grubii).
The patient was diagnosed with cryptococcal pleuritis, then amphotericin B and fluconazole were administrated.
Finally, the patient was improved and discharged from our hospital.
Similar cases in cryptococcal pleuritis patients with pleural effusion as the only clinical presentation in the literature are also reviewed. Through literature review, we recommend that pleural effusion cryptococcal antigen test should be used to diagnose cryptococcal pleuritis to reduce misdiagnosis. The early administration of antifungal drug with activity to Cryptococcus seemed beneficial in preventing dissemination of cryptococcosis.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is thought to result from susceptibility genotypes and environmental risk factors. The offspring of women who experience pregnancy infection have an increased risk for ...autism. Maternal immune activation (MIA) in pregnant animals produces offspring with autistic behaviors, making MIA a useful model for autism. However, how MIA causes autistic behaviors in offspring is not fully understood. Here, we show that NKCC1 is critical for mediating autistic behaviors in MIA offspring. We confirmed that MIA induced by poly(I:C) infection during pregnancy leads to autistic behaviors in offspring. We further demonstrated that MIA offspring showed significant microglia activation, excessive dendritic spines, and narrow postsynaptic density (PSD) in their prefrontal cortex (PFC). Then, we discovered that these abnormalities may be caused by overexpression of NKCC1 in MIA offspring's PFCs. Finally, we ameliorated the autistic behaviors using PFC microinjection of NKCC1 inhibitor bumetanide (BTN) in MIA offspring. Our findings may shed new light on the pathological mechanisms for autism caused by pregnancy infection.
Janus nanoparticles have aroused the interest of scholars because of their highly efficient emulsification of spilled oils in wastewater. In this work, interfacially active Janus hollow glass ...microparticles (J-HGMPs) of asymmetric wettability were designed and synthesized in order to achieve more efficient separation of emulsified oil droplets from oily wastewater. Surface characteristic techniques such as FTIR, SEM, zeta potential and contact angle measurements had been employed to assess the amphiphilic surface properties of J-HGMPs. The oil removal/recovery performance of J-HGMPs in different oil-water systems and their interfacial activities were studied. As a particulate emulsifier, J-HGMPs could remove/recover > 96% oil from oil-water mixed phase. The results showed that J-HGMPs had strong interfacial activities and anchored firmly at oil/water interfaces. This high adsorption energy was also evaluated and verified via the calculation of Gibbs free energy. Overall, this study provided a novel and low-cost oil recovery method via a convenient buoyancy force that could be effectively applied in the treatment of oil spills while achieving the goal of benign and green environmental protection.
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Low vitamin D status has been associated with an increased risk for infertility. Recent evidence regarding the efficacy of vitamin D supplementation in improving reproductive outcomes is ...inconsistent. Therefore, this systematic review was conducted to investigate whether vitamin D supplementation could improve the reproductive outcomes of infertile patients and evaluate how the parameters of vitamin D supplementation affected the clinical pregnancy rate.
We searched seven electronic databases (CNKI, Cqvip, Wanfang, PubMed, Medline, Embase, and Cochrane Library) up to March 2022. Randomized and cohort studies were collected to assess the reproductive outcomes difference between the intervention (vitamin D) vs. the control (placebo or none). Mantel-Haenszel random effects models were used. Effects were reported as odds ratio (OR) and their 95% confidence interval (CI). PROSPERO database registration number: CRD42022304018.
Twelve eligible studies (n = 2352) were included: 9 randomized controlled trials (RCTs, n = 1677) and 3 cohort studies (n = 675). Pooled results indicated that infertile women treated with vitamin D had a significantly increased clinical pregnancy rate compared with the control group (OR: 1.70, 95% CI: 1.24-2.34; I
= 63%, P = 0.001). However, the implantation, biochemical pregnancy, miscarriage, and multiple pregnancy rates had no significant difference (OR: 1.86, 95% CI: 1.00-3.47; I
= 85%, P = 0.05; OR: 1.49; 0.98-2.26; I
= 63%, P = 0.06; OR: 0.98, 95% CI: 0.63-1.53; I
= 0%, P = 0.94 and OR: 3.64, 95% CI: 0.58-11.98; I
= 68%, P = 0.21). The improvement of clinical pregnancy rate in the intervention group was influenced by the vitamin D level of patients, drug type, the total vitamin D dosage, the duration, administration frequency, and daily dosage of vitamin D supplementation. The infertile women (vitamin D level < 30 ng/mL) treated with the multicomponent drugs including vitamin D (10,000-50,000 IU or 50,000-500,000 IU), or got vitamin D 1000-10,000 IU daily, lasting for 30-60 days could achieve better pregnancy outcome.
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first meta-analysis systematically investigated that moderate daily dosing of vitamin D supplementation could improve the clinical pregnancy rate of infertile women and reported the effects of vitamin D supplementation parameters on pregnancy outcomes. A larger sample size and high-quality RCTs are necessary to optimize the parameters of vitamin D supplementation to help more infertile patients benefit from this therapy.
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In this paper, a liquid level tracking controller composed of a feedforward controller and a feedback controller is proposed for three-tank systems. Firstly, the flat property of three-tank systems ...is verified and a feedforward controller is designed accordingly to track the ideal trajectories. Secondly, in order to eliminate the tracking errors introduced by model uncertainties or unknown disturbances, a nonlinear model predictive controller is designed in which a terminal equality constraint is added for ensuring asymptotic convergence. In addition, an improved cuckoo search algorithm is adopted to solve the optimization problem involved in the nonlinear model predictive control. Finally, the control performance is confirmed by both simulation and experiment results.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
As one of the most essential components of fuel cells, the commercialized Nafion-based proton exchange membranes(PEMs) suffer from several drawbacks like high cost and methanol permeability. The aim ...of this work is to fabricate a high performance PEM with combined low cost and methanol permeability together with high proton conductivity. Three-dimensional hierarchical molybdenum disulfide (MoS
2
) nanoflower is synthesized via a facile one-pot hydrothermal method, and then was embedd into sulfonated poly ether ether ketone (SPEEK) matrix to prepare composite PEM. The three-dimensional hierarchical architectures of MoS
2
nanoflower can not only avoid the aggregation of MoS
2
nanosheets but also provide abundant surface area and active sites, which are of benefit to fully take advantage of the intrinsic water absorption and methanol diffusion resistance ability of MoS
2
nanosheets. The formed hydrogen bond network with water passway contributes to the improvement in proton conduction of composite membrane. As a consequence, composite membrane with 1 wt% MoS
2
nanoflower loading content achieves optimized proton conductivity (0.123 S cm
−1
, 80 °C) and methanol permeability (21.5 × 10
–7
cm
2
s
−1
, 70 °C), which is 59.7% higher and 79.1% lower than that of SPEEK control membrane. Owing to increased proton conductivity and decreased methanol permeability, the maximum power density of the SPEEK/MoS
2
-1 composite membrane is 82.7 mW cm
−2
at 70 °C, which is nearly 64.7% higher than that of pure SPEEK membrane (only 50.2 mW cm
−2
). Furthermore, the durability test confirms that the SPEEK/MoS
2
composite membrane still possesses satisfactory stability even after continuous operation at 70 °C for 100 h.
Graphical abstract
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Business Process Model and Notation is known as a widely used standard for business processes modeling. However, its main drawback is that it lacks formal semantics, leading to some undesirable ...properties, such as livelocks and deadlocks, such that it creates models with semantic errors. In order to formally verify them, we need to transform it onto a formal language, for example, Petri nets. The approach proposed in this article is an extension of previous approaches stated in the literature by adding probability to gateways and time to transitions. The first aim is to transform the Business Process Model and Notation process diagram onto Petri nets automatically using a developed software package. The developed software package is capable of transforming the XML file of a Business Process Model and Notation process diagram into “m” files of a Petri net. The “m” files of the Petri net are then coupled with the General Purpose Petri Net Simulator (GPenSIM) for analysis in MATLAB. The second aim is to manually transform the Business Process Model and Notation process diagram using mapping figures onto Petri nets and then analyze it using Timed Petri Net Analyzer tools. The advantage of transforming a Business Process Model and Notation diagram automatically is that we can add time to transitions and probability to gateways. Furthermore, the simulation time can be checked using MATLAB.
•Reported a rare casing leakage failure in a shale gas well in western China during pressure testing.•Failure analysis of the casing and investigation of the manufacturing plant revealed that during ...the steel pipe rolling process, the bolts on the balance cylinder of the continuous pipe mill dropped onto the pipe. The bolt acts as a dissimilar metal substance to destroy the continuity of the metal.•The FEA calculation results show that when the casing is used in the field, under axial tension and internal pressure, the equivalent force at the defect is much greater than the yield strength of the casing. Therefore, the crack at the defect quickly propagated and penetrated the entire wall thickness of the casing, resulting in the final failure of the casing.•In order to avoid the recurrence of such failure accidents, rectification suggestions were put forward.
A casing leaked in a shale gas well during pressure testing. A series of experiments including macroscopic observation, non-destructive inspection, physical and chemical inspection, optical microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometry techniques (EDS) were carried out to analyze the failure accident. The finite simulation analysis (FEA) method was used to analyze the effect of internal pressure on the defective parts of the casing. Based on the experiment result and manufacturing process investigation, the root cause was obtained. During the casing pipe rolling process, the bolts of size M12 × 60 mm on the balance cylinder of the continuous pipe mill were loosened and dropped onto the pipe. Under the dual action of the roller and the mandrel, the bolts are 'inlaid' inside the casing as a dissimilar metal substance. The bolt head almost occupies the entire wall thickness of the casing, resulting in the remaining wall thickness of the casing being less than 1 mm. The dissimilar metal inside the casing destroys the continuity of the pipe and severely reduces the pressure bearing capacity of the casing. The FEA calculation results show that the equivalent stress at the defect is lower than the yield strength of the pipe body during the factory hydraulic test. While, in the field pressure test, the equivalent stress at the defect is far greater than the yield strength of the casing under the action of axial tension and internal pressure. Therefore, the crack at the defect quickly propagated and penetrated the entire wall thickness of the casing, resulting in leakage. In order to avoid similar accidents, suggestions to prevent such failures are proposed.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
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