As an advanced near-net shape technology, squeeze casting is an excellent method for producing high integrity castings. Numerical simulation is a very effective method to optimize squeeze casting ...process, and the interfacial heat transfer coefficient（IHTC） is an important boundary condition in numerical simulation. Therefore, the study of the IHTC is of great significance. In the present study, experiments were conducted and a “plate shape” aluminum alloy casting was cast in H13 steel die. In order to obtain accurate temperature readings inside the die, a special temperature sensor units（TSU） was designed. Six 1 mm wide and 1 mm deep grooves were machined in the sensor unit for the placement of the thermocouples whose tips were welded to the end wall. Each groove was machined to terminate at a particular distance（1, 3, and 6 mm） from the front end of the sensor unit. Based on the temperature measurements inside the die, the interfacial heat transfer coefficient（IHTC） at the metal-die interface was determined by applying an inverse approach. The acquired data were processed by a low pass filtering method based on Fast Fourier Transform（FFT）. The feature of the IHTC at the metal-die interface was discussed.
Wireless sensor and actor networks are becoming more and more popular in the recent years. Each WSAN consists of numerous sensors and a few actors working collaboratively to carry out specific tasks. ...Unfortunately, actors are prone to failure due to harsh deployment environments and constrained power, which may break network connectivity resulting in disjoint components. Thus, maintaining the connectivity among actors is especially important. This paper proposes hybrid connectivity restoration (HCR), which integrates proactive selection and reactive motion. An actor protectively selects a backup node through its one-hop neighbor table and informs the backup node to supervise its stage. Once it fails, the backup node moves to the best position to restore the connectivity of the failed node’s neighbors reactively. This triggers a local recovery process at the backup node, which is repeated until network connectivity is restored. In order to minimize travel distance, HCR selects the backup node which moves the shortest distance to restore connectivity. Furthermore, HCR opts to reduce the number of messages by just informing the failure to its backup node. The correctness and effectiveness of HCR are validated through both theoretical analysis and simulations.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Accumulating evidence indicates that noncoding RNAs play important roles in a multitude of biological processes. The striking findings of miRNAs (microRNAs) and lncRNAs (long noncoding RNAs) as ...members of noncoding RNAs open up an exciting era in the studies of gene regulation. More recently, the reports of circRNAs (circular RNAs) add fuel to the noncoding RNAs research. Human intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) is a main cause of low back pain as a disabling spinal disease. We have addressed the expression profiles if miRNAs, lncRNAs and mRNAs in IDD (Wang et al., J Pathology, 2011 and Wan et al., Arthritis Res Ther, 2014). Furthermore, we thoroughly analysed noncoding RNAs, including miRNAs, lncRNAs and circRNAs in IDD using the very same samples. Here we delineate in detail the contents of the aforementioned microarray analyses. Microarray and sample annotation data were deposited in GEO under accession number GSE67567 as SuperSeries. The integrated analyses of these noncoding RNAs will shed a novel light on coding-noncoding regulatory machinery.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Background
China is an ageing society, with around 150 million people aged 60 years or older. The prevalence of dementia will increase by more than 100% in the coming 20 years. This study aimed to ...investigate the prevalence and effects of dementia among the community elderly in Chongqing, China.
Methods
Cluster sampling was adopted. A sample of elderly individuals aged 60 years and older was extracted as research subjects from three counties within Chongqing, China. One‐on‐one interviews were conducted through a general information questionnaire, and the Mini‐Mental State Examination, Instrumental Activity of Daily Living Scale, and Geriatric Depression Scale were administered. The investigated data were tested by χ2, and the effect factors of dementia were analyzed by multiple logistic regression analysis. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05.
Results
We distributed 1850 questionnaire, and the response rate was 100%. However, only 1781 questionnaires were able to be used in the study. Of the 1781 elderly respondents, 186 (10.44%) presented with dementia. Our findings revealed that differences in regions, age, marital status, education level, occupation, tobacco consumption, alcohol consumption, freshwater fish consumption, exercise, intensive labour, mah‐jong‐ and chess‐playing habits, media consumption (i.e. watching TV, listening to the radio, or reading the newspaper), body mass index, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and depression were statistically significant in the prevalence of dementia (P < 0.05).
Conclusions
According to multiple logistic regression analyses, living in a rural area, older age, being single, obesity, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and depression are risk factors for dementia. In contrast, cessation of smoking, freshwater fish consumption, moderate or frequent exercise, intensive labour, daily housework, outdoor activities, media consumption, and social activities are protective factors against dementia among community elderly in Chongqing, China.
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DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Siraitia grosvenorii
is a kind of medicinal food plant. The mogroside-rich extract (MGE) of its fruits can effectively ameliorate obesity, but the underlying mechanisms remain underexplored. In this ...study, we aimed to determine whether MGE can ameliorate obesity by protecting against the divergences of gut microbiota. Mice were challenged with a high-fat diet (HFD) and treated with MGE by oral gavage. Then, the characteristics of the gut microbiota were determined by 16S rDNA analysis. Our findings showed that MGE could significantly reduce body weight gain and fat tissue weight of the mice fed with HFD. Moreover, MGE markedly attenuated fatty liver, and improved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity. We further found that the gut microbiota structures were disturbed by HFD feeding. In particular, the abundance of
Firmicutes
was increased and the abundance of
Bacteroidetes
was decreased, resulting in an increased proportion of
Firmicutes
to
Bacteroidetes
(F/B), which contributes to obesity. Interestingly, the abnormal proportion of F/B of HFD feeding mice was restored to the level of control mice by MGE treatment. Additionally, the abundances of obesogenic microbiota, such as
Ruminiclostridium
and
Oscillibacter
were also decreased after MGE treatment. In summary, our findings demonstrate that MGE can modulate gut microbiota in obese mice and shed new light on how it alleviates obesity.
•Pharmacogenomics of psoriasis related to methotrexate.•In the study, we have searched 3 new SNPs that might predict the efficacy of methotrexate in psoriasis vulgaris.•We used the whole exon ...high-throughput sequencing technology and MassARRAY method in the study.•This study provided a theoretical basis for precision medicine of methotrexate in future.
Methotrexate is the first systemic therapeutics of psoriasis. It is reported that 40% of the patients achieved a PASI75 after 12 weeks with a small dose of methotrexate (15mg / w) treatment. So far there is not any large-scale exome sequencing been used to predict the efficacy of methotrexate in the treatment of psoriasis vulgaris.
To analyze the genetic polymorphism to predict methotrexate efficacy in Chinese patients with psoriasis vulgaris.
In this study, we used the whole exon high-throughput sequencing technology to detect the DNA sequence of 22 psoriasis vulgaris patients (11 responders, 11 non-responders) treated with methotrexate and captured approximately 236 variants with statistically significant in the whole exon sequencing, then in accordance with statistical differences and clinical relevance, we further selected 36 SNPs and 14 SNPs that have been reported in articles associated with the response of methotrexate. We used MassARRAY method to verify the 50 SNPs in 100 psoriatic patients treated with methotrexate.
We found 3 SNPs, rs216195T>C in SMG6, rs1050301G>A in IMMT, rs2285421T>C in UPK1A which might associate with the drug response of methotrexate.
We have searched 3 new SNPs that could predict the efficacy of methotrexate in psoriasis vulgaris to some extent, providing a theoretical basis for precision medicine of methotrexate in future.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Aim
To evaluate whether knee alignment explains the higher prevalence of lateral compartment tibiofemoral radiographic osteoarthritis (TFROA) among rural Chinese compared with that among Whites.
...Methods
The Wuchuan OA Study is a population‐based longitudinal study of risk factors for knee OA. At baseline 1030 participants had home interviews, clinical examinations and weight‐bearing posteroanterior semi‐flexed radiographs of the tibiofemoral joints. Anatomic knee alignment was measured using an e‐film workstation and divided into three categories: normal (182°–184°), valgus (> 184°), and varus (< 182°) alignment. A knee was defined as having medial or lateral compartmental ROA if its Kellgren and Lawrence grade was ≥ 2 and joint space narrowing ≥ 1 in the medial or lateral compartment, respectively. We examined the association between knee alignment with prevalent medial or lateral knee ROA separately using multiple logistic regression.
Results
Among 1030 participants, the proportions of knees with normal, valgus and varus alignment were 29.9%, 56.5% and 13.7%, respectively. The prevalence of medial and lateral ROA was 16.0% and 4.3%, respectively. Valgus alignment was associated with prevalence of lateral compartment ROA (odds ratio OR = 5.0, 95% CI: 2.4–10.5), while varus alignment was associated with medial compartment ROA (OR = 6.1, 95% CI: 4.4–8.6). The ratio of prevalence of lateral versus medial compartment TFROA was greater in Wuchuan than that in the Framingham OA Study and valgus malalignment was more common in Wuchuan than in the Rotterdam study.
Conclusions
The prevalence of compartment‐specific TFROA differs between rural Chinese and Whites. This difference is likely due to relatively high prevalence of valgus malalignment in rural Chinese compared with that in Whites.
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DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
We aimed to determine the association of vasoactive-inotropic score (VIS) and vasoactive-ventilation-renal (VVR) score with in-hospital mortality and functional outcomes at discharge of children who ...receive ECMO. A sub-analysis of the multicenter, prospectively collected data by the Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network (CPCCRN) for Bleeding and Thrombosis on ECMO (BATE database) was conducted. Of the 514 patients who received ECMO across eight centers from December 2012 to February 2016, 421 were included in the analysis. Patients > 18 years of age, patients placed on ECMO directly from cardiopulmonary bypass or as an exit procedure, or patients with an invalid or missing VIS score were excluded. Higher VIS (OR = 1.008, 95% CI: 1.002-1.014,
= 0.011) and VVR (OR: 1.006, 95% CI: 1.001-1.012,
= 0.023) were associated with increased mortality. VIS was associated with worse Pediatric Cerebral Performance Category (PCPC) (OR = 1.027, 95% CI: 1.010-1.044,
= 0.002) and Pediatric Overall Performance Category (POPC) score (OR = 1.023, 95% CI: 1.009-1.038,
= 0.002) at discharge. No association was found between VIS or VVR and Functional Status Score (FSS) at discharge. Using multivariable analyses, controlling for ECMO mode, ECMO location, ECMO indication, primary diagnosis, and chronic diagnosis, extremely high VIS and VVR were still associated with increased mortality.
We discuss about the IrisNet (Internet-scale resource-intensive sensor network services) project at Intel Research, we design an architecture and build a system that enable easy deployment of such ...wide-area sensing services. We aim to provide the missing software components for realizing a worldwide sensor Web. Wide-area architectures for pervasive sensing enable a new generation of powerful distributed sensing services. A worldwide sensor Web, in which users can query, as a single unit, vast quantities of data from thousands or even millions of widely distributed, heterogeneous sensors. Internet-connected PCs that source sensor feeds and cooperate to answer users' queries will form the global sensor Web's backbone. Developers of wide-area sensing services (service authors) deploy the services on this distributed infrastructure.
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