The molecular mechanisms of circular RNAs (circRNAs) in extracellular vesicles (EVs) associated with glioma radioresistance remain unknown. The aim of the present study was to assess the differential ...circRNA expression profiles between EVs isolated from U251 cells and EVs isolated from radioresistant U251 (RR‑U251) cells. Identified circRNAs in EVs isolated from RR‑U251 cells (RR‑EVs) act as a U251 microRNA (miRNA) sponge. The circRNA expression was determined using RNA sequencing (RNA‑seq) technique. A total of 1,235 circRNAs were detected. We identified 63 upregulated and 48 downregulated circRNAs in RR‑EVs compared with those from U251 cells (Nor‑EVs). The expression level of candidate circATP8B4 was confirmed using real‑time quantitative PCR. It was significantly higher in RR‑EVs than in Nor‑EVs. Expression profile of RR‑U251 and U251 miRNAs was conducted. miRanda and RNAhybrid softwares was used to predict the U251 downregulated miRNAs interacting with circATP8B4. CircATP8B4 from RR‑EVs may be transferred to normal glioma U251 cells and act as an miR‑766 sponge to promote cell radioresistance. In conclusion, using RNA‑seq and bioinformatics, it was found that circATP8B4 in RR‑EVs acts as a U251 miR‑766 sponge, which may be involved in glioma radioresistance.
Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) is the primary cause of neck and back pain. Obesity has been established as a significant risk factor for IDD. The objective of this study was to explore the ...molecular mechanisms affecting obesity and IDD by identifying the overlapping crosstalk genes associated with both conditions. The identification of specific diagnostic biomarkers for obesity and IDD would have crucial clinical implications. We obtained gene expression profiles of GSE70362 and GSE152991 from the Gene Expression Omnibus, followed by their analysis using two machine learning algorithms, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator and support vector machine-recursive feature elimination, which enabled the identification of C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 16 (CXCL16) as a shared diagnostic biomarker for obesity and IDD. Additionally, gene set variant analysis was used to explore the potential mechanism of CXCL16 in these diseases, and CXCL16 was found to affect IDD through its effect on fatty acid metabolism. Furthermore, correlation analysis between CXCL16 and immune cells demonstrated that CXCL16 negatively regulated T helper 17 cells to promote IDD. Finally, independent external datasets (GSE124272 and GSE59034) were used to verify the diagnostic efficacy of CXCL16. In conclusion, a common diagnostic biomarker for obesity and IDD, CXCL16, was identified using a machine learning algorithm. This study provides a new perspective for exploring the possible mechanisms by which obesity impacts the development of IDD.
Association, aiming to link bounding boxes of the same identity in a video sequence, is a central component in multi-object tracking (MOT). To train association modules, e.g., parametric networks, ...real video data are usually used. However, annotating person tracks in consecutive video frames is expensive, and such real data, due to its inflexibility, offer us limited opportunities to evaluate the system performance w.r.t. changing tracking scenarios. In this paper, we study whether 3D synthetic data can replace real-world videos for association training. Specifically, we introduce a large-scale synthetic data engine named MOTX, where the motion characteristics of cameras and objects are manually configured to be similar to those of real-world datasets. We show that, compared with real data, association knowledge obtained from synthetic data can achieve very similar performance on real-world test sets without domain adaption techniques. Our intriguing observation is credited to two factors. First and foremost, 3D engines can well simulate motion factors such as camera movement, camera view, and object movement so that the simulated videos can provide association modules with effective motion features. Second, the experimental results show that the appearance domain gap hardly harms the learning of association knowledge. In addition, the strong customization ability of MOTX allows us to quantitatively assess the impact of motion factors on MOT, which brings new insights to the community.
Many human diseases are caused by an imbalance between energy production and demand. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provide the unique opportunity for
...assessment of several fundamental events in tissue metabolism without the use of ionizing radiation. Of particular interest, phosphate metabolites that are involved in ATP generation and utilization can be quantified noninvasively by phosphorous-31 (
P) MRS/MRI. Furthermore,
P magnetization transfer (MT) techniques allow
measurement of metabolic fluxes via creatine kinase (CK) and ATP synthase. However, a major impediment for the clinical applications of
P-MRS/MRI is the prohibitively long acquisition time and/or the low spatial resolution that are necessary to achieve adequate signal-to-noise ratio. In this review, current
P-MRS/MRI techniques used in basic science and clinical research are presented. Recent advances in the development of fast
P-MRS/MRI methods are also discussed.
The use of a lightweight corundum–spinel refractory in working lining could reduce the thermal conductivity of industrial furnaces. In this study, bubble alumina was introduced to realize a ...lightweight Al2O3-MgAl2O4 refractory assisted by the reactive sintering of Al2O3 and MgO. The effects of alumina bubble content and sintering temperature on the phase compositions, microstructure and properties of the lightweight refractory were investigated. The results indicated that the overall performance of the lightweight Al2O3-MgAl2O4 refractory was mainly dominated by the content of alumina bubbles. The bulk density, compressive strength and thermal conductivity all decreased when the alumina bubble content increased from 10 to 30 wt%. Meanwhile, the sintering temperature also significantly affected the properties of the obtained refractory. It is worth noting that specimens fired at 1650 °C achieved a high refractoriness under load (RUL) of more than 1700 °C when alumina bubble content was less than 30 wt%, which was comparable to that of the dense Al2O3-MgAl2O4 refractory. The thermal conductivity of the obtained samples was remarkably decreased to no more than 2.13 W/(m·K). In order to overcome the trade-off between the light weight of the refractory and overall performance, it is feasible to adjust the content of alumina bubbles and raise the sintering temperature appropriately.
Though lithium (Li) metal is an ideal anode material for next-generation rechargeable batteries, its application has been seriously limited by security and cyclability issues as the result of ...uncontrollable Li dendrite growth. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a method to suppress Li dendrite growth using melamine-derived 3D porous carbon foam decorated with graphite intercalation compounds of Li (GICs-Li) as a Li host. GICs-Li, with excellent lithiophilicity, ensures uniform Li deposition, while the 3D porous carbon foam, with ultrahigh porosity and enlarged surface area, provides pathway for Li+ transport, accommodates Li deposition as well as reduces practical current density. Thus, dendrite-free morphology of composite Li anode is realized without additional heterogeneous lithiophilic particles. In symmetric cell configuration, the composite Li anode performs stably for 500 cycles at 10 mAcm−2. In full cell configuration with Li4Ti5O12 (LTO), it exhibits a large capacity retention rate (~91%) after 700 cycles at 1.0C.
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•A 3D porous current collector with ultra-high porosity and excellent lithiophilicity is produced for the lithium anode.•The composite anode based on this 3D porous current collector exhibits a dendrite-free morphology.•The composite anode displays low voltage hysteresis, high plating/stripping efficiency, and long cycle lifespan.
Wearable devices can be used for monitoring vital physical and physiological signs remotely, as well as for interacting with computers. Widespread adoption of wearables is somewhat hindered by the ...duration time they can be used without re‐recharging. To ensure uninterrupted operation, these devices need a constant and battery‐less energy supply. Scavenging energy from the wearable's surroundings is, therefore, an essential step towards achieving genuinely autonomous and self‐powered devices. While energy harvesting technologies may not completely eliminate the battery storage unit, they can ensure a maximum duration of use. Piezoelectric energy harvesting is a promising and efficient technique to generate electricity for powering wearable devices in response to body movements. Consequently, we systematically survey the range of technologies used for scavenging energy from the human body, with a particular focus on the upper‐limb area. According to our review and in comparison to other upper limb locations, highest power densities can be achieved from piezoelectric transducers located on the wrist. For short and fast battery charging needs, we therefore review the range of materials, architectures and devices used to scavenge energy from these upper‐limb areas. We provide comparisons as well as recommendations and possible future directions for harvesting energy using this promising technique.
Upper limbs provide enormous potential for harvesting mechanical energy from the human body during daily movements. This paper systematically reviews a range of piezoelectric energy harvesters for powering wearable devices that are mounted on the upper limb. Accordingly, maximum power density can be achieved on the wrist. Recommendations regarding the piezoelectric materials, architectures and configurations are also provided.
The goal of this work is to extend prior work on cardiac MR Fingerprinting (cMRF) using rosette k-space trajectories to enable simultaneous T
1
, T
2
, and proton density fat fraction (PDFF) mapping ...in the heart. A rosette trajectory designed for water-fat separation at 1.5T was used in a 2D ECG-triggered 15-heartbeat cMRF sequence. Water and fat specific T
1
and T
2
maps were generated from the cMRF data. A PDFF map was also retrieved using Hierarchical IDEAL by segmenting the rosette cMRF data into multiple echoes. The accuracy of rosette cMRF in T
1
, T
2
, and PDFF quantification was validated in the ISMRM/NIST phantom and an in-house built fat fraction phantom, respectively. The proposed method was also applied for myocardial tissue mapping of healthy subjects and cardiac patients at 1.5T. T
1
, T
2
, and PDFF values measured using rosette cMRF in the ISMRM/NIST phantom and the fat fraction phantom agreed well with the reference values. In 16 healthy subjects, rosette cMRF yielded T
1
values which were 80~90 ms higher than spiral cMRF and MOLLI. T
2
values obtained using rosette cMRF were ~3 ms higher than spiral cMRF and ~5 ms lower than conventional T
2
-prep bSSFP method. Rosette cMRF was also able to detect abnormal T
1
and T
2
values in cardiomyopathy patients and may provide more accurate maps due to effective fat suppression. In conclusion, this study shows that rosette cMRF has the potential for efficient cardiac tissue characterization through simultaneous quantification of myocardial T
1
, T
2
, and PDFF.
A novel approach of fusing datasets from multiple sensors using a hierarchical support vector machine (HSVM) algorithm is presented. The validation of this method is experimentally carried out using ...an intelligent learning system that combines two different data sources. The sensors are based on a contactless sensor, which is a radar that detects the movements of the hands and fingers, as well as a wearable sensor, which is a flexible pressure sensor array that measures pressure distribution around the wrist. A HSVM architecture is developed to effectively fuse different data types in terms of sampling rate, data format, and gesture information from the pressure sensors and radar. In this respect, the proposed method is compared with the classification results from each of the two sensors independently. Herein, datasets from 15 different participants are collected and analyzed. The results show that the radar on its own provides a mean classification accuracy of 76.7%, whereas the pressure sensors provide an accuracy of 69.0%. However, enhancing the pressure sensors' output results with radar using the proposed HSVM algorithm improves the classification accuracy to 92.5%.
Fusion of contactless and wearable sensors offers an intelligent learning system that detects the movements of the hands and fingers, as well as measures pressure distribution around the wrist. Enhancing wearable flexible sensors' output results with radar using the hierarchical support vector machine algorithm significantly improves the classification accuracy.
Aquaporin-4 (AQP4) plays an important role in regulating water exchange across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and brain-cerebrospinal fluid interface. Studies on AQP-4 knockout mice (AQP4-KO) have ...reported considerable protection from brain edema induced by acute water intoxication and ischemic stroke, identifying AQP4 as a potential target for therapeutic interventions. However, the long-term effects of chronic AQP4 suppression are yet to be elucidated. In the current study, we evaluated the physiological and structural changes in adult AQP4-KO mice using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and immunohistochemical analysis. Water exchange across BBB was assessed by tracking an intravenous bolus injection of oxygen-17 (17O) water (H217O) using 17O-MRI. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) was quantified using arterial spin-labeling (ASL) MRI. Capillary density was determined by immunohistochemical staining for glucose transporter-1 (GLUT1). Compared to wildtype control mice, AQP4-KO mice showed a significant reduction in peak and steady-state H217O uptake despite unaltered CBF. Interestingly, a 22% increase in cortical capillary density was observed in AQP4-KO mice. These results suggest that increased cerebral vascularization may be an adaptive response to chronic reduction in water exchange across BBB in AQP4-KO mice.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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