Piwi‐interacting RNAs (piRNAs), a novel class of small non‐coding RNAs, were first discovered in germline cells and are thought to silence transposons in spermatogenesis. Recently, piRNAs have also ...been identified in somatic tissues, and aberrant expression of piRNAs in tumor tissues may be implicated in carcinogenesis. However, the function of piR‐823 in colorectal cancer (CRC) remains unclear. Here, we first found that piR‐823 was significantly upregulated in CRC tissues compared with its expression in the adjacent tissues. Inhibition of piR‐823 suppressed cell proliferation, arrested the cell cycle in the G1 phase and induced cell apoptosis in CRC cell lines HCT116 and DLD‐1, whereas overexpression of piR‐823 promoted cell proliferation in normal colonic epithelial cell line FHC. Interestingly, Inhibition of piR‐823 repressed the expression of heat shock protein (HSP) 27, 60, 70. Furthermore, elevated HSPs expression partially abolished the effect of piR‐823 on cell proliferation and apoptosis. In addition, we further demonstrated that piR‐823 increased the transcriptional activity of HSF1, the common transcription factor of HSPs, by binding to HSF1 and promoting its phosphorylation at Ser326. Our study reveals that piR‐823 plays a tumor‐promoting role by upregulating phosphorylation and transcriptional activity of HSF1 and suggests piR‐823 as a potential therapeutic target for CRC.
piR‐823 is up‐regulated in colorectal cancer tissues .piR‐823 promotes proliferation and inhibits apoptosis in colorectal cancer carcinogenesis.piR‐823 elevates the expression of HSP27, 60 and 70 by binding to HSF1 and enhancing its activity.
In December, 2019, a pneumonia associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) emerged in Wuhan, China. We aimed to further clarify the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of ...2019-nCoV pneumonia.
In this retrospective, single-centre study, we included all confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV in Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital from Jan 1 to Jan 20, 2020. Cases were confirmed by real-time RT-PCR and were analysed for epidemiological, demographic, clinical, and radiological features and laboratory data. Outcomes were followed up until Jan 25, 2020.
Of the 99 patients with 2019-nCoV pneumonia, 49 (49%) had a history of exposure to the Huanan seafood market. The average age of the patients was 55·5 years (SD 13·1), including 67 men and 32 women. 2019-nCoV was detected in all patients by real-time RT-PCR. 50 (51%) patients had chronic diseases. Patients had clinical manifestations of fever (82 83% patients), cough (81 82% patients), shortness of breath (31 31% patients), muscle ache (11 11% patients), confusion (nine 9% patients), headache (eight 8% patients), sore throat (five 5% patients), rhinorrhoea (four 4% patients), chest pain (two 2% patients), diarrhoea (two 2% patients), and nausea and vomiting (one 1% patient). According to imaging examination, 74 (75%) patients showed bilateral pneumonia, 14 (14%) patients showed multiple mottling and ground-glass opacity, and one (1%) patient had pneumothorax. 17 (17%) patients developed acute respiratory distress syndrome and, among them, 11 (11%) patients worsened in a short period of time and died of multiple organ failure.
The 2019-nCoV infection was of clustering onset, is more likely to affect older males with comorbidities, and can result in severe and even fatal respiratory diseases such as acute respiratory distress syndrome. In general, characteristics of patients who died were in line with the MuLBSTA score, an early warning model for predicting mortality in viral pneumonia. Further investigation is needed to explore the applicability of the MuLBSTA score in predicting the risk of mortality in 2019-nCoV infection.
National Key R&D Program of China.
This article examines how a group of martial arts students in China make sense of their futures and how their hopes toward a “feel-good” future reveal and affect their perceived class identities. ...Twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork was conducted in Dengfeng, a county-level city in central China. Dengfeng was home to 48 registered martial arts schools and more than 70,000 full-time students in 2012. By uncovering the hopes, aspirations, and perceived class identities of people in martial arts schools, this article argues that the process of class-making for these martial arts students results in constantly reorienting their hopes. These hopes often reflect social comparisons with familiar others like parents, friends, and acquaintances.
The accurate and real-time estimation of state-of-charge (SOC) in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are crucial for battery management system (BMS) in electric vehicles. The SOC estimation is affected by ...several factors like temperature, aging and many other battery characteristics, making it challenging. In this study, improved central difference transform Kalman filter method based on square root second-order central difference transform (SRCDKF) was utilized for real-time estimation of SOC in LIBs. The hybrid pulse power characterization (HPPC) tests were combined with recursive least squares (RLS) method to identify the second-order equivalent circuit model parameters. To avoid high order Taylor series expansion and complicated multi-parameter adjustment in other Kalman filters, the CDKF with square root second-order difference transform is developed to generate Sigma point. The effectiveness of the proposed SRCDKF was then verified by pulse discharge and urban dynamometer driving schedule (UDDS) testing, and the results were compared with those obtained from extended Kalman filter (EKF) and unscented Kalman filter (UKF). In particular, the proposed algorithm provided small error within 2% under UDDS testing, and the convergence time was earlier than those obtained with the other two algorithms. The proposed SRCDKF can also guarantee the non-negative covariance and reduce the computational complexity. Overall, these findings look promising for future BMS SOC estimation in practice.
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•An improved central difference transform is proposed to estimate SOC in real-time.•A square root second-order central difference transform Kalman filter is designed.•The proposed algorithm provided SOC error within 2% under UDDS real-time testing.•SRCDKF guarantees the non-negative covariance and reduces the computational burden.
Abstract
To investigate the influence of the transition surfaces of consoles on film cooling performance, a series of numerical simulations were performed under two typical blowing ratio (
M
). Four ...different consoles were designed by changing the transition surface of the console, and their film cooling performance was studied under the same boundary conditions. The purpose of the present work is to determine the best configuration of the transition surface. The results show that whether at
M
=0.5 or
M
=1.0, compared with the reference case, the console with anti-s-shaped transition surface has the best spatially-averaged adiabatic film cooling effectiveness (
η
ad,av
), and the
η
ad,av
is improved by 6.4% and 7.0% respectively, meanwhile, the discharge coefficient (
C
d
) is decreased by 2.9% and 3.2% respectively. Besides, the detailed flow and heat transfer mechanism of consoles with different transition surfaces under different blowing ratios are also investigated.
The effect of soil moisture (SM) on precipitation is an important issue in the land–atmosphere interaction and shows largely regional differences. In this study, the SM of the ERA-Interim reanalysis ...and precipitation data of the weather stations were used to investigate their relationship over eastern China during July and August. Moreover, the WRF model was applied to further validate the effect of SM on rainfall. In the observations, a significantly negative relationship was found that, when the soil over southern China is wet (dry) in July, the rainfall decreases (increases) over the Huang–Huai–River basin (hereafter HHR) in August. In the model results, the soil can “memorize” its wet anomaly over southern China from July to August. In August, the wet soil increases the latent heat flux at surface and the air moisture at lower levels of the atmosphere, which is generally unstable due to the summer monsoon. Thus, upward motion is prevailing over southern China in August, and the increased surface air moisture is transported upwards. After that, the condensation of water vapor is enhanced at the middle and upper levels, increasing the release of latent heat in the atmosphere. The heat release forms a cyclonic circulation at the lower levels over eastern China, and induces the transport and convergence of water vapor increased over southern China in August. This further strengthens the upward motion over southern China and the cyclonic circulation at the lower levels. Therefore, positive feedback appears between water vapor transport and atmospheric circulation. Meanwhile, the cyclonic circulation over southern China results in a response of water vapor divergence and a downward motion over HHR. Consequently, the negative anomalies of precipitation occur over HHR in August. When the July soil is dry over southern China, the opposite results can be found through the similar mechanism.
Financial constraint is detrimental to firm productivity but has been less explored in the literature. In this empirical study, I fill this gap by using a rich Vietnamese firm-level dataset for ...manufacturing firms over the period of 2010 to 2015 to estimate a total factor productivity (TFP) model augmented with financial factors. The estimation results indicate that sufficient internal financing and the development of the financial sector boost firm productivity, whereas the leverage ratio has a negative impact on firm productivity. I also provide the heterogeneous impact of financial development on firm productivity across different firm sizes as well as different trade modes.
Hierarchically mesostructured metal-organic frameworks (designated here as L-MOFs) were designed and synthesized using block copolymers (P123 and F127) as structure directing agents under ...solvothermal synthesis conditions. Porous mesostructure of L-MOF materials was established from nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms (BET) at 77
K, high-resolution transmission electron micrograps (HRTEM), and small-angle X-ray diffraction (SAXD) patterns. MOF crystal structures were characterized by wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Results demonstrated that L-MOF materials have well-defined trimodal pore size distributions showing micro-, and simultaneous existence of up to two mesopore channel systems. L-MOF materials have two kinds of mesoporous phases: one has disordered wormhole-like structure with pore size diameter around 4
nm, and the other one, only appearing in L-MOF(1) and L-MOF(2) (corresponding to P123 and F127), has a needle-like shape with BJH pore sizes are of 7.6 and 5.4
nm, respectively.
Oxygen excess ratio is one of the most crucial parameters for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system protection and performance improvement. In this study, a new fuzzy-PID controller based ...on feedforward approach is proposed to regulate oxygen excess ratio. To implement a feedforward fuzzy-PID (FFPID) control, a control-oriented dynamic model of PEM fuel cell is developed in MATLAB/Simulink platform including cathode and anode mass flow transients and membrane hydration dynamics model. Moreover, PEM fuel cell balance-of-plant (BOP), comprised of air compressor, humidifier, cooler, and purge valve, is also integrated into the system modeling. In order to optimize PEM fuel cell operation, such as preventing oxygen starvation and/or optimizing output power by trade-off compressor parasitic power, a FFPID controller is developed to adapt PID parameters to regulate air flow rate using on-line fuzzy logic optimization loop. A FFPID controller utilizes the reference feedforward input and the errors. Conventional PID and conventional fuzzy-PID (CFPID) are compared to validate the performance of the FFPID control method. Simulation results reveal that the efficacy of the proposed feedforward fuzzy-PID approach is proved in regulating the oxygen excess ratio and in reducing parasitic power loss.
•PEM fuel cell system control model with balance-of-plant is presented.•Oxygen excess ratio regulation is developed by using feedforward fuzzy-PID.•Feedforward action provides a feasible way to improve classical fuzzy-PID method.
•Nanoalumina (NA) accelerated the hydration of both silicate and aluminate phases in OPC.•The CH and Wn contents of NA modified OPC pastes increased at early age, but were almost unchanged at later ...age.•Adding NA particles increased the micropores and reduced the macropores in OPC pastes.•Al-enriched outer C-S-H products were found in NA modified OPC pastes.•NA had little impact on the compositions of the inner C-S-H products.
Many studies have focused on the feasibility of using nanoparticles including nanoalumina (NA), in cement composites and reported some positive effects on the properties of concrete. However, there are still uncertainties about the effects of NA addition on cement hydration. In this study, γ-NA particles with a size of about 30 nm was incorporated into Portland cement pastes and the physicochemical and microstructural properties of the NA-modified cement pastes were analyzed. Conduction calorimetry results showed that NA accelerated the silicate and aluminate phases reactions in OPC. Compared to the plain cement paste, the NA-modified cement pastes exhibited improved compressive strength at all ages due to the reduced macropores and the accelerating effect on cement hydration induced by NA, but the strength enhancement at 28 days was less obvious. Moreover, back scattering electron imaging and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (BSE-EDS) analysis indicated that the Al-enriched outer C-S-H formed in the NA modified paste; and it was mainly due to the NA particles acting as seeding for the growth of the outer C-S-H at the early age, rather than the Al released by the aluminate phases. This also provided a possible explanation for the substantial increase in CH and chemical bounded water contents in the NA-modified pastes at 12 h, but almost no change at 28 days of hydration.
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