Osteoporosis is a serious health issue among aging postmenopausal women. The majority of postmenopausal women with osteoporosis have bone loss related to estrogen deficiency. The rapid bone loss ...results from an increase in bone turnover with an imbalance between bone resorption and bone formation. Osteoporosis can also result from excessive glucocorticoid usage, which induces bone demineralization with significant changes of spatial heterogeneities of bone at microscale, indicating potential risk of fracture. This review is a summary of current literature about the molecular mechanisms of actions, the risk factors, and treatment of estrogen deficiency related osteoporosis (EDOP) and glucocorticoid induced osteoporosis (GIOP). Estrogen binds with estrogen receptor to promote the expression of osteoprotegerin (OPG), and to suppress the action of nuclear factor-κβ ligand (RANKL), thus inhibiting osteoclast formation and bone resorptive activity. It can also activate Wnt/β-catenin signaling to increase osteogenesis, and upregulate BMP signaling to promote mesenchymal stem cell differentiation from pre-osteoblasts to osteoblasts, rather than adipocytes. The lack of estrogen will alter the expression of estrogen target genes, increasing the secretion of IL-1, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF). On the other hand, excessive glucocorticoids interfere the canonical BMP pathway and inhibit Wnt protein production, causing mesenchymal progenitor cells to differentiate toward adipocytes rather than osteoblasts. It can also increase RANKL/OPG ratio to promote bone resorption by enhancing the maturation and activation of osteoclast. Moreover, excess glucocorticoids are associated with osteoblast and osteocyte apoptosis, resulting in declined bone formation. The main focuses of treatment for EDOP and GIOP are somewhat different. Avoiding excessive glucocorticoid use is mandatory in patients with GIOP. In contrast, appropriate estrogen supplement is deemed the primary treatment for females with EDOP of various causes. Other pharmacological treatments include bisphosphonate, teriparatide, and RANKL inhibitors. Nevertheless, more detailed actions of EDOP and GIOP along with the safety and effectiveness of medications for treating osteoporosis warrant further investigation.
Herbal medicines (HMs) are much appreciated for their significant contribution to human survival and reproduction by remedial and prophylactic management of diseases. Defining the scientific basis of ...HMs will substantiate their value and promote their modernization. Ever‐increasing evidence suggests that gut microbiota plays a crucial role in HM therapy by complicated interplay with HM components. This interplay includes such activities as: gut microbiota biotransforming HM chemicals into metabolites that harbor different bioavailability and bioactivity/toxicity from their precursors; HM chemicals improving the composition of gut microbiota, consequently ameliorating its dysfunction as well as associated pathological conditions; and gut microbiota mediating the interactions (synergistic and antagonistic) between the multiple chemicals in HMs. More advanced experimental designs are recommended for future study, such as overall chemical characterization of gut microbiota‐metabolized HMs, direct microbial analysis of HM‐targeted gut microbiota, and precise gut microbiota research model development. The outcomes of such research can further elucidate the interactions between HMs and gut microbiota, thereby opening a new window for defining the scientific basis of HMs and for guiding HM‐based drug discovery.
Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) is a prospective reliability analysis technique used in a wide range of industries for enhancing the safety and reliability of systems, products, processes, ...and services. However, the conventional FMEA method has been criticized for inherent drawbacks that limit effectiveness and applications. In this paper, a novel integrated FMEA model based on cloud model theory and hierarchical technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method is developed to assess and rank the risk of failure modes. First, individual linguistic assessments of failure modes are converted into normal clouds. Then, FMEA team members' weights are calculated based on the subjective weighting information. Finally, the risk priority of failure modes is determined by using the cloud hierarchical TOPSIS. The newly proposed FMEA method combines the advantages of the cloud model in coping with fuzziness and randomness of linguistic assessments and the merits of hierarchical TOPSIS in solving complex decision making problems. Two empirical examples to illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed FMEA are presented together with a comparison to existing methods.
Metal‐containing nanoparticles (M‐NPs) in metal/nitrogen‐doped carbon (M‐N‐C) catalysts have been considered hostile to the acidic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The relation between M‐NPs and the ...active sites of metal coordinated with nitrogen (MNx) is hard to establish in acid medium owing to the poor stability of M‐NPs. Herein, we develop a strategy to successfully construct a new FeCo‐N‐C catalyst containing highly active M‐NPs and MN4 composite sites (M/FeCo‐SAs‐N‐C). Enhanced catalytic activity and stability of M/FeCo‐SAs‐N‐C is shown experimentally. Calculations reveal that there is a strong interaction between M‐NPs and FeN4 sites, which can favor ORR by activating the O−O bond, thus facilitating a direct 4 e− process. Those findings firstly shed light on the highly active M‐NPs and FeN4 composite sites for catalyzing acid oxygen reduction reaction, and the relevant reaction mechanism is suggested.
Highly active metal‐containing nanoparticles and FeN4 composite sites have been constructed. Experiment and calculation results reveal the enormous potential for activating the O−O bond and promoting the direct 4 e− dissociation pathway in the acidic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), which could fundamentally improve ORR activity and inhibit the formation of reactive oxygen species.
► Components of microalgal biomass are suitable for biofuels production and biorefineries. ► Characterization and application of microalgae-based lipids, carbohydrates, pigments and proteins are ...elucidated. ► Critical comments were made on the role of microalgae in fermentation, food, and pharmaceutical industries.
The potential for biodiesel production from microalgal lipids and for CO2 mitigation due to photoautotrophic growth of microalgae have recently been recognized. Microalgae biomass also has other valuable components, including carbohydrates, long chain fatty acids, pigments and proteins. The microalgae-based carbohydrates consist mainly of cellulose and starch without lignin; thus they can be ready carbon source for the fermentation industry. Some microalgae can produce long chain fatty acids (such as DHA and EPA) as valuable health food supplements. In addition, microalgal pigments and proteins have considerable potential for many medical applications. This review article presents comprehensive information on the current state of these commercial applications, as well as the utilization and characteristics of the microalgal components, in addition to the key factors and challenges that should be addressed during the production of these materials, and thus provides a useful report that can aid the development of an efficient microalgae-based biorefinery process.
Since December 2019, an epidemic caused by novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infection has occurred unexpectedly in China. As of 8 pm, 31 January 2020, more than 20 pediatric cases have been reported in ...China. Of these cases, ten patients were identified in Zhejiang Province, with an age of onset ranging from 112 days to 17 years. Following the latest
National recommendations for diagnosis and treatment of pneumonia caused by 2019-nCoV
(the 4th edition) and current status of clinical practice in Zhejiang Province, recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory infection caused by 2019-nCoV for children were drafted by the National Clinical Research Center for Child Health, the National Children’s Regional Medical Center, Children’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine to further standardize the protocol for diagnosis and treatment of respiratory infection in children caused by 2019-nCoV.
Due to the increasing awareness of environmental and social issues, many practitioners and researchers have paid much attention to the sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) in recent years. ...Sustainable supplier selection is one of the most critical activities in the SSCM which can affect supply chain performance. However, the previous literature rarely considers the interrelationships between economic, environmental, and social evaluation criteria in the supplier selection. Moreover, the effect of the criteria importance on the criteria interrelationships is scarcely discussed in previous researches. To deal with these problems, a novel integrated methodology is developed in this paper. The proposed method integrates the merit of pairwise comparison method in determining relative importance, the strength of decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) in manipulating the complex and intertwined problems with fewer data, and the rough number's advantage in flexibly dealing with vague information. A case study in a solar air-conditioner manufacturer is provided to show the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed methodology.
Osteoporosis is a major concern all over the world. With aging, a gradual loss of bone mass results in osteopenia and osteoporosis. Heritable factors account for 60-80% of optimal bone ...mineralization. Modifiable factors, such as weight-bearing exercise, nutrition, body mass, and hormonal milieu, play an important role in the development of osteopenia and osteoporosis in adulthood. Currently, anti-resorptive agents, including estrogen, bisphosphonates, and selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs), are the drugs of choice for osteoporosis. Other treatments include parathyroid hormone (PTH) as well as the nutritional support of calcium and vitamin D. New treatments such as tissue-selective estrogen receptor complexes (TSECs) are currently in use too. This review, which is based on a systematic appraisal of the current literature, provides current molecular and genetic opinions on osteoporosis and its medical treatment. It offers evidence-based information to help researchers and clinicians with osteoporosis assessment. However, many issues regarding osteoporosis and its treatment remain unknown or controversial and warrant future investigation.
•This paper provides a comprehensive review of FMEA using MCDM methods.•The 169 articles were found and classified according to the used MCDM methods.•The risk factors, risk factor weighting methods ...and risk assessment methods are analyzed.•Directions for future research to adopt MCDM methods for FMEA are provided.
Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) is a proactive reliability management technique extensively utilized in a variety of fields. To enhance the effectiveness of FMEA, a great many multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods have been applied for properly evaluating the risk of failure modes over the past two decades. However, there is a lack of study concerning systematic literature review and classification of the researches on this topic. This article aims to provide a comprehensive review of the FMEA studies using MCDM approaches for evaluation and prioritization of failure modes. To do so, a total of 169 journal papers extracted from the online database over the period of 1998–2018 were selected and reviewed. These publications were classified into 10 categories according to the used MCDM methods, and analyzed in regard to the risk factors, risk factor weighting methods, and risk assessment methods in FMEA. Furthermore, a bibliometric analysis was performed based on the frequency of MCDM methods, number of citations, year of publication, appeared journals, country of origin and application areas. This research supports academics and practitioners in effectively adopting MCDM methods to overcome the deficiencies of the traditional FMEA and provides an insight into its state-of-the-art.
Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) is gradually becoming a strategic imperative for companies. Different sources of risk factors may appear in SSCM due to its complex nature. Most of the ...previous studies consider less about the effect of strength of each risk factor on the interdependencies. To solve the problem, a rough weighted decision-making and trial evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) is proposed. Both internal strength and external influence of risk factors are simultaneously considered to fully reflect the priority of risk factors. The novel approach also has merit in flexibly manipulating the vagueness and ambiguity involved in risk analysis. The applicability and effectiveness of the proposed method are validated by applying it to a company providing telecommunications products. The results show that failure to select the right suppliers is the most prominent risk factor for SSCM, because supplier selection plays an important role in achieving the social, environmental, and economic benefits of SSCM. The proposed method can be used as an effective tool to identify critical SSCM risk issues and interrelationships between different risk factors.
•A listing of risk factors for sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) is described.•A new method to identify interdependencies of SSCM risk factors is developed.•The method simultaneously considers the internal strength and external influence of risk factor.•The proposed method is applied to a telecommunications provider in China.•The application results show critical risk factors and key relations between them.
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