We investigate new connection-provisioning algorithms to efficiently provide signal-quality-guaranteed connections in an optical wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) mesh network operating with ...high-speed wavelength channels. In an optical network, a connection is set up to carry a data signal via an all-optical channel (lightpath) from its source to destination node. The optical signal transmitted along the lightpath may need to travel through a number of crossconnect switches (OXCs), optical amplifiers, and fiber segments. While the signal propagates toward its destination, the optical components would continuously degrade the signal quality by inducing impairments. When the signal degradation is so severe that the received bit-error rate (BER) becomes unacceptably high, the lightpath would not be able to provide good service quality to a connection request. Such a lightpath, which has poor signal quality due to transmission impairments in the physical layer, should not be used for connection provisioning in the network layer. With increasing channel bit rate to 10 Gb/s or higher, fiber linear and nonlinear impairments become prominent factors, which affect the signal quality. Thus, new techniques in both physical layer and network layer are necessary for mitigating impairments to accommodate high-speed traffic. Therefore, to ensure service quality of high-speed connections, we develop intelligent impairment-aware routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) algorithms, which automatically consider the effects of high-speed transmission impairment when setting up a lightpath. The main contribution of our paper is that we investigate a novel hierarchical RWA model for high-speed connection provisioning where the optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) and polarization mode dispersion (PMD) effect are estimated in the physical layer, and regarded as metrics for lightpath computation in the network layer. The performance of the proposed connection-provisioning strategies is demonstrated to be promising through illustrative numerical examples.
Online teaching is not limited by time, but the problem of low learning efficiency is common. To address this problem, the study proposes an attention mechanism for multidimensional feature fusion, ...which first detects faces, uses a supervised gradient descent algorithm for face feature point detection, and improves the least-squares ellipse-fitting algorithm to detect the open/closed state of human eyes. The sight detection method is also improved, and the fuzzy inference method is used to identify students’ emotions, and the modules are fused to achieve multidimensional feature fusion attention detection for online teaching. The study found that the average accuracy rate was 84.5% with glasses and 92.0% without glasses. The research method with glasses had an average time consumption of 17 ms, while the method without glasses took 15 ms, indicating higher detection accuracy and faster real-time performance. The improved approach led to higher recognition accuracy and accuracy rate. The detection accuracy of a single feature and the research method was 74.1 and 91.9%, respectively. It shows that the research method helps in the detection of students’ attention in online teaching.
Online teaching quality evaluation is essential for university management, but the current evaluation model of online teaching quality has problems such as subjectivity, high randomness and slow ...convergence speed. Therefore, the study uses adaptive learning rate with momentum term for optimizing and improving the traditional back propagation neural network, and the improved adaptive back propagation neural network rating model has good application in small-scale low-dimensional datasets, and its computational power is weak in large-scale datasets. Therefore, the study uses deep noise reduction autoencoder to improve the model structure, and then obtains an improved backpropagation neural network. The model shows better performance in a self-made university online teaching evaluation dataset. When the quantity of hidden layers of the improved model is 2, the mean square error value of the model is 0.0026; when the quantity of hidden layer neurons is 25, the mean square error of the model is 0.0012; when the model is made comparison with the shallow model, the mean absolute percentage error, the mean square error, and the root mean square error perform the best with the values of 0.0502, 24.53, and 4.95, respectively. the experimental results verify that the experiment verified that the improved model possesses powerful computational ability, and also proved that it also possesses excellent forecasting convergence, which can better help universities to complete the evaluation of online teaching quality.
Induction chemotherapy based on high-dose methotrexate is considered as the standard approach for newly diagnosed primary central nervous system lymphomas (PCNSLs). However, the best combination ...chemotherapeutic regimen remains unclear. This study aimed to determine the efficacy and toxicities of rituximab with methotrexate (R-M regimen). Consecutive 37 Chinese patients receiving R-M regimen as induction chemotherapy were retrospectively identified from January 2015 to June 2020 from our center in eastern China. Fourteen patients receiving rituximab plus methotrexate with cytarabine (R-MA regimen) at the same period were identified as the positive control group. The response rates, survival, toxicities, length of hospital stay (LOS), and cost were compared. Compared with the R-MA regimen, the R-M regimen showed comparable response rate and survival outcomes, but had fewer grade 3-4 hematological toxicities, shorter LOS, lower mean total hospitalization cost and lower mean total antibiotic cost. Complete remission at the end of induction chemotherapy and ECOG > 3 were independent prognostic factors for overall survival. In conclusion, R-M regimen is an effective and cost-effective combination treatment for PCNSLs, which warrants further evaluation in randomized trials.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. Despite considerable progress in the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of CVDs, new diagnostic ...biomarkers and new therapeutic measures are urgently needed to reduce the mortality of CVDs and improve the therapeutic effect. RNA methylations regulate almost all aspects of RNA processing, such as RNA nuclear export, translation, splicing and non-coding RNA processing. In view of the importance of RNA methylations in the pathogenesis of diseases, this work reviews the molecular structures, biological functions of five kinds of RNA methylations (m6A, m5C, m1a, m6am and m7G) and their effects on CVDs, including pulmonary hypertension, hypertension, vascular calcification, cardiac hypertrophy, heart failure. In CVDs, m6A “writers” catalyze the installation of m6A on RNAs, while “erasers” remove these modifications. Finally, the “readers” of m6A further influence the mRNA splicing, nuclear export, translation and degradation. M5C, m1A, m6Am and m7G are new types of RNA methylations, their roles in CVDs need to be further explored. RNA methylations have become a new research hotspot and the roles in CVDs is gradually emerging, the review of the molecular characteristics, biological functions and effects of RNA methylation on CVDs will contribute to the elucidation of the pathological mechanisms of CVDs and the discovery of new diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets of CVDs.
Wilforine (WFR) is a monomeric compound of the anti-RA plant Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. f. (TwHF). Whether WFR has anti-RA effect, its molecular mechanism has not been elucidated.
Our study aims to ...clarify how WFR inhibits fibroblast-like synovial cells (FLS) activation and improves RA through Wnt11 action on the Wnt11/β-catenin signaling pathway.
The therapeutic effect of WFR on collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) rats was evaluated using methods such as rat arthritis score. The inhibitory effects and signaling pathways of WFR on the proliferation and inflammatory response of CIA FLS and RA FLS were studied using ELISA, CCK-8, RT-qPCR, Western blot, and immunofluorescence methods.
WFR could effectively alleviate the arthritis symptoms of CIA rats; reduce the levels of IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α in the peripheral blood of CIA rats; and inhibit the expression of MMP3 and fibronectin. The data showed that WFR has a significant inhibitory effect on FLS proliferation. Furthermore, WFR inhibited the activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and decreased the expression of Wnt11, β-catenin, CCND1, GSK-3β, and c-Myc, while the effects of WFR were reversed after overexpression of Wnt11.
WFR improves RA by inhibiting the Wnt11/β-catenin signaling pathway, and Wnt11 is the direct target of WFR. This study provides a new molecular mechanism for WFR to improve RA and contributes to the clinical promotion of WFR.
Abstract
Background
N6-methyladenosine (m6A) methylation modification is involved in the regulation of various biological processes, including inflammation, antitumor, and antiviral immunity. ...However, the role of m6A modification in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases has been rarely reported.
Methods
Based on a description of m6A modification and the corresponding research methods, this review systematically summarizes current insights into the mechanism of m6A methylation modification in autoimmune diseases, especially its contribution to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
Results
By regulating different biological processes, m6A methylation is involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases and provides a promising biomarker for the diagnosis and treatment of such diseases. Notably, m6A methylation modification is involved in regulating a variety of immune cells and mitochondrial energy metabolism. In addition, m6A methylation modification plays a role in the pathological processes of RA, and m6A methylation-related genes can be used as potential targets in RA therapy.
Conclusions
M6A methylation modification plays an important role in autoimmune pathological processes such as RA and SLE and represents a promising new target for clinical diagnosis and treatment, providing new ideas for the treatment of autoimmune diseases by targeting m6A modification-related pathways.
The ubiquitin ligase CUL4A has been implicated in tumorigenesis, but its contributions to progression and metastasis have not been evaluated. Here, we show that CUL4A is elevated in breast cancer as ...well as in ovarian, gastric, and colorectal tumors in which its expression level correlates positively with distant metastasis. CUL4A overexpression in normal or malignant human mammary epithelial cells increased their neoplastic properties in vitro and in vivo, markedly increasing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the metastatic capacity of malignant cells. In contrast, silencing CUL4A in aggressive breast cancer cells inhibited these processes. Mechanistically, we found that CUL4A modulated histone H3K4me3 at the promoter of the EMT regulatory gene ZEB1 in a manner associated with its transcription. ZEB1 silencing blocked CUL4A-driven proliferation, EMT, tumorigenesis, and metastasis. Furthermore, in human breast cancers, ZEB1 expression correlated positively with CUL4A expression and distant metastasis. Taken together, our findings reveal a pivotal role of CUL4A in regulating the metastatic behavior of breast cancer cells.
A total of 480 one-day-old male yellow-feathered broilers were randomly divided into 4 groups with 6 replicates of 20 chicks per replicate. A basal diet was administered to the control group (CON), ...whereas CML350, CML500, and CML1000 groups were fed with basal diet supplemented with 350, 500, and 1,000 mg/kg of lauric acid monoglyceride and cinnamaldehyde complex, respectively. However, adding 500 mg/kg of lauric acid monoglyceride and cinnamaldehyde complex improved weight gain (P < 0.01), enhanced intestinal morphology, increased serum total protein and albumin content, and total antioxidant capacity (P < 0.01), and significantly increased the Chao1 and Ace indices (P < 0.01), indicating an increase in the richness of the gut microbiota. At the phylum level, CML500 group reduced the abundance of Fusobacteriota at 21 d and Proteobacteria at 42 d (P < 0.01). At the genus level, CML500 group increased the abundance of Faecalibacterium and Alistipes at 42 d (P < 0.01) and decreased the abundance of Escherichia–Shigella (P < 0.01). At the species level, CML500 group reduced the abundance of Escherichia coli at 42 d (P < 0.01) and increased the abundance of Alistipes_sp_CHKCI003 at 42 d (P < 0.01). According to these results, adding 500 mg/kg of lauric acid monoglyceride and cinnamaldehyde complex in feed can improve the growth performance, intestinal morphology, and gut microbiota of yellow-feathered broilers.
Luckin, Cayman Islands incorporated, NASDAQ-listed Chinese company, operated the largest coffee chain in China measured by stores and was touted as an upstart rival to upend Starbucks' dominance in ...the Chinese market.1 Founded in 2017, Luckin went public in May 2019, making it one of the fastest companies in the world to go from founding to initial public offering (IPO).2 Into the eleventh month of its run as a publicly traded company, however, Luckin shocked the market in April 2020 with the disclosure that it had fabricated much of its reported sales.3 It came under investigation of regulatory authorities both in China and the United States,4 eventually leading to its delisting from NASDAQ in July 2020.5 Its market capitalization plunged over 53 percent from an all-time high of $12 billion in January 2020 to $350 million in June 2020,6 saddling institutional and individual investors both in Asia and the West with heavy losses. U.S.-Listed Chinese Firms: An Empirical Survey Since the early 1990s, Chinese firms have successfully listed on prime overseas stock exchanges globally, inter alia, in Hong Kong, New York, Singapore, and London.17 Listing overseas gives the Chinese firms the much-desired access to international capital, as well as greater name recognition.18 Listing abroad can also bring about potential benefits of "bonding," by signaling the firm's commitment to more robust corporate governance standards.19 Overseas listings have also been driven, at least historically, by the policy considerations of the Chinese government to develop its domestic securities markets.20 Compared to other top destinations, the United States offers unique attractiveness to Chinese firms seeking to list abroad.21 Until recently, a well-known advantage of the U.S.-listing for founders of technology firms was the United States' flexibility with the dual-class share structure.22 Alibaba, for instance, chose the NYSE for its 2014 IPO after having initially sought a HKEX listing.23 This was seen by HKEX chief executive as an "undesired, unintended, twisted consequence" of its then prevailing listing rules, which prohibited weighted voting rights.24 Other practical considerations range from the perceived less burdensome regulatory environment in the United States,25 unique reputational capital,26 and easier access to immigration for founders and their families.27 Despite all the recent fanfare about the U.S.-listed Chinese companies, surprisingly little is known empirically about the cohort. In order to offer a comprehensive, empirical picture of them, a unique dataset of Chinese firms listed on the NYSE and NASDAQ, the two major U.S. stock exchanges, as of 2019 has been constructed for the research (Firm Dataset).28 The source of the data is WIND, a leading provider of financial data of Chinese companies.29 WIND contains a dedicated section on U.S.-listed Chinese firms or zhonggai gu (translated as China-concept stocks).30 To be sure, the notion of "U.S.-listed Chinese firms" does not have a commonly accepted legal definition.31 WIND takes into consideration a number of factors in designating a company as a U.S.-listed Chinese company: that the company's disclosed main business operation is domiciled in Mainland China or its revenue derives mainly from Mainland China; that the company's disclosed majority/con trolling shareholder is Chinese; and additional information gleaned from the company's official website, such as whether the company has a Chinese name, whether the website's default language is set to be simplified Chinese, and whether the company is headquartered in Mainland China.32 224 sample firms were recorded in our Firm Dataset,33 among which seventyfive firms were listed on the NYSE and 149 on NASDAQ. According to the WIND's Industry Classification Standard, the sample firms are categorized into eleven industries. 27.68 percent of the sample firms are high-tech Chinese firms specialized in the Information Technology sector, followed by the sector of Consumer Discretionary in which 26.34 percent of the sample firms fall.
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