•No detectable new composition is introduced into the concrete treated with a sealer.•The formed C–S–H gels only partially fill the defects of concrete structures.•The concrete sealers reduce the ...sizes of micro-pore and micro-crack in the concrete.•The sealers improve the compactness and the water impermeability of the concrete.•Sodium silicate-based concrete sealers are surface hydrophilic agents.
The precise waterproofing mechanism for sodium silicate-based concrete sealers was experimentally explored using a Leeb hardness tester, a Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, an X-ray diffraction microscopy, a thermal-gravimetric analysis, a surface area and porosity analyzer, a scanning electron microscope and an optical contact-measuring device. After treating the concrete surface with a sodium silicate-based concrete sealer, the new substance-sodium hydroxide-introduced into the concrete structure is undetectable most likely because of the quite low concentration and its migration to the concrete surface. The surface hardness of the concrete specimens impregnated with the sodium silicate-based concrete sealer is found to be increased by approximately 11.9% relative to the untreated concrete specimens. The content of the calcium hydroxide in the concrete structures decreases whereas the content of the calcium silicate hydrate (C–S–H gel) in the concrete structures increases compared with the untreated concrete structures. Sodium silicate-based concrete sealers are essentially surface hydrophilic agents, yet they do reduce the velocity of water ingress into the concrete structures, because the expansive and insoluble C–S–H gels partially fill the micro-pores, micro-voids and micro-cracks in the concrete structure to form smaller micro-pores, micro-voids and micro-cracks and improve the compactness and water impermeability of the concrete.
In this paper, new parametric prioritization methods (PPMs) to determine a family of priority vectors in an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) are proposed, pointing out the logical relation of ...elements in the comparative matrix. The scales and consistency cannot determine the priorities, but only the order of the alternatives. To derive the priorities of alternatives, a series of theorems and mathematical programming models is given based on a pairwise comparison matrix. This refers to parameters
θ
,
α
,
β
, by which there exists a family of priorities for the same judgment matrix. The discrimination of alternatives can be easily improved when using the proposed priority method by modifying the values of the parameters. Some false cognitions about how to determine the priority of an analytical hierarchy process are rectified. One should not elicit priority vectors from the judgment matrix; the information is incomplete, and the parameters must be considered. Finally, the meanings of parameters are explained in practical applications and an approach for determining the values of the parameters is proposed. Examples are also used to illustrate the features and applicability of the new approach in an AHP.
Background
The condition of uniparental disomy (UPD) occurs when an individual inherits two copies of a chromosome, or part of a chromosome, from one parent. Most cases of uniparental heterodisomy ...(UPhD) do not cause diseases, whereas cases of uniparental isodisomy (UPiD), while rare, may be pathogenic. Theoretically, UPiD may cause rare genetic diseases in a homozygous recessive manner.
Methods
A 4‐year‐old girl presented with congenital hearing loss, developmental delay, hepatomegaly, and other clinical features. She and her parents were genetically tested using trio whole exome sequencing (Trio‐WES) and copy number variation sequencing (CNV‐seq). In addition, we built a structural model to further examine the pathogenicity of the UPiD variants.
Results
Trio‐WES identified a paternal UPiD in chromosome 1, and two homozygous pathogenic variants AGL c.4284T>G/p.Tyr1428* and USH2A c.6528T>A/p.Tyr2176* in the UPiD region. We further analyzed the pathogenicity of these two variations. The patient was diagnosed with Usher syndrome type 2A (USH2A) and glycogen storage disease type III (GSD3).
Conclusions
Our study reports a rare case of a patient carrying two pathogenic variants of different genes caused by paternal UPiD, supporting the potential application of Trio‐WES in detecting and facilitating the diagnosis of UPD.
Our study reports a rare case of a patient carrying two pathogenic variants of different genes caused by paternal UPiD, supporting the potential application of Trio‐WES in detecting and facilitating the diagnosis of UPD.
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•Haploid and diploid T. dendrolimi can be differentiated by distinct ranges of 2−ΔCq values.•Mitochondrial number of T. dendrolimi significantly decreased with higher ...ploidy.•Mitochondrial number was also not affected by Wolbachia-infection.
Ploidy diversity provides valuable scientific information, thus making the detection technique of ploidy important. However, traditional methods of cytological observation and flow cytometry are either laborious or expensive. We here report a simple and rapid, effective and economical quantitative PCR (qPCR) approach to determine the ploidy of a parasitoid species Trichogramma dendrolimi Matsumura, an economically important biocontrol agent. We applied a mitochondrial gene cytochrome oxidase (COI) and a nuclear gene forkhead to evaluate the mitochondrial number per nuclear copy in a thelytokous Wolbachia-infected strain of T. dendrolimi and its bisexual uninfected counterparts. The 2−ΔCq values calculated from Cq values which resulted from qPCR experiments were significantly larger in haploid males than that in diploid females. Haploid males possessed about 2.69 times mitochondrial number per nuclear copy as diploid females. Not a single significant difference was found between diploid females from thelytokous and bisexual strains. Based on the differences in relative mitochondrial content, we were allowed to distinguish between haploid males and diploid females. Moreover, the number of mitochondria significantly decreased with higher ploidy level but was not affected by Wolbachia-infection. Our study supplied an available tool to investigate the ploidy diversity in sex determination of T. dendrolimi and thelytokous manipulation of Wolbachia, which is the crucial step to further study their underlying mechanisms. This will in turn contribute to the biocontrol efficiency by enhancing the female production and hence the parasitism rate.
Temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis (TMJ-OA) is one of the most complex temporomandibular disorders, causing pain and dysfunction. The main pathological feature of TMJ-OA is neurovascular invasion ...from the subchondral bone to the condylar cartilage. This study aimed to discover the cells and genes that play an important role in the neurovascular–osteochondral network crosstalk in human TMJ-OA.
Condylar cartilages from patient with TMJ-OA were divided into OA group, and others from patients with benign condylar hyperplasia (CH) were used as control for further single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq). Hematoxylin and eosin staining were performed. The cells and genes in the condylar cartilage were identified and analyzed by scRNA-seq.
Histological analysis revealed blood vessel invasion and ossification in the TMJ-OA condylar cartilage. The scRNA-seq identified immune cells, endothelial cells, and chondrocytes in the TMJ-OA condylar cartilage. Macrophages, especially M1-like macrophages, contributed to the inflammation, angiogenesis, and innervation. CD31+ endothelial cells contributed to the bone mineralization. The TMJ-OA cartilage chondrocytes highly expressed genes related to inflammation, angiogenesis, innervation, and ossification. The hub genes contributing to these processes in the TMJ-OA chondrocytes included CTGF, FBN1, FN1, EGFR, and ITGA5.
Our study marks the first time scRNA-seq was used to identify the cells and genes in a human TMJ-OA condylar cartilage, and neurovascular–osteochondral network crosstalk during the human TMJ-OA process was demonstrated. Targeting the crosstalk of these processes may be a potential comprehensive and effective therapeutic strategy for human TMJ-OA.
The neurovascular–osteochondral network crosstalk plays an important role in human TMJ-OA process. Display omitted
Thelytokous
Wolbachia
-infected
Trichogramma
species have long been considered as biological control agents against lepidopteran pests in agriculture and forestry.
Wolbachia
has been suggested to ...increase the probability of the superparasitism of
Trichogramma
, but the fate of infected offspring in the superparasitised host is still unknown. The present study aimed to evaluate the fitness of thelytokous
Wolbachia
-infected (TDW) and bisexual
Wolbachia
-free (TD)
Trichogramma dendrolimi
Matsumura (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) lines in superparasitised or single-parasitised hosts. The results showed that irrespective of whether
Trichogramma
wasps were developed from superparasitised or single-parasitised hosts, the TDW line was characterized by reduced fitness, including lower fecundity, shorter longevity, and smaller body size of F1 offspring, and lower emergence rate of F2 offspring than the TD line. This was not true for the survival rate and developmental time of F1 offspring. Additionally, the fitness parameters of
T. dendrolimi
that developed from superparasitised hosts were lower compared with that of
T. dendrolimi
that developed from single-parasitised hosts. Interestingly,
Wolbachia
-infected females had higher dispersal capacity than bisexual females when they developed from superparasitised hosts. The results indicated that
Wolbachia
negatively affects fitness of
T. dendrolimi
, but enhance dispersal capacity of
T. dendrolimi
females in superparasitism condition. Further studies need to be carried out to select the best line that will allow
Wolbachia
and their host
Trichogramma
to be better adapted to one another.
Many studies have revealed the function of long noncoding RNA (LncRNA) in regulating tumorigenesis of osteosarcoma (OS). As a subgroup of LncRNA, small nucleolar RNA host genes (SNHGs) have emerged ...as potentially important in OS. According to our recent findings, small nucleolar RNA host gene 22 (SNHG22) plays an important role in inhibiting the growth and metastasis of OS. However, the underlying mechanism of SNHG22 in regulating OS progression remains unknown. In this study, we confirmed that SNHG22 was downregulated in OS, and the overexpression of SNHG22 significantly inhibited OS progression
and
. Meanwhile, overexpression of SNHG22 also inhibited the migration and proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and prevented the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in OS. Furthermore, the interaction between miR-4492 and SNHG22 we previously predicted was validated by RNA pull-down assays and RNA immunoprecipitation assays. Dual-luciferase reporter assays showed that SNHG22 could directly interact with miR-4492 and upregulate the expression of NK-κB inhibitor-interacting Ras-like 2 (NKIRAS2) by its competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) activity on miR-4492. In conclusion, our study has clarified the function of SNHG22 in OS progression and suggests a novel therapeutic target for OS.
We propose and experimentally demonstrate a reconfigurable finite impulse response microwave photonic filter (FIR-MPF) based on long period gratings (LPGs) inscribed in multicore fibers. By ...exploiting two dimensions of optical wavelength and space, intentional inter-core signal switching is realized. For the diversity of optical wavelength, we tune the operation wavelength to change the inter-core power coupling according to the wavelength-dependent characteristic of LPGs. On the other hand, for the diversity of space, we use directional bending of LPGs to achieve switchable spatial channel allocation. Both configurations can implement three different two-tap FIR-MPFs individually. We show a promising solution for reconfigurable radio frequency signal processing in potential with low cost and high efficiency.
The Hongtoushan copper–zinc deposit is a volcanic-associated massive sulfide deposit in the Archean greenstone belt in Liaoning, China. Polymetamorphism has resulted in changes to the composition and ...textures of minerals in the deposit, along with remobilization. During metamorphism, the original alteration minerals that formed with the ore minerals, such as chlorite and sericite, were transformed into cordierite, anthophyllite, and phlogopite. After further remobilization, new minerals, such as gahnite and actinolite, were formed. In this process, the original textures were destroyed and new textures were formed, including recrystallization and growth textures, brittle and ductile deformation textures, durchbewegung textures, replacement textures, chalcopyrite disease, and retrograde textures. The ore-forming components underwent two periods of remobilization. In the first (early) stage, mechanical remobilization was important, and formed a high grade Cu–Zn–Au–Ag “ore pillar” along the vertical hinge of a synformal fold. In the second (late) stage, the mixed hydrothermal–mechanical remobilization affected the ores, and was typically characterized by matrix sulfides, together with silicate minerals, moving from the matrix into individual fractured pyrite metablasts and replacing them to varying degrees.
•The protolith of phlogopite gneiss is chloritic–sericite rock.•Phlogopite was replaced by actinolite, gahnite, clinozoisite, and chlorite.•Composition of three kinds of mica is presented.•Two phases of durchbewegung textures are found in the ores.•Ore bodies in Hongtoushan have undergone mechanical and mixed remobilization.
BACKGROUND: There are conflicting results regarding whether corticosteroids have better efficacy than placebo in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) patients. Therefore, we aim to further ...evaluate the efficacy and safety of corticosteroids in adult ARDS patients. METHODS: The databases, including Medline, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) in the Cochrane Library, were searched from their inception to May 2, 2020. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational cohort studies were selected to assess the use of corticosteroids in adult ARDS patients. The quality of the results was judged by the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology. The inverse-variance method with random or fixed effects modeling was used to compute pooled odds ratio (OR), standardized mean difference (SMD), and their 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS: Eight eligible RCTs and six cohort studies were included. The use of corticosteroids was associated with reduced mortality (OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.43-0.76, I.sup.2=35.1%, P=0.148) in ARDS patients, and the result was confirmed in the included cohort studies (OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.27-0.95, I.sup.2=66.7%, P=0.010). The subgroup analysis stratified by the initiation time and duration of corticosteroid use showed that early ARDS and prolonged corticosteroid use had significant survival benefits in the RCTs. The low-dose corticosteroid use was also associated with significantly more ventilator-free days and a reduced rate of new infections in ARDS patients. CONCLUSIONS: The low-dose corticosteroid therapy may be safe and reduce mortality, especially in patients with prolonged treatment and early ARDS. KEYWORDS: Low-dose; Corticosteroid; Acute respiratory distress syndrome; Mortality; Systematic review; Meta-analysis
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