Association of size‐fractionated indoor particulate matter and black carbon with heart rate variability in healthy elderly women in Beijing

Associations between size‐fractionated indoor particulate matter (PM) and black carbon (BC) and heart rate variability (HRV) and heart rate (HR) in elderly women remain unclear. Twenty‐nine healthy elderly women were measured for 24‐hour HRV/HR indices. Real‐time size‐fractionated indoor PM and BC were monitored on the same day and on the preceding day. Mixed‐effects models were applied to investigate the associations between pollutants and HRV/HR indices. Increases in size‐fractionated indoor PM were significantly associated with declines in power in the high‐frequency band (HF), power in the low‐frequency band (LF), and standard deviation of all NN intervals (SDNN). The largest decline in HF was 19% at 5‐minute moving average for an interquartile range (IQR) increase (24 μg/m³) in PM_0.5. The results showed that smaller particles could lead to greater reductions in HRV indices. The reported associations were modified by body mass index (BMI): Declines in HF at 5‐minute average for an IQR increase in PM_0.5 were 34.5% and 1.0% for overweight (BMI ≥25 kg/m²) and normal‐weight (BMI <25 kg/m²) participants, respectively. Moreover, negative associations between BC and HRV indices were found to be significant in overweight participants. Increases in size‐fractionated indoor PM and BC were associated with compromised cardiac autonomic function in healthy elderly women, especially overweight ones.     

Motion Planning by T‐RRT with Potential Function for Vertical Articulated Robots

RRT (rapidly exploring random tree) with random sampling is an effective method for path planning, and is often used for robot manipulators. The RRT has many modified methods for applying various problems and conditions. Particularly, T‐RRT (Transition‐based RRT) one of those has advantage that it is able to adopt arbitrary evaluation function. In this paper, a novel path planning method based on the T‐RRT is proposed for ensuring “quality” of a generated path. Then, its effectiveness is evaluated via comparison with other sampling‐based methods using simulation of the industrial robot having seven DOFs.     

From miRNA Target Gene Network to miRNA Function: miR-375 Might Regulate Apoptosis and Actin Dynamics in the Heart Muscle via Rho-GTPases-Dependent Pathways

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short, single-stranded, non-coding ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules, which are involved in the regulation of main biological processes, such as apoptosis or cell proliferation and differentiation, through sequence-specific interaction with target mRNAs. In this study, we propose a workflow for predicting miRNAs function by analyzing the structure of the network of their target genes. This workflow was applied to study the functional role of miR-375 in the heart muscle (myocardium), since this miRNA was previously shown to be associated with heart diseases, and data on its function in the myocardium are mostly unclear. We identified PIK3CA, RHOA, MAPK3, PAFAH1B1, CTNNB1, MYC, PRKCA, ERBB2, and CDC42 as key genes in the miR-375 regulated network and predicted the possible function of miR-375 in the heart muscle, consisting mainly in the regulation of the Rho-GTPases-dependent signaling pathways. We implemented our algorithm for miRNA function prediction into a Python module, which is available at GitHub.     

Gestational Exposure to Bisphenol A Affects Testicular Morphology,Germ Cell Associations,and Functions of Spermatogonial Stem Cells in Male Offspring

Exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) in the gestational period damages the reproductive health of offspring; detailed evidence regarding BPA-induced damage in testicular germ cells of offspring is still limited. In this study, pregnant mice (F0) were gavaged with three BPA doses (50 μg, 5 mg, and 50 mg/kg body weight (bw)/day; tolerable daily intake (TDI), no-observed-adverse-effect-level (NOAEL), and lowest-observed-adverse-effect level (LOAEL), respectively) on embryonic days 7 to 14, followed by investigation of the transgenerational effects of such exposure in male offspring. We observed that the NOAEL- and LOAEL-exposed F1 offspring had abnormalities in anogenital distance, nipple retention, and pubertal onset (days), together with differences in seminiferous epithelial stages and testis morphology. These effects were eradicated in the next F2 and F3 generations. Moreover, there was an alteration in the ratio of germ cell population and the apoptosis rate in germ cells increased in F1 offspring at the LOAEL dose. However, the total number of spermatogonia remained unchanged. Finally, a reduction in the stemness properties of spermatogonial stem cells in F1 offspring was observed upon LOAEL exposure. Therefore, we provide evidence of BPA-induced disruption of physiology and functions in male germ cells during the gestational period. This may lead to several reproductive health issues and infertility in offspring.     

非对称因素对热轧纯钛中厚板出口楔形的影响

针对纯钛中厚板热轧过程中可能出现的轧件断面楔形问题,结合四辊轧机设备和工艺的非对称特点,基于影响函数法建立双悬臂梁辊系弹性变形模型,研究对中误差、机架刚度差、坯料楔形、横向温差等非对称因素对轧件断面楔形的影响。结果表明对中误差、机架刚度差、横向温差对出口楔形的影响随着板宽和压下量的增大而增大,入口楔形对出口楔形的影响随着板宽增大和压下量的减小而增大。     

Ni-hydrotalcite loading on carbon as co-catalyst for fermentative hydrogen production

The influence of Ni-hydrotalcite (HT) loading on the activity and stability of Ni-HT supported on activated carbon (Ni-HT/AC) was investigated for fermentative hydrogen production. The basic sites of Ni-HT loading on AC support significantly boosted the catalytic performance with the initial faster rate. The combined function catalyst of Ni-HT/AC facilitates the rapid decomposition of saccharides and high selectivity to fructose that attained the maximum hydrogen production within 24 h. The optimum dose of Ni-HT/AC at 8.33 g/L showed a 25.84% increment over the control. In addition, shortening the lagging phase time at 1.50 h was achieved. The high adsorption capacity of lactic acid was induced with the basic sites of Ni-HT/AC. However, a deactivation of the Ni-HT/AC during prolonged fermentation was associated with metabolites formation, causing the leaching of Mg²⁺ ions from the surface of AC supported Ni-HT and reducing surface basicity of Ni-HT/AC.     

负压吸引技术应用于大面积烧伤患者围术期的效果探究

目的:探究环磷酸腺苷联合负压吸引技术应用于大面积烧伤患者围术期的效果及肾保护作用探究。方法:选择2018年12月到2020年12月于医院治疗的120例大面积烧伤患者为研究对象,以随机数字表法对患者分组,60例患者为研究组,60例患者为对照组,对照组给予负压吸引技术治疗,研究组在此基础上给予环磷酸腺苷治疗,治疗前、后测定两组患者干扰素-γ(IFN-γ)、白细胞介素-2(IL-2)、白细胞介素-10(IL-0)、白细胞介素-6(IL-6)、可溶性血管细胞粘附分子-1(sVCAM-1)、一氧化氮(NO)、内皮素(ET-1)、血管内皮生长因子(VEGF)、胱抑素C(Cys-C)、肌酐(Scr)、血尿素氮(BUN)、肾损伤分子-1(KIM-1)水平,记录两组患者手术时间、麻醉苏醒时间、住院时间。结果:研究组IFN-γ、IL-6水平低于对照组(P<0.05),研究组患者IL-2、IL-10水平高于对照组(P<0.05),研究组NO、VEGF水平高于对照组(P<0.05),研究组患者sVCAM-1、ET-1水平低于对照组(P<0.05),研究组患者Cys-C、Scr、BUN、KIM-1水平低于对照组(P<0.05),研究组手术时间低于对照组(P>0.05),研究组麻醉苏醒时间、住院时间低于对照组(P<0.05)。结论:环磷酸腺苷联合负压吸引技术应用于大面积烧伤围术期患者,可降低患者IFN-γ、IL-6水平,提升患者IL-2、IL-10水平,抑制患者炎症,改善患者血管内皮功能,降低患者Cys-C、Scr、BUN、KIM-1水平,减少患者肾功能损伤,减少患者麻醉苏醒时间及住院时间。     

Determination of supercapacitor parameters based on fractional differential equations

In this paper, we estimate the parameter values of a fractional-order model of supercapacitors involving fractional derivatives of Liouville-Caputo, Caputo-Fabrizio, and Atangana-Baleanu and fractional conformable derivative in the Liouville-Caputo sense. We present the exact solution of the considered model using the properties of the Laplace transform operator together with the convolution theorem. They developed numerical simulations using each one of the fractional derivatives; the results were compared graphically with experimental data obtained from different supercapacitors using standard laboratory equipment. The nonlocal parameters involved in the equivalent electrical circuit for the supercapacitor model are recalculated for each fractional derivative using a particle swarm optimization algorithm for generating optimal solutions.     

Cornus officinalis vinegar reduces body weight and attenuates hepatic steatosis in mouse model of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

This study aimed to determine the main bioactive components of Cornus officinalis vinegar (COV) and assess the effects of COV on the body weight (BW) and hepatic steatosis in a nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) mouse model. Seven-week-old KM female mice were divided into five treatment groups: (1) Normal control (NC) group, (2) high fat diet (HFD) group, (3) low concentration treatment group (3.5% COV), (4) medium concentration treatment group (5.0% COV), and (5) high concentration treatment group (6.5% COV). Mice in the NC group were fed with a normal chow diet, and those in the other four groups were fed with a HFD known for causing obesity for 10 weeks. Then, mice in the three COV treatment groups were orally administered with COV once a day for 6 weeks. Results showed that the contents of loganin and morroniside in COV reached 16.82 and 51.17 µg/ml, respectively, and COV also contained multiple organic acids. COV significantly reduced BW, abdominal fat weight, liver weight, and the levels of glucose, triglyceride, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol of serum and increased the levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol of serum (p < 0.05). COV also improved the liver function and anti-oxidant activity of liver (p < 0.05). COV treatments increased the interleukin-10 expression and reduced the tumor necrosis factor-α expression in the liver tissue of NAFLD mice (p < 0.05). Histopathological observation revealed that COV suppressed hepatic lipid accumulation and steatosis. The results suggest that COV may contribute to the alleviation of NAFLD and obesity.