miR-181a increases FoxO1 acetylation and promotes granulosa cell apoptosis via SIRT1 downregulation.

Oxidative stress impairs follicular development by inducing granulosa cell (GC) apoptosis, which involves enhancement of the transcriptional activity of the pro-apoptotic factor Forkhead box O1 (FoxO1). However, the mechanism by which oxidative stress promotes FoxO1 activity is still unclear. Here, we found that miR-181a was upregulated in hydrogen peroxide (

Voltage control method based on three-phase four-wire sensitivity for hybrid AC/DC low-voltage distribution networks with high-penetration PVs

The increasing integration of distributed photovoltaics may further aggravate the over-voltage and three-phase unbalance issues of low-voltage distribution networks with three-phase four-wire structures. The voltage control method based on the AC and DC side power flow control and the three-phase power control capability of voltage source converter in hybrid AC/DC low-voltage distribution networks is a solution for the improvement of the above power quality issues. In this paper, an accurately improved sensitivity matrix calculation method considering shunt admittance based on the ABCD parameters is proposed in hybrid AC/DC low-voltage distribution networks with a three-phase four-wire structure. The presented ABCD parameters of the feeders consider the influence of the coupling effect among phases and the neutral line on sensitivity calculation, which makes the sensitivity calculation simple. Then, a power-voltage control method for voltage source converters based on three-phase four-wire sensitivity matrices of the AC side is proposed considering the constraints from the voltage source converter and DC side power flow in hybrid AC/DC low-voltage distribution networks, which can effectively address the over-voltage and unbalanced issues. Simulations are performed to verify the proposed sensitivity calculation method and voltage control method

EV integration-oriented DC conversion of AC low-voltage distribution networks and the associated adaptive control strategy

Driven by carbon-neutral targets and transportation electrification, the widespread use of electric vehicles (EVs) has become an irreversible trend. However, low-voltage distribution networks (LVDNs) can face several challenges under the high-penetration EV integration, including overloads, voltage violations and unbalance issues. In this paper, an EV integration-oriented DC conversion scheme and the associated adaptive control method for LVDNs is proposed, aiming at releasing more capacity for EVs and collaborative improvement of the above issues caused by EV charging. Based on analyzing the influence of different charging piles connected to the AC and DC LVDNs, a DC conversion scheme for three-phase four-wire LVDNs under high-penetration EVs is proposed. The voltage source converter (VSC) control strategies aimed at alleviating the overload of the DTs, voltage violations, and three-phase unbalance are designed separately based on the modified three-phase four-wire voltage sensitivity. Then, a coordinated adaptive control strategy of on-load tap changer and VSCs is proposed considering the simultaneous occurrence of multiple power quality issues in hybrid AC/DC LVDNs. Case study verifies the effectiveness of the proposed DC conversion and adaptive control methods, by which the maximum EV penetration of the hybrid AC/DC LVDN is increased from 85% to 215% compared with the AC LVDN

Association between Non-High-Density-Lipoprotein-Cholesterol Levels and the Prevalence of Asymptomatic Intracranial Arterial Stenosis

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the association between non-high-density-lipoprotein-cholesterol (non-HDL-C) and the prevalence of asymptomatic intracranial arterial stenosis (ICAS). Methods and Results: The Asymptomatic Polyvascular Abnormalities Community (APAC) study is a prospective cohort study based on the Kailuan district (China) population. A total of 5351 eligible subjects, aged ≥40, and without history of stroke or myocardial infarction, were enrolled in this study. Transcranial Doppler Ultrasonography (TCD) was performed on all enrolled subjects for the evaluation of ICAS presence. Out of 5351 patients, 698 subjects showed evidence of ICAS (prevalence of 13.04%). Multivariate analysis showed that non-HDL-C is an independent indicator for the presence of ICAS (OR = 1.15, 95%CI: 1.08 – 1.23), but with a gender difference (P for interaction<0.01): in men, non-HDL-C is an independent indicator for ICAS (multivariate-adjusted OR = 1.28, 95%CI: 1.18–1.39), but not in women (multivariate-adjusted OR = 1.03, 95%CI: 0.93–1.14). Subjects were divided into five subgroups based non-HDL-C levels and these levels correlated linearly with the prevalence of ICAS (P for trend <0.01). Compared with the first quintile, multivariate-adjusted OR (95%CI) of the second, third, fourth and fifth quintiles were: 1.05 (0.71–1.56), 1.33 (0.91–1.95), 1.83 (1.27–2.63), 2.48 (1.72–3.57), respectively. Conclusion: Non-HDL-C is an independent predictor of ICAS prevalence in men but not in women, suggesting that non-HDL-C levels could be used as a surveillance factor in the primary prevention of ischemic stroke, especially in men

Ideal Cardiovascular Health Metrics on the Prevalence of Asymptomatic Intracranial Artery Stenosis: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background and Purpose Intracranial Artery Stenosis (ICAS) is one of the most common causes of ischemic stroke in Asia. Previous studies have shown the number of ideal cardiovascular health (CVH) metrics was associated with lower risk of stroke. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between ideal CVH metrics and prevalence of ICAS. Methods: A random sample of 5,412 participants (selected from Kailuan Study as a reference population) aged 40 years or older (40.10% women), free of stroke, transient ischemic attack, and coronary disease, were enrolled in the Asymptomatic Polyvascular Abnormalities Community study from 2010 to 2011. We collected information on the seven CVH metrics (including smoking, body mass index, dietary intake, physical activity, blood pressure, total cholesterol and fasting blood glucose); and assessed ICAS by transcranial Doppler. The relationship between the ideal CVH metrics and prevalence of ICAS was analyzed using the multivariate logistic regression. Results: After adjusting for age, sex, and other potential confounders, the adjusted odds ratios(95% confidence interval) for ICAS were 0.76(0.58–0.99), 0.55(0.43–0.72), 0.49(0.37–0.65), 0.43(0.31–0.61), and 0.36(0.22–0.62), respectively, for those having 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6–7 ideal CVH metrics compared with those having 0–1 ideal metric(p-trend<0.0001). Similar inverse associations were observed in different age and gender groups (all p-trends<0.05). Conclusion: We found a clear gradient relationship between the number of ideal CVH metrics and lower prevalence of ICAS in a Chinese population, which supports the importance of ideal health behaviors and factors in the prevention of ICAS

Mining Users’ Preference Similarities in E-commerce Systems Based on Webpage Navigation Logs

Mining users’ preference patterns in e-commerce systems is a fertile area for a great many application directions, such as shopping intention analysis, prediction and personalized recommendation. The web page navigation logs contain much potentially useful information, and provide opportunities for understanding the correlation between users’ browsing patterns and what they want to buy. In this article, we propose a web browsing history mining based user preference discovery method for e-commerce systems. First of all, a user-browsing-history-hierarchical-presentationgraph to established to model the web browsing histories of an individual in common e-commerce systems, and secondly an interested web page detection algorithm is designed to extract users’ preference. Finally, a new method called UPSAWBH (User Preference Similarity Calculation Algorithm Based on Web Browsing History), which measure the level of users’ preference similarity on the basis of their web page click patterns, is put forward. In the proposed UPSAWBH, we take two factors into account: 1) the number of shared web page click sequence, and 2) the property of the clicked web page that reflects users’ shopping preference in e-commerce systems. We conduct experiments on real dataset, which is extracted from the server of our self-developed e-commerce system. The results indicate a good effectiveness of the proposed approach

Relationship between C - Reactive Protein and Stroke: A Large Prospective Community Based Study

Objective: Previous studies have suggested that C-reactive protein (CRP) was associated with risk of stroke. There were few studies in Asian population, or on stroke subtypes other than ischemic stroke. We thus investigated the relationship between CRP and the risks of all stroke and its subtypes in a Chinese adult population. Methods: In the current study, we included 90,517 Chinese adults free of stroke and myocardial infarction at baseline (June 2006 to October 2007) in analyses. Strokes were classified as ischemic stroke (IS), intracranial heamorrhage (ICH) and subarachnoid heamorrhage (SAH). High-sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP) were categorized into three groups: 3 mg/L. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to calculate the association between hs-CRP concentrations and all stroke, as well as its subtypes. Results: During a median follow-up time of 49 months, we documented 1,472 incident stroke cases. Of which 1,049 (71.3%) were IS, 383 (26.0%) were ICH, and 40 (2.7%) were SAH. After multivariate adjustment, hs-CRP concentrations ≥1 mg/L were associated with increased risks of all stroke (hs-CRP 1–3 mg/L: hazard ratio (HR) 1.17, 95% confidential interval (CI) 1.03–1.33; hs-CRP>3 mg/L: HR 1.25, 95% CI 1.07–1.46) and IS (hs-CRP 1–3 mg/L: HR 1.17, 95% CI 1.01–1.36; hs-CRP>3 mg/L: HR 1.33, 95% CI 1.11–1.60), but not with ICH and SAH. Subgroup analyses showed that higher hs-CRP concentration was more prone to be a risk factor for all stroke and IS in non-fatal stroke, male and hypertensive participants. Conclusion: We found that higher hs-CRP concentrations were associated with a higher risk of IS, particularly for non-fatal stroke, male and hypertensive subjects. In contrast, we did not observe significant associations between hs-CRP and ICH/SAH

Lineament Length and Density Analyses Based on the Segment Tracing Algorithm: A Case Study of the Gaosong Field in Gejiu Tin Mine, China

This study used the Segment Tracing Algorithm (STA) to extract lineaments from remotely sensed images. A computer program was then written to calculate the lineament densities and lengths. In Gaosong field, 3,233 lineaments were extracted based on a 200 m × 200 m grid size. The results indicate that most lineaments lengths are between 30 m and 50 m, and the number of lineaments within each cell ranges from 1 to 6. Areas with high distributions exist on both sides of the central region. According to the contour map of lineament length, the maximum lineament length is 380 m, and the minimum length is 30 m. The contours mainly extend in two directions, including NE and NW trends. This is consistent with the prominent NE and NW strike faults that prevail in the mining area. The results are similar to those obtained in the Machishui ore block, which has become a mine production area. High values of lineament length and density in the contour map of Gaosong field may be associated with hydrothermal tin mineralization in the study area. The results of this study potentially provide a new approach to mineral exploration in the early stage of geological prospecting

A Bayesian Network Meta-Analysis Comparing the Efficacies of Eleven Novel Therapies with the Common Salvage Regimen for Relapsed or Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Background/Aims: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a relapsed and refractory hematological malignancy with a lower morbidity but higher mortality. In addition to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, chemotherapy is used as the front-line treatment. However, the diversity of available agents and the inconsistency of outcomes of relevant trials render treatment decision-making tough. Network meta-analysis (NMA) is an efficient statistical framework that makes a comprehensive comparison and provides a valuable clinical reference. Methods: All the potential trials were retrieved from the medical database and screened according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The main characteristics of each trial as well as the primary outcomes, including complete remission (CR), overall response rate (ORR), overall survival (OS), and event-free survival (EFS), were extracted. In addition, the network graph was plotted to illustrate the connections among the trials involved. Comparison results in the network were exhibited in a forest plot. Furthermore, the surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) was introduced to rank the treatments for each endpoint. Results: A total of 11 trials were selected from 1,625 identifications. No significant difference in the common treatment was observed for the endpoints CR and ORR. In terms of OS, CPX-351 (HR: 0.77, 95% CrI: 0.63, 0.94) and HiDAC plus MK-8776 (HR: 0.80, 95% CrI: 0.68, 0.93) showed a superiority over the common salvage regimen in the short term, while HiDAC plus MK-8776 (HR: 0.80, 95% CrI: 0.70, 0.93) and Ara-C plus vosaroxin (HR: 0.86, 95% CrI: 0.74, 0.99) outperformed the common salvage regimen for the 3-year OS. In addition, clofarabine plus Ara-C (HR: 0.61, 95% CrI: 0.53, 0.69) and CPX-351 (HR: 0.71, 95% CrI: 0.60, 0.83) were confirmed to be efficacious in enhancing the rate of EFS. Conclusion: Referring to the network outcome and SUCRA value, clofarabine plus Ara-C (CR: 79.05%, ORR: 80.02%) and Ara-C plus vosaroxin (CR: 75.42%, ORR: 73.43%) were potentially the top two choices for both CR and ORR. CPX-351 (1-year OS: 91.36%), HiDAC plus MK-8776 (3-year OS: 94.23%) and clofarabine plus Ara-C (1-year EFS: 97.34%) yielded the highest probabilities to be the optimal choices for 1-year OS, 3-year OS and 1-year EFS, respectively