A Numerical Simulation of Extratropical Storm Surge and Hydrodynamic Response in the Bohai Sea

A hindcast of typical extratropical storm surge occurring in the Bohai Sea in October 2003 is performed using a three-dimensional (3D) Finite Volume Coastal Ocean Model (FVCOM). The storm surge model is forced by 10 m winds obtained from the Weather Research Forecasting (WRF) model simulation. It is shown that the simulated storm surge and tides agree well with the observations. The nonlinear interaction between the surge and astronomical tides, the spatial distribution of the maximum surge level, and the hydrodynamic response to the storm surge are studied. The storm surge is the interaction of the surge and the astronomical tides. The currents change rapidly during the storm surge and turn to be the unidirectional at some places where the tidal currents are usually rectilinear. The results show that the local surge current velocity in each depth, with a magnitude of the same order as the astronomic tidal currents, increases or decreases rapidly depending on the relationship between the winds and current directions. Furthermore, the current pattern gets more complicated under the influence of the direction of the winds, which might affect sand movement in the coastal water of the Bohai Sea

The Effects of Yoga on College Students\u27 Mental Health: A Systematic Review

The mental health of college students is an increasingly serious public health problem. Effective and healthy interventions are needed. More and more research has been conducted on yoga, but there are few randomized controlled trials (RTC) on effects of yoga intervention on students\u27 mental health. Therefore, this study examined effects of quality of yoga intervention on mental health in college students. We used PubMed (Medline), Cochrane, Web of Science, CNKI, VIP Chinese Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP) and WanFang Database to search randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of yoga intervention in college students\u27 mental health. After the screening, 17 articles met the requirements and were included along with the utilization of the Cochrane bias risk assessment tool Rob2.0 to evaluate the quality of the included articles. Of 17 articles reviewed, three articles were rated as low risk of bias , five articles were rated as possibly at risk of bias , and nine articles were rated as high risk of bias . The 17 studies predominantly consist of low methodological quality and lack multi-centered, large-sample collaborative research. Almost all researchers mentioned the use of randomization in their articles, but they did not indicate which randomization method was used. There was no description of allocation concealment, blinding, case shedding, case follow-up etc., and it was impossible to judge whether the trial design was correct, or whether random grouping was, indeed, undertaken. This study found that most of the so-called randomized controlled trials are doubtful, which virtually reduces the strength and credibility of this study. Therefore, improving the research quality of yoga intervention and standardizing the writing of scientific research articles are the problems need to be solved in the current field of sports psychology research in China. Current evidence shows that yoga exercise can relax the body and mind, thereby improving the level of mental health, and complete yoga (exercise, breathing, meditation) significantly relieves the symptoms of depression. Performing yoga postures and exercises promotes blood circulation, effectively improves sleep, and regulates breathing to stabilize autonomic nerves, relieve stress, and eliminate mental tension. In the future, yoga practice can be used as a non-medical intervention to treat mental illness. The quality of the current randomized controlled trials of yoga intervention in the mental health of college students is generally low. Randomized controlled trials with reasonable methodological design, strict implementation, and sufficient follow-up time are still needed. It is recommended that researchers should strengthen the systematic study of clinical trial methodology and strictly refer to the Cochrane manual list for clinical research reports in order to improve the quality of literature reports

Analysis of factors influencing the efficacy of vagus nerve stimulation for the treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy in children and prediction model for efficacy evaluation

ObjectiveVagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been widely used in the treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) in children. We aimed to explore the efficacy and safety of VNS, focusing on factors that can influence the efficacy of VNS, and construct a prediction model for the efficacy of VNS in the treatment of DRE children.MethodsRetrospectively analyzed 45 DRE children who underwent VNS at Qilu Hospital of Shandong University from June 2016 to November 2022. A ≥50% reduction in seizure frequency was defined as responder, logistic regression analyses were performed to analyze factors affecting the efficacy of VNS, and a predictive model was constructed. The predictive model was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), calibration curves, and decision curve analyses (DCA).ResultsA total of 45 DRE children were included in this study, and the frequency of seizures was significantly reduced after VNS treatment, with 25 responders (55.6%), of whom 6 (13.3%) achieved seizure freedom. There was a significant improvement in the Quality of Life in Childhood Epilepsy Questionnaire (15.5%) and Seizure Severity Score (46.2%). 16 potential factors affecting the efficacy of VNS were included, and three statistically significant positive predictors were ultimately screened: shorter seizure duration, focal seizure, and absence of intellectual disability. We developed a nomogram for predicting the efficacy of VNS in the treatment of DRE children. The ROC curve confirmed that the predictive model has good diagnostic performance (AUC = 0.864, P < 0.05), and the nomogram can be further validated by bootstrapping for 1,000 repetitions, with a C-index of 0.837. Besides, this model showed good fitting and calibration and positive net benefits in decision curve analysis.ConclusionVNS is a safe and effective treatment for DRE children. We developed a predictive nomogram for the efficacy of VNS, which provides a basis for more accurate selection of VNS patients

High expression of ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme 2C (UBE2C) correlates with nasopharyngeal carcinoma progression

BACKGROUND: Overexpression of ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme 2C (UBE2C) has been detected in many types of human cancers, and is correlated with tumor malignancy. However, the role of UBE2C in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is unclear. In this study, we investigated the role of aberrant UBE2C expression in the progression of human NPC. METHODS: Immunohistochemical analysis was performed to detect UBE2C protein in clinical samples of NPC and benign nasopharyngeal tissues, and the association of UBE2C expression with patient clinicopathological characteristics was analyzed. UBEC2 expression profiles were evaluated in cell lines representing varying differentiated stages of NPC and immortalized nasopharyngeal epithelia NP-69 cells using quantitative RT-PCR, western blotting and fluorescent staining. Furthermore, UBE2C was knocked down using RNA interference in these cell lines and proliferation and cell cycle distribution was investigated. RESULTS: Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that UBE2C protein expression levels were higher in NPC tissues than in benign nasopharyngeal tissues (P<0.001). Moreover, high UBE2C protein expression was positively correlated with tumor size (P=0.017), lymph node metastasis (P=0.016) and distant metastasis (P=0.015) in NPC patients. In vitro experiments demonstrated that UBE2C expression levels were inversely correlated with the degree of differentiation of NPC cell lines, whereas UBE2C displayed low level of expression in NP-69 cells. Knockdown of UBE2C led to significant arrest at the S and G2/M phases of the cell cycle, and decreased cell proliferation was observed in poorly-differentiated CNE2Z NPC cells and undifferentiated C666-1 cells, but not in well-differentiated CNE1 and immortalized NP-69 cells. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that high expression of UBE2C in human NPC is closely related to tumor malignancy, and may be a potential marker for NPC progression

Synthesis and volume phase transition of concanavalin A-based glucose-responsive nanogels

NSFC [21274118, 91227120, 20923004]; FRFCU [2012121016]; NFFTBS [J1210014]; NCETFJGlucose-responsive polymer nanogels that can undergo a reversible and rapid volume phase transition in response to the fluctuation in blood glucose concentration have the potential to regulate the delivery of insulin mimicking pancreatic activity. We report here such a glucose-responsive polymer nanogel, which is made of concanavalin A (ConA) interpenetrated in a chemically crosslinked network of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (poly(NIPAM)). The introduction of ConA, a plant lectin protein, into the poly(NIPAM) network makes the newly developed semi-interpenetrating-structured nanogels responsive to glucose over a glucose concentration range of 0-20 mM at a physiological pH of 7.4. While the nanogels can swell and become stable shortly (<1 s) after adding glucose over a concentration range of 50.0 mu M to 20.0 mM, the changes in the average hydrodynamic radius and the size distribution of the nanogels can be fully reversible within the experimental error even after ten cycles of adding/removing glucose. The association rate constant is determined to be ca. 1.8 mM(-1) s(-1), and the dissociation rate constant is ca. 7.5 s(-1), indicating a fast reversible time response to the glucose concentration change of the nanogels. Moreover, in vitro insulin release can be modulated in a pulsatile profile in response to glucose concentrations

A fluorescent double-network-structured hybrid nanogel as embeddable nanoglucometer for intracellular glucometry

National Natural Science Foundation of China [21274118, 91227120]; Program for New Century Excellent Talents in Fujian Province University; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [2012121016]; National Found for Fostering Talents of Basic Science [J1030415]The development of embeddable and remotely interrogatable nanomaterials that allow dynamic quantification of intracellular glucose levels can contribute to a better understanding of physiology. We develop a fluorescent hybrid nanogel glucometer (FNG) that is applicable for intracellular glucometry. Such a FNG (<200 nm) is comprised of ZnO quantum dots covalently bonded onto a loosely-crosslinked gel network of poly(acrylamide), which is interpenetrated in another relatively highly-crosslinked gel network of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-2-acrylamidomethyl-5-fluorophenylboronic acid). This newly developed double-network-structured FNG can adapt to surrounding media of varying glucose levels, and convert the disruptions in homeostasis of glucose level with high reversibility, sensitivity, and selectivity into fluorescence signals at a fast time response. We demonstrate that the FNG can enter the model B16F10 cells and employ the signal transduction ability for fluorescent intracellular glucometry. Furthermore, we show that intracellular glucose level variations associated with a model biological reaction process can be monitored with a high glucose resolution by using the FNG embedded in cells, whilst the reaction mechanism remains nearly unchanged

Combination of 4-1BB and DAP10 promotes proliferation and persistence of NKG2D(bbz) CAR-T cells

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy has been shown to have considerable therapeutic effects in hematological malignancies, and NKG2D(z) CAR-T cell therapy has been verified to be safe based on clinical trials. However, due to the poor persistence of NKG2D(z) CAR-T cells, their therapeutic effect is not obvious. Here, we constructed NKG2D(bbz) CAR-T cells that can simultaneously activate 4-1BB and DAP10 costimulatory signaling. They were found to be cytotoxic to the target cells in vitro and in vivo. They exhibited low differentiation, low exhaustion, and good proliferation. Importantly, the proportions of central memory T (Tcm) and stem cell-like memory T (Tscm) cell subsets were strikingly increased. After long-term incubation with the target cells, they displayed reduced exhaustion compared to NKG2D(z) CAR-T cells. Further, in the presence of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor LY294002, they exhibited reduced exhaustion and apoptosis, upregulated Bcl2 expression, and an increased proportion of Tcm cell subsets. Finally, NKG2D(bbz) CAR-T cells had better antitumor effects in vivo. In summary, the results showed that NKG2D(bbz) CAR-T cells may be valuable for cellular immunotherapy of cancer