A Note on the DQ Analysis of Anisotropic Plates

Recently, Bert, Wang and Striz [1, 2] applied the differential quadrature (DQ) and harmonic differential quadrature (HDQ) methods to analyze static and dynamic behaviors of anisotropic plates. Their studies showed that the methods were conceptually simple and computationally efficient in comparison to other numerical techniques. Based on some recent work by the present author [3, 4], the purpose of this note is to further simplify the formulation effort and improve computing efficiency in applying the DQ and HDQ methods for these cases

In vitro cytotoxicity of biosynthesized titanium dioxide nanoparticles in human prostate cancer cell lines

Purpose: To establish a green method for production of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) using Cinnamomum tamala (C. tamala) leaf extract, and examine the in vitro cytotoxicity of the product in a human prostate cancer (D145) cell line. Methods: TiO2 NPs were synthesized by mixing 20 mL of C. tamala leaf extract with 0.1 M titanium dioxide (Ti(OH)2) (80 mL) in aqueous solution with stirring for 2 h at room temperature. The TiO2 NPs were characterized using x-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected-area electron diffraction, and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. The in vitro cytotoxicity against D145 cells was determined using a 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Results: TEM and DLS analyses showed that the NPs were irregularly shaped, with an average particle size of 23 nm. The FT-IR spectrum of C. tamala leaf extract showed that the biomolecules were potentially involved in reduction processes. The negative zeta potential of -14 mV indicated that the NPs were stable and discrete while their crystalline nature was confirmed by XRD. Cytotoxicity analysis showed that the TiO2 NPs exhibit a dose-dependent toxic effect on D145 cells. Conclusion: A facile and less expensive approach for the production of TiO2 NPs using C. tamala leaf extract has been developed. The TiO2 NPs showed dose-dependent cytotoxicity towards D145 cells. Keywords: Anticancer activity, Cinnamomum tamala, Green synthesis, Prostate cancer, TiO2 nanoparticle

Shaking Table Test and Time-history Analysis of High-rise Diagrid Tube Structure

As a new type of high-rise building structure system, diagridtube in tube structure is increasingly applied in high-rise building.Guangzhou West tower is the first high-rise diagrid tube intube structure in China. To study seismic performance of thestructure, elastic time-history analysis and shaking table testwere conducted. The results of elastic time-history analysis andshaking table test were in a good agreement, which verified thevalidity of the elastic time-history analysis. Dynamic characteristicsand responses of the model structure’s acceleration,displacement and strain under different intensity earthquakeaction were obtained through analysis and test. Dynamicresponses of prototype structure were deduced based on similaritylaw and shaking table test results. Research shows thatdiagrid tube structure has a small deformation under earthquakeactions; the main vibration mode is translation, whiletorsional effect is not obvious; whiplash effect has less influenceon the structure; diagrid members, diagrid nodes andshear walls at the bottom of the structure are weak parts

High-Order Solar Migrating Tides Quench at SSW Onsets

Sudden stratospheric warming events (SSWs) are the most spectacular atmospheric vertical coupling processes, well-known for being associated with diverse wave activities in the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. The first four solar tidal harmonics have been reported as being engaged. Here, combining mesospheric winds detected by three midlatitude radars, we demonstrate at least the first six harmonics that occurred during SSW 2018. Wave number diagnosis demonstrates that all six harmonics are dominated by migrating components. Wavelet analyses reveal that the fourth, fifth, and sixth harmonics quench after the SSW onset. The six harmonics and the quenching appear also in a statistical analysis based on near-12-year observations from one of the radars. We attribute the quenching to reversal of the background eastward wind. ©2020. The Authors

Predictive Value of Hemodynamic Indicators for Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia in Preterm Infants

BackgroundIn China, the growing prevalence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in increased number of survived very preterm and extremely preterm infants, seriously endangers the life and impairs quality of life in this population. There are different degrees of hemodynamic changes in preterm infants in the process of developing BPD, however, there are relatively few studies about the correlation between the occurrence of BPD and hemodynamic indicators in preterm infant.ObjectiveTo examine predictive value of the hemodynamic indexes for BPD in premature infants.MethodsOne hundred and sixty-one premature infants (hospitalized within 1 hour of birth, gestational age <32 weeks) were selected from Xinxiang Central Hospital from September 2018 to December 2020. The general data (gestational age, birth weight, sex, and mode of delivery) were collected; the basic diseases and other complications of preterm infants were collected, compared between two groups of infants divided by the prevalence of BPD (n=65) or not (n=96) . PI values (measured at 1, 12, 48, 72 and 96 hours after delivery, and on the 5th, 6th, and 7th days after delivery, respectively) , and serum lactic acid levels (measured at 1, 12, and 24 hours after admission, respectively) were collected. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) levels measured by arterial pressure monitoring at 1, 12 and 24 hours after admission for 33 infants (16 in BPD group and 17 in the control group) with critical or extremely critical conditions suggested by neonatal critical illness score were also collected. Compare the results between two groups, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to evaluate the predictive value of PI, serum lactic acid and MAP for BPD in preterm infants.ResultsSixty-five out of the 161 cases 〔40.3% (65/161) 〕were diagnosed with BPD. Preterm infants with and without BPD had no statistically significant differences in gestational age, birth weight, gender, and mode of delivery (P>0.05) . Preterm infants with BPD had higher incidence of neonatal asphyxia, neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, neonatal pneumonia, and retinopathy of prematurity than those without (P<0.05) . Preterm infants with and without BPD had no statistically significant differences in sepsis, pulmonary hemorrhage, PDA, IVH, purulent meningitis and anemia (P>0.05) . PI values at 1, 12 and 24 hours after birth differed significantly between the two groups (P<0.05) . Serum lactic acid at 1 hour after admission differed significant between the two groups (P<0.05) . MAP levels at different time periods showed no significant differences between critical and extremely critical preterm infants with and without BPD (P>0.05) . In predicting BPD, the PI at 1-hour, 12-hour, and 24-hour was 0.847〔95%CI (0.788, 0.906) , P<0.001〕, 0.776〔95%CI (0.705, 0.846) , P<0.001〕, 0.695〔95%CI (0.613, 0.778) , P<0.001〕, respectively; the optimal cutoff value was chosen as 0.55, 1.15, 1.45, with the sensitivity of 76.9%, 86.2%, 81.5% and the specificity of 75.0%, 60.4%, 51.0%; serum lactic acid at 1 hour after birthhad an AUC of 0.762〔95%CI (0.686, 0.837) , P<0.001〕, the optimal cutoff value was chosen as 6.55, with the sensitivity of 81.5%, and the specificity of 68.7%.ConclusionIn preterm infants with a gestational age <32 weeks, the change of hemodynamic indicatou PI and lactic acid value maybe correlated with the occurrence of BPD. PI value within 24 hours after birth may be an earlypredictor for BPD, but further research is still needed

Improving alignment accuracy on homopolymer regions for semiconductor-based sequencing technologies

BACKGROUND: Ion Torrent and Ion Proton are semiconductor-based sequencing technologies that feature rapid sequencing speed and low upfront and operating costs, thanks to the avoidance of modified nucleotides and optical measurements. Despite of these advantages, however, Ion semiconductor sequencing technologies suffer much reduced sequencing accuracy at the genomic loci with homopolymer repeats of the same nucleotide. Such limitation significantly reduces its efficiency for the biological applications aiming at accurately identifying various genetic variants. RESULTS: In this study, we propose a Bayesian inference-based method that takes the advantage of the signal distributions of the electrical voltages that are measured for all the homopolymers of a fixed length. By cross-referencing the length of homopolymers in the reference genome and the voltage signal distribution derived from the experiment, the proposed integrated model significantly improves the alignment accuracy around the homopolymer regions. CONCLUSIONS: Besides improving alignment accuracy on homopolymer regions for semiconductor-based sequencing technologies with the proposed model, similar strategies can also be used on other high-throughput sequencing technologies that share similar limitations