Serum peptidome profiling for the diagnosis of colorectal cancer: Discovery and validation in two independent cohorts

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignant neoplasms worldwide. Except for the existing fecal occult blood test, colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy, no widely accepted in vitro diagnostic methods have been available. To identify potential peptide biomarkers for CRC, serum samples from a discovery cohort (100 CRC patients and 100 healthy controls) and an independent validation cohort (91 CRC patients and 91 healthy controls) were collected. Peptides were fractionated by weak cation exchange magnetic beads (MB-WCX) and analysed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDITOF MS). Five peptides (peaks at m/z 1895.3, 2020.9, 2080.7, 2656.8 and 3238.5) were identified as candidate biomarkers for CRC. A diagnostic panel based on the five peptides can discriminate CRC patients from healthy controls, with an accuracy of 91.8%, sensitivity of 95.6%, and specificity of 87.9% in the validation cohort. Peptide peaks at m/z 1895.3, 2020.9 and 3238.5 were identified as the partial sequences of complement component 4 (C4), complement component 3 (C3) and fibrinogen a chain (FGA), respectively. This study potentiated peptidomic analysis as a promising in vitro diagnostic tool for diagnosis of CRC. The identified peptides suggest the involvement of the C3, C4 and FGA in CRC pathogenesis

COMT, 5-HTR2A, and SLC6A4 mRNA Expressions in First-Episode Antipsychotic-Naïve Schizophrenia and Association With Treatment Outcomes

Background: Dopaminergic and serotonergic systems play crucial roles in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and modulate response to antipsychotic treatment. However, previous studies of dopaminergic and serotonergic genes expression are sparse, and their results have been inconsistent. In this longitudinal study, we aim to investigate the expressions of Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), serotonin 2A receptor (5-HTR2A), and serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) mRNA in first-episode antipsychotic-naïve schizophrenia and to test if these mRNA expressions are associated with cognitive deficits and treatment outcomes or not.Method: We measured COMT, 5-HTR2A, and SLC6A4 mRNA expressions in 45 drug-naive first-episode schizophrenia patients and 38 health controls at baseline, and repeated mRNA measurements in all patients at the 8-week follow up. Furthermore, we also assessed antipsychotic response and cognitive improvement after 8 weeks of risperidone monotherapy.Results: Patients were divided into responders (N = 20) and non-responders groups (N = 25) according to the Remission criteria of the Schizophrenia Working Group. Both patient groups have significantly higher COMT mRNA expression and lower SLC6A4 mRNA expression when compared with healthy controls. Interestingly, responder patients have significantly higher levels of COMT and 5-HTR2A mRNA expressions than non-responder patients at baseline. However, antipsychotic treatment has no significant effect on the expressions of COMT, 5-HTR2A, and SLC6A4 mRNA over 8-week follow up.Conclusion: Our findings suggest that dysregulated COMT and SLC6A4 mRNA expressions may implicate in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, and that COMT and 5-HTR2A mRNA may be potential biomarkers to predict antipsychotic response

Study on the Development and Utilization of Renewable Energy in China

With the continuous consumption of fossil energy and non-renewable, countries all over the world pay more and more attention to the use of renewable energy, among which Denmark, Japan, Germany and so on are among the best. Based on the basic national conditions and the energy development situation of our country, the utilization of renewable energy in our country is also promoted to the national strategic position. Experience shows that large-scale renewable energy access to the power grid system can not only meet the electricity demand of industrialized countries. Moreover, the safe and stable operation of the power grid can be realized by advanced technical means. Through the analysis of some advanced technology and equipment research in the development and utilization of renewable energy in foreign power grid, in order to improve the repeatability of our country, The level of development and utilization of raw energy

UAV Cluster Task Assignment Algorithm Based on Improved Artificial Gorilla Troops Optimizer

Efficient task execution and optimized combat effectiveness can be achieved when a cluster of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) work collaboratively by assigning various tasks to each UAV reasonably. This paper suggests an algorithm for assigning tasks to a cluster of UAVs using an improved version of the Artificial Gorilla Troops Optimizer (GTO) that incorporates multiple strategies. The proposed algorithm adopts the Halton sequence to generate the initial population to ensure diversity. It uses an information sharing search strategy to enhance communication between the silverback gorilla and the population, effectively jumping out of the local optimal solution. In addition, the problem of inadequate solution accuracy caused by rapid convergence in the middle and later stages of iteration is improved using the golden sine strategy to coordinate GTO’s global searching and local mining capabilities. Based on the experimental results, it has been determined that the proposed algorithm outperforms other swarm intelligence algorithms in terms of convergence value and rate across various test functions. Additionally, it has been found to achieve faster and more stable task assignment results

Solar thermal power generation technology research

China is a big consumer of energy resources. With the gradual decrease of non-renewable resources such as oil and coal, it is very important to adopt renewable energy for economic development. As a kind of abundant renewable energy, solar power has been widely used. This paper introduces the development status of solar power generation technology, mainly introduces solar photovoltaic power generation technology, briefly describes the principle of solar photovoltaic power generation, and compares and analyzes four kinds of solar photovoltaic power generation technology, among which photovoltaic power generation technology is the most mature solar photovoltaic power utilization technology at present

China’s power development based on the energy internet

Energy Internet’s deep integration of energy systems and modern communication technologies can transform the economy from fossil energy to clean renewable energy. Based on the theoretical framework of business model, it is proposed that power companies can achieve the strategic entry of energy Internet market services through customer concept innovation, appropriate organizational structure adjustment, and more attention to external cooperation. By proactively innovating business models, Chinese power companies will gain sustainable competitiveness and build a platform for subsequent innovations. The development of the energy Internet will also make the construction of the global energy Internet inevitable. In this context, the internationalization process of China’s power companies faces both opportunities and problems. China’s power internationalization strategy should aim at realizing the global energy Internet. Under the guidance of the “One Belt, One Road” strategy, China’s power industry should relying on UHV technology advantages and overseas power operation management experience, strengthen domestic and international cooperation, develop renewable energy and distributed energy, and improve Grid-connected services, fully open the user-side distributed power market, use the Internet to develop diversified businesses, and establish a business model that is in line with the development of the industry

Technology of CO

This paper studies carbon capture and storage based on carbon emission. There are three main technical routes for CO2 emission reduction: pre-combustion capture, oxygen-rich combustion, and post-combustion capture; CO2 separation technology mainly includes: chemical absorption method, solid adsorption method, membrane separation method. CO2 capture needs to be transported to a special place for storage, which can be generally divided into geological storage, marine storage and chemical storage. Future carbon capture research will focus on cost savings and energy savings

The relationship between depressive and anxious symptoms and school attendance among adolescents seeking psychological services in a public general hospital in China: a cross-sectional study

Abstract Background School attendance problems (SAPs), whether absenteeism or dropout, are strongly associated with poor outcomes for adolescents. We examined multiple variables that influence SAPs to identify potential leverage points for improving school attendance. Methods Self-reported SAPs and demographic information was collected from 392 adolescents in adolescents presenting to the general hospital for psychological services. PHQ-9 and GAD-7 were applied to assess the severity of depressive and anxious symptoms. We constructed logistic regression analysis and the Chi-Square Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) segmentation analysis via SPSS Decision Tree to identifying risk factors for the development of SAPs in adolescents. Results SAPs were self-reported by 252 (64.3%) adolescents. The SAPs group and non-SAPs group showed a significant difference in age, PHQ9 total scores, GAD7 total scores, schools, siblings, residence, parental marital quality, general health, regular exercise, and regular diet. A post hoc comparison between the two groups showed that the frequency of SAPs was significantly higher in the moderately-severe and severe depressive groups compared with other three groups (none, mild, moderate). The frequency of SAPs in severe anxious groups was significantly different from the none-anxious group. According to the binary logistic regression analysis, the depressive severity, siblings, residence, marital quality of parents, general health, and regular diet were correlated with the SAPs among adolescents. The adjusted OR of SAPs according to moderately-severe depressive symptoms was 10.84 (95%CI: 1.967–59.742) and severe depressive symptoms was 6.659 (95%CI: 1.147–38.666). In the decision tree model, PHQ-9 severity was extracted as the first splitting variable, with regular exercise and residence as the second, and siblings as the third. The ROC curves for predicting SAPs showed a fair diagnostic accuracy of the model with AUCs of CHAID model (0.705,95%CI:0.652–0.759, P = 0.000) and logistic regression model (0.777,95%CI:0.729–0.824, P = 0.000). Conclusion Our study provides insights into the associations between depressive symptoms and poor school attendance and identifies a number of risk factors associated with SAPs. Effective intervention by mental health practitioners, more attention by policy makers, and further research in this area are urgently needed for adolescents

The non-significant correlation between landscape ecological risk and ecosystem services in Xi'an Metropolitan Area, China

As critical prerequisite for sustainable development research of social ecosystem (SDSE), the relationship between landscape security pattern and ecosystem services should be explicitly evaluated to support SDSE research. However, the existing evaluation system lacking of integrating analysts of the factors led to vague knowledge of the SDSE mechanism. To tackle this issue, this study, therefore, explored the relationship between landscape ecological risk and ecosystem services (e.g. carbon sequestration, soil conservation, water yield, crop production and residential support) at Xi’an Metropolitan Area using remote sensing data in 2010 and 2020. The results show that the overall landscape ecological risk decreased from 0.2618 to 0.2479. Although the rapid development of urban leading improvement for landscape ecological security and residential support, the total ecosystem services has declined due to the decline in water yield and crop production. Preventing the landscape ecological risk on landscape fragmentation cannot improve the level of ecosystem services. Notably, the stronger interference of human activities overwhelmingly caused a single advantageous ecosystem services with extreme risk, while the less caused multiple advantageous ecosystem services of ecological regulation with medium–low level ecological risk. Additionally, the competitive relationship between the crop production and residential support would not produce higher risk led by the intervention of human activity. The integrating of crop production and carbon sequestration (or soil conservation) resulted in high risk. Using these results, a potential spatial plan of Xi'an Metropolitan Area is then made based on multiple advantageous areas of ecosystem services. This study benefits decision-making for regional comprehensive risk prevention, future spatial pattern planning and development orientation, and sustainable development research of social ecosystem

Economic Analysis of Heat Pump Recovery System for Circulating Water Waste Heat in Power Plant

The use of heat pump technology to recover the waste heat of circulating water from the power plant instead of steam extraction for heating can not only improve the thermal efficiency of the unit and reduce the loss of cold source, but also has great advantages in energy saving. This paper uses absorption and compression heat pumps to recover the waste heat of circulating water in the power plant to study its energy-saving benefits. Under the same heating load, the economics of the two heat pumps are calculated and analyzed. The results show that the energy-saving benefits of absorption heat pump units are far greater than compression units. But in terms of water saving, the water saving capacity of the compression heat pump unit is higher than that of the absorption heat pump