Differential evolution with two-level parameter adaptation

The performance of differential evolution (DE) largely depends on its mutation strategy and control parameters. In this paper, we propose an adaptive DE (ADE) algorithm with a new mutation strategy DE/lbest/1 and a two-level adaptive parameter control scheme. The DE/lbest/1 strategy is a variant of the greedy DE/best/1 strategy. However, the population is mutated under the guide of multiple locally best individuals in DE/lbest/1 instead of one globally best individual in DE/best/1. This strategy is beneficial to the balance between fast convergence and population diversity. The two-level adaptive parameter control scheme is implemented mainly in two steps. In the first step, the population-level parameters F p and CR p for the whole population are adaptively controlled according to the optimization states, namely, the exploration state and the exploitation state in each generation. These optimization states are estimated by measuring the population distribution. Then, the individual-level parameters F i and CR i for each individual are generated by adjusting the population-level parameters. The adjustment is based on considering the individual's fitness value and its distance from the globally best individual. This way, the parameters can be adapted to not only the overall state of the population but also the characteristics of different individuals. The performance of the proposed ADE is evaluated on a suite of benchmark functions. Experimental results show that ADE generally outperforms four state-of-the-art DE variants on different kinds of optimization problems. The effects of ADE components, parameter properties of ADE, search behavior of ADE, and parameter sensitivity of ADE are also studied. Finally, we investigate the capability of ADE for solving three real-world optimization problems

A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials of Yiqi Yangyin Huoxue Method in Treating Diabetic Nephropathy

Objective. The purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate the evidence of Yiqi Yangyin Huoxue Method for diabetic nephropathy. Methods. 11 electronic databases, through September 2015, were searched to identify randomized controlled trials of Yiqi Yangyin Huoxue Method for diabetic nephropathy. The quality of the included trials was assessed using the Jadad scale. Results. 26 randomized controlled trials were included in our review. Of all the included trials, most of them were considered as high quality. The aggregated results suggested that Yiqi Yangyin Huoxue Method is beneficial to diabetic nephropathy in bringing down the microalbuminuria (SMD = −0.98, 95% CI −1.22 to −0.74), serum creatinine (SMD = −0.56, 95% CI −0.93 to −0.20), beta-2 microglobulin (MD = 0.06, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.12), fasting plasma glucose (MD = −0.35, 95% CI −0.62 to −0.08), and 2-hour postprandial blood glucose (MD = 1.13, 95% CI 0.07 to 2.20), but not in decreasing blood urea nitrogen (SMD = −0.72, 95% CI −1.47 to 0.02) or 2-hour postprandial blood glucose (SMD = −0.48, 95% CI −1.01 to 0.04). Conclusions. Yiqi Yangyin Huoxue Method should be a valid complementary and alternative therapy in the management of diabetic nephropathy, especially in improving UAER, serum creatinine, fasting blood glucose, and beta-2 microglobulin. However, more studies with long follow-up are warrant to confirm the current findings

The enrichment of Fanconi anemia/homologous recombination pathway aberrations in ATM/ATR-mutated NSCLC was accompanied by unique molecular features and poor prognosis

Abstract Background ATM and ATR are two critical factors to regulate DNA damage response (DDR), and their mutations were frequently observed in different types of cancer, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Given that the majority of identified ATM/ATR mutations were variants of uncertain significance, the clinical/molecular features of pathogenic ATM/ATR aberrations have not been comprehensively investigated in NSCLC. Methods Next-generation sequencing (NGS) analyses were conducted to investigate the molecular features in 191 NSCLC patients who harbored pathogenic/likely pathogenic ATM/ATR mutations and 308 NSCLC patients who did not have any types of ATM/ATR variants. The results were validated using an external cohort of 2727 NSCLC patients (including 48 with ATM/ATR pathogenic mutations). Results Most pathogenic ATM/ATR genetic alterations were frameshift and nonsense mutations that disrupt critical domains of the two proteins. ATM/ATR-mutated patients had significantly higher tumor mutational burdens (TMB; P < 0.001) and microsatellite instabilities (MSI; P = 0.023), but not chromosomal instabilities, than those without any ATM/ATR variations. In particular, KRAS mutations were significantly enriched in ATM-mutated patients (P = 0.014), whereas BRCA2 mutations (P = 0.014), TP53 mutations (P = 0.014), and ZNF703 amplification (P = 0.008) were enriched in ATR-mutated patients. Notably, patients with ATM/ATR pathogenic genetic alterations were likely to be accompanied by mutations in Fanconi anemia (FA) and homologous recombination (HR) pathways, which were confirmed using both the study (P < 0.001) and validation (P < 0.001) cohorts. Furthermore, the co-occurrence of FA/HR aberrations could contribute to increased TMB and MSI, and patients with both ATM/ATR and FA/HR mutations tended to have worse overall survival. Conclusions Our results demonstrated the unique clinical and molecular features of pathogenic ATM/ATR mutations in NSCLC, which helps better understand the cancerous involvement of these DDR regulators, as well as directing targeted therapies and/or immunotherapies to treat ATM/ATR-mutated NSCLC, especially those with co-existing FA/HR aberrations

Hierarchical Fe-ZSM-5/SiC foam catalyst as the foam bed catalytic reactor (FBCR) for catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO)

Structured Fe-ZSM-5 zeolite supported on silicon carbide (SiC) foam catalyst was develop and applied as the packed foam bed catalytic reactor (FBCR) to the liquid phase catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO) of phenol under flow conditions. Fe catalysts were uniformly incorporated into ZSM-5 coatings using chemical vapour deposition (CVD). Fluid flow analysis of FBCR was performed by varying liquid flow rate, showing the transition of reactor type from the plug flow reactor to the continuous stirred tank reactor at about 1 ml min−1. Systematic investigation of CWPO within Fe-ZSM-5/SiC FBCRs identified the optimum condition of operating the FBCR (80 mm bed length) as at 60 °C and 1 ml min−1 with the turnover frequency (TOF) of 95 h−1 for phenol degradation (apparent activation energy = 3.4 kJ mol−1) and total organic carbon (TOC) conversion of 45.5%. It was believed that the enhanced macromixing promoted by cellular foam supports was accountable for the observed catalytic performance. The longevity of FBCR under flow conditions was also assessed, showing its good stability over 24 h, as well as the potential for practical adoption