Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface Enabled Joint Backscattering and Communication

Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) as an essential topic in the sixth-generation (6G) communications aims to enhance communication performance or mitigate undesired transmission. However, the controllability of each reflecting element on RIS also enables it to act as a passive backscatter device (BD) and transmit its information to reader devices. In this paper, we propose a RIS-enabled joint backscattering and communication (JBAC) system, where the backscatter communication coexists with the primary communication and occupies no extra spectrum. Specifically, the RIS modifies its reflecting pattern to act as a passive BD and reflect its own information back to the base station (BS) in the backscatter communication, while helping the primary communication from the BS to the users simultaneously. We further present an iterative active beamforming and reflecting pattern design to maximize the user average transmission rate of the primary communication and the goodput of the backscatter communication by solving the formulated multi-objective optimization problem (MOOP). Numerical results fully uncover the impacts of the number of reflecting elements and the reflecting patterns on the system performance, and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. Important practical implementation remarks have also been discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, published to IEEE TV

Copper metabolism and hepatocellular carcinoma: current insights

Copper is an essential trace element that acts as a cofactor in various enzyme active sites in the human body. It participates in numerous life activities, including lipid metabolism, energy metabolism, and neurotransmitter synthesis. The proposal of “Cuproptosis” has made copper metabolism-related pathways a research hotspot in the field of tumor therapy, which has attracted great attention. This review discusses the biological processes of copper uptake, transport, and storage in human cells. It highlights the mechanisms by which copper metabolism affects hepatocellular carcinogenesis and metastasis, including autophagy, apoptosis, vascular invasion, cuproptosis, and ferroptosis. Additionally, it summarizes the current clinical applications of copper metabolism-related drugs in antitumor therapy

Association between Directly Observed Therapy and Treatment Outcomes in Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) represents a major obstacle towards successful TB control. Directly observed therapy (DOT) was recommended by WHO to improve adherence and treatment outcomes of MDR-TB patients, however, the effectiveness of DOT on treatment outcomes of MDR-TB patients was mixed in previous studies. We conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the association between DOT and treatment outcomes and to examine the impact of different DOT providers and DOT locations on successful treatment outcomes in MDR-TB patients.We searched studies published in English between January 1970 and December 2015 in major electronic databases. Two reviewers independently screened articles and extracted information of DOT, treatment success rate and other characteristics of studies. Random effects model was used to calculate the pooled treatment success rate and 95% confidence interval (CI). Sub-group analyses were conducted to access factors associated with successful treatment outcomes.A total of 31 articles 7,466 participants were included. Studies reporting full DOT (67.4%, 95% CI: 61.4-72.8%) had significantly higher pooled treatment success rates than those reporting self-administration therapy (46.9%, 95% CI: 41.4-52.4%). No statistically difference was found among DOT provided by healthcare providers (65.8%, 95% CI: 55.7-74.7%), family members (72.0%, 95% CI: 31.5-93.5%) and private DOT providers (69.5%, 95% CI: 57.0-79.7%); and neither did we find significantly difference on pooled treatment success rates between patients having health facility based DOT (70.5%, 95% CI: 61.5-78.1%) and home-based DOT (68.4%, 95% CI: 51.5-81.5%).Providing DOT for a full course of treatment associated with a higher treatment success rate in MDR-TB patients

Meta-analysis of treatment success rates for studies using different DOT providers.

<p>CI: confidence interval; DOT: directly observed therapy; HCP: healthcare provider. I square for family-based DOT, HCP-based DOT, private DOT providers and mix were 92.125, 95.837, 88.967 and 93.660, respectively. Q = 0.343, P = 0.952.</p

Funnel plot of standard error by logit event rate.

<p>Funnel plot of standard error by logit event rate.</p

Meta-analysis of treatment success rates for studies using full DOT, intensive phase DOT and SAT.

<p>CI: confidence interval; DOT: directly observed therapy; SAT: self-administration therapy. I square for full DOT, incentive phase DOT and SAT were 91.323, 97.153 and 83.043, respectively. Q = 24.856, P<0.001. * The same study.</p

Summary of study selection process.

<p>No.: number; DOT: directly observed therapy; SAT: self-administration therapy; MDR-TB: multidrug-resistant tuberculosis; XDR-TB: extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis.</p

Structural mechanism of R2D2 and Loqs-PD synergistic modulation on DmDcr-2 oligomers

Abstract Small interference RNAs are the key components of RNA interference, a conserved RNA silencing or viral defense mechanism in many eukaryotes. In Drosophila melanogaster, Dicer-2 (DmDcr-2)-mediated RNAi pathway plays important roles in defending against viral infections and protecting genome integrity. During the maturation of siRNAs, two cofactors can regulate DmDcr-2’s functions: Loqs-PD that is required for dsRNA processing, and R2D2 that is essential for the subsequent loading of siRNAs into effector Ago2 to form RISC complexes. However, due to the lack of structural information, it is still unclear whether R2D2 and Loqs-PD affect the functions of DmDcr-2 simultaneously. Here we present several cryo-EM structures of DmDcr-2/R2D2/Loqs-PD complex bound to dsRNAs with various lengths by the Helicase domain. These structures revealed that R2D2 and Loqs-PD can bind to different regions of DmDcr-2 without interfering with each other. Furthermore, the cryo-EM results demonstrate that these complexes can form large oligomers and assemble into fibers. The formation and depolymerization of these oligomers are associated with ATP hydrolysis. These findings provide insights into the structural mechanism of DmDcr-2 and its cofactors during siRNA processing

Pooled treatment success rates by studies characteristics.

<p>Pooled treatment success rates by studies characteristics.</p

Hospital of Shandong Academy of

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