SCMA codebooks design for Rayleigh fading channel

According to the symbol error eate (SER) of the superimposed constellation, the near-optimal space code multiple access (SCMA) codebooks were explored under uplink and downlink Rayleigh fading channels, respectively.A near-optimal codebook design scheme was proposed based on the mathematical model between the superimposed constellation and the SER formula.And the proposed design procedures could be summarized as follows, design the factor graph matrix, match the best codeword pair, and find the optimal angle.Numerical results are provided to demonstrate that the proposed scheme can achieve near-optimal SER performance

Serum MicroRNA-27b as a Screening Biomarker for Left Ventricular Hypertrophy

MicroRNA-27b (miR-27b) is frequently upregulated in pressure-overloaded hypertrophic hearts. The clinical implications of aberrant circulating miR-27b in the diagnosis and management of left ventricular hypertrophy warrant study. We investigated whether serum miR-27b is a biomarker for left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). We used stem-loop reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction techniques to analyze serum miR-27b levels in 200 hypertensive patients with LVH, 100 hypertensive patients without LVH, and 100 healthy volunteers. We found that serum miR-27b levels were significantly higher in the hypertensive patients with LVH than in the hypertensive patients without LVH and in the healthy volunteers. Upon receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, serum miR-27b had an area under the curve of 0.885 with 91% sensitivity and 73% specificity in distinguishing hypertensive patients with LVH from healthy volunteers (P=0.021), and an area under the curve of 0.818 with 79.1% sensitivity and 70.3% specificity in distinguishing hypertensive patients with LVH from those without LVH (P=0.036). We conclude that circulating miR-27b might serve as a specific, noninvasive biomarker in screening for LVH

Low error floor LT coding algorithm for unequal error protection

Objectives:Rateless LT code is designed to provide an ideal transport protocol for large-scale data distribution and reliable broadcasting.The rateless LT code has three excellent characteristics,namely link adaptation,the code rate can be switched seamlessly, and the feedback method is relatively simple. There is an important application scenario in wireless data transmission, namely unequal error protection (UEP) data transmission. As the first achievable rateless code,the rateless LT code can be conveniently used in conjunction with the UEP algorithm to realize adaptive data transmission.However,the conventional UEP-LT code algorithm has problems such as high error floor and poor convergence performance in the additive white Gaussian noise(AWGN)channel.Therefore,an improved systematic UEP-LT coding scheme is designed in this paper. Methods: This paper considers designing independent systematic UEP-LT codes for AWGN channels.A design method of check distribution matching this scheme is given,and a coding scheme characterized by segmentation is proposed.In this scheme,systematic nodes connected with information nodes one by one are designed to provide non-zero log-likelihood ratio (LLR) information from the channel.After that, there is a fixed number of check nodes,that is,the fixed segment.The check node of this segment is only connected to the important bit(MIB),and its purpose is to make the MIB the closest to the successful decoding state.The final part of the coding scheme is the rateless coding segment. The check nodes in this segment will select MIB or least important bit (LIB) as neighbor nodes,and the proportion of check nodes connected to MIB and LIB can be flexibly adjusted,so that the MIB is always successfully decoded before the LIB.This paper also proposes a degree distribution design model adapted to the above coding scheme.This design model aims to provide a sufficiently wide extrinsic information decoding tunnel for the MIB,and an open and not too narrow decoding tunnel for the LIB.When only the fixed segment is transmitted, the degree distribution to be designed should bring the MIB closest to the successful decoding state.When starting to transmit the rateless segment,the degree distribution to be designed should ensure that the MIB is recovered correctly as soon as possible,and the decoding tunnel of the MIB is wide enough when the LIB is in a critical decoding state. Under the above constraints, the designed check degree distribution can provide the MIB with better convergence performance than the LIB. Results:Taking the code length K equal to 6000 as an example to simulate,and the results are as follows.(i)When the signal-to-noise ratio(SNR) is low,the MIB in this scheme has the lowest error floor.For example, when the reciprocal code rate -1=2.05, compared with the reference scheme, the bit error rate (BER) of the MIB proposed in this paper is reduced by nearly an order of magnitude,and the lowest value can reach the order of 10-7. In addition,the scheme in this paper also has the optimal convergence performance,that is,it can enter the BER waterfall region with a small coding overhead. Taking 10-6as the BER standard, the overhead saved by the proposed scheme is at least 10% of the code length K,which reflects the advantages of the proposed scheme.(ii) When the SNR is high,whether it is the MIB or the LIB,the BER performance of the proposed scheme is optimal. For the MIB,the BER of the proposed scheme is always more than an order of magnitude lower than the reference scheme. If 10-6is considered as the BER standard, the overhead saved by this scheme is about 7% of the code length K.However,if 10-7is further considered as the BER standard,the overhead saved by this scheme is about 15% of the code length K.This means that when the SNR increases,the performance improvement of the proposed scheme is higher than that of the reference scheme. Conclusions: In this paper, a systematic unequal error protection LT coding scheme is designed, and a check degree distribution design model suitable for this scheme is constructed to solve the problem of high error floor existing in the conventional UEP-LT algorithm in the AWGN channel.The main idea of this scheme is to design fixed coding segments,rateless coding segments and systematic node segments and transmit them in sequence.The advantage of this scheme is that it can provide non-zero LLR information as early as possible for information nodes, and make the MIB and the LIB obtain different and flexibly adjustable average degrees.In addition,based on the extrinsic information transfer(EXIT)chart,the check degree distribution is designed for the fixed segment and the rateless segment,so that the MIB can obtain the optimal protection performance,and the convergence performance of the LIB can be improved as much as possible. In the follow-up work, it can be considered to design a check degree distribution model that can more closely approximate the channel capacity, so as to further improve the coding efficiency of the scheme when the BER standard is given

Low error floor LT coding algorithm by using fixed-length node classification window

To solve the problem of high error floor for LT codes in additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels, an improved coding scheme was designed.A fixed-length classification window was used to sort out the information nodes with relatively small degrees.Then these nodes would be forced to participate in the coding process frequently, so that they could obtain sufficiently high reliability.To design the optimal parameters, firstly, the bit error rate (BER) performance of LT codes and the cause of the error floor were analyzed, and the theoretical BER lower bound was introduced as the first constraint.Secondly, the extrinsic information gain loss ratio (GLR) was designed to measure the convergence behavior of the improved LT code, and maximizing the GLR was denoted as the second constraint.Finally, the influence of different parameters on algorithm efficiency and coding complexity were analyzed, and the principle of priority selection of parameters was pointed out as the third constraint.The simulation results show that compared with the conventional LT code, the proposed algorithm can reduce the error floor by nearly three orders of magnitude.Besides, the designed LT code outperforms the existing LT codes in literature in terms of bit error rate (BER) performance

RETRACTED: Relationship between serum TGF- β 1, MMP-9 and IL-1β and pathological features and prognosis in breast cancer

To investigate the levels of serum transforming growth factor-β 1 (TGF-β1), Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and Interleukin-1 β (IL-1 β) in breast cancer (BC), and analyzing their relationship with pathological features and prognosis. Retrospective analysis of 86 subjects with BC (BC subgroup) and another 50 healthy subjects (control subgroup) during the same period were included. The clinical data were collected. In this research, in BC subgroup, The levels of serum TGF- β 1, MMP-9 and IL-1 β were significantly higher than those in control subgroup. The levels of TGF- β 1 and MMP-9 in serum of BC subjects was correlated with clinical stage, histological grade, lymph node metastasis and molecular classification, but not with age, tumor size and menopausal status. The level of serum IL-1 β was related to tumor size, clinical stage, histological grade and lymph node metastasis. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that the high level of serum TGF- β1 and MMP-9 was independent risk factors for BC. High level of serum IL-1 β was not an independent risk factor for BC. The 3-year disease-free survival rate in high TGF- β1 subgroup and high MMP-9 subgroup was significantly lower than that in low TGF- β 1 subgroup and low MMP- 9 subgroup. To conclude, serum TGF- β 1, MMP-9 and IL-1β are highly expressed in BC, and the subjects with elevated serum levels of TGF- β 1 and MMP-9 suggests poor prognosis

The effect of electrical stimulation in critical patients: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

ObjectivesWhile electrical stimulation has been demonstrated to improve medical research council (MRC) scores in critically ill patients, its effectiveness remains a subject of debate. This meta-analysis aimed to discuss recent insights into the effectiveness of electrical stimulation in improving muscle strength and its effects on different clinical outcomes in critically ill adults.MethodsA comprehensive search of major electronic databases, including PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase, was conducted from inception to June 15, 2024, to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that evaluated the effects of electrical stimulation in critically ill patients. The analysis focused on comparing electrical stimulation to standard care, sham interventions, or placebo. Outcomes of interest included MRC scores, duration of mechanical ventilation (MV), mortality rate, and intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital length of stay (LOS).ResultsA total of 23 RCTs, including 1798 patients, met the inclusion criteria. The findings demonstrated a significant benefit of electrical stimulation over usual care in enhancing global muscle strength, as measured by MRC scores (MD =3.62, 95% CI 0.94 to 6.30, p = 0.0008, I2 = 87%). While subgroup analysis of electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) demonstrated no significant effect on ICU LOS, sensitivity analysis indicated a potential reduction in ICU LOS for both EMS (MD = −11.0, 95% CI −21.12 to −0.88, p = 0.03) and electrical stimulation overall (MD = −1.02, 95% CI −1.96 to −0.08, p = 0.03) compared to the control group. In addition, sensitivity analysis suggested that both electrical stimulation (MD = −2.38, 95% CI −3.81 to −0.94, p = 0.001) and neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) specifically (MD = −2.36, 95% CI −3.85 to −0.88, p = 0.002) may contribute to a decrease in hospital LOS. No statistically significant differences were observed in mortality or duration of MV.ConclusionElectrical stimulation appears to be an effective intervention for improving MRC scores in critically ill patients. However, further research is warranted to explain the potential effects of electrical stimulation on hospital LOS and ICU LOS.Systematic review registration:https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/#recordDetails

Polyploidy events shaped the expansion of transcription factors in Cucurbitaceae and exploitation of genes for tendril development

Cucurbitaceae is one of the most important plant families distributed worldwide. Transcription factors (TFs) regulate plant growth at the transcription level. Here, we performed a systematic analysis of 42 641 TFs from 63 families in 14 Cucurbitaceae and 10 non-cucurbit species. Whole-genome duplication (WGD) was the dominant event type in almost all Cucurbitaceae plants. The TF families were divided into 1 210 orthogroups (OGs), of which, 112 were unique to Cucurbitaceae. Although the loss of several gene families was detected in Cucurbitaceae, the gene families expanded in five species that experienced a WGD event comparing with grape. Our findings revealed that the recent WGD events that had occurred in Cucurbitaceae played important roles in the expansion of most TF families. The functional enrichment analysis of the genes that significantly expanded or contracted uncovered five gene families, AUX/IAA, NAC, NBS, HB, and NF-YB. Finally, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of the TCP gene family and identified 16 tendril-related (TEN) genes in 11 Cucurbitaceae species. Interestingly, the characteristic sequence changed from CNNFYFP to CNNFYLP in the TEN gene (Bhi06M000087) of Benincasa hispida. Furthermore, we identified a new characteristic sequence, YNN, which could be used for TEN gene exploitation in Cucurbitaceae. In conclusion, this study will serve as a reference for studying the relationship between gene family evolution and genome duplication. Moreover, it will provide rich genetic resources for functional Cucurbitaceae studies in the future

Cardiotoxicity evaluation using human embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes

BACKGROUND: Cardiotoxicity remains an important concern in drug discovery. Human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CMs) have become an attractive platform to evaluate cardiotoxicity. However, the consistency between human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hESC-CMs) and human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) in prediction of cardiotoxicity has yet to be elucidated. METHODS: Here we screened the toxicities of four representative drugs (E-4031, isoprenaline, quinidine, and haloperidol) using both hESC-CMs and hiPSC-CMs, combined with an impedance-based bioanalytical method. RESULTS: It showed that both hESC-CMs and hiPSC-CMs can recapitulate cardiotoxicity and identify the effects of well-characterized compounds. CONCLUSIONS: The combined platform of hPSC-CMs and an impedance-based bioanalytical method could improve preclinical cardiotoxicity screening, holding great potential for increasing drug development accuracy

A systematic review of objective factors influencing behavior in public open spaces

As a significant part of outdoor built-environment, public open spaces are closely associated with people's daily lives. Studies of outdoor behavior in these spaces can shed light on users' environmental perceptions and contribute to the promotion of physiological and psychological health. Many recent studies are case studies focused where observations, surveys and interviews have been conducted to understand the factors influencing people's behavior on one or few sites or city environments. There have been few reviews related to this topic, and none have been based on the systematic understanding of influencing factors. This paper presents a systematic review of interactions between behavior and the built environment in public open spaces, and highlights the impacts of diverse and objective influencing factors. Followed the rules of PRISMA method (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses), 109 papers published in 2000–2021 were selected and reviewed. The distribution of the studied interactions is analyzed, and the impacts of four distinct factors: personal background, location and context, environmental component, and climate stimuli, are extracted, categorized, and specified. Moreover, outdoor health benefits are discussed based on which, crucial factors that require emphasis after the outbreak of COVID-19 are identified. Throughout this paper, behavioral influencing processes, including objective influencing factors, subjective feedback, and the relationships involved, are considered to provide a comprehensive picture. With the robust classification of existing factors, architects, urban designers, policy makers and fellow researches could be easier to get a more comprehensive trend from the past. This paper also provides guidance for future research, especially given that COVID-19 has created huge changes to outdoor needs and customary behavior

Large-scale analyses of heat shock transcription factors and database construction based on whole-genome genes in horticultural and representative plants

Heat shock transcription factor (Hsf) plays a critical role in regulating heat resistance. Here, 2950 Hsf family genes were identified from 111 horticultural and representative plants. More Hsf genes were detected in higher plants than in lower plants. Based on all Hsf genes, we constructed a phylogenetic tree, which indicated that Hsf genes of each branch evolved independently after species differentiation. Furthermore, we uncovered the evolutionary trajectories of Hsf genes by motif analysis. There were only six motifs (M1–M6) in lower plants, and then four novel motifs (M7–M10) appeared in higher plants. However, the motifs of some Hsf genes were lost in higher plants, indicating that Hsf genes have undergone sequence variation during their evolution. The number of Hsf genes lost was greater than the number of genes that were duplicated after whole-genome duplication in higher plants. The heat response network was constructed using 24 Hsf genes and 2421 downstream and 222 upstream genes of Arabidopsis. Further enrichment analysis revealed that Hsf genes and other transcription factors interacted with each other in the response to heat stress. Global expression maps were illustrated for Hsf genes under various abiotic and biotic stresses and several developmental stages in Arabidopsis. Syntenic and phylogenetic analyses were conducted using Hsf genes of Arabidopsis and the pan-genome of 18 Brassica rapa accessions. We also performed expression pattern analysis of Hsf and six Hsp family genes using expression values from different tissues and heat treatments in B. rapa. The interaction network between the Hsf and Hsp gene families was constructed in B. rapa, and several core genes were detected in the network. Finally, we constructed an Hsf database (http://hsfdb.bio2db.com) for researchers to retrieve Hsf gene family information. Therefore, our study will provide rich resources for the study of the evolution and function of Hsf genes