Numerical analysis of acoustic wave propagation in layered carbon nanofiber reinforced polymer composites

Polymer composites reinforced by carbon nanofibers (CNFs) in the form of paper sheet show significant vibration and acoustic damping improvement when compared to pure matrix materials. Without looking into the microscopic energy dissipation mechanisms, this paper analyzes the wave propagation in the composites from a macroscopic point of view. The CNF nanocomposites in this study were treated as stacking of alternating layers of pure polymer and CNF reinforced polymer. Analyses of acoustic wave propagation focused oil revealing the effects of acoustic impedance discontinuity at the interfaces of the layered structure. Plane wave transmission coefficient has been calculated as a function of the number of the layer repeats and thickness at different wave frequencies. Oscillations in the transmission coefficient have been observed when the acoustic wavelength is oil the same order of the bilayer thickness, indicating the possibility of designing the nanocomposite structure to optimize noise reduction characteristics. The numerical analysis converges with effective media theory when acoustic wavelength is much larger than the layer thickness

An RNN Model for Generating Sentences with a Desired Word at a Desired Position

Generating sentences with a desired word is useful in many natural language processing tasks. State-of-the-art recurrent neural network (RNN)-based models mainly generate sentences in a left-to-right manner, which does not allow explicit and direct constraints on the words at arbitrary positions in a sentence. To address this issue, we propose a generative model of sentences named Coupled-RNN. We employ two RNN\u27s to generate sentences backwards and forwards respectively starting from a desired word, and inject position embeddings into the model to solve the problem of position information loss. We explore two coupling mechanisms to optimize the reconstruction loss globally. Experimental results demonstrate that Coupled-RNN can generate high quality sentences that contain a desired word at a desired position

Red-Fleshed Apple Anthocyanin Extracts Attenuate Male Reproductive System Dysfunction Caused by Busulfan in Mice

In this research, we analyzed the effect of an intragastrical oral administration of red-fleshed apple anthocyanin extract (RAAE) on busulfan-treated mice. First, we showed that the most abundant component in RAAE was cyanidin 3-O-galactoside. To determine the effect of the RAAE, the mice were divided into control and four other different concentrations of RAAE feeding treatment groups (BA0, no RAAE; BA.1, 0.1 mg/kg; BA1, 1 mg/kg; and BA5, 5 mg/kg) following busulfan injection. We observed that RAAE treatments displayed ameliorative effects on male reproductive system dysfunction caused by busulfan, such as recovering the irregular arrangements of seminiferous tubules, increasing the number of spermatogonia and spermatocytes, improving sperm concentration by 3-fold in BA.1, and improving sperm motility by 2-fold in BA1. The liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis showed significant up- or downregulation of certain metabolites, such as lysophosphatidylcholine (LysoPC), L-arginine, glycine, anandamide, and L-carnitine, which could contribute to the positive effects of RAAE, especially in PBA1 (plasma of BA1) and PBA5 (plasma of BA5). Taken together, the results indicate that 1 mg/kg of RAAE is a suitable concentration for rescuing spermatogenesis in mice. The research suggests that RAAE could be a potential nutraceutical for protecting spermatogenesis after busulfan therapy in cancer

Increased frequency of rare missense <i>PPP1R3B</i> variants among Danish patients with type 2 diabetes

<div><p>Background</p><p><i>PPP1R3B</i> has been suggested as a candidate gene for monogenic forms of diabetes as well as type 2 diabetes (T2D) due to its association with glycaemic trait and its biological role in glycogen synthesis.</p><p>Objectives</p><p>To study if rare missense variants in <i>PPP1R3B</i> increase the risk of maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY), T2D or affect measures of glucose metabolism.</p><p>Method</p><p>Targeted resequencing of <i>PPP1R3B</i> was performed in 8,710 samples; MODY patients with unknown etiology (<i>n</i> = 54), newly diagnosed patients with T2D (<i>n</i> = 2,930) and population-based control individuals (<i>n</i> = 5,726, of whom <i>n</i> = 4,569 had normal glucose tolerance). All population-based sampled individuals were examined using an oral glucose tolerance test.</p><p>Results</p><p>Among <i>n</i> = 396 carriers, we identified twenty-three <i>PPP1R3B</i> missense mutations, none of which segregated with MODY. The burden of likely deleterious <i>PPP1R3B</i> variants was significantly increased with a total of 17 carriers among patients with T2D (0.58% (95% CI: 0.36–0.93)) compared to 18 carriers among non-diabetic individuals (0.31% (95% CI: 0.20–0.49)), resulting in an increased risk of T2D (OR (95% CI) = 2.57 (1.14–5.79), <i>p</i> = 0.02 (age and sex adjusted)). Furthermore, carriers with diabetes had less abdominal fat and a higher serum concentration of LDL-cholesterol compared to patients with T2D without rare missense <i>PPP1R3B</i> variants. In addition, non-diabetic carriers had a higher birth weight compared to non-carriers.</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>Rare missense <i>PPP1R3B</i> variants may predispose to T2D.</p></div

Identification of cuproptosis-related biomarkers and analysis of immune infiltration in allograft lung ischemia-reperfusion injury

Background: Allograft lung ischemia-reperfusion injury (ALIRI) is a major cause of early primary graft dysfunction and poor long-term survival after lung transplantation (LTx); however, its pathogenesis has not been fully elucidated. Cell death is a mechanism underlying ALIRI. Cuproptosis is a recently discovered form of programmed cell death. To date, no studies have been conducted on the mechanisms by which cuproptosis-related genes (CRGs) regulate ALIRI. Therefore, we explored the potential biomarkers related to cuproptosis to provide new insights into the treatment of ALIRI.Materials and methods: Datasets containing pre- and post-LTx lung biopsy samples and CRGs were obtained from the GEO database and previous studies. We identified differentially expressed CRGs (DE-CRGs) and performed functional analyses. Biomarker genes were selected using three machine learning algorithms. The ROC curve and logistic regression model (LRM) of these biomarkers were constructed. CIBERSORT was used to calculate the number of infiltrating immune cells pre- and post-LTx, and the correlation between these biomarkers and immune cells was analyzed. A competing endogenous RNA network was constructed using these biomarkers. Finally, the biomarkers were verified in a validation set and a rat LTx model using qRT-PCR and Western blotting.Results: Fifteen DE-CRGs were identified. GO analysis revealed that DE-CRGs were significantly enriched in the mitochondrial acetyl-CoA biosynthetic process from pyruvate, protein lipoylation, the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, and copper-transporting ATPase activity. KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the DE-CRGs were mainly enriched in metabolic pathways, carbon metabolism, and the TCA cycle. NFE2L2, NLRP3, LIPT1, and MTF1 were identified as potential biomarker genes. The AUC of the ROC curve for each biomarker was greater than 0.8, and the LRM provided an excellent classifier with an AUC of 0.96. These biomarkers were validated in another dataset and a rat LTx model, which exhibited good performance. In the CIBERSORT analysis, differentially expressed immune cells were identified, and the biomarkers were associated with the immune cells.Conclusion:NFE2L2, NLRP3, LIPT1, and MTF1 may serve as predictors of cuproptosis and play an important role in the pathogenesis of cuproptosis in ALIRI

Red-fleshed apple flavonoid extract alleviates CCl4-induced liver injury in mice

In recent years, the global incidence of liver damage has increased. Despite the many known health benefits of red-fleshed apple flavonoids, their potential liver-protective effects have not yet been investigated. In this study, we analyzed the composition of red-fleshed apple flavonoid extract (RAFE) by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). We then induced liver damage in mice with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) and performed interventions with RAFE to analyze its effect on liver damage, using bifendate as a positive control. The results showed that catechin was the most abundant flavonoid in ‘XJ4’ RAFE (49.346 mg/100 g). In liver-injured mice, the liver coefficients converged to normal levels following RAFE intervention. Moreover, RAFE significantly reduced the enzymatic activity levels of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (ALT), glutamic alanine transaminase (AST), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in mouse serum. Furthermore, RAFE significantly increased the content or enzyme activity level of total glutathione, total antioxidant capacity, and superoxide dismutase, and significantly decreased the content of malondialdehyde in the liver of mice. In parallel, we performed histopathological observations of mouse livers for each group. The results showed that RAFE restored the pathological changes caused by CCl4 around the central hepatic vein in mice and resulted in tightly bound hepatocytes. The recovery effect of RAFE was dose-dependent in the liver tissue. Regarding intestinal microorganisms, we found that RAFE restored the microbial diversity in liver-injured mice, with a similar microbial composition in the RAFE intervention group and normal group. RAFE reduced the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes, increased the levels of probiotic bacteria, such as Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Clostridium, and reduced the levels of harmful bacteria, such as Erysipelothrix Rosenbach. Therefore, RAFE ameliorated CCl4-induced liver damage by modulating the abundance and composition of intestinal microorganisms in mice. In conclusion, RAFE alleviated CCl4-induced liver damage in mice, with H-RAFE (5 mg kg–1) significantly improving liver damage in mice but M-RAFE (1 mg kg–1) significantly improving the imbalance of intestinal microorganisms in mice. Our research suggests that RAFE could be employed for the adjuvant treatment and prevention of liver damage, and may have important applications in food and medicine