Devices for surface working by plane means of vibration rolling

The analysis of manufacturing and technology accessories for regular micro-relief forming at flat surfaces by vibration rolling is given. The new design of apparatus providing an equal vibration roling forces at all vibration rolling devices is proposed

Electrochemistry of myoglobin on graphene–SnO2 nanocomposite modified electrode and its electrocatalysis

AbstractIn this paper direct electrochemistry and electrocatalysis of myoglobin (Mb) immobilized on a graphene (GR)–SnO2 nanocomposite modified carbon ionic liquid electrode was reported. GR–SnO2 nanocomposite was synthesized by a simple solution method and further characterized by TEM and SEM, which exhibited large surface area beneficial for Mb immobilization. Spectroscopic results indicated Mb retained its native structure without denaturation after mixed with nanocomposite. Electrochemical investigation showed that a pair of well-defined redox peaks appeared on cyclic voltammogram, indicating that direct electron transfer of Mb with the underlying electrode was realized. The results could be attributed to the presence of GR–SnO2 nanocomposite that could enhance the electron transfer between the protein and the electrode. The Mb modified electrode exhibited good stability and catalytic activity to the electroreduction of NaNO2 in the concentration range from 0.2 to 350.0μmolL−1 with wider dynamic range and lower detection limit. Therefore the fabricated electrode has the potential application in the third-generation electrochemical biosensor

Utilizing metabolomics and network analysis to explore the effects of artificial production methods on the chemical composition and activity of agarwood

Introduction: Agarwood is a traditional aromatic southern medicine. It has a long history of being used in traditional Chinese aromatherapy to treat insomnia, anxiety and depression. Due to the scarcity of wild resources, people have planted trees successfully and begun to explore various agarwood-inducing techniques. This study comparative analysis of volatile metabolites in agarwood produced by various inducing techniques and its potential sleep-promoting, anti-anxiety and anti-depressant network pharmacological activities. Methods: A total of 23 batches of two types of agarwood were collected, one of which was produced by artificial techniques, including 6 batches of TongTi (TT) agarwood produced by “Agar-Wit” and 6 batches of HuoLao (HL) agarwood produced by “burning, chisel and drilling”, while the other was collected from the wild, including 6 batches of BanTou (BT) agarwood with trunks broken due to natural or man-made factors and 5 batches of ChongLou (CL) agarwood with trunks damaged by moth worms. The study employed metabolomics combined with network analysis to compare the differences in volatile metabolites of agarwood produced by four commonly used inducing techniques, and explored their potential roles and possible action targets in promoting sleep, reducing anxiety, and alleviating depression. Results: A total of 147 volatile metabolites were detected in agarwood samples, mainly including small aromatic hydrocarbons, sesquiterpenes and 2-(2-phenylethyl) chromone and their pyrolysis products. The results showed composition of metabolites was minimally influenced by the agarwood induction method. However, their concentrations exhibited significant variations, with 17 metabolites showing major differences. The two most distinct metabolites were 6-methoxy-2-(2-phenylethyl) chromone and 6,7-dimethoxy-2-(2-phenylethyl) chromone. Among the volatile metabolites, 142 showed promising potential in treating insomnia, anxiety, and depression, implicating various biological and signaling pathways, predominantly ALB and TNF targets. The top three active metabolites identified were 2-(2-phenylethyl) chromone, 1,5-diphenylpent-1-en-3-one, and 6-methoxy-2-[2-(4'-methoxyphenyl) ethyl] chromone, with their relative content in the four types of agarwood being TT>HL>CL>BT. Conclusion: The differences in the content of 2-(2-phenylethyl) chromones suggest that they may be responsible for the varying therapeutic activities observed in different types of agarwood aromatherapy. This study offers theoretical support for the selection of agarwood in aromatherapy practices

CausalCellSegmenter: Causal Inference inspired Diversified Aggregation Convolution for Pathology Image Segmentation

Deep learning models have shown promising performance for cell nucleus segmentation in the field of pathology image analysis. However, training a robust model from multiple domains remains a great challenge for cell nucleus segmentation. Additionally, the shortcomings of background noise, highly overlapping between cell nucleus, and blurred edges often lead to poor performance. To address these challenges, we propose a novel framework termed CausalCellSegmenter, which combines Causal Inference Module (CIM) with Diversified Aggregation Convolution (DAC) techniques. The DAC module is designed which incorporates diverse downsampling features through a simple, parameter-free attention module (SimAM), aiming to overcome the problems of false-positive identification and edge blurring. Furthermore, we introduce CIM to leverage sample weighting by directly removing the spurious correlations between features for every input sample and concentrating more on the correlation between features and labels. Extensive experiments on the MoNuSeg-2018 dataset achieves promising results, outperforming other state-of-the-art methods, where the mIoU and DSC scores growing by 3.6% and 2.65%.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, MICCA

Association between N, N-diethyl-m-toluamide exposure and the odds of kidney stones in US adults: a population-based study

BackgroundCurrently, there is limited research on the specific relationship between N, N-diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET) exposure and the odds of kidney stones. We aimed to investigate the relationship between DEET exposure and the prevalence of kidney stones.MethodsWe included 7,567 qualified participants in our research from the 2007–2016 NHANES survey. We carried out three logistic regression models to explore the potential association between DEET exposure and the odds of kidney stones. Spline smoothing with generalized additive models (GAM) was utilized to assess the non-linear relationship and restricted cubic spline (RCS) curves was to determine the dose–response association. Multivariate regression models were used to conduct stratified analysis and sensitivity analysis.ResultsBaseline characteristics of study participants presented the distribution of covariables. Regression analysis revealed that the odds of kidney stones were positively associated with the main metabolites of 3-diethyl-carbamoyl benzoic acid (DCBA) (log2) (OR = 1.05, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.08). The fourth quartile of urine DCBA showed a greater risk of kidney stones in the fully adjusted model (OR = 1.36, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.72). Another DEET metabolite of N, N-diethyl-3-hydroxymethylbenzamide (DHMB) was used to confirm the accuracy and stability of the results. The spline smoothing curve represented two main DEET metabolites had similar no-linear relationships and a positive trend with kidney stones proportion. RCS implied that the incidence of kidney stones rose with increasing levels of DEET exposure. High-risk groups on kidney stones were exhibited by stratified analysis under DEET exposure.ConclusionOur study suggests that DEET exposure is positively associated with odds of kidney stones. Further investigation into the underlying processes of this association is required to guide the prevention and treatment of kidney stones

Novel Zinc Finger Transcription Factor ZFP580 Facilitates All-Trans Retinoic Acid -Induced Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells Differentiation by Rarα-Mediated PI3K/Akt and ERK Signaling

Background/Aims: Phenotypic switching of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) plays a vital role in the development of vascular diseases. All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) is known to regulate VSMC phenotypes. However, the underlying mechanisms remain completely unknown. Here, we have investigated the probable roles and underlying mechanisms of the novel C2H2 zinc finger transcription factor ZFP580 on ATRA-induced VSMC differentiation. Methods: VSMCs were isolated, cultured, and identified. VSMCs were infected with an adenovirus encoding ZFP580 or Ad-siRNA to silence ZFP580. The expression levels of ZFP580, SMα-actin, SM22α, SMemb, RARα, RARβ, and RARγ were assayed by Q-PCR and western blot. A rat carotid artery injury model and morphometric analysis of intimal thickening were also used in this study. Results: ATRA caused a significant reduction of VSMC proliferation and migration in a doseand time-dependent manner. Moreover, it promoted VSMC differentiation by enhancing expression of differentiation markers and reducing expression of dedifferentiation markers. This ATRA activity was accompanied by up-regulation of ZFP580, with concomitant increases in RARα expression. In contrast, silencing of the RARα gene or inhibiting RARα with its antagonist Ro41-5253 abrogated the ATRA-induced ZFP580 expression. Furthermore, ATRA binding to RARα induced ZFP580 expression via the PI3K/Akt and ERK pathways. Adenovirusmediated overexpression of ZFP580 promoted VSMC differentiation by enhancing expression of SM22α and SMα-actin and reducing expression of SMemb. In contrast, silencing ZFP580 dramatically reduced the expression of differentiation markers and increased expression of dedifferentiation markers. The classic rat carotid artery balloon injury model demonstrated that ZFP580 inhibited proliferation and intimal hyperplasia in vivo. Conclusion: The novel zinc finger transcription factor ZFP580 facilitates ATRA-induced VSMC differentiation by the RARα-mediated PI3K/Akt and ERK signaling pathways. This might represent a novel mechanism of regulation of ZFP580 by ATRA and RARα, which is critical for understanding the biological functions of retinoids during VSMC phenotypic modulation

Mesenchymal stem cells as carriers and amplifiers in CRAd delivery to tumors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been considered to be the attractive vehicles for delivering therapeutic agents toward various tumor diseases. This study was to explore the distribution pattern, kinetic delivery of adenovirus, and therapeutic efficacy of the MSC loading of E1A mutant conditionally replicative adenovirus Adv-Stat3(-) which selectively replicated and expressed high levels of anti-sense Stat3 complementary DNA in breast cancer and melanoma cells.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We assessed the release ability of conditionally replicative adenovirus (CRAd) from MSC using crystal violet staining, TCID₅₀assay, and quantitative PCR. In vitro killing competence of MSCs carrying Adv-Stat3(-) toward breast cancer and melanoma was performed using co-culture system of transwell plates. We examined tumor tropism of MSC by Prussian blue staining and immunofluorescence. In vivo killing competence of MSCs carrying Adv-Stat3(-) toward breast tumor was analyzed by comparison of tumor volumes and survival periods.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Adv-Stat3(-) amplified in MSCs and were released 4 days after infection. MSCs carrying Adv-Stat3(-) caused viral amplification, depletion of Stat3 and its downstream proteins, and led to significant apoptosis in breast cancer and melanoma cell lines. In vivo experiments confirmed the preferential localization of MSCs in the tumor periphery 24 hours after tail vein injection, and this localization was mainly detected in the tumor parenchyma after 72 hours. Intravenous injection of MSCs carrying Adv-Stat3(-) suppressed the Stat3 pathway, down-regulated Ki67 expression, and recruited CD11b-positive cells in the local tumor, inhibiting tumor growth and increasing the survival of tumor-bearing mice.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results indicate that MSCs migrate to the tumor site in a time-dependent manner and could be an effective platform for the targeted delivery of CRAd and the amplification of tumor killing effects.</p

Methylprednisolone as Adjunct to Endovascular Thrombectomy for Large-Vessel Occlusion Stroke

Importance It is uncertain whether intravenous methylprednisolone improves outcomes for patients with acute ischemic stroke due to large-vessel occlusion (LVO) undergoing endovascular thrombectomy. Objective To assess the efficacy and adverse events of adjunctive intravenous low-dose methylprednisolone to endovascular thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke secondary to LVO. Design, Setting, and Participants This investigator-initiated, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was implemented at 82 hospitals in China, enrolling 1680 patients with stroke and proximal intracranial LVO presenting within 24 hours of time last known to be well. Recruitment took place between February 9, 2022, and June 30, 2023, with a final follow-up on September 30, 2023.InterventionsEligible patients were randomly assigned to intravenous methylprednisolone (n = 839) at 2 mg/kg/d or placebo (n = 841) for 3 days adjunctive to endovascular thrombectomy. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary efficacy outcome was disability level at 90 days as measured by the overall distribution of the modified Rankin Scale scores (range, 0 [no symptoms] to 6 [death]). The primary safety outcomes included mortality at 90 days and the incidence of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage within 48 hours. Results Among 1680 patients randomized (median age, 69 years; 727 female [43.3%]), 1673 (99.6%) completed the trial. The median 90-day modified Rankin Scale score was 3 (IQR, 1-5) in the methylprednisolone group vs 3 (IQR, 1-6) in the placebo group (adjusted generalized odds ratio for a lower level of disability, 1.10 [95% CI, 0.96-1.25]; P = .17). In the methylprednisolone group, there was a lower mortality rate (23.2% vs 28.5%; adjusted risk ratio, 0.84 [95% CI, 0.71-0.98]; P = .03) and a lower rate of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (8.6% vs 11.7%; adjusted risk ratio, 0.74 [95% CI, 0.55-0.99]; P = .04) compared with placebo. Conclusions and Relevance Among patients with acute ischemic stroke due to LVO undergoing endovascular thrombectomy, adjunctive methylprednisolone added to endovascular thrombectomy did not significantly improve the degree of overall disability.Trial RegistrationChiCTR.org.cn Identifier: ChiCTR210005172

The Ninth Visual Object Tracking VOT2021 Challenge Results

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