MiR-338-3p Is a Biomarker in Neonatal Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and Has Roles in the Inflammatory Response of ARDS Cell Models

To investigate the association between serum miR-338-3p levels and neonatal acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and its mechanism. The relative miR-338-3p expression in serum was detected by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) levels were detected by ELISAs. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis of serum miR-338-3p evaluated the diagnosis of miR-338-3p in neonatal ARDS. Pearson’s correlation analysis evaluated the correlation between serum miR-338-3p and neonatal ARDS clinical factors. Flow cytometry evaluated apoptosis, and a CCK-8 assay assessed cell viability. A luciferase assay evaluated the miR-338-3p/AKT3 relationship. The miR- 338-3p expression was decreased in neonatal ARDS patients and in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated cells. The ROC curve showed the accuracy of miR-338-3p for evaluating neonatal ARDS patients. The correlation analysis demonstrated that miR-338-3p was related to PRISM-III, PaO2/FiO2, oxygenation index, IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α in neonatal ARDS patients. MiR-338-3p overexpression inhibited the secretion of inflammatory components, stifled cell apoptosis, and LPS-induced advanced cell viability. The double-luciferase reporter gene experiment confirmed that miR-338-3p negatively regulates AKT3 mRNA expression. Serum miR-338-3p levels were related to the diagnosis and severity of neonatal ARDS, which may be attributed to its regulatory effect on inflammatory response in ARDS

Scheduling Projects with Multiskill Learning Effect

We investigate the project scheduling problem with multiskill learning effect. A new model is proposed to deal with the problem, where both autonomous and induced learning are considered. In order to obtain the optimal solution, a genetic algorithm with specific encoding and decoding schemes is introduced. A numerical example is used to illustrate the proposed model. The computational results show that the learning effect cannot be neglected in project scheduling. By means of determining the level of induced learning, the project manager can balance the project makespan with total cost

Interrelationships among critical factors of work flow reliability in lean construction

Work flow in lean construction has a significant influence on project performance. Uncertain work flow will lead to waste and reduce labor productivity. Reliable work flow will contribute to improving project performance. We found twenty variables affecting work flow reliability by literature review. In order to identify critical factors of work flow reliability and explore interrelationships among them, we designed a questionnaire to collect data, applied factor analysis to identifying critical factors, and put forward hypotheses on the basis of previous research and applied struc­tural equation model (SEM) to exploring interrelationships among the critical factors of work flow. Final model con­firmed nine hypotheses and denied three hypotheses. Besides, this paper discovered other interrelationship among the critical factors except for the hypotheses. The result of this research will help project managers understand work flow easily and take effective measures to improve work flow reliability, which will contribute to implement lean construc­tion successfully

Influence of environmental values on the typhoon risk perceptions of high school students: a case study in Ningbo, China

Typhoon is a severe natural disaster that would bring huge economic losses and casualties to society. High school students are more vulnerable compared with adults during typhoon. Improving risk perception of typhoon can assist high school students effectively respond to typhoon and reduce related losses. Environmental values play an important role in human’s perceptions and actions. Although typhoon is related with environment, few studies have investigated the influence of environmental values on typhoon risk perception of high school students. This study investigates typhoon risk perception of high school students in Ningbo, China, and further analyzes the influence of environmental values on the perception with structural equations model. Results reveal that environmental values have significantly positive impacts on the typhoon risk perception. The findings also demonstrate that disaster threats and the disaster management ability of the government have significant positive impacts on the typhoon risk perception. This study proposes suggestions and measures to improve the typhoon risk perception among high school students and provides a reference for typhoon prevention and reduction education in China

Co-exposure to multiple vitamins and the risk of all-cause mortality in patients with diabetes

ObjectiveAlthough the effect of vitamins on the risk of mortality in diabetic patients has been reported, most studies focus on individual vitamins. However, humans are often exposed to multiple vitamins simultaneously in daily life. Therefore, it is worth exploring the effects of co-exposure to multiple vitamins on the risk of mortality in diabetic patients.MethodsThis study included diabetic patients aged ≥20WD years who participated in NHANES from 2003 to 2006. An unsupervised K-means clustering method was used to cluster eight vitamins in serum into several patterns of co-exposure to multiple vitamins, and the Cox proportional hazards model was used to evaluate the impact of different patterns of co-exposure to multiple vitamins on the risk of all-cause mortality in diabetic patients.ResultsThree patterns of co-exposure to multiple vitamins were generated based on K-means clustering, namely, low-level, moderate-level, and high-level. Among the 484 diabetic patients, with a median follow-up of 13.7 years, a total of 211 deaths occurred. After adjusting for covariates, the individual vitamins had varying effects on the risk of all-cause mortality in diabetic patients. Compared to the low-level group of co-exposure to multiple vitamins, the high-level group significantly reduced the risk of all-cause mortality in diabetic patients, with a HR of 0.42 (95% CI: 0.20, 0.87). Subgroup analysis demonstrated that high levels of co-exposure to multiple vitamins significantly reduced the risk of all-cause mortality in males, individuals aged ≥ 60 years, and non-Hispanic White people with diabetes compared to the low-level group, with HR of 0.42 (95% CI: 0.18, 0.98), 0.53 (95% CI: 0.26, 0.98), and 0.26 (95% CI: 0.12, 0.58) respectively.ConclusionWhile individual vitamins had different effects on the risk of all-cause mortality in patients with diabetes, high-level co-exposure to multiple vitamins significantly reduced the risk of all-cause mortality in patients with diabetes, with differences observed among genders, ages, and race. This suggests that when developing vitamin intervention strategies for patients with diabetes, consideration should be given not only to the dosage of individual vitamins but also to the variations between different population groups

<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">In vivo</i> Anti-fatigue activity of total flavonoids from sweetpotato [<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Ipomoea batatas</i> (L.) Lam.] leaf in mice

326-329The in vivo anti-fatigue activity of the total flavonoids from sweet potato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.] leaf was investigated in male Kunming mice. The total flavonoids from sweet potato leaf (TFSL) were orally administered at doses of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg for 4 weeks and the anti-fatigue effect was studied using a weight-loaded swimming test, along with the determination of serum urea nitrogen (SUN), blood lactic acid (BLA) and hepatic and muscle glycogen contents. The results showed that TFSL had significant anti-fatigue effects. TFSL extended the exhaustive swimming time, effectively inhibited the increase of BLA, decreased the level of SUN and increased the hepatic and muscle glycogen content of mice. Thus, TFSL may have potential as an anti-fatigue agent. </span

Automotive Radar Mutual Interference Mitigation Based on Hough Transform in Time-Frequency Domain

With the development of autonomous driving technology, automotive radar has received unprecedented attention due to its day-and-night and all-weather working capability. It is worthwhile to note that more and more vehicles are equipped with automotive radars, resulting in mutual interference between radars. The interference reduces radar target detection performance, making perception information unreliable. In this paper, a novel interference mitigation method based on power-weighted Hough transform is proposed for solving the radar mutual interference and improving the safety of autonomous driving systems. Firstly, the frequency modulation characteristics of interference signals and target echo signals are analyzed, and differences between the two signals are introduced. Secondly, based on the straight line detection technique, the power of the mutual interference signal in time-frequency domain is accumulated, and the accurate position of the interference is located. Finally, the target echo is recovered by autoregressive model. Compared with existing state-of-the-art methods, the proposed method has the ability to retain more useful signals after the interference mitigation, and achieve better interference detection robustness under low signal-to-noise ratio conditions. Simulation experiments and real scenario experiments verify the effectiveness of the proposed method and show its superiority

Optimizing energy efficiency and thermal comfort in building green retrofit

Building green retrofit offers significant opportunities for enhancing energy efficiency and achieving green development goals. However, a conflicting criterion exists between energy conservation and thermal comfort improvement when making optimal design solutions for building retrofit. This study presents a simulation-based energy-comfort optimization model to facilitate evaluating various design alternatives and balancing multiple objectives in building green retrofit. A building simulation model is first established to measure energy consumption and comfort level. Then, a multi-objective optimization method (response surface method) is employed to identify critical building parameters and generates a set of alternative plans for building retrofit based on green building standards. After that, optimal design solutions with trade-offs between thermal comfort and energy demand are obtained. A school building in Wuhan city of China is chosen as a case to validate the developed model, and ten building parameters pertaining to energy demand and environmental comfort are considered in the optimization process. The results show that four parameters are significantly sensitive to energy efficiency and thermal comfort, including insulation thickness of the external wall, the heat transmission coefficient of the roof, solar heat gain coefficient of the external window, and window to wall ratio. The optimal combination of four parameters approximately produces 4 % of energy savings, as well as an improving level of environmental comfort. The study benefits designers and construction managers to determine optimal solutions for building retrofit to achieve better energy efficiency and comfort in green building development.This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71872126) and the China Scholarship Council Project (No. 201906250048)