Evolutionary transition between invertebrates and vertebrates via methylation reprogramming in embryogenesis

© The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Xu, X., Li, G., Li, C., Zhang, J., Wang, Q., Simmons, D. K., Chen, X., Wijesena, N., Zhu, W., Wang, Z., Wang, Z., Ju, B., Ci, W., Lu, X., Yu, D., Wang, Q., Aluru, N., Oliveri, P., Zhang, Y. E., Martindale, M. Q., & Liu, J. Evolutionary transition between invertebrates and vertebrates via methylation reprogramming in embryogenesis. National Science Review, 6(5), (2019):993-1003, doi:10.1093/nsr/nwz064.Major evolutionary transitions are enigmas, and the most notable enigma is between invertebrates and vertebrates, with numerous spectacular innovations. To search for the molecular connections involved, we asked whether global epigenetic changes may offer a clue by surveying the inheritance and reprogramming of parental DNA methylation across metazoans. We focused on gametes and early embryos, where the methylomes are known to evolve divergently between fish and mammals. Here, we find that methylome reprogramming during embryogenesis occurs neither in pre-bilaterians such as cnidarians nor in protostomes such as insects, but clearly presents in deuterostomes such as echinoderms and invertebrate chordates, and then becomes more evident in vertebrates. Functional association analysis suggests that DNA methylation reprogramming is associated with development, reproduction and adaptive immunity for vertebrates, but not for invertebrates. Interestingly, the single HOX cluster of invertebrates maintains unmethylated status in all stages examined. In contrast, the multiple HOX clusters show dramatic dynamics of DNA methylation during vertebrate embryogenesis. Notably, the methylation dynamics of HOX clusters are associated with their spatiotemporal expression in mammals. Our study reveals that DNA methylation reprogramming has evolved dramatically during animal evolution, especially after the evolutionary transitions from invertebrates to vertebrates, and then to mammals.This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFC1003303), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the CAS (XDB13040200), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91519306, 31425015), the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the CAS and the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, CAS (QYZDY-SSW-SMC016)

Efficacy and safety of olaparib combined with abiraterone in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

BackgroundOlaparib has been proven for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). This meta-analysis aims to comprehensively evaluate the efficacy and safety of the combination of olaparib and abiraterone in patients with mCRPC.MethodsThe literature in PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library up until April 27, 2023, was systematically searched. In the studies included in this meta-analysis, olaparib combined with abiraterone was compared with abiraterone combined with placebo.ResultsTwo randomized controlled trials involving a total of 938 patients were included. Analysis indicated that olaparib combined with abiraterone significantly prolonged radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS: relative risk [RR] 0.66, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.55–0.79), time to secondary progression or death (PFS2: hazard ratio [HR] 0.72, 95% CI 0.56–0.93), time to first subsequent therapy or death (TFST: HR 0.75, 95% CI 0.63–0.89), time to second subsequent therapy or death (TSST: HR 0.73, 95% CI 0.58–0.93), and confirmed prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response (RR 1.14, 95% CI 1.05–1.24). However, no statistically significant differences were found in the overall survival (OS: HR 0.87 95% CI 0.70–1.09), objective response rate (ORR: RR 0.97, 95% CI 0.70–1.33), and incidence of total adverse events (RR 1.07, 95% CI 0.94–1.22). A notable detail that the combination of olaparib and abiraterone was associated with an increased incidence of high-grade anemia (RR 7.47, 95% CI 1.36–40.88).ConclusionOlaparib combined with abiraterone is effective for patients with mCRPC. However, combination therapy has treatment-related adverse events compared with monotherapy, and this could be improved in future treatment management.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/, identifier CRD42023432287

MSEs Credit Risk Assessment Model Based on Federated Learning and Feature Selection

Federated learning has been used extensively in business innovation scenarios in various industries. This research adopts the federated learning approach for the first time to address the issue of bank-enterprise information asymmetry in the credit assessment scenario. First, this research designs a credit risk assessment model based on federated learning and feature selection for micro and small enterprises (MSEs) using multi-dimensional enterprise data and multi-perspective enterprise information. The proposed model includes four main processes: namely encrypted entity alignment, hybrid feature selection, secure multi-party computation, and global model updating. Secondly, a two-step feature selection algorithm based on wrapper and filter is designed to construct the optimal feature set in multi-source heterogeneous data, which can provide excellent accuracy and interpretability. In addition, a local update screening strategy is proposed to select trustworthy model parameters for aggregation each time to ensure the quality of the global model. The results of the study show that the model error rate is reduced by 6.22% and the recall rate is improved by 11.03% compared to the algorithms commonly used in credit risk research, significantly improving the ability to identify defaulters. Finally, the business operations of commercial banks are used to confirm the potential of the proposed model for real-world implementation

An IoT-Oriented Offloading Method with Privacy Preservation for Cloudlet-Enabled Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks

With the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, a vast amount of the IoT data is generated by mobile applications from mobile devices. Cloudlets provide a paradigm that allows the mobile applications and the generated IoT data to be offloaded from the mobile devices to the cloudlets for processing and storage through the access points (APs) in the Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMANs). Since most of the IoT data is relevant to personal privacy, it is necessary to pay attention to data transmission security. However, it is still a challenge to realize the goal of optimizing the data transmission time, energy consumption and resource utilization with the privacy preservation considered for the cloudlet-enabled WMAN. In this paper, an IoT-oriented offloading method, named IOM, with privacy preservation is proposed to solve this problem. The task-offloading strategy with privacy preservation in WMANs is analyzed and modeled as a constrained multi-objective optimization problem. Then, the Dijkstra algorithm is employed to evaluate the shortest path between APs in WMANs, and the nondominated sorting differential evolution algorithm (NSDE) is adopted to optimize the proposed multi-objective problem. Finally, the experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is both effective and efficient

Artificial Intelligence for Securing IoT Services in Edge Computing: A Survey

With the explosive growth of data generated by the Internet of Things (IoT) devices, the traditional cloud computing model by transferring all data to the cloud for processing has gradually failed to meet the real-time requirement of IoT services due to high network latency. Edge computing (EC) as a new computing paradigm shifts the data processing from the cloud to the edge nodes (ENs), greatly improving the Quality of Service (QoS) for those IoT applications with low-latency requirements. However, compared to other endpoint devices such as smartphones or computers, distributed ENs are more vulnerable to attacks for restricted computing resources and storage. In the context that security and privacy preservation have become urgent issues for EC, great progress in artificial intelligence (AI) opens many possible windows to address the security challenges. The powerful learning ability of AI enables the system to identify malicious attacks more accurately and efficiently. Meanwhile, to a certain extent, transferring model parameters instead of raw data avoids privacy leakage. In this paper, a comprehensive survey of the contribution of AI to the IoT security in EC is presented. First, the research status and some basic definitions are introduced. Next, the IoT service framework with EC is discussed. The survey of privacy preservation and blockchain for edge-enabled IoT services with AI is then presented. In the end, the open issues and challenges on the application of AI in IoT services based on EC are discussed

Migration Characteristics of Boring Mud in Roadway Floor Anchor Wire Hole and Test in Coal Mine

Given the difficulty in drilling the anchor holes in the roadway floor of the coal mine, the characteristics of slag movement in the process of positive and negative circulation drilling are analyzed. It is concluded that the interaction between the three zones of drilling and slag is the fundamental reason restricting the rapid drilling of the anchor cable hole in the floor, and it is proposed that the pump reverse circulation drilling can effectively prevent the formation of the three zones of drilling and slag. According to the actual situation, the relationship between drilling depth, vacuum degree of the pump, and the velocity of drilling fluid and the volume of drilling slag is obtained. The results show that the pump suction reverse circulation is feasible for the rapid drilling of the anchor hole of the floor. A set of pump suction reverse circulation drilling systems has been developed, and floor anchor wire hole drilling and slag discharge operation at the same time were realized. The field test shows that the effective drilling time of the anchor cable hole in the depth of 5.6 m can be controlled within 30 min, which solves the problem of deep hole drilling in the anchor hole of the bottom plate and purifies the working environment

Estimating Evapotranspiration of Greenhouse Tomato under Different Irrigation Levels Using a Modified Dual Crop Coefficient Model in Northeast China

Accurate quantification of evapotranspiration (ETc) and its components are critical for enhancing water use efficiency and implementing precision irrigation. A two-year experiment was conducted for greenhouse-grown tomatoes under mulched drip irrigation with three irrigation treatments during 2020–2021 in Northeast China. Three different irrigation treatments were applied by setting upper and lower soil moisture irrigation thresholds (i.e., W1, 65%θFC–75%θFC, W2, 75%θFC–85%θFC, W3, 85%θFC–95%θFC, respectively, where θFC is field capacity). In this study, a modified dual crop coefficient (Kc) model was proposed to simulate daily ETc, plant transpiration (Tr) and soil evaporation (Es). The simulations of the model were validated against observed data from the sap flow system combined with the soil water balance method. The controlling factors on the variations of evapotranspiration and its components were also identified by using the path analysis method. Results showed that the modified dual Kc model can accurately simulate daily ETc, Es, and Tr for the greenhouse tomato under different irrigation conditions, with the coefficients of determination ranging from 0.88 to 0.98 and the index of agreement higher than 0.90. The seasonal cumulative ETc of tomato for W1–W3 were 138.5–194.4 mm, of which 9.5–15.8% was consumed by Es. Path analysis showed that the net radiation (Rn) was the dominant factor controlling the variations of Tr and ETc during the growing seasons. The canopy coverage degree (Kcc) was the dominant controlling factor of Es, while the temperature (Ta) was the primary limiting factor affecting Es. This study can provide reference information for developing proper irrigation management in a greenhouse-grown tomato in the north cold climate regions