Overview of research progress on the association of dietary potassium intake with serum potassium and survival in hemodialysis patients, does dietary potassium restriction really benefit hemodialysis patients?

For the general population, increasing potassium intake can reduce the incidence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. However, since hyperkalemia is a common and life-threatening complication in maintenance hemodialysis patients, which can increase the risk of malignant arrhythmia and sudden death, the current mainstream of management for hemodialysis patients is dietary potassium restriction in order to prevent hyperkalemia. Hemodialysis patients are usually advised to reduce dietary potassium intake and limit potassium-rich fruits and vegetables, but there is limited evidence to support this approach can reduce mortality and improve quality of life. There is still no consistent conclusion on the association between dietary potassium intake and serum potassium and survival in hemodialysis patients. According to the current small observational studies, there was little or even no association between dietary potassium intake and serum potassium in hemodialysis patients when assurance of adequate dialysis and specific dietary patterns (such as the plant-based diet mentioned in the article) are being followed, and excessive dietary potassium restriction may not benefit the survival of hemodialysis patients. Additionally, when assessing the effect of diet on serum potassium, researchers should not only focus on the potassium content of foods, but also consider the type of food and the content of other nutrients. However, more large-scale, multi-center clinical trials are required to provide high-quality evidence support. Besides, further research is also needed to determine the optimal daily potassium intake and beneficial dietary patterns for hemodialysis patients

WSP from “Nostoc commune” Vauch. suppresses gastric cancer migration via EGFRVIII signaling

IntroductionA number of evidences have proved that “Nostoc commune” Vauch can improve human immunity and prevent diseases, however, the specific mechanism remains unclear. The biological activity of the main protein component of “Nostoc commune” Vauch extracellular matrix– a water-stress protein (WSP) still needs to be elucidated.MethodsIn our study, we validated the role of WSP in gastric cancer metastasis at the cellular level, the organoid level and in mouse models, and also studied the role of EGFRVIII and downstream signaling molecules after WSP treatment.ResultsWe found that WSP can significantly inhibit the metastasis of gastric cancer cells. Interestingly, we found that the anti-metastasis ability of WSP on gastric cancer was related to membrane protein receptor EGFRVIII, which was realized by inhibiting the downstream EGFRVIII signaling pathway. In terms of mechanism, WSP can inhibit the downstream EGFRVIII signaling pathway Akt-PI3K and further inhibit the secretion of cancer-related metastasis proteins such as MMP2 and MMP9, thus, significantly affecting the metastasis of gastric cancer cells.DiscussionGiven the anticancer properties of WSP, drug developers and manufacturers can further develop protein drugs for cancer patients using protein engineering techniques based on the properties of WSP

The HASHTAG Project: The First Submillimeter Images of the Andromeda Galaxy from the Ground

Observing nearby galaxies with submillimeter telescopes on the ground has two major challenges. First, the brightness is significantly reduced at long submillimeter wavelengths compared to the brightness at the peak of the dust emission. Second, it is necessary to use a high-pass spatial filter to remove atmospheric noise on large angular scales, which has the unwelcome side effect of also removing the galaxy\u27s large-scale structure. We have developed a technique for producing high-resolution submillimeter images of galaxies of large angular size by using the telescope on the ground to determine the small-scale structure (the large Fourier components) and a space telescope (Herschel or Planck) to determine the large-scale structure (the small Fourier components). Using this technique, we are carrying out the HARP and SCUBA-2 High Resolution Terahertz Andromeda Galaxy Survey (HASHTAG), an international Large Program on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, with one aim being to produce the first high-fidelity high-resolution submillimeter images of Andromeda. In this paper, we describe the survey, the method we have developed for combining the space-based and ground-based data, and we present the first HASHTAG images of Andromeda at 450 and 850 μm. We also have created a method to predict the CO(J = 3-2) line flux across M31, which contaminates the 850 μm band. We find that while normally the contamination is below our sensitivity limit, it can be significant (up to 28%) in a few of the brightest regions of the 10 kpc ring. We therefore also provide images with the predicted line emission removed

The ALMA Survey of Star Formation and Evolution in Massive Protoclusters with Blue Profiles (ASSEMBLE): Core Growth, Cluster Contraction, and Primordial Mass Segregation

The ALMA Survey of Star Formation and Evolution in Massive Protoclusters with Blue Profiles (ASSEMBLE) aims to investigate the process of mass assembly and its connection to high-mass star formation theories in protoclusters in a dynamic view. We observed 11 massive (Mclump>1000 Msun), luminous (Lbol>10,000 Lsun), and blue-profile (infall signature) clumps by ALMA with resolution of 2200-5500 au at 350 GHz (870 um) in continuum and line emission. 248 dense cores were identified, including 106 cores showing protostellar signatures and 142 prestellar core candidates. Compared to early-stage infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) by ASHES, the core mass and surface density within the ASSEMBLE clumps exhibited significant increment, suggesting concurrent core accretion during the evolution of the clumps. The maximum mass of prestellar cores was found to be 2 times larger than that in IRDCs, indicating evolved protoclusters have the potential to harbor massive prestellar cores. The mass relation between clumps and their most massive core (MMCs) is observed in ASSEMBLE but not in IRDCs, which is suggested to be regulated by multiscale mass accretion. The mass correlation between the core clusters and their MMCs has a steeper slope compared to that observed in stellar clusters, which can be due to fragmentation of the MMC and stellar multiplicity. We observe a decrease in core separation and an increase in central concentration as protoclusters evolve. We confirm primordial mass segregation in the ASSEMBLE protoclusters, possibly resulting from gravitational concentration and/or gas accretion.Comment: 37 pages, 13 figures, 5 tables; accepted for publication in ApJ

An Improved Dual-Kurtogram-Based T2 Control Chart for Condition Monitoring and Compound Fault Diagnosis of Rolling Bearings

Condition monitoring and compound fault diagnosis are crucial key points for ensuring the normal operation of rotating machinery. A novel method for condition monitoring and compound fault diagnosis based on the dual-kurtogram algorithm and multivariate statistical process control is established in this study. The core idea of this method is the capability of the dual-kurtogram in extracting subbands. Vibration data under normal conditions are decomposed by the dual-kurtogram into two subbands. Then, the spectral kurtosis (SK) of Subband I and the envelope spectral kurtosis (ESK) of Subband II are formulated to construct a control limit based on kernel density estimation. Similarly, vibration data that need to be monitored are constructed into two subbands by the dual-kurtogram. The SK of Subband I and the ESK of Subband II are calculated to derive T2 statistics based on the covariance determinant. An alarm will be triggered when the T2 statistics exceed the control limit and suitable subbands for square envelope analysis are adopted to obtain the characteristic frequency. Simulation and experimental data are used to verify the feasibility of the proposed method. Results confirm that the proposed method can effectively perform condition monitoring and fault diagnosis. Furthermore, comparison studies show that the proposed method outperforms the traditional T2 control chart, envelope analysis, and empirical mode decomposition

Joint optimisation of transfer location and capacity for a capacitated multimodal transport network with elastic demand: a bi-level programming model and paradoxes

With the growing attention toward developing a multimodal transport system to enhance urban mobility, there is an increasing need to construct new infrastructures, rebuild or expand the existing ones, to accommodate the current and newly generated travel demand. Therefore, this study develops a bi-level model that simultaneously determines the location and capacity of the transfer infrastructure to be built considering the elastic demand in a multimodal transport network. The upper-level problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming problem, whereas the lower-level problem is a combined trip distribution/modal split/assignment model that depicts both the destination and route choices of travellers via a multinomial logit model. Numerical studies are conducted to demonstrate the occurrence of two Braess-like paradox phenomena in a multimodal transport network. The first one states that under fixed demand, constructing new parking spaces to provide the usage of park-and-ride services could deteriorate the system performance measured by the total passengers’ travel time, while the second one reveals that under elastic demand, increasing the parking capacity for park-and-ride services to promote its usage may fail, which would be represented by the decline in their modal share. Meanwhile, a numerical example also suggests that constructing transfer infrastructures at distributed stations outperforms building a large transfer centre in terms of attracting travellers using sustainable transit modes