Springback analysis of AA5754 after hot stamping: experiments and FE modelling

In this paper, the springback of the aluminium alloy AA5754 under hot stamping conditions was characterised under stretch and pure bending conditions. It was found that elevated temperature stamping was beneficial for springback reduction, particularly when using hot dies. Using cold dies, the flange springback angle decreased by 9.7 % when the blank temperature was increased from 20 to 450 °C, compared to the 44.1 % springback reduction when hot dies were used. Various other forming conditions were also tested, the results of which were used to verify finite element (FE) simulations of the processes in order to consolidate the knowledge of springback. By analysing the tangential stress distributions along the formed part in the FE models, it was found that the springback angle is a linear function of the average through-thickness stress gradient, regardless of the forming conditions used

Diagnostic Significance of Serum IgG Galactosylation in CA19-9-Negative Pancreatic Carcinoma Patients

Background: Although Carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) is considered clinically useful and informative for pancreatic carcinoma (PC), false positive results, and false negative results have restricted its clinical use. Especially missed or delayed diagnosis of PC patients with negative CA19-9 value limited the utility. To improve prognosis of PC patients, the discovery of reliable biomarkers to assist CA19-9 is desired. Serum IgG galactosylation based on our previous report was altered in PC patients comparing to healthy controls. The objective of this study was to explore the diagnostic significance of IgG galactosylation in assisting CA19-9 for PC in a comprehensive way.Methods: Serum IgG galactosylation profiles were analyzed by MALDI-MS in cohort 1 (n = 252) and cohort 2 in which all CA19-9 levels were negative (n = 133). In each cohort, not only healthy controls and PC patients but also benign pancreatic disease (BPD) patients were enrolled. Peaks were acquired by the software of MALDI-MS sample acquisition, followed by being processed and analyzed by the software of Progenesis MALDI. IgG Gal-ratio, which was calculated from the relative intensity of peaks G0, G1, and G2 according to the formula (G0/(G1+G2×2)), was employed as an index for indicating the distribution of IgG galactosylation.Results: The Gal-ratio was elevated in PC comparing with that in non-cancer group (healthy controls and BPD). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of IgG Gal-ratio was higher than that of CA19-9 (0.912 vs. 0.814). The performance was further improved when Gal-ratio and CA19-9 were combined (AUC: 0.928). Meanwhile, Gal-ratio also had great diagnostic value with a sensitivity of 92.31% (AUC: 0.883) in detection of PC at early stage. Notably, IgG Gal-ratio has great sensitivity (90.63%) and specificity (76.81%) in CA19-9-negative PC patients.Conclusions: IgG Gal-ratio had a great performance in detection of PC and could be used to assist CA19-9 in improving diagnosis performance through early stage detection, differentiation from BPD, and PC diagnosis with CA19-9-negative level

Preamble Design and Collision Resolution in a Massive Access IoT System

How to support massive access efficiently is one of the challenges in the future Internet of Things (IoT) systems. To address such challenge, this paper proposes an effective preamble collision resolution scheme to sustain massive random access (RA) for an IoT system. Specifically, a new sub-preamble structure is first proposed to reduce the preamble collision probability. To identify different devices that send the same preamble to the gNB on the same physical random access channel (PRACH), a multiple timing advance (TA) capturing scheme is then proposed. Thereafter, an RA scheme is designed to sustain massive access and the performance of the scheme is studied analytically. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed RA scheme is validated by extensive simulation experiments in terms of preamble detection probability, preamble collision probability, RA success probability, resource efficiency and TA capturing

COPS5 Conferred the Platinum Resistance in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Development of platinum resistance is one of the major causes of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) treatment failure. COP9 signalosome subunit 5 (COPS5) was found to take part in the progression of EOC in our previous study. Herein, we aim to uncover the potential utility of COPS5 in EOC chemoresistance. COPS5 levels were analyzed to define clinic pathologic correlates using a matched tissue microarray and online datasets. The effect of COPS5 inhibition by the lentivirus-mediated short hairpin RNA on cell viability, proliferation and migration was accessed in vitro and in vivo. Results showed that COPS5 was upregulated in patients after platinum resistance. Kaplan–Meier survival curves revealed that COPS5 overexpression was correlated with shorter PFS and OS. COPS5 downregulation inhibited the cell proliferation, migration, and reduced the sensitivity of EOC to platinum. Overall, our data indicated that COPS5 inhibition might represent a new therapeutic strategy for overcoming platinum resistance in patients with EOC

Stochastic Latency Guarantee in Wireless Powered Virtualized Sensor Networks

How to guarantee the data rate and latency requirement for an application with limited energy is an open issue in wireless virtualized sensor networks. In this paper, we integrate the wireless energy transfer technology into the wireless virtualized sensor network and focus on the stochastic performance guarantee. Firstly, a joint task and resource allocation optimization problem are formulated. In order to characterize the stochastic latency of data transmission, effective capacity theory is resorted to study the relationship between network latency violation probability and the transmission capability of each node. The performance under the FDMA mode and that under the TDMA mode are first proved to be identical. We then propose a bisection search approach to ascertain the optimal task allocation with the objective to minimize the application latency violation probability. Furthermore, a one-dimensional searching scheme is proposed to find out the optimal energy harvesting time in each time block. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is finally validated by extensive numerical simulations. Particularly, the proposed scheme is able to lower the latency violation probability by 11.6 times and 4600 times while comparing with the proportional task allocation scheme and the equal task allocation scheme, respectively

Sequential high-intensity focused ultrasound treatment combined with chemotherapy for inoperable pancreatic cancer: a retrospective analysis for prognostic factors and survival outcomes

AbstractObjective To evaluate the effect of HIFU (High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound) therapy on the survival and prognosis of patients with inoperable pancreatic cancer, and the clinical application of serological prognostic indicators.Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinicopathological features, laboratory tests and follow-ups of 192 patients. Among the patients, 57 were treated with HIFU prior to chemotherapy (HIFU-priority), and 135 patients received chemotherapy followed by HIFU (HIFU-second). Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis was used to determine the prognostic value of tumor inflammation-related serological markers. A nomogram model was established based on the identified prognostic factors.Results Univariate analysis showed that receiving the treatment regimen in HIFU-priority was a significant protective factor for overall survival (OS, p < 0.001). Tumor stage, high C-reactive protein (CRP), high gamma-glutamyl transferase(γGT) high carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125), high neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), high lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) and liver metastasis were significant risk factors for poor prognosis (p < 0.05). CRP combined with normal tumor marker CA125 (CRP + CA125) was associated with longer OS (p = 0.005). Multivariate analysis shows that HIFU-priority is a protective factor for OS (Hazard Ratio, HR: 0.38; 95% confidence interval(CI): 0.25-0.57), tumor stage (HR: 1.61; 95% CI: 1.12-2.31), CRP + CA125 (HR: 1.46; 95% CI: 1.02-2.08) and γGT (HR: 1.44; 95% CI: 1.04-1.98) are risk factors for OS and serve as independent prognostic factors in the nomogram.Conclusion Early application of HIFU treatment improves the OS of patients with inoperable pancreatic cancer. CRP + CA125 and γGT are independent prognostic factors

Effects of Hydrogen Peroxide-Induced Oxidative Stress on Intestinal Morphology, Redox Status, and Related Molecules in Squabs

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential effect of oxidative stress on the intestine of squabs, and to explore the molecular mechanisms. A total of 360 1-day-old squabs were divided evenly into five different groups (n = 72/group): control, negative control, low, medium, and high dose groups. On the 3rd, 5th, and 7th days, squabs in the control group were not effectively treated and the negative control group were intraperitoneally injected with normal saline, whereas the H2O2 group was injected with H2O2 of 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 mmol/kg BW respectively. On the 21st day, the serum and duodenum were collected for further analysis. The results indicated that, compared with the control group, H2O2 caused squabs weight loss and intestinal morphology damage, and these effects were enhanced with an increase in dose. Further examination revealed that the contents of oxidative stress markers in both the serum and duodenum of the H2O2 group were significantly enhanced as the dose was increased. In addition, H2O2 exposure also resulted in the lower mRNA expression of Occludin, ZO-1, Beclin1, Atg5, and Caspase-3, but the expression of Claudin2 and Bcl-2 was decreased in comparison to the control group. These findings suggested that duodenal oxidative damage was accompanied by weight loss, changes in intestinal morphology, redox status imbalance, apoptosis as well as autophagy of intestinal cells, with, effects of 3.0 mmol/kg BW of H2O2 being the most severe

Gene Analysis of <i>Listeria monocytogenes</i> Suspended Aggregates Induced by <i>Ralstonia insidiosa</i> Cell-Free Supernatants under Nutrient-Poor Environments

Listeria monocytogenes is a zoonotic food-borne pathogen. The production of food-borne pathogenic bacteria aggregates is considered to be a way to improve their resistance and persistence in the food chain. Ralstonia insidiosa has been shown to induce L. monocytogenes to form suspended aggregates, but induction mechanisms remain unclear. In the study, the effect of R. insidiosa cell-free supernatants cultured in 10% TSB medium (10% RIS) on the formation of L. monocytogenes suspended aggregates was evaluated. Next, the Illumina RNA sequencing was used to compare the transcriptional profiles of L. monocytogenes in 10% TSB medium with and without 10% RIS to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The result of functional annotation analysis of DEGs indicated that these genes mainly participate in two component system, bacterial chemotaxis and flagellar assembly. Then the reaction network of L. monocytogenes suspended aggregates with the presence of 10% RIS was summarized. The gene-deletion strain of L. monocytogenes was constructed by homologous recombination. The result showed that cheA and cheY are key genes in the formation of suspended aggregates. This research is the preliminary verification of suspended aggregates’ RNA sequencing and is helpful to analyze the aggregation mechanisms of food-borne pathogenic bacteria from a new perspective

C/EBPβ Promotes STAT3 Expression and Affects Cell Apoptosis and Proliferation in Porcine Ovarian Granulosa Cells

Previous studies suggest that signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) and CCAAT/enhancer binding protein beta (C/EBP&beta;) play an essential role in ovarian granulosa cells (GCs) for mammalian follicular development. Several C/EBP&beta; putative binding sites were previously predicted on the STAT3 promoter in mammals. However, the molecular regulation of C/EBP&beta; on STAT3 and their effects on cell proliferation and apoptosis remain virtually unexplored in GCs. Using porcine GCs as a model, the 5&prime;-deletion, luciferase report assay, mutation, chromatin immunoprecipitation, Annexin-V/PI staining and EdU assays were applied to investigate the molecular mechanism for C/EBP&beta; regulating the expression of STAT3 and their effects on the cell proliferation and apoptosis ability. We found that over and interfering with the expression of C/EBP&beta; significantly increased and decreased the messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein levels of STAT3, respectively. The dual luciferase reporter assay showed that C/EBP&beta; directly bound at &minus;1397/&minus;1387 of STAT3 to positively regulate the mRNA and protein expressions of STAT3. Both C/EBP&beta; and STAT3 were observed to inhibit cell apoptosis and promote cell proliferation. Furthermore, C/EBP&beta; might enhance the antiapoptotic and pro-proliferative effects of STAT3. These results would be of great insight in further exploring the molecular mechanism of C/EBP&beta; and STAT3 on the function of GCs and the development of ovarian follicles in mammals