Joint Time Switching and Transmission Scheduling for Wireless-Powered Body Area Networks

Outfitting humans with on-body/in-body sensor nodes, wireless body area networks (WBANs) are positioned as the key technology to enhance future telehealth service. The newly emerged wireless power transfer (WPT) and energy harvesting (EH) technology provides a potential of continuous power supply for WBANs. Since the radio frequency (RF) signals can carry energy as well as information at the same time, the time switching between the WPT phase and the wireless information transfer (WIT) phase should be carefully scheduled. By considering a telehealth application scenario (in which multiple patients coexist in a ward and each of them is monitored by multiple sensor nodes), this paper proposes to allocate the duty cycles for the WPT and WIT phases and schedule the transmission time for the WIT links in a joint manner. First, a frame structure for simultaneous information and power transfer (SWIPT) is designed over the time-and-spectrum domain. With the aim to satisfy the minimum rate demands of all the sensor nodes, the optimal duty time for the WPT phase and the optimal transmission time for the WIT links are jointly found by using the convex optimization technique. Finally, a fast algorithm is developed to search the optimal solution by introducing an admission control. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can effectively exploit the broadcasting property of RF energy radiation. If the network load were controlled below a certain level, the rate demands of all the sensor nodes in the network can be satisfied

DeltaFS: Pursuing Zero Update Overhead via Metadata-Enabled Delta Compression for Log-structured File System on Mobile Devices

Data compression has been widely adopted to release mobile devices from intensive write pressure. Delta compression is particularly promising for its high compression efficacy over conventional compression methods. However, this method suffers from non-trivial system overheads incurred by delta maintenance and read penalty, which prevents its applicability on mobile devices. To this end, this paper proposes DeltaFS, a metadata-enabled Delta compression on log-structured File System for mobile devices, to achieve utmost compressing efficiency and zero hardware costs. DeltaFS smartly exploits the out-of-place updating ability of Log-structured File System (LFS) to alleviate the problems of write amplification, which is the key bottleneck for delta compression implementation. Specifically, DeltaFS utilizes the inline area in file inodes for delta maintenance with zero hardware cost, and integrates an inline area manage strategy to improve the utilization of constrained inline area. Moreover, a complimentary delta maintenance strategy is incorporated, which selectively maintains delta chunks in the main data area to break through the limitation of constrained inline area. Experimental results show that DeltaFS substantially reduces write traffics by up to 64.8\%, and improves the I/O performance by up to 37.3\%

Molecular dynamics simulation of helium ion implantation into silicon and its migration

In this paper, a model of helium ion implanted monocrystalline Si was constructed by using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation method to study the interaction mechanism of helium ion with monocrystalline Si and helium ion migration. In order to study the damage effect of helium ion implantation on monocrystalline Si, identify diamond structure (IDS), radial distribution function, temperature analysis were calculated and analyzed. The effects of ion doses, beam currents and energies on the damage were studied. Helium ion implanted Si with ion doses of 1 x 10(14)/cm(2) was subsequently heated to 300 K. MD simulation results indicated that IDS damage induced by ion implantation was positively correlated with ion doses as the ion implantation increased to 1 x 10(14)/cm(2). The mean-square displacement of helium atoms was calculated during the temperature rising to 300 K. It was found that the high permeability of helium atoms in Si and the acceleration of atomic thermal motion owing to elevated temperature as well as the existence of larger stress would be helpful to the migration of implant helium atoms.Peer reviewe

Microbiome-derived bile acids contribute to elevated antigenic response and bone erosion in rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, disabling and incurable autoimmune disease. It has been widely recognized that gut microbial dysbiosis is an important contributor to the pathogenesis of RA, although distinct alterations in microbiota have been associated with this disease. Yet, the metabolites that mediate the impacts of the gut microbiome on RA are less well understood. Here, with microbial profiling and non-targeted metabolomics, we revealed profound yet diverse perturbation of the gut microbiome and metabolome in RA patients in a discovery set. In the Bacteroides-dominated RA patients, differentiation of gut microbiome resulted in distinct bile acid profiles compared to healthy subjects. Predominated Bacteroides species expressing BSH and 7a-HSDH increased, leading to elevated secondary bile acid production in this subgroup of RA patients. Reduced serum fibroblast growth factor-19 and dysregulated bile acids were evidence of impaired farnesoid X receptor-mediated signaling in the patients. This gut microbiota-bile acid axis was correlated to ACPA. The patients from the validation sets demonstrated that ACPA-positive patients have more abundant bacteria expressing BSH and 7a-HSDH but less Clostridium scindens expressing 7a-dehydroxylation enzymes, together with dysregulated microbial bile acid metabolism and more severe bone erosion than ACPA-negative ones. Mediation analyses revealed putative causal relationships between the gut microbiome, bile acids, and ACPA-positive RA, supporting a potential causal effect of Bacteroides species in increasing levels of ACPA and bone erosion mediated via disturbing bile acid metabolism. These results provide insights into the role of gut dysbiosis in RA in a manifestation-specific manner, as well as the functions of bile acids in this gut-joint axis, which may be a potential intervention target for precisely controlling RA conditions.Comment: 38 pages, 6 figure

The Effect of Myosin Light Chain Kinase on the Occurrence and Development of Intracranial Aneurysm

Myosin light chain kinase is a key enzyme in smooth muscle cell contraction. However, whether myosin light chain kinase plays a role in the occurrence or development of intracranial aneurysms is not clear. The present study explored the function of myosin light chain kinase in human intracranial aneurysm tissues. Five aneurysm samples and five control samples were collected, and smooth muscle cells (SMCs) were dissociated and cultured. A label-free proteomic analysis was performed to screen the differentially expressed proteins between aneurysm and control samples. The expression and function of myosin light chain kinase in aneurysms were examined. We found that 180 proteins were differentially expressed between the aneurysm and control samples, among which 88 were increased and 92 (including myosin light chain kinase) were decreased in aneurysms compared to control tissues. In a model of the inflammatory environment, contractility was weakened and apoptosis was increased in aneurysm SMCs compared to human brain SMCs (p < 0.05). The knock down of myosin light chain kinase in human brain SMCs caused effects similar to those observed in aneurysm SMCs. These results indicated that myosin light chain kinase plays an important role in maintaining smooth muscle contractility, cell survival and inflammation tolerance

Upstream Supply Chain Visibility and Complexity Effect on Focal Company’s Sustainable Performance: Indian Manufacturers’ Perspective

Understanding supply chain sustainability performance is increasingly important for supply chain researchers and managers. Literature has considered supply chain sustainability and the antecedents of performance from a triple bottom line (economic, social, and environmental) perspective. However, the role of supply chain visibility and product complexity contingency in achieving sustainable supply chain performance has not been explored in depth. To address this gap, this study utilizes a contingent resource-based view theory perspective to understand the role of product complexity in shaping the relationship between upstream supply chain visibility (resources and capabilities) and the social, environmental, and economic performance dimensions. We develop and test a theoretical model using survey data gathered from 312 Indian manufacturing organizations. Our findings indicate that supply chain visibility (SCV) has significant influence on social and environmental performance under the moderation effect of product complexity. Hence, the study makes significant contribution to the extant literature by examining the impact of SCV under moderating effect of product complexity on social performance and environmental performance

Niosome-Assisted Delivery of DNA Fluorescent Probe with Optimized Strand Displacement for Intracellular MicroRNA21 Imaging

MicroRNAs play a vital role in cancer development and are considered as potential biomarkers for early prognostic assessment. Here, we propose a novel biosensing system to achieve fluorescence imaging of miRNA21 (miR21) in cancer cells. This system consists of two components: an optimized “off-on” double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) fluorescent for miR21 sensing by efficient strand-displacement reaction and a potent carrier vesicle, termed niosome (SPN), to facilitate the efficient intracellular delivery of the dsDNA probe. A series of dsDNA probes based on fluorescence energy resonance transfer (FRET) was assembled to target miR21. By optimizing the appropriate length of the reporter strand in the dsDNA probe, high accuracy and sensitivity for miR21 recognition are ensured. To overcome the cellular barrier, we synthesized SPN with the main components of a nonionic surfactant Span 80 and a cationic lipid DOTAP, which could efficiently load dsDNA probes via electrostatic interactions and potently deliver the dsDNA probes into cells with good biosafety. The SPN/dsDNA achieved efficient miR21 fluorescent imaging in living cells, and could discriminate cancer cells (MCF-7) from normal cells (L-02). Therefore, the proposed SPN/dsDNA system provides a powerful tool for intracellular miRNA biosensing, which holds great promise for early cancer diagnosis

Adipose-derived stem cell exosome NFIC improves diabetic foot ulcers by regulating miR-204-3p/HIPK2

Abstract Background Diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) are a serious complication of diabetes that lead to significant morbidity and mortality. Recent studies reported that exosomes secreted by human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) might alleviate DFU development. However, the molecular mechanism of ADSCs-derived exosomes in DFU is far from being addressed. Methods Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were induced by high-glucose (HG), which were treated with exosomes derived from nuclear factor I/C (NFIC)-modified ADSCs. MicroRNA-204-3p (miR-204-3p), homeodomain-interacting protein kinase 2 (HIPK2), and NFIC were determined using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and angiogenesis were assessed using cell counting kit-8, 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU), flow cytometry, wound healing, and tube formation assays. Binding between miR-204-3p and NFIC or HIPK2 was predicted using bioinformatics tools and validated using a dual-luciferase reporter assay. HIPK2, NFIC, CD81, and CD63 protein levels were measured using western blot. Exosomes were identified by a transmission electron microscope and nanoparticle tracking analysis. Results miR-204-3p and NFIC were reduced, and HIPK2 was enhanced in DFU patients and HG-treated HUVECs. miR-204-3p overexpression might abolish HG-mediated HUVEC proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and angiogenesis in vitro. Furthermore, HIPK2 acted as a target of miR-204-3p. Meanwhile, NFIC was an upstream transcription factor that might bind to the miR-204-3p promoter and improve its expression. NFIC-exosome from ADSCs might regulate HG-triggered HUVEC injury through miR-204-3p-dependent inhibition of HIPK2. Conclusion Exosomal NFIC silencing-loaded ADSC sheet modulates miR-204-3p/HIPK2 axis to suppress HG-induced HUVEC proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis, providing a stem cell-based treatment strategy for DFU