A Review of Intelligent Fault Diagnosis for High-Speed Trains: Qualitative Approaches.

For ensuring the safety and reliability of high-speed trains, fault diagnosis (FD) technique plays an important role. Benefiting from the rapid developments of artificial intelligence, intelligent FD (IFD) strategies have obtained much attention in the field of academics and applications, where the qualitative approach is an important branch. Therefore, this survey will present a comprehensive review of these qualitative approaches from both theoretical and practical aspects. The primary task of this paper is to review the current development of these qualitative IFD techniques and then to present some of the latest results. Another major focus of our research is to introduce the background of high-speed trains, like the composition of the core subsystems, system structure, etc., based on which it becomes convenient for researchers to extract the diagnostic knowledge of high-speed trains, where the purpose is to understand how to use these types of knowledge. By reasonable utilization of the knowledge, it is hopeful to address various challenges caused by the coupling among subsystems of high-speed trains. Furthermore, future research trends for qualitative IFD approaches are also presented.

Therapeutic effects of rituximab combined with cyclophosphamide on refractory idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.

Therapeutic effects of rituximab combined with cyclophosphamide on refractory idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) were investigated. We retrospectively analyzed 249 patients with refractory ITP who were admitted to Qingdao Hiser Medical Group between March 2013 and March 2017. Curative effects of patients treated with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, and combination therapy were observed and the changes of platelet count, PA IgG, and lymphocyte CD20 before and after treatment, as well as the incidence of adverse reactions after treatment, were compared. There was no significant difference in the expression of lymphocyte CD20, PA IgG and platelet count among the three groups of refractory ITP patients before treatment (P>0.05). After treatment, the expression levels of CD20 and PA IgG in lymphocytes were significantly downregulated, and platelet counts significantly increased in the three groups (P<0.05). After treatment, CD20 and PA IgG levels in combined therapy group were significantly lower, and platelet count was significantly higher, than those in the rituximab and cyclophosphamide groups (P<0.05). Also, after rituximab treatment, the expression levels of CD20 and PA IgG in lymphocytes were significantly lower than those in cyclophosphamide group (P<0.05), and platelet count was higher than that in cyclophosphamide group (P<0.05). After treatment, the total effective rate in combined therapy group was higher than that in the rituximab and cyclophosphamide group (P<0.05). Total effective rate of rituximab group was significantly higher than that of cyclophosphamide group (P<0.05). The incidence of adverse reactions in combined therapy group was 14.29% (12/84), which was significantly lower than that in cyclophosphamide group (40.70%, 35/86, P<0.05) and rituximab group (29.11%, 23/79, P<0.05). The application of rituximab combined with cyclophosphamide in the treatment of refractory ITP can improve patients clinical symptoms. The efficacy of this technique is promising with no serious adverse reactions. This technique should be popularized in clinical practice.

Apatinib enhances chemosensitivity of acute myeloid leukemia hl60 cells to cytarabine by inducing apoptosis.

PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of apatinib combined with cytarabine on acute myeloid leukemia (AML) HL60 cells and its relevant mechanisms. METHODS: HL60 cells were treated with control, apatinib alone, cytarabine alone and apatinib combined with cytarabine. Cell proliferation in each group was detected via methy thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay, changes in the cell cycle and mitochondrial transmembrane potential in each group after treatment were detected via flow cytometry, and apoptosis was detected via Annexin V-PI double labeling. Moreover, changes in cell cycle-related proteins and apoptosis-associated proteins in each group after treatment were detected via Western blotting. RESULTS: MTT assay revealed that the sub-lethal dose of apatinib combined with cytarabine had a higher inhibitory rate on tumor cells than cytarabine alone. Cell cycle assay showed that apatinib combined with cytarabine could effectively arrest HL60 cells in G0/G1 phase in the combination group. In combination group, the expression level of the positive regulator cyclin D1 was decreased, while the expression levels of the negative regulators p21 and p27 were significantly up-regulated compared with those in single application groups. Results of apoptosis assay manifested that in the combination group, the mitochondrial transmembrane potential of HL60 cells could be synergistically destroyed, and the proportion of apoptotic cells was also obviously increased. Results of Western blotting demonstrated that the levels of apoptosis-associated proteins cleaved caspase-9, cleaved caspase-3, cleaved PARP and Bax in the combination group after treatment were remarkably up-regulated, while the Bcl-2 protein level was significantly down-regulated. CONCLUSION: Apatinib combined with cytarabine resists acute myeloid leukemia through synergistically regulating cell cycle and promoting apoptosis.

Mongolian Medicine echinops prevented postmenopausal osteoporosis and induced ER/AKT/ERK pathway in BMSCs.

Hormone replacement medicine such as traditional Chinese medicine has proven to be effective in decreasing the risk of osteoporosis. Mongolian medicine echinops prevents osteoporosis, but its mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we explored the mechanism underlying echinops prevents and treats postmenopausal osteoporosis. Osteoporosis model was established by ovariectomy in rats. Rats were treated to Echinops (16.26, 32.5, or 65 mg/kg/day) by oral gavage for 3 months. Bone mineral density (BMD) was detected by micro-CT detection of left proximal medial metaphyseal tibia. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and toluidine blue O staining were also performed. Serum levels of E2, ALP and testosterone were examined. Bone marrow-derived bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) were isolated and treated with echinops-containing serum. Estrogen receptors (ER) including ERα and ERß in bone specimens and BMSCs were detected by qRT-PCR. Cell viability and colon formation of BMSCs were detected. Expressions of ERα, ERß, AKT, p-AKT, ERK, and p-ERK in BMSCs were detected by western blot. Results showed that echinops significantly increased trabecular interconnectivity, thickness of trabeculae, and connection of trabecula. Echinops significantly increased BMD and E2, but significantly reduced ALP and testosterone in dose-dependent manners. Echinops induced ERα and ERß in both bone specimens and BMSCs. Echinops enhanced cell viability and ability of colony formation of BMSCs, and increased ERα, ERß, p-AKT, and p-ERK. Thus, Mongolian echinops reduced bone loss and delayed the occurrence and development of osteoporosis, and increased ERα, ERß, p-AKT, and P-ERK in BMSCs. These results provide experimental basis for clinical prevention and treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis by echniops.