The relationship between muscle mass and fat content in body composition and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in the Chinese general population: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) poses a significant global health challenge, necessitating comprehensive exploration of its etiology. This study investigates the intricate relationship between body composition and NAFLD prevalence, focusing on the balance between muscle mass and fat content. Methods: Employing a retrospective cross-sectional design, 2,493 participants undergoing routine health examinations were analyzed. Body compositions, including muscle mass and fat, were measured using bioelectrical-impedance analysis. The prevalence of NAFLD was assessed based on clinical guidelines. Results: This study included 2,493 patients, including 1,601 (64.2%) men and 892(35.8%) women. The average age of these participants was 46.0 ± 13.1 years, with a mean body mass index of 25.0 ± 3.6 kg/m2. The levels of fat free mass (FFM) to fat mass (FM) ratio (FFM/FM) and appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (ASMI) demonstrated a negative association with the prevalence of NAFLD (OR (95% CI): 0.553 (0.427-0.704) and 0.850 (0.730-0.964), p < 0.001 and p = 0.022, respectively). Liver function further elucidates the multifaceted impact of body composition on hepatic health. In contrast to other parameters, FFM/FM displayed a negative association with liver damage indicators, including a negative association with alanine aminotransferase (Beta±SE: -1.00 ± 0.17, p < 0.001), with aspartate aminotransferase showing borderline significance (Beta±SE: -0.26 ± 0.15, p = 0.084). Similar associations were also evident in terms of liver productive function and bilirubin metabolism. Conclusion: Our study offers novel insights into the nuanced interplay between body composition and NAFLD. Recognizing the significance of the balance between muscle and fat provides a foundation for tailored interventions that may reshape the landscape of NAFLD prevention and management.

Deep Reinforcement Learning-Empowered Resource Allocation for Mobile Edge Computing in Cellular V2X Networks.

With the rapid development of vehicular networks, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications have huge number of tasks to be calculated, which brings challenges to the scarce network resources. Cloud servers can alleviate the terrible situation regarding the lack of computing abilities of vehicular user equipment (VUE), but the limited resources, the dynamic environment of vehicles, and the long distances between the cloud servers and VUE induce some potential issues, such as extra communication delay and energy consumption. Fortunately, mobile edge computing (MEC), a promising computing paradigm, can ameliorate the above problems by enhancing the computing abilities of VUE through allocating the computational resources to VUE. In this paper, we propose a joint optimization algorithm based on a deep reinforcement learning algorithm named the double deep Q network (double DQN) to minimize the cost constituted of energy consumption, the latency of computation, and communication with the proper policy. The proposed algorithm is more suitable for dynamic scenarios and requires low-latency vehicular scenarios in the real world. Compared with other reinforcement learning algorithms, the algorithm we proposed algorithm improve the performance in terms of convergence, defined cost, and speed by around 30%, 15%, and 17%.

A low-cost smartphone controlled portable system with accurately confined on-chip 3D electrodes for flow-through cell electroporation.

Microscale flow-through electroporation at DC voltage has advantages in delivering small molecules. Yet, electroporation based on constant voltage are liable to generate electrolysis products which limits the voltage-operating window. Parallel on-chip 3D electrodes with close and uniform spacing are required to cut down voltage as well as provide enough electric field for electroporation. Here we present a simple electrode fabrication method based on capillary restriction valves in Z-axis to achieve parallel 3D electrodes with controllable electrode spacing in PDMS chips. With electrodes accurately placed in close range, a low voltage of only 1.5 V can generate enough electric field (>400 V/cm) to make cell membrane permeable. Squeeze flow is introduced to produce higher electric field (>800 V/cm) at a fixed voltage for more efficient electroporation. Benefit from the electrode fabrication method and application of squeeze flow, we develop a smartphone controlled microfluidic electroporation system which integrate functions of sample injection, pressure regulating, real-time observation and constant DC power supply. The system is used to electroporate two cell lines, showing a permeabilization percentage of 63% for HEK-293 cells and 58% for CHO-K1 cells with optimal parameters. Thus, the portable microfluidic system provides a cost-effective and user-friendly flow-through cell electroporation platform.

Comparing the osteoconductive potential between tubular and cylindrical beta-tricalcium phosphate scaffolds: An experimental study in rats.

Beta-tricalcium phosphate (ß-TCP) has been widely used for bone regeneration for many years. However, there are few studies on the osteoconduction ability of different shaped ß-TCP scaffolds. In this study, we compared the osteoconductive potential between the tubular and cylindrical ß-TCP scaffolds in long bone defect animal model. The results showed that more regenerated bone and a better healing property were observed in tubular group than that in cylindrical group. By hematoxylin-eosin staining, the central part of the callus was more compacted in tubular group. And moreover, the increased osteocalcin and osterix expression were found in tubular group, suggesting more vigorous regeneration of bone defect. These results demonstrated that tubular ß-TCP scaffold would be more benefit to promote bone regeneration, indicating that tubular ß-TCP scaffold has a good potential for long bone defect repair in clinical practice. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 106B: 1934-1940, 2018.