KBMeasure: small sample in-situ damage automatic measurement method based on the combination of keypoints detection and binocular 3D reconstruction for aero-engine blades.

Size is one of the important bases for the level assessment of aero-engine blade damage and the disposal method selection for damaged blades. Therefore, research on in-situ damage measurement of aero-engine blades is conducted in this paper. We break the inherent pipeline of "3D reconstruction and manual annotation of keypoints" in traditional damage measurement methods, and propose an in-situ damage automatic measurement method (KBMeasure) based on the combination of damage keypoints intelligent detection and binocular 3D reconstruction. KBMeasure replaces the manual annotation of damage keypoints, improves the damage measurement efficiency, and reduces the dependence on professional inspectors. The proposed method also overcomes the problem of high computational cost and low efficiency caused by redundant 3D reconstruction of the entire damaged area. For the characteristics of large changes in damage scale, low image resolution, the requirement of high-precision keypoints positioning, limited annotated data, and lightweight deployment in aero-enginge blade damage measurement task, a novel blade damage keypoints detection model (DKeyDet) with top-down framework is designed by introducing coordinate classification, semi-supervised learning, and knowledge distillation. Then, intersecting optical axis binocular model is used to estimate the spatial coordinates of the detected keypoints and compute the size of damage. The keypoints detection average precision (AP) and average recall (AR) of our method are 87.6 and 91.3, and the damage measurement size error (SE) is 0.08, which is superior to existing methods. This research provides a new theoretical support for in-situ damage automatic measurement for aero-engine in service, and provides what we believe is a novel idea for damage measurement of industrial components in other fields.

Garbage enzymes effectively regulated the succession of enzymatic activities and the bacterial community during sewage sludge composting.

This study evaluated nitrogen transformation, enzymatic activities and bacterial succession during sewage sludge composting with and without garbage enzymes (GE and CK, respectively). The results showed that GE addition significantly increased fluorescein diacetate hydrolase (FDA), cellulase, and nitrogenase activities during the composting process. GE addition reduced the cumulative NH3 emissions by 66.5%, increased the peak NH4-N content by 26.3% and increased the total nitrogen (TN) content of the end compost by 39.2% compared to CK. Microbiological analysis revealed that GE addition significantly increased the relative abundance of Firmicutes during the thermophilic and cooling phases relative to CK. The selected factors affected the bacterial community composition in the following order: NH4-N > TOC > FDA > TN > C/N. Network analysis also showed that the enzymes were secreted mainly by Bacillus and norank_f_Caldilineaceae in GE, while they were secreted primarily by norank_f_Methylococcaceae in CK during the composting process.

Effects of urease inhibitors on enzymatic activities and fungal communities during the biosolids composting.

This study evaluated the influences of urease inhibitors (UIs) on nitrogen conversion, enzyme activities, and fungal communities during aerobic composting. Results showed that UI addition reduced NH3 emissions by 22.2% and 21.5% and increased the total nitrogen (TN) content by 9.7% and 14.3% for the U1 (0.5% UI of the dry weight of the mixture) and U2 (1% UI of the dry weight of the mixture) treatments, respectively. The addition of UI inhibited the enzyme activity during thermophilic stage while increased enzyme activity during the cool and maturity stages. Ascomycota, Basidiomycota and unclassified fungi were the main phyla, and Ascomycota increased significantly during the maturity period. Network analysis showed that Aspergillus, Penicillium, Trichoderma, Talaromyces, Peseudeurotium, and Exophiala were the main "connecting" genera. The redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that the fungal community was mainly influenced by temperature, DOC, pH, and urease. The results suggested that UI was an effective additive for nitrogen conservation and the increase of enzyme activity reduce nitrogen loss and promote enzyme activity during biosolids composting.

Naringin inhibits colorectal cancer cell growth by repressing the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway.

In recent years, the incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) has increased and research into new treatment methods for CRC has become a hot topic. Naringin has an inhibitory effect on the PI3k/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway in various tumor cell types and the effect of naringin is closely related to the occurrence and proliferation of tumor cells. The aim of this present study was to investigate whether naringin could inhibit the proliferation of CRC cells by inhibiting the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. This could provide a more mechanism-based treatment for CRC. MTT assays were used to detect the proliferation of CRC cells treated with various concentrations of naringin. The degree of apoptosis and the expression of apoptosis-related proteins (Bcl-2 and Bax) in CRC cells stimulated by naringin was detected using flow cytometry and western blot assays, respectively. The expression levels of PI3K/AKT/mTOR-related proteins [PI3K, AKT, mTOR, phosphorylated (p)-PI3K, p-AKT and p-mTOR] after naringin stimulation in CRC cells were detected using western blot assays. Naringin inhibited the proliferation of CRC cells in a dose-dependent manner. Naringin promoted the apoptosis of CRC cells and inhibited the activation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway in a dose-dependent manner. The results demonstrated that naringin may be a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of CRC, which may inhibit the proliferation of CRC cells and induce apoptosis by inhibiting the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway.

RNA-Binding Motif 4 (RBM4) Suppresses Tumor Growth and Metastasis in Human Gastric Cancer.

BACKGROUND Dysregulation of the splicing activator, RNA-binding motif 4 (RBM4), has recently been reported to be involved in the progression of several cancers. However, the mechanisms that underpin the activity of RBM4 in gastric cancer (GC) remain unknown. The purpose of our study was to explore how RBM4 affects the biological behavior of GC through in vivo and in vitro experiments. MATERIAL AND METHODS Western blot and flow cytometry analyses were used to investigate the RBM4 protein levels in normal gastric epithelial cells and 5 types of GC cells. Cell Counting Kit-8 assay, flow cytometry analysis, wound-healing, and migration and invasion assays were evaluated in vitro in BGC823 and MGC803 GC cells. A xenograft tumor model was used to assess whether RBM4 inhibits GC growth in vivo. Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) protein levels were determined using western blot analyses. RESULTS Our study revealed that RBM4 protein was downregulated in GC cells. Re-expression of RBM4 inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of GC cells, while promoting apoptosis. Thus, the overexpression of RBM4 can inhibit tumor growth in GC mouse models. We also report that RBM4 was involved in the activation of MAPK-dependent signaling pathways in human GC. CONCLUSIONS It is hoped that these findings will improve our understanding of GC pathogenesis while also helping us to explore the feasibility of RBM4-targeted therapy for GC treatment.

CD155 expression and its prognostic value in postoperative patients with breast cancer.

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignant tumor in women. Although overexpression of CD155 has been detected in many types of human cancer cells, it is not completely understood about its expression and function in BC and its prognostic significance. In the present study, we detected the expression level of CD155 in 216 cases of BC by immunohistochemistry (IHC), and we evaluated its relationship with BC patients' clinical information. We also analyzed the characteristics of CD163, CD8, and CD68 in 216 cases of BC patients through IHC. The results indicated that the CD155 expression level was significantly associated with primary tumor size (x2 = 23.593, P < 0.001), lymph node metastasis (x2 = 15.426, P < 0.001), tumour-node-metastasis (TNM) stage (x2 = 19.693, P < 0.001), Ki-67 (x2 = 9.355, P = 0.002), and CD163/CD8/CD68 expression on statistical analysis. BC patients with high expression of CD155 had poor overall survival rate, on both univariate analysis (Hazard ratio = 2.681, 95% CI = 1.458-4.928, P < 0.001) and multivariate analysis (Hazard ratio = 2.029, 95% CI = 1.059-3.887, P = 0.033). These results suggest an interaction between CD155 expression and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in BC, and they also suggest that CD155 could be an effective prognostic biomarker for BC.

Chemotherapy regimen based on sorafenib combined with 5-FU on HIF-1α and VEGF expression and survival in advanced gastric cancer patients.

The present study investigated the effect of combined sorafenib chemotherapy on hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression and survival time of patients with advanced gastric cancer. From January 2010 to December 2011, 92 patients diagnosed with advanced gastric cancer were selected and randomly divided into the treatment group and control group. The treatment group was treated with sorafenib chemotherapy combined with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), and the control group received 5-FU. The treatment course was 3-4 cycles. During the same period, 46 healthy persons admitted to the Second People's Hospital of Huaian were selected as the controls. A volume of 3-4 ml peripheral blood from each patient and control was collected before and after treatment. The expression levels of HIF-1α and VEGF in peripheral blood were measured by ELISA. The survival time of patients with advanced gastric cancer was followed and analyzed. Compared with healthy controls, serum levels of HIF-1α and VEGF were significantly higher in patients with advanced gastric cancer (P<0.05). After chemotherapy combined with sorafenib, the peripheral blood levels of HIF-1α and VEGF decreased significantly in the treatment group (P<0.05). The 5-year survival rate of patients in the two groups was followed. Compared with the control group, the 1-year survival rate of the treatment group was significantly higher (P<0.05). In conclusion, chemotherapy combined with sorafenib can effectively reduce serum levels of HIF-1α and VEGF in patients with advanced gastric cancer, and improve their 1-year survival rate and prognosis. Therefore, it has significant clinical application value.