The association between non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (NHHR) and kidney stones: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between the NHHR and kidney stone risk remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between adult NHHR and kidney stone occurrence in USA. METHODS: This study used a variety of statistical techniques such as threshold effects, subgroup analysis, smooth curve fitting, multivariate logistic regression, and data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2007 to 2014. We aimed to clarify the relationship between the NHHR and kidney stone risk. RESULTS: The average age of the 21,058 individuals in this research was 49.70 ± 17.64 years. The mean NHHR was 3.00 ± 1.47, and the overall prevalence of kidney stone occurrence was 9.05%. The prevalence within the quartile ranges (Q1-Q4) was 7.01%, 8.71%, 9.98%, and 10.49%, respectively. The overall average recurrence rate of kidney stones was 3.05%, demonstrating a significant increase with increasing NHHR (Q1: 1.92%, Q2: 2.92%, Q3: 3.35%, Q4: 4.00%, P < 0.01). The occurrence of kidney stones increased by 4% (95% CI: 1.00-1.08, P = 0.0373) and the chance of recurrence increased by 9% (95% CI: 1.03-1.14, P < 0.01) with each unit increase in NHHR. The interaction analysis results demonstrated that the relationship between the NHHR and the risk of kidney stones was not significantly impacted by the following factors: sex, body mass index, poverty income ratio, diabetes, or hypertension. Curve fitting and threshold effect analysis also demonstrated a non-linear association, with a breakpoint found at 3.17, between the NHHR and the risk of kidney stones. CONCLUSIONS: In adults in the USA, there is a substantial correlation between elevated NHHR levels and a higher probability of kidney stones developing and recurring. Timely intervention and management of NHHR may effectively mitigate the occurrence and recurrence of kidney stones.

Mechanistic study on the alleviation of postmenopausal osteoporosis by Lactobacillus acidophilus through butyrate-mediated inhibition of osteoclast activity.

In China, traditional medications for osteoporosis have significant side effects, low compliance, and high costs, making it urgent to explore new treatment options. Probiotics have demonstrated superiority in the treatment of various chronic diseases, and the reduction of bone mass in postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMOP) is closely related to the degradation and metabolism of intestinal probiotics. It is crucial to explore the role and molecular mechanisms of probiotics in alleviating PMOP through their metabolites, as well as their therapeutic effects. We aim to identify key probiotics and their metabolites that affect bone loss in PMOP through 16srDNA sequencing combined with non-targeted metabolomics sequencing, and explore the impact and possible mechanisms of key probiotics and their metabolites on the progression of PMOP in the context of osteoporosis caused by estrogen deficiency. The sequencing results showed a significant decrease in Lactobacillus acidophilus and butyrate in PMOP patients. In vivo experiments confirmed that the intervention of L. acidophilus and butyrate significantly inhibited osteoclast formation and bone resorption activity, improved intestinal barrier permeability, suppressed B cells, and the production of RANKL on B cells, effectively reduced systemic bone loss induced by oophorectomy, with butyric acid levels regulated by L. acidophilus. Consistently, in vitro experiments have confirmed that butyrate can directly inhibit the formation of osteoclasts and bone resorption activity. The above research results indicate that there are various pathways through which L. acidophilus inhibits osteoclast formation and bone resorption activity through butyrate. Intervention with L. acidophilus may be a safe and promising treatment strategy for osteoclast related bone diseases, such as PMOP.

Circular RNA HIPK2 Promotes A1 Astrocyte Activation after Spinal Cord Injury through Autophagy and Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress by Modulating miR-124-3p-Mediated Smad2 Repression.

Glial scarring formed by reactive astrocytes after spinal cord injury (SCI) is the primary obstacle to neuronal regeneration within the central nervous system, making them a promising target for SCI treatment. Our previous studies have demonstrated the positive impact of miR-124-3p on neuronal repair, but it remains unclear how miR-124-3p is involved in autophagy or ER stress in astrocyte activation. To answer this question, the expression of A1 astrocyte-related markers at the transcriptional and protein levels after SCI was checked in RNA-sequencing data and verified using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and Western blotting in vitro and in vivo. The potential interactions among circHIPK2, miR-124-3p, and Smad2 were analyzed and confirmed by bioinformatics analyses and a luciferase reporter assay. In the end, the role of miR-124-3p in autophagy, ER stress, and SCI was investigated by using Western blotting to measure key biomarkers (C3, LC3, and Chop) in the absence or presence of corresponding selective inhibitors (siRNA, 4-PBA, TG). As a result, SCI caused the increase of A1 astrocyte markers, in which the upregulated circHIPK2 directly targeted miR-124-3p, and the direct downregulating effect of Smad2 by miR-124-3p was abolished, while Agomir-124 treatment reversed this effect. Injury caused a significant change of markers for ER stress and autophagy through the circHIPK2/miR-124-3p/Smad2 pathway, which might activate the A1 phenotype, and ER stress might promote autophagy in astrocytes. In conclusion, circHIPK2 may play a functional role in sequestering miR-124-3p and facilitating the activation of A1 astrocytes through regulating Smad2-mediated downstream autophagy and ER stress pathways, providing a new perspective on potential targets for functional recovery after SCI.

Masked Spatial-Spectral Autoencoders Are Excellent Hyperspectral Defenders.

Deep learning (DL) methodology contributes a lot to the development of hyperspectral image (HSI) analysis community. However, it also makes HSI analysis systems vulnerable to adversarial attacks. To this end, we propose a masked spatial-spectral autoencoder (MSSA) in this article under self-supervised learning theory, for enhancing the robustness of HSI analysis systems. First, a masked sequence attention learning (MSAL) module is conducted to promote the inherent robustness of HSI analysis systems along spectral channel. Then, we develop a graph convolutional network (GCN) with learnable graph structure to establish global pixel-wise combinations. In this way, the attack effect would be dispersed by all the related pixels among each combination, and a better defense performance is achievable in spatial aspect. Finally, to improve the defense transferability and address the problem of limited labeled samples, MSSA employs spectra reconstruction as a pretext task and fits the datasets in a self-supervised manner. Comprehensive experiments over three benchmarks verify the effectiveness of MSSA in comparison with the state-of-the-art hyperspectral classification methods and representative adversarial defense strategies.

Transcriptomics Provides Novel Insights into the Regulatory Mechanism of IncRNA HIF1 A-AS1 on Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells.

INTRODUCTION: Thoracic aortic aneurysm is a potentially fatal disease with a strong genetic contribution. The dysfunction of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) contributes to the formation of this aneurysm. Although previous studies suggested that long non-coding ribonucleic acid (RNA) hypoxia inducible factor 1 α-antisense RNA 1 (HIF1A-AS1) exerted a vital role in the progression and pathogenesis of thoracic aortic aneurysm, we managed to find a new regulatory mechanism of HIF1A-AS1 in VSMCs via transcriptomics. METHODS: Cell viability was detected by the cell counting kit-8 assay. Cell apoptosis was assessed by Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate/propidium iodide double staining. Transwell migration assay and wound healing assay were performed to check the migration ability of HIF1A-AS1 on VSMCs. The NextSeq XTen system (Illumina) was used to collect RNA sequencing data. Lastly, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction confirmed the veracity and reliability of RNA-sequencing results. RESULTS: We observed that overexpressing HIF1A-AS1 successfully promoted apoptosis, significantly altered cell cycle distribution, and greatly attenuated migration in VSMCs, further highlighting the robust promoting effects of HIF1A-AS1 to thoracic aortic aneurysm. Moreover, transcriptomics was implemented to uncover its underlying mechanism. A total of 175 differently expressed genes were identified, with some of them enriched in apoptosis, migration, and cell cycle-related pathways. Intriguingly, some differently expressed genes were noted in vascular development or coagulation function pathways. CONCLUSION: We suggest that HIF1A-AS1 mediated the progression of thoracic aortic aneurysm by not only regulating the function of VSMCs, but also altering vascular development or coagulation function.

lncRNA XIST inhibition promotes M2 polarization of microglial and aggravates the spinal cord injury via regulating miR-124-3p / IRF1 axis.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) has a high disability rate and mortality rate. Recently, LncRNA XIST has been found to be involved in the regulation of inflammatory responses. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the role of XIST in the occurrence and development of SCI and the specific regulation mechanism. Methods: 100 ng/mL lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was used to treat mouse microglia BV2 cells. Hitting spinal cord was performed to C57BL/6 mice for establishing SCI model. Real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), Western blot, Immunofluorescence (IF) and Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) experiments were used to explore the function of XIST, miR-124-3p and IRF1 in LPS-induced BV2 cells. RT-qPCR, Nissl staining, IF, Western blot and ELISA experiment were performed to study the function of XIST in SCI mice. Dual-luciferase reporter assay, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), RT-qPCR and Western blot assays were utilized to identify the interaction among XIST, miR-124-3p and IRF1. Results: XIST was upregulated in LPS-induced BV2 cells and spinal cord tissues of SCI mice. Overexpression of XIST promoted the M1 microphages polarization and cytokines concentration in LPS-stimulated BV2 cells, aggravated SCI of mice. Downregulated XIST promoted M1-to-M2 conversion of microglial and relieved the injury of SCI mice. Mechanism verification indicated that XIST acted as a molecular sponge of miR-124-3p and regulated IRF1 expression. Increased miR-124-3p or reduced IRF1 inhibited M1 polarization of microglial and decreased the production of inflammatory cytokines in LPS-induced BV2 cells. Increased XIST or decreased miR-124-3p had an opposite of on LPS-induced BV2 cells. Conclusion: Overexpression of XIST enhanced M1 polarization of microglia and promoted the level of inflammatory cytokines through sponging miR-124-3p and regulating IRF1 expression.

Graphdiyne nanoplatforms for photothermal-ferroptosis combination therapy against glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is one of the most malignant tumors of the central nervous system and has a poor prognosis. GBM cells are highly sensitive to ferroptosis and heat, suggesting thermotherapy-ferroptosis as a new strategy for GBM treatment. With its biocompatibility and photothermal conversion efficiency, graphdiyne (GDY) has become a high-profile nanomaterial. Here, the ferroptosis inducer FIN56 was employed to construct GDY-FIN56-RAP (GFR) polymer self-assembled nanoplatforms against GBM. GDY could effectively load FIN56 and FIN56 released from GFR in a pH-dependent manner. The GFR nanoplatforms possessed the advantages of penetrating the BBB and acidic environment-induced in situ FIN56 release. Moreover, GFR nanoplatforms induced GBM cell ferroptosis by inhibiting GPX4 expression, and 808 nm irradiation reinforced GFR-mediated ferroptosis by elevating the temperature and promoting FIN56 release from GFR. In addition, the GFR nanoplatforms were inclined to locate in tumor tissue, inhibit GBM growth, and prolong lifespan by inducing GPX4-mediated ferroptosis in an orthotopic xenograft mouse model of GBM; meanwhile, 808 nm irradiation further improved these GFR-mediated effects. Hence, GFR may be a potential nanomedicine for cancer therapy, and GFR combined with photothermal therapy may be a promising strategy against GBM.

Risk Factors of Postoperative Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak After Craniovertebral Junction Anomalies Surgery: A Case-Control Study.

OBJECTIVE: To identify potential risk factors for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage after craniovertebral junction (CVJ) anomaly surgery and to provide a reference for clinical practice. METHODS: Sixty-six patients who underwent elective CVJ anomaly surgery during a 6-year period (April 2013 to September 2019) were retrospectively included. Research data were collected from the patients' medical records and imaging systems. Patients were divided into CSF leak and no CSF leak groups. Univariate tests were performed to identify potential risk factors. For statistically significant variables in the univariate tests, a logistic regression test was used to identify independent risk factors for CSF leakage. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of CSF leakage was 13.64%. Univariate tests showed that a basion-dental interval (BDI) > 10 mm and occipitalized atlas had significant intergroup differences (p < 0.05). Multivariate analysis indicated that a BDI > 10 mm was an independent risk factor for CSF leakage, and patients with CVJ anomalies with a BDI > 10 mm were more likely to have postoperative CSF leaks (odds ratio, 14.67; 95% confidence interval, 1.48-30.88; p = 0.004). CONCLUSION: It is necessary to maintain vigilance during CVJ anomaly surgery in patients with a preoperative BDI > 10 mm to avoid postoperative CSF leaks.

Rhinacanthin C Ameliorates Insulin Resistance and Lipid Accumulation in NAFLD Mice via the AMPK/SIRT1 and SREBP-1c/FAS/ACC Signaling Pathways.

Rhinacanthin C (RC) is a naphthoquinone ester with an anti-inflammatory activity extracted from Rhinacanthus nasutus (L.) Kurz (Rn). It has been proven to improve hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia, but the prevention and mechanism of RC in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are not clear. In the current study, we first extracted RC from Rn using ethyl acetate and identified it by HPLC, MS, and NMR. At the same time, molecular docking analysis of RC with AMPK and SREBP-1c was performed using AutoDock software. In addition, the mouse model of NAFLD was induced by a high-fat diet in vivo, and low, medium, and high concentrations of RC were used for intervention. The results showed that RC significantly reduced the body mass and liver body coefficient of NAFLD mice, inhibited liver inflammation and fat accumulation, and improved insulin resistance. Further studies showed that RC significantly reduced the levels of serum leptin and resistin, upregulated the expression levels of adiponectin and adiponectin receptor in the liver, and inhibited the expression levels of MCP-1, TNF-α, and IL-6. In terms of mechanism, RC upregulates the expression of p-AMPK and SIRT1 and downregulates the expression of p-p65, SREBP-1c, Fas, Acc-α, PPAR-γ, and SCD1. These studies suggest that RC improves insulin resistance and lipid accumulation in NAFLD by activating the AMPK/SIRT1 and SREBP-1c/Fas/ACC pathways, respectively.

Oxidation towards enrofloxacin degradation over nanoscale zero-valent copper: mechanism and products.

Enrofloxacin (ENR) is a widely used veterinary fluoroquinolone antibiotic and is frequently detected in water environments. The degradation of ENR was examined utilizing molecular oxygen mediation using nanometer zero-valent copper (nZVC) as the catalyst in this work. The dosage of nZVC, initial pH, and reaction temperature were investigated as contributing factors to ENR degradation. The effects of Cl-, NO3-, SO42-, and humic acid on the degradation of ENR were investigated. The actual effects were evaluated using natural water. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) that participated in the reaction were identified, their generation mechanisms were elucidated, and the effects on ENR degradation were assessed. More emphasis was given to exploring ENR degradation and transformation pathways via analyses of HPLC-TOF-MS. Data showed that at 35 ℃, with an initial pH of 3 and exposed to air, an nZVC dose of 0.5 g·L-1 degraded ENR by 99.51% dramatically. HO• radicals were identified as the dominant ROS, and conversions among Cu0, Cu+, and Cu2+ played crucial roles in the generation of ROS. The destruction mechanism of ENR was speculated based on analyses of HPLC-TOF-MS results as the transformation of the piperazine ring into an oxidized state with a -COOH substitution with HO•, which caused ENR to be mineralized and converted into CO2, H2O, and [Formula: see text]. The ECOSAR program has been used to evaluate the toxicity of ENR and its degradation products, and oxidative degradation of nZVC significantly reduced its toxicity and increased its biodegradability. This research proposes a capable and practical method for removing ENR from water.

Transcriptomics Provides Novel Insights into the Regulatory Mechanism of IncRNA HIF1 A-AS1 on Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells

ABSTRACT Introduction: Thoracic aortic aneurysm is a potentially fatal disease with a strong genetic contribution. The dysfunction of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) contributes to the formation of this aneurysm. Although previous studies suggested that long non-coding ribonucleic acid (RNA) hypoxia inducible factor 1 α-antisense RNA 1 (HIF1A-AS1) exerted a vital role in the progression and pathogenesis of thoracic aortic aneurysm, we managed to find a new regulatory mechanism of HIF1A-AS1 in VSMCs via transcriptomics. Methods: Cell viability was detected by the cell counting kit-8 assay. Cell apoptosis was assessed by Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate/propidium iodide double staining. Transwell migration assay and wound healing assay were performed to check the migration ability of HIF1A-AS1 on VSMCs. The NextSeq XTen system (Illumina) was used to collect RNA sequencing data. Lastly, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction confirmed the veracity and reliability of RNA-sequencing results. Results: We observed that overexpressing HIF1A-AS1 successfully promoted apoptosis, significantly altered cell cycle distribution, and greatly attenuated migration in VSMCs, further highlighting the robust promoting effects of HIF1A-AS1 to thoracic aortic aneurysm. Moreover, transcriptomics was implemented to uncover its underlying mechanism. A total of 175 differently expressed genes were identified, with some of them enriched in apoptosis, migration, and cell cycle-related pathways. Intriguingly, some differently expressed genes were noted in vascular development or coagulation function pathways. Conclusion: We suggest that HIF1A-AS1 mediated the progression of thoracic aortic aneurysm by not only regulating the function of VSMCs, but also altering vascular development or coagulation function.

Fe2O3/Porous Carbon Composite Derived from Oily Sludge Waste as an Advanced Anode Material for Supercapacitor Application.

It is urgent to improve the electrochemical performance of anode for supercapacitors. Herein, we successfully prepare Fe2O3/porous carbon composite materials (FPC) through hydrothermal strategies by using oily sludge waste. The hierarchical porous carbon (HPC) substrate and fine loading of Fe2O3 nanorods are all important for the electrochemical performance. The HPC substrate could not only promote the surface capacitance effect but also improve the utilization efficiency of Fe2O3 to enhance the pseudo-capacitance. The smaller and uniform Fe2O3 loading is also beneficial to optimize the pore structure of the electrode and enlarge the interface for faradaic reactions. The as-prepared FPC shows a high specific capacitance of 465 F g-1 at 0.5 A g-1, good rate capability of 66.5% retention at 20 A g-1, and long cycling stability of 88.4% retention at 5 A g-1 after 4000 cycles. In addition, an asymmetric supercapacitor device (ASC) constructed with FPC as the anode and MnO2/porous carbon composite (MPC) as the cathode shows an excellent power density of 72.3 W h kg-1 at the corresponding power density of 500 W kg-1 with long-term cycling stability. Owing to the outstanding electrochemical characteristics and cycling performance, the associated materials' design concept from oily sludge waste has large potential in energy storage applications and environmental protection.

Simulation study on comprehensive thermal treatment of oil sludge based on Aspen plus.

This article proposed an original comprehensive thermal treatment coupled with gasification and combustion (CGC) of oil sludge (OS), which was designed to produce hydrogen-rich syngas. Based on the experimental results of OS gasification with steam, the combustion characteristics of char from OS gasification were analyzed by thermogravimetric experiments under different heating rates of 10, 20 and 30 °C/min. The combustion process of OS gasification char can be divided into three stages, including water evaporation, volatile combustion and heavy component combustion. The average values of activation energy (E) obtained by Friedman, FWO and Starink methods were 89.98 kJ/mol, 147.61 kJ/mol and 143.09 kJ/mol, respectively. According to OS gasification and OS gasification char combustion experiments, the comprehensive thermal treatment process CGC of OS was simulated by Aspen Plus. The simulation results showed that increasing both gasification temperature and the mass ratio of steam to OS (SOS) could promote the hydrogen production. Considering energy consumption, the recommended OS gasification temperature, SOS and char combustion temperature were 800 ∼ 900 °C, 0.3 ∼ 0.5, and 900 ∼ 1000 °C, respectively, which could ensure full burning of char and reduce the generation of pollutants. The CGC process could reduce CO2 emissions by 44.2% from carbon flow analysis.

A review of application and development of combustion technology for oil sludge.

Oil sludge is a typical hazardous waste in the petrochemical and electric power industry. It has complex components and special properties, and has serious hazards to humans, plants, water, and soil. Therefore, how to realize the effective disposal of oil sludge has become an urgent issue to be solved worldwide. Among the existing oil sludge treatment approaches, combustion has been considered to be a promising technology to realize the large-scale industrial application. In the present work, the characteristics of oil sludge were described in detail. The application and development of oil sludge combustion technology were critically summarized and discussed, including factors affecting combustion, drying process, combustion characteristics, synergistic treatment technology, and formation and control of secondary pollution. Besides, the development of combustion equipment, and integrated thermal treatment technology for oil sludge were prospected. This work can be used for guiding the industrial disposal of oil sludge.

Adsorption Mechanism of Chloropropanol by Crystalline Nanocellulose.

Paper packaging materials are widely used as sustainable green materials in food packaging. The production or processing of paper materials is conducted in an environment that contains organic chlorides; therefore, potential food safety issues exist. In this study, the adsorption behavior of organic chlorides on paper materials was investigated. Chloropropanol, which has been extensively studied in the field of food safety, was employed as the research object. We studied the adsorption mechanism of chloropropanol on a crystalline nanocellulose (CNC) model. The results demonstrated that physical adsorption was the prevailing process, and the intermolecular hydrogen bonds acted as the driving force for adsorption. The adsorption effect assumed greatest significance under neutral and weakly alkaline conditions. A good linear relationship between the amount of chloropropanol adsorbed and the amount of CNC used was discovered. Thus, the findings of this study are crucial in monitoring the safety of products in systems containing chloropropanol and other chlorinated organic substances. This is particularly critical in the production of food-grade paper packaging materials.

Auxiliary effect of CO2 on pyrolysis of oily sludge.

The efficient recovery and conversion of energy in oily sludge has great prospects. In this article, the main objective is to investigate the impact of the addition of CO2 during the pyrolysis of oily sludge on energy recovery and conversion by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and compare the effect with the traditional pyrolysis effect from the perspective of thermal conversion behavior, products composition, and kinetics analysis. The results of the experiment showed that in the CO2 atmosphere, the main weight loss temperature of oily sludge was mainly concentrated in the range of 300-500 °C, which is lower than the reaction temperature range of traditional pyrolysis. The yields of CO and H2 in the products have been greatly improved, and the highest proportion in the gas products can reach 19.29% and 22.38%, respectively. The Ea (activation energy) values of oily sludge were determined to be in the range of 40-120 kJ·mol-1 with the conversion between 0.2 and 0.8 via DAEM, KAS, Starink, and FWO methods, respectively, in which the FWO method has shown the strongest adaptability. The results of this study provide reference values for practical engineering applications.

LncRNA HIF1A-AS1 Regulates the Cellular Function of HUVECs by Globally Regulating mRNA and miRNA Expression.

BACKGROUND: Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) hypoxia inducible factor 1α-antisense RNA 1 (HIF1A-AS1) serves critical roles in cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Vascular endothelial cells (VECs) are vulnerable to stimuli. Our previous study revealed that knockdown of HIF1A-AS1 reduces palmitic acid-induced apoptosis and promotes the proliferation of human VECs (HUVECs); however, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Cell Counting Kit-8, flow cytometry, transwell invasion, and wound healing were applied to detect the function of HUVECs. Moreover, miRNA sequencing (miRNA-seq) and RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) were conducted to uncover its underlying mechanism. Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) was implemented to assess the accuracy of miRNA-seq. A co-expression network was generated to determine the relationship between differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmiRNAs) and differentially expressed genes (DEGs). RESULTS: Knockdown of HIF1A-AS1 promoted the proliferation, migration, and invasion but reduced the apoptosis of HUVECs, and the overexpression of this lncRNA had the opposite effect. Numerous DEmiRNAs and DEGs were identified, which might contribute to this phenomenon. Multiple target genes of DEmiRNAs were associated with cell proliferation and apoptosis, and overlapped with DEGs identified from RNA-seq. Finally, the network manifested that lncRNA HIF1A-AS1 moderated the function of HUVECs by not only regulating the expression of some genes directly but also by influencing a few miRNAs to indirectly mediate the expression of mRNAs. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggested that HIF1A-AS1 might regulate HUVEC function by not only regulating the expression of some genes directly but also by influencing some miRNAs to indirectly mediate the expression level of mRNA.

Deep Manifold Embedding for Hyperspectral Image Classification.

Deep learning methods have played a more important role in hyperspectral image classification. However, general deep learning methods mainly take advantage of the samplewise information to formulate the training loss while ignoring the intrinsic data structure of each class. Due to the high spectral dimension and great redundancy between different spectral channels in the hyperspectral image, these former training losses usually cannot work so well for the deep representation of the image. To tackle this problem, this work develops a novel deep manifold embedding method (DMEM) for deep learning in hyperspectral image classification. First, each class in the image is modeled as a specific nonlinear manifold, and the geodesic distance is used to measure the correlation between the samples. Then, based on the hierarchical clustering, the manifold structure of the data can be captured and each nonlinear data manifold can be divided into several subclasses. Finally, considering the distribution of each subclass and the correlation between different subclasses under data manifold, DMEM is constructed as the novel training loss to incorporate the special classwise information in the training process and obtain discriminative representation for the hyperspectral image. Experiments over four real-world hyperspectral image datasets have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed method when compared with general sample-based losses and showed superiority when compared with state-of-the-art methods.

Pyrolysis characteristics and products distribution of petroleum sludges.

Pyrolysis can realise the harmlessness, reduction and resource utilisation of petroleum sludge in a short period. In the present work, a tank bottom sludge (SSOS) and a landing sludge (SLOS) from Shengli Oilfield were used for experimental research. Thermogravimetric testing is used to initially determine the optimal range of pyrolysis temperature. Pyrolysis experiments were performed in a tube furnace reactor. Pyrolysis products were collected and analysed separately. The char yield of SSOS and SLOS were 50% and 70%, respectively. Although there are differences in the oil content of the two types of petroleum sludge, the oil yield remained nearly the same, which were both between 7% and 8%. As the pyrolysis temperature was raised to 500°C, the yield of each product did not change greatly while their composition had obvious changes. High temperature is more conducive to the production of small molecule products. Result showed that pyrolysis treatment of petroleum sludge can effectively recover energy materials in the form of pyrolysis gas and oil. The heating value of char is lower than that of petroleum sludge, which means that char is not suitable for direct use as fuel. Pyrolysis treatment also showed good curing effect on Cr, which reached 85%. However, the solidification effect decreased as pyrolysis temperature increasing. It is necessary to pay attention to the heavy metal contained in char as soil improver. The rich surface structure of char provides evidence to produce high value-added carbon materials.

Characterization and in vitro assessment of three-dimensional extrusion Mg-Sr codoped SiO2-complexed porous microhydroxyapatite whisker scaffolds for biomedical engineering.

BACKGROUND: Large bone defects have always been a great challenge for orthopedic surgeons. The use of a good bone substitute obtained by bone tissue engineering (BTE) may be an effective treatment method. Artificial hydroxyapatite, a commonly used bone defect filler, is the main inorganic component of bones. Because of its high brittleness, fragility, and lack of osteogenic active elements, its application is limited. Therefore, its fragility should be reduced, its osteogenic activity should be improved, and a more suitable scaffold should be constructed. METHODS: In this study, a microhydroxyapatite whisker (mHAw) was developed, which was doped with the essential trace active elements Mg2+ and Sr2+ through a low-temperature sintering technique. After being formulated into a slurry, a bionic porous scaffold was manufactured by extrusion molding and freeze drying, and then SiO2 was used to improve the mechanical properties of the scaffold. The hydrophilicity, pore size, surface morphology, surface roughness, mechanical properties, and release rate of the osteogenic elements of the prepared scaffold were detected and analyzed. In in vitro experiments, Sprague-Dawley (SD) rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (rBMSCs) were cultured on the scaffold to evaluate cytotoxicity, cell proliferation, spreading, and osteogenic differentiation. RESULTS: Four types of scaffolds were obtained: mHAw-SiO2 (SHA), Mg-doped mHAw-SiO2 (SMHA), Sr-doped mHAw-SiO2 (SSHA), and Mg-Sr codoped mHAw-SiO2 (SMSHA). SHA was the most hydrophilic (WCA 5°), while SMHA was the least (WCA 8°); SMHA had the smallest pore size (247.40 ± 23.66 µm), while SSHA had the largest (286.20 ± 19.04 µm); SHA had the smallest Young's modulus (122.43 ± 28.79 MPa), while SSHA had the largest (188.44 ± 47.89 MPa); and SHA had the smallest compressive strength (1.72 ± 0.29 MPa), while SMHA had the largest (2.47 ± 0.25 MPa). The osteogenic active elements Si, Mg, and Sr were evenly distributed and could be sustainably released from the scaffolds. None of the scaffolds had cytotoxicity. SMSHA had the highest supporting cell proliferation and spreading rate, and its ability to promote osteogenic differentiation of rBMSCs was also the strongest. CONCLUSIONS: These composite porous scaffolds not only have acceptable physical and chemical properties suitable for BTE but also have higher osteogenic bioactivity and can possibly serve as potential bone repair materials.