Studying the mechanism of sperm DNA damage caused by folate deficiency.

Sperm DNA injury is one of the common causes of male infertility. Folic acid deficiency would increase the methylation level of the important genes, including those involved in DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair pathway. In the early stages, we analysed the correlation between seminal plasma folic acid concentration and semen parameters in 157 infertility patients and 91 sperm donor volunteers, and found that there was a significant negative correlation between seminal folic acid concentration and sperm DNA Fragmentation Index (DFI; r = -0.495, p < 0.01). Then through reduced representation bisulphite sequencing, global DNA methylation of sperm of patients in the low folic acid group and the high folic acid group was analysed, it was found that the methylation level in Rad54 promoter region increased in the folic acid deficiency group compared with the normal folic acid group. Meanwhile, the results of animal model and spermatocyte line (GC-2) also found that folic acid deficiency can increase the methylation level in Rad54 promoter region, increased sperm DFI in mice, increased the expression of γ-H2AX, that is, DNA injury marker protein, and increased sensitivity of GC-2 to external damage and stimulation. The study indicates that the expression of Rad54 is downregulated by folic acid deficiency via DNA methylation. This may be one of the mechanisms of sperm DNA damage caused by folate deficiency.

Triclocarban at environmentally relevant concentrations induces the endoplasmic reticulum stress in zebrafish.

Triclocarban (TCC) is an antibacterial agent commonly found in environmental, wildlife, and human samples. However, with in-depth study of TCC, its negative effects are increasingly presented. Toxicological studies of TCC at environmentally relevant concentrations have been conducted in zebrafish embryos and indicated that TCC leads to deformity of development causes developmental deformities. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the toxicity of TCC in zebrafish embryos have not been entirely elucidated. We investigated whether exposure to TCC at environmentally relevant concentrations induces endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and unfolded protein response (UPR) in zebrafish. Zebrafish embryos were grown to 32 hours post fertilization and exposed to 2.5, 5, and 10 µg/L TCC and used in whole-mount in situ hybridization to visualize the expression of ER chaperone hspa5 and ER stress-related apoptosis factor chop. Zebrafish livers were exposed to different concentrations of TCC to elaborate the relationships between fatty degeneration and ER stress. Then, a human hepatic cell line (HL-7702) was used to test whether TCC induced ER stress in human livers similar to those of zebrafish. In zebrafish embryos, TCC induced high hspa5 expression, which could defend against external stimulations. Furthermore, hapa5, hsp90b1, and chop exhibited ectopic expressions in the neuromast, intestinal tract, and tail tip of zebrafish embryos. On the one hand, significant differences were observed in the mRNA and protein expressions of the ER stress molecular chaperone pPERK-pEIF2a-ATF4 and ATF6 pathways in HL-7702 cells exposed to TCC. On the other hand, lipid droplet accumulation slightly increased in zebrafish livers exposed to 10 µg/L TCC in vitro. These results demonstrate that TCC not only damages the development of zebrafish embryos and structure of zebrafish liver but also influences human hepatic cells by activating ER stress and the UPR signaling pathway.

A Sparsity-Promoted Method Based on Majorization-Minimization for Weak Fault Feature Enhancement.

Fault transient impulses induced by faulty components in rotating machinery usually contain substantial interference. Fault features are comparatively weak in the initial fault stage, which renders fault diagnosis more difficult. In this case, a sparse representation method based on the Majorzation-Minimization (MM) algorithm is proposed to enhance weak fault features and extract the features from strong background noise. However, the traditional MM algorithm suffers from two issues, which are the choice of sparse basis and complicated calculations. To address these challenges, a modified MM algorithm is proposed in which a sparse optimization objective function is designed firstly. Inspired by the Basis Pursuit (BP) model, the optimization function integrates an impulsive feature-preserving factor and a penalty function factor. Second, a modified Majorization iterative method is applied to address the convex optimization problem of the designed function. A series of sparse coefficients can be achieved through iterating, which only contain transient components. It is noteworthy that there is no need to select the sparse basis in the proposed iterative method because it is fixed as a unit matrix. Then the reconstruction step is omitted, which can significantly increase detection efficiency. Eventually, envelope analysis of the sparse coefficients is performed to extract weak fault features. Simulated and experimental signals including bearings and gearboxes are employed to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. In addition, comparisons are made to prove that the proposed method outperforms the traditional MM algorithm in terms of detection results and efficiency.

CAM-Wnet: An effective solution for accurate pulmonary embolism segmentation.

BACKGROUND: The morbidity of pulmonary embolism (PE) is only lower than that of coronary heart disease and hypertension. Early detection, early diagnosis, and timely treatment are the keys to effectively reduce the risk of death. Nevertheless, PE segmentation is still a challenging task at present. The automatic segmentation of PE is particularly important. On the one hand, manual segmentation of PE from a computed tomography (CT) sequence is very time-consuming and prone to misdiagnose. On the other hand, an accurate contour of the location, volume, and shape of PE can help radiotherapists carry out targeted treatment and thus greatly increase the survival rate of patients. Therefore, developing an automatic and efficient PE segmentation approach is an urgent demand in clinical diagnosis. PURPOSE: An accurate segmentation of PE is critical for the diagnosis of PE. However, it remains a difficult and relevant problem in the field of medical image processing due to factors like incongruent sizes and shapes of emboli regions, and low contrast between embolisms and other tissues. To address this conundrum, in this study, a deep neural network (CAM-Wnet) that incorporates coordinate attention (CA) mechanisms and pyramid pooling modules (PPMs) is proposed to end-to-end segment PE from CT image. METHODS: CAM-Wnet architecture is composed of coarse U-Net and subdivision U-Net stacked on top of each other. First, the coarse U-Net uses a pretrained VGG-19 as an encoder, which can transfer the features learned from ImageNet to other tasks. At the same time, CA residual blocks (CARBs) are introduced into the decoder of the coarse network to obtain a wider range of semantic information and find out the correlation between channels. Then, the multiplied results of input image and preliminary mask are put into the subdivision U-Net for secondary feature distillation, and the encoder and decoder of the subdivision U-Net are both constructed from CARBs, too. The PPMs are used between the encoder and the decoder of two U-Net architectures to utilize global context information and further enhance the feature extraction effect. Finally, the improved focal loss function is used to train the network to further improve the segmentation effect. RESULTS: In this study, we used the doctors' manual contours of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital dataset to test the proposed architecture. We calculated the Precision, Recall, IoU, and F1-score to evaluate the accuracy of the architecture for PE segmentation. The segmentation Precision for PE was found to be 0.9703, Recall was 0.963, IoU was 0.9353, and F1-score was 0.9665. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method to automatically and accurately segment embolism in lung CT images. Furthermore, we also test the performance of our method on the liver tumor segmentation public dataset, which demonstrates the effectiveness and generalization ability of our method. CONCLUSIONS: CAM-Wnet obtained more global information and semantic information with the introduction of multiscale pooling and attention mechanisms. Experimental results showed that the proposed method effectively improved the segmentation effect of PE in lung CT images and could be applied to assist doctors in clinical treatment.

Folic acid deficiency damages male reproduction via endoplasmic reticulum stress-associated PERK pathway induced by Caveolin-1 in mice.

Folic acid is critical to maintaining normal male reproductive function. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress plays a crucial role in folic acid deficiency. Studies have shown that Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) is involved in ER stress, but the specific mechanism in male reproduction is still unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effects of folic acid deficiency on spermatogenesis and elucidate the underlying mechanisms. C57BL/6 mice fed with folic acid deficiency induced diet(0.3 mg/kg) were used. A significant decrease in the sperm concentration in the folic acid deficiency group was observed. Meanwhile, folic acid deficiency decreased Cav-1 expression in the testis tissue and increased endoplasmic reticulum stress-related PERK, eIF2α, ATF4, CHOP gene expression. Our results suggest that folic acid deficiency can affect male reproduction through the Cav-1-PERK-eIFα-ATF4-CHOP pathway.Abbreviations: ATF4: activating transcription factor 4; Ca2+: calcium ion; Cav-1: Caveolin-1; CCK-8: cell counting kit-8; CHOP: CCAAT-enhancer-binding protein homologous protein; DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid; DSB: double strand breakage; eIF2α: eukaryotic Initiation Factor 2 alpha; ER: endoplasmic reticulum; FD: folic acid deficiency; FITC: fluorescein isothiocyanate; HE: hematoxylin and eosin; H3K4me3: histone H3 lysine 4 trimethylation; PERK: protein kinase RNA-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase; PI: propidium iodide; RT-qPCR: quantitative reverse transcription PCR; TUNEL: TdT mediated dUTP Nick End Labeling.

Retracted: Family planning services use: A shared responsibility between men and women of reproductive age in Hubei province, China.

OBJECTIVE: Effective use of family planning (FP) services significantly improves sexual and reproductive health of both women and men. Recently, the Chinese government has launched the two-child policy allowing families to have an additional child. This study aimed to explore the population's interest for FP services, unmet needs, and expectations. METHODS: A cross-sectional study using stratified random sampling was conducted in 102 counties of Hubei province and 17 555 randomized individuals from rural, transitional, and urban areas were interviewed through a guided semi-structured questionnaire. RESULTS: The Han ethnicity dominated our population and number of living children per family ranged from zero to six. Although 81% reported FP services and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) as a shared responsibility, the contraceptives used excluding condoms, were mainly intrauterine devices (76%), tubal ligation (16%), and vasectomy (8%). Although 24% of participants had a history of contraceptive failure, effective contraceptive use after failure among men remained lower (6% for tubal ligation and vasectomy) and 74% of naive contraceptive users strongly rejected vasectomy. Demographic factors, awareness of FP services/SRH, discussing and making joint decisions, and gender discrepancies were strongly associated with unmet FP services/SRH needs (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Family planning services use roughly varied with the population's unmet needs and expectations, which should be considered to sustain the strategies.

Effects of triclocarban on oxidative stress and innate immune response in zebrafish embryos.

Triclocarban (TCC) is used in many household and personal hygiene products. TCC has been widely detected in wastewater around the world. The present study reveals that TCC can activate oxidative stress, induce total antioxidant capacity expression and lipid peroxidation, and increase the activities of superoxide dismutase and other antioxidant enzymes to resist oxidative damage. A significant induction of concentrations of proinflammatory mediator and nitric oxide (NO), accompanied by an upregulated expression of inducible NO synthase gene, was detected in zebrafish embryos exposed to TCC. The transcription of immune-response-related genes, including tnf-α, il-1ß, il-4, il-8, and cxcl-clc, was significantly upregulated on exposure to TCC. Furthermore, we found that the exposure of zebrafish embryos to TCC decreased immune cell recruiting in the head. Expressions of nf-κb, trif, myd88, irak4, and traf6 were altered on exposure to TCC. These results demonstrated that exposure to TCC at environmental concentrations significantly affects the expression of immune-response-related genes in zebrafish embryos following oxidative stress and the release of proinflammatory mediators through Toll-like receptor signaling pathway. Thus, we assumed that the ecological risk of TCC on aquatic organisms could not be ignored.

Decline in semen concentration of healthy Chinese adults: evidence from 9357 participants from 2010 to 2015.

The present study aims to analyze sperm concentration trends among young and healthy Chinese adults in Wuhan, Central China, from 2010 to 2015. Semen analysis data from 9357 participants were collected and analyzed using a general linear model and the Cochran-Armitage trend test. A significant decline was observed in sperm concentration (ß [standard deviation]: -1.53 [0.16]; P < 0.001). In addition, a decline in sperm density was observed by stratifying student versus nonstudent sperm donors and by analyzing the year of birth or birth year cohort of the participants. Furthermore, the percentage of participants with sperm densities of over 40 × 106 ml-1 significantly decreased with year. Notably, a dramatic decline in sperm density was recorded over the first 5 years of study. This research reported a decline in sperm concentration among young adults in Wuhan, Central China, in 2010-2015.

Effects of prokineticin 2 on testicular inflammation in rats.

PROBLEM: Prokineticin 2 (PK2), a pro-inflammatory peptide, is highly expressed in primary spermatocytes. However, systematic research on PK2 and testicular inflammation is lacking to date. METHOD OF STUDY: An experimental autoimmune orchitis (EAO) model was established to detect the expression of PK2 and its receptor (prokineticin receptor 1, PKR1) 50 and 80 days after immunization. PK2 siRNA sequence was injected into the rat rete testis to downregulate the expression of PK2. PK2 was over-expressed in the testis by injecting PK2 protein through the rat rete testis at different concentrations. Testicular morphology and expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) were detected after the intervention. RESULTS: Results showed that PK2 and PKR1 were upregulated in EAO at 50 days and downregulated at 80 days. PK2 over-expression contributed to the apoptosis of spermatogenic epithelial cells and increased infiltration of the inflammatory cells, whereas PK2 under-expression showed no change. Furthermore, iNOS expression was increased significantly when PK2 was over-expressed. CONCLUSION: This finding demonstrated that the PK2/PKR1 signals may have an essential role in the regulation of testicular inflammation through iNOS. PK2 interference may represent a novel and promising therapeutic strategy for the clinical management of orchitis.

Effects of Testosterone Supplementation on Body Composition in HIV Patients: A Meta-analysis of Double-blinded Randomized Controlled Trials.

This study was designed to evaluate the effects of testosterone supplementation (TS) on body composition in patients with HIV and the side effects of TS. A comprehensive literature search strategy was used to retrieve relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the effects of TS on body composition. Atotal of 14 eligible studies were included, enrolling 388 and 349 randomized patients in TS and control groups, respectively. The quality of studies included was assessed, and data on total body weight (BW), lean body mass (LBM), fat mass (FM), serum total testosterone (TT), free testosterone (FT) levels, and adverse events were extracted and analyzed using Review Manager software 5.3. Meta-analysis results showed that TS was associated with a small but significant modification in total BW, serum TT, and FT levels in HIV-infected patients and in patients given various drug administrations. TS also significantly increased LBM in male patients, but no significant difference in LBM was observed between female counterparts treated with TS or not. Conversely, TS relative to placebo did not lead to a significant reduction in FM. No significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of adverse effects. Our findings suggested that TS may be recommended to improve body composition in patients with HIV-related weight loss. However, owing to the high heterogeneity across included trials, further evaluations using large-scale, multi-center, blinded RCTs are needed.

Effect of folate deficiency on promoter methylation and gene expression of Esr1, Cav1, and Elavl1, and its influence on spermatogenesis.

This study aims to investigate the effect of folate deficiency on the male reproductive function and the underlying mechanism. A total of 269 screened participants from 421 recruitments were enrolled in this study. An animal model of folate deficiency was constructed. Folate concentration was measured in the ejaculate, and its association with semen parameters was then determined. The expression and promoter methylation status of ESR1, CAV1, and ELAVL1 were also evaluated. Results showed that seminal plasma folate level was significantly lower among subjects with azoospermia than those with normozoospermia. Low folate level was significantly correlated with low sperm concentration in men with normozoospermia. Folate deficiency significantly reduced the expression of ESR1, CAV1, and ELAVL1, which are critical to spermatogenesis. However, low folate levels did not increase the methylation levels of the promoter regions of ESR1, CAV1, and ELAVL1 in human sperm DNA. Thus, folate deficiency impairs spermatogenesis may partly due to inhibiting the expression of these genes. Thus future research should determine the significance of sufficient folate status in male fertilization and subsequent pregnancy outcomes.

Curcumin-carrying nanoparticles prevent ischemia-reperfusion injury in human renal cells.

Renal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is a major complication in clinical practice. However, despite its frequency, effective preventive/treatment strategies for this condition are scarce. Curcumin possesses antioxidant properties and is a promising potential protective agent against renal IRI, but its poor water solubility restricts its application. In this study, we constructed curcumin-carrying distearoylphosphatidylethanolamine-polyethylene glycol nanoparticles (Cur-NPs), and their effect on HK-2 cells exposed to IRI was examined in vitro. Curcumin encapsulated in NPs demonstrated improved water solubility and slowed release. Compared with the IRI and Curcumin groups, Cur-NP groups displayed significantly improved cell viability, downregulated protein expression levels of caspase-3 and Bax, upregulated expression of Bcl-2 protein, increased antioxidant superoxide dismutase level, and reduced apoptotic rate, reactive oxygen species level, and malondialdehyde content. Results clearly showed that Cur-NPs demonstrated good water solubility and slow release, as well as exerted protective effects against oxidative stress in cultured HK-2 cells exposed to IRI.

Urodynamic characteristics of awake rats under retrained versus freely moving condition: Using a novel model.

Urodynamic investigation in conscious rats is widely employed to explore functional bladder disorders of various etiologies and pathogeneses. Rats can be placed in restraining cages or wide cabinets where they are allowed to move freely during cystometry. However, the requirements of special devices hampered the application of urodynamic test in freely moving rats, and whether the restraint has any effects on urodynamic parameters in conscious rats remains obscure. In the present study, we described a novel approach for urodynamic investigation in both restrained and freely moving conscious rats. In addition, we for the first time systematically compared the urodynamic parameters of rats in the two conditions. With the current method, we successfully recorded stable and repeatable intravesical pressure traces and collected expected reliable data, which supported the idea that the restraint does not affect the activity of the micturition reflex in rats, provided sufficient and appropriate measures could be applied during cystometry. Fewer technique problems were encountered during urodynamic examination in restrained rats than in freely moving ones. Taken together, conscious cystometry in rats placed in restraining cages with proper managements is a reliable and practical approach for evaluating the detrusor activity and bladder function.

Differences in Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavior towards HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections between Sexually Active Foreign and Chinese Medical Students.

Although the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) decreased in the last decade worldwide, the number of deaths due to HIV/AIDS and communicable diseases including syphilis, hepatitis, and tuberculosis had dramatically increased in developing countries. Education and behavior are incredibly important factors to prevent these diseases' spread. This study highlights the range of differences in knowledge, attitude, and behavior of 434 sexually active medical students towards HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Because the surveyed population constitutes the forefront of healthcare providers and was originated from different area of the world, this is the first time a study sought to investigate the behavioral attitude of this group of population irrespective of the three levels of their academic and professional knowledge. Several factors including sociodemographic characteristics, sexual behavior, HIV/AIDS, and STIs related patterns play a key role in medical student attitude and behavior towards people infected with HIV/AIDS and STIs. Our findings add consistent value in prior studies which aimed to stop new infections and also imply further investigations on the management of the studied infections by medical students. The present study arouses much interest among participants and provides evidence of reinforcing medical students' education on HIV/AIDS and STIs.

Scale up use of family planning services to prevent maternal transmission of HIV among discordant couples: a cross-sectional study within a resource-limited setting.

BACKGROUND: Integration of family planning services (FPS) into human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) care for HIV-infected women is an important aspect of the global prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) strategy. We assessed the integration of FPS into routine care of HIV-infected mothers by evaluating the uptake and barriers of contraception and PMTCT services. METHODS: We conducted an interventional study using the interrupted time series approach in the health care facilities located in Yaounde, Cameroon. First, structured questionnaires related to family planning use, PMTCT services use, and infection risk of the sexual partner were administered to the first trimester pregnant women who were HIV infected and living with uninfected partners. Second, 2 weeks before the delivery date, the women were interviewed according to the prior counseling interventions received, in order to assess their behavior on FPS, antiretroviral therapy (ART) use, delivery option, and infant nourishment to be adopted. P-values below 0.05 were considered statistically significant in the statistical analyses. RESULTS: Of 94 HIV-infected women, 69% were stable couples. Only 13% of women had attended FPS before conception. Although the vast majority were knowledgeable about modern and traditional contraception methods, only 19% had experienced effective contraceptive methods. However, 66% preferred condom use, 45% having three children still expressed a desire to conceive, while 44% reported abortions, 65% had tried to avoid the current pregnancy, and 12% of women were ART naïve. Several predictors such as education, abortion rate, unplanned pregnancies, and partners' decision were associated with the nonuse of effective contraceptive methods. Moreover, barriers including sex inequity, lack of partner support, ART shortages, and lack of HIV viral load monitoring were prevalent among the participants (P=0.001). However FPS use, ART compliance, and safe options to PMTCT significantly increased after the educational counseling interventions (P=0.001). CONCLUSION: Scaling up the FPS by incorporating routine PMTCT services into reproductive health care should contribute to preventing both horizontal and vertical transmission of HIV.

Sexual Practices, Fertility Intentions, and Awareness to Prevent Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV Among Infected Pregnant Women at the Yaounde Central Hospital.

INTRODUCTION: The sexual and reproductive health of people living with HIV is fundamental for their well-being. Antiretroviral therapy and reproductive technologies have significantly improved quality of life of people living with HIV in developed countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, the epicenter of HIV, the sexual practices and fertility of women infected with HIV have been understudied. AIM: To assess the sexual behavior, fertility intentions, and awareness of preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV in pregnant women with HIV-negative partners in Yaounde Central Hospital (Yaounde, Cameroon). METHODS: A cross-sectional survey using a semistructured, interviewer-administered questionnaire was conducted at the antenatal unit and HIV clinic in 2014. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Ninety-four pregnant women infected with HIV provided consistent information on (i) sociodemographic characteristics, (ii) sexual and fertility patterns, (iii) awareness of preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and (iv) their unmet needs. RESULTS: Although sexual desire had significantly changed since their HIV diagnosis, the women were highly sexually active. Approximately 19% of women had more than one sexual partner and 40% had regular unprotected sex during the 12-month period before the interviews (P < .0001). Twenty-nine percent of women preferred intermittent sexual intercourse and inconsistent condom use to delay pregnancy, but the abortion rate remained high. Age, marital status, and education affected women's awareness of mother-to-child transmission (P < .05); and no association existed between the number of living children and future pregnancies (rs = -0.217; P = .036). CONCLUSION: HIV-infected women living with HIV-negative partners in Cameroon expressed high sexual and fertility intentions with several unmet needs, including safer sexual practices and conception. Incorporating and supporting safe sexual educational practices and conception services in maternal care can decrease risky sexual behavior and vertical transmission.

Comparison of three different techniques of human sperm DNA isolation for methylation assay.

Human sperm DNA is an important genetic and epigenetic material, whose chromatin structure differs from that of somatic cells. As such, conventional methods for DNA extraction of somatic cells may not be suitable for obtaining sperm DNA. In this study, we evaluated and compared three sperm DNA extraction techniques, namely, modified guanidinium thiocyanate method (method A), traditional phenol-chloroform method (method B), and TianGen kit method (method C). Spectrophotometry and agarose gel electrophoresis analyses showed that method A produced DNA with higher quantity and purity than those of methods B and C (P<0.01). PCR results revealed that method A was more reliable in amplifying DEAD-box polypeptide 4 (DDX4) and copy number variations (CNVs) than methods B and C, which generated false-positive errors. The results of sperm DNA methylation assay further indicated that methods A and B were effective, and the former yielded higher quantitative accuracy. In conclusion, the modified guanidinium thiocyanate method provided high quality and reliable results and could be an optimal technique for extracting sperm DNA for methylation assay.

Factors of the HIV Transmission in Men Who Have Sex with Men in Suizhou City from 2009 to 2013.

INTRODUCTION: The primary transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been recently changing worldwide. In China, HIV transmission through heterosexual contact remains the predominant mode, but the prevalence of men who have sex with men (MSM) has been increasing. AIM: This article investigated the overall epidemic trend and associated high-risk behavior among MSM in Suizhou City and explored the government's responses to the epidemic. METHODS: We conducted yearly cross-sectional behavioral surveillance surveys among MSM in Suizhou City from 2009 to 2013. Participation was anonymous and self-completed. Recruitment methods were consistently applied in each survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Semi-structured questionnaire surveys and yearly work summaries were conducted. RESULTS: Most of the MSM groups in Suizhou City were young adults (P < 0.05), well educated (P < 0.05), and married (P < 0.05). Two years after our interventions, we found an increasing trend of condom use during anal sex (P < 0.05), as well as commercial sex trade (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: HIV continues to spread rapidly among MSM in Suizhou City. The high-risk behavior among MSM remains a hindrance to HIV prevention. Innovative intervention approaches are essential for HIV surveillance and prevention among MSM in Suizhou City. Yang F, Shi X, He W, Wu S, Wang J, Zhao K, Yuan H, Martin K, and Zhang H. Factors of the HIV transmission in men who have sex with men in Suizhou City from 2009 to 2013. Sex Med 2015;3:24-31.

A Compound fault diagnosis for rolling bearings method based on blind source separation and ensemble empirical mode decomposition.

A Compound fault signal usually contains multiple characteristic signals and strong confusion noise, which makes it difficult to separate week fault signals from them through conventional ways, such as FFT-based envelope detection, wavelet transform or empirical mode decomposition individually. In order to improve the compound faults diagnose of rolling bearings via signals' separation, the present paper proposes a new method to identify compound faults from measured mixed-signals, which is based on ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) method and independent component analysis (ICA) technique. With the approach, a vibration signal is firstly decomposed into intrinsic mode functions (IMF) by EEMD method to obtain multichannel signals. Then, according to a cross correlation criterion, the corresponding IMF is selected as the input matrix of ICA. Finally, the compound faults can be separated effectively by executing ICA method, which makes the fault features more easily extracted and more clearly identified. Experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method in compound fault separating, which works not only for the outer race defect, but also for the rollers defect and the unbalance fault of the experimental system.