ALBERT

Description: Healthy lifestyles and environment produce a good state of health. A number of scientific studies support the notion that external stimuli regulate an individual's epigenomic profile. Epigenetic changes play a key role in defining gene expression patterns under both normal and pathological conditions. As a major posttranslational modification, lysine (K) acetylation has received much attention, owing largely to its significant effects on chromatin dynamics and other cellular processes across species. Lysine acetyltransferases and deacetylases, two opposing families of enzymes governing K-acetylation, have been intimately linked to cancer and other diseases. These enzymes have been pursued by vigorous efforts for therapeutic development in the past 15 years or so. Interestingly, certain dietary components have been found to modulate acetylation levelsin vivo. Here we review dietary, metabolic, and environmental modulators of the K-acetylation machinery and discuss how they may be of potential value in the context of disease prevention.

Description: We construct analytical charged anti-de Sitter (AdS) black holes surrounded by perfect fluids in four dimensional Rastall gravity. Then, we discuss the thermodynamics and phase transitions of charged AdS black holes immersed in regular matter like dust and radiation, or exotic matter like quintessence, ΛCDM type, and phantom fields. Surrounded by phantom field, the charged AdS black hole demonstrates a new phenomenon of reentrant phase transition (RPT) when the parameters Q, Np, and ψ satisfy some certain condition, along with the usual small/large black hole (SBH/LBH) phase transition for the surrounding dust, radiation, quintessence, and cosmological constant fields.

Description: An effective evaluation model for safety appraisal of existing concrete members plays a significant role in promoting the management of an existing building. This study aims to introduce extension theory into the safety appraisal of existing concrete members based on five indices (bearing capacity, deflection-to-span ratio, cracks, reinforcement corrosion, and concrete carbonation depth) and inspection data. A matter-element model is established for the safety appraisal of existing concrete members based on matter-element theory. The safety appraisal rating is identified by the comprehensive correlation degrees, which can be calculated by the weights and single-index correlation degrees of the five indices. Owing to the one-sidedness in the single-weighting method, a comprehensive weighting method integrating the merits of subjective weight and objective weight is adopted based on game theory. The interval analytic hierarchy process (IAHP) and entropy weight method are, respectively, used to determine the subjective and objective weight of each index. It was found that the subjective weight vector calculated by IAHP consists of interval numbers. Therefore, the traditional comprehensive weighting method based on game theory needs to be improved by the interval number theory. A comparison analysis between the results generated by the proposed model and an analytic hierarchy process-fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model is conducted. The results show that the matter-element extension model based on comprehensive weight is more accurate and rational. The proposed model makes full use of inspection data and gives a clear safety level to decision makers avoiding disorganized data of a single index. Hence, it can serve as guidance for safety appraisal of existing concrete members in the future. Furthermore, the improved comprehensive weighting method has practical merits and high scientific value in terms of safety evaluation and other applications in different research fields.

Description: To overcome the drawback that fuzzy classifier was sensitive to noises and outliers, Mamdani fuzzy classifier based on improved chaos immune algorithm was developed, in which bilateral Gaussian membership function parameters were set as constraint conditions and the indexes of fuzzy classification effectiveness and number of correct samples of fuzzy classification as the subgoal of fitness function. Moreover, Iris database was used for simulation experiment, classification, and recognition of acoustic emission signals and interference signals from stope wall rock of underground metal mines. The results showed that Mamdani fuzzy classifier based on improved chaos immune algorithm could effectively improve the prediction accuracy of classification of data sets with noises and outliers and the classification accuracy of acoustic emission signal and interference signal from stope wall rock of underground metal mines was 90.00%. It was obvious that the improved chaos immune Mamdani fuzzy (ICIMF) classifier was useful for accurate diagnosis of acoustic emission signal and interference signal from stope wall rock of underground metal mines.

Description: We proposed a model of the train rear-end collision accidents based on stochastic Petri nets (SPN) theory. By isomorphic Markov chain model of the proposed accident model, we provide the quantitative analysis of the train rear-end collision accidents. Fuzzy random method is also applied to analyze the performance of the proposed model. In addition, according to the data extracted from a large amount of historical data of the accident statistics, we present a case analysis and discussion. It showed that the results of the proposed train rear-end accident model based on SPN are reasonable in practical applications and can be used to effectively analyze the accidents and prevent loss, and the results may be a reference to the department of railway safety management.

Description: Small fluctuations caused by random changes of loads exist continuously in power grids, which are called ambient signals. Using time-synchronized phasor measurements, the closed-loop identification of power system based on ambient data is discussed, which can reflect accurate operating conditions currently and provide critical information for system analyzing and controller designing. The closed-loop identification of a power system with multiple disturbances is theoretically studied, including the closed-loop identifiability, the consistency properties, and the convergence properties. The requirements for realizing the closed-loop identification are summarized, and the theoretical research results are validated by simulation examples.

Description: In many engineering projects, it is critical to consider the acid erosion of rock. This study investigates dynamic changes in pore structure and damage mechanisms in sandstones subjected to acid erosion. Specimens with three grain sizes were immersed in acid solution and tested by the nuclear magnetic resonance technique. Changes in solution pH, specimen mass and porosity, T2 spectrum distribution, and area were analyzed. Damage mechanisms are discussed, and relationships between porosity and acid erosion damage variables are established. The results show that acid erosion has significant effects on pore structure and erosion damage in sandstone. With increasing soaking time, new micropores formed in sandstone, while existing micropores and mesopores gradually expanded into macropores, causing the T2 spectrum distributions to change greatly. The porosity, acid erosion damage, and T2 spectral areas of sandstones with different grain sizes all increased gradually. Under acid erosion, sandstones became gradually weakened, but the effects varied greatly according to grain size. Pore structure changes and acid erosion damage were greatest in coarse-grained sandstone, followed by medium- and fine-grained sandstone.

Description: Background and objective:Little is known about the usefulness of lymphocyte subsets as early predictors of anti-tuberculosis (TB) treatment response in immuno-competent patients.Methods:Among a total of 64 patients with culture positive pulmonary TB, 29 remained sputum smear/culture positive or had delayed resolution on CXR (slow responders (SR)), and 35 had sputum culture conversion to negative and rapid resolution on CXR (fast responders (FR)) after two months of anti-tuberculosis treatment. Clinical parameters and lymphocyte subsets were investigated.Results:A larger proportion of patients in the SR group had cavities on CXR, bilateral lung involvement, positive acid-fast bacilli stains, and complaint of cough at diagnosis than those in the FR group. Absolute counts of CD3+T cells (p= 0.016) and CD8+T cells (p= 0.012) at diagnosis were both significantly higher in the SR group. This trend was present throughout the 6-month treatment course. Absolute T cell counts (odds ratio (OR) 1.002, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.0–1.004), positive sputum acid fast bacilli stain (OR 6.69, 95% CI 1.37–32.77) and bilateral lung involvemment on CXR (OR 13.114, 95% CI 1.87–92.14) at diagnosis were independent predictors for a slow response. Combining these three predictors, a prediction score (PS) could be calculated to display an optimal discrimination for slow response (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.855,p〈 0.001) whereas absolute T cell counts yielded the highest discriminative value on an individual level (AUC = 0.676,p= 0.015).Conclusions:A higher T cell count at diagnosis in patients with TB may predict a slow response to two months of treatment. The calculation of a PS further increased predictive accuracy and performance.

Description: A set of dust collectors was designed with corrugated plate for an underground metal mine, which has low ventilation resistance, simple maintenance, and strong environmental adaptability. A three-dimensional simulation model was built based on ANSYS-Fluent software, and it was used to analyze the influence law of key parameters on the comprehensive dust removal efficiency; the angle of corrugated plate to the horizontal plane, the surface characteristics of plate, pressure loss and dust removal efficiency were discussed. The optimal design scheme of the dust collector was determined according to the simulation results. The dust collection was carried out in the Fankou lead-zinc underground metal mine in China, and the total dust removal efficiency was more than 95%, and for respiratory dust, it was more than 85%. This dust collector can be widely used in similar underground metal mines.

Description: Objective:To identify patients at high risk of relapse after anti-tuberculosis (TB) therapy or with poor long-term outcomes.Methods:Fifty-one patients with pulmonary TB: 7 were classified as high association with both cavitations on initial chest radiography and positive sputum smear/cultures after two months of anti-TB treatment (HA group); 19 medium association (MA, one risk alone); and 25 low association (LA, neither risk). Serum interferon (IFN)-γ-inducible protein 10 (IP-10), interleukin-17 (IL-17), and C-reactive protein levels were investigated.Results:There was a trend towards higher serum IP-10 levels (p= 0.042) for HA patients throughout the 6-month treatment period. Month-2 IP-10 levels were higher in the HA than in the MA/LA group (656.2 ± 234.4 vs. 307.6 ± 258.5 pg/ml, adjustedp= 0.005). Receiver operating characteristic curves showed that the risk of relapse was well-captured by month-2 IP-10 levels at a cut-off value of 431 pg/ml (AUC=0.857, 95% CI 0.75–0.97,p= 0.003). Month-2 serum IL-17 levels were lower in non-survivors than survivors (15.7 ± 2.9 pg/ml vs. 24.6 ± 8.2 pg/ml,p= 0.001). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that a month-2 serum IL-17 level of ≤ 17 pg/ml (p= 0.026) was independently associated with all-cause mortality.Conclusions:Serum IP-10 and IL-17 levels after 2 months of anti-TB treatment may be biomarkers for estimating risk of both cavitation and delayed sputum conversion, and for predicting long-term mortality, respectively.