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Different chemical solutions can significantly change the contact angle (CA) of soil, but few studies have studied the change rule and action mechanism of the CA from the mineral composition of soil essence. In unsaturated soil mechanics, the CA is an important parameter to calculate the wet suction between soil particles in unsaturated soil. When the chemical composition of the soil pore liquid changes, the CA will also change, which will affect the wet suction and other parameters, thus changing the macroscopic mechanical properties of the soil. In this study, the CA of air-solution-mineral phases with different solution components (pH, type and concentration of salt solution) of different minerals (quartz, orthoclase and plagioclase) were measured. The results show that the CAs of quartz, orthoclase and plagioclase all rise first and then drop with the rise of pH. The peak CAs are pH = 5, pH = 4 and pH = 3, respectively. Quartz, orthoclase and plagioclase all have valley values in different concentrations of NaCl and KCl solutions. In CaCl2 solution, only quartz has valley value, while orthoclase and plagioclase increase monotonously. Quartz in soil plays a main role in the influence of soil CA, followed by orthoclase and plagioclase. The CA of different minerals in different chemical solutions is mainly controlled by electric double layer interaction and functional groups interaction. In different salt solution environment, in addition to the above two effects, the mineral CA is also affected by the surface tension.

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The southern tropical coastal areas of China are high-temperature and high-humidity salt environments, which hinder the durability and service life of ordinary asphalt pavement. To enhance the durability of asphalt pavement in these areas, modified bagasse fiber combined with nano-TiO2 was used to improve the corrosion resistance of asphalt pavement in high-temperature and high-humidity salt environments. The micro-morphology, high-temperature oil absorption, high-temperature heat resistance, and hygroscopicity of bagasse fiber modified using three silane coupling agents combined with NaOH were compared, and the best silane coupling agent/NaOH modification scheme for bagasse fiber was found. Based on conventional physical tests (penetration, softening point, ductility), rheological property tests (rotational viscosity, dynamic shear rheological test, multi-stress creep recovery test, linear amplitude scanning test), and a four-point bending fatigue test of the asphalt mixture, the properties of modified bagasse fiber asphalt binder and mixture after cyclic dry-wet erosion under pure water and salt solution (NaCl, Na2SO4) were determined, and the effects of the erosion environment and fiber ratio on the basic physical and rheological properties of the asphalt were clarified. Compared with the silane coupling agents KH550 and KH590, the bagasse fiber modified with KH570/NaOH had a better high-temperature oil absorption capacity, heat stability capacity, and matrix asphalt compatibility. The worst erosion environment was Na2SO4, but the increase in test temperature and fiber content weakened the sensitivity of the asphalt binder performance in different erosion environments. The erosion capacity order was as follows: Na2SO4 > NaCl > pure water. In the worst erosion environment, 0.5% modified bagasse fiber/Nano-TiO2 asphalt binder (Bn-570-0.5) had the best corrosion resistance in a high-temperature and high-humidity salt environment. The penetration, softening point, creep recovery rate R3.2, non-recoverable creep compliance Jnr3.2, and fatigue life after long-term aging (with 5% strain) of Bn-570-0.5 were, respectively, increased by -16.9%, 37.5%, 37.95%, -27.86%, and 38.30% compared with unblended base asphalt binder (B). In addition, the four-point flexural fatigue life of Bn-570-0.5 was 169.2% higher than that of the unblended base mixture.

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GW117, a novel derivate compound of agomelatine that acts as both a 5-HT2C receptor antagonist and a MT1/MT2 receptor agonist, likely underlines the potent antidepressant action with less hepatotoxicity than agomelatine. We evaluated the acute toxicity of GW117, and the genotoxicity of GW117 using bacterial reverse mutation test, mammalian chromosomal aberration test in Chinese hamster lung cells (CHL) and mouse bone marrow micronucleus test. The acute toxicity test results showed that maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of GW117 was 2000 mg/kg, under which mean Cmax and AUC0→t was 10,782 ng/mL and 81,046 ng/mL × h, respectively. The result of bacterial reverse mutation test showed that the number of bacterial colonies in each dose group of GW117 did not increase significantly compared with that in the solvent control group with or without S9 metabolic activation system. In vitro chromosome aberration test of CHL cells, the chromosome aberration rate of each dose group of GW117 did not increase with or without S9 metabolic activation system. In mouse micronucleus test, the highest dose was 2000 mg/kg, the micronucleus rate did not increase significantly. Under the conditions of this study, the MTD of a single GW117 administration was 2000 mg/kg, there was no genotoxicity effect of GW117.

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A series of novel substituted pyrazole-fused oleanolic acid derivative were synthesized and evaluated as selective α-glucosidase inhibitors. Among these analogs, compounds 4a-4f exhibited more potent inhibitory activities compared with their methyl ester derivatives, and standard drugs acarbose and miglitol as well. Besides, all these analogs exhibited good selectivity towards α-glucosidase over α-amylase. Analog 4d showed potent inhibitory activity against α-glucosidase (IC50 =2.64±0.13 µM), and greater selectivity towards α-glucosidase than α-amylase by ∼33-fold. Inhibition kinetics showed that compound 4d was a non-competitive α-glucosidase inhibitor, which was consistent with the result of its simulation molecular docking. Moreover, the in vitro cytotoxicity of compounds 4a-4f towards hepatic LO2 and HepG2 cells was tested.

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OBJECTIVES: Recent national organ distribution rule changes could have implications on distance between donor and recipient hospitals and cold ischemia time. With cold ischemia time being an unavoidable detriment to organ quality, any strategies that minimize it should maximize organ quality. This study evaluated the significance of the kidney allocation system and the Share 35 rule changes on kidney and liver transplant outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study included deceased liver and kidney donor and their recipient data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. Variables were analyzed using propensity score matching and Cox hazards model distance (from donor hospital to organ recovery center), and effects on survival outcomes of trans-planted livers and kidneys in the context of the recent rule changes were analyzed. RESULTS: Transplanted organs have significantly better outcomes when the distance is 0 miles versus median distances for locally transported organs of 18 and 22 miles for kidney and liver, respectively. Cold ischemia time, when corrected, accounts for this finding, thus suggesting that cold ischemia time is the factor most responsible for viability of a transplanted organ. This significance remains evident for liver transplants even after the Share 35 rule change but not for kidney transplants following the December 2014 kidney allocation system change. CONCLUSIONS: Liver transplants showed a higher risk of lower viability with travel, and the Share 35 rule did not appear to change this result. Kidney transplant outcomes appear to have improved after the kidney allocation system change. Potential strategies for minimizing cold ischemia time and improving outcomes include more free-standing organ recovery centers in centralized locations.

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To accurately identify the location of the water inrush sources, correlation analysis and factor analysis were used to discuss the similarity of hydrochemical control mechanism of different aquifers and inrush water. On this basis, Fisher and BP neural network are used to judge the probability of inrush water. Finally, it is verified by hydrological observation holes. According to the water sources mixing model, the water inrush sources of 11601 working face were mainly No. 13 stratum Carboniferous limestone water with a small amount of No. 10 stratum Carboniferous limestone water, and the mixing ratio is 11:1. Combining the results of water inrush source identification, water yield mutation, geophysical exploration results, and underground drilling, it is speculated that there are two faults in this working face. The normal fault stops at the top of No. 13 stratum Carboniferous limestone aquifer, and the reverse fault develops to No. 13 stratum Carboniferous limestone aquifer. This research is of great significance for the identification of mine water sources and guidance for the prevention and control of water inrush.

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We evaluated the detailed, behavioral properties of face matching performance in two specialist groups: forensic facial examiners and super-recognizers. Both groups compare faces to determine identity with high accuracy and outperform the general population. Typically, facial examiners are highly trained; super-recognizers rely on natural ability. We found distinct behaviors between these two groups. Examiners used the full 7-point identity judgment scale (-3: "different"; +3: "same"). Super-recognizers' judgments clustered toward highly confident decisions. Examiners' judgments for same- and different-identities were symmetric across the scale midpoint (0); super-recognizers' judgments were not. Examiners showed higher identity judgment agreement than super-recognizers. Despite these qualitative differences, both groups showed insight into their own accuracy: more confident people and those who rated the task to be easier tended to be more accurate. Altogether, we show to better understand and interpret judgments according to the nature of someone's facial expertise, evaluations should assess more than accuracy.

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This manuscript estimates the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of combined biomarkers in a high-dimensional setting. We propose a penalization approach to the inference of precision matrices in the presence of the limit of detection. A new version of expectation-maximization algorithm is then proposed for the penalized likelihood, with the use of numerical integration and the graphical lasso method. The estimated precision matrix is then applied to the inference of AUCs. The proposed method outperforms the existing methods in numerical studies. We apply the proposed method to a data set of brain tumor study. The results show a higher accuracy on the estimation of AUC compared with the existing methods.

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OBJECTIVE: To determine the safety and effectiveness of a cross-linked sodium hyaluronate (CHA) scaffold in cartilage repair. METHODS: Physicochemical properties of the scaffold were determined. The safety and effectiveness of the scaffold for cartilage repair were evaluated in a minipig model of a full-thickness cartilage defect with microfracture surgery. Postoperative observation and hematological examination were used to evaluate the safety of the CHA scaffold implantation. Pathological examination as well as biomechanical testing, including Young's modulus, stress relaxation time, and creep time, were conducted at 6 and 12 months postsurgery to assess the effectiveness of the scaffold for cartilage repair. Furthermore, type II collagen and glycosaminoglycan content were determined to confirm the influence of the scaffold in the damaged cartilage tissue. RESULTS: The results showed that the routine hematological indexes of the experimental animals were within the normal physiological ranges, which confirmed the safety of CHA scaffold implantation. Based on macroscopic observation, it was evident that repair of the defective cartilage in the animal knee joint began during the 6 months postoperation and was gradually enhanced from the central to the surrounding region. The repair smoothness and color of the 12-month cartilage samples from the operation area were better than those of the 6-month samples, and the results for the CHA scaffold implantation group were better than the control group. Greater cell degeneration and degeneration of the adjacent cartilage was found in the implantation group compared with the control group at both 6 and 12 months postoperation, evaluated by O'Driscoll Articular Cartilage Histology Scoring. Implantation with the CHA scaffold matrix promoted cartilage repair and improved its compression capacity. The type II collagen level in the CHA scaffold implantation group tended to be higher than that in the control group at 6 months (2.33 ± 1.50 vs 1.68 ± 0.56) and 12 months postsurgery (3.37 ± 1.70 vs 2.06 ± 0.63). The GAG content in the cartilage of the control group was significantly lower than that of the experimental group (2.17 ± 0.43 vs 3.64 ± 1.17, P = 0.002 at 6 months and 2.27 ± 0.38 vs 4.12 ± 1.02, P = 0.002 at 12 months). Type II collagen and glycosaminoglycan content also demonstrated that CHA was beneficial for the accumulation of both these vital substances in the cartilage tissue. CONCLUSIONS: The CHA scaffold displayed the ability to promote cartilage repair when applied in microfracture surgery, which makes it a promising material for application in the area of cartilage tissue engineering.

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In the present work, a poly(γ-glutamic acid)/alginate/silver nanoparticle (PGA/Alg/AgNP) composite microsphere with excellent antibacterial and hemostatic properties was prepared by the in situ UV reduction and emulsion internal gelation method, and its potential application for antibacterial hemostatic dressing was explored. Well dispersed AgNPs were in situ synthesized by a UV reduction method with alginate as stabilizer and reductant. The AgNPs showed excellent antibacterial activities against both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. Additionally, the AgNPs prepared by the in-situ UV reduction exhibited better biocompatibility and antibacterial effects than those prepared by the conventional chemical reduction method. PGA/Alg/AgNP composite microspheres were then prepared with the AgNPs by an emulsion internal gelation method. Such microspheres were found to be a porous and hollow network with pH-sensitive swelling properties and excellent hemostatic performance, indicating its application potentials as an advanced antibacterial hemostatic material.

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Podophyllotoxin is used as medical cream which is widely applied to genital warts and molluscum contagiosum. Although previous study showed that podophyllotoxin had minimal toxicity, it was forbidden to use during pregnancy since it might be toxic to the embryos. In present study we used mouse as the model and tried to examine whether podophyllotoxin exposure was toxic to oocyte maturation, which further affected embryo development. Our results showed that podophyllotoxin exposure inhibited mouse oocyte maturation, showing with the failure of polar body extrusion, and the inhibitory effects of podophyllotoxin on oocytes was dose-depended. Further studies showed that the meiotic spindle formation was disturbed, the chromosomes were misaligned and the fluorescence signal of microtubule was decreased, indicating that podophyllotoxin may affect microtubule dynamics for spindle organization. Moreover, the oocytes which reached metaphase II under podophyllotoxin exposure also showed aberrant spindle morphology and chromosome misalignment, and the embryos generated from these oocytes showed low developmental competence. We also found that the localization of p44/42 MAPK and gamma-tubulin was disrupted, which further confirmed the effects of podophyllotoxin on meiotic spindle formation. In all, our results indicated that podophyllotoxin exposure could affect mouse oocyte maturation by disturbing microtubule dynamics and meiotic spindle formation.

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Cytoplasmic dynein is a family of cytoskeletal motor proteins that move towards the minus-end of the microtubules to perform functions in a variety of mitotic processes such as cargo transport, organelle positioning, chromosome movement and centrosome assembly. However, its specific roles during mammalian oocyte meiosis have not been fully defined. Herein, we investigated the critical events during porcine oocyte meiotic maturation after inhibition of dynein by Ciliobrevin D treatment. We found that oocyte meiotic progression was arrested when inhibited of dynein by showing the poor expansion of cumulus cells and decreased rate of polar body extrusion. Meanwhile, the spindle assembly and chromosome alignment were disrupted, accompanied by the reduced level of acetylated α-tubulin, indicative of weakened microtubule stability. Defective actin polymerization on the plasma membrane was also observed in dynein-inhibited oocytes. In addition, inhibition of dynein caused the abnormal distribution of cortical granules and precocious exocytosis of ovastacin, a cortical granule component, which predicts that ZP2, the sperm binding site in the zona pellucida, might be prematurely cleaved in the unfertilized dynein-inhibited oocytes, potentially leading to the fertilization failure. Collectively, our findings reveal that dynein plays a part in porcine oocyte meiotic progression by regulating the cytoskeleton dynamics including microtubule stability, spindle assembly, chromosome alignment and actin polymerization. We also find that dynein mediates the normal cortical granule distribution and exocytosis timing of ovastacin in unfertilized eggs which are the essential for the successful fertilization.

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As many as 80% of the nearly five million adults under community supervision (i.e., probation, parole) are substance involved; however, treatment utilization is low. Using a multi-site randomized controlled trial, we tested the efficacy of in-person motivational interviewing (MI), a motivational computer intervention (MAPIT), or standard probation intake (SAU) to encourage treatment initiation among 316 substance-involved probationers in Dallas, Texas and Baltimore City, Maryland. Ninety-three percent (n=295) of participants completed the 2-month follow-up and 90% (n=285) completed the 6-month follow-up. At 2-months, individuals in the MAPIT condition were more likely to report treatment initiation compared to the SAU condition (OR=2.40, 95% CI=1.06, 5.47) via intent-to-treat analysis, especially among those completing both sessions (RE=0.50, 95% CI=0.05, 0.95) via instrumental variable analysis. At 6-months, MAPIT approached significance for treatment initiation in both analyses. MI did not achieve significance in any model. We did not find any differential impact on substance use. The success of MAPIT suggests that an integrated health-justice computerized intervention as part of a Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) can be used to address public safety and health issues.

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The article proposes a unified least squares method to estimate the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) parameters for continuous and ordinal diagnostic tests, such as cancer biomarkers. The method is based on a linear model framework using the empirically estimated sensitivities and specificities as input "data." It gives consistent estimates for regression and accuracy parameters when the underlying continuous test results are normally distributed after some monotonic transformation. The key difference between the proposed method and the method of Tang and Zhou lies in the response variable. The response variable in the latter is transformed empirical ROC curves at different thresholds. It takes on many values for continuous test results, but few values for ordinal test results. The limited number of values for the response variable makes it impractical for ordinal data. However, the response variable in the proposed method takes on many more distinct values so that the method yields valid estimates for ordinal data. Extensive simulation studies are conducted to investigate and compare the finite sample performance of the proposed method with an existing method, and the method is then used to analyze 2 real cancer diagnostic example as an illustration.

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BACKGROUND: In this paper, the quantification for clay structure is explicitly explained, and the approach and goals of quantification are also discussed. The authors consider that the purpose of the quantification for clay structure is to determine some parameters that can be used to quantitatively characterize the impact of clay structure on the macro-mechanical behaviour. METHODS: According to the system theory and the law of energy conservation, a quantification model for the structure characteristics of clay materials is established and three quantitative parameters (i.e., deformation structure potential, strength structure potential and comprehensive structure potential) are proposed. And the corresponding tests are conducted. RESULTS: The experimental results show that these quantitative parameters can accurately reflect the influence of clay structure on the deformation behaviour, strength behaviour and the relative magnitude of structural influence on the above two quantitative parameters, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These quantitative parameters have explicit mechanical meanings, and can be used to characterize the structural influences of clay on its mechanical behaviour.

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The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve is a popular tool to evaluate and compare the accuracy of diagnostic tests to distinguish the diseased group from the nondiseased group when test results from tests are continuous or ordinal. A complicated data setting occurs when multiple tests are measured on abnormal and normal locations from the same subject and the measurements are clustered within the subject. Although least squares regression methods can be used for the estimation of ROC curve from correlated data, how to develop the least squares methods to estimate the ROC curve from the clustered data has not been studied. Also, the statistical properties of the least squares methods under the clustering setting are unknown. In this article, we develop the least squares ROC methods to allow the baseline and link functions to differ, and more importantly, to accommodate clustered data with discrete covariates. The methods can generate smooth ROC curves that satisfy the inherent continuous property of the true underlying curve. The least squares methods are shown to be more efficient than the existing nonparametric ROC methods under appropriate model assumptions in simulation studies. We apply the methods to a real example in the detection of glaucomatous deterioration. We also derive the asymptotic properties of the proposed methods.

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A subjective sampling ratio between the case and the control groups is not always an efficient choice to maximize the power or to minimize the total required sample size in comparative diagnostic trials.We derive explicit expressions for an optimal sampling ratio based on a common variance structure shared by several existing summary statistics of the receiver operating characteristic curve. We propose a two-stage procedure to estimate adaptively the optimal ratio without pilot data. We investigate the properties of the proposed method through theoretical proofs, extensive simulation studies and a real example in cancer diagnostic studies.

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Andrews and Bonta identified the following criminogenic needs as important to reducing offending: substance use, antisocial cognition, antisocial associates, family and marital relations, employment, and leisure and recreational activities. This study examines dynamic criminogenic need changes across a 12-month period and identifies which need changes are the best predictors of criminal offending and illicit drug use among a sample of drug-involved probationers who participated in an intervention (N = 251). Probationers had significant changes in several need areas, and treatment participation moderated some changes. Probationers who had reductions in criminally involved family members they associate with, improved work performance, and decreased alcohol use had the greatest reductions in offending. Those who increased time spent engaged in leisure and recreational activities were less likely to self-report subsequent drug use. These findings suggest that certain dynamic need changes may be more important than others, and designing interventions to impact these needs might improve outcomes.

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The current study estimates trajectories of illegal substance use in a sample of 251 drug-involved probationers to identify risk profiles that predict group membership and explores the impact of treatment participation across these trajectories. Trajectory analyses reveal five patterns of drug use during probation supervision. Age and the use of hard drugs are identified as the strongest predictors of involvement in illicit drug use while on probation. The effect of participation in substance use treatment varies across treatment settings and trajectory groups. Prior research has tended to treat drug abusers as a homogeneous population, but the current study findings suggest considerable heterogeneity amongst drug users involved in the criminal justice system. Identifying trajectories of drug use during supervision can help identify individuals who may be more likely to persist in drug use, can inform practice by identifying individuals in need of more intensive treatment services, and can assist in developing new drug treatment strategies.

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In this paper, we consider the combination of markers with and without the limit of detection (LOD). LOD is often encountered when measuring proteomic markers. Because of the limited detecting ability of an equipment or instrument, it is difficult to measure markers at a relatively low level. Suppose that after some monotonic transformation, the marker values approximately follow multivariate normal distributions. We propose to estimate distribution parameters while taking the LOD into account, and then combine markers using the results from the linear discriminant analysis. Our simulation results show that the ROC curve parameter estimates generated from the proposed method are much closer to the truth than simply using the linear discriminant analysis to combine markers without considering the LOD. In addition, we propose a procedure to select and combine a subset of markers when many candidate markers are available. The procedure based on the correlation among markers is different from a common understanding that a subset of the most accurate markers should be selected for the combination. The simulation studies show that the accuracy of a combined marker can be largely impacted by the correlation of marker measurements. Our methods are applied to a protein pathway dataset to combine proteomic biomarkers to distinguish cancer patients from non-cancer patients.

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