Explore the vast range of titles available.

It has been regarded as an essential treatment option for diabetic nephropathy (DN) in Traditional Chinese medicine. Previous studies have demonstrated the anti-DN efficacy of Schisandra chinensis Fruit Mixture (SM); however, a comprehensive chemical fingerprint is still uncertain, and its mechanism of action, especially the potential therapeutic targets of anti-DN, needs to be further elucidated. Potential mechanisms of SM action on DN were explored through network pharmacology and experimental validation. The chemical composition of SM was analyzed using UPLC-ESI-MS/MS technology. Active bioactive components and potential targets of SM were identified using TCMSP, SwissDrugDesign, and SymMap platforms. Differentially expressed genes were determined using microarray gene data from the GSE30528 dataset. Related genes for DN were obtained from online databases, which include GeneCards, OMIM and DisGeNET. PPI networks and compound-target-pathway networks were constructed using Cytoscape. Functional annotation was performed using R software for GO enrichment and KEGG pathway analysis. The DN model was built for experimental validation using a high-sugar and high-fat diet combined with STZ induction. Hub targets and critical signaling pathways were detected using qPCR, Western blotting and immunofluorescence. Utilizing the UPLC-ESI-MS/MS coupling technique, a comprehensive analysis identified 1281 chemical components of SM's ethanol extract, with 349 of these components recognized as potential bioactive compounds through network pharmacology. Through this analysis, 126 shared targets and 15 HUB targets were pinpointed. Of these, JAK2 is regarded as the most critical gene. Enrichment analysis revealed that SM primarily operates within the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. experiments confirmed that SM improved pathological injury and renal function in rats with DN while improving mitochondrial morphology and function and modulating the expression of proteins linked to apoptosis (cleaved-caspase-3, Bax, and Bcl-2) and pro-inflammatory factors (IL-6 and TNF-α). Mechanistically, SM alleviates DN primarily by suppressing the PI3K/AKT/mTOR and JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathways to fulfill the energy needs of renal tissues. Furthermore, molecular docking analysis provided direct validation of these findings. The findings of this study offer initial indications of the active component and robust anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic characteristics of SM in the mitigation of DN, along with its capacity to safeguard the integrity and functionality of mitochondria. This research unequivocally validates the favorable anti-DN effects of SM, indicating its potential as a viable pharmaceutical agent for the management of DN.

•A novel benchmark study was performed to evaluate three statistical methods.•The LS and LAD methods are equivalent in seeking the best-fitting failure criterion.•The LMS method is not a qualified tool for strength parameter estimation.•The LAD method is robust for the conventional test data with low complexity.•Otherwise, the predicting error kurtosis can be used to select an optimized method. To reduce the impact of potential strength outliers on parameter estimation, statistical methods based on the least median square and least absolute deviation have been proposed as alternatives to the traditional least square method. However, little research has been conducted to compare the performance of these different statistical methods. This study introduces a novel procedure for evaluating the three statistical approaches across six selected rock failure criteria, constrained by various rock strength datasets. The consistency of the best-fitting failure criterion and the robustness of the strength parameter estimations serve as the primary benchmarks for evaluation. Based on the benchmark analysis, the following conclusions are drawn. First, both the least square and least absolute deviation methods perform equivalently in identifying the best-fitting failure criterion for a given rock strength dataset, whereas the least median square method does not. Second, when estimating the strength parameters in a two-dimensional failure criterion with the conventional test data of low complexity, the least absolute deviation method is recommended for obtaining robust parameter estimations. Third, as the complexity of conventional test data increases or when true triaxial test data are used to estimate strength parameters for a three-dimensional failure criterion, it is essential to evaluate the outlier-proneness by analyzing the prediction error. If the kurtosis of the prediction error is less than 3, the least square method is preferred. Otherwise, the least absolute deviation method should be used to mitigate the influence of potential strength outliers. This benchmark study offers valuable insights for the future application of different statistical methods in rock mechanics.

In this paper, we review some of their related properties of derivations on MV-algebras and give some characterizations of additive derivations. Then we prove that the fixed point set of Boolean additive derivations and that of their adjoint derivations are isomorphic. In particular, we prove that every MV-algebra is isomorphic to the direct product of the fixed point set of Boolean additive derivations and that of their adjoint derivations. Finally we show that every Boolean algebra is isomorphic to the algebra of all Boolean additive (implicative) derivations. These results also give the negative answers to two open problems, which were proposed in [Fuzzy Sets and Systems, 303(2016), 97–113] and [Information Sciences, 178(2008), 307–316].

High silicon aluminum alloy coatings (HSAACs) are characterized by high surface hardness and excellent wear resistance, and the fineness has a significant impact on their properties. In this study, Al–40Si–5Fe coating was prepared by supersonic plasma spraying using Al–35Si–4Fe powder as raw material. The coating contains a variety of strengthening structures such as amorphous, nanocrystalline and supersaturated solid solution. The average hardness of the coating reached up to 465.3 ± 24.4HV 0.2 , which was much higher than that of the Al–Si alloys/coatings prepared by various processes. Under the test conditions, the wear mechanism of the coating was dominated by fatigue wear with slight abrasive wear, and the wear rate was 1.88 × 10 –4 mm 3 /N. A large amount of refined Si phase in the oxide film on the worn surface effectively prevented the cracking and spalling of the oxide film. Graphical abstract

Good understanding of the in-situ stress and rock mass strength or their relative magnitudes is essential to underground geomechanical practices. A prevailing technique for estimating the maximum horizontal stress is the integrated method combining stress polygon, borehole breakout, and drilling-induced tensile fracture. This research embraced all these elements into a nondimensionalized chart to interpret the triangle relation among the in-situ stress, rock mass strength, and failure observation for an underground cylindrical opening at any depth. One of the potential applications of the nondimensionalized chart was shown via the filed observations from a testing tunnel in the Canadian underground research laboratory. An approaching method of untangling two correlated stress components was also proposed to constrain the in-situ stress ratio under the framework of Coulomb frictional failure theory. It is proved to be highly efficient and considerably accurate by implementing the approaching method using the failure observations from the KTB borehole in German.

The fungal pathogen Cochliobolus carbonum (anamorph, Bipolaris zeicola) causes Northern Leaf Spot, leading to a ubiquitous and devastating foliar disease of corn in Yunnan Province, China. Asexual spores (conidia) play a major role in both epidemics and pathogenesis of Northern Leaf Spot, but the molecular mechanism of conidiation in C. carbonum has remained elusive. Here, using a map-based cloning strategy, we cloned a single dominant gene, designated as BZcon1 (for Bipolaris zeicola conidiation), which encodes a predicted unknown protein containing 402 amino acids, with two common conserved SANT/Myb domains in N-terminal. The BZcon1 knockout mutant completely lost the capability to produce conidiophores and conidia but displayed no effect on hyphal growth and sexual reproduction. The introduced BZcon1 gene fully complemented the BZcon1 null mutation, restoring the capability for sporulation. These data suggested that the BZcon1 gene is essential for the conidiation of C. carbonum.

The existing comparative studies of intact rock failure criteria do not typically consider the tensile stress zone and failure angle prediction. A new comparative study of nine intact rock strength criteria worth to list them here was performed under the framework of analytical geometry, with respect to their geometric characteristics in different cutting planes of the failure envelopes in three-dimensional space as well as predictive capacities for strength and failure angle. For this purpose, a universal failure angle formula was derived as a guideline to deduce the specific expression for each criterion. The σ1–σ3 cutting plane displays two categories of the intact rock failure criteria: overlapping and separate compressive and tensile meridian boundaries. Experimental strength data and failure angle observation of two sandstones under complex compressive stress conditions highlight the failure criteria of Mogi-1967, Mogi-1971, nonlinear unified and Hoek–Brown in terms of strength and failure angle prediction. It is probably the first of its kind to date to evaluate different intact rock failure criteria by relating the failure angle and strength. This innovative comparative work enlightens the future advancement of the intact rock failure criterion with the consideration of the tensile stress zone and failure angle observation.HighlightsAnalytical geometric technique revealed the existing intact rock failure criteria were inadequate to reflect the tensile behaviors or failure angle.A universal failure angle formula was derived for any failure function through stress transformation.An innovative procedure relating the failure angle and strength predictions was proposed and used to evaluate nine intact rock failure criteria.

Study of intact rock failure criteria is an important topic in rock mechanics. In this study, applicability of nine different intact rock failure criteria is investigated for intact coal strength data. PFC3D modeling was used to simulate the laboratory polyaxial tests for cubic intact coal blocks of side dimension 110 mm under different confining stress combinations. A modified grid search procedure is proposed and used to find the best-fitting parameter values and to calculate the coefficient of determination (R2) values for each criterion. Detailed comparisons of the nine criteria are made using the following aspects: R2 values, σ1 − σ2 plots for different σ3, shapes on the deviatoric plane, linearity or nonlinearity on the meridian planes. Through the comparisons of R2 values, σ1 − σ2 plots and meridian lines, the modified Wiebols–Cook and modified Lade criteria were found to fit the intact coal strength data best. The nine failure criteria are categorized into three types based on the appearances on the deviatoric plane.

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of therapeutic massage (tuina) for treating knee osteoarthritis (KOA). Methods Six English and Chinese databases, including Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Academic Journal Full-text Database (Wanfang), Chongqing VIP Database (CQVIP), China Biology Medicine Disc (CBM), Cochrane Library and PubMed databases, were independently searched to identify appropriate randomized controlled trials (RCTs) studying therapeutic massage for KOA compared to oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) alone. The main outcome measures were total effectiveness and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities osteoarthritis index (WOMAC) score. Results A total of 8 RCTs were included and they were of average quality. The results showed that therapeutic massage was more effective than NSAIDs comparing total effectiveness [risk ratio (RR)=1.14, 95% confidence interval (Cl) (1.07, 1.21), P <0.0001]; compared with NSAIDs, therapeutic massage produced more significant improvements in pain [mean difference (MD)=−2.06, 95%Cl (−2.75, −1.36), P <0.00001], stiffness intensity [MD=−0.90, 95%Cl (−1.05, −0.75), P <0.00001] and joint function [MD=−12.48, 95%Cl (−13.91, −11.05), P <0.00001]. Conclusion Therapeutic massage was more effective than oral NSAIDs in treating KOA. In relieving pain and stiffness and improving the function of knee joint, therapeutic massage was superior to NSAIDs.

Very high cycle bending fatigue behaviors of FV520B steel under fretting wear were studied by the ultrasonic fatigue technique. The specimen system for ultrasonic bending testing was designed and the stress distribution of fatigue specimen was obtained by finite element method. The microstructure of FV520B steel was characterized by means of optical microscope, transmission electron microscope, and energy-dispersive spectroscope. The P–S–N curve was drawn based on fatigue data. The micromorphology characteristics of fretting wear surface and fracture surface for fatigue specimen were observed. The results indicate that the microstructure of FV520B steel is mainly composed of lath martensite, ferrite, and precipitation particles, with some randomly distributed internal inclusions. The P–S–N curve shows that there exists no “conventional fatigue limit” and the fatigue life decreases continuously with the increase of applied stress Smax. Most of fatigue cracks are observed on fractography and initiate from the overlap region of fretting wear zone and stress concentration zone. The fracture failure for tested specimen is ascribed to fretting wear and bending vibration fatigue.