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This study is based on continuum damage mechanics and constructs an improved macro–micro-two-scale model to predict the fatigue life of engineering metallic materials subjected to variable amplitude loading. To account quantitatively for the fatigue damage retarding effect of higher load on lower ones in a loading sequence, the cyclic plastic response curve of microscopic weak inclusion is independently designed. Meanwhile, an improved two-scale fatigue damage model in rate form is proposed by introducing a new exponent function acted on the equivalent plastic strain term in the model for taking account of fatigue mean stress effect under variable amplitude loading. The parameters of the two-scale fatigue damage model are identified through an inverse approach based on fatigue test results under constant amplitude loading. The predictive accuracy of the proposed model is validated by fatigue test data of Al 2024-T3 standard coupon and plate with a hole under different variable amplitude loading.

Liver cancer is a common and aggressive malignancy, but available treatment approaches remain suboptimal. Cancer targeting Gene-Viro-Therapy (CTGVT) has shown excellent anti-tumor effects in a preclinical study. CTGVT takes advantage of both gene therapy and virotherapy by incorporating an anti-tumor gene into an oncolytic virus vector. Potent anti-tumor activity is achieved by virus replication and exogenous expression of the anti-tumor gene. A dual-regulated oncolytic adenoviral vector designated Ad·AFP·E1A·E1B (Δ55) (Ad·AFP·D55 for short thereafter) was constructed by replacing the native viral E1A promoter with the simian virus 40 enhancer/α-fetoprotein (AFP) composite promoter (AFPep) based on an E1B-55K -deleted construct, ZD55. Ad·AFP·D55 showed specific replication and cytotoxicity in AFP-positive hepatoma cells. It also showed enhanced safety in normal cells when compared with the mono-regulated vector ZD55. To improve the anti-hepatoma activities of the virus, the tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand ( TRAIL ) gene was introduced into Ad·AFP·D55. Ad·AFP·D55-TRAIL exhibited remarkable anti-tumor activities in vitro and in vivo . Treatment with Ad·AFP·D55-TRAIL can induce both autophagy owing to the Ad·AFP·D55 vector and caspase-dependent apoptosis owing to the TRAIL protein. Therefore, Ad·AFP·D55-TRAIL could be a potential anti-hepatoma agent with anti-tumor activities due to AFP-specific replication and TRAIL-induced apoptosis.

Interleukin (IL)-24 , a promising therapeutic gene, has been widely used for Cancer Targeting Gene-Viro-Therapy (CTGVT). In this study, IL-24 was inserted into an oncolytic adenovirus in which the E1A gene is driven by an enhanced, short α-fetoprotein (AFP) promoter and the E1B gene is completely deleted to form Ad.enAFP-E1A-ΔE1B-IL-24. This construct has a potent antitumor effect on liver cancer cell lines in vitro , but little or no effect on normal cell lines, such as L-02 and QSG-7701. In vivo , the complete elimination of Huh-7 liver cancer in nude mice with Ad.enAFP-E1A-ΔE1B-IL-24 intratumor injection was observed. The design of Ad.enAFP-E1A-ΔE1B-IL-24 and its potent antitumor effect on liver cancer have not been published previously. The mechanism of the potent antitumor effect of Ad.enAFP-E1A-ΔE1B-IL-24 is due to the upregulation of GADD34 and intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic signaling.

IntroductionBulimia nervosa (BN) is a disorder with high health and socioeconomic burdens that typically arises in late adolescence and early adulthood. Previous neuroimaging studies have found functional brain changes in patients with BN. This study aims to review the latest neurobiological evidence from studies of individuals with BN, examine the consistency of these findings and evaluate the food addiction hypothesis of the disease.Methods and analysisA systematic search will be performed using the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase and Web of Science databases, covering the period from database inception to 30 November 2021. Two researchers will be responsible for study selection, quality assessment and data extraction. The anisotropic effect size version of the signed differential mapping method will be used to conduct a coordinate-based meta-analysis. Publication bias will be examined with the Egger test. The quality of studies will be evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.Ethics and disseminationNo ethics approval is required for this is a systematic review protocol and does not require the collection of primary data. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journal or related conferences.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42022307233.

Let p be a prime and let D = { d 1 , d 2 , ⋯ , d s } be a subset of 1 , 2 , ⋯ , p - 1 . If F is a Hamming symmetric family of subsets of [ n ] such that | F △ F ′ | ( mod p ) ∈ D and n - | F △ F ′ | ( mod p ) ∈ D for any pair of distinct F , F ′ ∈ F , then | F | ≤ n - 1 s + n - 1 s - 1 + ⋯ + n - 1 0 . This result can be considered as a modular version of Hegedüs's Theorem [6] about Hamming symmetric families. We also improve the above upper bound on the size of Hamming symmetric families in the non-modular version when the size of any member of F is restricted.

The pre controlled fragment warhead can be applied in certain specific scenarios due to its excellent damage performance and structural integrity. It is widely used in different combat scenarios. In order to obtain the influence of different groove depths on the lethal power performance of warheads, this paper uses numerical simulation methods to establish a finite element model of an annular hollow pre controlled fragment warhead. It carries out numerical simulation calculations on the lethal power performance of the annular hollow pre controlled fragment warhead. The results show that the detonation wave propagation of the annular hollow pre controlled fragment warhead is affected by the cavity sparsity effect, resulting in a secondary pressure jump of 10 9 Pa. The pressure generated by the superposition of spherical waves in the strong direction is about 200% of that in the weak direction. Within a certain range, the axial initial velocity of the pre controlled fragments increases with the deepening of the groove depth. The average initial velocity in the strong direction increases by 22.96% compared to the weak direction. The influence of different groove depths on the circumferential initial velocity of pre controlled fragments near the detonation point is the greatest, followed by the middle part of the warhead, and the influence far from the detonation point is the smallest. The scattering angle of fragments increases first and then decreases with the increase of relative groove depth. When the relative groove depth is 0.5 δ e , the maximum scattering angle of the fragments is 14.6 °. It increases by 35.2%. This study can provide valuable references for the optimization design and damage assessment of related warheads.

0.7 Ca3Co4O9/0.3 Bi2Ca2Co2Oy thermoelectric composites were prepared by solid state reaction, and Cu doping in Ca3Co4O9 and Bi2Ca2Co2Oy was carried out respectively to modify the thermoelectric properties. The crystal structure and micro structure of the 0.7 Ca3Co4−xCuxO9/0.3 Bi2Ca2Co2−zCuzOy with x = 0, 0.05, 0.1, and z = 0, 0.05, 0.1 was analyzed using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Temperature dependence of electrical resistivity (ρ) and Seebeck coefficient (S) of the composites was studied from 373 to 973 K. No impurity is detected in the composites from the XRD patterns. Stripes of Bi2Ca2Co2Oy phase distributed randomly in the host phase. The ρ of 0.7 Ca3Co4O9/0.3 Bi2Ca2Co2Oy is even lower than that of both constituents. Similar to the ρ-T behavor of Ca3Co4O9, the metal–semiconductor transition around 773 K in the composites 0.7 Ca3Co4−xCuxO9/0.3 Bi2Ca2Co2Oy is observed, indicating carrier in Ca3Co4O9 contributing a lot to the electrical conductivity. However, as Cu doping in Bi2Ca2Co2Oy is carried out, the metal–semiconductor transition disappeared. The relationship between S of the composites and that of the constituents satisfies the simplest mixing laws: S = 0.7 S (Ca3Co4O9) + 0.3 S (Bi2Ca2Co2Oy). The S of the composites is enhanced by doping Cu in Bi2Ca2Co2Oy, but it is depressed as Cu doping carried out in Ca3Co4O9. The power factor of 0.7 Ca3Co3.9Cu0.1O9/0.3 Bi2Ca2Co1.9Cu0.1Oy gets to the maximum 3.8 × 10−4 W m−1 K−2 at 973 K.

This paper presents a mathematical model and a computational approach for the thermal post-buckling and free vibration in the vicinity of the buckled equilibrium position of microbeams based on the modified couple stress Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and geometrically accurate relation. The governing equations for the whole analysis are established with a intrinsic material length scale parameter to capture the size effect. These equations, in conjunction with the corresponding boundary conditions, are decomposed into two two-point boundary value problems, which are solved using the shooting method. For static deformation, the geometric nonlinearity is involved and the size dependent postbuckling configuration is obtained as a function of temperature rise. For dynamic one, the small amplitude free vibration about the prebuckled position is developed following an assumed harmonic time mode, and the length scale and temperature rise dependent fundamental natural frequency is presented. Numerical computations are executed to illustrate the size dependency in the thermal postbuckling behaviors and fundamental frequency of the vibration around the buckled configuration of microbeams.

D-phenylalanine (D-Phe) is an important side-chain building block for semi-synthetic penicillins and cephalosporins. To synthesize D-Phe, D-amino acid aminotransferases (Dat) from Bacillus subtilis WB600, Bacillus licheniformis ATCC 14580, and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens were firstly compared. The theoretical 3 dimensional models of Dat were constructed, which showed appropriate configuration for synthesis of D-Phe in virtual screening. The comparison 3 different Dat on D-Phe formation was tested. All the heterogenous Dat showed high thermostability and pH stability, while Dat from B. subtilis demonstrated a better potential for Phe production than those from B. licheniformis and B. amyloliquefaciens. Then the dat from B. subtilis was expressed in an L-Phe producing chassis of Escherichia coli W14 (pR15ABK) to obtain D-Phe and different factors affecting D-Phe accumulation were tested. The engineered strain E. coli BCEA (pR15ABKApRdatBS) accumulated 1.72 g/L D-Phe in a 15-L jar fermenter which is the highest fermentation concentration that had been reported.

Reaumuria soongorica plays critical role in withstanding wind-induced soil erosion and combating desertification due to its unique drought adaptive networks involved in physiological, morphological, biochemical, and molecular biological levels. This review was conceived to summarize the most updated information on drought adaptive mechanisms of R. soongorica to formulate valuable strategies for non-xerophytes crop species to be drought tolerant. Research indicates that R. soongorica can be drought resistant via posing a high root to shoot ratio, having salt secreting gland, subsidized stomata, hard leaf texture, pallet leaf shape, high seeds viability, actively working antioxidative enzymes, secondary metabolites, phytohormones, and differentially expressed drought resistant genes. These characteristics interlink at morpho-physiological, biochemical, metobolic, molecular, and genetic level in R. soongorica to adapt the extreme abitotic stress conditions in desert regions as a plant model in xerophyte. The potentials of using the genetic elements in R. soongorica to produce drought tolerant crop species for yield production on growing on marginal lands could be vital for maintaining future food security. However, functional gene cloning and their transformation in crop species should be conducted as pre-requisite. Key words: Abiotic stress, Crop improvement, Drought adaptive mechanisms, Reaumuria soongorica, Xerophytes