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Tuberculosis (TB), caused by infectious agent Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( Mtb ) seriously poses a great threat to health. An array of metabolites generated by metabolic pathways are essential for Mtb pathophysiology. However, a specific causal relationship between TB and human metabolites remains indistinct. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between 1400 metabolites and TB by Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. In this study, a total of 1400 metabolites were utilized as exposure factors, while TB-related data served as the outcomes. And TwoSampleMR package and R software were adopted to perform this MR analysis. Various regression fitting methods were employed to conduct MR analysis, including inverse variance weighted (IVW), MR-Egger, weighted median, simple mode, and weighted mode. In addition, potential biases arising from linkage disequilibrium and weak instrumental variables were considered. Metabolites that failed to meet the criteria in both the heterogeneity and pleiotropy tests were considered to have no substantial causal influence on the results, ensuring the robustness and reliability of our analysis. IVW analysis showed that six human metabolites exhibited a significant causal influence ( P  < 0.05) on TB. Among them, dodecanedioate, myristoleate (14:1n5), and 1-(1-enyl-palmitoyl)-2-arachidonoyl-GPE( p -16:0/20:4) demonstrated a strong causally positive effect on TB, indicating that with the increase of these metabolites, TB progressed robustly. Glycerol 3-phosphate, sphingomyelin (d18:1/20:2, d18:2/20:1, and d16:1/22:2), and 2-methylserine were significantly negatively associated with TB, an increase in these metabolites inhibited TB progression. This is the first time to reveal the causal effects of human metabolites on TB through MR, and the metabolites may be potential biomarkers candidate for TB diagnosis, and monitoring these metabolites might have great clinic significance for TB diagnosis and treatment in the future.

Three-dimensional (3D) seismic data and well log data were used to investigate the sandstone architecture of the Middle Jurassic deltaic reservoirs of the Zhetybay Oilfield, Mangeshrak Basin, Kazakhstan. The base-level cycles of different scales were identified and divided using well log and 3D seismic data. Five types of sedimentary boundaries were identified in the mouth bar sandstones. The boundaries divide single mouth bars. Vertically, the spatial distribution of sand bodies can be divided into superposed, spliced, and isolation modes. Laterally, contact modes can be divided into superposition, lateral, and isolation modes. We found that the base-level cycle controls the evolution of the delta front sand body architecture. In the early decline or late rise of the base-level cycle, the superimposed or spliced modes dominate the sand body. By contrast, the lateral or isolation modes dominate the sand body in the late decline or early rise of the base-level cycle. This paper proposes an architecture model of the delta front sand bodies controlled by the base-level cycle. The spatial distribution and morphological variation of deltaic sand bodies could be linked to the base-level cycles.

The water-flooded zone in a sandstone reservoir with a complex porosity–permeability relationship is difficult to interpret quantitatively. Taking the P Formation of Kalamkas Oilfield in Kazakhstan as an example, this paper proposed a reservoir classification method that introduces the J-function into the crossplot of resistivity and oil column height to realize the classification of sandstone reservoirs with a complex porosity–permeability relationship. Based on the classification results, the initial resistivity calculation models of classified reservoirs were established. The oil–water seepage experiment was performed for classified reservoirs to measure the lithoelectric parameters and establish the relationship between water production rate and resistivity for these reservoirs, and then water production was quantitatively calculated according to the difference between the inverted initial resistivity and the measured resistivity. The results show that the reservoirs with an unclear porosity–permeability relationship can be classified by applying the J-function corresponding to grouped capillary pressure curves to the crossplot of oil column height and resistivity, according to the group average principle of capillary pressure curves. This method can solve the problem that difficult reservoir classification caused by a weak porosity–permeability correlation. Moreover, based on the results of reservoir classification, the water production rate and resistivity model of classified reservoirs is established. In this way, the accuracy of quantitative interpretation of the water-flooded zone in the reservoir can be greatly improved.

Background Preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) has already been applied in chromosomally balanced translocation carriers to improve the clinical outcome of assisted reproduction. However, traditional methods could not further distinguish embryos carrying a translocation from those with a normal karyotype prior to implantation. Methods To solve this problem, we developed a method named “Chromosomal Phasing on Base level” (BasePhasing), which based on Infinium Asian Screening Array-24 v1.0 (ASA) and a specially phasing pipeline. Firstly, by comparing the number of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci in different minor allele frequencies (MAFs) and in 2Mbp continuous windows of ASA chip and karyomap-12 chip, we verified whether ASA could be adopted for genome-wide haplotype linkage analysis. Besides, the whole gene amplification (WGA) of 3–10 cells of GM16457 cell line was used to verify whether ASA chip could be used for testing of WGA products. Finally, two balanced translocation families were utilized to carry out BasePhasing and to validate the feasibility of its clinical application. Results The average number of SNP loci in each window of ASA (473.2) was twice of that of Karyomap-12 (201.2). The coincidence rate of SNP loci in genomic DNA and WGA products was about 97%. The 5.3Mbp deletion was detected positively in cell line GM16457 of both genomic DNA and WGA products, and haplotype linkage analysis was performed in genome wide successfully. In the two balanced translocation families, 18 blastocysts were analyzed, in which 8 were unbalanced and the other 10 were balanced or normal chromosomes. Two embryos were transferred back to the patients successfully, and prenatal cytogenetic analysis of amniotic fluid was performed in the second trimester. The results predicted by BasePhasing and prenatal diagnosis were totally consistent. Conclusions Infinium ASA bead chip based BasePhasing pipeline shows good performance in balanced translocation carrier testing. With the characteristics of simple operation procedure and accurate results, we demonstrate that BasePhasing is one of the most suitable methods to distinguish between balanced and structurally normal chromosome embryos from translocation carriers in PGT at present.

The elastomer is the core component of the torque sensor, and its performance directly affects the accuracy of the torque sensor. The elastic modulus, as a key parameter of elastomers, can affect the output performance of sensors at extreme temperatures due to the temperature response. In this paper, the mathematical model of the torque sensor is analyzed, and the theoretical model of the elastic modulus of the material under the action of temperature is constructed. Then, the temperature performance test and the torque calibration test under the changing temperature environment are carried out for the elastomer made of 17-4PH material. The test results show that the relationship between the elastic modulus of the elastomer and the temperature is nonlinear, and the higher the temperature, the faster the elastic modulus decreases. The change law of the elastic modulus model considering the temperature effect is consistent with the change of the sensor output value, which provides a reliable basis for the precise design of the torque sensor.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a method to remit or mitigate deterioration resulting from the influence of short data length to existing signal extracting methods. Design/methodology/approach – Careful design of the pre-filtering circuits to refrain most of the noise and disturbance and remove the influence of operation speed of the concerned balancing machine. Based on the analysis on the spectral feature of the unbalance vibration signal, a pre-filtering circuit is designed, then the signal extension method based on AR prediction model are discussed and used to prolong sampled signal. Findings – With the extension method, sampled signal can be extended to required length to enhance the performance of refraining nearby frequency disturbance. The results of simulation and field experiments demonstrate the feasibility of the presented extension method. Practical implications – Improved measurement efficiency of balancing machine and provided a method to trade off between measurement accuracy and measurement efficiency. Originality/value – The paper presents a way to improve extraction accuracy and frequency resolution with limited cycles of unbalance vibration signal.

The energy consumption of campus buildings has specific characteristics, because of the concentrated distribution of people＇s working time and locations that change in line with distinct seasonal features. The traditional energy system design and operation for campus buildings is only based on the constant room temperature, such as 25~C in summer and 18~C in winter in China, not taking into consideration the real heating or cooling load characteristics of campus buildings with different func- tions during the whole day and whole year, which usually results in a lot of energy waste. This paper proposes to set different set-point temperatures in different operation stages of public and residential campus buildings to reduce the heating and cooling design load for energy station and total campus energy consumption for annual operation. Taking a campus under construction in Tianjin, China as an example, two kinds of single building models were established as the typical public building and residential building models on the campus. Besides, the models were simulated at both set-point room temperature and constant room temperature respectively. The comparison of the simulation results showed that the single building energy saving method of the peak load clipping could be used for further analysis of the annual energy consumption of campus building groups. The results proved that the strategy of set-point temperature optimization could efficiently reduce the design load and energy consumption of campus building groups.

Wallerian degeneration is an important area of research in modern neuroscience. A large number of genes are differentially regulated in the various stages of Wallerian degeneration, especially during the early response. In this study, we analyzed gene expression in early Wallerian degeneration of the distal nerve stump at 0, 0.5, 1,6, 12 and 24 hours after rat sciatic nerve injury using gene chip microarrays. We screened for differentially-expressed genes and gene expression patterns. We examined the data for Gene Ontology, and explored the Kyoto EncycLopedia of Genes and Genomes Pathway. This allowed us to identify key regulatory factors and recurrent network motifs. We identified 1 546 differentially-expressed genes and 21 distinct patterns ofgene expression in early Wallerian degeneration, and an enrichment of genes associated with the immune response, acute inflammation, apoptosis, cell adhesion, ion transport and the extracellular matrix. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis revealed components involved in the Jak-STAT, ErbB, transforming growth factor-13, T cell receptor and calcium signaling pathways. Key factors included interleukin-6, interleukin-1, integrin, c-sarcoma, carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecules, chemokine （C-C motif） ligand, matrix metalloproteinase, BH3 interacting domain death agonist, baculoviral lAP repeat-containing 3 and Rac. The data were validated with real-time quantitative PCR. This study provides a global view of gene expression profiles in eady Wallerian degeneration of the rat sciatic nerve. Our findings provide insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying early Wallerian degeneration, and the regulation of nerve degeneration and regeneration.

Storage class memory （SCM） has the potential to revolutionize the memory landscape by its non-volatile and byte-addressable properties. However, there is little published work about exploring its usage for modem virtualized cloud infrastructure. We propose SCM-vWrite, a novel architecture designed around SCM, to ease the performance interference of virtualized storage subsystem. Through a case study on a typical virtualized cloud system, we first describe why cur- rent writeback manners are not suitable for a virtualized en- vironment, then design and implement SCM-vWrite to im- prove this problem. We also use typical benchmarks and re- alistic workloads to evaluate its performance. Compared with the traditional method on a conventional architecture, the ex- perimental result shows that SCM-vWrite can coordinate the writeback flows more effectively among multiple co-located guest operating systems, achieving a better disk I/O perfor- mance without any loss of reliability.

[...]Guillain-Barré syndrome associated with SARS-CoV-2 might follow the pattern of a parainfectious profile, instead of the classic postinfectious profile, as reported in Guillain-Barré syndrome associated with Zika virus.3,4 However, the limitation of this case is absence of microbiological testing on admission. [...]the patient's fever and respiratory symptoms developed 7 days after the onset of Guillain-Barré syndrome symptoms. [...]it is prudent to consider the alternative explanation that the patient coincidentally developed Guillain-Barré syndrome of unknown cause and acquired SARS-CoV-2 infection nosocomially; although, there was no report of COVID-19 in the neurological ward during her stay nor in her close contacts (except for her two relatives). Overall, this single case report only suggests a possible association between Guillain-Barré syndrome and SARS-CoV-2 infection, and more cases with epidemiological data are necessary to support a causal relationship.