High Stress Research Articles

The Correlation of Vessel Wall Macrophage Infiltration with Hemosiderin in Arteriovenous Malformations

Endothelial dysfunction, induced by high shear stress from increased nidal blood flow, may promote a cycle of inflammation, possibly leading to instability and cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) rupture. Macrophages, identified with CD68, are key inflammatory components in AVM pathology. We aim to evaluate the relationship of inflammation with AVM flow and hemosiderin. This is a retrospective study of archived tissue. Adult patients (2002-2022) with baseline quantitative magnetic resonance angiography (QMRA) imaging, no embolization, and history of microsurgical resection (n=17), with both ruptured (n=9) and unruptured cases (n=8). Brain AVM sections were stained with CD68 to quantify vessel wall macrophage infiltration and hematoxylin and eosin stain as a control and to quantify hemosiderin. QMRA with noninvasive optimal vessel analysis (NOVA) was reviewed, and AVM flow was calculated. Statistical analyses were performed. There were no significant differences between macrophage infiltration and patient demographics, Spetzler-Martin grade, eloquence, venous stenosis, nidus compactness, volume, and AVM flow. Vessel wall macrophage infiltration positively correlated with patients who presented with confirmed AVM rupture (163.8 +/- 46.7 vs. 101.3 +/- 49.4, p=0.017). Increases in vessel wall macrophage infiltration were found to positively correlate with higher grades of hemosiderin (p=0.023), except for grade 4 hemosiderin. Venous anomaly showed a negative association with macrophage infiltration (p=0.035). These findings suggest a relationship between AVM vessel wall inflammation, hemosiderin, and hemorrhage presentation. Further investigations with larger sample sizes are warranted to understand the role of altered hemodynamics, hemosiderin deposition and inflammation in AVM vessel walls.

The source characteristics and ground motion parameters measure with structural damages of Mw6.4, 2018 Hualien earthquake Taiwan from GPS data

On February 6, 2018, a moderate earthquake with a magnitude of ML6.2, known as the 0206 earthquake, struck Hualien in eastern Taiwan, resulting in significant destruction, 17 fatalities, and over 300 injuries. This research investigates the kinematic source model of the earthquake by inverting coseismic Global Positioning System (GPS) displacement recordings from the area surrounding the epicenter. The inverted source model indicates that most asperities above the hypocenter are minor, with large slips occurring at depths shallower than 10 km, which contributed to the severe damage in Hualien City. Additionally, we calculated the Coulomb stress changes at depths ranging from 6 km to 14 km, revealing that most aftershocks within a month occurred within a Coulomb stress range of >0.1 bar, extending from shallow to deep and from southwest to northeast of the epicenter. Notably, despite high Coulomb stress, few aftershocks were generated in the western part of the epicenter, suggesting a seismic gap that may lead to a more significant earthquake in the future. Two years later, two moderate earthquakes (ML=5) occurred at depths of 17.53 and 12.1 km in the region where Coulomb stress had increased, validating our predictions. Furthermore, by applying the derived seismic source model and a stochastic semi-empirical technique to assess five parameters related to building damage, we found that all damaged buildings were within the danger alert level, with some located along the Meilun Fault, indicating that the destruction was due to the combined effects of the 0206 earthquake and the fault's induced movement.

In-plane dynamic analysis of supershear rupture transition due to poroelastic pressurization

Summary Although pore fluid has received increased attention in the problems of earthquake rupture, its effects on coseismic rupture are not fully understood. In this paper, we numerically simulate dynamic rupture in saturated poroelastic media to study the interplay between poroelastic pressurization and rupture evolution. Particular attention is paid to the physical process of the supershear transition. The spontaneous rupture is assumed to be governed by slip weakening law and the fault is treated as a leaky interface where pore pressure equilibrium is delayed. Results show that the pore pressure induced by coseismic mechanical deformation can strengthen the fault on the extensional side but weaken the fault on the compressional side. As a result, the poroelastic pressurization on the compressional side can promote the occurrence of the transition to supershear rupture while its strengthening effect on the extensional side can suppress this transition even in the state of high initial shear stress. Meanwhile, it is found that the permeability distribution along the fault plane also affects rupture evolution. Faults with nucleation zones located in low permeability regions are more likely to undergo a supershear rupture.

Local adaptive insulation in amorphous powder cores with low core loss and high DC bias via ultrasonic rheomolding

Amorphous powder cores are promising components for next-generation power electronics. However, they present inherent challenges of internal air gaps and stresses during cold compaction, which significantly deteriorate soft magnetic properties. Here, we report the formation of a local adaptive insulation structure of biconcave lens in amorphous powder cores by ultrasonic rheomolding. Consequently, compared with conventional cold-compacted powder cores, the ultrasonic rheomolded powder cores offer significant simultaneous improvements in the permeability from 31.3–32.4 to 41.8–43.3 and the direct-current bias performance from 69.4–69.7% to 87.4–87.8% (7960 A/m), thereby overcoming the trade-off between permeability and direct-current bias performance. In particular, their core losses are as low as 13.73–15.45 kW/m3, approximately one twentieth of that of the cold-compacted powder cores (282.84–304.03 kW/m3) at a magnetic field of 100 mT and 100 kHz. The biconcave-lens insulation structure can effectively buffer the impact of high mechanical stress on the magnetization of magnetic powder particles, allowing for the ultrasonic rheomolded powder cores to maintain better magnetization efficiency and consequently resulting in excellent soft magnetic properties under the cooperative effect of very low internal stresses and low porosity. The ultrasonic rheomolded powder cores can be used as alternative core components in next generation miniaturized power electronics.

Using Resistivity Structure to Study the Seismogenic Mechanism of the 2021 Luxian Ms6.0 Earthquakes

Over the past few years, there has been a noticeable change in the occurrence of seismic disasters in Sichuan, China. The focus has shifted from Western Sichuan to the previously more stable Southeastern Sichuan. The recent Ms6.0 earthquake in Luxian, Southeastern Sichuan, on 16 September 2021, has once again captured the interest of scholars, who are closely examining the seismogenic environment and potential seismic hazards in the region. We conducted a magnetotelluric (MT) array survey in the Luxian earthquake area to explore the deep seismogenic environment of the 2021 Luxian Ms6.0 earthquake zone and understand the potential effects of industrial extraction on seismic activities. Here are the insights we obtained: Underneath the anticline in the Luxian Ms6.0 earthquake area, there is a structure that mainly exhibits high resistance. On the other hand, beneath the syncline, a structure with medium to low resistance is observed. The epicenter of the mainshock was identified near the intersection of high- and low-resistance media within the Fuji syncline area. Smaller aftershocks that followed the mainshock were mainly concentrated in the low-resistance layers at depths of 3–5 km in the Fuji syncline area. MT survey results have confirmed the existence of a detachment zone in the shallow crust near the epicenter of the Luxian Ms6.0 earthquake. It is believed that this detachment layer played a significant role in the seismogenic process of the Luxian Ms6.0 earthquake. During different stress conditions, this layer became active and caused the compression and faulting of a hidden fault below, resulting in the Luxian Ms6.0 earthquake. After the main earthquake, a series of smaller aftershocks with varying focal mechanisms occurred as the stress fields continued to release. It is important to note that the Luxian Ms6.0 earthquake highlights the ongoing high stress levels in the southern region of the Sichuan Basin. This emphasizes the need for continued monitoring and consideration of potential seismic hazards in the southern Sichuan area.

The Exposure Height of Silicon Particle with Round Edges Effect on the Tribological Property of Al-Si Alloy Cylinder Liner

In order to improve the wear resistance of Al-Si alloy cylinder liners, surface treatment is usually used. The Al-Si alloy cylinder liner samples were prepared by mechanical grinding and laser finishing. The mechanical grinding samples were carried out by the independent design and development of a grinding machine. The laser finishing samples were laser-heated by a CO2 continuous transverse-flow laser. Both of the two surface treatments could provide the surfaces of protruding silicon particles with round edges to improve the wear resistance. However, in the exposure height of silicon particles with round edges, the study was lacking. The exposure height of silicon particles is important to the tribological properties of the Al-Si alloy cylinder liner, and should be analyzed in detail. The wear tests were completed by a contraposition reciprocating wear test rig under lubrication. It was found that when the silicon particles were exposed on the surface of the Al-Si alloy cylinder liner sample by 1.2 μm, the mechanical grinding samples and laser finishing samples all exhibited minimum friction coefficients and weight losses. This paper confirms that a suitable exposure height of silicon particles would reduce the probability of adhesion wear and abrasive wear of Al-Si alloy cylinder liners and increase the lubrication. It presents an excellent tribological property. However, when the exposure height of silicon particles is too high, the silicon particle is easily prone to plastic deformation or even falls off during the friction process due to the high stress and larger plastic contact index.

Participation and Well-Being of Chinese Mothers Who Have Children With Disabilities.

High stress and compromised mental health are well-documented among mothers of children with disabilities, but less is known about the factors that influence their participation and well-being, especially among Chinese mothers. Identifying these factors could lead to strategies to mitigate potential risks to maternal well-being. To explore the relationships among participation in health-promoting activities, perceived stigma, perceived support, and well-being of ethnic Chinese mothers who have children with disabilities. Cross-sectional survey. Community. Ethnic Chinese mothers (N = 261) with children with disabilities of any age residing in Australia, Singapore, or Taiwan. Health Promoting Activities Scale, Personal Wellbeing Index, Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale; Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, Parental Perceptions of Public Attitudes Scale, and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Moderate to strong correlations were found between mental well-being and all measures. The frequency of participation in health-promoting activities was a predictor of mental well-being (β = .21, p = .001). Perceived support was the strongest predictor of participation in health-promoting activities (β = .25, p = .005), mental well-being (β = .39, p < .001), and personal well-being (β = .45, p < .001). Perceived stigma predicted psychological distress (β = .32, p < .001) and mental well-being (β = -0.29, p < .001). Perceived support and stigma affected mothers' participation in health-promoting activities and well-being. Therapists can facilitate mothers' engagement in health-promoting activities and develop strategies to address stigma and enhance support. Plain-Language Summary: This research highlights factors that affect the well-being of ethnic Chinese mothers who have children with disabilities and provides cultural insights for occupational therapists who work with Chinese families. The article also encourages pediatric occupational therapists to address the occupational needs and well-being of mothers in parallel with therapy for their children. We discuss occupation-focused strategies, family-centered perspectives, and health promotion approaches in relation to improving the participation and well-being of ethnic Chinese mothers in their cultural context.

Creep behavior of BFRP-confined coal gangue concrete under sulfate and high stress conditions

To recycle the coal gangue more economically and effectively, the basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) and coal gangue concrete (CGC) are combined to form a novel supporting structure in the underground mines, BFRP-confined CGC (FCGC). However, the underground mine environment is rich in sulfate corrosive ions, and meanwhile, the structure is subjected to a high sustained load. Thus, this paper presents an experimental and theoretical investigation on the long-term deformation properties of FCGC under sulfate and high stress conditions. The effects of inner concrete, FRP layer, stress-to-strength ratio, sulfate concentration and load duration time on the shrinkage and creep behavior were clarified in detail. The findings indicate that the shrinkage of FCGC is relatively lower as the BFRP confinement weakens the moisture exchange between inner CGC and external environment. In addition, under sulfate and high stress conditions, the creep strain and specific creep increase continuously in the early stage, while the growth rate gradually slows down in the later stage, where the high stress-to-strength ratio is the key factor. Moreover, when compared with a single high stress condition, the creep strain of FCGC is relatively larger under sulfate and high stress coupling conditions, attributed to the sulfate corrosion on the BFRP wraps. Theoretically, the ACI 209 was modified to predict the nonlinear creep of CGC, by introducing the coal gangue influence coefficient and the increasing coefficient of nonlinear creep. Furthermore, based on the creep model of CGC and BFRP, the nonlinear calculation model of FCGC was developed considering the creep of CGC under a triaxial-stress state and the interaction between inner CGC and BFRP confinement. Validations against the experimental results show that the nonlinear creep model of FCGC works well.

Plastic evolution and phase transition mechanisms in γ-TiAl nano polycrystal by a molecular dynamics simulation

γ-TiAl based alloys are widely regarded as one important high-temperature structural material, however the deformation behaviors are still not clearly clarified. The microscopic plastic deformation and phase transition of γ-TiAl nano polycrystals under compression are investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. The results show that the initial plasticity is dominated by slip of partial dislocations whose continuous formation and secondary slip on the same slip plane result in the generation and disappearance of intrinsic stacking faults (ISFs). At the strain of about 0.2, a continuous structure transformation of “ISF → ESF → TB” is observed, during which the interaction between different ISFs causes the atomic misalignment corresponding to the change in atomic stacking order near ISF. As the compressive strain exceeds 0.2, the FCC-to-BCC phase transition occurs within polycrystals due to the high Mises stress, the high stress level within grains facilitates the expansion of BCC phase from initial FCC phase, and the newly formed BCC phase maintains the atomic-arrangement orderliness of original phase. The interface between FCC and BCC phases obeys the low-energy Kurdjumov-Sachs orientation relationship. This work is helpful for better understanding the atomic-scale deformation behaviors and provides a theoretical guidance for designing high-performance alloy materials.

Psychological and Biological Stress Pathways as Common Mechanisms Underlying a Psycho-Neurological Symptom Cluster in Cancer Patients: Perceived Stress, Cortisol, and ACTH

ObjectiveThis study aimed to examine (a) whether psychological stress is associated with experiencing multiple psycho-neurological symptoms (depression, cognitive impairment, fatigue, sleep disturbance, and pain) as a cluster and (b) whether stress hormones (adrenocorticotropic hormone [ACTH] and cortisol) are associated with psychological stress and symptom cluster experience. MethodsThis cross-sectional study analyzed data from 133 patients with hematologic cancer awaiting chemotherapy. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays analyzed the morning stress hormone levels (ACTH and cortisol). Latent profile analyses identified the group experiencing a psycho-neurological symptom cluster. Factors influencing the experience of the psycho-neurological symptom cluster were included as covariates and analyzed using multinomial logistic regression. ResultsThirty-three percent (n=44) experienced all five psycho-neurological symptoms as a cluster and experienced each symptom in a higher severity than those who did not experience the symptom cluster (ps <.05). Thereby, this group legitimately experienced the psycho-neurological symptom cluster. The major determinant of this group was the perceived psychological stress (OR = 8.05, 95% CI = 3.08; 20.99). Further, each symptom demonstrated a positive association with stress levels (correlation r ranged from 0.22 to 0. 56, all ps < 0.05). Participants with higher stress were more likely to experience the symptom cluster. Stress hormones levels (ACTH and cortisol) were neither associated with the symptom cluster experience nor with psychological stress levels. ConclusionsPsychological stress, rather than biological stress response, is involved in experiencing the psycho-neurological symptom cluster. Managing stress levels would help alleviate this symptom cluster.

Effect of vehicular vibrations on L-4 lumbar vertebrae – A finite element study

Lower Back Pain (LBP) is a global health issue, with increasing prevalence, partly attributed to vehicular vibrations experienced by motorcyclists. The L4 lumbar vertebra is responsible for greater mobility and flexibility of the body, but also is the most crucial body element affected by vehicular vibrations. Anthropometric properties, types of speed humps, and vehicle types are the critical variables that impact bone health during riding, need to be studied. To understand the potential zones of injury, computational simulation can be performed under the influence of vehicle vibrations while crossing different types of speed humps at varying speeds. In the present study, finite element method (FEM) is used to evaluate stress and deformation in the bone. The L4 cortical bone is modelled by considering the CT-Scan data and assumed to be homogeneous and isotropic material. Vibration data is collected using two vehicle types (Type I and Type II) on four different humps (Trapezoidal, Bitumen Semi-circular, Rubber Semi-circular, and Rumble strip). The bone's dynamic behavior is studied using FEM simulation, which involved static structural, modal and transient dynamic analyses. The findings from static analysis indicate that the most concentrated stress is located in the lower pedicle region and is an expected commonplace for injuries because of vibrations. In transient dynamic analysis, Type I vehicle showed a 25 % higher stress than Type II.

The investigation on the bending fatigue properties of Ti-6Al-4V lattice sandwich structures fabricated EB-PBF

In this study, lattice sandwich structures of Ti-6Al-4V alloy with simple cubic (SC) and rhombic dodecahedron (RD) unit cells were prepared by electron beam powder bed fusion (EB-PBF) technique. Through a combination of finite element simulation and experimental investigation, the effect of lattice cell shape and heat treatment on the bending fatigue performance of these lattice sandwich structures was studied. The results show that the underlying fatigue mechanism of the RD lattice sandwich structure is primarily dominated by cyclic ratcheting of the lattice. In contrast, for the SC lattice sandwich structure, the fatigue mechanism involves an interaction of cyclic ratcheting and fatigue crack initiation and propagation of the lattice. During the cyclic deformation process, the struts of the lattice unit cells in the SC lattice sandwich structure mainly undergo buckling deformation. Under the same bending deformation strain, the struts experience much higher stress in the SC lattice sandwich structure, making them more susceptible to crack initiation and resulting in a quick fatigue failure. Therefore, the fatigue performance of the RD lattice sandwich structure is significantly superior to that of the SC lattice sandwich structure. Heat treatment result in the enhanced plasticity of parent materials of the lattice sandwich structure, leading to improved resistance to cyclic strain accumulation during fatigue processes and an increase in fatigue strength.

Hubungan antara Stress Akademik dengan Fatigue pada Mahasiswa Universitas Negeri Padang

Fatigue is a subjective state of exhaustion associated with reduced motivation, activity, prolonged mental, or boredom that occurs in situations. Academic stress is a form of stress that occurs due to stressors in the teaching and learning process or things related to learning activities. This study aims to determine the relationship between academic stress and fatigue in students. This study uses quantitative methods with Pearson product moment analysis. The population of this research is Padang State University students from 2021 to 2023. The sampling technique for this study used stratified random sampling with a total sample of 468 people. This research instrument uses the Perceived Sources of Academic Stress scale and the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory-Short From. Based on the results of the data obtained the value of r = 0.593 with p = 0.000 (sig. &lt;0.05). So it can be said that there is a positive relationship between academic stress and fatigue in Padang State University students from 2021 to 2023. The results show that the high academic stress felt by students is followed by an increase in fatigue felt by students. So it is expected to improve the overall well-being of students and support in achieving optimal academic results without excessive pressure.

Improving diabetic wound healing: The therapeutic potential of allulose supplement in diabetic skin tissue repair and inflammation modulation

The increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) worldwide presents significant challenges in the management of impaired tissue repair in diabetic skin wounds, which has emerged as a critical health concern. Addressing this issue while minimizing adverse effects remains crucial. Allulose has been shown to exhibit hypolipidemic and anti-inflammatory properties, alleviating obesity and atherosclerosis by improving insulin resistance and impaired glucose tolerance. However, its underlying effects and mechanisms in repairing diabetic skin damage remain poorly understood. In this study, we demonstrated that oral administration of allulose remarkably ameliorated T2DM-compromised skin tissue wound associated with the stimulation of skin granulation, surrounding tissue formation, and activated fibroblasts, under high-fat diet (HFD) feeding condition. In addition, administration partially promoted collagen deposition, reduced M1 macrophage polarization, facilitated neovascularization, and mitigated tissue inflammation in the T2DM rats upon HFD feeding. Moreover, allulose could significantly alleviate high glucose stress condition-induced inflammatory response, correlative with modulation of p38/NLRP3/Caspase-1 signaling. In addition, allulose could also ameliorate high glucose stress-compromised cell viability and proliferative capacity, related to stimulation of mTOR pathway in part. Taken together, our study revealed that T2DM compromised some certain factors which are crucial for skin tissue healing and wound repair upon HFD condition. The work highlighted the potential beneficial effects of orally administered allulose for healing diabetic skin wounds and supported a novel strategy for managing diabetes patients adjunctively with allulose dietary supplement.

Mechanical behavior of en-echelon joints under cyclic shear loading conditions: Roles of joint persistence and loading conditions

Studying the mechanical response of en-echelon joints under cyclic shear loading conditions can provide novel insights into the instability of jointed rock masses under seismic conditions. To investigate the effects of joint persistence, normal stress, cyclic distance, and shear velocity on the cyclic shear behavior of en-echelon joints, a series of cyclic shear tests in the laboratory was performed. Findings revealed that the failure morphography of en-echelon joints manifested through brecciated shear zones and abraded rupture surfaces, resulting in notable reductions in shear strength and significant compressibility. The degradation factor of shear strength ranged from 0.363 to 0.708 after ten cycles. The shear strength degradation factor showed an inverse relationship with joint persistence and normal stress while exhibiting a direct correlation with cyclic distance over ten cycles. En-echelon joints characterized by moderate joint persistence, high normal stress, small cyclic distance, and low shear velocity demonstrated increased cyclic friction strength. Moreover, normal stress and joint persistence exerted a more significant influence on shear strength compared to cyclic distance and shear velocity. For en-echelon joints, shear stiffness increased during small shear displacements with cycle number while decreased during large shear displacements; shear stiffness was inversely proportional to the cyclic distance and joint persistence, and directly proportional to the normal stress. Compressibility of en-echelon joints correlated directly with joint persistence, normal stress, cyclic distance, and shear velocity. Compared to normal stress and cyclic distance, joint persistence and shear velocity exhibited less influence on compressibility

Beta-cypermethrin-induced stress response and ABC transporter-mediated detoxification in Tetrahymena thermophila

β-Cypermethrin (β-CYP), a synthetic pyrethroid pesticide, is widely used for insect management. However, it also affects non-target organisms and pollutes aquatic ecosystems. Tetrahymena thermophila, a unicellular ciliated protist found in fresh water, is in direct contact with aquatic environments and sensitive to environmental changes. The proliferation of T. thermophila was inhibited and the cellular morphology changed under β-CYP stress. The intracellular ROS level significantly increased, and SOD activity gradually rose with increasing β-CYP concentrations. Under 25 mg/L β-CYP stress, 687 genes were up-regulated, primarily enriched in the organic cyclic compound binding and heterocyclic compound binding pathways. These include 8 ATP-binding cassette transporters (ABC) family genes, 2 cytochrome P450 monooxygenase genes, and 2 glutathione peroxidase related genes. Among of them, ABCG14 knockdown affected cellular proliferation under β-CYP stress. In contrast, overexpression of ABCG14 enhanced cellular tolerance to β-CYP. The results demonstrated that Tetrahymena tolerates high β-CYP concentration stress through various detoxification mechanisms, with ABCG14 playing a crucial role in detoxification of β-CYP.

Functional Identification of Two Glycerol-3-phosphate Acyltransferase5 Homologs from Chenopodium quinoa

Glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase5 (GPAT5) is the key enzyme in suberin biosynthesis in Arabidopsis, tomato and Sarracenia purpurea. However, little is known about whether GPAT5 function is conserved in halophytes. In this study, we identified two GPAT5 homologs, CqGPAT5a and CqGPAT5b, in Chenopodium quinoa, the typical halophyte. Using RT-qPCR, we found that CqGPAT5a and CqGPAT5b were highly expressed in quinoa roots and rapidly induced by high salt stress. CqGPAT5a and CqGPAT5b were localized to the endoplasmic reticulum and found to have glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase activity using yeast complementation assays. Compared with CqGPAT5b, CqGPAT5a showed relatively weaker function and less protein abundance when expressed in yeast, Arabidopsis or Nicotiana benthamiana. Subsequently, we identified a serine (S) to leucine (L) variation in the CqGPAT5a protein sequence (S251L) compared with CqGPAT5b, located in the connecting region between the second and third transmembrane domains. Site-directed mutagenesis together with yeast mutant complementation and transient expression in tobacco demonstrated that this variation significantly affected CqGPAT5a activity and protein abundance. These findings expand our understanding of GPAT5 and provide new evidence that GPAT5 may be functionally conserved in halophytes.

EMP1 knockdown mitigated high glucose-induced pyroptosis and oxidative stress in rat H9c2 cardiomyocytes by inhibiting the RAS/RAF/MAPK signaling pathway.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanism of EMP1 action in high glucose (HG)-induced H9c2 cardiac cell pyroptosis and oxidative injury. Rat cardiomyocytes H9c2 were exposed to 33 mM glucose for 24, 48, or 72 h to induce cytotoxicity. EMP1-siRNA, NLRP3 agonist Nigericin, and pcNDA-RAS were used to treat H9c2 cells under HG conditions. Cell Counting Kit (CCK)-8 assay showed that cell proliferation was decreased following HG induction, which was rescued by EMP1 knockdown. Our results also suggested that EMP1 siRNA transfection significantly decreased the apoptosis and pyroptosis of HG-induced cells, as indicated by the reduction of NLRP3 IL-1β, ASC, GSDMD, cleaved-caspase1 and cleaved-caspase3 levels in HG-induced H9c2 cells. In addition, EMP1 knockdown alleviated HG-induced mitochondrial damage and oxidative stress in H9c2 cells. NLRP3 activation reversed the inhibitory effects of EMP1 knockdown on pyroptosis and oxidative stress in HG-induced H9c2 cells. Mechanistically, we found that EMP1 knockdown suppressed the RAS/RAF/MAPK signaling pathway in HG-induced H9c2 cells. RAS overexpression blocked the protective effect of EMP1 knockdown on HG-induced H9c2 cell apoptosis, pyroptosis, and oxidative injury. Our findings suggest that EMP1 knockdown treatment might provide a novel therapy for diabetic cardiomyopathy.

Study on the mechanism and prevention system of creep induced instability of isolated coal pillars considering time effect

In response to the frequent occurrence of impact events in isolated coal pillars between the upper (lower) mountain areas of mining areas under conditions without obvious mining disturbance, this study takes multiple isolated coal pillar impact events that occurred in Zhaolou Coal Mine and Gengcun Coal Mine as examples. It conducts a mechanism study on the creep-induced impact ground pressure of isolated coal pillars considering the time effect. The occurrence of such impact ground pressure accidents often exhibits significant “lag” and “spontaneity”. Due to the unclear mechanism of occurrence and the difficulty in grasping the unloading timing, this type of impact ground pressure has become a typical hidden disaster, posing a serious threat to the deep mining of coal mines. Based on the analysis of the creep mechanical properties of coal and rock mass, the uniaxial compression acoustic emission creep test of coal body, and the FLAC3D numerical simulation, a creep instability impact mechanical model of coal and rock mass is established. This model reveals the mechanism of creep instability impact and the stress evolution law of coal and rock mass during creep. The mechanical and energy criteria for the occurrence of impact ground pressure in isolated coal pillars under the action of unstable creep are proposed. The study shows that the action of high ground stress is a necessary condition for the occurrence of "lag-type" impact ground pressure in isolated coal pillars. Long-term unstable creep will weaken the support strength of the entry. When the elastic energy accumulated in the isolated coal pillar exceeds its ultimate bearing capacity, impact instability will occur. Based on the mechanism of occurrence of such impact accidents, targeted deep hole blasting unloading measures are proposed, providing a good reference value for the prevention and control of "lag-type" impact ground pressure accidents in isolated coal pillars.

Structure-function relationship for functional films with constructed graded channels in dye/salt separation and fouling resistance

The structural assembly of polypyrrole particle stacking, combined with polydopamine space-filling, forms composite film with a network of interconnected fluid channels. The composite films achieve high water flus, separation efficiency and ratio of organic dyes/inorganic salts (flux: >600 L m−2 h−1 bar−1; dye rejection: ~100 %; salt rejection: <5 %). Simulation using different dye fouling models show that the dye only interacts at the surface, and hardly affects internal pores of the film throughout the filtration process. Owing to the patterned surface structure as constructed by microsphere arrangement and inter-structure adaptation assembly, the functional film has excellent contamination tolerance and rinsing regeneration for macromolecular pollutants. The results of computational fluid dynamics simulations further indicate that the high shear stress above the microspheres with vortex flow in the interstitial space has a positive effect on reducing contaminant deposition. In addition to the separation property, the composite film shows good structural stability and mechanical strength in various complex water environments, benefiting their future practical applications. This work unveils the structure-function relationship for composite function films with constructed graded channels in dye/salt separation, which is important for the design and future application of these functional films.