| 1. |
- Chen, Jiawei, et al.
(author)
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Inhibition of aquaporin-9 ameliorates severe acute pancreatitis and associated lung injury by NLRP3 and Nrf2/HO-1 pathways
- 2024
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In: International Immunopharmacology. - 1567-5769. ; 137
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Inflammation, apoptosis and oxidative stress play crucial roles in the deterioration of severe acute pancreatitis-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (SAP-ARDS). Unfortunately, despite a high mortality rate of 45 %[1], there are limited treatment options available for ARDS outside of last resort options such as mechanical ventilation and extracorporeal support strategies[2]. This study investigated the potential therapeutic role and mechanisms of AQP9 inhibitor RG100204 in two animal models of severe acute pancreatitis, inducing acute respiratory distress syndrome: 1) a sodium-taurocholate induced rat model, and 2) and Cerulein and lipopolysaccharide induced mouse model. RG100204 treatment led to a profound reduction in inflammatory cytokine expression in pancreatic, and lung tissue, in both models. In addition, infiltration of CD68 + and CD11b + cells into these tissues were reduced in RG100204 treated SAP animals, and edema and SAP associated tissue damage were improved. Moreover, we demonstrate that RG100204 reduced apoptosis in the lungs of rat SAP animals, and reduces NF-κB signaling, NLRP3, expression, while profoundly increasing the Nrf2-dependent anti oxidative stress response. We conclude that AQP9 inhibition is a promising strategy for the treatment of pancreatitis and its systemic complications, such as ARDS.
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| 2. |
- Ning, Rui, et al.
(author)
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Assessing progression limits in different grades of keratoconus from a novel perspective : precision of measurements of the corneal epithelium
- 2024
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In: Eye and Vision. - 2326-0254. ; 11:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: To assess repeatability and reproducibility of corneal epithelium thickness (ET) measured by a spectral-domain optical coherence tomographer (SD-OCT)/Placido topographer (MS-39, CSO, Florence, Italy) in keratoconus (KC) population at different stages, as well as to determine the progression limits for evaluating KC progression. Methods: A total of 149 eyes were enrolled in this study, with 29 eyes in the forme fruste keratoconus (FFKC) group, 34 eyes in the mild KC group, 40 eyes in the moderate KC group, and 46 eyes in the severe KC group. Employing the within-subject standard deviation (Sw), test-retest variability (TRT), coefficient of variation (CoV), and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) to evaluate intraoperator repeatability and interoperator reproducibility. Results: The repeatability and reproducibility of MS-39 in patients with KC were acceptable, according to ICC values ranging from 0.732 to 0.954. However, patients with more severe KC and progressive peripheralization of the measurement points had higher TRTs but a thinning trend. The current study tended to set the cut-off values of mild KC, moderate KC, and severe KC to 4.9 µm, 5.2 µm, and 7.4 µm for thinnest epithelium thickness (TET). When differences between follow-ups are higher than those values, progression of the disease is possible. As for center epithelium thickness (CET), cut-off values for mild KC, moderate KC, and severe KC should be 2.8 µm, 4.4 µm, and 5.3 µm. This might be useful in the follow-up and diagnosis of keratoconus. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the precision of MS-39 was reduced in measuring more severe KC patients and more peripheral corneal points. In determining disease progression, values should be differentiated between disease-related real changes and measurement inaccuracies. Due to the large difference in ET measured by MS-39 between various stages of disease progression, it is necessary to accurately grade KC patients to avoid errors in KC clinical decision-making.
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| 3. |
- Wang, Deyu, et al.
(author)
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FPGA-Based HPC for Associative Memory System
- 2024
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In: 29TH ASIA AND SOUTH PACIFIC DESIGN AUTOMATION CONFERENCE, ASP-DAC 2024. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). ; , s. 52-57
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Associative memory plays a crucial role in the cognitive capabilities of the human brain. The Bayesian Confidence Propagation Neural Network (BCPNN) is a cortex model capable of emulating brain-like cognitive capabilities, particularly associative memory. However, the existing GPU-based approach for BCPNN simulations faces challenges in terms of time overhead and power efficiency. In this paper, we propose a novel FPGA-based high performance computing (HPC) design for the BCPNN-based associative memory system. Our design endeavors to maximize the spatial and timing utilization of FPGA while adhering to the constraints of the available hardware resources. By incorporating optimization techniques including shared parallel computing units, hybrid-precision computing for a hybrid update mechanism, and the globally asynchronous and locally synchronous (GALS) strategy, we achieve a maximum network size of 150x10 and a peak working frequency of 100 MHz for the BCPNN-based associative memory system on the Xilinx Alveo U200 Card. The tradeoff between performance and hardware overhead of the design is explored and evaluated. Compared with the GPU counterpart, the FPGA-based implementation demonstrates significant improvements in both performance and energy efficiency, achieving a maximum latency reduction of 33.25x, and a power reduction of over 6.9x, all while maintaining the same network configuration.
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| 4. |
- Xu, Jiawei, et al.
(author)
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Modeling Cycle-to-Cycle Variation in Memristors for In-Situ Unsupervised Trace-STDP Learning
- 2024
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In: IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems - II - Express Briefs. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 1549-7747 .- 1558-3791. ; 71:2, s. 627-631
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Evaluating the computational accuracy of Spiking Neural Network (SNN) implemented as in-situ learning on large-scale memristor crossbars remains a challenge due to the lack of a versatile model for the variations in non-ideal memristors. This brief proposes a novel behavioral variation model along with a four-stage pipeline for physical memristors. The proposed variation model combines both absolute and relative variations. Therefore, it can better characterize different memristor cycle-to-cycle (C2C) variations in practice. The proposed variation model has been used to simulate the behavior of two physical memristors. Adopting the non-ideal memristor model, the trace-based spiking-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) unsupervised in-memristor learning system is simulated. Although the synaptic-level weight simulation shows a performance degradation of 7.99% and 4.07% increase in the relative root mean square error (RRMSE), the network-level simulation results show no accuracy loss on the MNIST benchmark. Furthermore, the impacts of absolute and relative C2C variations on network performance are simulated and analyzed through two sets of univariate experiments.
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| 5. |
- Zhang, Jing, et al.
(author)
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Understanding the magnetism-ductility trade-off in FeCoMn alloys: The role of the BCC-B2 transition and Mn occupancies
- 2024
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In: Materials & design. - : Elsevier Ltd. - 0264-1275 .- 1873-4197. ; 243
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The magnetism-ductility contradictory relationship presents a significant challenge in the development of magnetic alloys. The impact of the BCC-B2 transition, along with Mn site occupancy, on magnetism and ductility have been investigated by using first-principles calculations. The calculations involved the evaluation of magnetic moments, density of states (DOS), phase stability and ductility of FeCoMn alloys. The results of binary alloys confirm the enhancement of magnetism due to the BCC-B2 transition. Furthermore, the ordering phase transition can strengthen the magnetic interaction between Fe and Mn atoms, which is associated with minimal variations in the density of states of Fe and Mn in the B2 structure. Regarding the ductility of FeCoMn alloys, two factors contribute to increased brittleness. Firstly, the increased covalent component in bonding, as a result of the strong hybridization between different elements, leads to an increased brittleness. Secondly, the increased Peierls stress provides a larger resistance to dislocation motion, which also contributes to the increased brittleness. Finally, the Pearson correlation coefficients and data analysis indicate that VEC, spin polarizations and Mn content provide major contributions to the contradictory relationship between magnetism and ductility.
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| 6. |
- Zhang, Jing, et al.
(author)
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Unraveling the role of the BCC-B2 transition and V occupancies in the contradictory magnetism-ductility relationship of FeCoV alloys
- 2024
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In: Journal of Alloys and Compounds. - : Elsevier BV. - 0925-8388 .- 1873-4669. ; 997
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The contradictory relationship between magnetism and ductility restricts further applications of FeCoV alloys in high-performance electrical machines. The role of the BCC-B2 transition, accompanied by vanadium (V) site occupancies, in magnetic moments and ductility has been explored using first-principles calculations. The variations in magnetism and ductility of FeCoV alloys are attributed to the coupling of the BCC-B2 transition and V occupancies. When V replaces Fe atoms in the equiatomic B2-FeCo alloy, the superior magnetism observed in B2-Fe50-cCo50Vc alloys is a consequence of the enhanced local magnetic moment of Fe and the ferrimagnetic-ferromagnetic transition in the magnetic state. Moreover, due to the preferential V occupancy in the B2 phase, the B2-Fe46Co50V4 alloy exhibits comparable ductility to the BCC-Fe50Co46V4 alloy. The results indicate that the increased brittleness in the B2 phase arises from the raised Peierls stress and the enhanced covalent component in interatomic bonding, which is caused by the strong hybridization between Fe and Co atoms. Pearson correlation analysis illustrates that valence electron concentration (VEC) and V content are significant factors in the contradictory relationship between magnetization and ductility. The theoretical results demonstrate that tuning the V content and atomic occupancies is helpful to achieve a trade-off between magnetization and ductility in B2-FeCoV alloys.
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