The results show that the model based on the twin support vector regression is more accurate for predicting the material properties of aluminum alloy. Based on the established life prediction model, the fatigue life of pistons under actual service conditions is predicted. The calculation results show that the minimum fatigue life of the piston under plain condition is 2113.60 h, and the fatigue life under 5000 m altitude condition is 1425.70 h.Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) feature distinct magnetic properties that make them useful and effective tools for various diagnostic, therapeutic and theranostic applications. In particular, their use in magnetic drug targeting (MDT) promises to be an effective approach for the treatment of various diseases such as cancer. At the cellular level, SPION uptake, along with SPION-mediated toxicity, represents the most important prerequisite for successful application. Thus, the present study determines SPION uptake, toxicity and biocompatibility in human head and neck tumor cell lines of the tongue, pharynx and salivary gland. Using magnetic susceptibility measurements, microscopy, atomic emission spectroscopy, flow cytometry, and plasma coagulation, we analyzed the magnetic properties, cellular uptake and biocompatibility of two different SPION types in the presence and absence of external magnetic fields. Incubation of cells with lauric acid and human serum albumin-coated nanoparticles (SPIONLA-HSA) resulted in substantial particle uptake with low cytotoxicity. In contrast, uptake of lauric acid-coated nanoparticles (SPIONLA) was substantially increased but accompanied by higher toxicity. The presence of an external magnetic field significantly increased cellular uptake of both particles, although cytotoxicity was not significantly increased in any of the cell lines. SPIONs coated with lauric acid and/or human serum albumin show different patterns of uptake and toxicity in response to an external magnetic field. Consequently, the results indicate the potential use of SPIONs as vehicles for MDT in head and neck cancer.PolyJet™ 3D printers have been widely used for the fabrication of microfluidic molds to replicate castable resins due to the ease to create microstructures with smooth surfaces. However, the microstructures fabricated by PolyJet printers do not accurately match with those defined by the computer-aided design (CAD) drawing. While the reflow and spreading of the resin before photopolymerization are known to increase the lateral dimension (width) of the printed structures, the influence of resin spreading on the vertical dimension (height) has not been fully investigated. In this work, we characterized the deviations in both lateral and vertical dimensions of the microstructures printed by PolyJet printers. The width of the printed structures was always larger than the designed width due to the spreading of resin. Importantly, the microstructures designed with narrow widths failed to reproduce the intended heights of the structures. Our study revealed that there existed a threshold width (wd‘) required to achieve the designed height, and the layer thickness (a parameter set by the printer) influenced the threshold width. The thresholds width to achieve the designed height was found to be 300, 300, and 500 μm for the print layer thicknesses of 16, 28, and 36 μm, respectively. We further developed two general mathematical models for the regions above and below this threshold width. Our models represented the experimental data with an accuracy of more than 96% for the two different regions. We validated our models against the experimental data and the maximum deviation was found to be less then 4.5%. Our experimental findings and model framework should be useful for the design and fabrication of microstructures using PolyJet printers, which can be replicated to form microfluidic devices.Host-pathogen interactions are often studied in vitro using primary or immortal cell lines. This set-up avoids ethical problems of animal testing and has the additional advantage of lower costs. However, the influence of cell culture media on bacterial growth and metabolism is not considered or investigated in most cases. To address this question growth and proteome adaptation of Corynebacterium diphtheriae strain ISS3319 were investigated in this study. Bacteria were cultured in standard growth medium, cell culture medium, and fetal calf serum. Mass spectrometric analyses and label-free protein quantification hint at an increased bacterial pathogenicity when grown in cell culture medium as well as an influence of the growth medium on the cell envelope.The phenolic composition, as well as the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of two poorly investigated Achillea species, Achillea lingulata Waldst. and the endemic Achillea abrotanoides Vis., were studied. To obtain a more detailed phytochemical profile, four solvents with different polarities were used for the preparation of the plant extracts whose phenolic composition was analyzed using UHPLC-MS/MS (ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry). The results indicate that both of the investigated Achillea species are very rich in both phenolic acids and flavonoids, but that their profiles differ significantly. Chloroform extracts from both species had the highest yields and were the most chemically versatile. The majority of the examined extracts showed antimicrobial activity, while ethanolic extracts from both species were potent against all tested microorganisms. Furthermore, the antioxidant activity of the extracts was evaluated. It was found that the ethanolic extracts possessed the strongest antioxidant activities, although these extracts did not contain the highest amounts of detected phenolic compounds. In addition, several representatives of phenolic compounds were also assayed for these biological activities. Results suggest that ethanol is a sufficient solvent for the isolation of biologically active compounds from both Achillea species. Moreover, it was shown that the flavonoids naringenin and morin are mainly responsible for these antimicrobial activities, while caffeic, salicylic, chlorogenic, p-coumaric, p-hydroxybenzoic, and rosmarinic acid are responsible for the antioxidant activities of the Achillea extracts.Fewer Korean women are choosing the 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding that are recommended for obtaining its maximal benefits despite an increasing effort to promote breastfeeding. Successful breastfeeding education and counseling need to be segmentally designed on the basis of client characteristics. This study explored the perceptions of breastfeeding in pregnant and 6 month postpartum Korean women using the Q methodology, a useful research approach to examine personal perceptions, feelings, and values about a concept or phenomenon of interest and identify typologies of perspectives. The Q sample consisted of 38 statements representing the universe of viewpoints on breastfeeding. The P sample (N = 49) included women who shared their perceptions of breastfeeding and filled each grid with a statement in the Q sorting table. Data were analyzed using the PC-QUANL program. NSC697923 Varimax (orthogonal) rotation revealed four factors that explained 53.0% of variance maternal privilege (Factor 1), option based on emotion (Factor 2), option if efficient (Factor 3), and option if I have sufficient problem-solving skills (Factor 4). Korean women have changed their attitudes toward breastfeeding, with all participants viewing breastfeeding as optional. Breastfeeding-promotion campaigns and education need to consider societal norms and changes in women’s beliefs and perceptions.Physical activity referral schemes (PARS) are a popular physical activity (PA) intervention in the UK. Little is known about the type, intensity and duration of PA undertaken during and post PARS. We calculated weekly leisure centre-based moderate/vigorous PA for PARS participants (n = 448) and PARS completers (n = 746) in Northumberland, UK, between March 2019-February 2020 using administrative data. We categorised activity levels ( less then 30 min/week, 30-149 min/week and ≥150 min/week) and used ordinal regression to examine predictors for activity category achieved. PARS participants took part in a median of 57.0 min (IQR 26.0-90.0) and PARS completers a median of 68.0 min (IQR 42.0-100.0) moderate/vigorous leisure centre-based PA per week. Being a PARS completer (OR 2.14, 95% CI 1.61-2.82) was a positive predictor of achieving a higher level of physical activity category compared to PARS participants. Female PARS participants were less likely (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.43-0.97) to achieve ≥30 min of moderate/vigorous LCPA per week compared to male PARS participants. PARS participants achieved 38.0% and PARS completers 45.3% of the World Health Organisation recommended ≥150 min of moderate/vigorous weekly PA through leisure centre use. Strategies integrated within PARS to promote PA outside of leisure centre-based activity may help participants achieve PA guidelines.High expression of Junctional Adhesion Molecule-A (JAM-A) has been linked with poor prognosis in several cancers, including breast cancers overexpressing the human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2). Furthermore, JAM-A expression has been linked with regulating that of HER2, and associated with the development of resistance to HER2-targeted therapies in breast cancer patients. The purpose of this study was to establish a potential relationship between JAM-A and HER2 in HER2-overexpressing gastro-esophageal (GE) cancers. Interrogation of gene expression datasets revealed that high JAM-A mRNA expression was associated with poorer survival in HER2-positive gastric cancer patients. However, high intra-tumoral heterogeneity of JAM-A protein expression was noted upon immunohistochemical scoring of a GE cancer tissue microarray (TMA), precluding a simple confirmation of any relationship between JAM-A and HER2 at protein level. However, in a test-set of 25 full-face GE cancer tissue sections, a novel weighted ranking system proved effective in capturing JAM-A intra-tumoral heterogeneity and confirming statistically significant correlations between JAM-A/HER2 expression. Given the growing importance of immunohistochemistry in stratifying cancer patients for the receipt of new targeted therapies, this may sound a cautionary note against over-relying on cancer TMAs in biomarker discovery studies of heterogeneously expressed proteins. It also highlights a timely need to develop validated mechanisms of capturing intra-tumoral heterogeneity to aid in future biomarker/therapeutic target development for the benefit of cancer patients.Nucleoredoxin (NXN) is a redox regulator of Disheveled and thereby of WNT signaling. Deficiency in mice leads to cranial dysmorphisms and defects of heart, brain, and bone, suggesting defects of cell fate determination. We used shRNA-mediated knockdown of NXN in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells to study its impact on neuronal cells. We expected that shNXN cells would easily succumb to redox stress, but there were no differences in viability on stimulation with hydrogen peroxide. Instead, the proliferation of naïve shNXN cells was increased with a higher rate of mitotic cells in cell cycle analyses. In addition, basal respiratory rates were higher, whereas the relative change in oxygen consumption upon mitochondrial stressors was similar to control cells. shNXN cells had an increased expression of redox-sensitive heat shock proteins, Hsc70/HSPA8 and HSP90, and autophagy markers suggested an increase in autophagosome formation upon stimulation with bafilomycin and higher flux under low dose rapamycin. A high rate of self-renewal, autophagy, and upregulation of redox-sensitive chaperones appears to be an attractive anti-aging combination if it were to occur in neurons in vivo for which SH-SY5Y cells are a model.