Objective. This study aimed to explore the clinical efficacy and relevant mechanism of Tripterygium glycosides combined with low molecular weight heparin calcium (LMWH) in the treatment of Henoch–Schönlein purpura nephritis (HSPN) in children. Methods. 64 cases of children patients with HSPN treated at Qilu Hospital (Qingdao) from January 2015 to May 2020 were selected and randomly divided into the control group and the observation group and 32 cases in each group. Conventional medical treatment was applied in the two groups, besides which the control group was given LMWH while the observation group was given Tripterygium glycosides based on the control group. The clinical efficacy and the indexes of clinical symptoms of the two groups were compared. Immune globulin level, fibrinogen content (FIB), prothrombin time (PT), platelet level (PLT), and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) level of the two groups were compared before and after the treatment. Results. The total effective rate in the observation group was significantly higher than that of the control group, and the recurrence rate in the observation group was lower than that in the control group. After treatment, urine red blood cell count and 24 h urine protein were obviously better than those of the control group. There was no statistically significant difference in PT between the two groups of children before and after treatment. The levels of PLT and FIB in the two groups of patients after treatment were significantly lower than before treatment, and the PLT levels in the observation group were lower than those in the control group. Conclusion. The combination of Tripterygium glycosides and LMWH had good clinical effects in the treatment of children with HSPN, and it could improve the clinical symptoms, the mechanism of which might be related to the increase of PT, a decrease of PLT, and the improvement of coagulation function.

The effect of cubic material nonlinearity on the propagation in a pipe of the lowest axially symmetric torsional wave mode has been investigated in this paper. Two cases, one that the material of the whole pipe is nonlinear, and the second that a small segment of the pipe is nonlinear, have been considered. For the first case, a first and a third harmonic have been obtained by the perturbation method. Analytical expressions for the two cumulative harmonics have been derived. The second case leads to a scattering problem. The segment produces nonlinear terms in the equation of motion, which can be regarded as a distribution of body forces. The problem is then reduced to a linear scattering problem. An analytical expression for the backscattered wave can be easily obtained by using the elastodynamic reciprocity theorem. Due to the low amplitude of the backscattered wave, the authors propose to add another higher frequency wave to the primary wave, to increase the total magnitude of the scattered wave. An example that the originally scattered wave is amplified 50 times by selecting proper frequencies is presented. Both cases considered here have a potential application to determine the material properties in a region of nonlinear material behavior.

This paper investigates the static behavior of a functionally graded circular plate made of magneto-electro-elastic (MEE) materials under tension and bending. The analysis is directly based on the three-dimensional governing equations for magnetoelectro-elasticity, with the boundary conditions on the upper and lower surfaces satisfied exactly and those on the cylindrical surface satisfied approximately (in the Saint Venant sense). The analytical solutions, derived with a direct displacement method, are valid for any functionally graded material (FGM) with its properties varying independently in a continuous manner along the thickness direction. For homogeneous materials, these solutions are degenerated to the ones available in the literature. Interesting relations are also found between the solutions for a functionally graded magneto-electro-elastic (FG-MEE) circular plate and those for an FGMEE rectangular beam, and even those for a functionally graded elastic beam when only the elastic displacements are considered. The beam solutions are also derived using a direct displacement method. Numerical examples are presented to verify the present analytical solutions, show the effects of material heterogeneity and multi-field coupling, and indicate the correspondence between the plate solutions and beam solutions.

Background The role of sine oculis homeobox 4 (SIX4) has been found in some malignant tumors. However, there have been few studies on the function of SIX4 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). This study aimed to explore the regulatory mechanism of SIX4 in ESCC. Methods RT‐qPCR and Western blot analysis were used to measure mRNA and protein expression. The function of SIX4 was investigated using CCK‐8, colony formation, flow cytometry, wound healing and transwell assays. A mouse xenograft tumor assay was designed to perform in vivo experiments. Results SIX4 was upregulated in ESCC and indicated poor clinical outcomes in ESCC patients. Functionally, knockdown of SIX4 inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in ESCC. In addition, the silencing of SIX4 inhibited cell migration, invasion and EMT in ESCC. More importantly, upregulation of SIX4 could activate the PI3K/AKT pathway in ESCC cells and promote tumor growth in vivo. Conclusions Upregulation of SIX4 indicates poor clinical outcomes in ESCC patients and promotes tumor growth and cell metastasis in ESCC.

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