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This study is intended to examine the efficacy of a non-irrigated bipolar RF clamp and explore the factors that can influence its performance on beating human hearts using the electrophysiology mapping method. A total of 83 atrial fibrillation (AF) patients were included in this study. Based on the Body mass index (BMI, kg/m2), the AF patients were divided into the normal group (18.5 ≤ BMI < 25) and the overweight or obese group (BMI ≥ 25). They all underwent a stand-alone surgical ablation through our off-pump biatrial mini-maze procedure. After we completed each time of ablation, the achievement of PV isolation was checked using the electrophysiology mapping method. The number of ablation times to achieve the PV isolation on the left and right PVs was recorded respectively. 86.7% (72/83) PV isolation on the LPV and 72.3% (60/83) PV isolation on the RPV could be achieved respectively after performing a single time of surgical ablation. Three times of ablations resulted in 100.0% PV isolation on the left and right PVs. In the normal BMI group, the ratio of patients who achieved a complete PV isolation after a single time of ablation was 83.7% (36/43), which was higher than the 60.0% (24/40) in the overweight or obese group. Performing three times of ablations resulted in 100% PV isolation on the left and right PVs. The bipolar RF clamp had a better performance on the LPV than on the RPV. The patients' BMI also influenced the Atricure clamp' s performance. • Performing three successive ablations maximized the lesion transmurality and resulted in 100% PV isolation. • The bipolar RF clamp had a better performance on the LPV than on the RPV. • BMI was the main factor that influenced the ablation efficacy of the bipolar RF clamp on the beating human hearts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To implement the human–robot interactions in a noisy environment, the speech improvement-based (SIB) stratified adaptive finite-time saturation control (SAFTSC) for omnidirectional service robot (OSR) is developed. From the outset, the feature vectors of nine designed speech commands are extracted from their frequency signals and then trained by multiclass support vector machine. Two background noises are on-line filtered with the characteristic: “the smaller error in power spectrum is, the larger recovery from noisy power spectrum is.” Comparisons among without or with noise, and filtering are addressed. To achieve the zero pose error of OSR in finite time, an adaptive finite-time indirect trajectory (AFTIT) is constructed. To track the AFTIT with the zero error in finite time, the adaptive finite-time saturation control (AFTSC) is also established. Both AFTIT and AFTSC possess nonlinear switching gain increasing the high-frequency motion capability to fulfill the classified speech command. Simply put, the proposed SIB stratified AFTSC includes the speech improvement for classification, the AFTIT, and the AFTSC. Besides the stability of the closed-loop system is verified by the Lyapunov stability theory, three categories of SIB experiments are compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation DNA replication is the key of the genetic information transmission, and it is initiated from the replication origins. Identifying the replication origins is crucial for understanding the mechanism of DNA replication. Although several discriminative computational predictors were proposed to identify DNA replication origins of yeast species, they could only be used to identify very tiny parts (250 or 300 bp) of the replication origins. Besides, none of the existing predictors could successfully capture the ‘GC asymmetry bias’ of yeast species reported by experimental observations. Hence it would not be surprising why their power is so limited. To grasp the CG asymmetry feature and make the prediction able to cover the entire replication regions of yeast species, we develop a new predictor called ‘iRO-3wPseKNC’. Results Rigorous cross validations on the benchmark datasets from four yeast species (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Kluyveromyces lactis and Pichia pastoris) have indicated that the proposed predictor is really very powerful for predicting the entire DNA duplication origins. Availability and implementation The web-server for the iRO-3wPseKNC predictor is available at http://bioinformatics.hitsz.edu.cn/iRO-3wPseKNC/, by which users can easily get their desired results without the need to go through the mathematical details. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Investigating adherence to the Atrial Fibrillation Better Care (ABC) pathway management and identifying gaps between the real world and established guidelines can lead to better integrated management of AF. Current data on adherence to ABC pathway management among community elderly patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) in Chinese communities is limited.Aim: To investigate the adherence to ABC pathway management among community elderly patients with AF in China.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data were collected from the 2020 National Basic Public Health Service Program database that includes health examination information for all residents > 65 years of age in Yuexiu, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. Demographic and clinical characteristics data from 197 community AF patients were obtained.Results: Among the 197 AF patients, 103 (52.3%) were male, 117 (59.4%) were ≥ 75 years of age, 127 (64.5%) had a senior middle school education or above, 84.3% were married, and 195 (99.0%) had medical insurance. The most common comorbidities were hypertension (72.1%, 142/197), dyslipidaemia (28.4%, 56/197), CAD (28.9%, 57/197), and diabetes (24.9%, 49/197). In terms of the ABC management pathway, 21.8% (43/197), 82.7% (163/197), and 31.5% (62/197) of AF patients were classified into the A-adherent group, B-adherent group, and C-adherent group, respectively. The level of adherence to ABC pathway management was very low (9.1%, 18/197) and independently associated with age and multimorbidity.Conclusion: The level of adherence to ABC pathway management in community elderly patients with AF was unsatisfactory. Further research is warranted to improve the integrated management of AF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To fulfill the advantageous characteristics of omnidirectional mobile service robot (OMSR), i.e., simultaneous translation and rotation, the proposed hierarchical adaptive fixed-time saturated control (HAFTSC) is designed and implemented. To begin with, the path tracking model of an OMSR, including kinematics, mechanical dynamics with the friction of each wheel and the transformation between OMSR's and world coordinates, and motor dynamics, is achieved. According to the model's feature, the adaptive fixed-time virtual reference input (AFTVRI) for indirect mode is first designed to obtain the assigned task, and then an adaptive fixed-time tracking control (AFTTC) is designed to deal with high frequency motion behaviors, e.g., sharp corner tracking, obstacle avoidance, and time-varying terrain. The main features of the proposed control contain the nonlinear switching surface and nonlinear switching gains such that under suitable conditions the zero pose error is achieved at the expense of a compromised chattering input. Finally, compared experiments between nonlinear and constant switching gains, including the piecewise straight path with 90 ° corner, one obstacle or three mats on the desired path, validate the potency and robustness of the proposed control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the potential factors associated with adherence to colonoscopy among participants who were preliminarily screened positive in a community‐based colorectal cancer screening program in China. Methods: This study analyzed data from 1219 out of 6971 community residents who were identified as positive cases by the well‐validated high‐risk factor questionnaire (HRFQ) or fecal immunochemical test (FIT) in the preliminary screening stage for colorectal neoplasms. Patients showing adherence to colonoscopy were defined as those who received positive results in a preliminary screening for colorectal neoplasms and later received a colonoscopy examination as required. The associations of social‐demographic factors, lifestyle behaviors, history of diabetes, body mass index (BMI), and risk factors in the HRFQ with adherence to colonoscopy were evaluated using logistic regression models. Results: Among 1219 participants who preliminarily screened positive, the top five risk factors reported by the participants were chronic constipation (25.9%), hematochezia (23.5%), family history of CRC in first‐degree relatives (22.1%), chronic diarrhea (21.8%), and history of polyps (16.6%). Around 14.2% of participants who preliminarily screened positive reported three or more risk factors, and the proportion was 26.2% among participants who were positive according to both HRFQ and FIT. Among all participants who were preliminarily screened positive, the multivariable results showed that those who were married (OR = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.12, 2.25, p = 0.01), had chronic diarrhea (OR = 1.34, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.78, p = 0.047), and had a positive FIT (OR = 1.60, 95% CI: 1.21, 2.10, p < 0.001 for patients who were negative according to HRFQ but positive according to FIT; OR = 2.12, 95% CI: 1.33, 2.78, p = 0.002 for patients who were positive for both HRFQ and FIT) were more likely to adhere to colonoscopy, while participants with a history of cancer (OR: 0.50, 95% CI: 0.31, 0.79, p = 0.003) were less likely to adhere to colonoscopy. The results among participants who were tested positive according to only HRFQ were similar to those among all participants who were tested positive according to HRFQ or FIT. However, among participants who were tested positive according to only FIT, we only found that those who were married (OR = 2.52, 95% CI: 1.08, 5.90, p = 0.033) had a higher odds of adhering to colonoscopy, while those with a history of diabetes (OR = 0.35, 95% CI: 0.13, 0.96, p = 0.042) were less likely to adhere to colonoscopy. Conclusion: Our findings provide evidence supporting the development of tailored interventional strategies that aim to improve adherence to colonoscopy for individuals with a high risk of colorectal neoplasms. Both barriers and facilitators associated with adherence to colonoscopy should be considered in supportive systems and health policies. However, further well‐designed prospective studies are warranted to confirm our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Observational studies on the association between neuroticism and coronary artery disease (CAD) are still rare, and the results of existing studies are not consistent. The present study aimed to explore causal associations of neuroticism with CAD. Methods: The summary-level data of GWAS for neuroticism and 12 items used to assess neuroticism were extracted from the UK Biobank, and included up to 380,506 participants. The general data for CAD were obtained from the CARDIoGRAMplusC4D consortium, which assembled 60,801 CAD patients and 123,504 non-cases. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with neuroticism and 12 items at genome-wide significance were explored as instrumental variables. Two-sample Mendelian randomization (TSMR) analyses were performed to evaluate causal associations amongst the genetically predicted neuroticism and 12 items with CAD. Results: The present TSMR study did not reveal the genetic association of neuroticism with CAD. The calculated ORs for CAD using inverse-variance weighted, weighted median, and MR-Egger analysis were 1.12 (p-value = 0.187), 0.99 (p-value = 0.943), and 0.82 (p-value = 0.683), respectively. Further TSMR analysis of 12 dichotomous items for assessing neuroticism suggested that mood swings genetically increased the risk of CAD (OR = 1.67, p-value < 0.001). Conclusions: This study reported no genetically causal association of neuroticism with CAD. The present study also found that mood swings may genetically increase the risk of CAD. These findings may highlight the potential of mood control as a preventive measure for CAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bone repair and regeneration can be enhanced through implantation of biocompatible and biodegradable scaffolds, which serve primarily as osteoconductive moieties. In this study, the mechanical properties and microenviroment of 3D printed poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) scaffolds are examined. Additionally, the proliferation and differentiation of human fetal osteoblasts are evaluated after 3 weeks of in vitro culture on the scaffolds. The results showed that the PLGA scaffolds examined had mechanical properties similar to that of trabecular bone, but was still much weaker compared to cortical bone. In addition to general porosity, the PLGA scaffolds also had micropores within macropore walls. Cultured human osteoblasts could proliferate upon seeding on the PLGA scaffolds. Alkaline phosphatase activity and osteonectin expression of the osteoblasts cultured on the PLGA scaffolds remained stable over three weeks, whilst expression of collagen type I and osteopontin decreased. The alkaline phosphatase activity of osteoblasts cultured on PLGA scaffolds is comparable with that from two commercially-available scaffolds -- OPLA and collagen scaffolds (Becton-Dickinson (BD) Inc., Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA). Hence, the results suggested that the PLGA scaffolds examined are conducive for promoting osteogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the martensite transformation of Ni 37.5 Co 12.5 Mn 35 Ti 15 ribbon was studied and regulated by the electric field-induced strain in the PMN-PT substrate. The reversible magnetocaloric effect in the Ni 37.5 Co 12.5 Mn 35 Ti 15 /PMN-PT composite was enhanced by manipulating transition paths under the coupling of magnetic field and electric field, which is significantly important for applications in solid-state refrigeration. With the assistance of E = +8 kV/cm, the reversible entropy change increased from 19.5 to 25.7 J/kgK at 294.5 K. Meanwhile, the reversible cooling temperature span was also enlarged. Hence, the reversible refrigerant capacity was enhanced from 83 to 131 J/kg, and the increase ratio reached 58%. On this basis, an active magnetic regenerating cycle facilitated by an electric field was designed. This work provides an effective method for enhancing reversible caloric effects in first-order phase transition materials via electric fields. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]