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To achieve an accurate measurement of tread size after fixed-length cutting, this paper proposes a point-cloud-based tread size measurement method. Firstly, a mathematical model of corner points and a reprojection error is established, and the optimal solution of the number of corner points is determined by the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II), which reduces the reprojection error of the RGB-D camera. Secondly, to address the problem of the low accuracy of the traditional pixel metric ratio measurement method, the random sampling consensus point cloud segmentation algorithm (RANSAC) and the oriented bounding box (OBB) collision detection algorithm are introduced to complete the accurate detection of the tread size. By comparing the absolute error and relative error data of several groups of experiments, the accuracy of the detection method in this paper reaches 1 mm, and the measurement deviation is between 0.14% and 2.67%, which is in line with the highest accuracy standard of the national standard. In summary, the RGB-D visual inspection method constructed in this paper has the characteristics of low cost and high inspection accuracy, which is a potential solution to enhance the pickup guidance of tread size measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dragon fruit stem disease significantly affects both the quality and yield of dragon fruit. Therefore, there is an urgent need for an efficient, high-precision intelligent detection method to address the challenge of disease detection. To address the limitations of traditional methods, including slow detection and weak micro-integration capability, this paper proposes an improved YOLOv8-G algorithm. The algorithm reduces computational redundancy by introducing the C2f-Faster module. The loss function was modified to the structured intersection over union (SIoU), and the coordinate attention (CA) and content-aware reorganization feature extraction (CARAFE) modules were incorporated. These enhancements increased the model's stability and improved its accuracy in recognizing small targets. Experimental results showed that the YOLOv8-G algorithm achieved a mean average precision (mAP) of 83.1% and mAP50:95 of 48.3%, representing improvements of 3.3% and 2.3%, respectively, compared to the original model. The model size and floating point operations per second (FLOPS) were reduced to 4.9 MB and 6.9 G, respectively, indicating reductions of 20% and 14.8%. The improved model achieves higher accuracy in disease detection while maintaining a lighter weight, serving as a valuable reference for researchers in the field of dragon fruit stem disease detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thyroid hormones are metabolic indicators to evaluate the physical condition of emergency hospitalized patients, while the relationship between total triiodothyronine and the severity of emergency inpatients is still unclear. To explore the thyroid function levels of inpatients in emergency ward and the status of combined Nonthyroidal illness syndrome (NTIS), and to emphasize the importance of thyroid hormone examination for non-endocrinology inpatients. According to thyroid function of inpatients in emergency ward, they were divided into NTIS group and non-NTIS group, the hematological characteristics and TH levels of each group were analyzed. Based on clinical diagnoses, the hospitalized patients were divided into three major groups, namely infection group, non-infection group and impaired organ function group. Among them, infection group was further divided into sepsis group, lung infection group and local infection group, altogether five groups. The thyroid function levels and low values in each group were evaluated, and the correlation between hormone levels and inflammatory factors, nutritional indicators and the relationship with the risk of death was discussed. The inpatient rate in emergency ward complicated with NTIS was 62.29%, T3 was the most sensitive index of NTIS, followed by FT3. Compared to non-NTIS group, the NTIS group had an increased risk of death. The sepsis group and impaired organ function group had the highest rates of complicated NTIS, reaching 83.33% and 78.12% respectively. Spearman's correlation analysis implied T3/T4/FT3 levels were positively correlated with ALb and PLT (except T4), and negatively correlated with CRP, D-Dimer, IL-6 and Fer. The Receiver Operating Curve (ROC) and Area under the curve (AUC) showed T3 levels alone were strongly associated with the risk of death (AUC 0.750; 95% CI 0.673–0.828; P < 0.001). T3 is the most sensitive indicator for emergency patients, followed by FT3. The decrease of T3 level has a good predictive value for mortality risk. Thyroid function should be monitored in critically ill patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the current steel surface defect detection algorithms in practical applications involving low detection accuracy, an efficient and highly accurate strip steel surface defect detection algorithm, DEW-YOLO, is proposed in this paper. Firstly, by combining the advantages of deformable convolutional networks (DCNs), this paper innovates the C2F module in YOLOv8 and proposes a C2f_DCN module that can flexibly sample features to enhance the abilities of learning and expressing defect features of different sizes and shapes. Secondly, the explicit visual center (EVC) is introduced into the backbone network, which enhances feature extraction capabilities and adaptability and enables the model to better adjust features at different levels and scales. Finally, the original loss function is replaced with the Wise-IoU (WIoU) loss function to accurately measure the similarity between the target frames and improve the defect detection performance of the model. The experimental results on the NEU-DET dataset demonstrate that the algorithms proposed in this paper achieved a mean average precision (mAP) of 80.3% in steel surface defect detection tasks, which was a 3.9% improvement over the original YOLOv8 model. The model's inference speed reached 91 frames per second (FPS). DEW-YOLO effectively enhances the accuracy of steel defect detection and better satisfies industrial inspection requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single‐molecular organic photovoltaics (SMOPVs), which are based on monadic systems containing donor (D) and acceptor (A) molecule blocks that facilitate exciton dissociation, offer obvious advantages over binary or multicomponent bulk‐heterojunction (BHJ) systems, including simplified cell fabrication, stabilized morphology of the D/A interface, and extended device operation lifetime. However, limited by the development of A blocks, the power conversion efficiency (PCE, ≈5%) of SMOPVs based on molecular D–A dyads still lags conventional BHJ OPVs (over 19%). Herein, by introducing a narrow‐bandgap A–DA'D–A conjugated backbone as the A‐block, combined with the linear D‐block BDT‐3T‐R and flexible alkyl chain linker, two molecular dyads, SM‐1Y (one D‐block and one A‐block) and SM‐2Y (one D‐block and two A‐blocks), are designed and developed. Due to superior absorption spectra and better molecular stacking compared to SY‐1Y, SM‐2Y‐based SMOPV delivers a PCE of 8.13%, which is the highest value in the SMOPV reported thus far. Note that both SM‐1Y and SM‐2Y devices show much better storage and photostability stability as compared to the control BDT‐3T‐C6:Y18‐C3 binary system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fine-tuning of molecular aggregation and optimization of blend microstructures through effective molecular design strategies to simultaneously achieve high device efficiency and stability in all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) remain a significant challenge. This study presents a new design of random terpolymerization polymer acceptors (PAs) achieved by copolymerizing polymeric Y-series acceptors with congeneric molecules (TYTz-4F) that function as pendant structures. These PAs, PY-TYTz-x (x = 2.5, 5, and 10), exhibit similar absorption and energy levels but possess reduced electron mobilities and inferior molecular aggregation compared to PY-TYTz-0 (named PY-V-γ). Among these PA-based devices, power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 18.14% and 16.17% were achieved in rigid and flexible devices, respectively, by pairing PY-TYTz-5 with PM6 as the donor. Furthermore, the analysis of morphological characteristics and physical mechanisms confirmed the abovementioned performance results and also highlighted the advantage of this design strategy in improving the mechanical robustness of the devices. Impressively, in comparison to the control PA PY-TYTz-0, PY-TYTz-5 also exhibited much better compatibility with other classical polymer donors, including PBDB-T, PM7, D18-Cl, and PTQ10, thereby resulting in significantly improved performance in corresponding devices. This work underscores the potential of constructing random terpolymerization PAs with Y-derivative acceptor pendants in improving the donor/acceptor compatibility and facilitating the performance and commercial applications of all-PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self‐disclosure (SD) is a common psychological intervention that involves expressing the patient's feelings and thoughts. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of different themes of SD on cancer patients. We searched eight databases including PubMed, Cochrane Library Trials, Web of Science, CINAHL, Medline, EMBASE, CNKI and Wanfang from inception to July 2022. Other sources included clinical data registers. The Cochrane Collaboration's tool was used to assess the risk of bias in the included studies. RevMan Analysis software 5.3 was used for data analysis. The protocol of this meta‐analysis has been registered on PROSPERO (CRD42022339661). Twenty‐two RCTs studies were included. The pooled results demonstrated that self‐regulation self‐disclosure (SRD) had significant effects on patients' sleep quality, benefit‐finding, anxiety and quality of life (QOL), whereas emotional disclosure (ED) did not. Furthermore, enhanced self‐regulation self‐disclosure (ESRD) or cancer‐related self‐disclosure (CD) significantly improved patients' QOL, although health education self‐disclosure (HED) and positive self‐disclosure (PD) did not. Our study suggests that different themes of SD have varied effects on patients, but it remains unclear which themes to use at what point in time. Future research should investigate what themes of SD are adopted at different points in time and the duration of different periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymerization degree plays a vital role in material properties. Previous methodologies of molecular weight control generally cannot suppress or alleviate batch-to-batch variations in device performance, especially in polymer solar cells. Herein, we develop an in-situ photoluminescence system in tandem with a set of analysis and processing procedures to track and estimate the polymerization degree of organic photovoltaic materials. To support the development of this protocol, we introduce polymer acceptor PYT constructed by near-infrared Y-series small molecule acceptors via Stille polymerization, and shed light on the correlations between molecular weight, spectral parameters, and device efficiencies that enable the design of the optical setup and confirm its feasibility. The universality is verified in PYT derivatives with stereoregularity and fluoro-substitution as well as benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene-based polymers. Overall, our result provides a tool to tailor suitable conjugated oligomers applied to polymer solar cells and other organic electronics for industrial scalability and desired cost reduction. Polymerization degree plays a vital role in controlling material properties and batch-to-batch variations in device performance of polymer solar cells. Here, authors develop in-situ photoluminescence system in tandem to track and estimate the polymerization degree of organic photovoltaic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Backgrounds & Aims: The nutritional evaluation of pancreatic cancer (PC) patients lacks a gold standard or scientific consensus, we aimed to summarize and systematically evaluate the prognostic value of nutritional screening and assessment tools used for PC patients. Methods: Relevant studies were retrieved from major databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library) and searched from January 2010 to December 2023. We performed meta-analyses with STATA 14.0 when three or more studies used the same tool. Results: This analysis included 27 articles involving 6,060 PC patients. According to a meta-analysis of these studies, poor nutritional status evaluated using five nutritional screening tools Prognostic Nutritional Index (PNI), Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), Controlling Nutritional Status Score (CONUT), Nutrition Risk Screening (NRS2002) and Glasgow Prognostic Score (GPS) was associated with all-cause mortality in PC patients. But Modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS) did not. Of all tools analyzed, CONUT had the maximum HR for mortality (HR = 1.978, 95%CI 1.345–2.907, P = 0.001). Conclusion: All-cause mortality in PC patients was predicted by poor nutritional status. CONUT may be the best nutritional assessment tool for PC patients. The clinical application value of Short Form Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA-SF), Generated Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) and Patient-generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) in PC patients need to be confirmed. In order to improve patients' nutritional status and promote their recovery, nutritional screening tools can be used. Registration: This systematic review was registered at the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) (number CRD42022376715). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polygoni Multiflori Radix (PMR) is a medicinal herb commonly used in China and Eastern Asia. Recently, the discovery of hepatotoxicity in PMR has received considerable attention from scientists. Processing is a traditional Chinese medicine technique used for the effective reduction of toxicity. One uncommon technique is the braising method—also known as 'Wen‐Fa' in Chinese—which is used to prepare tonics or poisonous medications. Braised PMR (BPMR)—also known as 'Wen‐He‐Shou‐Wu'—is one of the processed products of the braising method. However, the non‐volatile components of BPMR have not been identified and examined in detail, and therefore, the hepatotoxic advantage of BPMR remains unknown. In this study, we compared the microscopic characteristics of different samples in powder form using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), investigated the non‐volatile components, assessed the effects of different processed PMR products on the liver, and compared the differences between BPMR and PMR Praeparata recorded in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2020 edition). We found that the hepatotoxicity of BPMR was dramatically decreased, which may be related to an increase in polysaccharide content and a decrease in toxic substances. The present study provides an important foundation for future investigations of the processing mechanisms of BPMR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pemigatinib is a selective fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR)1–3 inhibitor and has demonstrated acceptable tolerability and clinical activity in advanced solid tumors in Western population. This phase I trial evaluated pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) characteristics, preliminary safety and efficacy of pemigatinib in Chinese patients with advanced, solid tumors. Patients with unresectable advanced or metastatic solid tumors bearing FGF/FGFR1-3 alterations received oral pemigatinib at 13.5 mg once daily (QD) on a 2-weeks-on/1-week-off schedule. The primary endpoint was PK/PD characteristics; secondary endpoints were safety and efficacy. Twelve patients were enrolled (median age: 61 years, 58.3% males). PK data demonstrated pemigatinib (13.5 mg QD) was rapidly absorbed with a geometric mean elimination half-life of 11.3 h. The geometric mean values of maximum serum concentration and area under the plasma concentration–time curve from 0 to 24 h at steady state were 215.1 nmol/L and 2636.9 h·nmol/L, respectively. The mean clearance adjusted by bioavailability at steady state was low (11.8 L/h), and the apparent oral volume of distribution was moderate (170.5 L). The PD marker, serum phosphate level, increased on days 8 and 15 of cycle 1 (mean: 2.25 mg/dL, CV% [percent coefficient of variation]: 31.3%) and decreased to baseline post 1 week off. Three (25.0%) patients experienced grade ≥ 3 treatment-emergent adverse events. Partial response was confirmed in one patient with FGFR1-mutant esophageal carcinoma and one with FGFR2-mutant cholagiocarcinoma. Pemigatinib had similar PK/PD characteristics to Western population and demonstrated an acceptable safety profile and potential anti-cancer benefit in Chinese patients with FGF/FGFR1-3 altered, advanced, solid tumor. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04258527 [prospectively registered February 6, 2020]). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of organic solar cells (OSCs) is mainly related to the bulk heterojunction (BHJ) microstructure of specific active layer systems, which is often in a metastable state. A promising strategy to address the abovementioned shortcomings of BHJs is to develop single-component active layer materials. Owing to the single-component small molecule materials with defined chemical structures generally exhibit poor absorption spectra, herein we first introduced narrow bandgap Y-series acceptors into the molecular skeleton of single-component materials, and designed two molecular dyads, SM-Et-1Y and SM-Et-2Y. The optical bandgaps ( E g opt s ) of the two dyads are 1.364 and 1.361 eV, respectively, which are much smaller than those of previously reported single-component molecules. Consequently, the SM-Et-2Y-based single-component OSCs (SCOSCs) showed a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.07%, superior to SM-Et-1Y (2.53%), which is one of the highest PCEs reported for SCOSCs to date. Moreover, both SM-Et-1Y- and SM-Et-2Y-based devices exhibited excellent photo-stability, retaining over 90% of their initial performance after 250 h of continuous illumination. Our results provide a deeper understanding of the molecular backbone and a guiding principle for the rational design or selection of non-fullerene single-component materials with suitable donor/acceptor ratios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To analyze the interaction of positive coping style and quality of life (QoL) between survivors of pancreatic cancer and their family caregivers based on the Conceptual Framework of Caring Experience of Cancer Family and Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM). Methods. This study adopted a cross-sectional design that selected 200 pairs of survivors of pancreatic cancer and their family caregivers hospitalized in the First and Second Affiliated Hospitals of Nanjing Medical University from August 2020 to February 2021. Survivors of pancreatic cancer and their family caregivers completed Simple Coping Style Questionnaire and 12-item Short-Form Health Survey, whose results successfully built an APIM model. Results. The spousal relationship was the most common type of dyadic relationship. Family caregivers had higher levels of positive coping and QoL than cancer survivors. In terms of actor effects, the positive coping style of both survivors and caregivers significantly affected individual total scores of QoL and personal physical and psychological dimensions of QoL. As for the partner effects, the positive coping style of both survivors and caregivers significantly impacted their partners' total QoL scores and the positive coping style of survivors significantly impacted their caregivers' psychological level of QoL. Conclusions. The positive coping style of survivors of pancreatic cancer affects both their own QoL and their partner's QoL. Examining mutual effects between coping styles and QoL among survivors and their informal caregivers is an essential first step in providing comprehensive and cooperative care. The study has been reviewed by the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, and registration information has been sent to the central database of the World Health Organization International Clinical Trial Registration Platform for global retrieval. This trial is registered with ChiCTR2300074087. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel multi-objective (cost, delay, and reliability) auto-scaling optimisation model is proposed for micro-service workflows in containerised hybrid clouds. We compare the container-based model with VM-based model and conclude that the former significantly supersedes. The benchmark of three mainstream algorithms is conducted by the Hypervolume metric, showed that the performance of MOEA/D is inferior to NSGA family, and NSGA-III is not always superior to NSGA-II. So we design an improved NSGA-II based on dynamically changing crossover and mutation operators, which outperforms NSGA-III both in stability and performance by over 60% and 80% in all multi-scale tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Further advancement of all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) requires a new polymerization design strategy to develop ideal polymer acceptors that possess and retain maximally the advantages of narrow bandgap non-fullerene acceptor building blocks. In this work, we report a new design strategy to synthesize a polymerized small molecule acceptor PT-BTP with a double-cable structure composed of a fused-ring Y-series acceptor framework as a pendant side unit and thiophene derivative as the conjugated backbone. PT-BTP exhibits a narrow optical bandgap of 1.35 eV and high electron mobility as well as a favorable BHJ blend morphology when blended with polymer donor PM6, resulting in good photovoltaic performance. The optimized PM6:PT-BTP all-PSCs displayed a high PCE of 12.13% with an energy loss (Eloss) of 0.566 eV and a small non-radiative recombination loss (ΔE3) of 0.227 eV. In contrast, the as-cast devices only showed a lower PCE of 8.14% with inferior Eloss and ΔE3 values. This work enables a new molecular design direction to construct narrow bandgap PAs toward successful applications in high-performance all-PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scarcity of samples and disunity of feature inputs hinder the enhancement of transformer fault diagnosis performance, and there are mutual influences between model construction and feature selection, which cannot only consider a single process. Therefore, this study proposes a novel two‐stage transformer fault diagnosis strategy, which includes a multi‐filter interactive feature selection method (MIFS) constructed, and a diagnosis model ASSA‐SVM based on the adaptive sparrow algorithm (ASSA) optimised support vector machine (SVM). Firstly, the proposed MIFS incorporates ReliefF and mRMR to establish a comprehensive criterion ReliefF‐mRMR for feature importance ranking, and then performs dimension‐by‐dimension input classifier interaction selection based on the ranking results to obtain the optimal feature subset. Secondly, ASSA was proposed to optimise the kernel parameters of SVM. A two‐stage integration model MIFS‐ASSA‐SVM was developed. Finally, Experiments were conducted using real fault data, and the diagnostic performance of different feature inputs, optimisation algorithms and classifiers were compared. The results show that the proposed method performs well on parameter optimisation, can dynamically and interactively select feature subsets with few dimensions and good generalisation performance, its overall diagnosis accuracy reached 92.47%, and the diagnosis performance of each fault type has good performance in multiple evaluation metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using deep learning-based object detection algorithms for landslide hazards detection is very popular and effective. However, most existing algorithms are designed for landslides in a specific geographical range. This paper constructs a set of landslide detection models YOLOX-Pro, based on the improved YOLOX (You Only Look Once) target detection model to address the poor detection of complex mixed landslides. Wherein the VariFocal is used to replace the binary cross entropy in the original classification loss function to solve the uneven distribution of landslide samples and improve the detection recall; the coordinate attention (CA) mechanism is added to enhance the detection accuracy. Firstly, 1200 historical landslide optical remote sensing images in thirty-eight areas of China were extracted from Google Earth to create a mixed sample set for landslide detection. Next, the three attention mechanisms were compared to form the YOLOX-Pro model. Then, we tested the performance of YOLOX-Pro by comparing it with four models: YOLOX, YOLOv5, Faster R-CNN, and Single Shot MultiBox Detector (SSD). The results show that the YOLOX-Pro(m) has significantly improved the detection accuracy of complex and small landslides than the other models, with an average precision (AP0.75) of 51.5%, APsmall of 36.50%, and ARsmall of 49.50%. In addition, optical remote sensing images of a 12.32 km 2 group-occurring landslides area located in Mibei village, Longchuan County, Guangdong, China, and 750 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) images collected from the Internet were also used for landslide detection. The research results proved that the proposed method has strong generalization and good detection performance for many types of landslides, which provide a technical reference for the broad application of landslide detection using UAV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had a global impact and is spreading quickly. ChuanKeZhi injection (CKZI) is widely used in asthma patients. In this paper, we aimed to explore active compounds of CKZ and determine potential mechanisms against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) through network pharmacology, molecular docking and dynamic simulation studies. Materials and Methods: We used the Systematic Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCMSP) to screen active compounds and potential target proteins of CKZ. COVID-19 target genes were screened via the American National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) gene database and human gene database (GeenCards). The protein interaction network was constructed by the Protein Interaction Network Database (Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes/Proteins (STRING)) platform. GO enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis were performed by the Metascape database. The main active compounds of CKZ were docked with angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), spike protein S1, and SARS-CoV-2-3CL pro and also docked with hub targets. We performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulation studies for validation. Results: We finally obtained 207 CKZ potential targets and 4681 potential COVID-19 targets. Key targets included mainly AKT1, TNF, IL6, VEGFA, IL1B, TP53, JUN, CASP3, etc. There were 217 Gene Ontology (GO) items in the GO enrichment analysis (p < 0.05). The main KEGG pathways included the advanced glycation end products (AGE)- receptor for AGE (RAGE) signalling pathway in diabetic complications, rheumatoid arthritis, chemical carcinogenesis-receptor activation, alcoholic liver disease, etc. Molecular docking and dynamics simulation studies both exhibited great binding capacity. Conclusions: Network pharmacology, molecular docking and dynamics simulation studies were used to identify the potential and key targets, pharmacological functions, and therapeutic mechanisms of CKZI in the treatment of COVID-19. CKZI may be an effective and safe drug in COVID-19 treatment. However, further work is needed for validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lack of vascular tissue and the low metabolism and biological activity of mature chondrocytes lead to the low regeneration ability of articular cartilage. People try to solve this problem through various methods, but the effect is not very ideal. Inspired by the piezoelectric effect of collagen in cartilage tissue, this work focused on the design of a biomimetic hydrogel by introducing piezoelectric materials and silver nanowires into hydrogel to endow them with piezoelectric and antibacterial properties to promote tissue regeneration. Additionally, the mechanical and swelling properties of the material were adjusted to match natural articular cartilage. Based on bionic principles, a double-layer piezoelectric hydrogel was prepared and applied for the repair of osteochondral defects. An enhanced repair effect of osteochondral defects has been seen, which has demonstrated potential values for future application in bionics principle- and piezoelectric effect-based osteochondral tissue engineering. Furthermore, piezoelectric effect-induced degradation was observed. These results fully indicated the positive effect of the piezoelectric effect on promoting the regeneration of osteochondral tissue and in vivo degradation of materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This research aimed to provide evidence for the early identification and intervention of children at risk for auditory processing disorder (APD). Electrophysiological studies on children with suspected APDs were systematically reviewed to understand the different electrophysiological characteristics of children with suspected APDs. Methods: Computerized databases such as PubMed, Cochrane, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and EMBASE were searched for retrieval of articles since the establishment of the database through May 18, 2020. Cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies that evaluated the literature for the electrophysiological assessment of children with suspected APD were independently reviewed by two researchers for literature screening, literature quality assessment, and data extraction. The Newcastle–Ottawa Scale and 11 entries recommended by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality were used to evaluate the quality of the literature. Results: In accordance with the inclusion criteria, 14 articles were included. These articles involved 7 electrophysiological testing techniques: click-evoked auditory brainstem responses, frequency-following responses, the binaural interaction component of the auditory brainstem responses, the middle-latency response, cortical auditory evoked potential, mismatch negativity, and P300. The literature quality was considered moderate. Conclusions: Auditory electrophysiological testing can be used for the characteristic identification of children with suspected APD; however, the value of various electrophysiological testing methods for screening children with suspected APD requires further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drug resistance is an increasing problem in the treatment of vaginitis bacterial vaginosis and vulvovaginal candidiasis caused by biofilm-forming bacteria and fungi. In this study, the antimicrobial activities of the synergistic effects coordinated by antimicrobial peptides HPRP-A1, HPRP-A2, and chlorhexidine acetate (CHA), against biofilms caused by Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, and one fungus Candida albicans, were investigated in vitro and in mouse and rat infection models. The minimal biofilm inhibitory concentration and the fractional biofilm inhibitory concentration of HPRP-A1, HPRP-A2 alone and in combination with CHA were determined by classical methods. The crystal violet staining assay was used to determine the biomass of agents on biofilms. The MTT assay was used to determine the metabolic activity of agents on biofilms. Different microscopy assays were used to observe the morphological characteristics of bacterial and fungal biofilms after drug treatments. The extracellular polysaccharide was detected by a phenol–sulfuric acid method. The combined uses of HPRP-A1, HPRP-A2 and CHA exerted strong synergistic effects to inhibit the formation of bacterial and fungal biofilms and disrupt the construction of biofilms in vitro and in vivo. In animal vaginitis models, the drug combination reduced 99.9% of the number of bacterial and fungal CFU, and showed significant therapeutic effects against biofilm vaginitis. The mechanism of membrane disruption coordinated by the combination of drugs depends not only on the inhibition of extracellular polysaccharides secreted by bacterial and fungal cells, but also on the ability of the peptides to penetrate the cell membrane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Following acute ischemic stroke (AIS), approximately half of patients do not achieve recanalization after intravenous administration of tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA). Thrombolysis resistance is a possible reason for recanalization failure. Thrombolysis resistance is likely related to the ultrastructure and composition of the thrombus. However, there is a paucity of published information on the relationship between thrombus ultrastructure and thrombolysis resistance.Case Presentation: Two patients who underwent mechanical thrombectomy were observed within 4.5 h after stroke onset. One patient failed to respond to rt-PA (defined as thrombolysis resistant), and the other patient did not receive rt-PA treatment (non-rtPA). In each patient, the occluded artery was the internal carotid artery or middle cerebral artery. According to the Trial of ORG 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment classification, both patients had large atherosclerotic cerebral infarction. By scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), we found that the thrombus structure was significantly different between the two patients.Conclusion: Grid-like dense fibrin, compressed polyhedral erythrocytes, and large accumulation of neutrophils may be characteristics of thrombolysis resistant thrombi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Benzene (C6H6) is a typical kind of volatile organic compound (VOC) which can exert great harm to both human health and the environment, and, thus, which needs to be eliminated before its emission. In this work, porous manganese–nickel (Mn‐Ni) composite oxide catalysts were synthesized through the oxalate route and applied to thermal catalytic oxidation of C6H6. By means of activity tests and relative physico‐chemical characterizations, the factors affecting the activity of those Mn‐Ni composite oxides were explored. RESULTS: Nitrogen (N2)‐adsorption/desorption and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements indicated that the Brunauer–Elmett–Teller (BET) surface area and the content of surface‐adsorbed oxygen species were increased due to the addition of Ni into Mn oxide (MnOx). Meanwhile, the oxygen mobility and reducibility also were improved in the Mn‐Ni composite oxides. Accordingly, compared with MnOx, the Mn‐Ni catalysts showed higher activity for thermal catalytic oxidation of C6H6. Moreover, porous Mn‐Ni composite oxides with a Mn:Ni molar ratio of 4:1 (Mn4Ni1) displayed the best catalytic activity. Further investigation indicated that the excellent catalytic performance of Mn4Ni1 composite oxides could be ascribed mainly to the larger BET surface area and the richer content of surface‐adsorbed oxygen species, as well as stronger oxygen mobility and better reducibility compared with other Mn‐Ni catalysts. CONCLUSIONS: The Mn4Ni1 composite oxides showed a lowest T90 value of 172 °C (C6H6 concentration 200 ppm, WHSV 60 000 mL g−1 h−1) among all of the obtained Mn‐Ni composite oxides. Moreover, it also exhibited favourable catalytic stability at 210 °C in the presence or absence of moisture. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: To reduce the resistance and allergic reaction to chlorhexidine acetate (CHA) in the current treatment of (Bacterial vaginosis) BV and (vulvovaginal candidiasis) VVC in female vaginitis. In this study, the antimicrobial activities and mechanism of action of the synergistic effects of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) HPRP-A1 and HPRP-A2, and CHA, against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, and one fungus Candida albicans (C. albicans) were investigated in vitro and in mouse and rat vaginitis infection models in vivo. Results: HPRP-A1, HPRP-A2 and CHA showed significant synergistic effects on the antimicrobial activities against different Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and C. albicans. The combined application of HPRP-A2 and CHA exhibited strong synergistic effects in the mouse and rat vaginitis models caused by bacteria or C. albicans. Conclusion: This study may prompt the development of new drug combinations against vaginitis infections, including mixed bacterial and fungal infections and multi-drug-resistant infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Series of MnOx catalysts were synthesized through oxalate route and calcined at facile temperatures. Characterizations through XRD, N2-adsorption/desorption, HRTEM, C6H6-TPD, O2-TPD, XPS, and H2-TPR revealed that MnOx calcined at 250 °C (N250) with a main crystal phase of Mn2O3 showed micro-mesopores and largest specific surface area, and therefore had a high adsorption capacity of C6H6. N250 also presented better oxygen mobility, rich surface adsorbed oxygen species (Oads), and proper ratio of surface Mn4+/Mn3+. The starting temperature of H2-TPR of N250 was the lowest among the obtained MnOx samples. As a result, N250 exhibited the lowest T90 value of 191 °C in C6H6 thermal catalytic oxidation (WHSV 60,000 mL gcat.−1 h−1, initial C6H6 concentration 190 ppm) among all the catalysts, and this T90 value is lower than those reported in many research. At last, a potential reaction pathway was proposed according to the results of in-situ FTIR measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We analysed lncRNA expression profiles in atrial samples from patients with rheumatic mitral valve disease (RMVD) to identify the potential differences in atrial fibrillation (AF)‐associated lncRNAs between RMVD patients with AF and sinus rhythm (SR). Methods: Masson's trichrome staining and scanning electron microscopy were performed to evaluate the tissue morphology. Western blotting was performed to detect the expression of fibrosis‐related proteins. Difference analysis, Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and gene co‐expression networks were also adopted to perform IncRNA expression profile analysis in atrial samples. Results: Masson's trichrome staining indicated higher contents of fat deposition and fibrous tissue in atrial samples from patients with AF than from patients with SR. Western blotting showed that fibrosis‐related proteins, including smad2, TGFβ1, MMP9, and TIMP1, were upregulated in atrial samples from patients with AF compared to those from patients with SR. lncRNA expression profiles showed different lncRNA expression levels between RMVD patients with AF and SR. Moreover, GO, KEGG and gene co‐expression networks showed consistent results and indicated that differentially expressed genes might contribute to the pathogenesis of AF. Conclusion: Our results revealed the potential roles of IncRNAs in the development of AF in patients with RMVD, and lncRNAs may be responsible for morphological and physiological differences in atria between RMVD patients with AF and SR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Formaldehyde (HCHO) and ozone (O3) are seriously hazardous materials to human health, especially in the indoor environment, and need to be inhibited. Manganese dioxide (MnO2) catalysts have been extensively studied in the field of environmental pollution owing to their various morphologies and crystal structures. In this study, one‐dimensional rod‐like MnO2 catalysts were prepared by a hydrothermal method. The crystal form and other factors affecting the activity were explored through an activity test and various characterization methods. The decomposition process of HCHO and O3 on the most active catalyst was analyzed by in situ diffuse reflection infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS). Results: α‐MnO2 displayed the best catalytic performance and achieved 90% HCHO conversion, 100% carbon dioxide (CO2) yield and 100% O3 decomposition under different experimental conditions. The characterization results illustrated that the crystal phase of α‐MnO2 has a suitable tunnel structure for HCHO adsorption, also leading to greater mobility of adsorbed oxygen species, abundant oxygen vacancies and active surface oxygen species, which could be the reason for the superior catalytic performance of α‐MnO2. Formate and dioxymethylene (DOM) species were identified as the dominant intermediates by in situ DRIFTS. The surface hydroxyl (OH) group was confirmed to play an essential role in the complete oxidation of carbonaceous intermediates into harmless CO2 and water (H2O). Conclusion: α‐MnO2 exhibited the best catalytic performance among the as‐prepared samples and can efficiently eliminate HCHO and O3 in the environment. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Different levels of telemedicine systems have been built across China. To share high-quality medical resources and conduct centralized management of telemedicine systems, a regional telemedicine system (RTS) (such as a provincial level system) has been developed to integrate with small-scale telemedicine systems. Although the established systems offer integration services, they are tightly coupled systems, and not easily integrated with new systems. Meanwhile, with the increasing of input/output, it is difficult for them to run with high scalability, considering the cost of architecture redesign and further development. This article presents the design and implementation of regional integration system through a study in Henan, China, mainly aimed to integrate with heterogeneous small-scale telemedicine systems and provide high efficiency. Methods: A provincial telemedicine system and some city-level telemedicine systems have already been established. The provincial system has been built to act as a regional integration system to connect city-level systems. Adopting message-based technology, the provincial system achieves high availability and high scalability, respectively, through LevelDB + ZooKeeper and multicast. Results: The system achieved the centralized management of established telemedicine systems without restructuring their framework, improving high availability of RTS when one ActiveMQ service node in a group failed, and it did not negatively influence normal business logic when adding a new service node. At the same time, two "Master" state ActiveMQ service nodes provided services simultaneously, which enable the RTS to achieve high scalability. Conclusions: The message-based regional integration system enriched the RTS with high availability, easy extensibility, and provided a convenient way to integrate new small-scale telemedicine systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The effect of K2CO3 on modified Co3O4 was evaluated for the catalytic removal of formaldehyde (HCHO). The synthesized catalysts were characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), BET surface area, H2 temperature‐programmed reduction (H2‐TPR), CO2 temperature‐programmed desorption (CO2‐TPD) and in situ diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy (DRIFTS) analyses. RESULTS The results indicated that the Co3O4 sample modified by 3 wt% K2CO3 was able to provide 100% conversion of HCHO to CO2 at 100°C, while KNO3 and KCl could barely promote the catalytic performance of Co3O4. K2CO3 increased the valence state of Co and the number of oxygen vacancies on the surface of modified Co3O4, thereby enhancing the oxidation ability. The product water on the Co3O4 surface could convert the carbonate to bicarbonate via hydrolysis of K2CO3, which promoted hydroxyl regeneration and accelerated intermediate species oxidation. CONCLUSION Thus, the Co3O4 modified by an appropriate amount of K2CO3 exhibited an excellent performance for formaldehyde oxidation removal. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Studies have shown that skin exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) results in the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), thus altering the cellular function. The human epidermal skin layer is mainly composed of keratinocytes, which is damaged by UV-B radiation-induced intracellular oxidative stress. Neferine is an alkaloid extract from lotus seed embryos and is known to promote antioxidant activity. Objective: In this study for the first time, we investigated the photoprotective action of neferine, against UV-B-produced oxidative damage in human epidermal keratinocytes (HEKs). Methods: We established an in Vitro study model using HEKs. Cellular viability was determined by MMT assay kits. The intracellular oxidative stress was measured using ROS and malondialdehyde (MDA) assay kits. Endogenous antioxidants were measured by superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) assay kits. Photoprotective nature of neferine was further evaluated by analyzing the morphological and ultrastructural alterations in keratinocytes. Results: Neferine inhibit the UV-B-mediated increase in ROS and MDA levels in pretreated keratinocytes. The antioxidants, SOD and GPx activities were significantly high in neferine pretreated UV-B groups. Mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum damage were less evident in neferine-pretreated UV-B groups as compared with the control group, which might be associated with reduced oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation. Conclusion: Taken together, our results suggest that neferine can prevent UV-B-induced oxidative damage and may thus be a potential agent for prevention and treatment of skin damage and photoaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the effect of cracks in Vertisols and red earth on shear strength, the experimenters used imaging software and fractal dimension based on box dimension algorithm ideological and digital image technology in Vertisols and red earth in Fujian, china. Under different moisture content, direct shear tests are carried out on the samples, the relationship between the fractal dimension and shear strength is given. The results show that with the increase in the moisture content, the shear strength of the samples would decrease. The shear strength of two kinds of soils has a good correlation with fractal dimension and shear strength, which could be an identification index of the strength of two soils. There is a positive correlation of fractal dimension (D) and shear strength (τ), which can be formulated as τ = a + bD +cD2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the recent years, manifold learning methods have been widely used in data classification to tackle the curse of dimensionality problem, since they can discover the potential intrinsic low-dimensional structures of the high-dimensional data. Given partially labeled data, the semi-supervised manifold learning algorithms are proposed to predict the labels of the unlabeled points, taking into account label information. However, these semi-supervised manifold learning algorithms are not robust against noisy points, especially when the labeled data contain noise. In this paper, we propose a framework for robust semi-supervised manifold learning (RSSML) to address this problem. The noisy levels of the labeled points are firstly predicted, and then a regularization term is constructed to reduce the impact of labeled points containing noise. A new robust semi-supervised optimization model is proposed by adding the regularization term to the traditional semi-supervised optimization model. Numerical experiments are given to show the improvement and efficiency of RSSML on noisy data sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanocasting is a common strategy for creating nanostructured porous materials. The last step of the nanocasting process is the removal of the hard template to obtain the final replica. Here using Co3O4 as a model catalyst for the simultaneous soot–NOx removal reaction, we illustrate that the silica mold removal step, using hot sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or dilute hydrofluoric acid (HF) solutions, will significantly influence the final catalytic activity. Ordered mesoporous Co3O4 using HF to remove the template (m-Co3O4–F) exhibited slightly higher activity over bulk Co3O4 synthesized by the sol–gel method (b-Co3O4–S). While mesoporous Co3O4 obtained with a similar process using NaOH (m-Co3O4–Na) exhibited excellent activity in soot combustion and NOx reduction. The yield of N2 for m-Co3O4–Na was almost twice the amount of b-Co3O4–S. Experimental results reveal that NOx is stored as unstable nitrate species over m-Co3O4–Na due to the existence of homogeneous sodium species introduced by the removal process, hence favoring the oxidation of soot and reduction of NOx. This result not only highlights the importance of the NO reaction pathway in the simultaneous soot–NOx removal reaction but also affords a facile route to functionalize mesoporous oxide surface properties by varying the removal procedures, which unlocks strategies to optimize other reactions employing mesoporous materials synthesized by the nanocasting method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), common chemical contaminants found in office and home environments, are one of the main causes of sick building syndrome. To efficiently remove the VOCs in terms of energy efficiency, product selectivity, safety and durability is the main target for current indoor VOCs control study toward the aim for future commercial application. The main challenge to achieve this goal is represented by removal specific VOCs with low concentration under room temperature. In a chemical kinetics sense, this means overcoming the activation barriers to achieve considerable reaction rate for reactants with low concentration without the aid of increasing temperature. Assistance the VOCs catalysis degradation reaction with oxidizing species or pre-degradation the reactants to easier treated substances could also help to increase the reaction rate by providing an alternative route for the reaction with lower activation energy. This technique route thus holds great promise to achieve commercial application for indoor VOCs degradation study. Therefore, we provide here an overview of the efforts that have been developed already on combing traditional photocatalysis and catalysis technology with techniques capable of producing highly active species to remove indoor VOCs. The assistance techniques include, but not limited to technologies, such as vacuum ultraviolet, ozone, plasma. Special emphasis is placed on rational catalyst designing to meet the challenge of indoor VOCs removal in the kinetic sense. Last but not least, we also identified future opportunities for indoor air quality control including: (a) combining high-voltage electrostatics in the system using post catalyst bed configuration to solve the issues of VOCs abatement and particulate matter capture in one basket. (b) To obtain a more complete understanding of the mechanism underlying the combination effects, which is crucial to get a better catalyst designing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution contributes substantially to global health burdens; however, less is known about pollution patterns in China and whether they differ from those elsewhere. We evaluated temporal and spatial heterogeneity of air pollution in Lanzhou, an urban Chinese city (April 2009-December 2012), and conducted a systematic review of literature on air pollution and health in Lanzhou. Average levels were 141.5, 42.3, and 47.2 μg/m for particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤10 μm (PM), NO, and SO, respectively. Findings suggest some seasonality, particularly for SO, with higher concentrations during colder months relative to warmer months, although a longer time frame of data is needed to evaluate seasonality fully. Correlation coefficients generally declined with distance between monitors, while coefficients of divergence increased with distance. However, these trends were not statistically significant. PM levels exceeded Chinese and other health-based standards and guidelines. The review identified 13 studies on outdoor air pollution and health. Although limited, the studies indicate that air pollution is associated with increased risk of health outcomes in Lanzhou. These studies and the high air pollution levels suggest potentially serious health consequences. Findings can provide guidance to future epidemiological studies, monitor placement programs, and air quality policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilayered composites consisting of silica, carbon nanotubes ( CNTs), and continuous carbon fibers (Cf) were prepared by hot-pressing technique. Microstructures of different layer presented few pores of the composites. The thermal stability of the composites was analyzed by TG/ DTA measurement. After being heat treated at 400°C for 10 h, the composites retained the equivalent shielding property compared to room temperature, and the impedance matching property at material/wave interface was improved slightly. The multilayer CNTs/Cf/silica composites have not only the excellent absorbing properties but also the outstanding thermal stability, and it can be a promising candidate for high-temperature electromagnetic interference shielding applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing shortage of water resources has led to the development and adoption of aerobic rice system, which saves water input and increases water productivity by reducing water use during land preparation and limiting seepage, percolation, and evaporation. Aerobic rice also reduces labor requirement and greenhouse gaseous emission from rice field. In an aerobic rice system, the crop can be dry direct-seeded or transplanted and soils are kept aerobic throughout the growing season. Supplemental irrigation is applied as necessary. Aerobic rice cultivars are adapted to aerobic soils and have higher yield potential than traditional upland cultivars. Grain yields of 5-6 t ha can be reached in aerobic rice system. However, yield decline or even complete failure of aerobic rice under continuous monocropping threatens the widespread adoption of aerobic rice technology. Here, we review research findings on possible causes responsible for yield decline of continuous aerobic rice. Our main findings are: (1) both biotic and abiotic factors are involved in the continuous cropping obstacle of aerobic rice; (2) recent research focused on abiotic factors related to the continuous cropping obstacle, such as soil pH increase, ammonia toxicity, and nutrient deficiencies; and (3) strategies which will help in mitigating the continuous cropping obstacle of aerobic rice include selection of new aerobic rice cultivars, nutrient management practice, crop rotation, and soil acidification. Identifying the causes responsible for continuous cropping obstacle of aerobic rice and adopting effective strategies are crucial to achieve sustainability of aerobic rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Two lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains, Pediococcus pentosaceus SC1 and Lactobacillus paraplantarum SC2 isolated from king grass silage, were characterized and their effectiveness to improve the silage fermentation quality of stylo ( Stylosanthes guianensis Sw.) was studied. Strain SC1 was able to grow at a high temperature of 45°C, while SC2 did not. SC2 normally grew at a low pH of 4.0, while SC1 could not. These two strains and a commercial inoculant of LAB ( L. plantarum, LP) were used as additives to stylo silage preparation at various temperatures (20°C, 30°C and 40°C). All LAB inoculants significantly ( P < 0.05) reduced the pH value and ammonia-N content, and increased the ratio of lactic acid to acetic acid and quality score compared with the control. In addition, inoculating LAB strains markedly ( P < 0.05) reduced butyric acid content at the temperatures of 30°C and 40°C. Compared to SC2 and LP strains, strain SC1 was the most effective for improving stylo silage quality at 20°C, indicated by the increase in lactic acid, ratio of lactic acid to acetic acid and quality score. At 30°C and 40°C, there were no significant differences among SC1, SC2 and LP treatments in pH values, contents of acetic acid, butyric acid and ammonia-N ( P > 0.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The simultaneous catalytic removal of NOx and soot over the rare earth element (REE) oxide-based mixture oxides loaded with potassium and transition nanosized metal oxide (designated as M/K/REE oxide) was investigated by using temperature-programmed reaction (TPR). The influence of the type of REE oxides together with the type and amount of transitional metal oxides on the catalytic removal activity was discussed. K/Nd2O3 was found to be the most active oxide among the REE oxides to simultaneous remove the NOx and soot under lean conditions. Chromium oxide was more active than the other transition metal oxides on enhancing the activity of soot oxidation of Nd2O3 loaded with potassium. The optimum loading level of chromium was about 10 wt%, with ignition temperature at about 237°C and the conversion ratio NO → N2 about 24.1%. The Mn-loading on K/Nd2O3 resulted in the biggest conversion efficiency of NO to N2 at about 30.2%. The increasing catalytic reaction of NOx–soot activities is attributed to the formation of complex crystalline phase in the catalyst together with the improving contacting between catalysts and soot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to investigate the impairment of mitochondrial membrane phospholipid localization and DNA3867 (mtDNA3867) deletion and the correlation between cardiac and skeletal muscle cells in mice with viral myocarditis, 50 BALB/c mice were divided into two groups randomly. In experimental group ( n=40), the mice were intraperitoneally injected with 0.1 mL Eagle liquid with CVB3(TCID50=108), while in the control group ( n=10), the mice were subjected to equal volume of Eagle liquid. The impairment of mitochondrial membrane phospholipid localization and mtDNA3867 deletion rate of cardiac and skeletal muscle were detected separately at day 3, 11 and 24 after injection. The correlation of mitochondrial membrane phospholipid localization and mtDNA3867 deletion rate between cardiac and skeletal muscle cells cells was analyzed using Spearman method. At the day 3 after injection, in both cardiac and skeletal muscle cells, mtDNA3867 deletion rate was significantly higher in experimental group than in control group ( P<0.05), but the localization of mitochondrial membrane phospholipid showed no difference between two groups ( P>0.05). At day 11 after injection, the mtDNA3867 deletion rate of both cells in experimental group was increased to the peak level ( P<0.05), and the impairment of mitochondrial membrane phospholipid localization of both cells also increased markedly in experimental group as compared with control group ( P>0.05). At the day 24 after injection, the impairment of mitochondrial membrane phospholipid localization and mtDNA3867 deletion of both cells showed a recovery tendency, but still severer than those at the day 3 after injection ( P<0.05). The impairment of mitochondrial membrane phospholipid localization and mtDNA3867 deletion were consistent and synchronistic between cardiac and skeletal muscle cells, and showed good correlations ( P<0.05). The impairment of mitochondria plays an important role in the pathogenesis of viral myocarditis, and the skeletal muscle cells might act as a peripheral “window” to reflect the mitochondrial damage of cardiac myocytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A magnetically separable photocatalyst Bi12TiO20/SiO2/NiFe2O4 (BSN) with a typical ferromagnetic hysteresis was prepared by a simple process: the magnetic 200wt% SiO2/NiFe2O4 (SN) dispersion prepared by a liquid catalytic phase transformation method and the visible-light-active photocatalyst Bi12TiO20 prepared by a simple coprecipitation processing were mixed, sonificated, dried, and calcined at 550°C. The prepared photocatalyst showed high photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methyl orange in water under UV irradiation and visible-light irradiation (λ>400nm), and it was easy to be separated from a slurry-type photoreactor under the application of an external magnetic field, being one of promising photocatalysts for wastewater treatment. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) were used to characterize the structure of the photocatalyst, indicating that the magnetic SN particles adhered to the surface of the Bi12TiO20 congeries. SiO2 layer round the surface of NiFe2O4 nanoparticles prevented effectively the injection of charges from TiO2 particles to NiFe2O4, which gave rise to the increase in photocatalytic activity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]