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Background. The purpose of this research was to assess the relationship between the severity of diabetic retinopathy (DR) and indexes of left ventricle (LV) structure and function in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods. Retrospective analysis of 790 patients with T2DM and preserved LV ejection fraction. Retinopathy stages were classified as no DR, early nonproliferative DR, moderate to severe nonproliferative DR, or proliferative DR. The electrocardiogram was used to assess myocardial conduction function. Echocardiography was used to evaluate myocardial structure and function. Results. Patients were divided into three groups based on the DR status: no DR group (NDR, n=475), nonproliferative DR group (NPDR, n=247), and proliferative DR group (PDR, n=68). LV interventricular septal thickness (IVST) increased significantly with more severe retinopathy (NDR: 10.00±1.09; NPDR: 10.42±1.21; and PDR: 10.66±1.58; P < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the significant correlation of IVST persisted between subjects with no retinopathy and proliferative DR (odds ratio=1.35, P=0.026). Indices of myocardial conduction function were assessed by electrocardiogram differences among groups of retinopathy (all P

Supplementary Material 1

In this paper, we apply the method of Fourier transform and basis rewriting developed in arXiv:1910.13441 for the two-dimensional quantum double model of topological orders to the three-dimensional gauge theory model (with a gauge group $G$) of three-dimensional topological orders. We find that the gapped boundary condition of the gauge theory model is characterized by a Frobenius algebra in the representation category $\mathcal Rep(G)$ of $G$, which also describes the charge splitting and condensation on the boundary. We also show that our Fourier transform maps the three-dimensional gauge theory model with input data $G$ to the Walker-Wang model with input data $\mathcal Rep(G)$ on a trivalent lattice with dangling edges, after truncating the Hilbert space by projecting all dangling edges to the trivial representation of $G$. This Fourier transform also provides a systematic construction of the gapped boundary theory of the Walker-Wang model. This establishes a correspondence between two types of topological field theories: the extended Dijkgraaf-Witten and extended Crane-Yetter theories., Comment: 39 pages, 9 figures

ObjectiveTo assess the validity of the Broselow tape in estimating the weight of Chinese children in pediatric emergency.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in the emergency department of the Children's Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine (Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China) in March 2022. Broselow tape was used to estimate weight and its validity was compared with the advanced child life support (APLS) method.ResultsThe study included 442 children (mean age: 48 months; male-to-female ratio: 1.13:1). The < 10, 10–19 and > 19-kg groups included 44, 257, and 141 children, respectively. The color concordance rates of the Broselow tape-estimated weight in the three groups were 56.8, 57.2, and 68.1%, respectively. The percentage of weight estimations within 10% of actual weight were 65.8% (59.1, 65.8, and 68.1% for the 19-kg groups, respectively) and 44.8% (40.9, 50.6, and 35.5% for the < 10, 10–19 and > 19-kg groups, respectively) using the Broselow tape and the APLS method, respectively. The correlation between the Broselow tape estimated weight and actual weight was r = 0.931 (P < 0.0001, 95% CI: 0.918–0.943), while the correlation between actual weight and the APLS method calculated weight was r = 0.883 (P < 0.0001, 95% CI: 0.861–0.902). The mean percentage error using the Broselow tape was 1.0 ± 12.0% (P < 0.001 vs. −7.2 ± 17.2% of the APLS method).ConclusionThe Broselow tape may be an available method for predicting the weights of Chinese children in pediatric emergency.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to evaluate the value of fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the prenatal diagnosis of spinal neural tube defects.MethodsFrom August 2018 to January 2021, 56 fetuses with suspected spinal cord neural tube defects were treated by prenatal ultrasound in the Neurosurgery Department of the First Medical Center of the People's Liberation Army General Hospital. Fetal MRI was performed within 72 h after ultrasound diagnosis. Forty singleton fetuses were selected. Magnetic resonance examination was performed within 1 month after birth, and the diagnostic coincidence rates of prenatal ultrasound and fetal magnetic resonance examination in the prenatal diagnosis of spinal cord neural tube defects were compared and analyzed using postnatal magnetic resonance examination as the standard.ResultsThe coincidence rates of prenatal ultrasound and fetal MRI for the prenatal diagnosis of spina bifida were 71.4% (20/28) and 39.2% (11/28), respectively, and the difference was statistically significant. The coincidence rates of prenatal ultrasound and fetal MRI in the diagnosis of intraspinal lipoma were 52.6% (10/19) and 73.7% (14/19), respectively, and the difference was statistically significant.ConclusionFetal MRI has an advantage over prenatal ultrasound in detecting intraspinal lipoma. Prenatal ultrasound has an advantage over fetal MRI in detecting spina bifida.

It is important to further enhance the performance of green and efficient non-homogeneous catalysts for advanced oxidation process of Peroxymonosulfate (PMS-AOP) for green treatment of industrial wastewater. In this paper, nitrogen–sulfur co-doped MOFs-derived carbon material (CoSN@C) was prepared by one-pot synthesis followed by carbonization, and its morphological structure was characterized by XRD and SEM. After pyrolysis, the CoSN@C still maintained the dodecahedral morphology and structure of ZIF-67. The synergistic effects of S and N significantly elevated the activation of PMS. The results show that the CoSN@C + PMS system can effectively activate PMS to degrade Rhodamine B (RhB), with a rate constant (1.85 min−1) four times higher than that of the CoN@C + PMS system (0.44 min−1). The optimal catalytic process parameters of material dosage, PMS concentration, temperature, pH, and other parameters were also investigated for the activation of PMS to remove Rhodamine B. The cyclic experiment shows that the CoSN@C has excellent recyclability and the degradation rate of RhB still reached 88.9% after four cycles. Radical capture experiments and EPR tests showed that the CoSN@C + PMS system generated a large amount of SO4·− and ·OH radicals adsorbed on the catalyst surface and a certain amount of singlet oxygen, and the free radical pathway and non-radical pathway worked together to degrade RhB efficiently and rapidly. While non-radical pathway with singlet oxygen as main reactive oxygen species played a key role in the CoN@C + PMS system. This work provides a new idea for the rational design of non-homogeneous catalysts for PMS-AOP system.

A coupling process of electrodialysis with oxime hydrolysis reaction for preparing hydroxylamine sulfate was developed in this work. The three steps, including the oxime hydrolysis, the hydroxylamine protonation reaction, and the separation process, are integrated into a triple-chamber electrodialysis stack. In this novel method, the impacts of current density, oxime concentration, and reaction time were investigated. The results indicated that the decomposition voltage is above 1.93 V. Furthermore, the current density is 4.69 × 10−2 A cm−2, the oxime concentration is 1.00 mol L−1, and when reaction time reaches 600 min, the yield of hydroxylamine sulfate is 67.59%. Moreover, the process has excellent mass transfer performance, mild reaction conditions, and simple operation compared with conventional methods. This work will provide a theoretical basis for the green and continuous manufacture of hydroxylamine sulfate and a guide for preparing other hydroxylamine salts through such hydrolysis methods.

For a pulse tube cryocooler, the expansion efficiency of the pulse tube is important and is strongly related to the flow inside. Conventionally, flow straighteners are used at both ends of the empty pulse tube to ensure a uniform flow. This approach complicates the system and also becomes a source of flow losses. In this paper, a partly tapered pulse tube that has a tapered section at the ambient end is used to replace the flow straightener. Its performance was compared with that of a conventional straight pulse tube without or with flow straightener at the ambient end numerically and experimentally. Simulation results show that the flow straightener is necessary in the straight pulse tube due to the influence of jet-driven streaming in the location where abrupt cross-sectional area change occurs. The partly tapered pulse tube can effectively eliminate the need for flow straightener. The expansion efficiency is the highest (about 94%) for the partly tapered pulse tube, while an efficiency of 88% is obtained with the straight pulse tube with a flow straightener. Experiments have been conducted; the cooling power of the straight pulse tube without flow straightener, the straight pulse tube with flow straightener, and the partly tapered pulse tube is 3.9, 28, and 29 W, respectively. The cooling power of the straight pulse tube with flow straightener and that of the partly tapered pulse tube are almost the same, which indicates that the partly tapered pulse tube can effectively eliminate the need for an ambient flow straightener.

Xu Zhou,1 Jun Chen,2 Hua Tao,1,2 Yujie Cai,1 Lidan Huang,1 Haihong Zhou,2 Yanyan Chen,1 Lili Cui,1 Wangtao Zhong,2 Keshen Li3 1Guangdong Key Laboratory of Age-Related Cardiac and Cerebral Diseases, Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang, Guangdong 524001, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang, Guangdong 524001, People’s Republic of China; 3Institute of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University, Zhanjiang, Guangdong, 524001 China; Stroke Center, Neurology & Neurosurgery Division, Clinical Medicine Research Institute & The First Affiliated Hospital, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510630, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Hua Tao; Keshen LiAffiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical University No. 57, Renmindadaonan Road, Xiashan District, Zhanjiang, Guangdong 524001, People’s Republic of ChinaTel/ Fax +86 759 2387 427; +86 759 2386 772 Email taohua1943@126.com; likeshen1971@126.comIntroduction: To confront the resistance to existing antiepileptic drugs, studies have gradually begun to investigate alternative pathologies distinct from the traditional treatments that overwhelmingly target ion channels. Microglia activation is the first inflammatory response in the brain, in which miR-155-5p plays a key proinflammatory role and thus represents a promising target for inflammatory modulation in epilepsy pathologies.Methods: In this study, a pentetrazol-induced acute seizure model was established, and the seizure degree was evaluated within 60 min after pentetrazol administration. Animals were then sacrificed for hippocampal tissue collection for biological experiments.Results: Intranasal delivery of miR-155-5p antagomir (30 min before pentetrazol administration) increased the percentage of animals with no induced seizures by 20%, extended the latency to generalized convulsions, and decreased seizure severity. In addition, miR-155-5p antagomir treatment alleviated hippocampal damage and decreased the expression of typical inflammatory modulators (TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6). Further research revealed that intranasal delivery of miR-155-5p antagomir significantly decreased the relative level of miR-155-5p and increased the expression of its targets LXRα and SOCS1 in IBA1-labeled microglial cells in the hippocampus.Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that intranasal delivery of miR-155-5p antagomir alleviated acute seizures, likely by blocking hippocampal inflammation. However, other potential mechanisms of the effects of miR-155-5p antagomir and its long-term safety for epilepsy treatment remain to be investigated.Keywords: intranasal delivery, epilepsy, pentetrazol, inflammatory response, miR-155-5p

The results of experimental and theoretical studies of curing kinetics of epoxy-binder-based glass- and carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics (GFRPs and CFRPs) are presented taking into account the exothermal effects. The simulation of the temperature fields and curing degree was performed as a function of the heating rate. It was found that the exothermal effects significantly influence the curing gradients and are considerably lower than at high heating rates (5 K/min). For all the studied heating rates, the temporal values were found for which equalization of the temperature fields and curing degrees over the sample volume occurs.

application/pdf, 論文(Article), This paper aims to clarify the status and features of environmental consciousness in rural China by focusing on analyzing people’s satisfaction towards the environment and expectation towards the environmental change. Analysis results based on the 508 cases that collected from 51 villages in Ningyang county indicated that people in rural areas were holding positive evaluations towards the environment as well as on their lives. People in rural areas were satisfied with the present environmental quality and were more likely to hold a positive expectation towards the future environmental change.

Use of electronic media has been shown to be associated with tobacco and alcohol consumption behavior among adult population. Currently, not much is known about the risk factors of tobacco and alcohol consumption in Guyana. The present study aimed to explore the association between exposure to electronic media and tobacco and alcohol consumption by adjusting for the sociodemographic correlates.MethodsData were obtained from the sixth round of Guyana Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 2019–20). Sample population were 2,208 men and 5,872 women aged between 15 and 49 years. Outcome variables were self-reported lifetime use of tobacco and alcohol, and the main explanatory variables were the use of electronic media such as internet, television and radio. Data were analyzed using descriptive and multivariable regression analysis in Stata version 17.ResultsOverall, 55.5% (95% CI = 53.4, 57.6) men and 44.5% (95% CI = 42.4, 46.6) women reported ever smoking tobacco, while the percentage of ever drinking alcohol was 34.2% (95% CI = 32.9, 35.4) and 65.8% (95% CI = 64.6, 67.1) among men and women, respectively. Internet users had significantly higher odds of ever consuming tobacco and alcohol, however, the association was not uniform across the sociodemographic variables. For smoking, the positive association with internet use was observed for women only (OR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.09, 1.59), whereas, for alcohol consumption the association with internet use was significantly positive among both men (OR = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.58, 2.09) and women (OR = 1.84, 95% CI = 1.22, 2.70). Men and women who ever tried alcohol drinking had (OR = 4.64, 95% CI = 3.16, 6.82) and (OR = 10.62, 95% CI = 7.83, 14.40) times higher odds of trying tobacco smoking.ConclusionCurrent findings indicate over a quarter of the participants reported ever smoking tobacco and more than three-fifths ever drinking alcohol. Electronic media use, especially that of internet, is a strong predictor of tobacco and alcohol consumption among Guyanese adults. Results also revealed a strong interrelation between alcohol and tobacco smoking, and suggesting that strengthening the tobacco prevention programs may reduce the prevalence of alcohol drinking as well.

Additional file 4: SupplementaryTable 3.Comparison of behaviorsrelated to myopia between the twoCohorts according to age

Additional file 3: Supplementary Table 2. Comparison ofbehaviors related to myopia between boys or girls in two groups

Additional file 1. Results of the mediating effect analysis.

Additional file 4: SupplementaryTable 3.Comparison of behaviorsrelated to myopia between the twoCohorts according to age

Additional file 1

Additional file 2: SupplementaryTable 1.Comparison of SER and AL (AL/CR) in myopia or non-myopia between two groups.

Heterogeneous electro-Fenton (hetero-EF) process is an emerging alternative for effective oxidation of recalcitrant micropollutants, but it is hampered by limited hydroxyl radical (•OH) generation and low stability on the iron-based cathodes. Herein, we demonstrate an enhanced hetero-EF performance via modulation of iron electronic structure in an ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC). By tuning the cobalt incorporation, the highly-dispersed iron-cobalt (FeCo) nanoalloys in mesochannels (Fe0.5Co0.5@OMC) show a 3-fold increase in •OH yield compared with Fe@OMC, achieving degradation efficiency with 92% of sulfamethazine (SMT) and 99% of rhodamine B (RhB), and the corresponding total organic carbon (TOC) removal with 66% of SMT and 85% of RhB within 2 h in neutral pH, respectively. Experimental results and density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrate that iron incorporated with cobalt reduces energy barrier for facile generation of H2O2 and •OH from O2 through direct electron transfer, along with decreased overpotential. Meanwhile, cobalt doping promotes H2O2 decomposition by accelerated Fe(II)/Fe(III) cycle and Co(II)/Co(III) redox. Furthermore, spatially confined and half-embedded structure endows the nanocatalyst (8 nm) excellent durability within a wide pH value range and good stability in cycle tests. A plausible reaction mechanism and degradation pathway for SMT are proposed. Moreover, the superiority of Fe0.5Co0.5@OMC cathode is maintained in simulated wastewater, suggesting an enormous potential in practical wastewater treatment.

The results of experimental and theoretical investigations of the carbon plastic properties of the LUP carbon tape and epoxy binder are given. A copper coating was applied on the surface of the carbon tape by the magnetron sputtering LUP method, and the thermal conductivity and thermal capacity for the carbon fiber were determined. A simulation of the kinetics of the sample heating process (in the process of curing) was carried out, and the temperature values on the surface in the middle of the samples depending on their dimensions were found. It was established that application of the carbon tape with the copper coating allows quicker and uniform heating.

As a new type of acoustoelectric conversion method, bi-directional impulse turbine provides great potential for developing large scale and economic thermoacoustic power generators. In this paper, the performance of bi-directional impulse turbine with fixed guide vanes has been studied via 2D CFD modelling by commercial software Fluent. Firstly, the effects of blade structure and gas flow incident angles on the shaft power and efficiency have been investigated. Then the performance of the turbine has been studied under both steady and oscillating flow. Additionally, flow field features for the turbine in oscillating flow were presented for a better understanding. The results show that optimal flow incident angle for shaft power and efficiency are 20° and 70° respectively which indicates the difficulties in turbine design. The angles of the fluid including the gas flow incident angle and the blade angle are the most important parameter for turbine performance. The shaft power of rotor blades is more sensitive to the blade angle around the optimal incident angle region while the efficiency is not. The optimum flow coefficient is 2-3for maximum efficiency both in steady flow and oscillating flow. Increasing of the incoming flow oscillation frequency decrease the efficiency of the turbine. This loss mainly due to increased flow hysteresis effect which make the flow angle deviate from the design more.

This article describes the construction and thermal characterization of a cryogen-free cryostat designed for single-pressure refractive index gas thermometry (SPRIGT) of helium-4 in the range 5–25 K. The system is cooled using a G-M type two-stage pulse tube cryocooler. The temperature can be controlled with a standard uncertainty of 20 µK over the whole working range. The use of a thermal switch to attenuate the modulated heat flux arising from the periodic temperature oscillation of the cryocooler is described. From the temperature evolution over the whole system the thermal characteristics are estimated using a simple model.

The influence of changes in strength of exposed steel column bases (ESCBs) on the dynamic response of low-rise steel frames was studied by building on the theoretical sliding hysteresis curve model of ESCBs on the basis of a previous experimental study. The first-floor shear–weight ratio (CB = 0·30 and 0·35) and frame shape were taken into account in designing 16 strong-column/weak-beam regular low-rise steel frame models with the ratio of the strength of column bases to the strength of the first-floor column as the main study parameter. The results showed that when the strength coefficient of the steel column base was lower than 0·7, the model deformed at the first floor and plastic energy was concentrated if the first-floor shear–weight ratio was 0·30, while the first-floor deformation and plastic energy concentration of the model eased if the first-floor shear–weight ratio was 0·35. In addition, the lower the strength coefficient of the steel column base, the more obvious was the easing effect. The energy absorption of the column bases was not significant, but the column bases were able to transfer input seismic energy to other components during the plastic sliding process. The dynamic response hysteresis curves of the column bases matched the theoretical model well.

Additional file 2. The Wenzhou Epidemiology of Refraction Error (WERE) study Questionnaire

Additional file 1: Supplemental Table 1. Factors Associated with myopia onset of primary school children by Cox Proportional Hazard Regression Analysis.

Background: False negative results of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid detection pose threats to COVID-19 patients and medical workers alike. Objective: To develop multivariate models to determine clinical characteristics that contribute to false negative results of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid detection, and use them to predict false negative results as well as time windows for testing positive. Design: Retrospective Cohort Study (Ethics number of Tongji Hospital: No. IRBID: TJ-20200320) Setting: A database of outpatients in Tongji Hospital (University Hospital) from 15 January 2020 to 19 February 2020. Patients: 1,324 outpatients with COVID-19 Measurements: Clinical information on CT imaging reports, blood routine tests, and clinic symptoms were collected. A multivariate logistic regression was used to explain and predict false negative testing results of SARS-CoV-2 detection. A multivariate accelerated failure model was used to analyze and predict delayed time windows for testing positive. Results: Of the 1,324 outpatients who diagnosed of COVID-19, 633 patients tested positive in their first SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test (47.8%), with a mean age of 51 years (SD=14.9); the rest, which had a mean age of 47 years (SD=15.4), tested negative in the first test. Ground glass opacity in a CT imaging report was associated with a lower chance of false negatives (aOR, 0.56), and reduced the length of time window for testing positive by 26%. Consolidation was associated with a higher chance of false negatives (aOR, 1.57), and extended the length of time window for testing positive by 44%. In blood routine tests, basophils (aOR, 1.28) and eosinophils (aOR, 1.29) were associated with a higher chance of false negatives, and were found to extend the time window for testing positive by 23% and 41%, respectively. Age and gender also affected the significantly. Limitation: Data were generated in a large single-center study. Conclusion: Testing outcome and positive window of SARS-CoV-2 detection for COVID-19 patients were associated with CT imaging results, blood routine tests, and clinical symptoms. Taking into account relevant information in CT imaging reports, blood routine tests, and clinical symptoms helped reduce a false negative testing outcome. The predictive AFT model, what we believe to be one of the first statistical models for predicting time window of SARS-CoV-2 detection, could help clinicians improve the accuracy and efficiency of the diagnosis, and hence, optimizes the timing of nucleic acid detection and alleviates the shortage of nucleic acid detection kits around the world. Primary Funding Source: None.

Before the formal long-distance travel, the travelers usually have four common modes to get to the airport or railway station: metro, airport coach, auto, and taxi. This study was proposed to analyses the determinants of long-distance traveler’s arrival modes to the airport. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), a questionnaire survey was designed and conducted to acquire the variable data of the psychological factors that affect urban air passengers’ arrival modes. After the pilot survey, Beijing Capital International Airport was chosen to conduct the survey and more than 3700 sample data was acquired. With the sample data, the coefficient relationship between the behavior attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavior control, and behavior intention was analyzed after validating the reliability and validity. The study also employed a structural equation model (SEM) to explore the insight between the determinants and decision. The correlation variables analyses result and path coefficient reveal that the behavior intention of using various travel modes with the subjective norm having the most impact on the behavior intention. The conclusion part explained why the railway was less used than the coach and people love to use taxi or auto to arrive the air terminals. This study reveals the key determinant that influence the choice of behavior.

Magnesium hydride (MgH2) is one of the competitive hydrogen storage materials on account of abundant reserves and high hydrogen content. The hydrolysis of MgH2 is an ideal and controllable chemical hydrogen generation process. However, the hydrolyzed product of MgH2 is a passivation layer on the surface of the magnesium hydride, which will make the reaction continuity worse and reduce the rate of hydrogen release. In this work, hydrogen generation is controllably achieved by regulating the change of the surface tension value in the hydrolysis, a variety of surfactants were systematically investigated for the effect of the hydrolysis of MgH2 In the meantime, the passivation layer of MgH2 was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), and the surface tension value of the solution with different surfactants were monitored, investing the mechanism of hydrolysis adding different surfactants. Results show that different surfactants have different effects on hydrogen generation. The hydrogen generation capacity from high to low is as follows: tetrapropylammonium bromide (TPABr), sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS), Ecosol 507, octadecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (OTAC), sodium alcohol ether sulfate (AES), and fatty methyl ester sulfonate (FMES-70). When the ratio of MgH2 to TPABr was 5 : 1, the hydrogen generation was increased by 52% and 28.3%, respectively, at the time of 100 s and 300 s. When hydrolysis time exceeds 80 s, the hydrogen generation with AES and FMES-70 began to decrease; it was reduced by more than 20% at the time of 300 s. SEM reveals that surfactants can affect the crystalline arrangement of Mg(OH)2 and make the passivation layer three-dimensionally layered providing channels for H2O molecules to react with MgH2.

This paper continues to highlight trends in mobility and sociability in New York City (NYC), and supplements them with similar data from Seattle, WA, two of the cities most affected by COVID-19 in the U.S. Seattle may be further along in its recovery from the pandemic and ensuing lockdown than NYC, and may offer some insights into how travel patterns change. Finally, some preliminary findings from cities in China are discussed, two months following the lifting of their lockdowns, to offer a glimpse further into the future of recovery.

Simultaneous removal of cation (e.g., Pb(Ⅱ), Cd(Ⅱ)) and oxyanion (e.g., As(Ⅴ)) heavy metals have attracted increasing interest for adsorption applications due to the complexity of heavy metal polluted groundwater. Manganese-lanthanum binary oxides immobilized on hydrothermal carbonization carbon (MnxLa1-x@HTCC) were therefore rationally designed in this work, and the Mn-La oxides immobilized on HTCC exhibited more uniform dispersion compared to bulk phase. In single adsorption systems, superior adsorption of different heavy metals could be achieved by tuning the molar ratio of Mn to La, and Mn leaching was reduced by ∼ 75% compared with Mn@HTCC (without La doping). In the coexisting systems, the simultaneous presence of As(Ⅴ) and Pb(Ⅱ) greatly enhanced adsorption of both two heavy metals, while competition was observed in the coexistence of As(Ⅴ) and Cd(Ⅱ). By analyzing the “release-readsorption” phenomenon of Mn and the variation of Mn valence during adsorption, the different roles of Mn species in the removal of three heavy metals were proposed. Finally, high-speed flow adsorption column experiments confirmed that the MnxLa1-x@HTCC composite can effectively and continuously adsorb heavy metals accompanied by trace Mn leaching content. Overall, this study indicates the potential of Mn-La carbon composites as a novel adsorbent in groundwater remediation.

In this work, a Helmholtz free energy equation of state for R290 + R134a based on the multi-fluid approximations model was developed to describe the thermophysical properties of the binary mixture. The present equation shows more competitive than the default equation in REFPROP 9.1 (Lemmon et al., 2013). It covers a temperature range of (252–400) K and pressures up to 6.1 MPa. The estimated standard uncertainties of the present equation are 0.70% and 0.90% for the bubble point and dew point pressures, 0.26 K and 0.29 K for the bubble point and dew point temperatures, 0.13% and 0.60% for the saturated liquid and vapor densities, respectively. The main purpose is to provide a useful model for R290 + R134a, and thus to promote its better applications for the design and optimization of the refrigeration systems.

A new thermoacoustic-Stirling engine is introduced, composed of a compressor, regenerative assemblies, displacers and an alternator. The regenerative assemblies are coupled to displacers to successively multiply the acoustic power input by the compressor. The amplified acoustic power is converted into electric power in the alternator. This new configuration overcomes the limitations of traditional thermoacoustic or Stirling engines, including losses in long resonant tubes, response hysteresis and current inversion. The design method of the displacers and alternators is presented. Numerical simulations are carried out to investigate the characteristics of this system. Results show that the overall efficiency of this system could reach 47% with heating temperature of 900 K. Changing alternator load is the most plausible factor in piston or displacer exceeding the displacement limit. These parts can be effectively protected as long as the voltage of the compressor can be instantaneously adjusted. The working frequency, charging pressure and mechanical resistance do not substantially influence the efficiency and power capacity, when varied within a limited range. This allows the proposed engine to work stably when these parameters deviate from the design.

Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) is one of the TLRs whose ligand is double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) is a dsRNA virus that could be recognized by TLR3. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of the virulence of IBDV on the expression of chicken TLR3 (chTLR3). For this purpose, the levels of chTLR3 expression and its downstream effectors, Interferon β (IFN-β) and Interleukin 8 (IL-8), were detected and analyzed after infection of IBDV field isolates with differential virulence in vitro (chicken embryo fibroblast and/or chicken peripheral blood mononuclear cells) and in vivo (commercial Three-Yellow chicken). The results showed that chTLR3 was activated by IBDV, resulting in the expression of antiviral IFN-β and chemokine IL-8. The expression of chTLR3, IFN-β, and IL-8 correlated well with the virulence of IBDV as the more virulent the IBDV strain that was used, the more pronounced was the expression of chTLR3, IFN-β, and IL-8. These results suggest that chTLR3 is involved in the pathogenesis of IBDV in commercial chickens and its downstream effectors (IFN-β and IL-8) might play an important role in this process.

Background The last decade has witnessed many achievements in China’s health care industry, but the industry still faces major challenges among which the uneven distribution of medical resources and the imbalance between supply and demand are the most pressing problems. Although mobile health (mHealth) services play a significant role in mitigating problems associated with health care delivery, their adoption rates have been low. Objective The objective of this study was to explore the impact of resource scarcity and resource accessibility on the adoption of mHealth from the perspective of resource competition, to examine the concerning factors, and to provide a theoretical basis for promoting mHealth in China. Methods We used 229,516 original registration records of outpatients to conduct an empirical analysis to examine the adoption of mHealth services from the perspective of resource competition. Results The adoption rate of mobile services for outpatients was low, accounting for only 31.5% (N=71,707). The empirical results indicated that resource scarcity (beta=.435, P=.01) and accessibility (beta=−.134, P=.02) have a significant impact on the adoption of mHealth. In addition, gender (beta=.073, P=.01) and age (beta=−.009, P Conclusions In this study we demonstrate that the external environment (resource scarcity and resource accessibility) has a significant impact on the adoption of mHealth. This study also demonstrates that experience with mHealth has a moderating role in the relationship between the elements of the external environment. Finally, we confirm that mHealth is a key factor in the delivery and allocation of medical resources and provide a theoretical basis for government agencies to develop policies on mHealth.

Transcription factors are key determinants of gene expression that recognize and bind to short DNA sequence motifs, thereby regulating many biological processes including differentiation, development, and metabolism. Transcription factors are increasingly recognized for their roles in cancer progression. Here, we describe a subfamily of zinc finger transcription factors named zinc finger and SCAN domain containing (ZSCAN) transcription factors. In this review, we summarize the identified members of the ZSCAN family of transcription factors and their roles in cancer progression. Due to the complex regulation mechanisms, ZSCAN transcription factors may show promotive or prohibitive efforts in angiogenesis, cell apoptosis, cell differentiation, cell migration and invasion, cell proliferation, stem cell properties, and chemotherapy sensitivity. The upstream regulation mechanisms of their varied expression levels may include gene mutation, DNA methylation, alternative splicing, and miRNA regulation. What's more, to clarify their diverse functions, we summarize the modulation mechanisms of their activity in downstream genes transcription, including protein-protein interactions mediated by their SCAN box, recruitment of co-regulating molecules and post-translational modifications. A better understanding of the widespread regulatory mode of these transcription factors will provide further insight into the mechanism of transcriptional regulation and suggest novel therapeutic strategies against tumor progression.

BACKGROUND: Nowadays, patients are seeking physician information more frequently via the internet. Physician-rating websites (PRWs) have been recognized as the most convenient way to gain insight and detailed information about specific physicians before receiving consultation. However, little is known about how the information provided on PRWs may affect patients' decisions to seek medical advice. OBJECTIVE:This study aimed to examine whether the physicians' online efforts and their reputation have a relationship with patients' choice of physician on PRWs. METHODS:A model, based on social exchange theory, was developed to analyze the factors associated with the number of online patients. A 3-wave data collection exercise, covering 4037 physicians on China's Good Doctor website, was conducted during the months of February, April, and June 2017. Increases in consultation in a 60-day period were used as the dependent variable, whereas 2 series of data were analyzed using linear regression modeling. The fixed-effect model was used to analyze the 3-wave data. RESULTS:The adjusted R2 value in the linear regression models were 0.28 and 0.27, whereas in the fixed-effect model, it was .30. Both the linear regression and fixed-effect models yielded a good fit. A positive effect of physicians' effort on the aggregated number of online patients was identified in all models (R2=0.30 and R2=0.37 in 2 regression models; R2=0.23 in fixed effect model; P

In this experiment, the effects of 13 kinds of herbicides (or mixtures) on the control of two kinds of weeds were studied by pot cultivation with the broadleaf weed Malachium aquaticum L. and Gramineae weed Poa annua L. as the materials. The results showed that the herbicide MCPA-Na had the best and fastest control effect on Malachium aquaticum L., and all the Malachium aquaticum L. died 7 d after treatment; it was followed by the other four herbicides including MCPA-Na+clethodim, MCPA-Na+ quizalofop-p-ethyl, bentazon and nicosulfuron·atrazine, and all the Malachium aquaticum L. died 14 d after treatment. Atrazine was the best herbicide to control Gramineae weeds, followed by nicosulfuron·atrazine, and mesotrione·nicosulfuron·atrazine. The study on the application of field herbicide found that four herbicides including atrazine, mesotrione·nicosulfuron·atrazine, nicosulfuron·atrazine and bentazon had better control effect on weeds. The best herbicide for flax field was MCPA-Na + clethodim, followed by MCPA-Na and MCPA-Na + quizalofop-p-ethyl. The optimized herbicides and combinations had no harmful effects on the growth of corn and flax.

Chang 7 Shale, characterized by lacustrine black organic-rich shales and interbedded siltstones, has become a target for shale oil exploration and development in the Upper Triassic Ordos Basin, China. However, the heterogeneous enrichment of organic matter (OM) has led to controversy regarding source rock evaluation and difficulty in accurate prediction of favorable zones. Sequence stratigraphy, as a tool for prediction of sedimentary deposits has encountered challenges in lacustrine deep-water environments because of rapid facies changes and limited lateral continuity of key beds. In this study, a novel method is proposed to predict OM enrichment based on parasequences division and calibration of well logging and core lithology through analyses of thin sections and geochemical data from 238 core samples, as well as available well-logging data from a selected well. Chang 7 shales were simplified into three facies in terms of sedimentary structure and mineral composition, combining geological genesis with lateral correlation. Argillaceous laminated shale (Facies 2), with the highest average total organic carbon and S1 + S2 values, is the most favorable facies for shale oil exploration. The Chang 7 Member was divided into 15 parasequences and six parasequence sets, within one transgressive-regressive sequence. Depositional sequences have a significant effect on the enrichment of OM, given 1) the influence of lake-level fluctuations on OM accumulation, 2) the OM enrichment determined by shale facies, and 3) the distribution of shale facies controlled by p arasequences. In particular, the most favorable locations are the bases of parasequences (generally the lower third to half from the bottom) in the TST and early RST. The application of this method to a test well showed excellent performance based on verification from the organic geochemical data of 86 samples. Five favorable targets of Facies 2 were marked within fifteen favorable locations. By linking meter-level depositional sequences with centimeter-level OM enrichment, this study provides an alternative approach to determine the target area in a single well profile and realize isochronous inter-well prediction for deep-water shales.

In this paper, we study a class of antibiotic-resistance model with a constant recruitment of the patients carrying the antibiotic-resistant bacteria in hospitals. It is shown that an interesting bistable phenomenon emerges in the model when superinfection is included, while the model without superinfection has only one stable equilibrium.

Shale gas is one of the most promising unconventional resources both in China and abroad. It is known as a form of self-contained source-reservoir system with large and continuous dimensions. Through years of considerable exploration efforts, China has identified three large shale gas fields in the Fuling, Changning and Weiyuan areas of the Sichuan Basin, and has announced more than 540 billion m3 of proven shale gas reserves in marine shale systems. The geological theories for shale gas development have progressed rapidly in China as well. For example, the new depositional patterns have been introduced for deciphering the paleogeography and sedimentary systems of the Wufeng shale and Longmaxi shale in the Sichuan Basin. The shale gas storage mechanism has been widely accepted as differing from conventional natural gas in that it is adsorbed on organic matter or a mineral surface or occurs as free gas trapped in pores and fractures of the shale. Significant advances in the techniques of microstructural characterization have provided new insights on how gas molecules are stored in micro-and nano-scale porous shales. Furthermore, newly-developed concepts and practices in the petroleum industry, such as hydraulic fracturing, microseismic monitoring and multiwell horizontal drilling, have made the production of this unevenly distributed but promising unconventional natural gas a reality. China has 10–36 trillion m3 of promising shale gas among the world's whole predicted technically recoverable reserves of 206.6 trillion m3. China is on the way to achieving its goal of an annual yield of 30–50 billion m3 by launching more trials within shale gas projects.

A gravity balance mechanism for spatial robotic manipulator is proposed. In this design, a parallelogram linkage mechanism, pulleys and springs are utilized to accomplish the balance. As a passive structure, it needs no motors or actuators, and safety is another great highlight of the mechanism. The balance mechanism can solve the balance problem of both planar 2-link mechanism and spatial 2-link mechanism (a roll-pitch-yaw-roll 2-link mechanism) by adding a rotational degree of freedom. This is a more simple and effective method to solve the balance problem of spatial linkage system, especially the linkage system of multi-degree of freedom joint. And the mechanism can be extended to solve a multilink balance problem.

Objective Human intention gesture recognition is widely used in hand rehabilitation, artificial limb control, teleoperation, human-computer interaction and other fields. It has great application value, however, how to extract human intention gesture accurately has been a research hotspot. Approach Inspired by the image processing technology of machine vision, the surface electromyographic (sEMG) signal was selected as the source signal of motion intention in this work, and the original sEMG signal was converted into Gramian Angular Summation/Difference Field (GASF/GADF) image. Then, Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) features of the corresponding GADF and GASF image were extracted. The extracted features are named as GASF-HOG and GADF-HOG. The Bagging method was used to map the features to six common gestures to realize the classification of intention gestures. Ten volunteers participated in the experiment, and the experimental data were used to verify the proposed method. Main results The experimental results showed that the average accuracies of the proposed methods (GADF-HOG with Bagging, GASF-HOG with Bagging) were as follow: GADF-HOG with Bagging was with 95.73 ± 1.90%, and GASF-HOG with Bagging was with 93.63 ± 1.54%. Significance The method proposed in this paper is inspired by image processing technology of machine vision, which provides a new idea about the human intention gesture recognition by combining the interdisciplinary knowledge.

With the booming development of China’s building industry, the recycling of building materials can achieve the effect of reducing energy consumption. For the construction and development of rural areas, rural roads and small water conservancy projects are also being gradually optimized and transformed, in which a lot of waste building materials will be generated. With the progress of science and technology and the in-depth research on regenerated concrete, the regenerated concrete began to be promoted everywhere. This paper elaborates the performance of the new steel fiber regenerated concrete rubber, considered from the aspects of reducing engineering cost and shortening the construction period, discusses application of regenerated concrete to rural road construction, small water drains and other projects, so as to provide a reference for the use of renewable resources in rural areas, and promoting the development of more scientific and ecological construction industry.

The effects of petroleum retention within and expulsion from five intervals within the Triassic Chang 7 Member in the Ordos Basin in China have been demonstrated by deciphering a large suite of petrologic, organic petrographic, and organic geochemical analyses on 106 core samples. Organic properties and lithological heterogeneities control the amount and chemical composition of retained petroleum. Enrichment of aliphatic hydrocarbons in the silty, organic-lean intervals versus enrichment of aromatic fluids in the clayey, organic-rich units are probably caused by compositional fractionation occurred during primary and short-distance secondary migration. Migration of excess petroleum from organic-rich units to those organic-lean counterparts was further corroborated by the negative expulsion efficiencies calculated using a mass-balance model in the organic-lean intervals. Capillary pressure difference induced by the contrast in pore throat size of the clayey, organic-rich versus the silty, organic-lean intervals is postulated to be the major driver for the migration. A significant implication of this study is that the hydrocarbons in the first and fourth intervals constitute potential petroleum exploitation targets, given (i) improved oil quality caused by enriched aliphatic compounds versus viscous aromatic and polar compounds, (ii) lower organic matter sorption affinities, (iii) relatively high contents of brittle minerals in these two intervals. Despite its high content of retained hydrocarbons, the organic-rich fifth interval is not the best target, which is mainly due to the high sorption affinity of the organic matter structure, thereby causing low oil mobility and producibility.

Regenerator is the core component in the regenerative heat engines, such as thermoacoustic heat engine, and Stirling heat engine. The regenerator has a porous configuration, in which the thermoacoustic effect happens between the working gas and solid wall converting heat into acoustic work. In this paper, a novel experimental setup was developed to investigate the thermoacoustic conversion characteristic of the regenerator. In this system, two linear motors acted as compressors to provide acoustic work for the regenerator and the other two linear motors served as alternators to consume the acoustic work out of the regenerator. By changing the impedance of the alternators, the phase difference between the volume velocities at the two ends of the regenerator could be varied within a large range. In the experiments, the influence of phase difference, heating temperature and different materials on the performance of the regenerator were studied in detail. According to the experimental results, the output acoustic power increased when the phase difference between velocities of the compression and expansion pistons increased within this phase angle range. And the thermoacoustic efficiency had different optimum values with different heating temperatures. Additionally, it also shows that flow resistance and heat transfer area were very important to the performance. In the experiments, a maximum output acoustic power of 715 W and a highest thermoacoustic efficiency of 35.6% were obtained with stack and random fiber type regenerators respectively under 4 MPa pressurized helium and 650 °C heating temperature. This work provides an efficient way to investigate the thermoacoustic conversion characteristic of the regenerator. It also provides some clues to the regenerator design.

Heat pump system, offering economical alternatives in recovering waste heat from different sources for using in various industrial, commercial and residential applications, is considered to be a very environmentally-friendly heat and power transfer system. In this paper, to solve the problems of traditional vapour compression heat pump working in unconventional conditions, a novel TWTAHP (travelling-wave thermoacoustic heat pump) is presented to meet the requirement of working in ultra-low temperature. Base on the theoretical simulation and structure optimization, an experimental apparatus for preliminary test has been built, which is only one single independent unit from the whole loop of the TWTAHP system. The results show that the simulation and the testing results were agreeable as expected. Under the -20°C environment temperature and the 50°C heating temperature, we could obtain a maximal COP h (heating COP) of 2.1 and 260W heating capacity for one unit by consuming acoustic power less than 200W. Furthermore, a COP h above 3.0 could be achieved when the ambient temperature was raised to 0°C.