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Yanqing Xing,1 Yupeng Li,1 Liting Feng,1 Rujie Huo,1 Xinkai Ma,1 Yanting Dong,1 Dai Liu,1 Yuheng Niu,2 Xinrui Tian,1,&ast; Erjing Chen1,&ast; 1The Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, People’s Republic of China; 2The First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xinrui Tian; Erjing Chen, The Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, No. 382, Wuyi Road, Xinghualing District, Taiyuan, Shanxi, People’s Republic of China, Email tianxr@126.com; mayyoubehappy44@163.comPurpose: To analyze the clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients hospitalized with non-severe, severe pneumonia and death in Omicron COVID-19.Patients and Methods: We collected clinical data from 118 patients with COVID-19 in China from 18 December, 2022 and 5 February, 2023. According to the outcome, the patients were divided into non-severe group, severe group and death group. Subsequently, we statistically analyzed the general condition, clinical manifestations, laboratory parameters, NLR, MLR, PLR and HALP of these groups. We also retrospectively analyzed the possible factors affecting the prognostic regression of patients with COVID-19.Results: A total of 118 COVID-19 patients were enrolled in this study, including 64 non-severe patients, 38 severe patients and 16 death patients. Compared with the non-severe group, T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, Th1, Th2, Th17, Treg cells, IgA, IgG, IgM in the severe and death groups decreased more significantly (P< 0.05). The levels of myocardial markers, ALT, AST, BUN, Cr, D-dimer, fibrinogen, NLR, MLR and PLR in the severe and death groups were significantly higher than those in the non-severe group (P< 0.05). The level of HALP was significantly lower than that of non-severe group (P< 0.05). MLR is not only an independent risk factor for the transition from non-severe to severe disease, but also an independent risk factor for predicting the possibility of death in COVID-19 patients.Conclusion: The analysis of COVID-19 patients in China showed that severe patients were older, more likely to have related complications, lower lymphocyte count, liver and kidney function disorder, glucose and lipid metabolism disorders, myocardial injury, and abnormal coagulation function, suggesting the need for early anticoagulant therapy. In addition, NLR, MLR, PLR and HALP can be used as biomarkers to evaluate the severity and prognosis of COVID-19 patients.Keywords: COVID-19, omicron, clinical characteristics, lymphocyte subpopulation, Shanxi

Hypoxia and ferroptosis are crucial in the occurrence and development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and they both affect the immune status of the tumor microenvironment. Previous studies have also shown a link between hypoxia and ferroptosis.In all, 814 HCC cases from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus databases were used as the discovery cohort, and 230 HCC cases from the International Cancer Genome Consortium database were used as the validation cohort. Hypoxia subtypes and ferroptosis subtypes were identified by consensus cluster analysis according to 174 hypoxia-related genes and 193 ferroptosis-related genes. The prognostic signature was constructed using the Cox and LASSO regression analyses, and two risk groups were identified. A comprehensive analysis of the clinical and immune characteristics between the two risk groups was further performed.Two hypoxia subtypes and two ferroptosis subtypes were distinguished and verified; subsequently, a five-gene prognostic signature was constructed and the risk score could be acquired by the following formula: risk score = 0.0604*Expression (CA9)-0.0714*Expression (ANXA10) + 0.1501*Expression (CDC20)-0.0853*Expression (CYP7A1) + 0.0530*Expression (SPP1). Compared with the low-risk group, the high-risk group had a worse prognosis. The high-risk group also showed a higher level of immune infiltration than the low-risk group, and immune checkpoints were generally upregulated in the high-risk group. The antigen presentation ability of the low-risk group was poor, which may be related to the immune escape mechanism. Drug sensitivity analysis indicated that the high- and low-risk groups were sensitive to tyrosine kinase inhibitors and chemotherapeutic drugs, respectively.The hypoxia-, ferroptosis-, and immune-associated prognostic signature we constructed could stratify patients with HCC and guide precise treatment.

PurposeSevere traumatic brain injury (TBI) leads to acute coma and may result in prolonged disorder of consciousness (pDOC). We aimed to determine whether right median nerve electrical stimulation is a safe and effective treatment for accelerating emergence from coma after TBI.MethodsThis randomised controlled trial was performed in 22 centres in China. Participants with acute coma at 7-14 days after TBI were randomly assigned (1:1) to either routine therapy and right median nerve electrical stimulation (RMNS group) or routine treatment (control group). The RMNS group received 20 mA, 300 mu s, 40 Hz stimulation pulses, lasting 20 s per minutes, 8 h per day, for 2 weeks. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients who regained consciousness 6 months post-injury. The secondary endpoints were Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), Full Outline of Unresponsiveness scale (FOUR), Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R), Disability Rating Scale (DRS) and Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended (GOSE) scores reported as medians on day 28, 3 months and 6 months after injury, and GCS and FOUR scores on day 1 and day 7 during stimulation. Primary analyses were based on the intention-to-treat set.ResultsBetween March 26, 2016, and October 18, 2020, 329 participants were recruited, of whom 167 were randomised to the RMNS group and 162 to the control group. At 6 months post-injury, a higher proportion of patients in the RMNS group regained consciousness compared with the control group (72.5%, n = 121, 95% confidence interval (CI) 65.2-78.7% vs. 56.8%, n = 92, 95% CI 49.1-64.2%, p = 0.004). GOSE at 3 months and 6 months (5 [interquartile range (IQR) 3-7] vs. 4 [IQR 2-6], p = 0.002; 6 [IQR 3-7] vs. 4 [IQR 2-7], p = 0.0005) and FOUR at 28 days (15 [IQR 13-16] vs. 13 [interquartile range (IQR) 11-16], p = 0.002) were significantly increased in the RMNS group compared with the control group. Trajectory analysis showed that significantly more patients in the RMNS group had faster GCS, CRS-R and DRS improvement (p = 0.01, 0.004 and 0.04, respectively). Adverse events were similar in both groups. No serious adverse events were associated with the stimulation device.ConclusionRight median nerve electrical stimulation is a possible effective treatment for patients with acute traumatic coma, that will require validation in a confirmatory trial.

A new structure-preserving model order reduction technique based on Laguerre-Gramian for second-order form systems is presented in this article. The main task of the proposed approach is to use the Laguerre polynomial expansion of the matrix exponential function to obtain the approximate low-rank decomposition of the Gramians for the equivalent first-order representation of the original second-order form system. The approximate balanced system is generated by a balancing transformation which is directly computed from the expansion coefficients of impulse responses in the space spanned by Laguerre polynomials, without computing the full Gramians for the first-order representation. Then, the reduced second-order model is constructed by truncating the states with small approximate Hankel singular values (HSVs). The above method has a disadvantage that it may unexpectedly result in unstable systems although the original one is stable. Therefore, modified reduction procedure combined with the dominant subspace projection method is presented to alleviate the limitation. Finally, two numerical experiments are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithms.

This article investigates the attitude tracking control problem for a rigid spacecraft without angular velocity feedback, in which external disturbances, parametric uncertainties, and input saturation are considered. Initially, an angular velocity observer is developed incorporated with adaptive technique, which could tackle the unmeasurable angular velocity and system uncertainties simultaneously. By introducing adaptive updating law into the proposed observer, the synchronized uncertainties are handled such that robustness of the observer is enhanced, even in the presence of external disturbances. Further, for solving the input constraints problem, command filter and backstepping method are utilized; thus, a bounded attitude tracking control law is derived. Finally, the attitude tracking performance is evaluated by numerical examples.

In federated learning, all networked clients contribute to the model training cooperatively. However, with model sizes increasing, even sharing the trained partial models often leads to severe communication bottlenecks in underlying networks, especially when communicated iteratively. In this paper, we introduce a federated learning framework FedD3 requiring only one-shot communication by integrating dataset distillation instances. Instead of sharing model updates in other federated learning approaches, FedD3 allows the connected clients to distill the local datasets independently, and then aggregates those decentralized distilled datasets (e.g. a few unrecognizable images) from networks for model training. Our experimental results show that FedD3 significantly outperforms other federated learning frameworks in terms of needed communication volumes, while it provides the additional benefit to be able to balance the trade-off between accuracy and communication cost, depending on usage scenario or target dataset. For instance, for training an AlexNet model on CIFAR-10 with 10 clients under non-independent and identically distributed (Non-IID) setting, FedD3 can either increase the accuracy by over 71% with a similar communication volume, or save 98% of communication volume, while reaching the same accuracy, compared to other one-shot federated learning approaches., Accepted at IJCNN 2023

BACKGROUND Whether regional lymphadenectomy (RL) should be routinely performed in patients with T1b gallbladder cancer (GBC) remains a subject of debate. AIM To investigate whether RL can improve the prognosis of patients with T1b GBC. METHODS We studied a multicenter cohort of patients with T1b GBC who underwent surgery between 2008 and 2016 at 24 hospitals in 13 provinces in China. The log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards model were used to compare the overall survival (OS) of patients who underwent cholecystectomy (Ch) + RL and those who underwent Ch only. To investigate whether combined hepatectomy (Hep) improved OS in T1b patients, we studied patients who underwent Ch + RL to compare the OS of patients who underwent combined Hep and patients who did not. RESULTS Of the 121 patients (aged 61.9 ± 10.1 years), 77 (63.6%) underwent Ch + RL, and 44 (36.4%) underwent Ch only. Seven (9.1%) patients in the Ch + RL group had lymph node metastasis. The 5-year OS rate was significantly higher in the Ch + RL group than in the Ch group (76.3% vs 56.8%, P = 0.036). Multivariate analysis showed that Ch + RL was significantly associated with improved OS (hazard ratio: 0.51; 95% confidence interval: 0.26-0.99). Among the 77 patients who underwent Ch + RL, no survival improvement was found in patients who underwent combined Hep (5-year OS rate: 79.5% for combined Hep and 76.1% for no Hep; P = 0.50). CONCLUSION T1b GBC patients who underwent Ch + RL had a better prognosis than those who underwent Ch. Hep + Ch showed no improvement in prognosis in T1b GBC patients. Although recommended by both the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and Chinese Medical Association guidelines, RL was only performed in 63.6% of T1b GBC patients. Routine Ch + RL should be advised in T1b GBC.

Heterocyclic compounds were widely used in many domains; pyrrolidone is a derivative of heterocycles that can be used to synthesize anticancer drugs. A new fluorine-containing rhopaladins’ analog(E)-2-(4-bromobenzoyl)-N-(tert-butyl)-4-(4-fluoro benzylidene)-5-oxo-1-propylpyrrolidine-2-carboxamide (RPDPD for short) of 2-aroyl-4-arylidene-5-oxopyrrolidine derivative was synthesized by the one-pot synthesis method and evaluated for its anti-tumor activity in vitro via CCK8 assay and annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) staining of HeLa cells. The results exhibited that compound RPDPD has inhibited the proliferation of HeLa in a dose-dependent manner with an IC50 of 24.23 μmol/L (p < 0.05) and has low hepatotoxicity with an IC50 of 235.6 μmol/L (p < 0.05) to normal hepatocyte LO2 cells. The apoptotic assay demonstrated that compound RPDPD has induced apoptosis in HeLa cells (from 14.26 to 23.4%, p < 0.05). qRT-PCR results showed that the compound RPDPD could inhibit the expression of oncogene E6/E7 mRNA (p < 0.05) of human papillomavirus (HPV). The results of Western blot showed that the compound RPDPD promoted the expression of TIMP3 protein and inhibited the expression of MMP3 (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the compound RPDPD can inhibit the proliferation of cervical cancer cells and induce the apoptosis of cervical cancer cells, and its mechanism may be related to the inhibition of E6 mRNA and E7 mRNA expressions, and the anticancer effect of the compound RPDPD on cervical cancer is closely related to the TIMP3/MMP3 signaling axis.

Additional file 1: Fig. S1. Double immunofluorescence of p-JNK and NeuN, Iba1, GFAP in the spinal cord of sham and neuropathic pain rats. (a) Double immunofluorescence of p-JNK and NeuN, Iba1, GFAP in the spinal cord of sham rats. (b) Double immunofluorescence of p-JNK and NeuN, Iba1, GFAP in the spinal cord of SNI rats. (c-e) Histogram showed that p-JNK co-localization with Iba-1, or GFAP was increased in the SNI 7d group (*p

Additional file 5: Fig. S5. The improved neuroinflammation caused by rDKK3 was abolished by Kremen-1 siRNA or DVL-1 siRNA in neuropathic pain rats. (a-c) Western blot results indicated that rDKK3 reduced the pro-inflammatory cytokines level of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α in the spinal cord caused by neuropathic pain, while administration with Kremen-1 siRNA or DVL-1 siRNA up-regulated the decreased pro-inflammatory cytokines level of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α in the spinal cord caused by neuropathic pain (*p

Additional file 3: Fig. S3. rDKK3 alleviated neuroinflammation in the spinal cord induced by neuropathic pain. (a-c) Western blot results indicated that administration with rDKK3 reduced the pro-inflammatory cytokines level of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α in the spinal cord caused by neuropathic pain (*p

Additional file 4: Fig. S4. The Flow cytometry result of the Sham group, SNI + Vehicle group, SNI + rDKK3 group, SNI + rDKK3 + scramble siRNA group, SNI + rDKK3 + Kremen-1 siRNA group, and SNI + rDKK3 + DVL-1 siRNA group. (a) Representative dot spot of flow cytometry for microglia. (b) Histogram showed that rDKK3 promoted the switch of microglia from M1 type to M2 type in the spinal cord of rats with neuropathic pain, while Kremen-1 siRNA and DVL-1 siRNA could abrogate the effect of rDKK3 on microglia polarization (**p

In this paper, we propose a model order reduction algorithm based on low-rank Gramian approximation for bilinear systems. The main idea of the approach is to use approximate low-rank factors of the controllability and observability Gramians, which are constructed from the expansion coefficients of the matrix exponential functions in the space spanned by Laguerre functions using a recurrence formula, to generate approximate balanced system for the large-scale bilinear system. Then, the reduced-order model is obtained by truncating the states corresponding to the small approximate generalized Hankel singular values. Finally, a numerical experiment is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

In this work, thermophoretic sampling experiments are carried out in a constant volume combustion chamber (CVCC) accompanied by the subsequent high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) imaging to investigate the morphology, nanostructure, and size of soot particles directly sampled within the reacting diesel jet spray flame under ambient conditions close to practical engine combustion. The experiments are performed with different fuel injection masses to examine the variation of the morphological and nanostructural parameters of soot primary particles and aggregates with the fuel injection quantity, Qs. The results show the particles sampled in the cases with low fuel injection quantity (Qs) have a fraction of separately existing small primary particles and small aggregates made up of only several primary particles. As the fuel injection mass is further increased, the number of soot particles increase but the projection area becomes smaller. The fractal dimension of the sampled aggregates i...

BACKGROUND This study investigated the effect of 70% portal vein ligation (PVL), a widely used procedure for inducing rapid liver regeneration, on the expression of autophagy-related proteins in non-ligated liver lobes in rats. MATERIAL AND METHODS Rats were subjected to either sham (n=30, major portal vein branches were exposed but kept intact) or PVL (n=30, major portal vein branches were double-ligated) operations. Liver samples were collected 12, 24, 48, 72, and 168 h after the operation. Liver volume, liver color, non-ligated liver percentage, and the expressions of light chain (LC) 3, beclin 1, and cyclin D1 in the non-ligated liver lobes were determined. RESULTS When compared to sham rats, increased (P

The traditional target tracking algorithms have utilized the information on the target position. With the development of radar high-resolution technology, it is possible to obtain the pose of target. In this paper, two target tracking algorithms aided by the pose of target are proposed. First, the pose of the target is estimated in the real time by the high-resolution range profile, and then, the pose is added to the target measurement equation. Because the relationship between the pose and the motion parameters of the targets is nonlinear, the extended Kalman filter algorithm aided by the pose of target (Pose-EKF) and the unscented Kalman filter algorithm aided by the pose of target (Pose-UKF) are proposed. The results of simulation demonstrate that compared with the traditional extended Kalman filter algorithm (EKF) and the traditional Unscented Kalman filter algorithm (UKF), the proposed algorithm can greatly improve the target tracking accuracy (position precision and velocity precision) and the convergence speed. The pose measurement error has a little effect on the tracking performance. The difference in the tracking accuracy between Pose-EKF and Pose-UKF is very little. But the Pose-EKF is better than Pose-UKF in terms of computation time, but Pose-EKF fails and Pose-UKF is effective when the pose is critical.

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-4-tar-10.1177_1753466620981858 for Targeted inhibition of β-catenin alleviates airway inflammation and remodeling in asthma via modulating the profibrotic and anti-inflammatory actions of transforming growth factor-β1 by Rujie Huo, Xinli Tian, Qin Chang, Dai Liu, Chen Wang, Jingcui Bai, Runjuan Wang, Guoping Zheng and Xinrui Tian in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-5-tar-10.1177_1753466620981858 for Targeted inhibition of β-catenin alleviates airway inflammation and remodeling in asthma via modulating the profibrotic and anti-inflammatory actions of transforming growth factor-β1 by Rujie Huo, Xinli Tian, Qin Chang, Dai Liu, Chen Wang, Jingcui Bai, Runjuan Wang, Guoping Zheng and Xinrui Tian in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-tar-10.1177_1753466620981858 for Targeted inhibition of β-catenin alleviates airway inflammation and remodeling in asthma via modulating the profibrotic and anti-inflammatory actions of transforming growth factor-β1 by Rujie Huo, Xinli Tian, Qin Chang, Dai Liu, Chen Wang, Jingcui Bai, Runjuan Wang, Guoping Zheng and Xinrui Tian in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-5-tar-10.1177_1753466620981858 for Targeted inhibition of β-catenin alleviates airway inflammation and remodeling in asthma via modulating the profibrotic and anti-inflammatory actions of transforming growth factor-β1 by Rujie Huo, Xinli Tian, Qin Chang, Dai Liu, Chen Wang, Jingcui Bai, Runjuan Wang, Guoping Zheng and Xinrui Tian in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-4-tar-10.1177_1753466620981858 for Targeted inhibition of β-catenin alleviates airway inflammation and remodeling in asthma via modulating the profibrotic and anti-inflammatory actions of transforming growth factor-β1 by Rujie Huo, Xinli Tian, Qin Chang, Dai Liu, Chen Wang, Jingcui Bai, Runjuan Wang, Guoping Zheng and Xinrui Tian in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-2-tar-10.1177_1753466620981858 for Targeted inhibition of β-catenin alleviates airway inflammation and remodeling in asthma via modulating the profibrotic and anti-inflammatory actions of transforming growth factor-β1 by Rujie Huo, Xinli Tian, Qin Chang, Dai Liu, Chen Wang, Jingcui Bai, Runjuan Wang, Guoping Zheng and Xinrui Tian in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-2-tar-10.1177_1753466620981858 for Targeted inhibition of β-catenin alleviates airway inflammation and remodeling in asthma via modulating the profibrotic and anti-inflammatory actions of transforming growth factor-β1 by Rujie Huo, Xinli Tian, Qin Chang, Dai Liu, Chen Wang, Jingcui Bai, Runjuan Wang, Guoping Zheng and Xinrui Tian in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-3-tar-10.1177_1753466620981858 for Targeted inhibition of β-catenin alleviates airway inflammation and remodeling in asthma via modulating the profibrotic and anti-inflammatory actions of transforming growth factor-β1 by Rujie Huo, Xinli Tian, Qin Chang, Dai Liu, Chen Wang, Jingcui Bai, Runjuan Wang, Guoping Zheng and Xinrui Tian in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-3-tar-10.1177_1753466620981858 for Targeted inhibition of β-catenin alleviates airway inflammation and remodeling in asthma via modulating the profibrotic and anti-inflammatory actions of transforming growth factor-β1 by Rujie Huo, Xinli Tian, Qin Chang, Dai Liu, Chen Wang, Jingcui Bai, Runjuan Wang, Guoping Zheng and Xinrui Tian in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease

Sorafenib and sunitinib are multiple tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Both of them have been approved by the US FDA in the treatment of patients with malignancies. In order to develop an effective and clinically useful chemoimmunotherapy modality against hepatocellular cancer (HCC), we investigate their tumoricidal and immune modulatory effect in the setting of HCC. In vitro experiments suggested that sunitinib and sorafenib both induced HCC cell apoptosis at an equivalent level, but stronger suppressive function to cell proliferation was detected in sorafenib. Correspondingly, treatment of tumor-bearing mice with sorafenib led to the suppression of tumor growth to a larger extent than sunitinib. Flow cytometry showed that treatment with sunitinib, not sorafenib, significantly reduced the frequency of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and myeloid-derived suppressive cells (MDSCs) in tumor-bearing mice; and allowed splenic lymphocytes to produce equivalent levels of IFN-γ and TNF-α in response to vaccination as that in wild type mice. This activation was not detected in control and sorafenib-treated tumor mice. In addition, treatment of tumor-bearing mice with sunitinib followed by adoptive transfer of tumor antigen-specific CD8+ T cells and immunization resulted in the additional suppression to tumor growth compared to sunitinib monotherapy. These results imply treatment with sunitinib, not sorafenib, is able to prevent tumor-induced immunotolerance and activate antitumorimmunity. Our data suggest that sunitinib may be a preferable chemotherapeutic agent to use in combination with immunotherapy for the treatment of HCC.

ObjectiveThere is little evidence that adjuvant therapy after radical surgical resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) improves recurrence-free survival (RFS) or overall survival (OS). We conducted a multicentre, randomised, controlled, phase IV trial evaluating the benefit of an aqueous extract of Trametes robinophila Murr (Huaier granule) to address this unmet need.Design and resultsA total of 1044 patients were randomised in 2:1 ratio to receive either Huaier or no further treatment (controls) for a maximum of 96 weeks. The primary endpoint was RFS. Secondary endpoints included OS and tumour extrahepatic recurrence rate (ERR). The Huaier (n=686) and control groups (n=316) had a mean RFS of 75.5 weeks and 68.5 weeks, respectively (HR 0.67; 95% CI 0.55 to 0.81). The difference in the RFS rate between Huaier and control groups was 62.39% and 49.05% (95% CI 6.74 to 19.94; p=0.0001); this led to an OS rate in the Huaier and control groups of 95.19% and 91.46%, respectively (95% CI 0.26 to 7.21; p=0.0207). The tumour ERR between Huaier and control groups was 8.60% and 13.61% (95% CI −12.59 to −2.50; p=0.0018), respectively.ConclusionsThis is the first nationwide multicentre study, involving 39 centres and 1044 patients, to prove the effectiveness of Huaier granule as adjuvant therapy for HCC after curative liver resection. It demonstrated a significant prolongation of RFS and reduced extrahepatic recurrence in Huaier group.Trial registrationNCT01770431; Post-results.

Thermochemical energy storage (TCS) stores and releases heat through a reversible chemical reaction. And since thermochemical material (TCM) is the most important part of an energy storage system, its properties directly affect the entire system. On account of a variety of advantages such as low cost, broad availability and suitable temperature range, thermochemical method based on reversible decomposition reaction has become a famous research. In this study, a TCS experimental setup was built to investigate thermal cycling stability of the Ca(OH)2/CaO system. Through successive 20 dehydration-hydration cycles, amount of stored thermal capacity and cyclic reversibility of the Ca(OH)2/CaO system are analyzed. After research and analysis, existing problems of the Ca(OH)2/CaO energy storage system including agglomeration and sintering, poor thermal conductivity, unevenness of heat release rate are concluded and raised. After an explanation of superior performance and existing problems occurred during the dehydration and hydration process, this research lays the foundation of applying the Ca(OH)2/CaO system to practical.

China is the country with the highest reserves of antimony in the world, a large amount of antimony resources are lost to the environment due to unreasonable use. As an oncogenic element, the exceeded antimony content seriously threaten to human health. However, due to people's less concern about antimony pollution as well as the immaturity of relevant governance techniques(especially phytoremediation), the situation of antimony pollution in China is not optimistic. This paper reviewed the distribution, pollution status, characteristics and accumulator plants of antimony in China, and according to the research advances on screening of antimony accumulator plants in field, evaluated their application prospect for reducing the environmental risks of antimony contamination using phytoremediation.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (about 85–90% of primary liver cancer) is particularly prevalent in China because of the high prevalence of chronic hepatitis B infection. HCC is the fourth most common malignancy and the third leading cause of tumor-related deaths in China. It poses a significant threat to the life and health of Chinese people. Summary: This guideline presents official recommendations of the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People’s Republic of China on the surveillance, diagnosis, staging, and treatment of HCC occurring in China. The guideline was written by more than 50 experts in the field of HCC in China (including liver surgeons, medical oncologists, hepatologists, interventional radiologists, and diagnostic radiologists) on the basis of recent evidence and expert opinions, balance of benefits and harms, cost-benefit strategies, and other clinical considerations. Key Messages: The guideline presents the Chinese staging system, and recommendations regarding patients with HCC in China to ensure optimum patient outcomes.

Summary As one of the most promising thermochemical energy storage medium, research on the Ca(OH)2/CaO system provides an important way of understanding energy storage/release rates of the entire energy storage system. In this paper, a high-precision thermogravimetric analysis is adopted to investigate thermal decomposition processes of the Ca(OH)2 samples in pure N2 atmosphere at different heating rates. The results demonstrate that during the thermal decomposition process, two weight loss processes respectively occur during 623.15 ~ 773.15 and 873.15 ~ 973.15 K, and the weight loss rates are close to 21% and 2% severally. Multi-heating rate methods are applied to the study of thermal decomposition dynamics. Findings show that the obtained kinetic parameters are related to reaction conversion, heating rate, and the chosen model-methods. To further understand the decomposition mechanism of Ca(OH)2, differential method, integral method, and multiple scanning method are used to deal with the experimental data. Through the most probable mechanism function analysis, under certain experimental conditions, thermal decomposition kinetics model of Ca(OH)2 accords well with the shrinking cylinder mechanism. These conclusions provide theoretical bases for applying the Ca(OH)2/CaO system to the thermochemical energy storage field. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The rough sea bottom has a large effect on underwater acoustic propagation and underwater acoustic detection applications. By using the typical shallow water environment from the Yellow Sea, the acoustic propagation characteristics under the condition of both periodic rough sea bottom and strong negative thermocline layer are systematically analyzed by using the parabolic equation model RAM (where RAM stands for range-dependent acoustic model) and ray theory. For a low-frequency and short-range acoustic source, the transmission loss (TL) increases up to about 5–30 dB due to the existence of the periodic rough bottom. Abnormal TLs and pulse arrival structures with different source depths, different periods and heights of the rough bottom are analyzed and summarized. Specifically, when the period of the rough bottom is constant, TL increases with the height of the rough bottom increasing. When the height of the rough bottom is constant, the effect of the rough bottom on the sound propagation becomes smaller with the increase of the period. The mechanism of the TL difference caused by rough bottom is explained by using the ray theory. The incidence and reflection angle of the sound ray on the sea bottom are changed due to the periodic rough bottom, which makes small grazing angles of some of the rays incident at sea bottom become large grazing angles, and the bottom loss increases. On the other hand, the change of the reflection angle increases the number of ray interaction with the sea bottom, causing the reversion propagation. Therefore, the energy of the sound field will attenuate with range increasing. The influence of the periodic rough bottom on the sound pulse propagation is mainly reflected in the energy conversion between sound rays (or normal modes) with different angles, the increasing of energy attenuation of some sound rays with large angles, and the decreasing of multipath structure. The change of the arrival time and relative amplitude of the multipath structure affect the frequency spectrum of the sound field, which will affect the performance of the method based on matching field localization. Most of existing studies focus on the influence of the change in large scale sea bottom topography on the sound field, but there are few studies on small scale periodic sea bottom fluctuations, and the relevant summary of the law of sound propagation is lacking. When sonar is used in the actual shallow water environment, more attention should be paid to the influence of the periodic rough bottom. In addition, the present research results also have important reference significance for the spatial accuracy of surveying and mapping of sea bottom topography.

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a complex process involving multiple genes, steps and stages. It refers to the disruption of tight intercellular junctions among epithelial cells under specific conditions, resulting in loss of the original polarity, order and consistency of the cells. Following EMT, the cells show interstitial cell characteristics with the capacity for adhesion and migration, while apoptosis is inhibited. This process is critically involved in embryogenesis, wound-healing, tumor invasion and metastasis. The tumor microenvironment is composed of infiltrating inflammatory cells, stromal cells and the active medium secreted by interstitial cells. Most patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have a history of hepatitis virus infection. In such cases, major components of the tumor microenvironment include inflammatory cells, inflammatory factors and virus-encoded protein are major components. Here, we review the relationship between EMT and the inflammatory tumor microenvironment in the context of HCC. We also further elaborate the significant influence of infiltrating inflammatory cells and inflammatory mediators as well as the products expressed by the infecting virus in the tumor microenvironment on the EMT process.

Radiotherapy (RT) is useful in managing cancer diseases. In clinical practice, early initiation of RT is crucial for enhancing tumor control. But, delivering precise RT requires a series of pre-RT working processes in a tight staff-cooperation manner. In this regard, using information system to conduct e-control and e-alerts has been suggested to improve practice effectiveness; however, this effect is not well defined in a real-world RT setting. We designed an information system to perform e-control and e-alerts for the whole process of pre-RT workflow to shorten processing time, to improve overall staff satisfaction, and to enhance working confidence. A quality-improving study conducted in a large RT center. Externally validated data were retrospectively analyzed for comparison before (from Sep. 2012 to Dec. 2012, n = 223) and after (from Sep. 2013 to Dec. 2013, n = 240) implementation of pre-RT e-control and e-alerts. Applying the e-control with delay-working e-alerts in pre-RT workflow was the main intervention. Nine workstations were identified in pre-RT workflow. The primary outcome measure was the processing time in each pre-RT workstations before and after implementing the e-control and e-alerts. Secondary measures were staff-working confidence and near-missing cases during the process of pre-RT workflow. After implementing e-control, overall processing time of pre-RT workflow was shortened from 12.2 days to 8.9 days (P

Risk of bias summary: each risk of bias item for each included study (DOCX 180 kb)

The purpose of this study is to define the role for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) in mixed-lineage-leukemia (MLL)-rearranged acute leukemia, which is now poorly understood. A prospective, multi-center cohort study to determine whether allo-HSCT could decrease relapse rates and improve long-term survival of MLL+ leukemia patients was performed. Fifty-six consecutive patients diagnosed with MLL-rearranged acute leukemia undergoing allo-HSCT from two transplant centers in China were enrolled between October 2007 and October 2012. The trial was registered at www.chictr.org as # ChiCTR-ONC-12002739. The incidences of grades II to IV acute graft versus host disease (aGVHD) and of grades III and IV aGVHD were 28.8% (CI, 16.87-40.8%), and 14.2% (CI, 5.4-23.0%), respectively. The cumulative incidences for chronic GVHD (cGVHD) at 2 years after HSCT were 35.2% (CI, 21.2-49.2%). Up to April 30, 2013, 12 patients had relapsed and 11 died from relapse, and 37 patients were still alive without disease recurrence. The relapse and NRM rates at 3 years were 25.3% (CI, 12.7-37.9%) and 18.0% (CI, 2.6-33.4%), respectively. The probalities of overall survival and leukemia free survival were 61.8% (CI, 46.0-77.6%) and 56.3% (CI, 38.1-74.5%) at 3 years, respectively. Patients transplanted during their hematological first complete remission (CR1) had a lower relapse rate (17.9% vs. 48.1%, P = 0.03) compared with patients transplanted beyond CR1. The median overall survival for the 29 patients not receiving allo-HSCT during the study period was 145 days from diagnosis. This study showed that allo-HSCT could be a valuable treatment choice for MLL+ acute leukemia.

Background: Frequent multidisciplinary communication is essential in conducting daily radiotherapy (RT) practice. However, traditional oral or paper-based communication has limitations. E-communication has been suggested, but its effects are still not well demarcated in the field of radiation oncology. Objects: In our web-based integrated information platform, we constructed a ping-pong-type e-communication function to transfer specific notations among multidisciplinary RT staffs. The purpose was to test whether applying this e-communication can increase effectiveness of multidisciplinary cooperation when compared with oral or paper-based practice. Staff satisfaction and clinical benefits were also demonstrated. Design and setting: A real-world quality-improving study was conducted in a large center of radiation oncology. Participants and dataset used: Before and after applying multidisciplinary e-communication (from 2014 to 2015), clinical RT staffs were surveyed for their user experience and satisfaction (n = 23). For measuring clinical effectiveness, a secondary database of irradiated head and neck cancer patients was re-analyzed for comparing RT toxicities (n = 402). Interventions: Applying ping-pong-type multidisciplinary reflective e-communication was the main intervention. Outcome measures: For measuring staff satisfaction, eight domains were surveyed, such as timeliness, convenience, and completeness. For measuring clinical effectiveness of multidisciplinary cooperation, event rates of severe (i.e., grade 3–4) RT mucositis and dermatitis were recorded. Results: Overall, when compared with oral communication only, e-communication demonstrated multiple benefits, particularly on notation-review convenience (2.00 ± 1.76 vs 9.19 ± 0.81; P

δ-Catenin is the only member of the p120 catenin (p120ctn) subfamily whose normal pattern of expression is restricted to the brain. Similar to p120ctn, δ-catenin can bind to the juxtamembrane domain of E-cadherin. We examined the expression of δ-catenin, p120ctn, and E-cadherin using immunohistochemistry in 95 cases of colorectal cancer (CRC) and 15 normal colon tissues. Co-immunoprecipitation was used to examine whether δ-catenin competed with p120ctn to bind E-cadherin in CRC cells. The effects of δ-catenin overexpression or siRNA-mediated knockdown on the proliferation and invasive ability of CRC cells were investigated using the MTT and Matrigel invasion assays. The results showed that positive δ-catenin expression was significantly more frequent in CRC compared to normal colon tissues and associated with poor differentiation, stage III–IV disease, and lymph node metastasis in CRC (all P

In order to study the temperature simulation of berry slices in microwave vacuum puffing process, numerical simulation method was used to simulate the temperature in different time according to theoretical calculation result and the deviation had been verificated throughout the experiment. The better uniform of temperature between experiment and simulation could be concluded except in the period of rapid temperature increase. The temperature reached the high point of 130.25°C in the middle point of slices at 100 s, while the temperature was over 50°C in external parts of slices for the reason of thermal diffusion. Conclusions could be drawn that the model was effective and numerical analysis could simulate the temperature simulation for berry leather in microwave vacuum puffing process.

BACKGROUND In recent years, interventional tumor therapy, involving implantation of intra-cholangial metal stents through percutaneous trans-hepatic punctures, has provided a new method for treating cholangiocarcinoma. (103)Pd cholangial radioactive stents can concentrate high radioactive dosages into the malignant tumors and kill tumor cells effectively, in order to prevent re-stenosis of the lumen caused by a relapsed tumor. The aim of the present study was to investigate the efficacy of gamma-rays released by the (103)Pd biliary duct radioactive stent in treating cholangiocarcinoma via induction of biliary cholangiocarcinoma cell apoptosis. METHODS A group of biliary duct cancer cells was collectively treated with a dose of gamma-rays. Cells were then examined by the 3-(4, 5-dimethyl thiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl terazolium-bromide (MTT) technique for determining the inhibition rate of the biliary duct cancer cells, as well as with other methods including electron microscopy, DNA agarose gel electrophoresis, and flow cytometry were applied for the evaluation of their morphological and biochemical characteristics. The growth curve and the growth inhibition rate of the cells were determined, and the changes in the ultrastructure of the cholangiocarcinoma cells and the DNA electrophoresis bands were examined under a UV-lamp. RESULTS The gamma-ray released by (103)Pd inhibited cholangiocarcinoma cell growth, as demonstrated when the growth rate of the cells was stunned by a gamma-ray with a dosage larger than 197.321 MBq. Typical features of cholangiocarcinoma cell apoptosis were observed in the 197.321 MBq dosage group, while cell necrosis was observed when irradiated by a dosage above 245.865 MBq. DNA agarose gel electrophoresis results were different between the 197.321 MBq irradiation dosage group, the 245.865 MBq irradiation dosage group, and the control group. CONCLUSIONS (103)Pd radioactive stents which provide a radioactive dosage of 197.321 MBq are effective in the treatment of cholangiocarcinoma; (103)Pd radioactive stents should be useful for the clinical treatment of cholangiocarcinoma.

Acetone, which is volatile, flammable, toxic, expensive and causing serious air pollution, is often used as extracting solvent in the production of powdery soy phospholipid. Recycling and reusing acetone is the key of reducing the cost of production. Therefore, saving energy and reducing emission when recycling acetone are the most important technologies during the production of phospholipid. On the basis of the productivity of powdery phospholipid being 2.4 t every day, 43.2 t acetone is reused every 8 h and the total volume of acetone gas emitted is 450.75 m3(about 901.5 kg). According to the current price of acetone, the lost money is about 7212 yuan RMB.

OBJECTIVE To explore the effects of Shenfu Injection on prostacyclin, thromboxane A2 and the activities of ATPases in rats exposed to hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury. METHODS Twenty-four male Wistar rats weighing 200-250 g were randomly divided into two groups: Shenfu Injection (SF)-treated group (rats were treated with Shenfu Injection of 10 ml/kg through intraperitoneal injection) and untreated group (rats were administered with normal saline at the same dose and served as a control group). Hepatic ischemia was caused by Pringle's maneuver and lasted for fifteen minutes, and then one-hour or three-hour reperfusion was performed. Venous blood samples for the measurement of thromboxane B(2) (TXB(2)) and 6-keto-prostaglandin F(1 alpha)(6-keto-PGF(1 alpha)) were collected three hours after reperfusion. Liver tissue samples were collected one hour or three hours after reperfusion for the measurement of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase and Ca(+)-Mg(+)-ATPase and for morphological studies. RESULTS Plasma TXB(2) was lower in the SF-treated group than that in the untreated group after three-hour reperfusion (P>0.05), while 6-keto-PGF(1 alpha) was higher in the SF-treated group than that in the untreated group (P>0.05). The ratio of TXB(2) and 6-keto-PGF(1 alpha) was significantly lower in the SF-treated group than that in the untreated group (P

The temperature is 56.5°C when acetone gas is rectified during the production of powdery phospholipid. If heat exchanger is added, heat energy that is reclaimed can be used by other heaters. On the basis of exchange hot water (51°C) 4m3 every minute, a factory with the productivity of powdery phospholipid being 10 ton a day can save 533.2 ton standard coal which is equivalent to 746.48 ton common coal. If this technique of saving energy and reducing emission could be widely used in correlative industries of all over the country, economic benefits will be prominent.

The clinical application of hypothermia dates back to the surgical treatment of blue babies (1949) and the early days of open heart surgery (1952), when generalized cooling was employed. The induction of hepatic hypothermia began with whole-body cooling in experimental models in 1953 and clinically in 1961. It was designed to minimize the ischemia-reperfusion injury associated with hepatic inflow occlusion. Body surface cooling and cooling via an extracorporeal circuit, however, were not widely accepted for hepatic surgery because of the adverse effects on the extrahepatic organs. Consequently, with the introduction of improved venovenous bypass techniques, in situ cold hepatic perfusion has been used in selected patients since 1971. In situ hypothermic hemihepatic perfusion, introduced in 1995, prevents an ischemic insult to the contralateral hepatic lobe. Topical cooling using ice slush under total or hemihepatic inflow occlusion was reported in 1993. This technique does not require cumbersome hypothermic perfusion equipment. In attempts to minimize intraoperative bleeding by vascular occlusion, the liver surgeon must consider the benefits and technical demands of hepatic hypothermia.

The purpose of this study is to define the role for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) in mixed-lineage-leukemia (MLL)-rearranged acute leukemia, which is now poorly understood. A prospective, multi-center cohort study to determine whether allo-HSCT could decrease relapse rates and improve long-term survival of MLL+ leukemia patients was performed. Fifty-six consecutive patients diagnosed with MLL-rearranged acute leukemia undergoing allo-HSCT from two transplant centers in China were enrolled between October 2007 and October 2012. The trial was registered at www.chictr.org as # ChiCTR-ONC-12002739. The incidences of grades II to IV acute graft versus host disease (aGVHD) and of grades III and IV aGVHD were 28.8% (CI, 16.87-40.8%), and 14.2% (CI, 5.4-23.0%), respectively. The cumulative incidences for chronic GVHD (cGVHD) at 2 years after HSCT were 35.2% (CI, 21.2-49.2%). Up to April 30, 2013, 12 patients had relapsed and 11 died from relapse, and 37 patients were still alive without disease recurrence. The relapse and NRM rates at 3 years were 25.3% (CI, 12.7-37.9%) and 18.0% (CI, 2.6-33.4%), respectively. The probalities of overall survival and leukemia free survival were 61.8% (CI, 46.0-77.6%) and 56.3% (CI, 38.1-74.5%) at 3 years, respectively. Patients transplanted during their hematological first complete remission (CR1) had a lower relapse rate (17.9% vs. 48.1%, P = 0.03) compared with patients transplanted beyond CR1. The median overall survival for the 29 patients not receiving allo-HSCT during the study period was 145 days from diagnosis. This study showed that allo-HSCT could be a valuable treatment choice for MLL+ acute leukemia.

Background Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection is usually self-limited, but some fulminant cases are fatal, even when occurring in previously healthy individuals. It can also be the cause of overwhelming postsplenectomy infection (OPSI). Case presentation We report a case of OPSI in a 41-year-old woman with hypersplenism associated with hepatitis B cirrhosis. We detected a significant Mycoplasma pneumoniae agglutination titer, but no evidence of infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae, Legionnella spp., or any other bacterial or fungal pathogens. She eventually died despite aggressive therapy. Conclusions M. pneumoniae could be an underestimated cause of OPSI, and should be suspected in fulminant infectious cases in asplenic patients.