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Bing-jie Huang,1– 4 Yong Wang,1– 4 Qi Miao,1– 4 Xin Yu,1– 4 Cheng-cheng Pu,1– 4 Chuan Shi1– 4 1Clinical Research Department, Peking University Sixth Hospital, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 2Institute of Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 3NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), , Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 4National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Cheng-cheng Pu; Chuan Shi Email pciami@163.com; shichuan@bjmu.edu.cnPurpose: The Negative Symptom Assessment-16 (NSA-16) is an instrument with significant validity and utility for assessing negative symptoms associated with schizophrenia. This study aimed to validate the Chinese version of the NSA-16.Patients and Methods: A total of 172 participants with schizophrenia were assessed with the NSA-16, Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS) and Rating Scale for Extrapyramidal Side Effects (RSESE). The factor structure of the NSA-16 was evaluated via exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Cronbach’s α and intraclass correlation coefficients were computed. Correlations were evaluated via Spearman correlation coefficient.Results: The original five-factor model of the NSA-16 did not fit our sample. Exploratory factor analysis followed by confirmatory factor analysis suggested a three-factor structure, consisting of communication, emotion and motivation, with 15 items. The NSA with 15 items was termed as the NSA-15. The NSA-15 showed excellent convergent validity by high correlations with the SANS and PANSS total and negative factor scores and good divergent validity by independence from the PANSS positive factor, CDSS and RSESE. The NSA-15 showed good internal consistency, interrater reliability and test–retest reliability.Conclusion: The NSA-15 is best characterized by a three-factor structure and is valid for assessing negative symptoms of schizophrenia in Chinese individuals.Keywords: negative symptoms, schizophrenia, NSA, reliability, validity

Controlled drainage (CD) is an important agricultural measure for maintaining soil moisture and nutrients, controlling groundwater level, and increasing crop yield. In arid regions, CD can be used to improve the water supply in agriculture and reduce environmental pollution. In this study, we investigated the effect of CD, including a drainage depth of 40 cm (CWT1) and 70 cm (CWT2) during the plant growth period, free drainage (FD), and open ditch drainage (OD) on the migration of water, nutrients, and salts in the soil; the dynamics of groundwater level; the loss of soil nitrogen; and the growth of oilseed sunflower plants. Compared with FD, CD increased the water and nutrient content in the soil, reduced nitrogen loss, and enhanced the ability of the soil to continuously supply nitrogen to the oilseed sunflower plants, which benefited plant growth at later growth stages and reduced environmental pollution. During the period between irrigation at the budding stage and harvest stage, the average soil water content in the 0–20 cm soil layer in CWT1 increased by 3.67%, 4.78%, and 0.55%, respectively, compared with that in CWT2, FD, and OD. The soil mineral content in CWT1 was 25.17%, 35.05%, and 17.78% higher than that in CWT2, FD, and OD, respectively, indicating that higher soil salinity occurred at the later stage of plant growth in CWT1, which actually had little effect on the plants due to their enhanced salt tolerance and increased need for water and nutrients at that stage. In addition, CD delayed the decline in groundwater level, which allowed the plants to use groundwater at later growth stages, and as a result the yield and water use efficiency were improved. CWT1 significantly increased oilseed sunflower yield by 4.52–11.14% and increased water use efficiency by 1.16–10.8%. Moreover, CWT1 also increased the survival rate of the oilseed sunflower plants by 2.62–2.92%, and the plants demonstrated good growth. Therefore, under CD conditions, plants used soil water and nitrogen more efficiently and, as a result, their productivity was increased, and the water quality was improved.

CORRIGENDUM Q. Miao, E. Zurlo, D. de Bruin, J. A. J. Wondergem, S. P. Skinner, M. Timmer, A. Blok, D. Heinrich, M. Overhand, M. Huber,* M. Ubbink* 17128–17133 A Two-Armed Probe for In-Cell DEER Measurements on Proteins Chem. Eur. J., 2020, 26 DOI: 10.1002/chem.202002743 All authors have agreed that Dr. Simon P. Skinner has made a significant contribution to this work by performing experiments and analyzing data and that his name should have been included in the list of authors. The corrected list of authors therefore reads: Dr. Qing Miao, Dr. Enrico Zurlo, Donny de Bruin, Joeri A. J. Wondergem, Dr. Simon P. Skinner, Monika Timmer, Anneloes Blok, Prof. Dr. Doris Heinrich, Dr. Mark Overhand, Dr. Martina Huber, Prof. Dr. Marcellus Ubbink The relevant affiliations for Dr. Skinner are (1) Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Gorlaeus Laboratories, Leiden University, Einsteinweg 55, 2333, CC Leiden, The Netherlands and (2) School of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Astbury Centre, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. The Acknowledgement section should not contain the sentence “and Dr. Simon Skinner for CLaNP5 labeled T4lys NMR data.

This paper proposes a new robot-assisted bilateral upper limb training strategy, focusing on the bilateral coordination of users’ upper limbs. The strategy is implemented and evaluated on a bilateral upper limb rehabilitation device (BULReD) that is an H-bot mechanism actuated by two Maxon DC motors. The control system consists of a position controller, an admittance controller and an adaptive algorithm, where the BULReD stiffness is modified session by session based on training performance. This strategy is also integrated with subject-specific workspace for enhanced training safety. Experiments were carried out with five subjects through active reaching tasks. Results indicate that the proposed training strategy requires significant coordination of bilateral upper limbs for task completion, and is able to tune control parameters to an appropriate difficulty level based on participants’ training performance. Future work will focus on its clinical evaluation on patients with upper limb disabilities.

Pin Gao,1 Lili You,2 Di Wu,1 Aiping Shi,1 Qing Miao,3 Ujala Rana,4 Dustin Paul Martin,3 Ye Du,1 Gang Zhao,1 Bing Han,1 Chao Zheng,5 Zhimin Fan1 1Department of Breast Surgery, First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China; 2Department of Endocrinology, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China; 3Department of Surgery, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA; 4Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA; 5Department of Breast Surgery, Second Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China Background: Postoperative endocrine therapy is known to reduce recurrence and mortality in patients with estrogen receptor (ER)- or progestogen receptor (PR)-positive breast cancer. Correlates and determinants of compliance with endocrine therapy among Chinese patients with breast cancer are not known. The aim of this study was to elucidate the efficacy and adherence of endocrine therapy in China and suggest effective improvements on the adherence. Patients and methods: We analyzed the survival of 1,110 patients eligible for endocrine therapy and adherence of 699 patients to endocrine therapy. Kaplan–Meier curves, log-rank tests and Cox proportional hazard models were used to evaluate survival, and logistic regression models were used to assess variables associated with treatment adherence. Results: Long-term endocrine therapy was associated with lower recurrence rate (HR 0.72; 95% CI 0.56–0.93; p=0.013). Adherence to endocrine therapy was only 63.1%. Sociodemographic characteristics of patients, clinical- and medication-related characteristics and patients’ attitudes were associated with adherence to endocrine therapy. Conclusion: Adherence to endocrine therapy in Chinese patients with ER+/PR+ breast cancer was

In this study, an Al-Y coating was applied to enhance the property of oxidation resistance on the surface of γ- TiAl alloys by rf magnetron sputtering. The isothermal oxidation tests were investigated at 900 °C for 100 h. The coating characteristics and microstructure of coating after isothermal oxidation were inspected by XRD and SEM methods respectively, and coating bonding strength was investigated by scratch tester. Results show that Al2O3 and Y2O3 were produced on the surface of γ-TiAl alloys to enhance oxidation resistance during the isothermal oxidation test. Diffusion layer with rich element of Al provides abundant Al to surface for formation of a continuous Al2O3 layer which increases oxidation resistance effectively. Oxides of YAlO3 and YAG were formed during the oxidation tests, which were beneficial for the strength, hardness and fracture toughness of crystal grain of Al2O3. Furthermore, Element of Ti diffused into surface from substrate was restrained by Al because of the formation of TiAl3 and TiAl, which avoid the layer-broken by titanium oxides with porous structure Keywords: Oxidation behavior; Magnetron sputtering; High temperature; Al-Y coating; γ-TiAl alloy; Diffusion

This paper presents a comprehensive review of high-level control techniques for upper-limb robotic training. It aims to compare and discuss the potentials of these different control algorithms, and specify future research direction. Included studies mainly come from selected papers in four review articles. To make selected studies complete and comprehensive, especially some recently-developed upper-limb robotic devices, a search was further conducted in IEEE Xplore, Google Scholar, Scopus and Web of Science using keywords (‘upper limb*’ or ‘upper body*’) and (‘rehabilitation*’ or ‘treatment*’) and (‘robot*’ or ‘device*’ or ‘exoskeleton*’). The search is limited to English-language articles published between January 2013 and December 2017. Valuable references in related publications were also screened. Comparative analysis shows that high-level interaction control strategies can be implemented in a range of methods, mainly including impedance/admittance based strategies, adaptive control techniques, and physiological signal control. Even though the potentials of existing interactive control strategies have been demonstrated, it is hard to identify the one leading to maximum encouragement from human users. However, it is reasonable to suggest that future studies should combine different control strategies to be application specific, and deliver appropriate robotic assistance based on physical disability levels of human users.

Water resources allocated to the agricultural sector in the Yellow River basin are being reduced due to severe water scarcity and an increasing demand by the non-agricultural sectors, which imply surface irrigation modernization and the adopting water-saving technologies. The Hetao irrigation district has 0,570 Mha of irrigated land; traditional basin irrigation is the most common irrigation method. Its general conditions are adequate for surface irrigation due to the high charge of sediments on irrigation water and, among other factors, due to its appropriateness to leach salts. The new technologies of surface irrigation, including the modernized furrowed and flat basin irrigation systems, require the adoption of effective precise land leveling to reach the best performance standards. In this context, the development of high quality land leveling operation is a main condition for irrigation modernization. The laser land leveling technology provides for high land leveling quality, with significant benefits on water saving, salinity control and crop productivity. The irrigation modernization also requires adopting adequate irrigation scheduling, control of inflow discharges and of related application times. The DSS methodology may contribute to improved design and management. The DSS SADREG aims to support design and selection of farm surface irrigation alternatives; it ranks those alternatives relative to irrigation performance and environmental and economic impacts using Multicriteria analysis. The DSS application bases on three years field work to evaluate the traditional practices and for the parameterization of design models from field irrigation systems evaluation. This paper presents the following SADREG application results: (i) evaluation of land leveling operation based on field observations and the comparison between laser and common practices; (ii) land parcels description, namely its size, slopes and water supply conditions; (iii) SADREG base models parameterization, including crop irrigation scheduling, infiltration, SIRMOD hydraulic simulation and economics; and (iv) presentation and comparison of alternatives of field irrigation modernization.

Hetao irrigation district (Hetao) is located in the upper reaches of Yellow River basin. Surface irrigation is used because there is a high charge of sediments in the irrigation water and is appropriate to leach salts. Basin irrigation is the most used irrigation method. Traditional practices are inadequate for saving water and surface irrigation modernization is needed. A better knowledge of the performance of irrigation systems is required to base that modernization. An experimental research work was developed at Dengkou Experimental Station to assess the irrigation performance in laser land leveled fields. It is located on an irrigation sector supplied in agreement with a rotational delivery scheme managed by the Water Users Association (WUA), which usually practices a total of 7 events and the autumn irrigation. The typical field length is 50 m, with a width between 10 and 50 m, with a silt loamy soil. The irrigation performance was assess from field measurements carried out in several fields, cropped with the main irrigated crops, wheat, maize and sunflower. The irrigation field evaluation was based on observations of advance and recession times, soil moisture, inflow discharges, application time, topographic survey and crop development data. In addition, infiltration curves for typical and seasonal irrigation events were developed, and the Kostiakov infiltration parameters were estimated from field observations using the inverse method with the SIRMOD model. The irrigation operative parameters and the performance indicators were obtained, concluding that the distribution uniformity is very high, between 90 and 96%, and that the cutoff time has a very sensitive effect on beneficial water use fraction. Finally, the results of this study allowed the appropriate knowledge, including the crop irrigation scheduling data, for the irrigation design models aimed at developing irrigation alternatives.

Mg(2+)/Li(+) hybrid batteries have recently been constructed combining a Mg anode, a Li(+)-intercalation electrode, and an electrolyte containing both Mg(2+) and Li(+). These batteries have been reported to outperform all the previously reported magnesium batteries in terms of specific capacity, cycling stability, and rate capability. Herein, we report the outstanding electrochemical performance of Mg(2+)/Li(+) hybrid batteries consisting of a one-dimensional mesoporous TiO2(B) cathode, a Mg anode, and an electrolyte consisting of 0.5 mol L(-1) Mg(BH4)2 + 1.5 mol L(-1) LiBH4 in tetraglyme. A highly synergetic interaction between Li(+) and Mg(2+) ions toward the pseudo-capacitive reaction is proposed. The hybrid batteries show superior rate performance with 130 mAh g(-1) at 1 C and 115 mAh g(-1) at 2 C, together with excellent cyclability up to 6000 cycles.

Background: Airway inflammation and inflammatory mediators play an imperative role in the pathogenesis of COPD. Currently, understanding of the anti-inflammatory effect of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) on COPD is limited, and CHM’s mechanism of actions is unclear. This systematic review (SR) evaluates anti-inflammatory effects of CHM on the concentration of various inflammatory mediators, such as Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-8 (IL-8), in the sputum and serum of COPD patients. Methods: The studies chosen for this SR were obtained from Chinese and English databases. The study selection criteria were based on randomized, controlled trials of stable COPD patients on adjunct oral CHM; and the changes in concentration of inflammatory mediators post-treatment were analyzed via meta-analysis. Results: 2,268 patients in 29 studies were evaluated. 2 studies were assessed to be of low-risk in all domains. The results showed significant reduction in the serum level of IL-8 (mean: -1.27 and 95% confidence interval (CI) [-1.86, -0.68]) and TNF-α (Mean: -0.72 and 95% CI [-1.01, -0.43]) in patients treated with CHM plus bronchodilators, compared to bronchodilators alone. Conclusion: This SR explains CHM’s mechanism of action, and demonstrates CHM’s anti-inflammatory effects on patients with stable COPD.

BACKGROUND It has been found that the -2518 C-C motif ligand (CCL)-2 promoter variant increases the risk of developing active tuberculosis (TB). OBJECTIVE To study the association between -2518 variants and susceptibility to TB. DESIGN We searched Medline, PubMed and the Wan Fang databases for human genetic studies on whether the -2518 CCL2 polymorphism influences the expression of active TB. Articles published from January 1998 to November 2010 were included. A random effects model was conducted in the meta-analysis. RESULTS The CCL2-2518G allele (OR 1.51, 95%CI 1.11-2.04, P = 0.008) showed significant association with susceptibility to TB. In genotype analysis, the recessive model (CCL2 genotype GG, OR 1.66, 95%CI 1.19-2.33, P = 0.003) was slightly superior to the dominant model (G carrier genotypes OR 1.53, 95%CI 1.07-2.17, P = 0.018). These observations were prominent among Asians and Latin-Americans of Hispanic ancestry, but not in Africans from Ghana and South Africa. The presence of epistatic genes in one population but not in the other, environmental differences and pathogen virulence may account for this. CONCLUSION The CCL2-2518G allele increases the risk of developing TB in Asians and Hispanics.

A detailed study of inelastic x-ray scattering from the ground state to the (3)Sigma(g)(3 sigma(-1)(g)3s(g)(1)) state of the O-2 molecule is presented. The observed angular anisotropy shows that the vibrational excitations within this final state are strongly dependent on the polarization of the incident radiation. The analysis demonstrates that this is a manifestation of interference between resonant and direct nonresonant inelastic x-ray scattering. This interference provides a new tool to monitor nuclear dynamics by relative rotation of the polarization vectors of the incident and scattered photons.

This paper discusses the path-following performance of actively-steered articulated vehicles based on measurement signals from two ‘ground-watching’ navigation systems (GWNS). The ground-watching navigation systems are described. These use high-speed USB-3 cameras and an image processing computer to measure and calculate off-tracking distance for a path-following steering controller. Full-scale field tests are performed using an experimental articulated vehicle, tested under both open-loop and closed-loop conditions. Off-tracking distance at the rear camera with respect to the front camera is controlled to be less than 0.1m for tests with both GWNSs.

There is increasing awareness of the immunologic roles of liver mononuclear populations, including myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). We took advantage of a large well-defined cohort of 148 patients with liver inflammation and 45 healthy controls to focus on the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of MDSCs. We investigated the frequency, phenotype, and functional capacities of MDSCs by using peripheral blood MDSCs in a cohort of 55 patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), 40 with autoimmune hepatitis, 39 with chronic hepatitis B, 14 with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and 45 healthy controls. This was followed by a liver-targeted determination in 27 patients with PBC, 27 with autoimmune hepatitis, 20 with chronic hepatitis B, 14 with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and 6 controls. We then focused on mechanisms of this expansion with PBC as an example, using both ursodeoxycholic acid-naive and treated patients. HLA-DR-/low CD33+ CD11b+ CD14+ CD15- monocytic MDSCs were elevated in diseases characterized by liver inflammation compared to healthy controls. Using PBC as a focus, there was a significant correlation between levels of circulating MDSCs and disease-related biochemical markers (alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin). We found higher amounts of MDSCs in patients with PBC who were responsive to ursodeoxycholic acid. MDSCs from PBC were found to manifest a potent immunosuppressive function. There was a significant correlation in the accumulation of hepatic MDSCs in the inflamed lesions of PBC with histologic changes, such as fibrosis. We also found that cysteine-rich protein 61 (CCN1), a highly expressed protein in impaired cholangiocytes and hepatocytes, contributes to MDSC expansion and MDSC inducible nitric oxide synthase-associated immune suppression. Conclusion CCN1 modulates expansion and a suppressive function of MDSCs. Our data highlight the potential functions of CCN1 on MDSCs and suggest therapeutic implications in inflammatory liver diseases. (Hepatology HEPATOLOGY 2018;67:232-246).

Multiple genetic variants influence the risk for development of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). To explore the cumulative effects of known susceptibility loci on risk, we utilized a weighted genetic risk score (wGRS) to evaluate whether genetic information can predict susceptibility. The wGRS was created using 26 known susceptibility loci and investigated in 1840 UK PBC and 5164 controls. Our data indicate that the wGRS was significantly different between PBC and controls (P=1.61E-142). Moreover, we assessed predictive performance of wGRS on disease status by calculating the area under the receiver operator characteristic curve. The area under curve for the purely genetic model was 0.72 and for gender plus genetic model was 0.82, with confidence limits substantially above random predictions. The risk of PBC using logistic regression was estimated after dividing individuals into quartiles. Individuals in the highest disclosed risk group demonstrated a substantially increased risk for PBC compared with the lowest risk group (odds ratio: 9.3, P=1.91E-084). Finally, we validated our findings in an analysis of an Italian PBC cohort. Our data suggested that the wGRS, utilizing genetic variants, was significantly associated with increased risk for PBC with consistent discriminant ability. Our study is a first step toward risk prediction for PBC.

There is substantial data that suggests an abnormality of innate immunity in patients with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) which includes the transcription factor nuclear factor-kB (NF-kB) and well as downstream inflammatory signaling pathways. In addition, Immuno-Chip analysis has identified a novel PBC-associated locus near the receptor activator of NF-kB ligand (RANKL) gene. Based on these observations, we investigated the role of the RANKL axis in the liver of patients with PBC compared to controls. We used immunohistochemistry to quantitate liver expression of RANKL, its receptor (RANK), and importantly the decoy receptor osteoprotegerin (OPG), including a total of 122 liver samples (PBC = 37, primary sclerosing cholangitis = 20, autoimmune hepatitis = 26, chronic hepatitis B = 32 and unaffected controls = 7). In addition, we studied RANKL-RANK-OPG co-localization in CD4 and CD8 T cells, B cells, dendritic cells, macrophages, NK, NKT cells, hepatocytes, and cholangiocytes. We report herein that RANK is constitutively expressed by cholangiocytes in both unaffected and diseased liver. However, cholangiocytes from PBC express significantly higher levers of RANK than either the unaffected controls or liver diseased controls. CD4, CD8 and CD19 cells with in the portal areas around bile ducts in PBC express significantly higher levels of RANKL compared to controls. Importantly, the overall hepatic RANKL level and the ratio of hepatic RANKL/OPG correlated with disease severity in PBC. In conclusion, our data indicate a role of RANK-RANKL axis in the innate immune activation in PBC and we hypothesize that the damaged cholangiocytes, which express high levels of RANK, lead to the recruitment of RANKL positive cells and ultimately the classic portal tract infiltrates.