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Objective: To investigate the value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound features in predicting HER2 positive and Ki67 high expression in invasive breast cancer of no special type. Methods: Retrospective analysis was conducted on the correlation between contrast-enhanced ultrasound images of 92 patients with invasive breast cancer of no special type confirmed by pathology in our hospital and the expression of HER2 and Ki67, including 64 cases in the HER2 negative group and 28 cases in the positive group. Ki67 expression was low in 14 cases and high in 78 cases. The contrast-enhanced ultrasound indicators include: BI (Base Intensity), AT (Arrival Time), TTP (Time To Peak), PI (Peak Intensity), AS (Ascending Slope), DT/2 (Descending Time/2), DS (Descending Slope), AUC (Area Under Curve), maximum focal area ratio of before and after contrast-enhanced ultrasound (AR Area Ratio), Distance of anterior boundary of lesion to skin after contrast-enhanced ultrasound (DTS Distance to skin) and maximum diameter after contrast-enhanced ultrasound (D Diameter), and the above indexes were compared and analyzed in the negative and positive groups of HER2, and the low and high expression groups of Ki67. Results: Logistics regression analysis showed that DTS is an independent risk factor for HER2 positive (P＜0. 05). AR was an independent risk factor for Ki67 high expression (P＜0. 05). Conclusion: The combination of contra-enhanced ultrasound features has high diagnostic efficacy for HER2 positive and Ki67 high expression, which can provide an important reference.

The key to solving traffic congestion is the accurate traffic speed forecasting. However, this is difficult owing to the intricate spatial-temporal correlation of traffic networks. Most existing studies either ignore the correlations among distant sensors, or ignore the time-varying spatial features, resulting in the inability to extract accurate and reliable spatial-temporal features. To overcome these shortcomings, this study proposes a new deep learning framework named spatial-temporal gated graph convolutional network for long-term traffic speed forecasting. Firstly, a new spatial graph generation method is proposed, which uses the adjacency matrix to generate a global spatial graph with more comprehensive spatial features. Then, a new spatial-temporal gated recurrent unit is proposed to extract the comprehensive spatial-temporal features from traffic data by embedding a new graph convolution operation into gated recurrent unit. Finally, a new self-attention block is proposed to extract global features from the traffic data. The evaluation on two real-world traffic speed datasets demonstrates the proposed model can accurately forecast the long-term traffic speed, and outperforms the baseline models in most evaluation metrics.

Introduction: The oral antiviral agents nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (NMV/r) and molnupiravir are used to treat mild-to-moderate COVID-19 infection in outpatients. However, the use of NMV/r is complicated by significant drug-drug interactions (DDIs) with frequently prescribed medications. Healthcare professionals should be aware of the possible risk of DDIs, given the emergence of COVID-19 variants and the widespread use of oral COVID-19 treatments. We reviewed available data on DDIs between NMV/r, molnupiravir and common dermatological medications; summarised the potential side effects; and suggest strategies for safe COVID-19 treatment. Method: A systematic review using PubMed was conducted on data published from inception to 18 July 2022 to find clinical outcomes of DDIs between NMV/r, molnupiravir and dermatological medications. We also searched the Lexicomp, Micromedex, Liverpool COVID-19 Drug Interactions database and the National Institutes of Health COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines for interactions between NMV/r and molnupiravir, and commonly used dermatological medications. Results: NMV/r containing the cytochrome P-450 (CYP) 3A4 inhibitor ritonavir has DDIs with other medications similarly dependent on CYP3A4 metabolism. Dermatological medications that have DDIs with NMV/r include rifampicin, clofazimine, clarithromycin, erythromycin, clindamycin, itraconazole, ketoconazole, fluconazole, bilastine, rupatadine, dutasteride, ciclosporin, cyclophosphamide, tofacitinib, upadacitinib, colchicine and systemic glucocorticoids. With no potential DDI identified yet in in vitro studies, molnupiravir may be an alternative COVID-19 therapy in patients taking medications that have complicated interactions with NMV/r, which cannot be stopped or dose adjusted. Conclusion: NMV/r has significant DDIs with many common dermatological medications, which may require temporary discontinuation, dosage adjustment or substitution with other anti-COVID-19 agents such as molnupiravir. Keywords: COVID-19, dermatology, drug interactions, molnupiravir, nirmatrelvir-ritonavir, pharmacology

With COVID-19 raging and individuals exercising at home, the adoption of fitness wearable technology (FWT) that help people monitor their physical state has become a pressing matter. Here, we try to bridge the gap that no researcher has examined the link between perceived usefulness (PU) and FWT adoption by using meta-analysis to comprehend the detailed numerical values and moderating factors affecting the relationship. A total of 24 articles with 7180 re-pendants were investigated from January 1, 2015 to March 1, 2022 A.D, producing significant results as follows: (1) There is publication bias in relevant research, and sensitivity analysis suggests that PU influences FWT adoption positively; (2) Subgroup test and regression analysis suggested that cultural background, gender, and COVID-19 can deepen this relationship to varying degrees. More precisely, female (r=0.669) have a greater impact on FWT adoption than men (r=0.658). In addition, users in other countries (r=0.670) are more concerned about PU than Chinese users (r=0.658). Regression analysis showed that after the COVID-19 outbreak, the coefficient (r=0.762) of PU on FWT adoption increased significantly, indicating that people need FWT-assisted exercise to understand and maintain their own physical fitness. The research opens up new ideas for different governments and scholars to promote mass fitness and public health during the COVID-19, providing a reference for the scientific research and development of PU and marketing promotion of the related enterprises’ FWT.

This paper presents a new asymmetric image encryption and hiding algorithm based on SHA-3 and compressive sensing. First, to resist the chosen-plaintext attack (CPA) and the known-plaintext attack (KPA), SHA-3 is employed to calculate the hash values of the plain image, and they are transformed into the initial values of the chaotic map. Second, the plain image is divided into blocks which are processed by sparse transform, scrambling, compressive measurement, and merged. Then they are quantized and scrambled again to get an encrypted image. Third, the encrypted image is filled with zeros to the same size as the plain image. Then three numbers from the hundreds digit, tens digit, and single digit of each pixel are extracted respectively. Finally, the carrier image is transformed by integer wavelet transform (IWT) to get four coefficients, and then the above three numbers are embedded into low-frequency coefficients respectively. By inverse IWT, the carrier image containing secrets (CICS) can be obtained. The experimental results show that the algorithm has strong imperceptibility and key sensitivity. Especially, when the embedding coefficient is set to 1.0, the NC value between the carrier image (CI) and the CICS can reach 0.9999, and the PSNR value can reach about 43 dB.

Prone positioning during general anaesthesia is one of the most difficult practices for the perioperative nurse. Patients in this position are vulnerable to many preventable complications. However, no studies have developed an evidence-based tool to improve nursing practice during general anaesthesia and prone positioning. This study aimed to develop and test a general anaesthesia and prone position nursing checklist for use by the circulating nurse.A prospective pre-post study was performed between October 2020 and March 2021.The WHO checklist development model and evidence-based methods guided the checklist development process. We prospectively observed circulating nurses that attended to prone general anaesthesia during posterior lumbar spine surgery for 3 months before and after the introduction of the general anaesthesia and prone position nursing risk checklist. The main outcomes were successful delivery of essential prone positional nursing practices during each surgery and the nurse's opinion of the checklist's efficacy and utility.A general anaesthesia and prone position nursing checklist comprised of 4 pause points and 22 necessary nursing practices was developed. Seventy-two nurses participated in this study. Use of the checklist significantly increased the average performance of essential practices during each surgery from 72.72%-95.45%. Three measures had a compliance rate of 100%. The delivery rate of 14 measures was significantly improved, 91.7% of nurses considered the checklist easy to use, and 94.4% nurses would want the checklist to be used if they underwent a prone position and general anaesthesia operation.

Mixed forests are usually associated with higher resource utilization compared to the corresponding monocultures; however, the tree mixing effects of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) ecological stoichiometry in coastal forest ecosystems remains largely unknown. We compared the C, N, P stoichiometry in different ecosystem components (i.e., canopy layer, herb layer, litter layer, 0–20 cm and 20–40 cm soils) among two monocultures (Casuarina equisetifolia and Eucalyptus saligna) and their mixture in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, China. We also assessed the effects of the main microhabitat factors (wind speed, soil salinity, soil moisture and pH) on C, N, P stoichiometry. Two monocultures and their mixture showed the same elemental pattern of “low C and high P” for both the canopy and herb layers, and soil, indicating evident N limitations; however, the mixture intensified the N deficiency more. The mixture showed stronger correlations among the C, N, P stoichiometry than the monocultures. Redundancy and hierarchical partitioning analysis showed the overall and independent effects of the microhabitat factors on the C, N, P stoichiometry separately, in which soil moisture presented more effects on shallow soil (20–40 cm) C, N, and P, while soil salinity mainly affected the herb and litter layers; wind speed had greater effects on canopy layer C, N, P stoichiometry. These results are expected to provide a management reference for the regeneration of degraded plantations in the southern Zhejiang province of China.

As a group of naturally occurring peptides in various foods, γ-glutamyl peptides possess a unique Kokumi taste and health benefits. However, few studies have focused on the functionality of γ-glutamyl peptides. In this study, the γ-[glutamyl] (n=1, 2, 3)-tryptophan peptides were synthesized from a solution of glutamine (Gln) and tryptophan (Trp) employing L-glutaminase from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. Four different γ-glutamyl peptides were identified from the reaction mixture by UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS. Under optimal conditions of pH 10, 37 °C, 3 h, 0.1 mol/L Gln: 0.1 mol/L Trp = 1:3, and glutaminase at 0.1% (m/v), the yields of γ-l-glutamyl-l-tryptophan (γ-EW), γ-l-glutamyl-γ-l-glutamyl-l-tryptophan (γ-EEW) and γ-l-glutamyl-γ-l-glutamyl-γ-l-glutamyl-l-tryptophan (γ-EEEW) were 51.02%, 26.12% and 1.91% respectively. The antioxidant properties of the reaction mixture and the two peptides (γ-EW, γ-EEW) identified from the reaction media were further compared. Results showed that γ-EW exhibited the highest DPPH•, ABTS•+ and O2•−-scavenging activity (EC50 = 0.2999 mg/mL, 67.6597 μg/mL and 5.99 mg/mL, respectively) and reducing power (EC50 = 4.61 mg/mL), while γ-EEW demonstrated the highest iron-chelating activity (76.22%). Thus, the synthesized mixture may be used as a potential source of antioxidant peptides for food and nutraceutical applications.

Background By evaluating equity and effectiveness, this study provides evidence-based knowledge for scientific decision-making and the optimization of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) configuration and utilization at the provincial level. Methods Using data from 2017, we applied a Gini coefficient to analyze the equity of MRI services in 11 sample cities in Henan province. An agglomeration degree was then applied to measure equity from the perspective of population and geography, and a data envelopment analysis was used to evaluate MRI efficiency. Results The overall Gini coefficient of MRI allocation by population in the 11 sample cities is 0.117; however, equity varies considerably among the sample cities. The sample’s comprehensive efficiency is only 0.732, indicating the overall ineffectiveness of provincial MRI utilization. The pure technical and scale efficiencies of four sample cities are below 1, indicating lower MRI effectiveness than the rest. Conclusions Although the overall equity of configuration at the provincial level is relatively good, equity varies at the municipal level. Our results demonstrate a low MRI utilization efficiency; accordingly, policymakers should dynamically adjust the policy based on equity and efficiency.

Increasing evidences have demonstrated that pyroptosis exerts key roles in the occurrence, development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, the mechanisms of pyroptosis in COPD remain largely unknown. In our research, Statistics were performed using R software and related packages in this study. Series matrix files of small airway epithelium samples were downloaded from the GEO database. Differential expression analysis with FDR

Labels provide a quick and effective solution to obtain people interesting content from large-scale social network information. The current interest label extraction method based on the subgraph stream proves the feasibility of the subgraph stream for user label extraction. However, it is extremely time-consuming for constructing subgraphs. As an effective mathematical method to deal with fuzzy and uncertain information, rough set-based representations for subgraph stream construction are capable of capturing the uncertainties of the social network. Therefore, we propose an effective approach called RS_UNITE_SS (namely, rough-set-based user-networked interest topic extraction in the form of subgraph stream), which is suitable for large-scale social network user interest label extraction. Specifically, we first propose the subgraph division algorithm to construct a subgraph stream by incorporating a rough set. Then, the algorithm for user real-time interest label extraction based on upper approximation (RILE) is proposed by using sequentially characteristics of the subgraph. Empirically, we evaluate RS_UNITE_SS over real-world datasets, and experimental results demonstrate that our proposed approach is more computationally efficient than existing methods while achieving higher precision value and MRR value.

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes virus (KSHV) initiate and accelerate the development of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), and KSHV possesses many cancer-associated genes, including KSHV-derived microRNA miR-K12-1, which has been identified to be closely associated with KS progression. However, the detailed mechanisms by which miR-K12-1 facilitates HIV-related gastrointestinal KS development are still not fully delineated.This study strived to evaluate the effect of miR-K12-1 on the progression of HIV-related gastrointestinal KS.The expression levels of miR-K12-1 in HIV-related gastrointestinal KS tissues were determined by RT-qPCR. Proliferation and apoptosis were assessed by colony formation, CCK-8 and flow cytometry, respectively. The expression of all proteins was detected by Western blot. The in vivo effect of miR-K12-1 on the formation of a tumor was explored by using the mouse xenograft model.In this study, we uncovered that KSHV-miR-K12-1 was upregulated in HIV-related gastrointestinal KS tissues and associated with poor outcome in HIV-related gastrointestinal KS patients. Compared with the control group, after miR-K12-1 inhibitor transfection, BCBL-1 cell viability was decreased, and the cell apoptosis was significantly increased, whereas transfection of miR-K12-1 mimics promoted cell proliferation and mitosis. In addition, our rescuing experiments verified that miR-K12-1 promoted cell proliferation via activating the PI3K/Akt pathway, and inhibition of the PI3K/Akt pathway by LY294002 abrogated the tumor-promoting effects of miR-K12-1 in HIV-related gastrointestinal KS.In summary, we concluded that KSHV-derived miR-K12-1 activate the PI3K/Akt pathway to initiate and accelerate the development of KS, which convinces us that miR-K12-1 can be used as potential biomarkers for KS diagnosis, treatment and prognosis.

Paleo-oxbow lake sediments can provide archives to reconstruct paleo-channel evolution and flooding history of the river. Multi-proxy approaches including detailed sediment stratigraphy, sedimentology and geochemistry have been implemented in a high-resolution sedimentary section of paleo-oxbow lake of the Yellow River within the Zoige Basin on the NE Tibetan Plateau, to reconstruct regional environmental changes and extreme overbank flooding history. Our results suggest that not only traditional sedimentological proxies, but also chemical elements can be applied in defining sequences with different genetic types, especially the paleoflood deposits in the paleo-oxbow profile. Two units of late-Holocence extreme overbank flooding deposits (OFDs) are identified in terms of the significantly higher proportions of sand, high contents of SiO2, Na2O, Ba, low contents of Al2O3, Fe2O3, MgO, K2O, Ti, Rb and high values of Zr/Fe, Zr/Rb ratios. These extraordinary flood events within the Zoige Basin were dated back to 2,960 ± 240–2,870 ± 270 a and 1840 ± 200–1700 ± 160 a, in response to the mid-Holocene climatic optimum to the late Holocene and the Dark Age Cold Period (DACP). And the strong rainfall caused by the abnormal atmospheric circulation during the period of climate transition and abrupt change may led to the frequent occurrence of extreme flood events in the source region of the Yellow River. These findings are important for understanding the response of regional fluvial system to high climatic instability and provide a new perspective for us to analyze the risk of flood disasters on the Tibetan Plateau under the background of climate change.

By using polyhexamethylene guanidine as a CO2-switchable amine, crude oil emulsions containing normal surfactant were demulsified and recovered reversibly.

Multi-organ segmentation in computed tomography (CT) images is essential for a variety of clinical applications. Due to variations in acquisition protocols, clinical data differ in terms of soft tissue contrast, noise, and artifacts. Devising automatic multi-organ segmentation approaches, which are generalized to data acquired using different CT protocols, are challenging and essential when conducting any multi-center/scanner analyses. In this study, we investigate the use of dual-energy CT images to train a fully convolutional segmentation network which is generalized to CT images acquired using different protocols (i.e. at different energy levels and using a variety of reconstruction kernels) from different CT scanners. Furthermore, a novel image fusion approach in frequency domain is proposed and compared to state-of-the-art fusion approaches, in terms of the segmentation quality achieved by the network. Overall, the experiments indicate that the generalization capability of the segmentation network is improved using dual-energy CT image fusion. The proposed fusion method outperforms all single-energy CT approaches. It provided a significant improvement in segmentation accuracy, ranging from 16.0% to 23.35% with p≤0.03. Furthermore, two image fusion methods statistically significantly improve segmentation quality in the abdominal organs compared to simply using all available dual-energy CT data.

Background: By evaluating equity and effectiveness, this study provides evidence-based knowledge for scientific decision-making and the optimization of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) configuration and utilization at the provincial level. Methods: Using data of 2017, we apply a Gini coefficient to analyze the equity of MRI services in 11 sample cities in Henan province. An agglomeration degree is then applied to measure equity from the perspective of population and geography, and a data envelope analysis is used to evaluate MRI efficiency. Results: The overall Gini coefficient of MRI allocation by population in the 11 sample cities is 0.117; however, the equity varies considerably among the sample cities. The sample’s comprehensive efficiency is only 0.732, indicating the overall ineffectiveness of provincial MRI utilization. The pure technical and scale efficiency of four sample cities are both below 1, indicating lower MRI effectiveness than the rest. Conclusions: Although the overall equity of configuration at the provincial level is relatively good, equity varies at the municipal level. Our results show a low MRI utilization efficiency, which policymakers should consider carefully during policy implementation.

Chemotherapy is the main treatment option for advanced osteosarcoma, which is the most common type of primary bone malignancy. However, patients develop resistance rapidly and many succumb to the disease. Niclosamide, an anthelmintic drug, has been recently identified to display potent and selective anti-cancer activity. In this work, we show that niclosamide at sub-micromolar concentrations inhibits proliferation and migration, and induces apoptosis in both parental and chemo-resistant osteosarcoma cells, with much less toxicity in normal osteoblastic cells. Interestingly, chemo-resistant osteosarcoma cells are more sensitive to niclosamide compared to parental cells. We further identify that inhibition of β-catenin is the underlying mechanism of niclosamide’s action in osteosarcoma cells. In addition, we reveal that chemo-resistant osteosarcoma cells display increased β-catenin activity compared to parental cells, which might explain the hypersensitivity of chemo-resistant cells to niclosamide. Our work provides pre-clinical evidence that niclosamide can be repurposed for treating osteosarcoma. Our findings also suggest the therapeutic value of β-catenin to overcome osteosarcoma chemo-resistance.

The Chinese government has made great efforts in air pollutant reduction and carried out strict regulation policies. Since numerous air pollutants and CO

Artificial induction of polyploidy is an efficient technique for improving biological properties and developing new varieties of many plants. In this study, we analyzed and compared differences in characteristics (morphological and biological) of diploid and tetraploid Anoectochilus roxburghii plants. We found significant differences between tetraploid plants and their diploid counterparts. The tetraploid plants exhibited dwarfing and stockiness. They were also bigger and had more voluminous roots and larger stomata than the diploid plants. Moreover, the biochemical analyses showed that the contents of some amino acids and minerals elements were significantly higher in tetraploid plants. The chlorophyll content of the leaves exhibited no definitive changes, but the photosynthetic performance was higher in the tetraploid plants. In addition, contents of major bioactive compounds, such as kinsenoside and some flavonoids, were enhanced in tetraploids. This is the first detailed analysis of characteristics in diploid and tetraploid A. roxburghii plants. The results may facilitate breeding programs with the species.

Controlling total mRNA content differences between cell populations is critical in comparative transcriptomic measurements. Due to poor compatibility with ERCC, a good control for droplet-based scRNA-seq is yet to be discovered. Normalizing cells to a common count distribution has been adopted as a silent compromise. Such practice profoundly confounds downstream analysis and mislead discoveries. We present TOMAS, a computational framework that derives total mRNA content ratios between cell populations via deconvoluting their heterotypic doublets. Experiments showed that cell types can have total mRNA differences by many folds and TOMAS can accurately infer the ratios between them. We demonstrate that TOMAS corrects bias in downstream analysis and rectifies a plethora of previously counter-intuitive or inconclusive analytical results. We argue against the opinion that doublets are undesired scale-limiting factors and revealed the unique value of doublets as controls in scRNA-seq. We advocate for their essential role in future large-scale scRNA-seq experiments.

Purpose The progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is critical to treatment decisions in clinical practice. The disease can be classified into four categories namely, drusen, inactive choroidal neovascularization (CNV), active CNV, and normal, according to severity based on optical coherence tomography (OCT) images. Interpreting numerous OCT images is still time-consuming and labor-intensive, especially for the detection of the CNV activity. To address this problem, we developed a deep learning (DL) system based on OCT images, with the assistance of an attention mechanism, to automatically diagnose AMD. Methods A public dataset (total 51,140 OCT images) and a private dataset (total 4,951 OCT images) were utilized as a training dataset and a clinical validation dataset, respectively, to develop the DL model. A ResNet-34 DL model, with convolutional block attention module (CBAM) block integrated into each unit, was pre-trained on the public dataset first and then finetuned on our private dataset to automatically diagnose AMD and assist clinical decision-making. GradCam, a visualization technique, was used to improve the interpretability of our model. Results The precision and recall of our model were, respectively, 84.3% and 87.3% for drusen, 81.2% and 80.0% for inactive CNV, 97.7% and 90.2% for active CNV, and 93.7% and 96.5% for normal. The area under the curve (AUC) corresponding to drusen, inactive CNV, active CNV, and normal for our model reached 0.9395, 0.9476, 0.9880, and 0.9925 respectively. The heatmaps indicated a high level of correspondence in the region of interest between our model and ophthalmologists on the diagnosis. Conclusions The implementation of finetuning and attention mechanism improve the performance of our model in a distinct dataset. Our model successfully assisted in the diagnosis of AMD and achieved a detection precision and recall equal to those of ophthalmologists. The results of our study could contribute to the precise diagnosis of and decision-making regarding AMD.

A new strategy for the sequential C–H oxidation/asymmetric phosphonylation of primary alcohols has been developed. It involves a combination of Cu(I)/TEMPO/NMI (N-methylimidazole) oxidation, under an air atmosphere, with chiral Al (salalen)-catalyzed enantioselective addition. Various primary alcohols, including benzylic alcohols, allylic alcohols, propargylic alcohols, alkyl alcohols, and other alcohols containing oxygen-, sulfur-, and nitrogen-heterocycles were smoothly converted into chiral α-hydroxy phosphonates with good yields and high enantioselectivities. Inhibitor of CD45 and a plant growth regulator can be easily synthesized by this new method.

The stability of a colloid, including emulsion and polymer latex, can be destroyed irreversibly by the addition of salt. Using the CO

Background: Recombinant human thrombopoietin (rhTPO) is reported to stimulate platelet production and increase peripheral platelet counts; it is primarily used to manage chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. However, the effect of rhTPO in patients with pneumonia and thrombocytopenia remains uncertain.Objective: To assess the association of rhTPO and platelet counts in ICU patients with pneumonia and thrombocytopenia.Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed in the ICU department, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China. From January 2016 to April 2021, patients with pneumonia and thrombocytopenia were allocated to two groups—the rhTPO and no-rhTPO groups—according to whether they received rhTPO treatment or not during their ICU stay. Demographical and clinical data were collected and analyzed using statistical software; p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: Out of 327 patients, 149 were in the rhTPO group and 178 were in the no-rhTPO group. Within the first 7 days, platelet counts increased more for patients in the rhTPO group compared with those in the no-rhTPO group (99.21 ± 102.613 vs. 2.08 ± 43.877, p = 0.000). The clinical recovery rate of platelets increased within 7 days (65.8 vs. 18.5%, p = 0.000) and, after 7 days of enrollment, hemorrhagic scores decreased more apparently in the rhTPO group (2.81 ± 2.856 vs. 1.16 ± 2.123, p = 0.000). Further, bleeding events ceased in 66.7% of the patients in the rhTPO group compared with 37.3% of the patients in the no-rhTPO group (p = 0.000). Less red-blood-cells transfusions were needed in the rhTPO group (3.639 ± 4.630 vs. 5.818 ± 6.858, p = 0.009). Furthermore, through logistic regression, rhTPO administration was found to be an independent indicator that affected the platelet recovery rate within 7 days.Conclusion: This study finds that rhTPO administration is associated with increased platelet counts, alleviated bleeding, and reduced blood transfusion. For patients with pneumonia and thrombocytopenia, rhTPO may be an effective therapeutic drug; however, more RCT trails are needed to confirm our observation.

Rhododendron × pulchrum, an important horticultural species, is widely distributed in Europe, Asia, and North America. To analyze the phylogenetic and organelle genome information of R. × pulchrum and its related species, the organelle genome of R. × pulchrum was sequenced and assembled. The complete mitochondrial genome showed lineage DNA molecules, which were 816,410 bp long and contained 64 genes, namely 24 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, 3 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, and 37 protein-coding genes. The chloroplast genome of R. × pulchrum was reassembled and re-annotated; the results were different from those of previous studies. There were 42 and 46 simple sequence repeats (SSR) identified from the mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes of R. × pulchrum, respectively. Five genes (nad1, nad2, nad4, nad7, and rps3) were potentially useful molecular markers. The R. × pulchrum mitochondrial genome collinear alignment among five species of the Ericaceae showed that the mitochondrial genomes of these related species have a high degree of homology with R. × pulchrum in this gene region, and the most conservative genes were trnC-GCA, trnD-GUC, trnM-CAU, trnN-GUU, trnY-GUA, atp4, nad4, nad2, nad5, ccmC, and rrn26. The phylogenetic trees of mitochondrial genome showed that R. simsii was a sister to R. × pulchrum. The results verified that there was gene rearrangement between R. × pulchrum and R. simsii mitochondrial genomes. The codon usage bias of 10 Ericaceae mitochondrial genes and 7 Rhododendron chloroplast genes were influenced by mutation, while other genes codon usages had undergone selection. The study identified 13 homologous fragments containing gene sequences between the chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes of R. × pulchrum. Overall, our results illustrate the organelle genome information could explain the phylogenetics of plants and could be used to develop molecular markers and genetic evolution. Our study will facilitate the study of population genetics and evolution in Rhododendron and other genera in Ericaceae.

Background. Postoperative delirium (POD) is very common in the elderly surgical population, and its occurrence is associated with multiple factors such as preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative factors, and the increase of serum inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) is considered to be associated with the occurrence of POD, but the results of multiple studies are inconsistent. In this study, we investigated the correlation between inflammatory markers CRP and IL-6 and POD in elderly patients by literature search and meta-analysis. Methods. We searched PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane library, Embase, Ovid, and Springer Link for cohort studies or case-control studies that investigated the factors involved in the occurrence of POD, used the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) to assess the quality of the selected literature, and combined the differences in serum CRP and IL-6 levels between POD and non-POD patients after surgery to evaluate the predictive value of CRP and IL-6 for the occurrence of POD. Results. This research comprised 16 papers for quantitative analysis, with a total of 2967 patients, 758 with POD and 2209 with non-POD. There were 16 cohort studies (100%) and 0 case-control studies (0%) across all the collected literatures; there were 15 prospective cohort studies and 1 retrospective cohort research. A meta-analysis revealed a statistically significant difference in serum IL-6 levels between POD patients after surgery and non-POD patients [ MD = 115.68 , 95% CI (25.70, 206.66), Z = 2.52 , P = 0.012 ], as well as a statistically significant difference in serum CRP levels [ MD = 27.67 , 95% CI (12.77, 42.58), Z = 3.64 , P = 0.0003 ]. Discussion. Early after surgery, serum IL-6 and CRP levels were considerably higher in POD patients than in non-POD patients, indicating that early serum inflammatory variables are likely to be predictors of POD. After surgery, the levels of the aforementioned inflammatory factors should be actively monitored to forecast the emergence of delirium, and active treatment should be used to limit the creation and release of the aforementioned inflammatory factors.

Artificial induction of polyploidy is an efficient technique for improving biological properties and developing new varieties of many plants. In this study, we analyzed and compared differences in characteristics (morphological and biological) of diploid and tetraploid

Background and objectiveOrofacial pain, in particular, chronic orofacial pain remains a great challenge in clinical practice. To better understand the underlying mechanism of disease, it is essential to apply a feasible and stable preclinical measurement of facial pain. Here, we introduced a novel electrical noxious stimulator in freely behavioral rodents and examined its validation in both naïve and chronic orofacial pain animals.MethodsOne subcutaneous device of electrical stimulator was implanted in the facial region for delivery of the nociceptive input. The sensory component of orofacial pain was assessed by response scoring tool, and conditioned place aversion (CPA) paradigm for pain affect respectively. To confirm its usage in chronic pain state, the chronic constriction injury of the infraorbital nerve (ION-CCI) model was then applied.ResultsWe found that responsive scores increased with stimulation intensity, and acted in a dosage-dependent manner, which can be attenuated by the administration of morphine intraperitoneally. Naïve rats displayed significant aversive reaction to the noxious electrical stimulation (25V) in the CPA testing. In addition, an obvious sensory hypersensitivity to electrical stimulation was confirmed by the increased response scores in ION-CCI rats. Furthermore, ION-CCI animal showed significant avoidance to electrical stimulation at relatively low intensity (10V), which was innoxious to naïve rats.ConclusionOur findings may provide an alternative pre-clinical measurement of orofacial pain, to quantitively assess both sensory and affective component of orofacial pain.

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the most frequent subtype of lung cancer worldwide. However, the survival rate of LUAD patients remains low. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play vital roles in the prognostic value and the immunotherapeutic response of LUAD. Thus, discerning lncRNAs associated with m6A in LUAD patients is critical. In this study, m6A-related lncRNAs were analyzed and obtained by coexpression. Univariate, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), and multivariate Cox regression analyses were conducted to construct an m6A-related lncRNA model. Kaplan-Meier analysis, principal-component analysis (PCA), functional enrichment annotation, and nomogram were used to analyze the risk model. Finally, the potential immunotherapeutic signatures and drug sensitivity prediction targeting this model were also discussed. The risk model comprising 12 m6A-related lncRNAs was identified as an independent predictor of prognoses. By regrouping the patients with this model, we can distinguish between them more effectively in terms of the immunotherapeutic response. Finally, candidate compounds aimed at LUAD subtype differentiation were identified. This risk model based on the m6A-based lncRNAs may be promising for the clinical prediction of prognoses and immunotherapeutic responses in LUAD patients.

In a patient who had been treated with molnupiravir, nail and hair fluorescence were observed under Wood’s lamp examination. The fluorescence persisted even after 90 days following the last dose of molnupiravir. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case reporting molnupiravir-associated nail and hair fluorescence.

Dermatologic medications have been linked to issues with safety during pregnancy and lactation. Despite this, limited research, often with conflicting findings, has been published on the association between dermatologic medications, male infertility, sexual dysfunction and teratogenicity following paternal exposure.This review seeks to provide evidence-based guidance for physicians who are prescribing dermatologic medications to male patients who are trying to conceive.Common medications used in the largest outpatient specialist dermatologic centre in Singapore were the focus of this review. A PubMed search using MeSH terms from inception to April 22, 2021, was conducted. A secondary search was conducted to include common non-dermatologic medications. Drug information from various online clinical resources and the Tenth Edition of Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation was also used as a reference.In this review of 234 studies, 131 medications were covered. A total of 34 medications were associated with male infertility and sexual dysfunction, while 16 medications were implicated with concerns of teratogenicity.Physicians are advised to discuss the potential impact on male fertility and teratogenicity with males who are trying to conceive while taking into consideration the clinical efficacy and tolerability of these medications and alternative treatments.

Hand pollination is a necessary assisting method for pitaya (Selenicereus spp.) production to achieve a high yield. With the cultivated area increasing at an exponential rate in recent years, a comprehensive study of the pollination process was conducted. We developed an ideal medium for pitaya pollen in vitro germination in this study, then tested the activity of pollen collected from or stored for various time periods. We discovered that those collected between 2 h before blooming and 6 h after blooming had the higher germination rates (27.2–65.1%), the highest activity was at 2 h after blooming, and that storing them at 4°C for 24 hours reduces their germination rate from 65.2 percent to 35.5 percent and their production to about 82%. As a result, pollinating plants with pollen that has been held for more than 24 hours is not recommended unless a breakthrough in pollen storage is achieved. We also discovered that stigma receptivity and pollen activity are synchronized, which together determines the rate of fruit setting and the size of the fruit. Pollination within 6 hours after flowering offers the optimum fruit setting percentage and size, while pollination at 6:00 pm, 2 hours before blooming, is also a good alternative; however, pollination at 6:00 am the next morning is expected to result in a 23 % drop in productivity. These findings will be beneficial for reproductive biology research, as well as laying the groundwork for hand pollination to boost pitaya output and breeding efficiency.

Rhododendron ×

Inferring user interest over large-scale microblogs have attracted much attention in recent years. However, the emergence of the massive data, dynamic change of information and persistence of microblogs pose challenges to interest inference. Most of the existing approaches rarely take into account the combination of these microbloggers’ characteristics within the model, which may incur information loss with nontrivial magnitude in real-time extraction of user interest and massive social data processing. To address these problems, in this paper, we propose a novel User-Networked Interest Topic Extraction in the form of Subgraph Stream (UNITE_SS) for microbloggers’ interest inference. To be specific, we develop several strategies for the construction of subgraph stream to select the better strategy for user interest inference. Moreover, the information of microblogs in each subgraph is utilized to obtain a real-time and effective interest for microbloggers. The experimental evaluation on a large dataset from Sina Weibo, one of the most popular microblogs in China, demonstrates that the proposed approach outperforms the state-of-the-art baselines in terms of precision, mean reciprocal rank (MRR) as well as runtime from the effectiveness and efficiency perspectives.