Search

With increasing application of organophosphate esters (OPEs) as flame retardants and plasticizers in the world, the health and ecological risks posed by these chemicals have raised people’s concern over the years. Despite the fact that dietary intake is an important pathway for human exposure to OPEs, monitoring on OPEs in foodstuffs is scarce. In this study, we measured 14 OPEs in both packaged (n= 229) and fresh (n= 58) foodstuffs collected across China with a new method that was developed by two-stage solid-phase extraction. The total concentrations of OPEs (ΣOPEs) in 12 categories of packaged foodstuffs and 5 categories of fresh foodstuffs were in the range of 0.212–273 ng/g wet weight (ww) [geometric mean (GM): 5.06 ng/g ww] and 0.189–2.82 ng/g ww (GM: 0.618 ng/g ww), respectively. Significantly higher levels of ΣOPEs were found in packaged food categories of fruits and meat than those in the corresponding fresh ones, implying the extra introduction of OPEs during the processing and storage of foodstuffs. Correlation analysis showed that the GM concentrations of individual OPEs in animal-derived foods with few industrial processing were positively correlated with their annual production volumes in China in 2020, emphasizing the significance of natural sources of OPEs in these food samples. Elevated levels of ΣOPEs (range: 8.94–4120 and GM: 274 ng/g) were found in food-packaging materials, and the predominant OPE analogues were consistent with those found in packaged food samples. The result implies that the food-packaging material can be an important contamination source of OPEs in packaged foodstuffs, which is in particular true for triphenyl phosphate, tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate, tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate, and 2-ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate. The median daily intake of ΣOPEs via food was estimated as 65.4 ng/kg bw/day for adults in China, and the category of cereals was the major contributor (72.7%) of the dietary exposure to OPEs. The exposure risk of OPEs via food intake was generally low for the Chinese population. Overall, this study establishes a baseline concentration for OPEs in Chinese foodstuffs and uncovers food contact material as a potential source of OPEs in foods. It is expected that the research in terms of food safety and OPE contamination will benefit from this work.

The present paper deals with a class of third-order differential operators with eigenparameter dependent boundary conditions. The continuity of eigenvalues concerning a given parameter is proved. Moreover, the derivative formulas of eigenvalues concerning the parameters, in particular, the eigenparameter dependent boundary condition matrix, are given.

Muscle development is controlled by the balance between muscle protein synthesis and protein degradation. Protein supplementation has been widely known to enhance muscle protein synthesis, and carbohydrate supplementation may attenuate protein degradation. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of whey protein plus carbohydrate (CP), whey protein (WP), and placebo (PLA) supplements on resistance training adaptations. Two-month old rats were trained by ladder climbing every 3 days for 8 weeks. PLA, WP, or CP was given immediately after each exercise session. Non-exercise rats were used as a sedentary control (SED). Total body composition was assessed and blood samples were collected before, middle, and end of training. The flexor hallucis longus (FHL) was excised 24 h after the last exercise session. Following training, maximal carrying capacity was significantly greater in CP than PLA and WP. This improved training performance in CP paralleled an increase in total muscle and myofibrillar protein content. Muscle and fiber cross sectional areas (CSA) were significantly increased by exercise training, with a concomitant increase in myonuclear domain. CP significantly elevated IGF-1 protein expression over SED, but there were no significant differences in myostatin, Pax7, MyoD, or myogenin across treatment groups. There was also no difference in the number of total nuclei in each fiber CSA among groups. Corticosterone levels were significantly elevated in PLA and WP over 8 weeks of training, whereas this change in corticosterone over time was not observed in the CP group. The results suggest that the greater improvement of maximal caring capacity for CP compared with PLA and WP was associated with a greater increase in myofibrillar protein content. Satellite cell activation did not appear to contribute to the observed gains in muscle hypertrophy and strength.

B lymphoma Mo-MLV insertion region 1 (BMI1) has been reported to be an oncoprotein. BMI1 represses tumor suppressors to promote cell proliferation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and cancer progression. Although it is known that the expression of BMI1 is increased in many cancer types, the mechanism of BMI1 upregulation is not yet clear. We performed integrative analysis for 3 sets of prostate cancer (PCa) genomic data, and found that BMI1 and androgen receptor (AR) were positively correlated, suggesting that AR might regulate BMI1. Next, we showed that dihydrotestosterone (DHT) upregulated both mRNA and protein levels of BMI1 and that BMI1 was increased in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) from both human patients and a mouse xenograph model. We further identified an AR binding site in the promoter/enhancer region of BMI1, and confirmed BMI1 as the direct target of AR using gene-editing technology. We also demonstrated that high expression of BMI1 is critical for the development of castration-resistance. Our data also suggest that BMI1-specific inhibitors could be an effective treatment of CRPC.

To explore the clinical efficacy and safety of microscopy-assisted anterior corpectomy and fusion for cervical ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL). A retrospective review of 32 cervical OPLL patients who underwent microscopy-assisted anterior corpectomy and fusion from June 2012 to March 2017 was carried out. Patients were evaluated with outcome metrics: Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scores (17 points method), visual analog scale (VAS), and radiographic parameters of the lordotic angle. The complications during treatment and follow-up were recorded. This study included 32 patients (15 males and 17 females) with a mean age of 58.3 ± 2.9 years (range 42–68 years). The average duration of follow-up was 19.0 ± 3.5 months (range 11–46 months). The scores of postoperative VAS significantly decreased (P< 0.05). The average JOA score at 12 months postoperation significantly improved (p< 0.05). The lordotic angle increased after surgery (P< 0.05). There was no titanium mesh subsidence, no pseudarthrosis or hardware failure at 1‑year follow-up. Complications: One cerebrospinal fluid leakage in the surgery was managed using a gelatine sponge and the patient recovered after 1 week: One patient developed laryngeal nerve injury symptom of hoarseness and recovered spontaneously in 2 weeks without intervention and 1 patient suffered slight postoperative infection. There was no worsening of neurological function. Microscopy-assisted anterior cervical anterior surgery appears to be a safe and effective treatment option for selected cases of cervical posterior longitudinal ligament ossification. Ziel der Studie war, die klinische Wirksamkeit und Sicherheit der mikroskopisch gestützten vorderen Korporektomie und Fusion bei Ossifikation des zervikalen Lig. longitudinale posterius (OPLL) zu ermitteln. Es wurde eine retrospektive Übersichtsstudie mit 32 Patienten durchgeführt, die zwischen Juni 2012 und März 2017 bei zervikaler OPLL einer mikroskopisch gestützten vorderen Korporektomie und Fusion unterzogen worden waren. Die Patienten wurden anhand folgender Ergebnisparameter eingeschätzt: Japanese-Orthopaedic-Association(JOA)-Scores (17-Punkte-Verfahren), visuelle Analogskala (VAS) und Röntgenparameter des Lordosewinkels. Komplikationen während der Behandlung und in der Nachsorge wurden dokumentiert. Die Studie schloss 32 Patienten (15 männlich, 17 weiblich) in einem Durchschnittsalter von 58,3 ± 2,9 Jahren (Bereich 42–68 Jahre) ein. Die Follow-up-Dauer betrug 19,0 ± 3,5 Monate (Bereich 11–46 Monate). Die VAS-Werte sanken postoperativ signifikant (P< 0,05). Der durchschnittliche JOA-Wert war 12 Monate nach Operation signifikant verbessert (p< 0,05). Der Lordosewinkel nahm nach der Operation zu (P< 0,05). Im 1‑Jahres-Follow-up kam es nicht zu einer Sinterung des Titangitters, einer Pseudarthrose oder einem Materialversagen. Komplikationen: Ein Fall von Liquorverlust im Rahmen des operativen Eingriffs wurde mit einem Gelatineschwamm behandelt. Der Patient erholte sich nach einer Woche. Bei einem Patienten traten Symptome einer N.-laryngeus-Verletzung (Heiserkeit) auf, die innerhalb von 2 Wochen ohne Intervention spontan nachließen. Ein Patient erlitt eine leichte postoperative Infektion. Eine Verschlechterung des neurologischen Funktionsstatus war nicht zu verzeichnen. Die mikroskopisch assistierte anteriore zervikale Operation hat sich als sichere und wirksame Behandlungsoption bei ausgewählten Fällen einer Ossifikation des zervikalen Lig. longitudinale posterius erwiesen.

High-performance stretchable strain sensors are highly desirable for various scenarios, such as health monitoring and human-robot interfaces. Here, we propose a universal strain engineering strategy that introduces an inhomogeneous spatial distribution of stress and promotes crack propagation behavior leading to a critical state between network and channel morphologies, achieving stretchable strain sensors with high sensitivity, a wide working range and good linearity. Approaches for introducing soft-rigid interfaces, enlarging elastic modulus mismatches and matching dimensions have been employed to execute the strategy for network-crack strain sensors with collapsed nanocone cluster structures as representatives. The strain sensors can be tuned to realize a gauge factor of 690.95 in a linear working range of 0–40% (R2= 0.993) or a gauge factor of 113.70 in a larger linear working range of 0–120% (R2= 0.999). Intraocular pressure monitoring and dynamic facial asymmetry assessment have been demonstrated based on these sensors to show their great application potential.

Sign language recognition is of great significance to connect the hearing/speech impaired and non-sign language communities. Compared to isolated word recognition, sentence recognition is more practical in real-world scenarios, but is also more complicated because continuous, high-quality sign data with distinct features must be collected and isolated signs must be identified with high accuracy. Here, we propose a wearable sign language recognition system enabled by a convolutional neural network (CNN) that integrates stretchable strain sensors and inertial measurement units attached to the body to perceive hand postures and movement trajectories. Forty-eight Chinese sign language words commonly used in daily life were collected and used to train the CNN model, and an isolated sign language word recognition accuracy of 95.85% was achieved. For sentence-level sign language recognition, we proposed a method that combines multiple sliding windows and uses correlation analysis to improve the CNN recognition performance, achieving a correct rate of 84% for 50 sign language sentence samples, showing good extendibility.

Background: Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) is the commonest autoimmune disease. Although viewed as a classic form of single-organ autoimmunity, AITD is increasingly associated with non-thyroid sequelae including musculoskeletal manifestations and chronic pain syndromes. However, large population-based studies are needed.Objectives: To examine the relationships between chronic hand pain and the AITD autoantibodies, anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb), and anti-thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb), in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III).Design: This is a cross-sectional study.Methods: We examined data from NHANES III on 4820 persons aged 60 years or older with respect to hand pain and its association with TPOAb and TgAb. Log-binomial regressions were fit to examine the associations between the anti-thyroid autoantibodies and hand pain.Results: Positive TPOAb was associated with a higher prevalence of hand pain than negative TPOAb [prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.158, p= 0.048] in the unadjusted model. This association was no longer significant after controlling for age, body mass index, gender, and diabetes (p= 0.313). When positive TPOAb was considered as a categorical variable with four levels, the highest quartile was associated with hand pain in the unadjusted (PR = 1.489, p= 0.005) and adjusted models (PR = 1.325, p= 0.042). There was no significant association between TgAb and hand pain when covariates were controlled for.Conclusion: TPOAb may be associated with the presence of chronic hand pain in persons aged over 60 years, especially at higher serum levels.

Multiresolution segmentation (MRS) algorithm has been widely used to handle very-high-resolution (VHR) remote sensing images in the past decades. Unfortunately, segmentation quality is limited by the dependency of parameter selection on users’ experience and diverse images. Contrarily, the segmentation by weighted aggregation (SWA) can partly overcome the above limitations and produce an optimal segmentation for maximizing the homogeneity within segments and the heterogeneity across segments. However, SWA is solely tested and justified with digital photos in computer vision field instead of VHR images. This study aims at evaluating SWA performance on VHR imagery. First, multiscale spectral, shape, and texture features are defined to measure homogeneity of image objects for segmentation. Second, SWA is implemented to handle QuickBird, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and GF-1 VHR images and further compared with MRS in eCognition software to demonstrate the applicability of SWA to diverse images in building, vegetation and water, forest stands, farmland, and mountain areas. Third, the results are fully evaluated with quantitative measurements on segmented objects and classification-based accuracy assessment on geographic information system vector data. The results indicate that SWA can produce higher quality segmentations, need fewer parameters and manual interventions, create fewer segmentation levels, incorporate more features, and obtain larger classification accuracy than MRS.

In this paper, we investigate a class of Sturm-Liouville operators with eigenparameter-dependent boundary conditions and transmission conditions at finite interior points. By modifying the inner product in a suitable Krein space Kassociated with the problem, we generate a new self-adjoint operator Asuch that the eigenvalues of such a problem coincide with those of A. We construct its fundamental solutions, get the asymptotic formulae for its eigenvalues and fundamental solutions, discuss some properties of its spectrum, and obtain its Green function and the resolvent operator. Three important conclusions can be drawn: (1) the new operator Ais self-adjoint in the Krein space K; (2) ifθi>0,i=1,m¯, and ρj> 0, j= 1,2, then, the eigenvalues of the problem (Equations 1 to 5) are analytically simple; (3) the residual spectrum of the operator Ais empty, i.e., σr(A) = ∅.

In this paper, we study a Sturm–Liouville operator with eigenparameter‐dependent boundary conditions and transmission conditions at two interior points. By establishing a new operator Aassociated with the problem, we prove that the operator Ais self‐adjoint in an appropriate space H, discuss completeness of its eigenfunctions in H, and obtain its Green function. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Spatiotemporal recognition of multiple mechanical stimuli is essential for electronic skin (e-skin), which can provide more complete and accurate interaction information to enable elaborated functions, such as gesture recognition, object manipulation, and fine tactile discrimination. However, nonspecific sensor response and performance sacrifice for integration limit the perceptual capability of the current systems. Here, we report a bioinspired e-skin that can measure strain, shear and pressure independently with direction information using three-dimensional integrated, mechanically isolated multiple sensors. Novel microstructures of collapsed nanocone clusters, hemi-ellipsoids, and wrinkles are introduced in different sensors to achieve a gauge factor of 6 with a linear working range of 80% (linearity > 0.99) for strain, a sensitivity of 0.1 N−1for shear force, and a sensitivity of 3.78 kPa−1for pressure, and all of these sensors possess short response times on the order of 100 ms. The independent, highly sensitive, and fast response of these sensors makes real-time recording and mapping of multiple mechanical stimuli to be achieved. Multi-touch gesture recognition and perception of a red bean (0.065 g) in the hand are demonstrated to illustrate the potential applications in wearables, robotics and bionic prostheses.

Objectives: To examine the relationships between radiographic knee osteoarthritis (RKOA), symptomatic radiographic knee osteoarthritis (sRKOA), and chondrocalcinosis, as outcome variables, and the autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) autoantibodies, anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb) and anti-thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb), in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) data source.Methods: NHANES III provided data on 2291 persons over the age of 60 years that included the osteoarthritis variables of interest RKOA, sRKOA and chondrocalcinosis, and the thyroid autoantibodies TPOAb and TgAb. A log-binomial regression model was fit to examine the relationships between anti-thyroid autoantibodies and RKOA. Modified Poisson regression models were employed for the thyroid autoantibodies compared to sRKOA and chondrocalcinosis.Results: Patients with higher levels of TPOAb were more likely to have chondrocalcinosis [prevalence ratio (PR) 1.247, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.051, 1.479, p= 0.012]. A piecewise regression analysis indicated that this relationship between TPOAb and chondrocalcinosis was only observed when TPOAb was above 35 IU/ml (PR 1.482, 95% CI 1.233, 1.781, p< 0.001). Levels equal to or below 35 IU/ml were not associated with chondrocalcinosis. TPOAb was not associated with RKOA or sRKOA, and TgAb was not significantly related to any of the outcomes.Conclusion: There was no association of AITD autoantibodies TPOAb and TgAb with RKOA or sRKOA. However, there may be an association of TPOAb with the presence of chondrocalcinosis.

Medical tourism has emerged as an industry due to the constantly improved information technology and decreasing cost for transportation. Evidence on how medical tourists develop their medical travel and their experience keeps growing. This article aims to provide an integrative review to understand medical tourism from the patients’ perspective. PRISMA procedures were followed. All the literature was published from January 1, 2009, to May 4, 2019, in peer-reviewed journals in CINAHL and MEDLINE/PubMed. Johns Hopkins Nursing evidence level and quality guide were used to evaluate evidence level. Twenty-one studies including 8 quantitative, 10 qualitative, and 3 mix-method studies were reviewed. Low cost, short waiting list, quality, and procedures available were the motivators to treatment abroad. The Internet, former tourists’ testimonial, and physician and facilitators’ advice were the predominant resources consulted. Perceived value of medical quality directly affected patients’ overall satisfaction. Our integrative review has led to the identification of many factors related to medical tourist’s experience. We suggest further empirical researches on (1) the patients’ decision-making process of motivators and barriers, (2) the factors related to patients’ experience on the health care quality, and (3) the strategies to ensure the continuity of care.

We construct some new Riesz bases and consider the stability of them. The investigation is based on the stability of Riesz bases of cosines and sines in the Hilbert space L2[0,π].