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BackgroundIncreasing cases of diabetes, a general lack of routinely operational prevention, and a long history of separating disease prevention and treatment call for immediate engagement of frontier clinicians. This applies especially to village doctors who work in rural China where the majority of the nation’s vast population lives. ObjectiveThis study aims to develop and test an online Smart Web Aid for Preventing Type 2 Diabetes (SWAP-DM2) capable of addressing major barriers to applying proven interventions and integrating diabetes prevention into routine medical care. MethodsDevelopment of SWAP-DM2 used evolutionary prototyping. The design of the initial system was followed by refinement cycles featuring dynamic interaction between development of practical and effective standardized operation procedures (SOPs) for diabetes prevention and Web-based assistance for implementing the SOPs. The resulting SOPs incorporated proven diabetes prevention practices in a synergetic way. SWAP-DM2 provided support to village doctors ranging from simple educational webpages and record maintenance to relatively sophisticated risk scoring and personalized counseling. Evaluation of SWAP-DM2 used data collected at baseline and 6-month follow-up assessment: (1) audio recordings of service encounters; (2) structured exit surveys of patients’ knowledge, self-efficacy, and satisfaction; (3) measurement of fasting glucose, body mass index, and blood pressure; and (4) qualitative interviews with doctors and patients. Data analysis included (1) descriptive statistics of patients who received SWAP-DM2–assisted prevention and those newly diagnosed with prediabetes and diabetes; (2) comparison of the variables assessed between baseline and follow-up assessment; and (3) narratives of qualitative data. ResultsThe 17 participating village doctors identified 2219 patients with elevated diabetes risk. Of these, 84.85% (1885/2219) consented to a fasting glucose test with 1022 new prediabetes and 113 new diabetes diagnoses made within 6 months. The prediabetic patients showed substantial improvement from baseline to 6-month follow-up in vegetable intake (17.0%, 43/253 vs 88.7%, 205/231), calorie intake (1.6%, 4/253 vs 71.4%, 165/231), leisure-time exercises (6.3%, 16/253 vs 21.2%, 49/231), body weight (mean 62.12 kg, SD 9.85 vs mean 58.33 kg, SD 9.18), and body mass index (mean 24.80 kg/m2, SD 3.21 vs mean 23.36 kg/m2, SD 2.95). The prediabetic patients showed improvement in self-efficacy for modifying diet (mean 5.31, SD 2.81 vs mean 8.53, SD 2.25), increasing physical activities (mean 4.52, SD 3.35 vs mean 8.06, SD 2.38), engaging relatives (mean 3.93, SD 3.54 vs mean 6.93, SD 2.67), and knowledge about diabetes and risks of an imbalanced diet and inadequate physical activity. Most participating doctors and patients viewed SWAP-DM2 as useful and effective. ConclusionsSWAP-DM2 is helpful to village doctors, acceptable to patients, and effective in modifying immediate determinants of diabetes at least in the short term, and may provide a useful solution to the general lack of participation in diabetes prevention by frontier clinicians in rural China. Trial RegistrationInternational Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN): 66772711; http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN66772711 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6OMkAqyEy).

Abstract Based on the idea of harmonic extraction, the problem of reducing the damage of the coal seam waiting for upward mining. Using the theoretical analysis method, a schematic diagram of coordinated mining along the dip direction of coal seam is established, and the calculation method of reasonable layout parameters of coal seam working face early mining is given. Based on the upward mining problem of the No.1 coal seam in the fifth panel of Zaoquan Coal Mine, the influence parameters of the No.2 coal seam, No.6 coal seam and No.7 coal seam mining on the No.1 coal seam were determined by similar simulation test. Then, the layout parameters of working face were determined. The research method of numerical calculation was used to evaluate the degree and uniformity of movement and deformation of the No.1 coal seam, combining five indicators: subsidence, horizontal movement, inclined deformation, curvature deformation, and horizontal deformation. The results indicate that when the working face is arranged using the layout parameters provided in this article, it can promote the further subsidence of the No.1 coal seam at the position of the remaining coal pillar. The movement and deformation indicators of the No.1 coal seam all reach the most uniform degree of the geological mining conditions, which can effectively offset the uneven deformation problem of the No.1 coal seam caused by the influence of the remaining coal pillars, making multiple mining operations a favorable condition for upward mining and achieving the goal of reducing the damage of the No.1 coal seam.

High-quality, chromosome-scale genomes are essential for genomic analyses. Analyses, including 3D genomics, epigenetics, and comparative genomics rely on a high-quality genome assembly, which is often accomplished with the assistance of Hi-C data. Curation of genomes reveal that current Hi-C-assisted scaffolding algorithms either generate ordering and orientation errors or fail to assemble high-quality chromosome-level scaffolds. Here, we offer the software Puzzle Hi-C, which uses Hi-C reads to accurately assign contigs or scaffolds to chromosomes. Puzzle Hi-C uses the triangle region instead of the square region to count interactions in a Hi-C heatmap. This strategy dramatically diminishes scaffolding interference caused by long-range interactions. This software also introduces a dynamic, triangle window strategy during assembly. Initially small, the window expands with interactions to produce more effective clustering. Puzzle Hi-C outperforms available scaffolding tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality and safety of dairy products are highly valued by consumers and dairy manufacturers, which is mainly ensured by thorough cleaning of dairy production equipment. Milk fouling can cause pipes to clog and reduce transmission. Incomplete cleaning can cause microbial breeding, which will affect the quality and safety of dairy products. To achieve efficient and rapid cleaning of dairy processing equipment, cleaning agents have always been a necessary choice for dairy and food enterprises. This paper describes the production mechanism of milk fouling, the cleaning mechanism by cleaning agents, and the cleaning process. Development of cleaning agents are introduced in detail, include compound alkaline/acid/neutral cleaning agents, enzyme cleaning agents and cleaning additives. The factors affecting cleaning efficiency are also viewed, which include type and dosage of cleaning agents, cleaning process (cleaning time, cleaning liquid temperature, cleaning fluid flow rate), and other influencing factors (cleaning fluid pressure, Reynolds number and shear stress, surface types). Four aspects are reviewed in this manuscript, include cleaning objects (milk fouling), cleaning substances (cleaning agents), how to clean (cleaning mechanism) and how to clean efficiently (cleaning influencing factors), which provides a valuable reference for the improvement of the dairy cleaning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ObjectivesThis paper aims to explore the direct associations of antibiotics prescription with clinical diagnosis and bacterial detection. It also analyses the relations of clinical diagnosis with symptoms and bacterial detection, with a hope of revealing indirect links to antibiotic prescription.MethodsThe study was implemented in one village clinic and one township health center in each of four rural residential areas in Anhui Province, China. Observations were conducted to record clinical diagnosis and antibiotic prescription. A semi-structured questionnaire survey was used to collected patients' sociodemographic information and reported symptoms. Sputum and throat swabs were collected for bacterial culture.ResultsAmong 1,068 patients presenting in the study settings who received a diagnosis of respiratory tract infection (RTI), 87.8% of prescriptions included an antibiotic and 35.8% included two or more antibiotics. Symptomatic RTI patients to the site clinics were diagnosed mainly as having upper respiratory tract infection (32.0%), bronchitis/tracheitis (23.4%), others (16.6%), pharyngitis (11.1%), common cold (8.0%), pneumonia/bronchopneumonia (4.6%) and tonsillitis (4.3%). These clinical diagnosis were associated with symptoms to a varied degree especially for upper respiratory tract infection and bronchitis/tracheitis. Prescription of any antibiotics was positively associated with diagnosis of bronchitis/tracheitis (OR: 5.00, 95% CI: 2.63–9.51), tonsillitis (OR: 4.63, 95% CI: 1.48–14.46), pneumonia/bronchopneumonia (OR: 4.28, 95% CI: 1.40–13.04), pharyngitis (OR: 3.22, 95% CI: 1.57–6.59) and upper respiratory tract infection (OR: 3.04, 95% CI: 1.75–5.27). Prescription of two or more antibiotics was statistically significant related to diagnosis of bronchitis/ tracheitis (OR: 2.20, 95% CI: 1.44–3.35) or tonsillitis (OR: 2.97, 95% CI: 1.47–6.00). About 30% of the patients were identified with some type of bacteria. Bacteria detection was linked with pharyngitis (OR: 0.50, 95% CI: 0.28–0.88) but not prescription of antibiotics.ConclusionsAntibiotics prescription were found with a strong relation to diagnosis of RTIs given by the clinician but was not associated with the presence of bacteria in patient samples. Part of the diagnosis may have been given by the clinician to justify their antibiotics prescription. There is clear need to use additional measures (e.g., symptoms) in conjunction with diagnosis to supervise or audit excessive antibiotics use.

The deformation, failure mode and internal stress evolution law of overlying strata during coal mining are important issues in the field of mining engineering. It is vital that the deformation and pressure law of overlying strata in the mining process of the working face are monitored in real time by scientific and effective monitoring means. In this paper, distributed optical fibers are horizontally and vertically embedded in the model to monitor the deformation characteristics and stress-strain state of the overlying strata. The results show that the “saddle-shaped” frequency shift curve of horizontal sensing optical fiber reflects the dynamic change process of the overlying strata breakage during the 1-2 coal mining process; the initial pressure and period pressure on the overlying strata of working face can be distinguished by using the variation of Brillouin frequency shift, and the strain distribution characteristics of similar model throughout the mining process were revealed by the space-time evolution regularities of distributed optical fiber.

Objective To construct an expression vector of fusion protein from wild type LMNA and mutant and the lentivirus vector of LMNA mutant, to study the expression and sublocalization of lamin A/C and the change of nucleus in HEK293 and C2C12 cells. Methods The wild type LMNA was cloned into pEGFP-N1 plasmid to construct pEGFP-N1-LMNA, then pEGFP-N1-LMNA-I373V plasmid for c.1117A＞G site-directed mutant was constructed. The pEGFP-N1-LMNA and pEGFP-N1-LMNA-I373V were transfected respectively into HEK293 and C2C12 cells. Then C2C12 cells were selected with G418 and the sublocalization of GFP-labeled lamin A/C and nuclear morphology were observed under fluorescent microscope. pHBLV-h-LMNA-I373V-3*flag-GFP-PURO was constructed by using pEGFP-N1-LMNA-I373V plasmid as template. After packaging and detecting the titer of pHBLV-GFP-PURO and pHBLV-LMNA-C1117-3*flag-GFP-PURO, C2C12 cells were transfected by the lentivirus. The sublocalization of lamin A/C and abnormal nuclear morphology were examined by immunofluorescence staining. Results The sequences of pEGFP-N1-LMNA, pEGFP-N1-LMNA-I373V and pHBLV-LMNA-C1117-3*flag-GFP-PURO were the same as the target gene. Lamin A/C distributed uniformly at the inner nuclear membrane in HEK293 and C2C12 cells transfected by pEGFP-N1-LMNA, but distributed abnormally, forming distinct aggregates in the cells with transfection of the mutant construct. C2C12 exhibited lower transfection efficiency of plasmid than HEK293. However, transfection efficiency of lentivirus in C2C12 was improved significantly. Lamin A/C forming distinct aggregates in nucleus and abnormal nuclear morphology were also showed in C2C12 after transfection of mutant lentivirus. Conclusions Two kinds of eukaryotic expression vectors of LMNA mutant, and HEK293 and C2C12 cell models transfected by LMNA mutant are successfully constructed, which provides scientific basis for the pathogenesis of diseases caused by LMNA mutant.

Germanate oxides have garnered considerable interest owing to their diverse structural configuration and intriguing properties. Herein, we present a novel niobium germanate crystal, Rb8Nb10Ge6O41, extracted through the process of spontaneous crystallization. It showcases a unique three-dimensional (3D) structural framework composed of one-dimensional (1D) twisted [Nb7O30]∞ chains and isolated [Ge3O9] rings, arising from the divergent polymerized manifestations of [NbO6] and [GeO4] basic building blocks, respectively, marking the first instance of such a topography in germanate materials. Notably, the title compound exhibits exceptional thermal stability up to 1250 °C with a good congruent melting nature. Moreover, it achieves a short ultraviolet edge at 306 nm and a favorable infrared edge cutoff exceeding 6.2 μm, thus indicating a wide transparency window. Additionally, this study elucidates the microscopic birefringence of Rb8Nb10Ge6O41 and clarifies the intricate relationship between its structure and properties. Our findings suggest that the polymerization of distinct structural motifs within a single compound is an effective strategy for exploring novel inorganic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]