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Added mass provided irregular interference towards human movement and shifted the force generated by lower limb muscles. However, the association between mass and muscle activities is not well recognized. Our study aims at investigating the influence of added mass on lower limbs. In our study, five young, healthy walkers performed walking trials under three load conditions (unload; C1: 0.25 pounds on feet, 1 pound on calves, and 2 pounds on thighs; C2: 1 pound on feet, 2 pounds on calves, and 4 pounds on thighs). During walking, three-dimensional kinematics, sEMG signals, and oxygen consumption were collected which allowed us to understand the effects of added mass on muscles. We also generated OpenSim simulation, designed to comprehend the relationship between added mass and muscles. With the increase of added mass, maximum sEMG signal and peak joint torque increased; whereas, the horizontal stride time reduced (unload: 1.697 ± 0.02 s, C1: 1.651 ± 0.02 s, C2: 1.622 ± 0.02 s). Energy expenditure raised correspondingly (C1: 6.53%, C2: 24.85%). Moreover, joint moment increased, while same change occurred in muscle force. Overall, our results show that participants responded positively to additional mass by adjusting muscle activities, joint movement, and stride frequency, which demonstrates the relationship between energy consumption and added mass.

The polymerization of fused-ring acceptors (FRAs) to afford their corresponding polymeric acceptors for high-performance all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) has achieved remarkable progress in the past few years. However, due to the high degree of synthetic complexity for the monomer, the high-cost of these polymeric acceptors may limit their commercial applications. Thus, it is urgent to develop inexpensive and high-performance polymeric acceptors for all-PSCs. Herein, two novel polymeric acceptors (PBTzOand PBTzO-2F) have been designed and synthesized by copolymerization of noncovalently fused ring acceptors (NFRAs), which were employed in all-PSCs for the first time. Upon introducing the “noncovalently conformational locks (NoCLs)” in the backbone and selective fluorination of the end-group, photophysical and electrical properties, and solid-state packing properties of the NFRAs have been rationally tuned. As a result, the PBDB-T:PBTzO-2Fbased devices presented an excellent power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 11.04%, much higher than that of PBTzObased ones due to the increased charge generation and extraction, improved hole transfer and carrier mobilities, and reduced energy loss. More importantly, PBTzO-2Fexhibited a much lower synthetic complexity (SC) index and higher figure-of-merit (FOM) values than the highperformance fused-ring acceptor based polymer acceptors (FRA-PAs) due to the simpler structures and more effective synthesis. This contribution provided a novel idea to achieve low-cost and high-performance all-PSCs.

Background: This study aimed to investigate the safety and efficacy of minimally invasive total mesoesophageal excision (TME) for esophageal cancer. Methods: We retrospectively collected data from patients with esophageal cancer who underwent esophagectomy at our center between January 2011 and June 2017. Among 611 eligible patients, 302 underwent minimally invasive total mesoesophageal excision (the TME group) and 309 underwent non-total mesoesophageal excision (the NME group). Outcomes were compared after 1-to-1 propensity score matching, and subgroup analyses were performed for cases involving pT1–2 or pT3–4a disease. Results: The propensity score matching produced 249 pairs of patients. The TME group had a shorter operative time (P< 0.001), lower intraoperative bleeding (P< 0.001), and a shorter postoperative hospital stay (P< 0.001). There were no significant differences between the two groups in the number of removed lymph nodes, 30-day mortality, or postoperative complications. In addition, both groups had similar 3-year rates of overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). However, the 3-year recurrence rate in the esophageal bed was significantly lower in the TME group (P= 0.033). Furthermore, among patients with pT3–4a disease, the TME group had better 3-year rates of OS, DFS, and recurrence. Conclusion: Minimally invasive total mesoesophageal excision appears to be a safe technique that can reduce tumor recurrence in the esophageal bed. Furthermore, this technique provided survival benefits for patients with pT3–4a disease.