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AIM: To evaluate the changes in corneal epithelial thickness(CET)and corneal optical density(CD)after smart pulse technology(SPT)-assisted transepithelial photorefractive keratectomy(TPRK)and analyze their correlation.METHODS: The prospective study included 60 patients(120 eyes)with myopia and myopic astigmatism who underwent SPT-TPRK in the ophthalmology department at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University between February and August 2023. Changes in CET and CD were evaluated preoperatively and at 1 wk, 1 and 3 mo postoperatively.RESULTS: A total of 14 cases(28 eyes)were lost to follow-up, and 3 patients(6 eyes)with postoperative haze were excluded from this study, resulting in a final inclusion of 43 patients(86 eyes). At 1 wk after SPT-TPRK, CET had statistically significantly thickened compared to preoperative levels(P

Objective To study the metastatic lymph node ratio for grouping of gastric cancer patients and evaluate the prognosis. Methods A total of 392 patients of gastric cancer who underwent radical gastrectomy with stage Ⅱ-Ⅲ according to the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) 8th in Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University from January 2004 to July 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. X-tile software was used to group patients based on the metastatic lymph node ratio. The correlation between metastatic lymph node ratio and other clinicopathological factors was made, and the evaluation of prognosis of patients was assessed. The nomogram model of prediction was established. Calibration curves were drawn, and comparison between the curves and data of patients was performed. Internal validation was done by the Bootstrap method. Concordance index (C-index) was calculated to test the accuracy of model. Results X-tile analysis showed that the best cut-off values were 0.20 (20%) and 0.70 (70%) of metastatic lymph node ratio. According to the cut-off values, the patients in this study were divided into 3 subgroups at metastatic lymph node ratio 1(0-20%), metastatic lymph node ratio 2 (21%-69%), and metastatic lymph node ratio 3 (70%-100%) with significant difference in survival statistically(P

Background: The relationship between erectile dysfunction (ED) and type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is currently a hot topic of medical research. It has been reported that autophagy plays a crucial role in causing erectile dysfunction in T1DM. Recent research has shown that mitochondrial 3‐hydroxy‐3‐methylglutaryl‐CoA synthase 2 (HMGCS2) is strongly linked to the development of T1DM. However, the specific mechanism by which it regulates the erectile function is not yet fully understood. Objectives: To investigate whether HMGCS2 affects erectile function in type 1 diabetic rats by regulating autophagy in corpus cavernosum endothelial cells (CCECs). Materials and methods: First, the rat model of T1DM was established. Then, the ratio of maximum penile intracavernous pressure (ICPmax) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) was detected to assess the erectile function in various groups, and the protein expression of HMGCS2, mTOR and p‐mTOR was evaluated by western blot (WB) and immunohistochemistry (IHC). To explore the relationship between HMGCS2 and the mTOR signaling pathway in T1DM ED rats, we silenced the expression of HMGCS2 and activated the mTOR signaling pathway with MHY1485 in CCECs and then assessed the expression of beclin1, P62, LC3, autophagosome, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), phosphorylation of eNOS (p‐eNOS), and nitric oxide (NO) to evaluate autophagy and the erectile function by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot. Results: The study conducted on T1DM ED rats showed that the expression of HMGCS2 was significantly increased, while the autophagy was suppressed. Additionally, the mTOR signaling pathway was highly activated. In contrast, when HMGCS2 was silenced in vitro, p‐mTOR/mTOR was reduced, and autophagy was improved. These effects were accompanied by the enhanced activity of eNOS. Furthermore, when HMGCS2 was silenced and the mTOR signaling pathway was simultaneously activated, the results revealed a decrease in autophagy as well as a reduction in activity of eNOS in comparison to just silencing HMGCS2 alone. Discussion and conclusion: HMGCS2 upregulation in T1DM rats inhibited autophagy and eNOS activity by activating the mTOR pathway and led to a decrease in the erectile function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal defects widely occur in electrical equipment and affect its stable operation. This paper proposes a novel detection method based on derivatives for thermal defects of electrical equipment. First, the equivalent models of the equipment are established to analyze the surface temperature formed by different defects. Second, the theoretical foundation of the derivative-based detection method is described, and numerical calculations on thermal defect detection based on derivative characteristic curves are carried out. The results show that the method can detect the position effectively and calculate the depth with an error of 1.6%. Then, the thermal defects in different situations are analyzed, and the results indicate that the method is effective in all cases. Finally, the experiment is conducted by artificially preparing samples with thermal defects, and the achieved calculation error of the experimental results is within 3.3%, which indicates the validity of this method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the promising potential of zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) for large-scale energy storage applications, their electrochemical performance is still hindered by zinc dendrites and side reactions. To address these challenges, the optimization of electrolyte composition emerges as a practical and straightforward approach to enhance the coulombic efficiency (CE) and Zn plating/stripping reversibility of ZIBs. Here, mannitol stands out due to its abundance of polar groups and cost-effectiveness, and an electrolyte mixture consisting of 0.02 M mannitol and 2 M ZnSO4 is demonstrated, resulting in an impressive improvement in Zn reversibility compared to the pure ZnSO4 electrolyte. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and spectroscopic analysis shed light on mannitol's capability to reconstruct the solvation structure of Zn2+ and replace free water molecules. The inhibited dendrite growth on the zinc metal anode is further confirmed through in situ characterization. This work paves the way for the development of long-lifespan ZIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]