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Objective To investigate the clinical application value of blood heparin-binding protein (HBP), procalcitonin (PCT), and C-reactive protein(CRP) in the early diagnosis of childhood sepsis. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed for 20 children with general sepsis (general sepsis group), 16 children with severe sepsis (severe sepsis group), and 12 children with septic shock (septic shock group) who were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit and the neonatal intensive care unit of our hospital from November 2017 to May 2019, and 22 non-sepsis children with local infection (local infection control group) and 18 children with non-infectious disease (non-infection control group) who were admitted to the general ward during the same period of time were enrolled as control group. The levels of blood HBP, PCT, and CRP were measured and compared between groups, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to investigate the value of each index in the early diagnosis of sepsis. Results The septic shock group had significantly higher levels of blood HBP and PCT than the severe sepsis group and the general sepsis group (P0.05), but all these three groups had a significantly higher level of blood CRP than the non-infection control group (P

When a visual search target frequently appears in one target-rich region of space, participants learn to search there first, resulting in faster reaction time when the target appears there than when it appears elsewhere. Most research on this location probability learning (LPL) effect uses 2-dimensional (2D) search environments that are distinct from real-world search contexts, and the few studies on LPL in 3-dimensional (3D) contexts include complex visual cues or foraging tasks and therefore may not tap into the same habit-like learning mechanism as 2D LPL. The present study aimed to establish a baseline evaluation of LPL in controlled 3D search environments using virtual reality. The use of a virtual 3D search environment allowed us to compare LPL for information within a participant's initial field of view to LPL for information behind participants, outside of the initial field of view. Participants searched for a letter T on the ground among letter Ls in a large virtual space that was devoid of complex visual cues or landmarks. The T appeared in one target-rich quadrant of the floor space on half of the trials during the training phase. The target-rich quadrant appeared in front of half of the participants and behind the other half. LPL was considerably greater in the former condition than in the latter. This reveals an important constraint on LPL in real-world environments and indicates that consistent search patterns and consistent egocentric spatial coding are essential for this form of visual statistical learning in 3D environments.

The attentional boost effect refers to the observation that when simultaneously performing a scene memory task and a target detection task, participants better remember scenes that appear at the same time as the detection target than scenes that coincide with distractors. The attentional boost effect is thought to result from a transient increase in attention during an acute behaviorally relevant event, resulting from a temporal orienting response. But can endogenous orienting to predictable targets trigger this response in the same manner as exogenous orienting to unpredictable targets? Until now, the attentional boost effect has only been tested under conditions in which the target's appearance was unpredictable. Because of the distinction between exogenous and endogenous orienting, target predictability could attenuate the attentional boost effect, or it could increase temporal orienting efficiency and enhance the effect. To test the attentional boost effect under predictable conditions, participants memorized scenes while responding to a target digit, 0, among a stream of digits appearing in the center of those scenes. In some blocks, the 0 predictably followed the digit sequence 3-2-1. In these predictable blocks, participants showed a robust attentional boost effect. This shows that both endogenous orienting to temporally predictable targets and exogenous orienting to unpredictable targets enhance concurrent task processing.

The effect of 2,2′,4,4′-tetrabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-47), a persistent environmental pollutant commonly used as a flame retardant in various consumer products, on pancreatitis has not been clearly elucidated, although it has been reported to be toxic to the liver, nervous system, and reproductive system. Acute pancreatitis (AP) and chronic pancreatitis (CP) models were induced in this study by intraperitoneal injection of caerulein. The aim was to investigate the impact of BDE-47 on pancreatitis by exposing the animals to acute (1 week) or chronic (8 weeks) doses of BDE-47 (30 mg/kg in the low-concentration group and 100 mg/kg in the high-concentration group). Additionally, BDE-47 was utilized to stimulate mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages, pancreatic primary stellate cells, and acinar cells in order to investigate the impact of BDE-47 on pancreatitis. In vivo experiments conducted on mice revealed that chronic exposure to BDE-47, rather than acute exposure, exacerbated the histopathological damage of AP and CP, leading to elevated fibrosis in pancreatic tissue and increased infiltration of inflammatory cells in the pancreas. In vitro experiments showed that BDE-47 can promote the expression of the inflammatory cytokines Tnf-α and Il-6 in M1 macrophages, as well as promote acinar cell apoptosis through the activation of the PERK and JNK pathways via endoplasmic reticulum stress. The findings of this study imply chronic exposure to BDE-47 may exacerbate the progression of both AP and CP by inducing acinar cell apoptosis and dysregulating inflammatory responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mounting evidence suggests that monetary reward induces an incidentally learned selection bias toward highly rewarded features. It remains controversial, however, whether learning of reward regularities has similar effects on spatial attention. Here we ask whether spatial biases toward highly rewarded locations are learned implicitly, or are instead associated with explicit knowledge of reward structure. Participants completed a hybrid search and choice task involving multiple targets among multiple distractors. Targets garnered varying magnitudes of reward, and participants were instructed to search for targets and guess and click on the 1 that they thought would yield the highest reward. Unbeknownst to participants, 1 side of the display offered higher reward than the other. We measured the spatial bias for targets on the high-reward side of the screen and probed explicit awareness via a multiquestion interview. Participants who were aware of the reward structure (N = 48) showed a selection bias for targets appearing on the high-reward side of the screen. Contrary to previous findings, unaware participants (N = 24) showed only a significant central bias, despite spending just as much time on the task. The strong association between explicit awareness and reward-driven spatial attention in this paradigm suggests that instead of directly affecting the attentional priority map, probabilistic spatial reward learning more frequently affects attention indirectly by modulating task goals.

Distribution of landslide is controlled by various causative factors that have different impacts on the occurrence of landslide in different regions. Using one single model to build the hazard assessment is not enough to fully reflect the spatial differences of landslide controlling factors especially for large area. Landslide hazard assessment based on zonation was therefore proposed in this study with an attempt to take effective measures to address this problem. The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor was taken as the study area where landslide hazard assessment was carried out. Based on the features of geological structure, topography, and climate, the study area was divided into three zones. The controlling factors were further analyzed by the geographical detectors method. It was found that the main controlling factors for landslides in these three zones were related to the site’s topography (altitude, slope gradient, and relief amplitude), land use, and distance to an earthquake epicenter. Furthermore, different factors for landslide hazard assessment were selected based on the result of a controlling factor analysis. An artificial neural network model was employed to build the hazard assessment models, and hazard assessment maps were generated. Validations were conducted, showing that the accuracy of hazard assessment maps by zones was higher than that by the whole study area, despite there was no significant difference during the modeling process.

The present mixed-method study aims to find out the status quo of critical thinking ability of university non-English majors by investigating 224 non-English majors from a university in China (105 male and 119 female students, 114 art and 110 science majors, 109 freshmen and 115 sophomores were included respectively) through questionnaires and interviews. Specifically, it compares critical thinking ability in English reading between students of different genders, majors as well as grades. The result shows that the critical thinking ability of university non-English majors in English reading is weak, namely, most students lack critical thinking ability in English as a Foreign Language reading class, which requires relevant training urgently. Also, differences of English critical thinking ability lie in gender, major, and grade. Teachers are well-advised to improve their teaching method and put more emphasis on arousing students' awareness of critical thinking. Also, they need to teach students according to their characteristics so as to promote students' critical thinking ability in English reading fully and harmoniously.

Microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) is an environmentally friendly technology that improves soil permeability resistance through biocementation. In this study, 2D microscopic analysis and 3D volume reconstruction were performed on river sand after 24 cycles of bio-treatment based on stacked images and computed tomography (CT) scanning data, respectively, to extract biocementation patterns between particles. Based on the mutual validation findings of the two techniques, three patterns in the biocemented sand were identified as G-C-G, G-C, and G-G. Specifically, 2D microscopic analysis showed that G-C-G featured multi-particle encapsulation and bridging, with a pore filling ratio of 81.2%; G-C was characterized by locally coated particle layers, with a pore filling ratio of 19.7%; and the G-G was marked by sporadic filling of interparticle pores, with a pore filling ratio of 11.7%. G-C-G had the best cementation effect and permeability resistance (effective sealing rate of 68.5%), whereas G-C (effective sealing rate of 2.4%) had a relatively minor contribution to pore-filling and flow sealing. 3D volume reconstruction showed that G-C-G had the highest pore filling rate, followed by G-G and G-C. The average filling ratios of area and volume for G-C-G were 83.979% and 77.257%, respectively; for G-G 20.360% and 23.600%; and for G-C 11.545% and 11.250%. The analysis of the representative element volume (REV) was conducted, and the feasibility and reliability of the micro-scale pattern extraction results were confirmed to guide the analysis of macro-scale characteristics. The exploration of the effectiveness of cementation patterns in fluid sealing provides valuable insights into effective biocementation at the pore scale of porous media, which may inspire future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]