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Synthetic astaxanthin is an effective nutritional strategy for improving shrimp body color and promoting growth. However, the optimal amount of astaxanthin in feed also varies with the synthetic technology and purity. In the present study, five diets containing different doses of synthetic astaxanthin (0% (CON), 0.02% (AX0.02), 0.04% (AX0.04), 0.08% (AX0.08), and 0.16% (AX0.16)) were administered to Penaeus monodon (initial body weight: 0.3 ± 0.03 g) for 8 weeks. With an increase in astaxanthin content in feed, weight gain and specific growth rate increased initially and subsequently decreased, with the highest value appearing at AX0.08. Dietary astaxanthin supplementation obviously improved the carapace and muscle color by enhancing astaxanthin pigmentation. Meanwhile, the fatty acid profile was altered by dietary astaxanthin, as evidenced by a decline in palmitic acid proportion, along with an increase in n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) contents in muscle. In addition, dietary astaxanthin supplementation regulated prawn's antioxidant capacity. In the hemolymph, the activities of glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT) showed a significantly decrease trend with linear effect. The activities of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) and the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) were first downregulated and then upregulated with significantly quadratic pattern. In the hepatopancreas, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the contents of MDA were significantly downregulated with the increase of dietary astaxanthin levels. Reduced glutathione (GSH) contents and catalase (CAT) activities were also significantly decreased in group AX0.08. Correspondingly, astaxanthin decreased GSH and MDA contents under transportation stress. Moreover, the mRNA expression of immune genes (traf6, relish, and myd88) were inhibited by dietary astaxanthin supplementation. Based on the results of polynomial contrasts analysis and Duncan's test, dietary synthetic astaxanthin is a suitable feed additive to improve the growth, body color, antioxidant capacity, and nonspecific immunity of P. monodon. According to the second-order polynomial regression analysis based on the weight gain, the optimal supplementation level of dietary astaxanthin was 90 mg kg−1 in P. monodon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the network is closely related to people's daily life, network security has become an important factor affecting the physical and mental health of human beings. Network flow classification is the foundation of network security. It is the basis for providing various network services such as network security maintenance, network monitoring, and network quality of service (QoS). Therefore, this field has always been a hot spot of academic and industrial research. Existing studies have shown that through appropriate data preprocessing techniques, machine learning methods can be used to classify network flows, most of which, however, are based on manually and expert-originated feature sets; it is a time-consuming and laborious work. Moreover, only features extracted by a single model can be used in classification tasks, which can easily make the model inefficient and prone to overfitting. In order to solve the abovementioned problems, this study proposes a multimodal automatic analysis framework based on spatial and sequential features. The framework is completely based on the deep learning method and realizes automatic extraction of two types of features, which is very suitable for processing large-flow information; this improves the efficiency of network flow classification. There are two types of frameworks based on pretraining and joint-training, respectively, with analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of them in practice. In terms of evaluation, compared with the previous methods, the experimental results show that the framework has good performance in both accuracy and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, fresh fruits and vegetables have been sought after by Chinese people. The fresh-keeping technology, storage, and transportation of fruits and vegetables have also attracted a large number of people's attention. Various methods of preservation, storage, and transportation of fruits and vegetables have begun to appear in the society. Micro and nanobubbles have the characteristics of long stay time, larger than the surface, high surface negative electricity, strong reliability, high efficiency of heat transfer, can cause oxygen free radicals, can greatly improve the actual effect of ozone and ozone utilization rate, and reduce the operation cost. This article aims to study the application of ozone micro-nano bubble processing vegetable fresh-keeping technology in air logistics and transportation, and put forward the idea of applying ozone micro-nano bubble processing fresh-keeping technology to fruits and vegetables fresh-keeping and transportation more widely. This article focuses on the introduction of ozone micro-nano bubbles, fresh-keeping technology, air transportation, and experiments on some fresh-keeping technologies in the article. The experimental results show that the vegetable preservation technology based on ozone micro-nano bubbles can better maintain the moisture and nutrients in the vegetables. The preservation technology of ozone micro-nano bubble treatment has improved the preservation of fruits and vegetables by 12%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has been explored as a therapeutic strategy to recover the antitumor immune activities against endometrial cancer (EC) escaping from immune surveillance. Increasing evidence has indicated that microsatellite instability (MSI) is a promising biomarker to stratify patients for the ICB therapy. However, even in patients with MSI-High (MSI-H) endometrial cancers, PD-L1 inhibitors, avelumab, and durvalumab have shown only 27% of response rates. Therefore, there is an urgent need to discover new biomarkers for a predictive response to ICB therapy. In this study, we demonstrated that the immune cytolytic activity (CYT) index was significantly correlated with the development and response to immunotherapy in EC. The data showed that higher CYT was significantly associated with better clinical outcome, more antitumor infiltrating immune cells, fewer somatic copy number alterations, but a higher TMB (Tumor mutational burden) status. Furthermore, CYT-high EC was notably relevant to the high expression of various immune checkpoint molecules and showed more effective responses to ICB treatment. Taken together, this study provided new insights into the connection between diverse genetic events and the immune microenvironment in EC and indicated that the CYT status might be a promising biomarker to stratify patients with EC for ICB therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To explore the efficacy of Minocycline hydrochloride combined with multiple antibiotic pastes in the treatment of chronic periodontitis with concomitant pulp lesions in elderly patients, as well as to analyze the changes in the levels of inflammatory markers. Methods. 100 patients suffering from chronic periodontitis with concomitant pulp lesions treated in our hospital from July 2018 to January 2020 were selected as the study subjects, and were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (n = 50) or a control group (n = 50). Patients in the experimental group were treated with Minocycline hydrochloride combined with multiple antibiotic pastes, while those in the control group were treated with Minocycline hydrochloride alone. The treatment efficacy in the two groups was then assessed using such factors as periodontal probing depth, dental plaque index, gingival index, periodontal attachment level, and the presence or absence of adverse effects. We also measured and compared the levels of inflammatory markers such as CRP, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-5, IL-6, and others in both groups, before treatment, as well as after a week of treatment. Results. There was a statistically significant difference in the treatment efficacy between the two groups (P < 0.05), with a higher treatment efficacy seen in the experimental group as compared to the control group. When compared to the control group, the experimental group had lower depths of periodontal probing, lower dental plaque indices, lower gingival indices, lower periodontal attachment levels, as well a significantly lower incidence of adverse reactions (P < 0.05). Before treatment, the levels of inflammatory markers such as CRP, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-5, and IL-6 were elevated in both groups. After a week of treatment, there were reductions in the levels of inflammatory markers in both groups, but a more significant reduction was seen in the experimental than in the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion. Minocycline hydrochloride combined with various antibiotic pastes is more effective in the treatment of chronic periodontitis with concomitant pulp lesions in elderly patients than monotherapy with Minocycline hydrochloride alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a switchable phase‐modulated metasurface (PMM) whose reflection phase can be modulated between two states using PIN diodes. The PMM is composed of a switchable surface loaded with four PIN diodes in each unit cell, as well as a ground plane and an air spacer. The reflection phase can be modulated when the PIN diodes are switched between two states (ON and OFF). Theoretical analysis indicates that the phase‐modulation bandwidth is determined by the thickness of the PMM. The phase‐modulation bandwidth with a phase difference of 180 ± 37° achieves 2.6–4.25 GHz and a fractional bandwidth of 48.2%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a rare autoimmune disease with clinical symptoms of fluctuating muscle weakness. Due to the side effects of current therapies, there is an urgent need for a new medication for MG treatment. Nux vomica is a traditional Chinese medicine used in various diseases. However, the mechanism of action of Nux vomica against MG remains unclear. Methods. Network pharmacology was used to explore the underlying mechanisms of Nux vomica in MG treatment, which was validated using molecular docking and in vivo experiments in mice. Results. Twelve bioactive compounds and 72 targets in Nux vomica were screened. Seventy-nine myasthenia-related targets were obtained from the GENECARD and DisGeNET databases. PPI networks of Nux vomica- and myasthenia-related targets were constructed using Bisogenet, and these two networks were subsequently merged into an intersection to establish a core-target PPI network that consisted of 204 nodes and 4,668 edges. KEGG enrichment analysis indicated that 132 pathways were enriched in 204 core targets. In addition, we obtained 50 docking pairs via molecular docking. In vivo experiments revealed that Nux vomica can improve the symptoms of MG. Conclusion. Nux vomica is involved in the pathogenesis of MG through the "multicomponent-target-pathway" mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the nonuniform electric field distribution over its aperture, the Fabry‐Perot resonator antenna (FPRA) is normally with high gain but relatively low‐aperture efficiency. In this paper, a novel nonuniform superstrate design method is proposed to improve the gain and aperture efficiency of the FPRA. The reflection amplitude design formula of the superstrate for uniform electric field distribution is derived. Based on this formula, a nonuniform superstrate with different reflection amplitudes and a fixed reflection phase is designed to uniformize the aperture electric field distribution and maximize the aperture efficiency of the FPRA. As a verification of this design method, a FPRA working at 10 GHz with the aperture size of 3.5 × 3.5 λ is designed, fabricated and measured. The simulated gain of the nonuniform FPRA is 21.6 dBi at 10 GHz with the aperture efficiency as high as 93.9%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study demonstrates an efficient 5.8 GHz microwave wireless power transmission (MWPT) system. The whole system comprises a transmitting subsystem and a receiving subsystem. A 64‐way phased microwave power source and a transmitting antenna array of 1 m × 1 m are included in the transmitting subsystem. By exciting the transmitting array with a 10‐dB Gaussian amplitude distribution and a quadratic phase distribution via the phased microwave power source, the transmitting subsystem radiates a low side‐lobe and focused microwave beam. The receiving subsystem comprises a receiving antenna array of 0.5 m × 0.5 m and 64 rectifiers. The efficient receiving antenna array and rectifiers realize an efficient rectenna array. An experiment on the MWPT system is conducted. The total microwave power output from the source is 24 W, and the transmission distance is 10 m. According to the measurements, the total rectified direct current (DC) power is 4.58 W, and the overall RF‐DC efficiency is 19.08%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the global resource and environment problems becoming increasingly prominent and the government procurement scale growing rapidly, the implementation of green procurement for government public project will have a significant impact on the protection of resources and environment. Identifying the key influential factors of bid evaluation in government public project green procurement is of great significance for promoting the construction of government public project green procurement system. Based on the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method, Back Propagation (BP) neural network is introduced to determine the direct-relation matrix, optimizing the traditional DEMATEL method. This paper uses the BP-DEMATEL model to identify key influential factors of bid evaluation in government public project green procurement by algorithmic design. Among 56 indicators, which have formed a set of index system of bid evaluation in government public project green procurement, 20 key influential factors are identified, providing reference for the government to implement green procurement in the field of public project. The research results not only enrich and improve the theoretical and practical research in the field of government public project green procurement, but also solve the defects of traditional DEMATEL method that the method is too subjective and tedious when obtaining the influence degree between each pair of factors to construct direct-relation matrix through questionnaire surveys or expert scoring method, thus expanding the scope of the application of the DEMATEL method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wear failure of the in-core flux thimble is an important problem in the neutron flux measurement system, which threatens the safety of the nuclear power plant. To figure out the wear mechanism of the thimble, a wear tester was designed and manufactured to simulate the wear process of the in-core flux thimble. Outer guide tubes with different R angles were used to abrade the thimbles. The designed tester can well simulate the wear process in the real power plant. R angle of the outer guide tube played important role in the wear behavior of the in-core flux thimbles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overburden deformation is an important concern for the safe and green mining of coal resources. Similarity simulation testing is the main approach used to study the deformation characteristics of the overburden in coal mining. In the application of Brillouin optical time-domain analysis (BOTDA) in similarity simulation tests, the capability of distributed optical fiber sensing (DOFS) to detect the characteristics of the overburden deformation and the evolution is a key factor affecting the testing accuracy. In this study, the relationships between DOFS and overburden deformation and the face impact pressure under geological conditions in short-distance coal seam mining were explored. The results show that DOFS can be used to monitor the strain conditions of the overburden during the entire mining process and can provide the peak positions of the advance support pressure on the face. A DOFS characterization model for investigating the spatial and temporal evolutions of overburden deformation was established. A new method of characterizing the face impact pressure based on the fiber frequency shift variation was developed. The method was demonstrated to be effective through comparison of monitored results of impact pressure counts detected using pressure sensors. The characteristics of the face impact pressure in short-distance coal seam mining were obtained. The results of this study provide valuable guidance for the development of similarity simulation testing and intelligent mining engineering techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We randomly divided 200 children with severe pneumonia who met the indications for tracheal intubation into 2 groups in this prospective study. One group that received dexmedetomidine for sedation was recorded as the dexmedetomidine group (n = 100), and the group that received midazolam for sedation was recorded as the midazolam group (n = 100). We compared the anesthesia sedation scores, time to fall asleep, time to wake up from anesthesia, related hemodynamic parameters, and adverse reactions between the two groups of children. The failure mode and effect analysis method (FMEA) was also used to investigate the causes of unplanned extubation (UEX) of tracheal intubation in 32 children with severe pneumonia. Our conclusion is as follows: (1) Compared with midazolam, the comprehensive effect of dexmedetomidine on children with severe pneumonia undergoing tracheal intubation for anesthesia and sedation is better, it can effectively shorten the anesthesia induction time and the recovery time after stopping the drug, and there are few adverse reactions, which is worthy of application and promotion. (2) UEX is an important risk factor in the monitoring and nursing of children with severe pneumonia tracheal intubation, and the nursing method of PDCA cycle management is particularly important for them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A circulating water pump is a key equipment of cooling systems in nuclear power plants. Several anchor bolts were broken at the inlet rings of the same type of pumps. The bolts were turned by a special material for seawater corrosion protection. There were obvious turning tool marks at the root of the thread, which was considered as the source of the crack. The fatigue crack extended to the depth of the bolt, causing obvious radiation stripes on the fracture surface, which was a typical fatigue fracture. Obvious overtightening characteristics were found at the head of the broken bolt. Fracture and energy spectrum analysis showed that the bolt was not corroded. The axial vibration of the pump was measured. The static tensile stress along the bolt axis caused by the preload, the axial tensile stress caused by the axial vibration, and the torsional stress were calculated, respectively. According to the fatigue strength theory, the composite safety factor of the bolt fatigue strength was 1.37 when overtightening at 1.2 times the design torque, which was less than the allowable safety factor of 1.5-1.8, so the bolt was not safe, which further verified the conclusion of fracture analysis. The reason for the low safety factor was caused by the overtightening force. The improvement method was to control the bolt preload or increasing the bolt diameter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wear failure of the in-core flux thimble is an important problem in the neutron flux measurement system, which threatens the safety of the nuclear power plant. To figure out the wear mechanism of the thimble, a wear tester was designed and manufactured to simulate the wear process of the in-core flux thimble. Outer guide tubes with different R angles were used to abrade the thimbles. The designed tester can well simulate the wear process in the real power plant. R angle of the outer guide tube played important role in the wear behavior of the in-core flux thimbles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of vehicle speeds at the moment of traffic accidents is becoming increasingly important. To solve difficult calculations arising from video analysis when the shooting direction of the camera is the same as the driving direction of the vehicles, an improved plane homography method is proposed. This method is based on detecting the frame rate of and extracting all of the key image frames from a surveillance video. Next, a normalizing approach for the control points is proposed to reduce the ill-conditions of matrix calculations when the perspective image is rectified to an orthographic image. The information in the rectified image is then measured and recorded by extracting the mark point information. Finally, the corresponding curve of time and speed for the examined vehicle is created, which can be used to analyze the average braking deceleration of the accident-causing vehicle. This method can directly determine the speed of a vehicle using videos of a traffic accident without any reference to the dimensions of the vehicle itself. Considering an actual traffic accident as an example, the driving trajectories and velocity curves for two vehicles are obtained using this method. The proposed method can effectively overcome the shortcomings of the commonly used speed recognition methods and it is easy to utilize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let G u , v be a homogeneous nonnegative function of order λ , K n , x m , ρ = G n λ 1 , x m , ρ λ 2 . By using the weight coefficient method, the equivalent parameter conditions and best constant factors for the validity of the following half-discrete Hilbert-type multiple integral inequality ∫ ℝ + m ∑ n = 1 ∞ K n , x m , ρ a n f x d x ≤ M a ~ p , α f q , β are discussed. Finally, its applications in operator theory are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let G u , v be a homogeneous nonnegative function of order λ , K n , x m , ρ = G n λ 1 , x m , ρ λ 2 . By using the weight coefficient method, the equivalent parameter conditions and best constant factors for the validity of the following half-discrete Hilbert-type multiple integral inequality ∫ ℝ + m ∑ n = 1 ∞ K n , x m , ρ a n f x d x ≤ M a ~ p , α f q , β are discussed. Finally, its applications in operator theory are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is the mainstay treatment for coronary artery disease but complications such as in-stent restenosis and thrombosis remain problematic. Radiofrequency balloon angioplasty (RBA) can improve lumen dimension, fusing intimal tears, and artery dissection but is associated with higher restenosis rate. Methods. After establishing an atherosclerosis model based on endothelial abrasion and high cholesterol diet, forty-five rabbits were randomly divided into three groups: RBA (n=20), percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) (n=20), and control groups (n=5). The RBA and PTA groups were subdivided according to harvested time posttreatment, respectively (1 hour, 7 days, 14 days, and 28 days). Aorta segments were then isolated for hematoxylin and eosin staining, Masson trichrome staining, immunohistochemistry, and Western blot for TLR-4, NF-κB, MCP-1, and VCAM-1expression. Results. At 28 days, intimal area was significantly lower in the RBA group compared to the PTA and control groups, whilst luminal and medial area were comparable in the RBA and PTA group but higher and lower than the control group, respectively. Expression of TLR-4, NF-κB, MCP-1, and VCAM-1 showed no significant difference between RBA and PTA groups. Conclusions. RBA can depress the intimal hyperplasia and promote dilatation of the artery to greater extents than PTA at 28 days. However, this did not involve TLR-4 signaling pathway, which likely plays a negligible role in mediating restenosis. Reduction of intimal hyperplasia may be due to injury of ablation to the tunica media and inhibition of VSMC proliferation and migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the glucose tolerance tests (GTT) were performed to evaluate the effects of three dietary carbohydrate levels on growth, plasma glucose, hormones (insulin and IGF‐I), glucose homeostasis and GLUT4 gene expression of Tilapia nilotica. Juvenile tilapia (av. wt.10 g) were randomly distributed into three groups with three replicates and fed for 8 weeks with three dietary carbohydrate levels: 40% (CH), 30% (CM) and 20% (CL). After 8 weeks of feeding trial, fish were injected with glucose (30 mg/100 g body weight) for GTT. The growth performance results showed the survival rate in the CH group was significantly lower than the other two groups (p < 0.05). The GTT results showed that the plasma glucose level positively correlates with the diets' carbohydrate level initially, peaked at 1 hr and declined thereafter. The plasma IGF‐1 levels were positively correlated with diets' carbohydrate levels; first the levels increase and then decrease after injection in all the three groups. There was a direct relationship between the carbohydrate levels and the activities of liver pyruvate kinase (PK) and glucokinase (GK) enzymes. Muscle GLUT4 expression in groups changed slightly in 0–3 hr and then increased sharply during 6–12 hr. Results of this study indicated that the moderate dietary carbohydrate level may improve the glucose tolerance of T. nilotica. The carbohydrate levels can affect plasma glucose, IGF‐1 and GLUT4 expression in T. nilotica. In addition, the IGF‐1 may play a more important role on the glucose metabolism than insulin. The delayed gene transcription of GLUT4 may be one of the reasons for glucose intolerance in T. nilotica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. This study aims to identify the key genes and miRNAs in slow transit constipation (STC). Methods. MRNA and miRNA expression profiling were obtained. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and miRNAs were identified followed by the regulatory network construction. Functional annotation analysis and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network were conducted. The electronic validation was performed. Results. Hsa-miR-2116-3p, hsa-miR-3622a-5p, hsa-miR-424-5p, and hsa-miR-1273-3p covered most DEGs. HLA-DRB1, HLA-DRB5, C3, and ICAM were significantly involved in staphylococcus aureus infection. The PPI network generated several hub proteins including ZBTB16, FBN1, CCNF, and CDK1. Electronic validation of HLA-DRB1, PTGDR, MKI67, BIRC5, CCNF, and CDK1 was consistent with the RNA-sequencing analysis. Conclusion. Our study might be helpful in understanding the pathology of STC at the molecular level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A metasurface-based low-profile crossed dipole antenna with wide circularly polarized bandwidth for 2.45 GHz ISM band wireless communications is proposed and fabricated in this article. Consisting of four slit-loaded rectangular patches, the double-sided printing crossed dipoles are fed by a pair of vacant-quarter printed rings which circularly polarized (CP) radiation could be generated. With slits loaded, by properly combining the fundamental mode of the two inverted L-shaped dipole, the slot mode and extra resonance generated by the AMC surface, a wideband circularly polarized operation can be obtained. After optimization, the final design with an overall size of 0.44λ0 × 0.44λ0 × 0.1448λ0 at 2.4 GHz had measured a 31.6% (2-2.75 GHz) impedance bandwidth and 3 dB axial ratio bandwidths of measured were 23.2% (2.1-2.65 GHz), respectively. In addition, the antenna performed a small gain variation (7.0-7.5 dBic) and a front-to-back ratio (FBR) of over 25 dB across the whole CP region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Doxorubicin ( DOX) is an anthracycline antitumor drug. However, its clinical use is limited by dose-dependent cardiotoxicity and even progresses to chronic heart failure ( CHF). Objective This study aims to investigate whether the Nrf2 activator, sulforaphane ( SFN), can prevent DOX-induced CHF. Methods Male Sprague-Dawley rats which received treatment for 6 weeks were divided into four groups (n=30 per group): control, SFN, DOX and DOX plus SFN group. Results Results revealed that DOX induced progressive cardiac damage as indicated by increased cardiac injury markers, cardiac inflammation, fibrosis and oxidative stress. SFN significantly prevented DOX-induced progressive cardiac dysfunction between 2-6 weeks and prevented DOX-induced cardiac function deterioration. Furthermore, it significantly decreased ejection fraction and increased the expression of brain natriuretic peptide. SFN also almost completely prevented DOX-induced cardiac oxidative stress, inflammation and fibrosis. SFN upregulated NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) expression and transcription activity, which was reflected by the increased mRNA expression of Nrf2 and its downstream genes. Furthermore, in cultured H9c2 cardiomyocytes, the protective effect of SFN against DOX-induced fibrotic and inflammatory responses was abolished by Nrf2 silencing. Conclusion We arrived at the conclusion that DOX-induced CHF can be prevented by SFN through the upregulation of Nrf2 expression and transcriptional function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wideband circularly polarized printed antenna is proposed and fabricated, which employs monofilar spiral stubs and a slit in the asymmetrical ground plane which are fed by an inverted L-shaped microstrip feedline. The CP operation is realized by embedding an inverted-L shaped strip and modified ground plane and can be markedly improved by loading monofilar spiral stubs asymmetrically connected at the edge of the ground plane. After optimization, the measured results of the finally structure demonstrate that a 10-dB bandwidth of 67.6% from 4.6 to 9.3 GHz and a 3-dB axial-ratio bandwidth (ARBW) for circular polarization (CP) of 60.1% from 5 to 9.3 GHz could be achieved which could completely cover the WLAN (5.725-5.85 GHz) band. Therefore, the proposed antenna is suitable for circular polarization applications in C band. To explain the mechanism of broadband circular polarization operation, the analysis of magnetic fields distributions and a parametric study of the design are given. Compared to other recent works, a simpler structure, wider axial ratio and impedance bandwidths and a more compact size are the key features of the proposed antenna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of cloud computing and big data, diverse types of traffic generated from heterogeneous data sources are delivered throughout communication networks, which consist of various node kinds such as digital sensors and smart actuators, and different applications. Due to the shared medium, communication networks are vulnerable to misbehaving nodes, and it is a crucial aspect to maintain an acceptable level of service degradation. This paper studies the fault-aware resource allocation problem by exploiting multipath routing and dynamic rate assignment for heterogeneous sources. We estimate the impacts of faults and formulate the resource allocation as a lossy network flow optimization problem based on these estimates. The traditional flow optimization solutions focus on homogeneous traffic. In our work, we model the performance of heterogeneous applications as a relaxed utility function and develop an effective utility framework of rate control for heterogeneous sources with multipath routing in presence of misbehaving nodes. We design a distributed algorithm to decide the routing strategy and obtain the rate assignments on the available paths in a lossy utility fair manner. Extensive performance evaluations corroborate the significant performance of our algorithm in effective utility and utility fairness in the presence of misbehaving nodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wideband circularly polarized printed antenna is proposed and fabricated, which employs monofilar spiral stubs and a slit in the asymmetrical ground plane which is fed by an asymmetrical microstrip feedline using a via. The CP operation is realized by embedding an inverted-L shaped strip and a modified ground plane and can be markedly improved by loading monofilar spiral stubs connected to the asymmetric feedline by means of a via. A parametric study of the key parameters is made and the mechanism for circular polarization is described. After optimization, the impedance bandwidth is approximately 3.6 GHz (4.4-8 GHz) and the 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth is approximately 3.3 GHz (4.7-8 GHz), which represent fractional bandwidths of approximately 58.1% and 52%, respectively. Therefore, the proposed antenna is suitable for circular polarization applications in C (4-8 GHz) band. Compared with other recent works, the simpler structure, wider axial ratio, impedance bandwidths, and more compact size are the key features of the proposed antenna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel dual-band, dual-circularly polarized antenna is proposed and fabricated. The proposed antenna consists of an asymmetric U-shaped slot and an inverted L-shaped slot which are designed to excite two orthogonal E vectors with equal amplitude and 90° phase difference (PD), in addition, fed by a coplanar waveguide (CPW) Furthermore, a left-hand circular polarization in the direction of z > 0 and a right-hand circular polarization instead of the opposite direction both at the lower and upper bands are exhibited by the radiations of the antenna. Good agreement is achieved between the measurement and simulation, which indicates that a 10-dB bandwidth of 38.75% from 2.56 to 3.8 GHz and 21.8% from 10.01 to 12.53 GHz, while a 3-dB axial-ratio bandwidth (ARBW) of 13.4% from 2.77 to 3.2 GHz and 9.23% from 10.25 to 11.25 GHz at two operation bands, respectively, are covered in the designed antenna. To explain the mechanism of dual-band dual-circular polarization, the analysis of magnetic fields distributions and a parametric study of the design are given. Meanwhile, compared to other recent works, a single layer structure, wider axial ratio and impedance bandwidths and a more compact size are the key features of the proposed antenna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CSCC is a systemic disease involving polygenic alteration and multiple steps, and HIF and VEGF are closely associated with tumorigenesis. Specimens surgically resected from 64 cases of CSCC and 22 cases of normal cervical tissue were selected randomly to detect the expression of HIF-2α and VEGF in CSCC for exploring their clinical significance; information regarding the age, lymph node metastasis, and FIGO staging were collected as well; expression of HIF-2α and VEGF was detected by qPCR and immunohistochemistry. We found that the expression of HIF-2α and VEGF mRNA in CSCC was significantly higher than that of normal cervical tissues and showed a positive correlation between them. The positive rates of HIF-2α and VEGF protein expression in CSCC and normal cervical tissues were 93.8% and 18.2%, respectively, with correlation between them. The expression of both HIF-2α and VEGF mRNA did not relate closely to age but the FIGO staging and lymph node metastasis. Compared with the counterpart control group, CSCC tissues with high FIGO staging and lymph node metastasis had a higher level of HIF-2α and VEGF mRNA expression. So, HIF-2α and VEGF were overexpressed in CSCC, which has a great clinical significance for its diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study sought to investigate the feasibility of transthoracic occlusion of a subarterial ventricular septal defect using a minimally invasive incision.Methods: Between January 2009 and June 2014, we performed transthoracic subarterial ventricular septal defect occlusion for 81 patients via a minimally invasive incision. A special delivery sheath was used during surgery, and an eccentric occluder was implanted in the ventricular septal defect.Results: Successful defect closure was achieved in 74 cases, perioperative arrhythmia occurred in five cases, and a large pericardial effusion was observed in two cases. Open heart surgery was performed for two patients to repair postoperative dislocation of the occluder. Intraoperative conversion to surgical repair was required in seven cases. During one to five years of follow-up, there was no late occluder dislocation, residual leakage, or thrombus-related complications.Conclusions: Transthoracic subarterial ventricular septal defect occlusion using a minimally invasive incision may be an alternative to open surgical repair in selected patients. doi: 10.1111/jocs.12754 (J Card Surg 2016;31:398-402). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to determine the stabilizing PID parametric region for multivariable systems. Firstly, a general equivalent transfer function parameterization method is proposed to construct the multiloop equivalent process for multivariable systems. Then, based on the equivalent single loops, a model-based method is presented to derive the stabilizing PID parametric region by using the generalized Hermite-Biehler theorem. By sweeping over the entire ranges of feasible proportional gains and determining the stabilizing regions in the space of integral and derivative gains, the complete set of stabilizing PID controllers can be determined. The robustness of the design procedure against the approximation in getting the SISO plants is analyzed. Finally, simulation of a practical model is carried out to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On-line measuring device of cylindricity error is designed based on two-point method error separation technique (EST), which can separate spindle rotation error from measuring error. According to the principle of measuring device, the mathematical model of the minimum zone method for cylindricity error evaluating is established. Optimized parameters of objective function decrease to four from six by assuming that c is equal to zero and h is equal to one. Initial values of optimized parameters are obtained from least square method and final values are acquired by the genetic algorithm. The ideal axis of cylinder is fitted in MATLAB. Compared to the error results of the least square method, the minimum circumscribed cylinder method, and the maximum inscribed cylinder method, the error result of the minimum zone method conforms to the theory of error evaluation. The results indicate that the method can meet the requirement of engine cylinder bore cylindricity error measuring and evaluating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of the previous researches on personalized ranking is that they focused on either explicit feedback data or implicit feedback data rather than making full use of the information in the dataset. Until now, nobody has studied personalized ranking algorithm by exploiting both explicit and implicit feedback. In order to overcome the defects of prior researches, a new personalized ranking algorithm (MERR_SVD++) based on the newest xCLiMF model and SVD++ algorithm was proposed, which exploited both explicit and implicit feedback simultaneously and optimized the well-known evaluation metric Expected Reciprocal Rank (ERR). Experimental results on practical datasets showed that our proposed algorithm outperformed existing personalized ranking algorithms over different evaluation metrics and that the running time of MERR_SVD++ showed a linear correlation with the number of rating. Because of its high precision and the good expansibility, MERR_SVD++ is suitable for processing big data and has wide application prospect in the field of internet information recommendation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbial pathogens that colonize multiple tissues commonly produce adhesive surface proteins that mediate attachment to cells and/or extracellular matrix in target organs. Many of these 'adhesins' bind to multiple ligands, complicating efforts to understand the role of each ligand-binding activity. B orrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, produces BBK32, first identified as a fibronectin-binding adhesin that promotes skin and joint colonization. BBK32 also binds to glycosaminoglycan ( GAG), which, like fibronectin is ubiquitously present on cell surfaces. To determine which binding activity is relevant for BBK32-promoted infectivity, we generated a panel of BBK32 truncation and internal deletion mutants, and identified variants specifically defective for binding to either fibronectin or GAG. These variants promoted bacterial attachment to different mammalian cell types in vitro, suggesting that fibronectin and GAG binding may play distinct roles during infection. Intravenous inoculation of mice with a high-passage non-infectious B . burgdorferi strain that produced wild-type BBK32 or BBK32 mutants defective for GAG or fibronectin binding, revealed that only GAG-binding activity was required for significant localization to joints at 60 min post-infection. An otherwise infectious B . burgdorferi strain producing BBK32 specifically deficient in fibronectin binding was fully capable of both skin and joint colonization in the murine model, whereas a strain producing BBK32 selectively attenuated for GAG binding colonized the inoculation site but not knee or tibiotarsus joints. Thus, the BBK32 fibronectin- and GAG-binding activities are separable in vivo, and BBK32-mediated GAG binding, but not fibronectin binding, contributes to joint colonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recombinant proteins are primarily produced from cultures of mammalian, insect, and bacteria cells. In recent years, the development of deconstructed virus-based vectors has allowed plants to become a viable platform for recombinant protein production, with advantages in versatility, speed, cost, scalability, and safety over the current production paradigms. In this paper, we review the recent progress in the methodology of agroinfiltration, a solution to overcome the challenge of transgene delivery into plant cells for large-scale manufacturing of recombinant proteins. General gene delivery methodologies in plants are first summarized, followed by extensive discussion on the application and scalability of each agroinfiltration method. New development of a spray-based agroinfiltration and its application on field-grown plants is highlighted. The discussion of agroinfiltration vectors focuses on their applications for producing complex and heteromultimeric proteins and is updated with the development of bridge vectors. Progress on agroinfiltration in Nicotiana and non-Nicotiana plant hosts is subsequently showcased in context of their applications for producing high-value human biologics and low-cost and high-volume industrial enzymes. These new advancements in agroinfiltration greatly enhance the robustness and scalability of transgene delivery in plants, facilitating the adoption of plant transient expression systems for manufacturing recombinant proteins with a broad range of applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 7th member of the Late Triassic Yanchang Formation is the most important Mesozoic source rocks and shale oil reservoir in the Ordos Basin. The hydrocarbon potential and organic matter enrichment mechanism of this organic-rich member are questioned because of the high heterogeneity of continental sediments. In particular, the lack of drilling in the Chang 73 sub-member of the western Ordos Basin (central Tianhuan Depression) hinders this understanding and the progress of shale oil exploration in this region. In this study, 87 samples were collected from the well DP1 in the Tianhuan Depression, western Ordos Basin, and analyzed for sedimentology and geochemistry to unravel the paleoenvironment, paleo-productivity, and hydrocarbon potential of the Chang 73 sub-member. The results show that the Chang 73 shale is characterized by ultra-high organic matter abundance (up to 10.60%), type II kerogen, and good hydrocarbon generation potential. An intermediate chemical weathering intensity suggests that this set of organic-rich shale was deposited in a warm and humid paleoclimate setting. Extreme organic matter enrichment in study area may be attributed to ultra-high productivity (hypereutrophic lake), superimposed terrigenous organic matter input, and transgression, rather than volcanism and anoxic bottom water. This model is different from those of Chang 73 interval with higher organic matter content in the central and southern parts of the Ordos Basin. Therefore, this study proposes that the Chang 73 shale in the central Tianhuan Depression is not a good target layer for shale oil exploration and that the favorable area may be located in an undisturbed deep lake with higher organic matter abundance (e.g., southwestern Ordos Basin). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is an important complication of systemic sclerosis (SSc). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect and possible mechanism of polypeptide extract of scorpion venom (PESV) on SSc-ILD. Methods. C57/BL6 mice were injected with bleomycin to establish a SSc-ILD model. Different concentrations of PESV solution were administered to SSc-ILD mice, and dexamethasone was used as a positive control. H&E staining and Masson staining were used to observe the pathological changes. The TGF-β1 expression level was detected by immunohistochemistry. The expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related proteins was detected by Western blot, and the expression of TGF-β1/Smad pathway-related proteins was also detected. The content of inflammatory cytokines in serum and BALF was determined by ELISA. Results. Pathological analysis showed that PESV could alleviate SSc-ILD-induced pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis. Compared with the model group, the content of inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α significantly decreased after PESV treatment. PESV could increase the expression of epithelial marker (E-cadherin) and reduce the expression of interstitial markers (collagen I, vimentin, N-cadherin, and a-SMA). In addition, PESV could reduce the expression level of TGF-β1/Smad pathway-related protein. Conclusion. PESV can attenuate SSc-ILD by regulating EMT, and the effect was linked to the TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathway, which indicated that PESV may serve as a candidate drug for SSc-ILD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spontaneous imbibition has been considered as a significant method to enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in unconventional reservoirs. The main impediment to comprehending the variation characteristics of spontaneous imbibition at different pore scales was the reservoir's opacity. To this end, a series of spontaneous imbibition experiments of visualized oil-wet microtubes with six different diameters (10 μm~60 μm) were performed, as were the corresponding macroscopic core imbibition tests with six different permeabilities under the same conditions. The results showed that formation brine mostly advanced along the wall surface of a capillary during the imbibition process, and some were even isolated within a capillary. The imbibition recovery in the capillary with a diameter of 10 μm was the highest (27.81%), which was more than three times that of the capillary with a diameter of 60 μm (8.3%). There was a good power function decline relationship between capillary diameter and imbibition recovery, and 30 μm appeared to be a critical inflection point in both capillary tube and macroscopic core imbibition tests. In addition, the majority of the detained residual oil clusters not only cut off the continuity of formation brine but also increased the imbibition flow resistance, accelerating the imbibition to balance. This research provides a new perspective for comprehending the imbibition characteristics at different pore scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to analyze the dynamic response of medium-speed maglev train in the speed range of 0–200 km/h, the suspension performance, suspended energy consumption, and riding comfort of the train stimulated by random track irregularities are discussed in this paper. Firstly, the model of medium-speed maglev train including car body, air spring vibration isolation system, and the suspension system is established. Then, a controller based on flux inner feedback loop and PID outer feedback loop is designed for the suspension system. The established model is stimulated by the actual track power spectrum in full speed range. The simulation results show that the fluctuation of suspension gap is less than ±4 mm. Furthermore, thanks to the adding of permanent magnet, the power consumption is significantly reduced, which is of benefit to the electromagnet heating problem and on-board levitation power supply system. The riding comfort of the train moving on the irregular track using Sperling index is assessed. The experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed analytical calculation model of medium-speed maglev train. It is shown that medium-speed maglev train achieved good performance, significant power reduction, and satisfactory riding comfort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An active band‐notched frequency selective absorber (BNFSA) with switchable notch band is proposed in this article. The BNFSA is a two‐layer structure composed of a lossy layer at the top and a ground plane at the bottom, separated by an air spacer. The element of the lossy layer is a lumped‐resistor‐loaded metallic dipole with a parallel LC resonance structure, which is realized by complementary n‐shaped resonator (CnR) inserted in the center, and PIN diode is welded at two arms of CnR. The bias circuit printed on the back of the substrate of the lossy layer connects to anode and cathode of the diode by via hole and isolates by the inductor. Simulation results show that the notch bands are located at 4.50 and 6.81 GHz when the diode sets to ON and OFF, respectively. To validate the performance of switchable BNFSA, the prototypes are fabricated and measured, reasonable agreement between simulated and measured results is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To find risk markers and develop new clinical predictive models for the differential diagnosis of hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) with varying degrees of disease. Methods. 19766 children with HFMD and 64 clinical indexes were included in this study. The patients included in this study were divided into the mild patients' group (mild) with 12292 cases, severe patients' group (severe) with 6508 cases, and severe patients with respiratory failure group (severe-RF) with 966 cases. Single-factor analysis was carried out on 64 indexes collected from patients when they were admitted to the hospital, and the indexes with statistical differences were selected as the prediction factors. Binary multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to construct the prediction models and calculate the adjusted odds ratio (OR). Results. SP, DP, NEUT#, NEUT%, RDW-SD, RDW-CV, GGT, CK/CK-MB, and Glu were risk markers in mild/severe, mild/severe-RF, and severe/severe-RF. Glu was a diagnostic marker for mild/severe-RF (AUROC = 0.80 , 95% CI: 0.78-0.82); the predictive model constructed by temperature, SP, MOMO%, EO%, RDW-SD, GLB, CRP, Glu, BUN, and Cl could be used for the differential diagnosis of mild/severe (AUROC > 0.84); the predictive model constructed by SP, age, NEUT#, PCT, TBIL, GGT, Mb, β2MG, Glu, and Ca could be used for the differential diagnosis of severe/severe-RF (AUROC > 0.76). Conclusion. By analyzing clinical indicators, we have found the risk markers of HFMD and established suitable predictive models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, an orbital angular momentum (OAM) patch array antenna with converged beam is proposed. The electromagnetic band gap (EBG) structure is applied to a patch array antenna with 2 × 2 elements. The array antenna is excited by a carefully designed feeding phase shift network with equal output energy for four output ports. Thus, the OAM vortex wave with topological charge l = 1 is generated. By using EBG structure around the radiating patches, the surface wave of the array antenna is suppressed. As a result, the radiation pattern is improved significantly, including the enhanced gain and reduced divergence angle. A prototype was fabricated and measured. The measurement results agree well with the simulations. Compared with the other approaches, the proposed antenna is much more compact in structure and ease of fabrication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the use of a polarization rotation reflective surface (PRRS) to construct a wideband, wide‐beam, low‐profile circularly polarized (CP) patch antenna. The device is composed of a feeding monopole antenna and a novel PRRS‐based dual‐patch artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) cell structure. The PRRS has two polarization rotation (PR) frequency points, generated by properly adjusting the width between square and L‐shaped metallic patches. A large PR band of 35.5% (5.1‐7.3 GHz) was achieved by combining two adjacent PR frequency points. The PRRS‐based patch antenna impedance bandwidth was measured to be 28.6% (5.1‐6.35 GHz), with a 3 dB axial ratio (AR) bandwidth of 21.8% (4.8‐6.4 GHz) and a profile of 0.045λ0. Additionally, the proposed antenna exhibited the largest AR beamwidth (to our knowledge) of 175° and 128° in the xoz and yoz planes, respectively. It also produced a high broadside gain of 6.7 dBic within the operational bandwidth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Date plum persimmon (Diospyros lotus L.) is a fruit crop from the Ebenaceae family. Its microorganism-fermented extract (DPEML) was shown to exhibit a hypoglycemic effect in our previous work. Here, we investigated the effects of DPEML fermented by Microbacterium flavum YM18-098 and Lactobacillus plantarum B7 on the high glucose-induced apoptosis of MIN6 cells and explored its potential cell protective mechanisms. DPEML ameliorated the apoptosis of MIN6 cells cultured under high glucose conditions, thereby improving cell viability. DPEML upregulated the Bcl-2/Bax mRNA ratio to obstruct an intrinsic apoptotic pathway and concomitantly downregulated the expression of the apoptosis-linked proteins, AIF, and Cyt-C, in high glucose-induced MIN6 cells. Furthermore, DPEML promoted the insulin secretion of MIN6 cells grown under chronically high-glucose conditions by upregulating Ins mRNA expression. In summary, our study suggested that DPEML is a promising functional food for the development of therapeutics for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Practical applications: We investigated the effects of DPEML fermented by Microbacterium flavum YM18-098 and Lactobacillus plantarum B7 on the high glucose-induced apoptosis of MIN6 cells and explored its potential cell protective mechanisms. DPEML ameliorated the apoptosis of MIN6 cells cultured under high glucose conditions, thereby improving cell viability. DPEML upregulated the Bcl-2/Bax mRNA ratio to obstruct an intrinsic apoptotic pathway and concomitantly downregulated the expression of the apoptosis-linked proteins, AIF and Cyt-C, in high glucose-induced MIN6 cells. Furthermore, DPEML promoted the insulin secretion of MIN6 cells grown under chronically high-glucose conditions by upregulating Ins mRNA expression. We suggested that DPEML is a promising functional food for the development of therapeutics for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes mellitus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike the case of mammals, teleost fish generally have poor ability to utilize carbohydrate, and the clearance of glucose from the plasma is sluggish. In this study, after a 8‐week feeding trial, we conducted a glucose tolerance test to hypothesize that the capability of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus) to clear a glucose load is associated with its nutrient history of different carbohydrate‐to‐lipid ratio diets (CHO:L: 1.52%, 5.84% and 34.84%) through glycogen synthesis and glucose metabolic key enzymes. Our results showed that after a glucose load, the plasma glucose of fish fed with high CHO:L‐ratio diet (34.84%) first declined to baseline conditions, and the peak value of liver and muscle glycogen content was significantly higher in high CHO:L‐ratio but lower in low CHO:L group (1.52%). In addition, after glucose administration, hepatic GK (glucokinase) activity of fish fed with high CHO:L‐ratio diet increased more significantly than that of the other groups, and PEPCK (phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase) activity obviously decreased in low CHO:L‐ratio group. The results indicated that a long‐term adaptation to the high CHO:L‐ratio diet can improved the glucose tolerance of C. idellus through the promotion of glycogen synthesis and GK activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: Poly(3hydroxybutyrate‐co‐4hydroxybutyrate) [P(3HB‐co‐4HB)]/graphite oxide (GO) composites were fabricated using a solution mixing method. The GO structures in the composites were analyzed by using transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X‐ray diffraction. The fracture morphology of the samples was evaluated by the multifractal, and the effect of GO dispersion on the mechanical properties and the thermal stability were discussed for the P(3HB‐co‐4HB) and the composites. It was found that the interlayer spacing of the GO increased due to the intercalation of the polymer into the GO platelets. As the GO content increased, the relative multifractal spectrum increased, but the mechanical properties declined for the composites, indicating that the filler agglomeration effect overcame the reinforcement benefits for the high loadings of the GO. Moreover, both good dispersion and high content of the GO platelets increased the thermal stability of the composites. Therefore, the relative multifractal spectrum width of the fracture morphology was related to the mechanical properties and the thermal stability of the composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new, more accurate extension of Mulholland’s inequality in the whole plane with a best possible constant factor is presented by introducing independent parameters, applying weight coefficients and using Hermite-Hadamard’s inequality. Moreover, the equivalent forms, some particular cases, and the operator expressions are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To investigate the incidence of thoracic deformities after median sternotomy in infants who underwent congenital cardiac surgery and determine its influencing factors. Methods. This was a single-center retrospective study. A total of 156 infants who underwent congenital cardiac surgery with median sternotomy in a provincial hospital in China from September 2020 to January 2022 were included. Depending on whether thoracic deformities occurred, the patients were classified into the thoracic deformity group and the no thoracic deformity group. Relevant data were retrieved through an electronic medical record system, and statistical comparisons and analyses were performed. Results. The incidence of postoperative thoracic deformities in this cohort was 10.9%. Sternal pins for auxiliary sternal fixation were used in eighty-nine infants. After analysis, it was found that age at operation (1.9 ± 0.9 vs. 3.7 ± 1.2, P < 0.001) and weight-for-age Z-scores (−2.0 ± 0.7 vs. −1.4 ± 0.7, P = 0.001) of the thoracic deformity group were significantly lower than those of the no thoracic deformity group. In addition, sternal pin use was significantly higher in the no thoracic deformity group than in the thoracic deformity group (61.9% vs. 17.6%, P = 0.001). Univariable analysis showed that age at operation (OR, 4.74; 95% CI, 2.38–9.46; P < 0.001) and weight-for-age Z-scores (OR, 4.40; 95% CI, 1.74–11.12; P = 0.002) were significant risk factors for postoperative thoracic deformity. Using sternal pins for auxiliary sternal fixation was an important protective factor (OR, 7.57; 95% CI, 2.08–27.59; P = 0.003). Conclusions. In this study, 10.9% of infants undergoing congenital cardiac surgery through a median sternotomy developed thoracic deformities after surgery. Younger age at operation and poor nutritional conditions may be risk factors for postoperative thoracic deformity. Sternal pin-assisted fixation has a positive effect on the prevention of thoracic deformities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]