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Objective: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated gastric cancer (EBVaGC) is a distinct molecular subtype of gastric cancer (GC). At present, the clinical characteristics and prognostic implications of EBV infection and the potential clinical benefits of immune checkpoint blockade in GC remain to be clarified. Hence, this study was designed to analyze the clinical and pathological characteristics of GC patients with varying EBV infection states and compare their overall survival (OS). Methods: A retrospective study was performed on 1031 consecutive GC patients who underwent gastrectomy at the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University from February 2018 to November 2022. EBV-encoded RNA (EBER) in situ hybridization (ISH) was used for EBV assessment, and immunohistochemical staining was used for evaluation of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1), and Ki67 expression. EBVaGC was defined as tumors with EBV positivity. In addition, EBV-negative GC (EBVnGC) patients were matched with EBVaGC patients based on seven clinicopathological parameters (age, gender, anatomic subsite, tumor size, Lauren classification, degree of differentiation, and tumor-node-metastasis [TNM] stage). The correlations of clinical features with HER2, PD-L1, and Ki67 expression were evaluated statistically. The survival of patients was assessed through medical records, telephone, or WeChat communication, and prognostic analysis was performed using the logrank test as well as univariable and multivariable regression analysis. Results: Out of 1031 GC patients tested, 35 (3.4%) were diagnosed with EBVaGC. Notably, the EBVaGC group exhibited a distinct predominance of males and younger patients, significantly higher Ki67 and PD-L1 expression levels, and a lower prevalence of pericancerous nerve invasion than the EBVnGC group (P < 0.01). In the 35 EBVaGC cases, Ki67 expression was negatively correlated with age (P < 0.05), suggesting that a younger onset age was associated with higher Ki67 expression. In addition, PD-L1 expression was correlated with the degree of differentiation, T-stage, and clinical stage of the patient. Furthermore, PD-L1 expression was elevated in tumors with lower differentiation or at later stages (P < 0.05). Using univariate analysis, Ki67, PD-L1, and clinical stage were identified as significant factors influencing the overall survival (OS) of EBVaGC patients (P < 0.05). Moreover, multivariate survival analysis revealed that clinical stage and Ki67 expression were independent risk factors for the OS of the patients (P < 0.05), and the three-year OS rate of EBVaGC patients was 64.2%. Conclusion: EBV-ISH is a practical and valuable method to identify EBVaGC. Owing to its unique etiological, pathological, and clinical characteristics, patients with EBVaGC might benefit from immune checkpoint blockade therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate the probable existence of a causal relationship between sleep phenotypes and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). Single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with sleep phenotypes were selected as instrumental variables at the genome-wide significance threshold (P < 5 × 10−8). Inverse‐variance weighted was applied as the primary Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis method, and MR Egger regression, weighted median, simple mode, and weighted mode methods were used as complementary analysis methods to estimate the causal association between sleep phenotypes and PDR. Results indicated that genetically predicted sleep phenotypes had no causal effects on PDR risk after Bonferroni correction (P = 0.05/10) [Chronotype: P = 0.143; Daytime napping: P = 0.691; Daytime sleepiness: P = 0.473; Insomnia: P = 0.181; Long sleep duration: P = 0.671; Morning person:P = 0.113; Short sleep duration: P = 0.517; Obstructive sleep apnea: P = 0.091; Sleep duration: P = 0.216; and snoring: P = 0.014]. Meanwhile, there are no reverse causality for genetically predicted PDR on sleep phenotypes [Chronotype: P = 0.100; Daytime napping: P = 0.146; Daytime sleepiness: P = 0.469; Insomnia: P = 0.571; Long sleep duration: P = 0.779; Morning person: P = 0.040; Short sleep duration: P = 0.875; Obstructive sleep apnea: P = 0.628; Sleep duration: P = 0.896; and snoring: P = 0.047]. This study's findings did not support the causal effect of between sleep phenotypes and PDR. Whereas, longitudinal studies can further verify results validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the aerobics competition, the judge's judgment plays a key role in the athlete's performance and ranking. However, due to the existence of human factors and subjective judgments, artificial judgments are prone to errors and unfairness. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to design and implement a machine vision system based on light detection sensor, which is used to assist judges in aerobics competition. The system aims to improve the objectivity and accuracy of competition judgment and reduce the influence of subjective factors on competition results. In this paper, the optical detection sensor technology is used to obtain real-time movement data of athletes by setting sensors in different positions of the field. The sensors can recognize the athlete's body outline, posture and movement flow, and transmit the data to a computer for real-time analysis and processing. Through machine vision algorithms, the system can automatically identify and analyze the degree of completion and technical difficulty of different actions. The experimental results show that the machine vision system based on the light detection sensor can accurately capture the movements of athletes and provide reliable data for judging. Compared with traditional manual evaluation, this system has higher objectivity and accuracy, and can reduce the interference of subjective factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there are plentiful results on the dynamics of monotone mappings, the problem becomes difficult in the non-monotone case. For PM functions (i.e., for piecewise monotone functions), it is known that the non-monotonicity height is an important index to describe their complexity, and the dynamical properties for such functions are complicated when the non-monotonicity height is infinity. In this paper, we consider the non-monotonity height for a general PM function, and give a classification for the non-monotonicity height of those functions. Our results present a full description of their complexity under iteration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, in situ sol–gel strategy was used to introduce silica gel in polyacrylonitrile (PAN) membrane pores, by which the pore structure of organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) membrane prepared with thermal crosslinking was maintained well. The chemical structure, microstructure and morphology changes of membrane during sol–gel and thermal crosslinking were systematically studied by FTIR, XPS, XRD and SEM. Benefitting from the introduction of silica gel, the fusion of membrane pore structure during thermal crosslinking was effectively inhibited by supporting the pore with silica gel. Therefore, the permeances of the thermally crosslinked membranes supported by in situ silica gel were greatly improved. Furthermore, the thermally crosslinked membrane showed excellent stability of OSN performance due to the generated ladder structure of membrane during thermal crosslinking. This work showed that in situ silica gel supporting is a promising strategy to stabilize the pore structure of PAN membrane during thermal crosslinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The porous compound generated from the reaction of 4-[tris(4-carboxyphenyl)methyl]benzoic acid (H4MTB) with actinide Th in simulated high-level radioactive waste can adsorb Ru, which can separate Th and Ru by more than 68.1 and 37.3%, respectively, in simulated high-level radioactive waste. The waste liquid before and after separation was vitrified with borosilicate glass and iron phosphate glass. The composition and morphology of the glasses were characterized by XRD, SEM and ICP‒OES, and the product consistency test was used to measure the chemical durability of the glasses. The chemical stability and waste loading of the glasses after the separation of actinide and noble metal elements was significantly improved. This work is of great significance for the recovery and utilization of actinide and noble metal elements in high-level radioactive waste and the optimization of the vitrification process of radioactive waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates Mei symmetry and new adiabatic invariants of the disturbed non-material volumes. A infinitesimal transformation group and the infinitesimal transformations vectors of generators are proposed. The definition of Mei symmetry and the determining equation for the systems are presented. The perturbation to the Mei symmetry and new adiabatic invariants for non-material volumes is employed, two types of Mei adiabatic invariant induced by Mei symmetrical perturbation are obtained. Two theorems on new adiabatic invariants are given, and the corresponding deductions about new exact invariants are derived. An example is given to illustrate the application of the method, the corresponding adiabatic invariants are obtained. The example is verified numerically, and it proofs that the theoretical derivation is correct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The m6A methylation of mRNA has been demonstrated to interact with the "Reader". YTH domain family is one of the readers containing five members involved in the progression of multiple tumors. The present study aimed to explore the YTH family's role in seventeen cancer types. Data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset and analyzed by Software R 3.6.3. Using different bioinformatics methods, including analyses of the overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS), Gene Set Variation Analysis (GSVA) enrichment. Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer (GDSC), CIBERSORT algorithm, multivariate and lasso cox regression analysis our results reveal that, while the expression of the YTH domain family varies distinctively in different cancer types the expression of YTH family is upregulated in most cancer types, especially in liver cancer, and the liver cancer prediction model established herein includes YTHDF1 and YTHDF2. Therefore, the results of the present study have demonstrated that the YTH domain family has the potential to predict the prognosis of cancer and the sensitivity to immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The m6A methylation of mRNA has been demonstrated to interact with the "Reader". YTH domain family is one of the readers containing five members involved in the progression of multiple tumors. The present study aimed to explore the YTH family's role in seventeen cancer types. Data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset and analyzed by Software R 3.6.3. Using different bioinformatics methods, including analyses of the overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS), Gene Set Variation Analysis (GSVA) enrichment. Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer (GDSC), CIBERSORT algorithm, multivariate and lasso cox regression analysis our results reveal that, while the expression of the YTH domain family varies distinctively in different cancer types the expression of YTH family is upregulated in most cancer types, especially in liver cancer, and the liver cancer prediction model established herein includes YTHDF1 and YTHDF2. Therefore, the results of the present study have demonstrated that the YTH domain family has the potential to predict the prognosis of cancer and the sensitivity to immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene oxide (GO)—polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) were prepared on the surface of polysulfone (PSF) ultrafiltration basement membrane by the spray coating method for the dehydration of ethanol and isopropanol via pervaporation (PV). PVA has an excellent membrane-forming property and is rich in hydroxyl groups. GO nanosheets can be cross-linked with PVA that enables GO nanosheets to be well dispersed in PVA without interfacial defects. The effects of GO concentration and the size of GO nanosheets on the separation performance of MMMs were investigated. A complete analysis of different mixtures (ethanol/water = 70:30, 80:20, 90:10 and 95:5 wt.%, isopropanol/water = 80:20 wt.%) and different temperatures of mixed solution for the PV performance of GO-PVA MMMs was studied. When the ratio of mGO/mPVA is 2.0%, the GO-PVA MMMs provided the best PV performance for 90 wt% ethanol–water solution at 50 °C. The permeation flux and separation factor of GO-PVA MMMs were 263.01 g/(m2 h) and 115.48, respectively. With the decrease of the size of GO nanosheets, more GO nanosheets enter the PVA matrix, and the PV performance of the GO-PVA MMMs is increased because the GO nanosheets have selective pores and form a cross-linking structure with PVA. For isopropanol–water mixed solution, the separation factor of GO-PVA MMMs was much higher than that for ethanol–water mixed solution at the same experimental condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The goal of this study was to characterize the relationship between ATR and STAT3 interactions in human multiple myeloma (MM) cells. Methods: Various MM cell lines, including IL-6-dependent cells were exposed to ATR inhibitors and effects on STAT3 Tyr705 and Ser727 were monitored by WB analysis and ImageStream analysis. Parallel studies examined induction of cell death, STAT3 DNA binding activity, and expression of STAT3 downstream targets (BCL-XL, MCL-1, c-MYC). Validation was obtained in ATR shRNA knock-down cells, and in cells ectopically expressing BCL-XL, MCL-1, or c-MYC. Analogous studies were performed in primary MM cells and in a MM xenograft model. Results: Multiple pharmacologic ATR inhibitors inhibited STAT3 Tyr705 (but not Ser727) phosphorylation at low uM concentrations and down-regulated BCL-XL, MCL-1, c-MYC in association with cell death induction. Compatible results were observed in ATR shRNA knock-down cells. Cell death induced by ATR inhibitors was significantly attenuated in cells ectopically expressing constitutively active STAT3, BCL-XL, MCL-1, or c-MYC. Concordant results were observed in primary human MM cells and in an in vivo MM xenograft model. Conclusions: Collectively, these findings argue for a non-canonical role for the ATR kinase in STAT3 activation in MM cells, and suggest that STAT3 inactivation contributes to the lethal actions of ATR inhibitors in MM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graph-based clustering methods offer competitive performance in dealing with complex and nonlinear data patterns. The outstanding characteristic of such methods is the capability to mine the internal topological structure of a dataset. However, most graph-based clustering algorithms are vulnerable to parameters. In this paper, we propose a self-adaptive graph-based clustering method (SAGC) with noise identification based on directed natural neighbor graph to auto identify the desired number of clusters and simultaneously obtain reliable clustering results without prior knowledge and parameter setting. This method adopts parameter adaptive process to deal with specific data patterns and can identify clusters with diverse shapes and detect noises. We use synthetic and UCI real-world datasets to prove the validity of the innovatory method by comparing it to k-means, DBSCAN, OPTICS, AP, SC, CutPC, and WC algorithms in terms of clustering Accuracy, Adjusted Rand index, Normalized Mutual Information and Fowlkes–Mallows index. The experimental results confirm that the proposed method contributes to the progress of graph-based clustering algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the gradual popularization of automobiles, it has become a very important means of transportation for people, bringing a lot of convenience to people's travel. In the field of driving, with the development of intelligent communication technology, intelligent driving vehicles "drive into" people's field of vision. In contemporary society, intelligence is integrated into all aspects of life and is more and more inseparable from intelligence. In order to research multi-vehicle coordination-enhanced intelligent driving framework based on human–machine hybrid intelligence, from the perspective of human–machine hybrid intelligence, this paper takes multi-vehicle coordination as the starting point, introduces the fish swarm effect and builds a multi-vehicle coordinated, intelligent driving system with strong self-adaptability and scalability, so that it can adapt to more complex and real road environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a general framework that provides a unified convergence analysis of the derivative-free projection-based method (DFPM) for solving large-scale constrained nonlinear monotone equations. The new results provide a complete picture on the convergence guarantees of DFPM and cover the existing relevant convergence results as special cases. Preliminary numerical experiment results are also reported to show the numerical performance of six line search schemes used in the existing DFPM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A match is considered as an incorrect match when the matched features in two views do not correspond to the same physical location. It is inevitable that generates mismatches at a local descriptor level. Differentiating true and false matches remains a challenge, especially in the case of ambiguities, wide baselines, and strong illumination variations, which might contain a large number of mismatches (even up to 90%). In this paper, we develop GlcMatch, an outlier rejection method that takes advantage of both global and local constraints to classify putative matches. Specifically, we use vector field consistency to form continuous global smoothness and use triangular mesh constraints to implement the local piecewise smoothness. Evaluation on benchmark datasets demonstrates GlcMatch can obtain large numbers of good quality correspondences and achieve significant performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some biological therapies for psoriasis can cause the reactivation of viral infections. Although recent studies suggest no increased rate of reactivation with biological therapies, some life-threatening cases have been reported. Therefore, this meta-analysis examined the rate of virus reactivation in patients with psoriasis with biological therapies and concurrent hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched for available papers from inception to December 2021. The outcome was the number of patients with virus reactivation after using biological therapies. The random-effect model was used in all analyses. Fourteen reports (1033 patients) were included. The pooled overall rate of virus reactivation was 0.04 (95%CI 0.01–0.09; I2 = 67.7%, P < 0.001). The pooled rates of HBV, HCV, and HIV reactivation were 0.04 (95%CI 0.00–0.10; I2 = 79.9%, P < 0.001), 0.07 (95%CI 0.02–0.14; I2 = 23.7%, P = 0.24), and 0.12 (95%CI 0.00–0.40), respectively. The pooled rates of HBV and HCV reactivation were 0.10 (95%CI 0.03–0.19) and 0.08 (95%CI 0.03–0.15) in Asia, but 0.00 (95%CI 0.00–0.01) and 0.04 (95%CI 0.00–0.21) in Europe. The publication type also influenced the results. The use of biological therapy in patients with psoriasis and HBV, HCV, or HIV infection might be associated with the rate of viral reactivation, but this meta-analysis had limitations, and the evidence might be weak. Nevertheless, it might suggest that at least a consultation with an infection specialist might be warranted in patients with psoriasis in whom biological therapies are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intelligent finance is a new form of business with deep integration of artificial intelligence technology and financial industry. An important application of intelligent finance is the precise marketing of financial products. As a key link in precision marketing, click through rate(CTR) prediction has made great progress, but there is still room for improvement in multiple features fusion, feature interactions learning and other aspects. In view of these needs and challenges, we propose a CTR prediction model named MCGM, which is used to realize precision marketing of financial products. The main characteristics of the model are as follows: (i) in order to effectively fuse multiple features, we design a hierarchical gated mechanism to select salient feature information at different levels; (ii) in order to fully learn the nonlinear relationship between features, we design a multi-channel feature interactions learning module. Specifically, it adopts factorization machine(FM), improved CrossNet(ICN) and multilayer perceptron(MLP) components to model the feature interactions from high-order to low-order, in order to obtain the abstract features containing rich information. Comprehensive and sufficient experiments on real world datasets show that the proposed model achieves better prediction performance compared with baselines. The proposed model not only has specific application value in the field of financial products marketing, but also provides an idea reference for data-driven marketing modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to identify the exact origin of force sense and identify whether it arises centrally or peripherally. The present study was designed to analyze the effects of short-term fatigue on pinch force sense and the duration of these effects. During the fatigue protocol, twenty (10 men and 10 women; Mage = 22.0 years old) young Chinese participants were asked to squeeze maximally until the pinch grip force decreased to 50% of its maximal due to fatigue. Participants were instructed to produce the target force (10% of maximal voluntary isometric contraction) using the same hand before and after fatigue (immediately, 10, 30, 60, 180, 300 s). The results showed significantly higher absolute error immediately after fatigue (1.22 ± 1.06 N) than before fatigue (0.68 ± 0.34 N), and 60 s (0.76 ± 0.69 N), 180 s (0.67 ± 0.42 N), and 300 s (0.75 ± 0.37 N) after fatigue (all P < 0.05) but with no effect on the variable error (P > 0.05). It was also revealed that there was a significant overestimate of the constant error values before (0.32 ± 0.61 N) and immediately after fatigue (0.80 ± 1.38 N, all P < 0.05), while no significant overestimation or underestimation exceeded 300 s after fatigue (P > 0.05). Our study results revealed that short-term fatigue resulted in a significant decrease in force sense accuracy, but it did not affect force sense consistently; however, force sense accuracy recovered to a certain extent within 10 s and 30 s, whereas it recovered fully within 60 s, and force sense directivity improvement exceeded 300 s after fatigue. The present study shows that the sense of tension (peripherally) is also an important factor affecting force sense. Our study supports the view that the periphery is part of the origin of force sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Cancer stem cells (CSCs), a small subpopulation of cells with high tumorigenesis and strong intrinsic drug resistance, exhibit self-renewal and differentiation abilities. CSCs play a crucial role in tumor progression, drug resistance, recurrence and metastasis,and conventional therapy is not enough to eradicate them. Therefore, developing novel therapies targeting CSCs to increase drug sensitivity and preventing relapse is essential. The objective of this review is to present nanotherapies that target and eradicate the tumor "seeds". Evidence acquisition: Evidence was collected and sorted from the literature ranging from 2000 to 2022, using appropriate keywords and key phrases as search terms within scientific databases such as Web of Science, PubMed and Google Scholar. Results: Nanoparticle drug delivery systems have been successfully applied to gain longer circulation time, more precise targeting capability and better stability during cancer treatment. Nanotechnology-based strategies that have been used to target CSCs, include (1) encapsulating small molecular drugs and genes by nanotechnology, (2) targeting CSC signaling pathways, (3) utilizing nanocarriers targeting for specific markers of CSCs, (4) improving photothermal/ photodynamic therapy (PTT/PDT), 5)targeting the metabolism of CSCs and 6) enhancing nanomedicine-aided immunotherapy. Conclusion: This review summarizes the biological hallmarks and markers of CSCs, and the nanotechnology-based therapies to kill them. Nanoparticle drug delivery systems are appropriate means for delivering drugs to tumors through enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect. Furthermore, surface modification with special ligands or antibodies improves the recognition and uptake of tumor cells or CSCs. It is expected that this review can offer insights into features of CSCs and the exploration of targeting nanodrug delivery systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: 5-Hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and stem cells marker G-protein-coupled receptor 5 (LGR5) are associate with gastrointestinal inflammation and tumorigenesis. But the relationship between 5-HT and LGR5 is unclear. Objective: To explore the expression and correlation of 5-HT and LGR5 in gastric mucosa of patients with gastritis and gastric cancer (GC). Methods: A total of 41 patients with GC and 98 patients with chronic gastritis were included in this study. The expression of TPH1 mRNA, LGR5 mRNA and β-catenin mRNA in gastric mucosa were explored by Real-time Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). 5-HT-positive cells and LGR5-positive cells in gastric mucosa were detected by immunohistochemistry stains. The co-localization of 5-HT and chromogranin A (CgA), 5-HT receptor4 (5-HTR4) and LGR5 were detected by multiplex immunofluorescence. Results: The expression of 5-HT and LGR5 in patients with GC was significantly higher than patients with chronic gastritis (p < 0.05). The positive rate of 5-HT and LGR5 increased sequentially in the patients with non-atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia and GC, which were 18.52%, 35.56% and 75.61% for 5-HT, and 27.78%, 40.91% and 95.12% for LGR5, respectively. The expression of 5-HT and LGR5 was positively correlated in gastritis and GC patients (p < 0.05). Moreover, the expression level of TPH1 mRNA and LGR5 mRNA was also positively correlated in gastritis patients (r = 0.7377, p < 0.001). Besides, 5-HT was partially co-localized with CgA, and 5-HTR4 was co-localized with LGR5 in gastric mucosa. Conclusion: The increase of 5-HT synthesis in gastric mucosa may have an impact on LGR5-positive gastric epithelial stem cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gas hydrates have been found in the western continental margin of South China Sea, which are revealed by widespread bottom simulating reflectors (BSRs) imaged from a three-dimensional (3D) seismic volume near the Guangle carbonate platform in the western South China Sea. Fluid-escape structures (faults and gas chimneys) are originated below BSR were distinguished. A comprehensive model in three-level structure was proposed to depict the gas hydrate accumulation in the study area. In Level 1, regional major faults and gas chimneys provide the first pathways of upward migration of gas near basement. In Level 2, pervasive polygonal faults in carbonate layer promote the migration of gas. In Level 3, gases sourced from near-basement accumulate within shallow sediment layers and form gas hydrate above the unit with faults once appropriate temperature and pressure occur. The gas hydrates in the study area are mainly in microbial origin, and their accumulation occurs only when fluid-escape structures align in all the three levels. The proposed model of the gas hydrate accumulation in western SCS margin provides new insights for further studies in this poorly studied area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dust pollution is one of the most severe environmental issues in open pit mines, hindering green mining development. Open pit mine dust has characteristics of multiple dust-generating points, is irregular, influenced by climatic conditions, and has a high degree of distribution with a wide dispersion range in three dimensions. Consequently, evaluating the quantity of dust dispersion and controlling environmental pollution are crucial for supporting green mining. In this paper, dust monitoring above the open pit mine was carried out with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) on board. The dust distribution patterns above the open pit mine were studied in different vertical and horizontal directions at different heights. The results show that the temperature changes less in the morning and more at noon in winter. At the same time, the isothermal layer becomes thinner and thinner as the temperature rises, which makes it easy for dust to spread. The horizontal dust is mainly concentrated at 1300 and 1550 elevations. The dust concentration is polarized at 1350–1450 elevation. The most serious exceedance is at 1400 elevation, with TSP (the concentration of total suspended particulate), PM10 (particulates with aerodynamic diameter < 10 μm), and PM2.5 (particulates with aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 μm) accounting for 188.8%, 139.5%, and 113.8%, respectively. The height is 1350–1450 elevation. Dust monitoring technology carried out by UAV can be applied to the study of dust distribution in the mining field, and the research results can provide reference for other open pit mines. It can also provide a basis for law enforcement part to carry out law enforcement, which has expanded and wide practical application value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Grand Canal of China has a rich intangible cultural heritage along its route. The intangible cultural heritage of folk songs is an important representative. The study of its distribution characteristics and influencing factors is of practical and social significance for promoting the protection and development of intangible cultural heritage in relevant areas and the construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt. This paper uses the theories of musicology, geography, sociology, data statistical analysis and spatial analysis to analyze the distribution pattern of intangible cultural heritage items in the Grand Canal basin from the dimensions of geographical space and folk song genre, and from the perspective of natural and social conditions. The results show that the spatial distribution of folk songs in the Grand Canal basin shows a trend of "distribution along the river, two cores and two belts". Water system, landform and regional culture are the main influencing factors for the formation and dissemination of intangible cultural heritage of folk songs. At the same time, compared with the mountainous areas in western China, the economic and social development and frequent population flow in the Grand Canal basin lead to the diversified and unified musical culture characteristics of folk songs. Finally, this paper proposes the suggestions that the folk songs should be integrated into the local social and economic activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To examine the associations of healthy dietary patterns with cardiometabolic biomarkers and all-cause mortality among individuals with prediabetes. Methods: This cohort study included 8363 adults with prediabetes from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2014. Healthy dietary patterns including Alternate Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI-2010), Alternate Mediterranean Diet score (AMED), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension score (DASH), and Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) were calculated based on 24-h dietary recall data. Mortality status was obtained by linkage to National Death Index records. Cardiometabolic biomarkers, including blood glucose, insulin, HbA1c, C-reactive protein (CRP), and lipids, were measured at recruitment. Results: During 61,991 person-years of follow-up, 991 deaths occurred. Comparing the extreme quartiles, the multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for all-cause mortality were 0.65 (0.49, 0.85) for AHEI-2010 (P-trend = 0.002), 0.68 (0.50, 0.92) for AMED (P-trend = 0.004), 0.72 (0.53, 0.98) for DASH (P-trend = 0.03), and 0.78 (0.58, 1.05) for HEI-2015 (P-trend = 0.08). Besides, the HRs (95% CIs) for all-cause mortality per 20-percentile increment in scores were 0.78 (0.67, 0.90) for AHEI-2010 (P = 0.001), 0.73 (0.62, 0.86) for AMED (P < 0.001), 0.84 (0.69, 1.02) for DASH (P = 0.08), and 0.86 (0.74, 1.00) for HEI-2015 (P = 0.04). In addition, higher dietary scores were associated with favorable blood glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR, blood lipids, and CRP (all P-trend < 0.05). The high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and CRP explained 1.53–9.21% of the associations between dietary patterns and all-cause mortality (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Diets with higher AHEI-2010, AMED, DASH, and HEI-2015 were associated with improved cardiometabolic factors and lower all-cause mortality among individuals with prediabetes. These findings suggest that multiple healthy dietary patterns instead of a one-size-fits-all diet plan might be beneficial and acceptable for individuals with prediabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Average edge connectivity is an important concept in the study of classical graph theory. However, it cannot be applied to the analysis of certain fuzzy problems. To address this problem, we introduce the definition of fuzzy average edge connectivity. In this paper, we study some properties of fuzzy average edge connectivity, including (1) fuzzy average edge connectivity of special fuzzy graphs, (2) fuzzy average edge connectivity of edge-deleted fuzzy subgraphs, (3) the bounds for fuzzy average edge connectivity of fuzzy graphs. In addition, we present algorithms on the connectivity parameter. Finally, practical applications verify the effectiveness of the theory and algorithms in communication networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the current investigation was to evaluate the effect of pinch span on the perception of pinch force in typical participants. The healthy participants (10 males and 10 females) conducted an ipsilateral force reproduction test with three distinct pinch spans (2, 4, and 6 cm) at three distinct forces of 10%, 30%, and 50% maximum voluntary isometric contraction. The findings revealed a significantly greater consistency (lower variable error (VE)) of 4 cm compared with 2 and 6 cm pinch spans. Our study also showed that the participants might use a larger force (more overestimated) output for larger pinch spans (4 and 6 cm) than small pinch spans (2 cm). These results may offer significant insights into the higher rates of musculoskeletal disorders among females, enabling researchers and clinicians to design novel interventions and tools to improve pinch force perception and reduce hand injury rates in males and females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Expression of the guanine nucleotide exchange factor epithelial cell transforming 2 (ECT2) is elevated in gastric cancer (GC) but its biological function in GC is poorly understood. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have great potential as therapeutic targets for GC through their ability to modulate gene expression. In the present study, we sought to identify potential miRNA–mRNA–protein regulatory pathways that might control ECT2 expression and function in GC. Methods: ECT2 expression was examined in clinical GC specimens by immunohistochemical staining, and protein levels were correlated with clinicopathological features and prognosis. TargetScan was used to identify potential ECT2 mRNA-complementary miRNAs, and the roles of ECT2 and miRNA-223-3p (miR-223-3p) in GC cell biology and signaling pathway activation were examined by targeted knockdown (KD) or overexpression (OE) of ECT2 and miR-223-3p in GC cell lines. A murine GC xenograft model was developed to explore the impact of ECT2 OE on tumor growth in vivo. Results: ECT2 expression was significantly elevated in GC specimens compared with normal gastric tissues and the level correlated positively with depth of invasion, ulceration, vascular tumor thrombus, neural invasion, and lymph node metastasis (p < 0.05). ECT2 was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival of GC patients (high ECT2 expression v.s. low ECT2 expression: χ2 = 29.831, p < 0.001). ECT2 KD or miR-223-3p OE markedly suppressed the proliferation, migration, and invasion of GC cells in vitro, whereas ECT2 OE had the opposite effects. ECT2 OE also promoted the growth of GC tumors in vivo. Tumor expression of Wnt2, β-catenin, and several downstream target proteins in GC cells were decreased by ECT2 KD or miR-223-3p OE but increased by ECT2 OE. Conclusions: miR-223-3p regulates ECT2 expression to promote tumorigenic behavior of GC via activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, suggesting that ECT2 and miR-223-3p as potential therapeutic targets for GC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The permeation of fluid through wood is a crucial aspect of the drying and modification of this material. The accurate measurement of wood permeability and the analysis of the effects of microstructure on permeability are very challenging. The present study generated visual representations of the three-dimensional pore structures of wood specimens using X-ray computed tomography combined with image processing. In addition, axial seepage in wood samples was simulated based on seepage theory and structural information and microscopic gas flows were calculated to evaluate the macroscopic permeability of the wood. Finally, the simulation results were verified by comparison with experimental data and a detailed investigation of the effects of microstructure on permeability was performed. The porosity, average aperture, local connectivity ratio and fractal dimension of larch wood were evaluated based on the mesoscale resolution capacity of the tomography system and determined to be 0.638, 28.37, 0.67 and 1.779 µm, respectively. The average simulated axial gas permeability value of 5.256 µm2 was in the range of previously reported values (2.595–6.398 µm2). The permeability of the earlywood (6.555 µm2) was found to be significantly higher than that of the latewood (3.959 µm2). The accuracy of such simulations was determined to be affected by the wood properties, simulation method and testing equipment. Porosity, average aperture, and local connectivity ratio were the primary factors affecting permeability and these parameters were all positively correlated with permeability (with R2 values of 0.879, 0.814 and 0.721 respectively). The relationship between fractal dimension and permeability was unclear and requires further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every epidemic affects the real lives of many people around the world and leads to terrible consequences. Recently, many tweets about the COVID-19 pandemic have been shared publicly on social media platforms. The analysis of these tweets is helpful for emergency response organizations to prioritize their tasks and make better decisions. However, most of these tweets are non-informative, which is a challenge for establishing an automated system to detect useful information in social media. Furthermore, existing methods ignore unlabeled data and topic background knowledge, which can provide additional semantic information. In this paper, we propose a novel Topic-Aware BERT (TABERT) model to solve the above challenges. TABERT first leverages a topic model to extract the latent topics of tweets. Secondly, a flexible framework is used to combine topic information with the output of BERT. Finally, we adopt adversarial training to achieve semi-supervised learning, and a large amount of unlabeled data can be used to improve inner representations of the model. Experimental results on the dataset of COVID-19 English tweets show that our model outperforms classic and state-of-the-art baselines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemiological studies have observed some relationship between psoriasis and celiac disease (CD), while the causal link between these 2 autoimmune diseases was unclear. In the current study, we aimed to explore the causal link between psoriasis and celiac disease with bidirectional 2-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) study. Eligible instrument variables (IVs) with genome-wide significance (p < 5E−08) were extracted from the summary-level datasets from the published genome-wide association studies (GWAS), which were conducted in the European population. The inverse variance weighted (IVW) method was performed as the main analysis, sensitivity analyses and post-MR analyses were also performed. Our MR analyses found that genetically doubling the odds of CD would increase the risk for psoriasis (p = 1.58e−03, OR [95% CI] 1.232 [1.061–1.432]). And the results were supported by sensitivity analyses. While we found that genetically determined psoriasis was not associated with the risk for CD (IVW: p = 0.985, OR [95% CI] 1.000 [0.965–1.037]). Our study provided novel genetic evidence that patients with CD were at an increased risk of developing psoriasis, while psoriasis was not associated with the risk for CD. Clinicians should be aware of the associations and pay attention to skin manifestations in patients with CD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, compressed sensing algorithms, including convex optimization and greedy algorithm, are considered as a new development for direction of arrival (DOA) estimation. For the problem of two-dimensional (2-D) DOA estimation, the existing convex optimization-based methods are usually limited by their computational complexity, while the greedy algorithm-based estimation is subjected to its low estimation accuracy. In the current paper, we propose a new 2-D DOA estimation scheme with parallel coprime array. We proposed a modified orthogonal matching pursuit method for the parallel coprime array, which transforms the 2-D DOA estimation into one-dimensional (1-D) DOA estimation to reduce the computation complexity. In addition, the proposed estimation scheme makes full use of the cross-correlation information of the received signal and combines the advantages of the coprime array to achieve a much higher precision with fewer array elements. The simulation results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Group behavior pattern mining in traffic scenarios is a challenging problem due to group variability and behavioral regionality. Most methods are either based on trajectory data stored in static databases regardless of the variability of group members or do not consider the influence of scene structures on behaviors. However, in traffic scenarios, information about group members may change over time, and objects' motions show regional characteristics owing to scene structures. To address these issues, we present a general framework of a moving cluster with scene constraints (MCSC) discovery consisting of semantic region segmentation, mapping, and an MCSC decision. In the first phase, a hidden Markov chain is adopted to model the evolution of behaviors along a video clip sequence, and a Markov topic model is proposed for semantic region analysis. During the mapping procedure, to generate snapshot clusters, moving objects are mapped into the corresponding sets of moving objects according to the semantic regions where they are located at each timestamp. In the MCSC decision phase, a candidate MCSC recognition algorithm and screening algorithm are designed to incrementally identify and output MCSCs. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is verified by experiments carried out using public road traffic data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new cycloartane triterpenoid, (23E)-9,19-cycloart-23-ene-3α,25-diol (1), was isolated from the aerial part of Daphne pedunculata. The structure was elucidated via combinational analysis of HR-MS and NMR spectroscopic techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, public–private partnership (PPP) mode has been developed greatly in China's infrastructure and public services, which can effectively solve the financial difficulties of local governments. This article selects the residual value risk (RVR) as an important index in the risk control of PPP project and constructs and verifies the pre-optimization method of RVR. A method is presented to control and optimize RVR before the risk occurs. The vulnerability as the breakthrough point of RVR beforehand control through DRCM sensitivity analysis is carried out on the effect of the beforehand control of RVR; then, using the optimal control theory to design RVR beforehand control of optimization process, the correctness and validity of the method are verified by an example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at binary classification of highly imbalanced data, this paper proposes a novel twin-hypersphere method with conformal transformation. To provide favorable environments that the hyperspheres can search the region containing the majority class and pay more attention to the region containing the minority class, conformal mapping is put on the original data region. Meanwhile, to tighten classification boundaries learned from the hyperspheres, a gain operation is implemented on the kernels. Experimental results show that the accuracy of classification boundaries learned by the proposed method reaches 0.880 on the synthetic datasets. Results also show and our classification accuracy is 0.731 on the highly imbalanced dataset with imbalanced ratio 87.8:1, which defeated against the competitors with significant advantages. Moreover, time consumption of the proposed method did not exponentially increase so that it is suitable for the classification to a large-scale scenario. We find that non-linear kernels are better at focusing on global regions, while conformal transformation can assist them better perception sub-regions. Conformal transformation is helpful the observation of the regions containing those hard-to-observe minority classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between preoperative physical performance (grip strength, gait speed, timed up and go) and postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) in patients who have undergone coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). From September 2019 to August 2021, a total of 497 CABG patients who met the inclusion criteria of this study were examined for grip strength, 4-m gait speed, and timed up and go (TUG) before CABG surgery. Among them, 438 were included in the final analysis. PPCs were classified according to the operational definition of Kroenke et al. and patients with clinically significant PPCs were included in the data analysis. Logistic regression was utilised to analyse the relationship between physical performance and clinically significant PPCs. Besides, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was applied to analyse the predictive effect of grip strength, gait speed, and TUG on clinically significant PPCs after the CABG procedure. In total, 103 (23.5%) patients developed clinically significant PPCs after CABG. After making adjustments for the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) and confounding factors, we established that low grip/weight (OR 0.510; 95% CI 0.363–0.715), slow gait speed (OR 0.619; 95% CI 0.517–0.741), and prolonged TUG (OR 1.617; 95% CI 1.379–1.895) were all independently correlated with clinically significant PPCs after CABG. The ROC curve analysis indicated that the area under the ROC curve of the integrated model of the three indicators (AUC 0.792 vs. 0.682, 0.754, 0.765) was larger than that of the model with a single indicator. Besides the predictive effect of the integrated model was superior to the models using grip/weight, gait speed, or TUG alone. Physical performance, including grip/weight, gait speed, and TUG, is a predictive factor for PPCs in CABG patients, and can be used in preoperative evaluations to and help improve the management of high-risk patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of adjunctive melatonin supplementation on clinical outcomes after non-surgical periodontal treatment. Methods: PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases were systematically searched for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of melatonin adjuvant therapy for periodontitis from inception until May 2021. The systematic review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines and registered on The International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) (CRD42021250630). The risk of bias of included studies was assessed according to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. The pooled effect estimates were calculated by a random-effects model, and results were expressed as weighted mean differences (WMD). Results: Seven RCTs comprising 412 participants were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled results showed that adjuvant use of melatonin for non-surgical periodontal treatment significantly improved the probing depth (PD) [WMD = − 1.18, 95% CI (− 1.75, − 0.62) I2 = 85.7%], clinical attachment loss (CAL) [WMD = − 1.16, 95% CI (− 1.60, − 0.72) I2 = 76.7%] and gingival index (WMD = − 0.29, 95%CI [− 0.48, − 0.11], I2 = 63.6%) compared with non-surgical treatment alone. In addition, subgroup analysis showed that higher doses of melatonin (3–10 mg) significantly improved PD [WMD = − 1.32, 95%CI (− 2.31, − 0.15) I2 = 93%] and CAL [WMD = − 1.30, 95%CI (− 1.80, − 0.81) I2 = 73.7%] compared with lower doses of melatonin (< 3 mg). Conclusions: We found that adjunctive melatonin supplementation can significantly improve the periodontal status after non-surgical treatment, suggesting that melatonin may be a new adjuvant therapy for periodontitis when non-surgical periodontal treatment alone cannot achieve the desired improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Superhydrophobic aluminum alloy is fabricated through a chemical etching combined with surface modification. The surface modification step consists of a cyclic assembly of phytic acid (PA) and a metal ion (Ce or Fe) followed by surface modification with a low-surface-energy material (perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane, PFTS). With the optimized fabrication parameter, the sample integrated with Ce ion, denoted as Al-PA-Ce-PFTS, shows the best superhydrophobicity with CA of 169.6° ± 0.8° and SA of < 1°, followed by the sample integrated with Fe ion, denoted as Al-PA-Fe-PFTS (CA = 164.9° ± 2.1° and SA < 1°). Both samples determine excellent non-wettability. Through studying the dynamic behavior of water droplets on the surfaces of Al-PA-Ce-PFTS and Al-PA-Fe-PFTS, it reveals that both samples show excellent anti-adhesion ability. Electrochemical tests with 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution indicates that the anti-corrosion performance of superhydrophobic aluminum alloy surfaces is much better than that of the untreated aluminum surface. The freezing of water droplets on Al-PA-Ce-PFTS and Al-PA-Fe-PFTS is much slower than that of the untreated aluminum surface. Some water droplets can remain unfrozen at − 5 °C for over 60 min on the surfaces of Al-PA-Ce-PFTS and Al-PA-Fe-PFTS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Epidemiological evidence about hormone replacement therapy and colorectal carcinogenesis by demographic and clinical traits remains unclear. We aimed to assess this postulated association in a large multicentre study and further explore the modification effect by BMI and others. Methods: We retrospectively collected records of women diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC) at the age of 50 years and older during 2014–2017 and their HRT dispensing prior to CRC diagnosis in three tertiary hospitals in China. CRC cases were matched with controls at a ratio of 1:3 using nearest neighbour propensity scores matching to better control for the remaining imbalance between groups, which generated a total of 824 cases with 2472 controls. Results: Our study confirmed the inversed association between colorectal cancer risk and hormone replacement therapy (OR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.54–0.75), which was more prominent among women having multiple HRT dispenses (OR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.52–0.76). Furthermore, significant associations were consistently observed for the short-term (OR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.57–0.88), middle-term (OR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.41–0.66), and long-term HRT users (OR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.43–0.90). Estrogen-related regimen reduced CRC risk more than progestogen-only. We, for the first time, found that the modifying effect of BMI on HRT use and CRC risk was in different ways when BMI was categorized by a medium level of 27. Conclusion: Our findings mainly suggest that there might be a different mechanism for the reversed association between HRT and colorectal tumorigenesis by BMI level, providing thoughts on clinical treatment of CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the microbial community structure and composition across two treatment steps used in advanced water reclamation for potable reuse applications, namely Coagulation/Flocculation/Clarification/Granular Media Filtration (CFCGMF) and Ozone-Biological Activated Carbon filtration (O3/BAC). The study examined the richness, variations, and similarities of the microorganisms involved at each treatment step to better understand the role of ecology and the dynamics on unit process performance and the microbial community developed within it. The bacterial microbiomes at each treatment step were independently characterized using 16S metagenomic sequencing. Combining both treatment steps, a total of 3801 species were detected. From the total species detected, 38% and 98% were identified at CFCGMF and O3/BAC, respectively. The most abundant phyla were Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes in both treatment steps. The identified species were classified based on their preferences to free-living style (59%) vs attached-living style (22%) showing a relatively low richness in the BAC media, but higher diversities. At the taxonomic class level, Betaproteobacteria was the predominant in both system processes. Additionally, a list of eight genera were identified as potential bacterial pathogens present in both process effluents. They are Aeromonas, Clostridium, Enterobacter, Escherichia, Flavobacterium, Legionella, Mycobacterium, and Pseudomonas. CFCGMF effluent yielded less pathogenic bacteria than both the ozone and BAC filter effluent from the O3/BAC process unit; their relative abundance accounted for about 2% and 8% for CFCGMF and O3/BAC, respectively. Detailed studies to characterize the microbial communities are crucial in interpreting the mechanisms and synergies between processes performance and microorganisms by identifying the needs and best practices to ensure public health protection. Key points • Microbial communities of two treatment processes are characterized using 16S rRNA sequencing. • Organisms that can tolerate ozone and form biofilms define microbial community in subsequent biofilters. • In relatively low abundances, potential pathogenic bacteria are detected in the treated water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most currently available load-transfer models for axially loaded pile are either highly empirical or oversimplified without rigorous theoretical manner. This paper presents a novel and rigorous load-transfer model for axially loaded piles installed in modified Cam-clay (MCC) soils under undrained loading. The model is formulated in terms of the Lagrangian description based on the rigorous deformation mechanism of the soil around the pile shaft during undrained loading. Considering the boundary conditions and the equilibrium state of the soil, a t–z curve is extracted from the well-established MCC model that is employed to represent the elastoplastic behaviour of soil surrounding the pile. The proposed model is compared with a well-established finite element model and applied to predict the load–displacement behaviour of two well-documented piles to manifest the validity and capability of the model. The results demonstrate that the present theoretical model can well predict the elastoplastic load–displacement response of the pile and is capable of reflecting some important phenomena observed from pile load tests. The present model provides a rigorous, practical, and effective approach for estimation of the load–displacement behaviour of frictional piles installed in clayey soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, stepped slot-type grooves are utilized to develop coplanar waveguide (CPW) spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) transmission lines (TLs). The equivalent circuit model is developed to analyze the effect of the stepped slot-type grooves. And it is found that all the three proposed SSPP TLs exhibit lower asymptotic frequency and more compact size than conventional SSPP TLs based on uniform grooves. Moreover, the dispersion features can be controlled flexibly by changing the impedance ratio of the stepped slot-type grooves. And among the three proposed SSPP TLs (Type A, Type B, and Type C), Type C SSPP TL has the most compact size. Consequently, based on Type C SSPP TL, an ultra-compact plasmonic low-pass filter (LPF) is designed to validate the design theory. Good agreement is observed between the simulated and measured results for which reflection coefficient is lower than − 10 dB in passband from 0 to 1.73 GHz and good shape factor of 1.09 for the transition from the passband to the stopband. Besides, the proposed plasmonic low-pass filter occupies very compact size, indicating that the proposed plasmonic filter can find potential applications in compact plasmonic system design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Near-infrared organic small molecule luminescent materials have the advantages of easy modification, high quantum efficiency, good biological affinity, and color adjustability; thus, have promising application prospects in the fields of photoelectric devices, sensitive detection, photodynamic therapy, and biomedical imaging. However, traditional organic luminescent molecules have the problems of short emission wavelength, aggregation-causing emission quenching, and low quantum yield. Herein, we successfully synthesized four D-π-A-D light-emitting molecules based on electron-withdrawing malonitrile group and different electron-donating arylamine groups. These compounds showed satisfactory solvatochromism, aggregation-induced emission, red and near-infrared fluorescence, high photoluminescence quantum efficiency and temperature response properties. This successful example of molecular engineering provides a valuable reference for the development of advanced NIR materials with AIE and temperature-sensitive properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is the driver gene with the highest frequency of mutations in lung adenocarcinoma and can guide the development of targeted therapies. The detection of routine gene mutations must be performed after the preparation of paraffin samples in a standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) laboratory, which is time-consuming. The Idylla™ EGFR fully automatic PCR system for rapid detection requires no special detection environment and completes the process in only 2.5 h. It has been applied to tissues embedded in paraffin. Methods: The Idylla™ EGFR automated PCR system was used to detect EGFR gene mutations in intraoperative frozen fresh tissues and paraffin-embedded tissues from 47 enrolled patients with lung adenocarcinoma. The gold standard amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) method for gene mutation detection was used for verification, and the concordance between the three detection results was compared, to investigate the feasibility of detecting rapid gene mutations in intraoperative frozen samples. Results: The EGFR mutation rate in 47 fresh samples of lung adenocarcinoma was 61.7% (29/47), which is consistent with the mutation level of lung adenocarcinoma in the Asian population (38.8–64.0%). The concordance rate between the Idylla™ frozen tissues and paraffin-embedded tissues was 91.4% (43/47) when compared to the ARMS method, while the coincidence rate between the two methods was 93.6% (44/47). The three methods had a total consistency rate of 89.4% (42/47). Conclusions: The Idylla™ EGFR fully automatic PCR system directly detects EGFR mutations in fresh tissues. The operation is simple, the detection time is short, and the accuracy is high. The detection time is reduced to 1/4–1/3 of the original time while meeting clinical standards for detecting the gene status of patients, thus saving crucial time for individualized and accurate treatment of patients. The method has promising clinical application prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To analyze the clinicopathologic information and CT imaging features of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)-positive gastric cancer (GC) and establish CT-based radiomics models to predict the EBV status of GC.This retrospective study included 144 GC cases, including 48 EBV-positive cases. Pathological and immunohistochemical information was collected. CT enlarged LN and morphological characteristics were also assessed. Radiomics models were constructed to predict the EBV status, including decision tree (DT), logistic regression (LR), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM).T stage, Lauren classification, histological differentiation, nerve invasion, VEGFR2, E-cadherin, PD-L1, and Ki67 differed significantly between the EBV-positive and -negative groups (p = 0.015, 0.030, 0.006, 0.022, 0.028, 0.030, < 0.001, and < 0.001, respectively). CT enlarged LN and large ulceration differed significantly between the two groups (p = 0.019 and 0.043, respectively). The number of patients in the training and validation cohorts was 100 (with 33 EBV-positive cases) and 44 (with 15 EBV-positive cases). In the training cohort, the radiomics models using DT, LR, RF, and SVM yielded areas under the curve (AUCs) of 0.905, 0.771, 0.836, and 0.886, respectively. In the validation cohort, the diagnostic efficacy of radiomics models using the four classifiers were 0.737, 0.722, 0.751, and 0.713, respectively.A significantly higher proportion of CT enlarged LN and a significantly lower proportion of large ulceration were found in EBV-positive GC. The prediction efficiency of radiomics models with different classifiers to predict EBV status in GC was good.Methods: To analyze the clinicopathologic information and CT imaging features of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)-positive gastric cancer (GC) and establish CT-based radiomics models to predict the EBV status of GC.This retrospective study included 144 GC cases, including 48 EBV-positive cases. Pathological and immunohistochemical information was collected. CT enlarged LN and morphological characteristics were also assessed. Radiomics models were constructed to predict the EBV status, including decision tree (DT), logistic regression (LR), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM).T stage, Lauren classification, histological differentiation, nerve invasion, VEGFR2, E-cadherin, PD-L1, and Ki67 differed significantly between the EBV-positive and -negative groups (p = 0.015, 0.030, 0.006, 0.022, 0.028, 0.030, < 0.001, and < 0.001, respectively). CT enlarged LN and large ulceration differed significantly between the two groups (p = 0.019 and 0.043, respectively). The number of patients in the training and validation cohorts was 100 (with 33 EBV-positive cases) and 44 (with 15 EBV-positive cases). In the training cohort, the radiomics models using DT, LR, RF, and SVM yielded areas under the curve (AUCs) of 0.905, 0.771, 0.836, and 0.886, respectively. In the validation cohort, the diagnostic efficacy of radiomics models using the four classifiers were 0.737, 0.722, 0.751, and 0.713, respectively.A significantly higher proportion of CT enlarged LN and a significantly lower proportion of large ulceration were found in EBV-positive GC. The prediction efficiency of radiomics models with different classifiers to predict EBV status in GC was good.Results: To analyze the clinicopathologic information and CT imaging features of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)-positive gastric cancer (GC) and establish CT-based radiomics models to predict the EBV status of GC.This retrospective study included 144 GC cases, including 48 EBV-positive cases. Pathological and immunohistochemical information was collected. CT enlarged LN and morphological characteristics were also assessed. Radiomics models were constructed to predict the EBV status, including decision tree (DT), logistic regression (LR), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM).T stage, Lauren classification, histological differentiation, nerve invasion, VEGFR2, E-cadherin, PD-L1, and Ki67 differed significantly between the EBV-positive and -negative groups (p = 0.015, 0.030, 0.006, 0.022, 0.028, 0.030, < 0.001, and < 0.001, respectively). CT enlarged LN and large ulceration differed significantly between the two groups (p = 0.019 and 0.043, respectively). The number of patients in the training and validation cohorts was 100 (with 33 EBV-positive cases) and 44 (with 15 EBV-positive cases). In the training cohort, the radiomics models using DT, LR, RF, and SVM yielded areas under the curve (AUCs) of 0.905, 0.771, 0.836, and 0.886, respectively. In the validation cohort, the diagnostic efficacy of radiomics models using the four classifiers were 0.737, 0.722, 0.751, and 0.713, respectively.A significantly higher proportion of CT enlarged LN and a significantly lower proportion of large ulceration were found in EBV-positive GC. The prediction efficiency of radiomics models with different classifiers to predict EBV status in GC was good.Conclusion: To analyze the clinicopathologic information and CT imaging features of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)-positive gastric cancer (GC) and establish CT-based radiomics models to predict the EBV status of GC.This retrospective study included 144 GC cases, including 48 EBV-positive cases. Pathological and immunohistochemical information was collected. CT enlarged LN and morphological characteristics were also assessed. Radiomics models were constructed to predict the EBV status, including decision tree (DT), logistic regression (LR), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM).T stage, Lauren classification, histological differentiation, nerve invasion, VEGFR2, E-cadherin, PD-L1, and Ki67 differed significantly between the EBV-positive and -negative groups (p = 0.015, 0.030, 0.006, 0.022, 0.028, 0.030, < 0.001, and < 0.001, respectively). CT enlarged LN and large ulceration differed significantly between the two groups (p = 0.019 and 0.043, respectively). The number of patients in the training and validation cohorts was 100 (with 33 EBV-positive cases) and 44 (with 15 EBV-positive cases). In the training cohort, the radiomics models using DT, LR, RF, and SVM yielded areas under the curve (AUCs) of 0.905, 0.771, 0.836, and 0.886, respectively. In the validation cohort, the diagnostic efficacy of radiomics models using the four classifiers were 0.737, 0.722, 0.751, and 0.713, respectively.A significantly higher proportion of CT enlarged LN and a significantly lower proportion of large ulceration were found in EBV-positive GC. The prediction efficiency of radiomics models with different classifiers to predict EBV status in GC was good.Graphical Abstract: To analyze the clinicopathologic information and CT imaging features of Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)-positive gastric cancer (GC) and establish CT-based radiomics models to predict the EBV status of GC.This retrospective study included 144 GC cases, including 48 EBV-positive cases. Pathological and immunohistochemical information was collected. CT enlarged LN and morphological characteristics were also assessed. Radiomics models were constructed to predict the EBV status, including decision tree (DT), logistic regression (LR), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM).T stage, Lauren classification, histological differentiation, nerve invasion, VEGFR2, E-cadherin, PD-L1, and Ki67 differed significantly between the EBV-positive and -negative groups (p = 0.015, 0.030, 0.006, 0.022, 0.028, 0.030, < 0.001, and < 0.001, respectively). CT enlarged LN and large ulceration differed significantly between the two groups (p = 0.019 and 0.043, respectively). The number of patients in the training and validation cohorts was 100 (with 33 EBV-positive cases) and 44 (with 15 EBV-positive cases). In the training cohort, the radiomics models using DT, LR, RF, and SVM yielded areas under the curve (AUCs) of 0.905, 0.771, 0.836, and 0.886, respectively. In the validation cohort, the diagnostic efficacy of radiomics models using the four classifiers were 0.737, 0.722, 0.751, and 0.713, respectively.A significantly higher proportion of CT enlarged LN and a significantly lower proportion of large ulceration were found in EBV-positive GC. The prediction efficiency of radiomics models with different classifiers to predict EBV status in GC was good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new coplanar waveguide (CPW) spoof surface plasmon polariton (SSPP) transmission line (TL) with mushroom structures is proposed. The analyses of the equivalent circuit reveal that the proposed SSPP requires shorter longitudinal length and also more compact size occupation than the conventional unloaded SSPP TL for achieving the same asymptotic frequency. Besides, the dispersion curve of the proposed SSPP can be controlled flexibly without changing the transversal geometric dimensions. To illustrate the design principle, a SSPP TL is designed, fabricated, and tested. It is validated that the utilization of mush-room structures is beneficial to the size reduction of the plasmonic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence and the increasing demand for legal intelligence, using AI methods to predict legal judgments has become a hot spot in recent years. Charge prediction is one of the core tasks of Legal Judgment Prediction (LJP). It aims to predict charge from complicated legal facts, so as to help the court make judgments or provide legal professional guidance to non-professionals. In the field of legalAI, interpretability is crucial compared to others. Reasonable interpretability can eliminate hidden dangers such as gender discrimination and provide support for judges' decisions. However, how to add the legal theory framework to the modeling to improve the interpretability is a challenge, which has few researches at present. To address this problem, we use Double-layer Criminal System as a guide to build Charge Prediction modeling called DCSCP which aims to predict charges in the criminal law of China. In general, our characteristic is to achieve multi-granularity inference of legal charges by obtaining the subjective and objective elements from the fact descriptions of legal cases. Specifically, our approach is performed in two steps: (1) extract the objective elements from the fact description and use them to generate candidate charges to achieve coarse-grained prediction; (2) extract the subjective elements from the fact description, and design the first-order predicate logic inference to realize the fine-grained charge inference in combination with the candidate charges. Experimental results show that our DCSCP can provide interpretable predictions, and it can maintain performance compared to other state-of-the-art charge prediction models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Fe3O4/mesoporous graphitized carbon (Fe3O4/m-GC) composite was prepared through a facile calcination method with iron-based metal–organic frameworks (Fe-MOFs) as a sacrificial template. After carbonization, the Fe3O4 nanoparticles were uniformly dispersed in the mesoporous carbon support, resulting in spatial structural stability. The mesoporous carbon support obtained was highly graphitized and exhibited eminent electrical conductivity, which accelerated the electron transfer between the Fe3O4 nanoparticles by Fe(II)/Fe(III) redox cycles and m-GC by C = Csp2/C-Csp3 redox cycles, leading to the excellent peroxidase-mimetic activity of Fe3O4/m-GC. Km values for tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) and H2O2 were 26.8 and 15.8 times lower than that of natural horseradish peroxidase, respectively. Taking advantage of the peroxidase-mimetic activity of Fe3O4/m-GC, a colorimetric assay was fabricated for detecting glucose in the range 0.5 ~ 200 μM, with a limit of detection of 0.24 μM. Fig 1 A Schematic illustration of the preparation process of Fe3O4/m-GC, B schematic illustration of a proposed synergistic catalytic mechanism of TMB oxidation by Fe3O4/m-GC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic gas production from unconventional shale-gas reservoirs requires hydraulic fracturing to reconnect and open existing fractures which are lower than the actual fracture gradient. Estimating sensitive parameters of fractured sweet spots such as effective stress parameter and fracture properties from azimuthal seismic amplitude data can be useful to optimize the development of shale-gas fractured reservoirs. Based on the anisotropic Gassmann's equation and the relationship between porosity and effective stress, we propose a simplified expression of the saturated stiffness tensor for a horizontal transverse isotropic (HTI) model formed by a single rotationally symmetric set of vertical fractures. Using the perturbation in the stiffness matrix, we derive a linearized reflection coefficient as a function of effective stress parameter and fracture parameters and corresponding Fourier series expression. The sensitivity analysis of Fourier coefficients (FCs) shows that the zeroth FC is sensitive to effective stress parameter, and the second FC is sensitive to fracture parameters. Thus, we propose to estimate the effective stress parameter and fracture weaknesses using a three-step azimuthal FCs inversion involving 1) estimating the FCs using azimuthal seismic data, 2) estimating the effective stress parameter using the zeroth FC, and 3) estimating the normal and tangential fracture weaknesses using the second FC. A synthetic seismic data example reveals that the effective stress parameter and fracture parameters can be reliably estimated even with moderate noise. Test on a real data set implies that the proposed inversion method can generate meaningful results that are useful for identifying abnormal pressure and fractures in reservoirs. Article Highlights: PP-wave reflection coefficient and the corresponding Fourier series expression are derived in terms of effective stress parameter and fracture weaknesses for an HTI model A three-step azimuthal FCs inversion for estimating the effective stress parameter and fracture weaknesses from azimuthal seismic data is established Tests on synthetic and real datasets imply the proposed inversion approach has potential in generating reliable results of the effective stress parameter and fracture weaknesses for seismic characterization of abnormal pressure and fractured reservoir identification [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]