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In this study, we devised a diagnostic platform harnessing a combination of recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) and the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas12a system. Notably, this platform obviates the need for intricate equipment and finds utility in diverse settings. Two result display methods were incorporated in this investigation: the RPA-Cas12a-fluorescence method and the RPA-Cas12a-LFS (lateral flow strip). Upon validation, both display platforms exhibited no instances of cross-reactivity, with seven additional types of fungal pathogens responsible for respiratory infections. The established detection limit was ascertained to be as low as 102 copies/µL. In comparison to fluorescence quantitative PCR, the platform demonstrated a sensitivity of 96.7%, a specificity of 100%, and a consistency rate of 98.0%.This platform provides expeditious, precise, and on-site detection capabilities, thereby rendering it a pivotal diagnostic instrument amenable for deployment in primary healthcare facilities and point-of-care settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the parameter estimation of fractional order Wiener-Hammerstein (FWH) nonlinear systems with colored noises. By employing data filtering, the original system with autoregressive moving average noise is filtered to the system with moving average noise; then, particle swarm optimization (PSO) is applied to identify the filtered system. To enhance the algorithm's performance, the adaptively variable weight, dynamic learning factors and fuzzy control are introduced to construct the data filtering-based adaptively fuzzy PSO (DF-AFPSO) method. For a FWH system with known fractional order, DF-AFPSO is employed to identify the parameter vector, which consists of linear and nonlinear parameters. Furthermore, for a FWH system with unknown fractional order, DF-AFPSO can simultaneously estimate the parameter vector and fractional order by utilizing its parallel search ability. Finally, two simulation cases are designed to test the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The results illustrate that the DF-AFPSO method has higher accuracy in identifying FWH systems than the standard PSO and data filtering-based PSO methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the parameter estimation of Hammerstein–Wiener systems whose linear subsystems are observable state-space models. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) and gravitational search (GSA) algorithms are combined to derive a novel method for identifying the discussed systems. To improve the optimization ability, some improvements are employed, including adding the oscillating exponential decay inertia weight and fuzzy membership in PSO (OFPSO) and introducing the chaotic optimization mechanism to GSA (CGSA). Thus, the combination of OFPSO and CGSA (OFPSO-CGSA) method is proposed. Its principle is to utilize coordinated behaviors of the speed in the OFPSO algorithm and the acceleration in the CGSA algorithm to update the particle position. Moreover, the convergence analysis proves that the OFPSO-CGSA algorithm converges to the global solution with probability one. Two simulations of the Hammerstein–Wiener nonlinear systems with two-dimensional and three-dimensional linear state space subsystems verify that the algorithms are effective, and OFPSO-CGSA has the best performance considering the convergence speed and identification accuracy in the algorithm comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The concept of acute kidney injury (AKI) substages has been recommended to better phenotype AKI and identify high-risk patient groups and therefore improve the diagnostic accuracy of AKI. However, there remains a gap between the recommendation and the clinical application. The study aimed to explore the incidence of AKI substages based on a sensitive AKI biomarker of urinary cystatin C (uCysC), and to determine whether AKI substages were relevant with respect to outcome in critically ill children. Results: The multicenter cohort study enrolled 793 children in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of four tertiary hospitals in China. Children were classified as non-AKI, sub-AKI and AKI substages A and B according to uCysC level at PICU admission. Sub-AKI was defined by admission uCysC level ≥ 1.26 mg/g uCr in children not meeting the KDIGO criteria of AKI. In children who fulfilled KDIGO criteria, those with uCysC < 1.26 was defined as AKI substage A, and with ≥ 1.26 defined as AKI substage B. The associations of AKI substages with 30-day PICU mortality were assessed. 15.6% (124/793) of patients met the definition of sub-AKI. Of 180 (22.7%) patients with AKI, 90 (50%) had uCysC-positive AKI substage B and were more likely to have classical AKI stage 3, compared to substage A. Compared to non-AKI, sub-AKI and AKI substages A and B were risk factors significantly associated with mortality, and the association of sub-AKI (adjusted hazard ratio HR = 2.42) and AKI substage B (adjusted HR = 2.83) with mortality remained significant after adjustment for confounders. Moreover, AKI substage B had increased risks of death as compared with sub-AKI (HR = 3.10) and AKI substage A (HR = 3.19). Conclusions: Sub-AKI defined/based on uCysC occurred in 20.2% of patients without AKI and was associated with a risk of death close to patients with AKI substage A. Urinary CysC-positive AKI substage B occurred in 50% of AKI patients and was more likely to have classical AKI stage 3 and was associated with the highest risk of mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Febrile infection–related epilepsy syndrome (FIRES) is a devastating epileptic encephalopathy with limited treatment options and unclear etiology. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an FDA-approved therapy for refractory epilepsy that has been shown to decrease the frequency and severity of seizures. There is a growing interest in alternate non-pharmaceutical therapies for managing super-refractory status epilepticus (SRSE). We present a 29-month-old case, diagnosed with FIRES, whose seizures were successfully controlled by utilization of VNS after ineffective response to intensive pharmacotherapy and ketogenic diet treatment. The VNS was planted after 14 days of refractory seizure activity with a following rapid parameter titration for 42 days without evident side effect, which finally controlled the seizure in the acute phase. VNS may be a potential candidate for the treatment of SRSE in FIRES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of oral microbiota in viral encephalitis and/or viral meningitis (VEVM) remains unclear. In this hospital-based, frequency-matched study, children with clinically diagnosed VEVM (n = 68) and those with other diseases (controls, n = 68) were recruited. Their oral swab samples were collected and the oral microbiota was profiled using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The oral microbiota of children with VEVM exhibited different beta diversity metrics (unweighted UniFrac distance: P < 0.001, R2 = 0.025, Bray-curtis dissimilarity: P = 0.045, R2 = 0.011, and Jaccard dissimilarity: P < 0.001, R2 = 0.017) and higher relative abundances of taxa identified by Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) with effect size (Enterococcus, Pedobacter, Massilia, Prevotella_9, Psychrobacter, Butyricimonas, Bradyrhizobium, etc., LDA scores > 2.0) when compared with the control group. The higher pathway abundance of steroid hormone biosynthesis predicted by oral microbiota was suggested to be linked to VEVM (q = 0.020). Further, a model based on oral microbial traits showed good predictive performance for VEVM with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.920 (95% confidence interval: 0.834–1.000). Similar results were also obtained between children with etiologically diagnosed VEVM (n = 43) and controls (n = 68). Our preliminary study identified VEVM-specific oral microbial traits among children, which can be effective in the diagnosis of VEVM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A facile, gram-scale and sustainable approach has been established for the synthesis of single-atomic-site iron on N-doped carbon (FeSA@NC-20A) via the pyrolysis of aniline modified FeZn-ZIFs, in which the synthesis of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) can be accomplished in water at room temperature, and no acid etching is required. The as-synthesized catalyst exhibits better performance on the chemoselective hydrogenation of nitroarenes with a broad substrate scope (turnover frequency (TOF) up to 1,727 h−1, 23 examples) than most of previously reported works. Based on high-angle annular dark field scanning transmission microscopy (HAADF-STEM) images in combination with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), electron spin resonance (ESR), and Mössbauer spectroscopy, Fe is dispersed as single atoms via forming FeNx (x = 4–6). This work not only determines the active sites of FeSA@NC-20A for hydrogenation (FeN4), but also proposes tentative pathways for both N-H activation of hydrazine and the reduction of nitroarene on FeN4 site, both of which are the key steps for the hydrogenation of nitroarenes. In addition, this catalyst shows excellent stability, and no significant activity degradation is observed when recycling for 10 times or restoring in air for 2 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the problem of consensus-based state estimation for interval type-2 Takagi–Sugeno (T–S) fuzzy time-delay systems over a wireless sensor network under deception attacks, partial information exchange and switching sensor-network topologies. The switching-topology-dependent estimators are constructed using interval type-2 fuzzy models considering the cases where the premise variables are available and unavailable. By means of the mode-dependent dwell time approach, sufficient conditions are established such that the estimation error system is exponentially and ultimately bounded. In addition, a fuzzy Lyapunov functional is utilized to derive the existence conditions of estimators for the case that the premise variable are unavailable. Two illustrative examples are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genome sequencing is used to make genetic diagnoses in critically ill infants with rapid turnaround time (TAT). Herein, to delineate the value of a genetic diagnosis, we provide the results from 130 pediatric patients in a large, comprehensive children's hospital in China. This study was performed using an optimized trio genome sequencing (OTGS) test. The sequencing depth for patients was 40–50 × and for their parents, it was 8–10 ×. Patients from the pediatric or neonatal intensive care unit (PICU/NICU) with complicated clinical features were enrolled between June 2018 and December 2018, each with a phenotype suggesting an underlying genetic disorder. OTGS testing identified pathogenic variants in 62 of 130 individuals, resulting in a diagnosis rate of 47.7%. The TAT varied from 72 to 120 h, with an average of 94 h and a median of 90 h. Of the 62 infants with diagnoses, 48 (77.4%) had pathogenic single-nucleotide variants (SNVs), 12 (19.4%) had pathogenic copy number variations (CNVs) or structure variants (SVs), and 2 (3.2%) had small deletions in one allele plus pathogenic variants in another allele of autosomal recessive genes. Therapeutic strategies for 48.4% (30/62) of the diagnosed patients were modified and included transplantation, dietary recommendations, or change of drugs, which avoided morbidity and improved prognosis. This study provided high-capacity OTGS testing in detecting SNVs and chromosomal abnormalities with fast response, higher diagnostic yield, and lower cost. OTGS demonstrates the potential to be the first-tier of genetic testing used in critically ill infants in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the problem of event-triggered H ∞ state estimation for switched genetic regulatory networks with static coupling via a sojourn-probability-dependent approach. The measurements of the network are evaluated by the event-triggers which are only undertaken at the switching times. By employing a time-delay approach, the estimation can be achieved by determining the exponential mean-square stability of the switched system with time-varying delay and known sojourn probability, while the system prescribes an H ∞ performance level. A co-design approach for the event-triggered mechanism and the estimators is presented by means of a novel Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional combining with refined Jensen-based inequalities. Finally, a numerical example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the designed estimators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the fundamental problems in pinning control of complex networks is selecting appropriate pinning nodes, such that the whole system is controlled. This is particularly useful for complex networks with huge numbers of nodes. Recent research has yielded several pinning node selection strategies, which may be efficient. However, selecting a set of pinning nodes and identifying the nodes that should be selected first remain challenging problems. In this paper, we present a network control strategy based on left Perron vector. For directed networks where nodes have the same in- and out-degrees, there has so far been no effective pinning node selection strategy, but our method can find suitable nodes. Likewise, our method also performs well for undirected networks where the nodes have the same degree. In addition, we can derive the minimum set of pinning nodes and the order in which they should be selected for given coupling strengths. Our proofs of these results depend on the properties of non-negative matrices and M-matrices. Several examples show that this strategy can effectively select appropriate pinning nodes, and that it can achieve better results for both directed and undirected networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PbZrTiO thin films on stainless steel substrates were fabricated by an ethylene glycol modified sol-gel method. Perovskite structure of PbZrTiO thin films was examined by the X-ray diffraction analysis. With the increase of ethylene glycol, PbZrTiO thin films with enhanced dielectric and ferroelectric properties were got. Crack-free PbZrTiO thin films with thickness of 1.6 μm were prepared for ethylene glycol content of 50%, and the dielectric permittivity and dielectric loss were 224 and 5.4% respectively at the frequency of 1 kHz showing better dielectric properties compared with PbZrTiO thin films without ethylene glycol modified. The remnant polarization ( P ) of 50% content ethylene glycol modified PbZrTiO thin films was nearly twice reaching 12.3 μC/cm, and lower leakage current density was obtained with 4.6 × 10 A· cm under the field of 50 kV· cm. Such enhanced performance indicated that the PbZrTiO thin films prepared on stainless steel substrates by the ethylene glycol modified sol-gel process exhibited their potentiality in applications. Graphical abstract: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LaNiO (LNO) buffer layer was introduced into barium strontium titanate (BST) thin films deposited on stainless steel (SS) substrates by the sol-gel technique. Results show that the crystallization temperature of BST thin films is decreased from 750 to 720 °C by introducing LNO conducting oxide layer. Simultaneously, the suffered thermal stress for BST films is depressed as SS is a 'compressive' substrate. Furthermore, the dielectric loss is notably decreased especially at 10-10 Hz, and the tunability is improved from 24.0 to 26.6 % under the field of 300 kV/cm, because the strain is reduced as characterized by the XRD and Raman spectra. The leakage current density of BST thin films is also significantly decreased by LNO layer, and its mechanism is analyzed. Such results imply that it is worthwhile to introduce LNO buffer layer for BST films on metal substrates to improve their dielectric properties by reducing the misfit strains, especially for 'compressive' substrates. Graphical Abstract: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Barium strontium titanate (BST) thin films deposited on stainless steel (SS) substrates can be expected for their potential applications in MEMS-structure tunable microwave devices. In this paper, two sandwich-like structures with varied average Ba/Sr ratio of BST thin films, BaSrTiO layer in the middle or at ends, on LaNiO buffered SS substrates were fabricated by sol-gel technique, and meanwhile were theoretically carried out via a modified phenomenological model. Results show that dielectric constant and tunability of such BST films can be tailored by average Ba/Sr ratio and structures. When the average Ba/Sr ratio is unchanged, the structure with smaller lattice parameter of middle layer than that of top/bottom layer can achieve larger tunability resulting from its smaller compressive misfit strain, which has been qualitatively characterized by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectra. Especially, the largest tunability reaches 30 % under the electric field of 300 kV cm by locating BaSrTiO layer in the middle and BaSrTiO layers at ends. Furthermore, the experimental dielectric constants and tunabilities are in good agreement with the calculated data, instructing that the dielectric properties of BST thin films with unchanged Ba/Sr ratio can be tailored by changing the structure to adjust the lattice misfit strain of each uniform layer. This implies that multilayer BST thin films also can be designed by phenomenological theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigated aqueous chemistry for two geothermal spring groups responsive and sensitive to flow fluctuations induced by earthquakes. Quake monitorings are favored for their being in residential areas with well-preserved natural flow systems in Xinyi City's Xijiang Hot Springs and Fengshun County's Shihu Hot Spring. The hot springs are typical in temperatures and flow rates in southern China's Guangdong Province. Physical and chemical conditions deep down in the heat sources are important constraints on earthquake, fluid flow, reactive solute transport and heat transfer, but remain challenging to address via field observations and numerical experiments. In this paper, we made daily and annual observations on flow rates, temperature, and/or aqueous chemistry. We employed strontium isotopes as tracers for the water sources, equilibrium phase diagram for K-feldspar and albite stability, and Na-K-Mg diagram for heat reservoir temperatures. The abundant sulfite content in Xijiang Hot Springs is discussed. Our main finding are that the deep fault springs are characterized by low reduction-oxidation potential at around −200- −150 mV and relatively large daily flow variations. The results provide scientific background features on the field sites regarding earthquake monitoring and predictions and geothermal reservoir. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the robust H filtering for discrete singular systems with jump parameters and interval time-varying delay, whose system mode is transmitted through an unreliable network. The class of systems under consideration is more general and covers the singular jump systems with mode-dependent and mode-independent as two special cases, over networks a novel delay-dependent and partially mode-dependent filter is established via using a mode-dependent Lyapunov function and a finite sum inequality based on quadratic terms. The corresponding filter parameters can be obtained by solving a set of linear matrix inequalities without decomposing the original system matrix. The proposed linear robust filter ensuring that the filtering error singular jump system is to be regular, causal, stochastically stable and satisfies H performance. In addition, two numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The researches attempting to associate the PPARγ C161T polymorphism with coronary artery disease (CAD) yielded complicated and contradictory results. We aimed for more precise estimate of the relationship and conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis. Publications written in English or Chinese were screened in MEDLINE, Embase, CNKI, Wanfang and CBM. Data on 11 studies including 3,020 cases and 2,853 controls were extracted. A random-effects model was available to synthesize the inconsistent outcomes of the individual studies, while addressing between-study heterogeneity and publication bias. The PPARγ C161T polymorphism followed Hard-Weinberg Equilibrium for all studies ( P > 0.05).Overall, there was no evidence for a significant association under all genetic models but with distinct heterogeneity (T vs. C: P = 0.29, OR = 0.91, 95 %CI 0.77-1.08, P = 0.004, I = 61.2 %). However, in the subgroup analysis by ethnicity, the T allele carriers showed a prominent 26 % risk reduction of CAD among Chinese (dominant genetic model: P = 0.03, 95 %CI 0.57-0.97, P = 0.03, I = 56.1 %). After dividing into population source, the significance of CAD risk reduction was strengthened in hospital-based studies (allele comparison: P = 0.04, OR = 0.82, 95 %CI 0.67-1.00, P = 0.04, I = 52.5 %; dominant model: P = 0.01, OR = 0.73, 95 %CI 0.57-0.92, P = 0.05, I = 50.8 %). There was no obvious publication bias verified in the method of funnel plot and Egger's linear regression test ( t = −0.11, P = 0.913). Taken together, our results revealed the PPARγ C161T polymorphism might play a moderate protective effect on developing CAD among Chinese, but not among Caucasians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new approach to the output feedback control problem of master-slave synchronization of time-delay chaotic Lur'e systems with sector and slope restricted nonlinearities under communication constraints. The communication constraints involve measurement quantization and signal transmission delay. By constructing an appropriate Lyapunov functional with the idea of a discretized Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional method and utilizing the sector bound of the logarithmic quantizer, a delay-dependent synchronization criterion is derived. The desired synchronization controller can be obtained by solving a set of linear matrix inequalities. Finally, numerical simulations for Chua's circuit are proposed to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the network-based control problem for a class of descriptor systems in the discrete-time domain with random delays. By modeling the sensor-to-controller and controller-to-actuator delays as Markovian chains, the closed-loop system can be expressed as a jump linear descriptor system with two modes. The stochastically admissible necessary and sufficient condition for the closed-loop system is constructed. An explicit expression for the desired controller is given without any system decomposition. The obtained results are formulated in terms of strict linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). In addition, an example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the stabilization problem for a class of nonlinear systems. It is assumed that the controller can only receive the transmitted sequence of finite coded signals via a limited digital communication channel. Both state and output feedback coder-decoder-controller procedures are proposed. Stabilization conditions involving the size of coding alphabet, the sampling period, system state growth rate and data packet dropout rate are obtained. Finally, an example is given to illustrate the design procedures and effectiveness of the proposed results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the stochastic stability of networked control systems with the presence of network-induced delay and transmitted data dropout. Based on the Lyapunov approach, sufficient conditions for the mean-square stability of the networked control system are derived subject that the sequence of transmission interval is driven by an identically independently distributed sequence and by a finite state Markov chain, respectively. Stabilization controllers are constructed in terms of linear matrix inequalities correspondingly. An example is provided to illustrate our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the observer design problem for a class of descriptor Markovian jumping systems with nonlinear perturbations. The problem addressed is to design full-order and reduced-order observers, respectively, such that the dynamics of each estimation error is guaranteed to be globally exponentially stable in the mean square. Sufficient conditions for the existence of both full-order and reduced-order observers are given, which are equivalent to a set of linear matrix inequalities. An example is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To investigate the clinical characteristics and molecular epidemiology of CRKP infection in neonatal patients in a children's hospital in China from 2017 to 2021., Methods: Species identification and antibiotic susceptibilities were tested with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and VITEK 2 systems. The clinical data were collected from medical records. Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) isolates were investigated by antimicrobial susceptibility testing, carbapenemase genes and multilocus sequence typing., Results: Six kinds of resistant genes and 23 STs were detected. Bla NDM-1 (n=83, 55.3%) was the predominant carbapenemase gene, followed by bla KPC-2 (n=45, 30.0%), bla NDM-5 (n=7, 4.7%), bla IMP-38 (n=6, 4.0%). Bla NDM-1 was predominant in 2017 and 2018, whereas bla KPC-2 increased in 2019 and became the predominant gene from 2020 to 2021. ST11 accounted for most infections (n=35, 23.3%), followed by ST278 (n=23, 15.3%), ST17 (n=17, 11. 3%) and ST2735 (n=16, 10.7%). ST278 and ST17 were predominant in 2017 and 2018, whereas ST11 increased in 2019 and became the predominant sequence type from 2020 to 2021. Compared with bla NDM-1 , the CRKP strains producing bla KPC-2 were characterized by high resistance to gentamicin, amikacin and levofloxacin and the change trend of drug resistance rate before and after COVID-19 was consistent with that of bla NDM-1 and bla KPC-2 ., Conclusions: The main sequence type of CRKP infection changed dynamically from ST278-NDM-1 to ST11-KPC-2 during the years 2017-2021 in the newborns. Antibiotic exposure and the prevalence of COVID-19 since 2020 may have led to changes in hospital population and lead to the changes., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)