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Background: This study was designed to compare the clinical and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) between the enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol and conventional care in patients undergoing esophagectomy for cancer, which have not previously been compared. Methods: This single-center retrospective study included prospective PRO data from August 2019 to June 2021. Clinical outcomes included perioperative complications and postoperative length of stay (PLOS). Patient-reported outcomes were assessed by using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core-30 (QLQ-C30) and esophagus-specific module (QLQ-OES18) preoperatively to 6 months postoperatively. Mixed-effects models were used to longitudinally compare quality of life (QOL) scores between the two modes. Results: Patients undergoing conventional care and ERAS were analyzed (n = 348 and 109, respectively). The ERAS group had fewer overall complications, pneumonia, arrhythmia, and a shorter PLOS than the conventional group, and outperformed the conventional group in five functional QLQ-C30 domains and five symptom QLQ-OES18 domains, including less dysphagia (p < 0.0001), trouble talking (p = 0.0006), and better eating (p < 0.0001). These advantages persisted for 3 months postoperatively. For the cervical circular stapled anastomosis, the initial domains and duration of benefit were reduced in the ERAS group. Conclusions: The ERAS protocol has significant advantages over conventional care in terms of clinical outcomes, lowering postoperative symptom burden, and improving functional QOL in patients who have undergone esophagectomy. Selection of the optimal technique for cervical anastomosis is a key operative component of ERAS that maintains the symptom domains and duration of the advantages of PROs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigations on the changes in pore water pressures and stress during the construction of stiffened deep cement mixing (SDCM) piles are scarce, resulting in an unsatisfactory understanding of the bearing capacity formation process. Thus, this paper presents a preliminary field study to investigate the variation characteristics of pore water pressures, total stress and effective stress during the construction of SDCM piles derived from field tests. In the meantime, cone penetration tests (CPTs) were conducted before and after the construction of SDCM piles. The results show that the variation ranges of pore water pressure, total stress and effective stress of soils around piles decreased with increasing distance between the measuring point and piles when the depths of the measuring points were the same. During the piling process, the effective stress increased by approximately 53–103%, and the pile side frictions increased accordingly, while the tip resistance and side resistance values of soils around piles increased by 27–106% and 2–145%, respectively. Additionally, SDCM piles successively formed different load-bearing components with decreasing bearing capacity along the pile diameter direction, which realized a better bearing efficiency than conventional piles made with homogeneous materials. In essence, they were also the source of significant economic advantages of SDCM piles. Through this study, we expect to provide a reference for further studies on the bearing mechanism of SDCM piles in soft soil regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effective isolation of rare target cells, such as circulating tumor cells, from whole blood is still challenging due to the lack of a capturing surface with strong target-binding affinity and non-target-cell resistance. Here we present a solution leveraging the flexibility of bacterial virus (phage) nanofibers with their sidewalls displaying target circulating tumor cell-specific aptamers and their ends tethered to magnetic beads. Such flexible phages, with low stiffness and Young's modulus, can twist and adapt to recognize the cell receptors, energetically enhancing target cell capturing and entropically discouraging non-target cells (white blood cells) adsorption. The magnetic beads with flexible phages can isolate and count target cells with significant increase in cell affinity and reduction in non-target cell absorption compared to magnetic beads having rigid phages. This differentiates breast cancer patients and healthy donors, with impressive area under the curve (0.991) at the optimal detection threshold (>4 target cells mL−1). Immunostaining of captured circulating tumor cells precisely determines breast cancer subtypes with a diagnostic accuracy of 91.07%. Our study reveals the power of viral mechanical attributes in designing surfaces with superior target binding and non-target anti-fouling. The effective isolation of rare target cells, such as circulating tumor cells from whole blood is still challenging. Here, the authors utilize adaptable flexible M13 phage in constructing magnetic beads, forming a deformable surface that can tightly capture CTCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Body weight has been recognized as a driving factor of osteoarthritis. Few studies had investigated the association between weight status across adulthood and risk of osteoarthritis (OA). This study investigates the association of weight change patterns across adulthood (lasting at least 25 years) with the risk of OA from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2013–2018. Methods: The study assessed the relationship between weight change across adulthood and OA in 7392 individuals aged > 50 spanning a minimum of 25 years. Multivariate linear regression analyses were utilized to detect the association between weight change patterns and self-reported OA. Restricted cubic splines (RCS) were used to examine the nonlinear relationship between absolute weight change and OA risk. Results: From 10 years ago to survey, the risk of OA was 1.34-fold (95% CI 1.07–1.68) in people changed from obese to non-obese, 1.61-fold (95% CI 1.29–2.00) in people change from non-obese to obese, and 1.82-fold (95% CI 1.49–2.22) in stable obese people compared with people who were at stable normal weight. Similar patterns were also observed at age 25 years to baseline and age 25 years to 10 years before the baseline. The dose–response association of RCS found a U-shaped relationship between absolute weight change and OA risk. Conclusions: The study suggests that weight patterns across adulthood are associated with the risk of OA. These findings stressed important to maintain a normal weight throughout adulthood, especially to prevent ignored weight gain in early adulthood to reduce OA risk later. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Broad-spectrum RAS inhibition has the potential to benefit roughly a quarter of human patients with cancer whose tumours are driven by RAS mutations1,2. RMC-7977 is a highly selective inhibitor of the active GTP-bound forms of KRAS, HRAS and NRAS, with affinity for both mutant and wild-type variants3. More than 90% of cases of human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) are driven by activating mutations in KRAS4. Here we assessed the therapeutic potential of RMC-7977 in a comprehensive range of PDAC models. We observed broad and pronounced anti-tumour activity across models following direct RAS inhibition at exposures that were well-tolerated in vivo. Pharmacological analyses revealed divergent responses to RMC-7977 in tumour versus normal tissues. Treated tumours exhibited waves of apoptosis along with sustained proliferative arrest, whereas normal tissues underwent only transient decreases in proliferation, with no evidence of apoptosis. In the autochthonous KPC mouse model, RMC-7977 treatment resulted in a profound extension of survival followed by on-treatment relapse. Analysis of relapsed tumours identified Myc copy number gain as a prevalent candidate resistance mechanism, which could be overcome by combinatorial TEAD inhibition in vitro. Together, these data establish a strong preclinical rationale for the use of broad-spectrum RAS-GTP inhibition in the setting of PDAC and identify a promising candidate combination therapeutic regimen to overcome monotherapy resistance.RMC-7977, a multi-selective RAS(ON) inhibitor, exhibits potent tumour-selective activity in multiple pre-clinical models of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma through a combination of pharmacology and oncogene dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the significance of atherosclerotic plaque location in hybrid surgery comprising both endovascular recanalization approaches and carotid endarterectomy for symptomatic atherosclerotic non-acute long-segment occlusion of the internal carotid artery (ICA), 162 patients were enrolled, including 120 (74.1%) patients in the proximal plaque group and 42 (25.9%) in the distal plaque group. Surgical recanalization was performed in all patients, with successful recanalization in 119 (99.2%) patients in the proximal and 39 (92.9%) in the distal plaque group. The total successful recanalization rate was 97.5% (158/162) with a failure rate of 2.5% (4/162). Periprocedural complications occurred in 5 (4.2% or 5/120) patients in the proximal plaque group, including neck infection in two (1.7%), recurrent nerve injury in 1 (0.8%), and laryngeal edema in 2 (1.7%), and 2 (4.8%) in the distal plaque group, including femoral puncture infection in 2 (4.8%). No severe complications occurred in either group. Univariate analysis showed plaque location was a significant (P = 0.018) risk factor for successful recanalization, and multivariate analysis indicated that the plaque location remained a significant independent risk factor for recanalization success (P = 0.017). In follow-up 6–48 months after the recanalization surgery, reocclusion occurred in two (2.8%) patients in the proximal plaque group and 4 (13.3%) in the distal plaque group. In conclusion, although hybrid surgery achieves similar outcomes in patients with ICA occlusion caused by either proximal or distal atherosclerotic plaques, plaque location may be a significant risk factor for successful recanalization of symptomatic non-acute long-segment ICA occlusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The peak bone mass (PBM) in puberty has been proven to be a critical determinant of osteoporosis and brittle fractures in the elderly. Selenium is an essential trace element that could influence bone metabolism in our bodies. However, no study has investigated the impact of selenium status on bone mineral density (BMD) among children and adolescents. This was a cross-section study from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in the USA involving participants aged 8–19 years. We conducted multiple linear regression models to assess the relationship between selenium status and BMD among children and adolescents, and then stratified analyses were performed according to genders and races. Smooth curve fits and two-piecewise linear regression models were conducted to explore their nonlinear relationship. A total of 4570 participants (2338 boys and 2232 girls) were included in the present study, with a mean age of 13.57 ± 3.41 years. In the multivariable adjustment model, serum selenium was positively associated with lumbar spine BMD (β = 0.021 95% CI: 0.008, 0.034, P = 0.001). The dose–response analyses indicated a non-linear inverted U-shaped relationship between serum selenium and lumbar spine BMD. Lower and higher selenium concentrations were related to decreased BMD, and the inflection point of serum selenium was 2.60 umol/L. The inverted U-shaped association was also observed in females (inflection point: 2.49 umol/L), males (inflection point: 2.65 umol/L), Non-Hispanic White (inflection point: 2.50 umol/L), Non-Hispanic Black (inflection point: 2.50 umol/L), and other races (Including multi-racial) (inflection point: 2.81 umol/L). Our study first shows a non-linear inversed U-shaped association between selenium status and BMD among children and adolescents. The proper selenium status will benefit bone health in children and adolescents. More research is still required to verify our findings and their potential mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The causal association between vitamin E status and osteoarthritis (OA) remains controversial in previous epidemiological studies. We employed a Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to explore the causal relationship between circulating alpha-tocopherol levels (main forms of vitamin E in our body) and OA. The instrumental variables (IVs) of circulating alpha-tocopherol levels were obtained from a Genome-wide association study (GWAS) dataset of 7781 individuals of European descent. The outcome of OA was derived from the UK biobank. Two-sample MR analysis was used to estimate the causal relationship between circulating alpha-tocopherol levels and OA. The inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method was the primary analysis in this analysis. We used the MR-Egger method to determine horizontal pleiotropic in this work. The heterogeneity effect of instrumental IVs was detected by MR-Egger and IVW analyses. Sensitivity analysis was performed by removing single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) one by one. Three SNPs (rs964184, rs2108622, and rs11057830) (P < 5E−8) strongly associated with circulating alpha-tocopherol levels were used in this analysis. The IVW-random effect indicated no causal relationship between circulating alpha-tocopherol levels and clinically diagnosed OA (OR = 0.880, 95% CI 0.626, 1.236, P = 0.461). Similarly, IVW analysis showed no causal association between circulating alpha-tocopherol levels and self-reported OA (OR = 0.980, 95% CI 0.954, 1.006, P = 0.139). Other methods of MR analyses and sensitivity analyses revealed consistent findings. MR-Egger and IVW methods indicated no significant heterogeneity between IVs. The MR–Egger intercept showed no horizontal pleiotropic. The results of this linear Mendelian randomization study indicate no causal association between genetically predicted alpha-tocopherol levels and the progression of OA. Alpha-tocopherol may not provide beneficial and more favorable outcomes for the progression of OA. Further MR analysis based on updated GWASs with more IVs is required to verify the results of our study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Laparoscopic isolated caudate lobectomy is still a challenging operation for surgeons. The access route of the operation plays a vital role during laparoscopic caudate lobectomy. There are few references regarding this technique. Here, we introduce a preferred inferior vena cava (IVC) approach in laparoscopic caudate lobectomy. Methods: Twenty-one consecutive patients with caudate hepatic tumours between June 2016 and December 2021 were included in this study. All of them received laparoscopic caudate lobectomy involving an IVC priority approach. The IVC priority approach refers to prioritizing the dissection of the IVC from the liver parenchyma before proceeding with the conventional left or right approach. It emphasizes the importance of the IVC dissection during process. Clinical data, intraoperative parameters and postoperative results were evaluated. Sixteen patients were performed pure IVC priority approach, while 5 patients underwent a combined approach. We subsequently compared the intraoperative and postoperative between the two groups. Results: All 21 patients were treated with laparoscopic technology. The operative time was 190.95 ± 92.65 min. The average estimated blood loss was 251.43 ± 247.45 ml, and four patients needed blood transfusions during the perioperative period. The average duration of hospital stay was 8.43 ± 2.64 (range from 6.0 to 16.0) days. Patients who underwent the pure inferior vena cava (IVC) approach required a shorter hepatic pedicle clamping time (26 vs. 55 min, respectively; P < 0.001) and operation time (150 vs. 380 min, respectively; P = 0.002) than those who underwent the combined approach. Hospitalization (7.0 vs. 9.0 days, respectively; P = 0.006) was shorter in the pure IVC group than in the combined group. Conclusions: Laparoscopic caudate lobectomy with an IVC priority approach is safe and feasible for patients with caudate hepatic tumours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the performance degradation of headed stud shear connectors in composite structures subjected to freeze–thaw cycles (FTCs). Parametric finite-element (FE) analysis was conducted, incorporating damage plasticity models to assess the failure progression of these shear connectors while considering concrete strength, stud dimensions, and FTC number. The parameters under scrutiny have concrete compressive strengths of 30/40/50/60 MPa, stud diameters of 13/16/19/22/25 mm, stud height–diameter ratios of 4/5/6, and FTC numbers of 0/50/100/150. A comprehensive parametric study was carried out to investigate the shear behavior of stud connectors under varying FTC conditions and identify the critical factors affecting their shear resistance. Results demonstrate that, in comparison to experimental findings, the ultimate shear strength obtained through numerical analysis falls within a margin of ± 10%, and the secant shear stiffness remains within ± 15%. Notably, FTCs exert a pronounced influence on ultimate shear strength and shear stiffness, with both parameters experiencing nearly a 20% reduction after 150 FTCs. Based on regression analysis of FE results, a new equation was proposed to determine the ultimate shear strength of headed stud shear connectors, incorporating four parameters: stud diameter, stud height, concrete compressive strength, and FTC number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma (PSC) is a rare and highly malignant type of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), for which the treatment of choice is surgery. For peripheral PSC growing outward and invading the chest wall, a complete resection of the affected lung lobes and the invaded chest wall can improve long-term prognosis. However, when the extent of the resected chest wall is large, reconstruction is often required to reduce the risk of postoperative complications. Here, we present a case of PSC invading the chest wall treated with successful extended radical resection for lung cancer and chest wall reconstruction. Case presentation: A 58-year-old male patient with a nodule in the right upper lobe that had been identified on physical examination 2 years before presentation presented to our hospital with a recent cough, expectoration, and chest pain. Imaging revealed a mass in the right upper lobe that had invaded the chest wall. Preoperative puncture pathology revealed poorly differentiated NSCLC. We performed extended radical resection for lung cancer under open surgery and reconstructed the chest wall using stainless steel wire and polypropylene meshes. The procedure was uneventful, and the patient was discharged 7 days postoperatively. Furthermore, the final pathology revealed PSC. Conclusions: This case underscores the feasibility of surgical R0 resection in patients with PSC with chest wall invasion and no lymph node metastasis, potentially enhancing long-term outcomes. The novel aspect of this case lies in the individualized chest wall reconstruction for a large defect, using cost-effective materials that offered satisfactory structural support and postoperative recovery, thereby providing a valuable reference for similar future surgical interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the data distribution difference between the target domain (test sample set) and the source domain (training sample set) increases, it may lead to a sharp decline in the performance of the object detection network. However, it is expensive or impossible to obtain massive labeled data directly in the target domain.Therefore, domain adaptation techniques are needed to solve this problem. Unsupervised domain adaptation can learn the domain invariant features of the source domain and the target domain, thereby ensuring the performance of object detection. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-step training approach to accomplish the task of domain-adaptive object detection, using a hybrid domain training and co-training solution. 1) Hybrid domain training uses the source domain and the target domain to generate an intermediate domain, and then mixes the source domain and the intermediate domain into a hybrid domain to participate in training, making full use of domain features. 2) Co-training combines the predictions of the two branches with the same structure, but uses a synergistic loss function to force the two branches to observe features from different perspectives, labeling the target domain with higher quality pseudo-labels. We evaluate the proposed method and perform ablation experiments on datasets Citycape, Foggy Cityscape and SIM10K et al. The results show that our method can obtain more efficient results, and it is robust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of new generations of antitumor therapies, the average survival time of cancer patients is expected to be continuously prolonged. However, these therapies often lead to cardiotoxicity, resulting in a growing number of tumor survivors with cardiovascular disease. Therefore, a new interdisciplinary subspecialty called "cardio-oncology" has emerged, aiming to detect and treat cardiovascular diseases associated with tumors and antitumor therapies. Recent studies have highlighted the role of ferroptosis in both cardiovascular and neoplastic diseases. The balance between intracellular oxidative stress and antioxidant defense is crucial in regulating ferroptosis. Tumor cells can evade ferroptosis by upregulating multiple antioxidant defense pathways, while many antitumor therapies rely on downregulating antioxidant defense and promoting ferroptosis in cancer cells. Unfortunately, these ferroptosis-inducing antitumor therapies often lack tissue specificity and can also cause injury to the heart, resulting in ferroptosis-induced cardiotoxicity. A range of cardioprotective agents exert cardioprotective effects by inhibiting ferroptosis. However, these cardioprotective agents might diminish the efficacy of antitumor treatment due to their antiferroptotic effects. Most current research on ferroptosis only focuses on either tumor treatment or heart protection but rarely considers both in concert. Therefore, further research is needed to study how to protect the heart during antitumor therapies by regulating ferroptosis. In this review, we summarized the role of ferroptosis in the treatment of neoplastic diseases and cardiovascular diseases and also attempted to propose further research directions for ferroptosis in the field of cardio-oncology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify longitudinal heterogeneous trajectories of sleep status, adjusted for the effect of pain over time, among patients who had surgery for lung cancer and to quantify how disturbed sleep in the hospital affects functional recovery after discharge. Methods: We included patients from a surgical cohort (CN-PRO-Lung 1). All patients reported symptoms using the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory-Lung Cancer (MDASI-LC) daily during postoperative hospitalization. Group-based dual trajectory modeling was used to investigate trajectories of disturbed sleep and pain during the first 7 days of postoperative hospitalization. Cox regression was used to compare the recovery of walking ability between the different sleep trajectories. Results: Among 421 patients, disturbed sleep trajectories comprised low (31%), moderate (52%), and high (17%) groups. The surgical approach and number of chest tubes were associated with pain, and the number of chest tubes was also associated with sleep disturbances (OR = 1.99; 95% CI: 1.08–3.67). Recovery of walking ability after discharge was significantly slower in the high (median days = 16; 95% CI: 5-NA) and moderate disturbed sleep trajectory groups (median days = 5; 95%CI: 4–6) than in the low group (median days = 3; 95% CI: 3–4). Conclusion: Changes in disturbed sleep among patients with lung cancer followed three distinct trajectories over the first 7 days of hospitalization after surgery. Dual trajectory analyses highlighted the high concordance between specific trajectories of disturbed sleep and pain. Patients at high sleep disturbance and high levels of pain may benefit from appropriate interventions for both symptoms in combination with the patient's surgical approach and the number of chest tubes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Besides programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression, rapid, cost-effective and validated scores or models are critical for the prognosis and prediction of patients received immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). In this retrospective study, 182 patients with NSCLC receiving ICIs from 2015 to 2022 were divided 1:1 into a training cohort and a validation cohort. We identified a score established by three factors and analyzed the prognostic implications by Kaplan–Meier approach (Log rank test) and time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses. A non-tumor-related score (NTRS) was established that could be used as a prognostic factor (HR 2.260, 95% CI 1.559–3.276, P < 0.001 in training cohort; HR 2.114, 95% CI 1.493–2.994, P < 0.001 in validation cohort) and had a high time-dependent ROC for overall survival (OS) (AUC 0.670–0.782 in training cohort; AUC 0.682–0.841 in validation cohort). PD-L1 (1–49%) and NTRS (score = 0, 1, 2, 3) combination significantly improved the assessment of patients’ OS and progress-free survival (PFS), which was statistically different in training cohorts (P < 0.001 for OS, 0.012 for PFS) and validation cohorts (P = 0.01 for OS, < 0.001 for PFS). The NTRS provided a better assessment of durable clinical benefit (DCB) compared to PD-L1 expression (P = 0.009 vs. 0.232 in training cohort; P = 0.004 vs. 0.434 in validation cohort). NTRS may help improve prognosis stratification of patients receiving ICIs in first-line NSCLC and may be combined with tumor-related parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Cancer cachexia is a systemic metabolic syndrome characterized by involuntary weight loss, and muscle and adipose tissue wasting. Mechanisms underlying cachexia remain poorly understood. Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), a multi-functional cytokine, has been suggested as a cachexia-inducing factor. In a transgenic mouse model with conditional LIF expression, systemic elevation of LIF induces cachexia. LIF overexpression decreases de novo lipogenesis and disrupts lipid homeostasis in the liver. Liver-specific LIF receptor knockout attenuates LIF-induced cachexia, suggesting that LIF-induced functional changes in the liver contribute to cachexia. Mechanistically, LIF overexpression activates STAT3 to downregulate PPARα, a master regulator of lipid metabolism, leading to the downregulation of a group of PPARα target genes involved in lipogenesis and decreased lipogenesis in the liver. Activating PPARα by fenofibrate, a PPARα agonist, restores lipid homeostasis in the liver and inhibits LIF-induced cachexia. These results provide valuable insights into cachexia, which may help develop strategies to treat cancer cachexia. Cancer cachexia is a systemic syndrome characterized by dramatic weight loss and decline in adipose tissue and skeletal muscle mass. Here, the authors show that overexpression of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), a secreted cytokine, suppresses de novo lipogenesis and induces cachexia in mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) is the world's largest hydroelectric dam, little is known about the spatial–temporal patterns and community assembly mechanisms of meio- and micro-eukaryotes and its two subtaxa (zooplankton and zoobenthos). This knowledge gap is particularly evident across various habitats and during different water-level periods, primarily arising from the annual regular dam regulation. To address this inquiry, we employed mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene-based environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding technology to systematically analyze the biogeographic pattern of the three communities within the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR). Our findings reveal distinct spatiotemporal characteristics and complementary patterns in the distribution of meio- and micro-eukaryotes. The three communities showed similar biogeographic patterns and assembly processes. Notably, the diversity of these three taxa gradually decreased along the river. Their communities were less shaped by stochastic processes, which gradually decreased along the longitudinal riverine-transition-lacustrine gradient. Hence, deterministic factors, such as seasonality, environmental, and spatial variables, along with species interactions, likely play a pivotal role in shaping these communities. Environmental factors primarily drive seasonal variations in these communities, while hydrological conditions, represented as spatial distance, predominantly influence spatial variations. These three communities followed the distance-decay pattern. In winter, compared to summer, both the decay and species interrelationships are more pronounced. Taken together, this study offers fresh insights into the composition and diversity patterns of meio- and micro-eukaryotes at the spatial-temporal level. It also uncovers the mechanisms behind community assembly in various environmental niches within the dam-induced river-reservoir systems. Key points: • Distribution and diversity of meio- and micro-eukaryotes exhibit distinct spatiotemporal patterns in the TGR. • Contribution of stochastic processes in community assembly gradually decreases along the river. • Deterministic factors and species interactions shape meio- and micro-eukaryotic community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the clinical and genetic characteristics for a large cohort of Chinese patients with Bietti crystalline retinopathy (BCR). Methods: A total of 208 Chinese BCR patients from 175 families were recruited. Comprehensive clinical evaluations and genetic analysis were performed. Genotype-phenotype correlations were evaluated through statistical analysis. Results: The patients' median age was 37 years (range, 20–76 years). The median best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 0.8 LogMAR unit (range, 2.8 to −0.12). A significant decline of BCVA was revealed in patients over 40 years old (P<0.001). Two clinical types were observed: peripheral type (type P) and central type (type C). Significantly more type C patients had a worse central visual acuity, but a more preserved retinal function (P<0.05). Molecular screening detected biallelic CYP4V2 pathogenic variants in 98.3% (172/175) of the families, including 19 novel ones. The most frequent pathogenic variant was c.802-8_810del17insGC, with the allele frequency of 55.7% (195/350), followed by c.992A>C (28/350, 8%) and c.1091-2A>G (23/350, 6.6%). BCR patients with one c.802-8_810del17insGC and one truncating variant (IVS6-8/Tru) had BCVA>1.3 LogMAR unit (Snellen equivalent<20/400) at a younger age than those with homozygous c.802-8_810del17insGC variants (homo IVS6-8) (P=0.031). Conclusions: BCR patients preserved relatively good vision before 40 years old. Two distinct clinical types of BCR were observed. BCR patients with IVS6-8/Tru had an earlier decline in visual acuity than those with homo IVS6-8. Our findings enhance the knowledge of BCR and will be helpful in patient selection for gene therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Autoimmune polyglandular syndrome Type 1 (APS-1) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused by defects in the autoimmune regulator (AIRE) gene. Patients are generally diagnosed at ages between five and fifteen years when they exhibit three or more manifestations, most typically mucocutaneous candidiasis, autoimmune Addison's disease, and hypoparathyroidism. Our study aims to report the first case of a Chinese APS-1 patient, presented with LCA as the initial and essential clinical feature of this rare syndrome. Methods: Detailed medical and family history were recorded for the patient. Also, the comprehensive ophthalmological examinations were conducted. Whole exome sequencing (WES) was applied to screen pathogenic variants. Sanger sequencing validation and segregation analysis were further performed for confirmation. Results: A 3-year-old boy with severely impaired vision and initially referred as LCA. However, with a detailed history review, oral candidiasis, dental enamel hypoplasia, and nail candida infection were revealed. Moreover, genetic analysis revealed the homozygous c.769C>T (p.R257X) in AIRE gene (NM_000383.3) as the causative variant. Conclusion: We presented one case diagnosed with APS-1 based on clinical characteristics and genetic analysis. Our study demonstrated that LCA could serve as a warning sign for APS-1 and a potential trigger of early screening, which might prevent life-threatening complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: To compare the effect of bowel resection vs stripping on the clinical outcomes of patients with FIGO II–IV ovarian cancer. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed patients with FIGO II–IV ovarian cancer who suffered from bowel involvement and underwent cytoreductive surgery between January 2014 and March 2022. Patients' survival was compared by Kaplan–Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards models. Results: Four hundred and twelve patients were included. 48 patients underwent bowel resection (BR), and 364 patients underwent bowel tumor stripping (BTS). The BR group had longer operative duration, hospital stay, time to post-operative chemotherapy, and more intraoperative bleeding. The median PFS was 37 months (95% CI 12–62) in BTS compared to 25 months (95% CI 10–40) in BR among patients who achieved R0 resection (p = 0.590). Among those with R1 resection, the median PFS in BST was 23 months (95% CI 16–30) and that in BR was 15 months (95% CI 12–18, p = 0.136); moreover, a favorable median PFS was observed in BTS with residual bowel lesions (23 months, 95% CI 14–32), compared to BR (15 months, 95% CI 12–18, p = 0.144). Multivariate analysis indicated that FIGO stage, PCI, cytoreduction time and residual lesions were independent prognostic factors of PFS. Conclusion: For patients with FIGO stage II–IV ovarian cancer with bowel implicated, bowel resection is necessary to achieve complete removal to improve the survival. If complete resection was judged unfeasible, cautious decision of bowel resection is required. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy might reduce the ratio of bowel resection for some with mesenteric involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, Zero-Shot Learning (ZSL) has gained great attention due to its significant classification performance for novel unobserved classes. As seen and unseen classes are completely disjoint, the current ZSL methods inevitably suffer from the domain shift problem when transferring the knowledge between the observed and unseen classes. Additionally, most ZSL methods especially those targeting the semantic space may cause the hubness problem due to their use of nearest-neighbor classifiers in high-dimensional space. To tackle these issues, we propose a novel pathway termed Regularized Label Relaxation-based Stacked Autoencoder (RLRSA) to diminish the domain difference between seen and unseen classes by exploiting an effective label space, which has some notable advantages. First, the proposed method establishes the tight relations among the visual representation, semantic information and label space using via the stacked autoencoder, which is beneficial for avoiding the projection domain shift. Second, by incorporating a slack variable matrix into the label space, our RLRSA method has more freedom to fit the test samples whether they come from the observed or unseen classes, resulting in a very robust and discriminative projection. Third, we construct a manifold regularization based on a class compactness graph to further reduce the domain gap between the seen and unseen classes. Finally, the learned projection is utilized to predict the class label of the target sample, thus the hubness issue can be prevented. Extensive experiments conducted on benchmark datasets clearly show that our RLRSA method produces new state-of-the-art results under two standard ZSL settings. For example, the RLRSA obtains the highest average accuracy of 67.82% on five benchmark datasets under the pure ZSL setting. For the generalized ZSL task, the proposed RLRSA is still highly effective, e.g., it achieves the best H result of 58.9% on the AwA2 dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to social support from one's social network can serve as a protective factor against HIV infection; however, research exploring the availability of support in diverse populations that include high proportions of people at increased risk for HIV and the characteristics of network members associated with access to such support is limited. Multi-level dyadic analyses of social network data collected from women at risk for HIV and their network members reveal which individual and relationship characteristics of network members are associated with providing emotional, material, and/or health informational support. Results indicate that access to all three types of support was associated with a network member being a friend, a member of a participant's 'core' group, someone whose opinion matters to the respondent, and the respondent trusting them. These findings have implications for interventions designed to increase access to support among individuals at risk for HIV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed at analyzing and comparing the perioperative results and long-term oncological outcomes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) treated with laparoscopic (LLR) versus open liver resection (OLR). Methods: Clinicopathological data of HCC patients with T2DM who underwent LLR or OLR as initial treatment from four medical centers were retrospectively reviewed. The survival outcomes of patients who underwent laparoscopic liver resection (LLR) were compared with those of patients who underwent open liver resection (OLR). Using the Kaplan–Meier method, survival curves for the two groups of patients were generated, and the log-rank test was used to compare survival differences. Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was used to match patients of the LLR and OLR groups in a 1:1 ratio. Results: 230 HCC patients with T2DM were enrolled, including 101 patients in the LLR group and 129 patients in the OLR group. After PSM, 90 patients were matched in each of the study group. Compared with the OLR group, the LLR group had less blood loss, a shorter hospitalization and fewer postoperative complications. The LLR group had a significantly better overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) than the OLR group before and after PSM. Subgroup analysis demonstrated that HCC patients with T2DM had survival benefits from LLR regardless of the course of T2DM. Conclusions: Laparoscopic liver resection for HCC patients with T2DM can be safely performed with favorable perioperative and long-term oncological outcomes at high-volume liver cancer centers, regardless of the course of T2DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neural networks are widely deployed in many scenarios and have reached or exceeded human-level performance in some tasks. However, the researchers found that existing neural networks are vulnerable to attacks. One of the cases is that the network outputs the wrong result in the presence of small perturbations in the input. It indicates that the neural network does not meet the robustness. Neural networks, which do not meet robustness, will limit their application in safety-critical systems such as automatic driving and wise medical. Hence, the research on the robustness of neural networks is significant. Interval analysis is a mathematical technique used to put bounds on rounding errors and measurement errors in mathematical computation and can be used to calculate the exact output range of a real-valued function. Based on the theoretical framework of interval analysis, we define the interval extension of neural networks and prove that it includes the inclusion isotonicity and Lipschitzian property. It illustrates the feasibility of using interval extension to compute the output range of a neural network corresponding to a given input range. In order to evaluate the robustness of the neural network, we further analyze the characteristics of the neural network interval extension and design a neural network robustness evaluation method based on the greedy strategy. Experiment results on the MNIST and ACAS Xu datasets show that the method can effectively evaluate the robustness of the neural network with good time performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the progress of science and technology, as well as the development of quantum computing and quantum information theory, quantum digital signature schemes have become the focus of current research. Threshold quantum signature has been widely concerned because of its low cost, high security, strong scalability and other advantages. In this paper, we propose a quantum (t, m, n) threshold group blind signature scheme with flexible number of participants based on quantum entanglement swapping. This scheme has the following characteristics. Any m (t ⩽ m ⩽ n) signers can reconstruct the key K for signature verification by using the Shamir threshold secret sharing scheme and they can generate a signature, which reflects good flexibility in the number of signers. The blind operation of the scheme is XOR operations, which is easier to implement in real scenarios. Security analysis shows that our scheme has unforgeability and non-deniablity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the problem of identifying discrete-time Wiener systems consisting of polynomial nonlinearities and linear subsystems with unknown orders. The best linear approximation for a Wiener system is found by using finite generalized rational orthogonal basis functions. The novelty of this work is that the poles of the basis functions are adaptively selected by applying the proposed method. This selection leads to a greedy type of best linear approximation with a fast convergence rate. Further, the nonlinearity is determined by solving the conventional least-squares problem as usual. Moreover, the case in which there are errors in the frequencies is analyzed. The analytical results show that small perturbations have limited effects on the upper bounds of the estimation error. Two numerical examples are given to verify the validity of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of advanced thermal spray technology for surface modification of aluminum alloy parts for automobiles can greatly improve the surface properties and service life of the parts while saving resources and reducing environmental pollution. In this paper, a Ni60A coating was prepared on the surface of aluminum alloy 109 (ZL109) by supersonic plasma spraying (HEPJet). The spraying process parameters were optimized based on the response surface methodology (RSM). The effects of the main factors such as spraying power, spraying distance, and Ar flow rate on the porosity and microhardness of the coating were analyzed by the Box–Behnken method (BBD). The response surface of the porosity and microhardness of the coating was constructed by establishing the appropriate mathematical model. The response surface of porosity and microhardness of the coating was constructed by establishing a relevant mathematical model. The results show that the established mathematical model is reliable, and the spray power has the greatest influence on the porosity and microhardness of the coating. The optimal porosity and microhardness of the coating predicted by the model are 0.85% and 971.1HV0.1, respectively, which is close to the experimental results. The porosity and microhardness of the coating measured by the experiment are 0.87% and 959.8HV0.1, respectively. The coatings prepared with optimal parameters have good compactness, small porosity, and high hardness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compliant vertical access risers (CVAR) have broad application prospects in deep-water oil and gas transportation. However, the mechanical behaviors of the CVAR with a variable length during installation remains unclear. To address this issue, based on the flexible segment method, a model of CVAR with a variable length during installation is established in this study, which is verified by the comparison with commercial software. Then, the mechanical behaviors of CVAR during installation are investigated. The results reveal that the CVAR configuration is significantly affected by the buoyancy blocks. The streamwise displacement of CVAR increases with the increase of current velocity. When the BOP weight is insufficient, obvious upbending is observed in the lower region and transition region, leading to local compression. When the platform moves in the opposite direction to the current, the maximum stress is larger than that of the scenario when the platform moves in the same direction as the current. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The separator is an essential component of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), and polyimide (PI), a high-performance polymer with outstanding mechanical and thermal properties and a strong electrolyte affinity, has received substantial research as a potential separator material. In this work, we fabricated a PI composite separator (PI/WO3) by combining the components in one step with concurrently electrospinning the precursor solution and electrospraying the WO3 nanoparticles. The one step mixing method made the WO3 uniformly distribute on the PI nanofiber surfaces with a result of porosity decrease. Although the introduction of WO3 nanoparticles did not alter the chemical structure and the excellent thermal stability, the electrolyte wettability, mechanical strength and electrochemical performance of PI separator were all significantly improved by the nanoparticles, endowing the composite separator with superior cycle stability. Therefore, the use of WO3 in a polyimide separator has practical significance for high safety and high performance of LIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the distribution of chromosomal abnormalities in a recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) cohort and explore the associations between chromosomal abnormalities and clinical characteristics. Method: Over a 5-year period, fresh products of conception (POC) from women with RPL were analyzed by single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array at our hospital. After obtaining the information on clinical characteristics, we investigated the associations between the causative chromosomal abnormalities and clinical characteristics by the chi-squared test or Fisher's exact test and logistic regression. Results: A total of 2383 cases were enrolled. Overall, 56.9% (1355/2383) were identified with causative chromosomal abnormalities, of which 92.1% (1248/1355) were numerical abnormalities, 7.5% (102/1355) were structural variants, and 0.4% (5/1355) were loss of heterozygosity (LOH). The risk of numerical abnormalities was increased in women with maternal age ≥ 35 years (OR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.41–2.07), gestational age at pregnancy loss ≤ 12 weeks (OR, 2.78; 95% CI, 1.79–4.33), less number of previous pregnancy losses (twice: OR, 2.32; 95% CI, 1.84–2.94; 3 times: OR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.23–2.05, respectively), and pregnancy with a female fetus (OR, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.15–1.62). The OR of pregnancy loss with recurrent abnormal CMA was 4.00 (95% CI: 1.87–8.58, P < 0.001) and the adjusted OR was 5.05 (95% CI: 2.00–12.72, P = 0.001). However, the mode of conception was not associated with the incidence of numerical abnormality. No association was noted between structural variants and clinical characteristics. Conclusion: Chromosomal abnormality was the leading cause of RPL. Numerical chromosome abnormality was more likely to occur in cases with advanced maternal age, an earlier gestational age, fewer previous pregnancy losses, and pregnancy with a female fetus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial risk is spread and amplified through the interconnectedness among financial institutions. We apply a time-varying parameter vector autoregression model to analyze the dynamic spillover effects in the Chinese financial system. We find that the 2017 house price control policies have significantly increased the risk of China's financial system. Before 2017, with the prosperity of the real estate market, the interconnectedness of the Chinese financial system continued to decline, while after 2017, with the slowdown of house price growth and the downturn of the real estate market, the interconnectedness turned to increase. For different sectors, the trends and the magnitudes of the spillover effects are diverse, and any sector can contribute to systemic risk in a dynamic way. Finally, we rank 20 systemically important financial institutions according to two centrality measures. The stable institution ranking provides less noisy information for regulators to formulate a policy and intervene in the market effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weight and activation binarization can efficiently compress deep neural networks and accelerate model inference, but they cause severe accuracy degradation. Existing optimization methods for binary neural networks (BNNs) focus on fitting full-precision networks to reduce quantization errors and suffer from a tradeoff between accuracy and efficiency. In contrast, considering information loss and the mismatch between model capacity and input information quantity caused by network binarization, we propose Information Restriction and Information Recovery Network (IR 2 Net) to stimulate the potential of BNNs and achieve improved network accuracy by restricting the input information and recovering feature information. The proposed approach includes (1) information restriction, which evaluates the feature information extracted from the input by a BNN, discards some of the information it cannot focus on, and reduces the amount of the input information to match the model capacity; and (2) information recovery: due to the information loss incurred during forward propagation, the extracted feature information of the network is not sufficient for supporting accurate classification. Shallow feature maps with richer information are selected, and these feature maps are fused with the final feature maps to recover the extracted feature information and further enhance the model capacity to match the amount of input information. In addition, the computational cost is reduced by streamlining the information recovery method to strike a better tradeoff between accuracy and efficiency. Experimental results demonstrate that our approach still achieves comparable accuracy even with a ∼ 10x floating-point operations (FLOPs) reduction for ResNet-18. The models and code are available at https://github.com/pingxue-hfut/IR2Net. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, first-principles calculations based on the density functional theory are used to systematically discuss the geometry structures and optoelectronic properties of the AlAs/InP van der Waals heterostructure (vdWH). According to our results, the AlAs/InP heterostructure is a sort of direct band gap semiconductor whose immanent type-II band arrangement can effectively prevent the recombination of photogenerated electron and hole pairs. Due to charge transfer and interlayer coupling, the optical absorption range and capability of the AlAs/InP heterostructure are significantly superior to AlAs and InP monolayers. In addition, the external electric field and uniaxial strain can effectively modify the band structure of the AlAs/InP heterostructure, arising semiconductor-to-metal and direct-gap to indirect-gap transitions. The above results illustrate that the AlAs/InP heterostructure possesses potential applications in nanoelectronic and optoelectronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective width (beff) has been widely used by designers, and several specifications can be selected. However, insufficient research has been conducted on the beff of single and twin I-beam composite girders. Thus, finite element (FE) models, calibrated by the experiment, were used to study the effects of slab thickness, web position, interaction degree (ID) of shear studs, width-to-span ratio, and their coupling effects on beff. Different loading types and two definitions of beff were elaborated. The FE results were compared with specifications in Eurocode 4 (EC4) and AASHTO LRFD bridge design specifications (AASHTO). The following results were obtained. The modeling agrees with the experiment. The critical steel height-to-slab thickness ratio is around 4. When the ratio deviates from the critical value, beff is reduced with the increase of slab thickness. ID has a slight influence on beff. beff changes within 10% when ID changes within 10%. The maximum beff can be obtained when the web spacing-to-physical width ratio is 1/2. The decrease of web spacing brings a maximum reduction of 14% on beff, whereas increasing web spacing results in a maximum reduction of 70% for twin I-beam. The coupled effect of web position and slab thickness is limited. The maximum difference is 25%. Recommended equations were proposed to evaluate beff for single I-beam and twin I-beam composite girders based on the specifications in EC4 and AASHTO, which can ensure that the negative error is within 10%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose brane web configurations for D-type and E-type N =(1,0) little string theories based on a trivalent or quadrivalent gluing of 5-brane web diagrams. Tri-/quadri-valent gluing is a powerful way of computing 5d/6d partition functions for supersymmetric gauge theories based on the topological vertex. We generalize the gluing techniques to little string theories by introducing a new compact direction and compute their supersymmetric partition functions on Omega-deformed ℝ4×T2. As concrete examples, we consider little string theories arising from Type IIB NS5-branes probing D4 or D5 singularity. Their effective gauge theory descriptions as the affine D4 or D5 quiver gauge theory can be realized with quadrivalent or trivalent gluing, respectively. Based on these gluings of 5-brane webs, we compute their refined partition functions and compare them with the known results. We extend the computation of the partition function to little string theory engineered from IIB NS5-branes probing E6 singularity based on a trivalent gluing. We also discuss the generalization to higher rank cases and the symmetries of the partition functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Application of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in surgical oncology has been limited because of patient heterogeneity. We analyzed symptom trajectories and their associations with recovery outcomes after lung cancer surgery, aiming to profile the heterogeneity of patients' experiences and to identify patients needing extensive care. Methods: Symptoms were assessed with the MDASI-LC before surgery, daily after surgery in hospital and weekly within 1 month after discharge. Patients were clustered based on symptoms from post-operative day 1 (POD1) to POD5, using the latent-class-trajectory-model. Functional recovery was compared across the trajectories. Logistic regression was used to explore risk factors for trajectories of more severe symptoms. Results: Based on the five most severe post-surgery symptoms (pain, fatigue, coughing, shortness of breath, and disturbed sleep), we identified three distinct symptom trajectories among 424 patients [mild, N = 225 (53.07%); severe-to-mild, N = 86 (20.28%); severe, N = 104 (24.53%)]. At discharge, more 'severe' patients (73.96%) did not achieve a functional recovery compared with those in mild (32.54%, P < 0.0001) or severe-to-mild (56.96%, P = 0.0274) groups. Factors of significant symptom increase on POD1 were younger-than-55 (OR = 1.94 [95% CI 1.30–2.93], P = 0.001), undergoing open or multi-port video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (OR = 1.59 [95% CI 1.05–2.41], P = 0.03), and using two chest tubes (OR = 1.72 [95% CI 1.12–2.65], P = 0.01). For patients experiencing dramatic symptom increase on POD1, older age (OR = 2.51 [95% CI 1.40–4.59], P = 0.002) was associated with 'severe' trajectory. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that PRO measures were capable of profiling heterogeneous symptom trajectories after lung cancer surgery. Those in-hospital trajectories were able to differentiate patients' responses to treatments and signal the needs for extensive post-discharge care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The morphology of the Modaomen Estuary (ME) has undergone drastic changes in recent decades, and quantifying the contribution of human activities and natural processes is crucial for estuary management. Using Landsat images, chart data, and hydrological and meteorological data, this study analyzed the evolution of the shoreline and subaqueous topography of the ME and attempted to quantify the extent of the contributions of human activities. The results show that local human activities dominated morphological evolution in some periods. From 1973 to 2003, the shoreline advanced rapidly seaward, resulting in approximately half of the water area being converted into land. Human activity is critical to this process, with the direct contribution of local land reclamation projects reaching more than 85%. After 2003, the shoreline remained relatively stable, probably due to a decrease in land reclamation projects. Regarding the evolution of subaqueous topography, the shoals in the estuary were heavily silted and gradually disappeared during 1983–2003, and the waterways narrowed and deepened. The average siltation rate decreased from 15.43 mm/a to −1.02 mm/a, indicating that the ME changed from sedimentation to slight erosion. By detecting variations of sediment load, we found that upstream human activities reduced river sediment, while downstream human activities significantly increased sediment input to the ME, leaving little change in the actual sediment input to the ME for a relatively long period. In addition, based on the empirical relationship between the sediment input and siltation rate, local human activities influenced the shift in the siltation state more than upstream and downstream human activities did. These findings suggest that more attention should be paid to local human activities to improve the estuarine management in the ME. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domain adaptive object detection refers to training a cross-domain object detector through a large number of labeled source domain datasets and unlabeled target domain datasets and learning the domain invariant features between two domains to reduce or eliminate the domain discrepancy. However, factors such as data privacy protection, limited storage space, and high labor costs often make many source domain-labeled samples unavailable in real-time situations. In this work, we propose a pseudo-supervised mean teacher model for source-free domain adaptive object detection that alternates between generating pseudo-labels and fine-tuning the model and utilizes a pixel-level distillation loss method and the weight regularization module for model adaptation. We use the mean teacher model to assist training to achieve object detection task in the source-free domain. Experiments are carried out on multiple datasets such as Cityscapes, Foggy Cityscapes, and SIM10K. Extensive experiments on multiple domain adaptation scenarios show that our method achieves better performance than the baseline (Faster R-CNN) and multiple state-of-the-art domain adaptation methods which require access to source domain data, demonstrating the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are one attractive hardware platform for computing the eigenvalue decomposition of low-dimensional symmetric matrices. For this, one popular method is using the parallel Jacobi algorithm based on coordinate rotations digital computer (CORDIC). We here present a novel efficient FPGA architecture for computing the eigenvalue decomposition, whose main idea is from the fact that rotation matrices in Jacobi's method belong to a category of special sparse matrices. Based on the above characteristic, matrix multiplications in the parallel Jacobi algorithm can be performed by FPGA efficiently. In addition, we provide one solution for Jacobi's method to decompose the complex Hermitian matrix. Then, our proposed design is compared with state-of-the-arts on one Xilinx XC7V690T FPGA. Due to the high real-time requirement, we finally take the subspace-based direction of arrival (DOA) estimation in wireless communication as an application example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the three-stage fatigue crack growth model, a corrosion fatigue life prediction method considering the coupling effect of corrosion and fatigue is proposed in this paper. In this case, stress factor amplitude was claimed considering the coupling effect of corrosion and fatigue. Three push-out tests in corrosion conditions were conducted to study the failure mode of studs. The crack propagation of studs, obtained through the push-out tests, was simulated in FRANC 3D to establish a library of adequate stress factor amplitude. According to the corrosion degree of the specimens, the corrosion dissolution rate formula was formed, and the corrosion fatigue life of the specimen was predicted. Results show that the error between the predicted and experimental values is approximately 25%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pervasiveness of smartphone engagement among young adults has attracted growing interest regarding its impact on cognitive processes. However, research on the relation between smartphone use and executive function (EF)—a set of adaptive, goal-directed control processes—remains inconclusive due to imprecise estimation of EF dimensions and inconsistent operationalisation of smartphone use in past studies. Therefore, we examined how two indices of smartphone use—screen time and checking frequency—would predict EF (common EF, shifting-specific-, and working-memory-specific components), using a latent-variable approach based on a comprehensive battery of EF tasks. We also examined the moderating role of problematic smartphone use in the link between smartphone use and EF components. We found that screen time positively predicted working-memory-specific and shifting-specific abilities, whereas frequent checking was associated with enhanced shifting-specific, but poorer common EF, abilities. Importantly, problematic smartphone use moderated the relation between checking frequency and common EF. Overall, our findings demonstrate that different indices of smartphone use asymmetrically predict EF facets, thereby highlighting the construct distinctiveness of the various markers of smartphone engagement. Our findings imply that checking frequency and problematic use, rather than screen time, are the most promising targets for interventions that aim to circumvent cognitive impairments by curtailing smartphone use, especially in educational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hyperglycemia aggravates brain damage after diffuse axonal injury (DAI), but the underlying mechanisms are not fully defined. In this study, we aimed to investigate a possible role for hyperglycemia in the disruption of blood–brain barrier (BBB) integrity in a rat model of DAI and the underlying mechanisms. Accordingly, 50% glucose was intraperitoneally injected after DAI to establish the hyperglycemia model. Hyperglycemia treatment aggravated neurological impairment and axonal injury, increased cell apoptosis and glial activation, and promoted the release of inflammatory factors, including TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6. It also exacerbated BBB disruption and decreased the expression of tight junction-associated proteins, including ZO-1, claudin-5, and occludin-1, whereas the PPARγ agonist rosiglitazone (RSG) had the opposite effects. An in vitro BBB model was established by a monolayer of human microvascular endothelial cells (HBMECs). Hyperglycemia induction worsened the loss of BBB integrity induced by oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD) by increasing the release of inflammatory factors and decreasing the expression of tight junction-associated proteins. Hyperglycemia further reduced the expression of PPARγ and caveolin-1, which significantly decreased after DAI and OGD. Hyperglycemia also further increased the expression of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), which significantly increased after OGD. Subsequently, the PPARγ agonist RSG increased caveolin-1 expression and decreased TLR4 expression and inflammatory factor levels. In contrast, caveolin-1 siRNA abrogated the protective effects of RSG in the in vitro BBB model of hyperglycemia by increasing TLR4 and Myd88 expression and the levels of inflammatory factors, including TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6. Collectively, we demonstrated that hyperglycemia was involved in mediating secondary injury after DAI by disrupting BBB integrity by inducing inflammation through the PPARγ/caveolin-1/TLR4 pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pesticides are important agricultural inputs to increase agricultural productivity and improve food security. The availability of pesticides is partially achieved through international trade. However, economies involved in the international trade of pesticides are impacted by internal and external shocks from time to time, which influence the redistribution efficiency of pesticides all over the world. In this work, we adopt simulations to quantify the efficiency and robustness of the international pesticide trade networks under shocks to economies. Shocks are simulated based on nine node metrics, and three strategies are utilized based on descending, random, and ascending node removal. It is found that the efficiency and robustness of the international trade networks of pesticides increased for all the node metrics except the clustering coefficient. Moreover, the international pesticide trade networks are more fragile when import-oriented economies are affected by shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing algorithms have difficulty in solving the two tasks of localization and classification simultaneously when performing traffic sign detection on realistic images of complex traffic scenes. In order to solve the above problems, a new road traffic sign dataset is created, and based on the YOLOv4 algorithm, for the complexity of realistic traffic scene images and the large variation in the size of traffic signs in the images, the multi-scale feature extraction module, cascade feature fusion module and attention mechanism module are designed to improve the algorithm's ability to locate and classify traffic signs simultaneously. Experimental results on the newly created dataset show that the improved algorithm achieves a mean average precision of 84.44%, which is higher than several major CNN-based object detection algorithms for the same type of task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real-time detection and identification of dangerous driving behaviors is an effective measure to reduce traffic accidents. Due to the high network delay, limited communication bandwidth, and weak computing power, lightweight detection models that can run on edge devices have been widely investigated and attracted considerable attention. In recent years, the Graph Convolutional Network (GCN), which models the human skeleton as a spatiotemporal graph, has achieved remarkable performance, due to its powerful capability of modeling non-Euclidean structured data. However, there are disadvantages such as the unitary way of extracting information, high model complexity, and inability to integrate environmental information. Therefore, we design a Lightweight Multimodal Feature Graph Convolutional Network (L-MFGCN) model for dangerous driving behavior detection video in an end-to-end manner. First, we propose a Multimodal Feature Graph Convolutional Neural Network (MF-GCN), which captures richer features by extracting critical local spatial and temporal information of joint points, and a multi-information fusion behavior recognition model of “people + objects” by capturing the motion information of related object. Then, the method based on Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) rank reduction is used to compress the model to improve the speed of recognizing an action sample while ensuring sufficient detection accuracy. The proposed model, respectively, achieves 96% and 86.3% accuracy on the x-view benchmark of NTU-RGBD dataset and the homemade Locomotive Driver Dataset, which attains the state-of-the-art performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Oguchi disease is a rare autosomal recessive form of congenital stationary night blindness caused by disease-causing variants in the rhodopsin kinase gene (GRK1) or the arrestin gene (SAG). Our study aims to describe the clinical features and identify the genetic defects for three Chinese patients with Oguchi disease. Methods: We conducted detailed ophthalmologic examinations for three patients from three unrelated non-consanguineous Chinese families. Targeted next-generation sequencing (targeted NGS) and copy number variations (CNVs) analysis were applied to screen pathogenic variants. Sanger sequencing validation, quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR), and segregation analysis were further performed for confirmation. Subsequently, a combined genetic and structural biology approach was used to infer the likely functional consequences of novel variants. Results: All three patients presented with typical clinical features of Oguchi disease, including night blindness, characteristic fundus appearance (Mizuo-Nakamura phenomenon), attenuated rod responses, and negative ERG waveforms. Their visual acuity and visual field were normal. Genetic analysis revealed two pathogenic variants in SAG and four pathogenic variants in GRK1. Patient 1 was identified to harbor compound heterozygous SAG variants c.874C > T (p.R292*) and exon2 deletion. Compound heterozygous GRK1 variants c.55C > T (p.R19*) and c.1412delC (p.P471Lfs*52) were found in patient 2. In patient 3, compound heterozygous GRK1 variants c.946C > A (p.R316S) and c.1388 T > C (p. L463P) were detected. Conclusions: We reported the first two Chinese Oguchi patients with novel GRK1 pathogenic variants (P471Lfs*52, R316S, L463P) and one Oguchi case with SAG, indicating both GRK1 and SAG are important causative genes in Chinese Oguchi patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]