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The specific compositions of human excreta in sewage can be used as biomarkers to indicate the disease prevalence, health status, and lifestyle of the population living in the investigated catchment. It is important for guiding and evaluating public health policies as well as promoting human health development. Among several parameters of wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE), the decay of biomarkers during transportation in sewer and storage plays a crucial role in the back-calculation of population consumption. In this paper, we summarized the stability data of common biomarkers in storage at different temperatures and in-sewer transportation. Among them, cardiovascular drugs and antidiabetic drugs are very stable which can be used as biomarkers; most of the illicit drugs are stable except for cocaine, heroin, and tetrahydrocannabinol which could be substituted by their metabolites as biomarkers. There are some losses for part of antibiotics and antidepressants even in frozen storage. Rapid detection of contagious viruses is a new challenge for infectious disease control. With the deeper and broader study of biomarkers, it is expected that the reliable application of the WBE will be a useful addition to epidemiological studies.

The aim of this study was to investigate the changes of Helper T cells 17 (Th17 cells), Regulatory T cells (Treg cells), Treg/Th17, Interleukin-17 (IL-17) and Interleukin-10 (IL-10) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).Four electronic resource databases were searched from their inception to 1 August 2021. Case-control studies about changes of Th17 cells, Treg cells, Treg/Th17, IL-17 and IL-10 in patients with T2DM were retrieved. We performed this meta-analysis via RevMan V.5.3 and Stata14.20 studies with 1242 individuals were included in the meta-analysis. Compared with the controls, the patients with T2DM had significantly increased levels of percentage of Th17 cells (SMD, 1.74; 95% CI, 0.47-3.01; p 0.001), IL-17 (SMD, 2.17; 95% CI, 0.06-4.28; p 0.001), IL-10 (SMD, 1.20; 95% CI, 0.81-1.59; p = 0.003), but decreased levels of percentage of Treg cells (SMD, -1.17; 95% CI, -2.22 to -0.13; p 0.001) and Treg/Th17 ratio (SMD, -4.43; 95% CI, -7.07 to -1.78; p 0.001). Subgroup analysis showed that percentage of CD4Adaptive immune system indeed plays an essential role in the process of T2DM. Imbalance between Th17 and Treg triggers pro-inflammatory environment in patients with T2DM.

Rhizoma phragmitis is a common Chinese herbal medicine whose effects are defined as 'clearing heat and fire, promoting fluid production to quench thirst, eliminating irritability, stopping vomiting, and disinhibiting urine'. During the Novel Coronavirus epidemic in 2020, the Weijing Decoction and Wuye Lugen Decoction, with Rhizoma phragmitis as the main herbal component, were included in The Pneumonia Treatment Protocol for Novel Coronavirus Infection (Trial Version 5) due to remarkable antiviral effects. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that Rhizoma phragmitis has antiviral, antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and hypoglycemic functions, lowers blood lipids and protects the liver and kidney. This review aims to provide a systematic summary of the botany, traditional applications, phytochemistry, pharmacology and toxicology of Rhizoma phragmitis.

Antihistamines (ANTs) are medicines to treat allergic diseases. They have been frequently detected in the natural water environment, posing potential threats to the ecological environment and human health. In this study, the degradation of three common antihistamines, loratadine, fexofenadine, and cetirizine, was estimated under different oxidation methods (NaClO, UV, and UV-NaClO). The results showed that UV-NaClO had the highest degree of degradation on the drugs under most conditions: 100% degradation for fexofenadine within 20 s at pH 7 and 10. Under UV irradiation, the degradation efficiencies of the three drugs during 150 s were all above 77% at a pH of 7. The drugs' removal by NaClO was much lower than that of the previous two methods. In addition, this study explored the contribution rates of active oxygen species in the photolysis process. Among them, the contribution of

Transsphenoidal surgery (TSS) is the first-line treatment for patients with Cushing's disease (CD). However, the reported remission rates of patients who received TSS vary widely between different studies, and the predictors of surgical outcomes remain controversial. The present study analyzed the early outcome of TSS in a large population of patients with CD at a single center, and identified potential predictors of initial remission of TSS in patients with CD.The clinical features and surgical outcomes of CD patients who underwent TSS between 1988 and 2018 at Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) were collected and analyzed from their medical records.Of the 1604 CD patients who underwent TSS at PUMCH between February 1988 and October 2018, 1106 patients had complete medical data and pathological results. After surgery, the overall postoperative initial remission rate was 72.5, and 27.5% of patients maintained persistent hypercortisolism. The initial remission rate of patients with preoperative noninvasive adenoma based on MRI (77.1%), intraoperative noninvasiveness (72.5%), microadenoma (74.3%), pathological confirmation (76.4%), and first TSS (73.9%) was significantly higher than that in patients with preoperative invasive adenoma (53.0%), intraoperative invasiveness (60.7%), macroadenomas (65.9%), pathologically negative (49.7%), and repeat TSS (56.0%), respectively (all P 0.05). The initial remission rate in patients with pseudocapsule-based extracapsular resection (88.1%), MRI-visible adenoma (74.2%) was higher than that in patients without pseudocapsule-based extracapsular resection (77.1%), and with MRI-negative results (64.5%), respectively, but did not reach statistical significance (All P 0.05). Striking, there was no significant differences in initial remission rates between patients who underwent selective adenomectomy and enlarged adenomectomy (P 0.05). Whereas, the initial remission rates in patients who underwent partial hypophysectomy only was 51.0%, which was much lower than that in patients underwent selective adenomectomy and enlarged adenomectomy (P 0.05).The TSS is a safe and effective procedure for the treatment of CD. Whereas, preoperative invasiveness based on MRI, intraoperative invasiveness, macroadenomas pathologically negative, and repeat TSS are related to lower initial remission rates.

Steel parts are a kind of high recovery value product for which de-rusting is the primary step in the recycling process. Laser cleaning is a popular and effective de-rusting technique at present. However, the rust on most end-of-life/used parts is very serious, and it is difficult for laser cleaning to remove it all. Therefore, a compound cleaning method was proposed in which molten salt was first used for the pretreatment of rust, followed by laser cleaning. It was shown that the rust layer after pretreatment was much easier to remove with low laser fluence. The cleaning efficiency could be improved by at least 1.34 times, and a cleaner surface without any damage could be obtained. This was the result of the inner-to-outer cleaning effect of molten salt. The penetration into the rust layer and the decomposition of the doped organics caused the contaminant layer to be destroyed in the interior and then peeled off sheet by sheet. The composition and structure analysis indicated that the remaining rust layer was oxidized, and it became looser after molten salt cleaning, which made it easier to clean. The application of molten salt to the cleaning of rusty parts will improve de-rusting efficiency and promote the development of de-rusting techniques effectively. It provides a feasible and high-efficiency choice for de-rusting.

Epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) are effective against non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with EGFR-activating mutations. The mechanisms underlying EGFR-TKI resistance are not fully understood. This study aimed to analyze the effects of seven EGFR ligands on EGFR-TKI sensitivity in NSCLC cells and patients. Cells with EGFR E746-A750del mutation were treated with recombinant EGFR ligands, and analyzed for cell viability, proliferation, and apoptosis. shRNA knockdown of endogenous Epiregulin (EREG) or overexpression of exogenous EREG and immunofluorescence experiments were carried out. Public gene expression datasets were used for tumor microenvironment and clinical assessment. Among the EGFR ligands, EREG significantly diminished cellular sensitivity to TKIs and was associated with decreased response to erlotinib in NSCLC patients. EREG induced AKT phosphorylation and attenuated TKI-induced cellular apoptosis in an ErbB2-dependent manner. EREG induced the formation of the EGFR/ErbB2 heterodimer regardless of gefitinib treatment. However, overexpression or knockdown of EREG in cancer cells had little impact on TKI sensitivity. Single-cell RNA sequencing data revealed that EREG was predominantly expressed in macrophages in the tumor microenvironment. In addition, EREG-enriched macrophage conditional medium induced EGFR-TKI resistance. These findings shed new light on the mechanism underlying EGFR-TKI resistance, and suggest macrophage-produced intratumoral EREG as a novel regulator and biomarker for EGFR-TKI therapy in NSCLC.

Magnetic assembly at the nanoscale level brings potential possibilities in obtaining novel delicate nanostructures with unique physical, photonic or electronic properties. Interface surfactant micelle-directed assembly strategy holds great promising in fabricating ordered mesoporous materials with multifunctionality and pore parameter tunability. Combing these, herein, one-dimensional (1D) nanochains with well-aligned silica-coated magnetic particles as core and mesoporous aluminosilicate as shell are rational fabricated for the first time through magnetic field induced interface coassembly in biliquid system followed by the incorporation of Al species via in-situ chemical modification and transformation strategy. The obtained magnetic mesoporous aluminosilicate nanochains (MMAS-NCs) possess well-defined core-shell-shell sandwich nanostructure, tunable perpendicular mesopore channels in the shell (2.7–7.6 nm), high surface area (359 m2·g−1), abundant acidic sites, and superparamagnetism with a magnetization saturation of 13.8 emu·g−1. Thanks to the unique properties, the MMAS-NCs exhibit excellent performance in acting as magnetically recyclable superior solid acid catalysts and nanostirrers with high conversion of over 96.8%, selectivity of 95.0% in the deprotection reaction of benzaldehyde dimethylacetal to benzaldehyde. Moreover, MMAS-NCs exhibit an interesting pore size effect on the catalytic activity, namely, in the pore size range of 2–8 nm, the catalysts with larger pores show significantly enhanced catalytic activity due to the balanced mass transport and density of surface active sites.

Due to the influence of color, boundaries, and shapes of melanoma, the segmentation of the lesion area is still a challenging problem. In this paper, we propose a method to connect two attention modules (channel attention and spatial attention) serially and embed them into the skip connection of the encoder–decoder network. Different from previous work on image segmentation through attention mechanism, we have made a different combination of the existing popular spatial attention module and channel attention module. The experimental results show that the sequence combinations with channel attention in front and spatial attention in the rear are more likely to aggregate global and local information as well as information between channels than other combinations. Our method achieved an average Jaccard Index of 0.7692 on the ISIC2017 dataset. At the same time, we also compared with some advanced methods of image segmentation, the experimental results show our proposed method has a competitive performance.

To address the balance problem between indexes within the performance evaluation of bridge systems, this paper develops an age- and condition-based variable weight model (ACVWM). First, the limitations of existing models used for the multi-layer weighted sum method, i.e., constant weight model (CWM) and condition-based variable weight model (CVWM), are presented through case studies, indicating that the weight variation is insufficient to characterize the deterioration law of components. Then, the definition of age-based variable weight is established following the existing concept of condition-based variable weight, which makes weights vary with service ages. Considering the characteristics of bridge assessment, an age-based variable weight model is built up to depict the time-variant trends of index weights with the service age. The variation law of age-based variable weight is discussed by using indexes in the superstructure of suspension bridges. As a result, the weights of replaceable and permanent components behave differently within the bridge service life. Finally, the ACVWM is built up and its effectiveness is verified through the same case studies applied to the CWM and CVWM. Compared with the evaluation results from the CWM and CVWM, the evaluation result of the ACVWM is more in line with the real maintenance strategy. Considering the CVWM in which low initial weights may lead to unsatisfactory weight assignment, the advantage of the proposed ACVWM lies in its capability to adjust initial weights over the service age.

A Lorentz force-type magnetic bearing (LFMB) with good linearity is suitable for the high-precision deflection control of a magnetically suspended gimballing flywheel (MSGFW). In this paper, a novel LFMB with improved double magnetic circuits is presented. Inclined magnetization Halbach array permanent magnets (PMs) and trapezoidal PMs are utilized for improving the magnetic flux density. A mathematical model of the magnetic flux density is established based on the equivalent surface current method. To obtain the maximum magnetic flux density, the optimal magnetization angle is calculated, and the dimension parameters are optimized by the sequential quadratic programming method. A maximum magnetic flux density of 0.615 T is obtained, which is 7.9% larger than that of an LFMB with conventional double magnetic circuits. Based on simulation results, LFMB prototype magnetic flux density experiments are carried out. The results show that the magnetic flux density fluctuations of the two LFMB schemes are similar. The maximum magnetic flux density of 0.608 T is increased by 6.7% when compared with that of the LFMB with conventional double magnetic circuits at 0.57 T. The error between the simulation and the experiment is within 5%. This indicates that the LFMB with improved double magnetic circuits is promising when it comes to meet the agile maneuver requirements of the spacecraft.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells are widely used as source material for anticancer immunotherapies. The conventional cryopreservation method for peripheral blood mononuclear cells is time-consuming and expansive, which involves controlled rate freezing followed by storage in liquid nitrogen. Instead, the convenient uncontrolled rate freezing cryopreservation method had been reported successfully in peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cells and peripheral blood progenitor cells. Therefore, we hypothesized that uncontrolled rate freezing cooling method maybe also applied to peripheral blood mononuclear cells cryopreservation. In this study, we evaluated the performance of uncontrolled rate freezing and controlled rate freezing cooling methods through cell recovery rate, viability, differentiation potential into cytokine-induced killer cells and the cellular properties of the cultured cytokine-induced killer cells. The results showed similar post-thaw viability and recovery rate in both controlled rate freezing and uncontrolled rate freezing cryopreserved peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Importantly, the uncontrolled rate freezing cryopreserved peripheral blood mononuclear cells exhibited higher growth ratio and earlier cell clustering during ex-vivo cytokine-induced killer cell culture than the controlled rate freezing ones. These two groups of expanded cytokine-induced killer cells also exhibited similar effector cell subset ratio and tumoricidal activity. In general, the performance of cryopreserved peripheral blood mononuclear cells using uncontrolled rate freezing cooling method, with the commercial cryoprotective agent CellBanker 2, was equal or better than the controlled rate freezing method. Our study implied that the combined use of cryoprotective agent CellBanker 2 and uncontrolled rate freezing could be a convenient cryopreservation method for peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

In order to solve the problem of low efficiency and high cost in designing inserts with groove, finite element simulation (FEM) method has been employed to directly simulate the chip breaking condition. However, the current methods tend to involve a large number of cutting experiments and a user subroutine program used for secondary development, causing inconveniency in engineering application. Here, we propose a high-efficient three-dimensional (3D) FEM method to analyze the chip breakage properties of complicate-grooved insert. For the simulation, a three-dimensional cutting simulation model is established by Deform 3D FE package, and the Johnson-Cook (J-C) material constitutive model and Cockcroft-Latham (C-L) ductile fracture criterion are adopted. To verify the validity of the model, the simulations and corresponding turning experiments of AISI 1045 steel are performed with complicate-grooved insert at several combination groups of cutting depth and feed rate. The estimated chip morphology, chip breaking process, and cutting force from the simulation are in good consistency with those from the experiments. Additionally, the comparisons between the simulations and corresponding turning experiments with complicate-grooved insert and flat rake insert are conducted. The results show that the chip breaking groove can significantly change the chip flow angle and the chip geometry and that the complicate-grooved insert can more efficiently promote chip breakage than the flat rake insert. Therefore, the 3D FEM method proposed can be used to effectively investigate the chip formation mechanism and chip breakage properties and has promising application prospects in complicate-grooved insert design and cutting parameter optimization.

To build models based on conventional logistic regression (LR) and machine learning (ML) algorithms combining clinical, morphological, and hemodynamic information to predict individual rupture status of unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIAs), afterwards tested in internal and external validation datasets.Patients with intracranial aneurysms diagnosed by computed tomography angiography and confirmed by invasive cerebral angiograph or clipping surgery were included. The prediction models were developed based on clinical, aneurysm morphological, and hemodynamic parameters by conventional LR and ML methods.The training, internal validation, and external validation cohorts were composed of 807 patients, 200 patients, and 108 patients, respectively. The area under curves (AUCs) of conventional LR models 1 (clinical), 2 (clinical and aneurysm morphological), and 3 (clinical, aneurysm morphological and hemodynamic characteristics) were 0.608, 0.765, and 0.886, respectively (all p 0.05). The AUCs of ML models using random forest (RF), multilayer perceptron (MLP), and support vector machine (SVM) were 0.871, 0.851, and 0.863, respectively. There were no difference among AUCs of conventional LR, RF, and SVM (all p 0.05/6), while the AUC of MLP was lower than that of conventional LR (p = 0.0055).Hemodynamic parameters play an important role in the prediction performance of the models. ML methods cannot outperform conventional LR in prediction models for rupture status of UIAs integrating clinical, aneurysm morphological, and hemodynamic parameters.• The addition of hemodynamic parameters can improve prediction performance for rupture status of unruptured intracranial aneurysms. • Machine learning algorithms cannot outperform conventional logistic regression in prediction models for rupture status integrating clinical, aneurysm morphological, and hemodynamic parameters. • Models integrating clinical, aneurysm morphological, and hemodynamic parameters may help choose the optimal management.

This paper presents an application of the multi-resolution wavelet-based methodology to uncover thermal effects from bridge responses based on the distinguished frequency bandwidths. First, periods of daily and seasonal temperature effects are verified using field-measured mid-span deflections of a cable-stayed bridge. Then, the formula to determine the decomposition level is derived on the basis of its capability in dividing the total bandwidth of signals. Moreover, simulated signals on two scales (i.e., minutely and hourly) are applied to validate the effectiveness of the proposed formula. Meanwhile, wavelet basis function ‘coif5′ is selected for thermal response separation due to its more stable performance compared to other functions. In-situ measured mid-span deflections of Xihoumen bridge are taken as an example to validate the effectiveness of the method through the similarity of daily vehicle gross mass and daily mean reconstructed deflection signals (without effects of temperature actions). As a result, the trends of daily mean deflections and vehicle gross mass are generally similar, except for the beginning and end of the time window. In conclusion, it is of practicality to determine the parameters by following the suggestion in this paper when using multi-resolution wavelet-based method to separate temperature responses.

As a commonly used anti-diabetic drug, metformin (MEF) is frequently detected in different water bodies which pose a potential threat to human health and the ecological environment. In this study, oxidative degradation of MEF under ultraviolet (UV) light was studied, and its influencing factors, photolysis mechanism, and intermediates identification carried out as well. The results showed that the hydroxyl radical contributed 73% during the 6 h MEF photolysis process among the reactive oxygen species (ROS). In addition, triplet excited-state organic matter and singlet oxygen also played a role in the photolysis process. The reaction rates of hydroxyl radical and singlet oxygen with MEF are (6.45 ± 0.4) × 109 and (5.4 ± 0.7) × 106 L·(mol s)−1, respectively. By calculating the light screening effect of environmental factors, it is found that the presence of NO3− and Cl− had a greater excitation effect on ROS than the screening effect, and generally promoted the photolysis rates of MEF from 90.3 to 193.5% and from 16.1 to 80.6% during the 6-h reaction process, respectively. For bicarbonate and fulvic acid, the light screening effects were dominant and inhibited photolysis rates by 10–52% and 13–71%, respectively. The results demonstrated that the photoreactivity of environmental factors in water is the cause of the different photodegradation rates of MEF. The oxidative degradation product of MEF under UV light was detected by UPLC/Q-TOF as methylbiguanide (MBG), 2,4-diamino-1,3,5-triazine (2,4-DAT), biguanide (BGN), 1,1-dimethylguanidine (1,1-DiMBG), 4-amino-2-imino-1-methyl-1,2-dihydro-1, 3,5-triazine (4,2,1-AIMT), and 2-amino-4-methylamino-1,3,5-triazine (2,4-AMT). The result which showed that the primary sites of ∙OH attacked is consistent with that of density functional theory calculation.

A hot electron bolometer (HEB) with Johnson noise readout is an attractive technique for radiation detection due to its high sensitivity, wide operating temperature range, and large dynamic range. In this paper, we present the development of a terahertz HEB based on Johnson noise readout. The HEB consists of a titanium microbridge connected to two high-energy-gap niobium contacts for confining hot electrons. We measured the thermal conductance and noise equivalent power (NEP) of the HEB at different bath temperatures. We find that the thermal conductance due to the electron–phonon interaction increases with temperature as T2.5. At 3.0 K, the thermal conductance is found to be 37.9 ± 1.4 nW/K and the electrical NEP is as low as 23.0 ± 0.8 pW/$$ \sqrt {\text{Hz}} $$. In addition, we find that the HEB works efficiently up to 15 μW input power.

Superconducting transition-edge sensors (TESs) have demonstrated high detection efficiency and photon-number-resolving capability, making TESs attractive in quantum information and astrophysics. Aiming to achieve high energy detection efficiency (i.e., the ratio of the detected energy to incident energy), we integrate the TES in an optical cavity, consisting of 16-layer dielectric reflection mirror and 4-layer antireflection coating. The critical temperature was decreased to 260 mK after deposition of antireflection coating from its original 323 mK. The energy detection efficiency was increased by a factor of two, up to 40%, thanks to the enhancement of photon absorption by adding the optical cavity.

Body surface topography (ST) improvements are associated with surgical correction in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) and correlate with radiographic imaging. Prospective observational study. Patients undergoing correction of AIS are most affected by body image. Radiographs have been the standard assessment tool but do not assess body shape features. ST, a validated, radiation-free assessment tool, directly represents the patient’s deformity. We set out to assess ST improvements associated with surgical correction in AIS. Twenty-three consecutive operative AIS patients were enrolled and had radiographs and posterior ST obtained pre- and postoperatively (PO). ST changes were compared using paired t test, and correlations of ST with radiograph measurements were evaluated by linear regression. Mean age at surgery was 15.0 ± 2 years, 82.6% female with mean follow-up of 1.0 year. Major Cobb angle improved from 56.91° ± 15.57° to 13.70° ± 4.89°. ST scoliosis angle corrected from 41.43° ± 11.52° to 11.78° ± 7.84° (p

OBJECTIVE To identify the factors influencing brain injury in infants with congenital heart disease (CHD) after cardiac surgery. METHODS This retrospective study investigated 103 infants with CHD undergoing cardiac surgery between January 2013 and February 2016. Pre- and postoperative amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG) recordings were assessed for background pattern, sleep-wake cycle pattern and seizure activity. Logistic regression model was used to determine the influencing factors of brain injury. RESULTS Pre-operatively, most infants in our study exhibited a normal background pattern, with 16.5% showing discontinuous normal voltage, whereas this pattern was observed in only 7.8% of infants postoperatively. The improvement in background pattern after surgery was significant (P

China’s population increased from 540 million in 1949 to 1.4 billion in 2018. Demographic transition provides a theoretical framework to understand China’s population changes, and we can divide the history of China’s population development into three periods: the period of mortality decline-driven demographic transition (prior to 1970), the period of fertility decline-driven demographic transition (1970–1999), and post-demographic transition period (after 2000). This paper provides a historical overview of China’s population development, and concludes by identifying the main characteristics of this development and the main lessons learned from the process of population development.

Assemblies of metal oxide nanowires in 3D stacks can enable the realization of nanodevices with tailored conductivity, porous structure and a high surface area. Current fabrication methods require complicated multistep procedures that involve the initial preparation of nanowires followed by manual assembly or transfer printing, and thus lack synthesis flexibility and controllability. Here we report a general synthetic orthogonal assembly approach to controllably construct 3D multilayer-crossed metal oxide nanowire arrays. Taking tungsten oxide semiconducting nanowires as an example, we show the spontaneous orthogonal packing of composite nanorods of poly(ethylene oxide)-block-polystyrene and silicotungstic acid; the following calcination gives rise to 3D cross-stacked nanowire arrays of Si-doped metastable e-phase WO3. This nanowire stack framework was also tested as a gas detector for the selective sensing of acetone. By using other polyoxometallates, this fabrication method for woodpile-like 3D nanostructures can also be generalized to different doped metal oxide nanowires, which provides a way to manipulate their physical properties for various applications.

Background This study aimed to explore the effect of nesfatin-1 on cobalt chloride (CoCl2)-induced hypoxic injury in cardiomyocyte H9c2 cells. Methods H9c2 cardiomyocytes were induced by different concentrations of CoCl2 to mimic the hypoxia condition. Cell viability was detected by MTT assay. Cell apoptosis was detected by TUNEL staining and flow cytometry. ROS production was detected using the fluorescence probe DCFH-DA. The mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) was detected using the TMRE method. The levels of released lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), and catalase (CAT) were detected using the commercial kits. The protein levels of MAPK signaling members (p-JNK1/2, p-ERK1/2, and p-p38) and Notch1 signaling members (Notch1, Hes 1, and Jagged 1) were detected by Western blot. Results CoCl2 significantly promoted cell apoptosis, increased LDH leakage, MDA concentration, and decreased cell viability, SOD activity, GSH production, and CAT activity. CoCl2-induced hypoxic injury in H9c2 cells was partially restored by nesfatin-1 treatment. Moreover, nesfatin-1 treatment attenuated CoCl2-induced increase in ROS production and mitochondrial dysfunction, decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, Bax/Bcl-2 imbalance, as well as c-caspase-9 and c-caspase-3 levels. Moreover, nesfatin-1 treatment inhibited the activation of MAPK and Notch1 signaling pathways. Conclusions Nesfatin-1 could effectively protect H9c2 cells against CoCl2-induced hypoxic injury by blocking MAPK and Notch1 signaling pathways, suggesting that nesfatin-1 might be a promising therapeutic agent for hypoxic cardiac injury.

Body Image Disturbance Questionnaire-Scoliosis version (BIDQ-S) is a sensitive outcomes instrument to evaluate improvements in body image-related psychosocial effects with surgical correction.Prospective observational study.The BIDQ-S was previously validated (convergent validity, internal consistency) as a tool to assess body image-related distress and psychosocial impairment in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). This study was conducted to evaluate responsiveness to change in the BIDQ-S associated with surgical treatment of AIS two years postoperatively to complete the validation of this questionnaire.Seventy-five consecutive operative AIS patients were enrolled and completed BIDQ-S and Scoliosis Research Society-22 (SRS-22) at preoperative and two-year postoperative visits. Demographic and radiographic data were collected. Preoperative and two-year postoperative BIDQ-S (1 = best, 5 = worst) and SRS-22 scores (1 = worst, 5 = best) were compared using paired t test. Correlations between BIDQ-S and SRS-22 scores were evaluated by linear regression.Eighty-four percent of the subjects were females, with average age at surgery of 14.4 ± 1.6 years. The mean follow-up was 2.26 years (range 2.0-4.5). The major Cobb was corrected from 50.0° ± 7.2° to 14.2° ± 5.8° (Δ = 71.3% ± 12.1%; p.0001). There was a significant improvement in BIDQ-S scores after surgery (1.64 ± 0.51 to 1.21 ± 0.38, p.0001). BIDQ-S improvements were correlated with change in SRS self-image (p = .0055), activity (p = .0057), mental (p = .0018), and overall mean (p = .0007) domains. Preoperative, two-year postoperative, and Δ BIDQ-S score were not associated with major Cobb magnitude, truncal rotation, or Lenke curve type. Patients who reached SRS-22r minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in activity and self-image domains had worse preoperative BIDQ scores than those who did not reach MCID (activity 1.91 vs. 1.54 [1 = best, 5 = worst], p = .0099; self-image 2.08 vs. 1.51, p.0001). Greater improvement in BIDQ-S was noted in patients who reached MCID in SRS-22 self-image than those who did not (Δ = 0.77 vs. 0.38, p = .0052).BIDQ-S is responsive to surgical correction of AIS. The BIDQ-S is a valuable clinical outcome tool to assess the psychosocial effects of scoliosis in adolescents augmenting existing outcome instruments.

Informed decision making for operative treatment of the skeletally mature adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patient meeting surgical indications requires a discussion of differences in operative morbidity in adult scoliosis versus AIS. This study evaluated differences in operative data and outcomes between AIS and adult scoliosis patients based on an estimated natural history of curve progression.Twenty-eight adult scoliosis patients (43.7 ± 15.8 years; 93% F) were 1:2 matched with 56 (Risser 4/5) AIS patients (15.7 ± 2.1 years) based on gender and curve type as vetted by 5 surgeons' consensus in committee. Curve progression of 0.3°/year for the first 10 years following skeletal maturity and a 0.5°/year thereafter was assumed to estimate curve progression from AIS to adulthood for the adult counterpart. Operative data, complications, and quality of life (Scoliosis Research Society [SRS-22r] questionnaire) measures were evaluated, with a minimum 2-year follow-up.Postoperative major Cobb and percentage correction were similar between adult versus AIS, whereas operative time, percentage estimated blood loss (EBL; % total blood volume), length of hospital stay (LOS), and total spine levels fused were greater for adult patients (p.05). No difference was found in EBL, operative time, or LOS when normalized by levels fused. Ten (36%) adult scoliosis patients were fused to the pelvis compared with none in AIS (p.0001). Major complication rate was higher for adult versus AIS (25% vs. 5.4%; p .05). Preoperative SRS-22r scores were worse for adult patients; however, they demonstrated greater improvement in SRS-22r than the AIS cohort at final follow-up. A higher percentage of adult patients reached the MCID in self-image domain than the AIS patients (92.3% vs. 61.8%; p = .0040).Treatment of the adult scoliosis patient who has undergone an estimated natural history of progression is characterized by greater levels fused, operative time, and higher complication rates than the AIS counterpart. Longer-term follow-up of AIS is needed to define the benefits of early intervention of relatively asymptomatic adolescent patients versus late treatment of symptomatic disease in the adult.

A facultatively anaerobic bacterium, strain M1531T, was isolated from a red alga (Porphyra) at coastal water in Weihai, China. Cells of the novel strain were Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, motile by means of a single polar flagellum and around 0.6–0.8 × 2.0–3.0 µm in size. Optimum growth occurred at 30 °C, with 2% (w/v) NaCl and at pH 6.5–7.0. On the basis of the result of phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence, stain M1531T had close relative with Thalassotalea euphylliae KCTC 42743T (96.9%). Genome sequencing revealed a genome size of 4,061,950 bp, a G + C content of 39.1 mol% and four protein-coding genes related to the degradation of alginate. According to the data obtained, strain M1531T shared ANI value below 95–96%, dDDH value below 23.8% with the closely related type species. Strain M1531T had Q-8 as the predominant isoprenoid quinone and possessed Summed Features 3 (C16:1 ω7c/C16:1 ω6c), C16:0 and Summed Features 8 (C18:1 ω7c/C18:1 ω6c) as the major fatty acids. The polar lipids of strain M1531T were identified as phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, one unidentified phospholipid, one unidentified aminolipid and four unidentified lipids. According to the results of the phenotypic, chemotaxonomic characterization, phylogenetic properties and genome analysis, strain M1531T represents a novel specie of the genus Thalassotalea, for which the name Thalassotalea algicola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is M1531T (= MCCC 1H00400T = KCTC 72865T).

Background To determine the standard remnant liver volume (SRLV) threshold to avoid postoperative hepatic insufficiency inpatients in different stages of hepatic fibrosis who undergo right hemi-hepatectomy. Methods Data for 85 patients at our single medical center were analysed prospectively to examine whether the following factors differed significantly between those who experienced postoperative hepatic insufficiency and those who did not: height, prothrombin time, remnant liver volume, SRLV or hepatic fibrosis stage. Results Logistic regression showed SRLV and hepatic fibrosis stage to be independent risk factors for postoperative hepatic insufficiency. The threshold SRLV for predicting insufficiency was 203.2 ml/m2 across all patients [area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) 0.778, sensitivity 66.67%, specificity 83.64%, p2 for patients with severe hepatic fibrosis (AUC 0.938, sensitivity 91.30%, specificity 85.71%, p2 for patients with cirrhosis (AUC 0.888, sensitivity 100%, specificity 64.29%, p Conclusions Right hemi-hepatectomy may be safer in Chinese patients when the standard remnant liver volume is more than 203.2 ml/m2 in the absence of hepatic fibrosis or cirrhosis, 193.8 ml/m2 in the presence of severe hepatic fibrosis or 224.3 ml/m2 in the presence of cirrhosis.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are a popular candidate in cellular therapy for many diseases. MSCs are well known by their feature of self-renewal and their differentiation potential. NESTIN is a cytoskeletal protein expressed in MSC that functions directly in cell proliferation and differentiation. Here, we demonstrated that adding UltraGRO, a medium supplement, could maintain and partially recover the expression of NESTIN in human umbilical cord derived MSCs (UC-MSCs). Furthermore, the UC-MSCs cultured with UltraGRO showed a better immunomodulation ability in a colitis mouse model compared with those cultured in other types of media. This indicates that the use of novel culture medium benefits the maintenance of NESTIN expression and NESTIN may be one of the vital factors that regulates the performance of MSCs.

In this paper, we present the development of a graphene-based hot electron bolometer with Johnson noise readout. The bolometer is a graphene microbridge connected to a log spiral antenna by Au contact pads. The Fourier transform spectrometer measurement shows the bolometer has high coupling efficiency in the frequency range from 0.3 to 1.6 THz. Using 300/77 K blackbody loads, we measure an optical noise equivalent power of 5.6 × 10−12 W/Hz0.5 at 3.0 K. To understand the thermal transport inside the graphene microbridge, we measure the bolometers with different microbridge lengths at different bath temperatures. We find that the thermal conductance due to electron diffusion is significant in the bolometers.

A systematic work has been presented for condition assessment of suspension bridges in this study. Initially, a four-layer index system is built up. Subsequently, 45 experts are invited to determine the index weights by processing the experts’ opinions using the Group Decision-Making (GDM). The assigned weights seem more reasonable (especially weights of the tower and auxiliary facility) when compared with those in the existing China’s code. Next, assessment algorithms, the Local Variable Weight Model (LVWM) and Normal Cloud Model (NCM), are established based on the characteristics of the bridge condition assessment. The LVWM adjusts weight properly to make assessment results in line with the actual situation under extreme cases. The NCM describes not only the fuzziness but also the randomness in the assessment process. Finally, a case study is illustrated to verify the effectiveness of the methodology. For sake of highlighting the advantages of the LVWM, two more models are subjected to the case study, which are the Constant Weight Model (CWM) and Traditional Variable Weight Model (TVWM). Consequently, the assessment result of the LVWM is more in keeping with the actual situation than those of the CWM or TVWM.

Sagittal alignment abnormalities in Scheuermann kyphosis (SK) strongly correlate with quality of life measures. The changes in spinopelvic parameters after posterior spinal fusion have not been adequately studied. This study is to evaluate the reciprocal changes in spinopelvic parameters following surgical correction for SK.Ninety-six operative SK patients (65% male; age 16 years) with minimum 2-year follow-up were identified in the prospective multicenter study. Changes in spinopelvic parameters and the incidence of proximal (PJK) and distal (DJK) junctional kyphosis were assessed as were changes in Scoliosis Research Society-22 (SRS-22) questionnaire scores.Maximum kyphosis improved from 74.4° to 46.1° (p.0001), and lumbar lordosis was reduced by 10° (-63.3° to -53.3°; p .0001) at 2-year postoperation. Pelvic tilt, sacral slope, and sagittal vertical axis remained unchanged. PJK and DJK incidence were 24.2% and 0%, respectively. In patients with PI45°, patients who developed PJK had greater postoperative T2-T12 (54.8° vs. 44.2°, p = .0019), and postoperative maximum kyphosis (56.4° vs. 44.6°, p = .0005) than those without PJK. In patients with PI ≥45°, patients with PJK had less postoperative T5-T12 than those without (23.6° vs. 32.9°, p = .019). Thoracic and lumbar apices migrated closer to the gravity line after surgery (-10.06 to -4.87 mm, p.0001, and 2.28 to 2.10 mm, p = .001, respectively). Apex location was normalized to between T5-T8 in 68.5% of patients with a preoperative apex caudal to T8, whereas 90% of patients with a preoperative apex between T5 and T8 remained unchanged. Changes in thoracic apex location and lumbar apex translation were associated with improvements in the SRS function domain.PJK occurred in 1 in 4 patients, a lower incidence than previously reported perhaps because of improved techniques and planning. Both thoracic and lumbar apices migrated closer to the gravity line, and preoperative apices caudal to T8 normalized in more than two-thirds of patients, resulting in improved postoperative function. Individualizing kyphosis correction to prevent kyphosis and PI mismatch may be protective against PJK.

For satellites in orbits, most perturbations can be well modeled, however the inaccuracy of the atmospheric density model remains the biggest error source in orbit determination and prediction. The commonly used empirical atmospheric density models, such as Jacchia, NRLMSISE, DTM, and Russian GOST, still have a relative error of about 10%–30%. Because of the uncertainty in the atmospheric density distribution, high accuracy estimation of the atmospheric density cannot be achieved using a deterministic model. A better way to improve the accuracy is to calibrate the model with updated measurements. Twoline element (TLE) sets provide accessible orbital data, which can be used in the model calibration. In this paper, an algorithm for calibrating the atmospheric density model is developed. First, the density distribution of the atmosphere is represented by a power series expansion whose coefficients are denoted by the spherical harmonic expansions. Then, the useful historical TLE data are selected. The ballistic coefficients of the objects are estimated using the BSTAR data in TLEs, and the parameterized model is calibrated by solving a nonlinear least squares problem. Simulation results show that the prediction error is reduced using the proposed calibration algorithm.

Constructed wetlands (CWs) have been widely used for treating wastewater. CWs also are the sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) due to high pollutant load. It has been reported that plant species diversity can enhance nitrogen (N) removal efficiency in CWs for treating wastewater. However, the influence of plant species diversity on GHG emissions from CWs in habitats with high N levels still lack research. This study established four species richness levels (1, 2, 3, 4) and 15 species compositions by using 75 simulated vertical flow CWs microcosms to investigate the effects of plant species diversity on the GHG emissions and N removal efficiency of CWs with a high N level. Results showed plant species richness reduced nitrous oxide (N2O) emission and N (NO3 −-N, NH4 +-N, and TIN) concentrations in wastewater, but had no effect on methane (CH4) emission. Especially, among the 15 compositions of plant species, the four-species mixture emitted the lowest N2O and had under-depletion of N (DminTIN

The relationship between transpiration and root distribution under different spatial arrangements of intercropping is poorly understood. The effects of three spatial arrangements in the maize (Zea mays L.) - soybean (Glycine max L.) intercropping on root distribution, transpiration, water use efficiency (WUE) and grain yield were examined. Two-year field experiments were conducted using three spatial arrangements of 2 rows maize × 4 rows soybean (M2S4), 2 rows maize × 2 rows soybean (M2S2) and 4 rows maize × 2 rows soybean (M4S2), with their respective sole crops (monocrop) for comparison. The grain yield of maize in intercrops was higher than its monocrop and that of soybean in intercrops was lower than its monocrop. Except for M2S2 in 2014, there were yield advantages in intercropping due to improvement in the land use efficiency. Transpiration in maize was higher than in soybean regardless of the spatial arrangements. Transpiration of both maize and soybean was influenced by the spatial arrangements of the intercropping with M4S2 or M2S4 tending to have higher daily transpiration than monocrops and other spatial arrangements. Intercropping enhanced root length density (RLD) in both maize and soybean compared to the corresponding monocrop. RLD was higher and land equivalent ratio (LER) was lower under M2S2 than under other spatial arrangements of intercropping, WUE was higher in M4S2 than in other spatial arrangements. Intercropping was more efficient in using the environmental resources than monocropping. The M4S2 spatial arrangement in the maize-soybean intercropping could be selected because of its sustainability and greater land and water use efficiency.

The preparation of fluorescent discrete supramolecular coordination complexes (SCCs) has attracted considerable attention within the fields of supramolecular chemistry, materials science, and biological sciences. However, many challenges remain. For instance, fluorescence quenching often occurs due to the heavy-atom effect arising from the Pt(II)-based building block in Pt-based SCCs. Moreover, relatively few methods exist for tuning of the emission wavelength of discrete SCCs. Thus, it is still challenging to construct discrete SCCs with high fluorescence quantum yields and tunable fluorescence wavelengths. Here we report nine organoplatinum fluorescent metallacycles that exhibit high fluorescence quantum yields and tunable fluorescence wavelengths through simple regulation of their photoinduced electron transfer (PET) and intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) properties. Moreover, 3D fluorescent films and fluorescent inks for inkjet printing were fabricated using these metallacycles. This work provides a strategy to solve the fluorescence quenching problem arising from the heavy-atom effect of Pt(II), and offers an alternative approach to tune the emission wavelengths of discrete SCCs in the same solvent., Fluorescent supramolecular coordination complexes are of interest for chemical sensing and optical devices. Here the authors synthesize nine organoplatinum metallacycles with high quantum yields, whose fluorescence wavelengths are tuned through manipulation of their photoinduced electron transfer and intramolecular charge transfer properties.