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Abstract The application of medical image segmentation technology enables accurate localization of human tissues, providing doctors with a reliable foundation for diagnosis. While deep learning methods have proven effective in this task, most current approaches rely on a single prediction framework, which overlooks Edge semantic features and results in flawed texture features. Moreover, existing supervised methods face challenges due to limited availability of high‐quality annotations in the field of medical imaging. In this article, a Semi‐supervised Contextual Cognitive Augmentation‐based Cross‐teaching Network is proposed. A Contextual Cognitive Enhancement Module is introduced consisting of two components: data augmentation and information extraction. The data augmentation component provides multi‐level data distribution by incorporating diverse perturbation strategies such as Discrete Cosine Transform and Gaussian noise. The information extraction component employs the Comprehensive Information Extraction module, which consists of Global Perception Information Extraction module and Multi‐channel Information Extraction module to extract perceptual information from images and enhance interaction between image channels, respectively. Additionally, a cross‐teaching strategy is adopted and a hybrid loss function is utilized to encourage knowledge sharing among the networks, leveraging the advantages of dual networks for improved performance. Experimental results demonstrate significant enhancements in multiclass medical image segmentation compared to several state‐of‐the‐art single‐framework networks.

Abstract Recent years have witnessed notable advancements in medical image segmentation through deep convolutional neural networks. However, a notable limitation lies in the local operation of convolution, which hinders the ability to fully exploit global semantic information. To overcome the challenges prevalent in medical image segmentation, the feature ensemble network with multi‐scale atrous transformer is proposed. At the core of the approach lies the multi‐scale contextual integration module, which is based on the multi‐scale atrous transformer and facilitates contextual integration of multi‐level features. To extract discriminative fine‐grained features of the target region, a hybrid attention mechanism that synergistically combines spatial and channel attention, thereby sharpening the model's focus on crucial target information within high‐level features, is incorporated. Additionally, the channel‐aware feature reconstruction module is introduced as an innovative component engineered to tackle feature similarity issues across different categories. This module performs feature reconstruction based on channel perception, effectively widening the feature gap between categories and enhancing the segmentation capability. It is worth mentioning that our approach surpasses the state‐of‐the‐art method using three benchmark datasets in medical image segmentation.

Abstract Non‐healing diabetic wounds and ulcer complications, with persistent cell dysfunction and obstructed cellular processes, are leading causes of disability and death in patients with diabetes. Currently, there is a lack of guideline‐recommended hypoglycemic drugs in clinical practice, likely due to limited research and unclear mechanisms. In this study, it is demonstrated that liraglutide significantly accelerates wound closure in diabetic mouse models (db/db mice and streptozotocin‐induced mice) by improving re‐epithelialization, collagen deposition, and extracellular matrix remodeling, and enhancing the proliferation, migration, and adhesion functions of keratinocytes. However, these effects of improved healing by liraglutide are abrogated in dedicator of cytokinesis 5 (Dock5) keratinocyte‐specific knockout mice. Mechanistically, liraglutide induces cellular function through stabilization of unconventional myosin 1c (Myo1c). Liraglutide directly binds to Myo1c at arginine 93, enhancing the Myo1c/Dock5 interaction by targeting Dock5 promoter and thus promoting the proliferation, migration, and adhesion of keratinocytes. Therefore, this study provides insights into liraglutide biology and suggests it may be an effective treatment for diabetic patients with wound‐healing pathologies.

Abstract Firstly, the Canny operator combined with circle fitting is used to position the working surface. Secondly, the median filter and the Laplacian operator are selected for preprocessing. Due to uneven illumination, surface texture, or environmental dust, the extracted scratches exhibit fragmentation, and traditional morphological operations cannot handle scratches well, so an improved Canny operator combined with probabilistic Hough transform is proposed for scratch connection. A bidirectional connection is introduced to optimize the edge detection process of the Canny operator, and a parallel algorithm is introduced to shorten the detection time. Finally, the standard Hough transform needs to traverse the entire parameter space, and the calculation is complicated, and the probability Hough transform is selected. The experimental results show that compared with the traditional Canny algorithm, the precision, recall, and F1‐score of the improved Canny algorithm are increased by 3.2%, 13.2%, and 6.0%, respectively. After adding parallel processing, the average detection time was reduced by 45 ms. Finally, the accuracy of scratches extracted using this algorithm reached 97.96%, the leak rate, and mistake rate of this study are only 3.33% and 2.00%, which provides a more accurate and efficient theoretical support for the research on brake disc scratch detection.

Abstract Glucagon receptor (GCGR) agonism offers potentially greater effects on the mitigation of hepatic steatosis. However, its underlying mechanism is not fully understood. Here, it screened tetraspanin CD9 might medicate hepatic effects of GCGR agonist. CD9 is decreased in the fatty livers of patients and upregulated upon GCGR activation. Deficiency of CD9 in the liver exacerbated diet‐induced hepatic steatosis via complement factor D (CFD) regulated fatty acid metabolism. Specifically, CD9 modulated hepatic fatty acid synthesis and oxidation genes through regulating CFD expression via the ubiquitination‐proteasomal degradation of FLI1. In addition, CD9 influenced body weight by modulating lipogenesis and thermogenesis of adipose tissue through CFD. Moreover, CD9 reinforcement in the liver alleviated hepatic steatosis, and blockage of CD9 abolished the remission of hepatic steatosis induced by cotadutide treatment. Thus, CD9 medicates the hepatic beneficial effects of GCGR signaling, and may server as a promising therapeutic target for hepatic steatosis.

Abstract Podocytes are particularly sensitive to lipid accumulation, which has recently emerged as a crucial pathological process in the progression of proteinuric kidney diseases like diabetic kidney disease and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here, podocytes predominantly expressed protein dedicator of cytokinesis 5 (Dock5) is screened to be critically related to podocyte lipid lipotoxicity. Its expression is reduced in both proteinuric kidney disease patients and mouse models. Podocyte‐specific deficiency of Dock5 exacerbated podocyte injury and glomeruli pathology in proteinuric kidney disease, which is mainly through modulating fatty acid uptake by the liver X receptor α (LXRα)/scavenger receptor class B (CD36) signaling pathway. Specifically, Dock5 deficiency enhanced CD36‐mediated fatty acid uptake of podocytes via upregulating LXRα in an m6A‐dependent way. Moreover, the rescue of Dock5 expression ameliorated podocyte injury and proteinuric kidney disease. Thus, the findings suggest that Dock5 deficiency is a critical contributor to podocyte lipotoxicity and may serve as a promising therapeutic target in proteinuric kidney diseases.

Abstract Objective Autoimmune myocarditis is caused by both innate and adaptive immune responses. Many studies have found that myeloid‐derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) suppress T‐cell responses and reduce immune tolerance, while MDSCs may serve as a key player in inflammatory responses and pathogenesis in variety of autoimmune diseases. However, research into the role of MDSCs in experimental autoimmune myocarditis (EAM) remains lacking. Methods and Results We discovered that the expansion of MDSCs in EAM was closely related to the severity of myocardial inflammation. At an early stage of EAM, both adoptive transfer (AT) and selective depletion of MDSCs could inhibit the expression of IL‐17 in CD4+ cells and downregulate the Th17/Treg ratio, alleviating excessive inflammation of EAM myocarditis. In another experiment, in addition, MDSCs transferred after selective depletion could increase IL‐17 and Foxp3 expressions in CD4+ cells, as well as the Th17/Treg ratio, contributing to the aggravation of myocardial inflammation. MDSCs promoted the Th17 cell induction under Th17‐polarizing conditions in vitro but suppressed Treg expansion. Conclusion These findings suggest that MDSCs play a plastic role in sustaining mild inflammation in EAM by shifting Th17/Treg balance.

Abstract Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials with aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) features can overcome aggregation‐caused quenching (ACQ) and emit intensely in aggregate states and thus have attracted enormous attention in the fields of high‐efficiency organic light‐emitting diodes, bioimaging, photodynamic therapy, photocatalysis, etc. However, their corresponding exact working mechanisms at the microscopic level are still far from clear. Herein, by carefully investigating the physical properties of our newly designed TADF material 6‐(10H‐spiro[acridine‐9,9′‐fluoren]‐10‐yl)nicotinonitrile in various states, we concluded that conformational isomerization plays an important role in realizing high photoluminescence quantum yields in its amorphous neat film state, in which the high‐lying quasi‐axial conformations with non‐TADF features and low‐lying quasi‐equal conformations with TADF characteristics serve as the host matrix and dopant, respectively, thus suppressing ACQ in disordered aggregate states. Our work not only offers a new possible microscopic mechanism by using conformational isomerization for the AIE‐TADF phenomenon but also provides a novel method for designing high‐efficiency AIE‐TADF emitters.

Purpose. To evaluate head and cervical posture in individuals with or without temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) and to assess the correlations between pain, severity of symptoms, and posture. Methods. A total of 384 patients (129 males and 255 females) was included. The Fonseca Anamnestic Index (FAI) was used to assess the severity and prevalence of TMD and the presence of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain. Patients were divided into three groups: the TMD-free group, TMD without TMJ pain group, and TMD with TMJ pain group. Subsequently, the patients with TMJ pain were further divided into mild TMD and moderate/severe TMD groups. Nine parameters were traced on cephalograms to characterize the head and cervical posture. Results. TMD patients with TMJ pain showed increased forward head posture (FHP) than patients without TMJ pain and TMD-free subjects. No significant difference was observed between the TMD patients without TMJ pain and TMD-free subjects. In the TMD patients with the TMJ pain group, the moderate/severe TMD patients demonstrated increased FHP compared to mild TMD patients. TMD patients with joint pain had greater CVT/RL (B = 3.099), OPT/RL (B = 2.117), and NSL/C2’ (B = 4.646) than the patients without joint pain after adjusting for confounding variables (P

Objectives. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine the relationship between perfectionism and pain in patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMDs). Methods. A total of 345 TMD patients were included. A questionnaire consisting of questions of demographic information, the 15-item short form of the Hewitt and Flett Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) was distributed. According to the diagnostic criteria for TMDs, patients were categorized as pain-related (PT) and non-pain-related (NPT) groups, whereas PT patients were further divided into patients with pain-related TMDs only (OPT) and patients with combined pain-related and intra-articular TMDs (CPT). Data were analyzed using the chi-square test, Spearman’s correlation, and logistic regression analysis with the significance level set at p0.05). Perfectionism in total, other-oriented perfectionism (OOP), and socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP) showed significant but weak correlations with PHQ-4 scores (p

Abstract Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a common comorbidity of gastroesophageal reflux disease. Since the distal esophagus and heart share a common afferent vagal supply, the delivery of radiofrequency in the distal esophagus can stimulate the coronary artery and induce acute myocardial infarction in a patient with CAD.

Abstract The multi‐phase annular brushless exciter (MPABE) of nuclear power plants has suffered numerous armature winding open‐phase faults (AWOPF) in the field operation. In order to achieve reliable protection of the MPABE, its AWOPF is systematically studied through theoretical analysis, simulation calculation and model machine experiments. First, proceeding from the armature current waveform in normal operation and the influence of the AWOPF on it, the armature reaction magnetomotive force (MMF) is analysed deeply. Then, the theoretical analysis about the harmonic electromotive force (EMF) induced by armature reaction MMF on the field winding is presented, obtaining the harmonic characteristics of field current: the even‐order field harmonic currents increase obviously under the AWOPF. Finally, correlate experiments and simulations were performed on a customized experimental prototype. The experimental and simulation results are consistent and verify the conclusion of the theoretical analysis, which can serve as a theoretical basis for the monitoring and diagnosis method of the AWOPF in the MPABE.

Objective. This study aims to explore the association between stigma and pain in patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMDs). Methods. Two hundred and twenty-five patients with TMDs were recruited, and they completed the questionnaires including the Visual Analogue Scale of Pain (VAS), Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item (GAD-7), the Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item (PHQ-9), Jaw Functional Limitation Scale 8-item (JFLS-8), the Stigma Scale for Chronic Illness 8-item (SSCI-8), and other demographic and disease-related information. The total score of SSCI-8 indicated overall stigma, which could be classified into 2 subdomains, felt stigma and enacted stigma, according to their representative items, respectively. Then, the patients were divided into 2 groups in each subdomain of stigma according to their scores: stigma group (score ≥ 1) and no stigma group (score = 0). Results. Patients with overall stigma and enacted stigma presented significantly higher scores in VAS, GAD-7, PHQ-9, and JFLS-8 than those without overall stigma and those without enacted stigma, respectively. Significant differences between patients with and without felt stigma were only observed in GAD-7, PHQ-9, and JFLS-8. Patients with overall stigma and enacted stigma mainly suffered from pain-related TMDs (PTs) and combined TMDs (CTs). Overall stigma and enacted stigma rather than felt stigma were significantly associated with both PTs and CTs. Stigma, including overall stigma, enacted stigma, and felt stigma, was more associated with anxiety and depression and less related to jaw functional limitation of the patients with TMDs. Conclusion. Stigma, specifically enacted stigma, was correlated to pain in patients with TMDs. Stigma was more related to psychological problems than jaw functional limitation.

Purpose. We aimed to explore the relationship between temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) and craniofacial morphology in orthodontic patients. Methods. Altogether, 262 orthodontic patients were included and divided into two groups according to their Fonseca Anamnestic Index (FAI) scores: a no-TMD group (control group, FAI

Deep learning (DL) has matured well over time and resonated in various domains of computer applications. Pattern recognition gets more attention in machine learning field to take advantage of data available for modern life. Recognition by using the technology performance is worthy in terms of skin and other human features; this research tries to extract useful features from the skin and then classify these features under certain condition. The main objective of this study is to detect the skin diseases early and classify them for correct treatment. Using improved classifier (ISVM) to be adaptive with requirements of our task, many advantages can be got with this technique and it is useful in the fields of medicine, human health care, and diagnosis and life threat. Applying good classifier with best feature selection achieved good result in terms of accuracy, 95%, and recognition rate, 93%. This study concluded that adopting best strategy in selecting features and classification yields better prediction in emergency case before medicating the patient even during treatment.

Objective. To assess the differences in hyoid bone position in patients with and without temporomandibular joint osteoarthrosis (TMJOA). Methods. The present cross-sectional study was conducted in 427 participants whose osseous status was evaluated using cone-beam computed tomography and classified into normal, indeterminate osteoarthrosis (OA), and OA. The hyoid bone position and craniofacial characteristics were evaluated using cephalograms. Patients were divided into the normal group (N = 89), indeterminate OA group (N = 182), and OA group (N = 156). Descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance, and age- and sex-based stratified analyses were performed. P

Objective. Several clinical studies have reported the application of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors as treatments for type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). This study aims to review the outcomes of these existing studies and to discuss the therapeutic effects of DPP-4 inhibitors on T1DM. Methods. We thoroughly searched the Medline, Embase, PubMed, and Cochrane Library databases and ClinicalTrials.gov for studies concerning the use of DPP-4 inhibitors in patients with T1DM. Results. In preclinical trials, DPP-4 inhibitors improved the pathogenesis of T1DM. However, only a portion of the studies showed potential efficacy regarding clinical glycemic control and other clinical parameters. From this meta-analysis, pooled data from 5 randomized controlled trials revealed that the additional use of DPP-4 inhibitors resulted in a greater decrease in glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels (0.07%, 95% CI (−0.37%–0.23%)) than insulin monotherapy, although the decrease was not significant. A small decrease in postprandial glucose or insulin consumption was confirmed. Conclusion. Although DPP-4 inhibitors may be beneficial for T1DM, existing studies do not strongly support these positive effects in clinical practice. Further optimized clinical trials are needed.