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To investigate the factors that influence the occurrence of anorectal malformations (ARMs).From December 2018 to December 2019, 136 children treated for ARMs at the Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University were included in the case group. The control group consisted of children with intussusception or perianal abscesses. A uniform questionnaire was filled by the parents of the enrolled children.The birth weight of the cases was significantly lower than that of the controls (p .01), and children with ARMs were more likely to be complicated with single umbilical artery (SUA) (p .001). Maternal upper respiratory tract infection (adjusted odds ratio [ORMaternal infection, anemia during pregnancy, and maternal hazardous substances exposure are possible risk factors for ARMs. Folic acid supplements and multivitamin can reduce the occurrence of ARMs. Meanwhile, paternal drug use may also be a risk factor for ARMs.

Electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) is a promising technique to resolve the carbon emission in energy-intensive ammonia production in industry, which, however, is hampered by the lack of efficient catalysts. Herein, by density functional theory (DFT) calculations, it was demonstrated that the twin boundary (TB) of copper could effectively relieve the N

Objectives We aimed to develop radiomics with attribute bagging, which leverages multimodal ultrasound (US) images to improve the classification accuracy of breast tumors. Methods A retrospective study was conducted. B-mode US, shear wave elastographic, and contrast-enhanced US images of 178 patients with 181 tumors (67 malignant and 114 benign) were included. Radiomics with attribute bagging consisted of extraction of 1226 radiomic features and analysis of them with attribute bagging. Histologic examination results acted as the reference standard. Radiomics with several feature selection algorithms were used for comparison. Cross-validation and a holdout test were performed to evaluate their performances. Results The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of radiomics with attribute bagging with the multimodal US images were 84.12%, 92.86%, 78.80%, and 0.919, respectively, exceeding all the comparison methods. Conclusions Radiomics with attribute bagging combined with multimodal US images has the potential to be used for accurate diagnosis of breast tumors in the clinic.

Over the last decade, significant progress has been made to develop sensitive devices for the capture of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood of cancer patients. However, simple capture and counting of CTCs cannot provide effective information for understanding the biology of them. In this work, a functional biointerface is fabricated for specific capture and nondestructive release of CTCs from blood samples. A nanostrucure of porous network based on chitosan nanofibers is fabricated by electrospinning, to mimic the function of extracellular matrices, and then the poly(carboxybetaine methacrylate) (pCBMA) brushes integrating onto nanofiber interface provide the effect of interfacial properties to control nonspecific cell adhesion and the multivalent immobilization of aptamers to induce high efficient and specific CTC capture. Furthermore, a complementary sequence is used to efficiently hybridize with the aptamer to achieve nondestructive release of the captured target cells, assisted by the flexible space provided by pCBMA brushes. This work also shows how nanostructure and the interface molecules regulate the morphology of the captured CTCs, and reveals the importance of the controllable cell morphology on biointerface for an effective nondestructive release of the captured CTCs.

The effective radiative forcing (ERF), as newly defined in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC AR5), of three anthropogenic aerosols [sulphate (SF), black carbon (BC), and organic carbon (OC)] and their comprehensive climatic effects were simulated and discussed, using the updated aerosol-climate online model of BCC_AGCM2.0.1_CUACE/Aero. From 1850 to 2010, the total ERF of these anthropogenic aerosols was −2.49 W m−2, of which the aerosol–radiation interactive ERF (ERFari) and aerosol–cloud interactive ERF (ERFaci) were ∼ −0.30 and −2.19 W m−2, respectively. SF was the largest contributor to the total ERF, with an ERF of −2.37 W m−2. The ERF of BC and OC were 0.12 and −0.31 W m−2, respectively. From 1850 to 2010, anthropogenic aerosols brought about a decrease of ∼2.53 K and ∼0.20 mm day−1 in global annual mean surface temperature and precipitation, respectively. Surface cooling was most obvious over mid- and high latitudes in the northern hemisphere (NH). Precipitation change was most pronounced near the equator, with decreased and increased rainfall to the north and south of the equator, respectively; this might be largely related to the enhanced Hadley Cell in the NH. Relative humidity near surface was increased, especially over land, due to surface cooling induced by anthropogenic aerosols. Cloud cover and water path were increased, especially in or near the source regions of anthropogenic aerosols. Experiments based on the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 given in IPCC AR5 shows the dramatic decrease in three anthropogenic aerosols in 2100 will lead to an increase of ∼2.06 K and 0.16 mm day−1 in global annual mean surface temperature and precipitation, respectively, compared with those in 2010.

Large uncertainties remain in the estimation of aerosol direct radiative effect (DRE) and forcing (DRF). In this work, using an aerosol-climate model with two- and four-stream radiation schemes, we show that the radiative transfer algorithms contribute to the uncertainties. Aerosol shortwave DREs and heating rate are underestimated significantly by the two-stream algorithm. For present-day conditions, the four-stream algorithms are found to enhance global annual mean aerosol shortwave DREs by more than 8% (14%) at the top of the atmosphere (TOA), 15% (18%) in the atmosphere, and 12% (15%) at the surface for all-sky (clear-sky) case. The regional-averaged relative differences in aerosol shortwave DREs between the two- and four-stream algorithms increase as latitude increases, exceeding 25% at the TOA and 30% at the surface in the high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. The DRE differences due to the four-stream algorithms are negative, except for the Arctic, Tibetan Plateau, Arabia, and Sahara, at the TOA, are positive in the atmosphere, and are negative at the surface, with the maximum exceeding 4.0 W m−2. Increases in aerosol shortwave heating rates due to the four-stream algorithms are generally more than 10% and may even exceed 100%. Our results also show that the two-stream algorithm underestimates the DRFs due to anthropogenic aerosols. Significant underestimation appears in the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, with the maximum being close to the quantity of 0.6 W m−2 for clear-sky case. This study indicates that a multi-stream radiative transfer algorithm is necessary to reduce the uncertainties of aerosol DREs and DRFs estimated by global climate models.

We developed a dual-target responsive sensor for label-free light-up fluorescent detection of protons (H(+)) and silver ions (Ag(+)) using an "OR'' logic gate. Berberine, a cost-effective and non-toxic indicator, partially intercalates the formed triplex DNA in the presence of H(+) or Ag(+), generating enhanced fluorescence. The designed Ag(+) probe has high selectivity and desirable sensitivity, which is necessary for practical use. The robust "OR" logic gate is capable of a rapid and reversible response to the H(+) and/or Ag(+) inputs.

Purpose: Grating-based x-ray phase contrast imaging is considered as one of the most promising techniques for future medical imaging. Many different methods have been developed to retrieve phase signal, among which the phase stepping (PS) method is widely used. However, further practical implementations are hindered, due to its complex scanning mode and high radiation dose. In contrast, the reverse projection (RP) method is a novel fast and low dose extraction approach. In this contribution, the authors present a quantitative analysis of the noise properties of the refraction signals retrieved by the two methods and compare their sensitivities. Methods: Using the error propagation formula, the authors analyze theoretically the signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of the refraction images retrieved by the two methods. Then, the sensitivities of the two extraction methods are compared under an identical exposure dose. Numerical experiments are performed to validate the theoretical results and provide some quantitative insight. Results: The SNRs of the two methods are both dependent on the system parameters, but in different ways. Comparison between their sensitivities reveals that for the refraction signal, the RP method possesses a higher sensitivity, especially in the case of high visibility and/or at the edge of the object. Conclusions: Compared with the PS method, the RP method has a superior sensitivity and provides refraction images with a higher SNR. Therefore, one can obtain highly sensitive refraction images in grating-based phase contrast imaging. This is very important for future preclinical and clinical implementations. (C) 2015 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

It is one of the ultimate goals in cell biology to understand the complex spatio-temporal interplay of biomolecules in the cellular context. To this end, there have been great efforts on the development of various probes to detect and localize specific biomolecules in cells with a variety of microscopic imaging techniques. In this Research News, we first summarize several types of microscopy for visualizing specific biomolecular targets. Then we focus on recent advances in the design of X-ray sensitive nanoprobes for applications in synchrotron-based cellular imaging. With the availability of advanced synchrotron techniques, there has been rapid progress toward high-resolution and multi-color X-ray imaging in cells with various types of functional nanoprobes.

which greatly hinders their large-scale practical applicationsbecause of their high costs and low reserves in the earthscrust.Thefirst-rowtransitionmetals(FRTM)innanoscale,suchas cobalt (Co) nanoparticles (NPs), have been widely inves-tigated as the catalytic materials in many important reactionsbecause of their potential activities and relatively low costs.

We have previously demonstrated that mutated DNA derived from the circulation can be detected in urine and predominantly exists as DNA fragments < 1 kb. To preferentially isolate the trans-renal DNA from urine, we developed a method using carboxylated beads to separate high-MW (1 kb or larger) from low-MW DNA in urine. A primer set for 18s rRNA (generating a PCR product of 872 bp) was designed and optimized for real-time PCR quantification of high-MW DNA templates. To evaluate the method, urine samples from 5 volunteers with no known diseases and 36 patients with various colorectal diseases were collected and tested. It was found that the average removal efficiency of high-MW DNA from total urine DNA using carboxylated beads is 92.72% ± 1.42%. Furthermore, compared with using total urine DNA, our method provides a greater ability to detect mutated K-ras in the urine of colorectal cancer patients. The concurrence of K-ras mutations detected in disease tissue and the corresponding urine specimen is significantly higher (P = 0.0015) when the samples were enriched in low-MW DNA.

The safe and efficient storage and release of hydrogen are widely recognized as the main challenges for the establishment of a fuel-cell-based hydrogen economy. Formic acid (FA) has great potential as a safe and convenient source of hydrogen for fuel cells. Despite tremendous efforts, the development of heterogeneous catalysts with high activity and relatively low cost remains a major challenge. The synthesis of AuPd–MnOx nanocomposite immobilized on ZIF-8–reduced-graphene-oxide (ZIF-8–rGO) bi-support by a wet-chemical method is reported here. Interestingly, the resultant AuPd–MnOx/ZIF-8–rGO shows excellent catalytic activity for the generation of hydrogen from FA, and the initial turnover frequency (TOF) reaches a highest value of 382.1 mol H2 mol catalyst−1 h−1 without any additive at 298 K. This good performance of AuPd–MnOx/ZIF-8–rGO results from the modified electronic structure of Pd in the AuPd–MnOx/ZIF-8–rGO composite, the small size and high dispersion of the AuPd–MnOx nanocomposite, and also the strong metal-support interaction between the AuPd–MnOx and ZIF-8–rGO bi-support.

Purpose: Sample radiation damage is one of the main drawbacks limiting applications of the x-ray phase-contrast imaging method. Recently, for x-ray grating-based phase contrast imaging, the reverse projection (RP) method has been proposed by Zhu et al. [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 107, 13576-13581 (2010)]. Compared to the conventional phase stepping technique, the RP method allows a strong reduction of the exposure time and minimization of the errors induced by mechanical vibrations. However, so far, it has only been considered for parallel beam illumination, typical of a synchrotron radiation source. In this paper, a generalization of the RP method from parallel beam geometry to fan beam geometry was presented and discussed. Methods: Within parallel beam geometry, the RP method utilizes the conjugate characteristic between reverse projection images. Nevertheless, this characteristic is not directly satisfied for fan beam geometry. In this study, a phantom composed of known materials was constructed and the projection images of the phantom were calculated in a fan beam geometry. By considering single ray, the conjugate images of the projection images were derived from the projection dataset. After that, using the modified RP method the authors retrieved phase and absorption information from paired images. Results: Extracted phase and absorption information of the phantom were in good agreement with theoretical values. Additionally, the slice reconstruction was performed and the results turned out to be in the authors' expectation. Conclusions: Theoretical calculations and numerical simulations confirm both feasibility and validity of the RP method under fan beam illumination. Because this method is simple, fast, and releases a relatively low dose, the authors believe that this research is very useful for the x-ray phase contrast imaging applications in clinical diagnosis, bioresearch, and industrial nondestructive testing. (C) 2013 American Association of Physicists in Medicine. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1118/1.4791672]