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Objective: Clinical practitioners face a significant challenge in maintaining a healthy balance between overtreatment and missed diagnosis in the management of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN). The current study aimed to identify significant risk factors of malignant IPMN from a series of clinical and radiological parameters that are widely available and noninvasive and develop a method to individually predict the risk of malignant IPMN to improve its management. Methods: We retrospectively investigated 168 patients who were pathologically diagnosed with IPMN after individualized pancreatic resection between June, 2012 and December, 2020. Independent predictors determined using both univariate and multivariate analyses to construct a predictive model. The discriminatory power of the nomogram was assessed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Decision curve analysis was performed to demonstrate the clinical usefulness of the nomogram. Internal cross validation was performed to assess the validity of the predictive model. Results: In the multivariate analysis, five significant independent risk factors were identified: increased serum CA19‐9 level, low prognostic nutritional index (PNI), cyst size, enhancing mural nodule, and main pancreatic duct diameter. The nomogram based on the parameters mentioned above had outstanding performance in distinguishing malignancy, with an AUC of 0.907 (95% confidence interval: 0.859–0.956, p < 0.05), which remained 0.875 after internal cross‐validation, and showed good clinical usefulness. Conclusion: A novel nomogram for predicting malignant IPMN first introducing PNI was developed, which may aid in improving IPMN management. Nevertheless, external validation is required to confirm its efficacy. With the hope of improving the management of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) of the pancreas, we developed a new malignancy‐predicted nomogram for IPMN, based on five verified independent predictors of malignant IPMN in our study. We employed Prognostic nutrition index (PNI) to constructed the nomogram for the first time and stratified the diameter of main pancreatic duct and the size of Mural Nodules which were helpful to achieve a more precise risk for malignancy. The nomogram shows excellent capability in predicting malignant IPMN and has a promising application potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With designing stator teeth by using grain oriented silicon sheets (GO) and other parts still with non-grain oriented silicon sheets (NGO), the electromagnetic performance of interior permanent magnet synchronous machine (GO-IPMSM) can be improved greatly, however its torque ripple will be increased as well. For reducing its torque ripple, optimizing its rotor barrier shape is an effective way. In this paper, the polynomial method is proposed to establish the rotor barrier shape, and the genetic algorithm (GA) method is employed for the optimization process. In case the optimized GO-IPMSM can work normally, its anti irreversible demagnetization ability is analyzed as well. As shown, with the GO is adopted for designing the stator teeth and its rotor barrier shape is optimized, though its torque ability and efficiency have been increased, its anti irreversible demagnetization risk ability is reduced, however the proposed machine can still operate safely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Parental involvement is one of the most important factors affecting students' academic learning. Different families seem to show similar parental involvement patterns. This study employed a representative sample of 12,575 seventh- and eighth-grade Chinese students' parents to explore the patterns of parental involvement. (2) Methods: Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify different parental involvement styles in children's studies at home. Discriminant analysis, MANOVA, post-hoc tests, and effect size were used to verify the LCA results. (3) Results: Four distinctive latent class groups were identified and named: supportive (20%), permissive (54%), restrictive (8%), and neglectful (18%). A discriminant analysis supported the LCA group classification results. The MANOVA results indicated statistically significant differences between the four latent classes using the set of predictor variables. The post-hoc test results and effect sizes showed that the predictor variables had substantial differences among the four latent class groups. Parental education and family income showed statistically significant links to these four parental involvement styles, which, in turn, were linked to students' academic achievement according to the MANOVA, effect sizes, and post-hoc test results. (4) Conclusions: Parental involvement styles in children's learning at home can be identified and categorized into four different latent class styles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amylose content (AC), which is regulated by the Waxy (Wx) gene, is a major indicator of eating and cooking quality (ECQ) in rice (Oryza sativa). Thus far, only a limited number of mutations in the N‐terminal domain of Wx were found to have a major impact on the AC of rice grains and no mutations with such effects were reported for other regions of the Wx protein. Here, nucleotide substitutions in the middle region of Wx were generated by adenine and cytosine base editors. The nucleotide substitutions led to changes in 15 amino acid residues of Wx, and a series of novel Wx alleles with ACs of 0.3%–29.43% (wild type with AC of 19.87%) were obtained. Importantly, the waxyabe2 allele showed a "soft rice" AC, improved ECQ, favorable appearance, and no undesirable agronomic traits. The transgenes were removed from the waxyabe2 progeny, generating a promising breeding material for improving rice grain quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel aluminothermic reduction combined with deoxidation process was developed in this research to prepare low-oxygen Ti-6Al-4V alloy powder. First, with Al and Al-V alloy powders as reducing agents and additives, crude Ti-6Al-4V alloy powder was fabricated by reduction-vacuum distillation using Na 2 TiF 6 as a titanium source. The aluminothermic reduction process was investigated by TG-DSC technique, and the thermal kinetic parameters of the reaction process were calculated by the Kissinger method. The oxygen content of the crude Ti-6Al-4V alloy powder with a coral-like porous structure was detected as 0.366 %. Furthermore, the existential states of the oxygen contained in the crude product powder was analyzed using XPS. The results indicated that the oxygen existed in three chemical states: metal oxides, defective oxygen, and adsorbed oxygen. Therefore, the deoxygenation of the crude Ti-6Al-4V alloy powder with calcium as a deoxidizer was carried out at 900 °C. As a result, the final Ti-6Al-4V powder with an oxygen content of approximately 822 ppm could be obtained. The contents of Ti, Al, V, Fe, and O in the obtained Ti-6Al-4V powders met the requirements of GB/T 3620.1−2016. This work had demonstrated the feasibility of preparing Ti-6Al-4V alloy powder by the novel aluminothermic reduction combined with deoxidation process. • Low-oxygen Ti-6Al-4V powder was prepared from metallurgical-grade materials by a short process with non-pollution. • Mechanism and kinetic analysis of the rapid exothermic reduction process were preliminary investigated. • The oxygen content in the final Ti-6Al-4V powder can be as low as 822 ppm. • A short process for preparing of low-oxygen Ti-6Al-4V powder was proved to be feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cranberry growers in New England are increasingly pressured by negative effects associated with global climate change, some of which are familiar to this group (such as precipitation fluctuations and pest pressures), others that are rather new (such as warmer winters that threaten needed chill hours for the plants to bloom). The first study of this population of its kind, we use a survey, supplemented with observations and interviews, to assess Massachusetts cranberry grower attitudes towards climate change, and whether certain conditions of production might be associated with their attitudes. Our findings suggest that certain personal and ecological conditions are associated with greater worry of climate change effects, and that communal conditions of the cranberry grower social network provide some ways to cope with a warming climate. While the cranberry growing community has created a strong social network that has allowed it to sustain production, a warming planet will likely require significant change in order to overcome general attitudes of climate skepticism so that cranberry production may continue in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We have limited information about neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) of the gallbladder. The purpose of this paper is to compare clinical and pathological features between different age groups and prognostic factors for gallbladder NEC and how it differs from adenocarcinoma (ADC) of the gallbladder. Patients and methods: This study included 28 gallbladder NEC patients and 137 ADC patients whose clinical characteristics and pathological findings were retrospectively collected. Propensity score matching and Cox regression analysis were used for the analysis of prognostic factors. Results: We divided NEC patients into two groups based on the age more than or less than 60 years. Most of the NEC patients less than 60 years old complained of abdominal pain or discomfort (p = 0.038), and more younger patients accepted adjuvant therapy (p = 0.020) than older patients did. CD56 was positive in all patients more than 60 years old, which is significantly higher than that of younger patients (p = 0.039). The mean age was similar between NEC and ADC patients. After eliminating confounding factors between NEC and ADC patients, the overall survival rates were still lower in NEC patients. Univariate analysis extracted six possible risk factors. Multivariate analysis indicated that surgery type, tumor size, and existence of gallstones were independent prognostic factors. Conclusion: The overall survival of gallbladder NEC is not associated with age. In this study, surgical method and tumor size were found to be independent risk factors for NECs. In addition, NEC patients have a worse prognosis than ADC patients with similar clinical and pathological features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Benefiting from increased life expectancy and improved perioperative management, more elderly patients with pancreatic head cancer (PHC) underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD). However, individualized predictive models for the safety and efficacy of PD is still lacking. this study aimed to developed three safety‐ and efficacy‐related risk calculators for elderly (> = 65 years) PHC patients. Methods: This study was designed with two research cohorts, namely, the training cohort and the validation cohort, and comprises four general steps: (1) Risk factors were analyzed for the incidence of postoperative complications, cancer‐specific survival (CSS), and overall survival (OS) in the training cohort (N = 271) using logistic and Cox‐regression analysis. (2) Nomograms were then plotted based on the above results. (3) The accuracy of the developed nomogram models was then verified with the validation cohort (N = 134) data using consistency index (C‐index) and calibration curves. (4) We then evaluated the efficacy of these nomograms using decision curve analysis (DCA) in both the training and validation cohorts, and ultimately constructed three online calculators based on these nomograms. Results: We identified ASA, diabetes, smoking, and lymph node invasion as predisposing risk factors for postoperative complications, and the predictive factors that affected both OS and CSS were ASA, diabetes, BMI, CA19‐9 level, and tumor diameter. By integrating the above risk factors, we constructed three nomograms on postoperative complication, CSS, and OS. The C‐index for complication, CSS, and OS were 0.824, 0.784, and 0.801 in the training cohort and 0.746, 0.718, and 0.708 in the validation cohort. Moreover, the validation curves and DCA demonstrated good calibration and robust compliance in both training and validation cohorts. We then developed three web calculators (https://caiming.shinyapps.io/CMCD/, https://caiming.shinyapps.io/CMCSS/, and https://caiming.shinyapps.io/CMOS/) to facilitate the use of the nomograms. Conclusions: The calculators demonstrated promising performance as an tool for predicting the safety and efficacy of PD in elderly PHC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the relationship between U.S. state-level CO 2 emissions and two measures of income inequality: the income share of the top 10% and the Gini coefficient. Each of the inequality measures, which focus on unique characteristics of income distributions, is used to evaluate the arguments of different analytical approaches. Results of the longitudinal analysis for the 1997 to 2012 period indicate that state-level emissions are positively associated with the income share of the top 10%, while the effect of the Gini coefficient on emissions is non-significant. The statistically significant relationship between CO 2 emissions and the concentration of income among the top 10% is consistent with analytical approaches that focus on political economy dynamics and Veblen effects, which highlight the potential political and economic power and emulative influence of the wealthy. The null effect of the Gini coefficient is generally inconsistent with the marginal propensity to emit approach, which posits that when incomes become more equally distributed, the poor will increase their consumption of energy and other carbon-intensive products as they move into the middle class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a stellated carbon filler (S-filler) through passivation of the surfaces of carbon nanotubes and carbon black (CNTs/CB) was fabricated, and the corresponding thermal conductive composites of polypropylene (blended with alumina) (PP/Al 2 O 3 ) incorporated with S-filler were fabricated. When adding 15 wt% S-filler, the composite shows an DC electrical resistivity as high as 8.34 × 10 11 Ω cm and high thermal conductivity about 0.68 W/m·k. The composite using the new carbon filler as hybrid part shows a higher thermal conductivity and electric insulation. The rheological test also shows that the percolation network is not formed by the S-filler. This work offers a novel route for the design of thermally conductive, but electrically insulative composites with polymer as a matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study contributes to interdisciplinary research on the social and environmental determinants of population health, with a focus on the interaction between working hours and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) concentration. The authors estimate longitudinal models of the relationship between US state-level average life expectancy and both average working hours and PM 2.5 concentration for the 2005–2014 period. Results obtained from two-way fixed effects models indicate that average life expectancy is negatively associated with both average working hours and fine particulate matter concentration. Findings also indicate clear moderating relationships: the negative association between life expectancy and working hours is amplified as PM 2.5 concentration increases, and the negative relationship between life expectancy and fine particulate matter concentration is amplified when average working hours increase. The results of this study underscore the need for additional research on the multiplicative impacts of socioeconomic factors and environmental factors in the modeling of population health. • Life expectancy for US states is negatively associated with average working hours and PM 2.5 concentration. • The negative association between life expectancy and working hours is amplified as PM 2.5 concentration increases. • The negative relationship between life expectancy and PM 2.5 concentration is amplified when average working hours increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]