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Abstract Background The impact of exercise dosages based on American College of Sports Medicine(ACSM) recommendations on lipid metabolism in patients after PCI remains unclear. This study conducted a meta-analysis of reported exercise dosages from the literature to address this knowledge gap. Methods A comprehensive search of databases was conducted to identify eligible randomized controlled studies of exercise interventions in patients after PCI, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. Based on the recommended exercise dosages from ACSM for patients with coronary heart disease, exercise doses in the literature that met the inclusion criteria were categorized into groups that were highly compliant with ACSM recommendations and those with low or uncertain ACSM recommendations. The topic was the effect of exercise dose on lipid metabolism in post-PCI patients. This was assessed using standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for changes in triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL, and HDL. Results This systematic review included 10 randomized controlled studies. The subgroup analysis revealed statistically significant differences in the high compliance with ACSM recommendations group for triglycerides [SMD=-0.33 (95% CI -0.62, -0.05)], total cholesterol [SMD=-0.55 (95% CI -0.97, -0.13)], low-density lipoprotein [SMD=-0.31 (95% CI -0.49, -0.13)], high-density lipoprotein [SMD = 0.23 (95% CI 0.01, 0.46)], and body mass index [SMD=-0.52 (95% CI -0.87, -0.17)]. Compared to the low or uncertain compliance with ACSM recommendations group, the high compliance group exhibited significant differences in improving TC levels (-0.55(H) vs. -0.46(L)), HDL levels (0.23(H) vs. 0.22(L)), and BMI (-0.52(H) vs. -0.34(L)). Conclusions This study supports that high compliance with ACSM-recommended exercise dosages has significant impacts on improving TC levels, HDL levels, and BMI. However, no advantage was observed for TG or LDL levels.

Background: Cholangiocarcinoma is characterized by significant cellular heterogeneity and complex intercellular communication, which contribute to its progression and therapeutic resistance. Therefore, unraveling this complexity is essential for the development of effective treatments.Methods: We employed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to investigate cellular heterogeneity and intercellular communication in cholangiocarcinoma and adjacent normal tissues from two patients. Distinct cell types were identified, and gene ontology analyses were conducted to determine enriched pathways. Moreover, cell-cell communications were analyzed using CellChat, a computational framework. Additionally, we performed sub-clustering analysis of T cells and fibroblasts.Results: The scRNA-seq analysis revealed distinct cell clusters and diverse cellular compositions of cholangiocarcinoma. CellChat analysis underscored an amplified outgoing signal from fibroblasts within the tumor, suggesting their pivotal role in the tumor microenvironment. Furthermore, T cell sub-clustering analysis revealed an active immune response within the tumor and new tumor-specific T cell clonotypes, suggesting scope for targeted immunotherapies. Moreover, fibroblast sub-clustering analysis indicated distinct functional states and highlighted the role of activated fibroblasts in shaping intercellular communication, particularly via CD99 and FN1 signaling.Conclusion: Our findings reveal the intricate cellular heterogeneity and dynamic intercellular communication in cholangiocarcinoma, providing valuable insights into disease progression and potential therapeutic strategies.

Abstract Background This study is the first part of the “Binocular Vision Anomalies after Cataract Surgery” study that aimed to investigate the impact of cataract surgery on binocular vision status in adults with age-related cataract. This study aimed to investigate the preoperative binocular vision status of participants with age-related cataract. Methods Patients who elected to undergo bilateral cataract surgery (≥50 years of age) were recruited. Clinical measures of binocular vision including stereopsis, ocular alignment, fusional vergence, vergence facility, convergence amplitude and a symptom survey related to binocular vision anomalies were administered. A detailed classification protocol was established to identify the presence of binocular vision anomalies. The frequency of specific binocular vision anomalies and normative data of binocular vision measures were reported. Results A total of 73 subjects were evaluated. No strabismus was detected in the cohort. Non-strabismic binocular vision anomalies were detected in 24 subjects (32.9%), of whom 18 (24.7%) had convergence insufficiency, 3 (4.1%) had basic exophoria, 2 (2.7%) had convergence excess, and 1 (1.4%) had fusional vergence dysfunction. Decreased vergence facility and convergence amplitude were more common compared to the pre-presbyopes (P

ObjectivesThis study aims to evaluate the diagnostic value of real-time four-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (RT4D-TEE) for implant-related thrombus (IRT).MethodsWe collected 1,125 patients with atrial fibrillation from May 2019 to February 2022 in our hospital. All patients accepted transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) examination to exclude any thrombi before the LAAC procedure.ResultsThere were 760 patients with LAAC, 66 patients with CIED, and 299 patients without any implantations. A total of 40 patients with an established diagnosis of IRT were further analyzed. The accurate detection rate of IRT by RT4D-TEE was 4.8% (40/826), which was higher than 3.8% (31/826) by 2D-TEE (P = 0.004). No IRT was found on TEE in the rest of the 786 patients. These 40 patients were divided into LAAC (n = 23) and CIED (n = 17) groups according to the results of RT4D-TEE. In the LAAC group, IRT distributed on different parts of the LAA occluder surface, 91.3% (21/23) with clumps of thrombi, and 8.7% (2/23) with a thin layer of thrombi covering the surface of the occluder. In the CIED group, thrombi were seen attached to the leads in the right atrium and right ventricle. The thrombi were beaded in 17.6% (3/17), corded in 17.6% (3/17), and clotted in the remaining 64.7% (11/17) of cases. After adjusting the anticoagulant dosage and following up for 6 months, 20% (8/40) of cases were successfully resolved, 67.5% (27/40) became smaller, and 12.5% (5/40) showed no changes.ConclusionThe accurate detection rate of IRT by RT4D-TEE was significantly higher than that by 2D-TEE. 2D-TEE has limitations, but RT4D-TEE can be used as an effective complementary method. Imaging and some clinical features differ significantly between IRT on occluder and IRT on CIED lead.

Abstract Background The aim of this was to analyze 4 chest CT imaging features of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Shenzhen, China so as to improve the diagnosis of COVID-19. Methods Chest CT of 34 patients with COVID-19 confirmed by the nucleic acid test (NAT) were retrospectively analyzed. Analyses were performed to investigate the pathological basis of four imaging features(“feather sign”,“dandelion sign”,“pomegranate sign”, and “rime sign”) and to summarize the follow-up results. Results There were 22 patients (65.2%) with typical “feather sign”and 18 (52.9%) with “dandelion sign”, while few patients had “pomegranate sign” and “rime sign”. The “feather sign” and “dandelion sign” were composed of stripe or round ground-glass opacity (GGO), thickened blood vessels, and small-thickened interlobular septa. The “pomegranate sign” was characterized as follows: the increased range of GGO, the significant thickening of the interlobular septum, complicated with a small amount of punctate alveolar hemorrhage. The “rime sign” was characterized by numerous alveolar edemas. Microscopically, the wall thickening, small vascular proliferation, luminal stenosis, and occlusion, accompanied by interstitial infiltration of inflammatory cells, as well as numerous pulmonary interstitial fibrosis and partial hyaline degeneration were observed. Repeated chest CT revealed the mediastinal lymphadenectasis in one patient. Re-examination of the NAT showed another positive anal swab in two patients. Conclusion “Feather sign” and “dandelion sign” were typical chest CT features in patients withCOVID-19; “pomegranate sign” was an atypical feature, and “rime sign” was a severe feature. In clinical work, accurate identification of various chest CT signs can help to improve the diagnostic accuracy of COVID-19 and reduce the misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis rate.

Abstract Background Splenosis refers to the heterotopic transplantation of splenic tissue following splenic trauma or splenectomy. Splenosis is typically asymptomatic and is often identified incidentally. Case presentation We report a case of splenosis with colon and stomach invasion presenting as lower gastrointestinal bleeding and mimicking colonic gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST). The importance of suspicion for splenosis in patients with a history of splenic injury should be highlighted. Computed tomography (CT)-guided biopsy, nuclear scintigraphy and ferumoxide-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can support an accurate diagnosis. Conclusions An accurate diagnosis of splenosis is important to avoid unnecessary operations, especially in patients with previous histories of splenic trauma or splenectomy.

Agricultural production and quality are adversely affected by various abiotic stresses worldwide and this will be exacerbated by the deterioration of global climate. To feed a growing world population, it is very urgent to breed stress-tolerant crops with higher yields and improved qualities against multiple environmental stresses. Since conventional breeding approaches had marginal success due to the complexity of stress tolerance traits, the transgenic approach is now being popularly used to breed stress-tolerant crops. So identifying and characterizing the the critical genes involved in plant stress responses is an essential prerequisite for engineering stress-tolerant crops. Far beyond the manipulation of single functional gene, engineering certain regulatory genes has emerged as an effective strategy now for controlling the expression of many stress-responsive genes. Transcription factors (TFs) are good candidates for genetic engineering to breed stress-tolerant crop because of their role as master regulators of many stress-responsive genes. Many TFs belonging to families AP2/EREBP, MYB, WRKY, NAC, bZIP have been found to be involved in various abiotic stresses and some TF genes have also been engineered to improve stress tolerance in model and crop plants. In this review, we take five large families of TFs as examples and review the recent progress of TFs involved in plant abiotic stress responses and their potential utilization to improve multiple stress tolerance of crops in the field conditions.

The effects of BaCu(B2O5) (BCB) addition on the microstructure, phase formation, and microwave dielectric properties of Ba5Nb4O15−BaWO4 ceramic are investigated. As a sintering aid, BaCu(B2O5) ceramic could effectively lower the sintering temperature of Ba5Nb4O15−BaWO4 ceramic from 1100 °C to 950 °C due to the liquid-phase effect. Meanwhile, BaCu(B2O5) addition effectively improves the densification of Ba5Nb4O15−BaWO4 ceramic and significantly influences the microwave dielectric properties. X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that Ba5Nb4O15 and BaWO4 coexist with no crystal phase of BaCu(B2O5) in the sintered ceramics. The Ba5Nb4O15−BaWO4 ceramics with 1.0 wt% BaCu(B2O5) sintered at 950 °C for 2 h presents good microwave dielectric properties of εr = 19.0, high Q×f of 33802 GHz and low τf of 2.5 ppm/°C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of the addition of H3BO3 on the microstructure, phase formation, and microwave dielectric properties of (Zn0.7Mg0.3)TiO3 ceramics sintered at temperatures ranging from 890 °C to 950 °C are investigated. H3BO3 as a sintering agent can effectively lower the sintering temperature of ZMT ceramics below 950 °C due to the liquid-phase effect. The microwave dielectric properties are found to strongly correlate with the amount of H3BO3. With the increase in H3BO3 content, the dielectric constant (εr) monotonically increases, but the quality factor (Q × f) reaches a maximum at 1 wt% H3BO3, and the apparent density of ZMT ceramics with H3BO3 ≥ 1 wt% gradually decreases. At 950 °C, the ZMT ceramics with 1% H3BO3 exhibit excellent microwave dielectric properties: εr = 19.8, and Q × f = 43800 GHz (8.94 GHz). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dielectric-coated metallic hollow fiber (DMHF) is an increasingly popular fiber for the delivery of terahertz (THz) wave. There is a need for small-diameter fibers in a variety of THz wave applications. Transmission characteristics of DMHF with subwavelength diameter in the THz region are numerically investigated. The effective refractive indices, attenuation constants, and power distributions are presented. The effect of the metal layer on enhancing the modal field confinement is demonstrated by comparing the power distribution of the fiber to that of the polymer tube. Attenuation dependence on the dielectric layer is studied concerning the layer thickness and the refractive index. Both the optimal thickness and the optimal refractive index for the dielectric layer are dependent on the core size. Fiber with a smaller core requires a thicker dielectric layer and lower dielectric refractive index to achieve low attenuation. The results are important to the design of subwavelength diameter DMHF for the transmission of THz waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A systematic study of the charge transport and electrical properties in poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) polymer layers is performed. We demonstrate that the temperature-dependent current-voltage J(V, T) characteristics of hole-only devices based on P3HT can be accurately described using the recently introduced extended Gaussian disorder model (EGDM). A particular numerical method adopting the uneven discretization and Newton iteration method is used to solve the coupled equations describing the space-charge limited (SCL) current in conjugated polymers. For the polymer studied, we find the width of the density of states σ = 0.1 eV and the lattice constant a = 1.15 nm. Based on the numerical method and EGDM, we further calculate and analyze some important electrical properties for P3HT in detail, including the variation of current-voltage characteristics with the boundary carrier density and the distribution of charge-carrier density and electric field with the distance from interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polycrystalline Fe3O4 films grown on different thicknesses of Fe underlayers were prepared by dc reactive-magnetron sputtering in an Ar+O2 gas mixture and annealing under an infrared-lamp furnace system. Analyses of structural and magnetic properties revealed that a 15 nm Fe underlayer can be oxidized to Fe3O4 by increasing the oxygen flow rates during initial Fe3O4 layer growth. These analyses also confirmed the stoichiometry and high-crystallographic quality of grown Fe3O4. Adopting this method, Fe3O4 films can be grown without any other elemental buffer layers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have fabricated pseudo-spin-valve (PSV) multilayers with amorphous CoNbZr alloy as a soft magnetic layer and a buffer layer by magnetron sputtering. We investigated the multilayers' giant magnetoresistance (GMR), microstructure, thermal annealing effects, and application characteristics. Our results show that the film microstructure, consequently the magnetostatic coupling effect and the magnetization reversal process, strongly depends on the CoNbZr thickness. We observed antiparallel magnetization alignments in the samples with a 2-4 nm CoNbZr layer and a measured maximum GMR ratio of 6.5%. The PSV with 4 nm CoNbZr has a superior thermal stability to 400°C as a result of the dense and homogeneous Cu spacer. After patterning with a 6 µm × 1 µm elliptic stripe, the structure forms a single domain. The dynamic GMR behavior under a 10 kHz sinusoidal magnetic field indicates the patterned stripe has a linear and stable GMR response. We therefore believe that PSVs with amorphous CoNbZr have good potential for spintronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]