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Crowdsourced software testing (short for crowdtesting) is a special type of crowdsourcing. It requires that crowdworkers master appropriate skill-sets and commit significant effort for completing a task. Abundant uncertainty may arise during a crowdtesting process due to imperfect information between the task requester and crowdworkers. For example, a worker frequently chooses tasks in an ad hoc manner in crowdtesting context, and an inappropriate task selection may lead to the worker's failing to detect any bugs, and significant testing effort unpaid and wasted. Recent studies have explored methods for supporting task requesters to make informed decisions on task pricing, worker recommendation, and so on. Unfortunately, very few study offers decision making support from the crowdworkers' perspectives. We motivate this study through a pilot study, revealing the large portion (74\%) of unpaid crowdworkers' effort due to the inappropriate task choice. Drawn from our previous work on context-aware crowdworker recommendations, we advocate a more effective alternative to manual task selection would be to provide contextualized and personalized task recommendation considering the diverse distribution of worker preference and expertise, with objectives to increase their winning chances and to potentially reduce the frequency of unpaid crowd work. This paper proposes a context-aware personalized task recommendation approach PTRec, consisting of a testing context model and a learning-based task recommendation model to aid dynamic worker decision in selecting crowdtesting tasks. The testing context model is constructed in two perspectives, i.e., process context and resource context, to capture the in-process progress-oriented information and crowdworkers' characteristics respectively. Built on top of this context model, the learning-based task recommendation model extracts 60 features automatically, and employs random forest learner to generate dynamic and personalized task recommendation which matches workers' expertise and interest. The evaluation is conducted on 636 crowdtesting tasks involving 2,404 crowdworkers from one of the largest crowdtesting platforms, and results show the potential in recommending proper tasks to workers so as to improve bug detection efficiency and increase their monetary earnings.

Background/purpose Pulpectomy is the last means to preserve primary teeth with pulpitis or pulp necrosis. The aim of the study was to investigate the survival rate of primary teeth after pulpectomies and to explore the factors influencing the prognosis of pulpectomy. Materials and methods This retrospective study was performed on patients who received primary tooth pulpectomy in the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at Peking University Hospital of Stomatology between January 2014 and February 2019. The demographic characteristics of children and the information of teeth treated were collected, and the clinical and radiographic examination after treatment were evaluated. Survival analysis was performed to determine the influencing factor of pulpectomy failure. Results A total of 592 primary anterior teeth and 583 primary molars were included. The 30-month survival rate of primary anterior teeth was 58.5% and that of primary molars was 37.0%. The survival rate of postoperative primary molars was lower than that of primary anterior teeth (P Conclusion Primary anterior teeth after pulpectomies had a higher survival rate than primary molars. Periapical lesions, treatment methods, and root filling materials had significant impacts on the prognosis of primary anterior pulpectomies, and children's age significantly affected the prognosis of primary molar pulpectomies, which has not been reported before.

Organic color-tunable phosphorescent materials depend upon multiple emission centers to achieve color-tunable phosphorescence with changes in excitation wavelength, temperature, time, and other external factors. Organic color-tunable phosphorescent materials are becoming increasingly popular due to their potential applications in anticounterfeiting, encryption and sensing. This brief review focuses on the formation of multiple emission centers in organic color-tunable phosphorescent materials and how to ensure that these multiple emission centers can simultaneously emit. In the future, materials with a large color tunable ranges, increased efficiency, and relatively long lives will be developed.

Background The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a crucial region in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the relationship between functional alterations of the ACC subregions, anhedonia and sleep quality remains unclear in MDD patients. Methods The resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of ACC subregions was measured in 41 first-episode medication-naive MDD patients and 63 healthy controls who underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging. Between-group differences were examined using two-sample t-test. Furthermore, correlation and mediation analyses were carried out to investigate the relationships between the aberrant rsFC of ACC subregions, anhedonia and sleep quality in the patients and controls. Results Compared to healthy controls, the MDD patients exhibited increased rsFC of ACC subregions to areas of the anterior default mode network (DMN) and showed decreased rsFC of the right subgenual ACC to left precuneus (PCUN), which belongs to the posterior DMN. In MDD group, the sleep quality and consummatory anhedonia are correlated with some rsFC, which involves the angular gyrus (ANG) and superior frontal gyrus (SFG). More importantly, the rsFC between the right perigenual ACC and left SPG mediates the association between anhedonia and sleep quality in MDD. Limitations The cross-sectional design and the subjective questionaries for assessment. Conclusion These findings confirm the functional alterations of the ACC subregions and reveal the mediating role of ACC subregions in sleep and reward dysfunction in MDD.

In Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) system, applying power-relay coils is an effective method to achieve both long-distance and high-efficiency. However, the Wireless Power-Relay System (WPRS) has many variables, which will perplex the system design. An evaluation method based on black-box Z-parameter two-port model is introduced for the WPRS. This method can easily obtain the theoretical optimal efficiency and corresponding load from black-box measurement instead of acquiring all the parameters of the resonant coils. This feature can be used to compare potential performance of different WPRS. WPRS based on PCB coils are built to verify the black-box Z-parameter two-port modeling. Experiments are also carried on WPRS AC resonant tanks and WPRS DC/DC converters.

PURPOSE This study aimed to investigate the effect of prophylactic uterine artery embolization (UAE) on reproductive outcomes in patients with cesarean scar pregnancy (CSP). METHODS A retrospective case-control study was conducted using the hospital records of all women diagnosed with CSP during a period of 6 years, between January 2014 and December 2019, at Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University. The clinical characteristics and different treatment modalities were analyzed. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 181 patients with reproductive needs were selected and divided into a UAE group (n = 51) and a non-UAE group (n = 130) according to whether they received preventive UAE before their hysteroscopic or laparoscopic operation. The basic characteristics and pregnancy outcomes of patients in each group were compared, and a propensity score-matched (PSM) analysis was used to produce 37 matched pairs. RESULTS Before PSM, the UAE group had a thinner muscle layer, larger mass size, and higher serum human chorionic gonadotropin level than the non-UAE group. The pregnancy rate and live birth rate of the UAE group were 54.9% and 61.9%, respectively, which were lower than those of the non-UAE group (61.5% and 66.7%), but no statistical differences were observed. Post-PSM, no significant differences between basic characteristics of the groups were observed. The pregnancy rate of the UAE group was 51.4%, which was lower than that of the non-UAE group (73.0%); the live birth rate of the UAE group was 64.3%, which was also lower than that of the non-UAE group (72.7%); however, the differences were not statistically significant with the P value of 0.077 and 0.716. CONCLUSION Prophylactic UAE did not induce a significant difference in pregnancy rate and live birth rate between the UAE group and the non-UAE group.

Pancreatic β-cell neogenesis in vivo holds great promise for cell replacement therapy in diabetic patients, and discovering the relevant clinical therapeutic strategies would push it forward to clinical application. Liraglutide, a widely used antidiabetic glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analog, has displayed diverse β-cell-protective effects in type 2 diabetic animals. Glucagon receptor (GCGR) monoclonal antibody (mAb), a preclinical agent that blocks glucagon pathway, can promote the recovery of functional β-cell mass in type 1 diabetic mice. Here, we conducted a 4-week treatment of the two drugs alone or in combination in type 1 diabetic mice. Although liraglutide neither lowered the blood glucose level nor increased the plasma insulin level, the immunostaining showed that liraglutide expanded β-cell mass through self-replication, differentiation from precursor cells, and transdifferentiation from pancreatic α cells to β-cells. The pancreatic β-cell mass increased more significantly after GCGR mAb treatment, while the combination group did not further increase the pancreatic β-cell area. However, compared with the GCGR mAb group, the combined treatment reduced the plasma glucagon level and increased the proportion of β-cells/α-cells. Our study evaluated the effects of liraglutide, GCGR mAb monotherapy, and combined strategy in glucose control and islet β-cell regeneration and provided useful clues for the future clinical application in type 1 diabetes.

Compared to their male peers, female entrepreneurs tend to face greater obstacles in raising venture funding from business angels, venture capitalists, and financial institutions. In this paper, we investigate whether this gender gap also exists in equity crowdfunding. Based on data from the German equity crowdfunding market, we find that ventures with and without female managing directors are equally successful in raising capital when launching their first equity crowdfunding campaign. In contrast, the former are significantly less successful than their peers in seasoned equity crowdfunding campaigns, and this disparity cannot be fully explained by differences in other venture-related or entrepreneur-related characteristics. However, we also find that the gender gap in seasoned offerings narrows if female entrepreneurs set more ambitious funding thresholds. Overall, our results indicate that pitching their equity crowdfunding campaigns in a more promotion-oriented way is a sensible strategy for female entrepreneurs to improve funding success. Equity crowdfunding enables female entrepreneurs to narrow the “gender gap” in venture financing. In this paper, we investigate whether the entrepreneurs’ gender affects how successful they are in attracting capital in the German equity crowdfunding market. Our results indicate that the gender of a firm’s managing director does not affect the funding outcome in initial equity crowdfunding campaigns. In seasoned equity crowdfunding offerings, though, we identify a gender gap in the sense that ventures with female managing directors are significantly less successful in raising capital from crowd investors than ventures solely led by men. However, this gender gap in seasoned offerings narrows for bolder campaign pitches. Hence, setting a higher funding threshold seems to be a simple and straightforward strategy for female entrepreneurs to increase the odds of reaching their funding targets.

Aquaculture makes great contribution to global food production. The aquaculture capture scale of China was far ahead of other countries in the world. Despite the potential role of dissolved organic matter (DOM) to affect fish growth and ecological cycle, the characterization of DOM in aquaculture industry was poorly understood. In this study, fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) spectroscopy and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) were conducted to decipher the optical and molecular signatures of DOM in freshwater aquaculture ponds in Eastern China. The EEM dataset was decomposed by parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC). Three main components including humic/fulvic acid-like (C1 and C3), tryptophan-like (C2) and tyrosine-like substances (C3) were obtained. FT-ICR-MS identified DOM composition at molecular level. In terms of formula classes, the dominant CHO species were followed by CHON and CHOS groups. According to compound classification criteria, the key components of lignins, tannins, proteins and lipids illustrated the primary source from terrestrial sediment, feeding doses and stocked creatures, implying the great influence by the land-based aquaculture ponds. Typical spectral indexes such as humification index (HIX), biological index (BIX) and fluorescence index (FI) consistently reflected the lower humification degree of DOM and greater contribution from protein-like sources. Furthermore, to utilize readily available spectral indexes to predict the time-consuming molecular properties, redundancy analysis and the pairwise correlation analysis was carried out to prove that two spectral indexes (E2:E3 and BIX) were negatively associated with four molecular formula derived parameters (O/Cwa, AImodwa, DBEwa and NOSCwa). The findings expanded our understanding of aquaculture DOM evolved in environmental chemistry.

Objective To quantify the temporal trend of sex- and age-specific disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders by region and cause. Methods Data were collected from the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2019. The estimated annual percentage change (EAPC) by sex, age, region and cause was calculated to examine the temporal trend of the age-standardized DALYs rate (ASDR). The sociodemographic index (SDI) and risk exposures were also examined. Results Between 1990 and 2019, the global ASDR for MSK disorders remained almost stable by sex and age group but decreased among females ages 0–14 years (EAPC = −0.27). Such age and sex patterns were nearly the same by SDI, except for high SDI regions, where ASDR increased in all subgroups except those ages 15–49 years. The trend in ASDR of MSK disorders for females and males ages 50–74 and ≥75 years increased in ∼80% of countries and territories. The greatest increase was in El Salvador for males ages 15–49 years (EAPC = 1.30), followed by Nicaragua. The association between EAPC and SDI was positive in developing regions, particularly among females ages 15–49 years, and negative in developed regions. A decreasing trend in ASDR was mainly driven by the decrease in low back pain, while the increasing trend was largely due to other MSK disorders and gout across sexes and age groups. Conclusions There are great disparities in the age- and sex-specific trends in ASDR by cause on the global, regional and national levels. More differentiated prevention and management strategies are needed for MSK disorders.

Dynamic structural color based on tunable optical resonance plays a key role in applications including encryption visualization, camouflage and colorimetric sensing. However, the current design requires either complex growth processes of the high-quality tunable materials or complicated circuit designs. This work makes a humidity-swelling hydrogel layer for metal–insulator–metal (MIM) structure in the dynamic multi-color display. Here, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel structure is patterned through grayscale e-beam lithography and the controlled PVA thickness leads the programmable reflective resonance covering the entire visible range. By varying the ambient humidity between 9.8 and 90.1% RH, the reflective resonance of the structure is tailored across a wavelength range over 100 nm. Our materials platform of humidity-sensitive hydrogel resist presents a novel approach of the stepwise and reversible optical tunability for photonic devices.

Most previous studies of recommender systems (RSs) have particularly focused on optimizing user experience; however, users are not the only stakeholders of an RS. A pure concentration of users limits the ability to incorporate the perspectives of other stakeholders, such as providers. Furthermore, because users' preferences and providers' objectives may conflict, considering only users' views degrades the recommendation methods' utility. Therefore, we propose a cascade hybrid many-objective recommendation method (CHMAOR) to balance four objectives for two different stakeholders. CHMAOR combines provider coverage (PC), user reach coverage (URC), and provider entropy (PE) to create a new provider visibility model (PCRE). The many-objective optimization (MOP) stage includes a novel multiparent probabilistic heuristic genetic algorithm (MPPHX) that heuristically considers both parents' gene frequency and recommendation list features. Extensive experiments demonstrate the following. 1) CHMAOR effectively balances user and provider objectives in terms of accuracy, diversity, novelty, and provider visibility according to the baseline algorithms. 2) The PCRE model considers not only provider coverage but also provider appearance frequency and provider diversity while effectively changing imbalanced provider recommendations. Furthermore, PCRE dramatically reduces the complexity of high-dimensional many-objective recommendations. 3) Our MPPHX achieves better convergence and diversity solutions than the competing MOP algorithms.

Objective This study aims to explore the difference in anhedonia between Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Bipolar Disorder II (BD-II), and attempt to distinguish the two diseases through Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS). Methods A total of 164 drug-free depressive patients (98 MDD patients, 66 BD-II patients) completed the investigation. 17-item Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD-17) and Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA) and SHAPS were assessed in all participants. Results Our results showed that BD-II patients had higher SHAPS scores than MDD patients. The stepwise logistic regression analysis further revealed that SHAPS score, drinking habit, and extroversion as influencing factors for the identification of BD-II. The ROC curve analysis indicated that SHAPS could differentiate BD-II from MDD patients (AUC = 0.655, P = 0.001, 95% CI = 0.568 to 0.742), with the best screening cutoff at 26, and the corresponding sensitivity and specificity was 0.788 and 0.520, respectively. Conclusion Our results suggest that BD-II patients had more severe anhedonia compared to MDD patients, and the difference in anhedonia may help clinicians preliminary identify BD patients from MDD patients. The preliminary findings are worthly of further exploration.

The rapid and accurate detection of apple fruitlets before fruit thinning is important for the realization of early yield estimation and automatic fruit thinning. However, factors such as a complex growth environment, uncertain illumination, and the clustering and occlusion of apple fruitlets, especially the extreme similarities between fruitlets and backgrounds, make it difficult to effectively detect apple fruitlets before thinning. The overall goal of this study was to develop an accurate apple fruitlet detection method with small model size based on a channel pruned YOLO V5s deep learning algorithm. First, using transfer learning, a YOLO V5s detection model was built to detect apple fruitlets. To simplify the detection model and ensure the detection efficiency, a channel pruning algorithm was used to prune the YOLO V5s model. The pruned model was then fine-tuned to achieve rapid and accurate detection of apple fruitlets. The experimental results showed that the channel pruned YOLO V5s model provided an effective method to detect apple fruitlets under different conditions. A recall, precision, F1 score, and false detection rate of 87.6%, 95.8%, 91.5% and 4.2%, respectively, were achieved; the average detection time was 8 ms per image; and the model size was only 1.4 MB. The performance of our method outperformed seven methods in comparison, indicating that our method simplified the model effectively on the premise of ensuring the detection accuracy. Our method provides a reference for the development of portable mobile fruit thinning terminals, and it can be used to help growers optimise their orchard management.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, ultrasound elastography (USE) has been the main diagnostic technique for benign and malignant thyroid nodules. However, it cannot display the blood flow signals of nodules with smaller diameters clearly, which decreases its diagnostic accuracy. METHODS: Chinese and English databases were searched using “ultrasonic elastography”, “benign and malignant thyroid nodules”, and “diagnose” as the search terms. RevMan 5.3 software was used for meta-analysis. RESULTS: A total of 11 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included. Eight articles analyzed clinical symptoms, and the heterogeneity test results were Chi(2) =7.46, df=7, I(2)=6%, and P=0.38; and Z=11.44, OR =14.58, 95% confidential interval (CI): 9.21–23.07, and P

Porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC) is one of the most challenging health concerns for pig production worldwide. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of pathogens associated with PRDC, including porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) and porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) and bacterial agents, such as Streptococcus suis, Haemophilus parasuis and Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, in clinically healthy pigs in Eastern China. Molecular detection revealed positive single‐pathogen detection rates of 59.9%, 27.2%, 52.3%, 33.2% and 0.4% for PCV2, PRRSV, S. suis, H. parasuis and A. pleuropneumoniae, respectively. Co‐infection with more than one pathogen was frequently detected in these samples, with PCV2/S. suis, H. parasuis and PCV2/H. parasuis mixed infection rates of 35.4%, 33.2% and 21.6%, respectively, and PCV2/S. suis/H. parasuis and PRRSV/PCV2/S. suis co‐infection rates of 21.6% and 6.2%, respectively. These results suggest that mixed infections are prevalent among PRDC cases in swine, which may pose a greater threat to the health of herds compared with single‐pathogen infections., These results suggest that mixed infections are prevalent among PRDC cases in swine, which may pose a greater threat to the health of herds compared with single‐pathogen infections.

Cognitive impairments are core aspects of schizophrenia and are highly related to poor outcomes. However, the effect of therapy on cognitive impairments remains unsatisfactory as its biological mechanisms are not fully understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the disrupted intrinsic neural activity of the frontal areas and to further examine the functional connectivity of frontal areas related to cognitive impairments in schizophrenia. We collected brain imaging data using a 3T Siemens Prisma MRI system in 32 patients with schizophrenia and 34 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. The mean fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (mfALFF) in the frontal regions was calculated and analyzed to evaluate regional neural activity alterations in schizophrenia. Seed regions were generated from clusters showing significant changes in mfALFF in schizophrenia, and its resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) with other brain regions were estimated to detect possible aberrant rs-FC indicating cognitive impairments in schizophrenia. We found that mfALFF in the bilateral frontal cortices was increased in schizophrenia. mfALFF-based rs-FC revealed that decreased rs-FC between left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and left medial superior frontal gyrus (MFSG) was associated with poor delayed memory (r = 0.566, Bonferroni-corrected p = 0.012). These findings demonstrate increased neural activity in the frontal cortices in schizophrenia. FC analysis revealed a diminished rs-FC pattern between the left MFG and left MSFG that was associated with cognitive impairments. These findings have provided deeper insight into the alterations in brain function related to specific domains of cognitive impairment and may provide evidence for precise interventions for cognitive deficits in schizophrenia.

We investigated the relationship between mine water inflow and fault development. Statistical methods and grey relational analysis (GRA) were used to analyse the relationship between fault complexity and mine water inflow. Major characteristics, such as the fault number, fault strike length, fault throw, fault intersections, and endpoints, were considered to depict fault complexity. The degree of fault complexity was described using a fault influence factor (E) and fault fractal dimensions (Ds). In addition, an inverse distance-weighting interpolation method was used to better describe the fault characteristics. The fault complexity in the study area was divided into four qualitative levels: simple, moderate, relatively complex, and complex. The results show that water pressure and fault complexity have separate nonlinear relationships with mine water inflow. An equation that presents the correlation between parameters and water inflow was derived using the GRA method.

As a subclass of linear codes, cyclic codes have important applications in consumer electronics, data storage systems and communication systems. In this paper, a new family of optimal ternary cyclic codes with minimum distance five are obtained from known perfect nonlinear functions over $\mathbb {F}_{3^{m}}$ . Moreover, we investigate the weight distributions of their duals.

Background Extrapelvic endometriosis is defined as the presence of ectopic endometrial tissue in structures outside the pelvis. Although extra-pelvic endometriosis is generally considered benign conditions, malignant potential within endometriotic foci occurs even after definitive surgery. Malignant transformation of hepatic endometriosis is extremely rare. Preoperative diagnosis of this cancer is difficult, and no guidelines on the optimal management currently exist. Here, we present a case report of malignant transformation of hepatic endometriosis and a brief literature review to highlight the current knowledge of the prevalence, clinical features, diagnosis, and management of this condition. Case presentation A 50-year-old woman with a 2-year duration of progressive right upper quadrant abdominal pain was admitted to the hospital. She underwent hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy for benign conditions 4 years prior. Tumor markers demonstrated elevated carbohydrate antigen (CA)-199 112U/mL (normal range: 0–35U/mL) only. Radiological imaging suggested the presence of a 10.7 × 7.7-cm mass in the right lobe of the liver extending to the diaphragm. The intraoperative frozen sections suggested malignant tumor. Right hepatectomy with infiltrating diaphragm resection was performed. The final pathology with immunohistochemistry staining confirmed endometrioid adenocarcinoma in the liver originating from preexisting hepatic endometriosis. After the multidisciplinary team meeting, the consensus was surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. To our knowledge, this is the first case of Chinese woman of a malignant liver tumor originating from endometriosis ever reported by reviewing the current English medical literature. Conclusion Though rare, extrapelvic endometriosis-associated cancers should be considered as differentiated diagnosis even after hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. This case highlights the importance of collaborative efforts across multiple disciplines for accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment of malignant transformation of hepatic endometriosis.

Objective There is a lack of evidence on the usage of the quality assessment tool-the Risk Of Bias In Nonrandomized Studies-of Interventions (ROBINS-I). This article aimed to measure the reliability, criterion validity, and feasibility of the ROBINS-I and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). Methods A sample of systematic reviews or meta-analyses of observational studies were selected from Medline (2013-2017) and assessed by two reviewers using ROBINS-I and the NOS. We reported on reliability in terms of the first-order agreement coefficient (AC1) statistic. Correlation coefficient statistic was used to explore the criterion validity of the ROBINS-I. We compared the feasibility of the ROBINS-I and NOS by recording the time to complete an assessment and the instances where assessing was difficult. Results Five systematic reviews containing 41 cohort studies were finally included. Interobserver agreement on the individual domain of the ROBINS-I as well as the NOS was substantial with a mean AC1 statistic of 0.67 (95% CI: 0.50-0.83) and 0.73 (95% CI: 0.65-0.81), respectively. The criterion validity of the ROBNS-I was moderate (K = 0.52) against NOS. The time in assessing a single study by ROBINS-I varied from 7 hours initially to 3 hours compared with 30 minutes for the NOS. Both reviewers rated "bias due to departure from the intended interventions" the most time-consuming domain in the ROBINS-I, items in the NOS were equal. Conclusions The ROBINS-I and the NOS seem to provide the same reliability but vary in applicability. The over-complicated feature of ROBINS-I may limit its usage and a simplified version is needed.

Objectives Modified Yupingfeng naristillae (MYN) is an intranasal traditional Chinese medicinal preparation used to treat allergic rhinitis (AR) by repairing the nasal mucosal epithelial barrier. In this study, the mechanism underlying the effect of MYN was explored to provide a scientific reference for the development and application of new Chinese medicines. Methods Rat models of AR were randomly divided into the normal, AR and MYN groups. After 14 days of intervention, nasal mucosae were collected for histopathological examination. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to detect claudin-1 mRNA and zona occludens-1 (ZO-1) mRNA. Results (1) MYN could improve the swelling, shedding and gap enlargement of the nasal mucosal epithelium and promote the expression of claudin-1 mRNA (P 0.05). (2) MYN could significantly inhibit inflammatory cell infiltration and eosinophil numbers in the nasal mucosa. Conclusions MYN repairs the nasal mucosal epithelial barrier by upregulating the transcription of claudin-1 and reduces nasal inflammatory infiltration.

Cervical spondylotic radiculopathy (CSR) is the most commonly encountered cervical spine disorder. Cervical manipulation has been demonstrated as an effective therapy for patients. However, the mechanisms of manipulations have not been elucidated. A total of 120 cervical spondylotic radiculopathy patients were divided into the “three-dimensional balanced manipulation” treatment group (TBM group) and control group randomly. The control group was treated with traditional massage; the TBM treatment group was treated with “three-dimensional balanced manipulation” based on traditional massage. The symptoms and clinical efficacy of the patients were compared before and after treatment for one month. A three-dimensional finite element model was established. The mechanical parameters were imported to simulate TBM, and finite element analysis was performed. The results showed that the total effective rate was significantly higher in the TBM group compared with the control group. The biomechanical analysis showed the vertebral body stress was mainly distributed in the C3/4 spinous processes; the deformation mainly concentrated in the anterior processes of the C3 vertebral body. The intervertebral disc stress in the C3~C7 segment was mainly distributed in the anterior part of the C3/4 intervertebral disc, and the deformation extends to the posterior part of the C3/4 nucleus pulposus. In summary, these data are suggesting that TBM was effective in CSR treatment. The results of the finite element model and biomechanical analysis provide an important foundation for effectively avoiding iatrogenic injuries and improving the effect of TBM in the treatment of CSR patients.

To evaluate the early changes in retinal microcirculation after uncomplicated cataract surgery using an active-fluidics system. Patients underwent uncomplicated cataract surgery for both eyes were enrolled. The two eyes of the patients were randomly assigned to two groups, the active-fluidics group and the gravity-fluidics group. One eye using an active-fluidics system, and the other using a gravity-fluidics system. Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) was performed at 1 day, 7 days, 30 days, and 90 days after surgery. Fifty eyes (25 patients) were included in the final analysis. A significantly lower cumulative dissipated energy (CDE), estimated fluid usage (EFU), and total aspiration time (TAT) were observed in the active-fluidics group (all P

Interleukin-37 (IL-37) inhibits the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) via downregulating proinflammatory cytokines. Accordingly, we performed an analysis to accurately assess the relationship between serum IL-37 cytokine levels and disease activity of RA. Subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis were applied to explore the sources of heterogeneity. Correlation coefficient ( r ) was utilized to evaluate the relationship between IL-37 and disease activity of RA patients. Ten studies were included into the research. Functional analysis revealed elevated serum IL-37 concentrations in RA patients ( SMD = 1.61 , P < 0.00001 ). The relationship between serum IL-37 levels and disease activity was statistically significant (C-reactive protein: r = 1.47 , P = 0.0002 ; erythrocyte sedimentation rate: r = 1.55 , P < 0.00001 ; rheumatoid factor: r = 1.40 , P = 0.004 ; tumor necrosis factor⁃α: r = 1.64 , P = 0.0003 ; Disease Activity Score for 28 joints: r = 1.63 , P < 0.00001 ; tender joint count: r = 1.48 , P < 0.00001 ; and swollen joint count: r = 1.52 , P = 0.0003 ), but anti-CCP was not significant (anti-CCP: r = 0.98 , P = 0.72 ). In summary, these data are suggesting that the elevated serum level of IL-37 in RA is positively correlated with the disease activity of RA, suggesting a role for IL-37in the pathogenesis of RA.

Ning Li,1 Jinxin Li,1 Ting Gao,1 Dandan Wang,1,2 Yang Du,1,2 Xingquan Zhao1,2 1Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 2China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Xingquan ZhaoBeijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, No. 119 South 4th Ring West Road, Fengtai District, Beijing, 100070, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-13501031486Email zxq@vip.163.comPurpose: Transient ischemic attack (TIA) and minor stroke had a high recurrence rate, resulting in potential neurological impairment. Only a few previous studies focused on gait and balance disorder in TIA and minor stroke. This study aimed to explore the relationship between gait and balance disorder and TIA/minor stroke.Patients and Methods: Eighty-two patients with TIA/minor stroke and fifty-two healthy control participants were recruited. The gait and balance function of the two groups was tested with six measurements (Four Square Step, Tandem, Functional Reach, Gait and Pivot Turn, Timed “Up and Go”, and Single Leg Balance tests). The associations between these measures and TIA/minor stroke were determined through linear and logistic regression analyses.Results: There were no significant group differences in age, gender, body mass index, vision, and cognitive function. People with TIA/minor stroke had poorer performance in all six gait and balance measures (all p< 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed TIA/minor stroke was strongly associated with gait and balance disorder (Four Square Step Test [OR, 24.07; 95% CI 5.90– 98.13; p< 0.001], Tandem Test [OR, 5.50; 95% CI 1.64– 18.40; p=0.006], Functional Reach Test [OR, 4.25; 95% CI 1.04– 17.33; p=0.044], Gait and Pivot Turn Test [OR, 3.78; 95% CI 1.22– 11.31; p=0.021], Timed“Up and Go”Test [OR, 15.79; 95% CI 2.32– 107.48; p=0.005], and Single Leg Balance Test [OR, 8.96; 95% CI 2.34– 34.01; p=0.001]). TIA/minor stroke patients with older age, cognitive dysfunction, high K-CRP level, and severe atherosclerosis in lower limbs were more likely to have gait and balance disorder.Conclusion: Our findings highlight the significant relationship between gait and balance disorder and TIA/minor stroke. It seems that people with TIA/minor stroke had a higher possibility to get gait and balance disorder. Gait and balance disorder following a minor stroke or TIA may be attributed to cognitive function in these patients.Keywords: TIA, minor stroke, mobility function, intervention, cognition

Lead sulfur colloidal quantum dots (PbS CQDs) are a kind of IV-VI semiconductor nanocrystals which have attracted enormous interest in recent years because of their unique physicochemical properties. Controlling size, size distribution, and yield of PbS CQDs plays key priorities in order to improve their properties when they are applied in the photovoltaics and energy storage applications. Despite many systematical studies in PbS CQD syntheses with various perspectives, details of the formation mechanism impacted on the size, concentration, and size distribution of PbS CQDs in complicated reaction conditions remain poorly understood. In this work, an improved kinetic rate equation (IKRE) model is employed to describe PbS CQD formation under variable solution temperatures. After establishing the necessary discretized equations and reviewing the link between model parameters and experimental information, a parametric study is performed to explore the model's feature. In addition, a set of experimental data has been compared with the result of IKRE model fits, which would be used to obtain corresponding thermodynamic and kinetic parameters that can further affect the CQD growth over longer timescales. This method builds up the relationship between the nucleation and Ostwald ripening stage that would provide the possibility for future large-scale manufacturing of CQDs.

Military-civilian integration has developed into a national strategy. It helps military technology transform into civilian consumer goods but also lets civilian suppliers join the military supply chain. Collaborative innovation is a good method to drive the development of civil-military integration. The measurement of the efficiency of military-civilian integration enterprises’ collaborative innovation and analysis of influencing factors are an important basis for making relevant policies. Thus, this paper builds up a two-stage StoNED model. It is used to measure the efficiency of collaborative innovation of civil-military integration enterprises. Then, the Tobit model is used to analyze the influencing factors of innovation efficiency. Here, we show that the overall efficiency and substages efficiency are relatively high, and the low efficiency of the technology R&D stage is the limiting factor for achieving the optimal overall efficiency. Our results demonstrate that there are differences in the effect of the same factor on efficiency in different substages.

Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors reduce cardiovascular mortality in patients with diabetes mellitus but the protective mechanism remains elusive. Here we demonstrated that the SGLT2 inhibitor, Empagliflozin (EMPA), suppresses cardiomyocytes autosis (autophagic cell death) to confer cardioprotective effects. Using myocardial infarction (MI) mouse models with and without diabetes mellitus, EMPA treatment significantly reduced infarct size, and myocardial fibrosis, thereby leading to improved cardiac function and survival. In the context of ischemia and nutritional glucose deprivation where autosis is already highly stimulated, EMPA directly inhibits the activity of the Na+/H+ exchanger 1 (NHE1) in the cardiomyocytes to regulate excessive autophagy. Knockdown of NHE1 significantly rescued glucose deprivation-induced autosis. In contrast, overexpression of NHE1 aggravated the cardiomyocytes death in response to starvation, which was effectively rescued by EMPA treatment. Furthermore, in vitro and in vivo analysis of NHE1 and Beclin 1 knockout mice validated that EMPA’s cardioprotective effects are at least in part through downregulation of autophagic flux. These findings provide new insights for drug development, specifically targeting NHE1 and autosis for ventricular remodeling and heart failure after MI in both diabetic and non-diabetic patients.

In this work, the effect of Mg doping on the performance of PbS quantum dot (QD) solar cells (QDSCs) is investigated. To elucidate that, PbS QDSCs with pristine ZnO and Mg-doped ZnO (ZMO) as electron transporting layers (ETLs) are fabricated, respectively. The current density-voltage (J-V) measurements are performed. The results show that the cell efficiency of the device with ZMO as an ETL is 9.46%, which increases about 75% compared to that of the pristine ZnO based device (5.41%). Enhanced short current density (Jsc) and fill factor (FF) are observed. It is demonstrated that Mg doping could passivate the surface defects and suppress the carrier recombination in ZnO ETL, thus resulting in larger bandgap and higher Fermi level (EF). The strategy of Mg-doped ZnO ETL provides a promising way for pushing solar cell performance to a high level.

Purpose: To investigate effectiveness and safety of Chinese herbal injections (CHIs) in conjunction with fluoropyrimidine and oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy (FOBC) for advanced colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted in 7 electronic databases for related randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from inception to April 30, 2021. The quality of each trial was assessed according to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, the differences in effectiveness and safety outcomes between two groups were evaluated, and the results were expressed as the risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Subgroup analyses were performed according to the types of CHIs, and Review Manager 5 was used to statistically analyze the outcomes. Results: 63 studies involving 9 CHIs and 4733 patients were included in this review. The meta-analysis results suggested that compared with FOBC therapy, CHIs plus FOBC therapy showed significant improvements in objective response rate (ORR) (RR=1.34, 95% CI: 1.27-1.42, P

Children younger than 18 mo with developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) were treated with reduction and spica cast. X-Ray, computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to evaluate reduction effectiveness. This study explored the hip medial ultrasonography method and anatomic structure sonograms. Twenty-eight children with DDH were enrolled. A total of 51 hips (24 left hips /27 right hips) were measured, including 30 affected hips and 21 normal hips. Various indices, including femoral head diameter (DIA), triradiate cartilage-femoral distance (TFD), acetabular-femoral distance (AFD) and ilium-femoral distance (IFD), were measured in the acetabular median coronal plane of ultrasound and the median coronal plane of MRI. The intra-group correlation coefficients for DIA, TFD, AFD and IFD were 0.968 (95% confidence interval: 0.917-0.985), 0.959 (0.929-0 976), 0.923 (0.869-0.955) and 0.950 (0914-0.971), respectively. Hip medial ultrasound and MRI exhibited good consistency. It is feasible to use hip medial ultrasound to evaluate the reduction of DDH in infants and children after spica cast.

Recently, due to the excessive consumption of fossil energy and the intermittent nature of clean energy resources, electricity storage has attracted great attention from both academia and industry. Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) with high energy density have been widely used for portable energy storage systems. However, limited lithium resources cannot meet the demands for large-scale applications, especially the grid-scale energy storage. Owing to the abundant natural resources of sodium and the low price, sodium ion batteries (SIBs) have become potential substitutes for LIBs. Cathode materials are key components that determine the overall performance and entire cost of SIBs. However, the unstable structure and limited electrochemical performance make them difficult to meet the requirement of practical applications. This review summarizes the recent development of the cathode materials used for SIBs, and the modified strategies applied to improve their electrochemical performance. Finally, critical challenges and perspectives to promote the development of SIBs are also presented.

Objectives: Early fetal demise (absence of cardiac activity in a visible fetus) is a very common event, but there are no reliable biomarkers to predict it. The purpose of the study was to assess the association of platelet parameters with early fetal demise. Methods: In this case-control study, we included women with normal deliveries or those ultrasound diagnosed as early fetal demise. For those who were identified with early fetal demise, the platelet parameters were analyzed before the ultrasound diagnosis, which is based on the absence of either an embryo within a gestational sac or cardiac activity in a visible embryo in the 5-10 weeks of gestation. The association between the risk of early fetal demise with the women's mean platelet volume (MPV) and platelet counts was calculated by logistic regression. Duplicate measurements of platelet aggregation were performed with VerifyNow. Results: In total, 99 women identified with early fetal demise and 170 women who had an uncomplicated pregnancy with normal delivery from January 2017 and August 2020 were included in the study. We found that platelet counts in the early fetal demise group were significantly higher than healthy pregnancies. In addition, platelet reactivity is higher in the normal delivery group than those in early fetal demise group (p < .05). High levels of platelet counts resulted in an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 2.075 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.215–3.544; p = .008) for early fetal demise. Conclusions: Increased platelet counts in the first trimester may be a predictor for the risk of early fetal demise.

Objectives Previous studies and meta-analysis indicated that rs1344706 was associated with schizophrenia in European population, whereas the conclusions in other populations were disputed. To further explore whether the allele A of rs1344706 would increase the risk of schizophrenia in different populations and update the original meta-analysis, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis worldwide. Methods A literature search was performed in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO and Web of Science (up to 10 July 2019) according to the inclusion criteria. Results A total of 27 articles were included. Our meta-analysis showed an association between rs1344706 and schizophrenia in total populations [P = 0.000; odds ratio (OR) = 1.105; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.048-1.165], Europe population (P = 0.025; OR = 1.108; 95% CI, 1.013-1.222) and Asian population(P = 0.005; OR = 1.094; 95% CI, 1.027-1.164). Conclusions Our findings suggested that the risk of single nucleotide polymorphism rs1344706 A-allele may increase the risk of schizophrenia worldwide. Also, this ethnicity-dependent effects of ZNF804A variant on schizophrenia may be related to the opposite allele direction. But to elucidate the underlying biological mechanism, further studies with large participant populations are needed.

BACKGROUND Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first found in Wuhan, China, and it has rapidly spread worldwide since the end of 2019. There is an urgent need to treat the physical and psychological aspects of COVID-19. Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT)-based psychological intervention is an evidence-based therapy for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. CASE SUMMARY This report describes a case of COVID-19 in a patient who transmitted the disease to his entire family. The patient received four sessions of IPT-based psychological intervention. We used the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and Patient Health Questionnaire to measure depression level, and the Hamilton Anxiety Scale and Generalized Anxiety Disorder to measure anxiety among the patients. CONCLUSION This case shows that IPT-based therapy can reduce COVID-19 patient depression and anxiety and the advantage of IPT-based therapy.

Aim Cancer patients have long been found to have multiple types of unmet needs during their survivorship. Composite psychological instruments are essential for measuring the unmet needs of cancer patients. The objective of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Short‐Form Survivor Unmet Needs Survey (SF‐SUNS)‐Chinese version. Design A cross‐sectional survey. Methods The Chinese version was developed using the standard Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT) translation methodology and 428 Chinese cancer patients participated in the survey between 2016‐2017. Inter‐rater reliability, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were calculated. Results Confirmatory factor analysis supported the four‐factor structure with good model fit. Cronbach's alpha of 0.894 for the overall scale and intra‐class correlation coefficients (0.869–0.884) indicated that reliability was satisfactory. The EFA extracted four factors with eigenvalues greater than 1 and these factors explained 50.68% of the total variance. The Chinese version of SF‐SUNS was confirmed to have the potential to become a useful and valid instrument. It could contribute to the assessment of unmet needs among Chinese cancer patients with accuracy and with respect to Chinese culture and context. This measurement of unmet needs may help promote cancer management and nursing quality. Clinical nurses and researchers could use the simple assessment tool to target the individual needs of Chinese cancer patients and then provide more personalized care efficiently.

In this work, the effect of adding sodium chloride (NaCl) in zinc oxide (ZnO) electron transport layer (ETL) on the photovoltaic performance of lead sulfide (PbS) quantum dot (QD) solar cells is investigated. To elucidate that, PbS QD solar cells with pristine ZnO and NaCl passivated ZnO (ZnO–NaCl) as ETLs are fabricated, respectively. The current density–voltage (J–V)​ measurements are performed. The results show a considerable improvement in the current density of the device with ZnO–NaClas ETL, thus boosting the power conversion efficiency (PCE) from 7.278% to 9.149%. It is demonstrated that NaCl treatment benefits surface defects and series resistance ( R s ) reduction in ZnO ETL, enhancing the carrier transport performance of the device. The strategy of adding NaCl in ZnO ETL provides a promising way for pushing solar cell performance to a high level.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of our study was to evaluate the potential of cervical lymph node shear wave elastography (SWE) to quantify the lymph node stiffness (kilopascals) noninvasively among patients with lymph node-first presentation of Kawasaki disease (NFKD), patients with bacterial cervical lymphadenitis (BCL), and healthy children (HC). We further aimed to investigate the correlation of laboratory data and lymph node stiffness to provide a reference basis for the early diagnosis of NFKD. METHODS Lymph node stiffness measurements were prospectively performed in 47 patients with NFKD, 56 patients with BCL, and 56 HC using SWE. Cervical SWE was compared in the groups. Factors associated with increased cervical lymph node stiffness were studied. RESULTS The mean elasticity of the largest cervical lymph nodes was significantly higher in the BCL group than the NFKD and HC groups (mean elasticity ± SD, 16.37 ± 2.45, 12.22 ± 2.64, and 7.81 ± 1.67 kPa, respectively; P < .01), with a cutoff of 14.55 kPa (area under the curve, 0.885; sensitivity, 89%; and specificity, 76%). In patients with NFKD, interleukin 6 (standardized β = 0.363; P = .01), alanine aminotransferase (standardized β = 0.253; P = .03), aspartate aminotransaminase (standardized β = 0.536; P = .047), and total bilirubin (standardized β = 0.486; P < .01) values were correlated with increased largest cervical lymph node stiffness. CONCLUSIONS Cervical lymph node stiffness was different between NFKD and BCL. Shear wave elastography is a potential method to identify clinically distinguishable early NFKD.

Aims Negative symptoms and cognitive impairments in schizophrenia patients are associated with the patients' functional outcomes and quality of life. However, pharmacotherapy has little effect on such symptoms. This study aimed to systematically evaluate the efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in ameliorating negative symptoms and cognitive impairments in schizophrenia patients. Methods A literature search was performed in the PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO and Cochrane Library databases through March 23, 2020. Studies were included if they met all the following criteria: (1) subjects were exclusively patients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or psychosis, (2) active tDCS and shame stimulation were conducted in two parallel groups, (3) sufficient data were present, and (4) the study design was based on a randomized controlled trial. Two authors conducted the search strategy, publication assessment and data extraction independently, and a third person was consulted when any disagreement emerged. Results A total of 14 studies were included (12 studies included negative symptoms and 7 studies included cognitive impairments). The overall meta-analysis showed no significant difference between active and sham tDCS in ameliorating negative symptoms in schizophrenia patients (SMD: −0.14, 95% CI: −0.33– 0.05). Subgroup analysis including studies with a high stimulation frequency, twice daily, revealed a significant difference in therapeutic effects between active tDCS and sham stimulation (SMD: −0.31, 95% CI: −0.58 to −0.05). With respect to cognitive impairments, there was a trend indicating that active tDCS might improve cognitive impairment (SMD: −0.21, 95% CI: −0.46– 0.04), but the overall meta-analysis failed to obtain statistically significant results. Conclusion Our meta-analysis indicates that tDCS is a potential strategy for improving negative symptoms, but the therapeutic benefit for negative symptoms requires a high stimulation frequency (twice a day).

PURPOSE To explore the macular thickness changes after lens removal combined with anterior vitrectomy for pediatric cataract surgery. SETTING The Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Zhejiang, China. DESIGN Prospective study. METHODS Thirty children (40 eyes) aged between 3 years and 9 years with pediatric cataracts, including 20 children (20 eyes) with unilateral cataracts and 10 children (20 eyes) with bilateral cataracts, were enrolled. Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography was used to obtain macular images. Central subfield thickness (CST) and retinal thickness in the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study subfields (inner 1.0 to 3.0 mm annulus and outer 3.0 to 6.0 mm annulus) were recorded preoperatively as well as at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. RESULTS Forty eyes of 30 children were included. Retinal thickness in every subfield significantly thickened at 3 months postoperatively (all P < .05). CST significantly thickened compared with preoperative levels (228.03 ± 18.58 vs 240.35 ± 17.41, P = .005) at 3 months postoperatively; macular thickness gradually decreased in the following months. At 6 months postoperatively, retinal thickness in inner nasal, inferior, temporal, and outer nasal subfields remained significantly thicker compared with preoperative levels (P = .048, P = .036, P = .029, and P = .017, respectively). At 12 months, the retinal thickness in all subfields reached the preoperative level. CONCLUSIONS The influence on macular thickness lasted until 12 months after pediatric cataract surgery. The inner macular thickness increased for a longer time than the outer macular thickness postoperatively.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the impacts of different gray markets’ structures on both supply chain decisions and associated profits.Design/methodology/approachWithin the context of gray markets, using game theory approach in this paper, supply chains have been considered as assets of manufacturers, distributors and speculators, within which manufacturers sell products to distinctive markets either directly or through authorized distributors, while speculators buy products from a lower price market and then sell them in a higher price market. Our study has examined different decision variables within such a framework.FindingsConsidering a situation where one manufacturer sells its products either directly in one market (Market 1) or through its authorized distributor (Market 2), due to different products prices in both markets, results have shown that, when market elasticity is less than its critical value, a speculator can sell a gray market product arbitrage in market 2, whereas when the market elasticity is greater than its critical value, a speculator can sell a gray market product arbitrage in market 1. In addition, manufacturers—as leaders of Stackelberg game—are always the most profitable stakeholders within a gray market supply chain.Practical implicationsIn this study, equilibrium results for each market have been obtained, optimal results have been compared, and accordingly, valuable insights have been developed. Such results would help managers to take better managerial decisions, as well as strategizing policies in gray markets.Originality/valueIn this paper, we have considered a gray market where both distributors and speculators exist and act as parallel channels. To the best of our knowledge, the extant literature focuses either on distributors or speculators, but never concurrently on both. In fact, the coexistence of one distributor and one speculator in a gray market will impact their own decisions, as well as both decisions and profits of other stakeholders, and hence, will exert an impact on the manufacturer side.

BACKGROUND: Aberrant microRNA (miRNA) expression affects biologic processes and downstream genes that are crucial to CKD initiation or progression. The miRNA miR-204-5p is highly expressed in the kidney but whether miR-204-5p plays any role in the development of chronic renal injury is unknown. METHODS: We used real-time PCR to determine levels of miR-204 in human kidney biopsies and animal models. We generated Mir204 knockout mice and used locked nucleic acid–modified anti-miR to knock down miR-204-5p in mice and rats. We used a number of physiologic, histologic, and molecular techniques to analyze the potential role of miR-204-5p in three models of renal injury. RESULTS: Kidneys of patients with hypertension, hypertensive nephrosclerosis, or diabetic nephropathy exhibited a significant decrease in miR-204-5p compared with controls. Dahl salt-sensitive rats displayed lower levels of renal miR-204-5p compared with partially protected congenic SS.13(BN26) rats. Administering anti–miR-204-5p to SS.13(BN26) rats exacerbated interlobular artery thickening and renal interstitial fibrosis. In a mouse model of hypertensive renal injury induced by uninephrectomy, angiotensin II, and a high-salt diet, Mir204 gene knockout significantly exacerbated albuminuria, renal interstitial fibrosis, and interlobular artery thickening, despite attenuation of hypertension. In diabetic db/db mice, administering anti–miR-204-5p exacerbated albuminuria and cortical fibrosis without influencing blood glucose levels. In all three models, inhibiting miR-204-5p or deleting Mir204 led to upregulation of protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP2, a target gene of miR-204-5p, and increased phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3, or STAT3, which is an injury-promoting effector of SHP2. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that the highly expressed miR-204-5p plays a prominent role in safeguarding the kidneys against common causes of chronic renal injury.

Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of miRNA-223 and NLRP3 in IgA patients and the intervention of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), so as to realize the basic pathological changes of IgA patients, the expression of miRNA-223 and NLRP3 in IgA patients and the changes of patients' body indexes before and after the treatment of TCM. Methods Firstly, according to the clinical data, patients with IgA nephropathy were divided into different groups according to their pathological changes. After that, the chemical sections and staining steps of the immune kidney were carried out. Immunohistochemical pv-9000 two-step method was used to stain it. By this method, miRNA-223 and NLRP3 genes in kidney were determined. After that, the image analysis method was used for semi quantitative experiment. Finally, the intervention of TCM was used to study the changes of indicators before and after treatment. Results miRNA-223 and NLRP3 genes could be found mainly in the cytoplasm of renal tubular epithelial cells and the interstitium of monocyte in renal tissue, and there were significant differences between miRNA-223 and NLRP3 genes in the expression levels of proteinuria alone, hematuria albuminuria alone and hematuria alone. There was a positive correlation between miRNA-223 and NLRP3 expression and 24-hour urinary protein in IgA nephropathy. In addition, it also had positive correlation with MCP-1 and IL-18. Conclusion This study could provide some direction and guidance for clinical diagnosis and treatment of IgA nephropathy.

This study aims to evaluate the impacts of COVID-19 on cognitive functions in recovered patients and its relationship with inflammatory profiles. Twenty-nine patients recovered from COVID-19 as confirmed by negative nucleic tests for two consecutive times were recruited. A total of 29 age-, gender- and education-matched healthy controls were also recruited. The cognitive functions of all subjects were evaluated by the iPad-based online neuropsychological tests, including the Trail Making Test (TMT), Sign Coding Test (SCT), Continuous Performance Test (CPT), and Digital Span Test (DST). Blood samples from all patients were collected for examining inflammatory profiles, including interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interferon-γ (IFN-γ), and C-reactive protein (CRP). The relationship between cognitive functions and inflammatory profiles were analyzed by Pearson correlation. In results, although no significant differences were found in TMT, SCT, and DST between the two groups, patients with COVID-19 scored lower in the correct number of the second and third parts of CPT, they also scored higher in the missing number of the third part of CPT (all P

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a common atherosclerotic disease which could lead to severe cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events. Previous studies have indicated the ideal cardiovascular health (ICVH) was associated with many atherosclerotic diseases and cardiovascular events. This study aimed to find out the relationship between ICVH metrics and the new occurrence of PAD. We collected information of baseline from 2010 on the seven ICVH metrics (including smoking, body mass index, dietary intake, physical activity, blood pressure, total cholesterol and fasting blood glucose); and assessed PAD by ankle brachial index among the enrolled participants. The relationship between the ICVH metrics and new occurrence of PAD was analyzed using the multivariate logistic regression in 2018. There were 214 participants were diagnosed with the new occurrence of PAD during the follow-up visit. Participants with PAD tend to be older, with a lower level of education and a higher morbidity of hypertension. Among the seven ICVH metrics, BMI seems to be the most sensitive metric to the occurrence of PAD after adjusting the other risk factors (HR (95% CI) = 0.704 (0.529–0.937), P = 0.0163). We further found out as the number of ICVH metric increased, the morbidity of PAD decreased gradually (HR (95% CI) = 0.888 (0.801–0.984), P for trend= 0.0240). There is no difference between different age and gender groups. The ICVH metrics affect the new occurrence of PAD in a Chinese population. It enhances the importance of ideal health behaviors and factors in the prevention of PAD.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to suggest an approach to regain consumer trust after negative effects of greenwashing that draws corporations and consumers into a conflicted relationship. Design/methodology/approach The authors collect and interpret qualitative data from in-depth interviews to develop a theoretical approach that enables the rebuilding of trust between greenwashing corporations and their consumers using the concept of psychological resilience. Findings This analysis indicates that the approach is an interaction between consumers with green brand loyalty and greenwashing corporations. This type of consumer demands emotional factors, functional factors and legitimate factors in the process of psychological resilience, and after greenwashing, corporations should select appropriate recovery strategies to stimulate these protective factors. Originality/value Previous research studied green consumer trust in the marketing field but did not explore the core of trust which was regarded as a cognitive process. This paper investigates green consumer behaviour under the perspective of psychological resilience and makes an innovative attempt to understand drivers of regaining consumer trust. Previous research works put forward a series of strategies related to regaining trust, but they did not discuss the mechanisms by which these strategies work. Using the method of grounded theory, we attempt to reveal the “black box” of consumers cognition after greenwashing and propose a strategy for regaining consumer trust.

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is one of the leading causes of death from gynecologic cancers and peritoneal dissemination is the major cause of death in patients with EOC. Although the loss of 4.1N is associated with increased risk of malignancy, its association with EOC remains unclear. To explore the underlying mechanism of the loss of 4.1N in constitutive activation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and matrix-detached cell death resistance, we investigated samples from 268 formalin-fixed EOC tissues and performed various in vitro and in vivo assays. We report that the loss of 4.1N correlated with progress in clinical stage, as well as poor survival in EOC patients. The loss of 4.1N induces EMT in adherent EOC cells and its expression inhibits anoikis resistance and EMT by directly binding and accelerating the degradation of 14-3-3 in suspension EOC cells. Furthermore, the loss of 4.1N could increase the rate of entosis, which aggravates cell death resistance in suspension EOC cells. Moreover, xenograft tumors in nude mice also show that the loss of 4.1N can aggravate peritoneal dissemination of EOC cells. Single-agent and combination therapy with a ROCK inhibitor and a 14-3-3 antagonist can reduce tumor spread to varying degrees. Our results not only define the vital role of 4.1N loss in inducing EMT, anoikis resistance, and entosis-induced cell death resistance in EOC, but also suggest that individual or combined application of 4.1N, 14-3-3 antagonists, and entosis inhibitors may be a promising therapeutic approach for the treatment of EOC. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s13238-020-00723-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BACKGROUND Acquired haemophilia A (AHA), with potentially high risk of morbidity and mortality, occurs as a result of inhibitors against factor VIII. Bleeding due to AHA can be treated with activated prothrombin complex concentrate (aPCC), recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa) or recently, recombinant porcine-sequence factor VIII (rpFVIII). We extended our previous cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) comparing rpFVIII against the available traditional options. METHODS For high-titred, haemorrhaging AHA patients treated with either aPCC, rFVIIa or rpFVIII, over the course of 6-days, a Markov simulation was conducted to evaluate the outcomes when these patients transitioned into any of the four following health states: (1) continuous bleeding, (2) thrombosis, (3) stop bleeding and (4) death, with states (2), (3) and (4) modelled as absorbing states. All model parameters were obtained from the medical literature, except the costs of aPCC, rFVIIa and the factor VIII assay, which came from our institutional data. RESULTS Excluding the cost of the initial treatment on day 0, the total subsequent treatment cost of rFVIIa was substantially more than the costs of aPCC and rpFVIII ($13 925 vs. $1778 vs. $6957, respectively). The average quality-adjusted life days (QALDs) gained from rpFVIII was lowest (4·89 vs. 4·9 for rFVIIa and 4·91 for aPCC). Overall, aPCC dominated the other two treatments. The model was determined to be robust across the tested ranges for all input variables. CONCLUSION Based on this economic model, for AHA patients with high titres who were bleeding, aPCC was the most cost-effective treatment option and may be considered for use if there is no clinical contraindication.