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A functional data approach is developed to jointly estimate a collection of monotone curves that are irregularly and possibly sparsely observed with noise. In this approach, the unconstrained relative curvature curves instead of the monotone-constrained functions are directly modeled. Functional principal components are used to describe the major modes of variations of curves and allow borrowing strength across curves for improved estimation. A two-step approach and an integrated approach are considered for model fitting. The simulation study shows that the integrated approach is more efficient than separate curve estimation and the two-step approach. The integrated approach also provides more interpretable principle component functions in an application of estimating weekly wind power curves of a wind turbine.

In 2012, a lacquer figure was unearthed from the Han dynasty tomb (188 BC−87 BC) at Chengdu Laoguanshan. The lines intaglioed on the Laoguanshan lacquer figure were similar to the meridians. Objective To investigate the relationship between the lines on this Laoguanshan lacquer figure and the regular meridians so as to explore the development of meridian system in ancient China. Methods Based on collecting the photos of the Laoguanshan lacquer figure and the representative acupuncture classics, the double evidence method (combining the unearthed relics / literature and extant literature) was performed to investigate the relationship between the lines on this Laoguanshan lacquer figure and the regular meridians. Furthermore, the development of regular meridians theory was analyzed from the number, distribution, direction and branches. Results The routes of the 28 longitudinal white lines on the Laoguanshan lacquer figure are similar to the regular meridians in the ancient literature including Huangdi Neijīng (《黄帝内经》Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic). The number, distribution and branches of the meridians intaglioed on the Laoguanshan lacquer figure suggested the evolution of the regular-meridian system from the eleven-meridian system to the twelve-meridian system. Conclusions The meridian system of Laoguanshan lacquer figure was a link connecting the preceding and the following. The Laoguanshan lacquer figure played an important role in the development of the early meridian theory.

Introduction/Aims The development and persistence of neurological symptoms following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infection is referred to as “long‐haul” syndrome. We aimed to determine whether small fiber neuropathy (SFN) was associated with SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. Methods We retrospectively studied the clinical features and outcomes of patients who were referred to us between May 2020 and May 2021 for painful paresthesia and numbness that developed during or after SARS‐CoV‐2 infection and who had nerve conduction studies showing no evidence of a large fiber polyneuropathy. Results We identified 13 patients, Eight women and five men with age ranging from 38–67 y. Follow‐up duration ranged from 8 to 12 mo. All patients developed new‐onset paresthesias within 2 mo following SARS‐CoV‐2 infection, with an acute onset in seven and co‐existing autonomic symptoms in seven. Three patients had pre‐existing but controlled neuropathy risk factors. Skin biopsy confirmed SFN in six, all of whom showed both neuropathy symptoms and signs, and two also showed autonomic dysfunction by autonomic function testing (AFT). Of the remaining seven patients who had normal skin biopsies, six showed no clinical neuropathy signs and one exhibited signs and had abnormal AFT. Two patients with markedly reduced intraepidermal nerve fiber densities and one with normal skin biopsy had severe and moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19); the remainder experienced mild COVID‐19 symptoms. Nine patients received symptomatic neuropathy treatment with paresthesias controlled in seven (77.8%). Discussion Our findings suggest that symptoms of SFN may develop during or shortly after COVID‐19. SFN may underlie the paresthesias associated with long‐haul post‐COVID‐19 symptoms.

Crystal-structure phase mapping is a core, long-standing challenge in materials science that requires identifying crystal phases, or mixtures thereof, in X-ray diffraction measurements of synthesized materials. Phase mapping algorithms have been developed that excel at solving systems with up to several unique phase mixtures, where each phase has a readily distinguishable diffraction pattern. However, phase mapping is often beyond materials scientists’ capabilities and also poses challenges to state-of-the-art algorithms due to complexities such as the existence of dozens of phase mixtures, alloy-dependent variation in the diffraction patterns and multiple compositional degrees of freedom, creating a major bottleneck in high-throughput materials discovery. Here we show how to automate crystal-structure phase mapping. We formulate phase mapping as an unsupervised pattern demixing problem and describe how to solve it using deep reasoning networks (DRNets). DRNets combine deep learning with constraint reasoning for incorporating prior scientific knowledge and consequently require only a modest amount of (unlabelled) data. DRNets compensate for the limited data by exploiting and magnifying the rich prior knowledge about the thermodynamic rules governing the mixtures of crystals. DRNets are designed with an interpretable latent space for encoding prior-knowledge domain constraints and seamlessly integrate constraint reasoning into neural network optimization. DRNets surpass previous approaches on crystal-structure phase mapping, unravelling the Bi–Cu–V oxide phase diagram and aiding the discovery of solar fuels materials. Incorporating prior knowledge in deep learning models can overcome the difficulties of supervised learning, including the need for large amounts of annotated data. An approach in this area called deep reasoning networks is applied to the complex task of mapping crystal structures from X-ray diffraction data for multi-element oxide structures, and identified 13 phases from 307 X-ray diffraction patterns in the previously unsolved Bi-Cu-V oxide system.

BACKGROUND Although gestation and childbirth are progressive physical processes for most pregnant women, there are both physical and great psychosocial challenges throughout the process, which increase the sensitivity and vulnerability of women. Even for women with low-risk pregnancies, it is common to experience degrees of fear, especially for primipara women when faced with childbirth. During their first pregnancy, women may have no relevant health knowledge or experience with delivery and have difficulty identifying prenatal depression and other existing mental health factors; a fear of childbirth (FOC) may engender adverse outcomes for mothers and babies. Social support is a very important influential factor for prenatal depression. METHODS This study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional design. The participant cohort involved 609 primipara women (≥18 years old) who had received routine prenatal care and visited a tertiary care hospital in Xi'an. The participants completed structured questionnaires, including the 10-item Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), 12-item Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), and 33-item Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire (W-DEQ), alongside contribution of information regarding their demographic characteristics. Descriptive and correlation analyses were adopted to verify the correlations among these variables. Multiple regression models were examined by the SPSS PROCESS procedure with bootstrapping to confirm the significance of the mediation effect. RESULTS The widespread prevalence of FOC in healthy pregnant women was 22.3% (WDEQ score ≥85). The mean scores of depression, social support, as well as FOC scores of participants were 9.50 (5.19), 70.91 (9.25), and 70.43 (20.88), respectively. Remarkable correlations were identified between pregnancy depressive symptoms, social support, and FOC. Results presented an indirect effect, indicating that the impacts of antenatal depression on FOC were mediated by social support. CONCLUSIONS Perceived social support played a mediating role between antenatal depression and FOC among healthy primipara women. Techniques and suggestions for boosting social support may be expected to have a positive impact on the depressive symptoms of pregnant women with FOC.

Xiaolan Zhou,1,2 Hua Liu,2 Xiaohong Li,2 Shaoru Zhang1 1School of Nursing, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Nursing, Xi’an Medical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Shaoru ZhangSchool of Nursing, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-18681865789Fax +86-29-82657015Email shaoru1958@126.comAim: Fear of childbirth (FOC) is an extreme state of anxiety, distress and worry about childbirth. Despite its common occurrence, the prevalence and risk factors for FOC are inadequately understood in the northwestern region of China.Purpose: This study aimed to examine the prevalence and risk factors for fear of childbirth (FOC) in a cohort of pregnant women in northwest of China.Patients and Methods: A total of 922 healthy pregnant women were included in this cross-sectional study. Participants filled out a questionnaire on socio-demographic characteristics, as well as the Childbirth Attitudes Questionnaire (CAQ), the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and the Pregnancy Pressure Scale (PPS). Psychosocial factors were analyzed to determine their association with fear of childbirth. Optimal scale regression analysis was used to determine the risk factors associated with FOC.Results: The mean score on the CAQ was 33.92 ± 10.17. A total of 72% of participants reported low to mild FOC. Six percent (n=51/922) and 22% (n=199/922) of pregnant women reported severe and moderate FOC, respectively. Based on optimal scaling regression analysis, the factors most strongly associated with FOC were residence, marital status, parity, gestational age, relationship with partner, pregnancy stress, social support and depressive symptoms.Conclusion: This study indicates the high prevalence of FOC (70.3%, ranging from mild to severe) in healthy pregnant women in northwest of China. FOC showed a positive correlation with pregnancy-related stress and depressive symptoms and a negative correlation with social support. Screening for FOC and helping pregnant women identify a support system early in pregnancy could reduce a woman’s stress level and severity of depression.Keywords: fear of childbirth, depression, pregnancy stress, social support, pregnant women

ObjectiveTo characterize the breadth of neurologic findings associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in a diverse group of inpatients at an urban, safety-net US medical center.MethodsPatients were identified through an electronic medical record review from April 15, 2020, until July 1, 2020, at a large safety-net hospital in Boston, MA, caring primarily for underserved, low-income, and elderly patients. All hospitalized adult patients with positive nasopharyngeal swab or respiratory PCR testing for SARS-CoV-2 during their hospitalization or in the 30 days before admission who received an inpatient neurologic or neurocritical care consultation or admission during the study period were enrolled.ResultsSeventy-four patients were identified (42/57% male, median age 64 years). The majority of patients self-identified as Black or African American (38, 51%). The most common neurologic symptoms at presentation to the hospital included altered mental status (39, 53%), fatigue (18, 24%), and headache (18, 18%). Fifteen patients had ischemic strokes (20%). There were 10 in-hospital mortalities, with moderately severe disability among survivors at discharge (14%, median modified Rankin Scale score of 4).ConclusionsNeurologic findings spanned inflammatory, vascular pathologies, sequelae of critical illness and metabolic derangements, possible direct involvement of the nervous system by SARS-CoV-2, and exacerbation of underlying neurologic conditions, highlighting a broad range of possible etiologies of neurologic complications in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Further studies are needed to characterize the infectious and postinfectious neurologic complications of COVID-19 in diverse patient populations.

The negative influence of malnutrition on patients with malignant tumors runs through the whole course of a disease. To the best of our knowledge, the nutritional status of cancer patients has not yet been reported in a large sample size. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the status of malnutrition and nutritional support therapy in a large sample of patients with common malignant tumors in China. In this observational multicenter study, 80 tertiary hospitals in 22 major provinces and cities were selected using a two-stage random sampling method. A total of 47,488 hospitalized patients with 16 kinds of common malignant tumors were enrolled in this study. The nutritional status of the patients was assessed by the scored Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA). The severity of malnutrition was identified by a quantitative assessment where 0–1 was labelled as no malnutrition and 2–3, 4–8, and ≥9 were defined as suspected/mild, moderate and severe malnutrition. The PG-SGA scores of patients with different tumor characteristics were compared by a variance analysis. The incidence rate of moderate and severe malnutrition was 58.2%, of which 32.1% and 26.1% fell under the category of moderate and severe malnutrition, 22.2% were suspected/mild and only 19.6% of the sample were not malnourished. The incidence of malnutrition varied in respect to tumor species, age, gender, tumor stage, treatment and region: The PG-SGA score of pancreatic cancer patients was the highest (9.58±5.74), and that of breast cancer patients was the lowest (3.51±3.49); The PG-SGA score of vs. 5.60, P = 0.006) and gastric cancer (8.36 vs. 7.81, P

Background The number of cancer patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) is steadily rising. Little is known about the nutritional status of this population. This study characterized the nutritional status and survival of cancer patients with diabetes compared with those without diabetes. Methods A total of 8247 cancer patients were prospectively enrolled from 72 hospitals in China and followed until August 2019. A global estimation of the nutritional status was performed for each participant using standardized tools. The outcomes were cancer‐specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS). Results The incidence of diabetes was 7.6% in the whole population. In comparison with the non‐DM group, the DM group had greater body weight, but a similar fat‐free mass, a lower handgrip strength and a decreased Karnofsky performance score. A higher proportion of patients with diabetes were overweight/obese as indicated by BMI. The percentage of patients who were at risk of malnutrition (evaluated by PG‐SGA) was higher in the DM group (score ≥ 4, 56.7% vs 52.9%). Patients with DM showed a worse CSS (4‐year CSS, 62% vs 73%) and OS (4‐year OS 39% vs 52%). Diabetes was associated with an increased risk of both cancer‐specific (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.282, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.070‐1.536) and overall (HR = 1.206, 95% CI 1.040‐1.399) mortality. Conclusions Cancer patients with diabetes had a larger body mass but lower muscle strength, poorer performance status and higher incidence of malnourishment. Diabetes was associated with compromised survival. Tailored nutritional intervention is necessary for this subpopulation of patients., In this large prospective cohort study, cancer patients with diabetes were found to have bigger body mass yet lower muscle strength, poorer performance status and higher incidence of malnourishment. Complication with diabetes independently predicted compromised survival among cancer patients.

The abnormal production of short chain fatty acid (SCFAs) caused by gut microbial dysbiosis plays an important role in the pathogenesis and progression of Parkinson’s disease (PD). This study sought to evaluate how butyrate, one of SCFAs, affect the pathology in a subacute 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine hydrochloride (MPTP) treated mouse model of PD. Sodium butyrate (NaB; 165 mg/kg/day i.g., 7 days) was administrated from the day after the last MPTP injection. Interestingly, NaB significantly aggravated MPTP-induced motor dysfunction (P

Introduction Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) has rapidly become a global pandemic, but little is known about its potential impact on patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). Methods We studied the clinical course of COVID‐19 in five hospitalized patients with autoimmune MG (four with acetylcholine receptor antibodies, one with muscle‐specific tyrosine kinase antibodies) between April 1, 2020‐April 30‐2020. Results Two patients required intubation for hypoxemic respiratory failure, whereas one required significant supplemental oxygen. One patient with previously stable MG had myasthenic exacerbation. One patient treated with tocilizumab for COVID‐19 was successfully extubated. Two patients were treated for MG with intravenous immunoglobulin without thromboembolic complications. Discussion Our findings suggest that the clinical course and outcomes in patients with MG and COVID‐19 are highly variable. Further large studies are needed to define best practices and determinants of outcomes in this unique population.

BACKGROUND Currently, the prognostic stratification and therapeutic evaluation systems for multiple myeloma (MM) lack specific molecular indicators. OC-STAMP is a new gene and is also highly expressed in MM. METHODS A total of 160 MM patients have been investigated with both quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR), flow cytometry (FCM) and cytogenetic FISH on the same mononuclear cells isolated from bone marrow specimens. RESULTS We found that OC-STAMP mRNA levels were significantly higher in newly diagnosed cases of MM than in healthy donors (median, 0.52% vs. 0.02%, P

The importance of metal oxide photoanodes in solar fuels technology has garnered concerted efforts in photoanode discovery in recent decades, which complement parallel efforts in development of analytical techniques and optimization strategies using standard photoanodes such as TiO₂, Fe2O₃ and BiVO₄. Theoretical guidance of high throughput experiments has been particularly effective in dramatically increasing the portfolio of metal oxide photoanodes, motivating a new era of photoanode development where the characterization and optimization techniques developed on traditional materials are applied to nascent photoanodes that exhibit visible light photoresponse. The compendium of metal oxide photoanodes presented in the present work can also serve as the basis for further technique development, with a primary goal to establish workflows for discovery of materials that perform better against the critical criteria of operational stability, visible light photoresponse, and photovoltage suitable for tandem absorber architectures.

Fracture simulation of asphalt mixtures based on three-dimensional finite element (3D-FE) simulation considering the mesostructure consumes too much computing resources and has low efficien...

About 25% of patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) have normal cytogenetics and no nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1) mutation or Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 internal tandem duplication (FLT3-ITD). The prognosis and best therapy for these patients is controversial. We evaluated 158 newly diagnosed adults with this genotype who achieved histological complete remission within two cycles of induction therapy and were assigned to two post-remission strategies with and without an allotransplant. Targeted regional sequencing at diagnosis was performed and data were used to estimate their prognosis, including relapse and survival. In multivariable analyses, having wild-type or mono-allelic mutated CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein alpha (CEBPA) [hazard ratio (HR) 2·39, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1·08-5·30; P = 0·032), mutated NRAS (HR 2·67, 95% CI 1·36-5·25; P = 0·004), mutated colony-stimulating factor 3 receptor (CSF3R) (HR 2·85, 95% CI 1·12-7·27; P = 0·028) and a positive measurable residual disease (MRD)-test after the second consolidation cycle (HR 2·88, 95% CI 1·32-6·30; P = 0·008) were independently correlated with higher cumulative incidence of relapse (CIR). These variables were also significantly associated with worse survival (HR 3·02, 95% CI 1·17-7·78, P = 0·022; HR 3·62, 95% CI 1·51-8·68, P = 0·004; HR 3·14, 95% CI 1·06-9·31, P = 0·039; HR 4·03, 95% CI 1·64-9·89, P = 0·002; respectively). Patients with ≥1 of these adverse-risk variables benefitted from a transplant, whereas the others did not. In conclusion, we identified variables associated with CIR and survival in patients with AML and normal cytogenetics without a NPM1 mutation or FLT3-ITD.

Background: Although the use of expanded-criteria donors (ECDs) alleviates the problem of organ shortage, it significantly increases the incidence of delayed graft function (DGF). DGF is a common complication after kidney transplantation; however, the effect of DGF on graft loss is uncertain based on the published literature. Hence, the aim of this study was to determine the relationship between DGF and allograft survival. Methods: We conducted a retrospective, multicenter, observation cohort study. A total of 284 deceased donors and 541 recipients between February 2012 and March 2017 were included. We used logistic regression analysis to verify the association between clinical parameters and DGF, and Cox proportional hazards models were applied to quantify the hazard ratios of DGF for kidney graft loss. Results: Among the 284 deceased donors, 65 (22.8%) donors were ECD. Of the 541 recipients, 107 (19.8%) recipients developed DGF, and this rate was higher with ECD kidneys than with standard-criteria donor (SCD) kidneys (29.2% vs. 17.1%; P = 0.003). The 5-year graft survival rate was not significantly different between SCD kidney recipients with and without DGF (95.8% vs. 95.4%; P= 0.580). However, there was a significant difference between ECD kidney recipients with and without DGF (71.4% vs. 97.6%; P = 0.001), and the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for graft loss for recipients with DGF was 1.885 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.305–7.630; P = 0.024). Results showed that induction therapy with anti-thymocyte globulin was protective against DGF (odds ratio= 0.359; 95% CI= 0.197–0.652; P= 0.001) with all donor kidneys and a protective factor for graft survival (HR = 0.308; 95% CI = 0.130–0.728; P = 0.007) with ECD kidneys. Conclusion: DGF is an independent risk factor for graft survival in recipients with ECD kidneys, but not SCD kidneys. Key words: Chronic kidney disease; Delayed graft function; Expanded-criteria donors; Graft survival; Standard-criteria donors

This paper presents a generalized-extended-state-observer (GESO)-based repetitive control (RC) method for a direct-current motor servo system (DCMSS) subject to parameter perturbation and load torque variation, which are mismatched. A GESO is constructed to estimate the lumped disturbance in real time fashion. Incorporating the estimate into a state-feedback RC law yields a composite controller with a dynamical compensation gain, which ensures that the suppression of the mismatched total disturbance and the tracking of periodic signal are achieved simultaneously. The stability criterion and design procedure of the system are developed. Finally, simulation results show that the GESO-RC based DCMSS effectively eliminates the influences on the output of the parameter variation and the load disturbance and has both satisfactory dynamical performance and robustness. Comparisons with conventional PID control, PID-RC, and standard extended-state-observer based RC demonstrate the superiority of this method.

“Device-independent” not only represents a relaxation of the security assumptions about the internal working of the quantum devices, but also can enhance the security of the quantum communication. In the paper, we put forward the first device-independent quantum secure direct communication (DI-QSDC) protocol and analyze its security and communication efficiency against collective attacks. Under practical noisy quantum channel condition, the photon transmission loss and photon state decoherence would reduce DI-QSDC’s communication quality and threaten its absolute security. For solving the photon transmission loss and decoherence problems, we adopt noiseless linear amplification (NLA) protocol and entanglement purification protocol (EPP) to modify the DI-QSDC protocol. With the help of the NLA and EPP, we can guarantee DI-QSDC’s absolute security and effectively improve its communication quality.

Background Published researches have suggested some associations between PPAR‐γ and ischemic stroke (IS) development. This meta‐analysis was conducted to evaluate the association between PPAR‐γ gene polymorphisms and IS risk. Materials and methods A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and WanFang databases. The pooled association of odd ratios (ORs) and its 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated to assess the IS risk of PPAR‐γ rs1801282 C/G and rs3856806 C/T polymorphisms. Furthermore, the heterogeneity test, cumulative analyses, sensitivity analyses, and publication bias were conducted. Result Sixteen publications with 3786 cases and 5343 controls were identified. Overall findings indicated that rs1801282 C/G polymorphism may be associated with an increased risk for IS (GG vs. CC: OR = 2.17 95%CI = 1.09–4.35, p = .03, I 2 = 0%; GG vs. CC+CG: OR = 2.15, 95%CI = 1.07–4.32, p = .03, I 2 = 0%). The similar results were also found in the subgroup analysis. In addition, no significant association was observed between rs3856806 C/T polymorphism and IS risk. Conclusion In conclusion, our study showed that PPAR‐γ rs1801282 C/G polymorphism probably plays an important role in IS occurrence. The result should be verified with more studies in the future., Ischemic strokes (IS) are one of the most common diseases resulting in disabilities and death among adults. Our meta‐analysis indicated that the individuals with G mutation of rs1801282 C/G polymorphism would face an increased risk of IS. But there was no significant association between rs3856806 C/T polymorphism and IS risk.

Purpose To describe an atypical nodular episcleritis mimicking a solitary giant episcleral mass, which is not attributed to any systemic diseases and identified only after immunohistochemical examination. Case report A sixty-year-old Chinese woman with systemic hypertension presented with 6-month history of giant, solitary and redness epibulbar mass arising from the superior aspect of her left eye. The lesion gradually enlarged, even with 6-month history of irregular topical steroid eye drops treatment. Imaging studies and laboratory test revealed a 10 mm × 8 mm episcleral mass absence of any infection indicator and autoimmune antibody changes. The mass was completely removed before its extension through the deep scleral, histopathologic examination revealed a nodular episcleritis composed of various chronic inflammatory cells infiltration. Topical steroid eye drops treatment combined with oral steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs was then administrated regularly for 1 month, and no recurrence occurred after 1-year follow-up. Conclusion Nodular anterior episcleritis is characterized by underlying chronic inflammation of the anterior episclera and can be presented as asymptomatic episcleral mass. Besides a thorough investigation systemically, tissue biopsy is required for definite diagnosis.

Quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) attracts much attention for it can transmit secret messages directly without sharing a key. In this article, we propose a one-step QSDC protocol, which only requires to distribute polarization-spatial-mode hyperentanglement for one round. In this QSDC protocol, the eavesdropper cannot obtain any message, so that this protocol is unconditionally secure in principle. This protocol is a two-way quantum communication and has high capacity for it can transmit two bits of secret messages with one pair of hyperentanglement. With entanglement fidelities of both polarization and spatial-mode degrees of freedom being 0.98, the maximal communication distance of this one-step QSDC can reach about 216 km. QSDC can also be used to generate the key. In this regard, the key generation rate is estimated about 2.5 times of that in the entanglement-based QKD with the communication distance of 150 km. With the help of future quantum repeaters, this QSDC protocol can provide unconditionally secure communication over arbitrarily long distance.

A novel type of superimposed Hermite-Gaussian correlated Schell-model (SHGCSM) laser beam is first represented in terms of theory and then produced experimentally. Similar to a Hermite-Gaussian correlated Schell-model (HGCSM) beam, the SHGCSM beam demonstrates self-splitting features when it propagates in free space, over time the primary single beam spot that is initially seen gradually develops into four or two beam spots when it is in the far-field. The SHGCSM beam splits itself faster than the HGCSM beam when the other beam parameters are fixed, which has lower intensity at the center of beam at an intermediate distance. The four or two spots are more independent with each other, which can be used in attacking multiple targets. Compared with the propagation M2-factor of the HGCSM [Opt. Express 23, 10 (2015)], it has a lower propagation M2-factor in the non-Kolmogorov turbulence. The SHGCSM beam is unaltered to a lesser extent by turbulence compared with a HGCSM beam, which is beneficial for studies on atmospheric optical communications.

Quantum dialogue (QD) is a quantum communication mode which enables two communication parties to exchange their secret messages simultaneously. In this paper, we propose a measurement-device-independent quantum dialogue (MDI-QD) protocol using the polarization–spatial-mode hyperentanglement. The protocol can eliminate the security loopholes related to measurement devices and the information leakage. Comparing with previous MDI-QD protocol, our MDI-QD protocol has higher channel capacity. Two communication parties can exchange 4 bits of messages per hyperentangled photon pair. Moreover, for promoting its practical application, we try to use the practical linear-optical partial hyperentangled Bell-state measurement in our MDI-QD protocol, with which the parties can exchange 3 bits of messages per hyperentangled photon pair. Our high-capacity MDI-QD protocol has application potential in future quantum communication field.

A comprehensive evaluation of toxic chemicals and understanding their potential harm to human physiology is vital in mitigating their adverse effects following exposure from environmental emergencies. In this work, we develop data-driven classification models to facilitate rapid decision making in such catastrophic events and predict the estrogenic activity of environmental toxicants as estrogen receptor-α (ERα) agonists or antagonists. By combining high-content analysis, big-data analytics, and machine learning algorithms, we demonstrate that highly accurate classifiers can be constructed for evaluating the estrogenic potential of many chemicals. We follow a rigorous, high throughput microscopy-based high-content analysis pipeline to measure the single cell-level response of benchmark compounds with known in vivo effects on the ERα pathway. The resulting high-dimensional dataset is then pre-processed by fitting a non-central gamma probability distribution function to each feature, compound, and concentration. The characteristic parameters of the distribution, which represent the mean and the shape of the distribution, are used as features for the classification analysis via Random Forest (RF) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithms. The results show that the SVM classifier can predict the estrogenic potential of benchmark chemicals with higher accuracy than the RF algorithm, which misclassifies two antagonist compounds.

BackgroundApproximately 30% of Chinese individuals with cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia (CN-AML) have biallelic CEBPA (biCEBPA) mutations. The prognosis and optimal therapy for these patients are controversial in clinical practice.MethodsIn this study, we performed targeted region sequencing of 236 genes in 158 individuals with this genotype and constructed a nomogram model based on leukemia-free survival (LFS). Patients were randomly assigned to a training cohort (N =111) and a validation cohort (N =47) at a ratio of 7:3. Risk stratification was performed by the prognostic factors to investigate the risk-adapted post-remission therapy by Kaplan–Meier method.ResultsAt least 1 mutated gene other than CEBPA was identified in patients and mutation number was associated with LFS (61.6% vs. 39.0%, P =0.033), survival (85.6% vs. 62.9%, P =0.030) and cumulative incidence of relapse (CIR) (38.4% vs. 59.5%, P =0.0496). White blood cell count, mutations in CFS3R, KMT2A and DNA methylation related genes were weighted to construct a nomogram model and differentiate two risk subgroups. Regarding LFS, low-risk patients were superior to the high-risk (89.3% vs. 33.8%, P <0.001 in training cohort; 87.5% vs. 18.2%, P =0.009 in validation cohort). Compared with chemotherapy, allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) improved 5-year LFS (89.6% vs. 32.6%, P <0.001), survival (96.9% vs. 63.6%, P =0.001) and CIR (7.2% vs. 65.8%, P <0.001) in high-risk patients but not low-risk patients (LFS, 77.4% vs. 88.9%, P =0.424; survival, 83.9% vs. 95.5%, P =0.173; CIR, 11.7% vs. 11.1%, P =0.901).ConclusionsOur study indicated that biCEBPA mutant-positive CN-AML patients could be further classified into two risk subgroups by four factors and allo-HSCT should be recommended for high-risk patients as post-remission therapy. These data will help physicians refine treatment decision-making in biCEBPA mutant-positive CN-AML patients.

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) 16 plays a crucial role in cervical cancer (CC) development. Previous study reported that inhibitor of β-catenin and TCF (ICAT) is upregulated in CC and promotes cervical tumor progression. Herein, we aimed to investigate the underlying molecular mechanism that HPV16 regulates the expression of ICAT and promotes the CC development. Methods: The expressions of HPV 16 E6, E7 and ICAT were modulated by small interfering RNA and recombinant adenovirus, respectively. qRT-PCR was conducted to detect the mRNA expression of HPV 16 E6, E7, ICAT and miR-23b-3p in SiHa and CasKi cells. Bioinformatics analysis was utilized to predict the potential miRNAs that could bind to the ICAT 3′ untranslated region. Then, the dual luciferase reporter assay was used to confirm that. Cell proliferation ability was detected by CCK-8 assay. Wound healing and Transwell assays were used to observe migration and invasion abilities. Protein expressions were measured with western blot. Results: Results revealed that after knocking down of HPV16 E6, E7, the expression of ICAT decreased, but the expression of miR-23b-3p increased. Besides, miR-23b-3p negatively modulated ICAT expression in HPV16 positive CC cells. Dual luciferase assays confirmed that ICAT was a target gene of miR-23b-3p. Functional experiments showed that the overexpression of miR-23b-3p suppressed malignant behaviors of SiHa and CasKi cells, such as migration, invasion and EMT. Importantly, the overexpression of ICAT counteracted the suppressive effect of miR-23b-3p on HPV16 positive cervical cancer cell. Furthermore, after the knockdown of HPV16 E6 and E7, the inhibition of miR-23b-3p could increase the ICAT expression and rescue the siRNA HPV16 E6, E7-mediated suppressive impact on the aggressiveness of SiHa and CasKi cells.Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that HPV 16 E6, E7/miR-23b-3p/ ICAT axis plays an important role in HPV16 positive CC pathogenesis, which may serve as a promising therapy target for HPV 16-associated cervical cancer.

Purpose To investigate the frailty status in Chinese cancer patients through establishing a novel prediction algorithm. Methods The percentage of frailty in various age groups, locations, and tumor types in Chinese cancer patients was investigated. The prediction capacity of frailty on mortality of Chinese cancer patients was analysed by the frailty index composing of routine laboratory data (FI‐LAB) accessible from a blood test and calculated as the ratio of abnormal factors to 22 total variables. The establishment of a novel algorithm, MCP (mortality of cancer patients), to predict the 5‐year mortality in Chinese cancer patients was accomplished and the algorithm's prediction capacity was tested in the training and validation sets using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Results We found that the risk of death in cancer patients can be successfully identified through FI‐LAB. The univariable and multivariable Cox regression were used to evaluate the effect of frailty on death. In the 5‐year follow‐up, 20.6% of the 2959 participants (age = 55.8 ± 11.7 years; 43.5% female) died, while the mean FI‐LAB score in baseline was 0.23 (standard deviation = 0.13; range = 0–0.73). Frailty (after adjusting for gender, age, and other confounders) directly correlated with an increased risk of death, hazard ratio of 12.67 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 7.19, 22.31), compared to those without frailty. In addition, the MCP algorithm (MCP) = 3.678 × FI‐LAB + 1.575 × sex + 1.779 × first tumor node metastasis staging, presented an area under the ROC (AUC) of 0.691 (95% CI: 0.656–0.726) and 0.648 (95% CI: 0.613–0.684) in the training and validation sets, respectively. Conclusion Frailty as defined by FI‐LAB was common and indicated a significant death risk in cancer patients. Our novel developed algorithm MCP had a passable prediction capacity on 5‐year MCP., To investigate the frailty status in Chinese cancer patients through establishing a novel prediction algorithm. Frailty as defined by FI‐LAB (frailty index composing of routine laboratory data) was common and indicated a significant death risk in cancer patients. Our novel developed algorithm mortality of cancer patients had a passable prediction capacity on 5‐year mortality of cancer patients.

Introduction/Aims The initial surge of the coronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic in early 2020 led to widespread cancellation of elective medical procedures in the United States, including nonurgent outpatient and inpatient electrodiagnostic (EDx) studies. As certain regions later showed a downtrend in daily new cases, EDx laboratories have reopened under the guidance of the American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine (AANEM). In our reopening experience guided by the AANEM, we measured relevant outcomes to determine further workflow adaptations. We aimed to detail our experience and share the lessons learned. Methods We reviewed the clinical volumes, billing data, diagnosis distributions, and rates of COVID‐19 exposure and transmission among patients and staff in our EDx laboratory during the first 6 months of reopening, starting on June 1, 2020. For context, we detailed the recent AANEM guidelines we adopted at our laboratory, supplemented by other consensus statements. Results We completed 816 outpatient studies from June 1 to December 1, 2020, reaching 97% of the total volume and 97% of total billing compared with the same time period in 2019. The average relative value units per study were similar. There were no major shifts in diagnosis distributions. We completed 10 of 12 requested inpatient studies during this period. There were no known COVID‐19 transmissions between patients and staff. Discussion Our experience suggests that it is possible to safely operate an EDx laboratory under the guidance of the AANEM and other experts, with clinical volume and billing rates comparable to pre‐pandemic baselines.

Background Previous studies have shown that the brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) rs6265 G > A polymorphism is closely related post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) risk. However, the results were not consistent. We therefore conducted a meta‐analysis to explore the underlying relationships between BDNF rs6265 G > A polymorphism and PTSD risk. Materials and Methods Five online databases were searched, and all related studies were reviewed up to July 1, 2020. Odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to examine the statistical power of each genetic model. In addition, heterogeneity, sensitivity accumulative analysis, and publication bias were examined to check the statistical power. Result Overall, 16 publications involving 5,369 subjects were included in this systematic review and 11 case‐control studies were analyses in meta‐analysis. The pooled results indicated an increasing risk of A allele mutations with PTSD risk. Moreover, the sequential subgroup analysis also demonstrated some similar situations in Asian populations and other groups. Conclusion Current meta‐analysis suggests that the BDNF rs6265 G > A polymorphism might be involved in PTSD susceptibility., A meta‐analysis focused on the association between BDNF rs6265 G > A polymorphism and PTSD risk was conducted. 16 publications involving 5,369 subjects were included in this system review and 11 case‐controls were analyses in meta‐analysis. Current meta‐analysis suggests indicated that the BDNF rs6265 G > A polymorphism might be involved in PTSD susceptibility.

Patterned structural color photonic crystals (PCs) based on periodic photonic nanostructures have attracted great interest in developing high-performance sensors and other smart optical materials as well as tunable structurally colored fashion textiles. However, previously reported patterned PCs with both high color saturation and tough mechanical strength were difficult to achieve, which restricts their practical applications. Herein, arbitrarily patterned silica/polyurethane acrylate (SiO2/PUA) inverse opal photonic crystals (IOPCs) with high color saturation and tough mechanical strength were innovatively designed and fabricated by writing with photopolymerizable PUA "ink" on a self-assembled hollow SiO2 PC template. The high color saturation of the prepared SiO2/PUA IOPCs originated from the high refractive index contrast between the encapsulated air-filled core and the SiO2/PUA composite skeleton. The cross-linked flexible PUA matrix tightly warped the self-assembled hollow SiO2 nanospheres together, endowing the obtained SiO2/PUA IOPCs a structural color pattern with tough mechanical strength. The structural colors of SiO2/PUA IOPCs could be finely tuned by regulating their basic parameters, and a redshift in the resultant structural color was observed due to an increase in the lattice constant when increasing the core size and/or shell thickness of the hollow SiO2 nanospheres.

Small fiber neuropathy (SFN) is common, and can be associated with many medical conditions. The majority of the patients with SFN suffer from painful paresthesia which can negatively impact their quality of life. Skin biopsy with intraepidermal nerve fiber density evaluation is the gold standard diagnostic test. Autonomic function testing is useful when autonomic symptoms are present. Screening for associated conditions should be done in every patient, even when a known underlying associated condition is present, before the neuropathy evaluation. Etiology-specific treatment, lifestyle modification, and pain control are the key elements of SFN management. This article will review the clinical presentation, skin biopsy procedure, utility of diagnostic tests, associated conditions, management, and prognosis of SFN.

The striking structural colour originated from photonic crystals (PCs) self-assembled with specific nanospheres has been applied in various industries. Structural chromogen with lifelike manifestations is also expected to become a novel colouration technology for textiles. However, the contrast of structural colour is usually affected by scattered light generated from nanospheres. In order to obtain high contrast structural colour on fabric substrates, the melanin-like nanospheres were prepared and applied to fabricate PCs on white fabric surface. The melanin-like PS@PDA nanospheres showed smooth surface and perfect sphericity, which assured the self-assembly of melanin-like nanospheres to form well-organized face-centred cubic and regularly close-packed arrays to exhibit brilliant structural colour. In addition, the phenomenon of double-sides structural colouration of fabric was explained via analysing the driving force of self-assembly of nanospheres in dispersion solution. It is found that the melanin-like nanospheres can replace black substrate to achieve high contrast structural colour on white fabric substrate and simplify the process of structural colouration of textiles because the dyeing process of fabric can be omitted. The feasible technique would promote the practical application of structural colour in textile field.

Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a renal replacement option for patients with end-stage renal disease. However, a long-term exposure to hypertonic PD solutions leads to peritoneal membrane (PM) injury, resulting in ultrafiltration (UF) failure. This study was designed to primarily evaluate efficacy of PD effluent-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (pMSCs) in the prevention of PM injury in rats. The pMSCs were isolated from PD effluent. Male Wistar rats received daily intraperitoneal (IP) injection of 10 mL of Dianeal (4.25% dextrose) and were treated with pMSCs (1.2‐1.5×106/rat/wk, IP). UF was determined by IP injection of 30 mL of Dianeal (4.25% dextrose) with dwell time of 1.5 h, and PM injury was examined by histology. Apoptosis was quantitated by using flow cytometric analysis, and gene expression by using the PCR array and Western blot. Here, we showed that as compared to naive control, daily IP injection of the Dianeal PD solution for 6 weeks without pMSC treatment significantly reduced UF, which was associated with an increase in both PM thickness and blood vessel, while pMSC treatment prevented the UF loss and reduced PM injury and blood vessels.In vitroincubation with pMSC-conditioned medium prevented cell death in cultured human peritoneal mesothelial cells (HPMCs) and downregulated proinflammatory (i.e., CXCL6, NOS2, IL1RN, CCL5, and NR3C1) while upregulated anti-inflammatory (i.e., CCR1, CCR4, IL9, and IL-10) gene expression in activated THP1 cells. In conclusion, pMSCs prevent bioincompatible PD solution-induced PM injury and UF decline, suggesting that infusing backex vivo-expanded pMSCs intraperitoneally may have therapeutic potential for reduction of UF failure in PD patients.

Purpose of the study Genome-wide association studies have revealed an association of ADAMTS7 polymorphisms with the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Nonetheless, the role of ADAMTS7 polymorphisms on myocardial infarction (MI) risk remains poorly understood. Here, we aim to evaluate the effect of ADAMTS7 tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on individual susceptibility to MI. Study design Genotyping of the four tagSNPs (rs1994016, rs3825807, rs4380028 and rs7173743) was performed in 232 MI cases and 661 control subjects using PCR-ligase detection reaction (LDR) method. The association of these four tagSNPs with MI risk was performed with SPSS software. Results Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that ADAMTS7 tagSNP rs3825807 exhibited a significant effect on MI risk. Compared with the TT homozygotes, the CT genotype (OR1.93, 95% CI1.30to 2.85, Pc=0.004) and the combined CC/CT genotypes (OR1.70, 95% CI1.16 to 2.50, Pc=0.028) were statistically significantly associated with the increased risk for MI. Further stratified analysis revealed a more significant association with MI risk among older subjects, hypertensives, non-diabetics and patients with hyperlipidaemia. Consistently, the haplotype rs1994016T–rs3825807C containing rs3825807 C allele exhibited increased MI risk (OR1.52, 95% CI1.10 to 2.10, p=0.010). However, we did not detect any association of the other three tagSNPs with MI risk. Conclusions Our finding suggest that ADAMTS7 tagSNP rs3825807 contributes to MI susceptibility in the Chinese Han population. Further studies are necessary to confirm the general validity of our findings and to clarify the underlying mechanism for this association.

Automated experimentation has yielded data acquisition rates that supersede human processing capabilities. Artificial Intelligence offers new possibilities for automating data interpretation to generate large, high-quality datasets. Background subtraction is a long-standing challenge, particularly in settings where multiple sources of the background signal coexist, and automatic extraction of signals of interest from measured signals accelerates data interpretation. Herein, we present an unsupervised probabilistic learning approach that analyzes large data collections to identify multiple background sources and establish the probability that any given data point contains a signal of interest. The approach is demonstrated on X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy data and is suitable to any type of data where the signal of interest is a positive addition to the background signals. While the model can incorporate prior knowledge, it does not require knowledge of the signals since the shapes of the background signals, the noise levels, and the signal of interest are simultaneously learned via a probabilistic matrix factorization framework. Automated identification of interpretable signals by unsupervised probabilistic learning avoids the injection of human bias and expedites signal extraction in large datasets, a transformative capability with many applications in the physical sciences and beyond.

Background To observe the dynamic changes of blood perfusion with whole-tumor computed tomography (CT) perfusion imaging using texture analysis in patients with unresectable stage IIIA/B non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with recombinant human endostatin (Endostar). Methods This phase II clinical trial recruited 11 patients diagnosed with stage IIIA/B NSCLC. Histological examination prior to treatment revealed squamous cell carcinoma in 4 cases and adenocarcinoma in 7 cases. All patients underwent contrast-enhanced perfusion CT at baseline and a second CT scan 1 week after treatment initiation with Endostar. CT perfusion images including blood flow (BF), blood volume (BV), and permeability (PMB) were imported into OmniKinetics software to quantitatively assess the texture features. Skewness, kurtosis, and entropy were calculated at baseline and after anti-angiogenic therapy. Changes in tumor were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The association of parameters with survival was evaluated using Cox proportional hazards regression model. Results There were no statistical differences in the mean values of BF, BV, and PMB before and after treatment (P=0.594, 0.477 and 0.328, respectively). The skewness on BF images demonstrated significant differences at baseline and after treatment (0.6±2.7 vs. 1.0±2.6, P=0.010), while skewness of BV and PMB showed no significant variation (P=0.477 and 0.213, respectively). The kurtosis and entropy for BF, BV and PMB showed no significant differences (all P>0.05). In adenocarcinoma, the mean BF showed no significant differences at baseline and after treatment (76.5±25.7 vs. 101.2±46.4, P=0.398), while skewness for BF was significantly higher after treatment than at baseline (-0.19±3.3 vs. 0.59±3.2, P=0.028). No significant associations were found between perfusion CT imaging parameters and progression-free survival. Conclusions These results suggested that blood perfusion showed improvement with whole-tumor perfusion CT using texture analysis in patients with stage IIIA/B NSCLC treated by Endostar.

Background/objectives The assessment of nutritional status and the quality of life in patients with gastric cancer has become one of the important goals of current clinical treatment. The purpose of this study was to assess the nutritional status in hospitalized gastric cancer patients by using patient-generated subjective global assessment (PG-SGA) and to analyze the influence of nutritional status on the patients’ quality of life (QOL). Methods We reviewed the pathological diagnosis of gastric cancer for 2322 hospitalized patients using PG-SGA to assess their nutritional status and collected data on clinical symptoms, the anthropometric parameters (height, weight, body mass index (BMI), mid-arm circumference (MAC), triceps skin-fold thickness (TSF), and hand-grip strength (HGS). We also collected laboratory data (prealbumin, albumin, hemoglobin) within 48 h after the patient was admitted to the hospital. The 30-item European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Core Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) was used for QOL assessment in all patients. Results By using PG-SGA, we found 80.4% of the patients were malnourished (score ≥ 4) and 45.1% of the patients required urgent nutritional support (score ≥ 9). In univariate analysis, old age (> 65 years, p

Introduction: Recently, molecular epidemiological studies have suggested that aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) rs671 G>A polymorphism may be a risk factor for ischemic stroke (IS). However, the results reported have not been consistent. Methods: We conducted the meta-analysis to explore the precise association between ALDH2 rs671 G>A polymorphism and IS risk. Five online databases were searched and the relative studies were reviewed from inception to October 1, 2018. Odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated in each genetic model of the general and subgroup. Furthermore, the heterogeneity, accumulative analyses, sensitivity analyses and publication bias were calculated simultaneously. Results: Overall, nine case-control studies involving 6,129 subjects were included in this meta-analysis. All studies were focused on the Chinese population and some significant associations were found between ALDH2 rs671 G>A polymorphism and IS risk (A vs G: OR=1.29, 95% CI=1.01-1.65, P=0.04, I2=78.2%; AA vs GG: OR=1.86, 95% CI=1.27-2.21, P A polymorphism may play an important role in the occurrence of IS by reducing the activity of ALDH2 and interfering with the metabolic processes involving acetaldehyde.

Objective: To examine the cellular distribution and the expression of CD200 and its receptor 1 (CD200R1) in human deciduas in first-trimester pregnant women with spontaneous early abortion (SEA) an...

Background We examined changes in hepatitis B core-related antigen (HBcrAg) during the four sequential phases of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection: hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive chronic infection (EPCI) and hepatitis (EPCH), followed by HBeAg-negative chronic infection (ENCI) and hepatitis (ENCH). We compared the performance of serum HBcrAg, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), and HBV DNA in predicting EPCH and ENCH. Methods We enrolled 492 consecutive patients: 49 with EPCI, 243 with EPCH, 101 with ENCI, and 99 with ENCH. HBcrAg was detected by chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassays. HBsAg and HBeAg were detected by chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassays. HBV DNA was detected by real-time PCR. Predictive performance of HBcrAg, HBsAg, and HBV DNA was evaluated using ROC curves. Results Areas under ROC curves (AUCs) of HBcrAg, HBsAg, and HBV DNA for predicting EPCH were 0.738, 0.812, and 0.717, respectively; optimal cutoffs were ≤1.43×10⁵ kU/mL, ≤1.89×10⁴ IU/mL, and ≤3.97×10⁷ IU/mL, with sensitivities and specificities of 66.3% and 77.6%, 65.0% and 93.9%, and 60.5% and 79.6%, respectively. AUCs of HBcrAg, HBsAg, and HBV DNA for predicting ENCH were 0.887, 0.581, and 0.978, respectively; optimal cutoffs were >26.8 kU/mL, >2.29×10² IU/mL, and >8.75×10³ IU/mL, with sensitivities and specificities of 72.7% and 95.1%, 86.9% and 39.6%, and 89.9% and 92.1%, respectively. Conclusions HBsAg and HBV DNA were the best predictors of EPCH and ENCH, respectively. HBcrAg is an important surrogate marker for predicting EPCH and ENCH.

Purpose To explore the effects of group singing therapy on depression symptoms and quality of life of patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods Patients with COPD were randomly allocated to intervention (n = 30) and control groups (n = 30). The intervention group received group singing therapy once a week for 24 sessions along with routine health education, whereas the control group only received the routine health education. All patients were administered the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale depression subscale (HADS-D) and the Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ). Data were collected at baseline and at 1, 3, and 6 months. Results Fifty-six participants completed this trial. Significant between-group differences were observed with respect to the main effect of group and time as well as the effect of group × time interaction on HADS-D score. The HADS-D score was significantly improved 1, 3, 6 months after group singing therapy. The CCQ total scores were significantly different between the two groups with respect to the main effect of group and time and the group × time interaction effect. Significantly better CCQ was detected in the intervention group at 3 months and 6 months after intervention. Conclusions Group singing therapy reduces depressive symptoms and improves the quality of life of patients with stable COPD.

Small fiber neuropathy is common and prevalent in the elderly. The disease can be associated with many medical conditions. It often has a negative impact on quality of life due to painful paresthesia, dizziness, and sedative side effects of pain medications. Skin biopsy is the gold standard diagnostic test. Screening for associated conditions is important, because etiology-specific treatment can slow down disease progression and ameliorate symptoms. Adequate pain control can be challenging due to safety and tolerability of pain medications in the elderly. Treatment should be individualized with the goals of controlling underlying causes, alleviating pain, and optimizing daily function.

Entanglement purification is used to distill high quality entangled states from several noisy low quality entangled states, and it plays a key role in quantum repeater. The measurement-based entanglement purification protocol (MB-EPP) does not require local two-qubit gates or single-particle measurements on the noisy pairs and may offer significant advantages compared with the gate-based EPPs. We present an alternative MB-EPP in linear optics. Subsequently, we provide a detailed analysis on the realization of this MB-EPP using spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) sources. By delicately designing the optical circuits, the double-pair emission noise caused by SPDC sources can be eliminated automatically. Combined with suitable quantum memory and entanglement swapping, this MB-EPP may have application potential in the implementation of a practical measurement-based quantum repeater.

High quality time-bin entanglement is widely exploited to achieve the purposes of fundamental tests of physics and the implementation of quantum communication protocols both in free space and optical fiber propagation. However, the imperfect approaches of generating time-bin entangled state will degrade its quality and limit its practical application. Entanglement purification is to distill high quality entangled states from low quality entangled states. In this paper, we present the first entanglement purification protocol (EPP) for time-bin entanglement. We first explain this EPP for two-photon time-bin entangled state and then extend it to the system of multi-photon time-bin entangled state. We also design a possible realization of this EPP with practical spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) source. Differ from the conventional EPPs, this EPP does not require the sophisticated controlled-not (CNOT) gate or similar operations, and it uses the feasible sum-frequency generation (SFG) to perform the purification. Moreover, the double-pair noise emitted from the SPDC source can be eliminated automatically which is the other advantage of this EPP. If we combine with the faithful entanglement swapping, this EPP may have potential to be a part of full quantum repeaters.

Since the initial emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, a rapid spread of the disease occurred around the world, rising to become an international global health concern at pandemic level. In the face of this medical challenge threatening humans, the development of rapid and accurate methods for early screening and diagnosis of COVID-19 became crucial to containing the emerging public health threat, and prevent further spread within the population. Despite the large number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in China, some problematic cases with inconsistent laboratory testing results, were reported. Specifically, a high false-negative rate of 41% on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) detection by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assays was observed in China. Although serological testing has been applied worldwide as a complementary method to help identify SARS-CoV-2, several limitations on its use have been reported in China. Therefore, the use of both qRT-PCR and serological testing in the diagnosis of COVID-19 in China and elsewhere, presented considerable challenges, but when used in combination, can be valuable tools in the fight against COVID-19. In this review, we give an overview of the advantages and disadvantages of different molecular techniques for SARS-CoV-2 detection that are currently used in several labs, including qRT-PCR, gene sequencing, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), nucleic acid mass spectrometry (MS), and gene editing technique based on clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR/Cas13) system. Then we mainly review and analyze some causes of false-negative qRT-PCR results, and how to resolve some of the diagnostic dilemma.

Background Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is an independent factor for predicting adverse outcomes in pediatric patients with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). However, little is known about its prognostic value in adult patients. Methods This single center retrospective study was conducted to explore the prognostic value of IL-10 in 101 adults newly diagnosed with HLH. The serum interleukin levels were quantitatively determined by chemiluminescence using cytokine profiling kits. Results Serum IL-10 levels were significantly increased in adult HLH patients. Elevated IL-10 levels was correlated with lower concentrations of hemoglobin (r = − 0.279, P = 0.005). IL-10 levels were significantly lower in patients with macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) than in those with infection-associated HLH (IAHS) and malignancy-associated HLH (MAHS) (P = 0.033, P = 0.012). Patients with MAS had relatively longer survival than those with IAHS and MAHS (P 9/L, lactate dehydrogenase ≥ 700 IU/L, albumin 1050 µg/L and IL-10 ≥ 129 pg/mL were poor prognostic factors for survival. However, multivariate analysis revealed that only high serum IL-10 levels (≥ 129 pg/mL) at diagnosis and high post-treatment ferritin levels (> 1050 µg/L) were independent risk factors for poor overall survival in adult HLH patients (HR: 4.087, 95% CI 2.064–8.090, P P Conclusions Our results suggest that higher serum IL-10 levels might be a prognostic marker in adult HLH patients.

Background A long-term of peritoneal dialysis (PD) using a hypertonic PD solution (PDS) leads to patient’s peritoneal membrane (PM) injury, resulting in ultrafiltration failure (UFF) and PD drop-out. Our previous study shows that PD effluent-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (pMSCs) prevent the PM injury in normal rats after repeated exposure of the peritoneal cavity to a PDS. This study was designed to compare the cytoprotection between pMSCs and umbilical cord-derived MSCs (UC-MSCs) in the treatment of both PM and kidney injury in uremic rats with chronic PD. Methods 5/6 nephrectomized (5/6Nx) Sprague Dawley rats were intraperitoneally (IP) injected Dianeal (4.25% dextrose, 10 mL/rat/day) and were treated with pMSCs or umbilical cord (UC)-MSCs (approximately 2 × 106/rat/week, IP). Ultrafiltration was determined by IP injection of 30 mL of Dianeal (4.25% dextrose) with 1.5-h dewell time, and kidney failure by serum creatinine (SCr) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN). The structure of the PM and kidneys was assessed using histology. Gene expression was examined using quantitative reverse transcription PCR, and protein levels using flow cytometric and Western blot analyses. Results We showed a slight difference in the morphology between pMSCs and UC-MSCs in plastic dishes, and significantly higher expression levels of stemness-related genes (NANOG, OCT4, SOX2, CCNA2, RAD21, and EXO1) and MSCs surface markers (CD29, CD44, CD90 and CD105) in UC-MSCs than those in pMSCs, but no difference in the differentiation to chondrocytes, osteocytes or adipocytes. pMSC treatment was more effective than UC-MSCs in the protection of the MP and remnant kidneys in 5/6Nx rats from PDS-induced injury, which was associated with higher resistance of pMSCs than UC-MSCs to uremic toxins in culture, and more reduction of peritoneal mesothelial cell death by the secretome from pMSCs than from UC-MSCs in response to PDS exposure. The secretome from both pMSCs and UC-MSCs similarly inactivated NOS2 in activated THP1 cells. Conclusions As compared to UC-MSCs, pMSCs may more potently prevent PDS-induced PM and remnant kidney injury in this uremic rat model of chronic PD, suggesting that autotransplantation of ex vivo-expanded pMSCs may become a promising therapy for UFF and deterioration of remnant kidney function in PD patients.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects more than 10% of the global population and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. In most cases, this disease is developed silently, and it can progress to the end-stage renal failure. Therefore, early detection becomes critical for initiating effective interventions. Routine diagnosis of CKD requires both blood test and urinalyses in a clinical laboratory, which are time-consuming and have low sensitivity and specificity. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is an emerging method for rapidly assessing kidney function or injury. This study was designed to compare the differences between the SERS properties of the serum and urine for easy and simple detection of CKD. Enrolled for this study were 126 CKD patients (Stages 2–5) and 97 healthy individuals. SERS spectra of both the serum and urine samples were acquired using a Raman spectrometer (785 nm excitation). The correlation of chemical parameters of kidney function with the spectra was examined using prinicpal component analysis (PCA) combined with linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and partial least squares (PLS) analysis. Here, we showed that CKD was discriminated from non-CKD controls using PCA–LDA with a sensitivity of 74.6% and a specificity of 93.8% for the serum spectra, and 78.0% and 86.0 % for the urine spectra. The integration area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.937 ± 0.015 ( p 2) of the serum spectra was 0.8540 for the serum urea ( p 2) of urine spectra was 0.7335 for the urine urea ( p