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Aims Increasing evidence suggests that poor glycemic control in diabetic individuals is associated with poor coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia outcomes and influences chest computed tomography (CT) manifestations. This study aimed to explore the impact of diabetes mellitus (DM) and glycemic control on chest CT manifestations, acquired using an artificial intelligence (AI)-based quantitative evaluation system, and COVID-19 disease severity and to investigate the association between CT lesions and clinical outcome. Methods A total of 126 patients with COVID-19 were enrolled in this retrospective study. According to their clinical history of DM and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level, the patients were divided into 3 groups: the non-DM group (Group 1); the well-controlled blood glucose (BG) group, with HbA1c

Background: Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM) can clinically and radiographically mimic an abscess or breast cancer. Although IGM is benign, it can cause the breast skin to appear “riddled wi...

Background: Traumatic mutilation of major limbs can result in limb loss, motor disability, or even death. Despite advancements in treatment, replantation failure could result in additional financial burden and severe psychosocial pressure on patients. Here, we determine the risk and prognostic factors of replantation failure in patients with traumatic major limb mutilation.Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, severed adult inpatients with traumatic major limb mutilation who underwent replantation from three hospitals in the Suzhou Ruixing Medical Group were included. Data obtained from electronic medical records were used to analyze predictors and risk factors for replantation failure.Results: From the 66 patients included, replantation failure occurred in 48 patients (72.7%). The area under the curve of the joint prediction of lactic acid on admission, 72 h cumulative fluid balance, and albumin level immediately postoperatively was 0.838 (95% CI, 0.722-0.954; P < 0.001) with a sensitivity of 89.7% and a specificity of 69.2%. Lower limb trauma (OR 8.65, 95%CI 1.64-45.56, P = 0.011), mangled extremity severity scores (OR 2.24, 95%CI 1.25-4.01, P = 0.007), and first 72 h cumulative fluid balance > 4885.6 ml (OR 10.25, 95%CI 1.37-76.93, P = 0.024) were independent risk factors for replantation failure.Conclusions: Lower limb trauma, mangled extremity severity scores, and cumulative water balance were associated with replantation failure. This implies that fluid management is necessary for major limb salvage. More studies are needed to explore the predictive power of indicators related to tissue oxygenation and wound healing for replantation failure.

In recent years, a ratiometric electrochemical method has been investigated due to its ability to effectively reduce the background electrical signals via the introduction of an internal calibration mechanism, which has great practical significance in the detection of mycotoxins in foods. Herein, we report a ratiometric electrochemical aptasensor based on two semiconductor quantum dots (i.e. CdTe and PbS QDs) for the detection of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1). The aptasensor was fabricated by immobilizing PbS QD-coated silica hybrid spheres (SiO2@PbS) onto CdTe QD-modified Fe3O4@SiO2 (Fe3O4@SiO2/CdTe) surface through biorecognition between the aptamer and complementary DNAs, where PbS QDs acted as external signal labels and CdTe QDs acted as internal reference labels. In the presence of AFB1, the aptamer connected to SiO2@PbS preferred to form an aptamer/AFB1 complex, which brought about the separation of SiO2@PbS linked with the CdTe QDs; with the addition of more AFB1 to the solution, the amount of SiO2@PbS present on the Fe3O4@SiO2/CdTe surface reduced. After several steps of endonuclease cleavage, magnetic separation, and dissolution with acid, the square wave voltammetry signals of Pb2+ and Cd2+ maintained an inverse relationship with the target content based on the SWV stripping measurements; the proposed method had the wide linear range of 5 pg mL-1-50 ng mL-1 and the determination limit of 4.5 pg mL-1 (S/N = 3) and was applied for the detection of AFB1 in peanuts. The proposed aptasensor has an important practical significance for the development of food safety.

Objective To explore the effects of occupational aluminium(Al) exposure on workers’ cognition through a longitudinal study. Methods The study population consisted of 276 workers in an Al factory. In 2014, we used inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to determine the plasma aluminium (P–Al) concentration of the workers, and a combined questionnaire to test the workers’ cognitive function. Followed-up in 2016, the workers were tested again for cognitive function. Generalized linear regression was used to assess the association between P–Al concentration and cognitive scores, and multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the risk of cognitive decline caused by Al exposure. Results Generalized linear regression results showed that a non-significant association was found between the P–Al concentration and cognitive test scores (P > 0.05) in 2014. Two years later, each 10-fold increase in P–Al concentration was inversely associated with the score of Mini-Mental state examination (MMSE) (β: −0.53, 95% CI: −0.86, −0.20) and Fuld object memory evaluation (FOME) (β: −0.93, 95% CI: −1.62, −0.24). Each 10-fold increase in P–Al concentration was inversely associated with MMSE2016-2014 (β: −0.38, 95% CI: −0.74, −0.01) and FOME2016-2014 (β: −1.20, 95% CI: −1.95, −0.45). There was a statistically significant difference in the average annual rate of change of MMSE and FOME with the tertile of P–Al concentration increase (P Conclusions Continuous occupational Al exposure can damage workers’ overall cognitive ability, especially episodic memory function.

To evaluate the different characteristics of cognitive impairment caused by occupational aluminium exposure at different ages, we surveyed 1,660 workers in Shanxi Aluminium Plant, China, and assessed their cognitive function and plasma aluminium concentration. In multiple linear regression, the scores of the digit-span test (DST) and digit-span backward test (DSBT ) were negatively correlated with plasma aluminium concentration when concentration reached 34.52 μg/L in younger group (＜40 years), while in the middle-aged group (≥40 years) only found when concentration reached 42.25 μg/L (β

Dear editor,We thank the authors for their letter [1] on our article entitled “Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis with Skin Rupture: A Retrospective Cohort Study of 200 Patients Who Underwent Surgic...

Infection with SARS-CoV-2, the cause of coronavirus infectious disease-19 (COVID-19), has caused a pandemic with >850,000 cases worldwide and increasing. Several studies report outcomes of COVID-19 in predominately well persons. There are also some data on COVID-19 in persons with predominately solid cancer but controversy whether these persons have the same outcomes. We conducted a cohort study at two centres in Wuhan, China, of 128 hospitalised subjects with haematological cancers, 13 (10%) of whom developed COVID-19. We also studied 226 health care providers, 16 of whom developed COVID-19 and 11 of whom were hospitalised. Co-variates were compared with the 115 subjects with haematological cancers without COVID-19 and with 11 hospitalised health care providers with COVID-19. There were no significant differences in baseline co-variates between subjects with haematological cancers developing or not developing COVID-19. Case rates for COVID-19 in hospitalised subjects with haematological cancers was 10% (95% Confidence Interval [CI], 6, 17%) compared with 7% (4, 12%; P = 0.322) in health care providers. However, the 13 subjects with haematological cancers had more severe COVID-19 and more deaths compared with hospitalised health care providers with COVID-19. Case fatality rates were 62% (32, 85%) and 0 (0, 32%; P = 0.002). Hospitalised persons with haematological cancers have a similar case rate of COVID-19 compared with normal health care providers but have more severe disease and a higher case fatality rate. Because we were unable to identify specific risk factors for COVID-19 in hospitalised persons with haematological cancers, we suggest increased surveillance and possible protective isolation.

Background: The severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a pandemic, but data about hospital-associated infection are scarce We aimed to

Background: 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused a pandemic, but data about hospital-associated infection in haematological units are yet to kno

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes a worldwide pandemic named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The disease progression and mortality rates of patients with COVID-19 are higher in males than in females. Hence, we explored the potential mechanism of the COVID-19 gender disparity and searched for potential alternative therapeutic agents as unmet medical needs for male patients with COVID-19. Methods: We collected clinical data from 1339 COVID-19 patients and analyzed androgen receptor (AR) chromatin binding and expression patterns by ChIP-seq and scRNA-seq data. Moreover, we studied the androgen-induced expression of ACE-2 and TMPRSS2, two key proteins for SARS-CoV-2 cellular entry and infection and the blockage of these two key proteins with our AR antagonist Proxalutamide (GT0918) in normal lung cells, cancer cells derived from prostate and lung cancers. Furthermore, we examined the effect of GT0918 on inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), the macrophage-activation markers, in mouse macrophage cells. Results: We demonstrated higher rates of disease progression and mortality of male COVID-19 patients. The mechanism of the gender disparity may result from the androgen-AR activation in male patients with COVID-19. We revealed that androgen-AR activation induced the expression of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 under the androgen-dependent condition in cells derived from prostate and lung cancer, which was inhibited by the blockage of AR signaling with AR antagonist GT0918. Importantly, GT0918 also inhibited the expression of macrophage activation markers iNOS and TNF-α, the biomarkers for macrophage polarization. These results support the role of androgen-AR signaling in the disease progression and mortality in male patients with COVID-19.

Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread to the world. Whether there is an association between lifestyle behaviors and the acquisition of COVID-19 remains unclear. Methods In this case-control study, we recruited 105 patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection as a case group from the Wuhan Tongji Hospital (Wuhan, China). For each case two control subjects were recruited. Participants were randomly selected from communities in Wuhan and matched for sex, age (± 2yrs), and pre-existing comorbidities (hypertension and diabetes). Results A total of 105 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and 210 controls were included. Compared with control group, the case group had higher proportions of lack of sleep (30.5% vs. 14.8%, P = 0.001) and increased physical activities (56.2% vs. 32.9%, P < 0.001). And patients in the case group were more likely to have alopecia (28.6% vs. 10.0%, P < 0.001) than people from the control group. Overall, we found that lack of sleep [adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.56, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03–2.39)], physical activities (≥ 5 times a week) (adjusted OR 2.05, 95%CI 1.39–3.02) and alopecia (adjusted OR 1.73, 95%CI 1.13–2.66) were independent risk factors for COVID-19 infection. Conversely, low-dose alcohol intake ( Conclusions Individual lifestyle behaviors and health status can affect the occurrence of COVID-19.

We introduce uncertainty in the classic inventory costing choice problem to investigate the underlying partitions imposed by two accounting inquiries (processes of generating information): variable costing and absorption costing. In a contemporaneous reporting environment, we show that absorption costing provides a finer partition of the state space compared to variable costing when a firm arbitrarily increases the production level (opportunistic overproduction), and the predetermined fixed overhead rate is adjusted. Grounded in an information economics perspective, the intent of the article is to propose an approach to detect real earnings management by extracting information from financial statements. The resulting managerial biases arising from earnings management are also discussed.

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text., OBJECTIVES: The aim was to evaluate the effect of dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker on the prognosis for moderate-severe pulmonary acute respiratory distress syndrome in hypertension patients. DESIGN: A retrospective, observational, multicenter cohort study. SETTING: A total of 307 patients without propensity score matching and 186 adult inpatients with propensity score matching diagnosed with hypertension and moderate-severe pulmonary acute respiratory distress syndrome in five teaching hospitals in Jiangsu province, China, from December 2015 to December 2020 were enrolled. PATIENTS: A total of 307 patients without propensity score matching and 186 patients with propensity score matching diagnosed with hypertension and moderate-severe pulmonary acute respiratory distress syndrome were included in the final analysis. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Demographic characteristics and clinical characteristics were recorded. The propensity score matching method was used to eliminate the difference between group with dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker and group without dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. We used univariate and multivariate regression analyses for both patients with or without propensity score matching to assess the effect of these variables on mortality. In the subset of 186 patients with propensity score matching, in-hospital mortality was 53.2%. Inpatient mortality was significantly higher in patients treated with dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker than in those not treated with dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker of patients without propensity score matching (65.4% vs 40.4%; p < 0.01). Multivariate analysis for patients without propensity score matching showed that dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker (hazard ratio, 1.954; 95% CI, 1.415–2.699), lactate dehydrogenase greater than or equal to 600 U/L (hazard ratio, 3.809; 95% CI, 2.106–4.531), and lactate greater than or equal to 2 mmol/L (hazard ratio, 1.454; 95% CI, 1.041–2.029) were independently associated with in-hospital mortality. Based on univariate analysis for patients with propensity score matching, dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker (hazard ratio, 2.021; 95% CI, 1.333–3.064), lactate dehydrogenase greater than or equal to 600 U/L (hazard ratio, 4.379; 95% CI, 2.642–7.257), and lactate greater than or equal to 2 mmol/L (hazard ratio, 2.461; 95% CI, 1.534–3.951) were independently associated with in-hospital mortality. In contrast, patients not treated with dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker had a significant survival advantage over those treated with dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker in both patients without or with propensity score matching (p < 0.001; p = 0.001 by Kaplan-Meier analysis). CONCLUSIONS: Dihydropyridine calcium channel blocker, lactate dehydrogenase greater than or equal to 600 U/L, and lactate greater than or equal to 2 mmol/L at admission were independent risk factors for patients with hypertension and moderate-severe pulmonary acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Predicting drug-disease associations using computational methods benefits drug repositioning. Drug-disease associations are events that drugs exert effects on diseases, there are different effects about drug-disease associations. For example, drug-disease associations are annotated as therapeutic or marker/mechanism (non-therapeutic) in Comparative Toxicogenomics database (CTD). However, existing association prediction methods ignore effects that drugs exert on diseases. In this paper, we propose a signed network-based nonnegative matrix factorization method (SNNMF) to predict drug-disease associations and their effects. First, drug-disease associations are represented as a signed bipartite network with two types of links for therapeutic effects and non-therapeutic effects. After decomposing the network into two subnetworks, SNNMF aims to approximate the association matrix of each subnetwork by two nonnegative matrices, which are low-dimensional latent representations for drugs and diseases respectively, and diseases in two subnetworks share the same latent representations. In the computational experiments, SNNMF performs well in predicting effects of drug-disease associations. Moreover, SNNMF accurately predicts drug-disease associations and outperforms existing association prediction methods. Case studies show that SNNMF helps to find out novel drug-disease associations that are not included in CTD, and simultaneously predicts their therapeutic effects.

Aluminum industry has been producing more than a century of history. Aluminum is a light metal which is widely used in industrial applications. Occupational aluminum workers are an important source for high exposure Al population. With the world’s demand for aluminum and the increasing production, between 2007 and 2016, primary Al production in China increased by 251% which shows that a growing number of workers are being exposed to Al. Occupational aluminum exposure to the health of the population has become increasingly prominent. Al is a well-established neurotoxicant and is suspected to be linked with various neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and MCI. Studies on workers exposed to aluminum have revealed disturbances in cognitive function. This chapter reviews the relationship between occupational exposure to aluminum and cognitive impairment.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), CXC chemokine ligand-10 (CXCL-10) and intercellular adhesion molecule-l (ICAM-1) in patients with Graves' disease (GD) following iodine-131 (131I) therapy. A total of 30 patients with GD participated in the present study. Serum cytokine levels were measured with ELISA, and correlation analyses were performed. Serum levels of IL-6, CXCL-10 and ICAM-1 were significantly higher in patients with GD prior to treatment than those in the control subjects (P

Sound propagation in a deep ocean two-axis underwater channel is often complex and difficult to simulate between surface channel and sound fixing and ranging (SOFAR) channel. The beam-displacement ray-mode (BDRM) theory is a normal mode method for propagation modeling in horizontally stratified shallow water. An improved method for computing the upper boundary reflection coefficient in the BDRM is proposed and applied to calculate the acoustic fields of a two-axis underwater channel. Transmission losses in the two-axis underwater channel are calculated in the new BDRM. The corresponding results are in good agreement with those from the Kraken code, and furthermore the computed speed of the new BDRM excels the other methods.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship between cognitive impairment and global DNA methylation in aluminum (Al) potroom workers. METHODS A total of 366 Al-exposed workers were investigated, and their cognitive functions were assessed with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Aluminum in serum was quantified using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Global DNA methylation was analyzed in whole blood using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-like reaction. RESULTS Mini-Mental State Examination scores and global DNA methylation decreased with the increase of serum Al concentration. Forty-three mild cognitive impairment (MCI) people were diagnosed. Global DNA methylation of the MCI was lower than the non-MCI. Multiple logistic analysis showed that the Al-exposed workers had lower global DNA methylation and higher serum Al concentration and were at the higher risk of MCI. CONCLUSIONS Long-term exposure to Al may cause MCI. Mild cognitive impairment was significantly associated with global DNA methylation in blood.

Objectives: To analyze cognitive functions and tau-protein expression in peripheral blood lymphocytes of retired aluminum (Al)-exposed workers. Methods:Atotalof66retiredAlpotroomworkersand70unexposedcontrols were investigated. The cognitive functions were assessed with the MiniMental State Examination. The tau-protein expression in peripheral blood lymphocytewasanalyzedwithWesternblot.Results:Thecognitivefunctions of the exposed group were significantly decreased. Twelve mild cognitive impairment cases in the exposed group and four mild cognitive impairment cases in the control group were diagnosed. Significantly higher p-tau181 and p-tau231 levels were detected in the Al-exposed workers than in the control group. Conclusions: The study suggests that long-term exposure to Al may cause cognitive disorders and that p-tau181 and p-tau231 might be useful indicators for monitoring cognitive decline in Al-exposed workers.

The dynamic RBF artificial neural networks (ANNs) is put forward in the paper, which aims at only recognition of the target feature. It does not search the separating hyperplane of the whole space, but searches the separating hyperplane of the local space taking the target feature as center. To show better importance of each sample to the target feature, a method is researched that expected output of the dynamic ANNs training process is measured. And the dynamic training set is reconstructed and controlled dynamically according to the expected output. At last, the dynamic RBF ANNs is applied to the underwater acoustic target recognition that is utmost important to submarine war. Experiment results show that it is more robust than the traditional ANNs.