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To investigate the efficacy of combined immunosuppressive regimens of cyclosporine (CsA), tacrolimus (TAC), or cyclophosphamide (CTX) combined with steroids in the treatment of idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN).A total of 150 biopsy-proven IMN patients were divided into three groups: CTX, TAC, and CsA groups (50 cases each). Patients received a selected regimen for 48 weeks. The efficacy (remission rate, 24h urinary protein, and serum albumin and creatinine) and safety (adverse events) profiles of administered regimens were evaluated at 12, 24 and 48 weeks.At 12 weeks, the response rates for CsA, TAC, and CTX groups were 14%, 50%, and 22%, respectively. This increased to 74%, 84%, and 82%, respectively at 48 weeks. During follow-up, 24h urinary protein significantly reduced from baseline in all regimens (P0.05), while serum albumin increased in TAC and CTX groups after 12 weeks (P0.05), and CsA group at 48 weeks (P0.05). No significant changes in serum creatinine levels were noted in all three regimens (P0.05). Safety was comparable in all groups, with lower respiratory tract infection being the most frequent adverse event.The combined regimens (i.e., TAC, CsA, and CTX) are effective in the treatment of patients with IMN at 48 weeks, while TAC and CTX might be more beneficial in terms of shortened time to remission and increased complete response rate.

PurposeThe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic unprecedentedly shocks the market. Little is known about the impact of COVID-19 on brand engagement across country-of-origin (COO) and country-of-market (COM). To address the gap, this study examines how the spread of the COVID-19 affects consumer brand engagement on social media for global brands through the mechanisms of the COO and consumer animosity.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collect consumer engagement activity data from Facebook for eight global smartphone brands and match it with the COVID-19 statistics. Ordinary least square (OLS) models are used to estimate the impact on global brands brought by the spread of the COVID-19.FindingsThe results show that consumer brand engagement decreases for all brands in a COM as the number of confirmed COVID-19 new cases increases in the COM. Consumer brand engagement decreases for a brand across all COM as the number of confirmed COVID-19 new cases increases in the brand’s COO. If a brand’s COO is imputed for the pandemic, its consumer brand engagement will receive additional negative impacts across all COM.Originality/valueThis study enriches the COO literature by showing how the spread of a pandemic affects consumer brand engagement via COO and discovers the moderating role of consumer animosity.

The present laboratory diffraction contrast tomography suffers from poor spatial resolution – only grains larger than 40 µm can be reliably imaged. In this work, it is shown how this serious limitation can be lifted and the spatial resolution improved significantly., Laboratory diffraction contrast tomography (LabDCT) is a novel technique for non-destructive imaging of the grain structure within polycrystalline samples. To further broaden the use of this technique to a wider range of materials, both the spatial resolution and detection limit achieved in the commonly used Laue focusing geometry have to be improved. In this work, the possibility of improving both grain indexing and shape reconstruction was investigated by increasing the sample-to-detector distance to facilitate geometrical magnification of diffraction spots in the LabDCT projections. LabDCT grain reconstructions of a fully recrystallized iron sample, obtained in the conventional Laue focusing geometry and in a magnified geometry, are compared to one characterized by synchrotron X-ray diffraction contrast tomography, with the latter serving as the ground truth. It is shown that grain indexing can be significantly improved in the magnified geometry. It is also found that the magnified geometry improves the spatial resolution and the accuracy of the reconstructed grain shapes. The improvement is shown to be more evident for grains smaller than 40 µm than for larger grains. The underlying reasons are clarified by comparing spot features for different LabDCT datasets using a forward simulation tool.

A deep learning neural network has been developed to efficiently and accurately clean the background noise in experimental lab-based X-ray diffraction images. A better spot segmentation is obtained and thus grain mapping in 3D is improved compared with the conventional method., Laboratory X-ray diffraction contrast tomography (LabDCT) is a novel imaging technique for non-destructive 3D characterization of grain structures. An accurate grain reconstruction critically relies on precise segmentation of diffraction spots in the LabDCT images. The conventional method utilizing various filters generally satisfies segmentation of sharp spots in the images, thereby serving as a standard routine, but it also very often leads to over or under segmentation of spots, especially those with low signal-to-noise ratios and/or small sizes. The standard routine also requires a fine tuning of the filtering parameters. To overcome these challenges, a deep learning neural network is presented to efficiently and accurately clean the background noise, thereby easing the spot segmentation. The deep learning network is first trained with input images, synthesized using a forward simulation model for LabDCT in combination with a generic approach to extract features of experimental backgrounds. Then, the network is applied to remove the background noise from experimental images measured under different geometrical conditions for different samples. Comparisons of both processed images and grain reconstructions show that the deep learning method outperforms the standard routine, demonstrating significantly better grain mapping.

We identify an unexplored attribute of the CEO associated with corporate investment efficiency – military experience. We hypothesize that military experienced CEOs tend to reduce agency conflicts, ...

This study investigates the effect of female chief executive officers (FCEOs) on investment efficiency. Our study suggests that CEO gender plays a significant role in efficient investment decisions by improving governance and disciplining the management. We document that FCEOs are associated with higher investment efficiency. We also find that FCEOs, when making investment decisions, pay more attention to curbing overinvestment than to underinvestment. Furthermore, we find that FCEOs play no role in improving the investment efficiency of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Our findings suggest that SOEs’ investment decisions are independent of factors that shape investment decisions at non-state-owned enterprises and are more reliant on sociopolitical factors.

The role of hepatitis E virus (HEV) in developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is unclear. Our study aimed to investigate the role of HE infection in HCC development and the effect of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and HEV coinfection on HCC risk. A hospital-based case-control study was conducted. A total of 474 eligible HCC cases and 586 control patients were successfully recruited. The fasting venous blood was collected from the patients at the first visited to hospital and HBV infection and HEV infection were examined within 5 days. Crude and adjusted odd ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were estimated by using logistic regression model. HBV infection (OR: 63.10, 95% CI: 42.02-97.26) rather than HEV infection (OR: 1.08, 95% CI: 0.721-1.65) was associated with an increased risk of HCC after adjustment for confounders. The association between HBV infection and HCC risk was more remarkable in male (OR: 72.61, 95% CI: 45.10-121.38) than in female (OR: 61.89, 95% CI: 25.74-169.26). In comparison with patients who infected with neither HEV nor HBV, those who infected with only HBV (OR: 69.62, 95% CI: 40.90-123.52) and who coinfected with HEV and HBV (OR: 67.48, 95% CI:37.23-128.19) were significantly associated with an increased risk after adjustment for potential confounders. The results showed that HBV infection rather than HEV infection was associated with an increased risk of HCC, and the HEV infection may alleviate the promoting impact of HBV on HCC development.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the primary pathological factors that contributes to aging-related cognitive impairments, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We recently reported that old DM rats exhibited impaired myogenic responses of the cerebral arteries and arterioles, poor cerebral blood flow autoregulation, enhanced blood-brain barrier (BBB) leakage, and cognitive impairments. These changes were associated with diminished vascular smooth muscle cell contractile capability linked to elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reduced ATP production. In the present study, using a nonobese T2DN DM rat, we isolated parenchymal arterioles (PAs), cultured cerebral microvascular pericytes, and examined whether cerebrovascular pericyte in DM is damaged and whether pericyte dysfunction may play a role in the regulation of cerebral hemodynamics and BBB integrity. We found that ROS and mitochondrial superoxide production were elevated in PAs isolated from old DM rats and in high glucose (HG)-treated α-smooth muscle actin-positive pericytes. HG-treated pericytes displayed decreased contractile capability in association with diminished mitochondrial respiration and ATP production. Additionally, the expression of advanced glycation end products, transforming growth factor-β, vascular endothelial growth factor, and fibronectin were enhanced, but claudin 5 and integrin β1 was reduced in the brain of old DM rats and HG-treated pericytes. Further, endothelial tight junction and pericyte coverage on microvessels were reduced in the cortex of old DM rats. These results demonstrate our previous findings that the impaired cerebral hemodynamics and BBB leakage and cognitive impairments in the same old DM model are associated with hyperglycemia-induced cerebrovascular pericyte dysfunction. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study demonstrates that the loss of contractile capability in pericytes in diabetes is associated with enhanced ROS and reduced ATP production. Enhanced advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in diabetes accompany with reduced pericyte and endothelial tight junction coverage in the cortical capillaries of old diabetic rats. These results suggest our previous findings that the impaired cerebral hemodynamics, BBB leakage, and cognitive impairments in old DM model are associated with hyperglycemia-induced cerebrovascular pericyte dysfunction.

Deep learning-based recommender systems have gained much attention due to the advantage of encoding content-based information, such as user textual reviews and item descriptions, images, or videos, without the trouble of manually crafting feature vectors. However, those systems are trained from scratch with randomly initialized parameters, where the training process can take a long time to converge. With the most recent breakthroughs in Natural Language Processing using transfer learning, pre-trained transformer-based models now provide a better foundation for textual information encoding. This inspires us to propose a transformer-based recommender system using transfer learning. As the first core contribution in this work, we apply transfer learning to the system, by fine-tuning the pre-trained transformer models for information encoding. The experiment result shows that the proposed system outperforms several other deep learning-based recommender systems on multiple datasets. As the second core contribution, we propose a novel user vector encoding algorithm that assists all the models to achieve a better performance, when the user content information is not available.

For a given source-destination pair in multi-hop underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs), an optimal route is the one with the lowest energy consumptions that usually consists of the same relay nodes even under different transmission tasks. However, this will lead to the unbalanced payload of the relay nodes in the multi-hop UASNs and accelerate the loss of the working ability for the entire system. In this paper, we propose a node payload balanced ant colony optimal cooperative routing (PB-ACR) protocol for multi-hop UASNs, through combining the ant colony algorithm and cooperative transmission. The proposed PB-ACR protocol is a relay node energy consumption balanced scheme, which considers both data priority and residual energy of each relay node, aiming to reduce the occurrence of energy holes and thereby prolong the lifetime of the entire UASNs. We compare the proposed PB-ACR protocol with the existing ant colony algorithm routing (ACAR) protocol to verify its performances in multi-hop UASNs, in terms of network throughput, energy consumption, and algorithm complexity. The simulation results show that the proposed PB-ACR protocol can effectively balance the energy consumption of underwater sensor nodes and hence prolong the network lifetime.

The study seeks to investigate the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies. These technologies include Facebook, Instagram, and Online art gallery. We consider these technologies as part of 4IR because they are digital. In the World Economic Forum, also refers to 4IR as the digital revolution. Furthermore, these platforms use AI technology to function. We chose to select these platforms because of their potential in promoting the artworks of artists. Furthermore, no existing study in South Africa has looked into the impact of these online platforms in the works of emerging South African artists. The purpose of the study is to mitigate some of the challenges encountered by artists. We designed an online questionnaire through google drive and selected 209 participants for the study. We chose to select artists and designers as part of our sample. The selected participants were artists of different categories, both emerging and established artists. The questionnaire focused on investigating the impact of digital platforms to establish whether or not these platforms can mitigate the challenges faced by artists. We also looked at important key factors such as the internet and ICT tools. These factors are vital for the successful use of these 4IR technologies. Statistical tools were used to analyze the data. Pie charts and tables were used to present the data. The results illustrate that Instagram is the most useful platform for artists to use followed by Facebook. The online art gallery is the least useful. We conclude that all of these platforms must be utilized by emerging artists to mitigate the challenges that they encounter in their careers.

Wang S, Zhang H, Liu Y, Li L, Guo Y, Jiao F, Fang X, Jefferson JR, Li M, Gao W, Gonzalez-Fernandez E, Maranon RO, Pabbidi MR, Liu R, Alexander BT, Roman RJ, Fan F. Sex differences in the structure and function of rat middle cerebral arteries. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 318: H1219 –H1232, 2020. First published March 27, 2020; doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00722.2019.—Epidemiological studies demonstrate that there are sex differences in the incidence, prevalence, and outcomes of cerebrovascular disease (CVD). The present study compared the structure and composition of the middle cerebral artery (MCA), neurovascular coupling, and cerebrovascular function and cognition in young Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Wall thickness and the inner diameter of the MCA were smaller in females than males. Female MCA exhibited less vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), diminished contractile capability, and more collagen in the media, and a thicker internal elastic lamina with fewer fenestrae compared with males. Female MCA had elevated myogenic tone, lower distensibility, and higher wall stress. The stress/strain curves shifted to the left in female vessels compared with males. The MCA of females failed to constrict compared with a decrease of 15.5 ± 1.9% in males when perfusion pressure was increased from 40 to 180 mmHg. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) rose by 57.4 ± 4.4 and 30.1 ± 3.1% in females and males, respectively, when perfusion pressure increased from 100 to 180 mmHg. The removal of endothelia did not alter the myogenic response in both sexes. Functional hyperemia responses to whisker-barrel stimulation and cognition examined with an eight-arm water maze were similar in both sexes. These results demonstrate that there are intrinsic structural differences in the MCA between sexes, which are associated with diminished myogenic response and CBF autoregulation in females. The structural differences do not alter neurovascular coupling and cognition at a young age; however, they might play a role in the development of CVD after menopause. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Using perfusion fixation of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) in calcium-free solution at physiological pressure and systematically randomly sampling the sections prepared from the same M2 segments of MCA, we found that there are structural differences that are associated with altered cerebral blood flow (CBF) autoregulation but not neurovascular coupling and cognition in young, healthy Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Understanding the intrinsic differences in cerebrovascular structure and function in males and females is essential to develop new pharmaceutical treatments for cerebrovascular disease (CVD). Fil: Wang, Shaoxun. University Of Mississippi Medical Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Zhang, Huawei. University Of Mississippi Medical Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Liu, Yedan. University Of Mississippi Medical Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Li, Longyang. University Of Mississippi Medical Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Guo, Ya. University Of Mississippi Medical Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Jiao, Feng. Peking University People's Hospital; China. University Of Mississippi Medical Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Fang, Xing. University Of Mississippi Medical Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Jefferson, Joshua R.. University Of Mississippi Medical Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Li, Man. University Of Mississippi Medical Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Gao, Wenjun. University Of Mississippi Medical Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Gonzalez Fernandez, Ezekiel. University Of Mississippi Medical Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Marañón, Rodrigo Oscar. University Of Mississippi Medical Center; Estados Unidos. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Medicina; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán; Argentina Fil: Pabbidi, Mallikarjuna R.. University Of Mississippi Medical Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Liu, Ruen. Peking University People's Hospital; China Fil: Alexander, Barbara T.. University Of Mississippi Medical Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Roman, Richard J.. University Of Mississippi Medical Center; Estados Unidos Fil: Fan, Fan. University Of Mississippi Medical Center; Estados Unidos

Background: To analyze data from the tinnitus study that addresses the factors contributing to the acute exacerbation of chronic subjective tinnitus, and providing a comprehensive landscape of multiple factors action patterns on acute exacerbation of tinnitus.Methods: It reports data from patients with chronic subjective tinnitus, enabling a direct comparison of results between the stable stage of chronic tinnitus and the acute exacerbation of chronic tinnitus samples. Participants had completed comprehensive audiometric testing and numerous questionnaires.Results: Results are presented from n=602 participants across the two sites, including 204 patients in the stable stage of tinnitus and 398 patients in acute exacerbation of tinnitus. The data reveal that: ①Acute exacerbation of chronic tinnitus is affected by many factors, among them, aggravated hearing loss, fatigue, stress, disturbed sleep, negative emotion, upper respiratory tract infection, noise exposure, and abruptly changed barometric pressure may aggravate the tinnitus; ②Smoking, drink, and course of tinnitus are not risked factors for acute exacerbation of chronic tinnitus; ③Comparison of the importance of the four factors induce acute exacerbation of chronic tinnitus, fatigue and stress are the most important, then, in turn, negative emotions and sleep disorders.Conclusions: ①There were many incentives for acute exacerbation of chronic tinnitus and multiple causes coexist under normal conditions. ②The prevention and prognosis management of acute exacerbation of chronic tinnitus should be approached from multiple dimensions, which includes biological, social support, patient psychology.Trial registration: Not applicable

Background: Intramural esophageal hematoma (IEH) is a rare form of esophageal injury, which may occur spontaneously, or be following esophageal dilatation, food impaction, improper swallowing of drug pills, thrombolysis therapy, or coagulopathy. However, it is uncommon that IEH could be induced by endoscopic biopsy.Case presentation: We report a 58-year-old male patient who developed chest pain and hematemesis after endoscopic biopsy. Fourteen days later, esophageal ulcer and hematoma disappeared by conservative management. After 3 months, gastroscopy showed old esophageal scar, and mucous healed completely.Conclusion: IEH is a rare complication of endoscopic biopsy, which is easily ignored. Moreover, It could be cured by conservative treatment.

Aims: Congenital heart disease (CHD) frequently occurs in newborns due to abnormal formation of the heart or major blood vessels. Mutations in the GATA4 gene, which encodes GATA binding protein 4, are responsible for atrial septal defect (ASD), a common CHD. This study aims to gain insights into the molecular mechanisms of CHD using human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from a family cohort with ASD. Methods and Results: Patient-specific iPSCs possess the same genetic information as the donor and can differentiate into various cell types from all three germ layers in vitro , thus presenting a promising approach for disease modeling and molecular mechanism research. Here, we generated a patient-specific iPSC line (iPSC-G4 T280M ) from a family cohort carrying a hereditary ASD mutation in GATA4 gene (T280M), as well as a human embryonic stem cell line (ESC-G4 T280M ) carrying the isogenic T280M mutation using the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing method. The GATA4-mutant iPSCs and ESCs were then differentiated into cardiomyocytes (CMs) to model GATA4 mutation-associated ASD. We observed an obvious defect in cell proliferation in cardiomyocytes derived from both GATA4 T280M -mutant iPSCs (iPSC-G4 T280M -CMs) and ESCs (ESC-G4 T280M -CMs), while the impaired proliferation ability of iPSC-G4 T280M -CMs could be restored by gene correction. Integrated analysis of RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq data indicated that FGF16 is a direct target of wild-type GATA4. However, the T280M mutation obstructed GATA4 occupancy at the FGF16 promoter region, leading to impaired activation of FGF16 transcription. Overexpression of FGF16 in GATA4-mutant cardiomyocytes rescued the cell proliferation defect. The direct relationship between GATA4 T280M and ASD was demonstrated in a human iPSC model for the first time. Conclusions: In summary, our study revealed the molecular mechanism of the GATA4 T280M mutation in ASD. Understanding the roles of the GATA4-FGF16 axis in iPSC-CMs will shed light on heart development and provide novel insights for the treatment of ASD and other CHD disorders.

We have previously identified an inactivating mutation of ADD3 in FHH rats which is associated with impaired myogenic reactivity of renal arterioles and podocyte function, and contributes to the development of CKD. We have found that SNPs in human ADD1 or ADD3 in the same region as Add3 in FHH rats are linked to reductions in brain volumes and impaired performance on cognitive tests in 4,286 elderly patients (67-90 years old) in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Neurocognitive Study (ARIC-NCS), but the mechanisms of these pathologies are unclear. The present study examined cerebral hemodynamics and cognitive function in FHH versus FHH.1BN and FHH. Add3 rats that express the WT Add3 gene. The myogenic responses of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) and parenchymal arterioles (PA) were impaired in FHH rats. MCA diameter decreased by 15-20% in FHH.1BN (n = 27) and FHH. Add3 (n = 10) transgenic rats, but increased by 9 ± 3% in FHH rats (n = 15) when perfusion pressure was increased from 40 to 160 mmHg. PA diameter increased by 3.16 ± 2.79% in FHH (n = 5) rats versus a 19 ± 3% and 13 ± 2% decrease FHH. Add3 (n = 4) and FHH.1BN (n = 6), respectively, when pressure was increased from 10 to 40 mmHg. Autoregulation of surface and deep cortical blood flow was impaired in FHH rats and rose by 48 ± 3% (n = 22) and 41 ± 3% (n = 12), respectively, versus 32 ± 3% (n = 7) and 16 ± 5% (n = 6) in FHH. Add3 rats when MAP was increased from 100 to 160 mmHg. By using a fluorescent microscope to examine 60 μm brain sections, it was revealed that the outer diameters of PAs were distended in FHH in comparison to FHH.1BN and FHH. Add3 transgenic rats when systemic pressure was increased to 160 mmHg. Blood brain barrier leakage was also greater in FHH rats than in FHH.1BN and FHH. Add3 rats after acute elevations in pressure. FHH (n=16) rats took 40- 50% longer to navigate an eight-arm water maze than FHH. Add3 (n=11) and FHH.1BN (n=7) rats. These results indicate that variants that alter Add3 function promote cognitive dysfunction in FHH rats by altering cerebral hemodynamics and may play a similar role in cognitive deficits in elderly patients in the ARIC-NCS study. This study suggests that blood pressure should be strictly controlled in hypertensive patients identified with ADD3 variants to prevent dementia.

What is already known about this topic? Hepatitis A (HA) is caused by acute hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection and was once very common in China. Following the 2008 introduction of the HA vaccine into the national Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI), the incidence of reported HA in China decreased markedly. However, HA epidemics still occur in Liaoning Province every 3–5 years, although with far fewer cases than in the pre-HA-vaccination era. What is added by this report? Between January 1, 2020 and March 18, 2020, the number of reported cases of HA in Dalian and Dandong cities of Liaoning Province increased significantly compared with the same period in previous years. All cases were sporadic, and cases were seen in nearly every township. The increase in HA occurred one month after local fresh seafood became available with most cases being among adults. A case-control study showed that consuming raw or undercooked seafood, clams, snapping shrimp, and oysters were significantly associated with the increase in HA. What are the implications for public health practices? Strengthening health education for residents to avoid consumption of raw seafood and encouraging HAV vaccination of adults aged 20 to 54 years are important to prevent periodic HAV endemic outbreaks. Further multisectoral cooperation must be emphasized on HA surveillance in areas with a high prevalence of HA.

Sentiment analysis is recognized as one of the most important sub-areas in Natural Language Processing (NLP) research, where understanding implicit or explicit sentiments expressed in social media contents is valuable to customers, business owners, and other stakeholders. Researchers have recognized that the generic sentiments extracted from the textual contents are inadequate, thus, Aspect Based Sentiment Analysis (ABSA) was coined to capture aspect sentiments expressed toward specific review aspects. Existing ABSA methods not only treat the analytical problem as single-label classification that requires a fairly large amount of labelled data for model training purposes, but also underestimate the entity aspects that are independent of certain sentiments. In this study, we propose a transfer learning based approach tackling the aforementioned shortcomings of existing ABSA methods. Firstly, the proposed approach extends the ABSA methods with multi-label classification capabilities. Secondly, we propose an advanced sentiment analysis method, namely Aspect Enhanced Sentiment Analysis (AESA) to classify text into sentiment classes with consideration of the entity aspects. Thirdly, we extend two state-of-the-art transfer learning models as the analytical vehicles of multi-label ABSA and AESA tasks. We design an experiment that includes data from different domains to extensively evaluate the proposed approach. The empirical results undoubtedly exhibit that the proposed approach outperform all the baseline approaches.

Time series forecasting uses deterministic algorithms to capture past temporal information or dependencies that can be used to predict future patterns. Studies have shown that traditional forecasting techniques are outperformed by deep learning models. Since then research work has been much focused on proposing different network models, little attention has been paid to improve the performance of existing models. In this paper, we compare the performance of several existing deep learning models used in both single and multiple time series forecasting tasks. We then propose two different approaches to improve the models’ performance. Specifically, we present a fine-grained attention mechanism that achieves a much better performance for multi-step forecasting tasks. An ensemble technique is then proposed to further improve the performance of all the models.

PurposeThis paper aims to examine whether and how gender diversity and CEO gender can influence firm value in the emerging market of Pakistan. The study further tests whether these relations vary across state-owned enterprises (SOE) and non-state-owned enterprises (NSOE).Design/methodology/approachThis study considers Pakistani listed firms over the period 2010-2017. The firms have been divided into SOE and NSOE for additional analysis. Tobin’s Q is used to measure firm’s value.FindingsThe authors document that female directors (FDirectors) on corporate boards is positively associated with firm value. The findings also illustrate that female CEOs (FCEOs) enhances a firm value. Additional analyses show that the influence of FDirectors and FCEOs on firm value is stronger in NSOE than in SOE.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that gender diversity and CEO gender play a significant role in corporate decisions. The findings imply that FDirectors discipline the management, reduce agency conflicts and thereby improve corporate governance, resulting in higher firm value.Originality/valueThis study has two important contributions. First, while prior studies mostly based their arguments on using gender diversity of corporate boards, this study shows that a firm performance can be significantly improved if a female serves as a CEO. Second, this study also tests the stated relations for SOE and NSOE and show that gender diversity plays a significant role in NSOE than in SOE.

Objective: To elaborate the significance of combined detection of cystatin C, urinary micro-albumin (mAlb) and β2-microglobulin (β2-MG) in diagnosis of the early renal injury in pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome. Methods: A total of 120 patients with pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome who were admitted to this hospital for treatment between November 2015 and October 2018 were enrolled as subjects, and divided into the control group (without complication of renal injury, n = 76) and the observation group (with complication of renal injury, n = 44) according to the complications of early renal injury. Furthermore, 60 patients who participated in the antenatal care in this hospital were enrolled as the normal subjects (normal group). Automatic biochemistry analyzer was utilized to measure CysC, urinary mAlb and β2-MG in serum to evaluate the specificity, sensitivity, accuracy, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of single or combined measurements of these indexes in diagnosis of the early renal injury in pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome. Results: In the observation group, the levels of CysC, urinary mAlb and β2-MG were higher than those in the control group, while the levels in the normal group were the lowest (P 0.05). Conclusion: CysC, urinary mAlb and β2-MG can reflect the renal injury effectively, and the combined measurements shows potent accuracy in diagnosis of the early renal injury in pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome, thereby providing the scientific evidence for early diagnosis and stipulation of rational therapeutic regimen and improving the pregnancy outcome. Keywords: Pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome, Early renal injury, CysC, Urinary mAlb, β2-MG

Background Lymphedema is the most common complication after breast cancer treatment, but management of lymphedema remains a clinical challenge. Several studies have reported the beneficial effect of acupuncture for treating breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL). Our objective is to verify the effectiveness of warm acupuncture on BCRL and compare the effectiveness of a local distribution acupoint combination with a local-distal acupoint combination for BCRL. Methods This is a study protocol for a multicenter, three-arm parallel, assessor blinded, randomized controlled trial. A total of 108 participants diagnosed as BCRL will be randomly allocated in equal proportions to a local distribution acupoint (LA) group, a local-distal acupoint (LDA) group, or a waiting-list (WL) group. The LA and LDA groups will receive 20 acupuncture treatment over 8 weeks with local distribution acupoint combination and local-distal acupoint combination, respectively. The WL group will receive acupuncture treatment after the study is concluded. The primary outcome is the mean change in inter-limb circumference difference from baseline to week 8. The secondary outcomes include volume measurement, skin hardness, common terminology criteria for adverse events 4.03 (edema limbs criteria), stages of lymphedema from the International Society of Lymphology, Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand questionnaire, and the Medical Outcome Study 36-item Short-form Health Survey. Discussion This study aims to provide data on warm acupuncture as an effective treatment for BCRL and at the same time compare the effectiveness of different acupoint combinations. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: Identifier NCT03373474. Registered on 14th December 2017. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13063-019-3491-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The objective of this study was to develop a machine learning (ML) application to determine the optimal dosage of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) to curtail corrosion and odor by H2 S in the headworks of a water resource recovery facility (WRRF) without overly consuming volatile fatty acids (VFAs) that are essential for the enhanced biological phosphorus removal. Given the highly diverse datasets available, three subproblems were formulated, and three cascaded ML modules were developed accordingly. The final ML models, chosen based on performance, were able to predict various targeted variables. More specifically, in Module 1, a recurrent neural network (RNN) was designed to predict wastewater characteristics. In Module 2, a random forest (RF) classifier and a support vector machine (SVM) classifier were built with the information from Module 1 along with other datasets to predict the concentrations of VFAs and H2 S, respectively. Finally, in Module 3, with the information obtained from Module 2, another RF classifier was developed to predict NaOCl dosage to reduce H2 S but keeping VFAs within the target range. These efforts are relevant and informative for WRRFs that are considering developing Intelligent Water Systems to predict the wastewater characteristics to make operational improvements. PRACTITIONER POINTS: A recurrent neural network (RNN) using long short-term memory (LSTM) successfully predicted influent wastewater parameters. A support vector machine classifier predicted hydrogen sulfide (H2 S) with 97.6% accuracy. The concentration of VFAs, an important parameter in EBPR, was predicted using a random forest classifier with 93.4% accuracy. The optimal NaOCl dosage for H2 S control can be predicted with a random forest classifier using H2 S, VFAs, and flow.

Objectives/hypothesis Tracheal stenosis is an obstructive disease of the upper airway that commonly develops as a result of abnormal wound healing. We evaluated the anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic properties of nintedanib on tracheal stenosis both in vitro and in vivo. Study design Prospective controlled animal study and in vitro comparative study of human cells. Methods An animal model of tracheal stenosis was induced via tracheal trauma. Postsurgical rats were orally administered with nintedanib (10 or 20 mg/kg/d) or saline (negative control) for 2 weeks, and tracheal specimens were harvested after 3 weeks. Degree of stenosis, collagen deposition, fibrotic surrogate markers expression, and T-lymphocytic infiltration were evaluated. Human fetal lung fibroblast-1 (HFL-1) cells were cultured to determine the effects of nintedanib on changes of cellular biological function induced by transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1). Results Rat tracheal stenotic tissues exhibited thickened lamina propria with irregular epithelium, characterized by significantly increased collagen deposition and elevated TGF-β1, collagen I, α-SMA and fibronectin expressions. Nintedanib markedly attenuated the tracheal stenotic lesions, reduced the collagen deposition and the expression of fibrotic marker proteins, and mitigated CD4+ T-lymphocyte infiltration. Additionally, cellular proliferation and migration were decreased dose-dependently in TGF-β1-stimulated HFL-1 cells when treated with nintedanib. Furthermore, nintedanib inhibited TGF-β1-induced HFL-1 differentiation and reduced the mRNA levels of the profibrotic genes. TGF-β1-activated phosphorylation of the TGF-β/Smad2/3 and ERK1/2 pathways were also blocked by nintedanib. Conclusion Nintedanib effectively prevented tracheal stenosis in rats by inhibiting fibrosis and inflammation. The antifibrotic effect of nintedanib may be achieved by inhibiting fibroblasts' proliferation, migration and differentiation and suppressing the TGF-β1/Smad2/3 and ERK1/2 signaling pathways. Level of evidence NA Laryngoscope, 131:E2496-E2505, 2021.

Modeling cyber risks has been an important but challenging task in the domain of cyber security. It is mainly because of the high dimensionality and heavy tails of risk patterns. Those obstacles have hindered the development of statistical modeling of the multivariate cyber risks. In this work, we propose a novel approach for modeling the multivariate cyber risks which relies on the deep learning and extreme value theory. The proposed model not only enjoys the high accurate point predictions via deep learning but also can provide the satisfactory high quantile prediction via extreme value theory. The simulation study shows that the proposed model can model the multivariate cyber risks very well and provide satisfactory prediction performances. The empirical evidence based on real honeypot attack data also shows that the proposed model has very satisfactory prediction performances., 25 pages

Hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HPSCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors in otolaryngology head and neck surgery and is one of the worst prognostic malignant tumors. Endogenous circular RNA (circRNA) is more stable than mRNA, microRNA (miRNA), and long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) in exosomes, plasma, and urine, and participates in gene expression regulation to perform different functions. Therefore, circRNA is expected to become a biomarker and therapy target for many tumors. However, the expression and function of circRNA regulated by N6-methyladenosine (m6A) are still unclear in HNSCC. In this study, we demonstrated that a specific circRNA, circCUX1, was upregulated in HPSCC patients who are resistant to radiotherapy and predicts poor survival outcome. We further found that methyltransferase like 3 (METTL3) mediated the m6A methylation of circCUX1 and stabilizes its expression. Knockdown circCUX1 promotes the sensitivity of hypopharyngeal cancer cells to radiotherapy. In addition, circCUX1 binds to Caspase1 and inhibits its expression, resulting in a decrease in the release of inflammatory factors, thereby developing tolerance to radiotherapy. Our findings indicate that circCUX1 is a potential therapeutic target for radiotherapy tolerance in HPSCC patients.

This paper presents the application of a distributed-framework basin modeling system (DFBMS) in Taihu Basin, China. The concepts of professional modeling systems and system integration/coupling have been summarized in the first three series papers. This study builds a hydrologic and hydrodynamic model for Taihu Basin, which is in the lowland plain areas with numerous polder areas. Digital underlying surface area data agree with the survey results from the water resource development and utilization. The runoff generated in each cell was calculated with the model based on the digital underlying surface data. According to the hydrological feature units (HFU) concept from the DFBMS, Taihu Basin was conceptualized into six different HFUs. The basic data of rainfall, evaporation, water surface elevation (WSE), discharge, tide level, and water resources for consumption and discharge in 2000 were used to calibrate the model. The simulated results of WSE and discharge matched the observed data well. The observed data of 1998, 1999, 2002, and 2003 were used to validate the model, with good agreement with the simulation results. Finally, the basic data from 2003 were used to simulate and evaluate the management scheme of water diversion from the Yangtze River to Taihu Lake. Overall, the DFBMS application in Taihu Basin showed good performance and proved that the proposed structure for DFBMS was effective and reliable.

Jisheng Dong,* Li Li,* Xing Fang, Mousheng Zang Department of Orthopedics, The Second People’s Hospital of Hefei, The Affiliated Hefei Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, 230011, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Mousheng ZangDepartment of Orthopedics, The Second People’s Hospital of Hefei, The Affiliated Hefei Hospital of Anhui Medical University, No. 246, Heping Road, Yaohai District, Hefei, Anhui, 230011, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-551-62203555Email Zangmousheng7901@163.comObjective: Exosome-encapsulated microRNAs (miRNAs) are being considered as either diagnostic or predictive markers in different types of diseases. Here, we discussed the effects of exosome-encapsulated miR-127-3p from bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) on osteoarthritis (OA).Methods: BM-MSCs and primary chondrocytes were isolated from Sprague Dawley rats. IL-1β was utilized to treat chondrocytes to mimic an OA in vitro model, and exosomes extracted from BM-MSCs were utilized to treat chondrocytes so as to verify their protective effects on OA. Through online website prediction and experiments confirmation, we found the most significantly enriched miRNA in exosomes and elucidated the effect of this miRNA on the therapeutic effect of exosomes by interfering with its expression. Also, the genes targeted by the miRNA and the involved pathway were also found through bioinformatics analysis and experimental research, thereby probing into the protective mechanism of exosomes on chondrocytes.Results: Exosomes derived from BM-MSCs restricted the IL-1β-induced chondrocytes damage. miR-127-3p was found to be enriched in exosomes, and the protective effect of exosomes was reversed by miR-127-3p inhibition. miR-127-3p targeted CDH11, and overexpressed CDH11 in chondrocytes weakened the therapeutic effect of exosomes. IL-1β treatment resulted in the activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in chondrocytes. Exosomes treatment could inhibit the activation of this pathway, and overexpressed CDH11 reversed the inhibitory effect of exosomes on this pathway.Conclusion: This study suggests that exosomal miR-127-3p derived from BM-MSCs inhibits CDH11 in chondrocytes, thereby blocking the Wnt/β-catenin pathway activation and relieving chondrocyte damage in OA.Keywords: osteoarthritis, exosome, microRNA-127-3p, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells, CDH11, Wnt/β-catenin pathway

Background: Pancreatic enzyme elevation has been reported in patients with COVID-19 during the pandemic. However, with the shortage of medical resources and information, several challenges are faced in the examination and treatment of this condition in COVID-19 patients. There is little information on whether such condition is caused by pancreatic injury, and if this is a warning sign of life threatening complications like multiple organ failure in patients. The objective of this study is to explore the relationship between elevated pancreatic enzymes and the underlying risk factors during the management of COVID-19 patients.Method: A total of 55 COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of Wuhan Jinyintan hospital from January 1 to March 30, 2020 were enrolled in this study. All participants underwent transabdominal ultrasound imaging to assess their pancreas.Results: Out of the 55 patients, three patients had pancreatitis, 29 (52.7%) with elevated pancreatic enzymes, and 23 (41.8%) without. The most common symptoms of patients with COVID-19 were fever and cough. There was no statistical difference in most baseline characteristics except myalgia on admission. Compared with those having normal enzyme levels, patients with elevated pancreatic enzymes had higher rates of mortality (79.3 vs. 52.2%; P = 0.038), and lower rates of discharge (20.7 vs. 47.8%; P = 0.038). Patients with elevated enzymes had higher incidence of mechanical ventilation (P = 0.004) and kidney injury (P = 0.042) than patients without elevated pancreatic enzymes. The results of multivariable logistic analysis showed that the odds ratio were 10.202 (P = 0.002) for mechanical ventilation and 7.673 (P = 0.014) for kidney injury with the elevated enzymes vs. the normal conditions.Conclusions: The findings show that the incidences of pancreatic enzymes elevation are not low in critical COVID-19 patients and only a few of them progressed to acute pancreatitis (AP). Increased pancreatic enzymes levels is associated with poor prognosis in COVID-19 patients. In addition, the kidney injury and oxygenation degradation are associated with the pancreatic enzymes elevation in COVID-19 patients.

Ischemic stroke is one of the most disabling diseases and a leading cause of death globally. Despite advances in medical care, the global burden of stroke continues to grow, as no effective treatments to limit or reverse ischemic injury to the brain are available. However, recent preclinical findings have revealed the potential role of transient receptor potential cation 6 (TRPC6) channels as endogenous protectors of neuronal tissue. Activating TRPC6 in various cerebral ischemia models has been found to prevent neuronal death, whereas blocking TRPC6 enhances sensitivity to ischemia. Evidence has shown that Ca2+ influx through TRPC6 activates the cAMP (adenosine 3’,5’-cyclic monophosphate) response element-binding protein (CREB), an important transcription factor linked to neuronal survival. Additionally, TRPC6 activation may counter excitotoxic damage resulting from glutamate release by attenuating the activity of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors of neurons by posttranslational means. Unresolved though, are the roles of TRPC6 channels in non-neuronal cells, such as astrocytes and endothelial cells. Moreover, TRPC6 channels may have detrimental effects on the blood–brain barrier, although their exact role in neurovascular coupling requires further investigation. This review discusses evidence-based cell-specific aspects of TRPC6 in the brain to assess the potential targets for ischemic stroke management.

This paper focuses on electromagnetic information security in communication systems. Classical correlation electromagnetic analysis (CEMA) is known as a powerful way to recover the cryptographic algorithm&rsquo, s key. In the classical method, only one byte of the key is used while the other bytes are considered as noise, which not only reduces the efficiency but also is a waste of information. In order to take full advantage of useful information, multiple bytes of the key are used. We transform the key into a multidimensional form, and each byte of the key is considered as a dimension. The problem of the right key searching is transformed into the problem of optimizing correlation coefficients of key candidates. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is particularly more suited to solve the optimization problems with high dimension and complex structure. In this paper, we applied the PSO algorithm into CEMA to solve multidimensional problems, and we also add a mutation operator to the optimization algorithm to improve the result. Here, we have proposed a multibyte correlation electromagnetic analysis based on particle swarm optimization. We verified our method on a universal test board that is designed for research and development on hardware security. We implemented the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) cryptographic algorithm on the test board. Experimental results have shown that our method outperforms the classical method, it achieves approximately 13.72% improvement for the corresponding case.

Background Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is characterised by a dismal prognosis; nonetheless, limited studies have unveiled the mechanisms underlying HNSCC relapse. Methods Next-generation sequencing was performed to identify the somatic mutations in 188 matched samples, including primary tumours, tumour-adjacent tissues (TATs), pre- and post-operative plasma, saliva and peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) from 27 patients. The evolutionary relationship between TATs and tumours were analysed. The dynamic changes of tumour- and TAT-specific mutations in liquid biopsies were monitored together with survival analysis. Results Alterations were detected in 27 out of 27 and 19 out of 26 tumours and TATs, respectively. TP53 was the most prevalently mutated gene in TATs. Some TATs shared mutations with primary tumours, while some other TATs were evolutionarily unrelated to tumours. Notably, TP53 mutations in TATs are stringently associated with premalignant transformation and are indicative of worse survival (hazard ratio = 14.01). TAT-specific mutations were also detected in pre- and/or post-operative liquid biopsies and were indicative of disease relapse. Conclusions TATs might undergo the processes of premalignant transformation, tumorigenesis and eventually relapse by either inheriting tumorigenic mutations from ancestral clones where the tumour originated or gaining private mutations independent of primary tumours. Detection of tumour- and/or TAT-specific genetic alterations in post-operative biopsies shows profound potential in prognostic use.

Urinary tract infections (UTI) are common infections that can be mild to life threatening. However, increased bacterial resistance and poor patient compliance rates have limited the effectiveness of conventional antibiotic therapies. Here, we investigated the relationship between nitrofurantoin and amikacin against 12 clinical MDR uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) strains both in vitro and in an experimental Galleria mellonella model. In vitro synergistic effects were observed in all 12 test strains by standard checkerboard and time-kill assays. Importantly, amikacin or nitrofurantoin at half of the clinical doses were not effective in the treatment of UPEC infections in the G. mellonella model but the combination therapy significantly increased G. mellonella survival from infections caused by all 12 study UPEC strains. Taken together, these results demonstrated synergy effects between nitrofurantoin and amikacin against MDR UPEC.

The elderly companion robot is one of the paths that intelligent technology tries to help the elderly solve the problem of old-age pension in the digital age. This paper introduces the theory of service design into the field of interaction design of the elderly companion robot and summarizes two characteristics of the interaction of elderly companion robots: natural interaction and intelligent background computing. Combined with the rise and development trend of today’s service design, this paper studies the construction of interaction function level and interaction logic of elderly companion robot under the guidance of service design, which provides the theoretical basis and new perspective thinking for the challenges of interaction design of elderly companion robot under the background of the service economy.

Mutations in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene can result in a reduced ability to utilize folic acid. The MTHFR 677C>T polymorphism in particular has been linked to both birth defects and pregnancy-associated diseases. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of the MTHFR 677C>T mutation among pregnant women in Yunnan Province so as to collect baseline data that may be utilized to guide folic acid supplementation efforts and to support related disease prevention programs. We retrospectively reviewed 3387 pregnant women from Yunnan Province. The MTHFR 677C>T polymorphism was identified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA sequencing. In total, 1350 (39.9%) subjects were homozygous for the C allele (CC), 1540 (45.4%) subjects were heterozygous (CT), and 497 (14.7%) subjects were homozygous for the T allele (TT). The MTHFR 677C>T polymorphism was found to be present within the studied population, with ∼60% of these patients being either heterozygous or homozygous for the mutant allele and with an overall T allele frequency of 0.37. The frequency of the T allele was significantly higher among pregnant women with complications relative to women with healthy pregnancies, particularly among women T polymorphism may be a genetic risk factor associated with pregnancy complications and may help identify pregnant women at a high risk of such complications.

ObjectivesThe HIV epidemic is around 7%–20% among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Southwest China. The low HIV-testing rate highlights the need for tools to identify high-risk MSM in resource-limited regions. Our aim was, therefore, to evaluate the HIV RISK Assessment Tool for HIV prediction and to characterise the primary infection among MSM in Southwest China.DesignA cross-sectional survey was conducted in Guizhou province between January and December 2018. Participants were recruited from gay communities, among whom the HIV RISK Assessment Tool was evaluated. Logistic regression was used to analyse items associated with HIV and the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating curve was calculated to quantify discrimination performance.Participants1330 MSM participants, of which 83 (6.2%) tested as HIV positive.ResultsA higher composite score of the tool (adjusted OR (aOR) 9.33, 95% CI 4.57 to 19.05) was independently associated with HIV infection. Items positively associated with HIV infection included having 2–5 same sex partners (aOR 2.43, 95% CI 1.28 to 4.64), always (aOR 5.93, 95% CI 1.59 to 22.13) or sometimes (aOR 4.25, 95% CI 2.09 to 8.64) having unprotected anal intercourse, taking both insertive and receptive sex roles (aOR 4.95, 95% CI 2.57 to 9.53) or only the receptive sex role (aOR 2.26, 95% CI 1.21 to 4.24). The tool showed an optimal discrimination ability (AUC=0.827), with a specificity of 0.747 and sensitivity of 0.785. Five MSM were identified with primary infection and had similar sexual risk behaviors as HIV-positive participants.ConclusionsThe HIV RISK Assessment Tool showed an overall good performance in predicting HIV risk among MSM in Guizhou province where the prevalence is still severe. This tool also demonstrated a potential to identify primary infection and is worth being promoted in resource-limited regions.

Digital exhibition space of museum becomes an important part of museum construction and development. According to the design and use of the existing museum digital exhibition space, the paper classifies the information sequence structure of the museum digital exhibition spaces as follow: linear sequence, axial radial sequence and scattered sequence. In addition, in line with different information sequence structure, the digital interactive model of digital exhibition space in the museum is proposed, which provides theoretical and practical basis of the interactive design of digital exhibition space of museum.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and is a major financial burden to the health care system. The prevailing view is that cholinergic deficiency, amyloid-beta (Aβ) accumulation, and Tau protein abnormalities are the primary underlying causes of neurodegeneration in AD, but unsuccessful clinical trials targeting these pathways have led the community to reconsider alternatives such as the vascular hypothesis. However, it is still uncertain whether cerebral vascular impairment is a cause or consequence of dementia in AD. Previous studies have demonstrated that a TgF344-AD model expressing mutant human amyloid precursor protein ( APP ) and presenilin 1 ( PS1 ) genes exhibits Aβ accumulation and cognition deficiency at 24 weeks of age. In the present study, we compared the myogenic response (MR) of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) and parenchymal arteriole (PA) in 8-, 16- and 24-week TgF344-AD and WT F344 rats. We first confirmed that TgF344-AD rats exhibited learning and memory dysfunction at 24-week of age, and they took 2-time longer to escape than WT rats using an eight-arm water maze. There was no difference in the MR of MCA and PA at 8 weeks of age in AD and WT rats. However, AD rats exhibited an impaired MR at 16-week of age as the inner diameter of the MCA of AD rats only decreased by 6.6 ± 1.7% vs. 10.7% ± 1.0% in WT rats when perfusion pressure was increased from 40 to 180 mmHg. The impaired MR was exacerbated in AD rats at 24-week of age. These findings suggest that impaired MR of cerebral vasculature precedes the development of a cognitive deficiency. Since the MR protects the cerebral microcirculation from elevations in pressure, an impaired MR and cerebral blood flow autoregulation could result in blood-brain barrier leakage that contributes to neurodegeneration and cognitive impairment. Our results provide novel insight in understanding the pathogenesis of AD, which will lay the foundation for the discovery of new biomarkers in AD.

Hypertension is the second leading cause of end‐stage renal disease (ESRD) after diabetes mellitus. The significant differences in the incidence of hypertensive ESRD between different patient populations worldwide and patients with and without family history indicate that genetic determinants play an important role in the onset and progression of this disease. Recent studies have identified genetic variants and pathways that may contribute to the alteration of renal function. Mechanisms involved include affecting renal hemodynamics (the myogenic and tubuloglomerular feedback responses); increasing the production of reactive oxygen species in the tubules; altering immune cell function; changing the number, structure, and function of podocytes that directly cause glomerular damage. Studies with hypertensive animal models using substitution mapping and gene knockout strategies have identified multiple candidate genes associated with the development of hypertension and subsequent renal injury. Genome‐wide association studies have implicated genetic variants in UMOD, MYH9, APOL‐1, SHROOM3, RAB38, and DAB2 have a higher risk for ESRD in hypertensive patients. These findings provide genetic evidence of potential novel targets for drug development and gene therapy to design individualized treatment of hypertension and related renal injury., GWAS identified sequence variants in several genes could alter genetic susceptibility of hypertension‐induced kidney disease.

The Ugandan market has recently thrived from products designed for local population consumption. They have also strengthened the economy and protected the environment. These products are designed by innovators, inventors and companies that identify and fill loopholes in various market sectors that Western and Asian suppliers have not penetrated. The youth in Uganda is a catalyst for local and foreign innovators and investors wanting to design and distribute products that will improve their livelihoods and the economy at large. In this paper, four innovative products that are thriving in the Ugandan market will be studied. One futuristic product will also be mentioned. They provide answers to Uganda’s economic challenges ranging from energy crisis, poor or no transportation, access to hygiene/health and education services and “miseducation” and how these products are being designed to give solutions.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a leading risk factor for aging-related dementia; however, the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. The present study, utilizing a non-obese T2DN diabetic model, demonstrates that the myogenic response of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) and parenchymal arteriole (PA) and autoregulation of cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the surface and deep cortex were impaired at both young and old ages. The impaired CBF autoregulation was more severe in old than young DM rats, and in the deep than the surface cortex. The myogenic tone of the MCA was enhanced at perfusion pressure in the range of 40–100 mmHg in young DM rats but was reduced at 140–180 mmHg in old DM rats. No change of the myogenic tone of the PA was observed in young DM rats, whereas it was significantly reduced at 30–60 mmHg in old DM rats. Old DM rats had enhanced blood-brain barrier (BBB) leakage and neurodegeneration, reduced vascular density, tight junction, and pericyte coverage on cerebral capillaries in the CA3 region in the hippocampus. Additionally, DM rats displayed impaired functional hyperemia and spatial learning and short- and long-term memory at both young and old ages. Old DM rats had impaired non-spatial short-term memory. These results revealed that impaired CBF autoregulation and enhanced BBB leakage plays an essential role in the pathogenesis of age- and diabetes-related dementia. These findings will lay the foundations for the discovery of anti-diabetic therapies targeting restoring CBF autoregulation to prevent the onset and progression of dementia in elderly DM.

Cryptographic algorithm is the most commonly used method of information security protection for many devices. The secret key of cryptographic algorithm is usually stored in these devices’ registers. In this paper, we propose an electromagnetic information leakage model to investigate the relationship between the electromagnetic leakage signal and the secret key. The registers are considered as electric dipole models to illustrate the source of the electromagnetic leakage. The equivalent circuit of the magnetic field probe is developed to bridge the output voltage and the electromagnetic leakage signal. Combining them, the electromagnetic information leakage model’s function relationship can be established. Besides, an electromagnetic leakage model based on multiple linear regression is proposed to recover the secret key and the model’s effectiveness is evaluated by guess entropy. Near field tests are conducted in an unshielded ordinary indoor environment to investigate the electromagnetic side-channel information leakage. The experiment result shows the correctness of the proposed electromagnetic leakage model and it can be used to recover the secret key of the cryptographic algorithm.

Two types of resonance absorbers, i.e., Salisbury screens and Jaumann absorbers are systematically investigated in solar radiation absorption. Salisbury screen is a metal-dielectric-metal structure which overcomes the drawback of bulky thickness for solar spectrum. Such structures have a good spectral selective absorption property, which is also insensitive to incident angles and polarizations. To further broaden absorption bandwidth, more metal and dielectric films are taken in the structure to form Jaumann absorbers. To design optimized structural parameters, the admittance matching equations have been derived in this paper to give good initial structures, which are valuable for the following optimization. Moreover, the analysis of admittance loci has been conducted to directly show the effect of each layer on the spectral absorptivity, and then the effect of thin films is well understood. Since the fabrication of these layered absorbers is much easier than that of other nanostructured absorbers, Salisbury screen and Jaumann absorbers have a great potential in large-area applications.

Summary Background/aim The balance of blood CD8+CD28+/CD8+CD28− T cells has been verified to be vital for patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), but their role in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remains unknown. This investigation aimed to evaluate the efficiency of the balance in predicting the active stage in IBD patients. Methods Fifty-three IBD subjects, including 31 UC and 22 Crohn's disease (CD) patients, were enrolled, and their peripheral blood CD8+CD28+ and CD8+CD28− T cell levels were tested using flow cytometry. The risk factors related to prognosis were compared between UC and CD patients. A 1-year follow-up was performed for all the IBD patients, and the CD8+ T cells and their ratio were compared at the 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th months during follow-up. The sensitivity and specificity of the CD8+ T cell level and balance were analyzed through receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves. The cumulative remission lasting rates (CRLRs) under the different factors were analyzed using the Kaplan–Meier method. Results Higher prescription rates of immunosuppressants, steroids, probiotics, and biological agents (BAs) were found in CD subjects in comparison to UC subjects (P = 0.005, 0.024, 0.034, and 0.001), as was a higher active rate during follow-up (95.5% of CD patients vs 67.7% of UC patients, P = 0.035). The CD8+CD28+ T cell level and the CD8+CD28+/CD8+CD28− T cell ratio were significantly higher in UC patients than in CD patients, but the reverse was true for CD8+CD28− T cells during follow-up at the 9th and 12th month (all P Conclusion The CD8+CD28+/CD8+CD28− T cell balance, expected to be a novel immunologic marker, presented a satisfactory efficiency with high sensitivity and specificity in predicting the active stage in UC and CD patients, and the balance was closely related to the use of BAs and surgery.

Background New-onset diabetes after transplantation (NODAT) has become one of the major factors that affect the overall survival and long-term life quality in liver transplantation (LT) recipients. Previous studies found that the serum adiponectin concentration of diabetic patients is significantly lower than that of healthy subjects. Adiponectin regulates the blood glucose level by increasing body sensitivity to insulin through various mechanisms. In this study, we aimed to investigate the impact of diabetes related gene polymorphisms on the development of NODAT in liver recipients. Methods A total of 256 LT patients in a single-center were selected retrospectively for the study. Genomic DNA was extracted from explanted liver tissues, and tested for twelve diabetes mellitus associated single nucleotide polymorphisms by Sequenom MassARRAY. Modified clinical models in predicting NODAT were established and evaluated. Results The GG genotype of ADIPOQ rs1501299 gene polymorphism was significantly more frequent in NODAT than non-NODAT LT patients (56% vs 39%, P=0.014). Dominant model (GG vs GT+TT, P=0.030) and recessive model (GT+GG vs TT, P=0.005) also confirmed the genotype distribution difference between NODAT and non-NODAT groups. Age (OR=1.048, P=0.004), BMI (OR=1.107, P=0.041), and blood tacrolimus level at 1-month LT (OR=1.170, P=0.003) were clinical independent risk factors of NODAT. Furthermore, rs1501299 could improve the ability of clinical model in predicting NODAT (AUROC=0.743, P Conclusion ADIPOQ rs1501299 gene polymorphism is associated with an increased risk of NODAT, which should be added to the clinical models in predicting the occurrence of NODAT in LT recipients.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the frequency of information acquisition on the frequency of stock trading. The authors also examined if the Big Five personality traits of investor influence the association between information acquisition and stock trading behavior. Design/methodology/approach The authors adopted NEO Five-Factor Inventory (Costa and McCrae, 1989) inventory to measure the Big Five personality traits of investors and examined the data collected from 541 individual investors of the Chinese stock market. To overcome the potential endogeneity bias, the authors followed two-stage least square method for estimating endogenous covariate by employing instrumental variable analysis. The authors performed probit regression to evaluate the moderating influence of investor personality traits on the association between information acquisition and stock trading behavior. The authors also performed several other tests to check the robustness of the key findings. Findings This research confirmed the previous findings that the more frequently investors acquire information, the more often they trade in stocks. Moreover, the authors added to the existing literature by providing empirical evidence that the Big Five personality traits moderate the relationship of information acquisition with stock trading behavior. Information acquisition tends to increase stock trading frequency in investors with conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness traits. On the other hand, it also has the tendency to decrease the intensity of stock trading in investors with openness and neuroticism traits. Research limitations/implications The theoretical model in this study seeks to explain that the psychological factor, namely, investor personality, influences the way an investor interprets signals from information which in turn influences the investor decision to trade in securities. This research suggests that psychological characteristics of investors can be of relevance for policy makers in their attempts to improve their business in the financial services industry. Originality/value This study combines both information search literature and behavioral finance literature to investigate whether or not the information acquisition that relates to investors’ asset allocation decisions is influenced by investor personality. The study offers new theoretical insights into investors’ behavior due to the characteristics of the Chinese stock market which are uniquely different from other stock markets in the world. No previous study has been conducted so far in the Chinese stock market to explore variations in the impact of investors’ information acquisition on their stock trading by the Big Five personality and this paper strives to fill this research gap.

We derive orbit and clock errors for BeiDou satellites from March 1, 2013, to September 30, 2016 by comparing broadcast ephemerides with the precise ephemerides produced by Wuhan University. The broadcast ephemerides are pre-processed to filter out the “data-logging” errors, and a robust estimation is subsequently implemented for removing the time-varying common timescale bias between the broadcast and precise clocks. To obtain the nominal SISEs (Signal-In-Space Errors), the SIS (Signal-In-Space) outliers are excluded according to the standard of SIS integrity. The long-term satellite clock behavior reveals that for GEO, IGSO and MEO satellites, each category of satellites has its inter-category clock consistency, and the clocks of MEO as well as the clocks of IGSO satellites have better inter-category consistency than that of GEO satellites. Between different categories, GEO satellite clocks have been more divergent from IGSO satellite clocks since May 2014. The larger orbit errors, resulting in approximately 1–2 m orbit-only UREs (User Range Errors), periodically occur for all satellites every half year when the satellites are in eclipse period. For the GEO and IGSO satellites, several larger orbit errors may be caused by the effect of satellite maneuvering, resulting in 2–3 m orbit-only UREs. Most satellite clocks have a nonzero mean, and all MEO satellite clocks have a positive mean of approximately 1.0 m, whereas the IGSO satellite clocks have a negative mean at the same level. For the GEO satellites, the various means indicate that the clocks are divergent from one to another. The clock standard deviation of 1 m is achieved by all satellites except for C03. Near-zero means are obtained in along-track, cross-track and radial errors for the IGSO and MEO satellites but not for the GEO satellites. The average RMSs (Root Mean Square) of approximately 0.8, 1.7 and 2.0 m are obtained for the orbit-only UREs, global-average UREs and worst-UREs, respectively, for the constellation as a whole. The RMSs of clock errors for GEO, IGSO and MEO are 1.8, 1.4 and 1.3 m, respectively. Due to a nearly-static observation geometry, the GEO satellites always have the worst SISE performance, and as a result, they degrade the overall SISE statistical characterization. The analysis of URE and broadcast URA (User Range Accuracy) indicates that the broadcast URA of 2.0 m throughout is slightly optimistic. The unchanging URA of 2.0 m may not be able to describe adequately the accuracy of UREs. Instead, the upper-bound URA of 2.4 m is recommended to users. The cross-correlation analysis results show that there is a significant positive correlation between along-track errors and radial errors, whereas radial errors are not evidently correlated to clock errors as they are with GPS.

One passive cooling approach is pumping energy to outer space through thermal radiation. Such a radiative cooling mechanism widely exists in nature and is important to maintain the temperature of the earth. However, natural materials generally have poor radiative cooling efficiency. To better utilize the radiative cooling for thermal management applications, the surface should be designed to have a high reflectivity in the solar spectrum and high emissivity in the "sky window" region (8–13 µm in wavelength). In this work, we propose and demonstrate a highly scalable nanoparticle-based double-layer coating to achieve such selective radiative properties. Double-layer coatings consisting of a top reflective layer with high solar albedo and a bottom emissive layer are achieved by properly designed TiO 2 , SiO 2 , and SiC nanoparticles. These coatings were fabricated on both low- and high-emissivity substrates and their spectral radiative properties were characterized. The coating composed of TiO 2 and SiO 2 on a reflective substrate has excellent selective emission property for radiative cooling purpose. Under dry air conditions and assuming non-radiative heat transfer coefficient h c =4 W/m 2 K, TiO 2 +SiO 2 and TiO 2 +SiC can theoretically achieve about 17 °C below ambient at night and 5 °C below ambient under direct solar radiation (AM1.5). On-site measurements have also been conducted. Under direct solar irradiation, significant temperature reduction was observed for both aluminum and black substrate after the coating was applied. At nighttime, radiative cooling effect can cool the surface to a few degrees below ambient temperature. Although the theoretical cooling under dry weather condition is not observed, the experiment results can be well explained by theoretical calculations with the consideration of high humidity and non-radiative heat transfer. This nanoparticle-based approach can be easily applied to large area, which is a significant step of achieving large scale application of the radiative cooling technology.