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Background Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe mental illness that affects more than 1% the world's population with high recurrence rates and a series of comorbidities. Cognitive dysfunction is an endophenotype of BD, but sex influences in cognitive impairment remains unclear. Method We evaluated the performance of 139 patients with first-diagnosed, drug-naive BD (44 males and 95 females) and 92 healthy controls (24 males and 68 females) using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) scale and the Stroop color–word test. Result Immediate memory, visuospatial/constructional ability, language, attention, delayed memory, total RBANS score, and Stroop color–word scores were significantly lower in patients with first-diagnosed, drug-naive BD than healthy participants. Thus, male patients had worse attention and delayed memory scores compared with female patients with BD. Importantly, a worse performance in visuospatial/constructional ability was negatively associated with the Young Mania Rating Scale score in male patients only. Conclusion Male patients with first-diagnosed, drug-naive bipolar disorder had worse cognitive dysfunction than female patients in attention and delayed memory. Cognitive deficits were correlated with mania severity only in male patients. These findings reveal the sexual dimorphism in the cognitive deficits of early BD patients with mild and moderated symptoms for further pathophysiological exploration.

Objectives. Previous researches have demonstrated that abnormal functional connectivity (FC) is associated with the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD). However, inconsistent results were obtained due to different selections of regions of interest in previous researches. This study is aimed at examining voxel-wise brain-wide functional connectivity (FC) alterations in the first-episode, drug-naive patient with BD in an unbiased way. Methods. A total of 35 patients with BD and 37 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy controls underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Global-brain FC (GFC) was applied to analyze the image data. Support vector machine (SVM) was adopted to probe whether GFC abnormalities could be used to identify the patients from the controls. Results. Patients with BD exhibited increased GFC in the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG), pars triangularis and left precuneus (PCu)/superior occipital gyrus (SOG). The left PCu belongs to the default mode network (DMN). Furthermore, increased GFC in the LIFG, pars triangularis was positively correlated with the triglycerides (TG) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and negatively correlated with the scores of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) coding test and Stroop color. Increased GFC values in the left PCu/SOG can be applied to discriminate patients from controls with preferable sensitivity (80.00%), specificity (75.68%), and accuracy (77.78%). Conclusions. This study found increased GFC in the brain regions of DMN; LIFG, pars triangularis; and LSOG, which was associated with dyslipidemia and cognitive impairment in patients with BD. Moreover, increased GFC values in the left PCu/SOG may be utilized as a potential biomarker to differentiate patients with BD from controls.

Authenticated key exchange protocols are quite important primitives for practical applications, since they enable two parties to generate a shared high entropy secret key. In this paper we mainly focus on the authenticated key exchange (AKE) against auxiliary input leakage. As the major contribution of this work, we present a generic framework for the construction of AKE protocols that are secure against auxiliary input leakage. An instantiation based on the generalized decisional Diffie-Hellman (GDDH) assumption in the standard model is also given to demonstrate the feasibility of our proposed framework. We also give a comparison among the existing leakage resilient AKE protocols with auxiliary inputs.

To identify risk factors and develop a simple model to predict early prognosis of acute paraquat (PQ) poisoning patients, we performed a retrospective cohort study of acute PQ poisoning patients (n = 1199). Patients (n = 913) with PQ poisoning from 2011 to 2018 were randomly divided into training (n = 609) and test (n = 304) samples. Another two independent cohorts were used as validation samples for a different time (n = 207) and site (n = 79). Risk factors were identified using a logistic model with Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation and further evaluated using a latent class analysis. The prediction score was developed based on the training sample and was evaluated using the testing and validation samples. Eight factors, including age, ingestion volume, creatine kinase-MB [CK-MB], platelet [PLT], white blood cell [WBC], neutrophil counts [N], gamma-glutamyl transferase [GGT], and serum creatinine [Cr] were identified as independent risk indicators of in-hospital death events. The risk model had C statistics of 0.895 (95% CI 0.855–0.928), 0.891 (95% CI 0.848–0.932), and 0.829 (95% CI 0.455–1.000), and predictive ranges of 4.6–98.2%, 2.3–94.9%, and 0–12.5% for the test, validation_time, and validation_site samples, respectively. In the training sample, the risk model classified 18.4%, 59.9%, and 21.7% of patients into the high-, average-, and low-risk groups, with corresponding probabilities of 0.985, 0.365, and 0.03 for in-hospital death events. We developed and evaluated a simple risk model to predict the prognosis of patients with acute PQ poisoning. This risk scoring system could be helpful for identifying high-risk patients and reducing mortality due to PQ poisoning.

The design of the formwork support for a certain section of the Beijing subway project was carried out in this paper. And the disk lock formwork support was used in the engineering.It was analyzed on the the design of the formwork support for the roof with the thickness of 1.5m of the interval engineering. The manual calculation and the sap2000 finite element analysis were also used in the paper.The effect of the diagonal brace and its number were analyzed in addition to the design of the formwork support. It was showed that the axial force of the standing tube tends to be uneven with the increase of the number of slant bars in the framework. And the axial force of the standing tube connected to diagonal brace is larger than that of the framework without brace significantly. So it will be dangerous to the framework without considering the effect of it by the manual calculation.

Background: Discriminating between major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) remains challenging and cognitive deficits in MDD and BD are generally recognized. In this study, the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) approach was performed to explore neural activity and cognition in first-episode, drug-naïve BD and MDD patients, as well as the relationship between altered fALFF values and clinical or psychometric variables.Methods: A total of 21 BD patients, 25 MDD patients, and 41 healthy controls (HCs) completed clinical assessments and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scans in this study. The rs-fMRI data were analyzed by fALFF method and Pearson correlation analyses were performed between altered fALFF values and clinical variables or cognition. Support vector machine (SVM) was adopted to identify the three groups from each other with abnormal fALFF values in the brain regions obtained by group comparisons.Results: (1) The fALFF values were significantly different in the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and left precuneus among three groups. In comparison to HCs, BD showed increased fALFF values in the right inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) and decreased fALFF values in the right middle temporal gyrus, while MDD showed decreased fALFF values in the right cerebellar lobule IV/V. In comparison to MDD, BD showed decreased fALFF values in bilateral posterior cingulate gyrus and the right cerebellar lobule VIII/IX. (2) In the BD group, a negative correlation was found between increased fALFF values in the right ITG and years of education, and a positive correlation was found between decreased fALFF values in the right cerebellar lobule VIII/IX and visuospatial abilities. (3) The fALFF values in the right cerebellar lobule VIII/IX may have the ability to discriminate BD patients from MDD patients, with sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy all over 0.70.Conclusions: Abnormal brain activities were observed in BD and MDD and were related with cognition in BD patients. The abnormality in the cerebellum can be potentially used to identify BD from MDD patients.

Default mode network (DMN) plays a key role in the pathophysiology of in bipolar disorder (BD). However, the homogeneity of this network in BD is still poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate abnormalities in the NH of the DMN at rest and the correlation between the NH of DMN and clinical variables in patients with BD. Forty drug-naive patients with BD and thirty-seven healthy control subjects participated in the study. Network homogeneity (NH) and independent component analysis (ICA) methods were used for data analysis. Support vector machines (SVM) method was used to analyze NH in different brain regions. Compared with healthy controls, significantly increased NH in the left superior medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and decreased NH in the right posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and bilateral precuneus were found in patients with BD. NH in the right PCC was positively correlated with the verbal fluency test and verbal function total scores. NH in the left superior MPFC was negatively correlated with triglyceride (TG). NH in the right PCC was positively correlated with TG but negatively correlated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). NH in the bilateral precuneus was positively correlated with cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). In addition, NH in the left superior MPFC showed high sensitivity (80.00%), specificity (71.43%), and accuracy (75.61%) in the SVM results. These findings contribute new evidence of the participation of the altered NH of the DMN in the pathophysiology of BD.

Broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica) is one of the most important and nutritious vegetables widely cultivated in China. In the recent four decades, several improved varieties were bred and developed by Chinese breeders. However, the efforts for improvement of broccoli are hindered by limited information of genetic diversity and genetic relatedness contained within the available germplasms. This study evaluated the genetic diversity, genetic relationship, population structure, and fingerprinting of 372 accessions of broccoli representing most of the variability of broccoli in China. Millions of SNPs were identified by whole-genome sequencing of 23 representative broccoli genotypes. Through several stringent selection criteria, a total of 1,167 SNPs were selected to characterize genetic diversity and population structure. Of these markers, 1,067 SNPs were genotyped by target sequencing (GBTS), and 100 SNPs were genotyped by kompetitive allele specific PCR (KASP) assay. The average polymorphism information content (PIC) and expected heterozygosity (gene diversity) values were 0.33 and 0.42, respectively. Diversity analysis revealed the prevalence of low to moderate genetic diversity in the broccoli accessions indicating a narrow genetic base. Phylogenetic and principal component analyses revealed that the 372 accessions could be clustered into two main groups but with weak groupings. STRUCTURE analysis also suggested the presence of two subpopulations with weak genetic structure. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) identified 13% variance among populations and 87% within populations revealing very low population differentiation, which could be attributed to massive gene flow and the reproductive biology of the crop. Based on high resolving power, a set of 28 KASP markers was chosen for DNA fingerprinting of the broccoli accessions for seed authentication and varietal identification. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study to measure diversity and population structure of a large collection of broccoli in China and also the first application of GBTS and KASP techniques in genetic characterization of broccoli. This work broadens the understanding of diversity, phylogeny, and population structure of a large collection of broccoli, which may enhance future breeding efforts to achieve higher productivity.

Recently, super-resolution methods pursue visual pleasant details attract more attention in academic circle. Unlike former accurate driving models, they leverage new losses measured the difference of features extracting from a pre-trained deep learning model. Moreover, the popular GANs structure are introduced to approach better outputs. In general, these new visual feeling promoting losses are constrained by the learning ability of model and effected by the weakness of GANs. In order to address these problems, we propose a novel SR method to generating abundant details. Based on former SR methods and texture generated models, we combine new model constructure and integrated loss function to achieve our goal. The new constructure derives from the very thought that more information from the LR input leads to more accurate results. The new integrated loss try to decrease the weakness of each one by corresponding loss.. Experiments show that our model achieves higher quality generations than former methods.

Background Previous positron emission tomography studies have reported the changes of cerebral glucose metabolism in bipolar disorder. However, the findings across studies remain controversial, containing differing results. Methods A systematic literature search of the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases was conducted. We conducted a voxel‐wide meta‐analysis of cerebral glucose metabolism studies, using the seed‐based mapping approach, in patients with bipolar disorder (BD). Results We identified 7 studies suitable for inclusion, which included a total of 126 individuals with BD and 160 healthy controls. The most consistent and robust findings were an increase in cerebral glucose metabolism in the right precentral gyrus and a decrease in the left superior temporal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, and cerebellum. Additionally, the sex distribution and illness duration had significant moderating effects on cerebral glucose metabolism alterations. Conclusions Cerebral glucose metabolism alterations in these brain regions are likely to reflect the disease‐related functional abnormalities such as emotion and cognition. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of bipolar disorder. Limitations. This study was done at a study level and cannot be addressed at the patient level. Subgroup analysis of BD I and BD II is not possible due to limited literature data., The changes of cerebral glucose metabolism in bipolar disorder remains differences. Our meta‐analysis used the seed‐based mapping approach and found that cerebral glucose metabolism alterations are likely to reflect the disease‐related functional abnormalities.

Objective: Studies on alterations in the regional neural activity in the brain of patients with bipolar disorder (BD) have provided conflicting results because of different medications used and study designs. A low bone mineral density (BMD) is also observed in patients with BD. This study aimed to further explore regional neural activities in unmedicated patients with BD and their association with BMD. Methods: In this study, 40 patients with BD and 42 healthy controls were scanned through resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Imaging data were analyzed with regional homogeneity (ReHo) and pattern classification. Pearson’s correlation analyses were performed to explore the correlations between abnormal ReHo and BMD. Results: A significant increase in ReHo values in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG)/temporal pole, left cerebellum vermis I/vermis II/parahippocampal gyrus/brainstem, and right superior temporal gyrus (STG) and a decrease in ReHo in the occipital gyrus (OG; left middle OG/superior OG/bilateral cuneus) were found in the patients with BD (p < 0.05) compared with those in the healthy controls. No significant correlation was observed between the abnormal ReHo values in any of the brain regions of the patients with BMD.Support vector machine (SVM) analyses revealed that the ReHo values in the right STG for distinguishing patients from healthy controls showed an accuracy of 91.89%, a sensitivity of 75.68%, and a specificity of 83.78%. The ReHo values in the left cerebellum vermis I/vermis II/parahippocampal gyrus/brainstem indicated an accuracy of 78.38%, a sensitivity of 75.68%, and a specificity of 81.08%. Conclusion: This study further confirms the abnormal brain activities in extensive regions, and these brain regions are primarily located in the fronto–temporal–occipital circuit and the cerebellum vermis of patients with BD. The regional neural activity in the right STG and the left cerebellum vermis I/vermis II/parahippocampal gyrus/brainstem may serve as potential imaging markers to distinguish patients with BD from healthy controls.

Background Medical comorbidities in people with mental disorders have recently gained more attention. People with bipolar disorder (BD) often have comorbid low bone mass, which is associated with increased fracture risk and related severe outcomes. However, few clinical studies on bone metabolism in BD patients are available. This study was designed to assess bone mineral density (BMD) and related influencing factors in a sample of newly diagnosed, drug-naive individuals with BD and age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Methods Sixty-one drug-naive individuals with BD (DSM-V) and 95 healthy volunteers had their lumbar spine (L1-L4) and left hip (Neck/Troch/Ward's) BMD determined by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Besides, sociodemographic and clinical assessment were collected. Between-group comparisons and within subgroup analysis were performed. Results Drug-naive patients with BD had significantly lower BMD in comparison to healthy controls in multiple sites (L1, L3, Neck, Troch, Ward's, and total hip). On subgroup analysis, overweight individuals with BD had higher bone mass, while females presented reduced BMD. Binary logistic regression showed that low BMD in multiple regions was associated with BD diagnosis, body mass index (BMI), gender, and age. Conclusion Drug-naive individuals with BD have lower BMD when compared to an age- and gender-matched healthy control sample. Low BMI and female gender are factors associated with this outcome. The underlying pathological mechanisms of BD comorbid with osteoporosis should be further explored. Clinical trial registration www.chictr.org.cn, identifier ChiCTR190002137.

Aim & methods: A decision-analytic model was constructed to simulate a real-world cohort of Chinese patients visiting a Chinese regional mental health center for long-term health outcomes and direct medical costs. Results: When compared with age and gender-matched general population, the Chinese patients with schizophrenia were associated with reduced overall survival by 20.6 years (27.6 vs 48.2 years) and reduced quality-adjusted life years (QALY) by 18.4 QALY (18.4 vs 36.8 QALY), respectively, and increased lifetime direct medical costs by about three-times (US$84,324 vs 33,387 as of 31 December 2017) on average. Conclusion: The burden of schizophrenia was mainly driven by the mortality associated with relapsed schizophrenia and direct medical costs for schizophrenia in local mental health rehabilitation institutes.

Background: Acute paraquat (PQ) poisoning is characterized by multi-organ failure and lacking effective therapies. Therefore, identifying risk factors and developing model that could predict early prognosis for patients with PQ poisoning is of great importance. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study employed with patients suffered from acute PQ poisoning (n=1199). Patients (n=913) with PQ poisoning from 2011 to 2018 were randomly divided into 2 mutually exclusive groups: training (609 patients) and test (304 patients). Another 2 external cohorts containing 207 cases from Zhengzhou 2019 were used as validation from different time and 79 from Shenyang as validation from different site. Risk factors were identified by a logistic model with Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation and further evaluated by a latent class analysis. The prediction score of this model was developed based on the training sample and was further evaluated using the testing and validation samples. Findings: Eight risk factors including age, ingestion volume, CK-MB, platelet (PLT), white blood cell (WBC), neutrophil counts (N), gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) and serum creatinine (Cr) were identified as independent risk indicators of in-hospital death events. The risk model had a C statistic of 0.895 (95% CI 0.855-0.928), 0.891 (95% CI 0.848-0.932) and 0.829 (95% CI 0.455-1.000) and a predictive range of 4.6%-98.2%, 2.3%-94.9% and 0%-12.5% for the test, validation_time and validation_site group, respectively. In the training group, the risk model classified 18.4%, 59.9% and 21.7% of patients into the high, average and low-risk groups, with corresponding probabilities of 0.985, 0.365, and 0.03 for in-hospital death events. Interpretation: Eight risk factors were identified in this study. And we developed and evaluated a simple risk model to predict the prognosis of patients with acute PQ poisoning. This simple and reliable risk score system could be helpful in recognizing high-risk patients and reducing in-hospital death rate due to PQ poisoning. Funding Statement: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81701893 and 81600506), National S&T Major Project of China (2018ZX10301201-008), Key Scientific Research Projects of Higher Education Institutions in Henan Province (20A320046 and 20A320056), Joint Construction Project of Henan Province Medical S&T Research (SB201901006). Declaration of Interests: All authors declare no conflict of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: The Institutional Review Board of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University (2017-XY-002) approved this study and exemption of the patient’s consent.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of surgical treatment of intra-articular distal radius fractures (DRFs) with the assistance of three-dimensional (3D) printing technique. Methods: Patients with intra-articular DRFs in our hospital from February 2017 to November 2018 were enrolled in this study, and were randomly assigned to 2 parallel groups to receive surgical treatment with the assistance of 3D printing technique or not. For patients in the 3D printing group, the surgical procedure was simulated with 3D physical model before surgery. Volar plate and K-wire fixation were performed in all patients. Patients in the 2 groups were compared in terms of intraoperative indexes and postoperative function. Results: A total of 32 patients were included in our study. During surgery, mean operation time in the 3D model group was significantly lower than that in the routine group (P .05). Conclusion: With the assistance of 3D printing technique, the operation time, amount of intraoperative bleeding, and times of intraoperative fluoroscopy can be reduced during the surgical treatment of intra-articular DRFs with volar plating and K-wire fixation. This technique is safe and effective, and is worth spreading in other orthopedic surgeries.

Objective Late complications after endoscopic biliary sphincterotomy (EST) include stone recurrence, but no definite risk factors for recurrence have been established. This study was performed to identify the predictors of recurrence and evaluate the clinical outcomes of EST for common bile duct stones. Methods In total, 345 eligible patients who successfully underwent EST were evaluated and followed up. Statistical analysis was performed on patients with recurrence or who had undergone at least 6 months of reliable follow-up to detect the risk factors for recurrence. Results A total of 57 patients (16.52%) developed recurrence of common bile duct stones. The median length of time until recurrence was 10.25 months (range, 6–54.4 months). Univariate analyses showed that the following factors were associated with recurrence: cholecystectomy prior to EST, prior biliary tract surgery, periampullary diverticulum, diameter of the common bile duct (>15 vs. ≤15 mm), quantity of stones, complete stone removal at the first session, and lithotripsy. Multivariate analysis identified two independent risk factors for recurrence: previous biliary tract surgery and lithotripsy. Conclusions EST for common bile duct stones is safe as indicated by patients’ long-term outcomes. Patients with a history of biliary surgery or lithotripsy are more prone to recurrence.

Background Klebsiella pneumonia (KP) and carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumonia (CRKP) lung infections significantly increase the morbidity and mortality of pneumonia. Recent studies have shown that baculoviral IAP repeat-containing 3 (Birc3) plays an important role in the prevention and treatment of pneumonia. However, the role of Birc3 in CRKP-induced pneumonia has not been widely reported. Methods In vivo, we successfully established a mouse model of pneumonia induced by KP and CRKP. In vitro, we established a macrophage model treated with KP and CRKP. The phagocytosis of macrophages treated with CRKP was measured by Flow cytometry and coated plate counting. STRING and Co-IP assays were used to predict and verify the relationship between Birc3 and toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) or myeloid differentiation factor 88 (Myd88). HE staining was used to detect the lung pathological changes of anti-Birc3 IgG inhibited CRKP-induced inflammatory cells. The levels of inflammatory factors and proteins were detected by ELISA and Western blot, respectively. Results The phagocytic ability of macrophages was reduced, and the cytokine storm was enhanced in CRKP treated Raw264.7 cells. Macrophages treated with CRKP impaired phagocytosis. Birc3 could interact with TLR4 and MyD88. Anti-Birc3 IgG inhibited CRKP-induced inflammatory cell lung infiltration. In addition, mice treated with anti-Birc3 IgG improved the CRKP-induced inflammatory cell lung infiltration, bacterial spread, and cytokine storm by inhibiting the Birc3/TLR4/Myd88 signaling pathway. Conclusion The results suggest that Birc3 may serve as a target for the treatment of bacterial infection and lung inflammation in CRKP-induced pneumonia.

To study variations in cochlear size and shape with potential implications for cochlear implants.A comprehension of the cochlear morphology is essential for nontraumatic electrode insertion and hearing preservation in individual surgery.A total of 310 normal developed cochleae with three-dimensional multiplanar reconstructed computed tomography images were studied. We measured the linear length of the half (1/2TL) and three quarters (3/4TL) of the basal turn, the first turn (1TL), the first two turns (2TL), and the cochlear length. The length and width of the cochlear base as well as the tilt angle within the first turn (α) and the angle between the first and second turns (γ) of the cochlea were also measured.The measurement results showed that cochlear size and shape vary greatly among individuals. The length and width of cochlear base had positive correlations with 1/2TL (r = 0.526 and r = 0.625), 3/4TL (r = 0.633 and r = 0.729), 1TL (r = 0.658 and r = 0.754), 2TL (r = 0.677 and r = 0.795) and cochlear length (r = 0.622 and r = 0.769) respectively. The mean tilt angle α was 9.72 ± 1.85 degrees while the angle γ was 14.90 ± 1.36 degrees, and both had significant positive correlations with the ratio of length to width of cochlear base (p = 0.040 and p = 0.013).The significant variations of the cochlear anatomy suggest that personalized cochlear implant is needed. The width of cochlear base has a stronger association with the linear length of cochlea. And the angle within the first turn and between the first and second turns can be predicted by the ratio of length to width of cochlear base.

From the 1940s to 1990s, heparin and warfarin have been the main anticoagulants for the prevention and treatment of thrombotic events. Since then, LMWHs and fondaparinux proved effective in clinical trials, with better pharmacokinetic profiles and no monitoring requirements. Developed in the early 21st century, DOACs have comparable efficacy to LMWHs, but increase bleeding risk, as the anticoagulant targets (FIIa, FXa) are also essential for physiological hemostasis. In contrast, selective inhibition of the intrinsic coagulation pathway may be a promising strategy for safer antithrombotic treatment. FXII, FXI and FIX inhibitors have produced favorable results in preclinical studies. Notably, intrinsic F.Xase is another promising candidate target, yet to be systematically evaluated. Here, we review the development of anticoagulants, including recent research on intrinsic F.Xase inhibitors, and the revision of coagulation models over time. Studies support optimism for future diversification of anticoagulants, which could offer more reliable and patient-specific therapy.

This study explores the efficacy and mechanism by which octreotide (OCT) alleviates paraquat (PQ)-induced pancreatic injury. Twenty-four adult male rats were randomly divided into three groups: the normal control (NC), PQ poisoning, and OCT treatment groups. The PQ-induced pancreatic injury rat model was established by administering PQ (120 mg/kg). Treatment group rats received OCT (8 μg/kg body weight) every 8 h by subcutaneous injection, 1 h after PQ administration. Rats were euthanized 24 h after PQ injection. Serum amylase, lipase, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interleukin-6 levels were markedly increased in the PQ group versus the NC group. In pancreatic tissue, PQ poisoning drastically induced necrosis and increased inflammatory cytokine and oxidative stress marker levels. Compared with the PQ group, OCT reduced pancreatic damage and histological scores, serum amylase, lipase, and inflammatory cytokine levels, as well as oxidative stress. OCT demonstrates protective effects against PQ-induced pancreatic damage through anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions.

Quercetin, a flavonoid, has been reported to ameliorate cardiovascular diseases, such as cardiac hypertrophy. However, the mechanism is not completely understood. In this study, a mechanism related to proteasome-glycogen synthesis kinase 3 (GSK-3) was elucidated in rats and primary neonatal cardiomyocytes. Rats were subjected to sham or constriction of abdominal aorta surgery groups and treated with or without quercetin for 8 weeks. Angiotensin II (Ang II)-induced primary cardiomyocytes were cultured with quercetin treatment or not for 48 h. Echocardiography, real-time RT-PCR, histology, immunofluorescence, and Western blotting were conducted. Proteasome activities were also detected using a fluorescent peptide substrate. Echocardiography showed that quercetin prevented constriction of abdominal aorta-induced cardiac hypertrophy and improved the cardiac diastolic function. In addition, quercetin also significantly reduced the Ang II-induced hypertrophic surface area and atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) mRNA level in primary cardiomyocytes. Proteasome activities were obviously inhibited in the quercetin-treated group both in vivo and in vitro. Quercetin also decreased the levels of proteasome subunit beta type (PSMB) 1, PSMB2, and PSMB5 of the 20S proteasome as well as the levels of proteasome regulatory particle (Rpt) 1 and Rpt4 of the 19S proteasome. In particular, the PSMB5 level in the nucleus was reduced after quercetin treatment. Furthermore, phosphorylated GSK-3α/β (inactivation of GSK-3) was decreased, which means that GSK-3 activity was increased. The phosphorylation levels of upstream AKT (PKB (protein kinase B)) and liver kinase B1/AMP activated protein kinase (LKB1/AMPKα) and those of downstream extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), histone H3, β-catenin, and GATA binding protein 4 (GATA4) were reduced after quercetin treatment, while hypertrophy was reversed after treatment with the GSK-3 inhibitor. In summary, quercetin prevents cardiac hypertrophy, which is related to proteasome inhibition and activation of GSK-3α/β. Upstream (AKT, LKB1/AMPKα) and downstream hypertrophic factors, such as ERK, histone H3, β-catenin, and GATA4, may also be involved.

Previous studies framed a possible link of retinoic acid (RA) regulation in brain to autism spectrum disorders (ASD) etiology. The aim of this study was to measure serum levels of RA in relation to the degree of the severity of autism. Serum RA levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) colorimetric detection Kit in 81 children with autism and 81 age-sex matched typical development children. The severity of autistic symptomatology was measured by the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) score using the Chinese version. The serum levels of RA in the children with ASD (1.68 ± 0.52 ng/ml) were significantly lower than those of control subjects (2.13 ± 0.71 ng/ml) (P 0.001). At admission, 57 children (70.4%) had a severe autism. In those children, the mean serum RA levels were lower than in those children with mild to moderate autism (1.57 ± 0.47 ng/ml VS. 1.95 ± 0.55 ng/ml; P = 0.003). Furthermore, in multivariate model, low RA level was associated with having/the presence of ASD (adjusted odd ratio[OR] 0.516; P = 0.003) and severe ASD (OR 0.415; P = 0.015) after adjusted for confounding factors. The data suggested that serum RA levels were reduced in the group with ASD, and the levels negative correlated significantly with the severity of autism.

Background: Brahma-related gene 1 (Brg1), the core ATPase subunit of a large chromatin remodeling complex, plays critical role in the regulation of gene expression during cardiac growth, differentiation. In adults, Brg1 is turned off in cardiomyocytes and reactivated by cardiac stress. How Brg1 in myocardial infarction (MI) is poorly understood. The sonic hedgehog (Shh) pathway was activated to protect the injured cardiomyocytes during the development of MI. However, by which Shh activation is mediated in MI still remains to be determined. Methods and results: Adult male C57BL/6 mice were subjected to ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery for MI model. We investigated Brg1 activation and how it regulated the gene expressions of Shh pathway in peri-infarct zone in MI mice. Our data demonstrated that in peri-infarct zone, the protein of Brg1 was significantly increased 7 days after MI compared with the sham group in control mice, accompanied by upregulation of shh, patched-1 (Ptch1), and glioma-associated oncogene-1(Gli1). We further revealed that with adenoviral intramyocardial injection, the Brg1 overexpression reduced the percentage myocardial infarct, improved cardiac dysfunction, decreased the number of apoptotic cells and upregulated the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax in MI mice. Conversely, shRNA-mediated knockdown of Brg1 enlarged the percentage myocardial infarct, exacerbated cardiac dysfunction, increased the apoptotic cells and downregulated the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax. More importantly, the Brg1 overexpression increased Shh, Ptch1 and Gli1 expressions, whereas Brg1 knockdown suppressed Shh, Ptch1 and Gli1 expressions. Chromatin immunoprecipitation confirmed that Brg1 were recruited to the regulatory elements of Shh, Ptch1 and Gli1. This recruitment was associated with transcriptional upregulation of these three genes. Conclusions: This study indicated that in MI mice, the myocardial Brg1 is upregulated and that the upregulated Brg1 contributes to protection of cardiac function and activation of Shh pathway. Strategies that are aimed at augment the Brg1-Shh pathway may offer useful means for preventing and treating cardiac dysfunction in patients with MI. Key words: Acute myocardial infarction, Brg1, Shh pathway

Objectives The evolution of infectious diseases (IDs) poses a challenge to many ID physicians, who must either adapt or transition to another career track. This national cross-sectional study assessed the current working conditions and problems faced by ID professionals in China. Methods A national questionnaire survey of ID physicians and their facilities throughout China was performed in May–June 2016 using stratified random sampling. Results A total of 156/300 (52.0%) ID departments and 1071/2250 (47.6%) physicians from 21 provinces participated in the survey. Overall, 151 (96.2%) of 156 hospitals had ID wards and 141 (90.4%) provided outpatient consultations. The average number of ID physicians per department was 10.32 ± 6.57. The ratio of patient beds to doctors was 5: 1, and the ratio of patient beds to nurses was 5: 1.85. Training in IDs was available in 126 (80.8%), and ID research was performed in 108 (69.2%), of the 156 departments. The main service provided by ID physicians was the management of legally notifiable communicable diseases. The annual income of 942 (88.0%) of the 1071 physicians was below $15 000. Of these physicians, 870 (81.2%) felt high or very high pressure in their work, whereas only 514 (48.0%) were satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs. Conclusions The limited medical service provided by ID physicians is poorly aligned with current healthcare demands. Moreover, the heavy workloads, high stress, poor compensation and limited career prospects for ID physicians in China impede the continued development of specialists and places them in a career dilemma. ID physicians should work to develop and diversify the field and to enhance their capacities by learning new technologies and collaborating with other medical disciplines.

A three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulation has been carried out using a RANS model in CFD ANSYS CFX v15.0 to investigate the out of phase oscillation instability between two heated parallel channels with supercritical water flowing upward. Spatial and temporal grid sizes effects on flow instability are studied first. High sensitivity of the CFD code on time step size is investigated, while spatial grid size refinement influence is not noteworthy. Oscillatory instability boundaries of three experimental cases are predicated by CFD code with the standard k-e turbulence model. Chatoorgoon’s 1D nonlinear SPORTS code is also used to determine the instability boundary for comparison purposes. These new numerical results are compared with experimental data and previous numerical results. In general, there is a good agreement between numerical instability results of this paper and the experiments. Certain instability thresholds difference is observed among different numerical simulations, and possible reasons are pointed out. A previous finding that CFD results clearly yield better predictions of the instability boundary than a 1D solution is disputed in this paper.

It would be interesting if a signcryption scheme in the standard model could be made certificateless. One of the interesting attempts is due to Liu et al. [Z. Liu, Y. Hu, X. Zhang, H. Ma, Certificateless signcryption scheme in the standard model, Information Sciences 180 (3) (2010) 452-464]. In this paper, we provide a cryptanalysis on this scheme by depicting two kinds of subtle public key replacement attacks against it. Our analysis reveals that it does not meet the basic requirements of confidentiality and non-repudiation.

For an encryption scheme to be applied in practical applications, it should withstand various leakage attacks. In this paper, we present a new leakage-resilient public key encryption scheme whose security is based on the classical DDH (decisional Diffie-Hellman) assumption. In the computational cost, our proposed scheme is more efficient than the original Cramer-Shoup leakage-resilient public key encryption scheme. At the same time, our new scheme also enjoys a shorter (public and secret) key length, and a higher relative key leakage ratio. We formally prove our new proposal is semantically secure against adaptive posteriori chosen ciphertext key-leakage attacks assuming the hardness of the DDH problem without random models.

The classical mass-on-moving-belt model describing friction-induced vibration is studied. The primary resonance of dry-friction oscillator with fractional-order PID (FOPID) controller of velocity feedback is investigated by Krylov–Bogoliubov–Mitropolsky (KBM) asymptotic method, and the approximately analytical solution is obtained. The effects of the parameters in FOPID controller on dynamical properties are characterized by five equivalent parameters. Those equivalent parameters could distinctly illustrate the effects of the parameters in FOPID controller on the dynamical response. The effects of dry friction on the dynamical properties are characterized in the form of the equivalent linear damping and nonlinear damping. The amplitude-frequency equation for steady-state solution associated with the stability condition is also studied. A comparison of the analytical solution with the numerical results is fulfilled, and their satisfactory agreement verifies the correctness of the approximately analytical results. Finally, the effects of the coefficients and orders in FOPID controller on the amplitude-frequency curves are analyzed, and the control performances of FOPID and traditional integer-order proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers are compared. The comparison results show that FOPID controller is better than traditional integer-order PID controller for controlling the primary resonance of dry-friction oscillator, when the coefficients of the two controllers are the same. This presents theoretical basis for scholars and engineers to design similar fractional-order controlled system.

Canal wall down mastoid surgery following multiple earlier surgical failures can be revised by a well-trained experienced surgeon. A dry and safe ear is obtainable in most patients, and hearing preservation is also possible.To analyze the intra-operative findings in revision surgery for canal wall down (CWD) mastoidectomy and to ascertain the prognosis.A total of 76 revision mastoidectomies with tympanoplasties performed from March 2008 to May 2014 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University in China were reviewed. The pre-operative, intra-operative, and post-operative data was recorded and analyzed.The possible reason of previous surgical failures were confirmed by the operative findings, which included inadequate mastoidectomy or persistent air-cell disease (66/76 [86.8%]), recurrent or persistent cholesteatoma (44/76 [57.9%]), excessive opened cavity combined with complications (9/76 [11.8%]), and infected cavities (68/76 [89.5%]). In this study, disease control was achieved in 70 (92.1%) patients. Complications following previous surgery were modified by revision surgery. Hearing was significantly improved in the 54 cases with ossicular replacement prosthesis. After a mean follow-up of 22 months, the group of revision surgery with ossiculoplasty as a whole experienced a statistically significant hearing gain of 16.57 ± 11.96 dB (p 0.05) at air conduction pure tone average (PTA).

The catecholamine release-inhibitory peptide catestatin is an endogenous nicotinic cholinergic antagonist that can inhibit secretion of catecholamine from chromaffin cells and adrenergic neurons. Therefore it can inhibit sympathetic nerve activity. Previous studies have shown that catestatin have a

Objectives To report the early postoperative complications of cochlear implantation (CI) in the pediatric population and discuss the intervention measures. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 260 consecutive pediatric cochlear implantations performed at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University between March 2010 and July 2013. All patients were younger than 12 years old at the time of implantation, with a mean age of 4.3 years, and 47 cases had inner ear malformations. Complications correlated to age at CI and inner ear malformations were analyzed using the χ 2 test. Results Of the 260 patients, early postoperative complications were observed in 17 (6.54%) cases, of which 16 (6.15%) were minor and one (0.38%) was major, none required surgical device removal or reimplantation. Among the 16 minor complications, transient vertigo was the most common (nine cases, 3.46%), three (1.15%) of them with severe CSF gusher during the surgery; followed by transient facial nerve palsy (two cases, 0.77%, both were reversible); external auditory canal injury, subcutaneous hematoma each in two cases (0.77%), and minor dural injury in one case (0.38%). One major complication included an epidural hematoma in a 7-year-old boy who recovered completely without any neurologic deficits following immediate evacuation. Inner ear malformations were significantly associated with the surgical complications, especially vertigo and gusher ( P Conclusions Cochlear implantation in children is fairly a safe procedure with a relatively low complication rate. The most common early postoperative complications are minor, but serious and life threatening complications rarely may occur. Awareness of complications helps clinicians to adopt the specific preventive measures and immediate interventions so that the outcome will be successful.

Xonghong Xiao and colleagues analyze the challenge of antimicrobial resistance in China. A government strategy to promote rational use of antimicrobials in health care reduced antibiotic sales and percentage of prescriptions for antimicrobials for both hospitalized patients and outpatients, and offers insights to shape future initiatives. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary.

Certificateless public key cryptography (CL-PKC) is an important type of public key cryptography, which effectively solves the inherent key escrow problem in identity based public key cryptography while keeps its certificate-free property. As the adversarial models in CL-PKC are relatively complex, designing efficient and secure certificate less encryption schemes in the standard model has been an interesting and challenging research topic. In this paper, we give cryptanalysis to an existing certificate less encryption scheme in the standard model. We show its insecurity by demonstrating two kinds of attacks.

We present a new variant of the Cramer-Shoup leakage-resilient public key encryption. The proposed scheme is more computational efficient than the original Cramer-Shoup leakage-resilient public key encryption scheme. It enjoys a shorter (public/secret) key length, and a higher relative leakage ratio. The new scheme is proved semantically secure against adaptive chosen cipher text attack in the standard model under the decisional Diffie-Hellman assumption.

The paper proposes a sequential similarity detection algorithm (SSDA) for colored target based on characteristic differences. It analyzes basic SSDA, combines the characteristics of color, shape and size, then improves the SSDA. Experimental results show that the improved SSDA reduces the computational complexity, improves target identification accuracy, with better real-time.

The paper studies a kind of open robot controller, combining powerful functions and remarkable advantages, which realizes programmable controller on chip of industrial robot using ALTERA FPGA and an embedded soft core processor of NIOS II, and designs the structures of software and hardware of the controller. The experiment is carried out. The results indicate that the robot controller is reasonable and feasible.

In this paper, the IP core is designed with ALT ERA NIOSII soft-core processors as the core and Cyclone II FPGA series as the digital platform, the SOPC technology is used to make the I/O interface controller soft-core such as microprocessors and PS2 keyboard on a chip of FPGA. NIOSII IDE is used to accomplish the software testing of system and the hardware test is completed by ALTERA Cyclone II EP2C35 FPGA chip experimental platform. The result shows that the functions of this IP core are correct, furthermore it can be reused conveniently in the SOPC system.

This paper has studied on stress-strain model for CFRP confined preloaded concrete square column. And the influencing factor has been analyzed in it. Referring the former research, this text has determined a model curve of parabola and straight line. The peak stress and strain has also been computed by regression. Further the expression of stress-strain model for CFRP confined preloaded concrete was deserved. Because the preload has been considered in the expression, it is more closer to the real engineering.

Rice seed size is an important agronomic trait in determining the yield potential, and four seed size related genes (GS3, GW2, qSW5/GW5 and GIF1) have been cloned in rice so far. However, the relationship among these four genes is still unclear, which will impede the process of gene pyramiding breeding program to some extent. To shade light on the relationship of above four genes, gene expression analysis was performed with GS3-RNAi, GW2-RNAi lines and CSSL of qSW5 at the transcriptional level. The results clearly showed that qSW5 and GW2 positively regulate the expression of GS3. Meanwhile, qSW5 can be down-regulated by repression of GW2 transcription. Additionally, GIF1 expression was found to be positively regulated by qSW5 but negatively by GW2 and GS3. Moreover, the allelic effects of qSW5 and GS3 were detailedly characterized based on a natural population consisting of 180 rice cultivars. It was indicated that mutual interactions exist between the two genes, in which, qSW5 affecting seed length is masked by GS3 alleles, and GS3 affecting seed width is masked by qSW5 alleles. These findings provide more insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying seed size development in rice and are likely to be useful for improving rice grain yield.

Aimed at the influence of illumination and posture changed to the human ear recognition, isometric mapping (Isomap) algorithm of manifold is applied to the feature extraction stage of human ear recognition. The results of experiment indicate that using Isomap algorithm in the human ear recognition, can reduce the influence on rate when the posture and illumination changed, and improve the recognition rate.

Advanced robot's navigation system based on GPS/INS is established in order to meet its working surroundings and taskpsilas demand. Centralized open-loop Kalman filter is applied in the navigation system. GPS/INS devices' output difference is the filter's input. The position-velocity integrated measurement equation is deduced based on the robotpsilas locomotion performance and measurement demand. Simulation experiments are conducted under MATLAB software environment. The experiment results show that the systempsilas noise is retained and the navigation precision is improved effectively.

Certificateless public key cryptography CL-PKC is an important type of public key cryptography, which effectively solves the inherent key escrow problem in identity-based public key cryptography. As the adversarial models in CL-PKC are relatively complex, designing efficient and secure certificateless encryption schemes in the standard model has been an interesting and challenging research topic. In this paper, we give cryptanalysis to an existing certificateless encryption scheme in the standard model. We show its insecurity by demonstrating two kinds of attacks. Then, we modify the original scheme to obtain a secure one. A rigorous security proof of the modified scheme is presented in the standard model based on the decisional bilinear Diffie-Hellman DBDH assumption and decisional truncated q-ABDHE assumption.

We propose a leakage-resilient Identity-Based Encryption IBE scheme in the relative leakage mode. The semantic security of the proposed scheme is proved in two ways in the random oracle model under the Decisional Square Bilinear Diffie-Hellman D-Square-BDH assumption. Compared with some existing leakage-resilient IBE schemes, our construction enjoys a shorter parameter length, a lower computation cost and a higher ratio of the key leakage for the same level of security.