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BACKGROUND: With lifestyle modification and over-nutrition, the prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been increasing annually. Here we aimed to assess the updated prevalence of NAFLD, and to evaluate the association of NAFLD with metabolic abnormalities according to gender, body mass index and age. METHODS: A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Shanghai from December 2016 to July 2017. With a three-stage stratified sampling strategy, 3,717 eligible participants were enrolled for the analysis. RESULTS: In total, 1,217 subjects (32.7%) had NAFLD. Among them, 400 (16.3%) of the nonobese and 817 (65.0%) of the obese subjects had NAFLD. The prevalence of NAFLD was increased according to the quartiles of age and waist circumference (WC) in the nonobese subjects. Females with nonobese NAFLD had 1.6-, 2.6-, 2.0-, 2.3- and 3.3-fold higher risks for metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus, hyperglycemia, hypertriglycerdemia (high TG) and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol than obese subjects without NAFLD, respectively. Males had comparable metabolic profiles in both groups, except for a 2.0-fold higher risk of high TG in nonobese NAFLD subjects compared with obese subjects without NAFLD. More impressively, the homeostasis metabolic assessment insulin resistance index was comparable between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: The increase of age and WC had significant impact on the risk of NAFLD in nonobese subjects. The presence of NAFLD in nonobese subjects increased the risk of metabolic diseases than obese subjects without NAFLD, especially in female.

BACKGROUND Despite substantial attention paid to the epidemic of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in adults, data on the burden and sexual dimorphism of NAFLD in Asian children have not yet been synthesized. METHODS We conducted a literature search of 735 references up to April 2021. Pooled analyses, stratified analyses and meta-regression were all performed. RESULTS Thirty-three study populations were finally included. Nine of them comprising 20 595 children showed an overall NAFLD prevalence of 5.53% (95% CI 3.46%-8.72%), in which, 36.64% (95% CI, 27.99%-46.26%) NAFLD subjects had elevated levels of ALT. The prevalence rate of NAFLD increased about 1.6-fold from 2004 to 2010 to the last decade. Male predominant trends were observed in paediatric NAFLD (boys: 8.18%, 95% CI 4.93%-13.26%; girls: 3.60%, 95% CI 1.60%-7.87%). Moreover, meta-analysis showed that after 10 years of age, boys were more prone to have NAFLD than girls (OR = 1.75; P = .0012). In addition, the pooled prevalence of NAFLD increased sequentially in normal-weight (1.49%, 95% CI 0.88%-2.51%, n = 2610), overweight (16.72%, 95% CI 7.07%-34.65%, n = 1265) and obese children (50.13%, 95% CI 41.99%-58.27%, n = 6434 individuals). After full covariate adjustment, the multivariate meta-regression also showed that boy percentage (P = .0396) and body mass index (P

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) have become the cutting-edge technology for the next generation of industrial applications, and are rapidly developing and inspiring numerous application areas. This article presents an optimal forward-looking distributed CPS application for the safety-following driving control of connected and automated vehicles (CAV) in the intelligent transportation. The relevant components and required technologies of the CPS concept in intelligent transportation systems are introduced firstly. Under this framework, each CAV is considered as an independent CPS. In the safe driving of vehicles, historical data is used to build vehicle behavior prediction models and dynamic driving system models. At the same time, a new range strategy considering the probability of merging behavior is proposed and applied to the CAV’s safe cruise control. The results show that through the application framework of CPS, the proposed range strategy can improve the following safety of the vehicle.

Although concomitant nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is common in chronic hepatitis B (CHB), the impact of viral factors on NASH and the outcome of CHB patients concomitant with NASH remain unclear. We aimed to investigate the outcomes of NASH in CHB patients receiving antiviral treatment.In the post-hoc analysis of a multicenter trial, naïve CHB patients receiving 72-week entecavir treatment were enrolled. We evaluated the biochemical, viral and histopathological responses of these patients. The histopathological features of NASH were also evaluated, using paired liver biopsies at baseline and week 72.A total of 1000 CHB patients were finally enrolled for analysis, with 18.2% of whom fulfilling the criteria of NASH. A total of 727 patients completed entecavir antiviral treatment and received the second biopsy. Serum HBeAg loss, HBeAg seroconversion and HBV-DNA undetectable rates were similar between patients with or without NASH (P0.05). Among patients with NASH, the hepatic steatosis, ballooning, lobular inflammation scores and fibrosis stages all improved during follow-up (all P0.001), 46% (63/136) achieved NASH resolution. Patients with baseline body mass index (BMI) ≥ 23 kg/mLower BMI and weight reduction but not virologic factors determine NASH resolution in CHB. The value of weight management in CHB patients during antiviral treatment deserves further evaluation.

The Eucalyptus productivity increase was mainly caused by the increased proportion of newly planted areas for Eucalyptus afforestation and the decreasing area of original Eucalyptus plantations. Eucalyptus tree is a major fast-growing species in South China. The ecological problems associated with quickly developing Eucalyptus plantations have been a focus of extensive debate. In this study, we used spatial analysis and geostatistical methods along with field survey data from four successive National Forest Inventories (NFI's) as well as terrain and meteorological data to analyze dynamics of the Eucalyptus plantation distribution in China. The Eucalyptus productivity levels were compared among the four inventories by measuring annual mean productivity in permanent sample plots to provide a basic description of Eucalyptus plantations. Results showed that the area of Eucalyptus plantations increased constantly in China, expanding from 60.7 × 104 ha in the 5th inventory to more than 445.5 × 104 ha in the 8th inventory. However, these changes did not necessarily indicate an improvement in the management quality of Eucalyptus plantations, since they were mainly caused by an increase in the proportion of newly planted Eucalyptus areas and the decrease of the original Eucalyptus plantation area. The productivity of Eucalyptus plantations was significantly positively correlated with temperature and rainfall, but negatively correlated with elevation.

Prior literature presents various perspectives on the role of financial reporting. One view is that mandatory periodic reporting disciplines managers and encourages timely voluntary disclosure. We examine this “confirmation hypothesis” using the shock to financial reporting quality experienced by Arthur Andersen clients forced to switch auditors. Consistent with the confirmation hypothesis, we find that former Andersen clients increase disclosure after they change auditors. They increase forecasting frequency and enhance forecasting precision and specificity. We present additional cross-sectional evidence that shows Arthur Andersen clients with larger increases in financial reporting quality increased their disclosure by relatively more, even within the sample of Arthur Andersen clients. We supplement our main findings with a battery of tests to reduce the possibility that alternative shocks and uncertainty drive our results. Our findings support complementarity between financial reporting quality and voluntary disclosures.

Objective: To investigate the therapeutic effect of intravenous thrombolysis on TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack) under the guidance of multimodal MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), and the clinical application of intravenous thrombolysis in patients with ischemic stroke. Methods: Patients with acute ischemic stroke who underwent intravenous thrombolysis in the Department of Neurology from December 2017 to December 2018 were selected. Through CT (computed tomography) screening, 146 patients that met the diagnostic criteria were eventually included. Patients were randomly divided into group A (72 patients) and group B (74 patients). Patients in group A received antiplatelet therapy within 24 h after intravenous thrombolytic therapy for 10 days. The platelet therapy was discontinued when symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage (SICH) occurred or NIHSS score was ≥4. In group B, after intravenous thrombolysis and antiplatelet therapy, multimodal MRI was used to detect the presence of hemorrhage and other conditions to determine whether to continue the antiplatelet therapy. The NIHSS scores before and after thrombolysis and the 90-day mRS scores after thrombolysis were collected for statistical analysis. Results: The experimental results of each group of patients showed that there was a signif- icant difference in NIHSS scores at admission and 6 h after thrombolysis (P < 0.05). The 30-day mRS score, 90-day mRS score, and prognosis were statistically significant in both groups. The differences in NIHSS scores at 6 h, 24 h, 7 d, and 14 d after thrombolysis and at admission were 1, 1.6, 1.8, and 2.8, which were statistically significant. A comparison of the prognosis of the two groups of patients with hemorrhage 24 h after thrombolysis revealed that the hemorrhage of each patient was improved. Conclusion: In the treatment of ischemic stroke diseases, the utilization of multimodal MRI in clinical intravenous thrombolytic therapy was valuable, which was very sensitive to the detection and display of blood focus. Also, in the selection of treatment methods for clinical thrombolysis in stroke patients, the targeted treatment could be better individualized for each patient.

Mingyue Xue,1,2 Xiaoping Yang,3 Yuan Zou,3 Tao Liu,3 Yinxia Su,3 Cheng Li,4 Hua Yao,3 Shuxia Wang3 1Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated to the Fourth Clinical Medical College of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830011, People’s Republic of China; 2College of Public Health, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830011, People’s Republic of China; 3Health Management Institute, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830011, People’s Republic of China; 4The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830011, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Hua Yao; Shuxia Wang Email yaohua01@sina.com; 2724443591@qq.comBackground: High prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) occurs in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and about 13% of diabetic patients eventually die of liver cirrhosis or liver cancer. The purpose of our research was to develop a non-invasive predictive model of NAFLD in adults with T2DM.Patients and Methods: Adult patients diagnosed with T2DM during physical examination in 2018 in Urumqi were recruited, in total 40,921 cases. We chose questionnaire and physical measurement variables to build a simple, low-cost model. Variables were selected by the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression (LASSO). The features chosen by LASSO were used to build the nomogram prediction model of NAFLD. The receiver operating curve (ROC) and calibration were used for model validation.Results: Determinants in the nomogram included age, ethnicity, sex, exercise, smoking, dietary ratio, heart rate, systolic blood pressure (SBP), BMI, waist circumference, and atherosclerotic vascular disease (ASCVD). The area under ROC of developing group and validation group was 0.756 (95% confidence interval 0.750– 0.761) and 0.755 (95% confidence interval 0.746– 0.763), respectively, and the P values of the two calibration curves were 0.694 and 0.950, suggesting that the nomogram had good disease recognition ability and calibration.Conclusion: A nomogram constructed with accuracy can calculate the possibility of NAFLD in adults with T2DM. If validated externally, this tool could be utilized as a non-invasive method to diagnose non-alcoholic fatty liver in adults with T2DM.Keywords: type 2 diabetes mellitus, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, screening tool, nomogram

Objective: To investigate the clinical effects of intravenous thrombolysis in the treatment of TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack) and cerebral infarction with multimodal MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), and to provide a reference for clinical diagnosis and treatment. Methods: Patients with acute cerebral infarction diagnosed and treated with intravenous thrombolysis were enrolled in the study. Multimodal MRI was performed to determine the location and type of cerebral infarction. Based on routine treatment and care, the rt-PA (Recombinant Tissue Plasminogen Activator) intravenous thrombolytic therapy was applied. The NIHSS (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale) scores of patients before and after treatment were evaluated and compared to analyze the neurological prognosis. Results: The NIHSS scores after treatment were significantly lower than those before treatment, and the neurological prognosis was good. Three different forms of ACVS (asymmetric cortical venous signs) after treatment could be observed by SWI (drug-sensitive weighted imaging) images, which could help to assess the prognosis. Conclusion: Multimodal MRI could evaluate the type and severity of acute cerebral infarction. The rt-PA intravenous thrombolytic therapy could effectively promote the recovery of neurological functions in patients with cerebral infarction, which was worthy of clinical promotion.

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a common chronic inflammatory disease of the upper respiratory tract. Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is a widely used plasticizer and belongs to environmental endocrine disruptors (EDCs). It can be entered the human body which is harmful to health. The relationship between DEHP and AR is still inconclusive. This study aims to investigate the effect of environmental pollutants DEHP on AR. By examining DEHP metabolites in the urine of AR patients and building an AR model. 24 BALB/c mice were used as the study subjects, and ovalbumin (OVA) and DEHP (3 mg/kg/body) were used for intragastric administration. They were divided into control group, DEHP group, OVA group and OVA + DEHP group. Examination, behavioral scoring, inflammatory factor testing, oxidative stress testing, detection of aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and signaling pathways CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 related proteins and mRNA. The concentrations of 3 metabolites of DEHP (MEHHP, MEOHP, and MEHP) in urine of AR patients were higher. And HE-staining showed that for the control group, many chronic inflammatory cell infiltration and nasal mucosal destruction were observed in the OVA + DEHP group and were more severe than the OVA group. Allergic symptom scores were obtained from sneezing, scratching, number of scratching, and nose flow. The scores of the OVA group and the OVA + DEHP group were higher than 7 points. Serum ELISA and nasal mucosal oxidative stress tests are more serious in the OVA + DEHP group. The expression of AhR protein and its mRNA was increased in the DEHP group, OVA group and OVA + DEHP group. The OVA + DEHP group was more significant in the OVA group and DEHP group. And the mRNAs of the AhR-related signaling pathways CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 were also more prominent in the OVA + DEHP group. DEHP may aggravate its inflammatory response through the AhR pathway closely related to the environment. When combined with OVA, DEHP can further aggravate the OVA-induced nasal inflammatory response and make the nasal cavity have undergone severe changes, and many inflammatory cells have infiltrated. DEHP has shown an adjuvant effect, and the AhR-related signaling pathways CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 may be critical.

Background Patients with gastric cancer often experience postoperative problems such as dumping syndrome, abdominal cramps, and nausea, which have profound effects on their mental health and quality of life. Earlier studies have shown that comprehensive health education can dramatically improve the quality of life of cancer patients after surgery. Thus, in this study, we conducted a health education intervention program in patients who had undergone surgical treatment for gastric cancer and evaluated the effectiveness of this program in improving the postoperative quality of life, with an attempt to offer evidence for better postoperative management of gastric cancer patients. Methods Totally, 80 patients with gastric cancer who underwent surgery at our center from February 2018 to February 2019 were equally divided into an observation group and control group according to the random number table method. The observation group was offered with interventions regarding health education, including disease awareness-raising, instructions on behavior and lifestyle, rehabilitation management, and mental health counseling, and the control group received the routine nursing intervention. The quality of life one month before and after surgery was assessed by using the Chinese version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-STO22. Results The baseline data and quality of life showed no significant differences between the observation group and the control group one month before surgery (both P>0.05). One month after the surgery, the scores of dysphagia, pain/discomfort, reflux symptoms, and emotional issues and overall score in the observation group decreased significantly (34.86±2.170, 38.66±3.08, 32.26±2.76, 49.55±4.20, and 54.26±7.03, respectively), which were also significantly lower than those in the control group (36.33±3.10, 44.29±3.72, 33.64±3.10, 53.56±3.25, and 60.17±7.28, respectively; all P Conclusions The comprehensive health education intervention program can effectively improve the quality of life in patients after gastric cancer surgery and deserves further application in clinical settings.

Aims/hypothesis: High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), an evolutionarily conserved chromosomal protein, was rediscovered to be a ‘danger signal’ (alarmin) that alerts the immune system once released extracellularly. Therefore, it has been recognised contributing to the pathogenesis of autoimmune diabetes, but its exact impact on the initiation and progression of type 1 diabetes, as well as the related molecular mechanisms, are yet to be fully characterised. Methods: In the current report, we employed NOD mice as a model to dissect the impact of blocking HMGB1 on the prevention, treatment and reversal of type 1 diabetes. To study the mechanism involved, we extensively examined the characteristics of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and their related signalling pathways upon HMGB1 stimulation. Furthermore, we investigated the relevance of our data to human autoimmune diabetes. Results: Neutralising HMGB1 both delayed diabetes onset and, of particular relevance, reversed diabetes in 13 out of 20 new-onset diabetic NOD mice. Consistently, blockade of HMGB1 prevented islet isografts from autoimmune attack in diabetic NOD mice. Using transgenic reporter mice that carry a Foxp3 lineage reporter construct, we found that administration of HMGB1 impairs Treg stability and function. Mechanistic studies revealed that HMGB1 activates receptor for AGE (RAGE) and toll-like receptor (TLR)4 to enhance phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)–Akt–mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signalling, thereby impairing Treg stability and functionality. Indeed, high circulating levels of HMGB1 in human participants with type 1 diabetes contribute to Treg instability, suggesting that blockade of HMGB1 could be an effective therapy against type 1 diabetes in clinical settings. Conclusions/interpretation: The present data support the possibility that HMGB1 could be a viable therapeutic target to prevent the initiation, progression and recurrence of autoimmunity in the setting of type 1 diabetes., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The efficient conversion of solar energy into heat for steam generation has been regarded as a promising strategy toward energy harvesting and water desalination. While many efforts have been devot...

Eco-approach and departure (EAD) systems in connected vehicles are capable of providing the speed recommendations to drivers so that vehicles can pass through successive intersections at the appropriate instants to save time and energy. However, most of existing control strategies and global optimization algorithms for EAD systems have extremely high requirements for computational resources, which make EAD systems not easy to popularize and apply to real vehicles. To overcome this problem, this paper designs a traffic flow prediction model based on deep learning regression machine, and establishes a dynamic effective red-light duration model based on traffic flow queuing effect. To facilitate real-time update of the optimal speed, a constrained optimization model is proposed as an approximation approach, which can obtain similar optimal results to that of the pseudo-spectral method while greatly reducing calculating time. The effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm for EAD system on passing intersections and energy saving has been validated on the real vehicle under real-world traffic environment. Compared with the uninformed driver, the proposed EAD system saves 2% time and 4.6% energy on average in case that driver is informed and 8% time and 12.1% energy in case of autonomous driving.

Background: In recent years, the number of visits to Crohn's disease (CD) has gradually increased, but its pathogenesis is still unclear1.This research aimed to explore the potential molecular pathways and immune disorders of CD.Methods:The two gene datasets of GSE83448 and GSE95095 were used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in our study. We also carried out the function enrichment analyses of DEGs between the CD group and the control group.xCell is used to identify the types of lymphocytes in the microenvironment. Subsequently, the correlation analysis between potential enrichment pathways and lymphocyte infiltration in the microenvironment was performed. We mined 944 DEGs (321 up-regulated and 623 down-regulated) and 1467 DEGs (781 up-regulated and 686 down-regulated) in the GSE83448 and GSE95095 datasets, respectively. Results: Comprehensive analysis shows that: the Focal adhesion and ECM−receptor interaction are the main significant enrichment pathways. xCell analysis identified significantly altered immune cells in CD, Th17cells, included pDC, Th1cells, Blood vessels, Macrophages, NK CD56dim cells, Tem, NK cells, NK CD56bright cells, Lymph vessels. The enrichment scores of Focal adhesion and ECM-receptor interaction signaling pathways in the CD intestinal mucosa were significantly correlated with the abundance of immune cells in the two sets of data. Conclusions:These data suggest the important role of Focal adhesion and ECM-receptor interaction signal transduction pathways in CD, and the intimate relationship between these two pathways and specific types of immune cell infiltration.This study confirmed the potential molecular pathways and immune disorders in CD.

Dual-reflux pressure swing adsorption (DR PSA) processes using a kinetically nitrogen selective molecular sieve carbon, MSC-3K 172, were investigated for the removal of nitrogen from a gas mixture consisting of 75 mol% CH4 + 25 mol% N2. The four DR PSA configurations (PL-A, PH-A, PL-B and PH-B) were experimentally demonstrated and compared in terms of their nitrogen rejection and methane recovery performance. The experimental results indicated the PH-B configuration in general performed the best in terms of the methane product purity and recovery using the kinetic MSC-3K 172 adsorbent. A non-isothermal numerical model was constructed for the kinetic DR PSA process to simulate and optimise the performance of the PH-B configuration. Model predicted gas loadings on the adsorbent indicated that selectively removing nitrogen from methane was feasible when a feed step time close to the characteristic adsorption time of nitrogen was selected. The effective usage of the adsorption bed in the PH-B configuration was also numerically studied via the capacity ratio C , with the feed step time and light reflux flow as key operational parameters, at fixed heavy product-to-feed ratio, bed pressure ratio and feed location. The numerical model for the PH-B configuration was also employed to study the effect of pressure in the purge step beyond those conditions accessible in the experiment. The simulation results revealed that the PH-B configuration could achieve a separation performance of 90 mol% CH4 in the light product with 90% CH4 recovery when the pressure in the light purge column was lower than 40 kPa while the adsorption pressure was maintained at 500 kPa. This result opens new opportunities for efficiently upgrading sub-quality natural gas reserves.

AIM: To evaluate the effect of different lens constant optimization methods on the accuracy of intraocular lens (IOL) power calculation formulas for highly myopic eyes. METHODS: This study comprised 108 eyes of 94 consecutive patients with axial length (AL) over 26 mm undergoing phacoemulsification and implantation of a Rayner (Hove, UK) 920H IOL. Formulas were evaluated using the following lens constants: manufacturer's lens constant, User Group for Laser Interference Biometry (ULIB) constant, and optimized constant for long eyes. Results were compared with Barrett Universal II formula, original Wang-Koch AL adjustment method, and modified Wang-Koch AL adjustment method. The outcomes assessed were mean absolute error (MAE) and percentage of eyes with IOL prediction errors within ±0.25, ±0.50, and ±1.0 diopter (D). The nonparametric method, Friedman test, was used to compare MAE performance among constants. RESULTS: Optimized constants could significantly reduce the MAE of SRK/T, Hoffer Q, and Holladay 1 formulas compared with manufacturer's lens constant, whereas the percentage of eyes with IOL prediction errors within ±0.25, ±0.50, and ±1.0 D had no statistically significant differences. Optimized lens constant for long eyes alone showed non-significant refractive advantages over the ULIB constant. Barrett Universal II formula and formulas with AL adjustment showed significantly higher accuracy in highly myopic eyes (P

Successful prevention and treatment of hypertension depend on the appropriate combination of antihypertensive drug therapy and nondrug lifestyle modification. While most hypertension guidelines recommend moderate- to high-intensity exercise, we decided to explore a mild yet effective type of exercise to add to hypertension management, especially in populations with complications or frailty. After comparing the short-term cardiovascular effects of low-speed walking versus high-speed walking for 3 kilometers (km) (3 km/h versus 6 km/h) in young, healthy volunteers, we delivered low-speed walking (low-intensity walking, 2.5 metabolic equivalents of task, METs) as exercise therapy in 42 prehypertensive and 43 hypertensive subjects. We found that one session of 3 km low-intensity walking exerted a transient pressure-lowering effect as well as a mild negative chronotropic effect on heart rate in both the prehypertensive and hypertensive subjects; these short-term benefits on blood pressure and heart rate were accompanied by a brief increase in urine β-endorphin output. Then we prescribed regular low-intensity walking with a target exercise dose (exercise volume) of 500–1000 METs·min/week (50–60 min/day and 5–7 times/week) in hypertensive subjects in addition to their daily activities. Regular low-intensity walking also showed mild but significant blood pressure-lowering and heart rate-reducing effects in 7 hypertensive subjects within two months. It is hypothesized that regular low-intensity exercise of the necessary dose could be taken as a pragmatic and supplementary medication for hypertension management.

Objective. To investigate the association between KRAS/NRAS/BRAF mutations and metabolic parameters of pretreatment 18F-FDG PET/CT in colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods. A total of 85 patients with CRC were included in the study. PET/CT was performed in all the patients before surgery. The histopathological examination and analysis of the gene mutational status of the primary tumor were conducted. The associations among clinical features, PET metabolic parameters, and the gene mutational status were investigated. Moreover, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for maximum standard uptake value (SUVmax) of the primary tumor were generated along with analysis of the target tissue to nontarget tissue ratio (T/NT) for predicting the efficacy of KRAS/NRAS/BRAF mutations in CRC. Finally, the corresponding area under the curve, the optimal cutoff value, and the corresponding sensitivity and specificity were obtained. Results. The mutation rate of KRAS/NRAS/BRAF was 54.12% (46/85). In addition, both SUVmax and T/NT were significantly higher in the KRAS/NRAS/BRAF-mutation groups compared to the wild-type group (15.88 ± 6.71 vs. 12.59 ± 5.79, 8.04 ± 3.03 vs. 6.38 ± 2.80; P = 0.012 and 0.004, respectively). Results from the ROC curve also showed that the cutoff values for T/NT and SUVmax were 5.14 and 12.40, respectively, while the predictive accuracy was 0.682 and 0.647, respectively. On the other hand, the sensitivity was 91.30% and 65.22% while the specificity was 43.59% and 64.10%, respectively. Moreover, univariate analysis showed that the KRAS/NRAS/BRAF mutation was not significantly associated with gender, age, lesion location, tumor length, pathological type, tissue differentiation, and UICC staging (all P > 0.05 ). Conclusion. T/NT ratio and SUVmax could be the potential surrogate imaging indicators to predict the KRAS/NRAS/BRAF mutational status in CRC patients.

Follow the development of electronic manufacturing for future microelectronics application where cleanliness of the process is becoming substantial concern, a new oxide replacement process is developed. This work demonstrates a newly developed oxide replacement process (MOR HP) achievement with sludge free etching solution as the focus. While, basic performances for inner-layer bonding still can be maintained in the same quality as the conventional oxide replacement (COR) system. Those are: excellent uniformity of surface cosmetic, excellent adhesion and thermal reliability of inner-layer bonding, superior acid resistance serves an excellent protection against pink ring and wedge void. Furthermore, a brief proposal of sludge formation and prevention in oxide replacement system is also presented. This new developed oxide replacement process shows great operational benefits, where having the process significantly reduce equipment maintenance and downtime frequency due to sludge free characteristic. It is showing the best approach to be adapted in surface treatment process to meet the high process cleanliness requirements of mSAP Production

Background Underwater endoscopic mucosal resection (UEMR) is a promising strategy for nonpedunculated colorectal polyp removal. However, the efficacy and safety of the technique for the treatment of ≥ 10-mm colorectal polyps remain unclear. We aimed to comprehensively assess the efficacy and safety of UEMR for polyps sized 10–19 mm and ≥ 20 mm. Methods PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library databases were searched for relevant articles from January 2012 to November 2019. Primary outcomes were the rates of adverse events and residual polyps. Secondary outcomes were the complete resection, en bloc resection, and R0 resection rates. Results 18 articles including 1142 polyps from 1093 patients met our inclusion criteria. The overall adverse event and residual polyp rates were slightly lower for UEMR when removing colorectal polyps of 10–19 mm vs. ≥ 20 mm (3.5 % vs. 4.3 % and 1.2 % vs. 2.6 %, respectively). The UEMR-related complete resection rate was slightly higher for colorectal polyps of 10–19 mm vs. ≥ 20 mm (97.9 % vs. 92.0 %). However, the en bloc and R0 resection rates were dramatically higher for UEMR removal of polyps of 10–19 mm vs. ≥ 20 mm (83.4 % vs. 36.1 % and 73.0 % vs. 40.0 %, respectively). In addition, univariate meta-regression revealed that polyp size was an independent predictor for complete resection rate (P = 0.03) and en bloc resection (P = 0.01). Conclusions UEMR was an effective and safe technique for the removal of ≥ 10-mm nonpedunculated colorectal polyps. However, UEMR exhibited low en bloc and R0 resection rates for the treatment of ≥ 20-mm polyps.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of interleukin (IL)-21 and B cell lymphoma protein-6 on germinal center follicular helper T (Tfh) cells and follicular regulatory T (Tfr) cells and its relationship with the clinical features of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).Methods: The expression of peripheral blood cytokines IL-21 and Bcl-6 mRNA was detected by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction. The distribution characteristics of Tfh and Tfr cells were detected using the triple immunofluorescence staining analysis.Results: The expression of IL-21 and Bcl-6 mRNA was upregulated in the ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn disease (CD) groups compared with that in the control group. Triple immunofluorescence staining showed that the number of Tfh cells in the intestinal germinal center obviously increased in the UC and CD groups compared with that in the control group, whereas the number of Tfr cells reduced.Conclusion: This study suggested that the Tfr and Tfh cells might be involved in the regulation of IBD. Bcl-6 and IL-21 can regulate the Tfh/Tfr ratio in the intestinal germinal center, promoting the occurrence and development of IBD.

Objective As a subgroup of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), patients with non-obese NAFLD may also have an increased risk of adverse hepatic and metabolic outcomes. We aimed to estimate the prevalence and incidence of non-obese NAFLD and to describe its clinical characteristics in this systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods We performed a systematic search of 1235 citations published up to Mar 2020. Meta-analyses, stratified analyses and meta-regression were all performed. Results Of the 46 studies included, 28 cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of 155 846 non-obese participants reported a pooled NAFLD prevalence of 14.5% (95% confidence interval [CI] 12.3%-17.1%). A multivariate meta-regression analysis showed the trend that the prevalence varied by their geographical location. Further stratified analyses showed that NAFLD was relatively prevalent among people aged ≥45 years (16.2%; 95% CI 10.8-23.4) and those in South America (25.7%; 95% CI 24.4-27.0). The PNPLA3 rs738409 gene polymorphism was more frequently observed in non-obese NAFLD than in both obese NAFLD and non-obese controls, while the metabolic profiles of non-obese NAFLD were less severe than those of the obese NAFLD group. Patients with non-obese NAFLD had 4.81-fold and 5.43-fold higher risk of diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome, respectively, than the non-obese controls. Conclusions Non-obese NAFLD is common, particularly in South America and among people aged ≥45 years. Metabolic diseases and PNPLA3 rs738409 gene polymorphism are more frequent in the non-obese NAFLD group than in non-obese controls.

We investigate the impact of observing peers’ information acquisition on financial analysts’ attention allocation. Using the timely disclosure mandate by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange as a setting, we find that, when analysts can observe that a firm is visited by other analysts, they allocate less attention to it. This finding is consistent with the conjecture that the timely disclosure reveals the relative information advantage of visiting analysts, leading nonvisiting analysts to reallocate their attention. Further evidence suggests that the timely disclosure has positive externalities in the form of increased attention and improved informational efficiency for nonvisited peer firms, especially those with low analyst following.

We examine whether the information content of the earnings report, as captured by the earnings response coefficient (ERC), increases when investors’ uncertainty about the manager's reporting objectives decreases, as predicted in Fischer and Verrecchia (2000). We use the 2006 mandatory compensation disclosures as an instrument to capture a decrease in investors’ uncertainty about managers’ incentives and reporting objectives. Employing a difference-in-differences design and exploiting the staggered adoption of the new rules, we find a statistically and economically significant increase in ERC for treated firms relative to control firms, largely driven by profit firms. Cross-sectional tests suggest that the effect is more pronounced in subsets of firms most affected by the new rules. Our findings represent the first empirical evidence of a role of compensation disclosures in enhancing the information content of financial reports.

Objectives Allergic rhinitis (AR), a common chronic inflammatory disease in the upper airways. The prevalence of AR in children seems to be increasing recently, and the most significant causes of the increase are thought to be changes in environmental factors, especially air pollution. However, we could not find any meta-analysis on the risk of air pollution exposure on the prevalence of AR in childhood. The aim of this research was to carry out a meta-analysis on the results of recent studies (21 s t century) to present valid information about exposure to air pollution and risk of prevalence of childhood AR. Methods PubMed, Science, Google Scholar, Elsevier and MDPI web database were searched up to January 1, 2000 to February 28, 2018. Including of air pollution and AR in childhood related to the observation of literature. Meta-analysis, study quality assessment, heterogeneity analysis and publication bias test were using Stata-MP 14.1 and Review Manager version 5.3 software. Results 13 studies will be included in the meta-analysis (8 cross-sectional studies, 5 cohort studies). Exposure to NO2 (OREurope = 1.031, 95%CI [1.002,1.060], P = 0.033; ORAsia = 1.236, 95%CI [1.099,1.390], P = 0.000; ORoverall = 1.138, 95%CI [1.052,1.231], P = 0.001); Exposure to SO2 (OREurope = 1.148, 95%CI [1.030,1.279], P = 0.012; ORAsia = 1.044, 95%CI [0.954,1.142], P = 0.352; ORoverall = 1.085, 95%CI [1.013,1.163], P = 0.020); Exposure to PM10 (OREurope = 1.190, 95%CI [1.092,1.297], P = 0.000; ORAsia = 1.075, 95%CI [0.995,1.161], P = 0.066; ORoverall = 1.125, 95%CI [1.062,1.191], P = 0.000); Exposure to PM2.5 (OREurope = 1.195, 95%CI [1.050,1.360], P = 0.007; ORAsia = 1.163, 95%CI [1.074,1.260], P = 0.000; ORoverall = 1.172, 95%CI [1.095,1.254], P = 0.000). Conclusions Exposed to air pollution probable is a risk of prevalence of childhood AR. And the prevalence of AR will be increase when exposed to NO2, SO2, PM10 and PM2.5, but maybe the relationship between SO2/PM10 and prevalence of AR are not closely in Asia.

Polymeric scaffolds have attracted great interests in recent years, due to their fascination with a large variety of examples with promising utilization. Recently, extensive efforts have been devoted to the exploitation of robust and functional polymer-based biomaterial scaffolds with high efficiency. The recent entry of so-called "click" reactions that include kinds of selective and orthogonal reactions under mild conditions have generated real stimulus not only in preparing elegant bioactive materials of choice but also in making the leap to industrial scale build-up of multifunctional products. In this review paper, we account several kinds of polymeric scaffolds prepared/modified via "click" reactions, with emphasis on their synthetic/functionalized strategies, tunable properties, and biomedical applications.

// Jian-Ying Zeng 1 , Xiang-Hao Piao 2 , Zhong-Yuan Zou 2 , Qing-Feng Yang 2 , Zi-Lin Qin 3 , Ji-Bing Chen 1 , Liang Zhou 4 , Li-Zhi Niu 4 and Jian-Guo Liu 4 1 Central Laboratory, Affiliated Fuda Cancer Hospital, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510665, P.R. China 2 Department of Intervention, Affiliated Fuda Cancer Hospital, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510665, P.R. China 3 School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, P.R. China 4 Department of Surgical Oncology, Affiliated Fuda Cancer Hospital, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510665, P.R. China Correspondence to: Xiang-Hao Piao, email: kzgdo-01@163.com Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma; transarterial chemoembolization; cryoablation; hepasphere microsphere; doxorubicin Received: November 02, 2017 Accepted: January 03, 2018 Published: January 08, 2018 ABSTRACT This study aimed to explore the efficacy and safety of drug-eluting bead (DEB) embolization (DEB-TACE) when combined with cryoablation in the treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The study was a single-center randomized controlled trial comprised of 60 patients with HCC conducted between August 2015 and October 2017. The patients were randomly divided into two groups: DEB-TACE combined with cryoablation (DEB-TACE-Cryo group) or cryoablation alone (Cryo group). Inter-group differences in overall survival, progression-free survival, and adverse reactions were assessed. The operative success rates were 82.7% and 77.4% in the DEB-TACE-Cryo group and Cryo group, respectively, with no operative mortality. The overall survival and progression-free survival in the DEB-TACE-Cryo group were significantly higher than those in the Cryo group (16.8 months vs.13.4 months, P = 0.0493; 8.1 months vs. 6.0 months, P = 0.0089, respectively). The postoperative complications in the two groups were rated as grade 1 or grade 2, according to guidelines set by the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events Version 4.0 (CTCAE V4.0). We demonstrated that DEB-TACE combined with cryoablation was effective, well tolerated, and had a low complication rate. Therefore, this combination therapy may be a better choice for the treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.

Digital twinning technology originated in the field of aerospace. The real-time and bidirectional feature of data interaction guarantees its advantages of high accuracy, real-time performance and scalability. In this paper the digital twin technology was introduced to electric vehicle energy consumption research. First, an energy consumption model of an electric vehicle of BAIC BJEV was established, then the model was optimized and verified through the energy consumption data of the drum test. Based on the data of the vehicle real-time monitoring platform, a digital twin model was built, and it was trained and updated by daily new data. Eventually it can be used to predict and verify the data of vehicle. In this way the prediction of energy consumption of vehicles can be achieved.

The continuous demand for novel hybrid materials in specific technological applications inspires people to develop new synthetic strategies in a modular and efficient way. In the recent years, extensive efforts have been devoted to using polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) to construct multifunctional nanohybrids and nanocomposites with tunable hierarchical structures and unparalleled properties. The shape-persistent nanostructure and diverse surface chemistry make those nanocaged materials ideal building blocks for such purposes. Functionalization of POSS cages are further facilitated by the introduction of “click” chemistry at the beginning of this century. “Click” reactions include several kinds of selective and orthogonal chemical ligations with high efficiency under mild reaction conditions. The concept has generated real stimulus not only in elegantly preparing materials of choice, but in making the leap from laboratory to industrial scale-up of POSS-based hybrid materials as well.

A number of studies on learning Bayesian networks have emphasized the importance of exploiting regularities in conditional probability distributions, i.e., local structure. In this paper, we encode local structures as linear combinations of Boolean functions. By using Lasso, we can simultaneously estimate the structure and parameters of the networks from limited data. We demonstrate that the method leads to improved performance in terms of structural correctness as well as prediction score even when the local structure in the underlying model is only implicit.

This study proposed two velocity prediction methods based on updated transition probability matrix (TPM), including Nearest Neighbor Method (NNM) and Fuzzy Set-based Encoding Scheme (FSES). Comparison of mean square errors indicated that the latter offers better prediction accuracy. Reinforcement learning (RL) is applied to select prediction horizon. The results of fuel consumption showed that 7-step prediction horizon is reasonable for model prediction control in the future studies.

This study explored the feasibility of using the Radau pseudospectral method (RPM) to optimize the energy management strategy for a hybrid tracked vehicle. The engine–generator set and the battery pack of the serial hybrid tracked vehicle were modeled and validated through the bench test. A DC-DC converter was equipped between the battery pack and the DC bus in this hybrid powertrain, which increased the flexibility of energy distribution between the engine–generator set and the battery. It was simplified as a voltage regulator in the hybrid powertrain model. The power demand during the vehicle operation was calculated according to the vehicle dynamics and driving schedules. The optimal control problem was formulated to minimize the fuel consumption through regulating the power distribution properly between the engine–generator set and battery pack during a typical driving schedule. The RPM was applied to transform the optimal control problem to a finite-dimensional constrained nonlinear programming problem. A comparison of the solutions from RPM and dynamic programming showed that the former offers the higher computation efficiency and better fuel economy.

Aims Few prospective studies have evaluated sex-specific pattern, natural progression of left ventricular (LV) remodelling, and diastolic dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). The aim of this study was to study the sex-specific prevalence, longitudinal changes of LV remodelling, and diastolic dysfunction in patients with T2DM. Further, the prognostic value of diastolic function in women and men was also evaluated. Methods and results A total of 350 patients with T2DM (mean age 61 ± 11 years; women, 48.3%) was recruited. Detailed echocardiography was performed at baseline and after 25 months. A major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) was defined as cardiovascular death, heart failure hospitalization, or myocardial infarction. Despite a similar age, prevalence of hypertension and body mass index, women had a higher prevalence of LV hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction at baseline and follow-up compared with men. A total of 21 patients developed MACE (5 cardiovascular death, 9 hospitalization for heart failure, and 7 myocardial infarction) during a median follow-up of 56 months. Women with diastolic dysfunction had a higher incidence of MACE than those with normal diastolic function but this association was neutral in men. Multivariable Cox-regression analysis indicated that diastolic dysfunction was associated with MACE in women [hazard ratio = 6.30; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.06–37.54; P < 0.05] but not men (hazard ratio = 2.29, 95% CI = 0.67–7.89; P = 0.19). Conclusion LV hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction, both at baseline and follow-up, were more common in women than men. Pre-clinical diastolic dysfunction was independently associated with MACE only in women with T2DM but was neutral in men.

Background & Aims: As a subpopulation of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), non-obese NAFLD may also have increased risk of adverse hepatic and metabolic outcomes. We estimated the prevalence of non-obese NAFLD and described its clinical characteristics. Methods: We performed a systematic search of 1,891 citations up to April 2019. Results: Of the 40 studies included, 29 cross-sectional/longitudinal studies comprising 157,904 non-obese subjects reported a pooled NAFLD prevalence of 15.8% (95% CI 13.3%-18.4%). In meta-regression analysis, mean age of the sample and year of data collection showed a positive relationship with the prevalence rates. No statistically significant differences were identified in non-obese NAFLD prevalence between Eastern and Western countries (15.5% vs 20.0%). The PNPLA3 rs738409 gene polymorphism was more frequent in non-obese NAFLD than in both non-obese controls and obese NAFLD, while the metabolic profiles of non-obese NAFLD were less severe than those of obese NAFLD. Patients with non-obese NAFLD had 5.29-fold and 5.43-fold higher risks for diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome than non-obese controls, respectively. Although non-obese patients had less severe liver histology, the pooled proportion of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and advanced fibrosis in non-obese NAFLD was 43.0% (95% CI 25.5%-60.6%) and 13.3% (95% CI 10.4%-16.1%), respectively. Conclusions: Non-obese NAFLD is common and is growing in prevalence. The prevalence of non-obese NAFLD may be similar between Eastern and Western countries. Metabolic diseases and PNPLA3 rs738409 gene polymorphism are more frequent in non-obese NAFLD than in non-obese controls. Meanwhile, NASH and advanced fibrosis are not uncommon in non-obese NAFLD. Funding Statement: This study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Plan “Precision Medicine Research” (2017YFSF090203) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81470840, 81600464, 81873565). Declaration of Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. Ethical Approval Statement: Not required.

Background and Aims Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, now renamed metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), is common in obese patients. Intragastric balloon (IGB), an obesity management tool with low complication risk, might be used in MAFLD treatment but there is still unexplained heterogeneity in results across studies. Methods We conducted a systematic search of 152 citations published up to September 2020. Meta-analyses, stratified analyses, and meta-regression were performed to evaluate the efficacy of IGB on homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), and to identify patients most appropriate for IGB therapy. Results Thirteen observational studies and one randomized controlled trial met the inclusion criteria (624 participants in total). In the overall estimate, IGB therapy significantly improved the serum markers change from baseline to follow-up [HOMA-IR: 1.56, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.16–1.95; ALT: 11.53 U/L, 95% CI=7.10–15.96; AST: 6.79 U/L, 95% CI=1.69–11.90; GGT: 10.54 U/L, 95% CI=6.32–14.75]. In the stratified analysis, there were trends among participants with advanced age having less change in HOMA-IR (1.07 vs. 1.82). The improvement of insulin resistance and liver biochemistries with swallowable IGB therapy was no worse than that with endoscopic IGB. Multivariate meta-regression analyses showed that greater HOMA-IR loss was predicted by younger age (p=0.0107). Furthermore, effectiveness on ALT and GGT was predicted by basal ALT (p=0.0004) and GGT (p=0.0026), respectively. Conclusions IGB is effective among the serum markers of MAFLD. Younger patients had a greater decrease of HOMA-IR after IGB therapy.

Solar steam generation is an emerging strategy for water desalination using renewable solar energy and seawater resources. In order to convert solar energy into heat for seawater evaporation, we developed a bi-layered structure composite for high-efficient solar evaporation based on photothermal-enhanced arginine-doped polydopamine (APDA) and raw wood, which are biodegradable and sustainable. Note that the APDA coating layer exhibited improved optical absorption and photothermal conversion ability compared with conventional polydopamine (PDA) coating on account of the construction of donor-acceptor pairs within the APDA microstructure system. Density functional theory (DTF) calculation further confirmed that the energy bandgap of APDA could be narrowed though donor-acceptor microstructures and then enhanced the absorption spectrum. The resulting APDA-wood composite performed a solar vapor generation efficiency of ~77% on the condition of 1 sun illumination. The water evaporation process was quite stable over 100 cycles and the metal ions in seawater were almost eliminated after desalination. This amino acid-initiated cost-effective and facile coating method provided new opportunities to fabricate photothermal-enhanced coating materials for solar evaporation applications.

Refractory and resistant hypertension is defined as hypertension that is uncontrolled despite the use of multiple antihypertensives. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the prevalence, both in young and elderly, and the pattern of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in South-Eastern Chinese patients with refractory, resistant and non-resistant hypertension.A total of 1455 patients (age 60.3 ± 13.9, male 55.7%) with essential hypertension were recruited. Refractory hypertension was defined as uncontrolled blood pressure (systolic/diastolic, ≥140/90 mm Hg) on ≥5 antihypertensive drug classes. Resistant hypertension was defined as uncontrolled blood pressure (systolic/diastolic, ≥140/90 mm Hg) on 3 or140/90 mm Hg on ≥4 antihypertensive classes.Among the total population, 1273 (87.4%) patients were considered non-resistant hypertension; 170 (11.7%) with resistant hypertension and 12 (0.8%) with refractory hypertension. The prevalence of the three groups of hypertension were similar between patients age60 or ≥60. Patients with refractory hypertension had the most dilated LV dimension, greatest left ventricular mass index and highest prevalence of diastolic dysfunction than patients with resistant and non-resistant hypertension. In particular, all patients with refractory hypertension had either concentric or eccentric LVH.In South-Eastern Chinese patients, the prevalence of refractory and resistant hypertension was 0.8% and 11.7%, respectively. Furthermore, no difference was observed in the hypertensive patterns between patients age60 and ≥60. Importantly, patients with refractory hypertension had the worst LV remodeling with all suffering from either concentric or eccentric hypertrophy.

Battery characteristics vary with temperature and aging, it is necessary to identify battery parameters periodically for electric vehicles to ensure reliable State-of-Charge (SoC) estimation, battery equalization and safe operation. Aiming for on-board applications, this paper proposes a data pieces-based parameter identification (DPPI) method to identify comprehensive battery parameters including capacity, OCV (open circuit voltage)-Ah relationship and impedance-Ah relationship simultaneously only based on battery operation data. First a vehicle field test was conducted and battery operation data was recorded, then the DPPI method is elaborated based on vehicle test data, parameters of all 97 cells of the battery package are identified and compared. To evaluate the adaptability of the proposed DPPI method, it is used to identify battery parameters of different aging levels and different temperatures based on battery aging experiment data. Then a concept of “OCV-Ah aging database” is proposed, based on which battery capacity can be identified even though the battery was never fully charged or discharged. Finally, to further examine the effectiveness of the identified battery parameters, they are used to perform SoC estimation for the test vehicle with adaptive extended Kalman filter (AEKF). The result shows good accuracy and reliability.

It is imperative to explore the full carbon dioxide-saving potential for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. This paper seeks to examine the role of renewable energy and powertrain optimization in minimizing daily carbon emissions of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. A spectrum of influencing factors are investigated, including charging protocol, timing, on-road power management strategy, battery size, and carbon-emission intensity of the grid. A high-efficiency convex programming framework is harnessed to optimize a plug-in hybrid powertrain. Two originally important contributions evidently distinguish this work from existing efforts. First, diverse heuristic scenarios and concomitant weaknesses are elucidated, and the carbon reductions arising from renewable energy integration and the convex programming framework are quantified. The great importance of their synergy is accentuated, i.e., swiftly adapting charging/power management controls to wind intermittency. Second, battery health implication is explored for the optimal and heuristic scenarios, via a dynamic battery State-of-Health model.

The papers in this special section focus on the modeling and control of electrified vehicles and transportation services. Electrified vehicles, such as battery electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, expedite the paradigm shift towards sustainable transportation systems with reduced dependency on fossil fuels and reduced pollutants. The large-scale proliferation of electrified vehicle and transportation technologies is enabled with advancement in modeling, simulation, control, and optimization paradigms, system integration, mechatronic system diagnostics and prognostics, as well as economical incentives and public policy. The primary objective of this Special Issue is to promote the market penetration of electrified vehicles by providing timely solutions for pressing technological challenges in modeling, simulation, control, and optimization of electrified vehicles and transportation systems, including engines, power electronics, electric machines, energy storage devices, charging stations,mechatronics, driving conditions, and economic aspects. Th