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IntroductionAs a developing country with the largest older adult population in the world, strengthening the research on falls among the older adults is undoubtedly an urgent item in China. This study aimed to explore the prevalence and risk factors associated with falls and injury from falls among community-dwelling older adults in Guangzhou, China, particularly focusing on their associations with chronic diseases.MethodsA total of 1,629 participants aged 65 years and above were selected from 11 counties in Guangzhou by the multi-stage stratified random sampling method in 2021. Socio-demographic characteristics, health and lifestyle factors, the status of falls, and injury from falls were measured by structured questionnaires through face-to-face interviews. Chi-square tests and logistic regression analysis were used to identify factors associated with falls and injury from falls. Chord diagrams were used to explore their associations with chronic diseases.ResultsA total of 251 participants (15.41%, 95% CI: 13.98%−17.25%) reported falls, and 162 participants (9.46%, 95% CI:7.72%−11.55%) indicated an injury from falls. Logistic regression analysis showed the results as follows: female patients (adjusted OR = 1.721, 95% CI: 1.681–1.761) aged ≥80 years (1.910, 1.847–1.975), unemployed (1.226, 1.171–1.284), uninsured (1.555, 1.448–1.671), average monthly household income of 2,001–4,000 CNY (1.878, 1.827–1.930), number of services provided by the community health center ≥13 times per year (1.428, 1.383–1.475), illness within 2 weeks (1.633, 1.595–1.672), high-intensity physical activity (2.254, 2.191–2.32), sedentary (1.094, 1.070–1.117), and number of chronic disease illnesses ≥3 (1.930, 1.870–1.993). Meanwhile, those risk factors were also associated with injury from falls. The older adults with medium-intensity physical activity were at lower risk (0.721, 0.705–0.737) of falls and higher risk (1.086, 1.057–1.117) of being injured from falls. Chord diagrams showed the correlations between chronic diseases and falls and injury from falls among community-dwelling older adults in Guangzhou, China.ConclusionThe high prevalence of falls is found among community-dwelling older adults in Guangzhou, China, which is related to multiple factors such as demographic variables, lifestyle, and health status, especially for chronic diseases. Therefore, targeted interventions should be developed and implemented urgently.

Directed cardiomyogenesis from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) has been greatly improved in the last decade but directed differentiation to pacemaking cardiomyocytes (CMs) remains incompletely understood. In this study, we demonstrated that inhibition of NODAL signaling by a specific NODAL inhibitor (SB431542) in the cardiac mesoderm differentiation stage downregulated PITX2c, a transcription factor that is known to inhibit the formation of the sinoatrial node in the left atrium during cardiac development. The resulting hiPSC-CMs were smaller in cell size, expressed higher pro-pacemaking transcription factors, TBX3 and TBX18, and exhibited pacemaking-like electrophysiological characteristics compared to control hiPSC-CMs differentiated from established Wnt-based protocol. The pacemaker-like subtype increased up to 2.4-fold in hiPSC-CMs differentiated with the addition of SB431542 relative to the control. Hence, Nodal inhibition in the cardiac mesoderm stage promoted pacemaker-like CM differentiation from hiPSCs. Improving the yield of human pacemaker-like CMs is a critical first step in the development of functional human cell-based biopacemakers.

With the rapid development of mobile services, big data, cloud services, and artificial intelligence, traditional network services cannot no longer meet the requirements of current network development and solve the problems of the resource allocation and scheduling ossification in the current network. Therefore, by using network virtualization technologies, we can provide the flexible network resource configuration information for users to reduce network cost and improve network resource efficiency. The required bandwidth resources of each virtual link are divided into different transmission line rate by employing mixed line rate splitting. We propose an optimized cost approach for Virtual Optical Network (VON) mapping based on mixed line rate. Simulation results show that the proposed optimized cost approach of VON mapping based on mixed line rate can achieve better optimization and balance in terms of the network cost, frequency slot occupation, the configuration of optical transponders, and optical regenerators.

With the rapid development of mobile services, big data, cloud services, and artificial intelligence, traditional network services cannot no longer meet the requirements of current network development and solve the problems of the resource allocation and scheduling ossification in the current network. Therefore, by using network virtualization technologies, we can provide the flexible network resource configuration information for users to reduce network cost and improve network resource efficiency. The required bandwidth resources of each virtual link are divided into different transmission line rate by employing mixed line rate splitting. We propose an optimized cost approach for Virtual Optical Network (VON) mapping based on mixed line rate. Simulation results show that the proposed optimized cost approach of VON mapping based on mixed line rate can achieve better optimization and balance in terms of the network cost, frequency slot occupation, the configuration of optical transponders, and optical regenerators.

Abstract The decay width of the $$D_s^{*}$$ D s ∗ meson is dominated by the electromagnetic mode $$D_s^*\rightarrow D_s \gamma $$ D s ∗ → D s γ , and it is thus the longest-lived charged vector meson. In light of this point, we perform the first QCD LCSRs calculation of $$D_s^{*}\rightarrow \phi $$ D s ∗ → ϕ helicity form factors and discuss the experiment potential of discovering exclusive $$D_s^{*}$$ D s ∗ weak decays. The main result is the partial decay widths, which read as $$\varGamma _{D_s^*\rightarrow l \nu } = 2.44 \times 10^{-12} \, \textrm{GeV}$$ Γ D s ∗ → l ν = 2.44 × 10 - 12 GeV , $$\varGamma _{D_s^*\rightarrow \phi l \nu } = (3.28^{+0.82}_{-0.71}) \times 10^{-14} \, \textrm{GeV}$$ Γ D s ∗ → ϕ l ν = ( 3 . 28 - 0.71 + 0.82 ) × 10 - 14 GeV , $$\varGamma _{D_s^{*} \rightarrow \phi \pi } = ( 3.81^{+1.52}_{-1.33} ) \times 10^{-14} \, \textrm{GeV}$$ Γ D s ∗ → ϕ π = ( 3 . 81 - 1.33 + 1.52 ) × 10 - 14 GeV and $$\varGamma _{D_s^{*}\rightarrow \phi \rho } = ( 1.16^{+0.42}_{-0.39} ) \times 10^{-13} \, \textrm{GeV}$$ Γ D s ∗ → ϕ ρ = ( 1 . 16 - 0.39 + 0.42 ) × 10 - 13 GeV . We show that these channels are promising in the near future, serving as the first experimental observation of weak decays of a vector meson, and would open up a new playground for precision test of the standard model.

Three kinds of 6061 aluminum alloy cast-rolled plates with Mg/Si mass ratios of 1.23, 1.45, and 1.7 are prepared using NF6–300 vertical twin-roll casting and rolling mill. Metallurgical microscope (OM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), room temperature tensile test, and other analysis methods studied the influence law and mechanism of Mg/Si ratio on the microstructure and texture of 6061 cast-rolled sheet. The best Mg/Si ratio cast-rolled sheet is then analyzed for formability. Research indicates that with increasing Mg/Si ratio, the grain size shows first decreasing and then increasing trend. Morphology of precipitated phases at the edge and the central of the sheet are different, however, the texture type has no obvious change, and a strong {112} 〈110〉 texture and weaker rotating cube {001} 〈110〉 texture is always observed. When the Mg/Si ratio is 1.45, the average grain size is the smallest, the edge size is 39.78 μ m, the central size is 31.31 μ m, and the precipitated phase is evenly distributed at the edge and central of the cast-rolled sheet. In addition, the elongation reaches 8.9%, the n-value is 0.072, and the r-value is 1.161 when the cast-rolled sheet reaches 90° along the cast-rolled direction under T6 state heat treatment.

IntroductionMultimode thermal therapy (MTT) is an innovative interventional therapy developed for the treatment of liver malignancies. When compared to the conventional radiofrequency ablation (RFA), MTT typically offers improved prognosis for patients. However, the effect of MTT on the peripheral immune environment and the mechanisms underlying the enhanced prognosis have yet to be explored. The aim of this study was to further investigate the mechanisms responsible for the difference in prognosis between the two therapies.MethodsIn this study, peripheral blood samples were collected from four patients treated with MTT and two patients treated with RFA for liver malignancies at different time points before and after the treatment. Single cell sequencing was performed on the blood samples to compare and analyze the activation pathways of peripheral immune cells following the MTT and RFA treatment. ResultsThere was no significant effect of either therapy on the composition of immune cells in peripheral blood. However, the differential gene expression and pathway enrichment analysis demonstrated enhanced activation of T cells in the MTT group compared to the RFA group. In particular, there was a remarkable increase in TNF-α signaling via NF-κB, as well as the expression of IFN-α and IFN-γ in the CD8+ effector T (CD8+ Teff) cells subpopulation, when compared to the RFA group. This may be related to the upregulation of PI3KR1 expression after MTT, which promotes the activation of PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway. ConclusionThis study confirmed that MTT could more effectively activate peripheral CD8+ Teff cells in patients compared with RFA and promote the effector function, thus resulting in a better prognosis. These results provide a theoretical basis for the clinical application of MTT therapy.