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A facile one-pot method is proposed for the fabrication of yolk-shell mesoporous silica nanoparticles with high special surface area. The particle size can be well controlled by moderately tuning some experimental parameters.

Objectives: Given the improvements in antiretroviral therapy (ART) in recent years, more pediatric HIV patients receiving ART are reaching adolescence and adulthood. This study investigated the influence of poor virological response (low-level viremia (LLV) and virological failure (VF)) on the immune system of these patients. Methods: HIV-infected, ART-experienced pediatric patients (n = 206) were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. The patients were subdivided into school-age children/early adolescents, middle adolescents, and late adolescents/young adults according to their age, and further classified into virological suppression (VS), LLV, and VF groups according to plasma viral load (pVL) measurement. Thymic output, T cells subsets, and immune activation were analyzed by flow cytometry. Results: Compared with VS patients, VF patients displayed decreased CD4+ T cell counts, while LLV and VS patients had comparable CD4+ T cell counts regardless of age. Compared with VS patients, LLV and VF patients had higher percentages of CD8+HLA-DR+ and CD8+CD38high T cells, and the immune activation was positively correlated with pVL in VF and LLV patients. Thymic output levels (CD31+) and regulatory T cell subpopulations in LLV and VF patients were comparable to those in VS patients. LLV patients showed comparable percentages of T cell subsets (TN, TCM, TEMRA, and TEM) as VS patients in all age groups. Conclusions: LLV causes excessive immune activation although it does not impair T cell recovery or naïve-to-memory T cell conversion in pediatric patients living with HIV. Therefore, T cell immune activation should be monitored at the management of LLV during ART. Keywords: Pediatric HIV/AIDS, Antiretroviral therapy, Low-level viremia (LLV), Immune activation, Thymic output

For the flexible job shop scheduling problem with the goal of makespan, a mathematical model is established and a hybrid algorithm (GIWO) based on gray wolf and invasive weeds is proposed. In this paper, the intrusive weed optimization algorithm is embedded on the basis of the gray wolf algorithm to improve the algorithm’s global search and local search ability. And an effective initial population generation mechanism is added to improve the quality of the initial solution. A variable neighborhood search structure that adaptively changes according to the search is proposed. Finally, other improved gray wolf algorithms are compared with the algorithm in this paper through different benchmark instances. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm performs better than the other algorithms in effectiveness and superiority. The algorithm can effectively solve the flexible job shop scheduling problem.

A new scheduling algorithm based on improved genetic algorithm is presented to solve integrated scheduling problems in small batches of multiple complex products with different manufacturing and due dates. This algorithm virtualizes the schedule of multiple complex products into a single scheduling of one product by establishing a relationship matrix of operation of multiple products to facilitate complete optimization. In addition, novel coding, crossover, mutation, and encoding are designed for the improved genetic algorithm. The proposed integrated scheduling algorithm is tested by existing examples. Experimental results validate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed integrated scheduling algorithm.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

We report the design, analysis, fabrication, and measurement of a quad-band microwave metamaterial absorber that exhibits four distinct high absorption peaks at specific resonance frequencies. The proposed structure consists of a metallic hexagonal patch layer on top of a dielectric substrate with a metallic film as bottom layer. The simulation and experimental results show that the absorber presents four distinctive perfect (>90%) absorption peaks up to incidence angle of 40° for both transverse electric and transverse magnetic modes. The results prove that this kind of quad-band absorber has good performance over a wide incidence angle range and is polarization insensitive. Moreover, the experimental and numerical simulation results are essentially in agreement.

We developed a method that involved an asymmetric conjugate addition of secondary phosphines to α,β-unsaturated enones bearing β-2-pyridyl substituents catalyzed by a PCP pincer–Pd complex. The technique was established for the preparation of chiral P,N-compounds in excellent enantioselectivity (up to 99% ee) under mild conditions.

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide and early detection of cervical cancer is crucial to improve the performance of treatment. Autofluorescence arising from cells and tissues can provide information of cellular energy metabolism. Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) can be used to detect the metabolism change indicating the development of precancer. In this study, cervical unstained tissue sections obtained from patients were detected by FLIM, which exhibited the cellular morphology features as clear as the pathology images without using fluorescence probes, and the average lifetime of normal tissue samples was consistently lower than that of precancerous or cancerous samples. The results indicate that FLIM is a rapid and label-free tool with high sensitivity and specificity to detect cervical cancer and precancer.

Objectives/Hypothesis Whereas the impression that poor oral hygiene is linked to the development of sialolithiasis may be widely accepted, very few studies provide evidence to support this. This study therefore aimed to evaluate the association between chronic periodontitis (CP) and the subsequent development of salivary gland stone based on a nationwide coverage database. Study Design A case-control study. Methods A total of 987 subjects with sialolithiasis were included as cases. In a ratio of five controls per case, 4,935 controls matched in terms of sex and age group were selected. Conditional logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the possible association of sialolithiasis with previously diagnosed CP. Results The prevalence of prior CP between cases and controls demonstrated that 1,831 (30.9%) out of the 5,922 sampled subjects had prior CP. By Chi-square test, there was a significant difference in the prevalence of prior CP between the cases and controls (36.8% vs. 29.7%, P

Ischemic tolerance is an endogenous protective mechanism that refers to the ability of a sublethal stimulus to induce tolerance to a subsequent lethal ischemic injury. It was first demonstrated in neuronal cells of the gerbil hippocampus (1), after which it has aroused a considerable interest as a possible therapeutic modality for ischemic brain diseases. However, to expose patients to brief periods of ischemia is both impractical and unsafe. Chemical preconditioning substances that can induce ischemic tolerance, such as endotoxins, cytokines, metabolic inhibitors, potassium, chloride, and neurotoxin 3-nitro-propionic acid (1-5) have also been investigated but were found to have limited clinical application due to toxicity and side effects. A variety of experimental models of cerebral ischemia have found that hyperbaric oxygen preconditioning (HBOP) induces ischemic tolerance and attenuates cerebral injury (6-17). Its protective effect is also visible in other conditions leading to oxidative stress, with final anti-apoptotic result, as well as modulation of neutrophin and immune systems (6-17). The blood-brain barrier (BBB), a highly selective permeability barrier, consists of tight junctions (TJ) between capillary endothelial cells, the basal lamina, pericytes, and astrocyte end-feet (18). It plays an important role in maintaining cerebral homeostasis by restricting molecular movement from the cerebral capillaries to the brain tissue. BBB breakdown can result in a vasogenic edema, hemorrhage, and neuronal cell death, all of which can contribute to the pathophysiology of cerebral ischemic diseases (19). TJs between cerebral endothelial cells are formed by complex interactions of cytoskeletal proteins and tight junction proteins (TJPs), including claudins, occludin, zonula occludens (ZO), and cingulin (20). TJPs increase endothelial electrical resistance and decrease paracellular permeability (21). Changes in their expression can lead to the loss of BBB integrity and BBB breakdown (22). HBOP has been associated with reduced brain edema, decreased infarct volume, and improved neurological function (6-17), but it is not clear whether it directly affects the BBB, particularly TJPs expression. This should be clarified in order to find new therapeutic strategies to attenuate BBB permeability in cerebral ischemic disorders. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the HBOP effect on hypoxia-induced BBB breakdown in vitro and the changes of occludin and ZO-1 expression.

Patients with risk factors including younger age, mastoiditis, external ear disease, treatment by older surgeons, and concomitant mastoidectomy should receive detailed management to minimize the probability of re-operation for chronic otitis media (COM).Although COM remains a common ear disease requiring surgical intervention, its re-operation risks are less well-documented. This study aimed to compare patients with COM who underwent re-operation and those patients with no re-operation, and identify the risks of re-operation.This retrospective cohort study analyzed the trend of COM surgery from 1999-2009, and identified the re-operation risks of 18 895 patients with COM who underwent surgery from 2002-2006 using the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan.Among the study population, 129 patients underwent revision surgery during a 5.5 ± 1.5 year follow-up period. A univariate logistic regression analysis showed that the re-operation rate was significantly higher in patients under 18 years of age, those with mastoiditis, disorders of external ear, treatment by surgeons of 50-64 years of age, use of a very high volume surgeon, and combined surgery with mastoidectomy. A multivariate analysis further limited the re-operation risk factors to younger patients, those with mastoiditis, external ear disorders, treatment by older surgeons, and concomitant mastoidectomy.

In the above paper, the description of negative control (normal) samples in Section II-A “General tissue samples preparation” was incomplete. The correct and precise description is as following. We sincerely regret the error. For patients who had hysterectomies for benign uterine leiomyoma or adenomyosis, the negative control (normal) samples were obtained from healthy cervix without detectable pathologic change (n=10, Patient No. 1-10).

Rationale: We studied the feasibility of total arathyroidectomy(tPTX)+multi-point transplantation in the forearm for treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism. Considering the controversial nature of the appropriate timing for and location of this type of surgery, relevant research is relatively rare. Our experience may be a relatively successful one. Patient concerns: Our patient was a 28-year-old woman with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), who was on dialysis for 7 years, and a 2-year history of progressively aggravated bone pain. She also had hypercalcemia and hyperphosphatemia. Diagnoses: Given the patient's history of long-term dialysis, bone pain, high levels of intact parathyroid hormone(i-PTH) and hypercalcemia, we performed ultrasonography which showed solid nodules in the bilateral parathyroid glands. She was accordingly diagnosed with SHPT. Interventions: The patient underwent tPTX+multi-point subcutaneous transplantation in the forearm. Outcomes: Her i-PTH level dropped to < 300 pg/mL, and the symptoms of bone pain markedly reduced after surgery. Lessons: Total parathyroidectomy+multi-point subcutaneous transplantation in the forearm may be a reliable surgical approach for patients with ESRD.

This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) and MVP using a population-based dataset. Data for this case-control study were retrieved from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database. In total, 3399 cases of newly diagnosed SSNHL were identified. We used propensity score matching to select 3399 comparison patients (one for every case) from the same dataset. The selected matching variables included age, sex, monthly income, geographical location, urbanization level of the patient's residence, hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia. Chi-squared tests were used to compare differences in sociodemographic characteristics, while conditional logistic regression analyses were used to examine the association of SSNHL with previously diagnosed MVP. Of the 6798 sampled subjects, 131 (1.93%) patients had received a diagnosis of MVP prior to the index date. A significant difference in the prevalence of prior MVP between cases and controls (2.41% vs. 1.44%, p = 0.004) was observed. The conditional logistic regression analysis conditioned on gender, age, monthly income, urbanization level, geographic region, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and hypertension suggested that the odds ratio of prior MVP for cases was 1.69 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.18~2.42) compared to controls. Our study found that patients with MVP had a 1.69-fold higher risk of getting SSNHL compared to patients without MVP.

Large data centers consume huge electricity every year. The power constraint is key factor for data center operator to increase rack server density, meanwhile a lot of provisioned power is reserved as the safe margin to handle the rarely peak power demand or power source failure, leading to considerable power under-utilization as well as implicated performance loss comparing to design target. This paper studied the problem of rack power utilization from internet data centers and analyzed approaches to optimize rack power utilization for the rack equipped with rack wide battery backup system. The dynamic rack power provision (DRPP) is proposed to address rack power under-utilization problem without expanding rack power capacity and an autonomous power control algorithm is discussed. By using power capacity locked in battery backup system to handle the sporadic power spike, the dynamic rack power provision is able to provision more servers into the rack by keeping no change of rack power budget. At last, this paper discussed the evaluation methodology and presented the experimental results, covering density improvement, performance impacts, and battery capability. The results showed 15%–25% utilization improvement for the experimental cloud workloads with the method proposed by this paper.

Near infrared spectroscopy combined with chemometrics methods was used to distinguish Ganoderma lucidum samples collected from different origins, and a prediction model was established for rapid determine polysaccharides contents in these samples. The classification accuracy for training dataset was 96.87%, while for independent dataset was 93.33%; as for the prediction model, 5-fold cross-validation was used to optimize the parameters, and different signal processing methods were also optimized to improve the prediction ability of the model. The best square of correlation coefficients for training dataset was 0.965 4, and 0.851 6 for validation dataset; while the root-mean-square deviation values for training dataset and validation dataset were 0.018 5 and 0.023 6, respectively. These results showed that combining near infrared spectroscopy with suitable chemometrics approaches could accuracy distinguish different origins of G. lucidum samples; the established prediction model could precious predict polysaccharides contents, the proposed method can help determine the activity compounds and quality evaluation of G. lucidum.

Mathematical Modelling of Weld Phenomena 12, MM 12

The relationship between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) still remains unclear. This retrospective cohort study aimed to investigate the relationship between OSA and subsequent CRS using a population-based dataset. The study used data from the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005. We selected 971 patients with OSA for the study cohort and 4855 patients without OSA for the comparison cohort. Each patient was tracked for 5 years to determine those who were subsequently diagnosed with CRS. Stratified Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were performed to examine the association of OSA with subsequent CRS. The results revealed that 161 (2.76%) of the total sampled patients were subsequently diagnosed with CRS. Subsequent incidences of CRS were found in 64 (6.59%) patients with OSA and 97 (2.00%) patients without OSA. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of subsequent CRS for patients with OSA was 3.18 (95% confidence interval: 2.27~4.45) compared to those without OSA. Furthermore, the HR for CRS was similar for subjects with OSA for both genders (with an adjusted HR of 3.44 for males and 2.63 for females). We concluded that patients with OSA had a higher risk of subsequent CRS compared to patients without OSA regardless of sex.

A novel wideband dual-polarized antenna with complementary split-ring resonators (CSRRs) is presented in this letter. The antenna is composed of two cross printed dipole antennas vertically fixed on an aluminum plate as ground plane, which are excited by two similar microstrip baluns. Furthermore, in order to further broaden the impedance bandwidth, the CSRRs are innovatively etched on the printed dipole antennas. Measured results show that the proposed antenna achieves a $-$ 10-dB $\vert{{ S}_{11}}\vert$ with bandwidth of 1.02–2.03 GHz, and its port isolation is higher than $-$ 25 dB over the band of 1–2 GHz. Moreover, stable radiation pattern with a peak gain of 4.7–6.1 dBi is obtained within that band.

Canine adenovirus type 2 (CAV-2) has been used extensively as a vector for studying gene therapy and vaccine applications. We describe a simple strategy for generating a replication-competent recombinant CAV-2 using a backbone vector and a shuttle vector. The backbone plasmid containing the full-length CAV-2 genome was constructed by homologous recombination in Escherichia coli strain BJ5183. The shuttle plasmid, which has a deletion of 1478 bp in the nonessential E3 viral genome region, was generated by subcloning a fusion fragment containing the flanking sequences of the CAV-2 E3 region and expression cassette sequences from pcDNA3.1(+) into modified pUC18. To determine system effectiveness, a gene for enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) was inserted into the shuttle plasmid and cloned into the backbone plasmid using two unique NruI and SalI sites. Transfection of Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells with the recombinant adenovirus genome containing the EGFP expression cassette resulted in infectious viral particles. This strategy provides a solid foundation for developing candidate vaccines using CAV-2 as a delivery vector.

In order to research the thermomechanical behavior of multidisc friction pairs system, three dimensional model is established for numerical simulation under simulated braking process. Based on some accurate boundary conditions, the temperature fields and thermal stress fields of friction discs and separator discs are simulated using finite element method. The temperature fields and contact stress fields of friction disc and separator discs are obtained, and their regularities of distribution are studied spatially and historically. To verify the simulation results, an experimental investigation is carried out. The results offered references for analyzing failure forms and causes of the wet multidisc friction pairs system.

VxWorks operating system provides the technical foundation for the products development of DC protective measurement and control device for mass transit. According to technical requirements of products of DC protective measurement and control device for mass transit, this paper set up software and hardware implementation scheme and deeply analyzed the key technology such as task function division, message management, interrupt management and protection task realization.The successful application experience of this technology scheme has the guide meaning for the development of the similar products.