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To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Cidan Capsule combined with adjuvant transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in patients with a high risk of early recurrence after curative resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).A multicenter, randomized controlled trial was conducted in patients with high-risk recurrence factors after curative resection of HCC from 9 medical centers between July 2014 and July 2018. Totally 249 patients were randomly assigned to TACE with or without Cidan Capsule administration groups by stratified block in a 1:1 ratio. Postoperative adjuvant TACE was given 4-5 weeks after hepatic resection in both groups. Additionally, 125 patients in the TACE plus Cidan group were administrated Cidan Capsule (0.27 g/capsule, 5 capsules every time, 4 times a day) for 6 months with a 24-month follow-up. Primary endpoints included disease-free survival (DFS) and tumor recurrence rate (TRR). Secondary endpoint was overall survival (OS). Any drug-related adverse events (AEs) were observed and recorded.As the data cutoff in July 9th, 2018, the median DFS was not reached in the TACE plus Cidan group and 234.0 days in the TACE group (hazard ratio, 0.420, 95% confidence interval, 0.290-0.608; P0.01). The 1- and 2-year TRR in the TACE plus Cidan and TACE groups were 31.5%, 37.1%, and 60.8%, 63.4%, respectively (P0.01). Median OS was not reached in both groups. The 1- and 2-year OS rates in TACE plus Cidan and TACE groups were 98.4%, 98.4%, and 89.5%, 87.9%, respectively (P0.05). The most common grade 3-4 AEs included fatigue, abdominal pain, lumbar pain, and nausea. One serious AE was reported in 1 patient in the TACE plus Cidan group, the death was due to retroperitoneal mass hemorrhage and hemorrhagic shock, and was not related to study drug.Cidan Capsule in combination with TACE can reduce the incidence of early recurrence in HCC patients at high-risk of recurrence after radical hepatectomy and may be an appropriate option in postoperative anti-recurrence treatment. (Registration No. NCT02253511).

On the sustainable development of microcredit, some scholars emphasize the effect of its poverty alleviation, while some scholars emphasize the factors such as institutional innovation and government support. This paper argues that, because of double goals, namely, poverty alleviation and profitability, if there is no normal profit, the function of poverty alleviation is difficult to maintain. Therefore, profitability and market operation efficiency are the key to sustainable development of microcredit. First, we deduce the market conditions of the profitability of microcredit, and then use DEA technology to measure the market efficiency of microcredit, including technology efficiency (crste), pure technology efficiency (vrste) and scale efficiency (scale). The results show that the market efficiency of Chinese microcredit is low, so it is difficult for Chinese microcredit to sustainable development it cannot have sustainable development.

As one application of the Cauchy–Binet formula, the Ball–Barthe inequality plays a key role in solving reverse isoperimetric inequalities. Recently, a new Grassmannian Ball–Barthe inequality was es...

This paper is dedicated to study the sine version of polar bodies and establish the $L_p$-sine Blaschke-Santal\'{o} inequality for the $L_p$-sine centroid body. The $L_p$-sine centroid body $\Lambda_p K$ for a star body $K\subset\mathbb{R}^n$ is a convex body based on the $L_p$-sine transform, and its associated Blaschke-Santal\'{o} inequality provides an upper bound for the volume of $\Lambda_p^{\circ}K$, the polar body of $\Lambda_p K$, in terms of the volume of $K$. Thus, this inequality can be viewed as the "sine cousin" of the $L_p$ Blaschke-Santal\'{o} inequality established by Lutwak and Zhang. As $p\rightarrow \infty$, the limit of $\Lambda_p^{\circ} K$ becomes the sine polar body $K^{\diamond}$ and hence the $L_p$-sine Blaschke-Santal\'{o} inequality reduces to the sine Blaschke-Santal\'{o} inequality for the sine polar body. The sine polarity naturally leads to a new class of convex bodies $\mathcal{C}_{e}^n$, which consists of all origin-symmetric convex bodies generated by the intersection of origin-symmetric closed solid cylinders. Many notions in $\mathcal{C}_{e}^n$ are developed, including the cylindrical support function, the supporting cylinder, the cylindrical Gauss image, and the cylindrical hull. Based on these newly introduced notions, the equality conditions of the sine Blaschke-Santal\'{o} inequality are settled., Comment: Journal of Functional Analysis, in press

G-protein-coupled receptor 40 (GPR40) is highly expressed in pancreatic islets, and its activation increases glucose-stimulated insulin secretion from pancreas. Therefore, GPR40 is considered as a target for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Since nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with T2DM and GPR40 is also expressed by hepatocytes and macrophages, it is important to understand the role of GPR40 in NAFLD. However, the role of GPR40 in NAFLD in animal models has not been well defined. In this study, we fed wild-type or GPR40 knockout C57BL/6 mice a high-fat diet (HFD) for 20 wk and then assessed the effect of GPR40 deficiency on HFD-induced NAFLD. Assays on metabolic parameters showed that an HFD increased body weight, glucose, insulin, insulin resistance, cholesterol, and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and GPR40 deficiency did not mitigate the HFD-induced metabolic abnormalities. In contrast, we found that GPR40 deficiency was associated with increased body weight, insulin, insulin resistance, cholesterol, and ALT in control mice fed a low-fat diet (LFD). Surprisingly, histology and Oil Red O staining showed that GPR40 deficiency in LFD-fed mice was associated with steatosis. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that GPR40 deficiency also increased F4/80, a macrophage biomarker, in LFD-fed mice. Furthermore, results showed that GPR40 deficiency led to a robust upregulation of hepatic fatty acid translocase (FAT)/CD36 expression. Finally, our in vitro studies showed that GPR40 knockdown by siRNA or a GPR40 antagonist increased palmitic acid-induced FAT/CD36 mRNA in hepatocytes. Taken together, this study indicates that GPR40 plays an important role in homeostasis of hepatic metabolism and inflammation and inhibits nonalcoholic steatohepatitis by possible modulation of FAT/CD36 expression.

Background and aim: The molecular signatures of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) are not well understood. Centromere protein F (CENPF) has been shown to promote oncogenesis in many cancers; however, its role in LUAD has not been illustrated. We explored the role of CENPF in LUAD. Methods: CENPF expression level was investigated in public online database firstly, the prognosis of CENPF in LUAD were also assessed by Kaplan-Meier analysis. Then quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed using 13 matched pairs of clinical LUAD tissue samples. Subsequently, the impact of CENPF expression on cell proliferation, cell cycle, apoptosis, colony formation was investigated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT), flow cytometric analysis and colony formation assay, respectively. Finally, experimental xenograft lung cancer model of nude mice armpit of right forelimb to determine the effect of CENPF on LUAD tumorigenesis. Results: CENPF mRNA expression was significantly elevated in LUAD tissues compared with adjacent non-tumor lung tissues in Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) (P < 0.001). Up-regulated CENPF was remarkably positively associated with pathological stage, relapse free survival (RFS) as well as overall survival (OS) of LUAD patients. Besides, CENPF knockdown greatly suppressed A549 cell proliferation, induced S phase arrest, promoted apoptosis and decreased colony numbers of LUAD cells. Furthermore, knockdown of CENPF significantly inhibited the tumor growth of the LUAD cells in an experimental xenograft lung cancer model of nude mice armpit of right forelimb. Conclusion: Taken together, these results demonstrated that CENPF may serve as a potential biomarker of prognostic relevance and a potential therapeutic target for LUAD.

Based on potential flow theory, a dissipative semi-analytical solution is developed for the wave resonance in the narrow gap between a fixed floating box and a vertical wall by using velocity potential decompositions and matched eigenfunction expansions. The energy dissipation near the box is modelled in the potential flow solution by introducing a quadratic pressure loss condition on the gap entrance. Such a treatment is inspired by the classical local head loss formula for the sudden change of cross section in channel flow, where the energy dissipation is assumed to be proportional to the square of local velocity for high Reynolds number flows. The dimensionless energy loss coefficient is calibrated based on experimental data. And it is found to be insensitive to the incident wave height and wave frequency. With the calibrated energy loss coefficient, the resonant wave height in gap and the reflection coefficient are calculated by the present dissipative semi-analytical solution. The predictions are in good agreement with experimental data. Case studies suggest that the maximum relative energy dissipation occurs near the resonant frequency, which leads to the minimum reflection coefficient. The horizontal wave forces on the box and the vertical wall attain also maximum values near the resonant frequency, while the vertical wave force on the box decreases abruptly there to a small value.

The axial compressive strength of carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites (CFRP) is significantly lower than the tensile strength, which hinders its wide applications. The failure mechanism of CFRP under unidirectional compression parallel to the fiber alignment direction is complex, but research on this issue is limited. In order to understand this mechanism more deeply and intuitively, a two-dimensional microscopic numerical model is proposed. The influences of various properties of the fiber and matrix on the compressive strength of CFRP are investigated, including the axial elastic modulus of the fiber (Ef1), the transverse elastic modulus of the fiber (Ef2), the shear modulus of the fiber (Gf12), the elastic modulus of the matrix (Em), the proportional strength limit of the matrix (σp), the yield strength of the matrix (σs) and the degree of initial fiber misalignment. Results show that the model is capable of explaining the failure mechanism of CFRP under a unidirectional compressive load. Shear stress plays an important role in the compressive failure process. The localization of shear stress caused by initial fiber misalignment leads to plastic yield of the matrix and finally a kink band. Changes in these propertiesdirectly affect the concentration of shear stress in the defect areas, thereby affecting the compressive strength of the CFRP. When the values of Ef1, Ef2, Gf12, Em, σp, σs are separately increased by 10% or the degree of initial fiber misalignment is decreased by 10%, the compressive strength of CFRP is increased by 2.33%, 0%, 0.39%, 3.38%, 1.17%, 2.30% and 2.52% respectively. Em has the greatest influence on the compressive strength of CFRP, followed by the initial fibermisalignment. The effects of the plastic properties of the matrix on the compressive strength of CFRP are obvious.

Two-dimensional (2D) titanium carbide MXene Ti3C2 has attracted significant research interest in energy storage applications. In this study, we prepared Chl@Ti3C2 composites by simply mixing a chlorophyll derivative (e.g., zinc methyl 3-devinyl-3-hydroxymethyl-pyropheophorbide a (Chl)) and Ti3C2 in tetrahydrofuran, where the Chl molecules were aggregated among the multi-layered Ti3C2 MXene or on its surface, increasing the interlayer space of Ti3C2. The as-prepared Chl@Ti3C2 was employed as the anode material in the lithium-ion battery (LIB) with lithium metal as the cathode. The resulting LIB exhibited a higher reversible capacity and longer cycle performance than those of LIB based on pure Ti3C2, and its specific discharge capacity continuously increased along with the increasing number of cycles, which can be attributed to the gradual activation of Chl@Ti3C2 accompanied by the electrochemical reactions. The discharge capacity of 1 wt-% Chl@Ti3C2 was recorded to be 325 mA·h·g−1 at the current density of 50 mA·g−1 with a Coulombic efficiency of 56% and a reversible discharge capacity of 173 mA·h·g−1 at the current density of 500 mA·g−1 after 800 cycles. This work provides a novel strategy for improving the energy storage performance of 2D MXene materials by expanding the layer distance with organic dye aggregates.

Sharp inequalities of the parameterized functional $$U_j$$ for Borel measures on the unit sphere in $${\mathbb {R}}^n$$ are established. As two applications, some inequalities related to cone-volume measures and Schneider’s projection problem are obtained.

BACKGROUND Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a public health emergency of international concern. The global population lacks immunity to COVID-19 and is generally susceptible. Underlying conditions, especially chronic respiratory diseases, may affect progression, treatment and prognosis of COVID-19. CASE SUMMARY We report a patient with confirmed COVID-19 combined with asthma. It took 41 d from disease onset to discharge to obtain two negative tests for this coronavirus. CONCLUSION This case indicates the dynamic clinical characteristics, laboratory and computed tomography findings and adjustment of treatment, and the possible relationship between glucocorticoid therapy and coronavirus clearance.

This article studies water wave interaction with a submerged quarter-circular breakwater based on potential theory and multipole expansion method. The obliquely and normally incident waves are independently considered. The series solution of velocity potential in the external fluid domain is expressed through the multipole expansions, while the series solution of velocity potential in the quarter-circular internal fluid domain is obtained through the separation of variables. Then, the unknown coefficients in the series solutions are determined by matching the boundary conditions between external and internal fluid domains. The calculation methods for the reflection and transmission coefficients of the submerged quarter-circular breakwater as well as the horizontal and vertical wave forces on the breakwater are presented. The wave forces acting on the submerged breakwater with a seaside quarter-circular-arc and that with a leeside quarter-circular-arc are compared. The hydrodynamic quantities of the submerged quarter-circular breakwater are also compared with those of the submerged semi-circular breakwater. In addition, the effects of breakwater radius, incident frequency, and incident angle on the hydrodynamic quantities of the quarter-circular breakwater are clarified. Valuable results for practical engineering application are drawn.

SnO2 has been proven to be an effective electron transport layer (ETL) material for perovskite solar cells (PSCs) owing to its excellent electrical and optical properties. Here, we introduce a viable spray coating method for the preparation of SnO2 films. Then, we employ a SnO2 film prepared using the spray coating method as an ETL for PSCs. The PSC based on the spray-coated SnO2 ETL achieves a power conversion efficiency of 17.78%, which is comparable to that of PSCs based on conventional spin-coated SnO2 films. The large-area SnO2 films prepared by spray coating exhibit good repeatability for device performance. This study shows that SnO2 films prepared by spray coating can be applied as ETLs for stable and high-efficiency PSCs. Because the proposed method involves low material consumption, it enables the low-cost and large-scale production of PSCs.

This study examines the hydroelastic interaction between water waves and a flexible submerged perforated semi-circular breakwater based on linear potential theory. The breakwater is idealized as a bottom mounted perforated semi-circular Euler–Bernoulli beam with constant elasticity. The boundary condition on the flexible beam is derived from the equation of motion of the semi-circular beam, which is developed by the principle of virtual work. An analytical solution for wave interaction with the flexible breakwater is developed using multipole expansions. Also a numerical solution using multi-domain boundary element method (BEM) is developed for validation of the analytical solution, where the beam displacement is expressed as an integral representation involving unknown dynamic pressure difference between both sides of the beam using Green function technique. The convergence of the analytical solution is very rapid, and a few truncated terms yield results with five order of accuracy. Agreement between the analytical and numerical solutions is excellent. Features for hydrodynamic quantities of the flexible breakwater are examined by presenting typical calculation examples. Valuable results are drawn for engineering design of flexible structures.

Leptin administration into the hindbrain, and specifically the nucleus of the solitary tract, increases phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (pSTAT3), a marker of leptin receptor activation, in hypothalamic nuclei known to express leptin receptors. The ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (VMH) shows the greatest response, with a threefold increase in pSTAT3. This experiment tested the importance of VMH leptin receptor-expressing neurons in mediating weight loss caused by fourth ventricle (4V) leptin infusion. Male Sprague-Dawley rats received bilateral VMH 75-nL injections of 260 ng/μL of leptin-conjugated saporin (Lep-Sap) or blank-saporin (Blk-Sap). After 23 days they were fitted with 4V infusion cannulas and 1 wk later adapted to housing in a calorimeter before they were infused with 0.9 μg leptin/day for 14 days. There was no effect of VMH Lep-Sap on weight gain or glucose clearance before leptin infusion. Leptin inhibited food intake and respiratory exchange ratio in Blk-Sap but not Lep-Sap rats. Leptin had no effect on energy expenditure or brown adipose tissue temperature of either group. Inguinal and epididymal fat were significantly reduced in leptin-treated Blk-Sap rats, but the response was greatly attenuated in Lep-Sap rats. VMH pSTAT3 was increased in leptin-treated Blk-Sap but not Lep-Sap rats. These results support the concept that leptin-induced weight loss results from an integrated response across different brain areas. They also support previous reports that VMH leptin receptors do not play a significant role in maintaining energy balance in basal conditions but limit weight gain during positive energy balance.

Based on linear potential theory, this study develops an analytical solution to water wave scattering by a submerged perforated reef ball. The series solutions for velocity potentials in the external and internal fluid domains of the perforated reef ball are developed using the multipole expansions and the separation of variables, respectively. The unknowns in the series solutions are determined by matching the porous boundary condition on the perforated reef ball. Also a numerical solution using three-dimensional multi-domain boundary element method (BEM) is developed. The special case of an impermeable reef ball is also examined. The calculation methods for the horizontal and vertical wave forces acting on the reef ball and the free surface elevation around the reef ball are given. The convergence of the calculation results is very rapid, and the results with five-figure accuracy are obtained using a few truncated terms in the series solution. The results by the analytical solution agree well with that by the multi-domain BEM solution. Typical calculation examples are presented to examine the effects of reef ball radius, porous effect parameter of reef ball and incident wave frequency on the wave forces and the free surface elevation. The results of analysis are valuable for engineering design and application of reef balls. The present analytical solution gives a new reliable benchmark for three-dimensional numerical models to wave interactions with perforated structures. Moreover, better understanding on wave scattering by perforated structures can be obtained during the analytically solving procedure.

The aim of this study was to gain insight into the knowledge of, attitude toward, and practical experience with listeriosis among medical staff. In two hospitals in Fangshan, Beijing, 410 medical staff members were randomly selected using a random sampling method. Each selected staff member was invited to participate in a standardized questionnaire interview. In total, 397 valid questionnaires were collected. With regard to the staff members' general knowledge of listeriosis, they answered 65.96% of the items correctly. The knowledge scores among obstetricians and gynecologists were higher than those of other clinical doctors (

Corresponding to the Legendre ellipsoid and the LYZ ellipsoid, two new sine ellipsoids are introduced in this paper. These four ellipsoids are closely related in the Pythagorean relation and duality. Several volume inequalities and the valuation properties are obtained for two new ellipsoids.

The development and utilization of wave energy have great potentiality to alleviate the urgent problem of global energy shortage. Spherical bodies can be used as point absorbers to extract wave energy, and much attention has been paid to the performance of spherical absorbers in an open water domain. This study focuses on the hydrodynamic performance and energy absorption of multiple spherical absorbers in front of a straight coast. The coast is assumed to be a fully reflecting vertical wall, and all the absorbers are restricted to only heave motion. An analytical solution based on linear potential flow theory is developed for the problem of wave diffraction and radiation by multiple absorbers. In the solution procedure, the hydrodynamic problem is transformed into an equivalent problem in an open water domain by applying the image principle. The velocity potential of the fluid motion is solved using the method of multipole expansions combined with the shift of local spherical coordinate systems. Then, the wave excitation force, added mass coefficient, radiation damping coefficient, and energy extraction performance of the absorbers are calculated. Case studies are presented to analyze the effects of the coastal reflection and hydrodynamic interaction among absorbers on the energy extraction performance of the wave energy converter (WEC) system. The effects of wave frequency, incident angle, spacing between the absorber and coast, submergence depth, absorber number, and plane layout are also clarified. The results suggest that the energy extraction performance of an isolated absorber is significantly improved when the motions of the waves and absorber are in resonance, and the coastal reflection can enhance the overall energy extraction performance for a WEC system with multiple absorbers. In addition, when the number of absorbers increases, the effects of the coastal reflection and hydrodynamic interaction become more complicated.

This paper investigates the interaction of water waves with a group of submerged porous reef balls, which are hemispheres with centers lying on a plane seabed. An analytical solution based on potential theory is developed. In the solving process, the series solutions of the velocity potentials in the exterior and internal fluid domains of the reef balls are obtained by means of multipole expansions and separation of variables, respectively. The unknown expansion coefficients in the velocity potentials are determined by matching the porous boundary condition on the surface of each reef ball, where the vital point is the shift of multipoles among different local spherical coordinate systems. The special case of multiple impermeable reef balls is also considered. The wave forces in the sway, surge, and heave directions acting on the reef balls as well as the surface elevation near the structures are calculated. The predictions of the analytical solution are in excellent agreement with the numerical results of an independently developed three-dimensional multidomain boundary-element method solution. Case studies show that the hydrodynamic interaction is obvious only when reef balls are very close. Moreover, the feasibility of the submerged porous breakwaters composed of a series of porous reef balls with appropriate arrangements is examined.

The expression levels of thioredoxin (Trx), cytokeratin fragment 21-1 (CYFRA21-1) and serum squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) in patients with lung cancer and the diagnostic value of combined detection were investigated. Sixty-five patients with lung cancer in Weihai Municipal Hospital from January 2014 to June 2017 were retrospectively selected as the observation group, while 60 healthy subjects receiving physical examination were selected as the control group. The expression levels of serum Trx, CYFRA21-1 and SCCA were detected. The sensitivity and specificity of single detection and combined detection of these indexes were compared. Moreover, the diagnostic values of single detection and combined detection were analyzed using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The levels of CYFRA21-1 and SCCA were the highest in squamous carcinoma (P