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Background: Owing to the low incidence rate and nonspecific symptoms of acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI), the identification and prediction of irreversible transmural intestinal necrosis (ITIN) and extensive bowel resection (≥100 cm) (EBR) are difficult and critical. This study aimed to investigate the risk factors for ITIN and EBR in patients with AMI. Methods: The clinical data of 254 AMI patients were retrospectively analyzed. Furthermore, the incidence of ITIN and EBR were set as dependent variables, and relevant risk factors were screened using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. The comparisons of surgical characteristics and postoperative recovery outcomes between the EBR and control group were also conducted. Results: The presence of hemorrhagic (odds ratio [OR] = 28.356, P < .001) or other types ascites (OR = 13.051, P = .003), peritonitis (OR = 8.463, P = .005), intestinal diameter >2.35 cm (OR = 5.493, P = .020), and serum creatinine (CREA) >95 μmol/L (OR = 4.866, P = .048) were identified as independent risk factors for ITIN in patients with AMI. In addition, serum C-reactive protein (CRP) >15 mg/L (OR = 38.023, P = .006), and CREA >100 μmol/L (OR = 6.248, P = .035) were proved to be independently associated with EBR for ITIN cases. Compared to the control group, EBR significantly increased the likelihood of requiring enterostomy (P = .001), blood transfusion (P = .002), and transfer to intensive care unit (P = .016), while also prolonging the recovery time for intestinal function (P = .014). Conclusions: The presence of ascites, peritonitis, intestinal diameter >2.35 cm, and serum CREA >95 μmol/L were independently correlated with ITIN for AMI cases, while serum CRP >15 mg/L and CREA >100 μmol/L independently increased the risk of EBR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing novel and high-performance anode materials as lithium-ion (Li+) and sodium-ion (Na+) hosts is urgent. Herein, a novel conductive two-dimensional (2D) 1 T-phase TaSe2 (1 T-TaSe2) is proposed firstly as a promising anode material for Li+ and Na+ storage based on density functional theory (DFT). The 2D 1 T-TaSe2 is stable at room temperature thermodynamically. The anode material shows high specific capacities of 640 and 480 mAh g−1 for Li+ and Na+ storage, respectively. Moreover, the energy barrier of Li+ and Na+ diffusion over the 2D 1 T-TaSe2 is as low as 0.052 eV and 0.015 eV respectively, suggesting its excellent rate performance. The plateau of open current voltage for Li+ and Na+ storage is ~ 0.45 V and ~ 0.35 V respectively, ensuring safety and high energy density simultaneously. The possibility of experimental preparation by the top-down approach is also estimated based on its anisotropic mechanical properties. The 2D 1 T-TaSe2 is a potential high-performance anode material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An |$n \times n$| matrix with |$\pm 1$| entries that acts on |${\mathbb {R}}^{n}$| as a scaled isometry is called Hadamard. Such matrices exist in some, but not all dimensions. Combining number-theoretic and probabilistic tools, we construct matrices with |$\pm 1$| entries that act as approximate scaled isometries in |${\mathbb {R}}^{n}$| for all |$n \in {\mathbb {N}}$|⁠. More precisely, the matrices we construct have condition numbers bounded by a constant independent of |$n$|⁠. Using this construction, we establish a phase transition for the probability that a random frame contains a Riesz basis. Namely, we show that a random frame in |${\mathbb {R}}^{n}$| formed by |$N$| vectors with independent identically distributed coordinate having a nondegenerate symmetric distribution contains many Riesz bases with high probability provided that |$N \ge \exp (Cn)$|⁠. On the other hand, we prove that if the entries are sub-Gaussian, then a random frame fails to contain a Riesz basis with probability close to |$1$| whenever |$N \le \exp (cn)$|⁠ , where |$c

Pile penetration is a very important engineering parameter in pile sinking operation of jacket platform. Insufficient penetration may lead to insufficient bearing capacity of pile foundation, resulting in platform instability and extremely serious safety accidents. In the process of actual pile sinking operation, the penetration is affected by many factors. In this paper, through relevant calculation and analysis, the influencing factors such as internal friction angle, pile diameter, hammer distance and hammer quality are studied, and the influence law of pile penetration is obtained. Finally, relevant suggestions are given in order to provide reference for engineering practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: In this study, we try to investigate the risk factors of postoperative surgical site infection (SSI) in closed pilon fractures and establish a nomogram prediction model. Methods: From January 2012 to June 2021, 516 closed pilon fracture patients were included in this study. Of these, 387 patients were randomly assigned to the training group and 129 patients were assigned to the validation group (3:1). By univariate and multivariate Cox analysis, we identified independent risk factors for postoperative SSI after Pilon fracture. We established a nomogram model and used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and calibration chart to evaluate its discriminant and calibration. Results: SSI occurred in 71 patients in the training group and 23 patients in the validation group. Ultimately, age, preoperative blood sugar, operative time, Tscherne classification and fracture classification were identified as independent risk factors for SSI. The AUC values for SSI of the training and validation group were 0.898 and 0.880, and the P value of the Hosmer–Lemeshow test was 0.125. We established a nomogram prediction model based on age, preoperative blood sugar, operative time, Tscherne classification and fracture classification. Conclusion: Our nomogram model had good discrimination and calibration power, so it could be used to predict SSI risk in patients with pilon fracture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the levels of nurses' organizational citizenship behaviour and the associations between job burnout and ethical climate with organizational citizenship behaviour. Background: Organizational citizenship behaviour improves adverse outcomes led by nursing shortage. However, the associations between three dimensions of job burnout and organizational citizenship behaviour are inconsistent, and little is known about whether ethical climate is related to organizational citizenship behaviour in nurses. Methods: In this cross‐sectional study, 1157 nurses were selected using convenience sampling from April to October 2019. Self‐report surveys assessed nurses' organizational citizenship behaviour, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment and perceptions of ethical climate. Results: Mean organizational citizenship behaviour was high among nurses. The regression model showed that job burnout and ethical climate explained an additional 38.6% of the variance in organizational citizenship behaviour over and above sociodemographic factors, with 44.9% of the total variance. Conclusion: Nurses' organizational citizenship behaviour was at a relatively high level. Depersonalization was negatively associated with organizational citizenship behaviour while personal accomplishment and ethical climate were positively related to organizational citizenship behaviour. Therefore, nurse leaders are encouraged to take measures to help nurses reduce job burnout and create a favourable ethical climate for increasing nurses' organizational citizenship behaviour. Summary statement: What is already known about this topic? Organizational citizenship behaviour has been found to have positive effects for both nurses and hospitals.Contrasting findings have been found for the relationships between emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and organizational citizenship behaviour in different populations.Personal accomplishment is negatively associated with organizational citizenship behaviour in non‐nurse groups. What this paper adds? Nurses with higher organizational citizenship behaviour are more likely to be older and work in internal medicine.Lower depersonalization and higher personal accomplishment are significantly associated with greater organizational citizenship behaviour in nurses.Ethical climate is positively related to nurses' organizational citizenship behaviour. The implications of this paper This study highlighted the importance of job burnout and the ethical climate for workplace productivity in health‐care fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depression is a common but severe mood disorder with a very high prevalence across the general population. Depression is of global concern and poses a threat to human physical and mental health. Ferulic acid (FA) is a natural active ingredient that has antioxidative, anti‐inflammatory, and free radical scavenging properties. Furthermore, studies have shown that FA can exert antidepressant effects through a variety of mechanisms. The aim of the review was to comprehensively elucidate the mechanisms in FA that alleviate depression using animal models. The in vivo (animal) studies on the mechanism of FA treatment of depression were searched in PubMed, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Baidu academic, and Wan fang databases. Thereafter, the literature conclusions were summarized accordingly. Ferulic acid was found to significantly improve the depressive‐like behaviors of animal models, suggesting that FA is a potential natural product in the treatment of depression. The mechanisms are achieved by enhancing monoamine oxidase A (MOA) activity, inhibiting microglia activation and inflammatory factor release, anti‐oxidative stress, promoting hippocampal nerve regeneration, increasing brain‐derived neurotrophic factor secretion, regulating gut microbiome, and activating protein kinase B/collapsin response mediator protein 2 (AKT/CRMP2) signaling pathway. Ferulic acid produces significant antidepressant effects in animal depression models through various mechanisms, suggesting its potential value as a treatment of depression. However, clinical research trials involving FA are required further to provide a solid foundation for its clinical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: In this study, we try to investigate the risk factors of postoperative surgical site infection (SSI) in closed pilon fractures and establish a nomogram prediction model. Methods: From January 2012 to June 2021, 516 closed pilon fracture patients were included in this study. Of these, 387 patients were randomly assigned to the training group and 129 patients were assigned to the validation group (3:1). By univariate and multivariate Cox analysis, we identified independent risk factors for postoperative SSI after Pilon fracture. We established a nomogram model and used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and calibration chart to evaluate its discriminant and calibration. Results: SSI occurred in 71 patients in the training group and 23 patients in the validation group. Ultimately, age, preoperative blood sugar, operative time, Tscherne classification and fracture classification were identified as independent risk factors for SSI. The AUC values for SSI of the training and validation group were 0.898 and 0.880, and the P value of the Hosmer–Lemeshow test was 0.125. We established a nomogram prediction model based on age, preoperative blood sugar, operative time, Tscherne classification and fracture classification. Conclusion: Our nomogram model had good discrimination and calibration power, so it could be used to predict SSI risk in patients with pilon fracture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proton batteries have been considered as an innovative energy storage technology owing to their high safety and cost‐effectiveness. However, the development of fast‐charging proton batteries with high energy/power density is greatly limited by feasible material selection. Here, the pre‐protonated vanadium hexacyanoferrate (H‐VHCF) is developed as a proton cathode material to alleviate the capacity loss of proton‐free electrode materials during electrochemical tests. The pre‐protonation process realizes fast and long‐distance transport of protons by shortening diffusion path and reducing migration barriers. Benefitting from the enhanced hydrogen bonding network combined with dual redox reactions of V and Fe in protonated H‐VHCF cathode, a high energy density of 74 Wh kg−1 at 1.1 kW kg−1, and a maximum power density of 54 kW kg−1 at 65 Wh kg−1 is achieved for the asymmetric proton batteries coupling with MoO3/MXene anode. Proton transport and double oxidation‐reduction center are verified by theoretical calculations and ex situ experimental measurements. Considering the anti‐freezing availability of proton batteries, 82.5% of its initial capacity is maintained after 10000 cycles under −40 °C at 0.5 A g−1. As a proof‐of‐concept, flexible device fabricated by optimized electrodes and hydrogel electrolytes can power up a light‐emitting diode even under a bent state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trenched pipelines may experience significant lateral displacement due to natural geohazards such as strike slip-fault movements, landslides, etc. Using pre-excavated soil to backfill trenches is a cost-effective option to protect pipelines against large deformations. These backfilling materials are heavily remolded and therefore softer than the native ground. Therefore, the shear strength difference between the backfill and native ground may affect the pipeline–backfill–trench interaction and the failure mechanism of the surrounding soil. By assuming a simplified uniform soil domain, the influence of softer pre-excavated backfilling material on the pipeline–backfill–trench interaction is neglected in the analytical methods that are usually used in the structural health monitoring of buried pipelines. In this study, the effects of trenching and backfilling were incorporated into an analytical solution for a fast assessment of the pipeline response at the early stages of engineering design projects and structural health monitoring. In comparison with other methods, this methodology provides a convenient and efficient method for computing pipeline strain and deflection curves in geohazardous regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Marine environment is characterized by high salt content and humidity in the air, and the gas components in gas generators are complicated and corrosive, leading to the occurrence of low temperature and hot corrosion on the surface and inside of gas generators, which seriously affects the performance, reliability and service life of gas turbines. Taking AGT-7B gas turbine as the research object, this paper conducts a theoretical analysis on the corrosion resistance of low-temperature components, high-temperature components and non-metallic components of gas turbine.By conducting salt spray corrosion test, anti-corrosion ability test after surface protection and gas corrosion test before and after coating on the selected alloys of high-temperature components, a series of anti-corrosion design schemes of gas turbine components under marine environment are obtained, and the protection measures of the whole gas turbine generator set under marine environment are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• CS IM-CT (collagen score of the tumor margin minus tumor center) was proposed. • Collagen score was analyzed using multiphoton imaging. • CS IM-CT was an effective prognostic predictor in advanced rectal cancer. • Nomogram with the CS IM-CT can individually predict prognosis in rectal cancer. Little is known about the relationship between collagen and the prognosis of patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT). This study aimed to quantitatively analyze collagen alterations, establish a collagen score (CS) in the tumor microenvironment, and evaluate and validate the relationship of the CS with prognosis in these patients. A total of 365 primary patients diagnosed with LARC after nCRT between 2011 and 2018 were retrospectively reviewed (training cohort: 210; independent validation cohort: 155). Multiple collagen features of two fields in the tumor microenvironment, the core of the tumor (CT) and the invasive margin (IM), were derived from multiphoton imaging, and the CS IM-CT was generated using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression analysis. The CS IM-CT was created based on 3 features: collagen area, number of collagen fibers and a Gabor textural feature. In the training cohort, the CS IM-CT predicted 3-year disease-free survival (DFS) with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.765 (0.675–0.854) and an overall survival (OS) with AUROC of 0.822 (0.734–0.909). Additionally, the CS IM-CT was significantly associated with DFS and OS in the two cohorts. A nomogram with the CS IM-CT was developed and showed good prognostic value predicting a 3-year DFS with an AUROC of 0.826 (0.748–0.905) and an OS with AUROC of 0.882 (0.803–0.960). The CS IM-CT is an effective prognostic marker in patients with LARC after nCRT, and the nomogram with the CS IM-CT can be used to accurately predict the individual prognosis of these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A rapid and easy-used colorimetric method was developed for on-site and rapid analysis of Cr(VI). • The colorimetric system was integrated in a 3D printed kit. • UV–Vis, smartphone and visual colorimetric three channels were used simultaneously. • Cr(VI) concentration as low as 0.05 μg/mL was still visible by naked-eye. A rapid and easy-used colorimetric method was developed for on-site and rapid analysis of Cr(VI). Under acidic condition, Cr(VI) was reacted with 1, 5-diphenylcarbazide (DPC) and a purple-red complex was formed subsequently, inducing the color changed from colorless to purple-red, this color variance can be detected by ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometer (UV–Vis), smartphone and even naked-eye. For realizing the goal of on-site analysis, this method was integrated in a three dimensional (3D) printed analytical kit, smartphone was used as a portable detector. Under the optimized conditions, limit of detections (LODs) of 0.0014 μg/mL and 0.0016 μg/mL were obtained by smartphone and UV–Vis, respectively. Concentration of Cr(VI) as low as 0.05 μg/mL was still visible by naked-eye. This colorimetric system was further applied to the analysis of several environmental water samples, recoveries of 90–107 % were obtained. It is a promising portable analytical device/system for Cr(VI) on-site and rapid analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potassium‐ion batteries (PIBs) have attracted tremendous attentions for scalable electrical energy storage owing to the abundant K resources. Heteroatom co‐doped hard carbon is considered to be a reliable material to boost ion transport and provide active sites for reversible potassium storage. Herein, N/P dual‐doped 3D graphene aerogels (NPGAs) with hierarchical pores, enlarged interlayer distance, and high doping level are successfully synthesized, which exhibit outstanding electrochemical performance for PIBs. A detailed comparative study found that promoted coulombic efficiency, improved specific capacity (507 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1 after 100 cycles) and excellent cycle performance (106 mAh g−1 at 5000 mA g−1 after 3000 cycles) can be reached by replacing KPF6 with potassium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (KFSI). Further kinetic analysis reveals that NPGAs present more capacitive behavior of K‐ion, low resistance, and fast K‐ion conductivity by virtue of the advanced solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) film formed in KFSI‐EC/DEC electrolyte. Ex situ XPS, SEM, and TEM all confirm a physical flexible, chemical stable, and inorganic SEI layer formed on the surface of the electrode. In general, this work promotes a deep understanding of the mechanism of potassium storage and provides more opportunities for practical PIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remotely sensed images, especially in urban areas, have highly complex spatial distribution, since the ground objects have diverse ranges of sizes and shapes. This largely increases the difficulty of super-resolution (SR) tasks. Current deep convolutional neural network (CNN)-based SR methods often show limited performance when coping with complicated images. This article develops a second-order multi-scale super-resolution network (SMSR) to explore reconstruction tasks for difficult cases. Specifically, we propose a single-path feature reuse which cleverly captures multi-scale feature information through aggregating the features learned at different depths of a single path. Further, we present a second-order learning mechanism, which double reuses small-difference and large-difference features at local and global levels, makes use of the learned multi-scale information at maximum. The proposed methods achieve multi-scale learning using small-size convolution only, resulting in a lightweight and high-performance SR network. Experimental results show the superiority of our SMSR over state-of-the-art methods in super-resolving complicated image patterns. The effectiveness of SMSR is also demonstrated through its support to object recognition task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Super-resolution (SR) techniques play a crucial role in increasing the spatial resolution of remote sensing data and overcoming the physical limitations of the spaceborne imaging systems. Though the convolutional neural network (CNN)-based methods have obtained good performance, they show limited capacity when coping with large-scale super-resolving tasks. The more complicated spatial distribution of remote sensing data further increases the difficulty in reconstruction. This article develops a dense-sampling super-resolution network (DSSR) to explore the large-scale SR reconstruction of the remote sensing imageries. Specifically, a dense-sampling mechanism, which reuses an upscaler to upsample multiple low-dimension features, is presented to make the network jointly consider multilevel priors when performing reconstruction. A wide feature attention block (WAB), which incorporates the wide activation and attention mechanism, is introduced to enhance the representation ability of the network. In addition, a chain training strategy is proposed to optimize further the performance of the large-scale models by borrowing knowledge from the pretrained small-scale models. Extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods and show that the DSSR outperforms the state-of-the-art models in both quantitative evaluation and visual quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the clinical outcomes of percutaneous cross screws internal fixation for pelvic Day type II crescent fracture-dislocation. Methods: We reviewed 66 consecutive patients undergoing surgical treatment for Day type II crescent fracture-dislocation from June 2005 to December 2017. Percutaneous cross screws internal fixation was performed in 40 patients, and open reduction and internal fixation was performed in 26 patients. The patient characteristics, surgical complications, radiographic and clinical outcomes and were compared. Results: There was no statistically difference on the mean time from injury to surgery between the two groups. The time of operation, the amount of blood loss, the length of incision, and the hospital stay were significantly shorter in the percutaneous cross screws internal fixation group. No significant difference on Matta scores and Majeed scores between the two groups. The open reduction and internal fixation group resulted in a higher rate of intraoperative hemorrhage, nerve injury, discomfort, and pain. Conclusion: Percutaneous cross screws internal fixation for Day II type pelvic crescent fracture-dislocation was safe and effective. Minimally invasive fixation had the advantages of short operation and hospitalization time, less intraoperative bleeding, and surgical trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The treatment of wounds remains a clinical challenge because of poor angiogenesis under the wound bed, and increasingly, the patients' need for functional and aesthetically pleasing scars. For the wound healing process, new blood vessels which can deliver nutrients and oxygen to the wound area are necessary. In this study, we investigated the pro‐angiogenesis ability and mechanism in wound healing of paeoniflorin (PF), which is a traditional Chinese medicine. In our in vitro results, the ability for proliferation, migration and in vitro angiogenesis in human umbilical vein endothelial cells was promoted by coculturing with PF (1.25–5 μM). Meanwhile, molecular docking studies revealed that PF has excellent binding abilities to phosphatidylinositol‐3‐kinase (PI3K) and protein kinase B (AKT), and consistent with our western blot results, that PF suppressed PI3K and AKT phosphorylation. Furthermore, to investigate the healing effect of PF in vivo, we constructed a full‐thickness cutaneous wound model in rats. PF stimulated the cellular proliferation status, collagen matrix deposition and remodeling processes in vitro and new blood vessel formation at the wound bed resulting in efficient wound healing after intragastric administration of 10 mg·kg−1·day−1 in vivo. Overall, PF performed the pro‐angiogenetic effect in vitro and accelerating wound healing in vivo. In summary, the capacity for angiogenesis in endothelial cells could be enhanced by PF treatment via the PI3K/AKT pathway in vitro and could accelerate the wound healing process in vivo through collagen deposition and angiogenesis in regenerated tissue. This study provides evidence that application of PF represents a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of cutaneous wounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The feasibility of endoscopic dissection for gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumor (gGIST) between 2 and 5 cm in size has been demonstrated. However, its impact on short-term and long-term outcomes, compared with laparoscopic resection, is unknown. The purpose of this study was to compare short-term and long-term outcomes between laparoscopic resection and endoscopic dissection for 2-5-cm gGIST.Methods: A case-matched study was performed using the propensity score. To overcome selection bias, we performed a 1:1 match using six covariates, including age, sex, BMI, ASA score, tumor size, and tumor location. Short-term and long-term outcomes between laparoscopic resection and endoscopic dissection were compared.Results: A total of 210 patients with 2-5-cm gGIST were enrolled between 2006 and 2017 in our gastrointestinal center. According to the intention-to-treat approach, 165 patients underwent laparoscopic resection, and 45 patients underwent endoscopic dissection. After the propensity score, 45 pairs were balanced and analyzed. There was no significant difference in the baseline characteristics between the laparoscopic and endoscopic groups after matching. The rate of complications was significantly higher in the endoscopic group compared with the laparoscopic group (P < 0.001). Perforations occurred in 16 patients in the endoscopic group (16/45, 35.6%). The postoperative hospital stay was significantly longer in the endoscopic group compared with the laparoscopic group (P < 0.001). There was no significant difference between the two groups in disease-free survival or overall survival.Conclusion: Laparoscopic resection is better than endoscopic dissection for 2-5-cm gGIST because of the lower complication rate and shorter hospital stay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accumulating studies have shown that cystatin C may play important roles in the pathogenesis of arteriosclerosis. However, the association between serum cystatin C and the characteristics of carotid plaques has not been elucidated. Furthermore, the diagnostic value of serum cystatin C in carotid stenosis has not been studied. Methods: Serum cystatin C in 156 patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in the carotid artery was measured by ELISA. Intima-media thickness (IMT), stenosis of the symptomatic common carotid artery (CCA), extra/intracranial internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis, and plaque characteristics were measured and recorded. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to assess the diagnostic value of serum cystatin C in carotid stenosis. Results: One hundred fifty-six patients were divided into two groups based on their cystatin C levels. The degree of arteriosclerosis, the severity of plaques, and stenosis of the symptomatic CCA were significantly higher in the patients with high cystatin C levels. In addition, the rate of unstable plaques was significantly higher in those with high cystatin C. Serum cystatin C levels of 1.075 and 1.125 mg/L had diagnostic value in distinguishing stenosis of CCA and extracranial ICA, respectively. Conclusions: Higher cystatin C levels were strongly correlated with symptomatic CCA stenosis and the rate of unstable plaques. Analysis of cystatin C levels may be useful for the identification of CCA stenosis and extracranial ICA in patients with AIS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional SiO2/nitrogen-doped graphene aerogels (SiO2/NGA) with different SiO2 loading masses have been synthesized by a facile hydrothermal route. This composite structure significantly increased capacity through surface and interface engineering, and the three-dimensional structure can greatly absorb the volume expansion of silica. When applied as the anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), the SiO2/NGA nanocomposite can deliver a specific capacity of more than 1000 mAh g−1 at a current density of 100 mA g−1 with long cycle stability. Moreover, it can also present an excellent capacity reversibility after the rate performance test. Further analysis reveals that the SiO2/NGA shows an enhanced contribution of capacitive charge mechanism and displays typical pseudocapacitive behavior. In this case, constructing nitrogen-doped aerogel composite is an effective direction for improving Si-based electrodes for potential applications as the electrode for LIBs. Three-dimensional porous SiO2/nitrogen-doped aerogel (SiO2/NGA) was synthesized. This novel SiO2/NGA composite structure can effectively solving the problem of huge volume change during cycles as well as facilitate the fast diffusion of Li ions and Electronics, and thus achieve improved anode performance. As Li-ion batteries anode materials, which shows excellent electrochemical performance [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the predictive value of the monocyte count as a prognostic biomarker on 90 days in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) treated with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) thrombolysis. In total, 206 patients with AIS treated in our institute between 2013 and 2018 were retrospectively enrolled. All patients received rtPA thrombolytic therapy within 4.5 h of AIS onset. Using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, patients were divided into two groups according to monocyte count: a low monocyte count (LMC) group (monocytes < 0.53 × 109/L) and a high monocyte count (HMC) group (monocytes ≥ 0.53 × 109/L). Patients' functional outcomes 90 days after AIS were assessed using the modified Rankin Scale. More patients had a poor outcome in the HMC group than in the LMC group (49.32% vs.31.58%, p = 0.012). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that infarct volume (odds ratio = 1.03, 95% confidence interval 1.01–1.04, p < 0.001), systolic pressure at admission (odds ratio = 1.02, 95% confidence interval 1.00–1.04, p = 0.016), fasting blood glucose at admission (odds ratio = 1.41, 95% confidence interval 1.18–1.67, p < 0.001), and monocyte count ≥ 0.53 × 109/L (odds ratio = 2.25, 95% confidence interval 1.09–4.62, p = 0.028) were independently associated with a poor outcome in AIS patients treated with rtPA thrombolysis. A peripheral monocyte count ≥ 0.53 × 109/L is an independent prognostic marker on 90-days in patients with AIS treated with rtPA thrombolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Acquired hepatocerebral degeneration (AHD) is now widely recognized by physicians. Although hyperintensity in the bilateral globus pallidus in T1-weighted magnetic resonance images (MRIs) are characteristic neuroimaging findings, accumulating reports indicate that atypical neuroimaging findings are not rare. This study aimed to describe the spectrum of atypical neuroimaging findings and related factors in patients with AHD.Methods: From February 2017 to January 2019, a retrospective study was conducted of 28 patients with AHD in the Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University. The neurological manifestations, clinical parameters, and biochemical and neuroimaging findings were analyzed.Results: Among 28 patients, 14 patients were diagnosed with viral hepatitis-caused hepatocirrhosis, which was the most common cause of AHD. Resting tremor, cognitive impairment, and parkinsonian gait were the most common neurologic symptoms. Bilateral globus pallidus T1-weighted hyperintensity was detected in 26 patients (26/28, 92.9%). Ten patients (10/28, 35.7%) were determined to have an atypical neuroimaging finding. Binary logistic regression analysis indicated that age at onset of neurologic symptoms (odds ratio = 1.29, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03-1.61; p = 0.030) and Child-Pugh scores (odds ratio = 2.52, 95% CI, 1.01-6.31; p = 0.048) were independently associated with atypical neuroimaging findings in AHD.Conclusion: The clinical manifestations of AHD are diverse; resting tremor, cognitive impairment, and parkinsonian gait were the most common. More than one third of patients had atypical neuroimaging findings. Age at onset of neurologic symptoms and Child-Pugh scores may be important predictors of atypical neuroimaging findings in patients with AHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) is a member of the transforming growth factor-ß family. Elevated GDF-15 concentrations are associated with increased risks of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus and cerebrovascular disease. Objective: This study aimed to determine the clinical significance of serum GDF-15 level after acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in a Chinese population. Methods: We compared serum GDF-15 levels between 83 AIS patients and 124 controls. At admission and on day 7, we recorded the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score and measured serum GDF-15 levels for AIS patients and for control patients at admission. Stroke volumes were calculated using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging performed at admission. Clinical outcomes were evaluated 90 days later using the modified Rankin Scale. Results: Serum GDF-15 level at admission was significantly higher in AIS patients than in controls (p <.01). GDF-15 level on day 7 was significantly higher in the poor outcomes group than in the good outcomes group (p <.05). Higher GDF-15 levels at admission and on day 7 were related to larger stroke volumes (p <.01). Binary logistic regression indicated that serum GDF-15 level at admission may be independently related with AIS (p <.01). Serum GDF-15 level on day 7 may independently associated with poor outcomes after AIS (p <.05). Conclusions: GDF-15 level at admission may independently related to AIS, and GDF-15 level on day 7 could independently predict outcomes at 90 days after AIS. GDF-15 may provide prognostic information after AIS in a Chinese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transient ischemic attack (TIA) is characterized by sudden onset neurological impairment lasting < 24 h and is associated with brain or optic nerve ischemia (Dennis et al. [9]). As one kind of ischemic stroke, whether there is an elevation of serum cystatin C in patients with TIA, is there any predictive value of cystatin C level in the prognosis of TIA patients? This study revealed that serum cystatin C was significantly related to patients with TIA, and a higher serum cystatin C level was associated with AIS at the 90-day follow-up in patients with TIA. Our results strongly suggest that serum level of cystatin C was significantly related to patients with TIA and that cystatin C could be a predictor of AIS within 90 days after TIA. [Extracted from the article]

Background and Purpose: Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery vascular hyperintensity (FVH) is often observed in conjunction with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) of the carotid system. However, the significance of FVH in patients with AIS has not been fully elucidated. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of FVH on the final infarct volume (including cortical and deep brain infarct volume) and on 90-day prognosis in AIS patients.Material and Methods: We analyzed data of 160 patients who had AIS of anterior circulation. FVH was identified and the cortical brain infarct volume (CBIV) and deep brain infarct volume (DBIV) were calculated. We assessed 90-day clinical outcome using the modified Rankin Scale (mRS).Results: FVH was identified in 83 of the 160 patients (51.88%). Patients with FVH showed larger CBIV (13.94 ± 25.55 vs. 6.56 ± 13.49 ml; p = 0.025), more frequent intracranial-large artery disease (74.70 vs. 27.27%; p < 0.001), and more severe clinical impairment on admission (NIHSS 7.22 ± 4.01 vs. 5.42 ± 4.52; p = 0.009). Considering the factors influencing prognosis, FVH positivity (OR = 2.12, 95% CI 1.13-3.99; p = 0.02) and NIHSS (at discharge) (OR = 2.14, 95% CI 1.64-2.78; p < 0.001) were independently associated with 90-day clinical outcome of AIS patients.Conclusion: FVH is a more common finding associated with larger CBIV, intracranial-large artery disease, and more severe strokes on admission. In the presence of good collateral circulation, FVH may be a predictor of better outcome in anterior circulation AIS patients at 90 days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Reports that autoimmune encephalitis (AE) is associated with antibodies have increased; however, little is known about the distribution of clinical symptoms, imaging changes, and prognostic factors in patients with AE of non-neoplastic etiology. Accordingly, we evaluated the clinical characteristics and factors associated with short-term prognosis.Methods: From January 2016 to June 2018, 31 adult patients were diagnosed with AE of non-neoplastic etiology at Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University and their demographic and clinical characteristics were abstracted. Factors affecting disease severity and predictors of prognosis were analyzed.Results: Among 31 patients, 19 had anti-NMDAR, 5 had anti-GABABR, and 7 had anti-LGI1 antibody encephalitis. Status epilepticus, ataxia, and cognitive dysfunction were the most common neurological symptoms. Deep white matter (DWM) abnormalities were the most common changes observed on MRI. Logistic regression analysis indicated that conscious disturbance (odds ratio = 11.67, 95%, confidence interval 2.13-64.04; p = 0.005) is an independent factor associated with poor prognosis in AE.Conclusion: The clinical manifestations of AE are diverse; status epilepticus, ataxia, and cognitive dysfunction are most common. The DWM of the brain, rather than the limbic lobe system, was most prone to MR signal abnormalities. Conscious disturbance may be an important predictor of poor short-term prognosis in patients with AE of non-neoplastic etiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Depressive symptoms are common in patients with heart failure (HF) and are associated with adverse outcomes in this group. This study examined depressive symptoms and associated determinants in patients with HF based on the hopelessness theory of depression. Methods and results In this cross-sectional study, a total of 282 patients with HF were recruited from 3 cardiovascular units of a university hospital. Symptom burden, optimism, maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies (MCERSs), hopelessness, and depressive symptoms were assessed using self-reported questionnaires. A path analysis model was established to evaluate the direct and indirect effects. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 13.8% in the patients. Symptom burden had the greatest direct effect on depressive symptoms (β = 0.406; P < 0.001), optimism affected depressive symptoms both directly and indirectly with hopelessness as the mediator (direct: β = −0.360; P = 0.001; indirect: β = −0.169; P < 0.001), and MCERSs only had an indirect effect on depressive symptoms with hopelessness as the mediator (β = 0.035; P < 0.001). Conclusion In patients with HF, symptom burden, decreased optimism, and hopelessness contribute to depressive symptoms directly. What is more, decreased optimism and MCERS lead to depressive symptoms indirectly via hopelessness. Accordingly, interventions aimed at decreasing symptom burden, enhancing optimism, and reducing the use of MCERSs, while declining hopelessness, may be conducive to relieving depressive symptoms in patients with HF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in multilayer perceptron (MLP) models have provided new effective network architecture designs for computer vision tasks. Compared with convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and visual transformers, MLP-based visual backbones have less induction bias, which can improve the sample utilization efficiency and reduce computational costs. Therefore, we designed the Mixer MLP Architecture for Image-Matching (MAIM), which is a coarse to fine-level detector-free image-matching scheme. Accordingly, we constructed a mixer MLP architecture called Mixer-WMLP, which evenly divides the feature map into non-overlapping windows, spreads each window as a token, achieves the exchange of token information between spatial locations, channels features through a two-layer MLP structure in the coarse-level model, and then feeds the windows with dense fine-level matching, thereby producing the final matches. Furthermore, the implemented global field-of-view mixer MLP framework for image-matching incurs a low computational cost. By conducting experiments with indoor and outdoor relative poses, our MLP architecture is compared with CNN and transformer-based image-matching methods. Our method has significant advantages in terms of real-time performance and largely reduces computational cost, proving its effectiveness in image-matching tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vaccines are widely used to prevent Newcastle disease virus (NDV). Under the pressure of immunization, NDVs with mutations among epitopes of F and HN protein were isolated, which indicates that the efficiency of vaccine may decrease in terms of preventing emerged NDV. However, the lack of evidences to support whether these mutations contribute to antigenic mutation and immune escape in NDV leading to the controversy that the matched vaccine is more effective than the mismatched vaccine. In this study, a genotype VII velogenic NDV strain (C22) was isolated from a vaccinated farm in Tibet, China. We found that this strain was close to NDV from east China, but it had a specific mutation (K138R) in one epitope (131DYIGGIGKE139) of HN protein. This mutation might change the interaction between amino acids in stalk-head link region of HN protein and then induce the specific antibody to worse recognize the C22 strain, but it did not alter viral virulence and growth ability. Then, the C22 strain was attenuated via modification of the F protein cleavage site to generate a matched vaccine. Comparing to a mismatched vaccine (LaSota), this matched vaccine showed advantages in inhibiting viral shedding and tissue damage. However, both vaccines induced chicken to generate similar level of neutralizing antibodies against C22, C22mut (R138K) and LaSota. These results suggest that the epitope mutation is insufficient to help NDV escaping neutralizing antibodies of vaccinated chicken, supporting that the merits of NDV matched vaccine are not totally related to humoral immunity. • One genotype VII 1.1 NDV strain was isolated from Tibet, China. • This strain contained specific K138R mutation to alter antigenicity of HN. • This mutation cannot assist NDV to escape from neutralizing antibody. • The advantage of ND matched vaccine did not totally related to humoral immunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does iron overload in patients with endometriosis affect ovarian function? Can a method be developed to visually reflect this? Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) R2* was used to evaluate the correlation between iron deposition of ovarian and anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) in patients with endometriosis. All patients underwent T2* MRI scanning. Serum AMH levels were measured preoperatively. The area of focal iron deposition, iron content of the cystic fluid and AMH levels between the endometriosis and control groups were compared using non-parametric tests. The effects of iron overload on AMH secretion in mouse ovarian granulosa cells were investigated by adding different concentrations of ferric citrate to the medium. A significant difference was found between endometriosis and control groups in area of iron deposition (P < 0.0001), cystic fluid iron content (P < 0.0001), R2* of lesions (P < 0.0001) and R2* of the cystic fluid (P < 0.0001). Negative correlations were found between serum AMH levels and R2* of cystic lesions in patients with endometriosis aged 18–35 years (r s = –0.6484, P < 0.0001), and between serum AMH levels and R2* of cystic fluid (r s = –0.5074, P = 0.0050). Transcription level (P < 0.0005) and secretion level (P < 0.005) of AMH significantly decreased with the increase in iron exposure. Iron deposits can impair ovarian function, which is reflected in MRI R2*. Serum AMH levels and R2* of cystic lesions or fluid in patients aged 18–35 years had a negative correlation with endometriosis. R2* can be used to reflect the changes of ovarian function caused by iron deposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Clinical evidence on the implication of Cystatin C in Parkinson's disease (PD) is rare. • Higher Cystatin C level in serum is associated with an increased PD risk. • Higher Cystatin C level in serum is associated with levodopa-induced dyskinesia in PD patients. • Serum Cystatin C level (1.13 mg/L) can be used as a tool for evaluating dyskinesia in PD patients. Although cystatin C (Cys C) has been implicated in the pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease (PD), whether it can be used as a tool for evaluating dyskinesia is unknown. In the present study, the association of Cys C with dyskinesia in PD patients was investigated. Fasting serum Cys C levels were measured from 120 PD patients and 156 healthy controls. Demographic information was collected for all patients. In addition, levodopa (L-dopa)-equivalent dose, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) score, Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) stage, and dyskinesia were assessed in PD patients. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were adopted to assess the evaluating accuracy of Cys C levels for distinguishing dyskinesia in PD patients. Patients with PD exhibited significantly higher serum Cys C levels compared with heathy controls. Dyskinesia was observed in 32 patients (26.7%). Multiple logistic regression showed serum Cys C levels (odds ratio, OR 12.93; 95% confidence interval, CI 1.08–54.23; p = 0.043), duration of disease (OR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01–1.05, p = 0.001) and UPDRS II score (OR 1.07, 95% CI 1.01–1.14, p = 0.019) were independently associated with dyskinesia. The ROC curve for the Cys C levels yielded a valuable accuracy for distinguishing dyskinesia in PD patients. Serum Cys C levels were independently associated with dyskinesia and may be a valuable screening tool for differentiating dyskinesia in PD patients. Although the pathophysiological mechanism of PD is complicated, the results from our study provide a better understanding of the association between Cys C and dyskinesia in PD patients and may yield insights into the pathogenesis of PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: Neurological manifestations and neuroimaging abnormalities are common in patients with severe preeclampsia; however, the differences between these abnormal features occurring during early- and late-onset severe preeclampsia are unclear, and the factors associated with abnormal imaging changes in patients with neurological manifestations have not yet been fully elucidated.Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 172 patients with severe preeclampsia from January 2017 to June 2018 in the Department of Neurology and Obstetrics, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University. The neurological manifestations, clinical parameters, laboratory, and neuroimaging findings were analyzed.Results: Early- and late-onset preeclampsia were diagnosed in 83 and 89 patients, respectively. Headache and dizziness were more common in patients with early-onset preeclampsia than in patients with late-onset preeclampsia (p = 0.013, p = 0.004, respectively). Serum uric acid, creatinine, and urea nitrogen were significantly elevated in the patients with early-onset preeclampsia (p < 0.001, p = 0.004, and p = 0.005, respectively). Neuroimaging was performed in 81 patients, of which 57 were positive. Findings indicating cerebral edema were the most common neuroimaging abnormality. Gestational weeks (p = 0.014), headache (p < 0.001), and blood urea nitrogen level (p = 0.027) may be associated with positive imaging findings. By multiple logistic regression, headache (OR = 10.2, 95% CI, 2.4-42.7; p = 0.002) proved to be an independent factor associated with neuroimaging abnormality.Conclusions: Neurological symptoms such as headache and dizziness were more common in patients with early-onset preeclampsia. Renal dysfunction may also associate with early-onset severe preeclampsia. Cerebral edema was the most common neuroimaging abnormality, and headache might be independently associated with abnormal imagine changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The abuse of nitrous oxide (N2O) can induce Vitamin B12 deficiency that subsequently leads to central nervous demyelination, myelopathy and peripheral neuropathy. Although myelopathy has been reported in the past, the specific locations and prognosis of the disease are still unclear. Materials and methods: We report the case of a 22-year-old male who presented with quadriplegia that began after a 3-month history of inhalation of N2O. We summarized the clinical data of this entity and performed a comprehensive literature review of various presentations and MRI features of myelopathy secondary to N2O abuse. Results: In combination with previous reports of 14 cases, we found that the onset of the disease was usually subacute, and the majority of patients (92.85%) were young men. There was no definite relationship between myelopathy and the amount or duration of N2O inhalation. The most common clinical manifestation was sensory ataxia, and the cervical spinal cord was the most frequently impaired area of the whole spinal cord. The spinal cord lesions had a high signal intensity on T2-weighted MRI and usually involved more than three spinal segments and impaired the posterior column more significantly. Most patients recovered well after vitamin B12 supplementation. Conclusions: Myelopathy secondary to N2O abuse is generally seen in young men. The clinical diagnosis mainly depends on a history of N2O inhalation and the characteristic imaging changes in the posterior cervical spinal cord. Early diagnosis and intervention are important for a satisfactory prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a clinical and radiologic entity for which eclampsia is one of the most common predisposing conditions. Despite the imaging changes typically reported, the predisposing factors and clinical implications of atypical presentations have yet to be fully clarified.Methods: A total of 56 patients with PRES were selected for study. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were analyzed, focusing on atypical presentations of PRES. Multiple logistic regression was applied to identify factors impacting such atypical presentations, and functional outcomes were assessed upon patient discharge.Results: Overall, 22 of the 56 patients (39.3%) displayed features of atypical PRES. By multiple logistic regression, headache (OR = 5.39; 95% CI, 1.24-23.51; p = 0.025) and frequent convulsions (OR = 4.41; 95% CI, 1.09-17.91; p = 0.038) proved to be independent factors associated with atypical PRES. Ultimately, outcomes of 18 patients were gauged as poor, based on the modified Rankin Scale (mRS). Logistic regression indicated that visual disturbances (OR = 9.02; 95% CI, 1.37-59.35; p = 0.02), frequent convulsions (OR = 9.47; 95% CI, 1.67-53.63; p = 0.01), and restricted diffusion on imaging (OR = 11.96; 95% CI, 1.76-81.11; p = 0.01) were independently associated with poor outcomes in patients with eclampsia-related PRES.Conclusion: Headache and frequent convulsions are independently associated with atypical presentations of PRES. If present, restricted diffusion may help in predicting poor outcomes of such patients upon discharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Fatigue response of steel catenary risers (SCR) in the touchdown zone (TDZ) is significantly affected by riser-seabed interaction. Non-linear hysteretic riser-seabed interaction models have been recently developed to simulate the SCR cyclic embedment into the seabed. Despite the advancements achieved in the prediction of non-linear hysteretic riser-seabed interaction, several inconsistencies have been recently identified in the nodal performance of some of the popular models. These limitations need to be resolved by proposing new models or improving the existing models. However, it is necessary to evaluate the influence of the identified shortcomings of the existing models on the global performance of the riser. In this paper, the influence of nodal inconsistencies observed in a popular riser-seabed interaction model on the global performance of the riser was comprehensively examined in the TDZ. The riser embedment profile, cyclic contact stress, contact stress envelop, mean shear force, cyclic bending moment, and consequently the cumulative fatigue damage was investigated. The study showed that the soil model overestimates the riser embedment and other global responses. Recommendations were made to overcome the identified shortcomings of the existing models in future developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Steel catenary risers (SCRs) are usually cost-effective solutions in the development of offshore fields and the transferring of the hydrocarbons from the seabed to the floating facilities. These elements are subjected to the fatigue loads particularly in the touchdown zone (TDZ), where the oscillating SCR is exposed to cyclic contact with the seabed. The slug-induced oscillation is a significant contributor to the fatigue loads in the TDZ. The cyclic seabed soil softening under the wave-induced riser oscillations and the gradual penetration of the SCR into the seabed are widely accepted to have a significant influence on SCR fatigue performance. However, this has never been investigated for slug-induced oscillations due to the lack of integrated access to comprehensive numerical models enabling the simulation of the riser slugging and nonlinear hysteretic riser-seabed interaction at the same time. In this paper, an advanced interface was developed and verified using the multi-point moving tie constraint in order to examine the influence of cyclic seabed soil softening on slug-induced oscillations of SCR. The interface was integrated with a pre-developed user subroutine for modeling of the nonlinear hysteretic riser-seabed interaction and incorporated into a global SCR model in ABAQUS. A comprehensive parametric study was conducted to investigate the influence of slug characteristics and nonlinear seabed soil model on slug-induced, wave-induced, and combined wave/slug induced oscillations of SCR in the TDZ. It was observed that the nonlinear seabed model could significantly affect the embedment of the SCR into the seabed under the slug-induced oscillations and consequently improve the fatigue life. The developed user interface was found to be a strong framework for modeling riser slugging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: Cystatin C is associated with acute cerebral infarction (ACI). However, the correlation of serum cystatin C level with recurrence of ACI and different subtypes of ACI had not been fully clarified. The aim of this study was to detect the relationship between serum cystatin C level and recurrent ACI in one-year follow-up and different subtypes of ACI. Methods: A total of 532 consecutive patients with ACI and 339 healthy controls were included. All ACI patients were followed up for one year, the clinical and biochemical characteristics of ACI and ACI recurrent patients were documented and analyzed. Results: A total of 477 (89.7%) patients completed one-year follow-up study, 64 (13.4%) patients suffered ACI recurrence. The results showed serum cystatin C was 1.04 ± 0.19 mg/L and 1.14 ± 0.49 mg/L in control and ACI, respectively (p< .001). The significant risk factors for ACI recurrence were presence of hypertension (p = .009, OR =3.32), diabetes (p =.03, OR =1.87), coronary heart disease (p = .01, OR =2.46), and cystatin C (p = .003, OR =2.87). The risk of ACI recurrence increased with serum cystatin C level. Additionally, cystatin C level was associated with different subtypes of ACI; large-artery atherosclerosis (LAA) subtype had the highest level of cystatin C in ACI and recurrent ACI group. Conclusions: Serum cystatin C level is an independent prediction biomarker for ACI recurrence. LAA subtype of ACI and ACI recurrence was more closely related to elevated cystatin C level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited, progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by a CAG expansion in the Huntingtin (HTT) gene and various dysfunctions of biological processes in HD have been proposed. Although monogenic, the exact pathogenesis of HD currently remains unclear. To identify the synergistic microRNA (miRNA) pattern in HD, the miRNA expression profile dataset GSE64977 and the gene expression profile dataset GSE64810 were downloaded. Programming software R was used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs). Target genes of DEMs were predicted using the TargetScan database. Gene ontology (GO) function of DEGs was generated using the FunRich and a miRNA-mRNA interaction network was constructed using Cytoscape software. In total, 1,612 DEGs and 10 DEMs were identified. GO terms mainly included inflammatory response and immune response in DEGs. A total of 745 target genes were predicted from the DEMs and 33 overlaps were identified between these target genes and DEGs. The miRNA network demonstrated that hsa-miR-4488, hsa-miR-196a-5p, and hsa-miR-549a had a high degree and may be involved with the pathogenesis and potential therapeutic targets of HD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyphenols, which are naturally occurring bioactive compounds in fruits and vegetables, are emerging as potential therapeutics for neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease (PD). Polyphenols have diverse biological activities, such as anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, and α-synuclein aggregation inhibitory effects, which could ameliorate PD pathogenesis. Studies have shown that polyphenols are capable of regulating the gut microbiota (GM) and its metabolites; in turn, polyphenols are extensively metabolized by the GM, resulting in the generation of bioactive secondary metabolites. These metabolites may regulate various physiological processes, including inflammatory responses, energy metabolism, intercellular communication, and host immunity. With increasing recognition of the importance of the microbiota-gut-brain axis (MGBA) in PD etiology, polyphenols have attracted growing attention as MGBA regulators. In order to address the potential therapeutic role of polyphenolic compounds in PD, we focused on MGBA. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large lateral displacement of trenched multilayer pipelines may be induced by ground movement, landslides, ice gouging, etc. The significant difference between the shear strength of the backfill material and the native soil may affect the pipeline-backfill-trench interaction, the failure mechanisms, and consequently the lateral soil resistance. However, this challenging and less-explored aspect has not been covered thoroughly in design codes, even for rigid pipes. This paper investigates the influences of multilayer pipeline-backfill-trench interaction on the deformation of pipe section, soil failure mechanism, resultant lateral soil resistance, and soil pressure on the pipe by large deformation finite element analyses. A decoupled model consisting a Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian (CEL) approach with a rigid pipe in ABAQUS was created along with a finite element (FE) model of multilayer flexible pipe in ANSYS to assess their relative merits for this problem. A parametric study was conducted to investigate the influences of key factors, including the trench geometry, stiffness of backfill material, native seabed soil properties, burial depth, and intensity of pipeline-trench bed interaction. The study showed that the ignorance of the pipeline-backfill-trench interaction by using uniform soil might result in underestimation and overestimation of the lateral soil resistance at different displacement amplitudes. • Multilayer flexible pipelines are endangered by subsea geohazards. • Full 3D, nonlinear FE model of pipe, with frictional contacts between elements. • Advanced non-linear lateral soil interaction effects in clay. • A decoupled analysis to incorporate the trenching-backfilling effects in pipe response. • Simplification of the soil or pipe may significantly influence the pipe failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia and seriously affects human life and health. Kaempferol (KMP) is a common flavonoid, that is mainly derived from the rhizomes of Kaempferol galanga L. and is widely found in various fruits and vegetables. Previous studies have suggested that KMP has multiple pharmacological activities. However, the anti-AD mechanism of KMP has not been elucidated. This systematic review aims to summarize the existing preclinical experiments on KMP, further confirm the therapeutic effect of KMP in an AD model, and summarize the possible mechanism by which KMP exerts anti-AD effects. Electronic databases, including PubMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Baidu Academic, and Wanfang, were searched using the keywords of 'Kaempferol,' 'KMP,' 'pharmacology,' and 'Alzheimer's disease'. We evaluated the reliability of the 12 included studies, and the results showed that the anti-AD mechanism of KMP was reliable and that the prospect of KMP in the treatment of cognitive impairment was promising. We comprehensively assessed the neuroprotective effects of KMP in in vivo and in vitro models of AD. These studies shown that KMP ameliorated AD through several mechanisms, including its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, and anti-acetylcholinesterase effects. KMP may exert anti-AD effects through various mechanisms and is a potential drug with broad prospects for the treatment of AD. [Display omitted] • Kaempferol (KMP) is a flavonoid derived from Kaempferol galanga L. with potential neuroprotective effects. • 12 articles were reviewed for KMP in the treatment of AD. • KMP provided novel multi-mechanistic AD therapeutic strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lymph node metastasis (LNM) is a prognostic biomarker and affects therapeutic selection in colorectal cancer (CRC). Current evaluation methods are not adequate for estimating LNM in CRC. H&E images contain much pathological information, and collagen also affects the biological behavior of tumor cells. Hence, the objective of the study is to investigate whether a fully quantitative pathomics-collagen signature (PCS) in the tumor microenvironment can be used to predict LNM. Methods: Patients with histologically confirmed stage I-III CRC who underwent radical surgery were included in the training cohort (n = 329), the internal validation cohort (n = 329), and the external validation cohort (n = 315). Fully quantitative pathomics features and collagen features were extracted from digital H&E images and multiphoton images of specimens, respectively. LASSO regression was utilized to develop the PCS. Then, a PCS-nomogram was constructed incorporating the PCS and clinicopathological predictors for estimating LNM in the training cohort. The performance of the PCS-nomogram was evaluated via calibration, discrimination, and clinical usefulness. Furthermore, the PCS-nomogram was tested in internal and external validation cohorts. Results: By LASSO regression, the PCS was developed based on 11 pathomics and 9 collagen features. A significant association was found between the PCS and LNM in the three cohorts (P < 0.001). Then, the PCS-nomogram based on PCS, preoperative CEA level, lymphadenectasis on CT, venous emboli and/or lymphatic invasion and/or perineural invasion (VELIPI), and pT stage achieved AUROCs of 0.939, 0.895, and 0.893 in the three cohorts. The calibration curves identified good agreement between the nomogram-predicted and actual outcomes. Decision curve analysis indicated that the PCS-nomogram was clinically useful. Moreover, the PCS was still an independent predictor of LNM at station Nos. 1, 2, and 3. The PCS nomogram displayed AUROCs of 0.849–0.939 for the training cohort, 0.837–0.902 for the internal validation cohort, and 0.851–0.895 for the external validation cohorts in the three nodal stations. Conclusions: This study proposed that PCS integrating pathomics and collagen features was significantly associated with LNM, and the PCS-nomogram has the potential to be a useful tool for predicting individual LNM in CRC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-linear hysteretic riser-seabed interaction models have been developed and implemented into business software packages within recent years to simulate the riser penetration into the seabed and its influence on fatigue life in the touchdown zone (TDZ). These models have shown significant impact on ultimate fatigue damage and users shall take caution while using the models paying particular attention to the selection of model parameters. The oscillation of steel catenary riser (SCR) in the touchdown zone can be quite complex, where neighbor nodes go under different episodes and magnitudes of penetration and uplift at the same time. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the non-linear soil models consistency in nodal performance. This paper comprehensively examined the nodal performance of a popular non-linear hysteretic riser-seabed interaction model through developing a global numerical riser model in ABAQUS and a user-defined subroutine (UEL). The model shows a dominantly strong nodal performance. However, nodal response violations and model malfunctioning were observed in the proximity of trench bottom towards the vessel, which is the most fatigue prone section of SCR in the touchdown zone. Also, it was identified that the model over-estimates the penetration and suction resistance and consequently the fatigue damage in the TDZ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited, progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by a CAG expansion in the huntingtin (HTT) gene; various dysfunctions of biological processes in HD have been proposed. However, at present the exact pathogenesis of HD is not fully understood. The present study aimed to explore the pathogenesis of HD using a computational bioinformatics analysis of gene expression. GSE11358 was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus and the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the mutant HTT knock‑in cell model STHdhQ111/Q111 were predicted. DEGs between the HD and control samples were screened using the limma package in R. Functional and pathway enrichment analyses were conducted using the database for annotation, visualization and integrated discovery software. A protein‑protein interaction (PPI) network was established by the search tool for the retrieval of interacting genes and visualized by Cytoscape. Module analysis of the PPI network was performed utilizing MCODE. A total of 471 DEGs were identified, including ribonuclease A family member 4 (RNASE4). In addition, 41 significantly enriched Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways, as well as several significant Gene Ontology terms (including cytokine‑cytokine receptor interaction and cytosolic DNA‑sensing) were identified. A total of 18 significant modules were identified from the PPI network. Furthermore, a novel transcriptional regulatory relationship was identified, namely signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), which is regulated by miRNA‑124 in HD. In conclusion, deregulation of 18 critical genes may contribute to the occurrence of HD. RNASE4, STAT3, and miRNA‑124 may have a regulatory association with the pathological mechanisms in HD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The apatite-type crystal Pb 10 V 6 O 25 has been grown from high temperature solution by spontaneous crystallization. It crystallizes in the hexagonal space group P 6 3 / m with lattice parameters a = 10.1045(6) Å, c = 7.3503(6) Å and Z = 1. The structure of Pb 10 V 6 O 25 is composed of Pb(1)O 9 polyhedra and VO 4 tetrahedra, which form infinite Pb(1)V 6 O 24 three-dimension (3D) framework with hexagonal star tunnels along the c axis, where Pb(2) 3 O(4) groups are filled. The band gap for Pb 10 V 6 O 25 is calculated to be 2.86 eV, from the UV–Vis–NIR diffuse reflectance spectrum. First-principles calculations are performed to elucidate the electronic structure and optical properties. Thermal behavior and vibration spectroscopy of Pb 10 V 6 O 25 are also reported in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery vascular hyperintensity (FVH) is often observed in conjunction with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) of the carotid system. Despite its bearing on patient care outcomes, factors influencing FVH and its clinical significance in patients with transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) of the carotid arterial system have yet to be evaluated. Methods: Consecutive inpatients ( N = 154) diagnosed with TIAs of the carotid system in a 2-year period (2012-2014) were enrolled in our study. Each had undergone magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) within 72 h of symptom onset, followed by intracranial and extracranial vascular imaging. We investigated the frequency and nature of factors associated with FVH, also examining its clinical significance in the 30-day prognosis of TIA. Results: Of the 154 patients enrolled (male, 92; mean age 63.0 ± 11.9), FVH was confirmed in 61 patients (39.6%). In logistic regression analysis, intracranial large-artery disease (LAD) (OR = 2.39, 95% CI 1.16-4.92; p = 0.018) and prior stroke (OR = 3.33, 95% CI 1.48-7.51; p = 0.004) emerged as factors independently associated with FVH positivity. Ultimately, 25 patients (16.2%) progressed to AIS within a 30-day follow-up period. Logistic regression analysis indicated that contralateral FVH positivity (OR = 5.98, 95% CI 1.81-19.76; p = 0.003), atrial fibrillation (OR = 7.05, 95% CI 1.33-37.40; p = 0.022), and extracranial LAD (OR = 4.12, 95% CI 1.26-13.41; p = 0.019) were independently associated with AIS during the 30-day follow-up of TIAs in these patients. Conclusion: Intracranial LAD and previous stroke are independently associated with FVH in patients experiencing carotid system TIAs. If present, FVH may predict an oncoming AIS in the 30 days following a TIA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Topological techniques are used to establish existence results for a class of fractional differential equations Dαx(t)=f(t,x(t),Dα-1x(t)), with one of the following boundary value conditions: x(0)=A and Dα-1x(1)=B or Dα-1x(0)=A and x(1)=B, where 1<α≤2 is a real number, Dαx(t) is the conformable fractional derivative, and f:[0,1]×R2→R is continuous. The main conditions on the nonlinear term f are sign conditions (i.e., the barrier strip conditions). The topological arguments are based on the topological transversality theorem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is characterized by an arrest in lung development and is a leading cause of morbidity in premature neonates. It has been well documented that BPD disproportionally affects males compared to females, but the molecular mechanisms behind this sex-dependent bias remain unclear. Female mice show greater preservation of alveolarization and angiogenesis when exposed to hyperoxia, accompanied by increased miR-30a expression. In this investigation, we tested the hypothesis that loss of miR-30a would result in male and female mice experiencing similar impairments in alveolarization and angiogenesis under hyperoxic conditions. Methods: Wild-type and miR-30a−/− neonatal mice were exposed to hyperoxia [95% FiO2, postnatal day [PND1-5] or room air before being euthanized on PND21. Alveolarization, pulmonary microvascular development, differences in lung transcriptome, and miR-30a expression were assessed in lungs from WT and miR-30a−/− mice of either sex. Blood transcriptomic signatures from preterm newborns (with and without BPD) were correlated with WT and miR-30a−/− male and female lung transcriptome data. Results: Significantly, the sex-specific differences observed in WT mice were abrogated in the miR-30a−/− mice upon exposure to hyperoxia. The loss of miR-30a expression eliminated the protective effect in females, suggesting that miR-30a plays an essential role in regulating alveolarization and angiogenesis. Transcriptome analysis by whole lung RNA-Seq revealed a significant response in the miR-30a−/− female hyperoxia-exposed lung, with enrichment of pathways related to cell cycle and neuroactive ligand–receptor interaction. Gene expression signature in the miR-30a−/− female lung associated with human BPD blood transcriptomes. Finally, we showed the spatial localization of miR-30a transcripts in the bronchiolar epithelium. Conclusions: miR-30a could be one of the biological factors mediating the resilience of the female preterm lung to neonatal hyperoxic lung injury. A better understanding of the effects of miR-30a on pulmonary angiogenesis and alveolarization may lead to novel therapeutics for treating BPD. Plain Language Summary: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a lung condition that affects babies born prematurely, causing problems with their lung development. Interestingly, BPD tends to affect boys more than girls, but we do not fully understand why. To investigate this, we conducted a study using mice. Female mice had better lung development and blood vessel formation when exposed to high oxygen levels. We found higher expression of a molecule called miR-30a in the female mice and seemed to be protective. So, we wanted to see if removing miR-30a would have the same effect on both male and female mice. To test this, we exposed newborn mice without miR-30a and normal mice to high oxygen levels or regular room air. Interestingly, the differences between normal males and females were no longer present in the mice without miR-30a. This suggested that miR-30a plays an important role in lung development. We also identified that the female mice without miR-30a, when exposed to high oxygen, had the greatest number of genes affected, and these gene changes were like those seen in blood samples from premature babies with BPD. Finally, we report that miR-30a was in a specific part of the lung called the bronchiolar epithelium. Overall, this study suggests that miR-30a is crucial in protecting premature lungs from damage caused by high oxygen levels. By understanding how miR-30a affects lung development, we may be able to develop new treatments for BPD in the future. Highlights: Sex-specific differences are abrogated in neonatal miR-30a−/− mice upon exposure to hyperoxia. The loss of miR-30a expression eliminated the female resilience to neonatal hyperoxic lung injury. Pulmonary miR-30a expression could be one of the protective epigenetic mechanisms in the neonatal female lung. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]