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AIM: To compare the efficacy and safety of intravitreal aflibercept with dexamethasone implant in the treatment of macular edema (ME) associated with diabetic retinopathy (DR) or retinal vein occlusion (RVO). METHODS: A comprehensive search of studies comparing dexamethasone and aflibercept in patients with ME was conducted at PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials from the beginning of library to April 16, 2021. Extracting the data including best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central retinal thickness (CRT), number of injections and serious adverse events (SAEs) from the final qualified articles. RevMan 5.3 software was used for Meta-analysis of the included studies. RESULTS: Totally 7 studies with 369 eyes were included. The causes of ME in the final screening study included RVO and DR. Compared with the aflibercept treatment group, the BCVA of the dexamethasone implant treatment group showed no significant difference in the follow-up for 3mo [mean difference (MD): -0.05, 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.11, 0.02; P=0.17] and 12mo (MD: -0.01, 95%CI: -0.38, 0.37; P=0.98), but it was slightly worse than the aflibercept group at 6mo (MD: 0.12, 95%CI: 0.03, 0.21; P=0.008). In terms of CRT reduction, there was no significant difference between the two groups at 3mo (MD: -28.14, 95%CI: -79.95, 23.67; P=0.29), 6mo (MD: 27.67, 95%CI: -84.89, 140.24; P=0.63), and 12mo (MD: -59.00, 95%CI: -127.37, 9.37; P=0.09). However, dexamethasone implant had fewer injections, but more adverse events such as elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) and cataract. CONCLUSION: Intravitreal injection of aflibercept and dexamethasone implant can both effectively increase BCVA and reduce CRT. Compared with aflibercept, dexamethasone implant is not inferior in improving vision and reducing CRT in the initial treatment period (3mo) and long-term treatment period (12mo). Besides, it has fewer injections and more likely to cause elevated IOP and cataract.

Introduction. The clinical characteristics of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation have been well studied. However, the correlation of EGFR mutation with mutant p53, Ki-67, and thyroid transcription factor 1 (TTF-1) and their prognostic value remain indistinct. Material and methods. Clinical and pathological characteristics and overall survival were analysed retrospectively in 523 surgically resected NSCLC patients. The expression levels of p53, Ki-67, and TTF-1 protein were detected by immunohistochemistry, and an amplification refractory mutation system was used to access the status of EGFR mutations. Results. Of 523 patients with surgically resected NSCLC, 210 patients (38.4%) harboured EGFR mutations. Compared to the EGFR wild-type lung cancer, mutated EGFR harboured significantly increased mutant p53-positive or TTF-1-positive tumors (P

This paper mainly describes the basic principles of extended Kalman filter and unscented Kalman filter and the application of them in target tracking based on observation distance At last the two algorithms are compared by Matlab software The simulation results show that unscented Kalman filter has better matching effect than extended Kalman filter and the former has smaller error variation and better convergence than the latter

Raspberry subcultured tissue seedlings were used as test materials for the effect of different concentrations of graphene on the growth of raspberry seedlings and the development of adventitious roots. The graphene was characterized by a laser particle size analyzer, STEM, TEM, XPS and Raman spectroscopy. A root analysis system and SEM were used to systematically characterize the seedling height, root length, root specific surface area, number of branches, number of root tips and root micromorphology, thus determining the optimum concentration of graphene for the growth of raspberry tissue culture seedlings. The results showed that with increasing graphene concentration, the seedling height, root length, root tip number and root specific surface area of the seedlings all showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing. The optimum concentration of graphene was 2 mg·L-1, the seedling height of tissue culture seedlings was 1.46 times that of the control group, and the root length, specific surface area, number of root tips and their bifurcation number were about twice that of the control group.

The ecological footprint (EF) model has received much attention as an assessment indicator for sustainable development in recent years. Firstly, the temporal changes of domestic timber production, imports and exports in China were analyzed from 1973 to 2003, the analysis results showed an apparent fluctuation in timber production during 1973–1995 but a decreasing trend during 1995–2002, an increasing trend in timber imports since 1995 especially after the implementation of the Natural Forest Protection Project (NFPP), an decreasing trend year by year in timber exports since 1995. Secondly, this paper presented a time series analysis of actual forest area demand in the sustainable yield and production approach in China from 1973 to 2003, which includes both import and export forest area demand. The results showed the actual forest area demand simulated from the sustainable yield approach was slightly higher than that from the production approach during 1978–1988 and a little lower during 1989–2003; however, the actual forest area demands simulated by these two model approaches were larger than calculations that expressed in conventional forest EF. Meanwhile, the results indicated the forestry development in China during 1978–1988 was unsustainable due to overexploitation of forest stocking volumes, and China’s forestry moved toward sustainable development since 1989 because forest resources are exploited at lower rates than they are regenerated. However, compared to forestry developed countries, the forestry development capacity in China is still lower. Finally, based on the model results we analyzed the relationships between forestry EF and the key policies, including trade policy, economic policy and forest conservation programs. In addition, several suggestions about reducing forestry EF and enhancing sustainable forestry development in China are given.