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Organized chronic subdural hematoma is a rare form of chronic subdural hematoma. The optimal treatment method is still controversial. Preoperative middle meningeal artery embolization and craniotomy are effective methods for chronic subdural hematoma. However, there are not many reports investigating the effectiveness of these methods in treating organized chronic subdural hematoma. We report the case of a 61-year-old male patient who had a twist-drill craniostomy to treat a left hemisphere subdural hematoma. After surgery, there was a recurrence on the same side in the form of an organized subdural hematoma. The patient received preoperative left middle meningeal artery embolization. After 3 months of follow-up, a small portion of the hematoma remained, causing pressure and slightly shifting the midline to the right by 6.5 mm, and the patient no longer had clinical symptoms.

Abstract The main cause of corneal blindness worldwide is keratitis, especially the infectious form caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses, and Acanthamoeba. The key to effective management of infectious keratitis hinges on prompt and precise diagnosis. Nevertheless, the current gold standard, such as cultures of corneal scrapings, remains time-consuming and frequently yields false-negative results. Here, using 23,055 slit-lamp images collected from 12 clinical centers nationwide, this study constructed a clinically feasible deep learning system, DeepIK, that could emulate the diagnostic process of a human expert to identify and differentiate bacterial, fungal, viral, amebic, and noninfectious keratitis. DeepIK exhibited remarkable performance in internal, external, and prospective datasets (all areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves > 0.96) and outperformed three other state-of-the-art algorithms (DenseNet121, InceptionResNetV2, and Swin-Transformer). Our study indicates that DeepIK possesses the capability to assist ophthalmologists in accurately and swiftly identifying various infectious keratitis types from slit-lamp images, thereby facilitating timely and targeted treatment.

Tumor microenvironments (TMEs) have received increasing attention in recent years as they play pivotal roles in tumorigenesis, progression, metastases, and resistance to the traditional modalities of cancer therapy like chemotherapy. With the rapid development of nanotechnology, effective antineoplastic nanotherapeutics targeting the aberrant hallmarks of TMEs have been proposed. The appropriate design and fabrication endow nanomedicines with the abilities for active targeting, TMEs-responsiveness, and optimization of physicochemical properties of tumors, thereby overcoming transport barriers and significantly improving antineoplastic therapeutic benefits. This review begins with the origins and characteristics of TMEs and discusses the latest strategies for modulating the TMEs by focusing on the regulation of biochemical microenvironments, such as tumor acidosis, hypoxia, and dysregulated metabolism. Finally, this review summarizes the challenges in the development of smart anti-cancer nanotherapeutics for TME modulation and examines the promising strategies for combination therapies with traditional treatments for further clinical translation.

Abstract Background Dry eye is a chronic and multifactorial ocular surface disease caused by tear film instability or imbalance in the microenvironment of the ocular surface. It can lead to various discomforts such as inflammation of the ocular surface and visual issues. However, the mechanism of dry eye is not clear, which results in dry eye being only relieved but not cured in clinical practice. Finding multiple environmental pathways for dry eye and exploring the pathogenesis of dry eye have become the focus of research. Studies have found that changes in microbiota may be related to the occurrence and development of dry eye disease. Methods Entered the keywords “Dry eye”, “Microbiota”, “Bacteria” through PUBMED, summarised the articles that meet the inclusion criteria and then filtered them while the publication time range of the literature was defined in the past 5 years, with a deadline of 2023.A total of 13 clinical and 1 animal-related research articles were screened out and included in the summary. Results Study found that different components of bacteria can induce ocular immune responses through different receptors present on the ocular surface, thereby leading to an imbalance in the ocular surface microenvironment. Changes in the ocular surface microbiota and gut microbiota were also found when dry eye syndrome occurs, including changes in diversity, an increase in pro-inflammatory bacteria, and a decrease in short-chain fatty acid-related bacterial genera that produce anti-inflammatory effects. Fecal microbiota transplantation or probiotic intervention can alleviate signs of inflammation on the ocular surface of dry eye animal models. Conclusions By summarizing the changes in the ocular surface and intestinal microbiota when dry eye occurs, it is speculated and concluded that the intestine may affect the occurrence of eye diseases such as dry eye through several pathways and mechanisms, such as the occurrence of abnormal immune responses, microbiota metabolites- intervention of short-chain fatty acids, imbalance of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory factors, and release of neurotransmitters, etc. Analyzing the correlation between the intestinal tract and the eyes from the perspective of microbiota can provide a theoretical basis and a new idea for relieving dry eyes in multiple ways in the future.

In this study, a coupla risk combinations and coping strategies have been developed for confronting conflicts between population–economy development and water resource management (PEWM) due to population–industry transformation (PIT) into a floodplain of the economic belt under climate change. A location-entropy-based PVAR (Panel Vector Autoregression) model coupla-risk analysis (LPCR) can be introduced into PEWM to reflect the adverse effects of population–industry transformation on a special function area (e.g., floodplain) of the economic belt, where the coupla risk map has been addressed. Meanwhile, an adaptive scenario analysis-based stochastic–fuzzy method (ASSF) can be joined to deal with multiple uncertainties and their interactions due to subjective and artificial factors. The proposed LPCR and ASSF can be integrated into a risk-based stochastic–fuzzy scenario method framework (RASF) to apply for a practical PEWM case study of the Yongding River floodplain in the context of the coordinative development of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei economic belt, China. The results can be presented as follows: 1) the PIT was accelerated into the floodplain due to the fact that it can require more water resources, where each additional unit can promote the regional gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.019 units, increasing the water demand by 0.046 units. It can strengthen various risks such as water shortage, soil loss, and flood control investment in a floodplain of the economic belt; 2) the farmland returning to wetland (CFW) can decrease the water demand and shortage ratio (would be 0% at highest) for irrigation in the long run, but this would reduce the direct economic income of irrigation in the short run; 3) backward irrigative schemes and low water utilization efficiency require a cleaner production mode, which could reduce water shortages by 77.23 × 10^3 m3 at the highest; and 4) the combined policy (S12) can reduce coupla risks (including the risk of water shortage, soil loss, and flood) compared to other individual policies (S2, S4, S6, and S8). The findings can assist local decision-makers to gain insights into adjusting interegional strategies not only for remitting population–resource stress in core cities but also for improving the resilience against drought and flood in a floodplain area, which is conducive of the special function of the floodplain to support an integrated sustainable development of the economic belt.

The existing methods for evaluating voltage sag severity do not sufficiently consider the effect of the multiple line characteristic factors on the line failure probability, which leads to a large error in the evaluation results. Therefore, an evaluation method for voltage sag severity based on multiple line characteristic factors fusion is proposed. Firstly, based on line historical fault data, the influence degree of multiple line characteristic factors on line fault which employ association rules to quantify is researched. Secondly, by improving the D-S evidence theory to fuse multiple line characteristic factors, an accurate line annual failure probability model is established, and the voltage sag severity of nodes by introducing maximum entropy into the method of fault positions are obtained. Finally, a comprehensive voltage sag severity index considering both voltage sag severity of power grid side and tolerance characteristics of sensitive equipment on the user side is proposed to evaluate node voltage sag severity. Based on the actual power quality monitoring data for validation and comparison with the evaluation cases that do not fully consider the line characteristic factors, the results show that the proposed method can effectively improve the accuracy of voltage sag severity evaluation.

Objective To investigate the predictive value of albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) score combined with liver function index and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) for liver metastasis of colorectal cancer. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of patients with colorectal cancer who underwent surgical treatment in the Second Hospital & Clinical Medical Hospital, Lanzhou University from January 2016 to July 2021 and were followed up for 24 months. According to the follow-up results, the enrolled patients were divided into liver metastasis group and non-liver metastasis group, and were randomly divided into modeling group and validation group by a ratio of 2∶1. The risk factors of liver metastasis in the patients with colorectal cancer were analyzed. Lasso-Logistic regression was used to construct the prediction model. Bootstrap method was used for internal verification. Receiver operating characteristic curve, calibration curve and clinical decision curve were used to evaluate the reliability of the prediction model. Finally, a nomogram was drawn to show the prediction results. Results A total of 195 patients who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled, including 130 in the modeling group and 65 in the validation group. Through Lasso regression variable screening and Logistic regression analysis, the results showed that ALBI score(OR=8.062, 95% CI: 2.545-25.540), alanine transaminase (ALT) (OR=1.037, 95% CI: 1.004-1.071) and CEA (OR=1.025, 95% CI: 1.008-1.043) were independent predictors of liver metastasis in colorectal cancer. The area under curve (AUC) of the combined prediction of liver metastasis of colorectal cancer in the modeling group was 0.921, the sensitivity was 78%, the specificity was 95%, the C-index was 0.921, the H-L fitting curve χ2=0.851, P=0.654, and the slope of the calibration curve was close to 1, suggesting that the accuracy of the model was high, and the DCA curve showed that the model had good clinical application value. For the data of the modeling group, the Bootstrap method was used for internal verification of 1000 resamplings. The accuracy was 0.869, the kappa consistency was 0.709, and the AUC was 0.913. When ALBI score, ALT and CEA were used to diagnose liver metastasis of colorectal cancer alone, the AUC of CEA was the largest (0.897), and the combination of the three had the highest efficacy in the diagnosis of liver metastasis of colorectal cancer. In the validation group, the AUC, sensitivity, specificity, C-index of the combined prediction of liver metastasis of colorectal cancer were 0.918, 85.0%, 95.6%, 0.918, respectively, and H-L fitting curve χ2=0.586, P=0.746. Conclusions ALBI score, ALT and CEA have certain predictive value for liver metastasis of colorectal cancer. The combined diagnosis of liver metastasis of colorectal cancer has high efficacy, and the risk prediction model constructed has a good predictive effect.

Post-reperfusion syndrome (PRS) is a severe and highly lethal syndrome that occurs after declamping the portal vein forceps during liver transplantation. It is marked by severe hemodynamic disturbances manifested by decreased mean arterial pressure, increased heart rate and elevated pulmonary artery pressure. The complex pathogenesis of PRS remains understudied. It is generally believed to be related to the large amount of acidic, cold blood that enters the circulation after release of the portal clamp. This blood is rich in oxygen-free radicals and metabolic toxins, which not only aggravate the ischemia-reperfusion injury of the liver but also further attack the systemic organs indiscriminately. Considering the range of possible adverse prognoses including acute kidney injury, delirium and graft nonfunction, it is imperative that clinicians increase their awareness and prevention of PRS. The aim of this article is to review the current risk factors, pathophysiological mechanisms and prevention strategies for PRS.

As a new type of injectable biomaterials, functional microspheres have attracted increasing attention in tissue regeneration because they possess some advantageous properties compared to other biomaterials, including hydrogels. A variety of bio-inspired microspheres with unique structures and properties have been developed as cellular carriers and drug delivery vehicles in recent years. In this review, we provide a comprehensive summary of the progress of functional and biodegradable microspheres that have been used for tissue regeneration over the last two decades. First, we briefly introduce the biomaterials and general methods for microsphere fabrication. Next, we focus on the newly developed technologies for preparing functional microspheres, including macroporous microspheres, nanofibrous microspheres, hollow microspheres, core-shell structured microspheres, and surface-modified functional microspheres. After that, we discuss the application of functional microspheres for tissue regeneration, specifically for bone, cartilage, dental, neural, cardiac, and skin tissue regeneration. Last, we present our perspectives and future directions of functional microspheres as injectable carriers for the future advancement of tissue regeneration.

The surface morphology of perovskite films significantly influences the performance of perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs). However, the thin perovskite thickness (~10 nm) results in low surface coverage on the substrate, limiting the improvement of photoelectric performance. Here, we propose a molecular additive strategy that employs pentafluorophenyl diphenylphosphinate (FDPP) molecules as additives. P=O and Pentafluorophenyl (5F) on FDPP can coordinate with Pb2+ to slow the crystallization process of perovskite and enhance surface coverage. Moreover, FDPP reduces the defect density of perovskite and enhances the crystalline quality. The maximum brightness, power efficiency (PE), and external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the optimal device reached 24,230 cd m−2, 82.73 lm W−1, and 21.06%, respectively. The device maintains an EQE of 19.79% at 1000 cd m−2 and the stability is further enhanced. This study further extends the applicability of P=O-based additives.

The ever-growing prominence and widespread acceptance of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), particularly those employing thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF), have firmly established them as formidable contenders in the field of lighting technology. TADF enables achieving a 100% utilization rate and efficient luminescence through reverse intersystem crossing (RISC). However, the effectiveness of TADF-OLEDs is influenced by their high current density and limited device lifetime, which result in a significant reduction in efficiency. This comprehensive review introduces the TADF mechanism and provides a detailed overview of recent advancements in the development of host-free white OLEDs (WOLEDs) utilizing TADF. This review specifically scrutinizes advancements from three distinct perspectives: TADF fluorescence, TADF phosphorescence and all-TADF materials in host-free WOLEDs. By presenting the latest research findings, this review contributes to the understanding of the current state of host-free WOLEDs, employing TADF and underscoring promising avenues for future investigations. It aims to serve as a valuable resource for newcomers seeking an entry point into the field as well as for established members of the WOLEDs community, offering them insightful perspectives on imminent advancements.

The key equipment to prevent precision machinery such as lithography from being influenced by air temperature fluctuation is a high-precision air temperature control (ATC) system. The ATC system developed for a lithography immersion testing platform suffers from the difficulties of multiple disturbances, large inertia and time delay. However, seldom have control methods can solve these problems systematically. A two-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) controller is proposed in this paper for this system, where model predictive control (MPC) is developed to overcome large inertia and time delay in the main control loop, and the measurable disturbance from the inlet air is compensated; based on the loop shaping approach, the controller in the disturbance rejection control loop is designed to attenuate the load disturbance; a Kalman filter is designed to reduce the influence of noise having no stable frequency characteristic. The experimental results show that the MPC controller and Kalman filter can effectively avoid the system oscillation, and the disturbance rejection control loop can significantly attenuate the load disturbance in the frequency range from 0.01 to 0.02 rad/s. Therefore, the 1σ precision is increased by 3.3 mK to 8.7 mK by the 2DOF controller when the system is influenced by the load disturbance with different fluctuation amplitudes.

Drug resistance presents one of the major causes for the failure of cancer chemotherapy. Cancer stem-like cells (CSCs), a population of self-renewal cells with high tumorigenicity and innate chemoresistance, can survive conventional chemotherapy and generate increased resistance. Here, we develop a lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticle for co-delivery and cell-distinct release of the differentiation-inducing agent, all-trans retinoic acid and the chemotherapeutic drug, doxorubicin to overcome the CSC-associated chemoresistance. The hybrid nanoparticles achieve differential release of the combined drugs in the CSCs and bulk tumor cells by responding to their specific intracellular signal variation. In the hypoxic CSCs, ATRA is released to induce differentiation of the CSCs, and in the differentiating CSCs with decreased chemoresistance, DOX is released upon elevation of reactive oxygen species to cause subsequent cell death. In the bulk tumor cells, the drugs are released synchronously upon the hypoxic and oxidative conditions to exert potent anticancer effect. This cell-distinct drug release enhances the synergistic therapeutic efficacy of ATRA and DOX with different anticancer mechanism. We show that treatment with the hybrid nanoparticle efficiently inhibit the tumor growth and metastasis of the CSC-enriched triple negative breast cancer in the mouse models.

Abstract Objectives Currently, endometrial adenocarcinoma lacks an effective prognostic indicator. This study was to develop and validate a gene biomarker and a nomogram to predict the survival of endometrial adenocarcinoma, explore potential mechanisms and select sensitive drugs. Methods 425 endometrial adenocarcinoma cases with RNA sequencing data from TCGA were used to identify the most immune-related module by WGCNA. As an external test set, 103 cases from GSE17025 were used. Immune-related genes were downloaded from Innate DB. The three sets of data were used to identify the prognostic genes. Based on 397 cases with complete clinical data from TCGA, randomly divided into the training set (n = 199) and test set (n = 198), we identified CXCR3 as the prognostic gene biomarker. Age, grade, FIGO stage, and risk were used to develop and validate a predictive nomogram. AUC, C-index, calibration curve and K–M estimate evaluated the model's predictive performance. KEGG enrichment analysis, immune functions, TMB, the effectiveness of immunotherapy, and drug sensitivity between the high-risk and low-risk groups. Results CXCR3 was identified as a prognostic biomarker. We calculated the risk score and divided the cases into the high-risk and low-risk groups by the median value of the risk score. The OS of the high-risk group was better than the low-risk group. The risk was the prognostic indicator independent of age, grade, and FIGO stage. We constructed the nomogram including age, grade, FIGO stage, and risk to predict the prognosis of endometrial adenocarcinoma. The top five KEGG pathways enriched by the DEGs between the high- and low-risk groups were viral protein interaction with cytokine and cytokine receptors, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, chemokine signaling pathway, natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity, and cell adhesion molecules. We analyzed the difference in immune cells and found that CD8+ T cells, activated CD4+ T cells, T helper cells, monocytes, and M1 macrophages were infiltrated more in the low-risk group. However, M0 macrophages and activated dendritic cells were more in the high-risk group. The immune function including APC coinhibition, APC costimulation, CCR, checkpoint, cytolytic activity, HLA, inflammation-promoting, MHC-I, parainflammation, T cell coinhibition, T cell costimulation, type I-IFN-response, and type II-IFN-response were better in the low-risk group. TMB and TIDE scores were both better in the low-risk group. By ‘the pRRophetic’ package, we found 56 sensitive drugs for different risk groups. Conclusion We identified CXCR3 as the prognostic biomarker. We also developed and validated a predictive nomogram model combining CXCR3, age, histological grade, and FIGO stage for endometrial adenocarcinoma, which could help explore the precise treatment.

In this paper, we study the complete convergence and the complete integration convergence for weighted sums of $ m $-extended negatively dependent ($ m $-END) random variables under sub-linear expectations space with the condition of $ \hat{\mathbb{E}}|X|^p\leqslant C_{\mathbb{V}}(|X|^p) < \infty $, $ p > 1/\alpha $ and $ \alpha > 3/2 $. We obtain the results that can be regarded as the extensions of complete convergence and complete moment convergence under classical probability space. In addition, the Marcinkiewicz-Zygmund type strong law of large numbers for weighted sums of $ m $-END random variables under the sub-linear expectations space is proved.

Healing in compromised and complicated bone defects is often prolonged and delayed due to the lack of bioactivity of the fixation device, secondary infections, and associated oxidative stress. Here, we propose amorphous silicon oxynitride (SiONx) as a coating for the fixation devices to improve both bioactivity and bacteriostatic activity and reduce oxidative stress. We aimed to study the effect of increasing the N/O ratio in the SiONx to fine-tune the cellular activity and the antioxidant effect via the NRF2 pathway under oxidative stress conditions. The in vitro studies involved using human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to examine the effect of SiONx coatings on osteogenesis with and without toxic oxidative stress. Additionally, bacterial growth on SiONx surfaces was studied using methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonies. NRF2 siRNA transfection was performed on the hMSCs (NRF2-KD) to study the antioxidant response to silicon ions. The SiONx implant surfaces showed a >4-fold decrease in bacterial growth vs. bare titanium as a control. Increasing the N/O ratio in the SiONx implants increased the alkaline phosphatase activity >1.5 times, and the other osteogenic markers (osteocalcin, RUNX2, and Osterix) were increased >2-fold under normal conditions. Increasing the N/O ratio in SiONx enhanced the protective effects and improved cell viability against toxic oxidative stress conditions. There was a significant increase in osteocalcin activity compared to the uncoated group, along with increased antioxidant activity under oxidative stress conditions. In NRF2-KD cells, there was a stunted effect on the upregulation of antioxidant markers by silicon ions, indicating a role for NRF2. In conclusion, the SiONx coatings studied here displayed bacteriostatic properties. These materials promoted osteogenic markers under toxic oxidative stress conditions while also enhancing antioxidant NRF2 activity. These results indicate the potential of SiONx coatings to induce in vivo bone regeneration in a challenging oxidative stress environment.

Summary: Th9 cells are powerful effector T cells for cancer immunotherapy. However, the underlying antitumor mechanism of Th9 cells still needs to be further elucidated. Here, we show that Th9 cells express high levels of not only IL-9, but also IL-24. We found that knockout of Il24 gene in Th9 cells promotes Th9 cell proliferation in vitro, but decreases Th9 cell survival in vitro and in vivo. Interestingly, knockout of Il24 gene in Th9 cells decreases the tumor-specific cytotoxicity of Th9 cells in vitro. In addition, immunotherapy with Il24 knockout Th9 cells exhibit less tumor inhibition than regular Th9 cells in mouse tumor models. We found that inhibition of Foxo1 by a specific inhibitor downregulates IL-24 expression in Th9 cells and decreases Th9 cell antitumor efficacy in vivo. Our results identify IL-24 as a powerful antitumor effector of Th9 cells and provide a target in Th9 cell-mediated tumor therapy.

Objectives The objective of this meta-analysis was to identify whether headache increase the risk of dry eye disease (DED).Methods PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library and EMBASE databases were searched for relevant studies. The odds ratio (OR) of DED in all-cause headache was calculated via Stata software. To explore the source of heterogeneity, subgroup and sensitivity analyses were conducted. Funnel plots and Egger’s test were performed to assess publication bias.Results This meta-analysis included 11 studies. Pooled analysis indicated that all-cause headache was related to a higher risk of DED (OR = 1.586, 95% CI : 1.409–1.785, I2 = 89.3%, p

By reasonably simplifying the three-dimensional model of the gearbox of the nuclear power circulating pump, a moving particle semi-implicit method is used to simulate the forced oil injection lubrication flow field of the nuclear power gearbox. The movement state of the complex flow field inside the gearbox is accurately and quickly obtained. The effects of the injection angle, the oil supply force and other injection parameters on the oil flow characteristics in the gearbox are studied; the parameter changes of oil particles near the inner and outer meshing areas and the influence mechanism of oil distribution on the lubrication behavior of planetary gears are analyzed. Results show that high-speed particles are concentrated in the outer meshing region, while the low-speed particles are mainly distributed on the surface of the ring gear and the inner meshing region. The effects of injection parameters on particle fluidity in inner and outer meshing regions are different. The optimization design of forced lubrication shall take into consideration of the lubrication characteristics of different areas.

Interaction between epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and millet bran protein under conditions that simulate human physiological conditions was investigated by Endogenous fluorescence spectroscopy synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy, Three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. The results indicated that EGCG can greatly quench the endogenous fluorescence of millet bran protein in the mixed of static mode and dynamic mode. Synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy indicated that EGCG changed the protein peptide backbone and microenvironment of aromatic amino acid residues of millet bran protein. The synchronous fluorescence results showed that they mainly affected the microenvironment around tryptophan residues and reduced the hydrophobicity of the surrounding microenvironment. The binding constants (KA) and site numbers (n) between EGCG and millet bran protein obtained at different temperatures were 8.691 6×104 L/moL, 1.084 8 (290 K); 1.317 0×106 L/moL, 1.300 9 (298 K); 7.868 6×106 L/moL, 1.489 3 (310 K), respectively. According to the thermodynamic parameters, EGCG and millet bran protein were combined by hydrophobic interaction to form a complex. The binding distance (r) between EGCG and millet bran protein was calculated to be about 2.341 8 nm based on the theory of Föster’s non-radiation energy transfer. The theoretical model of the binding ratio between EGCG and millet bran protein at different temperatures was established, and the binding ratio between EGCG and millet bran protein decreased as concentration of EGCG increased, while the temperature had effect on the binding ratio.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the main leading causes of visual impairment worldwide. The current study elucidates the role of JQ1 in DR. A diabetic model was constructed by STZ injection and a high-fat diet. After establishment of the diabetic model, rats were assigned to treatment groups: 1) control, 2) diabetic model, and 3) diabetic+JQ1 model. In vitro Transwell and wound-healing assays were used to measure BV2 cell viability by stimulation with low glucose and high glucose with or without JQ1 and 740Y-P. Pathological methods were used to analyze DR, and Western blotting was used to analyze protein expression. Identification of enriched pathways in DR was performed by bioinformatics. Histopathological examination demonstrated that JQ1 rescued the loss of retinal cells and increased the thickness of retinal layers in diabetic rats. JQ1 attenuated high glucose-stimulated BV2 microglial motility and migration. The bioinformatics analysis implied that the Pl3K-Akt signaling pathway was enriched in DR. JQ1 decreased the phosphorylation of PI3K and AKT as well as the immunostaining of PI3K in BV2 cells. 740Y-P (a PI3K agonist) significantly reversed the decrease in p-PI3K and p-AK in BV2 cells. Additionally, JQ1 decreased the protein expression of p-PI3K, p-AKT, and MMP2/9 and immunostaining of PI3K in retinal tissues of rats. JQ1 suppresses the PI3K/Akt cascade by targeting MMP expression, thus decreasing the viability and invasion capacity of retinal microglia, suggesting an interesting treatment target for DR.

Abstract Background Hyperbilirubinemia (HB) is a serious complication in aortic arch surgery, which is associated with acute kidney injury (AKI). The association between HB and chronic kidney disease (CKD) is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of HB associated AKI on CKD after aortic arch surgery. Methods We reviewed 284 patients who underwent aortic arch surgery from 2016 to 2020 in our hospital. AKI was defined as a 50% increase in sCr from baseline value within the first 7 postoperative days. HB was defined as total bilirubin > 51.3 μmol/L. Patients were divided into 3 groups based on AKI and HB: HB associated AKI (HB-AKI) group (AKI patients suffered HB within the first 7 postoperative days); AKI without HB group and Non-AKI group. Results Follow-up for 204 patients ranged from 3 to 12 months. Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that the 1-year cumulative incidence of CKD was highest in HB-AKI (32.6%) than AKI without HB (17.8%) and Non-AKI (7.4%, log-rank test, p

Abstract Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA), as a newly proposed swarm-based algorithm, has gradually become a popular approach for optimization problems in various engineering fields. However, WOA suffers from the poor balance of exploration and exploitation, and premature convergence. In this paper, a new enhanced WOA (EWOA), which adopts an improved dynamic opposite learning (IDOL) and an adaptive encircling prey stage, is proposed to overcome the problems. IDOL plays an important role in the initialization part and the algorithm iterative process of EWOA. By evaluating the optimal solution in the current population, IDOL can adaptively switch exploitation/exploration modes constructed by the DOL strategy and a modified search strategy, respectively. On the other hand, for the encircling prey stage of EWOA in the latter part of the iteration, an adaptive inertia weight strategy is introduced into this stage to adaptively adjust the prey’s position to avoid falling into local optima. Numerical experiments, with unimodal, multimodal, hybrid and composition benchmarks, and three typical engineering problems are utilized to evaluate the performance of EWOA. The proposed EWOA also evaluates against canonical WOA, three sub-variants of EWOA, three other common algorithms, three advanced algorithms and four advanced variants of WOA. Results indicate that according to Wilcoxon rank sum test and Friedman test, EWOA has balanced exploration and exploitation ability in coping with global optimization, and it has obvious advantages when compared with other state-of-the-art algorithms.

In this experiment, a multi-enzyme method was used to prepare rapeseed peptides by stepwise hydrolysis of rapeseed proteins. Based on four single-factor experiments of hydrolysis temperature, hydrolysis time, pH value and enzyme addition, the response surface methodology was used to optimize the hydrolysis conditions of rapeseed proteins. The results showed that the optimal experimental conditions were 55.5 ℃ of temperature, 90 min of hydrolysis time, 10.5 of pH, and 10 400 U/g of enzyme addition. The hydrolysis degree was 31.64% under these conditions. The second hydrolysis was carried out by using compound flavor protease. The debittering effect of rapeseed peptide was remarkable, and the hydrolysis degree reached more than 38% after 120 min of hydrolysis time. This experiment improved the extraction rate of rapeseed peptides and obtained rapeseed peptides with good debittering effect.

The working conditions of self-aligning bearings in rolling mills are complex. The actual life of the bearing often does not reach the design life as expected. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the global load distribution and local stress distribution of self-aligning roller bearing. The global model involving contact of a number of elements often results in a long calculation time and convergence difficulty. Firstly, proposes a new simplified finite element model of bearing based on Hertz contact theory, which can greatly improve the calculation efficiency. Then, the roller contact loading distribution of the global model is solved based on the interference fit amount of the shaft and the inner ring of the bearing. Finally, the displacements corresponding to the maximum contact load is used as the boundary conditions of the local model, and the stress distribution of the inner ring is solved. The results show that the loading ratio of the two rows of raceways and loading distribution of the contact are varied with working conditions. The interference fit amount specified in the present study makes the minimum Mises stress of the inner ring greater than 40 MPa. This will reduce the strength and fatigue life of the bearing.

Deep learning based methods have shown promising performance in semantic segmentation of high-resolution remote sensing (HRRS) images. However, due to the multi-scale property and complexity of HRRS images, it still faces many challenges in tackling the scale variance problem and obtaining global context information. In this paper, we propose an enhanced lightweight end-to-end semantic segmentation (ELES2) framework for HRRS images, where a superpixel segmentation pooling (SSP) module is embedded with the framework for result refinement, leading to a more accurate end-to-end semantic segmentation. Besides, compensation connections (CC) are applied between encoder blocks to establish long-range dependencies. In addition, a dense dilated convolutional pyramid (DDCP) module is proposed to generate dense features under different scales and capture global context information. Experiments conducted showed that our ELES2 respectively achieves the mean pixel intersection-over-union (mIoU) values of 80.16% and 73.20% on the ISPRS Potsdam and Vaihingen benchmark datasets using only 12.62M parameters and 13.09G floating-point operations (FLOPs). Experimental results prove that our method achieves a promising balance between segmentation accuracy and computational efficiency compared with the state-of-the-art semantic segmentation models.

To lessen the strain on Harbin’s water resources and enhance the environment, it is crucial to analyze the key determining factors for the use of unconventional water resources in the city and to allocate unconventional water reasonably among various industries in the planning year. In this study, a back-propagation neural network (BP neural network) model is used to predict the potential for unconventional water resource utilization in the planning year (2025), a gray correlation analysis model is used to evaluate water-using industries, and finally, an unconventional water resource allocation scheme for the study is used to determine the main influencing factors and determine the weights of key indicators. The findings demonstrate a strong correlation between Harbin’s level of investment and construction, economic efficiency, cost, level of water demand, and social factors, as well as a low level of utilization of unconventional water resources throughout the city.

Antibiotic resistance is a global public health issue, accelerated by the misuse and overuse of antibiotics. Microenvironment-targeted antimicrobial delivery is an emergent and promising strategy for selective antibiotic delivery that targets the site of infections and may reduce drug resistance. The local pH of infected tissues can be a primary target for designing materials with pH-triggered antimicrobial activity. Given the urgent need to combat bacterial infections in diseases with an elevated pH, we report on the design and synthesis of a new alkaline-responsive antimicrobial hydrogel. The gels are based on a polydiacetylene-peptide (PDA-Pep) having pH-dependent molecular and macromolecular structure and packing. Upon pH elevation, the peptide domain is deprotonated and triggers the conformational change of the PDA domain, leading to a colorimetric transition from blue to purple. Simultaneously, the deprotonation induces a gel-to-sol macroscopic phase transition of the fiber network formed in PDA-Pep hydrogels, which causes the selective release of the antimicrobial agents that are encapsulated in the gels into the infection site to kill bacteria. The translational potential of PDA-Pep hydrogels for pH-sensing and on-demand alkaline-triggered antibiotic delivery was demonstrated on inoculated pig skins. The work lays the foundation for the development of multifunctional alkaline-responsive materials in which multiple small molecule or macromolecular therapeutics can be encapsulated to achieve synergistic biological functions against a wide range of multidrug-resistant pathogens.

The environment with high-stability temperature is crucial for precision machinery such as lithography and laser interferometer. Some studies have investigated temperature control algorithms and temperature fluctuation attenuators to provide precision temperature control systems for them. In this paper, considering the characteristics of hardware elements and the closed control loop overall, a general control loop connected by multiple cascade loops is proposed for high-precision air temperature control to reject the disturbance from the inlet air. It is found that this disturbance and the noise generated by the non-uniform air temperature of the chamber are the two main sources affecting the control precision. Based on loop shaping, a controller with compensators is designed for the cascade control loop to make a tradeoff between the disturbance rejection and noise attenuation. The lumped parameter theoretical models of three kinds of attenuators for air temperature fluctuation are analysed for the design of precision air temperature control. An air temperature control system is used to verify the performance of the proposed controller. The results demonstrate that the controller can improve the disturbance rejection performance while reducing the sensitivity to the noise. The 1σ derivation of the chamber air temperature is decreased from 15.6 mK to 10.5 mK.

AimTo establish prediction models for 2-year overall survival of ovarian cancer patients with metastasis.MethodsIn total, 4,929 participants from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database were randomly divided into the training set (n = 3,451) and the testing set (n = 1,478). Univariate and multivariable regression were conducted in the training set to identify predictors for 2-year overall survival of metastatic ovarian cancer patients. The C-index was calculated for assessing the performance of the models. The nomogram for the model was plotted. The prediction value of the model was validated in the testing set. Subgroup analysis were performed concerning surgery and chemotherapy status of patients and the metastatic site of ovarian cancer in the testing set. The calibration curves were plotted and the decision curve analysis (DCA) were conducted.ResultsAt the end of follow-up, 2,587 patients were survived and 2,342 patients were dead within 2 years. The 2-year survival rate was 52.5%. The prediction models were constructed based on predictors including age, radiation, surgery and chemotherapy, CA125, and bone, liver, and lung metastasis. The prediction model for 2-year overall survival of ovarian cancer patients with metastasis showed good predictive ability with the C-index of the model of 0.719 (95% CI: 0.706–0.731) in the training set and 0.718 (95% CI: 0.698–0.737) in the testing set. In terms of patients with bone metastasis, the C-index was 0.740 (95% CI: 0.652–0.828) for predicting the 2-year overall survival of ovarian cancer patients. The C-index was 0.836 (95% CI: 0.694–0.979) in patients with brain metastasis, 0.755 (95% CI: 0.721–0.788) in patients with liver metastasis and 0.725 (95% CI: 0.686–0.764) in those with lung metastasis for predicting the 2-year overall survival of ovarian cancer patients.ConclusionThe models showed good predictive performance for 2-year overall survival of metastatic ovarian cancer patients.

Microbial electrochemical CO2 reduction and in-situ biogas upgrading can effectively reduce the CO2 content in biogas produced during anaerobic digestion, thereby reducing CO2 emissions and achieving carbon reduction. pH is an important indicator in this process as it can significantly change the solubility and forms of CO2 in the aquatic phase. This study comprehensively evaluated the optimal pH value from the perspectives of methane upgrading performance and electron utilization efficiency and observed and analyzed the morphology of the biofilm on the electrode surface and the microbial community in the cathodic region under optimal conditions. The results showed that the optimal pH was 6.5; methane content reached ~88.3% in the biogas; methane production reached a maximum of 22.1 ± 0.1 mmol·d−1, with an increase in methane production compared to the control group reaching a maximum of 1.7 mmol·d−1; and CO2 conversion rate reached ~22.9%. A dense biofilm with a thickness of 51.3 μm formed on the electrode surface, with Methanobacterium being the dominant genus, with a high relative abundance of 69.3%, and Geobacter had a relative abundance of 20.1%. The above findings have important guiding significance for the practical application of methane upgrading.

Postconsumer plastics are generally perceived as valueless with only a small portion of plastic waste being closed-loop recycled into similar products while most of them are discarded in landfills. Depositing plastic waste in landfills not only harms the environment but also signifies a substantial economic loss. Alternatively, constructing value-added chemical feedstocks via mining the waste-derived intermediate species as a carbon (C) source under mild electrochemical conditions is a sustainable strategy to realize the circular economy. This proof-of-concept work provides an attractive turning trash to treasure strategy by integrating electrocatalytic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic upcycling with a chemical C-S coupling reaction to synthesize organosulfur compounds, hydroxymethanesulfonate (HMS). HMS can be produced efficiently (Faradaic efficiency, FE of ∼70%) via deliberately capturing electrophilic intermediates generated in the PET monomer (ethylene glycol, EG) upcycling process, followed by coupling them with nucleophilic sulfur (S) species (i.e., SO32- and HSO3-). Unlike many previous studies conducted under alkaline conditions, PET upcycling was performed over an amorphous MnO2 catalyst under near-neutral conditions, allowing for the stabilization of electrophilic intermediates. The compatibility of this strategy was further investigated by employing biomass-derived compounds as substrates. Moreover, comparable HMS yields can be achieved with real-world PET plastics, showing its enormous potential in practical application. Lastly, Density function theory (DFT) calculation reveals that the C-C cleavage step of EG is the rate-determining step (RDS), and amorphous MnO2 significantly decreases the energy barriers for both RDS and C-S coupling when compared to the crystalline counterpart.

Abstract Background Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common postoperative complication of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). So far, little attention has been paid on the association between overweight and AKI after OLT, and animal models or clinical studies have drawn conflicting conclusions. The objective of our study was to determine whether overweight (BMI [Body Mass Index] ≥ 25 kg/m2) is associated with an increased risk of AKI after OLT. Methods This retrospective cohort study included 244 patients receiving OLT in the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University between January 1, 2017, and August 29, 2019. Preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative data were collected retrospectively. The primary outcome was the development of AKI as defined by Kidney Disease, Improving Global Outcome (KIDGO) staging system. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between overweight and the occurrence of postoperative AKI. Data analysis was conducted from September to October 2019, revision in April 2020. Results Among 244 patients receiving OLT (mean [standard deviation] age, 54.1 [9.6] years; 84.0% male) identified, 163 patients (66.8%) developed postoperative AKI. Overweight (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2) was associated with a higher rate of postoperative severe AKI (stage 2/3) compared with normal weight (18.5 ≤ BMI

Abstract Background Local anesthesia can reduce the response to surgical stress and decrease the consumption of opioids, which may reduce immunosuppression and potentially delay postoperative tumor recurrence. We compared paravertebral block (PVB) combined with general anesthesia (GA) and general anesthesia regarding their effects on postoperative pain and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomy. Methods 54 patients undergoing elective VATS lobectomy at a single tertiary care, teaching hospital located in Qingdao between May 2, 2018 and Sep 28, 2018 were randomised by computer to either paravertebral block combined with general anesthesia or general anesthesia. The primary outcomes were pain scores at rest and on cough at 1, 4, 24, and 48 h after surgery. The secondary outcome were plasma concentrations of MMP-9, complications, and length of postoperative hospital stay. Results 75 were enrolled to the study, of whom 21 were excluded before surgery. We analyzed lobectomy patients undergoing paravertebral block combined with general anesthesia (n = 25) or general anesthesia (n = 24). Both groups were similar regarding baseline characteristics. Pain scores at rest at 4 h and 24 h, on cough at 4 h were lower in PVB/GA group, compared with GA group (P

A total of 16 walnut samples from different regions of China were analyzed, the fatty acid composition, triacylglycerol composition, polyphenol, tocopherol, phytosterol and oxidation stability index of the obtained walnut oil were determined.The results showed that the fatty acid composition of walnut oil in different regions of China was mainly linoleic acid (51.21%～68.97%), oleic acid (12.56%～26.04%),linolenic acid (6.82%～15.01%), and palmitic acid (3.05%～8.27%).The main triacylglycerol compositions were trilinolein (27.87%～39.47%) and oleoyl-linoleoyl-lynolenoyl-glycerol (17.07%～24.18%).The contents of trace accompaniments such as phytosterols, tocopherols and polyphenol were 540～1 594 mg/kg, 10～1 303 mg/kg, 345～2 579 mg/kg, respectively.According to the comparison with other regions, it can be suggested that the geographical location and climate of different planting regions lead to the differences in the composition of walnut oil.MLR analyses between oxidative stability index with fatty acid compositions and minor components revealed that linoleic acid, α-tocopherol and polyphenol were the main factors that affect the oxidative stability of the walnut oil.

Using principal component analysis, the 27 factors of 38 kinds of blended oils were analyzed, and the main factors affecting the rankingof blended oil products were obtained.According to the analysis results,in the formulation design of the blending oil, the raw material oil with higher oleic acid content such as camellia seed oil can be added as the preferred raw material oil; in view of the balanced demand of dietary fatty acids, it is possible to strengthen the addition of DHA and EPA This study provides the basis for the selection of base oils in blending oil formulation design.

The edible vegetable oil industry of China is developing rapidly and still faced with serious challenges.Based on the analysis of current situation of edible oil market development in China, insufficient of hazardous substances detection in the process of processing, lacking of systematic investigation about small varieties oils marketization, insufficient of nutritional evaluation of vegetable oil and deficient of special edible blending oil research for special population, in this paper, we proposed the opportunities and prospects in Chinese market of edible vegetable oil, the accurate and appropriate processing mode of fats and oils, systematically development of small varieties oils, research of the nutritive value of edible oils, and development of special edible blend oils for special populations.We hope this review would provide useful references and suggestions for promoting the high quality development of oil processing industry in China.

To study the function of peanut nutrient oil supplemented with DHA algae oil and AA oil, SD rats were gavaged with peanut oil supplemented with different dose of DHA algae oil and AA oil, respectively the effects on monoamine oxidase activity in cerebral cortex and liver cell were examined after 8 weeks of continuous feeding.The results showed that the control group fed with peanut nutrient oil had significant difference compared with the normal peanut blending oil group (P＜0.01).Peanut nutrient oil containing DHA algae oil and AA oil can significantly reduce the activity of monoamine oxidase in the cerebral cortex of SD rats, and effectively improve the symptoms of liver edema and cell inflammation in middle-aged SD rats, and slow down the rate of cell death.It can be speculated that the intake of appropriate amounts of DHA and AA can potentially reduce the risk of liver cirrhosis and fibrosis in the elderly people, and achieve the role of protecting the liver.

To understand the trends of nutrients and harmful substances in the processing of rice bran oil(RBO).Three batches of RBO samples from three RBO factories, including crude oil, degum ming,dewaxing, deacidification, decolorization and degreasing were collected, Measurement of its vita min E,oryzanol and sterol and two harmful substances.Study its trends.Two harmful matters including benzopyrene (BaP), 3-chloro-1,2-propanediol (3-MCPD) and three nutritional contents including vita min E,oryzanol, sterol were determined.The trends of these substances change were studied.The vita min E decreased by 37.92%, oryzanol decreased by 23.05%, sterol decreased by 22.69%, BaP content of RBO decreased by 97.61%, 3-MCPD decreased by 80.47%, when compared with crude oil.BaP and 3-MCPD are produced, 3-MCPD shows a decreasing trend, and vita min E, oryzanol, sterol are decrease with different degrees during the processing of RBO.

Backgrounds: To screen biomarkers related to clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) progression and prognosis. Methods: 1,026 ccRCC-related genes were dug from 494 ccRCC samples in TCGA based on weighted gene co-expression network analysis, and 7 modules were identified. Afterwards, GO and KEGG enrichment analyses were conducted on modules of interest. Genes in these modules were taken as the input to construct a protein-protein interaction network. Thereafter, 30 genes with the highest connectivity were taken as core genes. Univariate Cox regression, LASSO Cox regression and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed on core genes. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed on patient’s clinical characteristics and risk scores. Results: Stage displayed significantly strong correlations with green module and red module (p

Dry eye disease is a common and frequently occurring ophthalmology with complex and diverse causes, and its incidence is on the upward trend. The pathogenesis of DED is still completely clear. However, the immune response based on inflammation has been recognized as the core basis of this disease. In this review, we will systematically review the previous research on the treatment of DED in immune inflammation, analyze the latest views and research hotspots, and provide reference for the prevention and treatment of DED.

High-alkali species in coal are notorious for causing ash slagging and fouling incidents. In this paper, four high-alkali coals were individually subject to hydrothermal pretreatment (HTP), within a batch-type autoclave at 300 °C for 1 h, and the treated coals were analyzed, along with the oxygen-containing functional groups determined by Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR). Then the alkali species and other components in the coal ash were quantified by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) for evaluating the ash slagging and fouling tendency. Apart from this, FactSage was adopted to simulate the occurrence and transformation of alkali species during coal thermal conversion ending at various temperatures. The findings indicate that the treated coals are superior to the parent ones in terms of certain remarkable changes via HTP. The moisture, oxygen and sulfur of the hydrothermally treated coals decline obviously, while the calorific value rises sharply. HTP could reduce the alkali species to less than 2% (%, by weight, equivalent to Na2O in dry ash), with a maximum removal ratio of 88.9%, lowering the ash slagging and fouling tendency. The proposed mechanism of HTP was that the alkali species in coal matrix became released due to the breakage of the coal functional groups and micropores during HTP. Keywords: Hydrothermal pretreatment, High-alkali coal, Ash slagging and fouling tendency, Lowering, FactSage

Upcycling plastic wastes into value-added chemicals is a promising approach to put end-of-life plastic wastes back into their ecocycle. As one of the polyesters that is used daily, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic waste is employed here as the model substrate. Herein, a nickel (Ni)-based catalyst was prepared via electrochemically depositing copper (Cu) species on Ni foam (NiCu/NF). The NiCu/NF formed Cu/CuO and Ni/NiO/Ni(OH)2 core-shell structures before electrolysis and reconstructed into NiOOH and CuOOH/Cu(OH)2 active species during the ethylene glycol (EG) oxidation. After oxidation, the Cu and Ni species evolved into more reduced species. An indirect mechanism was identified as the main EG oxidation (EGOR) mechanism. In EGOR, NiCu60s/NF catalyst exhibited an optimal Faradaic efficiency (FE, 95.8%) and yield rate (0.70 mmol cm-2 h-1) for formate production. Also, over 80% FE of formate was achieved when a commercial PET plastic powder hydrolysate was applied. Furthermore, commercial PET plastic water bottle waste was employed as a substrate for electrocatalytic upcycling, and pure terephthalic acid (TPA) was recovered only after 1 h electrolysis. Lastly, density functional theory (DFT) calculation revealed that the key role of Cu was significantly reducing the Gibbs free-energy barrier (ΔG) of EGORs rate-determining step (RDS), promoting catalysts dynamic evolution, and facilitating the C-C bond cleavage.