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This study constructs a composite indicator system covering the core dimensions of medical equipment input and output. Based on this system, an innovative cone-constrained data envelopment analysis (DEA) model is designed. The model integrates the advantages of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) with an improved criterion importance through intercriteria correlation (CRITIC) method to determine subjective and objective weights and employs game theory to obtain the final combined weights, which are further incorporated as constraints to form the cone-constrained DEA model. Finally, a bidirectional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM) model with an attention mechanism is introduced for integration, aiming to provide a novel and practical model for evaluating the effectiveness of medical equipment. The proposed model has essential reference value for optimizing medical equipment management decision-making and investment strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic semiconductors (OSCs), especially small molecule semiconductors, have received increasing attention due to their good designability and variability. Phase transitions and interfacial properties have a decisive influence on device performance. Here, 2-Dodecyl-7-phenyl[1]benzothieno[3,2-b][1]benzothiophene (Ph-BTBT-12) devices are treated with low-power laser annealing, which is able to avoid the influence of the dewetting effect on the hole mobility of organic semiconductor materials. Ultraviolet ozone treatment and self-assembled monolayer treatment can improve the performance and stability of the device. Moreover, after low-temperature thermal annealing, the hole mobility of the device can even reach as high as 4.80 cm2 V−1 s−1, and we tested the optical response of the device to the ultraviolet wavelength and found that its maximum optical responsivity was 8.2 AW−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Slip ratio determines the deformation mechanism during the bending of few-layer graphene. • Interlayer spacing adjustment plays important role in tuning the in-plane strain. • The non-classical low-energy nanometer-scale rippled superlattice has the minimum theoretical periodicity. The out-of-plane bending of few-layer graphene (FLG) and other 2D materials have attracted increasing attention due to its practical significance in flexible electronics and soft robotics. Extensive studies have been carried out establishing the crucial role interlayer slip plays in the bending of FLG. Yet in previous analysis, slip was treated as the consequence of bending, rather than an independent variable, which makes sense physically but shadows part of its functionality. Here through a novel atomic simulation scheme, we select desired slip ratios r , a term we defined to quantify the ratio of the actual amount of slip to the maximum amount. The slip ratio serves as a gauge for determining the predominant deformation mechanism in curved FLG. We identified three regimes characterized with critical slip ratios r c * and r th. When r > r c *, FLG behaves like the monolayer, and curvature is the primary quantity during its deformation. As r drops below r c *, the accumulated in-plane strain imposes more impact, while when r < r th , buckling and delamination may occur. By manipulating slip, we predict non-classical low-energy rippled superlattice of FLG, characterized by minimum periodicities, as small as a few nanometers, smaller than the FLG thickness itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our previous study demonstrated that hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) improved cognitive impairments mainly by regulating oxidative stress, inflammatory responses and aging-related gene expression. However, a method for preventing cognitive dysfunction has yet to be developed. In the present study, we explored the protective effects of HBO on the cholinergic system and apoptosis in d-galactose ( d-gal)-treated mice. A model of aging was established via systemic intraperitoneal injection of d-gal daily for 8 weeks. HBO was administered during the last 2 weeks of d-gal injection. Our results showed that HBO in d-gal-treated mice significantly improved behavioral performance on the open field test and passive avoidance task. Studies on the potential mechanisms of this effect showed that HBO significantly reduced oxidative stress and blocked the nuclear factor-κB pathway. Moreover, HBO significantly increased the levels of choline acetyltransferase and acetylcholine and decreased the activity of acetylcholinesterase in the hippocampus. Furthermore, HBO markedly increased expression of the anti-apoptosis protein Bcl-2 and glial fibrillary acidic protein meanwhile decreased expression of the pro-apoptosis proteins Bax and caspase-3. Importantly, there was a significant reduction in expression of Aβ-related genes, such as amyloid precursor protein, β-site amyloid cleaving enzyme-1 and cathepsin B mRNA. These decreases were accompanied by significant increases in expression of neprilysin and insulin-degrading enzyme mRNA. Moreover, compared with the Vitamin E group, HBO combined with Vitamin E exhibited significant difference in part of the above mention parameters. These findings suggest that HBO may act as a neuroprotective agent in preventing cognitive impairments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene grain boundaries (GBs) are associated with distinct mechanical and physical properties. To utilize these properties requires comprehensive investigation of the GB-controlled nanomechanics. Currently, there is short of fundamental understanding of the out-of-plane bending of graphene in the presence of GBs and the mechanical properties of related curved structures. Here with density functional theory-based tight-binding objective molecular simulations, we revealed anisotropic nonlinear bending of graphene with tilt GBs. The anisotropy and nonlinearity are caused by the dislocation cores which display out-of-plane protrusions. In addition, we investigated the GB-controlled elastic responses of curved graphene configurations, and established the coupling between the elastic modulus and local curvature near the GBs. Our findings serve as useful references for 3D graphene structure design utilizing GBs and can be generalized to other 2D materials. [Display omitted] • Grain boundaries cause anisotropy and nonlinearity in the bending of graphene • Curvature near dislocation cores tunes the elastic response of curved graphene in the presence of grain boundaries • Tight-binding objective modeling was carried out to study the grain boundary-controlled bending in graphene [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Distinguishing between malignant pleural effusion (MPE) and benign pleural effusion (BPE) poses a challenge in clinical practice. We aimed to construct and validate a combined model integrating radiomic features and clinical factors using computerized tomography (CT) images to differentiate between MPE and BPE. Methods: A retrospective inclusion of 315 patients with pleural effusion (PE) was conducted in this study (training cohort: n = 220; test cohort: n = 95). Radiomic features were extracted from CT images, and the dimensionality reduction and selection processes were carried out to obtain the optimal radiomic features. Logistic regression (LR), support vector machine (SVM), and random forest were employed to construct radiomic models. LR analyses were utilized to identify independent clinical risk factors to develop a clinical model. The combined model was created by integrating the optimal radiomic features with the independent clinical predictive factors. The discriminative ability of each model was assessed by receiver operating characteristic curves, calibration curves, and decision curve analysis (DCA). Results: Out of the total 1,834 radiomic features extracted, 15 optimal radiomic features explicitly related to MPE were picked to develop the radiomic model. Among the radiomic models, the SVM model demonstrated the highest predictive performance [area under the curve (AUC), training cohort: 0.876, test cohort: 0.774]. Six clinically independent predictive factors, including age, effusion laterality, procalcitonin, carcinoembryonic antigen, carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125), and neuron-specific enolase (NSE), were selected for constructing the clinical model. The combined model (AUC: 0.932, 0.870) exhibited superior discriminative performance in the training and test cohorts compared to the clinical model (AUC: 0.850, 0.820) and the radiomic model (AUC: 0.876, 0.774). The calibration curves and DCA further confirmed the practicality of the combined model. Conclusion: This study presented the development and validation of a combined model for distinguishing MPE and BPE. The combined model was a powerful tool for assisting in the clinical diagnosis of PE patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a joint detection strategy of Willie based on two phases observation is proposed and an energy‐efficient covert communication scheme with an adaptive assist nodes group (AANG) based on uniform jamming power (UJP) strategy is proposed to against the joint‐phase detection of Willie, which achieves covert communication with lower energy cost and higher average covert rate (ACR). The probability of detection error (PDE) at Willie with joint‐phase detection and ACR are derived. Furthermore, the optimal power allocation of legitimate transmitters is resolved to maximize ACR. Numerical results demonstrate the benefit of the proposed scheme over the covert rate and consumed jamming power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter proposes a joint weighted power detector based on maximum a posteriori probability criterion for Willie aiming at two‐hop covert communication scenario, which is a near optimal detector. Instead of only supervising one single phase, Willie combines the observations of two phases to make joint decision in the proposed scheme. The proposed scheme achieves lower probability of detection error than adding‐power‐directly‐detector scheme and the existing single‐phase‐detector scheme due to sufficient utilization of the two‐phase observations. Numerical results demonstrate the benefit of authors' proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulmonary fibrosis is a devastating disease, and the pathogenesis of this disease is not completely clear. Here, the medical records of 85 Covid-19 cases were collected, among which fibrosis and progression of fibrosis were analyzed in detail. Next, data independent acquisition (DIA) quantification proteomics and untargeted metabolomics were used to screen disease-related signaling pathways through clustering and enrichment analysis of the differential expression of proteins and metabolites. The main imaging features were lesions located in the bilateral lower lobes and involvement in five lobes. The closed association pathways were FcγR-mediated phagocytosis, PPAR signaling, TRP-inflammatory pathways, and the urea cycle. Our results provide evidence for the detection of serum biomarkers and targeted therapy in patients with Covid-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Ambulatory arterial stiffness index (AASI) is an index which indicates arterial stiffness. This work aims to explore the mathematical relationship between AASI and mean value of PP (P P ‾), and reveal the importance of P P ‾ during AASI estimating. Meanwhile, a well-performing AASI estimation model is presented. Methods: To evaluate AASI, electrocardiograph (ECG) signal, photoplethysmogram (PPG) signal and arterial blood pressure (ABP) are used as the source of AASI estimation. Features are extracted from the above three signals. Meanwhile, fitting curve analysis and regression models are implemented to describe the relationship between AASI and P P ‾. Results: Among three fitting curves on AASI and P P ‾ , cubic polynomial curve performs best. The introduction of feature P P ‾ in AASI estimation reduced LR's MAE from 0.0556 to 0.0372, SVMR's MAE from 0.0413 to 0.0343 and RFR's MAE from 0.0386 to 0.0256. All three estimation models obtain considerable improvement, especially on the previous worst-performing linear regression. Significance: This work presents the mathematical association between AASI and P P ‾. AASI estimation using regression models can be significantly improved by involving P P ‾ as its key feature, which is not only meaningful for exploring the connection between vascular elasticity function and pulse pressure, but also hold importance for the diagnosis of cardiovascular arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis at the early stage. • Mathematical relation between AASI and P P ‾. • The fitting formula of AASI and P P ‾. • Results indicate enhanced AASI estimation with P P ‾ in regression methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examined whether hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) plays a detoxification role in withdrawal symptoms in a morphine-dependent rat model. The model was established through injections of morphine at increasing doses for 7 days. Withdrawal symptoms were induced by naloxone injection on the 8th day. The detoxification effect of HBO2 was evaluated using the withdrawal symptom scores, biochemical indices and neurotransmitters. Compared with the model group, HBO2 therapy significantly attenuated the withdrawal symptom scores, body weight loss and the level of norepinephrine level, whereas it increased the dopamine level and tyrosine hydroxylase expression in the nucleus accumbens. Moreover, HBO2 therapy substantially alleviated the NO, NOS, cAMP, and cGMP levels. Our findings indicate that HBO2 can effectively alleviate withdrawal symptoms induced by morphine dependence, and these effects may be attributed to the modulation of monoaminergic neurotransmitters and the suppression of the NO-cGMP signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Our experiments were designed to study the effect of diltiazem (DIL) combined with superoxide dismutase (SOD) on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (MIRI) injury in a rat model. Main methods Fifty rats were randomly separated into sham, ischemia-reperfusion (IR), DIL (5 mg/kg), SOD (10,000 U/kg) and combinatorial therapy (DIL plus SOD) groups. MIRI was induced by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery for 30 min and then reperfusing for 60 min. The cardioprotective effects of combinatorial therapy were evaluated using hemodynamics, biochemical indices, histopathology and apoptotic-related proteins and gene expression. Key findings Compared with the IR group, combinatorial therapy significantly improved cardiac function and decreased arrhythmia, myocardial infarction area and release of myocardial enzyme. In addition, combinatorial therapy protected the myocardial cell structure as well as markedly alleviated oxidative stress, resulting in upregulation of Bcl-2 and adenine nucleotide transporter-1 expression as well as downregulation of Bax, caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-3 expression. Significance Our results indicated that DIL combined with SOD can provide protection against MIRI in rats, and these effects may be attributed to a reduction in oxygen stress damage, attenuation of calcium overload, and inhibition of cell apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]