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Background: Dementia is a significant cause of death in the older population and is becoming an important public health issue as the population ages and the prevalence of dementia increases. The Braden score is one of the most commonly used clinical tools to assess the risk of skin pressure injury in patients, and some studies have reported that it may reflect the state of frailty of patients. The present study attempted to explore the association between Braden score and 90‐day mortality, pressure injury, and aspiration pneumonia in older patients with dementia in the intensive care unit (ICU). Methods: The study involved extracting crucial data from the Medical Information Market for Intensive Care IV (MIMIC‐IV) database using Structured Query Language, with a license certificate obtained after completing the necessary training and examination available on the MIMIC‐IV website. A retrospective analysis was performed on older patients with dementia, aged 65 or older, who were first admitted to the ICU. Ninth and tenth revision International Classification of Diseases codes were used to identify patients with dementia. The primary outcome was 90‐day mortality. Cox proportional hazards models were used to determine the association between Braden score and death, and hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Propensity score matching and E‐value assessments were employed for sensitivity analysis. Results: A total of 2892 patients with a median age of approximately 85 years (interquartile range 78.74–89.59) were included, of whom 1625 were female (56.2%). Patients had a median Braden score of 14 (interquartile range 12–15) at ICU admission. Braden score at ICU admission was inversely associated with 90‐day mortality risk after adjustment for demographics, severity of illness, treatment and medications, delirium, and sepsis (adjusted HR: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.87–0.98, p = 0.006). Patients were divided into two groups with a cut‐off value of 15: high‐risk group and low‐risk group. Compared to the low‐risk group (Braden score >15), the risk of 90‐day mortality was significantly increased in the high‐risk group (Braden score ≤15) (adjusted HR: 1.52, 95% CI: 1.10–2.09, p = 0.011, E‐value: 2.01), the risk of pressure injury (adjusted OR: 2.62, 95% CI: 2.02–3.43, E‐value: 2.62) and aspiration pneumonia (adjusted OR: 2.55, 95% CI: 1.84–3.61, E‐value: 2.57) was also significantly higher. Conclusions: The Braden score may be a quick and simple screening tool to identify the risk of adverse outcomes in critically ill older adults with dementia. Key points: The Braden score, which is commonly used to assess the risk of pressure injury, may reflect frailty in patients.The Braden score at ICU admission was inversely associated with 90‐day mortality risk, suggesting its potential as a mortality predictor.The findings suggest that the Braden score could be a valuable tool for quickly identifying critically ill older adults with dementia who are at risk of adverse outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates a green multimodal routing problem with soft time window. The objective of routing is to minimize the total costs of accomplishing the multimodal transportation of a batch of goods. To improve the feasibility of optimization, this study formulates the routing problem in an uncertain environment where the capacities and carbon emission factors of the travel process and the transfer process in the multimodal network are considered fuzzy. Taking triangular fuzzy numbers to describe the uncertainty, this study proposes a fuzzy nonlinear programming model to deal with the specific routing problem. To make the problem solvable, this study adopts the fuzzy chance-constrained programming approach based on the possibility measure to remove the fuzziness of the proposed model. Furthermore, we use linear inequality constraints to reformulate the nonlinear equality constraints represented by the continuous piecewise linear functions and realize the linearization of the nonlinear programming model to improve the computational efficiency of problem solving. After model processing, we can utilize mathematical programming software to run exact solution algorithms to solve the specific routing problem. A numerical experiment is given to show the feasibility of the proposed model. The sensitivity analysis of the numerical experiment further clarifies how improving the confidence level of the chance constraints to enhance the possibility that the multimodal route planned in advance satisfies the real-time capacity constraint in the actual transportation, i.e., the reliability of the routing, increases both the total costs and carbon emissions of the route. The numerical experiment also finds that charging carbon emissions is not absolutely effective in emission reduction. In this condition, bi-objective analysis indicates the conflicting relationship between lowering transportation activity costs and reducing carbon emissions in routing optimization. The sensitivity of the Pareto solutions concerning the confidence level reveals that reliability, economy, and environmental sustainability are in conflict with each other. Based on the findings of this study, the customer and the multimodal transport operator can organize efficient multimodal transportation, balancing the above objectives using the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The municipal pipe system is a crucial component in the water supply and drainage infrastructure of a city and acts as its lifeline. However, over time, the municipal pipe network undergoes corrosion because of continuous use even after its service life. Corrosion can result in significant water loss and environmental pollution and is a substantial threat to the overall functionality of the water supply and drainage system. In this study, a pipeline piezoelectric generator (PPG) is used to harness the kinetic energy from water flow. The PPG is designed to convert this flow energy into mechanical vibrations through a piezoelectric cantilever beam. In addition, the piezoelectric effect transforms mechanical vibrations into electrical energy. A rectifier circuit converts an alternating current into a direct current to ensure a stable power supply. Moreover, the principles of cathodic protection are used to thwart any further electrochemical corrosion of the inner wall metal of the water pipes. This innovative approach safeguards the metal pipe network from deteriorating effects over time and facilitates self-adaptive protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abbreviations FDA Food and drug administration ICIs Immune checkpoint inhibitors irAEs Immune-related adverse events ONJ Osteonecrosis of the jaw FAERS FDA adverse event reporting system ICSRs Individual case safety reports PRR Proportional reporting ratio Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Patients with ICI-related ONJ frequently necessitate the discontinuation or alteration of immunotherapy regimens, adversely impacting treatment efficacy and prognosis. Although whole-process monitoring and management strategies exist for various irAEs in current clinical guidelines and practice, a noticeable dearth of focus persists on ICI-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ). [Extracted from the article]

Background: With the progress of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) technology and the development of evidence-based medicine, many guidelines were developed and implemented in recent decades. Objective: The aim was to evaluate the current status of TDM guidelines and provide suggestions for their development and updates based on Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) II. Methods: The TDM guidelines were systematically searched for among databases including PubMed, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Data, and the Chinese biomedical literature service system and the official websites of TDM-related associations. The search period was from inception to 6 April 2023. Four researchers independently screened the literature and extracted data. Any disagreement was discussed and reconciled by another researcher. The quality of guidelines was assessed using the AGREE II instrument. Results: A total of 92 guidelines were included, including 57 technical guidelines, three management guidelines, and 32 comprehensive guidelines. The number of TDM guidelines has gradually increased since 1979. The United States published the most guidelines (20 guidelines), followed by China (15 guidelines) and the United Kingdom (ten guidelines), and 23 guidelines were developed by international organizations. Most guidelines are aimed at adult patients only, while 28 guidelines include special populations. With respect to formulation methods, there are 23 evidence-based guidelines. As for quality evaluation results based on AGREE II, comprehensive guidelines scored higher (58.16%) than technical guidelines (51.36%) and administrative guidelines (50.00%). Conclusion: The number of TDM guidelines, especially technical and comprehensive ones, has significantly increased in recent years. Most guidelines are confronted with the problems of unclear methodology and low quality of evidence according to AGREE II. More evidence-based research on TDM and high-quality guideline development is recommended to promote individualized therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pineapple peel cellulose(PPC) was used as raw material to dissolve in an alkali/urea solution with incorporation of bentonite, then further chemically cross-linked and in-situ embedded with magnetic Fe3O4 to form composite hydrogels. The structure and dye adsorption properties of hydrogels were studied. The results confirmed the successful intercalation of bentonite and Fe3O4 in the hydrogels. The bentonite effectively improved the cross-linked porous network structure, thermal stability and swelling properties of the hydrogel. The bentonite also enhanced the methylene blue adsorption performance of the hydrogels, showing an increased saturated adsorption capacity from 28. 09 mg/g to 55. 87 mg/g. The adsorption process conformed to the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir model, belonging to chemical adsorption and monolayer adsorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • SC-500 exhibited lower triclosan adsorption due to the electrostatic repulsion. • SC-500 exhibited higher triclosan degradation due to higher Fe2+ content to produce more ∙OH. • Aromaticity of dissolved organic matter is positively correlated with the degradation of TCS. When sludge biochar (SC) prepared from sewage sludge was used to remove triclosan (TCS) from both aqueous solution and soil, the adsorption capacity increased with increasing pyrolysis temperature, while the degradation rate showed a different pattern, namely, SC-500 > SC-800 > SC-600 > SC-700. TCS degradation rate achieved nearly 100 % at 2 h with SC-500 used as a Fenton catalyst. Aromaticity of dissolved organic matter (DOM) was positively correlated with the degradation of TCS and adding homologous DOM solution shortened the equilibrium time of TCS degradation, while removing DOM from SC prolonged, compared to the original SC. The results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometer (EPR) characterization indicated that SC-500 performed a stronger catalytic degradation ability due to the relatively high Fe2+ content to produce more ∙OH and SC-derived DOM act as an electron shuttle to promote other reactive oxidative species generation through two free radical pathways in the activation of H 2 O 2 by Fe2+, which in turn promoted the degradation of TCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the potential of a highly efficient composite of activated carbon with iron oxide active substances was explored for removing organic matters from reverse osmosis concentrate. The water quality characteristics indicated that the organic matters were mainly small molecular with molecular weight less than 1 kDa, and composed of hydrophilic-alkali, hydrophilic-neutral and hydrophobic-neutral substances. The specific surface area of the activated carbon composite was 482.96 m2/g, with 91.97% of the total specific surface area being microporous. Iron oxide active substances was loaded on activated carbon skeletons, mainly forming Fe 2 O 3 and Fe 3 O 4. The adsorption process was fitted with pseudo-second-order and Langmuir isotherm models, with the active site playing an important role in the adsorption capacity and the adsorption was spontaneous and endothermic. Combined with the refractory characteristics of the wastewater quality, electrostatic interactions, hydrogen bonding and functional group complexation were the main forces involved in the adsorption process, taking into account the refractory nature of the wastewater. [Display omitted] • Impregnated activated carbon was prepared for application in the treatment of ROC. • Fe 2 O 3 and Fe 3 O 4 as the main iron oxide species was loaded on activated carbon. • The refractory properties of organic matters in ROC were studied. • The main factors affecting the adsorption capacity of ROC were investigated. • The adsorptive mechanism of the organic matters in ROC was revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Characterized solar irradiance variability relationship with cloud properties. • Observations taken from DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement site in Oklahoma. • Seasonal analysis suggests relationship is site independent. • Machine learning model developed to describe observations. • Step towards Numerical Weather Model day ahead variability forecast. A 5-year, 1-minute resolution observational dataset of clouds and solar radiation was produced that includes two metrics of the variability in surface solar irradiance due to cloud type and fractional sky cover. Multiple regression models were trained to fit observations of surface solar irradiance variability from those two cloud property predictors. We found that ensemble tree-based methods, Random Forest and Gradient Boosting Machine, have the least overfitting issues and showed the best performance with an R2 of 0.42. While the observational data trained in this study was only from one site, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) site in Oklahoma, initial comparisons of the seasonality of the statistics suggest that these results are relatively weather regime independent; the generality of such a finding across sites will be tested in future work. The observational data and developed machine learning model are being used to create a numerical weather prediction model parameterization to enable day-ahead solar variability prediction in a computationally efficient way. This is a first step towards creating a new paradigm of predicting day-ahead variability with the potential to provide a new tool to improve grid operation, planning, and resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Investigations into the rivaroxaban response from the perspective of genetic variation have been relatively recent and wide in scope, whereas there is no consensus on the necessity of genetic testing of rivaroxaban. Thus, this systematic review aims to thoroughly evaluate the relationship between genetic polymorphisms and rivaroxaban outcomes. Methods: The PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and Chinese databases were searched to 23 October 2022. We included cohort studies reporting the pharmacogenetic correlation of rivaroxaban. Outcomes measured included efficacy (all-cause mortality, thromboembolic events and coagulation-related tests), safety (major bleeding, clinically relevant non-major bleeding [CRNMB] and any hemorrhage), and pharmacokinetic outcomes. A narrative synthesis was performed to summarize findings from individual studies according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses and the reporting guideline for Synthesis Without Meta-Analysis. Results: A total of 12 studies published between 2019 and 2022 involving 1364 patients were included. Ten, one, and six studies focused on the ABCB1, ABCG2, and CYP gene polymorphisms, respectively. Pharmacokinetic outcomes accounted for the majority of the outcomes reported (n = 11), followed by efficacy (n = 5) [including prothrombin time (PT) or international normalized ratio (n = 3), platelet inhibition rate (PIR) or platelet reactivity units (PRUs; n = 1), thromboembolic events (n = 1)], and safety (n = 5) [including major bleeding (n = 2), CRNMB (n = 2), any hemorrhage (n = 1)]. For ABCB1 gene polymorphism, the relationship between PT and ABCB1 rs1045642 was inconsistent across studies, however there was no pharmacogenetic relationship with other efficacy outcomes. Safety associations were found in ABCB1 rs4148738 and major bleeding, ABCB1 rs4148738 and CRNMB, ABCB1 rs1045642 and CRNMB, and ABCB1 rs2032582 and hemorrhage. Pharmacokinetic results were inconsistent among studies. For ABCG2 gene polymorphism, no correlation was observed between ABCG2 rs2231142 and dose-adjusted trough concentration (Cmin/D). For CYP gene polymorphisms, PIR or PRUs have a relationship with CYP2C19 rs12248560, however bleeding or pharmacokinetic effects did not show similar results. Conclusions: Currently available data are insufficient to confirm the relationship between clinical or pharmacokinetic outcomes of rivaroxaban and gene polymorphisms. Proactive strategies are advised as a priority in clinical practice rather than detection of SNP genotyping. Clinical Trials Registration: PROSPERO registration number CRD42022347907. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Endophytic fungal communities of Dysphania ambrosioides, a hyperaccumulator growing at two Pb‐Zn‐contaminated sites, were investigated through culture‐dependent and culture‐independent approaches. A total of 237 culturable endophytic fungi (EF) were isolated from 368 tissue (shoot and roots) segments, and the colonization rate (CR) ranged from 9.64% to 65.98%. The isolates were identified to 43 taxa based on morphological characteristics and rDNA ITS sequence analysis. Among them, 13 taxa (30.23%) were common in plant tissues from both sites; however, dominant EF were dissimilar. In culture‐dependent study, 1989 OTUs were obtained through Illumina Miseq sequencing, and dominant EF were almost same in plant tissues from both sites. However, some culturable EF were not observed in total endophytic communities. We suggest that combination of both culture‐dependent and culture‐independent methods will provide more chances for the precise estimation of endophytic fungal community than using either of them. The tissue had more influence on the culturable fungal community structure, whereas the location had more influence on the total fungal community structure (including culturable and unculturable). Both culture‐dependent and culture‐independent studies illustrated that endophytic fungal communities of D. ambrosioides varied across the sites, which suggested that HM concentration of the soil may have some influence on endophytic fungal diversity. Endophytic fungal communities of Dysphania ambrosioides, a hyperaccumulator growing at two Pb–Zn contaminated sites, were investigated through culture‐dependent and independent approaches. The study demonstrated that for the estimation of the endophytic fungal community the combination of both culture‐dependent and independent methods will increase the accuracy. The study also suggested that HM concentration of the soil may have some influence on endophytic fungal diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many factors affecting submarine groundwater discharge (SGD). However, systematic study of the influences of these factors is still limited. In this study, numerical modeling is performed to quantitatively explore the influences of various factors on SGD in a coastal aquifer. In such locations, tidal and terrestrial hydraulic gradients are the primary forces driving fresh and salt water movement. Unlike steady-state flow, dynamic fresh and salt water mixing at the near-shore seafloor may form an intertidal mixing zone (IMZ) near the surface. By constructing a general SGD model, the effects of various model components such as boundary conditions, model geometry and hydraulic parameters are systematically studied. Several important findings are obtained from the study results: (1) Previous studies have indicated there will be a freshwater discharge tube between the classic transition zone and the IMZ. However, this phenomenon may become unclear with the increase of heterogeneity and anisotropy of the medium's conductivity field. (2) SGD and IMZ are both more sensitive to the vertical anisotropy ratio of hydraulic conductivity (K/K) than to the horizontal ratio (K/K). (3) Heterogeneity of effective porosity significantly affects SGD and IMZ. (4) Increase of the storage coefficient decreases fresh water discharge but increases mixing salt water discharge and total SGD. The increase will also change the shape of the IMZ. (5) Variation of dispersivities does not affect SGD, but significantly changes the distributions of the IMZ and the whole mixing zone. These findings will be helpful to the sampling design of field studies of SGD and to the application of dynamic SGD models to field sites for model development and calibration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One challenge in power-system control designs is the gap between numerical model-based analysis and complex real-world power systems. With increased data and measurements being collected from power systems, data-driven analysis (e.g., machine learning) may provide an alternative approach to reveal hidden information through learning from the real system data, and provide insights for better control scheme design during the utility planning process. In this study, data-driven feature analysis is performed to evaluate the relationships between series compensation, power generation, and path flows in a real transmission system, as well as temporal patterns. The main data-driven analysis methods, including statistical cross correlation, multinomial logistical regression, and classification and regression trees, are integrated for feature selection and developing predictive models of series compensation. Analysis results demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed methodology in feature analysis and the potential to help improve power-system control scheme design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluating fish behavior and migration in response to environmental changes is a fundamental component of fisheries research and recovery of freshwater ecosystems. While spatial distribution and behavior of fishes has been well studied around hydropower facilities, little research has been conducted at a mid-reach location between two dams. The Juvenile Salmon Acoustic Telemetry System (JSATS) cabled receiver system was developed and employed as a reference sensor network for detecting and tracking juvenile salmon in the Columbia River Basin. To supplement acquisition of detection and three-dimensional (3-D) tracking data to estimate survival and fish behavior in the forebays of Little Goose and Lower Monumental dams on the Snake River in eastern Washington State, a mid-reach location was needed to investigate the spatial distribution of migrating juvenile salmon in open-water conditions between the two dams. Lyons Ferry Bridge on State Route 261 at the confluence of the Snake and Palouse Rivers was chosen as the mid-reach location. A JSATS-cabled receiver system configuration was successfully designed and deployed from the bridge's pier structure. Theoretical analysis confirmed the functionality and precision of the deployment design. Validation tests demonstrated sub-meter accuracy of 3-D tracking up to a horizontal distance of 50 m upstream and downstream from the Lyons Ferry Bridge piers. Detection and tracking probabilities of the LFB cabled array were estimated to be 99.98% from field application. This research provided a detailed description of acoustic telemetry system deployment and 3-D tracking as guidance for better understanding of fish migration behavior as they pass through dams and continue downstream through the river between dams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] POD is applied to the coupled variable-density flow and solute transport system. [•] Detailed derivation is presented for the developed GFEM-POD reduced-order model. [•] Henry problem and Elder problem are tested to confirm the proposed procedure. [•] Accuracy is mainly influenced by the optimal selection and update of snapshots. [•] Reduced model can substitute full model with much less computational cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerical models with fine discretization normally demand large computational time and space, which lead to computational burden for state estimations or model parameter inversion calculation. This article presented a reduced implicit finite difference scheme that based on proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) for two-dimensional transient mass transport in heterogeneous media. The reduction of the original full model was achieved by projecting the high-dimension full model to a low-dimension space created by POD bases, and the bases are derived from the snapshots generated from the model solutions of the forward simulations. The POD bases were extracted from the ensemble of snapshots by singular value decomposition. The dimension of the Jacobian matrix was then reduced after Galerkin projection. Thus, the reduced model can accurately reproduce and predict the original model's transport process with significantly decreased computational time. This scheme is practicable with easy implementation of the partial differential equations. The POD method is illustrated and validated through synthetic cases with various heterogeneous permeability field scenarios. The accuracy and efficiency of the reduced model are determined by the optimal selection of the snapshots and POD bases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, deep learning has enabled a huge leap forward in image inpainting. However, due to the memory and computational limitation, most existing methods are able to handle only low-resolution inputs, typically less than 1 K. With the improvement of Internet transmission capacity and mobile device cameras, the resolution of image and video sources available to users via the cloud or locally is increasing. For high-resolution images, the common inpainting methods simply upsample the inpainted result of the shrinked image to yield a blurry result. In recent years, there is an urgent need to reconstruct the missing high-frequency information in high-resolution images and generate sharp texture details. Hence, we propose a general deep learning framework for high-resolution image inpainting, which first hallucinates a semantically continuous blurred result using low-resolution inpainting and suppresses computational overhead. Then the sharp high-frequency details with original resolution are reconstructed using super-resolution refinement. Experimentally, our method achieves inspiring inpainting quality on 2K and 4K resolution images, ahead of the state-of-the-art high-resolution inpainting technique. This framework is expected to be popularized for high-resolution image editing tasks on personal computers and mobile devices in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To evaluate the association between frailty and postoperative delirium (POD) in elderly cardiac surgery patients. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted of older patients admitted to the intensive care unit after cardiac surgery at a tertiary academic medical center in Boston from 2008 to 2019. Frailty was measured using the Modified Frailty Index (MFI), which categorized patients into frail (MFI ≥3) and non‐frail (MFI = 0–2) groups. Delirium was identified using the confusion assessment method for the intensive care unit and nursing notes. Logistic regression models were used to examine the association between frailty and POD, and odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Results: Of the 2080 patients included (median age approximately 74 years, 30.9% female), 614 were frail and 1466 were non‐frail. The incidence of delirium was significantly higher in the frail group (29.2% vs. 16.4%, p < 0.05). After adjustment for age, sex, race, marital status, Acute Physiology Score III (APSIII), sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA), albumin, creatinine, hemoglobin, white blood cell count, type of surgery, alcohol use, smoking, cerebrovascular disease, use of benzodiazepines, and mechanical ventilation, multivariate logistic regression indicated a significantly increased risk of delirium in frail patients (adjusted OR: 1.61, 95% CI: 1.23–2.10, p < 0.001, E‐value: 1.85). Conclusions: Frailty is an independent risk factor for POD in older patients after cardiac surgery. Further research should focus on frailty assessment and tailored interventions to improve outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thioridazine was used to sensitize cisplatin against cisplatin-resistant human lung cancer cells. Cells received thioridazine, cisplatin, or both drugs (the combination). Thioridazine synergized cisplatin to increase percentages of dead and apoptotic cells. DNA damage was detected using the comet assays; the combination led to the highest alkaline- and neutral-comet percentages, demonstrating exacerbation of both single- and double-strand breaks. After thioridazine treatment, levels of glutathione, and BRCA2, RAD51, and ERCC1 proteins were decreased. These data manifested that thioridazine decreased the capacities of detoxification and DNA repair, thereby enhancing cisplatin-induced DNA damage in resistant cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we systematically investigate a road-rail intermodal routing problem the optimization of which is oriented on the customer demands on transportation economy, timeliness and reliability. The road-rail intermodal transportation system is modelled as a hub-and-spoke network that contains time-flexible container truck services and scheduled container train services. The transportation timeliness is optimized by using fuzzy soft time windows associated with the service level of the transportation. Reliability is enhanced by considering multiple sources of time uncertainty, including road travel time and loading/unloading time. Such uncertainty is modelled by using fuzzy set theory. Triangular fuzzy numbers are adopted to represent the uncertain time. Under the above consideration, we first establish a fuzzy mixed integer nonlinear programming model with a weighted objective that includes minimizing the costs and maximizing the service level for accomplishing transportation orders. Then we use the fuzzy expected value model and fuzzy chance-constrained programming separately to realize the defuzzification of the fuzzy objective and use fuzzy chance-constrained programming to deal with the fuzzy constraint. After defuzzification and linearization, an equivalent mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model is generated to enable the problem to be solved by mathematical programming software. Finally, a numerical case modified from our previous study is presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed fuzzy programming approaches. Sensitivity analysis and fuzzy simulation are comprehensively utilized to discuss the effects of the fuzzy soft time windows and time uncertainty on the routing optimization and help decision makers to better design a crisp transportation plan that can effectively make tradeoffs among economy, timeliness and reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanoluminescence (ML) is one of the most important routes to realize remote sensing of stress distribution, but has never been used in temperature sensing. Traditionally, stress sensing and temperature sensing are separately realized through different methods in multifunctional sensors, which definitely makes the structure more complicated. In this work, the remote stress–temperature dual‐modal sensing is proposed by using the double‐lanthanide‐activated ML material SrZnSO:Tb,Eu, where the stress is read by the integral intensity of ML and the temperature is displayed by the green to red emission ratio (ITb/IEu) of ML in one material. The dual sensing mode in SrZnSO:Tb,Eu enables building of a new imaging system, providing a facile, reliable, and more sensitive way to remotely visualize the distribution of stress and temperature. It opens up a novel approach to develop advanced artificial skins with simplified structures in human–machine interfaces, structural health monitoring, and biomedical engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic review examines prediction models for adverse drug events (ADEs) related to antineoplastic drugs, which are used in cancer therapy. The review analyzes 55 studies and evaluates the quality and reporting of these prediction models. The majority of models focused on ADEs related to conventional chemotherapy drugs, with fewer models addressing novel anticancer drugs and additional toxicities. The study finds that machine learning algorithms generally had better methodological quality but weaker reporting quality compared to traditional statistical models. The authors recommend expanding research focus, optimizing model presentation, and improving the design, conduct, validation, and reporting of prediction models to enhance their application in clinical practice. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Bromhidrosis, also known as body odor, is a common disease in life, which often occurs in young adults. The histological basis of bromhidrosis is the hyperplasia of apocrine sweat glands. Objective: To compare the effects of different methods of endoscopy in microdynamic axillary osmidrosis removal on curative effect, complications, and surgical efficiency. Methods: A total of 149 patients with axillary osmidrosis were treated in our hospital from January 2020 to December 2021. They were treated with endoscopic assistance in the whole process of operation (Group A) and endoscope‐assisted exploration after blind rotary cutter suction (Group B), respectively, and the curative effect, complication rate, and surgical efficiency were evaluated. Results: There was no significant difference in the curative effect and complication rate between the two groups, but the endoscope‐assisted exploration group after suction with rotary cutter (Group B) had higher surgical efficiency. Conclusion: On the basis of professional use of rotary cutter, it is efficient to choose endoscope to check the excision of sweat gland in the operation area and stop bleeding in time after blind suction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is a micro-invasive surgery used to treat patients with aortic stenosis (AS) efficiently. However, the uneven valve expansion can cause a non-circular annulus, which is one of the main factors leading to complications after TAVI. As a preliminary work, the main purpose of this study was to evaluate the risk of adverse aortic events in patients with a non-circular aortic annulus after TAVI. This study numerically investigated the distribution of four wall shear stress (WSS)-based indicators and three helicity-based indicators in eight patient-specific aortas with different annulus including circular, type I elliptical and type II elliptical shapes. Both elliptical annulus features can significantly enhance the intensity of the helicity (h2) in the ascending aorta (p < 0.001). However, for the type I elliptical annulus, the spiral flow structure was changed into low-velocity and disturbed flow pattern close to the inner side of the aortic arch. For the type II elliptical annulus, the spiral flow remained but became skewed in distribution. The elliptical annulus feature could increase the general level WSS-based indicators, especially in the ascending aorta. However, due to the disturbance of spiral flow or second helical flow in ascending aortas, areas with low TAWSS accompanied by high oscillatory shear index (OSI) and cross flow index (CFI) were observed in all the ascending aortas with non-circular annulus. The elliptical annulus feature can change the hemodynamic environment in the aortic arch, especially in the ascending aorta. Although both elliptical annulus features enhanced the strength of helicity, the uniform distribution of the helical flow was disturbed, especially in the ascending aorta, indicating the potential risk of adverse aortic events may increase. Therefore, for the patients without paravalvular leak but elliptical annulus shape after TAVI treatment, surgeons may be needed to consider further dilatation to make the non-circular annulus become circular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machine learning classification and regression algorithms were applied to calibrate the localization errors of a time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA)-based acoustic sensor array used for tracking salmon passage through a hydroelectric dam on the Snake River, Washington, USA. The locations of stationary and mobile acoustic tags were first tracked using the approximate maximum likelihood algorithm. Next, ensembles of classification trees successfully identified and filtered data points with large localization errors. This prefiltering step allowed the creation of a machine-learned regression model function, which decreased the median distance error by 50% for the stationary tracks and by 34% for the mobile tracks. It also extended the previous range of sub-meter localization accuracy from 100 m to 250 m horizontal distance from the dam face (the receivers). Median distance errors in the depth direction were especially decreased, falling from 0.49 m to 0.04 m in the stationary tracks and from 0.38 m to 0.07 m in the mobile tracks. These methods would have application to the calibration of error in any TDOA-based sensor network with a steady environment and array configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dexamethasone is the first and an important therapy that significantly reduces the risk of death in patients with severe COVID-19 disease. Nevertheless, a lot of studies have revealed that it has adverse impacts on multiple systems of the body especially the reproductive system, and dexamethasone exposure during the human foetal period may be associated with various diseases. In this paper, we reviewed the literature regarding the adverse effects of COVID-19 and dexamethasone administration on the reproductive system as well as related disease pathogenesis, in an attempt to clarify the potential harms of dexamethasone treatment in COVID-19 patients. Overall, we strongly support the application of dexamethasone as a pharmaceutical therapy in critical COVID-19 patients before a better therapy is developed, but the adverse side effects that may arise cannot be ignored. Our review will help medical professionals in the prognosis and follow-up of patients treated with dexamethasone. In addition, given that a considerable amount of uncertainty, confusion and even controversy that still remains, further studies and more clinical trials are urgently needed to improve the understanding of the parameters and the effects of dexamethasone on reproductive function of patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As power systems are undergoing a significant transformation with more uncertainties, less inertia and closer to operation limits, there is increasing risk of large outages. Thus, there is an imperative need to enhance grid emergency control to maintain system reliability and security. Towards this end, great progress has been made in developing deep reinforcement learning (DRL) based grid control solutions in recent years. However, existing DRL-based solutions have two main limitations: 1) they cannot handle well with a wide range of grid operation conditions, system parameters, and contingencies; 2) they generally lack the ability to fast adapt to new grid operation conditions, system parameters, and contingencies, limiting their applicability for real-world applications. In this paper, we mitigate these limitations by developing a novel deep meta-reinforcement learning (DMRL) algorithm. The DMRL combines the meta strategy optimization together with DRL, and trains policies modulated by a latent space that can quickly adapt to new scenarios. We test the developed DMRL algorithm on the IEEE 300-bus system. We demonstrate fast adaptation of the meta-trained DRL polices with latent variables to new operating conditions and scenarios using the proposed method, which achieves superior performance compared to the state-of-the-art DRL and model predictive control (MPC) methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) is a heme-containing dioxygenase that may play a part in chemoresistance in ovarian cancer. However, its role in cisplatin (DDP) resistance is unclear. Here, the expression level of IDO1 in tumors in platinum-resistant (n = 22) and -sensitive (n = 46) ovarian cancer patients was determined, and then how IDO1 modulated DDP resistance was explored in vitro and in vivo. The IDO1 expression level in platinum-resistant patients was higher than that in -sensitive patients, and a higher IDO1 level was correlated with poor prognosis in type II cancer patients. Up-regulating IDO1 decreased DDP-induced apoptosis in SKOV3 cells via inhibiting the ROS/p53 cell-death pathway, thereby attenuating cytotoxicity of DDP. Silencing IDO1 enhanced p53-dependent apoptosis by increasing ROS accumulation, thereby enhancing DDP against SKOV3 cells. Down-knocking IDO1 augmented the action of DDP in vivo. These data demonstrated that silencing IDO1 enhanced the efficacy of DDP by intensifying p53-dependent apoptosis, and that targeting IDO1 can be a strategy to modulate DDP-based chemotherapy for epithelial ovarian cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work we propose a novel data-driven, real-time power system voltage control method based on the physics-informed guided meta evolutionary strategy (ES). The main objective is to quickly provide an adaptive control strategy to mitigate the fault-induced delayed voltage recovery (FIDVR) problem. Reinforcement learning methods have been developed for the same or similar challenging control problems, but they suffer from training inefficiency and lack of robustness for “corner or unseen” scenarios. On the other hand, extensive physical knowledge has been developed in power systems but little has been leveraged in learning-based approaches. To address these challenges, we introduce the trainable action mask technique for flexibly embedding physical knowledge into RL models to rule out unnecessary or unfavorable actions, and achieve notable improvements in sample efficiency, control performance and robustness. Furthermore, our method leverages past learning experience to derive surrogate gradient to guide and accelerate the exploration process in training. Case studies on the IEEE 300-bus system and comparisons with other state-of-the-art benchmark methods demonstrate effectiveness and advantages of our method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More studies showed that as a common disorder in senior population, loss of teeth could adversely affect human cognitive function, and nitric oxide (NO) might play an important role in the cognitive function. However, the underlying mechanism has not yet been well-established. The objectives of this study are to evaluate behavior changes of KM mice after loss of molars, and levels of NO and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in the brain in molarless condition. It is hypothesized that loss of molars of the mice tested results in the cognitive impairments and that the process is mediated by NO in the brain through the signaling pathways. Morris water maze is used to test the behavioral changes after 8 weeks of the surgery. The changes of NO and iNOS are evaluated by using Griess assay, western blot, and immunohistochemistry method. The results show that 8 weeks after loss of molars, the spatial learning and memory of KM mice impair and the levels of NO and iNOS in mice hippocampus increase. These findings suggest that molar extraction is associated with the behavioral impairment, and that the changes of NO and iNOS in the hippocampus may be involved in the behavioral changes in the molarless condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a heterogeneous connective tissue disease that is commonly subdivided into limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc) and diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc) based on the extent of skin involvement. This subclassification may not reflect the full range of clinical phenotypic variation. This study aimed to investigate clinical features and aggregation of patients with SSc in Chinese based on SSc manifestations and organ involvements, in order to achieve precise treatment of SSc early prevention of complications.In total 287 SSc patients were included in this study. A cluster analysis was applied according to 13 clinical and serologic variables to determine subgroups of patients. Survival rates between obtained clusters and risk factors affecting prognosis were also compared.In this study, six clusters were observed: cluster 1 (n = 66) represented the skin type, with all patients showing skin thickening. In cluster 2 (n = 56), most patients had vascular and articular involvement. Cluster 3 (n = 14) individuals mostly had cardiac and pulmonary involvement. In cluster 4 (n = 52), the gastrointestinal type, 50 patients presented with stomach symptoms and 28 patients presented with esophageal symptoms. In cluster 5 (n = 50), patients barely had any major organ involvement. Cluster 6 (n = 49) included 46% of all patients presenting with renal crisis.The results of our cluster analysis study implied that limiting SSc patient subgroups to those based only on skin involvement might not capture the full heterogeneity of the disease. Organ damage and antibody profiles should be considered when identifying homogeneous patient groups with a specific prognosis.Key Points• Provides a new method of categorizing SSc patients.• Can better explain disease progression and guide subsequent treatment.Key Points• Provides a new method of categorizing SSc patients.• Can better explain disease progression and guide subsequent treatment.Methods: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a heterogeneous connective tissue disease that is commonly subdivided into limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc) and diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc) based on the extent of skin involvement. This subclassification may not reflect the full range of clinical phenotypic variation. This study aimed to investigate clinical features and aggregation of patients with SSc in Chinese based on SSc manifestations and organ involvements, in order to achieve precise treatment of SSc early prevention of complications.In total 287 SSc patients were included in this study. A cluster analysis was applied according to 13 clinical and serologic variables to determine subgroups of patients. Survival rates between obtained clusters and risk factors affecting prognosis were also compared.In this study, six clusters were observed: cluster 1 (n = 66) represented the skin type, with all patients showing skin thickening. In cluster 2 (n = 56), most patients had vascular and articular involvement. Cluster 3 (n = 14) individuals mostly had cardiac and pulmonary involvement. In cluster 4 (n = 52), the gastrointestinal type, 50 patients presented with stomach symptoms and 28 patients presented with esophageal symptoms. In cluster 5 (n = 50), patients barely had any major organ involvement. Cluster 6 (n = 49) included 46% of all patients presenting with renal crisis.The results of our cluster analysis study implied that limiting SSc patient subgroups to those based only on skin involvement might not capture the full heterogeneity of the disease. Organ damage and antibody profiles should be considered when identifying homogeneous patient groups with a specific prognosis.Key Points• Provides a new method of categorizing SSc patients.• Can better explain disease progression and guide subsequent treatment.Key Points• Provides a new method of categorizing SSc patients.• Can better explain disease progression and guide subsequent treatment.Result: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a heterogeneous connective tissue disease that is commonly subdivided into limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc) and diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc) based on the extent of skin involvement. This subclassification may not reflect the full range of clinical phenotypic variation. This study aimed to investigate clinical features and aggregation of patients with SSc in Chinese based on SSc manifestations and organ involvements, in order to achieve precise treatment of SSc early prevention of complications.In total 287 SSc patients were included in this study. A cluster analysis was applied according to 13 clinical and serologic variables to determine subgroups of patients. Survival rates between obtained clusters and risk factors affecting prognosis were also compared.In this study, six clusters were observed: cluster 1 (n = 66) represented the skin type, with all patients showing skin thickening. In cluster 2 (n = 56), most patients had vascular and articular involvement. Cluster 3 (n = 14) individuals mostly had cardiac and pulmonary involvement. In cluster 4 (n = 52), the gastrointestinal type, 50 patients presented with stomach symptoms and 28 patients presented with esophageal symptoms. In cluster 5 (n = 50), patients barely had any major organ involvement. Cluster 6 (n = 49) included 46% of all patients presenting with renal crisis.The results of our cluster analysis study implied that limiting SSc patient subgroups to those based only on skin involvement might not capture the full heterogeneity of the disease. Organ damage and antibody profiles should be considered when identifying homogeneous patient groups with a specific prognosis.Key Points• Provides a new method of categorizing SSc patients.• Can better explain disease progression and guide subsequent treatment.Key Points• Provides a new method of categorizing SSc patients.• Can better explain disease progression and guide subsequent treatment.Conclusion: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a heterogeneous connective tissue disease that is commonly subdivided into limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc) and diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc) based on the extent of skin involvement. This subclassification may not reflect the full range of clinical phenotypic variation. This study aimed to investigate clinical features and aggregation of patients with SSc in Chinese based on SSc manifestations and organ involvements, in order to achieve precise treatment of SSc early prevention of complications.In total 287 SSc patients were included in this study. A cluster analysis was applied according to 13 clinical and serologic variables to determine subgroups of patients. Survival rates between obtained clusters and risk factors affecting prognosis were also compared.In this study, six clusters were observed: cluster 1 (n = 66) represented the skin type, with all patients showing skin thickening. In cluster 2 (n = 56), most patients had vascular and articular involvement. Cluster 3 (n = 14) individuals mostly had cardiac and pulmonary involvement. In cluster 4 (n = 52), the gastrointestinal type, 50 patients presented with stomach symptoms and 28 patients presented with esophageal symptoms. In cluster 5 (n = 50), patients barely had any major organ involvement. Cluster 6 (n = 49) included 46% of all patients presenting with renal crisis.The results of our cluster analysis study implied that limiting SSc patient subgroups to those based only on skin involvement might not capture the full heterogeneity of the disease. Organ damage and antibody profiles should be considered when identifying homogeneous patient groups with a specific prognosis.Key Points• Provides a new method of categorizing SSc patients.• Can better explain disease progression and guide subsequent treatment.Key Points• Provides a new method of categorizing SSc patients.• Can better explain disease progression and guide subsequent treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel memristive chaotic circuit which originated from a Shinriki oscillator with two flux-controlled memristors of different polarities. This two-memristor-based Shinriki oscillator (TMSO) having a special plane equilibrium is prone to exhibiting the initial-dependent phenomenon of extreme multistability. To investigate its internal dynamics, a third-order dimensionality reduction model is established by utilizing the constitutive relationship of its memristor's flux and charge. The uncertain plane equilibrium is transferred into some deterministic model that can accurately predict the dynamical evolution of the system, where interesting phenomena of asymmetric bifurcations, extreme multistability and antimonotonicity are detected and analyzed by evaluating the position and stability of the equilibria in the flux–charge model. The simulation is carried out via Multisim to validate the analysis model, and the comparison of the phase trajectories, before and after dimensionality reduction, shows that this oscillator is good for research and practical use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subtitles are crucial for video content understanding. However, a large amount of videos have only burned-in, hardcoded subtitles that prevent video re-editing, translation, etc. In this paper, we construct a deep-learning-based system for the inverse conversion of a burned-in subtitle video to a subtitle file and an inpainted video, by coupling three deep neural networks (CTPN, CRNN, and EdgeConnect). We evaluated the performance of the proposed method and found that the deep learning method achieved high-precision separation of the subtitles and video frames and significantly improved the video inpainting results compared to the existing methods. This research fills a gap in the application of deep learning to burned-in subtitle video reconstruction and is expected to be widely applied in the reconstruction and re-editing of videos with subtitles, advertisements, logos, and other occlusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An accurate power loss model, for the design of high-efficiency switching power supplies, is difficult to establish due to the complicated magnetic components where the power loss is hard to calculate. This paper proposed a multi-level power loss model of LLC circuits with a planar transformer of high frequency, high power, and low voltage output. The key loss items can be optimized by using this loss model, the accuracy of which and the feasibility of the optimization method are validated by extensive prototype experiments. The experimental results show that the average accuracy of the loss calculation is about 93.6%, and the high efficiency at high-power conversion (95.9% @ 3 kW, 224–16 V) has been realized using an optimized prototype converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although online learning platforms are gradually becoming commonplace in modern society, learners' high dropout rates and serious academic performance require more attention within the virtual learning environment (VLE). This study aims to predict students' performance in a specific course as it is continuously running, using the statistic personal biographical information and sequential behavior data with VLE. To achieve this goal, a novel recurrent neural network (RNN)-gated recurrent unit (GRU) joint neural network is proposed to fit both static and sequential data, where the data completion mechanism is also adopted to fill the missing stream data. To incorporate the sequential relationship of learning data, three kinds of time-series deep neural network algorithms: simple RNN, GRU, and LSTM are first taken into consideration as baseline models. Their performances are compared in identifying at-risk students. Experimental results on Open University Learning Analytics Dataset (OULAD) show that simple methods like GRU and simple RNN have better results than the relatively complex LSTM model. The results also reveal that different models have different peak performance time, which results in the proposed joint model that achieves over 80% prediction accuracy of at-risk students at the end of the semester. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demand uncertainty is an important issue that influences the strategic, tactical, and operational-level decision making in the transportation/logistics/supply chain planning. In this study, we explore the effect of demand uncertainty on the operational-level freight routing problem in the capacitated multimodal transportation network that consists of schedule-based rail transportation and time-flexible road transportation. Considering the imprecise characteristic of the demand, we adopt fuzzy set theory to model its uncertainty and use trapezoidal fuzzy numbers to represent the fuzzy demands. We set multiple transportation orders as the optimization object and employ soft time windows to reflect the customer requirement on on-time transportation. Under the above situation, we establish a fuzzy mixed integer nonlinear programming (FMINLP) model to formulate the capacitated road–rail multimodal routing problem with demand uncertainty and time windows. We first use the fuzzy expected value model and credibility measure based fuzzy chance-constrained programming to realize the defuzziness of the model and then adopt linearization technique to reformulate the crisp model to finally generate an equivalent mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model that can be solved by standard mathematical programming software. Finally, a numerical case is presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method. Sensitivity analysis and fuzzy simulation are combined to quantify the effect of demand uncertainty on the routing problem and also reveal some helpful insights and managerial implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dexamethasone has been widely used in clinical practice to promote fetal lung maturity and reduce neonatal respiratory distress syndrome and perinatal mortality. Nevertheless, its administration is a double-edged sword, as a large number of studies have shown that there are obvious disadvantages in pregnant women and fetal development. In this review, we comprehensively retrospect the latest literature on the toxicological effects and mechanisms of dexamethasone on fetal development, in an attempt to provide a valuable basis for further studies and clinical trials in the future. Overall, prenatal dexamethasone exposure could lead to some adverse consequences on fetal organ systems through intrauterine programming based on the results of current animal and human researches. Potential sequelae include osteoarthritis, hypertension, fatty liver, glomerulosclerosis, depression, diabetes and infertility, some of which can pass on to the next generation. It must be noted that the evidence in humans is preliminary and limited by the small sample size. More studies in large-scale populations are needed to confirm if it raises the risk of sequelae in humans. In addition, we strongly support the application of dexamethasone as a pharmaceutical therapy in pregnant women with coronavirus disease 2019 before a better therapy is developed. However, the adverse side effects that may arise also cannot be ignored. • PDE could lead to some adverse consequences on fetal organ systems through intrauterine programming. • Most of the symptoms or sequelae caused by PDE appeared at prepuberty or early stage of adulthood. • The possibility of sequelae in humans caused by PDE need to be further investigated, especially in a larger-scale population. • We should pay close attention to the condition of fetus exposed to prenatal dexamethasone in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The southwest karst area is considered to have the most vulnerable groundwater environment in China. Groundwater quality is an important factor restricting sustainable economic development. In this study, traditional water chemistry method, water quality index (WQI), and hazard index (HI) were applied to comparatively analyze the hydrochemical characteristics of groundwater and the water quality in the exposed karst region (EKR) and buried karst region (BKR) in Bama, a typical karst area in southwest China. Generally, the main water type was Ca/Mg–HCO 3. Due to the predominance of dissolution of carbonate rocks in EKR and silicate rocks in BKR, higher total dissolved solids (TDS), Ca and HCO 3 − concentrations, and lower H 2 SiO 3 content were detected in groundwater in EKR compared with BKR. As affected by weathering of rocks such as lead-zinc ore, the maximum concentrations of Zn and Sr were 11.23 mg/L and 13.30 mg/L, showing that mineral water resources are widely distributed in Bama. The ion ratios and isotope abundances (δD and δ18O) in groundwater samples indicated stronger evaporation and rock-water interaction in EKR than BKR. Human activities exerted a more significant influence on the water quality in EKR compared to BKR. The mean WQI value also suggested that the groundwater quality was better in BKR (9.56) than EKR (12.17). Although 95.7% of the water samples in the study area were classified as excellent based on their WQI values, 4.3% of the water samples still had significant health risks (HI > 1) due to the high Sb, Zn, As, and Sr concentrations. It is recommended to reduce anthropogenic pollution in EKR and develop a plan for clean production of mineral water industry according to local conditions, which will help the sustainable development of the local economy. [Display omitted] • Groundwater hydrochemistry in exposed and buried karst regions is totally different. • Aquatic environment in exposed karst regions is more sensitive than buried ones. • Sb, As, and Zn are the main trace elements which may pose non-carcinogenic risks. • Groundwater quality assessment contributes to sustainable water management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turbine-passed fish are exposed to rapid decreases in pressure which can cause barotrauma. The presence of an implanted telemetry tag increases the likelihood of injury or death from exposure to pressure changes, thus potentially biasing studies evaluating survival of turbine-passed fish. Therefore, a neutrally buoyant externally attached tag was developed to eliminate this bias in turbine passage studies. This new tag was designed not to add excess mass in water or take up space in the coelom, having an effective tag burden of zero with the goal of reducing pressure related biases to turbine survival studies. To determine if this new tag affects fish performance or susceptibility to predation, it was evaluated in the field relative to internally implanted acoustic transmitters (JSATS; Juvenile Salmon Acoustic Telemetry System) used widely for survival studies of juvenile salmonids. Survival and travel time through the study reach was compared between fish with either tag type in an area of high predation in the Snake and Columbia rivers, Washington. An additional group of fish affixed with neutrally-buoyant dummy external tags were implanted with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags and recovered further downstream to assess external tag retention and injury. There were no significant differences in survival to the first detection site, 12 river kilometers (rkm) downstream of release. Travel times were also similar between groups. Conversely, externally-tagged fish had reduced survival (or elevated tag loss) to the second detection site, 65 rkm downstream. In addition, the retention study revealed that tag loss was first observed in fish recaptured approximately 9 days after release. Results suggest that this new tag may be viable for short term (<8 days) single-dam turbine-passage studies and under these situations, may alleviate the turbine passage-related bias encountered when using internal tags, however further research is needed to confirm this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: It is widely recognized that groundwater flow and solute transport in natural media are largely controlled by heterogeneities. In the last three decades, many studies have examined the effects of heterogeneous hydraulic conductivity fields on flow and transport processes, but there has been much less attention to the influence of heterogeneous porosity fields. In this study, we use porosity and particle size measurements from boreholes at the Boise Hydrogeophysical Research Site (BHRS) to evaluate the importance of characterizing the spatial structure of porosity and grain size data for solute transport modeling. Then we develop synthetic hydraulic conductivity fields based on relatively simple measurements of porosity from borehole logs and grain size distributions from core samples to examine and compare the characteristics of tracer transport through these fields with and without inclusion of porosity heterogeneity. In particular, we develop horizontal 2D realizations based on data from one of the less heterogeneous units at the BHRS to examine effects where spatial variations in hydraulic parameters are not large. The results indicate that the distributions of porosity and the derived hydraulic conductivity in the study unit resemble fractal normal and lognormal fields respectively. We numerically simulate solute transport in stochastic fields and find that spatial variations in porosity have significant effects on the spread of an injected tracer plume including a significant delay in simulated tracer concentration histories. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a common cardiac disease. Long non-coding RNA maternally expressed 3 (MEG3) is associated with cellular processes in numerous complicated diseases, including AMI. However, the mechanism underlying MEG3 in myocardial hypoxia is not completely understood. The present study aimed to investigate the underlying mechanism of MEG3 in myocardial hypoxia. The expression levels of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF1α), MEG3, microRNA (miR)-325-3p, and transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 4 (TRPV4) in hypoxia-treated H9c2 cells were detected via reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. The protein expression levels of HIF1α, Bcl-2, Bax, cleaved caspase-3 and TRPV4 were detected via western blotting. Cell viability and apoptosis were assessed by performing an MTT assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release was monitored by conducting an LDH determination assay. The Dual-Luciferase reporter assay was performed to verify the targeted relationship between miR-325-3p and MEG3 or TRPV4. The expression levels of MEG3 and TRPV4 were significantly increased, whereas miR-325-3p expression levels were significantly decreased in hypoxic H9c2 cells compared with normoxic H9c2 cells. In addition, miR-325-3p was downregulated by MEG3 compared with the vector group, and miR-325-3p targeted TRPV4 in hypoxia-treated H9c2 cells. The results indicated that MEG3 knockdown attenuated hypoxia-stimulated injury in H9c2 cells by regulating miR-325-3p. TRPV4 knockdown also mitigated hypoxia-induced injury in H9c2 cells via miR-325-3p. Furthermore, compared with the vector group, MEG3 increased TRPV4 expression in hypoxia-treated H9c2 cells by sponging miR-325-3p. Collectively, the results of the present study suggested that MEG3 modulated TRPV4 expression to aggravate hypoxia-induced injury in rat cardiomyocytes by sponging miR-325-3p. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacillus anthracis is an extremely dangerous bacterium with high morbidity and mortality. It is thus of great importance to detect Bacillus anthracis or its major biomarker 2,6-pyridine dicarboxylic acid (DPA) in a rapid and sensitive way. Althought metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have found great applications in catalysis and sensing; nevertheless, there are only a few fluorescent MOFs can be used in DAP detections, and the key factors determining the detection sensitivity is not clear yet. In this study, we successfully synthesized a novel nano-sized dual-emitting lanthanide MOF, namely Eu/Tb(BTC), for the high-sensitivity DPA detection. The synthesized Eu/Tb(BTC) showed a remarkable sensitivity, excellent selectivity, and a high accuracy. Through comprehensive characterizations of the microstructure, luminescence properties, and sensing performance of products with different Eu/Tb ratios, the unique capability as a sensitive fluorescent probe (limit of detection 1087 nM) for selectively detecting DPA was demonstrated. More importantly, a possible route to control the sensitivity of detection by controlling the original energy transfer efficiency between Eu3+ and Tb3+ was revealed. This work not only provides an excellent nano-probe for qualitative and quantitative detection of biomarker of Bacillus anthracis, but also reveals an important rule for improving the sensitivity of sensing systems. • A new type of lanthanide MOF with dual-emitting centers for ratiometric sensing of DPA molecules was reported. • The nano-sensors showed excellent sensitivity, outstanding selectivity, and superior accuracy for detection of DPA. • The effect of energy transfer efficiency on the detection sensitivity in the DPA detection system was revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose To conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis study of sevelamer versus calcium-based binders (CBBs) in treating hyperphosphatemia among patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in China. Methods A decision-analytic model of a lifetime horizon was used for base case analysis from the payers’ perspective. The transition probabilities between different health states were derived from survival analysis. The overall survival of CBBs was derived from the Dialysis Clinical Outcomes Revisited study for up to 44 months and a Weibull regression model was used to extrapolate the overall survival to a lifetime horizon. A hazard ratio (0.54; 95% CI, 0.32–0.93) of the overall survival for sevelamer versus CBBs was used to calculate the survival of the sevelamer group. Clinical and cost data were derived from literature and health care system in the local setting. Incremental life year and quality-adjusted life year (QALY) were the primary outcomes. One-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the uncertainty of the model assumptions and parameters. The results were reported in 2015 Chinese Renminbi. Findings The incremental cost per life year and per QALY gained of sevelamer versus CBBs was ¥44,475 and ¥57,910, respectively. The incremental cost per QALY gained was below the World Health Organization’s recommended cost-effectiveness threshold (¥151,070), which is 3 times the gross domestic product per capita of 2015 in China. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was most sensitive to the hazard ratio of overall survival with sevelamer versus CBBs in the 1-way sensitivity analysis. The cost-effectiveness acceptability curve indicated that sevelamer had a 89.6% likelihood of cost-effectiveness at the ¥151,070 threshold. Implications Sevelamer is likely to be a cost-effective option in treating hyperphosphatemia among patients with ESRD compared with CBBs in the local context of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]