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Background: Emerging evidence suggests that systemic inflammatory and nutritional biomarkers, along with derived indices, could serve as predictors for sarcopenia in cancer population. This study aimed to compare these predictors, focusing on the nutritional risk index (NRI) and evaluate its diagnostic value, for sarcopenic patients without cancer. Methods: This cross-sectional retrospective study included 1674 participants. Sarcopenia is defined by skeletal muscle mass index (SMI). Laboratory data reflected the values of systemic inflammatory and nutritional biomarkers, from which the derived indices were calculated. Multiple logistic regression analysis, ROC curve analysis, and the Youden index were utilized to assess the association between these markers and sarcopenia and determine the cutoff value for predicting sarcopenia. Results: Among all participants (1110 men and 564 women, mean age 61.97 ± 9.83 years), 398 individuals were diagnosed with sarcopenia, indicating a prevalence of 23.78% in China's middle-aged and elderly population without cancer. Logistic regression analysis revealed significant associations between all biomarkers and derived indices with sarcopenia. Following adjustment for potential confounders, lower NRI values were significantly associated with a higher incidence of sarcopenia. For sarcopenia diagnosis, the area under the curve (AUC) for NRI was 0.769 ([95% CI, 0.742, 0.796], P < 0.001), with a cutoff value of 106.016, sensitivity of 75.6% and specificity of 66.1%. NRI demonstrated greater predictive advantage for sarcopenia incidence in men compared to women. Conclusion: A lower NRI value was associated with a higher prevalence of sarcopenia. NRI shows promise for early, rapid, and effective sarcopenia screening, particularly in China's middle-aged and elderly male population without cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the EU's stringent zero-carbon emission standards for 2035 and global initiatives to phase out fossil-fuel-powered vehicles, there is an urgent need for innovative solutions in vehicle propulsion systems. While much of the current research focuses on electric passenger cars, commercial vehicles remain relatively underexplored despite their significant potential impact on carbon neutrality goals. This study presents an open-source Simulink model specifically tailored for the analysis of electric commercial trucks, concentrating on the 6.5-ton category. Developed to assess the influence of various power components and control strategies on driving range, the model incorporates three validated powertrain configurations and features such as regenerative braking and one-pedal drive. Simulations are conducted under two real-world driving scenarios in the city of Taipei in Taiwan to evaluate different configurations' effects on energy consumption and efficiency. Results indicate that optimizing the vehicle configuration can reduce power consumption by 26.3% and extend driving range by an additional 25.1 km on a single battery charge. By making the model and its source code publicly available, this research not only fills a critical gap in specialized evaluation tools for electric commercial vehicles but also serves as a valuable resource for both industrial assessments and educational purposes in the field of vehicle electrification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pure rotational transitions of the ClSO radical have been observed by Fourier-transform microwave spectroscopy. a-type and b-type transitions, for both 35Cl and 37Cl isotopologues, were detected, and the observed very complicated fine and hyperfine components were assigned well. The intensities of the observed spectra of the two isotopologues correspond to the ratio of the isotope abundances of 35Cl and 37Cl. A total of 21 molecular constants were determined precisely for both 35ClSO and 37ClSO, including the rotational constants, centrifugal distortion constants, electronic spin-rotation constants, nuclear spin-rotation constants, magnetic hyperfine constants, and quadrupole coupling constants of chlorine. The molecular constants show ClSO to have the 2A′′ electronic ground state with an out-of-plane unpaired electron. The spin density of the chlorine atom is about 10.6%, which is similar to that of the fluorine atom for FSO, about 8%. Results of the ClSO radical are compared with those of other triatomic radicals with similar structures, the XSS, XSO, and XOO radicals with X = H, F, and Cl, leading to a conclusion that the ClSO radical is more like FSO, but fairly different from the FOO and ClOO radicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pure rotational transitions of two conformers of the CH2CHCO radical have been observed by Fourier-transform microwave spectroscopy, where one conformer is called the s-trans-3-propenalyl radical and the other the 3-propenolyl radical. The observed two conformers have different electronic states. The former, the s-trans-3-propenalyl radical, has the 2A′ electronic state and can be written as CH2CHĊO, where the unpaired electron resides mainly on the terminal CO carbon. On the other hand, the latter, 3-propenolyl radical has the 2A′′ electronic state and can be written as ĊH2CHCO. We were able to observe pure rotational transitions of the two conformers. Since both of the species have an unpaired electron, there exist spin–rotation interactions due to the unpaired electron and the magnetic hyperfine interactions due to the three coupling protons. The observed very complicated spectra, caused by these interactions, were assigned, leading to detailed molecular constants including the fine and hyperfine coupling constants for both of the species. The determined molecular constants support the electronic structures of the two conformers. There exists a controversy as to which of the two conformers is the lowest energy one. Our present observation led to the conclusion that s-trans-3-propenalyl is the lowest energy conformer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experts have ranked Taiwan as the number one country regarding the exposure to disinformation. This assessment is not surprising as many exposed disinformation cases can be linked to Chinese state-aligned actors but also domestic political actors. Academic researchers, journalists, and the civic tech community have played an essential role in the fight against disinformation in Taiwan and the emergence of misinformation studies as a new research field. While disinformation in Taiwan is a major recurring issue, the "Western" debate within academia and journalism has taken a critical turn regarding the assumed effects of disinformation. Our study focuses on this potential disconnect between the international and the Taiwanese debate about disinformation. With automatic and manual content analysis, we evaluate what role academics and journalism play in the public discourse and what part of this debate reaches the largest audience. We show how Taiwan's public misinformation discourse has evolved vis-a-vis the international discourse, what role misinformation studies play in this discourse, what part of the discourse reaches the widest audience, and what parts of the discourse could be problematic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inhibiting a specific target in cancer cells and reducing unwanted side effects has become a promising strategy in pancreatic cancer treatment. MAP4K4 is associated with pancreatic cancer development and correlates with poor clinical outcomes. By phosphorylating MKK4, proteins associated with cell apoptosis and survival are translated. Therefore, inhibiting MAP4K4 activity in pancreatic tumours is a new therapeutic strategy. Herein, we performed a structure-based virtual screening to identify MAP4K4 inhibitors and discovered the compound F389-0746 with a potent inhibition (IC50 120.7 nM). The results of kinase profiling revealed that F389-0746 was highly selective to MAP4K4 and less likely to cause side effects. Results of in vitro experiments showed that F389-0746 significantly suppressed cancer cell growth and viability. Results of in vivo experiments showed that F389-0746 displayed comparable tumour growth inhibition with the group treated with gemcitabine. These findings suggest that F389-0746 has promising potential to be further developed as a novel pancreatic cancer treatment. We identified a novel MAP4K4 inhibitor using a structure-based virtual screening strategy. Kinase profiling showed high selectivity towards MAP4K4. The identified inhibitor suppressed pancreatic cancer cell growth and viability in vitro. The inhibitor downregulated the MKK4-JNK signalling pathway. The inhibitor suppressed tumour growth in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the 1-km resolution long time series temperature data set, the spatial and temporal patterns of the magnitude and trend of the four-season mean temperature changes in the historical period (2001-2020), and in the future period (2021-2100) under the low forcing scenario (SSP119), medium forcing scenario (SSP245) and high forcing scenario (SSP585) are analyzed using the distance level method, Mann-Kendall trend test method and Sen's slope estimation method, with a view to providing a basis for developing detailed regional adaptation strategies in the context of climate warming. The results show that: (1) compared with the historical period, the average temperature of the four seasons in the future will increase in general under the three scenarios, and the area with the largest increase in summer is 66.70% under SSP119, 37.37% and 99.06% under SSP245 and SSP585, respectively. At the same time, the overall variation range of seasonal mean temperature under the three SSP scenarios is significantly different, which is moderated under SSP119, followed by SSP245, and the largest increase range under SSP585. (2) In the historical period, compared with other seasons, the significant rise in mean temperature in spring had the fastest rate (0.68±0.24°C⋅10y-1) and the largest area share (14.44%), mainly distributed in North China, Yunnan, Guizhou, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. (3) In the future period, the regional seasonal mean temperature in China shows an overall rising trend with significant spatial differences; among them, under the SSP119 scenario, the regions with significantly rising mean temperature in spring and winter are mainly concentrated in southern China and the local area of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, accounting for 29.03% and 25.58% of the area, respectively; under the SSP245 and SSP585 scenarios, the seasonal mean temperature in all regions of China shows a significant upward trend; under the SSP585 scenario, the seasonal mean temperature in the north increases at a faster rate than that in the south, and the national region has the fastest significant rate of increase in winter (0.66±0.09°C⋅10y-1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2006.12.024 Byline: Chang-Chun Lin (a), Yi-Ting Liu (b) Keywords: Portfolio selection; Markowitz model; Minimum transaction lots; Genetic algorithm; Fuzzy multi-objective decision making Abstract: Conventionally, portfolio selection problems are solved with quadratic or linear programming models. However, the solutions obtained by these methods are in real numbers and difficult to implement because each asset usually has its minimum transaction lot. Methods considering minimum transaction lots were developed based on some linear portfolio optimization models. However, no study has ever investigated the minimum transaction lot problem in portfolio optimization based on Markowitz' model, which is probably the most well-known and widely used. Based on Markowitz' model, this study presents three possible models for portfolio selection problems with minimum transaction lots, and devises corresponding genetic algorithms to obtain the solutions. The results of the empirical study show that the portfolios obtained using the proposed algorithms are very close to the efficient frontier, indicating that the proposed method can obtain near optimal and also practically feasible solutions to the portfolio selection problem in an acceptable short time. One model that is based on a fuzzy multi-objective decision-making approach is highly recommended because of its adaptability and simplicity. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Information Management, Chang Gung University, 259 Wen-Hwa 1st Road, Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan 333, Taiwan, ROC (b) Institute of Information Management, National Chiao Tung University, 1001 Ta Hsueh Road, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan, ROC Article History: Received 12 March 2006; Accepted 11 December 2006