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Abstract Background Previous studies have shown that protein kinase MoKin1 played an important role in the growth, conidiation, germination and pathogenicity in rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae. ΔMokin1 mutant showed significant phenotypic defects and significantly reduced pathogenicity. However, the internal mechanism of how MoKin1 affected the development of physiology and biochemistry remained unclear in M. oryzae. Result This study adopted a multi-omics approach to comprehensively analyze MoKin1 function, and the results showed that MoKin1 affected the cellular response to endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER stress). Proteomic analysis revealed that the downregulated proteins in ΔMokin1 mutant were enriched mainly in the response to ER stress triggered by the unfolded protein. Loss of MoKin1 prevented the ER stress signal from reaching the nucleus. Therefore, the phosphorylation of various proteins regulating the transcription of ER stress-related genes and mRNA translation was significantly downregulated. The insensitivity to ER stress led to metabolic disorders, resulting in a significant shortage of carbohydrates and a low energy supply, which also resulted in severe phenotypic defects in ΔMokin1 mutant. Analysis of MoKin1-interacting proteins indicated that MoKin1 really took participate in the response to ER stress. Conclusion Our results showed the important role of protein kinase MoKin1 in regulating cellular response to ER stress, providing a new research direction to reveal the mechanism of MoKin1 affecting pathogenic formation, and to provide theoretical support for the new biological target sites searching and bio-pesticides developing.

In the field of optical communication, laser and its modulation bandwidth and modulation rate are very important for optical wireless communication. There are two main modulation modes for semiconductor laser signal: internal modulation and external modulation. These two modulation technologies have their own characteristics and are suitable for different fields of optical fiber communication. Internal modulation laser, also known as direct modulation laser, has become a cost-effective light source for the Fifth Generation Mobile Communication Technology (5G) fronthaul and data center because of its high-speed transmission and low cost. There is no additional Chirp of light source in external modulation laser, so the Composite Second Beat (CSB) distortion caused by fiber dispersion can be effectively overcomed. On the basis of reviewing the development history of communication laser and its modulation technology, this paper introduces the work and main progress made by Xi’an University of Technology in this field. This paper discusses the internal and external factors of nonlinear distortion of semiconductor laser, simulates the effects of various parameters of response characteristics, linearization compensation method and power control system on the output light source of light emitting device, and analyzes the influence of temperature fluctuation on the output power of laser and modulation device. Based on the basic theory of refractive index ellipsoid and numerical analysis, the variation trend of emitted light intensity with temperature is discussed under the longitudinal and transverse modulation, respectively. The results show that the variation trend of outgoing light intensity with temperature under longitudinal modulation is only related to the refractive index of Lithium Niobate (LN) crystal. Under transverse modulation, the variation trend of outgoing light intensity with temperature is affected not only by the refractive index of the crystal, but also by the crystal size and its expansion coefficient. Therefore, the special size crystal can be used to improve the temperature stability of the electro-optic modulator.

Ultraviolet technology has a wide range of applications in military and civilian fields, such as space detection, ultraviolet light guidance, ultraviolet interference, corona discharge detection and military communications. Starting from the single and multiple scattering of ultraviolet light, this paper first introduces the progress of ultraviolet optical communication at home and abroad. Then it analyzes the different links in ultraviolet optical communication. Next, it discusses the pulse broadening effect and atmospheric turbulence of ultraviolet communication in non-direct link ultraviolet communication. Finally, the paper summarizes the ultraviolet Ad Hoc network, and shows the trend of the development of ultraviolet optical communication.

Abstract Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disorder with a varying range of organs involved leading to adverse outcomes. However, very little is known, with conflicting results about the association between RA and atrial fibrillation (AF). We aim to evaluate the association between RA and AF, and other clinical outcomes. We performed a systematic literature search using PubMed, Embase, and Scopus for relevant articles from inception until September 10, 2023. Primary clinical outcomes were AF. Secondary outcomes were acute coronary syndrome (ACS), stroke, and all‐cause mortality (ACM). A total of 4 679 930 patients were included in the analysis, with 81 677 patients in the RA group and 4 493 993 patients in the nonrheumatoid arthritis (NRA) group. The mean age of the patients was 57.2 years. Pooled analysis of primary outcomes shows that RA groups of patients had a significantly higher risk of AF (odds ratios [OR], 1.53; 95% confidence interval [CI]: [1.16–2.03], p

Traditional partial synchronous Byzantine fault tolerant (BFT) protocols are confronted with new challenges when applied to large-scale networks like IoT systems, which bring about rigorous demand for the liveness and consensus efficiency of BFT protocols in asynchronous network environments. HoneyBadgerBFT is the first practical asynchronous BFT protocol, which employs a reliable broadcast protocol (RBC) to broadcast transactions and an asynchronous binary agreement protocol (ABA) to determine whether transactions should be committed. DumboBFT is a follow-up proposal that requires fewer instances of ABA and achieves higher throughput than HoneyBadgerBFT, but it does not optimize the communication overhead of HoneyBadgerBFT.In this paper, we propose TortoiseBFT, a high-performance asynchronous BFT protocol with three stages. We can significantly reduce communication overhead by determining the order of transactions first and requesting missing transactions after. Our two-phase transaction recovery mechanism enables nodes to recover missing transactions by seeking help from 2f+1 nodes. To improve the overall throughput of the system, we lower the verification overhead of threshold signatures in HoneyBadgerBFT, DumboBFT, and DispersedLedger from On3 to On2. We develop a node reputation model that selects producers with stable network conditions, which helps to reduce the number of random lotteries. Experimental results show that TortoiseBFT improves system throughput, reduces transaction delays, and minimizes communication overhead compared to HoneyBadgerBFT, DumboBFT, and DispersedLedger.

Abstract Background The prognostic predictive tool for patients with colorectal liver metastasis (CRLM) is limited and the criteria for administering preoperative neoadjuvant chemotherapy in CRLM patients remain controversial. Methods This study enrolled 532 CRLM patients at West China Hospital (WCH) from January 2009 to December 2019. Prognostic factors were identified from the training cohort to construct a WCH‐nomogram and evaluating accuracy in the validation cohort. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to compare the prediction accuracy with other existing prediction tools. Results From the analysis of the training cohort, four independent prognostic risk factors, namely tumor marker score, KRAS mutation, primary lymph node metastasis, and tumor burden score were identified on which a WCH‐nomogram was constructed. The C‐index of the two cohorts were 0.674 (95% CI: 0.634–0.713) and 0.655 (95% CI: 0.586–0.723), respectively, which was better than the previously reported predication scores (CRS, m‐CS and GAME score). ROC curves showed AUCs for predicting 1‐, 3‐, and 5‐year overall survival (OS) of 0.758, 0.709, and 0.717 in the training cohort, and 0.860, 0.669, and 0.692 in the validation cohort, respectively. A cutoff value of 114.5 points was obtained for the WCH‐nomogram total score based on the maximum Youden index of the ROC curve of 5‐year OS. Risk stratification showed significantly better prognosis in the low‐risk group, however, the high‐risk group was more likely to benefit from neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Conclusions The WCH‐nomogram demonstrates superior prognostic stratification compared to prior scoring systems, effectively identifying CRLM patients who may benefit the most from neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

In this paper, we introduce the notion of the semi-symmetric metric connection in the Heisenberg group. Moreover, by using the method of Riemannian approximations, we define the notions of intrinsic curvature for regular curves, the intrinsic geodesic curvature of regular curves on a surface, and the intrinsic Gaussian curvature of the surface away from characteristic points in the Heisenberg group with the semi-symmetric metric connection. Finally, we derive the expressions of those curvatures and prove the Gauss–Bonnet theorem related to the semi-symmetric metric connection in the Heisenberg group.

The future of communication systems is undergoing a transformative shift towards intelligence, efficiency, and flexibility. Presently, the amalgamation of blockchain technology and the sixth-generation mobile communication network (6G) has garnered significant attention, as their fusion is poised to profoundly impact the digital economy and society at large. However, the convergence of blockchain and 6G networks poses challenges pertaining to security and performance. In this article, we propose an approach based on the design of secure mechanisms and performance optimization to delve into the key issues surrounding the integration of blockchain and 6G networks from both security and performance perspectives. Specifically, we first introduce the application scenarios of 6G networks and blockchain's empowerment of them to highlight the necessity of combining blockchain technology with 6G. Subsequently, in order to ensure the security of communication and data transmission between blockchain and 6G networks, we have investigated the design requirements for security mechanisms. Furthermore, we discuss the efficient realization of the amalgamation between blockchain and 6G networks by proposing a solution based on Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) for blockchain's asynchronous consensus protocol, alongside optimization strategies for storage and communication to meet the desired characteristics and requirements of 6G networks. Lastly, we provide valuable research directions that serve as references and guidance for the future development of the integration between blockchain and 6G networks.

Background: Myocarditis secondary to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination has been reported in the literature. Objective: This study aimed to characterize the reported cases of myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccination based on age, gender, doses, and vaccine type from published literature and the EudraVigilance database. Methods: We performed an analysis in the EudraVigilance database (until December 18, 2021) and a systematic review of published literature for reported cases of suspected myocarditis and pericarditis (until 30th June 2022) after the COVID-19 vaccination. Results: EudraVigilance database analysis revealed 16,514 reported cases of myocarditis or pericarditis due to the vaccination with COVID-19 vaccines. The cases of myo- or pericarditis were reported predominantly in the age group of 18–64 (n = 12,214), and in males with a male-to-female (M: F) ratio of 1.7:1. The mortality among myocarditis patients was low, with 128 deaths (2 cases per 10.000.000 administered doses) being reported. For the systematic review, 72 studies with 1026 cases of myocarditis due to the vaccination with COVID-19 vaccines were included. The analysis of published cases has revealed that the male gender was primarily affected with myocarditis post-COVID-vaccination. The median (IQR) age of the myocarditis cases was 24.6 [19.5–34.6] years, according to the systematic review of the literature. Myocarditis cases were most frequently published after the vaccination with m-RNA vaccines and after the second vaccination dose. The overall mortality of published cases was low (n = 5). Conclusion: Myocarditis is a rare serious adverse event associated with a COVID-19 vaccination. With early recognition and management, the prognosis of COVID-19 vaccine-induced myocarditis is favorable.

Background: Hepatitis C (HCV) infections have been shown to be associated a with higher risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the use of antiviral therapy (AVT) and the risk of CVD has not been well established with limited literature. Objective: We sought to evaluate the association between AVT use post-HCV infection and cardiovascular outcomes. Methods: We performed a systematic literature search using PubMed, Embase, and Scopus for relevant articles from inception until 10th March 2023. Primary clinical outcomes were the incidence of any CVD. Secondary endpoints were all-cause of mortality, stroke, myocardial infarction, and peripheral artery disease. Results: A total of 394,452 patients were included in the analysis (111,076 in the AVT group and 283,376 patients in the NAVT group). The mean age of patients among AVT and NAVT groups was comparable (58.7 vs 58.18). The pooled analysis of primary outcomes showed that AVT was associated with a significantly reduced risk of any CVD (HR, 0.55(95%CI: 0.41–0.75), P

AbstractObjective To investigate the therapeutic dose and long-term efficacy of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) ablation for different types of uterine fibroids based on signal intensity on T2-weighted MR images (T2WI).Materials and methods Four hundred and one patients with a solitary uterine fibroid treated with HIFU were classified into four groups consisting of extremely hypointense, hypointense, isointense and hyperintense fibroids. Each group was further classified into two subtypes: homogeneous and heterogeneous, based on signal homogeneity of fibroids. The therapeutic dose and long-term follow-up results were compared.Results There were significant differences in treatment time, sonication time, treatment intensity, total treatment dosage, treatment efficiency, energy-efficiency factor (EEF) and non-perfused volume (NPV) ratio among the four groups (p

Objective To analyze the effects of Huanglian ointment combined with local hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) spray on radiation-induced skin injury (RISI) and the levels of serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) , tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) in patients with esophageal cancer . Methods A retrospective study was performed on 82 esophageal cancer patients with RISI admitted to Weifang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January 2021 to January 2022 using convenience sampling method. Forty-one patients who received local hyperbaric oxygens pray were divided into control group, while 41 patients who received Huanglian ointment combined with local hyperbaric oxygens pray were divided into observation group. The following indicators were compared between two groups, including clinical efficacy, skin injury severity grading after treatment, levels of serum IL-6, TNF-α and EGF, dressing changes, skin lesion healing time, modified scoring atopic dermatitis (SCORAD) index, visual analogue scale (VAS) , scarring rate and radiation-induced skin infection rate. Results The total clinical effective rate in observation group was significantly higher than that in control group (95.12% vs 68.29%, P＜0.01) .After treatment, the grading of skin damage in observation group was superior to that in control group (P＜0.05) , the serum levels of IL-6 and TNF in observation group were significantly lower than that in control group (P＜0.05) , and the EGF level was higher than that in control group (P＜0.05) . Compared with control group, the number of dressing changes significantly reduced, and the healing time of skin lesions was shortened significantly in observation group (P＜0.05) . The modified SCORAD score, VAS and radiation-induced skin infection rate (2.44% vs 19.51%) in observation group were statistically lower than those in control group (P＜0.05) . Conclusion Huanglian ointment combined with local HBO spray can effectively improve the skin condition of RISI patients with esophageal cancer, reduce the frequency of dressing changes, shorten the healing time of skin lesions, reduce inflammatory reactions and pain, and reduce the rate of radiation skin infection. The clinical efficacy is significant.

Abstract Background Restenosis after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) limits therapeutic revascularization. Neuropeptide Y (NPY), co-stored and co-released with the sympathetic nervous system, is involved in this process, but its exact role and underlying mechanisms remain to be fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the role of NPY in neointima formation after vascular injury. Methods Using the left carotid arteries of wild-type (WT, NPY-intact) and NPY-deficient (NPY−/−) mice, ferric chloride-mediated carotid artery injury induced neointima formation. Three weeks after injury, the left injured carotid artery and contralateral uninjured carotid artery were collected for histological analysis and immunohistochemical staining. RT-qPCR was used to detect the mRNA expression of several key inflammatory markers and cell adhesion molecules in vascular samples. Raw264.7 cells were treated with NPY, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and lipopolysaccharide-free, respectively, and RT-qPCR was used to detect the expression of these inflammatory mediators. Results Compared with WT mice, NPY−/− mice had significantly reduced neointimal formation three weeks after injury. Mechanistically, immunohistochemical analysis showed there were fewer macrophages and more vascular smooth muscle cells in the neointima of NPY−/− mice. Moreover, the mRNA expression of key inflammatory markers such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) was significantly lower in the injured carotid arteries of NPY−/− mice, compared to that in the injured carotid arteries of WT mice. In RAW264.7 macrophages, NPY significantly promoted TGF-β1 mRNA expression under unactivated but not LPS-stimulated condition. Conclusions Deletion of NPY attenuated neointima formation after artery injury, at least partly, through reducing the local inflammatory response, suggesting that NPY pathway may provide new insights into the mechanism of restenosis.

Background: Chemotherapy-induced cardiac dysfunction (CIC) is a significant and concerning complication observed among cancer patients. Despite the demonstrated cardioprotective benefits of statins in various cardiovascular diseases, their effectiveness in mitigating CIC remains uncertain. Objective: This meta-analysis aims to comprehensively evaluate the potential cardioprotective role of statins in patients with CIC. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted using PubMed, Embase, and Scopus databases to identify relevant articles published from inception until 10th May 2023. The outcomes were assessed using pooled odds ratio (OR) for categorical data and mean difference (MD) for continuous data, with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Results: This meta-analysis comprised nine studies involving a total of 5532 patients, with 1904 in the statin group and 3628 in the non-statin group. The pooled analysis of primary outcome shows that patients who did not receive statin suffer a greater decline in the LVEF after chemotherapy compared to those who receive statin (MD, 3.55 (95% CI: 1.04–6.05), p = 0.01). Likewise, we observed a significantly higher final mean LVEF among chemotherapy patients with statin compared to the non-statin group of patients (MD, 2.08 (95% CI: 0.86–3.30), p > 0.001). Additionally, there was a lower risk of incident heart failure in the statin group compared to the non-statin group of patients (OR, 0.41 (95% CI: 0.27–0.62), p < 0.001). Lastly, the change in the mean difference for LVEDV was not statistically significant between the statin and non-statin groups (MD, 1.55 (95% CI: −5.22–8.33), p = 0.65). Conclusion: Among patients of CIC, statin use has shown cardioprotective benefits by improving left ventricular function and reducing the risk of heart failure.

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. There has been renewed interest in using thrombo-inflammatory markers as prognostic tools in patients with CHF. To determine if thrombo-inflammatory markers are independent risk factors for 28-day mortality in hospitalized CHF patients, we retrospectively analyzed admission data extracted from 2008 consecutive patients admitted with a diagnosis of CHF to Zigong Fourth People’s Hospital. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis demonstrated that the thrombo-inflammatory markers thrombin time, platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and D-dimer level were independent predictors of mortality. In addition, variables reflecting the severity of CHF (New York Heart Association class > 2), impaired renal function (elevated serum creatinine [SCr]), impaired organ perfusion (elevated BUN), and chronic liver disease were also independent predictors of mortality. Thrombo-inflammatory biomarkers were only weakly associated with SCr and the burden of co-morbidity, suggesting that thrombo-inflammation may in large part be attributable to CHF itself and that, moreover, its presence may confer an increased risk of mortality. Further large-scale prospective studies are needed to determine the existence and the consequences of a thrombo-inflammatory phenotype among patients with CHF.

Background: Inflammation plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of both acute and chronic heart failure. Recent studies showed that the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) could be related to adverse outcomes in patients with cardiovascular diseases. We sought to evaluate whether NLR could predict mortality in patients with acute heart failure by means of a meta-analysis. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed in PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases through January 2023 for studies evaluating the association of NLR with mortality in patients with acute heart failure. Primary outcomes were in-hospital mortality and long-term all-cause mortality. Endpoints were pooled using a random-effects DerSimonian-and-Laird model and were expressed as a hazard ratio (HR) or mean difference (MD) with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals. Results: A total of 15 studies with 15,995 patients with acute heart failure were included in the final study. Stratifying patients based on a cut-off NLR, we found that high NLR was associated with a significantly higher in-hospital mortality [HR 1.54, 95% CI (1.18–2.00), p < 0.001] and long-term all-cause mortality [HR 1.61, 95% CI (1.40–1.86), p < 0.001] compared to the low-NLR group. Comparing the highest against the lowest NLR quartile, it was shown that patients in the highest NLR quartile has a significantly heightened risk of long-term all-cause mortality [HR 1.77, 95% CI (1.38–2.26), p < 0.001] compared to that of lowest NLR quartile. However, the risks of in-hospital mortality were compared between both quartiles of patients [HR 1.78, 95% CI (0.91–3.47), p = 0.09]. Lastly, NLR values were significantly elevated among non-survivors compared to survivors during index hospitalization [MD 5.07, 95% CI (3.34–6.80), p < 0.001] and during the follow-up period [MD 1.06, 95% CI (0.54–1.57), p < 0.001]. Conclusions: Elevated NLR was associated with an increased risk of short- and long-term mortality and could be a useful tool or incorporated in the risk stratification in patients with acute heart failure.

RLPa-2 (Mw 15.6 kDa) is a polysaccharide isolated from Rosa laevigata Michx. It consists of arabinose (Ara), galactose (Gal), rhamnose (Rha), glucose (Glc), xylose (Xyl), and galacturonic acid (Gal-UA) with a molar ratio of 1.00:0.91:0.39:0.34:0.25:0.20. Structural characterization was performed by methylation and NMR analysis, which indicated that RLPa-2 might comprise →6)-α-D-Galp-(1→, →4)-α-D-GalpA-(1→, α-L-Araf-(1→, →2,4)-α-D-Glcp-(1→, β-D-Xylp, and α-L-Rhap. In addition, the bioactivity of RLPa-2 was assessed through an in vitro macrophage polarization assay. Compared to positive controls, there was a significant decrease in the expression of M1 macrophage markers (CD80, CD86) and p-STAT3/STAT3 protein. Additionally, there was a down-regulation in the production of pro-inflammatory mediators (NO, IL-6, TNF-α), indicating that M1 macrophage polarization induced with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) stimulation could be inhibited by RLPa-2. These findings demonstrate that the RLPa-2 might be considered as a potential anti-inflammatory drug to reduce inflammation.

The electrolytic separation of actinides(An) from fission products(FPs) on solid Al cathode is one of the most promising pyrochemical reprocessing processes. In this work, the electrochemical behaviour of Pu3+ on active Al solid cathode was studied through the transient electrochemical method. Based on the results of cyclic voltammetry(CV) and square wave voltammetry(SWV), Pu3+ can be reduced into alloy through a onestep threeelectrons transfer process on Al cathode, and the reaction is irreversible. The relationship between the reduction potential of the alloy formed by Pu3+ with Al and temperature is EΘ,*(Pu3+/PuAln)(vs. Cl-/Cl2)=-2.944+9.84×10-4T. Five Pu alloys(involving Pu3Al, PuAl, PuAl2, PuAl3, and PuAl4) are formed according to the results of open circuit chronopotentiometry(OCP) together with phase diagrams of Pu-Al. Furthermore, the formation Gibbs free energies of PuAl4 at different temperature are calculated.

Abstract Background Primary bilateral macronodular adrenocortical hyperplasia (PBMAH) is a highly heterogeneous disease with divergent manifestations ranging from asymptomatic subclinical Cushing syndrome (CS) to overt Cushing syndrome with severe complications. ARMC5 mutations occur in 20 to 55% PBMAH patients usually with more severe phenotypes. Different ARMC5 mutations might be associated with diverse phenotypes of PBMAH. Case presentation A 39-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with progressive weight gain and severe hypertension. He presented typical CS and its classical metabolic and bone complications like hypertension and osteoporosis. The laboratory results showed high levels of cortisol and low levels of ACTH. Low- and high-dosed dexamethasone suppression tests were negative. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) revealed multiple bilateral irregular macronodular adrenal masses. Adrenal venous sampling (AVS) confirmed that the right adrenal gland with larger nodules secreted more hormone that the left side did. Right adrenalectomy and subsequent contralateral subtotal resection were conducted. His blood pressure and CS symptoms as well as comorbidities including backache and muscle weakness improved. Whole exome sequencing identified one ARMC5 germline mutation (c.1855C > T, p. R619*), five ARMC5 somatic mutations (four novel mutations) in his right and left adrenal nodules. Conclusions This PBMAH patient was identified with one ARMC5 germline mutation and five different somatic ARMC5 mutations (four novel mutations) in the different nodules of the bilateral adrenal masses. AVS combined with CT imagine could be helpful to determine the dominant side for adrenalectomy. Genetic testing is important for the diagnosis and management of the patient with PBMAH.

Crops have diverse structures and complex growth environments. RGB image data can reflect the texture and color features of plants accurately, while 3D data contains information about crop volume. The combination of RGB image and 3D point cloud data can achieve the extraction of two-dimensional and three-dimensional phenotypic parameters of crops, which is of great significance for the research of phenomics methods. In this study, potatoe plants were chosen as the research subject, and RGB cameras and laser scanners were used to collect 50 potato RGB images and 3D laser point cloud data. The segmentation accuracy of four deep learning semantic segmentation methods, OCRNet, UpNet, PaNet, and DeepLab v3+, were compared and analyzed for the RGB images. OCRNet, which demonstrated higher accuracy, was used to perform semantic segmentation on top-view RGB images of potatoes. Mean shift clustering algorithm was optimized for laser point cloud data processing, and single-plant segmentation of laser point cloud data was completed. Stem and leaf segmentation of single-plant potato point cloud data were accurately performed using Euclidean clustering and K-Means clustering algorithms. In addition, a strategy was proposed to establish a one-to-one correspondence between RGB images and point clouds of single-plant potatoes using pot numbering. 8 2D phenotypic parameters and 10 3D phenotypic parameters, including maximum width, perimeter, area, plant height, volume, leaf length, and leaf width, etc., were extracted from RGB images and laser point clouds, respectively. Finally, the accuracy of three representative and easily measurable phenotypic parameters, leaf number, plant height, and maximum width were evaluated. The mean absolute percentage errors (MAPE) were 8.6%, 8.3% and 6.0%, respectively, while the root mean square errors (RMSE) were 1.371 pieces, 3.2 cm and 1.86 cm, respectively, and the determination coefficients (R2) were 0.93, 0.95 and 0.91, respectively. The research results indicated that the extracted phenotype parameters can accurately and efficiently reflect the growth status of potatoes. Combining the RGB image data of potatoes with three-dimensional laser point cloud data can fully exploit the advantages of the rich texture and color characteristics of RGB images and the volumetric information provided by three-dimensional point clouds, achieving non-destructive, efficient, and high-precision extraction of two-dimensional and three-dimensional phenotype parameters of potato plants. The achievements of this study could not only provide important technical support for the cultivation and breeding of potatoes but also provide strong support for phenotype-based research.

As we know, cross-lingual word embedding alignment is critically important for reference-free machine translation evaluation, where source texts are directly compared with system translations. In this paper, it is revealed that multilingual knowledge distillation for sentence embedding alignment could achieve cross-lingual word embedding alignment implicitly. A simplified analysis is given to explain the implicit alignment reason. And according to the analysis, it could be deduced that using the last layer embeddings of the distilled student model will have the best alignment effect, which is also validated by the experimental results on the WMT19 datasets. Furthermore, with the assistant of a target-side language model, BERTScore and Word Mover’s Distance using the cross-lingual word embeddings get very competitive results (4 best average scores on 3 types of language directions and ranking first among more than half of all 18 language pairs for the system-level evaluations) in the WMT19’s reference-free machine translation evaluation tasks when the current state-of-the-art (SOTA) metrics are chosen for comparison.

Dynamic graph-based label propagation for density peaks clustering (DPC-DLP) is an improved algo-rithm of density peaks clustering (DPC). The related parameters involved in the algorithm are too complex and the algorithm uses labeled data in each iteration, which will lead to the expansion of label errors and the deterioration of clustering effect due to too many iterations. To solve the above problems, this paper proposes a nearest neighbor label propagation for density peak clustering (DPC-NLP), which mainly has three steps. Firstly, the local density and the minimum distance are used to score the sample points and the clustering center is determined according to the score. Then, the clustering backbone is formed by the labels of the clustering center in its nearest neighbor. Finally, the label propagation method based on the nearest neighbor is used to propagate the labels of the clustering back-bone to the remaining samples and the final clustering results are formed. The nearest neighbor label propagation algorithm takes full account of the structural association between samples, constantly updates the state of data in the process of propagation, and uses more sufficient information to improve the accuracy of allocation. The algorithm is verified on the synthetic and real-world datasets and compared with the current mainstream clustering algorithms. Ex-perimental results show that DPC-NLP is superior in performance and robustness and can deal with complex data such as manifold and nonlinear data.

Cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channels (CNGCs) remain poorly studied in crop plants, most of which are polyploid. In allotetraploid Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum), silencing GhCNGC13 and 32 impaired plant growth and shoot apical meristem (SAM) development, while triggering plant autoimmunity. Both growth hormones (indole-3-acetic acid and gibberellin) and stress hormones (abscisic acid, salicylic acid, and jasmonate) increased, while leaf photosynthesis decreased. The silenced plants exhibited an enhanced resistance to Botrytis cinerea; however, Verticillium wilt resistance was weakened, which was associated with LIPOXYGENASE2 (LOX2) downregulation. Transcriptomic analysis of silenced plants revealed 4835 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with functional enrichment in immunity and photosynthesis. These DEGs included a set of transcription factors with significant over-representation in the HSF, NAC, and WRKY families. Moreover, numerous members of the GhCNGC family were identified among the DEGs, which may indicate a coordinated action. Collectively, our results suggested that GhCNGC13 and 32 functionally link to photosynthesis, plant growth, and plant immunity. We proposed that GhCNGC13 and 32 play a critical role in the “growth–defense tradeoff” widely observed in crops.

Polymicrobial mastitis is now becoming very common in dairy animals, resulting in exaggerated resistance to multiple antibiotics. The current study was executed to find drug responses in individual and mixed Culture of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli isolated from milk samples, as well as to evaluate the antibacterial potential of tungsten oxide nanoparticles. These isolates (alone and in mixed culture) were further processed for their responses to antibiotics using the disc diffusion method. On the other hand, tungsten oxide WO3 (W) nanoparticles coupled with antibiotics (ampicillin, A, and oxytetracycline, O) were prepared through the chemical method and characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and UV-visible techniques. The preparations consisting of nanoparticles alone (W) and coupled with ampicillin (WA) and oxytetracycline (WO) were tested against individual and mixed Culture through the well diffusion and broth microdilution methods. The findings of the current study showed the highest resistance in E. coli was against penicillin (60%) and ampicillin (50%), while amikacin, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, and oxytetracycline were the most effective antibiotics. S. aureus showed the highest resistance against penicillin (50%), oxytetracycline (40%), and ciprofloxacin (40%), while, except for ampicillin, the sensitive strains of S. aureus were in the range of 40–60% against the rest of antibiotics. The highest zones of inhibition (ZOI) against mixed Culture were shown by imipenem and ampicillin, whereas the highest percentage decrease in ZOI was noted in cases of ciprofloxacin (−240%) and gentamicin (−119.4%) in comparison to individual Culture of S. aureus and E. coli. It was noteworthy that the increase in ZOI was not more than 38% against mixed Culture as compared to the individual Culture. On the other hand, there was a significant reduction in the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of nanoparticle-coupled antibiotics compared to nanoparticles alone for individual and mixed-culture bacteria, while MICs in the case of mixed Culture remained consistently high throughout the trial. This study therefore concluded that diverse drug resistance was present in both individual and mixed-culture bacteria, whereas the application of tungsten oxide nanoparticle-coupled antibiotics proved to be an effective candidate in reversing the drug resistance in bacterial strains.

Aims: Long term cardiovascular outcome comparison of multivessel coronary disease among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) is limited. The objective of this study was to compare the long-term cardiovascular outcome PCI vs CABG among DM patients with multivessel disease. Method and results: Online databases were explored to identify studies that compared cardiovascular outcomes between PCI and CABG among patients with DM. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes included major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCE), myocardial infarction (MI), rate of revascularization, cardiac death, and cerebrovascular accident (CVA). A total of 27 studies with 37,091 (PCI n = 19,838 (53 %) and CABG n = 17,253 (47 %)) patients were included. The mean age was 64 ± 5.9 years for PCI group and 63.8 ± 5.3 years for CABG group; and, predominantly male (71.22 % vs 74.29 %) for PCI and CABG respectively. The most common comorbidity was hypertension (64.35 % vs 62.88 %) in both PCI and CABG respectively. Compared with CABG, PCI group had a higher odds of overall all-cause mortality (OR 1.18, 95 % CI 1.02–1.37, p = 0.03), MACCE (OR 1.52, 95 % CI 1.31–1.75, p = 0.00), MI (OR 1.85, 95 % CI 1.46–2.36, p = 0.00), repeat revascularization (OR 3.08, 95 % CI 2.34–4.05, p = 0.00) and cardiac death (OR 1.27, 95 % 1.02–1.59, p = 0.04), while CVA (0.57, 95 % CI 0.37–0.86, p = 0.01) was higher with CABG. Conclusion: Diabetic patients with multivessel coronary artery disease have worse outcomes undergoing PCI as compared to CABG. However, CVA was significantly higher with CABG. CABG remains the preferred management among eligible patients with multivessel disease and DM.

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In higher plants, the regulatory roles of cAMP (cyclic adenosine 3′,5′-monophosphate) signaling remain elusive until now. Cellular cAMP levels are generally much lower in higher plants than in animals and transiently elevated for triggering downstream signaling events. Moreover, plant adenylate cyclase (AC) activities are found in different moonlighting multifunctional proteins, which may pose additional complications in distinguishing a specific signaling role for cAMP. Here, we have developed rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) transgenic plants that overexpress an inducible plant-origin AC activity for generating high AC levels much like that in animal cells, which served the genetic model disturbing native cAMP signaling as a whole in plants. We found that overexpression of the soluble AC activity had significant impacts on the contents of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and stress phytohormones, i.e. jasmonic acid (JA), abscisic acid (ABA), and salicylic acid (SA) in the transgenic plants. Acute induction of the AC activity caused IAA overaccumulation, and upregulation of TAA1 and CYP83B1 in the IAA biosynthesis pathways, but also simultaneously the hyper-induction of PR4 and KIN2 expression indicating activation of JA and ABA signaling pathways. We observed typical overgrowth phenotypes related to IAA excess in the transgenic plants, including significant increases in plant height, internode length, width of leaf blade, petiole length, root length, and fresh shoot biomass, as well as the precocious seed development, as compared to wild-type plants. In addition, we identified a set of 1465 cAMP-responsive genes (CRGs), which are most significantly enriched in plant hormone signal transduction pathway, and function mainly in relevance to hormonal, abiotic and biotic stress responses, as well as growth and development. Collectively, our results support that cAMP elevation impacts phytohormone homeostasis and signaling, and modulates plant growth and development. We proposed that cAMP signaling may be critical in configuring the coordinated regulation of growth and development in higher plants.

Introduction21-hydroxylase deficiency (21OHD) is the most common cause of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). However, patients with 21OHD manifest various phenotypes due to a wide-spectrum residual enzyme activity of different CYP21A2 mutations.MethodsA total of 15 individuals from three unrelated families were included in this study. Target Capture-Based Deep Sequencing and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism was conducted on peripheral blood DNA of the three probands to identify potential mutations/deletions in CYP21A2; Sanger sequencing was conducted with the DNA from the family members of the probands.ResultsDramatically different phenotypes were seen in the three probands of CAH with different compound heterozygous mutations in CYP21A2. Proband 1 manifested simple virilizing with mutations of 30-kb deletion/c.[188A>T;518T>A], the latter is a novel double mutants classified as SV associated mutation. Although both probands carry the same compound mutations [293-13C>G]:[518T>A], gonadal dysfunction and giant bilateral adrenal myelolipoma were diagnosed for proband 2 and proband 3, respectively.ConclusionBoth gender and mutations contribute to the phenotypes, and patients with the same compound mutations and gender could present with different phenotypes. Genetic analysis could help the etiologic diagnosis, especially for atypical 21OHD patients.

Background: Racial disparities have been well described in cardiovascular disease. However, the impact of race on the outcomes post - Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) remains unknown. Objective: We aim to evaluate the disparity among the race (black and white) post - TAVR. Methods: We systematically searched all electronic databases from inception until September 26, 2022. The primary outcome was in-hospital all-cause mortality, and secondary outcomes was myocardial infarction (MI), acute kidney injury (AKI), permanent pacemaker implantation (PPI) or ICD, stroke, vascular complications, and major bleeding. Results: A total of three studies with 1,02,009 patients were included in the final analysis. The mean age of patients with white and black patients was 82.65 and 80.45 years, respectively. The likelihood of in-hospital all-cause mortality (OR, 1.01(95 %CI: 0.86–1.19), P = 0.93), stroke (OR, 0.83(95 %CI:0.61–1.13), P = 0.23, I2 = 46.57 %], major bleeding [OR, 1.05(95 %CI:0.92–1.20), P = 0.46), and vascular complications [OR, 0.92(95 %CI:0.81–1.06), P = 0.26), was comparable between white and black patients. However, patients with white race have lower odds of MI (OR, 0.65(95 %CI:0.50–0.84), P

Based on the particle spectrum of floating dust, with the analysis of the scattering efficiency factor and scattering coefficient of floating dust particle size by Mie scattering theory; Monte Carlo method was used to simulate and analyze the effect of floating dust particle size and concentration on UV communication in floating dust weather. Finally, an experimental device was built to test and analyze the effects of particle size and concentration on UV communication performance in different floating dust weather, the results of which were then contrasted with the simulation ones. The results show that: 1) the scattering efficiency factor and extinction efficiency factor of floating dust particles show an oscillatory attenuation trend, and the oscillation finally converges near 2.07 and 1.14 with the increase of scale parameters, respectively. 2) When the floating dust concentration is constant, the path loss of UV communication decreases first and then increases with the increase of particle size, and the radius of the minimum is 1.0~1.5 μm. 3) During short distance communication in dusty weather, the path loss decreases with the increase of dust concentration and increases with the increase of communication distance and transceiver elevation.

The MCrAlY bond coats used for thermally-sprayed thermal barrier coatings applied to aeroengines and industrial gas turbines are reached their temperature limits. The further development is aiming to extend service life, low production cost and compatibility with new fuels. The new MCrAlYs have to be oxidation resistant and spallation resistant, and able to prevent SRZ formation caused by the diffusion with superalloy substrate, and to avoid the damage of thermo-mechanical properties. This paper reviewed recent developments in this area, and proposed a composite structured low-β / near-γ′ type MCrAlY with a very low ϕ value and CTE closed to Al2O3 to achieve the target. This approach may be cost effective, and more attractive to aeroengine and industrial gas turbine manufacturers, as well as coating developers and research institutions. Meanwhile, big data analysis will help to design new coating composition, speed up the development process and reduce R&D cost, lead to the findings of more durable thermal barrier coatings for aeroengine and industrial gas turbine applications.

Abstract Background Carcass length is very important for body size and meat production for swine, thus understanding the genetic mechanisms that underly this trait is of great significance in genetic improvement programs for pigs. Although many quantitative trait loci (QTL) have been detected in pigs, very few have been fine-mapped to the level of the causal mutations. The aim of this study was to identify potential causal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for carcass length by integrating a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and functional assays. Results Here, we present a GWAS in a commercial Duroc × (Landrace × Yorkshire) (DLY) population that reveals a prominent association signal (P = 4.49E−07) on pig chromosome 17 for carcass length, which was further validated in two other DLY populations. Within the detected 1 Mb region, the BMP2 gene stood out as the most likely causal candidate because of its functions in bone growth and development. Whole-genome gene expression studies showed that the BMP2 gene was differentially expressed in the cartilage tissues of pigs with extreme carcass length. Then, we genotyped an additional 267 SNPs in 500 selected DLY pigs, followed by further whole-genome SNP imputation, combined with deep genome resequencing data on multiple pig breeds. Reassociation analyses using genotyped and imputed SNP data revealed that the rs320706814 SNP, located approximately 123 kb upstream of the BMP2 gene, was the strongest candidate causal mutation, with a large association with carcass length, with a ~ 4.2 cm difference in length across all three DLY populations (N = 1501; P = 3.66E−29). This SNP segregated in all parental lines of the DLY (Duroc, Large White and Landrace) and was also associated with a significant effect on body length in 299 pure Yorkshire pigs (P = 9.2E−4), which indicates that it has a major value for commercial breeding. Functional assays showed that this SNP is likely located within an enhancer and may affect the binding affinity of transcription factors, thereby regulating BMP2 gene expression. Conclusions Taken together, these results suggest that the rs320706814 SNP on pig chromosome 17 is a putative causal mutation for carcass length in the widely used DLY pigs and has great value in breeding for body size in pigs.

Heavy metals have been widely applied in industry, agriculture, and other fields because of their outstanding physics and chemistry properties. However, heavy metal pollution is inevitable in the process of mass production and emission. Heavy metal ions will cause irreversible harm to the human body and other organisms due to their nondegradable nature even at low concentrations of exposure and ingestion. Therefore, it is of great significance for human health and ecological environment to develop high accuracy and sensitivity as well as stable techniques for detecting heavy metal ions. In recent years, surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy has been regarded as a promising new technique for the determination of trace heavy metal ions on account of its special fingerprint identification capability, high sensitivity, rapid detection ability, and simple operation. This review summarized in detail the basic principles and strategies for detecting mercury ions, copper ions, arsenic ions, zinc ions, cadmium ions, lead ions, and chromium (VI) ions as well as the current challenges and future trends for the determination of heavy metal ions based on SERS technology.

Background: Anterior cervical fusion (ACF) has become a standard treatment approach to effectively alleviate symptoms in patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy and radiculopathy. However, alteration of cervical sagittal alignment may accelerate degeneration at segments adjacent to the fusion and thereby compromise the surgical outcome. It remains unknown whether changes in T1 tilt, an important parameter of cervical sagittal alignment, may cause redistribution of biomechanical loading on adjacent segments after ACF surgery.Objective: The objective was to examine the effects of T1 tilt angles on biomechanical responses (i.e.range of motion (ROM) and intradiscal VonMises stress) of the cervical spine before and after ACF.Methods: C2–T1 FE models for pre- and postoperative C4–C6 fusion were constructed on the basis of our previous work. Varying T1 tilts of −10°, −5°, 0°, 5°, and 10° were modeled with an imposed flexion–extension rotation at the T1 inferior endplate for the C2–T1 models. The flexion–extension ROM and intradiscal VonMises stress of functional spinal units were compared between the pre- and postoperative C2–T1 FE models of different T1 tilts.Results: The spinal segments adjacent to ACF demonstrated higher ROM ratios after the operation regardless of T1 tilt. The segmental ROM ratio distribution was influenced as T1 tilt varied and loading conditions, which were more obvious during displacement-control loading of extension. Regardless of T1 tilt, intradiscal VonMises stress was greatly increased at the adjacent segments after the operation. As T1 tilt increased, intradiscal stress at C3–C4 decreased under 30° flexion and increased under 15° extension. The contrary trend was observed at the C6–C7 segment, where the intradiscal stress increased with the increasing T1 tilt under 30° flexion and decreased under 15° extension.Conclusion: T1 tilt change may change biomechanical loadings of cervical spine segments, especially of the adjacent segments after ACF. Extension may be more susceptible to T1 tilt change.

Background: Chronic kidney disease, a global public health problem, results in kidney damage or a gradual decline in the glomerular filtration rate. Alport syndrome is commonly characterized by chronic glomerulonephritis caused by a structural disorder in the glomerular basement membrane. Currently, three disease-causing genes, namely collagen type IV alpha 3–5 (COL4A3, COL4A4, and COL4A5), have been associated with the occurrence of Alport syndrome.Methods: We enrolled a Chinese family where the affected individuals suffered from recurrent hematuria and proteinuria. The proband was selected for whole-exome sequencing to identify the pathogenic mutations in this family.Results: After data filtering, a novel heterozygous COL4A4 variant (NM_000092: c.853G>A/p. G285A) was identified as the putative genetic lesion in the affected individuals. Further co-segregation analysis using Sanger sequencing confirmed that this novel COL4A4 mutation (c.853G>A/p. G285A) exists only in the affected individuals and is absent in other healthy family members as well as in the control cohort of 200 individuals from the same locality. According to American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics guidelines, the mutation was classified as ‘potentially pathogenic’. A bioinformatics-based prediction analysis revealed that this mutation is pathogenic and may disrupt the structure and function of type IV collagen. This variant is located at an evolutionarily conserved site of COL4A4.Conclusion: In this study, we identified a novel heterozygous COL4A4 variant (c.853G>A) in a Chinese AS family and assisted to diagnose this AS proband as autosomal-dominant Alport syndrome (ADAS). Our study expands the spectrum of Alport syndrome mutations and contributes to the genetic counseling and diagnosis of patients with Alport syndrome.

The yield stress of mud is one key to analyze the initiation and deposition of debris flow. Taking Chengdu clay as the experimental material, slurries with different solid volume concentrations were prepared. Using the blade rotor system of mcr301 rheometer and the continuous shear experimental method, the dynamic change process of shear stress of slurries with different solid volume concentrations was obtained with the shear rate increasing and decreasing continuously. According to the experimental results, the static and dynamic yield stress of Chengdu clay slurry is determined, and the influence of solid volume concentration on the yield stress is analyzed. The following conclusions are obtained: Chengdu clay slurry is a non-Newtonian fluid with yield stress. In the process of accelerated shear, for Chengdu clay slurry with solid volume concentration exceeding 35%, the shear rate is in the range of 0.01–1 s−1, and the shear stress increases rapidly to the maximum. When the shear rate exceeds 1 s−1, the shear stress decreases rapidly and finally tends to be stable. The shear rate appears stress overshoot near 1s−1. However, in the process of increasing shear rate, for Chengdu clay slurry with solid volume concentration of no more than 35%, the shear stress increases rapidly in the range of shear rate of 0.01–0.1 s−1, and the shear rate exceeds 0.1 s−1. The shear rate has little effect on the shear stress, and the stress overshoot disappears. In the process of deceleration shear, for all solid volume concentrations in the semi logarithmic coordinate system, the mud shear stress decreases steadily with the decrease of shear rate. The static and dynamic yield stress of slurry increases exponentially with particle concentration.

The hot corrosion behavior of the second generation nickel base single crystal superalloy DD421 coated with 90%(mass fraction) Na2SO4+10%NaCl (molten at 750 ℃) and pure Na2SO4 (solid state at 750 ℃) was investigated by salt coating method in 750 ℃ atmosphere (without SOx atmosphere). The results show that in the corrosion medium of molten mixed salt, the sulfidation reaction is mainly caused by the corrosion of liquid molten salt. After 100 h of hot corrosion, the main corrosion products are typical simple oxides (Al2O3, Cr2O3, TiO2) and Ni/Cr/Ti sulfides. However, in the pure Na2SO4 solid salt hot corrosion experiment, the corrosion products of the alloy after 100 h of hot corrosion are basically the same as those in the mixed salt test, but the thickness of the corrosion layer is relatively thinner and the size of sulfide is relatively larger. Combined with thermodynamics and microstructure analysis, it is clear that the alloy elements can react with solid Na2SO4 salt in the corrosion environment without SOx atmosphere.

Background: The relation between blood vitamin D levels and the risk of cardiovascular outcomes is debatable. To our knowledge this is the first comparative meta-analysis of more than 100,000 patients’ data with the aim to inspect the relevance of low vitamin D levels with adverse cardiovascular events. Methods: Online databases including PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Central were queried to compare the cardiovascular outcomes among hypovitaminosis D (HVD) and control group. The outcomes assessed included differences in major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), mortality, myocardial infarction, and heart failure. Unadjusted odds ratios (OR) were calculated using a random-effect model with a 95% confidence interval (CI) and P less than 0.05 as a statistical significance. Results: A total of 8 studies including 426,039 patients were included in this analysis. HVD group was associated with a higher incidence of MACE (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.24 to 2.98, p = 0.003), while there was no significant association of HVD and all-cause mortality (OR 1.77, 95% CI 0.75 to 4.17, p = 0.19), risk of myocardial infarction (OR 0.69, 95% CI 0.39 to 1.24, p = 0.22), and heart failure (OR 1.20, 95% CI 0.34 to 4.25, p = 0.78). Conclusions: This meta-analysis suggested that low blood levels of vitamin D are associated with MACE, but no such difference in all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction or heart failure was observed. Appropriate supplementation of vitamin D in selected populations might be cardioprotective in nature and warrants extensive trials.

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication in patients with severe COVID-19. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 249 patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) during the first wave of the pandemic to determine risk factors for AKI. Demographics, comorbidities, and clinical and outcome variables were obtained from electronic medical records. Results: Univariate analysis revealed older age, higher admission serum creatinine, elevated Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, elevated admission D-Dimer, elevated CRP on day 2, mechanical ventilation, vasopressor requirement, and azithromycin usage as significant risk factors for AKI. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that higher admission creatinine (p = 0.0001, OR = 2.41, 95% CI = 1.56–3.70), vasopressor requirement (p = 0.0001, OR = 3.20, 95% CI = 1.69–5.98), elevated admission D-Dimer (p = 0.008, OR = 1.0001, 95% CI = 1.000–1.001), and elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) on day 2 (p = 0.033, OR = 1.0001, 95% CI = 1.004–1.009) were independent risk factors. Conversely, the combined use of Tocilizumab and corticosteroids was independently associated with reduced AKI risk (p = 0.0009, OR = 0.437, 95% CI = 0.23–0.81). Conclusion: This study confirms the high rate of AKI and associated mortality among COVID-19 patients admitted to ICUs and suggests a role for inflammation and/or coagulopathy in AKI development. One should consider the possibility that early administration of anti-inflammatory agents, as is now routinely conducted in the management of COVID-19-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome, may improve clinical outcomes in patients with AKI.

There is a paucity of data and minimal literature on outcomes of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) among liver cirrhosis patients. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the clinical outcomes among liver cirrhosis patients post-PCI. We conducted a comprehensive literature search in the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, and Scopus databases for relevant studies. Effect sizes were pooled using the DerSimonian and Laird random-effects model as an odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). A total of 3 studies met the inclusion criteria, providing data from 10,705,976 patients. A total of 28,100 patients were in the PCI + Cirrhosis group and 10,677,876 patients were in the PCI-only group. The mean age of patients with PCI + Cirrhosis and PCI alone was 63.45 and 64.35 years. The most common comorbidity was hypertension among the PCI + Cirrhosis group compared with PCI alone (68.15% vs. 73.6%). Cirrhosis patients post-PCI were had higher rates of in-hospital mortality (OR, 4.78 (95%CI: 3.39–6.75), p < 0.001), GI bleeding (OR, 1.91 (95%CI:1.83–1.99), p < 0.001, I2 = 0%), stroke (OR, 2.48 (95%CI:1.68–3.66), p < 0.001), AKI (OR, 3.66 (95%CI: 2.33–6.02), p < 0.001), and vascular complications (OR, 1.50 (95%CI: 1.13–1.98), p < 0.001) compared with the PCI group without cirrhosis. Patients with cirrhosis are at a high risk for mortality and adverse outcomes post-PCI procedure compared to the PCI-only group of patients.

This study investigates rare earth RE3TaO7 ceramics and shows that these materials may be optimal for thermal barrier coatings. ZrO2-Sm3TaO7 ceramics were prepared through a solid-state reaction. X-ray diffusion and structural refinement revealed a phase structure with an ordered orthorhombic phase for the Ccmm space group. The degree of structural disorder increased with increasing ZrO2 content. Gaussian function fitting of the oxygen 1s X-ray photoelectron spectra showed that the Sm3+ and Ta5+ ions were replaced by Zr4+ ions. At high temperatures, 8 mol% ZrO2-Sm3TaO7 has a high thermal expansion coefficient (10.9 × 10−6 K−1). The thermal conductivities of ZrO2-Sm3TaO7 (1.17 − 1.75 W·m−1 K−1) are lower than those of 7–8 wt.% yttria-stabilized zirconia, while those of 2% ZrO2-Sm3TaO7 are the lowest. The oxygen vacancies maintain the charge in equilibrium and enhance phonon scattering while decreasing the thermal conductivity. These results indicate that Sm3TaO7 can be used as a TBC.

Abstract To explore the clinical application value of chest CT quantitative pulmonary inflammation index (PII) in the evaluation of the course and treatment outcome of COVID-19 pneumonia. One hundred and eighteen patients with COVID-19 pneumonia diagnosed by RT-PCR were analyzed retrospectively. The correlation between chest CT PII, clinical symptoms and laboratory examinations during the entire hospitalization period was compared. The average age of the patients was 46.0 ± 15 (range: 1–74) years. Of the 118 patients, 62 are male (52.5%) and 56 are female (47.5%). Among them, 116 patients recovered and were discharged, 2 patients died, and the median length of hospital stay was 22 (range: 9–41) days. On admission, 76.3% of the patients presented with fever, and the laboratory studies showed a decrease in lymphocyte (LYM) count and an increase in lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels, C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Within the studies’ chest CTs, the median number of involved lung lobes was 4 (range: 0–5) and the median number of involved lung segments was 9 (range 0–20). The left lower lobe and the right lower lobe were the most likely areas to be involved (89.0% and 83.9%), and 84.7% of the patients had inflammatory changes in both lungs. The main manifestations on chest CT were ground glass opacities (31.4%), ground glass opacities and consolidation (20.3%), ground glass opacities and reticular patterns (32.2%), mixed type (13.6%), and white lungs (1.7%); common accompanying signs included linear opacities (55.9%), air bronchograms (46.6%), thick small vessel shadows (36.4%), and pleural hypertrophy (13.6%). The chest CT at discharge showed complete absorption of lesions in 19 cases (16.1%), but not in the remaining 99 cases. Lesions remained in a median of 3 lung lobes (range: 0–5). Residual lesions remained in a median of 5 lung segments (range: 0–20). The residual lesions mainly presented as ground glass opacities (61.0%), and the main accompanying sign was linear opacities (59.3%). Based on chest CT, the median maximum PII of lungs was 30.0% (range: 0–97.5%), and the median PII after discharge in the patients excluding the two deaths was 12.5% (range: 0–53.0%). PII was significantly negatively correlated with the LYM count and significantly positively correlated with body temperature, LDH, CRP, and ESR. There was no significant correlation between the PII and the white blood cell count, but the grade of PII correlated well with the clinical classification. PII can be used to monitor the severity and the treatment outcome of COVID-19 pneumonia, provide help for clinical classification, assist in treatment plan adjustments and aid assessments for discharge.

Using the data of China National Nutrition and Health Survey, we explored the relationship between dietary fructose intake and lipid indexes and dyslipidemia of 27 265 Chinese residents aged 45 and above. The level of serum total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG) and high-density lipoprotein Cholesterol(HDL-C) were significantly lower in male while dietary fructose intake was lower in female (P < 0.001).With the increase of the dietary fructose quartile level, serum TG concentration was increased while HDL-C was decreased for male residents (Ptrend < 0.001). Among female residents, we only found serum TG concentration was increased (Ptrend < 0.001). Compared with the first quartile, the risk of low HDL cholesterolemia in the third (OR: 1.17; 95%CI: 1.03～1.33) and fourth (OR: 1.25; 95%CI: 1.08～1.43) quartile were increased after adjustment for confounding factor. There was no association between dietary fructose intake and hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, mixed hyperlipidemia, and dyslipidemia among female residents after adjustment for confounding factor (P > 0.001). There were gender differences for the effect of dietary fructose intake on lipid indexes and dyslipidemia.

Hy-Line Brown chickens’ health is closely related to poultry productivity and it is mainly maintained by the immune system, healthy intestinal function, and microflora of chicken. Polysaccharides are biological macromolecules with a variety of activities that can be used as a potential prebiotic to improve poultry health. In this experiment, the function of Alhagi honey polysaccharides (AH) as an immunomodulator on the chicken was investigated. All chicken (120) were randomly distributed to four groups (five replicas/group, six hens/replica). A total of 0.5 mL water was taken orally by the chicken in control group. AH (0.5 mL) in different concentrations (three dosages, 0.3 g/kg, 0.6 g/k, and 1.2 g/kg) were used for the AH-0.3 g/kg, AH-0.6 g/k, and AH-1.2 g/kg group, respectively. The results showed that the growth performance of the chickens and the index of immune organs (the weight of immune organs/the body weight) were enhanced significantly after being AH-treated (p < 0.05). The content of sIgA and cytokines was upregulated remarkably in the intestine after being AH-treated (p < 0.05). The AH treatment significantly enhanced the intestinal epithelial barrier (p < 0.05). Moreover, the percentage of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in the ileum, spleen, and serum were obviously upscaled (p < 0.05). In addition, the AH treatment significantly enhanced the production of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and improved the structure of gut microbiota (p < 0.05). In conclusion, we found that AH-1.2g/kg was the best dosage to improve the chicken’s health, and these data demonstrated that AH could be used as a potential tool to enhance growth performance through improving intestine function, immunity, and gut microbiome in chicken.

Abstract Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is usually caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or penetrating head injury, and carries the risk of inducing cognitive disorders. However, identifying the biomarkers for the diagnosis of mTBI is challenging as evident abnormalities in brain anatomy are rarely found in patients with mTBI. In this study, we tested whether the alteration of functional network dynamics could be used as potential biomarkers to better diagnose mTBI. We propose a sparse dictionary learning framework to delineate spontaneous fluctuation of functional connectivity into the subject‐specific time‐varying evolution of a set of overlapping group‐level sparse connectivity components (SCCs) based on the resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 31 mTBI patients in the early acute phase (

YSZ ceramic coating was prepared by PS-PVD process on K417G superalloy prefabricated with NiCoCrAlYTa bond coating. The tensile bond strength, particle erosion resistance and high temperature oxidation resistance of PS-PVD YSZ ceramic coating were tested by the universal tensile testing machine, particle erosion device and static oxidation furnace. The SEM and EDS were used to analyze the surface, cross-section morphology and element distribution. The results show that surface roughness has great influence on tensile bond strength, particle erosion resistance and high temperature oxidation resistance of YSZ ceramic coating. The bonding strength is increased first and then decreased with the increase of surface roughness. The coating prepared on the surface of Ra=0.40 μm has the highest bonding strength of 23.5 MPa. The tensile fracture occurs in the interior of YSZ ceramic coating at a distance of 40-70 μm from the bond coating. The erosion rate is decreased first and then increased with the increase of surface roughness. The coating prepared on the surface of Ra=0.40 μm has the best particle erosion resistance, and the erosion rate is 2.8×10-3 g/g. Small surface fluctuations and low porosity are two important reasons for preventing fast particle erosion. The YSZ coatings prepared with different surface roughness can produce dense and continuous TGO layer. Larger surface roughness causes larger fluctuation of growing TGO layer, which is more likely to cause local thickening and stress concentration, thus leading to failure.