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The aim of this study is to report the risk factors of severe statin induced liver injury (SILI). From the database of Shandong ADR Monitoring Center and Outpatients and inpatients in our hospital, SILI cases reported from 2013 to 2021 were extracted and screened. The diagnostic criteria of SILI, the inclusion and exclusion criteria of severe and general SILI were established separately. After the SILI cases were selected and confirmed, the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics were collected. Single factor chi-square test and multi-factor unconditional logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the influencing factors of severe SILI. From 1391 reported cases, 1211 met SILI diagnostic criteria, of which 157 were severe SILI and 964 were general SILI. Univariate analysis showed that age, drug combination, statin category were the influencing factors of severe SILI (p<0.1). Multivariate logistic analysis showed that drug combination and statin category were the influencing factors of severe SILI (p<0.05). Atorvastatin caused the most serious SILI, and its risk is 1.77 times higher than rosuvastatin. The serious SILI risk of drug combination was 2.08 times higher than statin alone. The patient with these factors should be monitored intensively during clinical treatment, to ensure their medication safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A growing body of research supports dispositional mindfulness as important in influencing physical and mental health as well as physical activities in patients with chronic illnesses. Knee osteoarthritis (OA), which often causes health problems, is one of the most common chronic illnesses, but less is known about dispositional mindfulness in relation to this condition. Objective: To explore possible associations between dispositional mindfulness and physical and mental health as well as physical activity in knee OA patients. Methods: For this cross-sectional study, we recruited a purposive sample of orthopedic clinic patients in hospitals in Southern Taiwan. Instruments included the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC). Health-related characteristics were also measured. Demographic statistics, bivariate correlations, and multiple linear regression informed our exploration of potentially related factors for dispositional mindfulness. Results: Participants with knee OA (N = 250) were mostly elderly (88%), female (70.5%), and married (84%). Marital status, perceived health status, depression, and physical activity were associated with dispositional mindfulness. Better perceived health, lower depression, and greater physical activity were significantly associated with greater dispositional mindfulness. However, the severity of symptoms, fear of falling, and exercise self-efficacy did not reach statistical significance in relation to dispositional mindfulness. Conclusion: Greater emphasis should be placed on the cultivation of mindfulness to enhance individuals' perceived health, decrease their depressive mood, and promote their engagement in physical activity, which could indirectly alleviate their experience of pain and improve their physical function, yielding better quality of life and well-being. Future research should focus on interventions to apply dispositional mindfulness in order to determine whether dispositional mindfulness can effectively improve physical and mental health as well as physical activity in those with knee OA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies have compared phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging (PC‐MRI) with arterial spin labeling (ASL) in the same cohort of subjects. However, these earlier comparisons included subjects across a wide age range, which can contribute to increased intersubject variability. We compared the range and variability of CBF based on PC‐MRI and ASL in a group of young subjects. We also explored whether the comparison between PC‐MRI and ASL was dependent on sex. Thirty young subjects (17 females) were recruited in this study. The CBF from PC‐MRI (CBFPC) was calculated as the total blood flow normalized to brain parenchyma mass. The CBF from ASL (CBFASL) was quantified based on the perfusion kinetic model. The ratio between CBFASL and CBFPC was calculated. Females exhibited significantly higher CBF using both PC‐MRI (p < 0.05) and ASL (p < 0.005) compared with males. The disparity in CBF between sexes was more prominent in ASL measurements. A significant correlation was observed between CBFPC and CBFASL values (r = 0.47, p < 0.01), and CBFASL tended to be lower than CBFPC values (p < 0.001). This difference between CBFASL and CBFPC was more pronounced in males, as evidenced by the smaller CBFASL/CBFPC ratio in males (p < 0.05). The measurement of global CBF with PC‐MRI and ASL are correlated, but CBFASL exhibits lower values than CBFPC. As the underestimation of CBFASL is prominent in males, ASL amplifies the sexual dimorphism in CBF compared with PC‐MRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

President Biden's remarks that his administration is willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan appear to be a significant deviation from Washington's long-standing policy of "strategic ambiguity." Critics warn that such a clear pledge is likely to bolster Taiwanese citizens' confidence in America's defense commitment, which may encourage Taipei's pursuit of independence. This study uses deterrence theory with panel survey data to examine this argument. The results support critics' concerns that Biden's security pledges have increased Taiwanese citizens' confidence in Washington's security assurance. However, the public's overall confidence declined between 2021 and 2022, which can be attributed to the shifting views of proindependence citizens due to their concern about a Chinese leadership emboldened by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. After witnessing America's security assistance to Ukraine, independence supporters may have recognized the uncertain nature of Washington's security commitment and adjusted their expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education is increasingly defined by data, indicators and metrics. The paper examines how English universities conceptualise and articulate their perspectives on 'teaching quality' in the context of the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) in the UK. By adopting a qualitative thematic analysis approach, the author examines how a sample of English higher education institutions [n = 18] articulated their perspectives on teaching quality by analysing the 'teaching quality' section of their qualitative TEF submissions. The findings have shown that higher education policies, such as TEF, have greatly shaped institutions' perspectives on teaching quality and teaching excellence. In turn, universities' articulation of teaching excellence appeared to have significant implications for their management and academic practices, such as institution priorities, resource allocations, performance evaluation and academic career development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Western societies, school pedagogies tend to be biased in favour of talk and emphasise the links between talking, thinking and learning. Thus talk is often privileged over silence as the basis for learning activities in classrooms, sustained by theories of learning which afford priority to talk. Such cultural bias towards talk means that by contrast, silence can be perceived negatively and construed as a form of 'non-participation'. Through a systematic literature review of journal articles relating to silence as a pedagogical approach published between 2000 and 2021, this article reappraises the role and value of silence in school education. Some of the apparent paradoxes of silence as a pedagogical approach, different types and uses of silence in the classroom, cultural dimensions of silence and the relationships between silence, power and critical pedagogy are examined. The pedagogical importance of silence as a participatory approach to learning emerges as a significant point for educators and the paper offers some suggestions for potential applications in classroom practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium metal batteries (LMBs) are acknowledged to be one major direction for next‐generation energy storage devices. However, the practical applications of LMBs are certainly limited by the low power density and safety issues owing to the lack of high‐capacity pseudocapacitive cathode materials and solid electrolytes. Herein, the rational synthesis of 2D VOPO4 nanosheets with enriched V4+ defects (VOPO4@G‐Air) enabling ultrafast multi‐electron reactions as a high‐capacity pseudocapacitive cathode is reported. Through V4+ defect engineering, the larger polarizationand inhomogeneous multi‐electron reactions are vastly improved, resulting in remarkably fast kinetics. Benefiting from the ultrathin 2D structure and controllably regulated V4+ defect concentration, a high discharge capacity of 313 mA h g−1at 0.1C is achieved, anda large capacity of 116 mA h g−1 is offered at 50C. Finally, utilizing the as‐synthesized VOPO4@G‐Air and a solid‐state electrolyte based on ethoxylated trimethylolpropane triacrylate (ETPTA‐LiClO4‐SSE) , the assembled solid‐state LMBs (Li||ETPTA‐LiClO4‐SSE||VOPO4) show high energy density of 85.4 Wh kg−1 at 114.5 W kg−1 and high power density of 2.3 kW kg−1 at 45.86 Wh kg−1. Further, the pouch cell unveils extraordinary safety and excellent flexibility. This work provides new insights in the construction of ultrafast and high‐capacity pseudocapacitive cathodes with multi‐electron reactions for solid‐state LMBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues for recognition of the centrality of relational pedagogy for student learning and the important role played by academic developers in supporting this. In the paper, the authors situate relational pedagogy within the context of contemporary marketized higher education, explore the nature and importance of relational pedagogy, and they illustrate some of the ways in which it may be developed and enacted. Academic developers play a significant role in supporting academics' understanding and practice of relational pedagogy. The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of a relational pedagogy at a time when care and relationships with others have mattered more than ever. Therefore, the authors suggest that relational pedagogy is an important area worthy of academic developers' attention and institutional backing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lipid peroxidation from oxidative stress is considered a major contributor to age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The retina is abundant with circulating low-density lipoproteins (LDL), which are taken up by LDL receptor (LDLR) in the RPE and Müller cells. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of LDLR in the NaIO3-induced model of dry AMD. Confluent primary human RPE (hRPE) and LDLR-silenced ARPE-19 cells were stressed with 150 µM tert-butyl hydroperoxide (tBH) and caspase 3/7 activation was determined. WT and Ldlr−/− mice were administered NaIO3 (20 mg/kg) intravenously. On day 7, fundus imaging, OCT, ERG, and retinal thickness were measured. Histology, TUNEL, cleaved caspase 3 and lipid accumulation were assessed. Treatment of hRPE with tBH markedly decreased LDLR expression. Caspase 3/7 activation was significantly increased in LDLR-silenced ARPE-19 cells treated with tBH. In Ldlr−/− mice, NaIO3 administration resulted in significant (a) retinal thinning, (b) compromised photoreceptor function, (c) increased percentage of cleaved caspase 3 positive and apoptotic cells, and (d) increased lipid droplet accumulation in the RPE, Bruch membrane, choroid, and sclera, compared to WT mice. Our findings imply that LDLR loss leads to lipid accumulation and impaired retinal function, which may contribute to the development of AMD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Several methods can assist in detecting early esophageal cancer (EEC) and staging esophageal cancer (EC) invasion depth. Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of magnifying endoscopy with narrow-band imaging (ME-NBI) plus endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) for diagnosing EC. Methods: We searched the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases for relevant studies. The Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 (QADAS2) was used to assess the studies' methodological quality. The sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood (LR+), negative likelihood (LR−), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) were calculated, and the summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curves were drawn to evaluate the diagnostic performance. Results: Seven studies were included. The meta-analysis suggested that the pooled sensitivity, specificity, LR+, LR−, and DOR of ME-NBI plus EUS for diagnosing EC were 0.947 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.901–0.975), 0.894 (95% CI, 0.847–0.931), 7.989 (95% CI, 4.264–14.970), 0.066 (95% CI, 0.035–0.124), and 137.96 (95% CI, 60.369–315.27), respectively. Those values for staging the invasive depth were 0.791 (95% CI, 0.674–0.881), 0.943 (95% CI, 0.906–0.968), 13.087 (95% CI, 7.559–22.657), 0.226 (95% CI, 0.142–0.360), and 61.332 (95% CI, 27.343–137.57). The areas under the curves (AUCs) for diagnosis and staging were 0.97 and 0.95, respectively. Conclusions: ME-NBI plus EUS might be an adequate diagnostic and staging modality for EC. Due to the study limitations, more large-scale, high-quality studies are needed to confirm the diagnostic accuracy of ME-NBI plus EUS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A non-rigid registration method based on image triangulation and piecewise affine transformation (TPAT) technologies. • TPAT registration method supports both automatic and semi-automatic operation types. • TPAT method achieves great performance in the benchmark test of non-rigid neural image registration. • TPAT method works well in registering multi-session two-photon imaging stacks. Accurate and efficient non-rigid registration is important to investigate neural mechanisms in multi-session two-photon (2p) imaging across a few days. The 2p imaging recordings from different sessions usually possess certain complex misalignment or huge data variance due to relocation errors during experimental operations or brain recovery. Most of the reported neural image registration tools were able to solve the registration problem in the same session with small deformation. However, the registration of neural images across multi-sessions remains a challenge. In this study, we report the development of a non-rigid registration method for 2p imaging in mice based on image triangulation and piecewise affine transformation (TPAT) technologies. The TPAT method supported both automatic and semi-automatic operation types, and both showed great performance in the benchmark test of non-rigid neural image registration. The proposed method constitutes a step forward in promoting and accelerating discoveries from multi-session 2p imaging research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paris polyphylla var. chinensis (Franch.) Hara is a perennial herb belonging to the Trilliaceae family. Ultraperformance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q–TOF MS) was used to detect the composition of different fractions of Paris polyphylla var. chinensis leaves. Meanwhile, the extracts of different fractions were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities against four selected human cancer cell lines and one human normal epithelial cell line based on the MTT assay method. Multivariate statistical analysis was performed to screen differential compounds and to analyze the distributions between different fractions. Finally, more than 60 compounds were obtained and identified from the different fractions of Paris polyphylla var. chinensis leaves, and the chloroform and n−butanol extracts showed significant cytotoxic effects on these four cancer cells. Several compounds were preliminarily identified from different fractions, including 36 steroidal saponins, 11 flavonoids, 10 ceramides, 8 lipids, 6 organic acids, and 8 other compounds. Various compounds were screened out as different chemical components of different fractions, which were considered as a potential substance basis for the cytotoxicity of Paris polyphylla var. chinensis leaves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Follow-up care of patients in the community is an important topic for improving patient outcomes, especially when medical personnel receives a notification of the critical test result (CTR) when the CTR becomes available after patients have been out of hospital; how to recall the patient back to the hospital and follow-up treatment is essential for preventing the healthcare risk of neglecting or delayed intervention with respect to the patient's CTR. We are concerned that the follow-up of CTR and timely recall of our patients in the community improves and facilitates patient safety. We built the CTR Recall Supporting System (RSS) to follow up and recall our patients in the community. Measures were introduced to evaluate the effectiveness of CTR RSS; the rate of return of patients within 7 days increased from 58.5% to 88.8%, an increase of 30.3%, the patients in the community's return follow-up interval days decreased from 10.9 days to 6.2 days, reduced by 4.7 days (p < 0.001), and the mortality rate of the patients in the community within 48 h decreased from 8.0% to 1.9%, a decrease of 6.1%, p < 0.001. The implementation of the CTR RSS significantly increases the discharged patient in he community's CTR return follow-up within 7 days rate, decreases CTR return follow-up interval days, and reduces the CTR mortality rate within 48 h. This effectively improves the effects of CTR on return follow-up visits and provides a prototype system for hospitals that intend to improve this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The efficacy of liraglutide to treat type 2 diabetic nephropathy (T2DN) remains controversial. Thus, we conducted this meta-analysis to systematically evaluate the clinical effect of liraglutide on T2DN patients. Methods: Eight databases (PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang database, China Science and Technology Journal Database, and China Biology Medicine Database (CBM)) were searched for published articles to evaluate the clinical efficacy of liraglutide in subjects with T2DN. The Revman 5.3 and Stata 13 software were used for analyses and plotting. Results: A total of 18 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with 1580 diabetic nephropathy patients were screened. We found that the levels of UACR, Scr, Cysc were lower in the experimental group of T2DN patients treated with liraglutide than in the control group intervened without liraglutide. Liraglutide also reduced the levels of blood glucose (including FBG, PBG, and HbA1c), body mass index (BMI), and anti-inflammatory indicators (TNF–α, IL-6). However, there was no significant difference in BUN and eGFR between the experimental group and the control group. Conclusions: Liraglutide reduced the levels of Blood Glucose, BMI, renal outcome indicators, and serum inflammatory factors of patients with T2DN, suggesting the beneficial effects of liraglutide on renal function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immune and inflammatory responses have been identified to play an important role in diabetic nephropathy (DN) (H. Zhou et al. (2021)). It was found that the part of long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) in nephrosis is related to the negative regulation of MicroRNA (miRNA) (C. Gao et al., 2020), which mechanism is unclear; N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is one of the most common mRNA modifications in eukaryotes (Gu et al. (2020)). m6A has been proved in many works of literature can act on the triple helix structure of RNA-DNA and regulate the relationship between lncRNA and specific DNA sites (Fico et al. (2020); Łoboś and Regulska-Ilow (2021); Xu et al. (2021)). Other studies have shown that m6A methylation modification plays a vital role in developing metabolic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes by regulating glucose and lipid metabolism and immune inflammation. In this study, we performed a subgroup analysis of m6A-modified LncRNA expression in the DN transcriptome dataset (LncRNA high-low expression group); the results showed that the presence of Macrophage M1-related lncRNA (LINC00342, LINC00667, and LNC00963) in the process of m6A methylation recognition and metastasis was indirectly related to the downstream demethylase FTO, at the same time, we analyzed the interaction between m6A and RBM15, which is involved in the immune regulation of macrophage M1, and found that there might be a potential interaction between RBM15 and WTAP, which may play a role in regulating the methylation of lncRNA in macrophage M1, the DN was mediated by macrophage M1 immunoreaction of macrophages. • RBM15 and WTAP, which could regulate the methylation of lncRNA in Macrophage M1. • macrophage M1 can regulate the damage of DN by m6A modify. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By incorporating higher order formulation and one‐step leapfrog alternating direction implicit (ADI) procedure, unconditionally stable perfectly matched layer implementation is proposed for terminating frequency‐dependent left‐handed material in finite‐difference time‐domain lattice. To be more specific, frequency‐dependent left‐handed material can be calculated by the piecewise linear recursive convolution method. The proposed scheme shows advantages of higher order formulation and one‐step leapfrog ADI procedure in terms of enhancing absorbing performance, improving computational efficiency and simulating open region problems. The effectiveness is demonstrated through the computational domain with dipole antenna model above the left‐handed material slab. From results, it can be concluded that the proposed formulation can obtain considerable absorption, outstanding efficiency, and improved entire performance. Meanwhile, the proposed scheme also keeps its stability when time step far exceeds the Courant‐Friedrich‐Levy condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The durability of foundations with localized sinkholes can be improved by geosynthetic-reinforced soil. Current design methods for geosynthetic-reinforced structures are based on the assumptions that the vertical load is distributed uniformly on the geosynthetic above the sinkhole and it corresponds to the geostatic stress in the anchorage area. In this study, a new analytical method is proposed to consider the 'secondary arching effect' and the vertical load distribution in the anchorage area due to the 'arching effect.' The influence of vertical load acting on the geosynthetic is analyzed based on three different cases. Results indicate that the increment of vertical load on the geosynthetic in the anchorage area has little effect on the maximum tensile force and surface settlement. Compared to a uniform load distribution on the geosynthetic above the sinkhole, the assumption of an inverse triangular load distribution can reduce the maximum tensile force and surface settlement. A new design method is proposed to determine the minimum geosynthetic stiffness to meet design standards. The obtained results verify the method as an applicable tool to meet the serviceability limit state and the ultimate limit state criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Two Cu(II)-complexes 1 and 2 were synthesized and characterized. • Complexes 1 and 2 can degrade 86.9 % and 97.0% MB in 24 min, respectively. • Both complexes could be used repeatedly for the degradation of MB. • The main reactive species for MB degradation were ·OH and h+. Two Cu(II)-complexes [Cu(Hcpota)(4,4′-bpy)(H 2 O)] n 1 and [Cu(Hcpota)(1,4-bib)(H 2 O)] n 2 based on a semirigid ligand 2-(4-carboxyphenoxy)terephthalic acid (H 3 cpota) were solvothermally prepared and characterized. Complexes 1 and 2 exhibit an unprecedented 2D 4-connected framework with a {44.62} topology, comprising the Cu(II) ion with square pyramidal coordination. The three-dimensional frameworks are constructed by O–H···O hydrogen bonds. Magnetization analyses were conducted and revealed that complexes 1 and 2 have ferromagnetic properties. The photodegradation of Methylene blue dye was studied based on 1 and 2 as photocatalysts. The results indicated that complexes 1 and 2 exhibited remarkable photodegradation efficiencies of 86.9 % and 97.0 % after 24 min, respectively. Furthermore, pseudo-first-order kinetics was assumed for the photocatalytic reaction with a rate constant of 0.052 and 0.109 min−1 for 1 and 2. The impact of factors, including the initial concentration of MB, catalyst dosage, pH value, H 2 O 2 concentration, and temperature on the degradation process of MB was thoroughly examined. The complexes exhibited excellent recyclability and stability as photocatalysts. Trapping experiments and LC-MS studies revealed that the primary active species responsible for the degradation reaction are hydroxyl radicals (·OH) and holes (h+). Two Cu(II)-based complexes synthesized via the solvothermal method have been utilized as catalysts for UV–vis light-induced dye degradation, the introduction of H 2 O 2 significantly enhances the efficiency. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• CPs 1-2 were synthesized via the tuning of anions under hydrothermal conditions. • CPs 1-2 exhibit unique cationic 3D framework and two-fold interpenetrating 3D network, respectively. • The luminescence of CP-1 was as multi-responsive luminescence sensors to detect cation Fe3+ and Cu2+ and anion MnO 4 - in aqueous solutions. The effective detection of pollutants in water, such as Fe3+, Cu2+, and MnO 4 - ions, is critical to human health and environmental protection. Two yttrium-based coordination polymers {[Y(BITA)(H 2 O)]NO 3 } n (CP-1) and {[Y(HBTA)(ox)(H 2 O)]·H 2 O} n (CP-2) based on a π-conjugated 2,5-di(1H-imidazol-1-yl)terephthalic acid (H 2 BITA) were successfully prepared and sufficiently characterized. CP-1 exhibits a unique cationic 3D framework with a lvt net, accompanied by the decoration of NO 3 - anions. Adjacent Y3+ sites are bridged by double syn - syn carboxylate to form [Y 2 (μ -COO) 2 ] n chains. CP-2 shows a 3D two-fold interpenetrating network with zigzag chains of [Y 2 (μ -C 2 O 2)] n formed by ancillary oxalate bridging Y3+ ions. The HBTA- linkers propagate the 1D oxalate chains into 3D frameworks. The luminescent properties of CPs were investigated. Both CPs-1 and 2 exhibit purple and green fluorescence in the solid state, respectively. Meanwhile, CP-1 demonstrates excellent luminescent emission together with good chemical stability. Intriguingly, CP-1 exhibits outstanding selective and sensitive detection of cationic Fe3+ and Cu2+ and anionic MnO 4 - in aqueous solutions through luminescence quenching. In particular, the luminescence intensity could be significantly decreased by existence of MnO 4 -, which is seldom reported among the Y(III)-based coordination polymers. The quenching mechanism for various ions has been discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving highly efficient broadband absorption is an important research area in nanophotonics. In this paper, a novel method is proposed to design broadband near-perfect absorbers, consisting of a four-layer hemispherical concentric nanoshell array. The proposed nanostructure supports absorptivity exceeding 95% in the entire visible region, and the absorption bandwidth is determined by the interaction or 'hybridization' of the plasmons of the inner and outer metal-based nanoshells. Moreover, the designed absorber has wide-angle capability and is insensitive to polarization. The simple structure, as well as the stable absorption properties, suggests that such core–shell nanostructures can serve as a potential candidate for many applications such as solar energy harvesting, photo-detection, and emissivity control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new isostructural complexes, namely, poly[aqua[μ3‐2‐(4‐carboxyphenoxy)terephthalato‐κ3O1:O4:O4′](1,10‐phenanthroline‐κ2N,N′)cobalt(II)], [Co(C15H8O7)(C12H8N2)(H2O)]n or [Co(μ3‐Hcpota)(phen)(H2O)]n, I, and poly[aqua[μ3‐2‐(4‐carboxyphenoxy)terephthalato‐κ3O1:O4:O4′](1,10‐phenanthroline‐κ2N,N′)nickel(II)], [Ni(C15H8O7)(C12H8N2)(H2O)]n or [Ni(μ3‐Hcpota)(phen)(H2O)]n, II, have been synthesized by solvothermal reactions. Complexes I and II were fully characterized by IR spectroscopy, elemental analyses, thermogravimetric analyses, and powder and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. They both present two‐dimensional structures based on [M2(μ‐COO)2]2+ (M = CoII or NiII) dinuclear metal units with a fes topology and a vertex symbol (4·82). Interestingly, the positions of the two dimeric metal motifs and the two partially deprotonated Hcpota2− ligands reproduce regular flying butterfly arrangements flipped upside down and sharing wings in the ab plane. Magnetic studies indicate antiferromagnetic interactions (J = −5.21 cm−1 for I and −11.53 cm−1 for II) in the dimeric units, with Co...Co and Ni...Ni distances of 4.397 (1) and 4.358 (1) Å, respectively, that are related to double syn–anti carboxylate bridges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Using sustainable biowastes to prepare low-cost biochar photocatalysts. • Biochar photocatalysts shows superior responsiveness in oxidation of amine. • Diphenolic groups and pyrene core are the dominant photo-catalytic sites. • Biochar photocatalysts can be at least seven runs (90 % imine yields). Metal-free carbon photocatalysts hold great promise in future visible-light-driven selective photocatalytic organic synthesis. However, designing ideal carbon photocatalysts from sustainable strategies to further improve the photo-efficiency and economic nature is crucial for portable industrial applications. Herein, a clean and economic strategy to fabricate hydrochar microspheres as the first metal-free biochar potocatalysts is reported by a facile hydrothermal post-treatment approach from biowaste. The obtained hydrochars present excellent photocatalytic activity and reusability toward the selective oxidative coupling reactions of various amines under visible-light irradiation. Experimental studies and theoretical calculation revealed that the abundant oxygenated functional groups built-in on the surface could function as photocatalytic active sites. In particular, the diphenolic hydroxyl functional groups and quinone moieties attached to the large π-electronic-system were the main active sites involved in the photocatalytic activity. This research highlights that the utilization of sustainable biowaste-derived hydrochar materials as a low-cost and eco-environmental carbocatalysts, may open up a new avenue for light-driven diverse organic transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims/Introduction: Maternal hyperglycemia leads to adverse pregnancy outcomes, and also subsequently affects both mothers and their offspring in later life. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus is increasing worldwide, and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is also believed to be increasing. More precise nationwide and up‐to‐date data on GDM are required. Materials and Methods: A population‐based retrospective cohort study was carried out with the Birth Certificate Application database and linked to the National Health Insurance Research Database to explore trends in the annual crude prevalence of GDM in all women who gave birth between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2015 in Taiwan and their pregnancy outcomes. The registry is considered complete, reliable and accurate. Results: A total of 2,468,793 births from 2,430,307 pregnancies were reported between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2015. Finally, 2,053,305 pregnancies were included for further analysis. The annual prevalence of GDM increased by 1.8‐fold during the 12 years from 2004 to 2015, with a significant continuous increasing trend (from 7.6% to 13.4%, P < 0.001). The annual prevalence of GDM significantly increased in each age group (all trends P < 0.001), particularly for women with maternal ages of 31 years and older. Urbanization level, geographic risk factors and seasonal variations were also noted. Conclusion: The annual prevalence of GDM increased by 1.8‐fold in the 12‐year period from 2004 to 2015 in Taiwan, with a significant continuous increasing trend (from 7.6% to 13.4%, P < 0.001). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We prove that the local Rankin–Selberg integrals for principal series representations of the general linear groups agree with certain simple integrals over the Rankin–Selberg subgroups, up to certain constants given by the local gamma factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that major international events can produce a “rally ’round the flag” effect that boosts citizens’ support for an American president. This study examines such an effect in Taiwan, when the country was confronted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that citizens who previously disapproved of the president did become more likely to gather around their leader. The public’s support was contingent on the president’s ability to handle the crisis. This is one of the few studies on this effect conducted outside the US, and its findings represent a significant step toward broadening the scope of analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earlier reports have indicated that begomoviruses encode four proteins (AC1/C1, AC2/C2, AC3/C3, and AC4/C4 proteins) using complementary‐sense DNA as the template. In recent years, several reports have shown that some begomoviruses also encode an AC5/C5 protein from the complementary DNA strand, and these AC5/C5 proteins play different roles in virus infections. Here, we provide evidence showing that Ageratum leaf curl Sichuan virus (ALCScV), a monopartite begomovirus, also encodes a C5 protein that is important for disease symptom formation and can affect viral replication. Infection of Nicotiana benthamiana plants with a potato virus X (PVX)‐based vector carrying the ALCScV C5 gene resulted in more severe disease symptoms and higher virus accumulation levels. ALCScV C5 protein can be found in the cytoplasm and the nucleus. Furthermore, this protein is also a suppressor of posttranscriptional gene silencing. Mutational analysis showed that knockout of C5 gene expression significantly reduced ALCScV‐induced disease symptoms and virus accumulation, while expression of the C5 gene using the PVX‐based vector enhanced ALCScV accumulation in coinfected N. benthamiana plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) flexible ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors were fabricated on polyethylene terephthalate substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique at room temperature. The single-layer AZO photodetector has a high photocurrent/dark current ratio and exhibits excellent photoresponse performance under UV illumination. When the tensile strain increases from 0 to 0.33, the photocurrent gradually increases, and the sensitivity and linear dynamic range increase by 10 times and 1.5 times, respectively. Under 23.5 mW/cm2 UV illumination at 4 V bias, the rise time and fall time are 0.2 and 0.3 s, respectively, showing that the AZO flexible UV photodetector has good reproducibility and stability. The energy band diagrams before and after applying tensile strain are analyzed to further study the interface modulation behavior. The results reveal that the piezo-phototronic effect has an important influence on the performance optimization and modulation of flexible UV photodetectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Traditional diagnosis methods for lymph node metastases are labor-intensive and time-consuming. As a result, diagnostic systems based on deep learning (DL) algorithms have become a hot topic. However, current research lacks testing with sufficient data to verify performance. The aim of this study was to develop and test a deep learning system capable of identifying lymph node metastases. Methods: 921 whole-slide images of lymph nodes were divided into two cohorts: training and testing. For lymph node quantification, we combined Faster RCNN and DeepLab as a cascade DL algorithm to detect regions of interest. For metastatic cancer identification, we fused Xception and DenseNet-121 models and extracted features. Prospective testing to verify the performance of the diagnostic system was performed using 327 unlabeled images. We further validated the proposed system using Positive Predictive Value (PPV) and Negative Predictive Value (NPV) criteria. Results: We developed a DL-based system capable of automated quantification and identification of metastatic lymph nodes. The accuracy of lymph node quantification was shown to be 97.13%. The PPV of the combined Xception and DenseNet-121 model was 93.53%, and the NPV was 97.99%. Our experimental results show that the differentiation level of metastatic cancer affects the recognition performance. Conclusions: The diagnostic system we established reached a high level of efficiency and accuracy of lymph node diagnosis. This system could potentially be implemented into clinical workflow to assist pathologists in making a preliminary screening for lymph node metastases in gastric cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the period integrals of Maass forms restricted to Hirzebruch–Zagier cycles of Hilbert surfaces. In particular, we shall prove an upper bound for such integrals with respect to Laplace eigenvalues of Maass forms. In a special case, this leads to an upper bound for certain special L -values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that major international events can produce a "rally 'round the flag" effect that boosts citizens' support for an American president. This study examines such an effect in Taiwan, when the country was confronted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that citizens who previously disapproved of the president did become more likely to gather around their leader. The public's support was contingent on the president's ability to handle the crisis. This is one of the few studies on this effect conducted outside the US, and its findings represent a significant step toward broadening the scope of analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection routinely undergo screening for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the efficacy of screening remains unclear. We aimed to evaluate the impact of screening with ultrasound and/or serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) on HCC-related mortality in patients with CHB. We performed a matched case-control study of patients with CHB receiving care through the Veterans Affairs (VA) health administration. Cases were patients who died of HCC between 01/01/2004 and 12/31/2017, while controls were patients with CHB who did not die of HCC. Cases were matched to controls by CHB diagnosis date, age, sex, race/ethnicity, cirrhosis, antiviral therapy exposure, hepatitis B e antigen status, and viral load. We identified screening ultrasound and AFPs obtained in the 4 years preceding HCC diagnosis in cases and the equivalent index date in controls. Using conditional logistic regression, we compared cases and controls with respect to receipt of screening. A lower likelihood of screening in cases corresponds to an association between screening and reduced risk of HCC-related mortality. We identified 169 cases, matched to 169 controls. Fewer cases than controls underwent screening with either screening modality (33.7% vs. 58.6%) or both modalities (19.5% vs. 34.4%). In multivariable conditional logistic regression, screening with either modality was associated with a lower risk of HCC-related mortality (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.21, 95% CI 0.09–0.50), as was screening with both modalities (aOR of 0.13; 95% CI 0.04–0.43). HCC screening was associated with a substantial reduction in HCC-related mortality in VA patients with CHB. Patients with hepatitis B infection have a high risk of developing liver cancer. It is therefore recommended that they undergo frequent screening for liver cancer, but whether this leads to a lower risk of dying from liver cancer is not clear. In this study, we show that liver cancer screening is associated with a reduction in the mortality from liver cancer in patients with hepatitis B infection. [Display omitted] • We used a case-control paradigm to investigate HCC screening effectiveness in HBV-infected patients. • We identified 169 cases who died of HCC, matched to 169 controls who did not die of HCC. • HCC screening by ultrasound and/or serum AFP was associated with a significant reduction in HCC-related mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies demonstrated that progesterone (P4) can promote prostaglandin (PG) E2 production; however, how P4 mediates the synthesis of PGE2 remains unclear. In this study, cervical epithelial cells from mice during the follicular phase were cultured in vitro and treated with different concentrations of P4 (5, 10, and 20 nM). The results of the present study suggest that treatment of murine cervical epithelial cells with 10 nM P4 for 24 h contributed to: (1) significantly increased expression of protein kinase A (PKA), cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) and PGE synthase (PGES)-1; (2) higher phosphorylated (p-) to total extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 and hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) ratios; (3) a significant decrease in the number of lipid droplets (LDs) and fatty acid content within LDs in epithelial cells; and (4) enhanced arachidonic acid and PGE2 levels in cells compared with the control (0 nM P4) group (P < 0.01 for all findings). In contrast, the PKA inhibitor H89 contributed to significantly decreased cPLA2, PGES-1 and HSL expression, ERK1/2 phosphorylation and arachidonic acid and PGE2 levels, even in the presence of P4. These data show that P4 can act via the PKA/ERK1/2 pathway to stimulate lipolysis of triacylglycerol in the LD core and degradation of phospholipid in the LD membrane to promote PGE2 synthesis in murine cervical epithelial cells. Progesterone can promote prostaglandin (PG) E2 production, but how progesterone affects PGE2 synthesis remains unknown. The findings of this study suggest that progesterone acts via the protein kinase A/extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 pathway to stimulate lipolysis of lipid droplets and degradation of phospholipid to promote PGE2 synthesis in murine cervical epithelial cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Ganglioneuroblastoma is a borderline tumor of sympathetic origin that is considered a childhood disease, with the majority of patients occurring in children less than five years old and few patients occurring in adults. There are no treatment guidelines for adult ganglioneuroblastoma. Here, we report a rare patient of adult gastric ganglioneuroblastoma that was completely resected by a laparoscopic approach. Case presentation. A 73-year-old man presented with dull pain in the upper abdomen along with abdominal distension for one month. Gastroscopy examination revealed chronic gastritis and submucosal tumors of the gastric antrum. Endoscopic ultrasonography showed a hypoechoic mass in the gastric antrum arising from the muscularis propria. An abdominal computed tomography scan revealed an irregular soft tissue mass in the gastric antrum with heterogeneous enhancement in the arterial phase. The mass was completely resected by laparoscopic surgery. Postoperative histopathology revealed that the mass contained differentiated neuroblasts, mature ganglion cells and ganglioneuroma components. The pathological diagnosis was ganglioneuroblastoma intermixed, and the patient was determined to be in stage I. The patient received no adjuvant chemotherapy or radiotherapy. At his two-year follow-up, the patient was doing well and showed no signs of recurrence. Conclusion. Despite the rarity of gastric ganglioneuroblastoma as a primary site of origin, it should be considered in the differential diagnosis of gastric masses in adults. Radical surgery is sufficient for the treatment of ganglioneuroblastoma intermixed, and long-term follow-up should be performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Early diagnosis of Peritoneal metastasis (PM) is clinically significant regarding optimal treatment selection and avoidance of unnecessary surgical procedures. Cytopathology plays an important role in early screening of PM. We aimed to develop a deep learning (DL) system to achieve intelligent cytopathology interpretation, especially in ascites cytopathology. Methods: The original ascites cytopathology image dataset consists of 139 patients' original hematoxylin–eosin (HE) and Papanicolaou (PAP) Staining images. DL system was developed using transfer learning (TL) to achieve cell detection and classification. Pre-trained alexnet, vgg16, goolenet, resnet18 and resnet50 models were studied. Cell detection dataset consists of 176 cropped images with 6573 annotated cell bounding boxes. Cell classification data set consists of 487 cropped images with 18,558 and 6089 annotated malignant and benign cells in total, respectively. Results: We established a novel ascites cytopathology image dataset and achieved automatically cell detection and classification. DetectionNet based on Faster R-CNN using pre-trained resnet18 achieved cell detection with 87.22% of cells' Intersection of Union (IoU) bigger than the threshold of 0.5. The mean average precision (mAP) was 0.8316. The ClassificationNet based on resnet50 achieved the greatest performance in cell classification with AUC = 0.8851, Precision = 96.80%, FNR = 4.73%. The DL system integrating the separately trained DetectionNet and Classificationnet showed great performance in the cytopathology image interpretation. Conclusions: We demonstrate that the integration of DL can improve the efficiency of healthcare. The DL system we developed using TL techniques achieved accurate cytopathology interpretation, and had great potential to be integrated into clinician workflow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new coordination polymer (CP), namely, poly[[diaquatris[μ2‐1,4‐bis(1H‐imidazol‐1‐yl)benzene]bis[μ6‐4‐(2,4‐dicarboxylatophenoxy)phthalato]tetracobalt(II)] hexahydrate], {[Co4(C16H6O9)2(C12H10N4)3(H2O)2]·6H2O}n, has been synthesized by solvothermal reaction. The CP was fully characterized by IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, and powder and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. It presents a three‐dimensional (3D) structure based on tetranuclear CoII secondary building units (SBUs) with a tfz‐d net and point symbol (43)2(46·618·84). The 4‐(2,4‐dicarboxyphenoxy)phthalic acid (H4dcppa) ligands are completely deprotonated and link {Co4(COO)4}4− SBUs into two‐dimensional (2D) layers. Furthermore, adjacent layers are connected by 1,4‐bis(1H‐imidazol‐1‐yl)benzene (bib) ligands, giving rise to a 3D supramolecular architecture. Interestingly, there are numerous elliptical cavities in the CP where isolated unique discrete hexameric water clusters have been observed. The results of thermogravimetric and magnetic analyses are described in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new Zn2+‐based metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) based on biphenyl‐2,2′,5,5′‐tetracarboxylic acid, i.e. H4(o,m‐bpta), and N‐donor ligands, namely, poly[[(μ4‐biphenyl‐2,2′,5,5′‐tetracarboxylato)bis{[1,3‐phenylenebis(methylene)]bis(1H‐imidazole)}dizinc(II)] dimethylformamide monosolvate dihydrate], {[Zn2(C16H6O8)(C14H14N4)2]·C3H7NO·2H2O}n or {[Zn2(o,m‐bpta)(1,3‐bimb)2]·C3H7NO·2H2O}n (1) {1,3‐bimb = [1,3‐phenylenebis(methylene)]bis(1H‐imidazole)}, and poly[[(μ4‐biphenyl‐2,2′,5,5′‐tetracarboxylato)bis{[1,4‐phenylenebis(methylene)]bis(1H‐imidazole)}dizinc(II)] monohydrate], {[Zn2(C16H6O8)(C14H14N4)2]·H2O}n or {[Zn2(o,m‐bpta)(1,4‐bimb)2]·H2O}n (2) {1,4‐bimb = [1,4‐phenylenebis(methylene)]bis(1H‐imidazole)}, have been synthesized under solvothermal conditions. The complexes were characterized by IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction and powder X‐ray diffraction analysis. Structurally, the (o,m‐bpta)4− ligands are fully deprotonated and combine with Zn2+ ions in μ4‐coordination modes. Complex 1 is a (3,4)‐connected porous network with honeycomb‐like [Zn2(o,m‐bpta)]n sheets formed by 4‐connected (o,m‐bpta)4− ligands. Complex 2 exhibits a (2,4)‐connected network formed by 4‐connected (o,m‐bpta)4− ligands linking Zn2+ ions in left‐handed helical chains. The cis‐configured 1,3‐bimb and 1,4‐bimb ligands bridge Zn2+ ions to form multi‐membered [Zn2(bimb)2] loops. Optically, the complexes show strong fluorescence and display larger red shifts compared to free H4(o,m‐bpta). Complex 2 shows ferroelectric properties due to crystallizing in the C2v polar point group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current market demands for thin-film transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) is high; however, the LCD televisions still have contrast ratio-related issues. To resolve this, researchers conventionally use trial and error methods for parameter optimization and adjustment. However, this method is slow and can delay the development of new products. Therefore, this study focused on the high contrast ratio of the in-plane switching (IPS) panel. The Define–Measure–Analyze–Design–Verify procedure, comprising the methodology of the Design for Six Sigma, was used to help the researchers enhance the ultra-high contrast ratio of LCD panels. In this study, customer requirements were confirmed, after which the quality function deployment method was used to establish the technical requirements of the enhanced high contrast ratio of LCD. The contradiction matrix of TRIZ was then used to find the corresponding principles and thus propose the design scheme for the LCD contrast ratio. Methodologies, such as design failure modes and effect analysis, Taguchi’s parameter design, and reliability tests were used to enhance the ultra-high LCD contrast ratio. After the implementation of an actual case, the ultra-high contrast ratio of LCD panel was enhanced to 1000000:1; the benefits of such an improvement exceeded U.S. \\(9.5 million. This has also driven market orders for TFT IPS LCD. This study can serve as a reference for product design, product performance enhancement, pilot run yield improvement, and patent applications of LCD panel plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition metal catalyzed C−H phosphorylation remains an unsolved challenge. Reported methods are generally limited in scope and require stoichiometric silver salts as oxidants. Reported here is an electrochemically driven RhIII‐catalyzed aryl C−H phosphorylation reaction that proceeds through H2 evolution, obviating the need for stoichiometric metal oxidants. The method is compatible with a variety of aryl C−H and P−H coupling partners and particularly useful for synthesizing triarylphosphine oxides from diarylphosphine oxides, which are often difficult coupling partners for transition metal catalyzed C−H phosphorylation reactions. Experimental results suggest that the mechanism responsible for the C−P bond formation involves an oxidation‐induced reductive elimination process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition metal catalyzed C−H phosphorylation remains an unsolved challenge. Reported methods are generally limited in scope and require stoichiometric silver salts as oxidants. Reported here is an electrochemically driven RhIII‐catalyzed aryl C−H phosphorylation reaction that proceeds through H2 evolution, obviating the need for stoichiometric metal oxidants. The method is compatible with a variety of aryl C−H and P−H coupling partners and particularly useful for synthesizing triarylphosphine oxides from diarylphosphine oxides, which are often difficult coupling partners for transition metal catalyzed C−H phosphorylation reactions. Experimental results suggest that the mechanism responsible for the C−P bond formation involves an oxidation‐induced reductive elimination process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conventional design of notebook PCs configured with an optical disk drive suffers from structural durability problems that are indicative of potentially high defect rates. Companies have been attempting to reduce the size of assembly parts to pursue compactness, but the elimination of these materials might negatively affect structural stability, which is fundamentally important to all high-technology products. The Six Sigma methodology applied in this paper aims to improve quality performance and eliminate redesign waste and unnecessary handoffs according to customer requirements. This paper presents a case study using the define, measure, analyze, improve, and control (DMAIC) procedure. Several optimization techniques, such as response surface method (RSM) and computational intelligence, are adopted to optimize the significant factors that affect the module design and structural strength index during compression. Implementation results demonstrate that computational intelligence outperforms RSM. It shows computational intelligence reveals a good ability to solve the parameter optimization problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation of well‐defined finite‐sized aggregates represents an attractive goal in supramolecular chemistry. In particular, construction of discrete π‐stacked dye assemblies remains a challenge. Reported here is the design and synthesis of a novel type of discrete π‐stacked aggregate from two comparable perylenediimide (PDI) dyads (PEP and PBP). The criss‐cross PEP‐PBP dimers in solution and (PBP‐PEP)‐(PEP‐PBP) tetramers in the solid state are well elucidated using single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction, dynamic light scattering, and diffusion‐ordered NMR spectroscopy. Extensive π–π stacking between the PDI units of PEP and PBP as well as repulsive interactions of swallow‐tailed alkyl substituents are responsible for the selective formation of discrete dimer and tetramer stacks. Our results reveal a new approach to preparing discrete π stacks that are appealing for making assemblies with well‐defined optoelectronic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation of well‐defined finite‐sized aggregates represents an attractive goal in supramolecular chemistry. In particular, construction of discrete π‐stacked dye assemblies remains a challenge. Reported here is the design and synthesis of a novel type of discrete π‐stacked aggregate from two comparable perylenediimide (PDI) dyads (PEP and PBP). The criss‐cross PEP‐PBP dimers in solution and (PBP‐PEP)‐(PEP‐PBP) tetramers in the solid state are well elucidated using single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction, dynamic light scattering, and diffusion‐ordered NMR spectroscopy. Extensive π–π stacking between the PDI units of PEP and PBP as well as repulsive interactions of swallow‐tailed alkyl substituents are responsible for the selective formation of discrete dimer and tetramer stacks. Our results reveal a new approach to preparing discrete π stacks that are appealing for making assemblies with well‐defined optoelectronic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two CoII‐based coordination polymers, namely poly[(μ4‐biphenyl‐2,2′,5,5′‐tetracarboxylato){μ2‐1,3‐bis[(1H‐imidazol‐1‐yl)methyl]benzene}dicobalt(II)], [Co2(C16H6O8)(C14H14N4)2]n or [Co2(o,m‐bpta)(1,3‐bimb)2]n (I), and poly[[aqua(μ4‐biphenyl‐2,2′,5,5′‐tetracarboxylato){1,4‐bis[(1H‐imidazol‐1‐yl)methyl]benzene}dicobalt(II)] dihydrate], {[Co2(C16H6O8)(C14H14N4)2(H2O)2]·4H2O}n or {[Co2(o,m‐bpta)(1,4‐bimb)2(H2O)2]·4H2O}n (II), were synthesized from a mixture of biphenyl‐2,2′,5,5′‐tetracarboxylic acid, i.e. [H4(o,m‐bpta)], CoCl2·6H2O and N‐donor ligands under solvothermal conditions. The complexes were characterized by IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction and powder X‐ray diffraction analysis. The bridging (o,m‐bpta)4− ligands combine with CoII ions in different μ4‐coordination modes, leading to the formation of one‐dimensional chains. The central CoII atoms display tetrahedral [CoN2O2] and octahedral [CoN2O4] geometries in I and II, respectively. The bis[(1H‐imidazol‐1‐yl)methyl]benzene (bimb) ligands adopt trans or cis conformations to connect CoII ions, thus forming two three‐dimensional (3D) networks. Complex I shows a (2,4)‐connected 3D network with left‐ and right‐handed helical chains constructed by (o,m‐bpta)4− ligands. Complex II is a (4,4)‐connected 3D novel network with ribbon‐like chains formed by (o,m‐bpta)4− linkers. Magnetic studies indicate an orbital contribution to the magnetic moment of I and II due to the longer Co...Co distances. An attempt has been made to fit the χMT results to the magnetic formulae for mononuclear CoII complexes, the fitting indicating the presence of weak antiferromagnetic interactions between the CoII ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asthma is a heterogeneous disease with varying severity and subtypes. Recent reviews of epidemiologic studies have identified cleaning and disinfecting activities (CDAs) as important risk factors for asthma-related outcomes among healthcare workers. However, the complexity of CDAs in healthcare settings has rarely been examined. This study utilized a complex survey dataset and data reduction approaches to identify and group healthcare workers with similar patterns of asthma symptoms, and then explored their associations with groups of participants with similar patterns of CDAs. Self-reported information on asthma symptoms/care, CDAs, demographics, smoking status, allergic status, and other characteristics were collected from 2030 healthcare workers within nine selected occupations in New York City. Hierarchical clustering was conducted to systematically group participants based on similarity of patterns of the 27 asthma symptom/care variables, and 14 product applications during CDAs, separately. Word clouds were used to visualize the complex information on the resulting clusters. The associations of asthma health clusters (HCs) with exposure clusters (ECs) were evaluated using multinomial logistic regression. Five HCs were identified (HC-1 to HC-5), labelled based on predominant features as: "no symptoms", "winter cough/phlegm", "mild asthma symptoms", "undiagnosed/untreated asthma", and "asthma attacks/exacerbations". For CDAs, five ECs were identified (EC-1 to EC-5), labelled as: "no products", "housekeeping/chlorine", "patient care", "general cleaning/laboratory", and "disinfection products". Using HC-1 and EC-1 as the reference groups, EC-2 was associated with HC-4 (odds ratio (OR) = 3.11, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 1.46-6.63) and HC-5 (OR = 2.71, 95% CI = 1.25-5.86). EC-3 was associated with HC-5 (OR = 2.34, 95% CI = 1.16-4.72). EC-4 was associated with HC-5 (OR = 2.35, 95% CI = 1.07-5.13). EC-5 was associated with HC-3 (OR = 1.81, 95% CI = 1.09-2.99) and HC-4 (OR = 3.42, 95% CI = 1.24-9.39). Various combinations of product applications like using alcohols, bleach, high-level disinfectants, and enzymes to disinfect instruments and clean surfaces captured by the ECs were identified as risk factors for the different asthma symptoms clusters, indicating that prevention efforts may require targeting multiple products. The associations of HCs with EC can be used to better inform prevention strategies and treatment options to avoid disease progression. This study demonstrated hierarchical clustering and word clouds were useful techniques for analyzing and visualizing a complex dataset with a large number of potentially correlated variables to generate practical information that can inform prevention activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper a fatigue analysis and design process for offshore wind turbine (OWT) support structures with a parallel computation technology was developed. The joint type support structure was first classified, and the fatigue damage was then calculated using the Miner's rule. Finally, Broyden's method was used to design the member thickness to meet the design requirements of the OWT fatigue life. The numerical study indicated that this parallel fatigue procedure is highly efficient even when using a personal computer. For the fatigue issue of OWT support structures, this work indicates that the maximum damage is due to the power production plus the occurrence of faults for a hub wind speed that is a little greater than the rated wind speed. However, the major part of the fatigue damage is still generated during the power production. Under high wind conditions, parked wind turbines produce minimum wind forces, so fatigue damage is primarily from wave loads. This type of fatigue damage can control the fatigue design if the wave load is large. Highlights • A fatigue analysis and design parallel process for OWT structures was developed. • The joint type and the fatigue damage can be automatically calculated in parallel. • Broyden's method is used to design the member thickness for a required fatigue life. • Maximum OWT damage is due to power production plus faults near the rated wind speed. • Major damage is generated during power production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) are frequently found in the environment and could be adversely affecting organisms. In fact, nine OPFRs have been shown to cause endocrine disruptions, but information on the metabolism-perturbing properties of these OPFRs remains unclear. In this study, the 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) based metabolomic method was applied to evaluate the metabolic disturbances caused by these nine OPFRs. From the analysis of the metabolic phenotypes, we found that TDBPP, TMPP and TPHP could be clustered into one group; TBOEP, TCIPP, TCEP and TEHP could be clustered into another group; and the residual OPFRs could be clustered into another. The classification results agree with the antagonistic activities of glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptors. Then, we found that when HepG2 cells were exposed to TMPP, TPHP and TDBPP, the main metabolic sub-network disturbances focused on metabolism linked with oxidative stress, osmotic pressure equilibrium, and glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist activities; this was also true for TNBP and TDCIPP. Meanwhile, the other OPFRs mainly affected oxidative stress and amino acid metabolism. With multivariate statistical analysis, we found many differential metabolites in each group. Notably, Trimethylamine‑N‑oxide (TMAO) was the differential metabolite in six of the tested OPFRs, excluding TMPP, TPHP and TDBPP, and was one of the potential cardiovascular biomarkers. The data provided here could be helpful in gaining a more in-depth understanding of the metabolic disturbances of these nine OPFRs and may offer a new perspective for understanding potential pollutants with endocrine-disrupting effects on host metabolism. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • OPFRs could change the metabolic phenotypes of HepG2 cells at low concentration. • The metabolic phenotypes agreed with antagonistic activities of GR and MR. • A list disturbed sub-networks were proposed as potential risk of OPFRs of effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the design and fabrication of a multifunctional persistent luminescent nanoprobe for imaging guided dual-stimulus responsive and triple-synergistic therapy of drug resistant tumor. The integration of the dual-stimulus of an acidic microenvironment and laser irradiation with the triple-synergistic therapy of doxorubicin, photothermal and siRNA offers excellent therapeutic performance for drug resistant tumor cells with high specificity and little side effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Abstract A series of poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline)-poly(L-lactide) (PEOz-PLA) diblock copolymers were synthesized by ring-opening polymerization of l -lactide using a monohydroxy terminated PEOz-OH macro-initiator in the presence of stannous octoate as catalyst. The resulting diblock copolymers were characterized by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance and gel permeation chromatography. Self-assembled micelles were prepared using the co-solvent evaporation method in water and in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) at pH 7.4, 6.5 and 5.0. The resulting micelles exhibit different morphologies, such as spherical micelles and worm-like micelles depending on the hydrophilic/hydrophobic balance. Spherical micelles were exclusively observed for PEOz-PLA copolymers with short PLA blocks, whereas co-existence of worm-like and spherical micelles was observed for copolymers with long PLA blocks. The micelle size increases with decreasing pH due to the electrostatic repulsion between PEOz chains resulting from ionization of the tertiary amide groups along PEOz chains. A hydrophobic anti-tumor drug, paclitaxel, was entrapped in PEOz-PLA micelles. High loading efficiency up to 86.7% was obtained for copolymers with long PLA blocks. Drug release was performed in PBS at different pH values. During the 30-day release period, faster release was obtained for copolymers with shorter PLA blocks than for copolymers with longer PLA blocks, at acidic pH than at pH 7.4. It is thus concluded that pH-responsive PEOz-PLA copolymer micellss could be promising as carrier of anti-tumor drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coordination polymers constructed from conjugated organic ligands and metal ions with a d10 electronic configuration exhibit intriguing properties for chemical sensing and photochemistry. A ZnII‐based coordination polymer, namely poly[aqua(μ6‐biphenyl‐3,3′,5,5′‐tetracarboxylato)(μ2‐4,4′‐bipyridine)dizinc(II)], [Zn2(C16H6O8)(C10H8N2)(H2O)2]n or [Zn2(m,m‐bpta)(4,4′‐bipy)(H2O)2]n, was synthesized from a mixture of biphenyl‐3,3′,5,5′‐tetracarboxylic acid [H4(m,m‐bpta)], 4,4′‐bipyridine (4,4′‐bipy) and Zn(NO3)2·6H2O under solvothermal conditions. The title complex has been structurally characterized by IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction and powder X‐ray diffraction analysis, and features a μ6‐coordination mode. The ZnII ions adopt square‐pyramidal geometries and are bridged by two syn–syn carboxylate groups to form [Zn2(COO)2] secondary buildding units (SBUs). The SBUs are crosslinked by (m,m‐bpta)4− ligands to produce a two‐dimensional grid‐like layer that exhibits a stair‐like structure along the a axis. Adjacent layers are linked by 4,4′‐bipy ligands to form a three‐dimensional network with a {44.610.8}{44.62} topology. In the solid state, the complex displays a strong photoluminescence and an excellent solvent stability. In addition, the luminescence sensing results indicate a highly selective and sensitive sensing for Fe3+ ions. In a ZnII‐based coordination polymer synthesized from a mixture of biphenyl‐3,3′,5,5′‐tetracarboxylic acid, 4,4′‐bipyridine and Zn(NO3)2·6H2O under solvothermal conditions, the ZnII ions adopt square‐pyramidal geometries and are bridged by two syn–syn carboxylate groups to form [Zn2(COO)2] units. These units are crosslinked by tetracarboxylate ligands to produce a two‐dimensional grid‐like layer that exhibits a stair‐like structure along the a axis. The luminescence sensing results indicate a highly selective and sensitive sensing for Fe3+ ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]