Search

To assess the reporting quality of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with multicenter design, particularly whether necessary information related to multicenter characteristics was adequately reported.Through a search of 4 international electronic databases, we identified multicenter RCTs published in English from 1975 to 2019. Reporting quality was assessed by the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) checklist (37 items) and by a self-designed multicenter-specific checklist (27 items covering multicenter design, implement and analysis). The scores of trials published in three time periods (1975-1995; 1996-2009; and 2010-2019) were also compared.A total of 2,844 multicenter RCTs were included. For the CONSORT checklist, the mean (standard deviation) reporting score was 24.1 (5.5), 12 items were assessed as excellent (90%), 12 items as good (50%-90%), and 13 items as poor (50%). For the multicenter checklist, the reporting score was 3.9 (2.2), only 3 items were excellent or good, and the remaining 24 items were poor. Time period comparison showed that reporting quality improved over time, especially after the CONSORT 2010 issued.Although CONSORT appears to have enhanced the reporting quality of multicenter RCTs, further improvement is needed. A "CONSORT extension for multicenter trials" should be developed.

Objective: To investigate the effect of Fuhe decoction on the behavior and levels of monoamine neurotransmitters in different brain regions in a depression rat model induced by chronic unpredictable mild stimulation (CUMS) combined with social isolation. Methods: Fifty male SD rats were randomly divided into a blank group, model group, fluoxetine group, Chaiqinwendan decoction group, and Fuhe decoction group. Chronic unpredictable mild stimulation combined with a social isolation method was used to replicate the depression rat model. After 42 days of administration, a tail suspension test and high-performance liquid electrochemical detection (HPLC-ECD) were used to detect the behavioral changes and changes in the content of monoamine neurotransmitters norepinephrine (NE), dopamine (DA), 5-hydroxytrytamine (5-HT), and metabolites in different brain regions of rats in each group before and after treatment. Results: Compared with the model group, the epinephrine (E) content in the Fuhe decoction group was highly significantly increased (P

Inconsistencies were discovered in the findings regarding the effects of meteorological factors on tuberculosis (TB). This study conducted a systematic review of published studies on the relationship between TB and meteorological factors and used a meta-analysis to investigate the pooled effects in order to provide evidence for future research and policymakers. The literature search was completed by August 3rd, 2021, using three databases: PubMed, Web of Science and Embase. Relative risks (RRs) in included studies were extracted and all effect estimates were combined together using meta-analysis. Subgroup analyses were carried out based on the resolution of exposure time, regional climate, and national income level. A total of eight studies were included after screening for inclusion and exclusion criteria. Our results show that TB risk was positively correlated with precipitation (RR = 1.32, 95% CI: 1.14, 1.51), while temperature (RR = 1.15, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.32), humidity (RR = 1.05, 95% CI: 0.99, 1.10), air pressure (RR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.69, 1.14) and sunshine duration (RR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.80, 1.13) all had no statistically significant correlation. Subgroup analysis shows that quarterly measure resolution, low and middle Human Development Index (HDI) level and subtropical climate increase TB risk not only in precipitation, but also in temperature and humidity. Moreover, less heterogeneity was observed in "high and extremely high" HDI areas and subtropical areas than that in other subgroups (I

Objective To assess the reporting quality of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of massage, particularly whether necessary elements related to massage interventions were adequately reported. Methods A total of 8 electronic databases were systematically searched for massage RCTs published in English and Chinese from the date of their inception to June 22, 2020. Quality assessment was performed using three instruments, namely the CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) 2010 Checklist (37 items), the CONSORT Extension for NPT (Nonpharmacologic Treatments) 2017 checklist (18 items), and a self-designed massage-specific checklist (16 items) which included massage rationale, intervention and control group details. Descriptive statistics were additionally used to analyse the baseline characteristics of included trials. Results A total of 2,447 massage RCTs were identified, of which most (96.8%) were distributed in China. For the completeness of CONSORT, NPT Extension, and massage-specific checklists, the average reporting percentages were 50%, 10% and 45%, respectively. Of 68 assessed items in total (exclusion of 3 repeated items on intervention), 42 were poorly presented, including 18 CONSORT items, 15 NPT items, and 9 massage-specific items. Although the overall quality of reporting showed slightly improvement in articles published after 2010, the international (English) journals presented a higher score of the CONSORT and NPT items, while the Chinese journals were associated with the increased score of massage-specific items. Conclusion The quality of reporting of published massage RCTs is variable and in need of improvement. Reporting guideline “CONSORT extension for massage” should be developed.

A visible light and temperature responsive diblock copolymer of poly[6-(2,6,2′,6′-tetramethoxy-4′-oxyazobenzene) hexyl methacrylate]-block-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PmAzo-b-PNIPAM) was synthesized via reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization by carefully tuning the polymerization conditions. The PmAzo-b-PNIPAM block copolymer forms micelles in water, and the hydrophobic and visible light responsive PmAzo block forms the core of the micelles and the thermoresponsive PNIPAM block keeps the micelles suspended in water. The size of the micelles is firmly correlative with the degree of polymerization (DP) of the PmAzo and PNIPAM blocks. The PmAzo-b-PNIPAM micelles are thermo-responsive and photo-responsive. Aggregation of micelles occurs at temperature above the phase transition temperature of the PNIPAM block, which slightly decreases with the DP of the PmAzo block. The visible-light-induced isomerization of the azobenzene moieties in the PmAzo block leads to a decrease or increase of the hydrodynamic diameter Dh of the micelles depending on the irradiation light wavelength.

Block copolymer nano-assemblies were synthesized via initiators for continuous activator regeneration atom transfer radical polymerization (ICAR ATRP) dispersion polymerization employing the CuBr2/tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine catalyst in an alcoholic solvent at a relatively low temperature of 45 °C. The typical poly(ethylene glycol)-block-polystyrene (PEG-b-PS) nano-assemblies synthesized via ICAR ATRP dispersion polymerization are compared with those synthesized via RAFT dispersion polymerization under other similar conditions. It is found that the PEG45-b-PS nano-assemblies, e.g., including lamellas, vesicles and vesicular clusters, synthesized via ICAR ATRP dispersion polymerization have very complicated morphologies, which are different from those synthesized via RAFT dispersion polymerization. The reasons leading to the differences are investigated, and it is conclusively supposed that the high Đ of the synthesized BCPs and the salt of the copper catalyst used in ICAR ATRP dispersion polymerization should be involved. This low temperature initiated ICAR ATRP dispersion polymerization is believed to be a valid method to prepare block copolymer nano-assemblies through polymerization-induced self-assembly.

Background Psychotic major depression (PMD) is a subtype of depression with a poor prognosis. Previous studies have failed to find many differences between patients with PMD and those with non-psychotic major depression (NMD) or schizophrenia (SZ). We compared sociodemographic factors (including season of conception) and clinical characteristics between patients with PMD, NMD, and schizophrenia. Our aim was to provide data to help inform clinical diagnoses and future etiology research. Methods This study used data of all patients admitted to Shandong Mental Health Center from June 1, 2016 to December 31, 2017. We analyzed cases who had experienced an episode of PMD (International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes F32.3, F33.3), NMD (F32.0–2/9, F33.0–2/9), and SZ (F20–20.9). Data on sex, main discharge diagnosis, date of birth, ethnicity, family history of psychiatric diseases, marital status, age at first onset, education, allergy history, and presence of trigger events were collected. Odds ratios (OR) were calculated using logistic regression analyses. Missing values were filled using the k-nearest neighbor method. Results PMD patients were more likely to have a family history of psychiatric diseases in their first-, second-, and third-degree relatives ([OR] 1.701, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.019–2.804) and to have obtained a higher level of education (OR 1.451, 95% CI 1.168–1.808) compared with depression patients without psychotic features. Compared to PMD patients, schizophrenia patients had lower education (OR 0.604, 95% CI 0.492–0.741), were more often divorced (OR 3.087, 95% CI 1.168–10.096), had a younger age of onset (OR 0.934, 95% CI 0.914–0.954), less likely to have a history of allergies (OR 0.604, 95% CI 0.492–0.741), and less likely to have experienced a trigger event 1 year before first onset (OR 0.420, 95% CI 0.267–0.661). Season of conception, ethnicity, and sex did not differ significantly between PMD and NMD or schizophrenia and PMD. Conclusions PMD patients have more similarities with NMD patients than SZ patients in terms of demographic and clinical characteristics. The differences found between PMD and SZ, and PMD and NMD correlated with specificity of the diseases. Furthermore, allergy history should be considered in future epidemiological studies of psychotic disorders.

Birth season is an important risk factor for several cancers; for example, anatomic subsite risk factors for gastric cancer differ substantially by when patients were born. In this population-based retrospective study, we explored the relationship between birth season and gastric cancer of different anatomical sites, focusing on gastric cancer patients who were registered at the Beijing Institute for Cancer Research from 2003 to 2012. In total, 19,668 patients were divided into three groups according to the anatomical site of the primary lesion: cardia (

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays an important role in the assessment of spinal cord status for cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) also is a novel investigation tool with good sensitivity to detect changes in CSM, but it is not routinely used in spinal cord evaluation.Sixty-six patients with CSM who required surgical decompression were included. All the patients were divided into 4 subgroups according to Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) recovery rate. A 3.0T MR system was applied to obtain DTI of the spinal cord. Clinical assessment was performed with the JOA scores system.DTI data of 61 patients were available for further analysis in this study. No significant differences in age, sex, cervical curvature, surgical approach, and preoperative JOA score between the 4 subgroups were found (P 0.05). Significant differences in apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) (P 0.0001), mean diffusivity (MD), (P0.0001), axial diffusivity (AD) (P = 0.0459), and radial diffusivity (RD) (P0.0001) values were found between the 4 groups. The ADC (P0.0001), MD (P 0.0001), AD (P = 0.0434), and RD (P0.0001) values were significantly correlated with JOA recovery rate. Cutoff values of ADC, MD, AD, and RD in this study were 1.378*10DTI was closely related to the severity of CSM, and cutoff values of DTI enabled the surgeons to predict the surgical outcomes in patients with CSM. These evaluation metrics may reflect the pathologic conditions of the spinal cord quantitatively, and potentially evaluate the functional status of spinal cords.

Low-cost unmanned airborne vehicles (UAVs) are emerging as a promising platform for remote-sensing data acquisition to satisfy the needs of wide range of applications. Utilizing UAVs, which are equipped with directly georeferenced RGB-frame cameras and hyperspectral push-broom scanners, for precision agriculture and high-throughput phenotyping is an important application that is gaining significant attention from researchers in the mapping and plant science fields. The advantages of UAVs as mobile-mapping platforms include low cost, ease of storage and deployment, ability to fly lower and collect high-resolution data, and filling an important gap between wheel-based and manned-airborne platforms. However, limited endurance and payload are the main disadvantages of consumer-grade UAVs. These limitations lead to the adoption of low-quality direct georeferencing and imaging systems, which in turn will impact the quality of the delivered products. Thanks to recent advances in sensor calibration and automated triangulation, accurate mapping using low-cost frame imaging systems equipped with consumer-grade georeferencing units is feasible. Unfortunately, the quality of derived geospatial information from push-broom scanners is quite sensitive to the performance of the implemented direct georeferencing unit. This paper presents an approach for improving the orthorectification of hyperspectral push-broom scanner imagery with the help of generated orthophotos from frame cameras using tie point and linear features, while modeling the impact of residual artifacts in the direct georeferencing information. The performance of the proposed approach has been verified through real datasets that have been collected by quadcopter and fixed-wing UAVs over an agricultural field.

Correction for ‘A new visible light and temperature responsive diblock copolymer’ by Sijia Qian, et al., Polym. Chem., 2019, 10, 5001–5009.

This work deals with selective reduction of aromatic nitro compounds to corresponding symmetrical substituted azo compounds using nitrogen-doped TiO2 nanoparticles as photocatalyst in the presence of a catalytic amount of formic acid. Various azo compounds containing additional reducible substituents including halogens, and carboxyl and phenol functions have been synthesized in a single step by use of this catalyst. The conversion was reasonably fast, clean, and high yielding at room temperature. A mechanism of formation for the azo compounds is proposed. The behavior of the N/TiO2 catalyst is of particular interest because this is the first time, as far as we know, that formation of azo compounds has been catalyzed by an N-doped TiO2 photocatalyst. Nitrogen-doped TiO2 was prepared by a simple modified sol–gel process with urea as nitrogen source. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The chemical nature of N was identified by XPS as N–Ti–O in the anatase TiO2 lattice.

Accurate 3D reconstruction/modelling from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based imagery has become the key prerequisite in various applications. Although current commercial software has automated the process of image-based reconstruction, a transparent system, which can be incorporated with different user-defined constraints, is still preferred by the photogrammetric research community. In this regard, this paper presents a transparent framework for the automated aerial triangulation of UAV images. The proposed framework is conducted in three steps. In the first step, two approaches, which take advantage of prior information regarding the flight trajectory, are implemented for reliable relative orientation recovery. Then, initial recovery of image exterior orientation parameters (EOPs) is achieved through either an incremental or global approach. Finally, a global bundle adjustment involving Ground Control Points (GCPs) and check points is carried out to refine all estimated parameters in the defined mapping coordinate system. Four real image datasets, which are acquired by two different UAV platforms, have been utilized to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed framework. In addition, a comparative analysis between the proposed framework and the existing commercial software is performed. The derived experimental results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed framework in providing an accurate 3D model, especially when dealing with acquired UAV images containing repetitive pattern and significant image distortions.

This work deals with the synthesis of new melamine superplasticizer (NMS) with high molecule weight and comparatively high processing thermostability by the reaction among melamine, formaldehyde, and sulfonated glucose. The surface activity and the structure of new melamine superplasticizer and their performance in concrete were evaluated. The effect of molecular weight of synthesized new melamine superplasticizer on the performance of the concrete was determined. The results showed that the new melamine superplasticizer has been proved to be more efficient as a superplasticizer used in concrete.

A facile and environmentally route for catalytic Synthesis of 2-(N-benzyl-N-phenylamino) phenol under UV irradiation conditions has been developed in the presence of a catalytic amount of mesoporous Pd-doped TiO2 (Pd/TiO2) based on a ionic liquid process to fabricate. The particles were characterized with XRD, TEM and XPS. The FT-IR and HNMR spectra confirmed the expected function groups and the structure of 2-(N-benzyl-N-phenylamino) phenol synthesized.

Low-cost Unmanned Airborne Vehicles (UAVs) equipped with consumer-grade imaging systems have emerged as a potential remote sensing platform that could satisfy the needs of a wide range of civilian applications. Among these applications, UAV-based agricultural mapping and monitoring have attracted significant attention from both the research and professional communities. The interest in UAV-based remote sensing for agricultural management is motivated by the need to maximize crop yield. Remote sensing-based crop yield prediction and estimation are primarily based on imaging systems with different spectral coverage and resolution (e.g., RGB and hyperspectral imaging systems). Due to the data volume, RGB imaging is based on frame cameras, while hyperspectral sensors are primarily push-broom scanners. To cope with the limited endurance and payload constraints of low-cost UAVs, the agricultural research and professional communities have to rely on consumer-grade and light-weight sensors. However, the geometric fidelity of derived information from push-broom hyperspectral scanners is quite sensitive to the available position and orientation established through a direct geo-referencing unit onboard the imaging platform (i.e., an integrated Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and Inertial Navigation System (INS). This paper presents an automated framework for the integration of frame RGB images, push-broom hyperspectral scanner data and consumer-grade GNSS/INS navigation data for accurate geometric rectification of the hyperspectral scenes. The approach relies on utilizing the navigation data, together with a modified Speeded-Up Robust Feature (SURF) detector and descriptor, for automating the identification of conjugate features in the RGB and hyperspectral imagery. The SURF modification takes into consideration the available direct geo-referencing information to improve the reliability of the matching procedure in the presence of repetitive texture within a mechanized agricultural field. Identified features are then used to improve the geometric fidelity of the previously ortho-rectified hyperspectral data. Experimental results from two real datasets show that the geometric rectification of the hyperspectral data was improved by almost one order of magnitude.

Polycarboxylate (PC) superplasticizers with different chemical structures were synthesized through free radical co-polymerization reaction. A total organic carbon analyzer was used to investigate adsorption behaviors of PCs, and to evaluate influences of soluble salts on absorption properties of PCs. It is found that adsorption ratios of PCs on cement particles decrease greatly with the addition of Na2SO4; the adsorption ratio of ethers PC with Hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) group first increases then decreases with the addition of NaCl; the adsorption ratio of esters PC with short side chains first decreases then increases, while the adsorption ratio of ethers PC with HEMA group decreases with the addition of CaCl2; the adsorption ratio of esters PC with short side chains decreases with the addition of Ca(NO3)2; AlCl3 causes the decrease of the adsorption ratio of ethers PC with HEMA group.

ObjectiveProspectively assess the performance of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) for differentiation of central lung cancer from atelectasis.Materials and methods38 consecutive lung cancer patients (26 males, 12 females; age range: 28-71 years; mean age: 49 years) who were referred for thoracic MR imaging examinations were enrolled. MR examinations were performed using a 1.5-T clinical scanner and scanning sequences of T1WI, T2WI, and DWI. Cancers and atelectasis were measured by mapping of the apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) obtained with a b-value of 500 s/mm(2).ResultsPET/CT and DW-MR allowed differentiation of tumor and atelectasis in all 38 cases, but T2WI did not allow differentiation in 9 cases. Comparison of conventional T2WI and DW-MRI indicated a higher contrast noise ratio of the central lung carcinoma than the atelectasis by DW-MRI. ADC maps indicated significantly lower mean ADC in the central lung carcinoma than in the atelectasis (1.83±0.58 vs. 2.90±0.26 mm(2)/s, pConclusionsDW-MR imaging provides valuable information not obtained by conventional MR and may be useful for differentiation of central lung carcinoma from atelectasis. Future developments may allow DW-MR imaging to be used as an alternative to PET-CT in imaging of patients with lung cancer.