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Osteosarcoma (OS) is a leading malignant tumor reported with high mortality and morbidity. Dysexpression of CircBBS9 has been reported to exhibit a critical functional role in various diseases. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of CircBBS9 in osteosarcoma are poorly characterized. The present study aims to investigate the impacts of CircBBS9 on the progression of osteosarcoma. The findings of the study demonstrated the up-regulated expression of CircBBS9 in osteosarcoma. The Actinomycin D and RNase R treatment experiments confirmed that circBBS9 is indeed a circRNA. In addition, the knockdown of circBBS9 negatively impacted the migration, proliferation and invasion of osteosarcoma cells. Further investigations illustrated that circBBS9 controlled miR-485-3p and miR-485-3p might directly interact with HMGB1. miR-485-3p had a negative regulatory role in HMGB1's gene expression. Through rescue assays, it was verified that CircBBS9 promoted osteosarcoma progression through the miR-485-3p/HMGB1 axis. Finally, circBBS9 knockdown attenuated the in-vivo growth of osteosarcoma. Conclusively, our study is the first time to examine the possible functional mechanism and regulation roles of CircBBS9 in osteosarcoma. The findings explained that CircBBS9 promoted the malignant osteosarcoma's progression by sponging miR-485-3p/HMGB1 and proposed CircBBS9 as a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic candidate for osteosarcoma patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to develop a novel six-gene expression biomarker panel to enhance the early detection and risk stratification of peritoneal recurrence and micrometastasis in locally advanced gastric cancer (LAGC). Methods: We used genome-wide transcriptome profiling and rigorous bioinformatics to identify a six-gene expression biomarker panel. This panel was validated across multiple clinical cohorts using both tissue and liquid biopsy samples to predict peritoneal recurrence and micrometastasis in patients with LAGC. Results: Through genome-wide expression profiling, we identified six mRNAs and developed a risk prediction model using 196 samples from a surgical specimen training cohort. This model, incorporating a 6-mRNA panel with clinical features, demonstrated high predictive accuracy for peritoneal recurrence in gastric cancer patients, with an AUC of 0.966 (95% CI: 0.944–0.988). Transitioning from invasive surgical or endoscopic biopsy to noninvasive liquid biopsy, the model retained its predictive efficacy (AUC = 0.963; 95% CI: 0.926–1.000). Additionally, the 6-mRNA panel effectively differentiated patients with or without peritoneal metastasis in 95 peripheral blood specimens (AUC = 0.970; 95% CI: 0.936–1.000) and identified peritoneal micrometastases with a high efficiency (AUC = 0.941; 95% CI: 0.874–1.000). Conclusions: Our study provides a novel gene expression biomarker panel that significantly enhances early detection of peritoneal recurrence and micrometastasis in patients with LAGC. The RSA model's predictive capability offers a promising tool for tailored treatment strategies, underscoring the importance of integrating molecular biomarkers with clinical parameters in precision oncology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uterine leiomyomas (fibroids) are the most common non-cancerous tumors affecting women. Psychosocial stress is associated with fibroid risk and severity. The relationship between psychosocial stress and fibroid pathogenesis may involve alterations in microRNAs (miRNAs) although this has yet to be examined. We investigated associations between two psychosocial stress measures, a composite measure of recent stressful life events and perceived social status, with expression levels of 401 miRNAs in myometrium (n = 20) and fibroids (n = 44; 20 with paired fibroid and myometrium samples) among pre-menopausal women who underwent surgery for fibroid treatment. We used linear regressions to identify psychosocial stressors associated with miRNAs, adjusting for covariates (age, body mass index, race/ethnicity, and oral contraceptive use). The association between psychosocial stressors and miRNAs was considered statistically significant at an FDR p < 0.10 and showed a monotonic response (nominal p-trend < 0.05). In the myometrium, 21 miRNAs were significantly associated with a composite measure of recent stressful events, and two miRNAs were associated with perceived social status. No fibroid miRNAs were associated with either stress measure. Pathway analyses revealed miRNA-mRNA targets were significantly enriched (FDR p < 0.05) in pathways relevant to cancer/tumor development. Of the 74 differentially expressed miRNAs between myometrium and fibroids, miR-27a-5p and miR-301b were also associated with stress exposure. Our pilot analysis suggests that psychosocial stress is associated with myometrial miRNA expression and, thus, may have a role in the pathogenesis of fibroids from healthy myometrium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] An injectable hydrogel dressing, Zr/Fc-MOF@CuO 2 @FH, was constructed by combing acid-triggered chemodynamic treatment (CDT) with low-temperature photothermal treatment (LT-PTT) to effectively eliminate bacteria without harming the surrounding normal tissues. The Zr/Fc-MOF acts as both photothermal reagent and nanozyme to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). The CuO 2 nanolayer can be decomposed by the acidic microenvironment of the bacterial infection to release Cu2+ and H 2 O 2 , which not only induces Fenton-like reaction but also enhances the catalytic capability of the Zr/Fc-MOF. The generated heat augments ROS production, resulting in highly efficient bacterial elimination at low temperature. Precisely, injectable hydrogel dressing can match irregular wound sites, which shortens the distance of heat dissipation and ROS diffusion to bacteria, thus improving sterilization efficacy and decreasing non-specific systemic toxicity. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments validated the predominant sterilization efficiency of drug-resistant methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and kanamycin-resistant Escherichia coli (KREC), presenting great potential for application in clinical therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: People living with HIV (PLHIV) on effective antiretroviral therapy are living near-normal lives. Although they are less susceptible to AIDS-related complications, they remain highly vulnerable to non-communicable diseases. In this exploratory study of older PLHIV (OPLHIV) in Eswatini, we investigated whether epigenetic aging (i.e., the residual between regressing epigenetic age on chronological age) was associated with HIV-related parameters, and whether lifestyle factors modified these relationships. We calculated epigenetic aging focusing on the Horvath, Hannum, PhenoAge and GrimAge epigenetic clocks, and a pace of biological aging biomarker (DunedinPACE) among 44 OPLHIV in Eswatini. Results: Age at HIV diagnosis was associated with Hannum epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) (β-coefficient [95% Confidence Interval]; 0.53 [0.05, 1.00], p = 0.03) and longer duration since HIV diagnosis was associated with slower Hannum EAA (− 0.53 [− 1.00, − 0.05], p = 0.03). The average daily dietary intake of fruits and vegetables was associated with DunedinPACE (0.12 [0.03, 0.22], p = 0.01). The associations of Hannum EAA with the age at HIV diagnosis and duration of time since HIV diagnosis were attenuated when the average daily intake of fruits and vegetables or physical activity were included in our models. Diet and self-perceived quality of life measures modified the relationship between CD4+ T cell counts at participant enrollment and Hannum EAA. Conclusions: Epigenetic age is more advanced in OPLHIV in Eswatini in those diagnosed with HIV at an older age and slowed in those who have lived for a longer time with diagnosed HIV. Lifestyle and quality of life factors may differentially affect epigenetic aging in OPLHIV. To our knowledge, this is the first study to assess epigenetic aging in OPLHIV in Eswatini and one of the few in sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine whether body mass index (BMI) was associated with live birth in patients undergoing transfer of frozen-thawed preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) embryos. Retrospective cohort study of cycles reported to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology Clinic Outcome Reporting System. All autologous and donor recipient PGT-A–tested cycles reported to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology Clinic Outcome Reporting System from 2014 to 2017. Body mass index. The primary outcome measure was the live birth rate, and the secondary outcome measures were the clinical pregnancy and biochemical pregnancy rates. Multivariable generalized additive mixed models and log-binomial models were used to model the relationship between BMI and outcome measures. A total of 77,018 PGT-A cycles from 55,888 patients were analyzed. Of these cycles, 70,752 were autologous, and 6,266 were donor recipient. In autologous cycles, a statistically significant and clear nonlinear relationship was observed between the BMI and live birth rates, with the highest birth rates observed for the BMI range of 23–24.99 kg/m2. When using 23–24.99 kg/m2 as the referent, other BMI ranges demonstrated a lower probability of live birth and clinical pregnancy that continued to decrease as the BMI moved further from the reference value. Patients with a BMI of <18.5 kg/m2 had a 11% lower probability of live birth, whereas those with a BMI of ≥40 kg/m2 had a 27% lower probability than the referent. A normal-weight BMI range of 23–24.99 kg/m2 was associated with the highest probability of clinical pregnancy and live birth after a frozen-thawed PGT-A–tested blastocyst transfer in both autologous and donor recipient cycles. A BMI outside the range of 23–24.99 kg/m2 is likely associated with a malfunction in the implantation process, which is presumed to be related to a uterine factor and not an oocyte factor, as both autologous and donor recipient cycle outcomes were associated similarly with the BMI of the intended parent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the influence of Mo addition and water vapor content on the high-temperature corrosion resistance of Ni-Al-based coatings, 0Mo, 5Mo, and 10Mo coatings were deposited by APS thermal spray onto stainless steels. The chlorine-induced corrosion test was conducted in an experimental environment simulating a biomass boiler. The results show that adding the Mo element lowers the coating's ability to resist corrosion without water vapor. The coating is more prone to peeling because Mo prevents the coating from eventually forming a protective oxide layer. Water vapor significantly speeds up the production of oxides and modifies their morphology and structure. The combined effects of Mo and water vapor increase the coating's ability to resist corrosion. The development of thick and protective Ni and Al oxide layers on the coated surface is aided by the acceleration of oxide production by water vapor and the alteration of oxide structure by Mo components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis (ECRS) is predominantly characterized by nasal type 2 inflammation. The pathogenesis of this condition is complex. High levels of IL‐17A are associated with eosinophil infiltration in some inflammatory diseases and contribute to the severity and insensitivity of corticosteroid therapy for chronic rhinosinusitis. Methods: In the first experiment, we constructed a modified ECRS mouse model using four groups of mice: phosphate‐buffered saline (PBS)‐sensitized and nasal instillation (control); PBS‐sensitized and Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin B (SEB) nasal instillation after nasal tamponade (SEB group); ovalbumin (OVA)‐sensitized and nasal instillation (OVA group); and OVA‐sensitized combined with OVA and SEB nasal instillation after nasal tamponade (OVA + SEB group). In the second experiment, we examined the role of IL‐17A by dividing the mice into four groups: control group; ECRS group; ECRS + anti‐IL‐17A group; and ECRS + IL‐17A group. The latter two groups received intraperitoneal injections of anti‐IL‐17A antibody or IL‐17A, respectively. Results: We constructed a modified ECRS mouse model (OVA + SEB group), where the IL‐17A levels were upregulated in the nasal sinus of ECRS mice and the IL‐17A levels were significantly correlated with eosinophil infiltration. We further demonstrated that IL‐17A induced type 2 inflammation and eosinophil infiltration in the ECRS group of mice. In contrast, IL‐17A neutralization attenuated type 2 inflammatory cytokine secretion and eosinophil infiltration. Conclusion: OVA sensitization and unilateral nasal tamponade, combined with SEB and OVA alternate nasal instillation (OVA + SEB group), could be used to construct a more typical ECRS mouse model in which IL‐17A enhanced the expression of type 2 cytokines and eosinophil infiltration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate segmentation of lesions can provide strong evidence for early skin cancer diagnosis by doctors, enabling timely treatment of patients and effectively reducing cancer mortality rates. In recent years, some deep learning models have utilized complex modules to improve their performance for skin disease image segmentation. However, limited computational resources have hindered their practical application in clinical environments. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a lightweight model, named GSCEU-Net, which is able to achieve superior skin lesion segmentation performance at a lower cost. GSCEU-Net is based on the U-Net architecture with additional enhancements. Firstly, the partial convolution (PConv) module, proposed by the FasterNet model, is modified to an SConv module, which enables channel segmentation paths of different scales. Secondly, a newly designed Ghost SConv (GSC) module is proposed for incorporation into the model's backbone, where the Separate Convolution (SConv) module is aided by a Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) and the output path residuals from the Ghost module. Finally, the Efficient Channel Attention (ECA) mechanism is incorporated at different levels into the decoding part of the model. The segmentation performance of the proposed model is evaluated on two public datasets (ISIC2018 and PH2) and a private dataset. Compared to U-Net, the proposed model achieves an IoU improvement of 0.0261 points and a DSC improvement of 0.0164 points, while reducing the parameter count by 190 times and the computational complexity by 170 times. Compared to other existing segmentation models, the proposed GSCEU-Net model also demonstrates superiority, along with an advanced balance between the number of parameters, complexity, and segmentation performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Alport syndrome (AS; OMIM#308,940) is a hereditary kidney disease that progresses over time and is distinguished by hearing loss and ocular irregularities. The syndrome has three subtypes, namely X-linked (XL; OMIM#301,050), autosomal recessive (AR; OMIM#203,780), and autosomal dominant (AD; OMIM#104,200), which are categorized based on their respective modes of inheritance. XLAS is attributed to a pathogenic variant in the COL4A5 (OMIM*303,630) gene, which encodes the α5(IV) chain of type IV collagen (Col-IV). In contrast, ADAS and ARAS are the result of variants in the COL4A3 (OMIM*120,070) and COL4A4 (OMIM*120,131) genes, which encode the α3(IV) and α4(IV) chains of Col-IV, respectively. Typically, the diagnosis of AS necessitates hereditary or pathological assessments. The determination of splicing variants as pathogenic or non-pathogenic based on gene sequencing outcomes is challenging. Methods: In this study, we conducted exome sequencing and Sanger sequencing on two unrelated Chinese patients with AS. We identified a deletion variant c.4414delG in the COL4A5 gene and a splicing variant c.4298-20T > A in the same gene. In order to ascertain the impact of c.4298-20T > A on the synthesis of COL4A5 mRNA, we performed experiments involving minigene splicing. Additionally, we predicted the ability of these two variants to affect triple helix formation of α345(IV) using molecular dynamics methods. Results: The c.4414delG deletion variant caused a change in the genetic code of the COL4A5 gene. Specifically, it caused a shift in codon 1472 from encoding aspartate to encoding methionine. This shift resulted in a change of 75 amino acids in the protein sequence, ultimately leading to an early stop codon. This premature stop codon caused the production of a truncated α5(IV) chain with a predicted protein effect of p.D1472Mfs. The mRNA of the COL4A5 gene experienced intron 46 retention due to the splicing variant c.4298-20T > A, leading to the inclusion of six additional amino acids between amino acids 1432 and 1433 of the α5(IV) chain. This variant is predicted to have a protein effect of p.(P1432_G1433insDYFVEI). The impact of two variants, c.4414delG and c.4298-20T > A, on the aggregation region for α3(IV), α4(IV), and α5(IV) trimerisation were studied using molecular dynamics simulations. Results showed that the deletion variant c.4414delG had a significantly stronger disruption on NC1, compared to the splicing variant c.4298-20T > A. This difference in impact is consistent with the varying clinical phenotypes observed in the two patients. Based on the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) classification criteria and guidelines for genetic variants, the deletion variant c.4414delG was rated as pathogenic while the splicing variant c.4298-20T > A was rated as likely-pathogenic. Conclusion: Our study has identified two novel pathogenic loci, the deletion variant c.4414delG and the splicing variant c.4298-20T > A, associated with XLAS. This finding expands the genetic spectrum of XLAS. We suggest that molecular dynamics can effectively model the effect of genetic variation on α345(IV) trimerization, which may offer valuable insights into the mechanisms of XLAS pathogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Whether paraspinal muscle degeneration is related to poor clinical outcomes after lumbar surgery is still indistinct, which limits its clinical application. This study aimed to evaluate the predictive value of paraspinal muscle morphology on functional status and re-operation after lumbar spinal surgery. Methods: A review of the literature was conducted using a total of 6917 articles identified from a search of PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases through September 2022. A full-text review of 140 studies was conducted based on criteria including an objective assessment of preoperative paraspinal muscle morphology including multifidus (MF), erector spinae (ES), and psoas major (PS) in addition to measuring its relationship to clinical outcomes including Oswestry disability index (ODI), pain and revision surgery. Meta-analysis was performed when required metrics could be calculated in ≥ three studies, otherwise vote counting model was a good alternative to show the effect direction of evidence. The standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. Results: A total of 10 studies were included in this review. Of them, five studies with required metrics were included in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis suggested that higher preoperative fat infiltration (FI) of MF could predict higher postoperative ODI scores (SMD = 0.33, 95% CI 0.16–0.50, p = 0.0001). For postoperative pain, MF FI could also be an effective predictor for persistent low back pain after surgery (SMD = 0.17, 95% CI 0.02–0.31, p = 0.03). However, in the vote count model, limited evidence was presented for the prognostic effects of ES and PS on postoperative functional status and symptoms. In terms of revision surgery, there was conflicting evidence that FI of MF and ES could predict the incidence of revision surgery in the vote count model. Conclusion: The assessment of MF FI could be a viable method to stratify patients with lumbar surgery by the risk of severe functional disability and low back pain. Key Points: • The fat infiltration of multifidus can predict postoperative functional status and low back pain after lumbar spinal surgery. • The preoperative evaluation of paraspinal muscle morphology is conducive for surgeons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is the most common sarcoma of the digestive tract, among which patients with distant metastases tend to have a poor prognosis. This study aimed to develop a model for predicting distant metastasis in GIST patients and to develop two models for monitoring overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) in GIST patients with metastasis. This would allow us to develop an optimal, individualized treatment strategy. Methods: We reviewed demographic and clinicopathological characteristics data from 2010 to 2017 of patients diagnosed with GIST in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. The data of the external validation group was reviewed from the Forth Hospital of Hebei Medical University. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to confirm the independent risk factors for distant metastasis in the GIST patients, and univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed to identify the independent prognostic factors for OS and CSS in the GIST patients with distant metastasis. Subsequently, three web-based novel nomograms were developed, which were evaluated by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, calibration curves, and decision curve analysis (DCA). Results: Of the 3639 patients who met the inclusion criteria, 418 (11.4%) had distant metastases. The risk factors for distant metastasis in GIST patients included sex, primary site, grade, N stage, tumor size, and mitotic count. For OS, the independent prognosis factors for GIST patients with metastasis included age, race, marital, primary site, chemotherapy, mitotic count, and metastasis at the lung, and for CSS, age, race, marital, primary site, and metastasis at the lung were the independent prognosis factors. Three web-based nomograms were constructed based on these independent factors, respectively. The ROC curves, calibration curves, and DCA were performed in the training, testing, and validation sets which confirmed the high accuracy and strong clinical practice power for the nomograms. Conclusion: Population-based nomograms can help clinicians predict the occurrence and prognosis of distant metastases in patients with GIST, which may be helpful for clinicians to formulate clinical management and appropriate treatment strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Telemedicine was implemented at our institution in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Data do not currently exist about the use of telemedicine in providing comprehensive postpartum care. Objective: This project aimed to evaluate the impact of telemedicine on postpartum care at an urban Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). Study Design: This was a retrospective cohort study of patients who delivered at an urban hospital in New York between September and November 2019 (pre-COVID), February through April 2020 (peak-COVID) and June through August 2020 (ongoing-COVID). The primary outcome was postpartum visit attendance. Secondary outcomes included contraception use, breastfeeding, depression screening, hospital readmission, and emergency department visit rates. Log-binomial regression models were used to estimate relative risk. Results: Telemedicine accounted for 1% of postpartum visits in the pre-COVID cohort, 60% in the peak-COVID cohort, and 48% in the ongoing-COVID cohort. Postpartum visit attendance rates were 52% in the pre-COVID cohort, 43% in the peak-COVID cohort, and 56% in the ongoing-COVID cohort (p > 0.05). There was a nonsignificant increase in postpartum visit show rate for telemedicine visits compared to in-person visits in the peak-COVID cohort (76% vs. 65%; relative risk [RR] 1.17 [0.87–1.57]) and ongoing-COVID cohort (85% vs. 74%; RR 1.16 [0.90–1.50]). Patients were significantly less likely to have a Patient Health Questionnaire-2 Depression screen in the peak-COVID and ongoing-COVID cohorts (22% and 33%) than in the pre-COVID cohort (74%) (p < 0.01). There were no significant differences in hospital readmissions, contraceptive use or breastfeeding rates across cohorts (p > 0.05). Conclusions: At our urban FQHC, telemedicine was comparable to in-person postpartum care in terms of attendance rates during the COVID-19 pandemic, without an increase in rates of hospital visits or readmissions. However, postpartum depression screening needs to be better integrated into the telemedicine visit type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study a new service network design problem for an urban same-day delivery system in which the number of vehicles that can simultaneously load or unload at a hub is limited. Due to the presence of both time constraints for the commodities and capacity constraints at the hubs, it is no longer guaranteed that a feasible solution exists. The problem can be modeled on a time-expanded network and formulated as an integer program. To be able to solve real-world instances, we design and implement three heuristics: (1) an integer programming–based heuristic, (2) a metaheuristic, and (3) a hybrid matheuristic. An extensive computational study using real-world instances (with different geographies, market sizes, and service offerings) from one of China's leading comprehensive express logistics service providers demonstrates the efficacy of the three heuristics. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/trsc.2022.1155. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomass corrosion is a serious problem that affects the reliability and efficiency of biomass boilers. Ni-based coatings are a potential choice to combat biomass corrosion. In this study, the Ni-clad Al coatings were prepared by air plasma spraying, and the coatings were pre-oxidized in an air atmosphere at 700 °C for 6 h. The corrosion resistance of the as-sprayed and pre-oxidized Ni-clad Al coating exposed to KCl was studied at 600 °C for 168 h. The as-sprayed Ni-clad Al coating showed a much higher corrosion rate due to the porous nature of the coating and faster penetration of corrosion products. The pre-oxidation treatment significantly reduced the corrosion rate of the Ni-clad Al coating. The maximum weight gain of the pre-oxidized Ni-clad Al coating was reduced by 23.5% compared to the as-sprayed Ni-clad coating. After pre-oxidation, multiple NiO layers were formed, and voids were significantly reduced. The corrosion products on the surface of the coating changed from nickel-rich oxides to aluminum-rich oxides after the pre-oxidation treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we prove a quantitative version of the isoperimetric inequality involving the second non‐trivial eigenvalue of the Laplacian with Neumann boundary condition established by Bucur and Henrot [5]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pancreatic cancer is the most lethal type of malignancy and is characterized by high invasiveness without severe symptoms. It is difficult to detect PC at an early stage because of the low diagnostic accuracy of existing routine methods, such as abdominal ultrasound, CT, MRI, and endoscopic ultrasound (EUS). Therefore, it is of value to develop new diagnostic techniques for early detection with high accuracy. In this review, we aim to highlight research progress on novel biomarkers, artificial intelligence, and nanomaterial applications on the diagnostic accuracy of pancreatic cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robotic 3-D measurement for evaluating the final shape of blades can improve product quality and reduce fabrication costs. However, large or complex objects require multiple scans from different viewpoints to capture the entire object. They must then be registered to a common frame. Errors in registration artificially introduce defects and surface discontinuities in the reconstructed object model. To address the sources of inaccurate registration for methods relying on pairwise associated points, this manuscript describes an inlier selection approach based on the geometric properties of rigid registration, called RiGID. It readily applies to registration strategies that use 3-D interest points and descriptors to associate data across overlapping point clouds. RiGID converts geometric constraint violations into distributions over geometric error values. Analysis of the distributions provides a deterministic and data adaptive way to identify inlier sets. Given the inlier set, standard registration approaches may be applied. RiGID is an efficient preprocessor to rigid registration. It reduces the amount of input data and improves the inlier ratio, which translates to more efficient and accurate registration. Evaluation of the method shows a higher inlier rate and lower registration error compared to baseline outlier rejection methods. The approach is well suited to surfaces with smooth regions and a high percentage of outliers (up to 90%), which engine and turbine blades exhibit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saprolegniasis, which is caused by Saprolegnia parasitica, leads to considerable economic losses. Recently, we showed that metalaxyl, bronopol and copper sulfate are good antimicrobial agents for aquaculture. In the current study, the efficacies of metalaxyl, bronopol and copper sulfate are evaluated by in vitro antimicrobial experiments, and the mechanism of action of these three antimicrobials on S. parasitica is explored using transcriptome technology. Finally, the potential target genes of antimicrobials on S. parasitica are identified by protein–protein interaction network analysis. Copper sulfate had the best inhibitory effect on S. parasitica, followed by bronopol. A total of 1771, 723 and 2118 DEGs upregulated and 1416, 319 and 2161 DEGs downregulated S. parasitica after three drug treatments (metalaxyl, bronopol and copper sulfate), separately. Additionally, KEGG pathway analysis also determined that there were 17, 19 and 13 significantly enriched metabolic pathways. PPI network analysis screened out three important proteins, and their corresponding genes were SPRG_08456, SPRG_03679 and SPRG_10775. Our results indicate that three antimicrobials inhibit S. parasitica growth by affecting multiple biological functions, including protein synthesis, oxidative stress, lipid metabolism and energy metabolism. Additionally, the screened key genes can be used as potential target genes of chemical antimicrobial drugs for S. parasitica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objective. This research probed the function of lncRNA CDKN2B-AS1 (CDKN2B-AS1) in interventional therapy of liver cancer (LC) and its association with miR-199a-5p, to offer more comprehensive and reliable references for future diagnosis and therapy. Methods. Totally 34 LC patients admitted to our hospital between January 2020 and March 2021 (Obs group) and 32 healthy individuals over the same time span (Con group) were enrolled. CDKN2B-AS1 and miR-199a-5p in the two groups were PCR quantified, and their association and value for the diagnosis and therapy of LC were analyzed. In addition, purchased LC cells were adopted for in vitro assays, and the influences of CDKN2B-AS1 and miR-199a-5p on biological behaviours of LC cells were assessed through CCK-8, Transwell, and flow cytometry experiment, and their regulatory association was verified by the dual luciferase reporter (DLR) assay and rescue assay. And the autophagic protein expression was tested by the western blot to confirm the effect of both on the autophagic capacity of LC cells. Results. CDKN2B-AS1 in LC cases presented high expression and dropped after therapy (P < 0.05), and the opposite situation of miR-199a-5p was found in the LC cases (P < 0.05). In vitro assays, after silencing of CDKN2B-AS1 and upregulation of miR-199a-5p, LC cells presented weaker viability, invasion and migration activities, and stronger apoptotic activity (all P < 0.05). The DLR assay revealed suppressed fluorescence activity of CDKN2B-AS1-WT by miR-199a-5p (P < 0.05). Moreover, according to the rescue assay, the impacts of silencing CDKN2B-AS1 on LC cells could be completely offset by silencing miR-199a-5p (P < 0.05). According to the clone formation and WB assay, the growth and autophagy of LC cells were under the regulation of CDKN2B-AS1 targeting miR-199a-5p (P < 0.05). Conclusion. With high expression in LC cases, CDKN2B-AS1 is implicated in the development and progression of LC by suppressing cell autophagy through targeting miR-199a-5p. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning the causal structure of high-dimensional non-stationary time series can help in understanding the data generation mechanism, which is a crucial task in machine learning. However, current causal discovery methods for high-dimensional non-stationary time series face several challenges, including the inability to effectively capture non-stationarity, failure to ensure acyclicity of causal graphs, and reliance on subjective threshold definitions, leading to suboptimal algorithm performance. To address these challenges, we introduce a novel Causal Structure Learning model for High-dimensional Non-stationary Time Series (CSL-HNTS). Firstly, this model presents a graph neural network to model the non-stationarity of time series. Secondly, it introduces a novel Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) sampling method that transforms the space of DAGs into a continuous space, enabling the search for causal graphs within this continuous space to ensure acyclicity. Finally, the model proposes an automatic threshold definition method, without prior knowledge, to convert the weighted adjacency matrix into the Boolean adjacency matrix of the causal graph, thereby avoiding time-consuming postprocessing steps. The proposed approach is validated using simulation datasets and two real datasets, and is benchmarked against current state-of-the-art methods and ablation experiments. The results demonstrate a significant improvement over existing methods, highlighting the efficacy of the proposed model. • A Graph Neural Network (GNN) to model the non-stationarity of high-dimensional time series is proposed. • A novel method to transform the discrete space of directed acyclic graphs into a continuous space is introduced. • An automatic threshold definition method that does not rely on any prior knowledge to transform the weighted adjacency matrix into the Boolean adjacency matrix of a causal graph is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The security of HTTPS fundamentally relies on SSL/TLS certificates issued by Certificate Authorities (CAs), which, however, are vulnerable to be compromised to issue unauthorized certificates (i.e., certificates issued without domains’ permission). Current countermeasures such as Certificate Transparency (CT) can only detect unauthorized certificates rather than preventing them. In this article, we present Pistis, a framework for issuing authorized and trusted certificates with the distributed ledger and Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) technology. In Pistis, TEE nodes validate whether the domain in a requested certificate passes the domain ownership validation (i.e., under corresponding applicants’ control) and submit attested results to a smart contract in the distributed ledger. The smart contract issues a certificate to the applicant when an attested result shows a pass. Therefore, Pistis can ensure its issued certificates are authorized due to the domain ownership validation mechanism in the TEE. Furthermore, as the issued certificates are stored in a Merkle Patricia Tree (MPT) in Pistis, they are trusted and can be verified by a normal user easily. The security of Pistis is formally proved in the Universally Composable (UC) framework. Compared with state-of-the-art, Pistis avoids potential damages by preventing unauthorized certificates from issuing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pancreatic cancer is the most lethal type of malignancy and is characterized by high invasiveness without severe symptoms. It is difficult to detect PC at an early stage because of the low diagnostic accuracy of existing routine methods, such as abdominal ultrasound, CT, MRI, and endoscopic ultrasound (EUS). Therefore, it is of value to develop new diagnostic techniques for early detection with high accuracy. In this review, we aim to highlight research progress on novel biomarkers, artificial intelligence, and nanomaterial applications on the diagnostic accuracy of pancreatic cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pancreatic cancer is the most lethal type of malignancy and is characterized by high invasiveness without severe symptoms. It is difficult to detect PC at an early stage because of the low diagnostic accuracy of existing routine methods, such as abdominal ultrasound, CT, MRI, and endoscopic ultrasound (EUS). Therefore, it is of value to develop new diagnostic techniques for early detection with high accuracy. In this review, we aim to highlight research progress on novel biomarkers, artificial intelligence, and nanomaterial applications on the diagnostic accuracy of pancreatic cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the precise asymptotics of noncompact Type-IIb solutions to the mean curvature flow. Precisely, for each real number \gamma >0, we construct mean curvature flow solutions, in the rotationally symmetric class, with the following precise asymptotics as t\nearrow \infty: (1) The highest curvature concentrates at the tip of the hypersurface (an umbilical point) and blows up at the Type-IIb rate (2t+1)^{(\gamma -1)/2}. (2) In a neighbourhood of the tip, the Type-IIb rescaling of the solution converges to a translating soliton known as the bowl soliton. (3) Near spatial infinity, the hypersurface has a precise growth rate depending on \gamma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) is a minimally invasive procedure for removing renal calculi, while a large number of patients experience acute moderate-to-severe pain despite the analgesia provided. This study aimed to explore the risk factors for postoperative pain after PCNL, which may provide a novel perspective to refine the enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) program and to improve clinical outcomes. The clinical data of 331 patients who underwent PCNL in our hospital from September 2020 to February 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. The pain intensity was assessed every 4 h until 24 h post-surgery. According to the visual analog scale (VAS) score, patients were divided into two groups: mild or no pain group (VAS score, 0–3) and moderate-to-severe pain group (VAS score, 4–10). The pre-, peri-, and post-operative data were collected and analyzed. The indicators with statistically significant differences were selected, and multivariate logistic regression analysis was employed to determine the risk factors for postoperative pain after PCNL. Among 331 patients, 221 patients had moderate-to-severe pain and the incidence rate was 66.77%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the independent risk factors for moderate-to-severe pain after PCNL were the diameter of the renal calculus (odds ratio (OR) = 6.23, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.50–15.56, P = 0.001), the number of renal calculi (OR = 15.892, 95% CI 7.721–32.711, P < 0.01), the presence of residual calculi (OR = 1.780, 95% CI 0.897–3.533, P = 0.01), and operation time (OR = 1.033, 95% CI 1.020–1.046, P < 0.01). The diameter of the renal calculus, the number of renal calculi, the presence of residual calculi, and operation time were significant predictors of postoperative pain after PCNL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A novel colorimetric sensor array is constructed for POCT of multiple bacteria. • Eleven species including two drug-resistance bacteria are well distinguished. • The sensor array can perform antibiotic susceptibility testing of bacteria. • The minimal inhibitory concentration of antibiotics to bacteria can be evaluated. • MIC was presented to facilitate the rational use of antibiotics. Simple and sensitive discrimination of multiple bacteria and antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) are significant for food safety, clinical diagnosis and treatment. Herein, based on different metabolic ability of bacteria on glucose, we presented a colorimetric sensor array for point-of-care testing (POCT) of multiple bacteria with methyl red (MER), bromothymol blue (BTB) and bromocresol green (BCG) as probes. Different bacteria resulted in different color changes of three probes, which was converted to RGB (Red (R)/Green (G)/Blue (B)) signals by the color recognizer APP loaded on smartphone. The sensor array performed differentiation of eleven species of bacteria, achieving the quantitative analysis of individual bacteria in tap water and differentiation of bacterial mixtures. Interestingly, the sensor array can be used for AST and evaluating minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of antibiotics to bacteria. The research provided meaningful guidance for distinguishing multiple bacteria and evaluating MIC, presenting great potential in practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Topological effects have endowed brand new properties to electronic and photonic systems, including the unidirectional propagating edge states and the associated intrinsic robustness. Recent progress in topological photonics has explored novel optical effects and motivated the related photonic devices. Here, a new mechanism for controlling the electromagnetic wave flow based on spatiotemporal metasurface assisted with parity‐time (PT) symmetric modulations is proposed, and a proof‐in‐principle experiment is conducted in the microwave regime for verification. It is shown that the spatiotemporal metasurface can provide a powerful platform for realizing robust spin‐momentum coupled surface states, in which the induced effects are similar to those discovered in the topological insulators and quantum spin‐Hall systems. With the aid of programmable control unit, the generated spin‐momentum coupling can be flexibly switched in real time. The proposed scheme is expected to construct a novel system for controlling the evanescent light flows and facilitate the investigation of physical effects that are hard to realize in the traditional photonic topological systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Network traffic security inspection is vital in today's network. However, due to the increasing user demand, security inspection resources are becoming a bottleneck of the network, therefore bringing down network throughput. In this paper, we proposed an OpenFlow‐based flow management prototype, which can properly allocate limited security resources in order to achieve the objective of making the best use of security resources without compromising network throughput. We introduced a capacity reservation scheme to enforce network security and avoid security devices becoming congested. In order to optimize utilization of security devices, we formulated the resource‐constrained problem as an integer linear programming problem and solved it. Extensive experiments were performed to attest to the effectiveness of our prototype. Finally, we analyzed results of the experiment, including the impact on network performance of two parameters in the optimization formulations. Compared to other works, we have the following strengths: our model was implemented on a general network topology with distributed security devices; we formulated the flow allocation problem into a linear programming problem and performed the optimization in the controller in real time; and no pre‐knowledge about the network, hosts, or traffic was needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the questionnaire design and the nature of the problem, partially ordered data that are neither completely ordered nor completely unordered are frequently encountered in social, behavioral, and medical studies. However, early developments in partially ordered data analysis are very limited and restricted only to cross-sectional data. In this study, we propose a Bayesian two-level regression model for analyzing repeated partially ordered responses in longitudinal data. The first-level model is defined for partially ordered observations of interest that are taken at each time point nested within individuals, while the second-level model is defined for individuals to assess the effects of their characteristics on the first-level model. A full Bayesian approach with the Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm is developed for statistical inference. Simulation studies demonstrate the satisfactory performance of the developed methodology. The methodology is then applied to a longitudinal study on adolescent smoking behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation A wide range of computational packages has been developed for regional DNA methylation analyses of Illumina's Infinium array data. Aclust, one of the first unsupervised algorithms, was originally designed to analyze regional methylation of Infinium's 27K and 450K arrays by clustering neighboring methylation sites prior to downstream analyses. However, Aclust relied on outdated packages that rendered it largely non-operational especially with the newer Infinium EPIC and mouse arrays. Results We have created Aclust2.0, a streamlined pipeline that involves five steps for the analyses of human (450K and EPIC) and mouse array data. Aclust2.0 provides a user-friendly pipeline and versatile for regional DNA methylation analyses for molecular epidemiological and mouse studies. Availability and implementation Aclust2.0 is freely available on Github (https://github.com/OluwayioseOA/Alcust2.0.git). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robotic grinding is a promising method to form the surfaces of industrial components, which improves product quality, lowers machining costs, and reduces processing time. Allowance optimization is a surface matching process, which is important to grinding measurement. The grinding efficiency highly depends on the results of the surface matching between measured points and the design model. However, existing matching methods are usually based on distance and variance minimization, ignoring the grinding requirements to different surfaces, which leads to high processing time and unstable grinding quality. In this article, we proposed a novel surface matching method for robotic grinding. The objective function is constructed via time minimization and involving weights for allowance requirements to different surfaces. This method also balances all measured points’ contributions, avoiding matching distortion due to uneven points’ distribution. Experimental results and comparisons verify the effectiveness of our methods. Comparing to existing matching methods, our method is robust to uneven point distribution and has advantages in reducing the grinding time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2D Dion–Jacobson (DJ) perovskites show structural stability and tunability and are regarded as promising photovoltaic materials. The spacer cations play an important impact on exciton separation and charge transport of 2D perovskites. Herein, a novel spacer with thiazole as core, 2‐thiazolemethanammonium (AMT), owning characters of small molecular size, delocalized π‐electrons, and strong electron‐withdrawing ability, is introduced to construct 2D DJ perovskites. Owing to the strong orbital coupling between AMT spacer and inorganic layers, the AMT‐based perovskite exhibits type II quantum well structure, which is favorable for exciton separation. On contrary, such interaction does not appear in the DJ perovskite when aliphatic propyldiammonium (PDA), with a similar length, is used as spacer. The AMT spacer can also induce better crystallinity, resulting in reduced defect density and improved charge transport ability. The optimized device based on (AMT)MA3Pb4I13 exhibits a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 19.69%, which is a record for 2D DJ perovskite solar cells (PSCs) (n ≤ 4). This work provides deep understanding of the impact of aromatic spacer on the electronic structure of 2D DJ perovskites and the corresponding photovoltaic performance and provides a new opportunity toward highly efficient and stable PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study was done to observe the incidence of Osteo-line on the femur neck and to explore the clinical application of Osteo-line in osteotomy. Methods: Eighty-nine adult femur specimens were selected to observe the incidence of Osteo-line on the femur neck. From August 2015 to January 2019, a total of 278 patients who completed unilateral hip arthroplasty at the Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University were retrospectively included. Patients who accepted osteotomy via Osteo-line on the femur neck were defined as the experimental group (n = 139), and patients who accepted osteotomy via traditional method (The femoral distance 1.5 cm above the trochanter was retained for osteotomy by visual inspection.) were defined as the control group (n = 139). According to the postoperative pelvic X-ray, Photoshop was used to evaluate the leg length discrepancy (LLD) by the CFR-T-LT method. Results: Among the 89 specimens, the incidence of anterior Osteo-line was 75.28%, and the incidence of posterior Osteo-line was 100%. According to the clinical application results, the incidence of anterior Osteo-line on the femur neck was 80%, and the incidence of posterior Osteo-line was 100%. The Osteo-line was clearer than those on the femoral specimens. Twenty-six cases had LLD greater than 1 cm (9.29%), including 2 cases in the experimental group and 24 cases in the control group. The average postoperative LLD in the experimental group (0.19 ± 0.38 mm) was significantly shorter than in the control group (0.54 ± 0.51 mm)(P = 0.005). Conclusion: The incidence of Osteo-line on the femur neck was high, and patients who accepted osteotomy via Osteo-line on the femur neck can achieve shorter postoperative LLD than the control group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental age at time of offspring conception is increasing in developed countries. Advanced male age is associated with decreased reproductive success and increased risk of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in offspring. Mechanisms for these male age effects remain unclear, but changes in sperm DNA methylation over time is one potential explanation. We assessed genome-wide methylation of sperm DNA from 47 semen samples collected from male participants of couples seeking infertility treatment. We report that higher male age was associated with lower likelihood of fertilization and live birth, and poor embryo development (p < 0.05). Furthermore, our multivariable linear models showed male age was associated with alterations in sperm methylation at 1698 CpGs and 1146 regions (q < 0.05), which were associated with > 750 genes enriched in embryonic development, behavior and neurodevelopment among others. High dimensional mediation analyses identified four genes (DEFB126, TPI1P3, PLCH2 and DLGAP2) with age-related sperm differential methylation that accounted for 64% (95% CI 0.42–0.86%; p < 0.05) of the effect of male age on lower fertilization rate. Our findings from this modest IVF population provide evidence for sperm methylation as a mechanism of age-induced poor reproductive outcomes and identifies possible candidate genes for mediating these effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A multifunctional platform was achieved using a single type of MOF nanoparticle. • Hypoxia-relieved synergistic CT/PDT/PTT was realized all using a single 808 nm laser. • The targeting ability can both augment therapeutic efficiency and reduce side effects. Herein, a specific kind of nano-platform (ICG-PFH/MOF/DNA-Dox) was developed not only for targeted fluorescence imaging-guided photo-chemotherapy, but also for modulation of hypoxic tumor microenvironment for cancer treatment. Such platform was prepared with metal–organic framework (MOF) as core to serve as matrices for storage of indocyanine green (ICG) and perfluorohexane (PFH), and with double-strand nucleic acids (dsDNA) as shell, which is encoded with both ATP aptamer and AS1411 aptamer as well as used for doxorubicin (Dox) anchoring. Thereout, ICG-PFH/MOF/DNA-Dox reveals active targeting to tumor by recognizing nucleolin receptor sites in cancer cell membranes, following controlled release of Dox in mitochondria due to ATP-triggered dsDNA dissociation to achieve chemotherapy (CT). Under a single laser irradiation, ICG can serve both as photothermal agent to emit heat for photothermal therapy (PTT), and as photosensitizer to generate reactive oxygen species for photodynamic therapy (PDT) of tumors. The loaded PFH acts as O 2 self-supplying agent for hypoxia-relieved PDT and CT. Interestingly, the heat from PTT can also help to melt dsDNA to accelerate the Dox release, enhancing CT efficiency. To this end, ICG-PFH/MOF/DNA-Dox shows surprising effect in inhibiting tumor growth both in vitro and in vivo via hypoxia-relieved synergistic PTT/PDT/CT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A new extraction solution was prepared for the selective recovery of Cr. • The charged state of metal ions was adjusted using an in-situ reduction mechanism. • Improved FCDI can recover both Cr and Cu from wastewater simultaneously. • Membrane performance can be restored through acid washing to ensure long-term operation. Recovering valuable metal resources from industrial wastewater has environmental and economic significance. Flow-electrode capacitive deionization (FCDI) has been successfully used to remove salt and heavy metals. However, the use of this technology in heavy metal treatment has several limitations, including low selectivity, poor long-term stability, and production of low-quality metal products. In this study, a new strategy for recovering chromium (Cr) from wastewater was proposed using an in-situ reduction method. A liquid membrane chamber (LMC) was introduced into a classic three-chamber FCDI and an extraction solution containing Na 2 SO 3 and NaCl was used to capture Cr in wastewater. During FCDI operation, the CrO 4 2− ions entered the LMC were immediately reduced to Cr3+ and retained in the extraction solution. Completing anions (i.e., Cl−) in the extraction solution maintained the concentration of SO 3 2− ions, and thereby reducing the consumption of reagents. The improved FCDI system exhibited satisfactory separation performance and high stability during semi-continuous operation. Freshwater, Cr, and copper were obtained in the separation chamber, LMC, and flow electrode chamber, respectively. The facile approach may open the doors for the separation and recovery of metal resources from water/wastewater with high scalability and universality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cu-hemin@IR780 nanocomposites were synthesized by a green method. Compared with Cu-hemin, the photothermal ability of Cu-hemin@IR780 under NIR is significantly improved, and the antibacterial activity is greatly enhanced under the synergistic effect with CDT. [Display omitted] • Cu-hemin@IR780 with multilayer nanosheets structure was successfully synthesized. • The nanosheets has the ability to catalyze the production of ·OH. • The nanosheets has excellent photothermal conversion performance. • The nanosheets integrates peroxidase and photothermal properties to achieve synergistic sterilization. The increasing drug resistance of bacteria due to the inappropriate use of various antibiotics has become an ongoing public health problem around the world. In this work, a novel Cu-hemin nanosheet with multilayer structure was synthesized by a simple green method. Integrating the peroxidase properties of hemin with the excellent photothermal conversion performance of IR780, the as-prepared Cu-hemin@IR780 can not only effectively catalyze hydrogen peroxide to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS), but also has a highly efficient and stable photothermal effect for sterilization. The antibacterial efficiency against MRSA can reach up to 98.96% by using chemodynamic therapy (CDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT) for synergistic sterilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

2D perovskite solar cells (2D PVSCs) show good stability for commercialization. However, their power conversion efficiency (PCE) is relatively low. In this work, a post‐treatment strategy by simultaneously applying light and heat to quasi‐2D PVSCs, obtaining a record PCE of 18.24% is developed. It is found that heat‐treating PVSCs in the dark slightly increases the device performance over time at temperatures below 75 °C, whereas the performance deteriorates rapidly at temperatures above 100 °C. Upon illumination, the device efficiency is significantly improved, particularly when the thermal‐treatment temperature is increased to 100 °C. A comprehensive carrier dynamic study reveals that the enhanced performance can be attributed to the reduced quasi‐2D perovskite defect states and improved charge collection. In addition, this strategy enables better stability, and an unencapsulated device can retain 90% of its original PCE after 1340 h of direct exposure to air with a humidity of 50 ± 5%. Thus, the strategy paves the way for the commercialization of quasi‐2D PVSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chromosome 16p11.2 is one of the susceptible sites for recurrent copy number variations (CNVs) due to flanking near-identical segmental duplications. Five segmental duplications, named breakpoints 1 to 5 (BP1–BP5), have been defined as recombination hotspots within 16p11.2. Common CNVs on 16p11.2 include a proximal ~593 kb between BP4 and BP5, and a distal ~220 kb between BP2 and BP3. We performed a search for patients carrying 16p11.2 CNVs, as detected using chromosome microarray (CMA), in the Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), in Galveston. From March 2013 through April 2018, a total of 1200 CMA results were generated for germline testing, and 14 patients tested positive for 16p11.2 CNVs, of whom 7 had proximal deletion, 2 had distal deletion, 4 had proximal duplication, and 1 had distal duplication. Herein, we provide detailed phenotype data for these patients. Our study results show that developmental delay, abnormal body weight, behavioral problems, and hypotonia are common phenotypes associated with 16p11.2 CNVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to create more attractive graffiti works, the Internet of Things technology is used to collect people's preference information data, and then cloud computing and big data analysis are applied to calculate and analyze the data, so as to get more design elements in line with people's preferences, providing more material for the creators of graffiti art and facilitating their further creation of graffiti. In recent years, graffiti art, as a kind of postmodern marginal cultural art, has great expressiveness and creativity, which makes graffiti art widely used. Particularly in visual communication design, graffiti art has more characteristics and is deeply loved by the people. With the continuous development of science and technology, Internet of Things technology and cloud computing have acquired more information for many fields, thus assisting the field to complete deeper analysis and research. However, there are few applications in the field of graffiti art. Therefore, this paper combines cloud computing and Internet of Things to obtain more visual communication design elements to provide material for the creator, which is conductive for their continuing creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a theory to characterize the information and information processing abilities of metasurfaces, and demonstrate the relation between the information of the metasurface and its radiation pattern in the far-field region. By incorporating a general aperture model with uncertainty relation in L 2-space, we propose a theory to predict the upper bound of information contained in the radiation pattern of a metasurface, and reveal the theoretical upper limit of orthogonal radiation states. The proposed theory also provides guidance for inverse design of the metasurface with respect to given functionalities. Through investigation of the information of disordered-phase modulated metasurfaces, we find the information invariance (1−γ, where γ is Euler's constant) of chaotic radiation patterns. That is to say, the information of the disordered-phase modulated radiation patterns is always equal to 1− γ , regardless of variations in size, the number of elements and the phase pattern of metasurface. This value might be the lower bound of radiation-pattern information of the metasurface, which can provide a theoretical limit for information modulation applications, including computational imaging, stealth technologies and wireless communications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the phenomenon of Type-II curvature blow-up in mean curvature flows of rotationally symmetric noncompact embedded hypersurfaces. Using analytic techniques based on formal matched asymptotics and the construction of upper and lower barrier solutions enveloping formal solutions with prescribed behavior, we show that for each initial hypersurface considered, a mean curvature flow solution exhibits the following behavior near the "vanishing" time T: (1) The highest curvature concentrates at the tip of the hypersurface (an umbilic point), and for each choice of the parameter γ > 1 2 {\gamma>\frac{1}{2}} , there is a solution with the highest curvature blowing up at the rate (T - t) - (γ + 1 2) {(T-t)^{{-(\gamma+\frac{1}{2})}}}. (2) In a neighborhood of the tip, the solution converges to a translating soliton which is a higher-dimensional analogue of the "Grim Reaper" solution for the curve-shortening flow. (3) Away from the tip, the flow surface approaches a collapsing cylinder at a characteristic rate dependent on the parameter γ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Methods Results Conclusion Robotic gastrectomy is increasingly utilized for gastric cancer, but high morbidity remains a concern. Myosteatosis or low skeletal muscle density reflecting fatty infiltration, associates with complications after other cancer surgeries but has not been evaluated for robotic gastrectomy.This retrospective study analysed 381 patients undergoing robotic gastrectomy for gastric cancer from September 2019 to October 2022. Myosteatosis was quantified on preoperative computed tomography (CT) images at lumbar 3 (L3). Propensity score matching addressed potential confounding between myosteatosis and non‐myosteatosis groups. Outcomes were postoperative complications, 30 days mortality, 30 days readmissions and survival.Myosteatosis was present in 33.6% of patients. Myosteatosis associated with increased overall (47.7% vs. 26.5%, p < 0.001) and severe complications (12.4% vs. 4.9%, p < 0.001). After matching, myosteatosis remained associated with increased overall complications, major complications, intensive care unit (ICU) transfer and readmission (all p < 0.05). Myosteatosis independently predicted overall [odds ratio (OR) = 2.86, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.57–5.20, p = 0.001] and severe complications (OR = 4.81, 95% CI: 1.51–15.27, p = 0.008). Myosteatosis also associated with reduced overall (85.0% vs. 93.2%, p = 0.015) and disease‐free survival (80.3% vs. 88.4%, p=0.029). On multivariate analysis, myosteatosis independently predicted poorer survival [hazard ratio (HR) = 2.83, 95% CI: 1.32–6.08, p=0.012] and disease‐free survival (HR = 1.83, 95% CI: 1.01–3.30, p=0.032).Preoperative CT‐defined myosteatosis independently predicts increased postoperative complications and reduced long‐term survival after robotic gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Assessing myosteatosis on staging CT could optimize preoperative risk stratification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine the association between intraoperative renal tissue desaturation as measured using near-infrared spectroscopy and increased likelihood of developing postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in older patients undergoing hepatectomy. A multicenter prospective cohort study. The study was conducted at two tertiary hospitals in China from September 2020 to October 2021. 157 older patients (≥ 60 years) undergoing open hepatectomy surgery. Renal tissue oxygen saturation was continuously monitored during operation using near-infrared spectroscopy. The exposure of interest was intraoperative renal desaturation, defined as at least 20% relative decline in renal tissue oxygen saturation from baseline. The primary outcome was postoperative AKI, defined using the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes criteria according to the serum creatinine criteria. Renal desaturation occurred in 70 of 157 patients. Postoperative AKI was observed in 23% (16/70) and 8% (7/87) of patients with versus without renal desaturation. Patients with renal desaturation were at higher risk of AKI than patients without renal desaturation (adjusted odds ratio 3.41, 95% confidence interval: 1.12–10.36, p = 0.031). Predictive performance was 65.2% sensitivity and 33.6% specificity for hypotension alone, 69.6% sensitivity and 59.7% specificity for renal desaturation alone, and 95.7% sensitivity and 26.9% specificity for combined use of hypotension and renal desaturation. Intraoperative renal desaturation occurred in >40% in our sample of older patients undergoing liver resection and was associated with increased risk of AKI. Intraoperative near-infrared spectroscopy monitoring enhances the detection of AKI. • Renal tissue oxygen saturation declines frequently during hepatectomy. • Renal tissue desaturation increases the risk of postoperative acute kidney injury. • Renal tissue oxygenation monitoring enhances the detection of acute kidney injury. • Renal tissue desaturation predicts postoperative acute kidney injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A non-inertial mechanism for a very rapid particle accumulation is found. • The physics of the accumulation process is explained by identifying the source of dissipation responsible for the creation of particle-motion attractors. • The particle-accumulation process is proven to be universal for a subclass of particle-laden flows. • The general conditions under which the phenomenon occurs are clarified. Graphical abstract Abstract Particles transported by a fluid flow can accumulate in preferential regions. Usually, the clustering is caused by particle inertia, leading to inertial coherent particle structures. In the absence of inertia, particles can also cluster massively in a steady flow, solely owing to their size when they are repelled from a boundary by lubrication and lift forces. These forces can transfer the particles from the chaotic region to Kolmogorov–Arnold–Moser tori of the unperturbed incompressible flow, where they may focus on three-dimensional limit cycles. Numerical simulations for two different flow systems, taking into account the boundary-repulsion effect for finite-size particles, are in very good agreement with corresponding experiments. The results provide evidence that finite-size coherent particle structures are generic for a class of incompressible flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Research question To examine associations between sperm mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNAcn), sperm mitochondrial DNA deletions (mtDNAdel), semen parameters and clinical infertility in an IVF setting. Design A total of 125 sperm samples were collected from men undergoing assisted reproductive procedures in an IVF clinic in Western Massachusetts, USA. Sperm mtDNAcn and mtDNAdel were measured by probe-based quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Semen parameters, clinical diagnoses of infertility, and infertility based on consecutive semen parameters, were fitted with mtDNAcn and mtDNAdel in linear models. The utility of sperm mtDNAcn and mtDNAdel to predict infertility was assessed by receiver operating characteristic curves. Results Adjusting for relevant covariates, both sperm mtDNAcn and mtDNAdel were associated with lower sperm concentration, count, motility and morphology (P ≤ 0.03). Sperm mtDNAcn and mtDNAdel were also associated with increased risks of clinical infertility based on current and consecutive semen samples. Sperm mtDNAcn had high predictive accuracy for consecutive diagnoses of clinical infertility (C-statistic: 0.91), whereas sperm mtDNAdel had moderate predictive accuracy (C-statistic: 0.75). Conclusions Sperm mtDNAcn is a measure of consecutive abnormal semen parameters and has promise as a diagnostic test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Question: Are sperm mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNAcn) and deletion rate (mtDNAdel) associated with odds of fertilization and high embryo quality at Days 3 and 5?Summary Answer: Higher sperm mtDNAcn and mtDNAdel were associated with lower odds of high quality Day 3 embryos and transfer quality Day 5 embryos, both of which were primarily driven by lowered odds of fertilization.What Is Known Already: Sperm mtDNAcn and mtDNAdel have been previously associated with poor semen parameters and clinical male infertility. One prior study has shown that mtDNAdel is associated with lower fertilization rates. However, it is unknown whether these characteristics are linked with ART outcomes.Study Design, Size, Duration: This prospective observational study included 119 sperm samples collected from men undergoing ART in Western Massachusetts. ART outcomes were observed through to Day 5 post-insemination.Participants/materials, Settings, Methods: As part of the Sperm Environmental Epigenetics and Development Study (SEEDS), 119 sperm samples were collected from men undergoing ART in Western Massachusetts. Sperm mtDNAcn and mtDNAdel were measured via triplex probe-based qPCR. Fertilization, Day 3 embryo quality and Day 5 embryo quality measures were fitted with mtDNAcn and mtDNAdel using generalized estimating equations.Main Results and the Role Of Chance: After adjusting for male age and measurement batches, higher sperm mtDNAcn and mtDNAdel were associated with lower odds of fertilization (P = 0.01 and P < 0.01), high quality Day 3 embryos (P = 0.02 for both) and transfer quality Day 5 embryos (P = 0.01 and P = 0.09). However, the associations of mtDNAcn and mtDNAdel with Day 3 high quality status and Day 5 transfer quality status were attenuated in models restricted to fertilized oocytes. Sperm mtDNAcn and mtDNAdel remained statistically significant in models adjusted for both male age and semen parameters, although models including both mtDNA markers generally favoured mtDNAdel.Limitations, Reasons For Caution: Our sample only included oocytes and embryos from 119 couples and thus large diverse cohorts are necessary to confirm the association of sperm mtDNA biomarkers with embryo development.Wider Implications Of the Findings: To our knowledge, our study is the first to assess the associations of sperm mtDNAcn and mtDNAdel with fertilization and embryo quality. The biological mechanism(s) underlying these associations are unknown. Multivariable models suggest that sperm mtDNAcn and mtDNAdel provide discrimination independent of age and semen parameters; therefore, future investigation of the utility of sperm mtDNA as a biomarker for ART outcomes is warranted.Study Funding/competing Interest(s): This work was supported by Grant (K22-ES023085) from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The authors declare no competing interests.Trial Registration Number: N/A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An electrochemical biosensor based on iron tetroxide (Fe 3 O 4)/carboxylated carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs-COOH)/gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) was designed for the detection of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), which is often used as an important indicator for the early clinical diagnosis of liver cancer markers. The Fe 3 O 4 /MWCNTs-COOH nanocomposite was synthesized by a solvothermal method and it combined with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) deposited at the constant potential on a glassy carbon electrode to form Fe 3 O 4 /MWCNTs-COOH/AuNPs, which intensifies the electrical signal while the large active sites enable more stable immobilization of the AFP monoclonal antibodies on the electrode. The electrochemical performance of Fe 3 O 4 /MWCNTs-COOH/AuNPs was investigated in detail and the electrochemical response signal after the immune reaction with the AFP antigen-antibody was recorded. The peak current Ip of the response signal is linearly proportional to the lg c AFP in the range of 1 pg mL−1–10 μg mL−1, with a detection limit of 1.09034 pg mL−1 and good performance in clinical sample testing. The proposed sensor has shown great application and development potential in clinical medicine field. [Display omitted] • Fe 3 O 4 /MWCNTs-COOH/AuNPs was obtained by hydrothermal and electrodeposition. • Fe 3 O 4 /MWCNTs-COOH/AuNPs composites can enhance electrochemical signal and provide abundant active sites for immobilization of AFP antibodies. • A low detection limit of 1.09034 pg mL−1 and a 1 pg mL−1–10 μg mL−1 wide range of linearity are achieved. • The sensor has great application value in early clinical diagnosis of liver cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A desirable lanthanide-based ratiometric fluorescent probe was designed and integrated into a self-designed Fermat spiral microfluidic chip (FS-MC) for the automated determination of a unique bacterial endospore biomarker, dipicolinic acid (DPA), with high selectivity and sensitivity. Here, a blue emission wavelength at 425 nm was generated in the Fermat spiral structure by mixing the europium (Eu3+) and luminol to form the Eu3+/Luminol sensing probe. DPA in the reservoir can be used to specifically bind to Eu3+ under the negative pressure and transfer energy from DPA to Eu3+ sequentially via an antenna effect, thus resulting in a significant increase in the red fluorescence emission peak at 615 nm. According to the fluorescence intensity ratio (F615/F425), a good linearity can be obtained with increasing the concentration of DPA from 0 to 200 μM with a limit of detection as low as 10.11 nM. Interestingly, the designed FS-MC can achieve rapid detection of DPA in only 1 min, reducing detection time and improving sensitivity. Furthermore, a self-designed device integrated with the FS-MC and a smartphone color picker APP was employed for the rapid automatic point-of-care testing (POCT) of DPA in the field, simplifying complex processes and reducing testing times, thus confirming the great promise of this ready-to-use measurement platform for in situ inspection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]