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Abstract Background and objective Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a common respiratory disease that frequently requires hospitalisation, and is a significant cause of death worldwide. This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of alpha-1-antichymotrypsin (AACT) as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker of CAP. Methods We conducted a multicentre prospective cohort study in patients hospitalised with CAP. Plasma AACT levels were measured using a quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves and Cox proportional hazards regression were used to assess the association between plasma AACT levels and CAP diagnosis and prognosis. Results A total of 274 patients with CAP were enrolled in the study. AACT levels were elevated in patients with CAP, especially those with severe CAP and non-survivors. The area under the curve (AUC) of AACT and CRP for diagnosing CAP was 0.755 and 0.843. Cox regression showed that CURB-65 and AACT levels were independent predictors of 30-day mortality. ROC curves showed that plasma AACT levels had the highest accuracy for predicting acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), with an AUC of 0.862. Combining AACT with Pneumonia Severity Index and CURB-65 significantly improved their predictive accuracy for predicting 30-day mortality. Conclusion Plasma AACT levels are elevated in patients with CAP, but plasma AACT level is inferior to the C-reactive protein level for diagnosing CAP. The AACT level can reliably predict the occurrence of ARDS and 30-day mortality in patients with CAP.

Summary: Background: Checkpoint inhibitor pneumonitis (CIP) is a potentially fatal adverse event characterized by new pulmonary infiltrates in cancer patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. This study aims to explore the interplay between lung microbiota, dysregulated metabolites, and host immunity in CIP. Methods: We recruited thirteen hospitalized CIP patients, eleven idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients, and ten new-onset non-small cell lung cancer patients. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples were collected for 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The percentages of immune cells were determined using manual counting and flow cytometry. Interactions among microbiota, metabolites, and lymphocytes were analyzed using cultured mouse splenocytes and human T cells. Findings: Proteobacteria emerged as the dominant phylum, notably abundant in both the CIP and IPF groups. Vibrio, Halomonas, Mangrovibacter, and Salinivibrio were the predominant microbiota because of their discriminative abundance patterns. Vibrio (r = 0.72, P-adj = 0.007) and Halomonas (r = 0.65, P-adj = 0.023) demonstrated strong correlations with lymphocytes. Vibrio metschnikovii and Mangrovibacter plantisponsors were more abundant in the CIP group than in the IPF group. Lauroylcarnitine, a key intermediary metabolite co-occurring with the predominant microbiota, exhibited a potent effect on cytokine secretion by mouse and human T cells, notably enhancing IFN-γ and TNF-α production from CD4 and CD8 cells in vitro. Interpretation: Lauroylcarnitine, co-occurring with the predominant lung microbiota in CIP, could activate T cells in vitro. These findings suggest potential involvement of lung microbiota and acylcarnitine metabolism dysregulation in the pathogenesis of CIP. Funding: This work was supported by Peking University People’s Hospital Scientific Research Development Funds (RDJ2022-15) and Provincial Key Clinical Specialty Capacity Building Project 2020 (Department of the Respiratory Medicine).

Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) is a high-throughput detection technology with superior specificity and sensitivity, which combines ligation-dependent probe hybridization and PCR amplification. However, the whole process requires repeated temperature change, and the detection results need high resolution agarose electrophoresis or capillary electrophoresis, which limits its application. In viewing of its advantages, an isothermal reaction process based on that combined Hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and hydrogel technology is developed, in order to achieve visual output of detection results without relying on any large instruments and equipment. The edible mushroom is taken as the detection target, and the LP probes were designed according to its reported endogenous reference gene. Through optimizing the reaction conditions, only the samples contained target component, the result showed irregular hydrogel. This visual detection system had good specificity, which detection limit was as low as 0.32 ng/μL. The development of this method provides a new strategy for species identification and adulteration detection of edible mushroom, even for more DNA target detection.

Abstract Background The excellent efficacy is mitigated by the limited safety profile of microfocused ultrasound procedures. Objective We sought to assess the safety and tightening efficacy of a novel microfocused ultrasound. Methods The randomized middle and lower face and submental region of the participants were treated with the novel device using the following transducers: M4.5, D4.5, M3.0, and D3.0. Improvement in paired comparison of pretreatment and posttreatment photographs, three-dimensional (3D) volumetric assessments, skin thickness measured by B-ultrasonography, and skin photoaging parameters were evaluated. Adverse events and patient satisfaction were also recorded. Results A total of 20 participants (20 female) were enrolled. Fourteen of 20 participants (70%) were judged to show clinically significant facial tightening during 3-month follow-up (P

Abstract Objective Droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) is a novel assay to detect pneumocystis jjrovecii (Pj) which has been defined to be more sensitive than qPCR in recent studies. We aimed to explore whether clinical features of pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) were associated with ddPCR copy numbers of Pj. Methods A total of 48 PCP patients were retrospectively included. Pj detection was implemented by ddPCR assay within 4 h. Bronchoalveolar fluid (BALF) samples were collected from 48 patients with molecular diagnosis as PCP via metagenomic next generation sequencing (mNGS) or quantitative PCR detection. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were performed to screen out possible indicators for the severity of PCP. The patients were divided into two groups according to ddPCR copy numbers, and their clinical features were further analyzed. Results Pj loading was a pro rata increase with serum (1,3)-beta-D glucan, D-dimmer, neutrophil percentage, procalcitonin and BALF polymorphonuclear leucocyte percentage, while negative correlation with albumin, PaO2/FiO2, BALF cell count, and BALF lymphocyte percentage. D-dimmer and ddPCR copy number of Pj were independent indicators for moderate/severe PCP patients with PaO2/FiO2 lower than 300. We made a ROC analysis of ddPCR copy number of Pj for PaO2/FiO2 index and grouped the patients according to the cut-off value (2.75). The high copy numbers group was characterized by higher level of inflammatory markers. Compared to low copy number group, there was lower level of the total cell count while higher level of polymorphonuclear leucocyte percentage in BALF in the high copy numbers group. Different from patients with high copy numbers, those with high copy numbers had a tendency to develop more severe complications and required advanced respiratory support. Conclusion The scenarios of patients infected with high ddPCR copy numbers of Pj showed more adverse clinical conditions. Pj loading could reflect the severity of PCP to some extent.

Background & Aims: Long-term studies of the prognosis of NAFLD are scarce. Here, we investigated the risk of major adverse liver outcomes (MALO) in a large cohort of patients with NAFLD. Methods: We conducted a cohort study with data from Swedish university hospitals. Patients (n = 1,260) with NAFLD without cirrhosis were diagnosed through biopsy or radiology, and had fibrosis estimated through vibration-controlled transient elastography, biopsy, or FIB-4 score between 1974 and 2020 and followed up through 2020. Each patient was matched on age, sex, and municipality with up to 10 reference individuals from the general population (n = 12,529). MALO were ascertained from Swedish national registers. The rate of events was estimated by Cox regression. Results: MALO occurred in 111 (8.8%, incidence rate = 5.9/1,000 person-years) patients with NAFLD and 197 (1.6%, incidence rate = 1.0/1,000 person-years) reference individuals during a median follow up of 13 years. The rate of MALO was higher in patients with NAFLD (hazard ratio = 6.6; 95% CI = 5.2–8.5). The risk of MALO was highly associated with the stage of fibrosis at diagnosis. In the biopsy subcohort (72% of total sample), there was no difference in risk between patients with and without non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. The 20-year cumulative incidences of MALO were 2% for the reference population, 3% for patients with F0, and 35% for F3. Prognostic information from biopsy was comparable to FIB-4 (C-indices around 0.73 vs. 0.72 at 10 years). Conclusions: This study provides updated information on the natural history of NAFLD, showing a high rate of progression to cirrhosis in F3 and a similar prognostic capacity of non-invasive tests to liver biopsy. Impact and implications: Several implications for clinical care and future research may be noted based on these results. First, the risk estimates for cirrhosis development are important when communicating risk to patients and deciding on clinical monitoring and treatment. Estimates can also be used in updated health-economic evaluations, and for regulatory agencies. Second, our results again highlight the low predictive information obtained from ascertaining NASHstatus by histology and call for more objective means by which to define NASH. Such methods may include artificial intelligence-supported digital pathology. We highlight that NASH is most likely the causal factor for fibrosis progression in NAFLD, but the subjective definition makes the prognostic value of a histological NASH diagnosis of limited value. Third, the finding that prognostic information from biopsy and the very simple Fibrosis-4 score were comparable is important as it may lead to fewer biopsies and further move the field towards non-invasive means by which to define fibrosis and, importantly, use non-invasive tests as outcomes in clinical trials. However, all modalities had modest discriminatory capacity and new risk stratification systems are needed in NAFLD. Repeated measures of non-invasive scores may be a potential solution.

Abstract Despite the rapid progress of organic solar cells based on non-fullerene acceptors, simultaneously achieving high power conversion efficiency and long-term stability for commercialization requires sustainable research effort. Here, we demonstrate stable devices by integrating a wide bandgap electron-donating polymer (namely PTzBI-dF) and two acceptors (namely L8BO and Y6) that feature similar structures yet different thermal and morphological properties. The organic solar cell based on PTzBI-dF:L8BO:Y6 could achieve a promising efficiency of 18.26% in the conventional device structure. In the inverted structure, excellent long-term thermal stability over 1400 h under 85 °C continuous heating is obtained. The improved performance can be ascribed to suppressed charge recombination along with appropriate charge transport. We find that the morphological features in terms of crystalline coherence length of fresh and aged films can be gradually regulated by the weight ratio of L8BO:Y6. Additionally, the occurrence of melting point decrease and reduced enthalpy in PTzBI-dF:L8BO:Y6 films could prohibit the amorphous phase to cluster, and consequently overcome the energetic traps accumulation aroused by thermal stress, which is a critical issue in high efficiency non-fullerene acceptors-based devices. This work provides insight into understanding non-fullerene acceptors-based organic solar cells for improved efficiency and stability.

Based on the existing research work on the modeling and control of cyclically operated high-throughput screening systems, this paper presents the scheduling and control of high-throughput screening systems with uncertainties and disturbances. Different definitions of disturbance decoupling problems are considered in order to achieve the optimal scheduling of high-throughput screening systems. Online scheduling was achieved by computing optimal prefilters and output feedback controllers, which can be computed using residuation theory. The control strategies achieved by the controllers are optimal in the sense of the just-in-time criterion commonly used in industrial schedule practice.

Abstract Lentinus edodes is a fungus with rich nutritional value and good medicinal value and has accordingly become a substitute for other expensive wild edible mushrooms. In this study, for the first time, the matB gene was selected as an endogenous reference gene of L. edodes and identified as the species‐specific gene. The matB genes of L. edodes and 18 non‐L. edodes species were determined by qualitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR), but no amplification was found in non‐L. edodes species. In SYBR Green quantitative PCR analysis, the detection limit was as low as 16 pg/µl of DNA template. All of these experiments indicated that the matB gene is an ideal reference gene and can detect L. edodes material through qualitative and quantitative PCR assays. It also provides a convenient and accurate approach for the detection of L. edodes products and the adulteration in wild edible mushroom products.

When using current methods to predict electricity theft behavior, there are problems of large sample data errors before training, high line loss rate, and low prediction effect. To this end, a power-stealing behavior prediction method based on multi-dimensional features and BP neural network is proposed. The method first extracts the abnormal power usage characteristics according to the abnormal features of the user’s power usage behavior. Then the genetic algorithm is used to optimize the BP network, and the optimized network is used to train the abnormal power consumption characteristics. Finally, a prediction model is established based on the training results to achieve the final prediction. The experimental results show that the training error test, line loss rate test and prediction effect test of the method before and after training verify the practicability and effectiveness of the method.

For a long time, power supply enterprises have been plagued by the problem of electricity theft and default. Although power supply enterprises have strengthened anti-theft measures from various aspects, the huge benefits brought by electricity theft and default have driven the development trend of electricity theft methods to be more complicated and concealed, which has brought great challenges to the anti-theft work. In order to quickly and accurately locate the suspected users of ”defaulting on electricity consumption and stealing electricity”, based on the massive data of marketing business application system and electricity consumption information collection system, this paper analyzes and studies the existing common means of stealing electricity, and establishes an anti-stealing diagnostic analysis model by combining the correlation analysis algorithm, extracts the abnormal data related to stealing electricity and its prevention and investigation, and accurately locks the suspected users. The aim is to improve the efficiency and accuracy of preventing and investigating electricity theft, so as to effectively curb the occurrence of electricity theft, reduce the line loss rate, ensure the safety of the power grid and improve the efficiency of power supply enterprises.

As we all know, the behavior of stealing electric energy governance is always the difficulty and key point in the management of electric power enterprises. In recent years, as bitcoin’s value continued to climb, the theft of electricity by bitcoin mining user began to appear. In order to solve the power theft problem of bitcoin mining users, we conducted an in-depth study on the power consumption behavior of such users based on the power data analysis technology. This paper analyzes the power consumption characteristics of bitcoin mining users and uses electric data acquire system to monitor power consumption behavior. The paper makes comparative analysis on the massive data such as voltage and power of the electric energy acquisition system, analyzes and calculates the Pearson correlation coefficient between the electricity consumption of each customer and the line loss statistics of the power station by using Pearson correlation algorithm combined with the power loss of the power station, and analyzes the suspected users of stealing electric energy by taking an actual example. Through our research, we found a total of 16 bitcoin miners suspected of stealing electricity. After on-site investigation and evidence collection, we found that 10 of the users did have abnormal power consumption, and the accuracy rate reached 62.50%. Therefore, the economic benefits of this research are very significant.

Bacillus cereus is a common pathogen causing foodborne diseases, secreting and producing a large number of toxins that can cause a variety of diseases and pose many threats to human health. In this study, 73 strains of Bacillus cereus were isolated and identified from six types of foods from seven different cities in a province, and the antibiotic-resistant phenotype was detected by using the Bauer–Kirby method. Results showed that the 73 isolates were completely sensitive to gentamicin and 100% resistant to chloramphenicol, in addition to which all strains showed varying degrees of resistance to 13 other common antibiotics, and a large number of strains resistant to multiple antibiotics were found. A bioinformatic analysis of the expression of resistance genes in Bacillus cereus showed three classes of antibiotic-resistant genes, which were three of the six classes of antibiotics identified according to the resistance phenotype. The presence of other classes of antibiotic-resistant genes was identified from genome-wide information. Antibiotic-resistant phenotypes were analyzed for correlations with genotype, and remarkable differences were found among the phenotypes. The spread of antibiotic-resistant strains is a serious public health problem that requires the long-term monitoring of antimicrobial resistance in Bacillus cereus, and the present study provides important information for monitoring antibiotic resistance in bacteria from different types of food.

Bacillus cereus is an important zoonotic foodborne conditional pathogen. It is found in vegetables, dairy products, rice, and other foods, thereby greatly endangering human health. Investigations on B. cereus contamination in China primarily focus on raw milk, dairy products, meat, and others, and limited research has been conducted on plant-based foodstuffs. The rapid development of sequencing technology and the application of bioinformatics-related techniques means that analysis based on whole-genome sequencing has become an important tool for the molecular-epidemiology investigation of B. cereus. In this study, we investigated the contamination of B. cereus in six types of commercially available plant foods from eight regions of a province. The molecular epidemiology of the isolated B. cereus was analyzed by whole-genome sequencing. We aimed to provide fundamental data for the surveillance and epidemiology analysis of B. cereus in food products in China. The rapid traceability system of B. cereus established in this study can provide a basis for rapid molecular epidemiology analysis of B. cereus, as well as for the prevention and surveillance of B. cereus. Moreover, it can also be expanded to monitoring and rapid tracing of more foodborne pathogens.

Foodborne pathogens are the main factors affecting food quality and safety. Timely and accurate strain typing data enable rapid detection of outbreak clusters, informing ongoing infection control and public health responses, which are important for preventing the outbreak of foodborne disease. In recent years, great progress has been made in various bacterial typing methods. This paper reviews typing techniques against foodborn bacterial pathogens, including serotyping, phage typing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, Repetitive-element PCR (Rep-PCR), infrequent restriction site PCR (IRS-PCR), amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), multilocus sequence typing (MLST), core-genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST), single nucleotide polymorphism, and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). The principles of the different techniques are described with the condition in which they are applicable, and a comparative analysis of the traceability typing ability is discussed to provide epidemiological surveillance programmers for foodborne pathogens.

Background Broadband light (BBL) is one of the intense pulsed light. BBL treatment for nonablative, noninvasive skin tightening and rejuvenation reportedly elicits satisfactory clinical outcomes. Up until now, self-controlled case series with objective evaluation of efficacy of facial pores in response to BBL treatment have not been reported. We aimed to assess its safety and efficacy on enlarged facial pores by objective measuring technique. Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of BBL on the appearance of facial pores. Methods 25 patients received five treatments with BBL at 2-week intervals. One split-face was treated by BBL, another split-face was untreated as a control. Objective measurements of the quantitative number of pores were calculated with a VISIA-CR imaging system. Skin elasticity, transepidermal water loss, skin sebum excretion, and skin surface hydration values were also evaluated by using an Elastimeter, Vapometer, Sebumscale, and Moisturemeter. Results Pretreatment, the total average number of facial pores was 835.88 and 835.68 for BBL-treated facial sides and untreated facial sides, respectively (p = .993). These values were 801.44 and 811.8, respectively, 2 months after the final treatment (p = .606). There were no long-term side effects. Conclusion BBL seems to be a safe and mildly effective approach to reduce detectable pores.

BackgroundCommunity-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a respiratory disease that frequently requires hospital admission, and is a significant cause of death worldwide. Plasma fetuin-A levels were significantly lower in patients with sepsis, but data regarding CAP are scarce. This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of fetuin-A as a prognostic biomarker of CAP.MethodsA multicenter cohort study on CAP was conducted between January 2017 and December 2018. Demographic and clinical data were recorded for all enrolled patients. Plasma fetuin-A levels were determined using a quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. A Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to analyse the effect of variables on 30-day mortality. A logistic regression analysis was performed to assess risk factors associated with severe CAP (SCAP) and 30-day mortality. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to verify the association between variables and CAP prognosis. Correlations were assessed using Spearman's test. Survival curves were constructed and compared using the log-rank test.ResultsA total of 283 patients with CAP were enrolled in this study. Fetuin-A levels were decreased in patients with CAP, especially in SCAP and non-survivors. A cox regression analysis showed that CURB-65 and fetuin-A levels were independent prognostic indicators of 30-day mortality. Via a multiple logistic regression analysis, plasma level of fetuin-A (

Shigella and Bacillus cereus are two common foodborne pathogens that cause intestinal diseases and seriously affect human life and health. Traditional microbiological culture methods are time-consuming and laborious, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods rely on expensive thermal cyclers and lengthy reaction times. In this study, on the basis of the specific gene ipaH7 of Shigella and the virulence gene nheABC of B. cereus, a duplex detection system was established for the first time by using the recombinase polymerase amplification technique (D-RPA). After optimization, D-RPA could be effectively amplified at 42 °C for 25 min with excellent specificity, and the detection limits of D-RPA for Shigella and B. cereus in artificially contaminated samples were 2.7 × 101 and 5.2 × 102 CFU/mL, respectively. This study provides a certain research basis for multiple detection with RPA, an isothermal amplification technology. Furthermore, it lays a good foundation for high-throughput rapid detection of foodborne pathogens.

In this paper, a “turn-off” biosensor for detecting copper (II) ions based on Cu2+-dependent DNAzyme and a “blocker” beacon were developed. Upon the copper ion being added, the Cu2+-dependent DNAzyme substrate strand was irreversibly cleaved, thereby blocking the occurrence of the ligation reaction and PCR, which inhibited the G-rich sequence from forming the G-quadruplex structure, efficiently reducing the detection signal. This method had the characteristics of strong specificity and high sensitivity compared with the existing method due to the application of ligation-dependent probe signal recognition and amplification procedures. Under the optimized conditions, this method proved to be highly sensitive. The signal decreased as the concentration of copper ions increased, exhibiting a linear calibration from 0.03125 μM to 0.5 μM and a limit of detection of 18.25 nM. Subsequently, the selectivity of this biosensor was verified to be excellent by testing different relevant metal ions. Furthermore, this detection system of copper (II) ions was successfully applied to monitor Cu2+ contained in actual water samples, which demonstrated the feasibility of the biosensor.

Hyperpigmentation is a common complaint and distressing problem in dermatology, and tranexamic acid (TA) is an effective treatment agent but limited by the delivery to melanocytes in the epidermis. Herein, a novel TA naogels (named HA/TA-LP), combining the advantages of liposomes and hyaluronic acid (HA), are prepared and assessed for topical hyperpigmentation treatment with targeting delivery and minimizing epidermal diffusion. Morphological characteristics indicate numerous TA-loaded liposomes packed in HA gels. In vitro cell studies using human A375 melanoma cells show that HA/TA-LP can promote the uptake of TA by targeting delivery with resulting inhibition of tyrosinase activity and melanin production. Guinea pigs are used to construct hyperpigmentation models and investigate the topical delivery and treatment efficacy of HA/TA-LP. In vivo topical delivery studies indicate HA/TA-LP realize the effective delivery into melanocytes with an ideal balance of effective permeability and minimizing epidermal diffusion. Subsequently, hyperpigmentation treatment assessments reveal that HA/TA-LP inhibit tyrosinase activity and melanin production under the radiation of UVB. Our study identifies favorable properties of HA/TA-LP for treating hyperpigmentation, and provides an experimental basis for further clinical application.

The linear demodulation range and background noise of the Michelson interferometer system are investigated with a laser phase noise measurement system. We have theoretically and experimentally analyzed the performance of the interferometer system by changing the frequency modulation amplitude of the laser and the optical path difference (OPD) of the interferometer, respectively. It is shown that the linear demodulation range of the Michelson interferometer system is finite, which depends on the parameters of the system, such as the sample frequency, the delay time between two interferometer arms, and the system bandwidth. Furthermore, the experimental results indicate that the background noise of the interferometer system can be reduced by using a sufficiently long OPD so that the smaller true phase information can be detected with the demodulation system. The parameters of the measurement system could be optimized to satisfy the demand of the phase demodulation with different levels, which is of great significance for the phase monitoring interrogator, such as fiber-optical interferometer sensors and distributed acoustic sensors.

The novel wettability switchable cellulose nanofiber- (CNF-) based aerogel was conveniently prepared by polydopamine mediated composition of CNF and n-dodecanethiol. The wettability of aerogels can be controlled by adjusting the PDA and n-dodecanethiol loading content, which leads to a variation of water contact angle from 0-149°. The PDA was coated on cellulose nanofibers via hydrogen bonds and then n-dodecanethiol was anchored onto the scaffolds by Michael addition reaction, which was revealed by XPS and FTIR spectra. The composite aerogel can selectively absorb a series of oily liquids from the oil/water mixture, with the maximum absorption capacity of 68 g/g. This work presented a facile strategy to prepare wettability switchable CNF-based heterogenous aerogel and exhibited the potential of the composite aerogel for oil/water separation.

Boletus reticulatus is a wild edible fungus with high nutritional value in Yunnan Province. In this study, B. reticulatus was used as the research object to diagnose the species characteristics. A commercial kit was used to extract the DNA of various fungi, and the quality of DNA was determined by using universal fungus primers. Through sequence alignment, the spt5 gene was selected as the species-specific gene of B. reticulatus. This gene was then qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed by PCR. In the qualitative detection, the spt5 amplification products were only found in B. reticulatus which proved its good specificity. Meanwhile, SYBR Green I based quantitative PCR results were highly sensitive, and the limit of detection was 0.04 ng of genomic DNA. These experiments illustrated that spt5 is an ideal species-specific gene for the quantitative and qualitative detection of B. reticulatus. This method is also suitable for the analysis of the processed samples of B. reticulatus and the determination of the adulteration of edible wild mushrooms.

To elucidate the mechanism of the multi-target action of Epimedii Folium on Alzheimer’s disease, this study focuses on the analysis of network pharmacology. Based on a bioinformatics approach, this study obtained the effective components of Epimedium through the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform, predicted the compound targets through the Pharmapper and Swiss target prediction database and then through Gene Expression Omnibus Datasets and Therapeutic Target Database. We collected and analysed of heral and disease targets, constructed the network. Through the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway, Gene Ontology enrichment, then the key targets and pathways of Epimedii Folium to cope with Alzheimer’s disease have been identified. Twenty-three bioactive components and 477 potential target genes of Epimedii Folium were identified. A total of 1612 target diseases were identified. Through network module analysis, 30 hub target genes were identified. Through enrichment analysis of the KEGG pathway, hub target genes were largely enriched in the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway. Through the analysis of network pharmacology, it was found that Epimedii Folium might play the role of multi-compound and multi-target therapy through the PI3K-AKT signaling pathway. These findings provide helpful directions for future clinical studies.

With the rapid development of the high-speed railway industry, the safety of railway operations is becoming increasingly important. As a symmetrical structure, traditional manual patrol and camera surveillance solutions on both sides of the railway require enormous manpower and material resources and are highly susceptible to weather and electromagnetic interference. In contrast, a distributed fiber optic vibration sensing system can be continuously monitored and is not affected by electromagnetic interference to false alarms. However, it is still a challenge to identify the type of intrusion event along the fiber optic cable. In this paper, a railway intrusion event classification and location scheme based on a distributed vibration sensing system was proposed. In order to improve the accuracy and reliability of the recognition, a 1 DSE-ResNeXt+SVM method was demonstrated. Squeeze-and-excitation blocks with attention mechanisms increased the classification ability by sifting through feature information without being influenced by non-critical information, while a support vector machine classifier can further improve the classification accuracy. The method achieved an accuracy of 96.0% for the identification of railway intrusion events with the field experiments. It illustrates that the proposed scheme can significantly improve the safety of railway operations and reduce the loss of personnel and property safety.

Distributed acoustic sensing techniques based on Rayleigh scattering have been widely used in many applications due to their unique advantages, such as long-distance detection, high spatial resolution, and wide sensing bandwidth. In this paper, we provide a review of the recent advancements in distributed acoustic sensing techniques. The research progress and operation principles are systematically reviewed. The pivotal technologies and solutions applied to distributed acoustic sensing are introduced in terms of polarization fading, coherent fading, spatial resolution, frequency response, signal-to-noise ratio, and sensing distance. The applications of the distributed acoustic sensing are covered, including perimeter security, earthquake monitoring, energy exploration, underwater positioning, and railway monitoring. The potential developments of the distributed acoustic sensing techniques are also discussed.

Background & Aims: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is common in the general population, but its association with dementia is unclear. We aimed to assess the risk of dementia related to NAFLD, and to determine whether histological parameters could improve the predictive capacity of a conventional risk model for dementia in patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD. Methods: A retrospective matched cohort study of 656 NAFLD patients underwent liver biopsy at 2 hospitals between 1971 and 2009. Up to 10 individuals (controls) from the general population (n = 6,436) were matched for age, sex, and municipality to each patient. Dementia was ascertained from National registers until 2014. Using Cox regression, we estimated hazard ratios for dementia with 95% confidence intervals. In the biopsy cohort, the discriminative power of adding histological markers to a conventional risk model was assessed by Harrell’s C-index and compared with a likelihood-ratio test. Results: During a mean follow-up of 19.7 ± 8.7 years, 3.3% of the NAFLD patients and 4.9% of the controls developed dementia (p = 0.07). Overall, NAFLD was not significantly associated with incident dementia. In the biopsy cohort, the model of conventional risk factors (age, sex, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases) had a C-index of 0.912 to predict incident dementia. Adding individual histological parameters significantly increased the prediction of dementia, with the most pronounced improvement for fibrosis stage (C-index = 0.938, p

This paper presents a novel parallel dual-stage compliant nanopositioning system (PDCNS), aimed at nanoscale positioning for microscale manipulation. In the developed PDCNS, the coarse stage actuated by the voice coil motor and the fine stage driven by the piezoelectric actuator are integrated in a parallel manner by a specially devised A-shaped compliant mechanism, which leads to many excellent performances, such as good resolution and large stroke and broadband. To enhance the closed-loop-positioning capability of the proposed PDCNS, a double-servo cooperative control (DSCC) strategy is specially constructed. The performance of the proposed PDCNS is evaluated by analytical model, finite element analysis, and experimental research. Results show that the first-order resonance frequency of the designed A-shaped compliant mechanism can reach 99.7 Hz. Combined with the designed DSCC, the developed PDCNS prototype is demonstrated to provide a stroke of 1.49 mm and a positioning resolution of ≤50 nm.

We demonstrate a non-intrusive dynamic monitoring method of oil well flow based on distributed optical fiber acoustic sensing (DAS) technology and the turbulent vibration. The quantitative measurement of the flow rate is theoretically acquired though the amplitude of the demodulated phase changes from DAS based on the flow impact in the tube on the pipe wall. The experimental results show that the relationships between the flow rate and the demodulated phase changes, in both a whole frequency region and in a sensitive-response frequency region, fit the quadratic equation well, with a max R2 of 0.997, which is consistent with the theoretical simulation results. The detectable flow rate is from 0.73 m3/h to 2.48 m3/h. The experiments verify the feasibility of DAS system flow monitoring and provide technical support for the practical application of the downhole flow measurement.

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a respiratory disease frequently requiring hospital admission, and a significant cause of death worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of clinical indicators. A prospective, multi-center study was conducted (January 2017-December 2018) where patient demographic and clinical data were recorded (N = 366). The 30-day mortality rate was 5.46%. Cox Regression analyses showed that serum albumin (ALB) and respiratory rate (RR) were independent prognostic variables for 30-day survival in patients with CAP. Albumin negatively correlated with the Pneumonia Severity Index (PSI) and CURB-65 scores using Pearson and Spearman tests. Survival curves showed that a RR >24 breaths/min or ALB ≤30 g/L were associated with a significantly higher risk of mortality. The area-under-the-curve (AUC) for predicting 30-day mortality in patients with CAP was 0.762, 0.763, 0.790, and 0.784 for ALB, RR, PSI, and CURB-65, respectively. The AUC for the prediction of 30-day mortality using ALB combined with PSI, CURB-65 scores, and RR was 0.822 (95% CI 0.731-0.912), 0.847 (95% CI 0.755-0.938), and 0.847 (95% CI 0.738-0.955), respectively. Albumin and RR were found to be reliable prognostic factors for CAP. This combination showed equal predictive value when compared to adding ALB assessment to PSI and CURB-65 scores, which could improve their prognostic accuracy.

Background Cardiovascular risk burden has been linked to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cognitive decline, but its association with disability is unclear. We aimed to examined the association of cardiovascular risk burden assessed by the Framingham general cardiovascular risk score (FGCRS) with the risk and progression of disability and estimated the extent to which CVD and cognitive decline mediate this association. Methods and Results A total of 1480 older adults with no disabilities (mean age=79.32±7.38 years) from the Rush Memory and Aging Project were followed for up to 21 years. FGCRS at baseline was calculated and categorized into tertiles. Disability was assessed annually with activities of daily living. The number of CVDs was calculated by summing up the CVD events. Global cognitive function was assessed annually with a battery of 19 tests. Data were analyzed using the Cox model, linear mixed effects model, and mediation analysis. At the end of the follow‐up, 713 (48.2%) participants developed disability. Compared with the lowest tertile of the FGCRS, the multiadjusted hazards ratios of disability were 1.34 (95% CI, 1.11–1.62) for the highest tertile. In addition, the highest FGCRS was associated with a change in activities of daily living score over time (β=0.057; 95% CI, 0.021–0.093). The association between FGCRS and change in activities of daily living was 13.8% mediated by the accumulation of CVDs and 25.1% by cognitive decline, respectively. Conclusions Higher cardiovascular risk burden increased the risk of disability and accelerated its progression over time. CVD accumulation and cognitive decline may partially mediate the association.

Abstract Background Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a major cause of death worldwide and occurs with variable severity. There are few studies focused on the expression of soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) and syndecan-4 in patients with CAP. Methods A prospective, multi-centre study was conducted between January 2014 and December 2016. A total of 103 patients with severe CAP (SCAP), 149 patients with non-SCAP, and 30 healthy individuals were enrolled. Clinical data were recorded for all enrolled patients. Serum suPAR and syndecan-4 levels were determined by quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The t test and Mann–Whitney U test were used to compare between two groups; one-way analysis of variance and the Kruskal–Wallis test were used to compare multiple groups. Correlations were assessed using Pearson and Spearman tests. Area under the curve (AUCs), optimal threshold values, sensitivity, and specificity were calculated. Survival curves were constructed and compared by log-rank test. Regression analyses assessed the effect of multiple variables on 30-day survival. Results suPAR levels increased in all patients with CAP, especially in severe cases. Syndecan-4 levels decreased in patients with CAP, especially in non-survivors. suPAR and syndecan-4 levels were positively and negatively correlated with severity scores, respectively. suPAR exhibited high accuracy in predicting SCAP among patients with CAP with an AUC of 0.835 (p

Abstract A facile one-step supramolecular assembly method is adopted to modify reduced graphene oxide (rGO) with functional organic molecule pyranine for achieving comprehensive humidity sensing performance. The fabricated humidity sensor based on pyranine modified-reduced graphene oxide (Pyr-rGO) exhibits excellent sensing performance with ultrafast (

Abstract The distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) has been extensively studied and widely used. A distributed acoustic sensing system based on the unbalanced Michelson interferometer with phase generated carrier (PGC) demodulation was designed and tested. The system could directly obtain the phase, amplitude, frequency response, and location information of sound wave at the same time and measurement at all points along the sensing fiber simultaneously. Experiments showed that the system successfully measured the acoustic signals with a phase-pressure sensitivity about–148 dB (re rad/μPa) and frequency response ripple less than 1.5 dB. The further field experiment showed that the system could measure signals at all points along the sensing fiber simultaneously.

Abstract We demonstrate a distributed optical fiber sensing system based on the Michelson interferometer of the phase sensitive optical time domain reflectometer (φ-OTDR) for acoustic measurement. Phase, amplitude, frequency response, and location information can be directly obtained at the same time by using the passive 3×3 coupler demodulation. We also set an experiment and successfully restore the acoustic information. Meanwhile, our system has preliminary realized acoustic-phase sensitivity around −150 dB (re rad/μPa) in the experiment.

ABSTRACT Alteration of the lung microbiome has been observed in several respiratory tract diseases. However, most previous studies were based on 16S ribosomal RNA and shotgun metagenome sequencing; the viability and functional activity of the microbiome, as well as its interaction with host immune systems, have not been well studied. To characterize the active lung microbiome and its associations with host immune response and clinical features, we applied metatranscriptome sequencing to bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples from 25 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and from nine control cases without known pulmonary disease. Community structure analyses revealed three distinct microbial compositions, which were significantly correlated with bacterial biomass, human Th17 immune response, and COPD exacerbation frequency. Specifically, samples with transcriptionally active Streptococcus, Rothia, or Pseudomonas had bacterial loads 16 times higher than samples enriched for Escherichia and Ralstonia. These high-bacterial-load samples also tended to undergo a stronger Th17 immune response. Furthermore, an increased proportion of lymphocytes was found in samples with active Pseudomonas. In addition, COPD patients with active Streptococcus or Rothia infections tended to have lower rates of exacerbations than patients with active Pseudomonas and patients with lower bacterial biomass. Our results support the idea of a stratified structure of the active lung microbiome and a significant host-microbe interaction. We speculate that diverse lung microbiomes exist in the population and that their presence and activities could either influence or reflect different aspects of lung health. IMPORTANCE Recent studies of the microbiome proposed that resident microbes play a beneficial role in maintaining human health. Although lower respiratory tract disease is a leading cause of sickness and mortality, how the lung microbiome interacts with human health remains largely unknown. Here we assessed the association between the lung microbiome and host gene expression, cytokine concentration, and over 20 clinical features. Intriguingly, we found a stratified structure of the active lung microbiome which was significantly associated with bacterial biomass, lymphocyte proportion, human Th17 immune response, and COPD exacerbation frequency. These observations suggest that the microbiome plays a significant role in lung homeostasis. Not only microbial composition but also active functional elements and host immunity characteristics differed among different individuals. Such diversity may partially account for the variation in susceptibility to particular diseases.

Despite progress in intensive care, the morbidity and mortality of patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains high. Furthermore, the predictive and prognostic utility of resistin-like molecule beta (RELM-β) in patients with CAP is uncertain. This study investigated the role of RELM-β in patients with CAP and evaluated its correlation with disease severity and the risk of death. A prospective, multicenter study was conducted in 2017, and admission serum levels of RELM-β were detected using quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. A total of 114 and 112 patients with severe CAP (SCAP) and non-severe CAP (NSCAP) were enrolled, respectively, with 15 healthy controls. Patients with SCAP, especially non-survivors, had significantly higher levels of serum RELM-β than patients with NSCAP. RELM-β levels positively correlated with severity scores and consistently predicted SCAP in patients with CAP (area under the curve = 0.794). Increased levels of RELM-β were closely related to the severity and prognosis of patients with CAP. The accuracy of 30-day mortality predictions of CURB-65 (confusion, urea, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and age ≥ 65 years) can be significantly improved when combined with RELM-β levels. The level of RELM-β can assist clinicians in risk stratification of patients with CAP in early stages.

Background: It is important to achieve the definitive pathogen identification in hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP), but the traditional culture results always delay the target antibiotic therapy. We assessed the method called quantitative loop-mediated isothermal amplification (qLAMP) as a new implement for steering of the antibiotic decision-making in HAP. Methods: Totally, 76 respiratory tract aspiration samples were prospectively collected from 60 HAP patients. DNA was isolated from these samples. Specific DNA fragments for identifying 11 pneumonia-related bacteria were amplified by qLAMP assay. Culture results of these patients were compared with the qLAMP results. Clinical data and treatment strategies were analyzed to evaluate the effects of qLAMP results on clinical data. McNemar test and Fisher′s exact test were used for statistical analysis. Results: The detection of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Streptococcus pneumonia, and Acinetobacter baumannii by qLAMP was consistent with sputum culture (P > 0.05). The qLAMP results of 4 samples for Haemophilus influenzae, Legionella pneumophila, or Mycoplasma pneumonia (MP) were inconsistent with culture results; however, clinical data revealed that the qLAMP results were all reliable except 1 MP positive sample due to the lack of specific species identified in the final diagnosis. The improvement of clinical condition was more significant (P < 0.001) in patients with pathogen target-driven therapy based on qLAMP results than those with empirical therapy. Conclusion: qLAMP is a more promising method for detection of pathogens in an early, rapid, sensitive, and specific manner than culture.

In this paper, the molecule 12-amidine dodecanoic acid (M) with ending groups of carboxyl and amidine groups respectively was designed and synthesized as CO2-responsive guest molecules. The block copolymer polystyrene-b-polyethylene oxide (PS-b-PEO) was chosen as the host polymer to fabricate a composite membrane through H-bonding assembly with guest molecule M. We attempted to tune the phase separation structure of the annealed film by varying the amount of M added, and investigated the nanostructures via transmission electron microscope (TEM), fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) etc. As a result, a reverse worm-like morphology in TEM image of bright PS phase in dark PEO/M matrix was observed for PS-b-PEO/M1 membrane in which the molar ratio of EO unit to M was 1:1. The following gas permeation measurement indicated that the gas flux of the annealed membranes dramatically increased due to the forming of ordered phase separation structure. As we expected, the obtained composite membrane PS-b-PEO/M1 with EO:M mole ratio of 1:1 presented an evident selectivity for moist CO2 permeance, which is identical with our initial proposal that the guest molecule M in the membranes will play the key role for CO2 facilitated transportation since the amidine groups of M could react reversibly with CO2 molecules in membranes. This work provides a supramolecular approach to fabricating CO2 facilitated transport membranes.

We assessed the prevalence of antibiotic resistant and antibiotic resistance genes for 49 Tetragenococcus halophilus (T. halophilus) strains isolated from Xuawei ham in China. The antibiotic resistance phenotype was detected by the Bauer−Kirby (K−B) method and the results showed that 49 isolates can be considered completely susceptible to penicillin, ampicillin, amoxicillin, cefradine, cefotaxime, tetracyclines, minocycline, doxycycline, and vancomycin, but resistant to gentamicin, streptomycin, neomycin, polymyxinB, cotrimoxazole. This resistance was sufficiently high to consider the potential for acquisition of transmissible determinants. A total of 32 isolates were resistant to ofloxacin, 4 isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin and chloramphenicol, and 2 isolates were resistant to ceftazidime and ticarcillin. The antibiotic resistance genes were detected by routine polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Among the 26 antibiotic resistance genes, 5 varieties of antibiotic resistance genes, including acrB, blaTEM, AAda1, SulII, and GyrB were detected and the detection rates were 89.79%, 47.7%, 16.33%, 77.55%, and 75.51%, respectively. The potential acquisition of transmissible determinants for antibiotic resistance and antibiotic resistance genes identified in this study necessitate the need for a thorough antibiotic resistance safety assessment of T. halophilus before it can be considered for use in food fermentation processes.

Tricholoma matsutake is a rare, precious, and wild edible fungus that could not be cultivated artificially until now. This situation has given way to the introduction of fake T. matsutake commodities to the mushroom market. Among the methods used to detect food adulteration, amplification of species-specific diagnostic marker is particularly important and accurate. In this study, the Pol gene is reported as a species-specific diagnostic marker to identify three T. matsutake varieties and 10 other types of edible mushrooms through qualitative and quantitative PCR. The PCR results did not reveal variations in the amplified region, and the detection limits of qualitative and quantitative PCR were found to be 8 ng and 32 pg, respectively. Southern blot showed that the Pol gene exists as a single copy in the T. matsutake genome. The method that produced the purest DNA of T. matsutake in this study was also determined, and the high-concentration salt precipitation method was confirmed to be the most suitable among the methods tested. The assay proposed in this work is applicable not only to the detection of raw materials but also to the examination of processed products containing T. matsutake.

Background: This study aimed to explore the cellular morphology of respiratory epithelium in Mycoplasma pneumonia (MpP) patients. Materials and Methods: The cast-off cell morphological findings from bronchoscopic brushings in MpP and community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) caused by typical pathogens were reviewed. Results: Compared with the CAP group, cellular dysplasia in respiratory tract epithelial brushings was significantly greater in MpP patients (P = 0.033). Conclusion: Unique biological characteristics and mechanisms of pathogenesis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae (Mp) may result in dyskaryotic changes in respiratory epithelium in adult MpP.

In this study, a novel universal primer-multiplex-PCR (UP-M-PCR) method adding a universal primer (UP) in the multiplex PCR reaction system was described. A universal adapter was designed in the 5'-end of each specific primer pairs which matched with the specific DNA sequences for each template and also used as the universal primer (UP). PCR products were analyzed on sequencing gel electrophoresis (SGE) which had the advantage of exhibiting extraordinary resolution. This method overcame the disadvantages rooted deeply in conventional multiplex PCR such as complex manipulation, lower sensitivity, self-inhibition and amplification disparity resulting from different primers, and it got a high specificity and had a low detection limit of 0.1 ng for single kind of crops when screening the presence of genetically modified (GM) crops in mixture samples. The novel developed multiplex PCR assay with sequencing gel electrophoresis analysis will be useful in many fields, such as verifying the GM status of a sample irrespective of the crop and GM trait and so on.

This paper presents a geometric approach to solve the unknown joint angles required for the autonomous positioning of a robotic arm. A plethora of complex mathematical processes is reduced using basic trigonometric in the modeling of the robotic arm. This modeling and analysis approach is tested using a five-degree-of-freedom arm with a gripper style end effector mounted to an iRobot Create mobile platform. The geometric method is easily modifiable for similar robotic system architectures and provides the capability of local autonomy to a system which is very difficult to manually control.