Search

Mn-based phosphors with the wavelength of 700–750 nm are an important category of far-red phosphors that have promising potential in the application of plant lighting, and the higher ability of the far-red light emitting of the phosphors is beneficial to plant growth. Herein, a series of Mn4+- and Mn4+/Ca2+-doped double perovskite SrGd2Al2O7 red-emitting phosphors with wavelengths centered at about 709 nm were successfully synthesized by means of a traditional high-temperature solid-state method. First-principles calculations were conducted to explore the intrinsic electronic structure of SrGd2Al2O7 for a better understanding of the luminescence behavior in this material. Extensive analysis demonstrates that the introduction of Ca2+ ions into the SrGd2Al2O7:Mn4+ phosphor has significantly boosted the emission intensity, internal quantum efficiency, and thermal stability by 170%, 173.4%, and 113.7%, respectively, which are superior to those of most other Mn4+-based far-red phosphors. The mechanism of the concentration quench effect and the positive effect of co-doping Ca2+ ions in the phosphor were extensively explored. All studies suggest that the SrGd2Al2O7:0.1%Mn4+, 11%Ca2+ phosphor is a novel phosphor that can be used to effectively promote the growth of plants and regulate the flowering cycle. Therefore, promising applications can be anticipated from this new phosphor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three-component reaction of a diazo compound, azide and allylboronate was explored, and Rh2(esp)2 was utilized as the optimal catalyst. A series of α-amino esters were efficiently produced from the ethyl diazoacetate in 57–84% yields, and excellent diastereoselectivities were observed with the reaction employing (E)-allylboronate as the alkylation reagent. The α-amino ketone or homoallylic amine could also be prepared by using α-diazo ketone or trimethylsilyl diazomethane in acceptable yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research into mRNA vaccines is advancing rapidly, with proven efficacy against coronavirus disease 2019 and promising therapeutic potential against a variety of solid tumors. Adjuvants, critical components of mRNA vaccines, significantly enhance vaccine effectiveness and are integral to numerous mRNA vaccine formulations. However, the development and selection of adjuvant platforms are still in their nascent stages, and the mechanisms of many adjuvants remain poorly understood. Additionally, the immunostimulatory capabilities of certain novel drug delivery systems (DDS) challenge the traditional definition of adjuvants, suggesting that a revision of this concept is necessary. This review offers a comprehensive exploration of the mechanisms and applications of adjuvants and self-adjuvant DDS. It thoroughly addresses existing issues mentioned above and details three main challenges of immune-related adverse event, unclear mechanisms, and unsatisfactory outcomes in old age group in the design and practical application of cancer mRNA vaccine adjuvants. Ultimately, this review proposes three optimization strategies which consists of exploring the mechanisms of adjuvant, optimizing DDS, and improving route of administration to improve effectiveness and application of adjuvants and self-adjuvant DDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social anxiety is a common symptom that occurs after exposure to childhood trauma (CT), and pain tolerance is a protective factor against social anxiety in generic populations with CT. However, few studies have investigated whether and how this association varies across different CT subgroups. Thus, this study aimed to investigate (1) the effects of pain tolerance on social anxiety symptoms among youth with different subgroups of CT; (2) the nonlinear relationship between pain tolerance and social anxiety symptoms among different CT categories. In this study, 15,682 college or university students with experiences of CT were identified in a large sample and divided into five CT subgroups. Linear and quadratic regression models were conducted to explore the association between pain tolerance and social anxiety symptoms among youth with different CT subgroups. The results of model revealed a linear relationship between pain tolerance and social anxiety symptoms among youth with most CT subgroups. Notably, an inverted U-shaped curve was found between pain tolerance and social anxiety symptoms in youth with emotional abuse. Social anxiety symptoms increased gradually with pain tolerance scores between 0 and 16, and then sharply decreased when scores reached above 16. Limited by self-report measurements, the results of this study focused only on perceived pain tolerance and ignored behavioral pain tolerance. These findings highlight the importance of assessing pain tolerance thresholds in youth with emotional abuse and improving pain tolerance to prevent social anxiety symptoms in youth with different subgroups of CT. • There was a linear relationship between pain tolerance and social anxiety symptoms in youth with most childhood trauma types. • An inverted U-shaped curve was found between pain tolerance and social anxiety symptomsin youth with emotional abuse (EA). • For youth with EA, social anxiety increased increased with pain tolerance scores from 0 to 16, but decreased sharply after 16. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pentavalent uranium compounds are key components of uranium‘s redox chemistry and play important roles in environmental transport. Despite this, well‐characterized U(V) compounds are scarce primarily because of their instability with respect to disproportionation to U(IV) and U(VI). In this work, we provide an alternate route to incorporation of U(V) into a crystalline lattice where different oxidation states of uranium can be stabilized through the incorporation of secondary cations with different sizes and charges. We show that iriginite‐based crystalline layers allow for systematically replacing U(VI) with U(V) through aliovalent substitution of 2+ alkaline‐earth or 3+ rare‐earth cations as dopant ions under high‐temperature conditions, specifically Ca(UVIO2)W4O14 and Ln(UVO2)W4O14 (Ln=Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Yb). Evidence for the existence of U(V) and U(VI) is supported by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction, high energy resolution X‐ray absorption near edge structure, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and optical absorption spectroscopy. In contrast with other reported U(V) materials, the U(V) single crystals obtained using this route are relatively large (several centimeters) and easily reproducible, and thus provide a substantial improvement in the facile synthesis and stabilization of U(V). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the built heritage studies, the intricate web of social and selective processes that define heritage is evident. These processes are, in many cases, intertwined with the notion of scale, examplified through the production of heritage sites at the local, national, and transnational scales. While heritage and geography scholars have articulated the role played by scale in heritage-making and argue against a rigid, fixed, and hierarchical understanding of scale, they highlight the constant reproduction of scale. There is, so far, limited explanation of how the perception of scale gets reproduced and how crucial actors manipulate scalar power and resources for heritage making and the reproduction of scale. To fill this gap, this paper delves into mainland China's heritage-making, using the southern Anhui historical villages as an example. Based on intensive 5-month field research, this paper has three findings: 1) The nomination process for a World Heritage Site is notably influenced by politics and selectivity; 2) Diverse stakeholders are pivotal in shaping heritage narratives; 3) Individual contributions to heritage creation directly interact with, and subsequently reshape, 'scale', an entity that is simultaneously discursive and tangible. By integrating the notion of 'scale' into heritage discussions, we illuminate two concurrent processes: creating hierarchies through rule assimilation by interpreting the UNESCO standard internally and evolving socio-spatial dynamics via the manifestation of individual agency with resource manipulation, scale jumping, and reproduction of scale. This approach aligns with the material orientation in human geography and repositions 'scale'. Here, it's not just an epistemological framework but also a tangible force that steers individual perceptions and actions and yields measurable material impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: Thermosensitive genic female sterility (TGFS) is a promising property to be utilized for hybrid breeding. Here, we identified a rice TGFS line, tfs2, through an ethyl methyl sulfone (EMS) mutagenesis strategy. This line showed sterility under high temperature and became fertile under low temperature. Few seeds were produced when the tfs2 stigma was pollinated, indicating that tfs2 is female sterile. Gene cloning and genetic complementation showed that a point mutation from leucine to phenylalanine in HEI10 (HEI10tfs2), a crossover formation protein, caused the TGFS trait of tfs2. Under high temperature, abnormal univalents were formed, and the chromosomes were unequally segregated during meiosis, similar to the reported meiotic defects in oshei10. Under low temperature, the number of univalents was largely reduced, and the chromosomes segregated equally, suggesting that crossover formation was restored in tfs2. Yeast two‐hybrid assays showed that HEI10 interacted with two putative protein degradation‐related proteins, RPT4 and SRFP1. Through transient expression in tobacco leaves, HEI10 were found to spontaneously aggregate into dot‐like foci in the nucleus under high temperature, but HEI10tfs2 failed to aggregate. In contrast, low temperature promoted HEI10tfs2 aggregation. This result suggests that protein aggregation at the crossover position contributes to the fertility restoration of tfs2 under low temperature. In addition, RPT4 and SRFP1 also aggregated into dot‐like foci, and these aggregations depend on the presence of HEI10. These findings reveal a novel mechanism of fertility restoration and facilitate further understanding of HEI10 in meiotic crossover formation. Significance Statement: Our study promotes the understanding of HEI10/TFS2 for meiotic crossover formation and provides a mechanism for the female fertility restoration of TGFS lines under low temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Various surgical techniques have been proposed to manage acetabular fractures involving both columns with posterior wall displacement. However, the optimal surgical approach to achieve satisfactory reduction quality remains controversial. Materials and methods: This retrospective study evaluated 34 patients with fractures who were treated at a single medical institution. The patients were divided into two groups according to the ventral/dorsal surgical approach employed: simultaneous (SI) and sequential (SE). Perioperative parameters, as well as radiological and functional outcomes, were analyzed and compared between the two groups. Results: The SI and SE groups comprised 9 and 23 out of the 34 patients, respectively. The SI group exhibited a significantly shorter surgical time and lower estimated blood loss than the SE group (p = 0.04 and 0.03, respectively). The quality of reductions of the anterior and posterior columns was similar between the two groups; however, superior reduction in the fracture gap of the posterior wall was observed in the SI group, as revealed by axial and coronal computed tomography scans. Conclusions: A simultaneous ventral and dorsal approach through the pararectus and the modified Gibson approach confer clinical advantages in reducing the fracture gap, surgical time, and intraoperative blood loss when managing acetabular fractures involving both columns and a displaced posterior wall. Therefore, these surgical approaches may be considered to be optimal for achieving satisfactory reduction quality in such fractures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To meet the environmental protection and flame retardancy requirements for epoxy resins (EPs) in certain fields, in this study, a novel triazine-ring-containing DOPO-derived compound (VDPD), derived from vanillin, 2,4-Diamino-6-phenyl-1,3,5-triazine, and 9,10-dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide (DOPO), was synthesized using a one-pot method. Flame-retardant epoxy resin (FREP) was prepared by adding various ratios of VDPD to EP and curing with 4,4-diaminodiphenylmethane (DDM). The curing behavior, thermal stability, mechanical properties, and flame-retardant properties of the FREP were examined in various tests. According to the results, when the amount of VDPD added to the EP increased, the glass transition temperature of the FREP decreased linearly, and the flame-retardant properties gradually improved. With a 0.4 wt.% P content, the vertical burning rating of EP/DDM/VDPD-0.4 (according to the theoretical content of VDPD) reached the V-0 level, and the LOI value reached 33.1%. In addition, the results of a CCT showed that the peak heat release rate (PHRR) of EP/DDM/VDPD-0.4 decreased by 32% in comparison with that of the EP. Furthermore, compared with those of the EP, the tensile strength of EP/DDM/VDPD-0.4 decreased from 80.2 MPa to 74.3 MPa, only decreasing by 6 MPa, and the tensile modulus increased. Overall, VDPD can maintain the mechanical properties of EP and effectively improve its flame-retardant properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ubiquitination is a critical post-translational modification which can be reversed with an enzyme family known as deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs). It has been reported that dysregulation of deubiquitination leads to carcinogenesis. As a member of the DUBs family, proteasome 26 S subunit non-ATPase 7 (PSMD7) serves as an underlying tumour-promoting factor in multiple cancers. However, the clinical significance and biological functions of PSMD7 in pancreatic cancer (PC) remain unclear. Results: In this study, we first reported frequent overexpression of PSMD7 in PC tissues, and high levels of PSMD7 were markedly linked to shorter survival and a malignant phenotype in PC patients. An array of in vitro and in vivo gain/loss-of-function tests revealed that PSMD7 facilitates the progression of PC cells. Additionally, we found that PSMD7 promotes PC cell progression by activating the Notch homolog 1 (Notch1) signalling. Interestingly, in PC cells, the inhibitory effect of PSMD7 knockdown on cellular processes was comparable to that observed upon Notch1 knockdown. Mechanistically, PSMD7 deubiquitinated and stabilised sex determining region Y (SRY)-box 2 (SOX2), a key mediator of Notch1 signalling. The stabilisation of SOX2, mediated by PSMD7, dramatically increased SOX2 protein levels, subsequently activating the Notch1 pathway. Finally, restoration of SOX2 expression abrogated the PSMD7-silenced antitumour effect. Conclusions: Taken together, our work identifies and validates PSMD7 as a promoter of PC progression through augmentation of the Notch1 signalling pathway mediated by SOX2. This finding suggests that PSMD7 holds promise as a potential therapeutic target for the management of this refractory disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Melody-conditioned lyrics generation aims to create novel lyrics based on the melodies by learning the relationship between lyrics and melodies, which is an attractive topic in the music field. However, two serious issues, called deficiency of inter-dependency between melody attributes and text degeneration, degrade the quality of the lyrics generation. To solve these issues, this paper proposes a new model called semantic dependency network with two key components: (i) N-gram CNN block is used to compress the information from the single melody attribute and extract the inter-dependency from the multiple melody attributes. (ii) In lyrics, unlikelihood training is exploited to mitigate the syllables mismatching and logic missing and keep the intra-syllable integrity and logic by learning semantic dependency. Extensive evaluation experiments on a large-scale dataset demonstrate that our model can generate higher quality and more harmonic lyrics from the melodies compared with the state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore what the travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic reveal about the changing geographies of mobilities and the making of homo sacer, the latter constituted through differentiated control of mobilities. Implemented to protect U.S. public health, travel restrictions imposed on travelers from Mainland China during the early days of the pandemic exemplify how sovereign power that declares a state of emergency and creates bare life can be readily applied to groups of people who previously had privileged access to global mobility. In this sense, bare life does not refer to fixed and disadvantaged social categories but is rather contingently and contextually constituted, through the works of hybrid sovereign regimes. At the same time, however, these travelers are not reduced to a state of zero-agency but reside within a liminal space between soft and hard cosmopolitanisms, as they can still deploy agency and cosmopolitan capital to achieve certain degrees of mobility. By examining how Chinese travelers navigated various travel restrictions and the constantly changing policies to travel to the U.S., this paper explores new spaces of exception and forms of bare life, and argues that homo sacer is dynamically, relationally and recursively constructed, both through apparatus of control and the agency of travelers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single‐cell analysis enables the measurement of biomolecules at the level of individual cells, facilitating in‐depth investigations into cellular heterogeneity and precise interpretation of the related biological mechanisms. Among these biomolecules, cellular metabolites exhibit remarkable sensitivity to environmental and biochemical changes, unveiling a hidden world underlying cellular heterogeneity and allowing for the determination of cell physiological states. However, the metabolic analysis of single cells is challenging due to the extremely low concentrations, substantial content variations, and rapid turnover rates of cellular metabolites. Mass spectrometry (MS), characterized by its high sensitivity, wide dynamic range, and excellent selectivity, is employed in single‐cell metabolic analysis. This review focuses on recent advances and applications of MS‐based single‐cell metabolic analysis, encompassing three key steps of single‐cell isolation, detection, and application. It is anticipated that MS will bring profound implications in biomedical practices, serving as advanced tools to depict the single‐cell metabolic landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming may increase potential evapotranspiration (ETp), reducing the water resources in Yangzi River Delta. Therefore, it is important to investigate the trend of ETp there under the background of climate change. To this purpose, the systematic biases in temperature outputs of 24 global climate models (GCMs) under 3 shared socioeconomic pathways—representative concentration pathways (SSPs) emission scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5)—are first corrected by using 8 bias correction methods. Then, the trend of ETp in Yangtze River Delta is projected by using 4 ETp calculation formulas (Blaney–Criddle, Hargreaves–Samani, Makkink, and Priestley–Taylor). The uncertainty of the projections is estimated and decomposed by using multi-way analysis of variance frameworks. The influence of uncertainty on the projected change signal is quantified by using the signal-to-noise ratio. The results show that all emission scenarios indicate robust increments of ETp. Specifically, relative to 1971~2000, ETp will increase by 0.14~0.17 mm d−1 (5.7~6.8%) during 2021~2050 and by 0.21~0.41 mm d−1 (8.5~16.7%) during 2061~2090, respectively. During 2021~2050, the uncertainty of ETp projections is dominantly contributed by the main effects of GCM (63%) and the ETp calculation formula (24%). During 2061~2090, it is mainly contributed by the main effect of GCM (36%), followed by the main effects of the emission scenario (34%) and the ETp calculation formula (18%). The ETp projections are generally reliable and robust during the two projection periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous studies have shown an association between gut microbiota and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, the underlying causal relationship remains unclear. This study aims to elucidate the causal relationship between gut microbiota and CVDs and to explore the pathogenic role of gut microbiota in CVDs. Methods: In this two-sample Mendelian randomization study, we used genetic instruments from publicly available genome-wide association studies, including single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with gut microbiota (n = 14,306) and CVDs (n = 2,207,591). We employed multiple statistical analysis methods, including inverse variance weighting, MR Egger, weighted median, MR pleiotropic residuals and outliers, and the leave-one-out method, to estimate the causal relationship between gut microbiota and CVDs. Additionally, we conducted multiple analyses to assess horizontal pleiotropy and heterogeneity. Results: GWAS summary data were available from a pooled sample of 2,221,897 adult and adolescent participants. Our findings indicated that specific gut microbiota had either protective or detrimental effects on CVDs. Notably, Howardella (OR = 0.955, 95% CI: 0.913–0.999, P =.05), Intestinibacter (OR = 0.908, 95% CI:0.831–0.993, P =.03), Lachnospiraceae (NK4A136 group) (OR = 0.904, 95% CI:0.841–0.973, P =.007), Turicibacter (OR = 0.904, 95% CI: 0.838–0.976, P =.01), Holdemania (OR, 0.898; 95% CI: 0.810–0.995, P =.04) and Odoribacter (OR, 0.835; 95% CI: 0.710–0.993, P =.04) exhibited a protective causal effect on atrial fibrillation, while other microbiota had adverse causal effects. Similar effects were observed with respect to coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, and hypertension. Furthermore, reversed Mendelian randomization analyses revealed that atrial fibrillation and ischemic stroke had causal effects on certain gut microbiotas. Conclusion: Our study underscored the importance of gut microbiota in the context of CVDs and lent support to the hypothesis that increasing the abundance of probiotics or decreasing the abundance of harmful bacterial populations may offer protection against specific CVDs. Nevertheless, further research is essential to translate these findings into clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quasi‐two‐dimensional (quasi‐2D) perovskites are emerging as efficient emitters in blue perovskite light‐emitting diodes (PeLEDs), while the imbalanced crystallization of the halide‐mixed system limits further improvements in device performance. The rapid crystallization caused by Cl doping produces massive defects at the interface, leading to aggravated non‐radiative recombination. Meanwhile, unmanageable perovskite crystallization is prone to facilitate the formation of nonuniform low‐dimensional phases, which results in energy loss during the exciton transfer process. Here, we propose a multifunctional interface engineering for nucleation and phase regulation by incorporating the zwitterionic additive potassium sulfamate into the hole transport layer. By using potassium ions (K+) as heterogeneous nucleation seeds, finely controlled growth of interfacial K+‐guided grains is achieved. The sulfamate ions can simultaneously regulate the phase distribution and passivate defects through coordination interactions with undercoordinated lead atoms. Consequently, such synergistic effect constructs quasi‐2D blue perovskite films with smooth energy landscape and reduced trap states, leading to pure‐blue PeLEDs with a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 17.32 %, spectrally stable emission at 478 nm and the prolonged operational lifetime. This work provides a unique guide to comprehensively regulate the halide‐mixed blue perovskite crystallization by manipulating the characteristics of grain‐growth substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quasi‐two‐dimensional (quasi‐2D) perovskites are emerging as efficient emitters in blue perovskite light‐emitting diodes (PeLEDs), while the imbalanced crystallization of the halide‐mixed system limits further improvements in device performance. The rapid crystallization caused by Cl doping produces massive defects at the interface, leading to aggravated non‐radiative recombination. Meanwhile, unmanageable perovskite crystallization is prone to facilitate the formation of nonuniform low‐dimensional phases, which results in energy loss during the exciton transfer process. Here, we propose a multifunctional interface engineering for nucleation and phase regulation by incorporating the zwitterionic additive potassium sulfamate into the hole transport layer. By using potassium ions (K+) as heterogeneous nucleation seeds, finely controlled growth of interfacial K+‐guided grains is achieved. The sulfamate ions can simultaneously regulate the phase distribution and passivate defects through coordination interactions with undercoordinated lead atoms. Consequently, such synergistic effect constructs quasi‐2D blue perovskite films with smooth energy landscape and reduced trap states, leading to pure‐blue PeLEDs with a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 17.32 %, spectrally stable emission at 478 nm and the prolonged operational lifetime. This work provides a unique guide to comprehensively regulate the halide‐mixed blue perovskite crystallization by manipulating the characteristics of grain‐growth substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of polysaccharide drugs requires a thorough understanding of their quantitative and pharmacokinetic properties. However, the complexity of biological samples presents a challenge for direct analysis using UHPLC-QTOF MS. Therefore, it is essential to establish a method for the selective enrichment of polysaccharides. In this study, we developed an efficient method for the quantitative determination of polysaccharides by integrating magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for sample pretreatment and UHPLC-QTOF MS for analysis. The MIPs were prepared using molecularly imprinted and boric acid affinity technologies, which combined the advantages of specific recognition and reversible binding to polysaccharides. The MIPs exhibited high dispersibility and uniform particle size, and adsorption experiments demonstrated their specific recognition of BG136, a polysaccharide with immunological activity. The proposed method was used for the purification and enrichment of BG136 in plasma with recoveries between 91.29% and 113.03%. This simple method demonstrated high selectivity, fast separation, and satisfactory recoveries providing an approach for polysaccharide determination with UHPLC-QTOF MS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Allergic rhinitis is a common health concern that affects quality of life. This study aims to examine the online search trends of allergic rhinitis in China before and after the COVID-19 epidemic and to explore the association between the daily air quality and online search volumes of allergic rhinitis in Beijing. Methods: We extracted the online search data of allergic rhinitis-related keywords from the Baidu index database from January 23, 2017 to June 23, 2022. We analyzed and compared the temporal distribution of online search behaviors across different themes of allergic rhinitis before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China, using the Baidu search index (BSI). We also obtained the air quality index (AQI) data in Beijing and assessed its correlation with daily BSIs of allergic rhinitis. Results: The online search for allergic rhinitis in China showed significant seasonal variations, with two peaks each year in spring from March to May and autumn from August and October. The BSI of total allergic rhinitis-related searches increased gradually from 2017 to 2019, reaching a peak in April 2019, and declined after the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the first half of 2020. The BSI for all allergic rhinitis themes was significantly lower after the COVID-19 pandemic than before (all p values < 0.05). The results also revealed that, in Beijing, there was a significant negative association between daily BSI and AQI for each allergic rhinitis theme during the original variant strain epidemic period and a significant positive correlation during the Omicron variant period. Conclusion: Both air quality and the interventions used for COVID-19 pandemic, including national and local quarantines and mask wearing behaviors, may have affected the incidence and public concern about allergic rhinitis in China. The online search trends can serve as a valuable tool for tracking real-time public concerns about allergic rhinitis. By complementing traditional disease monitoring systems of health departments, these search trends can also offer insights into the patterns of disease outbreaks. Additionally, they can provide references and suggestions regarding the public's knowledge demands related to allergic rhinitis, which can further be instrumental in developing targeted strategies to enhance population-based disease education on allergic diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The normalized subband adaptive filtering algorithm provides fast convergence rate for colored input signals as compared to the normalized least mean square algorithm, but it suffers from a poor convergence issue in the α -stable noise. In light of this, the normalized subband p-norm (NSPN) algorithm, which is based on the least mean p-power error (MPE) criterion, is proposed in this study. This technique is not only robust against impulsive noise samples, but it also maintains a fast convergence rate when colored input signals are used. In addition to this, we develop both the steady-state and the transient models of the NSPN algorithm and provide some insights. Then, in order to solve the problem of making a choice regarding the order p in the NSPN algorithm, we design an autonomous system and come up with the NSPN algorithm with a variable p-norm (VP-NSPN). In addition, we offer the TFC-based VP-NSPN algorithm with a fast convergence rate and low steady-state misadjustment simultaneously by making use of the tap-weights feedback-based convex combination (TFC) scheme. In conclusion, simulation results on system identification and acoustic echo cancellation are undertaken in order to validate the superiority of the proposed algorithms and validate the usefulness of the theoretical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: With a global incidence of more than 10%, preterm birth (PTB) remains a significant concern. The vaginal microbiome strongly influences the well-being of the female reproductive tract. This study examines the correlation between changes in Lactobacillus vaginal microbiota and the PTB risk. Materials and Methods: A thorough search of PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and EMBASE was conducted to locate studies that examined the association between changes in Lactobacillus vaginal microbiota and the risk of PTB from January 1, 2010, to January 30, 2023. The risk of PTB was determined by calculating odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: In our analysis, there were 11 studies with 1577 pregnant women. The findings revealed a significant negative correlation between higher Lactobacillus abundance and the PTB risk (OR = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.29–0.84, p = 0.009 < 0.05). Similarly, the four individual dominant species, Lactobacillus crispatus (OR = 0.3, 95% CI: 0.14–0.67, p = 0.003 < 0.05), Lactobacillus gasseri (OR = 0.34, 95% CI: 0.17–0.69, p = 0.003 < 0.05), Lactobacillus iners (OR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.49–0.93, p = 0.016 < 0.05), and Lactobacillus jensenii (OR = 0.43, 95% CI: 0.21–0.89, p = 0.024 < 0.05), were also negatively associated with the PTB risk. The risk of Lactobacillus for PTB was significant in both America (OR = 0.67; 95% CI: 0.50–0.92) and Asia (OR = 0.20; 95% CI: 0.09–0.47), whereas no significant risk was found in Europe (OR = 0.49; 95% CI: 0.11–2.15). Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that the abundance of Lactobacillus and the four dominant individual species (L. crispatus, L. jensenii, L. iners, and L. gasseri) were significantly and negatively associated with the PTB risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scutellaria Radix (SR) is a widely used traditional Chinese medicine in clinics for the therapy of upper respiratory tract infectious diseases. Modern pharmacological investigations indicate that SR exerts a significant bacteriostatic effect on different oral bacteria, but few studies have systematically investigated the main active constituents of SR causing this activity. Spectrum–effect correlation analysis was applied to screening anti-oral-microbial constituents from SR. The aqueous extract of SR was divided into fractions of different polarity and the active fraction was screened using the agar diffusion method. Eighteen batches of SR were further prepared and the chromatography fingerprint was established using high-performance liquid chromatography. The antibacterial activities of these constituents were examined against different oral bacteria. Finally, the spectrum–effect relationship between the fingerprint and those antibacterial effects was analyzed by gray correlation analysis and partial least squares regression. Five active constituents were screened out and their antibacterial activity was systematically confirmed by a knockout/in strategy combined with a biofilm extraction method, which indicated that these five compounds were responsible for the antibacterial activity of SR. These results form the basis for further development and improved quality control of SR in the treatment of oral diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rail freight is a common mode of transportation for bulk commodities and is widely used around the world, with heavy quality and large inertia. Conventional control methods are influenced by the dynamic parameters of the train model. To solve this problem, this paper designs a mayfly algorithm-predictive active disturbance rejection controller (MA-PADRC) for speed tracking and wheel anti-slip control of electric freight trains. This control method reduces dependence on accurate modeling. MA-PADRC integrates the searching ability of MA, predicting ability of Smith estimator and high efficiency of ADRC, and it can accurately estimate the driving disturbance of the freight train. Meanwhile, to prevent wheel slip, an Elman neural network-Kalman filter (ENN-KF) is designed. Through it, the precise observation of anti-slip parameters and the constraint of anti-slip control are realized. The proposed control is validated by simulation of both real and virtual driving speeds. The results show that the proposed control has a strong tracking performance, and can effectively prevent wheel slip and guarantee the safe driving of the freight train with large inertia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have argued that women are less corrupt because they are marginalized or because they are risk averse. However, because of the insidious and hidden nature of corruption, the subjects of theoretical reasoning in previous studies were individuals who were not involved in corruption. This produces a lack of observations and analyses of individuals who are actually corrupt. For this reason, the present study used text mining of Taiwanese district court judgments to examine why women are less corrupt. The results reveal that, following the rise of gender equality in Taiwanese society, women are now less marginalized and are as likely as to be as corrupt as men. Furthermore, the level of corruption (reflected by the prosecution and conviction rates) among women who are less marginalized (elected civil servants) is higher than among those who are more marginalized (typical civil servants). These findings suggest that women are less corrupt because they are marginalized rather than because they are risk averse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops exact, inexact and some new variants of nonoverlapping spectral additive Schwarz (NOSAS) methods for hybrid discontinuous Galerkin discretizations. The NOSAS are nonoverlapping preconditioners designed for elliptic problems with highly heterogeneous coefficients, and the subdomain interactions are via the interface problem. The interface problem has two components, a local one with degrees of freedom on the interface of the subdomains and a global one based on a few generalized eigenvectors. These generalized eigenvectors are selected to guarantee the robustness of the NOSAS with respect to heterogeneous diffusion coefficients and the number of subdomains. A unique feature of NOSAS is that the corresponding generalized eigenvalue problems are obtained from the Neumann matrix of the nonoverlapping subdomain separately. Additionally, the number of these few generalized eigenvectors can be characterized by the geometry of the coefficients for the case of two coefficients with high contrast. We prove that the condition number of the NOSAS does not depend on the coefficients. With a specific choice of the threshold for selecting these few eigenvalues, we can recover similar convergence rates as we would have obtained for constant coefficients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The study aimed to explore the clinical and pathological characteristics, survival outcomes, and prognostic factors of colorectal hepatoid adenocarcinoma. Methods: We performed two cases of colorectal hepatoid adenocarcinoma treated at the Oncology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University. We also reviewed literature up to the present and performed a retrospective study of colorectal hepatoid adenocarcinoma. Results: Among the 39 patients included in this study, 28 had primary tumors in the colon, 9 in the rectum, and 2 in the rectosigmoid junction. The median age was 52 years (range 31–75 years); 28 patients (71.8%) were male. Out of the 32 patients for whom survival data were available, 24 patients succumbed to disease-related causes. The median overall survival of 32 patients was 8 months, with 1-year and 2-year overall survival rates of 31.0% and 16.0%, respectively. Univariate analysis revealed that depth of infiltration, presence of liver metastases, TNM stage, and the completeness of surgical resection were significantly associated with the overall survival period of colorectal hepatoid adenocarcinoma. Conclusion: Colorectal hepatoid adenocarcinoma exhibits a high degree of aggressiveness and poor prognosis. The major strategy for early-stage HAC was radical surgery and chemoradiotherapy demonstrates limited efficacy for extending survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a common life-threatening condition in critically ill patients. Itis also an important public health issue because it can cause substantial mortality and health care burden worldwide. The objective of this study was to investigate therisk factors that impact ARDS mortality in a medical center in Taiwan. Methods: This was a single center, observational study thatretrospectively analyzed data from adults in 6 intensive care units (ICUs) at Taichung Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan from 1st October, 2018to30th September, 2019. Patients needing invasive mechanical ventilation and meeting the Berlin definition criteria were included for analysis. Results: A total of 1,778 subjects were screened in 6 adult ICUs and 370 patients fulfilled the criteria of ARDS in the first 24 hours of the ICU admission. Among these patients, the prevalenceof ARDS was 20.8% and the overall hospital mortality rate was 42.2%. The mortality rates of mild, moderate and severe ARDS were 35.9%, 43.9% and 46.5%, respectively. In a multivariate logistic regression model, combination of driving pressure (DP) > 14cmH2O and oxygenation (P/F ratio)≤150 was an independent predictor of mortality (OR2.497, 95% CI 1.201–5.191, p = 0.014). Patients with worse oxygenation and a higher driving pressure had the highest hospital mortality rate(p<0.0001). Conclusions: ARDS is common in ICUs and the mortality rate remains high. Combining oxygenation and respiratory mechanics may better predict the outcomes of these ARDS patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Established associated factors for DDH include female sex, breech presentation, family history, congenital malformations, oligohydramnios, and maternal hyperthyroidism. However, evidence for environmental factors that may contribute to DDH is limited and inconsistent. Methods: A systematic review of medical literature was conducted to collect data on environmental factors, including latitude, longitude, average yearly precipitation, average yearly temperature, minimum monthly temperature, and maximum monthly temperature, from all institutions that published articles on DDH. Univariate linear regression analysis was used to examine the correlation between environmental factors and DDH incidence, while multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify significant associated factors for DDH incidence. Results: Data from a total of 93 unique manuscripts were analyzed, revealing a significant negative correlation between DDH incidence and temperature, including average yearly temperature (r = -0.27, p = 0.008), minimum monthly temperature (r = -0.28, p = 0.006), and maximum monthly temperature (r = -0.23, p = 0.029). Additionally, there was a significant positive correlation between DDH incidence and latitude (r = 0.27, p = 0.009), and a significant negative correlation between DDH incidence and average yearly precipitation (r = -0.29, p = 0.004). In the final multiple regression analysis, temperature, including average yearly temperature, minimum monthly temperature, and maximum monthly temperature, were identified as significant associated factors for DDH incidence. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest an association between cold weather and DDH incidence. Further research should explore the link between cold weather and DDH incidence, offering insights into potential interventions for cold climates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatiotemporal variability of oceanic fronts in the Indonesian seas was investigated using high-resolution satellite observations. The study aimed to understand the underlying mechanism driving these fronts and their impact on chlorophyll-a variability. A high value of frontal probability was found near the coasts of major islands, exhibiting a distinct seasonal cycle with peaks occurrences during austral winter. The distribution variability of chlorophyll-a was generally consistent with the presence of active frontal zones, although a significantly positive relationship between fronts and chlorophyll-a was limited to only some specific areas, e.g., south Java Island and the Celebes Sea. Wind-driven upwelling played a major role in front generation in the Java upwelling region and enhanced frontal activity can promote the growth of phytoplankton, leading to higher chlorophyll-a. Furthermore, the study demonstrated that wind patterns preceded variations in front probability and chlorophyll-a by approximately two months. This lag suggests that the spatiotemporal variability of fronts and chlorophyll-a in this region is primarily influenced by the monsoon system. In addition, the sea surface temperature (SST) simultaneously modulated the chlorophyll-a variability. Negative SST anomalies were typically associated with positive anomalies in front probability the chlorophyll-a in most areas. Notably, the interannual variability of fronts and chlorophyll-a are prominent in the Java upwelling region. During El Niño years, this region experienced an enhanced monsoon, resulting in a negative SST anomaly alongside positive anomalies in front probability and chlorophyll-a. A comprehensive description and underlying dynamics of frontal activity in the Indonesian seas are provided by this study. The findings are helpful to delineate the variability in chlorophyll-a, thereby facilitating the future understanding of local primary production and the carbon cycle. Significance Statement: As typical mesoscale processes, oceanic fronts have significant impacts on biological processes and fisheries in marginal seas. The complex spatiotemporal variability of fronts and their effects on biological processes in the Indonesian seas remain poorly understood. This study aimed to address this knowledge gap by investigating the seasonal and interannual variability of fronts and their influence on chlorophyll-a, a key indicator of phytoplankton biomass and primary productivity. The study identified a high frontal probability in south Java Island during austral winter and El Niño years. Wind-driven upwelling was found to be a major factor in front generation and promoting phytoplankton growth. The findings of this study will improve the theoretical knowledge of regional dynamics, local primary production, and the carbon cycle in the Indonesian seas, benefiting fisheries management and ecosystem conservation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's rapidly changing economy, efficient lifestyle has become the current situation of most mobile product users. With the development of performance tools and technologies, a fast lifestyle has brought more wealth and opportunities to users. The slow pace and fluctuating time are indirect income losses, which cause user anxiety to some extent. When the waiting time exceeds the user's waiting threshold, users would experience negative emotions, such as boredom, anxiety and anger, and product satisfaction would drop significantly. Therefore, by analyzing the uniqueness of mobile Internet products and the characteristics of users, this paper studied the reasons and influencing factors of product interactive waiting, and then used machine learning algorithm to analyze the cost function of interactive waiting experience. Finally, the corresponding interactive waiting experience design strategy was proposed. By comparison, the user experience after product interaction optimization design was 8.4% higher than that before product interaction optimization design, and the user frequency was also 14.7% higher after optimization design. In short, user experience plays an important role in product interaction design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The treatment and surgical repair of torn Achilles tendons seldom return the wounded tendon to its original elasticity and stiffness. This study explored the in vitro and in vivo simultaneous release of indomethacin and bupivacaine from electrospun polylactide–polyglycolide composite membranes for their capacity to repair torn Achilles tendons. These membranes were fabricated by mixing polylactide–polyglycolide/indomethacin, polylactide–polyglycolide/collagen, and polylactide–polyglycolide/bupivacaine with 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol into sandwich-structured composites. Subsequently, the in vitro pharmaceutic release rates over 30 days were determined, and the in vivo release behavior and effectiveness of the loaded drugs were assessed using an animal surgical model. High concentrations of indomethacin and bupivacaine were released for over four weeks. The released pharmaceutics resulted in complete recovery of rat tendons, and the nanofibrous composite membranes exhibited exceptional mechanical strength. Additionally, the anti-adhesion capacity of the developed membrane was confirmed. Using the electrospinning technique developed in this study, we plan on manufacturing degradable composite membranes for tendon healing, which can deliver sustained pharmaceutical release and provide a collagenous habitat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Embedding multiple pharmaceutical drugs into poly(lactic‐co‐glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanofibers is known to improve the regeneration of the Achilles tendon upon implantation after injury and rapidly restore post‐surgery activity. In this study, an implantable material comprising celecoxib, collagen, bupivacaine, and PLGA (CCBP) is prepared by electrospinning. Its in vitro/vivo drug discharge behaviors are evaluated, and its efficacy in tendon regeneration is investigated in a rat model. The regeneration capacity of the wounded tendon is also compared with that of a doxycycline‐collagen‐bupivacaine‐PLGA (DCBP) combination. The results show that, relative to the primary PLGA nanofibers, the pharmaceutical‐embedded nanofibers have thinner fiber diameters and higher hydrophilicity. The drug‐eluting nanofibers also offer a sustained release of celecoxib for at least 30 d in vitro and 28 d in vivo. Achilles tendons regenerated using the CCBP combination nanofibers demonstrate a significantly higher maximum load‐to‐failure than normal tendons and those repaired using the DCBP combination. Additionally, the expression of growth factors and composition of collagen I induced by the CCBP combination are superior to those induced by the DCBP combination. The results suggest that the CCBP combination is a promising scaffold for the repair of ruptured Achilles tendons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Mg-Co-Ni LDH were homogenously grown on the surface of reduced graphene (Mg-Co-Ni LDH/rG- x). • The Mg-Co-Ni LDH/rG- x was fabricated by a novel ball milling combined ion-exchange method. • The present ball milling combined ion-exchange method is versatile and does not needs extra alkali sources or auxiliary assembly reagents. • The Mg-Co-Ni LDH/rG- x based asymmetric supercapacitor achieve high energy density and superlong cycling stability. As an electrode for energy storage, the inherently poor conductivity of metal hydroxides (MHs) can be improved by in situ growth of MHs on conductive carbon based substrates so that their performances on energy storage could be enhanced to a high level. However, the incompatibility of hydrophilic component (metal hydroxides) and hydrophobic counterpart (carbon based materials) makes it difficult to be accomplished. Herein, we presented a scalable and easy-operated strategy by ball-milling combined with ion-exchange technique to grow Mg-Co-Ni LDH (layered double hydroxides) on reduced graphene, in which ball-milling was utilized to disperse the staring material of magnesium acetate on graphene oxide (GO) to obtain the composite of Mg(Ac) 2 /GO. The composite can be in situ transformed to MgO/reduced grapheme (rG) by following heat treatment. While, the ion-exchange reaction could enables the in situ growth of Mg-Co-Ni LDHs on the reduced graphene. The derived products (denoted as Mg-Co-Ni LDH/rG- x) owns nanosheet morphology, surface area of 59–115 m2/g, homogenous elements distribution. As electrode for supercapacitor, the maximum capacitance of 1204F/g@1.0 A/g was achieved and the corresponding asymmetric supercapacitor device shows a large energy density of 44.3 Wh/kg@800 W/kg. Particularly, a superlong cycling stability with 90.5% capacitance retention of the first cycle was attained after continuous charge/discharge for 20 000 cycles at current density of 5.0 A/g, promising great potential for practical energy storage application. The present strategy is simple and scalable that can be widely applied to the synthesis of various hydroxides/oxides or multi-component hydroxides/oxides on carbon substrates forming a composite structure, thus offers a great potential for broad application areas including catalysis, adsorption, energy storage, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's rapidly changing economy, efficient lifestyle has become the current situation of most mobile product users. With the development of performance tools and technologies, a fast lifestyle has brought more wealth and opportunities to users. The slow pace and fluctuating time are indirect income losses, which cause user anxiety to some extent. When the waiting time exceeds the user's waiting threshold, users would experience negative emotions, such as boredom, anxiety and anger, and product satisfaction would drop significantly. Therefore, by analyzing the uniqueness of mobile Internet products and the characteristics of users, this paper studied the reasons and influencing factors of product interactive waiting, and then used machine learning algorithm to analyze the cost function of interactive waiting experience. Finally, the corresponding interactive waiting experience design strategy was proposed. By comparison, the user experience after product interaction optimization design was 8.4% higher than that before product interaction optimization design, and the user frequency was also 14.7% higher after optimization design. In short, user experience plays an important role in product interaction design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate sequential change point estimation and detection in univariate nonparametric settings, where a stream of independent observations from sub-Gaussian distributions with a common variance factor and piecewise-constant but otherwise unknown means are collected. We develop a simple CUSUM-based methodology that provably control the probability of false alarms or the average run length while minimizing, in a minimax sense, the detection delay. We allow for all the model parameters to vary in order to capture a broad range of levels of statistical hardness for the problem at hand. We further show how our methodology is applicable to the case in which multiple change points are to be estimated sequentially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-modal audio–visual correlation learning has been an interesting research topic, which aims to capture and understand semantic correspondences between audio and video. We face two challenges during audio–visual correlation learning: (i) audio and visual feature sequences, respectively, belong to different feature spaces, and (ii) semantic mismatch between audio and visual sequences inevitably happens. To solve these challenges, existing works mainly focus on how to efficiently extract discriminative features, while ignoring the abundant granular features of audio and visual modalities. In this work, we introduce the multi-scale network with shared cross-attention (MSNSCA) module for audio–visual correlation learning, a supervised representation learning framework for capturing semantic audio–visual correspondences by integrating a multi-scale feature extraction module with strong cross-attention into an end-to-end trainable deep network. MSNSCA can extract more effective audio–visual particle features with excellent audio–visual semantic matching capability. Experiments on various audio–visual learning tasks, including audio–visual matching and retrieval on benchmark datasets, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed MSNSCA model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lyrics-to-melody generation is an interesting and challenging topic in AI music research field. Due to the difficulty of learning the correlations between lyrics and melody, previous methods suffer from low generation quality and lack of controllability. Controllability of generative models enables human interaction with models to generate desired contents, which is especially important in music generation tasks towards human-centered AI that can facilitate musicians in creative activities. To address these issues, we propose a controllable lyrics-to-melody generation network, ConL2M, which is able to generate realistic melodies from lyrics in user-desired musical style. Our work contains three main novelties: (1) to model the dependencies of music attributes cross multiple sequences, inter-branch memory fusion (Memofu) is proposed to enable information flow between multi-branch stacked LSTM architecture; (2) reference style embedding (RSE) is proposed to improve the quality of generation as well as control the musical style of generated melodies; (3) sequence-level statistical loss (SeqLoss) is proposed to help the model learn sequence-level features of melodies given lyrics. Verified by evaluation metrics for music quality and controllability, initial study of controllable lyrics-to-melody generation shows better generation quality and the feasibility of interacting with users to generate the melodies in desired musical styles when given lyrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a major contributor to the rising incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Magnesium is a major cation in cellular activities. Epidemiological data on magnesium level and its relation to HCC are sparse. This study aimed to examine the associations between serum levels of magnesium and the risk of HCC among patients with NAFLD. Methods: A total of 26,053 patients with NAFLD were identified in the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Electronic Health Records from 2004 through 2018. After an average of 5.15 years of follow‐up, 395 patients developed HCC after the first measurement of serum magnesium. Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs of HCC incidence associated with quartile levels of serum magnesium after adjustment for age, sex, race, body mass index, diuretics use, history of type 2 diabetes, history of hypertension, history of hyperlipidemia, and tobacco smoking. Results: Patients with NAFLD who developed HCC had a significantly lower mean (± standard deviation) serum magnesium (0.769 ± 0.131 mmol/L) than those who remained free of HCC (0.789 ± 0.125 mmol/L; p =.003). Compared with the lowest quartile, the HRs (95% CIs) of HCC second, third, and fourth quartiles of serum magnesium were 0.87 (0.67–1.12), 0.77 (0.57–1.04), and 0.73 (0.56–0.96), respectively, after adjustment for multiple potential confounders (Ptrend =.02). Conclusion: This finding suggests higher levels of serum magnesium were significantly associated with decreased risk of HCC among patients with NAFLD. Monitoring serum magnesium levels among those with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease may be beneficial in hepatocellular carcinoma primary prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study systematically reviewed the relevant studies and summarized the associations of objective measures of residential neighborhood built-environment attributes with sedentary time among adults. Published studies were obtained from PubMed and Scopus, restricting to those published in English language peer-reviewed journals to Oct. 2021. There were nine studies and 48 instances of estimated associations. Most instances showed no statistical-significant associations; by contrast, few instances showed that adults living in a neighborhood characterized by a high density of local destinations and connected intersections were associated with less sedentary time. The findings suggest that a high density of destinations and street intersections around residence may provide opportunities to transfer and access to services, thus reducing the sedentary time. Future research strengthening the research design and measurements are needed to investigate the potential explanations of the associations between residential neighborhood built environments and sedentary time in adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dengue imposes a heavy economic burden on families and society. We used surveillance data reported in 2019 to characterize the dengue epidemic in Zhejiang Province, China, which provided guidance for dengue prevention and control. Dengue epidemics mostly occurred in July to October. People aged 30–44 years, males, and commercial service workers were more likely to suffer from dengue. The epidemic areas were mainly in Hangzhou and Wenzhou. Meanwhile, we assessed the economic cost of dengue in the province from both family and organizational perspectives. The direct economic burden of dengue patients was estimated to be USD 405,038.25, and the indirect economic burden was USD 140,364.90, for a total economic burden of USD 543,213.00. The direct economic burden of dengue patients should be reduced by increasing the coverage and reimbursement of health insurance. Additionally, the total annual cost of dengue prevention and control for the government and organizational sectors was estimated to be USD 7075,654.83. Quantifying the dengue burden is critical for developing disease control strategies, allocating public health resources, and setting health policy priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salient object detection has made substantial progress due to the exploitation of multi-level convolutional features. The key point is how to combine these convolutional features effectively and efficiently. Due to the step by step down-sampling operations in almost all CNNs, multi-level features usually have different scales. Methods based on fully convolutional networks directly apply bilinear up-sampling to low-resolution deep features and then combine them with high-resolution shallow features by addition or concatenation, which neglects the compatibility of features, resulting in misalignment problems. In this paper, to solve the problem, we propose an alignment integration network (ALNet), which aligns adjacent level features progressively to generate powerful combinations. To capture long-range dependencies for high-level integrated features as well as maintain high computational efficiency, a strip attention module (SAM) is introduced into the alignment integration procedures. Benefiting from SAM, multi-level semantics can be selectively propagated to predict precise salient objects. Furthermore, although integrating multi-level convolutional features can alleviate the blur boundary problem to a certain extent, it is still unsatisfactory for the restoration of a real object boundary. Therefore, we design a simple but effective boundary enhancement module (BEM) to guide the network focus on boundaries and other error-prone parts. Based on BEM, an attention weighted loss is proposed to boost the network to generate sharper object boundaries. Experimental results on five benchmark datasets demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve state-of-the-art performance on salient object detection. Moreover, we extend the experiments on the remote sensing datasets, and the results further prove the universality and scalability of ALNet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exemplarism – the view that exemplary people, whom we admire, are the bearers of our moral concepts – presents considerable challenges to the (widely-assumed) place of moral theory in how we learn to be moral. Exemplarism has been garnered by Amy Olberding to articulate a Confucian approach to moral learning. This paper extends Exemplarism by considering how it may be put into practice, based on a seminal Confucian text, the Analects of Confucius. To date, the majority of discussions on Confucian ethics that have brought Confucian philosophy to the attention of Anglophone scholars tend to focus on conceptually-based matters. There remain questions regarding how these values may be inculcated and embodied in our moral lives. Central to our proposal is the practice of reflective observation (guan 觀), comprised by three integrated components: observation, evaluation, and emulation. Observing, reflectively, is important not only for an individual's acculturation to existing norms and practices but also for how they may subsequently exercise some latitude over their moral practices. Our reflections offer a practical approach to Confucian moral learning. In doing so, we demystify moral learning in Confucianism and open up avenues for future cross-tradition dialogues on moral education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Osteosynthesis for acetabular fractures with ipsilateral sacroiliac joint (SIJ) injuries remains challenging for orthopedic surgeons, despite the evolution of surgical approaches, such as the pararectus approach, and treatment sequences. The study aimed to describe the details of the treatment of acetabular fracture with ipsilateral SIJ injury by the pararectus approach and to report its surgical outcomes. Methods: We retrospectively assessed patients with acetabular fractures and ipsilateral SIJ injuries undergoing osteosynthesis by the pararectus approach over a three-year period. Evaluation parameters of the quality of reduction of both acetabulum and pelvis injuries were, among others, Matta's criteria, Lefaivre's criteria, inlet/outlet ratios, and maximal gap measured on computed tomography (CT) scans. Results: Ten patients (seven men and three women) were enrolled. Pelvic ring injuries classified as AO B2.3 and acetabular fractures involving two columns were the most common fractures, accounting for 70% and 60%, respectively. Radiological evaluation for pelvic ring injury revealed three excellent and seven good results according to Matta's criteria, as well as five excellent, three good, and one fair results according to Lefaivre's criteria. Inlet and outlet ratios were between 0.84–1.06 and 0.93–1.60, respectively. The distance of the sacroiliac joints significantly improved postoperatively in both axial and coronal views (P = 0.002). Further, the maximal articular gap and step-off of acetabular fractures on axial, coronal, and sagittal view CT scans showed statistically significant improvements after osteosynthesis. Conclusion: Simultaneous reduction and fixation of acetabular fractures with ipsilateral SIJ injuries using the pararectus approach achieved satisfactory radiological outcomes. Level of evidence: IV. Trial registration: Retrospectively registered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muricidae is one of the most species‐rich and morphologically diverse families in Gastropoda, with a worldwide distribution. The classification of Muricidae has traditionally been based on shell and radular characteristics; however, the phylogenetic relationships within the family are debated due to morphological convergence and plasticity. In this study, to explore the phylogenetic relationships of Muricidae, we sequenced 11 muricid mitochondrial (mt) genomes and compared them with 13 previously reported complete muricid mt genomes. All muricid mt genomes shared the same gene arrangement and exhibited conserved genome size and nucleotide composition. Three‐nucleotide deletions in atp8 and nad4, and three‐nucleotide insertions in nad2 were detected in Rapaninae. Both maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses supported the monophyly of each subfamily studied (Ocenebrinae, Muricinae, Rapaninae and Ergalataxinae). Ergalataxinae was recovered as the sister taxon of Rapaninae, refuting the traditional morphology‐based placement of Ergalataxinae within Rapaninae. In Rapaninae, Indothais was confirmed to be monophyletic and determined to be a valid genus. Similarly, Drupina was determined to be an independent genus rather than a subgenus of Drupa. Purpura was recovered as a paraphyletic group, with Purpura panama being sister to Reishia + Rapana + Indothais and clustering with Purpura bufo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the clinicopathological characteristics, survival outcomes, and prognosis of very young gastric cancer (GC). From January 1, 2011 to January 1, 2021, GC patients under 30 years old treated in three tertiary hospitals were enrolled. Clinicopathological characteristics were summarized, prognostic factors and survival outcomes including overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and progression-free survival (PFS) were retrospectively analyzed. One hundred patients were finally included, with a median age of 23 years.73 (73.0%) were female. Most patients had initial symptoms of abdominal pain (66.0%). The most common tumor locations were gastric antrum (38.0%) and gastric body (37.0%). The main histological types were diffuse (81.0%) and poorly differentiated (91.0%). Most patients presented with stage III–IV disease (82.0%) at diagnosis and the common sites of metastasis were ovary (39.5%) and peritoneum (27.6%). The mOS of the whole group was 23.3 months (95% CI 17.2–29.4). Moreover, the mOS of patients at stage I–II was not reached. The mOS of patients at stage III and stage IV was 40.6 months (95% CI 10.2–70.9) and 10.3 months (95% CI 8.9–11.6), respectively. The mDFS of stage I–III patients was 28.5 months (95% CI 14.7–42.3), and the mPFS of the metastatic patients was 4.5 months (95% CI 4.0–5.0). TNM stage (P = 0.005) and radical surgery (P = 0.001) were independent prognostic factors of overall survival. The very young GC were predominantly female, diffuse type, and advanced diagnosis. TNM stage and radical surgery were independent prognosis factors for overall survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have revolutionized cancer management and have been widely applied; however, they still have some limitations in terms of efficacy and toxicity. There are multiple treatment regimens in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that play active roles in combination with Western medicine in the field of oncology treatment. TCM with ICIs works by regulating the tumor microenvironment and modulating gut microbiota. Through multiple targets and multiple means, TCM enhances the efficacy of ICIs, reverses resistance, and effectively prevents and treats ICI-related adverse events based on basic and clinical studies. However, there have been few conclusions on this topic. This review summarizes the development of TCM in cancer treatment, the mechanisms underlying the combination of TCM and ICIs, existing studies, ongoing trials, and prospects for future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the longitudinal data of 30 Major League Baseball (MLB) teams over seasons from 2017 to 2020, we used random effect (RE) models to conduct regression analyses on the detailed data of pitchers and fielders. Cultural distance (CD) was measured in terms of Hofstede's cultural indicators and Global Preference Survey (GPS) data. The results showed that salary premiums for foreign MLB players existed and CD was significantly positively correlated with salaries. Further, the risk preference (/altruism) difference between foreign pitchers and American pitchers was significantly positively (/negatively) correlated with the salaries of foreign pitchers. Salary estimation data showed that the salary premium was nearly 20% for players from South Korea and Panama, the lowest (only 0.11%) for players from Australia, and only 6.13% for players from Dominican Republic (accounting for the largest proportion of foreign MLB players), indicating that the MLB's foreign player recruitment policy is correct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the rearing of Coccinella septempunctata L. (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), nutrients such as shrimp, pollen, honey, and lard were added to the basic artificial diet, and the effects of the artificial diet on biological parameters and digestive enzymes were evaluated. The results show that beetles feeding on the supplemented diet exhibited pupation, emergence, fecundity, and hatching rates that were 102.69%, 125.02%, 162.33%, and 119.90% of those supplied with the basic diet, respectively. The addition of shrimp and pollen to the basal diet improved protease, trypsin, chymotrypsin, and aminopeptidase activity in larvae and female adults. The addition of lard improved lipase activity in female adults, and the addition of honey improved invertase activity in adults of both sexes. This study provides guidance for improving the nutritional benefits of ladybug artificial diets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Open pelvic fractures have high mortality rates, and survivors may have ongoing functional deficits from severe trauma and invasive life-saving procedures. However, there are limited reports regarding the functional status evaluation following open pelvic fractures. We aimed to report the treatment experiences and short-term functional outcomes of patients with open pelvic fractures. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the data of 19 consecutive patients with pelvic fractures who underwent treatment at a single institute between January 2014 and June 2018. The resuscitation protocol, osteosynthesis strategy, reduction quality of the pelvic ring, and functional outcomes were analyzed. Results: The incidence and mortality rates in patients with open pelvic fractures were 4.9 and 21.6%, respectively. Ten, one, and seven of the open wounds related to the pelvic fractures were located in Faringer zones I, II, and III, respectively. Fractures of four patients were categorized as classes 1 and 2, and those of 11 patients as class 3, according to the Jones–Powell classification. Eleven of 19 (57.9%) and 9 of 19 (47.5%) revealed excellent reduction quality by Matta/Torenetta and Lefaivre criteria, respectively. The Merle d'Aubigné score improved at each evaluation but stagnated after 24 months. The Majeed hip score also improved at the 12-month evaluation but the improvement stopped thereafter. At a 3-year follow-up, the patients with excellent reduction of the pelvic ring showed the highest functional performances. Conclusion: Improvements in functional status of patients with open pelvic fractures can be anticipated based on the reduction quality of the pelvis ring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The pararectus approach is used to treat acetabular fractures; however, it remains unclear whether it can be used to treat pelvic fractures. This study aimed to examine the outcomes of patients with a pelvic ring fracture treated with this approach. Methods: Seven patients with AO B2.2 pelvic fractures treated with the pararectus approach were included. Patients' pain was assessed pre- and postoperatively with a numerical rating scale. Radiological evaluations included inlet and outlet ratios and pelvic symmetry. Functional outcomes, including Merle d'Aubigné and Majeed scores, were also recorded for 12 months. Results: One patient experienced obturator nerve neuropraxia. Pain scores ranged from 2.3–8.0 to 2.0–3.1 points before and after surgery, respectively. Radiological findings revealed satisfactory outcomes. The maximal gap of the affected ilium reduced from 8.6–20.2 to 0–3.4 mm, from 6.8–17.9 to 0–4.4 mm, and from 3.7–20.3 to 0–3.2 mm in the axial, sagittal, and coronal views, respectively. Based on multiple evaluations, functional outcomes were improved for all patients. Conclusion: The pararectus approach can be used safely and satisfactorily to treat AO B 2.2 pelvic fractures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]