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Aims: To explore the inter-predictive role and causal relationship between family functioning, self-perceived burden and loneliness in people with type 2 diabetes. Methods: In this study, patients with type 2 diabetes admitted to two tertiary care hospitals in China were selected for an 8-month follow-up, and the patients' scores on the Family Functioning, Self-perceived Burden, and Loneliness scales were measured repeatedly at three time periods: during hospitalisation (T1), 1 month after discharge (T2), and 3 months after discharge (T3). Results: The results showed that family function at the T1 time point had a negative predictive effect on self-perceived burden at the T2 time point, β = − 0.43, P = 0.005. Loneliness at the T1 time point had a positive predictive effect on self-perceived burden at the T2 time point, β = 0.08, P = 0.021. Unlike the pathway at time point T1, family functioning at time point T2 negatively predicted loneliness at time point T3, β = − 0.32, P = 0.013. Loneliness at time point T2 positively predicted family functioning at time point T3, β = 0.025, P = 0.013. Loneliness at time point T2 negatively predicted self-perceived burden at time point T3 (P = 0.011). Conclusions: The results of the cross-lagged analysis show that there is a mutually predictive and moderating relationship between family functioning and loneliness in patients with type 2 diabetes. Loneliness can predict the level of self-perceived burden at the next time point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective·To explore the prognosis effects of tumor-stroma ratio(TSR), perineural invasion (PNI) and lymphovascular invasion (LVI) on patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods·Data of 948 patients diagnosed with CRC in Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from January 2014 to December 2018 were retrospectively analyzed, and according to pathological risk factors TSR, PNI and LVI, patients were divided into high risk group (n=81) and low risk group (n=867). After 1-1 matching with SPSS software, 67 patients of the high risk group and 67 patients of the low risk group were obtained. The overall survival (OS) time was compared between patients in the high risk group and low risk group. The results were validated by using tissue microarray (TMA) dataset of 106 CRC patients from our research group. The clinical characteristics of the high risk group and low risk group were compared. Kaplan-Meier curve was used for survival analysis, and COX regression model was used to analyze the prognosis factors. Results·Patients in the high risk group had a worse prognosis with a short median OS (27.7 months) than patients in the low risk group (31.1 months, P=0.000). The worse OS in patients with high risk group was validated in matched data and TMA dataset. Conclusion·CRC with positive perineural lymphovascular invasion combined with high TSR is a type of CRC with poor prognosis, which can effectively make up for the defect of tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage in prognosis and can be used to predict postoperative disease development of CRC patients and guide treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Both average chronic and daily acute exposure to air pollution on women who have undergone an IVF treatment was explored. • The whole period of folliculogenesis was encompassed. • This study is the first study done on Chinese population. To assess the associations between air pollution and the pregnancy rate of IVF, we performed a retrospective cohort study on 1455 women who underwent the first fresh IVF cycle at a fertility center from January 2014 to April 2018 and lived in Shenyang during treatment. Binary logistic regression models were used to evaluate the effect of an interquartile range increase in each pollutant on the intrauterine pregnancy rate. Both average chronic and daily acute exposure to air pollution were considered. Increased O 3 (adjusted OR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.81, 0.98) during the period from gonadotropins starting to oocyte retrieval was associated with decreased probability of intrauterine pregnancy, especially the day before oocyte retrieval (adjusted OR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.78, 0.95). Our results suggest that exposure to O 3 before oocyte retrieval has an adverse effect on intrauterine pregnancy. Future studies should be performed in order to confirm our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, based on the actual channel measurements of the high-speed railway (HSR) in a viaduct scenario at 2.35 GHz, a hybrid cluster delay line (CDL) channel modeling technology which combines a statistical model and a theoretical model is proposed. This novel channel-characterization approach is used to reveal the statistical properties for 'random' scattering and to provide a geometric mechanism for computing the time-variant paths for 'periodically moving' scattering. Using a modified clustering algorithm in the delay domain, the inter-cluster and intra-cluster characteristics against the distance between the transmitter and the receiver were extracted and analyzed. In addition, the measurement results were compared with some conclusions from other measurement studies, and the proposed channel model was validated by comparing the simulated results with the measurement data. The study results provide a useful technique for the evaluation and verification of wireless communications in the HSR environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pseudoachondroplasia (PSACH) is known as an autosomal dominant disorder associated with mutations in the gene of cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP). The pathomolecular mechanisms of PSACH as a result of C-terminal globular region (CTD) mutations remain unclear. A heterozygous mutation (E559 K) in a Chinese family diagnosed with PSACH was reported in this study. To understand the pathogenesis of this mutation, we studied chondrogenic differentiation of patient menstrual blood-derived stem cells (MenSCs), and the impact of the mutation on structural changes of COMP was investigated using all-atom molecular dynamics simulation. The results suggested that the interactions with calcium and other molecules in the mutant structure were affected resulting in misfolding of the protein, which leads to ER stress and finally affects the survival of chondrocytes. The findings may promote the understanding of the pathomolecular mechanisms of PSACH, and possibly the development of drugs to treat the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional mobile robots are mainly divided into wheeled robots and legged robots. They have good performance at fast-moving speeds and crossing obstacles, and weak terrain adaptability and moving speeds, respectively. Combining the advantages of these two types mentioned, a multi-functional wheel-legged hexapod robot with strong climbing capacity was designed in this paper. Each wheel-leg of the robot is driven directly by a single motor and can move smoothly and quickly in a diagonal tripod gait. Based on the obstacle-crossing way of the wheel-leg and combined with the characteristics of insects moving stably in nature, the middle part of the robot body is wider than head and tail. Tripod gait was selected to control the robot locomotion. A series of simulations and experiments were conducted to validate its excellent adaptability to various environmental conditions. The robot can traverse rugged, broken, and obstacle-ridden ground and cross rugged surfaces full of obstacles without any terrain sensing or actively controlled adaptation. It can negotiate obstacles of approximately its own height, which is much higher than its centre of gravity range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineered bacteria‐mediated antitumor approaches have been proposed as promising immunotherapies for cancer. However, the off‐target bacterial toxicity narrows the therapeutic window. Living microbes will benefit from their controllable immunogenicity within tumors for safer antitumor applications. In this study, a genetically encoded microbial activation strategy is reported that uses tunable and dynamic expression of surface extracellular polysaccharides to improve bacterial biocompatibility while retaining therapeutic efficacy. Based on screening of genes associated with Salmonella survival in macrophages, a novel attenuated Salmonella chassis strain AIS (htrA gene‐deficient) highly enriched in tumors after administration and rapidly cleared from normal organs are reported. Subsequently, an engineered bacterial strain, AISI‐H, is constructed based on the AIS strain and an optimized quorum‐sensing regulatory system. The AISI‐H strain can achieve recovery of dynamic tumor‐specific bacterial virulence through a novel HTRA‐RCSA axis‐based and quorum‐sensing synthetic gene circuit‐mediated increase in extracellular polysaccharide content. These strains act "off" in normal organs to avoid unwanted immune activation and "on" in tumors for precise tumor suppression in mice. The AISI‐H strain shows significant tumor inhibition and potent activation of anticancer immunity in a melanoma mouse model. The AISI‐H strain exhibits excellent biocompatibility. This bacterial regulation strategy expands the applications of microbe‐based antitumor therapeutics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Infertility has become a global health issue with the number of couples seeking in vitro fertilization (IVF) worldwide continuing to rise. Some couples remain childless after several IVF cycles. Women undergoing IVF face greater risks and financial burden. A prediction model to predict the live birth chance prior to the first IVF treatment is needed in clinical practice for patients counselling and shaping expectations.Methods: Clinical data of 7188 women who underwent their first IVF treatment at the Reproductive Medical Center of Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University during 2014-2018 were retrospectively collected. Machine-learning based models were developed on 70% of the dataset using pre-treatment variables, and prediction performances were evaluated on the remaining 30% using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and calibration plot. Nested cross-validation was used to make an unbiased estimate of the generalization performance of the machine learning algorithms.Results: The XGBoost model achieved an area under the ROC curve of 0.73 on the validation dataset and showed the best calibration compared with other machine learning algorithms. Nested cross-validation resulted in an average accuracy score of 0.70 ± 0.003 for the XGBoost model.Conclusions: A prediction model based on XGBoost was developed using age, AMH, BMI, duration of infertility, previous live birth, previous miscarriage, previous abortion and type of infertility as predictors. This study might be a promising step to provide personalized estimates of the cumulative live birth chance of the first complete IVF cycle before treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To examined the relationship between fear of hypoglycemia and certain variables in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) based on the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, and Behavior model, combined with the context unique to people with diabetes to provide a basis for developing targeted nursing interventions. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 212 people with T2DM were recruited from February 2021 to July 2021. Data were collected using the Hypoglycaemia Fear Survey, Gold score, Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) scale and Diabetic Self-Management Attitudes Scale. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to determine the predictors of fear of hypoglycemia using SPSS 26.0. Results: The mean fear of hypoglycemia score was 74.88 ± 18.28 (range: 37.00–132.00). In people with T2DM, the frequency of blood glucose monitoring, the frequency of hypoglycemia in the past half-year, degree of understanding of hypoglycemia, impaired awareness of hypoglycemia, PACIC, and self-management attitude of diabetes were the influencing factors of fear of hypoglycemia (adjusted R2 = 0.560, F[21,190] = 13.800, P < 0.001). These variables explained 56.0% of the variance in the fear of hypoglycemia. Conclusions: The level of fear of hypoglycemia in people with T2DM was relatively high. In addition to paying attention to the disease characteristics of people with T2DM, medical staff should also pay attention to patients' own perception and handling ability of disease and hypoglycemia, attitude toward self-management behavior and external environment support, all of which have a positive effect on improving the fear of hypoglycemia in people with T2DM, optimizing the self-management level and improving quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The first large-scale multicenter retrospective study conducted in Northern China. • Both outcomes of fresh and frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles in IVF were explored. • Exposure to O 3 , CO, and NO 2 are negatively associated with fresh transfer outcomes. • SO 2 exposure is inversely correlated with pregnancy outcomes in FET cycles. • Air pollution is associated with higher risk of ectopic pregnancy and lower oocyte yield. Exposure to ambient air pollution has been reported to be inversely correlated with human reproductive health. However, the results of previous studies exploring the association between air pollution and in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes are conflicting, and further research is needed to clarify this association. This study aimed to investigate the associations between exposure to air pollutants and IVF outcomes. We conducted a multicenter retrospective cohort study involving 20,835 patients from four cities in Northern China, contributing to 11,787 fresh embryo transfer cycles, 9050 freeze-all cycles, and 17,676 frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) cycles during 2014–2018. We calculated the daily average concentrations of six criteria air pollutants (PM 2.5 , PM 10 , O 3 , NO 2 , CO, and SO 2) during different exposure windows in IVF treatment timeline using data from the air monitoring station nearest to the residential site as approximate individual exposure. Generalized estimation equation models were used to assess the association between air pollution exposure and IVF outcomes. Exposure to O 3 , NO 2 , and CO during most exposure windows in fresh embryo transfer cycles were correlated with lower possibilities of biochemical pregnancy, clinical pregnancy, and live birth. An inverse association of exposure to O 3 and SO 2 with pregnancy outcomes was observed in FET cycles. In addition, we found a significant association of exposure to air pollutants with a higher risk of ectopic pregnancy and lower oocyte yield. Our study provided large-scale human evidence of the association between air pollution and adverse human reproductive outcomes in the population opting for IVF. Thus, exposure to air pollutants in the population opting for IVF should be limited to improve treatment outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]