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To alleviate the problems of environmental pollution and energy crisis, aggressive development of clean and alternative energy technologies, in particular, water splitting, metal–air batteries, and fuel cells involving two key half reactions comprising hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen reduction (ORR), is crucial. In this work, an innovative hybrid comprising heterogeneous Cu/Co bimetallic nanoparticles homogeneously dispersed on a nitrogen-doped carbon layer (Cu/Co/NC) was constructed as a bifunctional electrocatalyst toward HER and ORR via a hydrothermal reaction along with post-solid-phase sintering technique. Thanks to the interfacial coupling and electronic synergism between the Cu and Co bimetallic nanoparticles, the Cu/Co/NC catalyst showed improved catalytic ORR activity with a half-wave potential of 0.865 V and an excellent stability of more than 30 h, even compared to 20 wt% Pt/C. The Cu/Co/NC catalyst also exhibited excellent HER catalytic performance with an overpotential of below 149 mV at 10 mA/cm2 and long-term operation for over 30 h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metabolic network models have become increasingly precise and accurate as the most widespread and practical digital representations of living cells. The prediction functions were significantly expanded by integrating cellular resources and abiotic constraints in recent years. However, if unreasonable modeling methods were adopted due to a lack of consideration of biological knowledge, the conflicts between stoichiometric and other constraints, such as thermodynamic feasibility and enzyme resource availability, would lead to distorted predictions. In this work, we investigated a prediction anomaly of EcoETM, a constraints-based metabolic network model, and introduced the idea of enzyme compartmentalization into the analysis process. Through rational combination of reactions, we avoid the false prediction of pathway feasibility caused by the unrealistic assumption of free intermediate metabolites. This allowed us to correct the pathway structures of L-serine and Ltryptophan. A specific analysis explains the application method of the EcoETM-like model and demonstrates its potential and value in correcting the prediction results in pathway structure by resolving the conflict between different constraints and incorporating the evolved roles of enzymes as reaction compartments. Notably, this work also reveals the trade-off between product yield and thermodynamic feasibility. Our work is of great value for the structural improvement of constraints-based models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND The benefits of healthy lifestyles are well recognized. However, the extent to which improving unhealthy lifestyles reduces cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk needs to be discussed. We evaluated the impact of lifestyle improvement on CVD incidence using data from the China-PAR project (Prediction for Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk in China). METHODS A total of 12,588 participants free of CVD were followed up for three visits after the baseline examination. Changes in four lifestyle factors (LFs) (smoking, diet, physical activity, and alcohol consumption) were assessed through questionnaires from the baseline to the first follow-up visit. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The risk advancement periods (RAPs: the age difference between exposed and unexposed participants reaching the same incident CVD risk) and population-attributable risk percentage (PAR%) were also calculated. RESULTS A total of 909 incident CVD cases occurred over a median follow-up of 11.14 years. Compared with maintaining 0-1 healthy LFs, maintaining 3–4 healthy LFs was associated with a 40% risk reduction of incident CVD (HR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.45–0.79) and delayed CVD risk by 6.31 years (RAP: −6.31 [−9.92, −2.70] years). The PAR% of maintaining 3–4 unhealthy LFs was 22.0% compared to maintaining 0-1 unhealthy LFs. Besides, compared with maintaining two healthy LFs, improving healthy LFs from 2 to 3–4 was associated with a 23% lower risk of CVD (HR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.60–0.98). CONCLUSIONS Long-term sustenance of healthy lifestyles or improving unhealthy lifestyles can reduce and delay CVD risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of single-atom catalysts (SACs) offers a novel strategy to minimize catalyst loadings while maintaining high electrocatalytic activity. Herein, a novel Ni/Ni single atom anchored porous graphitic nanocarbon (Ni/Ni-SA--NC) is synthesized by an alkali-assisted etching approach combined with post-calcination protocol. It is manifested that the in situ formed AlN not only can function as a template for the generation of porous nanoarchitecture but can also serve as an anchoring agent for synthesized Ni--Nx species. Benefitting from the high specific surface area, abundant electroactive sites, and highly conductive graphitic carbon matrix, the fabricated Ni/Ni-SA--NC displays superior HER performances with a quite low overpotential of 159 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm-2, far outperforming the Ni/C counterpart and long-term stability for over 50 h with unnoticeable current fluctuation in alkaline medium. Our work inspires the exploration of remarkable SACs electrocatalysts for cost-effective and large-scale hydrogen production in the energy conversion and storage field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Changxing Tuying wetland, a gem in the Huzhou wetland cultural heritage system, boasts a rich history and ecological diversity. This paper delves into the essence of the Changxing Tuying wetland culture, tracing its origins and the evolution of its distinct cultural resources. By integrating principles of botany and ecology with visual aesthetics, we explore an innovative approach that merges digital technology with cultural tourism to both showcase and protect this unique ecological site. The focus of our study is twofold: to highlight the potential of digital means in enhancing agricultural tourism and to underscore the importance of environmental conservation in maintaining the wetland's ecological balance. We adopt a strategy that not only emphasizes the cultural heritage of the Changxing Tuying Wetland but also advocates for its ecological protection through sustainable tourism practices. Empirical results from our analysis on the impact of digitalization on both heritage and tourism provide compelling evidence of its benefits. The interaction term between digitalization and cultural identity yields a coefficient of 0.242 (p-value = 0.025<0.05), indicating a significant positive impact. Similarly, the interaction between digitalization and cultural heritage presents a coefficient of 0.201 (p-value = 0.013<0.05), also signifying a positive effect. These findings suggest that digitalization not only enhances the appeal of the wetland as a tourist destination but also plays a crucial role in promoting its ecological conservation and highquality development. This study offers valuable insights into the synergistic relationship between digital technology, cultural heritage preservation, and environmental conservation. It demonstrates that digitalization can be a powerful tool in promoting sustainable agricultural tourism, thereby contributing to the broader objectives of environmental stewardship and cultural heritage conservation. The successful case of Changxing Tuying wetland sets a precedent for other Chinese wetlands, providing a model for cultural conservation and inheritance in the digital age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The toxic effects of chemotherapy drugs on normal tissues are still a major limiting factor in cancer treatment. In this paper, we report a metal-organic framework (Zn-Co ZIF) with chitosan-coated outer layer as a carrier for the drug adriamycin hydrochloride (DOX), a treatment for liver cancer, as a novel anticancer nanodrug-enhanced carrier. Gold nanoparticles, a good photothermal conversion agent, were combined with the target SH-RGD during surface functionalisation to prepare Zn-Co ZIF@DOX-CS-Au-RGD (ZD-CAR), a nanoplatform with good photothermal conversion properties and targeting for combined liver cancer therapy. ZD-CAR was developed after RGD accurately targeted the tumour and entered the tumour microenvironment (TME), it cleaves and releases the liver cancer therapeutic agent (DOX) in a weak acidic environment to effectively kill tumour cells. The metal skeleton cleavage releases Co2+, which catalyzes the production of oxygen from H2O2 to alleviate the tumour hypoxic environment. The dissolved oxygen could reach 14 mg/L after adding 80 mg/mL of ZD-CAR. Meanwhile, gold nanoparticles could convert light energy into heat energy under 808 NIR irradiation to induce local superheating and kill tumour cells. In summary, this study developed a nanoplatform that combines chemo-photothermal-targeted therapy. It has shown good therapeutic effeciency in cellular experiments and performance tests and has promising applications in anti-cancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the impact of the integrated care in Luohu, China on the hypertension management. Methods: Hypertensive patients aged 35-74 years were recruited by the clusterrandomized sampling method from Luohu district which adopted integrated care and another district that remained original routine care during October 2018-January 2020, with 1353 and 583 patients from integrated and routine care communities, respectively. Health information, knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) towards cardiovascular diseases, pharmaceutical expenditure on hypertension and its comorbidities, and healthcare-related satisfaction were collected by questionnaires, with the expenditure additionally verified by hospitals billing records database. Continuous and categorical variables were compared by Wilcoxon test and Chi-square test, respectively. The agestandardized hypertension control rate was calculated by direct standardization. Results: The standardized hypertension management rate in the integrated care communities (45.75%) was significantly higher than that in routine care communities (14.07%) (P < 0.0001), while the age-standardized hypertension control rates were similar (integrated care: 50.3%, routine care: 52.65%, P = 0.518). The pharmaceutical expenditure on hypertension and its comorbidities in the integrated care communities was 264.23 ± 357.38/month/person, lower than that in the routine care communities (354.56 ± 430.59/month/person). Patients in the integrated care had higher KAP scores (73.48 ± 11.54), compared with routine care (68.89 ± 15.51) (P < 0.0001). Moreover, the integrated care communities had higher satisfaction rates towards the convenience of dual referral (90.15% vs. 77.99%) and service quality (95.18% vs. 87.81%) than routine care communities (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: The practice of the integrated care in Luohu has substantially improved the hypertension management and the healthcare-related satisfaction while with relatively low pharmaceutical expenditure. The investigation of long-term impact of the integrated care on hypertension control and management is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has severely affected healthcare systems around the world. This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of cardiologists regarding how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the clinical practice patterns for acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Methods: A multicenter clinician survey was sent to 300 cardiologists working in 22 provinces in China. The survey collected demographic information and inquired about their perceptions of how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected ACS clinical practice patterns. Results: The survey was completed by 211 (70.3%) cardiologists, 82.5% of whom were employed in tertiary hospitals, and 52.1% reported more than 10 years of clinical cardiology practice. Most respondents observed a reduction in ACS inpatients and outpatients in their hospitals during the pandemic. Only 29.9% of the respondents had access to a dedicated catheter room for the treatment of COVID-19-positive ACS patients. Most respondents stated that the COVID-19 pandemic had varying degrees of effect on the treatment of acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), acute non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), and unstable angina. Compared with the assumed non-pandemic period, in the designed clinical questions, the selection of coronary interventional therapy for STEMI, NSTEMI, and unstable angina during the COVID-19 pandemic was significantly decreased (all p < 0.05), and the selection of pharmacotherapy was increased (all p < 0.05). The selection of fibrinolytic therapy for STEMI during the pandemic was higher than in the assumed non-pandemic period (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected ACS clinical practice patterns. The use of invasive therapies significantly decreased during the pandemic period, whereas pharmacotherapy was more often prescribed by the cardiologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Bilateral multiple ground glass opacities (GGOs) are observed in quite a part of patients with early-stage lung adenocarcinoma. For this socalled synchronous multiple primary lung cancer (sMPLC), targeting immune checkpoint is a favorable option in addition to surgical resection. The purpose of this study is to reveal the safety and efficacy of performing immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) on patients with sMPLC and to explore the biomarkers of the efficacy. Methods: A total of 21 patients with sMPLC were enrolled and all included cases were pathologically confirmed adenocarcinoma after conducting surgical treatment for unilateral GGOs. ICIs of Sintilimab were then used to target programmed death 1 (200mg i.v., Q3W) for up to 10 cycles. Seven patients of them received the other surgery for contralateral GGOs, and multiomics assessments, including neoantigens, somatic mutations, and methylated loci, were further performed to investigate potential biomarkers. Results: Grade 1 or 2 treatment-related adverse events (AEs) occurred in most of the patients (12/21, 57.1%), and one subject withdrawn for grade 3 AEs. For the seven patients underwent twice surgeries, twelve and thirteen GGOs were achieved before and after the use of ICIs separately, and a favorable efficacy was observed among six lesions after immunotherapy (> 50% pathologic tumor regression). Tumor infiltration T-cell and B-cell were further shown to be associated with the biological activity of ICIs. According to mechanism-based multiomics analyses, MUC19- and PCDHB5- mutations were indicated to correlate with a favorable prognosis of sMPLC underwent immunotherapy, and our results suggested that immunogenetic mutation and associated promoter methylation could provide a quantitative explanation for the pathologic response of GGOs. Conclusion: Our study provides evidence that the use of ICIs contributed favorable efficacy and safety to patients with sMPLC. Immune infiltration and immunogenic biomarkers are revealed to be implications of performing ICIs on sMPLC. These preliminary findings exhibit the prospects in performing neoadjuvant or adjuvant immunotherapies on patients with sMPLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synergistic effect of a highly active surface/interface and an optimized electronic structure of electrocatalysts is of great significance to improve the performance of the hydrogen evolution reaction. Herein, a superhydrophilic core@shell heterostructure nanorod-integrated electrode composed of an amorphous VOx nanoshell (3-7 nm) and a crystalline Ni3S2 core supported on Ni foam (CS--NS/NF) was prepared by an in situ conversion method. We prove that the amorphous VOx not only helps to kinetically decouple the adsorption/dissociation of hydroxyl/water, but also enriches the active sites, thereby significantly enhancing the electron transfer efficiency and electrocatalytic activity toward the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The optimized CS--NS/NF has excellent hydrogen production performance, with overpotentials of 335 and 394 mV at current densities of 500 and 1000 mA cm-2, respectively, as well as superior durability for over 68 h in 1 M KOH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barium tin hydroxide/tin dioxide nanorods are synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method. The morphology, structure and optical performance of the nanorods are characterized via X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and solid ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) diffuse reflectance spectrum. The nanorods are mainly composed of monoclinic BaSn(OH)6 and orthorhombic SnO2 phases with the length and diameter of about 5 μm and 50-150 nm, respectively. The formation process of the nanorods is investigated based on the morphology and structure evolution of the products from different hydrothermal conditions. Solid UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectrum shows that the nanorods belong to typical semiconductor with the band gap of 3.74 eV. The barium tin hydroxide/tin dioxide nanorods are used for the photocatalytic degradation of gentian violet under UV light irradiation. The degradation efficiency reaches 93.2% with the irradiation time of 8 h adding 10 mg nanorods in 10 mL 10 mg mL-1 gentian violet solution. The reactive species trapping results show that hydroxyl radicals, holes and superoxide radicals are main reactive species for gentian violet degradation. The barium tin hydroxide/tin dioxide nanorods are stable for the photocatalytic reaction of the gentian violet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

https://doi.org/10.1530/ERC-21-0153 https://erc.bioscientifica.com © 2022 Society for EndocrinologyPrinted in Great Britain Published by Bioscientifica Ltd. 29:2Endocrine-Related Cancer X Ruan, J Yi, L Hu et al. MHC-II expression and survival in MTC 87–98 -21-0153 RESEARCH Reduced MHC class II expression in medullary thyroid cancer identifies patients with poor prognosis Xianhui Ruan1,*, Jiaoyu Yi1,*, Linfei Hu1,*, Jingtai Zhi2, Yu Zeng1, Xiukun Hou1, Jianfeng Huang 3, Pengfei Gu1, Weijing Hao1, Ming Gao 1,4, Yi Pan5, Songfeng Wei1 and Xiangqian Zheng 1 1Department of Thyroid and Neck Tumor, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin’s Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China 2Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Tianjin First Center Hospital, Nankai District of Tianjin, Institute of Otolaryngology of Tianjin, Key Laboratory of Auditory Speech and Balance Medicine, Key Clinical Discipline of Tianjin (Otolaryngology), Otolaryngology Clinical Quality Control Centre, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China 3Cancer Metabolism and Signaling Networks Program, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, California, USA 4Department of Thyroid and Breast Surgery, Tianjin Union Medical Center, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China 5Department of Pathology, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin’s Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China Correspondence should be addressed to Y Pan or S Wei or X Zheng: tjphyLP@126.com or successor317@aliyun.com or xzheng05@tmu.edu.cn *(X Ruan, J Yi and L Hu contributed equally to this work) Abstract Increasing body of recent studies determining the expression of tumor-specific major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II protein supports its potential role in several malignancies, but little is known in human medullary thyroid cancer (MTC). Here, we report the expression of MHC-II and its clinicopathologic and prognostic relevance in MTC patients. Immunohistochemistry staining revealed a significant reduction in tumor cell- specific MHC-II expression in a higher AJCC stage and its poor prognostic correlation with human MTC development. Further statistical analysis identified the low MHC-II expression as a significant and independent risk factor for MTC recurrence and patient survival. Moreover, in vitro studies showed that the MHC-II expression was remarkably increased by RET inhibitors, which were prescribed to treat advanced MTC. Similarly, inhibitors blocking the MAPK/ERK and AKT/mTOR pathways also augmented MHC-II expression, suggesting their implications in RET-MHC-II signaling axis. Importantly, in vitro assays manifested enhanced peripheral blood leukocytes-mediated cytotoxicity in MTC cells treated with RET inhibitors, which were partially alleviated by HLA knock-down. Together, our study demonstrates that low MHC-II expression levels may serve as a prognostic biomarker for aggressive diseases in MTC patients and indicates that RET activation may promote MTC immune escape through downregulating MHC-II expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing cost-effective bifunctional catalysts with high-performance and durability is of great significance for renewable energy systems. Herein, typical Fe, Ni-codoped W18O49/NF was prepared via a simple solvothermal method. The incorporation of Fe ions enhanced the electronic interaction and enlarged the electrochemically active surface area. The increased W4+ leads to a high proportion of unsaturated W=O bonds, thus enhancing the adsorption capacity of water. The valence configuration of nickel (Ni) sites in such dual-cation doping is well adjusted, realizing a high proportion of trivalent Ni ions (Ni3+). Due to the orbital interactions, the Fe3+/Ni3+ ions and OER reaction intermediates exhibit strong orbital overlap. The positions of the valence band and conduction band are well modulated. As a result, the Fe, Ni-codoped W18O49/NF shows improved electrocatalytic activity, and achieves a low decomposition voltage of 1.58 V at 10 mA cm-2 and retains long-time stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: Limited cohort studies have evaluated chronic effects of high fine particulate matter (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm [PM2.5]) exposure on lung cancer.Objectives: To investigate the response pattern of lung cancer associated with high PM2.5 exposure.Methods: A Chinese cohort of 118,551 participants was followed up from 1992 to 2015. By incorporating PM2.5 exposure at 1 km spatial resolution generated using the satellite-based model during 2000-2015, we estimated the association between lung cancer and time-weighted average PM2.5 concentration using Cox proportional hazard models.Measurements and Main Results: A total of 844 incident lung cancer cases were identified during 915,053 person-years of follow-up. Among them, 701 lung cancer deaths occurred later. The exposure-response curves for lung cancer associated with PM2.5 exposure were nonlinear, with steeper slopes at the higher concentrations. Adjusted for age, sex, geographical region, urbanization, education level, smoking status, alcohol consumption, work-related physical activity, and body mass index, participants exposed to the second-fifth quintiles of PM2.5 had higher risk for lung cancer incidence than those exposed to the first quintile, with hazard ratios of 1.44 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10-1.88), 1.49 (95% CI, 1.12-1.99), 2.08 (95% CI, 1.42-3.04), and 2.45 (95% CI, 1.83-3.29), respectively. The corresponding hazard ratios for lung cancer mortality were 1.83 (95% CI, 1.33-2.50), 1.80 (95% CI, 1.29-2.53), 2.50 (95% CI, 1.62-3.86), and 2.95 (95% CI, 2.09-4.17), respectively.Conclusions: We provide strong evidence that high PM2.5 exposure leads to an elevated risk of lung cancer incidence and mortality, highlighting that remarkable public health benefits could be obtained from the improvement of air quality in highly polluted regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given p, q \in Z\geq 2 with p \not = q, we study generalized Abel differential equations dx d\theta = A(\theta)xp+B(\theta)xq, where A and B are trigonometric polynomials of degrees n,m \geq 1, respectively, and we are interested in the number of limit cycles (i.e., isolated periodic orbits) that they can have. More concretely, in this context, an open problem is to prove the existence of an integer, depending only on p, q,m, and n and that we denote by \scrH p,q(n,m), such that the above differential equation has at most \scrH p,q(n,m) limit cycles. In the present paper, by means of a second order analysis using Melnikov functions, we provide lower bounds of \scrH p,q(n,m) that, to the best of our knowledge, are larger than the previous ones appearing in the literature. In particular, for classical Abel differential equations (i.e., p = 3 and q = 2), we prove that \scrH 3,2(n,m) \geq 2(n + m) 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous C/SiC ceramics were prepared by chemical vapor reaction of SiO and porous C/C composites. The porous C/SiC ceramics presented a hierarchical structured consisted of carbon fibers, SiC layer, microspheres and nanowires. The density of porous C/C composites control the growth of SiC nanowires and nanolayer, and influence the pore size distribution and specific surface area of the porous C/SiC ceramics. The C/SiC samples converting from the C/C composites with a density of 0.46 g/cm3 possess the superior adsorption properties. The adsorption efficiency can reach 98.2% within 80 min, indicating that C/SiC samples have a promising adsorption property for MB from aqueous solution. Furthermore, the adsorption efficiency after five cycles microwave regeneration still reached 80.2%, which present excellent regeneration stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real-time assessment of therapeutic response in patients with advanced lung cancer presents a major challenge throughout the treatment process. Currently, computed tomography imaging is often used; however, it is radiation-based and hysteretic and is not suitable for repeated use as a real-time assessment. Blood biomarkers represent a novel solution for assessing therapeutic response in patients with advanced lung cancer. In the present study, the efficacy of a methylation marker [methylated prostaglandin E receptor 4 (mPTGER4)] and four protein markers [carcinoma antigen 125 (CA125), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cytokeratin 19-fragments (cyfra21-1) and neuron-specific enolase (NSE)] were simultaneously evaluated to determine their potential in facilitating therapeutic response monitoring as well as their prognostic values in patients with stage IV lung cancer. The results indicated that, following treatment, the blood levels of methylated PTGER4 and NSE had significantly decreased, and mPRGER4, CA125, CEA and NSE exhibited a significant decrease in percentage level. Since mPTGER4 exhibited a higher rate of positive detection prior to therapy, and a greater response of sensitivity to therapy compared to the protein markers, it may represent an improved marker for the monitoring of therapeutic response. The efficacy of the markers in predicting the overall survival (OS) rate of patients with stage IV lung cancer was also assessed. Results from the follow-up of patients (up to 891 days) revealed that the blood levels of mPTGER4, CA125 and NSE before treatment were able to predict overall survival (OS) rate. Additionally, the percentage change in expression levels of CA125, CEA and NSE was also able to predict the OS rate. In conclusion, the present results indicate that mPTGER4 represents an improved biomarker for monitoring therapeutic efficacy compared with CA125, CEA, Cyfra21-1 and NSE. In predicting the long-term survival of patients with stage IV lung cancer; however, the pre-treatment levels of mPTGER4, CA125 and NSE and the percentage changes of CA125, CEA and NSE may be used as the markers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sodium storage mechanism in biomass-derived carbon is composed of absorption/desorption from defects, insertion/extraction between layers in pseudographitic domains, and nanopores filling. Nanopores are produced to provide spaces for sodium-ion storage and diffusion, which attracts more attention. However, roles of nanopores in biomass-derived carbon microstructure and their influences on electrochemical behavior of sodium-ion batteries still need to be further explored. Therefore, we control nanopore size of biomass carbon by three different methods. Results show the size and distribution of nanopores have effect on uniformity of interlayer spacing in pseudographitic domains around pores. After cycling, the stability of nanopore structure plays an important role on sodium storage behavior. Without nanopores as buffer spaces, the diffusion resistance of sodium ions increases because of decreased interlayer spacing from outside to inside. When more micropores are formed with uniform interlayer spacing distribution, the structure of electrode is well-maintained and higher specific capacity is achieved after sodium-ion inserting/extracting. The formation of mesopores accompanies with nonuniform interlayer spacing. Mesopore structure tends to be destroyed easily by large amount of sodium ions inserting/extracting. Cracked parts provide unstable buffer space for sodium ions. The interlayer spacing in meso-porous carbon tube increases rapidly after cycling, which leads to capacity loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new flexible tactile sensor has been designed on the basis of the electric potential distribution of the planar steady current field. The sensor is built to detect information on the contact position for human-robot interaction, such as that involving human-care robots, medical robots, or other service robots. The design scheme of a three-circle conductive plane was proposed according to the refraction of electric field lines by comparing various schemes, which can realize the X and Y coordinate detection of contact positions. An approximately linear relationship between the potential distribution and contact position coordinates was verified through COMSOL simulation, and an error distribution rule for contact position detection on the conductive plane was deduced. Then, a design scheme of the tactile sensor with a three-layer structure was proposed; such a structure consisted of an upper conductive layer, a middle isolation layer, and a lower conductive layer. A mathematical model of contact position detection was established, and the influence of surface contact on detection accuracy was analyzed with COMSOL. A flexible tactile sensor sample was fabricated, and an experiment on contact position detection was conducted on the sensor sample. The feasibility of the sensor was verified with a robot manipulator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high purity of stannous oxide (SnO) materials with various structures were synthesised using a facile hydrothermal method. Different SnO structures with cross, block, and shell were obtained by controlling pH value and surfactant during the hydrothermal reaction. As anode for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), the crossed SnO displays superior cycling and rate capability in comparison with the block and shell liked SnO. The difference could be attributed to the special morphology of crossed SnO that shows small particle size, high crystallinity, and good structural stability. All the results suggest that controlling structure is an effective way to improve the electrochemical performances of SnO anode material in LIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND A resequencing study of renal epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) genes was conducted to identify rare variants associated with blood pressure (BP) salt-sensitivity. METHODS The Genetic Epidemiology Network of Salt-Sensitivity (GenSalt) study was conducted among 1,906 participants who underwent a 7-day low-sodium followed by a 7-day high-sodium feeding-study. The 300 most salt-sensitive and 300 most salt-resistant GenSalt participants were selected for the resequencing study. Three ENaC genes (SCNN1A, SCNN1B, and SCNN1G) were resequenced using capillary-based sequencing methods. Traditional burden tests were utilized to examine association between rare variants and BP salt-sensitivity. Associations of low-frequency and common variants were tested using singlemarker analyses. RESULTS Carriers of SCNN1A rare variants had a 0.52 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.32-0.85] decreased odds of BP salt-sensitivity compared with noncarriers. Neither SCNN1B nor SCNN1G associated with salt-sensitivity of BP in rare variant analyses (P = 0.65 and 0.48, respectively). In single-marker analyses, 3 independent common variants in SCNN1A, rs11614164, rs4764586, and rs3741914, associated with salt-sensitivity after Bonferroni correction (P = 4.4 × 10-4, 1.1 × 10-8, and 1.3 × 10-3). Each copy of the minor allele of rs4764586 was associated with a 1.36-fold (95% CI: 1.23-1.52) increased odds of salt-sensitivity, whereas each copy of the minor allele of rs11614164 and rs3741914 was associated with 0.68-fold (95% CI: 0.55-0.84) and 0.69-fold (95% CI: 0.54-0.86) decreased odds of salt-sensitivity, respectively. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrated for the first time a relationship between rare variants in the ENaC pathway and BP salt-sensitivity. Future replication and functional studies are needed to confirm the findings in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plus nimotuzumab with or without concurrent chemotherapy (CCT) for patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (LA-NPC). Patients and methods: A total of 50 newly diagnosed patients with LA-NPC treated at the Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University between November 2011 and January 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients received the combined treatment modality of nimotuzumab plus IMRT. Nimotuzumab was administered concurrently with IMRT at a weekly dose of 200 mg. Neoadjuvant, concurrent or adjuvant chemotherapy with the doublet regimen of taxanes (docetaxel or paclitaxel) plus platinum (cisplatin or nedaplatin) were administered. Among the 50 patients, 43 (86.0%) received ≥6 cycles of nimotuzumab (median 7 cycles, range 2-14 cycles) and 29 (58.0%) received two cycles of CCT with docetaxel plus nedaplatin. Results: With a median follow-up of 28.0 months, the 2-year progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival were 83.29% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 67.93%-91.72%) and 97.67% (95% CI: 84.62%-99.67%), respectively. Both univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that cycles of nimotuzumab were significantly associated with PFS. Patients who received <6 cycles of nimotuzumab showed a better PFS than those receiving ≥6 cycles (P=0.006), whereas the addition of CCT failed to improve PFS. Oral mucositis was the most common adverse event, which was recorded as grade 3-4 in 18 (36.0%) patients. Besides, two (4.0%) patients experienced nimotuzumab-related anaphylaxis, and no skin rash was found in any patient. Subgroup analysis revealed that the patients who received CCT had more grade 3-4 adverse events as compared to those who did not receive CCT (62.1% vs 33.3%, P=0.045). Conclusion: The regime of nimotuzumab plus IMRT for the treatment of LA-NPC was well tolerated, with encouraging survival data, and it could be an effective treatment alternative for patients with LA-NPC. Further clinical trials are needed to confirm these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The role of rare variants in blood pressure (BP) salt-sensitivity is unknown. We conducted a resequencing study of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) to identify rare variants associated with BP salt-sensitivity among participants of the Genetic Epidemiology Network of Salt-Sensitivity (GenSalt) study. METHODS: The GenSalt study was conducted among 1,906 participants who underwent a 7-day low-sodium (51.3 mmol sodium/day) followed by a 7-day high-sodium feeding study (307.8 mmol sodium/day). The 300 most salt-sensitive and 300 most salt-resistant GenSalt participants were selected for the resequencing study. Seven RAAS genes were resequenced using capillary-based sequencing methods. Rare variants were tested for association with BP salt-sensitivity using traditional burden tests. Single-marker analyses were employed to test associations of low-frequency and common variants. RESULTS: Aggregate rare variant analysis revealed an association of the RAAS pathway with BP salt-sensitivity. Carriers of rare RAAS variants had a 1.55-fold [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.15, 2.10] higher odds of saltsensitivity compared to noncarriers (P = 0.004), a finding which was significant after Bonferroni correction. A nominal association of the APLN gene with salt-sensitivity was also identified, with rare APLN variants conferring a 2.22-fold (95% CI: 1.05, 6.58) higher odds of salt-sensitivity (P = 0.03). Single-marker analyses did not identify variant-BP salt-sensitivity associations after Bonferroni adjustment. A nominal association of a low-frequency, missense RENBP variant was identified. Each minor allele of rs78377269 conferred a 2.21-fold (95% CI: 1.10, 4.42) increased odds of salt-sensitivity (P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: This study presents of the first evidence of a contribution of rare RAAS variants to BP salt-sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to comprehensively test the associations of genetic variants of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase-related genes with blood pressure (BP) responses to dietary sodium intervention in a Chinese population. METHODS We conducted a 7-day low-sodium intervention followed by a 7-day high-sodium intervention among 1,906 participants in rural China. BP measurements were obtained at baseline and each dietary intervention using a random-zero sphygmomanometer. Linear mixed-effect models were used to assess the additive associations of 63 tag single-nucleotide polymorphisms in 11 NADPH oxidase-related genes with BP responses to dietary sodium intervention. Gene-based analyses were conducted using the truncated product method. The Bonferroni method was used to adjust for multiple testing in all analyses. RESULTS Systolic BP (SBP) response to high-sodium intervention significantly decreased with the number of minor T allele of marker rs6967221 in RAC1 (P = 4.51 x 10-4). SBP responses (95% confidence interval) for genotypes CC, CT, and TT were 5.03 (4.71, 5.36), 4.20 (3.54, 4.85), and 0.56 (-1.08, 2.20) mm Hg, respectively, during the high-sodium intervention. Gene-based analyses revealed that RAC1 was significantly associated with SBP response to high-sodium intervention (P = 1.00 x 10-6) and diastolic BP response to low-sodium intervention (P = 9.80 x 10-4). CONCLUSIONS These findings suggested that genetic variants of NADPH oxidase-related genes may contribute to the variation of BP responses to sodium intervention in Chinese population. Further replication of these findings is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a robot collision avoidance method using Kinect and global vision to improve the industrial robot’s security. Global vision is installed above the robot, and a combination of the background-difference method and the Otsu algorithm are used. Human skeleton detection is then introduced to detect the location information of the human body. The collided objects are classified into nonhuman and human obstacle which is further categorized into the human head and non-head areas such as the arm. The Kalman filter is used to predict the human gesture. The human joints danger index is used to evaluate the risk level of the human on the basis of human body joints and robot’s motion information. Finally, a motion control strategy is adopted in view of obstacle categories and the human joint danger index. Results show that the proposed method can effectively improve robot’s security in real time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanostructured manganese dioxide (MnO2)/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) composite is fabricated via a simple hydrothermal process. The MnO2/RGO composite is used to construct supercapacitors as electrodes with high loading mass of active materials. The electrochemical properties of constructed supercapacitors are tested by cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Electrochemical measurements demonstrate that MnO2/RGO electrode exhibits a high specific capacity of 316 F·g-1 at a current density of 200 mA·g-1 and good long-term cycling stability with capacitance retention of 93% at 500 mA·g-1 after 1000 cycles. The superior electrochemical performance of as-prepared composite could be mainly attributed to its unique structure, which is composed of MnO2 nanoflakes well-integrated on the surfaces of RGO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The large-scale meta-analysis of genome-wide association study (GWAS) recently identified a genomic locus where the genetic variant at rs820430 was strongly associated with hypertension in Chinese Han population, with its T allele conferred increased risks. However, the biological and disease-relevant mechanisms for this association remain elusive. METHODS: A group of 275 participants from rural district of Shandong Province were enrolled, rs820430 was genotyped using genomic DNA with the fluorogenic 5'-nuclease TaqMan allelic discrimination assay system (Applied Biosystems, CA). In vitro experiments were performed in this study, such as luciferase reporter assays, gel mobility shift assays (electrophoretic mobility shift assay), and chromatin immunoprecipitation. RESULTS: We found the risk T allele of rs820430 was associated with higher SLC4A7 mRNA level in cohort population. Furthermore, we characterized a cis-regulatory mechanism that the T allele of rs820430 distinctively increased c-Fos transcription factor binding, by which leading to increased SLC4A7 expression. CONCLUSIONS: The present study indicated that the disease-associated T allele of a new hypertension risk variant rs820430 linked increased hypertension risk through higher SLC4A7 expression, and rs820430 functioned as an enhancer of SLC4A7 transcription by allele distinctively increased c-Fos transcription factor binding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND Single-marker and novel gene-based methods were employed to examine the associations of the serum/glucocorticoid regulated kinases (SGK) gene family with longitudinal blood pressure (BP) changes and hypertension incidence in a family-based cohort study. METHODS Totally, 1,768 Chinese participants from the Genetic Epidemiology Network of Salt Sensitivity (GenSalt) follow-up study were included in the current analyses. Nine BP measures were obtained at each of 3 visits during the GenSalt follow-up study. Mixed-model and Gene-based analyses were used to examine the associations of the SGK gene family with longitudinal BP phenotypes. Bonferroni correction was applied to account for multiple testing. RESULTS After an average 7.2-year follow-up, 32.2% (513) of participants free of hypertension at baseline developed hypertension. Four novel SNPs in the SGK1 gene were predictive of the longitudinal BP phenotypes. The major alleles of SGK1 rs1763498 and rs114414980 conferred 2.9- and 2.5-fold increased risks of hypertension development, respectively (P = 1.0 × 10-4 and 6.0 × 10-4, respectively). In addition, the major allele of SGK1 rs229133 was significantly associated with 0.4 mm Hg larger annual increases in systolic BP (P = 4.2 × 10-4), while the major allele of rs6924468 was significantly associated with 0.2 mm Hg smaller annual increases in diastolic BP (P = 4.2 × 10-4). Gene-based analyses revealed an association of the SGK1 gene with risk of hypertension development (P = 7.4 × 10-3). No evidence for the SGK2 and SGK3 genes was found. CONCLUSIONS The findings of the current study suggest that the SGK1 gene may play a role in long-term BP regulation and hypertension incidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]