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Scavenger receptor A (SRA) can regulate immune response and is involved in pathophysiological processes of acute brain injury. We analyzed the prognostic role of serum soluble SRA in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).In this prospective cohort study of 110 healthy controls and 110 patients with acute basal ganglia hemorrhage, serum soluble SRA concentrations were detected. Univariate analyses, followed by multivariate logistic regression analyses, were utilized to explore the relationship between serum soluble SRA concentrations and early neurologic deterioration (END) plus post-stroke 3-month poor prognosis (modified Rankin Scale scores of 3-6).Serum soluble SRA concentrations of patients were significantly higher than those of controls (median, 3.6 vs 0.9 ng/ml; P 0.001). Serum soluble SRA concentrations of patients were independently correlated with hematoma volume (β, 0.201; 95 % confidence interval (CI), 0.093-0.309; P = 0.001), National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores (β, 0.118; 95 % CI, 0.024-0.213; P = 0.024), and 3-month modified Rankin Scale scores (β, 0.148; 95 % CI, 0.063-0.232; P = 0.001). Serum soluble SRA concentrations independently predicted END and poor 3-month prognosis with odds ratio values of 1.394 (95 % CI, 1.024-1.899; P = 0.035) and 1.441 (95 % CI, 1.016-2.044; P = 0.040) respectively. Serum soluble SRA concentrations were efficiently predictive of the development of END (ROC AUC 0.746; 95 % CI, 0.631-0.861) and poor 3-month prognosis (AUC, 0.773; 95 % CI, 0.685-0.861). Serum soluble SRA concentrations significantly improved AUCs of NIHSS score and hematoma volume to 0.889 (95 % CI, 0.829-0.948; P = 0.035) and 0.873 (95 % CI, 0.811-0.936; P = 0.036) for prognostic prediction. The END predictive ability of serum sSRA concentrations combined with NIHSS score and ICH volume (AUC, 0.900; 95 % CI, 0.835-0.965) was significantly superior to those of NIHSS score (P = 0.020) and hematoma volume (P = 0.022). The prognostic predictive capability of serum sSRA concentrations combined with NIHSS score and ICH volume (AUC, 0.907; 95 % CI, 0.852-0.962) substantially exceeded those of NIHSS score (P = 0.009) and hematoma volume (P = 0.005).Serum soluble SRA concentrations may reflect illness severity and neurologic function after ICH, indicating serum soluble SRA may serve as a promising prognostic biochemical marker of ICH.

We constructed a Mg-substituted Prussian blue analogue (MgFeHCF) as a low-strain cathode material for aqueous Fe-ion batteries (FIBs), which exhibited better framework stability and higher ionic conductivity.

Di-(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) is an endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC) that induces epigenetic alterations, apoptosis, and oxidative stress after biological exposure. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small noncoding RNAs with many regulatory functions and play a role in organisms exposed to environmental chemicals. miRNA-mRNA prediction indicated that pre-mRNA processing factor 3 (

Echinochloa crus-galli var. zelayensis is a troublesome weed in rice fields and can be controlled by using quinclorac. However, over-reliance on quinclorac has resulted in resistant (R) barnyardgrass, which differs significantly in its ability to transport quinclorac compared to susceptible (S) barnyardgrass. This study aimed to investigate the underlying mechanisms for this different translocation between R and S barnyardgrass.Larger amount of quinclorac was transferred from shoots to roots in R compared to S barnyardgrass. After 1 day of quinclorac [300 g active ingredient (a.i.) haThis report provides clear evidence that higher PIPs expression results in rapid quinclorac translocation from shoots to roots and reduces the quinclorac accumulation in the shoot meristems in R barnyardgrass, thus reducing the control efficacy of quinclorac. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Coal spontaneous combustion in gob often induces gas explosion accidents. To solve the frequent occurrence of gas and coal spontaneous combustion (GCSC) symbiotic disaster of highly gassy and spontaneous combustion-prone short-distance coal seams, the stope space of a complex working face formed by the old gob above and the coal seam mined below in Hengda Mine is divided into three zones, a completely connected zone, a partially connected zone, and an unconnected zone, according to the connectivity degree of fractures. A numerical model is established to study the relationship between gas drainage and coal spontaneous combustion. The effects of ventilation flux in the working face, gas drainage flow in the upper corner, gas drainage flow in the high-drainage roadway, fracture grout sealing, and nitrogen injection flow on the airflow field, gas concentration field, oxygen concentration field, and the temperature field in the completely connected and partially connected zones are analyzed. A multifactor interaction relationship under the conditions of ventilation, gas drainage, and nitrogen injection is revealed, and a multipoint and zoning coordinated prevention method for the GCSC symbiotic disaster is proposed. On the basis of the proposed method, the gas drainage flow in the high-drainage roadway and corner pipe of 5333(B) working face are determined to be 45.4 and 112.1 m

Objective: To evaluate whether periconceptional or pregnancy exposure of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination would increase the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes.Methods: The PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, the Cochrane Library of clinical trials were searched from inception to March 2023. We computed relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and prediction intervals (PIs) regarding the association between HPV vaccination in periconceptional period or during pregnancy and the risks of adverse pregnancy outcomes by using R software Version 4.1.2 and STATA Version 12.0. A trial sequential analysis (TSA) was performed with TSA v0.9.5.10 Beta software.Results: Four randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and eight cohort studies were included in this meta-analysis. Analysis of RCTs showed that HPV vaccination in periconceptional period or during pregnancy did not increase the risks of spontaneous abortion (RR = 1.152, 95% CI: 0.909–1.460, 95% PI: 0.442–3.000), birth defects (RR = 1.171, 95% CI: 0.802–1.709, 95% PI: 0.320–4.342), stillbirth (RR = 1.053, 95% CI: 0.616–1.800, 95% PI: 0.318–3.540), preterm birth (RR = 0.940, 95% CI: 0.670–1.318) and ectopic pregnancy (RR = 0.807, 95% CI: 0.353–1.842, 95% PI: 0.128–5.335). In cohort studies, periconceptional or pregnancy exposures of HPV vaccine were not associated with the increased risk of spontaneous abortion (RR = 0.987, 95% CI: 0.854–1.140, 95% PI: 0.652–1.493), birth defects (RR = 0.960, 95% CI: 0.697–1.322, 95% PI: 0.371–2.480), stillbirth (RR = 1.033, 95% CI: 0.651–1.639, 95% PI: 0.052–21.064), small size for gestational age (SGA) (RR = 0.971, 95% CI: 0.873–1.081, 95% PI: 0.657–1.462) and preterm birth (RR = 0.977, 95% CI: 0.874–1.092, 95% PI: 0.651–1.444).Conclusion: HPV vaccine exposures in periconceptional period or during pregnancy did not increase the risks of adverse pregnancy outcomes, including spontaneous abortion, birth defects, stillbirth, SGA, preterm birth and ectopic pregnancy.Systematic Review Registration:https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier CRD42023399777.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a leading cause of cancer-related burden and deaths, thus effective treatment strategies with lower side effects for NSCLC are urgently needed. To systematically analyze the mechanism of Bai He Gu Jin Tang (BHGJT) against NSCLC by network pharmacology and molecular docking.The active compounds of BHGJT were obtained by searching the Bioinformatics Analysis Tool for Molecular Mechanism of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Encyclopaedia of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Search tool for interactions of chemicals was used for acquiring the targets of BHGJT. The component-target network was mapped by Cytoscape. NSCLC-related genes were obtained by searching Genecards, DrugBank and Therapeutic Target Database. The protein-protein interaction network of intersection targets was established based on Search Tool for Recurring Instances of Neighboring Genes (STRING), and further, the therapeutic core targets were selected by topological parameters. The hub targets were transmitted to Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery for gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. Finally, AutoDock Vina and MglTools were employed for molecular docking validation.Two hundred fifty-six compounds and 237 putative targets of BHGJT-related active compounds as well as 1721potential targets of NSCLC were retrieved. Network analysis showed that 8 active compounds of BHGJT including kaempferol, quercetin, luteolin, isorhamnetin, beta-sitosterol, stigmasterol, mairin and liquiritigenin as well as 15 hub targets such as AKR1B10 and AKR1C2 contribute to the treatment of BHGJT against NSCLC. GO functional enrichment analysis shows that BHGJT could regulate many biological processes, such as apoptotic process. Three modules of the endocrine related pathways including the inflammation, hypoxia related pathways as well as the other cancer related pathways based on Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis might explain the biological mechanisms of BHGJT in treating BHGJT. The results of molecular docking verified that AKR1B10 and AKR1C2 had the strongest binding activity with the 8 key compounds of NSCLC.Our study reveals the mechanism of BHGJT in treating NSCLC involving multiple components, multiple targets and multiple pathways. The present study laid an initial foundation for the subsequent research and clinical application of BHGJT and its active compounds against NSCLC.

Mercury cadmium telluride compounds exhibit large tunability of nontrivial electronic states by modifying chemical composition, temperature, or pressure. Despite the growing interest in Hg1–xCdxTe,...

In this paper, we present a method to mine object-part patterns from conv-layers of a pre-trained convolutional neural network (CNN). The mined object-part patterns are organized by an And-Or graph (AOG). This interpretable AOG representation consists of a four-layer semantic hierarchy, i.e., semantic parts, part templates, latent patterns, and neural units. The AOG associates each object part with certain neural units in feature maps of conv-layers. The AOG is constructed with very few annotations (e.g., 3–20) of object parts. We develop a question-answering (QA) method that uses active human-computer communications to mine patterns from a pre-trained CNN, in order to explain features in conv-layers incrementally. During the learning process, our QA method uses the current AOG for part localization. The QA method actively identifies objects, whose feature maps cannot be explained by the AOG. Then, our method asks people to annotate parts on the unexplained objects, and uses answers to discover CNN patterns corresponding to newly labeled parts. In this way, our method gradually grows new branches and refines existing branches on the AOG to semanticize CNN representations. In experiments, our method exhibited a high learning efficiency. Our method used about $1/6$ 1 / 6 – $1/3$ 1 / 3 of the part annotations for training, but achieved similar or better part-localization performance than fast-RCNN methods.

As an endocrine disruptor, di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is ubiquitous in multiple environmental media, causing long-term toxic effects on organisms. MicroRNAs are a class of noncoding RNAs with only 20-24 nucleotides in length, which regulate the expression of many protein-coding genes when organisms are exposed to environmental chemicals. MiR-146a, a differentially expressed miRNA after DEHP exposure, was screened by miRNA sequencing. As its target, TRAF6 was predicted and identified by double fluorescent protein assay and double fluorescent gene reporting assay. It shows the contrary expression pattern with miR-146a when mimics and inhibitors were transfected into ZF4 cells. MiR-146a and TRAF6 were downregulated and upregulated, respectively, in zebrafish embryos exposed to a low-dose concentration gradient of DEHP. These results deepen our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of DEHP toxicity and suggest that miR-146a can serve as a potential biomarker for DEHP exposure.

Background Microsurgical clipping is effective for treating early rupture hemorrhage in intracranial aneurysm (IA) patients. We aimed to evaluate the therapeutic effects of microsurgical clipping at different time points on IA and to explore prognostic factors. Methods A total of 102 eligible patients were divided into good prognosis group (n = 87) and poor prognosis group (n = 15) according to Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) scores at discharge. The effects of microsurgical clipping at different time points (within 24 h, 48 h and 72 h) were compared. The incidence rates of postoperative complications in patients with different Hunt–Hess grades were compared. Prognostic factors were determined by multivariate logistic regression analysis. The nomogram prediction model was established based on independent risk factors and validated. Results The good recovery and success rates of complete aneurysm clipping were significantly higher in patients undergoing surgery within 24 h after rupture. The incidence rate of complications was significantly higher in patients with Hunt–Hess grade IV. Good and poor prognosis groups had significantly different age, history of hypertension, preoperative intracranial hematoma volume, aneurysm size, preoperative Hunt–Hess grade, later surgery, postoperative complications and National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score, as independent risk factors for prognosis. The nomogram model predicted that poor prognosis rate was 14.71%. Conclusion Timing (within 24 h after rupture) microsurgical clipping benefits the prognosis of IA patients. Age, history of hypertension, preoperative intracranial hematoma volume, aneurysm size, preoperative Hunt–Hess grade, later surgery, postoperative complications and NIHSS score are independent risk factors for poor prognosis.

Traditional survey-based methods are limited in the sample size and inference ability for the study of men who have sex with men (MSM), one of the most vulnerable groups at increased risk of HIV. Internet data, on the other hand, have provided publicly accessible information about such groups at unprecedented scale and resolution. Here we present statistics for the user demographics characteristics in the world's largest MSM geosocial networking application, Blued, and analyze the social network structure with 11,408,872 nodes and 838,910,078 edges extracted from user-following relationships on Blued. Network features, such as degree distribution, reciprocity, degree assortativity, homophily, and community are studied. We find that, in contrast to earlier analyses on social networks of general populations, the MSM social network is disassortative and shows extremely low reciprocity. Users in their twenties are excessively followed by users from all age groups, and network homophily for age and country are strong.

Root rot is an important disease of the medicinal plant Atractylodes macrocephala (bai zhu) in China. This study evaluates an antagonistic fungal agent, Trichoderma brevicompactum, as an alternativ...

Circadian biology modulates almost all aspects of mammalian physiology, disease, and response to therapies. Emerging data suggest that circadian biology may significantly affect the mechanisms of susceptibility, injury, recovery, and the response to therapy in stroke. In this review/perspective, we survey the accumulating literature and attempt to connect molecular, cellular, and physiological pathways in circadian biology to clinical consequences in stroke. Accounting for the complex and multifactorial effects of circadian rhythm may improve translational opportunities for stroke diagnostics and therapeutics.

The Healthy China Strategy puts realistic demands for residents' health levels, but the reality is that various factors can affect health. In order to clarify which factors have a great impact on residents' health, based on China's provincial panel data from 2011 to 2018, this paper selects 17 characteristic variables from the three levels of economy, environment, and society and uses the XG boost algorithm and Random forest algorithm based on recursive feature elimination to determine the influencing variables. The results show that at the economic level, the number of industrial enterprises above designated size, industrial added value, population density, and per capita GDP have a greater impact on the health of residents. At the environmental level, coal consumption, energy consumption, total wastewater discharge, and solid waste discharge have a greater impact on the health level of residents. Therefore, the Chinese government should formulate targeted measures at both economic and environmental levels, which is of great significance to realizing the Healthy China strategy.

Wei Wang,1,* Qiang Li,2,* Ge Huang,3 Bing-yao Lin,1 Dongzi Lin,1 Yan Ma,1 Zhao Zhang,4 Tao Chen,1 Jie Zhou1 1Department of Laboratory, Foshan Fourth People’s Hospital, Foshan, 528000, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510000, People’s Republic of China; 3Intensive Care Unit, Foshan Fourth People’s Hospital, Foshan, 528000, People’s Republic of China; 4Research and Development Centre, South China Institute of Biomedicine, Guangdonglongsee Biomedical Co., Ltd, Guangzhou, 510000, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Zhao ZhangResearch and Development Centre, South China Institute of© Biomedicine, Guangdonglongsee Biomedical Co., Ltd, 5/F Building A, No. 83 Ruihe Road, Huangpu District, Guangzhou, 510535, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail zhangzhao0402@163.comGe HuangIntensive Care Unit, Foshan Fourth People’s Hospital, No. 106, Jinlan Road, Foshan, 528000, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail Lang.x.c.d@sina.comPurpose: The poor prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) urgent us to discover early and effective biomarkers. In this study, we applied tandem mass tag (TMT)-based proteomic analysis to discover potential protein markers for HCC identification and differentiation.Patients and Methods: Fifteen patients, well-differentiated (G1, N = 5), moderate-differentiated (G2, N = 5), and poorly differentiated (G3, N = 5), with 30 matched pair tissues (both tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues derived from the same patient) were enrolled. All samples were subjected to TMT labeling and LC−MS/MS analysis. The identified proteins were subsequently assigned to GO and KEGG for predicting function. The identified protein candidates were validated using immunohistochemistry (IHC).Results: A total of 1010 proteins were identified. Of these, 154 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs), 100 up-regulated and 54 down-regulated, were found between tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues; 12 DEPs, 9 up-regulated and 3 down-regulated, were found between G1 and G3 tissues; 8 DEPs, 5 up-regulated and 3 down-regulated, were found between G1 and G2 tissues; 11 DEPs, 8 up-regulated and 3 down-regulated, were found between G2 and G3 tissues. Among them, ASS1 and CPS1 were significantly up-regulated while UROD and HBB were significantly down-regulated in G3 compared with G1 and G2 tumors. Three proteins, CYB5A, FKBP11 and YBX1, were significantly up-regulated in G1 compared with both G2 and G3 tumors. The 7 biomarker candidates were further verified by IHC.Conclusion: A variety of DEPs related to the histological differentiation of HCC were identified, among which ASS1, CPS1, URPD and HBB proteins were potential biomarkers for distinguishing poorly differentiated HCC, while CYB5A, FKBP11 and YBX1 were potential biomarkers for distinguishing well-differentiated HCC. Our findings may further provide a new insight facilitating the diagnosis and prognosis of HCC.Keywords: tandem mass tag, proteomic analysis, hepatocellular carcinoma, histological differentiation, diagnosis, prognosis

For solving large sparse linear complementarity problems effectively, by utilizing the parametric method, the acceleration strategy and the relaxation technique to the modulus-based matrix splitting (MMS) iteration method, we develop the accelerated relaxation MMS (ARMMS) iteration method, which generalizes the generalized accelerated MMS (GAMMS) and the relaxation MMS (RMMS) ones proposed recently. Meanwhile, it is proved that the ARMMS iteration method is convergent under proper restrictions when the system matrix is a positive definite matrix or an $$H_{+}$$ -matrix. In addition, we also study the convergence properties of the ARM accelerated overrelaxation (ARMAOR) method. Numerical experiments show that the proposed iteration method is efficient, and it outperforms some existing ones with suitable choice of the parameter and matrix splitting.

To investigate the effects of multidisciplinary and comprehensive Chinese medicine (CM) treatments on progression-free survival (PFS) and median survival time (MST) in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and identify factors that influence progression and prognosis. Clinical data of 855 patients with advanced NSCLC who received multidisciplinary and comprehensive CM treatments at Longhua Hospital from January 2009 to December 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. Univariate analysis was performed by the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank sequential inspection. Multivariate analysis of significant variables from the univariate analysis was performed with Cox regression modeling. Key factors correlated to progression and prognosis were screened out, and a Cox proportional hazard model was established to calculate the prognostic index. The PFS and MST of 855 advanced NSCLC patients were 9.0 and 26.0 months, respectively. The 1-, 2-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 79.2%, 54%, 36.2%, and 17.1%, respectively. Gender, pathologic type, and clinical stage were independent prognostic risk factors; surgical history, radiotherapy, treatment course of Chinese patent medicine, intravenous drip of Chinese herbal preparation, duration of oral administration of Chinese herbal decoction (CHD), and intervention measures were independent prognostic protective factors. Gender was an independent risk factor for progression, while operation history and oral CHD administration duration were independent protective factors (all P

Background: Multidrug-resistance protein (MRP) 2 is a key membrane transporter that is expressed on hepatocytes and regulated by nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB). Interestingly, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is closely associated with liver injury and the activation of NF-κB signaling. Objective: Here, we investigated the impact of ER stress on MRP2 expression and the functional involvement of MRP2 in acute liver injury. Methods: ER stress, MRP2 expression, and hepatocyte injury were analyzed in a carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced mouse model of acute liver injury and in a thapsigargin (TG)-induced model of ER stress. Results: CCl4 and TG induced significant ER stress, MRP2 protein expression and NF- κB activation in mice and LO2 cells (P Conclusion: ER stress enhances intrahepatic MRP2 protein expression by activating NF-κB. This increase in MRP2 expression mitigates ER stress and acute liver injury.

Paclitaxel (PTX) has previously been used to treat tumours of various tissue origins, such as lung, breast, ovarian, prostate cancers and leukemia. PTX‐induced apoptosis is associated with p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK), extracellular signal‐regulated kinase (ERK), nuclear factor‐kappa B (NF‐κB) and c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase or stress‐activated protein kinase (JNK/ SAPK) pathways. Transforming growth factor‐beta‐activated kinase 1 (TAK1) and TAK1‐binding protein 1 (TAB1) play an important role in cell apoptosis through the p38, ERK, NF‐κB and JNK signal transduction pathways. To investigate the role of TAK1 in PTX‐induced cell apoptosis, we treated HEK293 and 8305C cells with 0–20 µm PTX for 6, 12 or 24 h. To investigate whether TAK1 can cooperate with PTX for cancer treatment, we transfected cells with TAK1, TAB1 or control plasmid and treated them with PTX (3–10 µm) for 9–24 h. Apoptosis rates were analysed by flow cytometry (Annexin V/PI). Endogenous TAK1 and TAB1, caspase‐7 cleavage, poly ADP‐ribose polymerase (PARP) cleavage, Bcl‐xL level, phospho‐p44/42, phospho‐JNK and phospho‐p38 were detected by western blot. We show that in HEK293 and 8305C cells, PTX enhanced the endogenous TAK1/TAB1 level and induced cell apoptosis in a dose‐ and time‐dependent manner. Upon TAK1 overexpression in HEK293 cells treated with PTX, apoptosis rate, JNK phosphorylation and PARP cleavage increased contrary to heat‐shocked or untreated cells. CRISPR editing of the tak1 gene upon PTX treatment resulted in lower phospho‐JNK and PARP cleavage levels than in cells transfected with the control or the TAK1‐ or TAB1 + TAK1‐containing plasmids. TAK1‐K63A could not induce JNK phosphorylation or PARP cleavage. We conclude that PTX induces HEK293 and 8305C cell apoptosis through the TAK1–JNK activation pathway, potentially highlighting TAK1’s role in chemosensitivity., Paclitaxel induces HEK293 and 8305C cell apoptosis through the Transforming growth factor‐beta‐activated kinase 1 (TAK1)–c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK) activation pathway. Paclitaxel increases endogenous TAK1 and TAK1‐binding protein 1(TAB1) levels in HEK293 and 8305C cells in a dose‐ and time‐dependent manner. TAK1 and TAB1 complex induced JNK activation through phosphorylation, which leads to inhibition of Bcl‐xL.

Herein, we developed a strategy of rational constructing bimetallic metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and at the same time embedding charges on backbones. Based on the Pearson’s hard/soft acid/base (...

PurposeWith the development of global food markets, the structural properties of supply chain networks have become key factors affecting the ability to evaluate and control infectious diseases and food contamination. The purpose of this paper is to describe and characterize the nationwide pork supply chain networks (PSCNs) in China and to demonstrate the potential of using social network analysis (SNA) methods for accessing outbreaks of diseases and contaminations.Design/methodology/approachA large-scale PSCN with 17,582 nodes and 49,554 edges is constructed, using the pork trade data collected by the National Important Products Traceability System (NIPTS) in China. A network analysis is applied to investigate the static and dynamic characteristics of the annual network and monthly networks. Then, the metric maximum spreading capacity (MSC) is proposed to quantify the spreading capacity of farms and estimate the potential maximum epidemic size. The structure of the network with the spatio-temporal pattern of the African swine fever (ASF) outbreak in China in 2018 was also analysed.FindingsThe results indicate that the out-degree distribution of farms approximately followed a power law. The pork supply market in China was active during April to July and December to January. The MSC is capable of estimating the potential maximum epidemic size of an outbreak, and the spreading of ASF was positively correlated with the effective distance from the origin city infected by ASF, rather than the geographical distance.Originality/valueEmpirical research on PSCNs in China is scarce due to the lack of comprehensive supply chain data. This study fills this gap by systematically examining the nationwide PSCN of China with large-scale reliable empirical data. The usage of MSC and effective distance can inform the implementation of risk-based control programmes for diseases and contaminations on PSCNs.

This paper analyses the interaction between the novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), unemployment rate, stock market, consumer confidence index (CCI), and economic policy uncertainty (EPU) index in China within a time-frequency framework. We compare the changes in economic indicators during the global financial crisis (GFC) and study the different impacts of the two events on China’s economy. An unprecedented impact of COVID-19 shocks on the unemployment rate, CCI, EPU index, and stock market volatility over the low frequency bands is uncovered by applying the coherence wavelet method to China monthly data. The COVID-19 effect on the stock market volatility and the EPU index is substantially higher than on the unemployment rate and the CCI. On the contrary, the GFC’s impact on the unemployment rate is much greater than that on the EPU index and CCI. Additionally, the impact of the GFC on the economy is more cyclical in the long-term, while the COVID-19 pandemic is a short-term shock with a relatively short oscillation cycle. This study concludes that the economic impact of COVID-19 will not spread into a financial crisis for China and believe that the COVID-19 pandemic is more of a health event than an economic crisis for Chinese economy.

Despite intensive research, preterm birth (PTB) rates have not decreased significantly in recent years due to a lack of understanding of the underlying causes and insufficient treatment options for PTB. We are committed to finding promising biomarkers for the treatment of PTB.An extensive search of the literature was conducted with MEDLINE/PubMed, and in total, 151 studies were included and summarized in the present review.Substantial evidence supports that the infection and/or inflammatory cascade associated with infection is an early event in PTB. Toll-like receptor (TLR) is a prominent pattern recognition receptor (PRR) found on both immune and non-immune cells, including fetal membrane cells. The activation of TLR downstream molecules, followed by TLR binding to its ligand, is critical for infection and inflammation, leading to the involvement of the TLR signaling pathway in PTB. TLR ligands are derived from microbial components and molecules released by damaged and dead cells. Particularly, TLR4 is an essential TLR because of its ability to recognize lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In this comprehensive overview, we discuss the role of TLR signaling in PTB, focus on numerous host-derived genetic and epigenetic regulators of the TLR signaling pathway, and cover ongoing research and prospective therapeutic options for treating PTB by inhibiting TLR signaling.This is a critical topic because TLR-related molecules and mechanisms may enable obstetricians to better understand the physiological changes in PTB and develop new treatment and prevention strategies.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical treatment outcomes and the changes of the outcomes over time in extremely preterm twins in Guangdong Province, China. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed for 269 pairs of extremely preterm twins with a gestational age of

The electronic structure near the Fermi surface determines the electrical properties of the materials, which can be effectively tuned by external pressure. Bi

With the increase in extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants, their outcome attracted worldwide attention. However, in China, the related studies are rare. The hospitalized records of ELBW infants discharged from twenty-six neonatal intensive care units in Guangdong Province of China during 2008–2017 were analyzed. A total of 2575 ELBW infants were enrolled and the overall survival rate was 55.11%. From 2008 to 2017, the number of ELBW infants increased rapidly from 91 to 466, and the survival rate improved steadily from 41.76% to 62.02%. Increased survival is closely related to birth weight (BW), regional economic development, and specialized hospital. The incidence of complications was neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (85.2%), oxygen dependency at 28 days (63.7%), retinopathy of prematurity (39.3%), intraventricular hemorrhage (29.4%), necrotizing enterocolitis (12.0%), and periventricular leukomalacia (8.0%). Among the 1156 nonsurvivors, 90.0% of infants died during the neonatal period (≤ 28 days). A total of 768 ELBW infants died after treatment withdrawal, for reasons of economic and/or poor outcome. The number of ELBW infants is increasing in Guangdong Province of China, and the overall survival rate is improving steadily.

Metamaterial sensors are widely used because of their rich resonance behaviors. However, due to the dependence on resonance properties, many metamaterial sensors are difficult to be applied in measurement of the stationary thermal properties of Xuan paper samples in a wide frequency range. Many important properties of Xuan paper samples are related to thermal resonance properties,. such as folding resistance, tensile strength, ink-run property, whiteness, dry heat and wet heat aging. Here, a metamaterial sensor with smooth transmission performance in the operating frequency band is designed and fabricated. In experiments, by increasing temperature, the time for the thermal response current of the Xuan paper samples to reach the peak value is significantly reduced, and the average peak value is increased. The heat conduction of the Xuan paper samples is increased and the thermal resistance is reduaced. When the thickness of the Xuan paper sample is gradually increased, the time required for the thermal response current to reach the peak value is gradually increased and the average peak value is decreased. When the concentration of alum gelatin solution applied on the surface of the Xuan paper sample is gradually increased, the corresponding thermal response current is enhanced, and the time required to reach the peak is significantly reduced. The results show that the metamaterial sensor can be used to measure the thermal properties of Xuan paper samples.

The application of metamaterial sensors is a hot topic in the field of material measurement. However, the resonant absorption modes are difficult to be eliminated due to many metamaterial sensors containing metal arrays. In measurements of the clothing fabrics, absorption rate requires a smooth spectrum in a wide frequency range. Here, an all-dielectric metamaterial is proposed and measured, and a smooth absorption spectrum is achieved (average absorptivity of 25.2%). When this metamaterial is covered by a fabric sample (Polyester), the measured average absorptivity is 41.5%. When the thickness of the fabric sample Polyester is set to be 0.2 mm, 0.3 mm, 0.4 mm, and 0.5 mm, the measured average absorptivity of the Polyester is: 41.5%, 48.3, 57.6, 62.1, respectively. Moreover, four fabric samples are measured and the achieved absorptivity is: 41.5%, 25.1%, 34.3%, and 56.6%, respectively. The simulated results are close to the measurement results. This all-dielectric metamaterial demonstrates the feasibility of clothing fabric measurement.

Background With the increase in extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants, their outcomes received special attention. However, in China, studies of the outcomes of ELBW infants are rare. Methods The hospitalized records of ELBW infants discharged from twenty-six neonatal intensive care units were reviewed and analyzed. Results A total of 2575 ELBW infants were enrolled and the overall survival rate was 55.11%. From 2008 to 2017, the number of ELBW infants increased rapidly from 91 to 466, and the survival rate improved steadily from 41.76–62.02%. The survival rate rose with increasing BW, the ascending level of regional economic development and specialist hospitals. The incidence of complications was neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (85.2%), bronchopulmonary dysplasia (63.7%), retinopathy of prematurity (39.3%), intraventricular hemorrhage (29.4%), necrotizing enterocolitis (12.0%), and periventricular leukomalacia (8.0%). Among the 1156 nonsurvivors, 90.0% of infants died during the neonatal period (≤ 28 days), and the other died after the neonatal period. A total of 768 ELBW infants died after medical care withdrawal, with economic factors and expected outcome being important causes. Conclusion The number of ELBW infants is increasing in China, and the overall survival rate is still low but is improving steadily.

As an endocrine disruptor, di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is ubiquitous in multiple environmental media, causing long-term toxic effects on organisms. MicroRNAs are a class of noncoding RNAs with only 20-24 nucleotides in length, which regulate the expression of many protein-coding genes when organisms are exposed to environmental chemicals. MiR-146a, a differentially expressed miRNA after DEHP exposure, was screened by miRNA sequencing. As its target

Background: Osteosarcoma is one of the most common bone tumors, with a high degree of malignancy and a poor prognosis. Recent studies have shown that THZ2, a cyclin-dependent kinase 7 inhibitor, can exhibit strong antibone tumor effects in vivo and in vitro by inhibiting transcriptional activity. In this study, by screening the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of osteosarcoma cells before and after THZ2 treatment, it provides new possible targets for the future targeted therapy of osteosarcoma. Methods: Download the gene expression profile of GSE134603 from the Gene Expression Omnibus database, and use the R software package “limma Geoquery” to screen DEGs. DAVID database was used for gene ontology analysis of DEGs. Use search tool for the retrieval of interacting genes online database and Cytoscape software to construct protein–protein interaction network. Use the “MCODE” plugin in Cytoscape to analyze key molecular complexes (module) of DEGs, and use the “Cluego” plugin to perform Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis on module genes. The Hub gene is selected from the genes in DEGs that coexist in the top 30 Degree and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway. Results: A total of 1033 DEGs were screened, including 800 up-regulated genes and 233 down-regulated genes. Gene ontology analysis showed that cell component is the main enrichment area of DEGs, mainly in the nucleus, cytoplasm, and nucleoplasm. In addition, in molecular function analysis, DEGs are mainly enriched in the process of protein binding. In biological process analysis, changes in DEGs can also be observed in transcription and regulation using DNA as a template. Twenty-nine module genes are enriched in the Ribosome biogenesis in eukaryotes pathway. Finally, 4 key genes are drawn: essential for mitotic growth 1, U3 SnoRNP protein 3 homolog, U3 small nucleolar RNA-associated protein 15 homolog, and WD repeat domain 3. Conclusion: This study found that the 4 genes essential for mitotic growth 1, U3 SnoRNP protein 3 homolog, U3 small nucleolar RNA-associated protein 15 homolog, WD repeat domain 3, and the ribosome biogenesis in eukaryotes pathway play a very important role in the occurrence and development of osteosarcoma, and can become a new target for molecular targeted therapy of osteosarcoma in the future.

A facile method, post-synthetic exchange of modulators (PSEm), has been demonstrated here to prepare chiral metal-organic frameworks for enantioseparation. Based on this method, three chiral porous Zr-based metal-organic frameworks have been prepared through exchanging the coordinated modulators on metal clusters of MOFs with commercially available chiral carboxylic acid molecules. In addition, the obtained materials show enantioselectivity toward three different enantiomers, which presents a proof of concept for the design of MOF materials for enantioseparation by an easy and low-cost method.

In navigation work, the geomagnetic sensor signal is susceptible to interference, so the calibration process is necessary to compensate sensor model error. However, we found the noise error in the geomagnetic sensor leads to a considerable calculation error in the calibration coefficient matrix, which is a big obstacle in obtaining the accurate signal. To improve the calibration effect, this paper analysis the characteristic of geomagnetic sensor’s noise error, and then proposes the improved Hilbert-Huang transform (IHHT) algorithm to preprocessing these noise before calibration. IHHT creatively proposes an attention Hilbert spectrum, which is robust to strong noise recognition and localization. The adaptive median filtering is employed on strong noise regions. Additionally, a similarity criterion for Intrinsic Mode Function (IMF) processing is presented to save computational resources and time. Confirmed by simulation, IHHT algorithm depresses noise to be close to 0 mGuass , and declines sample variance to 13.963 $mGuass^{ {2}}$ , which shows effective noise reduction capability. The experiment result shows IHHT algorithm considerably enhances calibration performance, as the calibration error drops by more than 50% compared with the results using state-of-the-art methods.

What is known and objective In the mid-1960s, clinical pharmacy developed in the USA, and as the demand for pharmaceutical services continued to grow, their impact began to be taken seriously. However, the participation of clinical pharmacists as members of the multidisciplinary team in the orthopaedic department is still in its infancy, although its role in orthopaedics has not been defined. The object of this study was to identify and discuss the impact of pharmaceutical care in the orthopaedic department. Methods A literature search was conducted on MEDLINE, PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library and CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) for papers published between 1998 and 2019, using the keywords pharmacy, pharmacist, and medication or drug combined with orthopaedic. Other available resources were also used to identify relevant articles. Results and discussion Based on the available evidence in 74 articles, it was found that clinical pharmacists play an important role in all aspects of rational use of medications, medication review and reconciliation, monitoring adverse drug events, risk assessment, and medication education and counselling. In addition, clinical pharmacy services were developed to minimize medication errors, adverse drug events and medical costs, but clinical pharmacy is still in its early stages in orthopaedics. What is new and conclusion A multidisciplinary approach should be adopted in the orthopaedic department, as pharmacist interventions can be vital for promoting the safety, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of pharmacotherapy. Although pharmacists' contributions to orthopaedics are not yet fully recognized, pharmaceutical services can undoubtedly contribute to both clinical and societal outcomes.

A stable hierarchical porous metal–organic framework PCN-56 with abundant Lewis acid sites (denoted as Defective-PCN-56) was synthesized by the low-temperature synthesis-induced defect formation method. The existence of mesopore in structure was confirmed by N2 sorption isotherm and the successful encapsulation of large dye molecules. The Defective-PCN-56 has higher loading capacity toward anti-cancer drug Doxo compared with that of “nearly ideal-crystal” (denoted as Ideal-PCN-56) synthesized at high temperature, showing potential application as drug carrier. The low-temperature synthesis-induced defect formation strategy presented here provides a new and facile way to synthesize stable MOFs with the combination of intrinsic micropore and additional mesopore as well as abundant Lewis acid sites.

Coal preparation is the basis and prerequisite for clean coal utilization. Air dense medium fluidized bed separation (ADMFB) technique demonstrated good separation performance for coal cleaning. Feeding position remarkably affects separation performance of ADMFB. In this work, we studied how feed height, separating time and gas velocity influence fluidization. Bubble behavior and separation process of the coal in ADMFB were investigated using pressure measuring system and image analysis. Ash separation degree (Sash) was used to evaluate separation performance of ADMFB. Research results showed that separation performance was satisfactory when the material was fed from the upper or middle position, and it was poor when the material was fed from the bottom position. Materials needed certain period of time to complete the sink-float process. Sash values increased and then stabilized as separation time increased. Sufficient loosening of the materials was the key factor for the highly efficient separation. Gas velocity increase helped materials to loosen, and it also destroyed bridging and smuggling. Thus, the overall separation performance improved, while, excessive gas speed was unfavorable. At h∗ = 0.75, t = 5 min and N = 1.8, ADMFB showed excellent separation performance, and its corresponding Sash value reached maximum value equal to 1.07.

In this paper some new Z-eigenvalue localization sets for general tensors are established, which are proved to be tighter than those newly derived by Wang et al. [Discrete Contin. Dyn. Syst. Ser. B, 22 (2017), 187–198]. Also, some relationships between the Z-eigenvalue inclusion sets presented by Wang et al. and the new Z-eigenvalue localization sets for tensors are given. Besides, we discuss the effects of orthonormal transformations for the proposed sets. As applications of the proposed sets, some improved upper bounds for the Z-spectral radius of weakly symmetric nonnegative tensors are given. Numerical examples are also given to verify the advantages of our proposed results over some known ones.

In this paper, by adopting the preconditioned technique for the accelerated generalized successive overrelaxation method (AGSOR) proposed by Edalatpour et al. (2015), we establish the preconditioned AGSOR (PAGSOR) iteration method for solving a class of complex symmetric linear systems. The convergence conditions, optimal iteration parameters and corresponding optimal convergence factor of the PAGSOR iteration method are determined. Besides, we prove that the spectral radius of the PAGSOR iteration method is smaller than that of the AGSOR one under proper restrictions, and its optimal convergence factor is smaller than that of the preconditioned symmetric block triangular splitting (PSBTS) one put forward by Zhang et al. (2018) recently. The spectral properties of the preconditioned PAGSOR matrix are also proposed. Numerical experiments illustrate the correctness of the theories and the effectiveness of the proposed iteration method and the preconditioner for the generalized minimal residual (GMRES) method.