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Purpose The aim of this study was to determine the risk of severe postoperative complications (SPCs) in patients with gastric cancer and to construct a nomogram based on independently related factors to identify high-risk patients.Methods We retrospectively analyzed 297 consecutive patients undergoing gastrectomy in this multicenter study. Sarcopenia was diagnosed by preoperative computed tomography of the L3 skeletal muscle area. Nutritional status was assessed according to the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition criteria. According to the Clavien–Dindo classification system, SPCs were classified as C-D Grade ≥ IIIa. A nomogram consisting of the independent risk factors was constructed to quantify the individual risk of SPCs.Results Of the 297 patients analyzed in this study, 86 (28.96%) were diagnosed with malnutrition, 55 (18.52%) were diagnosed with sarcopenia, and 24 (8.08%) were diagnosed with SPCs. Patients who developed SPCs had longer hospital stays (SPCs vs. non-SPCs: 23 vs. 11 days, P P P P = 0.017), combined resection (P = 0.028), and duodenostomy (P = 0.001) independently predicted the occurrence of SPCs. The nomogram exhibited good discrimination, with a discriminant consistency index of 0.822, and the calibration was also excellent.Conclusions Sarcopenia, malnutrition, combined resection and duodenostomy are independent predictors of SPCs. Our nomogram exhibited good discrimination and was practical for identifying patients at high risk of SPCs.

Surfaces grafted with polyelectrolyte chains for excellent performance in protein antifouling are highly desired in many applications, such as biomedical implants and devices. In general, the adsorbing/resisting behaviors of proteins can be mainly attributed to the electrostatic interactions that are associated with the charge properties of proteins and polyelectrolytes. By coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations, we examined the self-assembled structures of polyanion and polyzwitterion brushes as well as the interactions on negatively and positively charged proteins. We found that in addition to charges, the structural polarization induced by self-assembly with a certain charge distribution shows significant influences on protein behavior. The large-scale dipole-dipole interactions between brushes and proteins can dominate the behavior of proteins on the brushes under certain circumstances. To ensure simulation accuracy, we compared two models and found a polar Martini model that explicitly treats electrostatic interactions as long-ranged ones, giving a more reasonable structural description compared with the normal Martini model that truncates electrostatic interactions.

Fashion image clustering is the key to fashion retrieval, forecasting, and recommendation applications. Manual labeling-based clustering is both time-consuming and less accurate. Currently, popular methods for extracting features from data use deep learning techniques, such as a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). These methods can generate high-dimensional feature vectors, which are effective for image clustering. However, high dimensions can lead to the curse of dimensionality, which makes subsequent clustering difficult. The fashion images-oriented deep clustering method (FIDC) is proposed in this paper. This method uses CNN to generate a 4096-dimensional feature vector for each fashion image through migration learning, then performs dimensionality reduction through a deep-stacked auto-encoder model, and finally performs clustering on these low-dimensional vectors. High-dimensional vectors can represent images, and dimensionality reduction avoids the curse of dimensionality during clustering tasks. A particular point in the method is the joint learning and optimization of the dimensionality reduction process and the clustering task. The optimization process is performed using two algorithms: back-propagation and stochastic gradient descent. The experimental findings show that the proposed method, called FIDC, has achieved state-of-the-art performance.

IntroductionCyanogenic glycosides (CNglcs) are bioactive plant products involving in plant defense against herbivores by virtue of their abilities to release toxic hydrogen cyanide (HCN). Aspergillus niger has been shown to be effective in producing β-glucosidase, which could degrade CNglcs. However, whether A. niger could remove CNglcs under ensiling conditions is still unknown.MethodsIn this study, we first investigated the HCN contents in ratooning sorghums for two years, then the sorghums were ensiled with or without the addition of A. niger.ResultsTwo years’ investigation indicated that the contents of HCN in fresh ratooning sorghum were larger than 801 mg/kg FW (fresh weight), which could not be reduced by silage fermentation under safety threshold (200 mg/kg FW). A. niger could produce β-glucosidase over a range of pH and temperature, which degraded the CNglcs and removed the hydrogen cyanide (HCN) at early days of ratooning sorghum fermentation. The addition of A. niger (2.56 × 107 CFU/ml) altered the microbial community, increased bacterial diversity, improved the nutritive qualities, and reduced the HCN contents in ensiled ratooning sorghum lower than 100 mg/kg FW after 60 days of fermentation. Overall, the addition of 150 ml A. niger + 50 ml sterile water per 3 kg silage could efficiently remove CNglcs from ratooning sorghum silage.ConclusionIn conclusion, A. niger could produce β-glucosidase which degraded the CNglcs during the early days of fermentation, benefiting the ensiling process and improving the utilization of ratooning sorghum.

Longitudinal critically refracted (LCR) ultrasonic waves and magnetic Barkhausen noise (MBN) are two commonly used methods for measuring the residual stress of steel. Both of these methods have distinct advantages and disadvantages that need to be taken into consideration when selecting the most appropriate technique for measuring residual stress under specific circumstances. This issue is experimentally investigated in this paper by comparing the linearity, sensitivity and repeatability of these two measurement techniques for evaluating the stress within Q345 steel samples subjected to different levels of applied tensile stress. The time-of-flight (TOF) of LCR waves is demonstrated to conform almost perfectly with the applied stress in a linear relationship, while a similarly perfect confirmation is obtained for the root mean square (RMS) voltage of MBN signals to a quadratic curve. The results demonstrate that the RMS voltage of MBN signals is much more sensitive than the TOF of LCR waves to variations in surface stress, where the application of a 240 MPa tensile stress increases the RMS voltage of MBN signals by about 140% relative to that of the unstressed sample, while the TOF of LCR waves increases by less than 0.15% under corresponding conditions. Multiple testing of the same specimen demonstrates that MBN measurements more closely coincide than those of LCR waves. Therefore, MBN exhibits superior repeatability to LCR waves.

Chemically recyclable semi-fluorinated polymers are demonstrated for the first time, and the hydrophobicity, self-assembly, and post-polymerization functionalization of these polymers are explored.

The composition, sequence, length, and type of glycosidic linkages of polysaccharides profoundly affect their biological and physical properties. However, investigation of the structure-function relationship of polysaccharides is hampered by accessing well-defined polysaccharides in sufficient quantities. Here, we report a chemical approach to precision polysaccharides with native glycosidic linkages via living cationic ring-opening polymerization of 1,6-anhydrosugars. We synthesized well-defined polysaccharides with tunable molecular weight, low dispersity, and excellent regio- and stereoselectivity using a boron trifluoride etherate catalyst and glycosyl fluoride initiators. Computational studies revealed that the reaction propagated through the monomer alpha-addition to the oxocarbenium and was controlled by the reversible deactivation of the propagating oxocarbenium to form the glycosyl fluoride dormant species. Our method afforded a facile and scalable pathway to multiple biologically relevant precision polysaccharides, including D-glucan, D-mannan, and an unusual L-glucan. We demonstrated that catalytic depolymerization of precision polysaccharides efficiently regenerated monomers, suggesting their utility as a class of chemically recyclable materials with tailored thermal and mechanical properties.

Polymers with low ceiling temperatures (Tc) are highly desirable as they can depolymerize under mild conditions, but they typically suffer from demanding synthetic conditions and poor stability. We envision that this challenge can be addressed by developing high-Tc polymers that can be converted into low-Tc polymers on demand. Here, we demonstrate the mechanochemical generation of a low-Tc polymer, poly(2,5-dihydrofuran) (PDHF), from an unsaturated polyether that contains cyclobutane-fused THF in each repeat unit. Upon mechanically induced cycloreversion of cyclobutane, each repeat unit generates three repeat units of PDHF. The resulting PDHF completely depolymerizes into 2,5-dihydrofuran in the presence of a ruthenium catalyst. The mechanochemical generation of the otherwise difficult-to-synthesize PDHF highlights the power of polymer mechanochemistry in accessing elusive structures. The concept of mechanochemically regulating the Tc of polymers can be applied to develop next-generation sustainable plastics.

The growing consumption of synthetic polymers and the accumulation of polymer waste have led to a pressing need for new routes to sustainable materials. Achieving a closed-loop polymer economy via chemical recycling to monomer (CRM) is one such promising route. Our group recently reported a new CRM system based on polymers prepared by ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) of trans-cyclobutane fused cyclooctene (tCBCO) monomers. This system offers several key advantages, including the ease of polymerization at ambient temperatures, quantitative depolymerization to monomers under mild conditions, and a broad range of functionalities and thermomechanical properties. Here, we outline detailed protocols for the preparation of tCBCO-based monomers and their corresponding polymers, including the preparation of elastic polymer networks and compression molding of linear thermoplastic polymers. We also outline the preparation of high ring strain E-alkene tCBCO monomers and their living polymerization. Finally, the procedures for the depolymerization of linear polymers and polymer networks are also demonstrated.

Background To evaluate the immune function of gastric cancer patients after single-incision laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (SIDG) or multiport laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (MLDG) guided by enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS). Methods A retrospective cohort study was performed on 120 patients who underwent laparoscopic distal gastrectomy for gastric cancer. The patients were divided into two groups according to operation method: group A (MLDG) and group B (SIDG), both guided by ERAS concept. The indicators reflecting immune function and inflammation, such as CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ and NK cell count, CD4+/CD8+ cell ratios, IgA, IgM and IgG levels, C-reactive protein (CRP), total lymphocyte count (TLC) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were tested 3 days and 7 days after surgery. Results The skin incision length of patients in group B was significantly shorter than that in group A, but the operation time was significantly longer in group B than that in group A (P P P > 0.05). On the 7th day after surgery, the immune indexes of both groups recovered somewhat, approaching the preoperative level (P > 0.05). Inflammation indexes increased 3 days after surgery and decreased 7 days after surgery in both groups, among them the CRP level in group A was higher than that in group B (P Conclusion Compared with MLDG guided by ERAS, SIDG under the guidance of the ERAS concept has better cosmetic effect and similar effect on immune function of gastric cancer patients.

Polymers with low ceiling temperatures (Tc) are highly desirable as they can depolymerize under mild conditions, but they typically suffer from demanding synthetic conditions and poor stability. We envision that this challenge can be addressed by developing high-Tc polymers that can be converted into low Tc polymers on demand. Here, we demonstrate the mechanochemical generation of a low-Tc polymer, poly(2,5-dihydrofuran) (PDHF), from an unsaturated polyether that contains cyclobutane-fused THF in each repeat unit. Upon mechanically induced cycloreversion of cyclobutane, each repeat unit generates three repeat units of PDHF. The resulting PDHF completely depolymerizes into 2,5-dihydrofuran in the presence of a ruthenium catalyst. The mechanochemical generation of the otherwise difficult-to-synthesize PDHF highlights the power of polymer mechanochemistry in accessing elusive structures. The concept of mechanochemically regulating Tc of polymers can be applied to develop next-generation sustainable plastics.

A promising solution to address the challenges in plastics sustainability is to replace current polymers with chemically recyclable ones that can depolymerize into their constituent monomers to enable the circular use of materials. Despite some progress, few depolymerizable polymers exhibit the desirable thermal stability and strong mechanical properties of traditional polymers. Here we report a series of chemically recyclable polymers that show excellent thermal stability (decomposition temperature >370 °C) and tunable mechanical properties. The polymers are formed through ring-opening metathesis polymerization of cyclooctene with a trans-cyclobutane installed at the 5 and 6 positions. The additional ring converts the non-depolymerizable polycyclooctene into a depolymerizable polymer by reducing the ring strain energy in the monomer (from 8.2 kcal mol-1 in unsubstituted cyclooctene to 4.9 kcal mol-1 in the fused ring). The fused-ring monomer enables a broad scope of functionalities to be incorporated, providing access to chemically recyclable elastomers and plastics that show promise as next-generation sustainable materials.

In order to deal with the fluctuation and intermittency of photovoltaic (PV) cells, the battery energy storage system (BESS) as a supplementary power source has been widely concerned. In BESS, the unknown parameters of the battery can affect its output, and its structure determines these parameters. Therefore, it is essential to establish the battery model and extract the parameters accurately, and the existing methods cannot effectively solve this problem. This study proposes an adaptive differential evolution algorithm with the dynamic opposite learning strategy (DOLADE) to deal with the issue. In DOLADE, the number of elite particles and particles with poor performance is expanded, the population’s search area is increased, and the population’s exploration capability is improved. The particles’ search area is dynamically changed to ensure the population has a good exploitation capability. The dynamic opposite learning (DOL) strategy increases the population’s diversity and improves the probability of obtaining the global optimum with a considerable convergence rate. The various discharging experiments are performed, the battery model parameters are identified, and the results are compared with the existing well-established algorithms. The comprehensive results indicate that DOLADE has excellent performance and could deal with similar problems.

Given a directed graph, a k-hop reachability query, u→?kv, is used to check for the existence of a directed path from u to v that has a length of at most k. Addressing k-hop reachability queries is a fundamental task in graph theory and has been extensively investigated. However, existing algorithms can be inefficient when answering queries because they require costly graph traversal operations. To improve query performance, we propose an approach based on a vertex cover. We construct an index that covers all reachability information using a small set of vertices from the input graph. This allows us to answer k-hop reachability queries without performing graph traversal. We propose a linear-time algorithm to quickly compute a vertex cover, S, which we use to develop a novel labeling scheme and two algorithms for efficient query answering. The experimental results demonstrate that our approach significantly outperforms the existing approaches in terms of query response time.

Reachability queries processing has been extensively studied during the past decades. Many approaches have followed the line of designing 2-hop labels to ensure acceleration. Considering its index size cannot be bounded, researchers have proposed to use a part of nodes to construct partial 2-hop labels (p2HLs) to cover as much reachability information as possible. We achieved better query performance using p2HLs with a limited index size and index construction time. However, the adoption of p2HLs was based on intuition, and the number of nodes used to generate p2HLs was fixed in advance blindly, without knowing its applicability. In this paper, we focused on the problem of efficiently computing a reachability ratio (RR) in order to obtain RR-aware p2HLs. Here, RR denoted the ratio of the number of reachable queries that could be answered by p2HLs over the total number of reachable queries involved in a given graph. Based on the RR, users could determine whether p2HLs should be used to answer the reachability queries for a given graph and how many nodes should be chosen to generate p2HLs. We discussed the difficulties of RR computation and propose an incremental-partition algorithm for RR computation. Our rich experimental results showed that our algorithm could efficiently obtain the RR and the overall effects on query performance by different p2HLs. Based on the experimental results, we provide our findings on the use p2HLs for a given graph for processing reachability queries.

A maximal clique ( ${MC}$ ) is a complete subgraph satisfying that no other cliques can take it as their proper subgraph. Given an uncertain graph, the $top\text{-}K\,\,{MC}\text{s}$ enumeration problem studies how to return $k {MC}\text{s}$ with the highest rank value. Existing algorithms rank ${MC}\text{s}$ according to their probabilities, thus usually return ${MC}\text{s}$ with higher probabilities but less number of vertices, and fail to return large ${MC}\text{s}$ that convey more useful information. Considering this problem, this paper studies the problem of enumerating $top\text{-}K\,\,{MC}\text{s}$ . Our approach returns $k {MC}\text{s}$ with the most number of vertices satisfying that their probabilities $\geq \alpha $ , where each ${MC}$ is called an $\alpha $ - ${MC}$ , and computing $k$ largest $\alpha $ - ${MC}\text{s}$ is called as $(k,\alpha)$ - ${MC}\text{s}$ . We propose an efficient $(k,\alpha)$ - ${MC}\text{s}$ enumeration algorithm, $Top\text{-}KMC$ , which works in three steps, including partition, enumeration and verification. Here, partition means that we compute the set $\mathcal {M}$ of all ${MC}\text{s}$ without considering the probability information, as if the graph is partitioned into a set of subgraphs. Enumeration means that we compute $\alpha $ - ${MC}\text{s}$ from each ${MC}$ of $\mathcal {M}$ . As each such subgraph is an ${MC}$ , the cost of computing common neighbors for finding $\alpha $ - ${MC}\text{s}$ can be reduced. Verification means that we need to verify whether an $\alpha $ - ${MC}$ is a subgraph of another $\alpha $ - ${MC}$ . If not, it is an $\alpha $ - ${MC}$ ; otherwise, it is a useless $\alpha $ - ${MC}$ and should be removed. We further propose an optimized algorithm $Top\text{-}KMC+$ to reduce both time and space by merging the above three steps into a whole step. The experimental results on real datasets show that both $Top\text{-}KMC$ and $Top\text{-}KMC+$ can return $k$ largest $\alpha $ - ${MC}\text{s}$ efficiently.

A maximal clique ( ${MC}$ ) is a complete subgraph satisfying that no other cliques can take it as their proper subgraph. Given an uncertain graph, the $top\text{-}K\,\,{MC}\text{s}$ enumeration problem studies how to return $k {MC}\text{s}$ with the highest rank value. Existing algorithms rank ${MC}\text{s}$ according to their probabilities, thus usually return ${MC}\text{s}$ with higher probabilities but less number of vertices, and fail to return large ${MC}\text{s}$ that convey more useful information. Considering this problem, this paper studies the problem of enumerating $top\text{-}K\,\,{MC}\text{s}$ . Our approach returns $k {MC}\text{s}$ with the most number of vertices satisfying that their probabilities $\geq \alpha $ , where each ${MC}$ is called an $\alpha $ - ${MC}$ , and computing $k$ largest $\alpha $ - ${MC}\text{s}$ is called as $(k,\alpha)$ - ${MC}\text{s}$ . We propose an efficient $(k,\alpha)$ - ${MC}\text{s}$ enumeration algorithm, $Top\text{-}KMC$ , which works in three steps, including partition, enumeration and verification. Here, partition means that we compute the set $\mathcal {M}$ of all ${MC}\text{s}$ without considering the probability information, as if the graph is partitioned into a set of subgraphs. Enumeration means that we compute $\alpha $ - ${MC}\text{s}$ from each ${MC}$ of $\mathcal {M}$ . As each such subgraph is an ${MC}$ , the cost of computing common neighbors for finding $\alpha $ - ${MC}\text{s}$ can be reduced. Verification means that we need to verify whether an $\alpha $ - ${MC}$ is a subgraph of another $\alpha $ - ${MC}$ . If not, it is an $\alpha $ - ${MC}$ ; otherwise, it is a useless $\alpha $ - ${MC}$ and should be removed. We further propose an optimized algorithm $Top\text{-}KMC+$ to reduce both time and space by merging the above three steps into a whole step. The experimental results on real datasets show that both $Top\text{-}KMC$ and $Top\text{-}KMC+$ can return $k$ largest $\alpha $ - ${MC}\text{s}$ efficiently.

Given a directed graph and a node $v$ , the transitive closure (TC) of $v$ is the set of nodes that $v$ can reach in the graph. TC size is very important in many applications but the cost of TC size computation is high in both time and space, which makes computing accurate TC size not applicable to the scenario where we need to know the TC size quickly for large graphs. Considering that existing approaches are either inefficient or inaccurate, we propose an algorithm, namely buTCS, to efficiently make more accurate estimation. Our approach works in linear time and space. The basic idea is to compute a node’s TC size based on that of its out-neighbors and perform a top-down verification. We further propose two optimizations to improve the estimation accuracy. The experimental results on 13 real datasets show that buTCS achieves better estimation on TC size efficiently.

A new biobased low dielectric resin derived from vanillin and guaiacol has been synthesized. Thanks to the low polarizability of hexafluorocyclobutyl units, this resin exhibits good dielectric properties with an average dielectric constant (Dk) of 2.67 and a dielectric dissipation factor (Df) of 2.9 × 10−3 at a frequency range from 0.15 MHz to 20 MHz. This resin also displays high dimensional stability with a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of 46.3 ppm per °C from 25 °C to 180 °C and a glass transition temperature (Tg) of 243 °C. In addition, the polymer films on the silicon wafers also exhibit good uniformity, flatness, and high hydrophobicity, suggesting that this bio-based resin is suitable as an encapsulation for applications in the microelectronic industry.

Background To explore the effects of nutrition support team (NST) intervention on elderly patients with gastric cancer (GC). Methods The elderly GC patients (tumor stage I/II/III), admitted to our department from January 2015 to September 2021, were retrospectively analyzed and divided into NST group and traditional nutrition (TN) group according to nutritional management methods. The immune, inflammatory, nutrition-related indices, postoperative recovery and long-term prognosis of two groups were analyzed. Results A total of 258 elderly GC patients were included (NST group, n = 125; TN group, n = 133). After propensity score matching (PSM) in ratio of 1:1, 73 pairs of patients were matched. There were statistically significant differences in CD3 and CD4 level postoperative one month and IgG level postoperative one week between NST group and TN group (P 0.05). There were significant differences in body mass index (BMI) between the two groups postoperative one month (P 0.05). Conclusions Compared with TN management, NST intervention might be benefit to the immune function recovery and nutritional status, but there was no evidence that NST could improve the prognosis of elderly GC patients.

Enhanced Recovery after Surgery has been proven effective for patients with gastrointestinal cancer. But radical enhanced recovery could also lead to adverse clinical outcomes. Compared with reports on the estimation of successful implementation of enhanced recovery, studies on risk factors of enhanced recovery failure are still lacking. A retrospective analysis was carried out on 102 patients in ERAS who underwent elective colon cancer surgery. This study included 102 patients with colon cancer between 2015 and 2019, defining enhanced recovery failure as postoperative length of stay over 10 days, stay in ICU over 24 h after surgery, reoperation, death, or unplanned readmission within 30 days after surgery. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to explore potential risk factors of failure. Aged ≥ 75, open operation, number of drainage tube over 1, re-urethral catheterization, and Clavien-Dindo grade over 2 were associated with ERAS failure, according to univariate analysis. Multivariate analysis showed that age ≥ 75 [OR 7.231; P = 0.009]; open operation (OR 3.599; P = 0.021); and number of drainage tube over 1 (OR 3.202; P = 0.020) were independent risk factors for ERAS failure. We found age ≥ 75, open operation, and number of drainage tube over 1 are independent risk factors associated with ERAS failure after colon cancer surgery.

Developing graphene-like two-dimensional materials naturally possessing a band gap has sparked enormous interest. Thanks to the inherent wide band gap and high mobility in the 2D plane, covalent organic frameworks containing triazine rings (t-COFs) hold great promise in this regard, whilst the synthesis of single-layer t-COFs remains highly challenging. Herein, we present the fabrication of a well-defined graphene-like t-COF on Au(111). Instead of single/multiple-step single-type reactions commonly applied for on-surface synthesis, distinct stepwise on-surface reactions, including alkynyl cyclotrimerization, C−O bond cleavage, and C−H bond activation, are triggered on demand, leading to product evolution in a controlled step-by-step manner. Aside from the precise control in sophisticated on-surface synthesis, this work proposes a single-atomic-layer organic semiconductor with a wide band gap of 3.41 eV.

Enhanced recovery after surgery programs has been applied extensively in laparoscopic colorectal surgery. However, several studies have found that some patients fail from ERAS programs. It is important to identify these patients so that remedial action can be taken in a timely manner. The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review of ERAS failure and related risk factors following laparoscopic colorectal surgery. A literature search of the PubMed, EMBASE, OVID, and Cochrane databases was performed. The search strategy involved terms related to ERAS, failure, and colorectal surgery. The main outcomes were definitions of ERAS failure and related risk factors. Seven studies including 1463 patients were analyzed. The definition of ERAS failure was mostly associated with a prolonged postoperative length-of-stay (poLOS). Twenty-four kinds of identified risk factors were divided into three parts, the operative part, the pathophysiological part, and the ERAS elements, of which operative factors including more intraoperative blood loss and longer operative duration were the most frequently identified. ERAS failure was mostly related to a prolonged poLOS, and operative factors were the most frequently identified risk factors for ERAS failure following laparoscopic colorectal surgery. These findings will help physicians to take remedial action in a timely manner. Nonetheless, high-quality randomized controlled trials following a standardized framework for evaluating ERAS programs are needed in the future.

Single-incision laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (SILSG) has been proposed as an alternative to conventional laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (CLSG) in obese patients. This study aims to compare the surgical outcomes of these two techniques. A meta-analysis of existing literature obtained through a systematic literature search in the PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library CENTRAL databases from 2009 to 2019 was conducted. Eleven articles including 1168 patients were analyzed. Patients in the SILSG group reported greater satisfaction with cosmetic scar outcomes than those in the CLSG group (SMD = 2.47, 95% CI = 1.10 to 3.83, P = 0.00). There was no significant difference between the SILSG group and the CLSG group regarding operative time, intraoperative estimated blood loss, conversion rate, intraoperative complications, length of hospital stay, postoperative analgesia, postoperative complications, excess weight loss (EWL), and improvements in comorbidities (P > 0.05). Compared to CLSG, SILSG resulted in improved cosmetic satisfaction and showed no disadvantages in terms of surgical outcomes; thus, SILSG can serve as an alternative to CLSG for obese patients. Nonetheless, high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with large study populations and long follow-up periods are needed.

Two flexible and colorless polymers are synthesized based on a phosphorus-containing derivative of a bio-based aromatic aldehyde (4-hydroxybenzaldehyde) by a thiol-ene reaction. Thanks to the high ...

Two fluoro-containing low dielectric polymers have been successfully prepared based on thermo-crosslinkable trifluorovinyl ether (TFVE) monomers with big tetrahedral units (adamantane and spirobifluorene). These polymers exhibit an average dielectric constant (Dk) of lower than 2.6, and the polymer with adamantane units displays the lowest Dk of 2.26 and an average dielectric loss (Df) of 1.14 × 10−3 at a range of frequencies from 1 to 10 MHz. In contrast, the polymer with spirobifluorene units displays a Dk of 2.54 and a Df of 1.53 × 10−3. Such results are attributed to the existence of intrinsic micropores produced by the big adamantane and spirobifluorene units in the polymers. Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) indicates two different micropores in both the polymers, with sizes of 2.354/4.354 and 2.949/4.408 A, respectively. Because the polymer with adamantane units possesses bigger pore sizes, it shows a lower dielectric constant. These data mean that the polymer with adamantane units is suitable for use as encapsulation resins of integrated circuit (IC) dies for applications in the microelectronics industry.

Renewable biomass has been attracting extensive attention because of its advantages over fossil fuels, including renewability, ready availability and abundance. Anethole, as a kind of aromatic inedible plant oil, has been converted to various functional materials by skillful designing and preparation. As for the chemical structure of anethole, the propenyl group enables anethole not only to co-polymerize with electro-deficient monomers by the initiation of free radicals, but also to undergo cationic copolymerization to form oligomers. The methoxy group enables anethole to be functionalized by other groups. Because of its high reactivity, anethole has been developed as a reliable monomer or precursor for diverse materials with potential applications, such as microsphere adsorbents, dielectric materials, and high-performance polymers. The results show that anethole is a promising candidate for replacement of petroleum-based raw materials. This review summarizes the chemical conversions and applications of anethole, which may offer some inspiration for the application of other biomass materials widely existing in or extracted from nature.

Given a directed acyclic graph ( ${DAG}$ ) $G$ , $G$ ’s transitive reduction ( TR ) $G^{tr}$ is the unique ${DAG}$ satisfying that $G^{tr}$ has the minimum number of edges and has the same transitive closure ( ${TC}$ ) as $G$ . ${TR}$ computation has been extensively studied during the past decades and was used in many applications, where the main problem is how to compute ${TR}$ efficiently for large graphs. However, existing approaches have either large space complexity or higher time complexity, which makes them cannot compute ${TR}$ efficiently on large dense graphs. We propose a novel approach for ${TR}$ computation, which takes every single edge as the basic processing unit, and utilizes existing reachability algorithms to test whether it is redundant or not. In this way, we avoid the costly graph traversal operation of existing approaches. We identify the performance bottleneck and propose a set of heuristics to sort edges, such that to reduce the average processing cost of each edge. We show by experimental results that our approach works much better than all the existing approaches, and can be faster than the state-of-the-art approach by more than two orders of magnitude on large dense graphs.

Sporotrichosis is endemic in Jilin Province of Northeast China. While paediatric cases make a substantial contribution to the epidemiological profile of sporotrichosis, the differences in the epidemiology and clinical manifestations of sporotrichosis between paediatric and adult patients remain unclear. We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of 2968 cases of sporotrichosis (2113 adult patients aged ≥ 15 years and 855 paediatric patients aged < 15 years) over a nine-year period (01/01/2010-31/12/2018-). All the patients were diagnosed with sporotrichosis based on fungal culture of material from a skin lesion. In paediatric patients, the male:female ratio was 1.3:1, the incidence of sporotrichosis in the cold seasons was high (79.0%), most lesions occurred in the facial region (92.2%), and there was a preponderance of fixed cutaneous sporotrichosis (86.8%). In adult patients, the male:female ratio was 1:2.4, the incidence of sporotrichosis in the cold seasons was 66.0%, most lesions affected the extremities (48.6%) and the face (44.9%), and fixed cutaneous sporotrichosis was common (69.3%). The results indicate there were significant differences in the distribution of paediatric and adult sporotrichosis patients by sex, season with the highest occurrence of sporotrichosis, lesion sites and clinical types. Our results suggest that the epidemiology and clinical manifestations between paediatric and adult patients were different, and the route of infection of sporotrichosis in children may differ from that of adults in Jilin Province.

A fluorinated polymer with high thermostability and low dielectric constant was synthesized through the ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) and a postpolymerization. Casting a solution of...

Vitrimers are cross-linked networks through reversible dynamic covalent bonds. Usually, self-healing of vitrimers are realized by rearrangement of the networks under high temperature (>150 °C) and ...

With the development of society, the demand for energy keeps increasing. Solar energy has received widespread concern for its renewable and environmentally friendly advantages. As one of the most efficient solar energy devices, the output power of photovoltaic (PV) cells is easily affected by the external environment. In order to solve the problem of the maximum power output of PV cells, this paper proposed a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method. Based on the online particle swarm optimization (PSO) variable step length algorithm, the pulse width modulation (PWM) control module parameters are set according to the parameters of the PV cells’ output voltage. By dynamically adjusting the output voltage step of the PV cells online, the output of the PV cells is stabilized near the maximum power point (MPP). The simulation results concluded that the method and model could accurately adjust the output voltage according to the external environment changes in real time and reduce the voltage fluctuation at the MPP, providing a new idea to solve the problem of MPPT of PV cells.

This paper presents a hybrid Semi-parametric model for nonlinear system fault detection. The proposed hybrid model integrates the analytical model and the group method of data handing-type neural network (GMDH neural network) model. The GMDH neural network model is used to correct the modeling error of the analytical model for system fault diagnosis. There are two improvements to the hybrid semi-parametric model. Firstly, the evaluation criteria of the middle layer neurons are improved to improve the structural stability of the GMDH neural networks, especially the comprehensive evaluation of neurons using root mean square error, maximum absolute error, and network complexity function. Secondly, the reasonable threshold parameter is designed to enhance the robustness of the fault detection. The simulation results on a reaction flywheel of a satellite demonstrate that the proposed model is effective.

The free spectral range of the resonant cavity is calculated to be 78.95 GHz based on 1.90 mm of the waveform separation period as a multi-longitudinal mode laser diode is employed as the light source of the self-mixing vibration measurement system. As such, the influence of the vibration amplitude of the loudspeaker to the self-mixing vibration signal waveform is further researched by means of the feasible theoretical analysis and experimental characterization. The primary experimental results demonstrate that the amplitude limitation ratio coefficient Al of this sensing system is required to design below 2.053 × 10−3 corresponding to an entire waveform separation period, of which is to prevent the self-mixing signal waveform from distorting effectively in the context of the integral order of the external cavity mode. Furthermore, the feedback levels of the multi-longitudinal mode laser self-mixing vibration system are studied in detail. It has been shown that the experimental result of the free spectral range fits well with theoretical value when this system is matched to the applicable amplitude limitation range 0 A l ≤ 2 . 0 53 × 1 0 - 3 and the optimum optical feedback regime 0 C 4 . 6 .

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as critical regulators of cancer. There is a comparable number of lncRNAs to protein-coding genes, but the expression patterns, functions, and molecular mechanisms of most lncRNAs in colorectal cancer (CRC) remain unclear. In this study, we report the identification of a novel lncRNA, named long noncoding RNA regulating IL-6 transcription (LNRRIL6), which is upregulated in CRC tissues and cell lines. Increased LNRRIL6 expression is associated with aggressive clinicopathological characteristics and poor prognosis of CRC patients. Functional experiments showed that enhanced expression of LNRRIL6 promotes CRC cell proliferation and survival in vitro and CRC tumor growth in vivo. Conversely, depletion of LNRRIL6 inhibits CRC cell proliferation and survival in vitro and CRC tumor growth in vivo. Mechanistically, we revealed that LNRRIL6 physically binds to the IL-6 promoter, thereby increasing IL-6 transcription, inducing IL-6 autocrine signaling, and activating the IL-6/STAT3 pathway. The expression of IL-6 is positively associated with that of LNRRIL6 in CRC tissues. Blocking the IL-6/STAT3 pathway using the FDA-approved IL-6-receptor antagonist antibody, tocilizumab, abolished the oncogenic role of LNRRIL6 in CRC. Taken together, these findings identify a novel lncRNA, LNRRIL6, that promotes CRC cell survival through activation of the IL-6/STAT3 pathway and suggest that LNRRIL6 may be a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for CRC.

This paper investigates the task scheduling and attitude planning of single agile earth observation satellite for intensive tasks. We aim to obtain the execution strategy and corresponding attitude path at the same time by the maximization of the total number of imaged tasks together with minimization of the energy cost, where the rectangle strip observation tasks are considered. Denoting the ground task as a time-varying attitude path, the whole collaborative task scheduling and attitude planning problem is modeled in the attitude apace. To prepare for the final solution, we first design a time-dependent mechanism to determinate the start working time, based on which an energy-dependent mechanism is designed to determine the attitude path corresponding for each possible execution strategy. Using the results produced by the mechanisms to construct the evaluation process, we propose a novel pseudospectral cooperative genetic algorithm (PCGA) to obtain the effective execution strategy and attitude path simultaneously. In PCGA, the genetic algorithm is employed to search the optimal solution, while the pseudospectral procedure and cooperative concept are combined into the genetic algorithm framework to further eliminate the uncertainty and obtain a compromise solution between two objectives, respectively. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed model and algorithm.