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Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have received increased attention in endoscopic images due to their outstanding advantages. Clinically, some gastric polyps are related to gastric cancer, and accurate identification and timely removal are critical. CNN-based semantic segmentation can delineate each polyp region precisely, which is beneficial to endoscopists in the diagnosis and treatment of gastric polyps. At present, just a few studies have used CNN to automatically diagnose gastric polyps, and studies on their semantic segmentation are lacking. Therefore, we contribute pioneering research on gastric polyp segmentation in endoscopic images based on CNN. Seven classical semantic segmentation models, including U-Net, UNet++, DeepLabv3, DeepLabv3+, Pyramid Attention Network (PAN), LinkNet, and Muti-scale Attention Net (MA-Net), with the encoders of ResNet50, MobineNetV2, or EfficientNet-B1, are constructed and compared based on the collected dataset. The integrated evaluation approach to ascertaining the optimal CNN model combining both subjective considerations and objective information is proposed since the selection from several CNN models is difficult in a complex problem with conflicting multiple criteria. UNet++ with the MobineNet v2 encoder obtains the best scores in the proposed integrated evaluation method and is selected to build the automated polyp-segmentation system. This study discovered that the semantic segmentation model has a high clinical value in the diagnosis of gastric polyps, and the integrated evaluation approach can provide an impartial and objective tool for the selection of numerous models. Our study can further advance the development of endoscopic gastrointestinal disease identification techniques, and the proposed evaluation technique has implications for mathematical model-based selection methods for clinical technologies.

Background Cat-scratch disease usually manifests with uveitis, vitritis, retinitis, retinochoroiditis and optic neuritis, yet, with fundus nodular lesions rarely reported. In our study, we report a case of Cat-Scratch disease with binocular fundus nodular lesions. Case presentation An 11-year old male presented with uveitis (right eye) and binocular fundus nodular lesions after indirect contact with unvaccinated cats. Ancillary examinations (Wide-angle fundus photography, Ultrasonography, Fluorescein fundus angiography, Optical coherence tomography and Orbital Magnetic Resonance Imaging) were conducted to describe the multidimensional features of the binocular lesions. Metagenomics next-generation sequencing confirmed the diagnosis of Cat-scratch disease. The patient’s condition improved after 6-month combination treatment of systemical doxycycline hyclat and methylprednisolone tablets plus local mydriatic and corticosteroid eye drops. Conclusions We firstly reported a case simultaneously combined with uveitis and binocular fundus nodular lesions secondary to infection of Bartonella henselae in a child. Timely diagnosis and treatment with antibiotics and corticosteroids could improve the prognosis of these disorders.

Background: Cell division cycle 45 (CDC45) plays an important role in the occurrence and development of numerous carcinomas, but its effect in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) remains uncle...

BackgroundSuperior mesenteric vein (SMV) thrombosis is a rare intestinal ischemic disease. The clinical manifestations of patients differ, and most experience gastrointestinal symptoms.Case summaryA 45-year-old female patient presented with persistent abdominal pain and abnormal vaginal bleeding for 7 days. A physical examination revealed significant abdominal tenderness with positive rebound tenderness. A laboratory examination revealed a white blood cell count of 27 × 109/l, hemoglobin level of 52 g/L, and D-dimer of 4.54 mg/l. Enhanced computed tomography revealed a thickening and swelling of the jejunum and ileum in the left upper quadrant and portal vein. Filling defects in the main lumen and branch lumen suggested the possibility of portal vein and superior mesenteric vein thrombosis. Symptoms improved after treatment with low-molecular-weight heparin and warfarin. One month later, the patient developed occasional dull pain in the left lower quadrant, with long strips of discharge. An electronic colonoscopy revealed avascular necrosis and tissue exfoliation of the intestinal mucosa. After the continuation of warfarin therapy, the abdominal pain resolved. Five months later, the patient experienced recurrent abdominal pain and vomiting. A physical examination revealed a blood pressure of 75/49 mm Hg. An incomplete ileus with the portal and superior mesenteric vein thrombosis was diagnosed, partial jejunectomy and gastrointestinal bypass anastomosis were performed, and warfarin was continued postoperatively.ConclusionThe intestinal mucosal shedding observed, in this case, was caused by SMV thrombosis, which enriched the clinical manifestations of the disease and provided a new basis for the clinical diagnosis of SMV thrombosis.

Building an efficient quantum memory in high-dimensional Hilbert spaces is one of the fundamental requirements for establishing high-dimensional quantum repeaters, where it offers many advantages over two-dimensional quantum systems, such as a larger information capacity and enhanced noise resilience. To date, there have been no reports about how to achieve an efficient high-dimensional quantum memory. Here, we experimentally realize a quantum memory that is operational in Hilbert spaces of up to 25 dimensions with a storage efficiency of close to 60%. The proposed approach exploits the spatial-mode-independent interaction between atoms and photons which are encoded in transverse size-invariant orbital angular momentum modes. In particular, our memory features uniform storage efficiency and low cross-talk disturbance for 25 individual spatial modes of photons, thus allowing storing arbitrary qudit states programmed from 25 eigenstates within the high-dimensional Hilbert spaces, and eventually contributing to the storage of a 25-dimensional qudit state. These results would have great prospects for the implementation of long-distance high-dimensional quantum networks and quantum information processing.

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-tva-10.1177_15248380231185305 for Childhood Maltreatment and Gratitude: A Multilevel, Meta-Analytic Review by Ningzhe Zhu, Ying Ye, Chengcheng Li, Rixin Wang and Feng Kong in Trauma, Violence, & Abuse

Inherent spin angular momentum (SAM) and orbital angular momentum (OAM) which manifest as polarization and spatial degrees of freedom (DOF) of photons, hold a promise of large capability for applications in classical and quantum information processing. To enable these photonic spin and orbital dynamic properties strongly coupled with each other, Poincaré states have been proposed and offer advantages in data multiplexing, information encryption, precision metrology, and quantum memory. However, since the transverse size of Laguerre Gaussian beams strongly depends on their topological charge numbers $\left| l \right|$, it is difficult to store asymmetric Poincaré states due to the significantly different light-matter interaction for distinct spatial modes. Here, we experimentally realize the storage of perfect Poincaré states with arbitrary OAM quanta using the perfect optical vortex, in which 121 arbitrarily-selected perfect Poincaré states have been stored with high fidelity. The reported work has great prospects in optical communication and quantum networks for dramatically increased encoding flexibility of information.

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-tva-10.1177_15248380231185305 for Childhood Maltreatment and Gratitude: A Multilevel, Meta-Analytic Review by Ningzhe Zhu, Ying Ye, Chengcheng Li, Rixin Wang and Feng Kong in Trauma, Violence, & Abuse

Ye-Ying Fang,1 Jin-Mei Huang,2 Jia-Ying Wen,1 Jian-Di Li,3 Jin-Hai Shen,3 Da-Tong Zeng,4 Yan-Fang Pan,5 He-Qing Huang,1 Zhi-Guang Huang,3 Li-Min Liu,2 Gang Chen3 1Department of Radiation Oncology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Pathology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, 530021, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Pathology, Red Cross Hospital of Yulin, Yulin City, 537000, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Pathology, Hospital of Guangxi Liugang Medical Co., LTD./Guangxi Liuzhou Dingshun Forensic Expert Institute, Liuzhou City, 545002, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Gang Chen, 6#, Shuangyong Road, Nanning, 530021, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-771- 5356534, Fax +86-15277192134, Email chengang@gxmu.edu.cnBackground: Radiation resistance is a challenge that limits the therapeutic benefit of colorectal cancer (CRC) treatment, but the mechanism underlying CRC radiation resistance remains unclear. Andrographolide shows a broad-spectrum anti-tumor effect in various malignancies, including CRC, its effect and how it functions in CRC initiation, and radiation have not been established. This study aimed to explore the mechanism of CRC radiation resistance and the potential mechanisms of andrographolide on CRC radiation.Methods: Two acquired radioresistant cell lines were established and high throughput sequencing was employed to screen out the differentially expressed genes. The expression of AZGP1, which was upregulated in the acquired radioresistant tissues, was verified by microarray data recomputing. The common targets of andrographolide, CRC initiation, and radiation resistance were obtained, and the corresponding functional enrichment and pathway analysis were performed. The interaction between AZGP1 and andrographolide was investigated using molecular docking.Results: AZGP1 was upregulated in both the radioresistant cell model and microarray data. Moreover, AZGP1 was upregulated in cancerous colorectal tissue and displayed a tendency toward elevated expression in patients with an unfavorable prognosis. AZGP1 was identified as the common target of andrographolide, colorectal cancer initiation, and radiotherapy resistance. Ultimately, the protein structure of AZGP1 proved to be closely intertwined with the crystal texture of andrographolide.Conclusion: AZGP1 is recognized as a crucial factor for both CRC initiation and radioresistance. Andrographolide may affect the radioresistance of CRC via the targeting of AZGP1. Thus, the combination of andrographolide and AZGP1 intervention might be a promising strategy for improving the treatment benefit of CRC radiotherapy.Keywords: radiation resistance, colorectal carcinoma, AZGP1, alpha-2-glycoprotein 1, zinc-binding, andrographolide

As a common defect in ceramics, the flaw-like defect will affect the fracture damage and mechanical properties of ceramics. For the current experimental equipment, it is difficult to accurately prefabricate defects in ceramics and observe the internal crack propagation when the specimen is damaged under loading, however, numerical simulation can solve this problem well. In order to explore the effect of various parameters of a single flaw on the crack evolution and bending strength of SiC ceramics under three-point bending, a SiC ceramic discrete element model with a prefabricated single-flaw defect is established and calibrated in this study, and the effects of the flaw length, inclination angle, and position on the bending strength of SiC ceramic specimens are investigated. The results show that the SiC ceramic specimen has the highest sensitivity to the existence of single-flaw defect when the flaw height ratio is 0 and inclination angle is 90°. As the height ratio of the single-flaw defect increases, the weakening effect of the flaw on the bending strength is reduced. Moreover, the influence of the flaw inclination angle on the bending strength of the specimen is weaker than that of the height ratio, but a change in the flaw inclination angle may induce the generation of secondary cracks in the specimen. In addition, the effect of the horizontal offset of the flaw on the bending strength is not obvious, but secondary cracks may also be generated in the specimen.

Under global economic competition, rescaling has become an important cross-border governance means to control the development of domestic space to attract capital flows and foster regional economic development momentum. City integration is a kind of urban regional scale, and its mechanism of cross-border governance has gradually become an important regional integration issue. At present, research on cross-border governance from the perspective of rescaling focuses on urban areas represented by urban agglomerations and metropolitan areas and new functional areas represented by state-level new areas, with limited research on the scale of city integration at the meso level. The discussion on the role and status of corresponding governance subjects, construction mechanisms, and incentive mechanisms needs to be enriched. In this paper, the evolution of cross-border governance is discussed from the perspective of rescaling, taking Guangfo city integration, which is relatively mature in the process of domestic city integration, as an example. The study finds that, taking the introduction of the outline of the reform and development plan for the Pearl River Delta region in 2008 and the outline of the development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in 2019 as the target, the city integration process of Guangfo has experienced two stages of rescaling: from the governance scale of an "administrative area" to that of a "functional area" represented by the pilot zone for the high-quality development integration of Guangfo. By comparing and analyzing the cross-border governance mechanisms of city integration across different scales, this study finds that the city integration governance stage of the "functional area" scale, first, enriches the participation of multiple governance subjects, extending from "city-district-town" multi-level government to the functional platform management committee and platform joint venture company. Second, on the basis of the project implementation mechanism led by municipal departments, the construction mechanism strengthens the planning, construction, and operation mechanisms guided by functional areas and, taking the whole cycle as the concept, increases emphasis on integrated planning, construction, and operation. Third, the incentive mechanism has shifted from the driving of political instructions and economic benefits to the striving for policy and the sharing of institutional dividend. Both "administrative area" and "functional area" are the positive scales restructuring strategy of Guangfo to deal with the global competitive environment and respond to the requirements of national strategy. The two-stage cross-border governance mechanism is neither beneficial nor harmful, but is a choice to adapt to the different development stages of city integration. The governance mechanism of the "functional area" scale can be regarded as the experience retention and gradual reform of Guangfo's original governance mechanism, to improve the governance efficiency of the city integration and competitiveness. Guangfo's practice of using rescaling to promote cross-border governance reform and deepening in the last ten years can provide a certain reference for cross-border governance in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and other metropolitan areas in China. However, it should be pointed out that at present, the rescaling of the pilot area is more reflected in spatial planning and cooperation agreements, and has failed to produce a spatial governance subject that is fully integrated with the new scale. In addition, the deeper benefit sharing and risk responsibility sharing mechanism still needs to be strengthened.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a highly metastatic and invasive malignant tumor that originates in the nasopharynx. The DNA-binding protein WD repeat and HMG-box DNA-binding protein 1 (WDHD1) are highly expressed in a variety of tumours, but its expression and mechanism of action in NPC have not been reported to date. To investigate the involvement of WDHD1 in NPC, we first mined databases for the gene expression profile of NPC. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed on 338 cases of NPC and 112 non-NPC samples to verify the results. We report that the expression of WDHD1 is significantly elevated in NPC. ChIP-seq was used to show that integrin alpha V (ITGAV) and WDHD1 exhibit a significant binding peak in the promoter region of the ITGAV gene. The expression levels of ITGAV and WDHD1 exhibit a significant positive correlation, and IHC was performed to show that ITGAV is highly expressed in NPC. Expression of ITGAV increased after overexpression of WDHD1, suggesting that ITGAV may be a potential target gene of WDHD1. Pathway analysis showed that both genes were closely related to the cell cycle, and flow cytometry was used to further confirm that decreased expression of WDHD1 significantly increased the number of apoptotic cells. In conclusion, our results suggest that expression of WDHD1 is increased in NPC and is likely to be associated with the NPC cell cycle; thus, we propose that WDHD1 may have the potential as a target gene for primary screening and treatment of NPC.

Taking medical device manufacturers in the Yangtze River Delta region as an example, this paper studies the impact of collaborative development, technological innovation, and knowledge sharing on innovation performance. This paper divides collaborative development into two dimensions of network centrality and tie strength, divides technological innovation into two dimensions of institutional innovation and technological innovation, divides knowledge sharing into two dimensions of knowledge specialization and knowledge breadth, and selects financial performance and market performance as proxy variables for innovation performance. At the same time, based on the existing research results, the management of target enterprises is interviewed, and the questionnaire is designed according to the results of small-scale interviews. Investigate, analyze, and obtain innovation performance data from sample companies through questionnaires. The empirical results show that: collaborative development will significantly and positively affect innovation performance, in which network centrality and tie strength both have a significant positive impact on innovation performance; technological innovation can have a significant positive impact on product innovation performance, among which institutional innovation and product innovation can positively affect innovation performance; knowledge breadth and knowledge specialization of knowledge sharing play a mediating role between collaborative development and innovation performance. The results of this research can provide a reference for the medical device industry to build a scientific and technological innovation platform when choosing a collaborative development partner, and help medical device companies to strengthen the quality of the relationship with partners to obtain information and resources. Wisely using knowledge sharing and offering some lessons for improving the innovation performance of companies.

Upper gastrointestinal (GI) cancers are the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Early identification of precancerous lesions has been shown to minimize the incidence of GI cancers and substantiate the vital role of screening endoscopy. However, unlike GI cancers, precancerous lesions in the upper GI tract can be subtle and difficult to detect. Artificial intelligence techniques, especially deep learning algorithms with convolutional neural networks, might help endoscopists identify the precancerous lesions and reduce interobserver variability. In this review, a systematic literature search was undertaken of the Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library and Embase, with an emphasis on the deep learning-based diagnosis of precancerous lesions in the upper GI tract. The status of deep learning algorithms in upper GI precancerous lesions has been systematically summarized. The challenges and recommendations targeting this field are comprehensively analyzed for future research.

Mycotoxin cyclochlorotine (1) and structurally related astins are cyclic pentapeptides containing unique nonproteinogenic amino acids, such as beta-phenylalanine, L-allo-threonine, and 3,4-dichloroproline. Herein, we report the biosynthetic pathway for 1, which involves intriguing tailoring processes mediated by DUF3328 proteins, including stereo- and regiospecific chlorination and hydroxylation and intramolecular O,N-transacylation. Our findings demonstrate that DUF3328 proteins, which are known to be involved in oxidative cyclization of fungal ribosomal peptides, have much higher functional diversity than previously expected.

A novel surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanoprobe based on a reactive strategy was designed for the first time to determine the concentration of superoxide anion radical (O2˙−) produced from titanium dioxide by a UV radiation process. A limit of detection (LOD) for O2˙− of 9.0 nmol L−1 could be attained.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has insidious onset, late clinical diagnosis and high recurrence rate, which leads to poor quality of patient life. Therefore, it is necessary to further explore the pathogenesis and therapy targets of NPC. BUB1 mitotic checkpoint serine/threonine kinase B (BUB1B) was found to be up-regulated in a variety of cancers, but only one previous study showed that BUB1B was overexpressed in NPC and the sample size was small. The clinical role of BUB1B expression and its underlying mechanism in NPC require more in-depth research. Immunohistochemical samples and public RNA-seq data indicated that BUB1B protein and mRNA expression levels were up-regulated in NPC, and summary receiver operating characteristic curve indicated that BUB1B expression level had a strong ability to distinguish NPC tissues from non-NPC tissues. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes were performed and revealed that BUB1B and its related genes were mainly involved in cell cycle and DNA replication. Protein- Protein Interaction were built to interpret the BUB1B molecular mechanism. Histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2) could be the upstream transcription factor of BUB1B, which was verified by Chromatin Immunoprecipitation Sequencing samples. In summary, BUB1B was highly expressed in NPC, and the predicted BUB1B upstream transcription factor HDAC2 may affect cell cycle by regulating BUB1B to promote cancer progression.

Background The molecular mechanism of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) is not completely clear, which leads to poor prognosis and treatment difficulties for LSCC patients. To date, no study has reported the exact expression level of zinc finger protein 71 (ZNF71) and its molecular mechanism in LSCC. Methods In-house immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining (33 LSCC samples and 29 non-LSCC samples) was utilized in analyzing the protein expression level of ZNF71 in LSCC. Gene chips and high-throughput sequencing data collected from multiple public resources (313 LSCC samples and 192 non-LSCC samples) were utilized in analyzing the exact mRNA expression level of ZNF71 in LSCC. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data was used to explore the expression status of ZNF71 in different LSCC subpopulations. Enrichment analysis of ZNF71, its positively and differentially co-expressed genes (PDCEGs), and its downstream target genes was employed to detect the potential molecular mechanism of ZNF71 in LSCC. Moreover, we conducted correlation analysis between ZNF71 expression and immune infiltration. Results ZNF71 was downregulated at the protein level (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.93, p < 0.0001) and the mRNA level (AUC = 0.71, p = 0.023) in LSCC tissues. Patients with nodal metastasis had lower protein expression level of ZNF71 than patients without nodal metastasis (p < 0.05), and male LSCC patients had lower mRNA expression level of ZNF71 than female LSCC patients (p < 0.01). ZNF71 was absent in different LSCC subpopulations, including cancer cells, plasma cells, and tumor-infiltrated immune cells, based on scRNA-seq analysis. Enrichment analysis showed that ZNF71 and its PDCEGs may influence the progression of LSCC by regulating downstream target genes of ZNF71. These downstream target genes of ZNF71 were mainly enriched in tight junctions. Moreover, downregulation of ZNF71 may influence the development and even therapy of LSCC by reducing immune infiltration. Conclusion Downregulation of ZNF71 may promote the progression of LSCC by reducing tight junctions and immune infiltration; this requires further study.

Developing a sufficient composite organic inhibitor coating on the surface of metals is a promising strategy to improve the protection capability of metal materials from corrosive media. In this study, dopamine is polymerized into a polydopamine coating on a copper surface by embedding 8-hydroxyquinoline (denoted as PDA@8-HQ). The formation mechanism of PDA@8-HQ on the surface of copper is confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared reflectance, and Raman methods. Electrochemical and field emission scanning electron microscopic results show that the PDA@8-HQ coating made with the addition of 8-HQ was 0.02 M and had the greatest inhibition efficiency (99.1%). When the optimal composite coating is damaged by external forces, self-healing capability could be obviously found due to generating insoluble complex species between corrosive products of copper ions and 8-HQ and the salt solution in the damaged region. This study provides feasibility for the construction of functional corrosion inhibitors on the metal surface.

Aim: To investigate the clinical role of transmembrane protease serine 3 (TMPRSS3) in radioresistance and prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: Standardized mean difference (SMD) and summary area under the curve (AUC) of TMPRSS3 were calculated by combining all available high-throughput data globally. The prognostic significance of TMPRSS3 was determined by Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression analyses. Results: TMPRSS3 was remarkably upregulated in 198 CRC radioresistant cases compared with nonradioresistance (SMD = 0.38, AUC = 0.71). Overexpression of TMPRSS3 was observed in 1601 CRC patients compared with control subjects without CRC. TMPRSS3 was a risk factor for disease-free survival of CRC with the summarized hazard ratio 1.28. Conclusion: TMPRSS3 contributes to the radioresistance and unfavorable prognosis of CRC.

A specific surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) assay for dopamine (DA) based on an azo derivatization reaction is proposed for the first time by preparation of p-aminothiophenol (PATP)-modified composite SERS substrate, composed of metal-organic framework (MIL-101) decorated with Au and Ag nanoparticles. As the result, the SERS method for detection of the azo reaction between PATP and DA exhibits superior sensitivity, selectivity, and stability. A reasonable linearity in the range 10

ObjectiveTo evaluate the diagnostic performance of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) and culture in pathogen detection among intensive care unit (ICU) and non-ICU patients with suspected pulmonary infection.MethodsIn this prospective study, sputum samples were collected from patients with suspected pulmonary infection for 2 consecutive days and then subjected to DNA or RNA sequencing by mNGS or culture; 62 ICU patients and 60 non-ICU patients were admitted. In the end, comparisons were made on the pathogen species identified by mNGS and culture, the overall performance of these two methods in pathogen detection, and the most common pathogens detected by mNGS between the ICU and non-ICU groups.ResultsIn DNA and RNA sequencing, the positive rate of pathogen detection reached 96.69% (117/121) and 96.43% (108/112), respectively. In culture tests, the positive rate of the pathogen was 39.34% (48/122), much lower than that of DNA and RNA sequencing. In general, the positive rate of pathogen detection by sputum mNGS was significantly higher than that of sputum culture in the total and non-ICU groups (p < 0.001) but did not show a significant difference when compared to the result of sputum culture in the ICU group (p = 0.08). Haemophilus spp., Candida albicans, Enterococcus spp., and viruses from the mNGS results were excluded before comparing the overall performance of these two methods in pathogen detection. Specifically, among the 10 most common bacteria implied from the mNGS results, significant differences were observed in the number of cases of Haemophilus parainfluenzae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Staphylococcus aureus, and Enterococcus faecalis between the ICU and non-ICU groups (p < 0.05).ConclusionsThis study demonstrated the superiority of mNGS over culture in detecting all kinds of pathogen species in sputum samples. These results indicate that mNGS may serve as a valuable tool to identify pathogens, especially for ICU patients who are more susceptible to mixed infections.

Prevalent contamination of water by cadmium ion (Cd2+) brings environmental risk, which threatening to human health including renal dysfunction, reduced lung capacity, and some cancers. It calls for rapid, sensitive and selective protocol to analyze Cd2+ on field. In this work, specific Raman probe is rationally designed by gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) functionalized with tripeptide glutathione (GSH) and Rhodamine 6G (R6G) (denoted as R6G/GSH/AuNPs), which is explored for indirectly determining trace Cd2+ in river water. Based on chelating interaction between GSH and Cd2+ to form tetrahedral Cd(SG)4, which trends easy detachment from R6G/GSH/AuNPs. With increasing Cd2+ concentration, the Raman probe without protection of GSH happens due aggregation and Raman signal of R6G increases correspondingly. The R6G/GSH/AuNPs-based Raman detection of Cd2+ in river water shows rapidness, excellent sensitivity, selectivity and good repeatability. Limit of detection of 10 ppb with a widely linear range of 0.5–20 ppm could be achieved. It could be perspective that such Raman probe could be extended to be used for on-site monitoring trace Cd2+ in river water system.

Purpose This study aimed to develop and validate a personalized prediction model of death risk in patients with Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) infection and thus guide clinical research and support clinical decision-making. Patients and Methods The development group is comprised of 350 patients with A. baumannii infection admitted between January 2013 and December 2015 in The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University. Further, 272 patients in the validation group were admitted between January 2016 and December 2018. The univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to determine the independent risk factors for death with A. baumannii infection. The nomogram prediction model was established based on the regression coefficients. The discrimination of the proposed prediction model was evaluated using the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and decision curve analysis (DCA). The calibration diagram was used to evaluate the calibration degree of this model. Results The infectious source, carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii (CRAB), hypoalbuminemia, Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), and mechanical ventilation (MV) were independent risk factors for death. The AUC of the ROC curve of the two groups was 0.768 and 0.792, respectively. The net income was higher when the probability was between 30% and 80%, showing a strong discrimination capacity of the proposed model. The calibration curve swung around the 45° oblique line, indicating a high degree of calibration. Conclusion The proposed model helped predict the risk of death from A. baumannii infection, improve the early identification of patients with a higher risk of death, and guide clinical treatment., Video abstract Point your SmartPhone at the code above. If you have a QR code reader the video abstract will appear. Or use: https://youtu.be/iftqW0bPElE

Biocomposite films containing graphene oxide (GO), poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), and chitosan (CS) were prepared using the casting/evaporation technique. These as-prepared films were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. Results showed that these three component films could be well mixed in certain conditions and the GO sheets were well dispersed. The better performances such as the water resistance, thermal stability, and mechanical properties have been improved. Meanwhile, good antibacterial activity and antibiofilm formation activity of the prepared CS/PVA/GO films were exhibited against Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. The resulting biocomposite films with combination of CS, PVA, and GO advantages have desirable properties and should be suitable for food and medical packaging applications.

To evaluate a radiomic approach for the stratification of diffuse gliomas with distinct prognosis and provide additional resolution of their clinicopathological and molecular characteristics. For this retrospective study, a total of 704 radiomic features were extracted from the multi-channel MRI data of 166 diffuse gliomas. Survival-associated radiomic features were identified and submitted to distinguish glioma subtypes using consensus clustering. Multi-layered molecular data were used to observe the different clinical and molecular characteristics between radiomic subtypes. The relative profiles of an array of immune cell infiltrations were measured gene set variation analysis approach to explore differences in tumor immune microenvironment. A total of 6 categories, including 318 radiomic features were significantly correlated with the overall survival of glioma patients. Two subgroups with distinct prognosis were separated by consensus clustering of radiomic features that significantly associated with survival. Histological stage and molecular factors, including IDH status and MGMT promoter methylation status were significant differences between the two subtypes. Furthermore, gene functional enrichment analysis and immune infiltration pattern analysis also hinted that the inferior prognosis subtype may more response to immunotherapy. A radiomic model derived from multi-parameter MRI of the gliomas was successful in the risk stratification of diffuse glioma patients. These data suggested that radiomics provided an alternative approach for survival estimation and may improve clinical decision-making.

Abnormal physiological levels of sialic acid (SA) could be used to diagnosis cancer progression stages. In this work, we describe an enzyme-assist-interference-free strategy for Raman selective determination of SA in serum. First, we assemble gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) onto the indium tin oxide glass (ITO) to construct an ITO/Au two-dimension substrate. Through modification of 4-mercaptoboric acid (4-MPBA) onto the surface of ITO/Au, the SA response plate is prepared due to the reversible esterification bond. In this strategy, a sandwich structure is rationally designed as ITO/Au/4-MPBA/SA/4-MPBA/Au to enhance the Raman scattering. The Raman detection linear concentration of SA ranged from 2.5 × 10-7 to 1.5 × 10-6 M, and a limit of detection about 1.2 × 10-7 M could be achieved. Considering the presence of glucose (Glu) in physiological fluid, we introduce glucose oxidase to remove the interference from Glu and realize the accurate determination of SA. The proposed novel Raman rapid method provides an ultrasensitive and interference-free protocol for the early diagnosis of cancer.

In this work, an eco-friendly corrosion inhibitor was synthesized by embedding 4-methyl-4H-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiol (4-MTTL) into phytic acid (IP6) micelles via heating (donated as IP6@4-MTTLx). The corrosion inhibitor, IP6@4-MTTLx microcapsules with self-healing capability, can be used for metal protection from corrosion in 3.5 wt% NaCl aqueous solution. By means of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and electrochemical polarization, the high inhibition performance of such micelle-based coating on the model metal of copper has been investigated, which is attributed to the synergistic effect of the 4-MTTL molecules and the IP6@4-MTTLx microcapsules. Damage to the coating by external force can be self-healed by leakage of 4-MTTL inside IP6@4-MTTLx microcapsules to seal physically and chemically the cracks. Keywords: Copper, Corrosion inhibitor, Self-healing, Phytic acid micelles, 4-Methyl-4H-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiol (4-MTTL)

Quantum memories are indispensible for establishing a long-distance quantum network. High-dimensional quantum memories enable a higher channel capacity compared to a quantum memory working in a two-dimensional space, and have a lower requirement for storage lifetime in the field of quantum coomunication. The photonic transverse spatial modes such as Laguerra-Gaussian modes orbital angular momentum (OAM) are ideal candidates for encoding high-dimensional information, because it can form an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space. Although the faithful storage of an OAM qubit or qutrit has been realized in pioneering works, the longest storage lifetime for the former is only in the order of a few microseconds, and hundreds of nano-seconds for the latter. Here we implement a quantum memory for OAM qubits and qutrits using a cold atomic ensemble, the experimental results clearly show that our memory can still beat the classical limit after a storage time of $400\mu s$,which is two orders of magnitude higher than the previous work. The retrieval efficiency at this time equals to $44\%$ of the value when the storage time is set to be $10\mu s$. Our work is very promising for establishing a high dimensional quantum network.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the risk factors for necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in preterm infants, and to establish a scoring model that can predict the development and guide the prevention of NEC. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on the medical data of preterm infants who were admitted to the Department of Neonatology,Bethune First Hospital of Jilin University, from January 2011 to December 2020. These infants were divided into two groups: NEC (298 infants with Bell II stage or above) and non-NEC (300 infants). Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify the factors influencing the development of NEC. A nomogram for predicting the risk of NEC was established based on the factors. The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve and the index of concordance (C-index) were used to evaluate the predictive performance of the nomogram. RESULTS: The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that grade ≥2 intracranial hemorrhage, peripherally inserted central catheterization, breast milk fortifier, transfusion of red cell suspension, hematocrit >49.65%, mean corpuscular volume >114.35 fL, and mean platelet volume >10.95 fL were independent risk factors for NEC (P11.8 fL were protective factors against NEC (P

Glutathione, referred to as GSH, abnormal physiologic level of GSH is an indication to some neurodegenerative diseases and cancers. A measurement of cellular GSH calls for rapid, sensitive, and selective methods. In this work, we rationally design and prepare Au@MnO

The travel time data collected from widespread traffic monitoring sensors necessitate big data analytic tools for querying, visualization, and identifying meaningful traffic patterns. This paper utilizes a large-scale travel time dataset from Caltrans Performance Measurement System (PeMS) system that is an overflow for traditional data processing and modeling tools. To overcome the challenges of the massive amount of data, the big data analytic engines Apache Spark and Apache MXNet are applied for data wrangling and modeling. Seasonality and autocorrelation were performed to explore and visualize the trend of time-varying data. Inspired by the success of the hierarchical architecture for many Artificial Intelligent (AI) tasks, we consolidate the cell and hidden states passed from low-level to the high-level LSTM with an attention pooling similar to how the human perception system operates. The designed hierarchical LSTM model can consider the dependencies at different time scales to capture the spatial-temporal correlations of network-level travel time. Another self-attention module is then devised to connect LSTM extracted features to the fully connected layers, predicting travel time for all corridors instead of a single link/route. The comparison results show that the Hierarchical LSTM with Attention (HierLSTMat) model gives the best prediction results at 30-minute and 45-min horizons and can successfully forecast unusual congestion. The efficiency gained from big data analytic tools was evaluated by comparing them with popular data science and deep learning frameworks.

Additional file 1. FigureS1. Analysis of UBR family gene expression of HCC in the TCGAdatabase.(A) UBR1 (P

Background. The practice of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) began several thousand years ago, and the knowledge of practitioners is recorded in paper and electronic versions of case notes, manuscripts, and books in multiple languages. Developing a method of information extraction (IE) from these sources to generate a cohesive data set would be a great contribution to the medical field. The goal of this study was to perform a systematic review of the status of IE from TCM sources over the last 10 years. Methods. We conducted a search of four literature databases for articles published from 2010 to 2021 that focused on the use of natural language processing (NLP) methods to extract information from unstructured TCM text data. Two reviewers and one adjudicator contributed to article search, article selection, data extraction, and synthesis processes. Results. We retrieved 1234 records, 49 of which met our inclusion criteria. We used the articles to (i) assess the key tasks of IE in the TCM domain, (ii) summarize the challenges to extracting information from TCM text data, and (iii) identify effective frameworks, models, and key findings of TCM IE through classification. Conclusions. Our analysis showed that IE from TCM text data has improved over the past decade. However, the extraction of TCM text still faces some challenges involving the lack of gold standard corpora, nonstandardized expressions, and multiple types of relations. In the future, IE work should be promoted by extracting more existing entities and relations, constructing gold standard data sets, and exploring IE methods based on a small amount of labeled data. Furthermore, fine-grained and interpretable IE technologies are necessary for further exploration.

Additional file 6: Figure S1. Subcellular location of ZNF71 protein (downloaded from HPA website).

Additional file 2: Table S2. Specific information of included datasets collected from public resources.

Chordal graphs are important in algorithmic graph theory. Chordal digraphs are a digraph analogue of chordal graphs and have been a subject of active studies recently. Unlike chordal graphs, chordal digraphs lack many structural properties such as forbidden subdigraph or representation characterizations. In this paper we introduce the notion of semi-strict chordal digraphs which form a class strictly between chordal digraphs and chordal graphs. Semi-strict chordal digraphs have rich structural properties. We characterize semi-strict chordal digraphs in terms of knotting graphs, a notion analogous to the one introduced by Gallai for the study of comparability graphs. We also give forbidden subdigraph characterizations of semi-strict chordal digraphs within the cases of locally semicomplete digraphs and weakly quasi-transitive digraphs., Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2008.03568

This study proposed the use of polyaniline–alkaline copper carbonate composites as anti-corrosion and anti-biofouling concrete additives and established a set of high-dispersion preparation methods for this composite additive. The effects of polyaniline–alkaline copper carbonate composites in concrete were investigated in marine environments via the preparation of concrete specimens, actual sea suspension experiments, concrete mechanical property tests, and biological attachment avoidance tests. The experimental results showed that (1) the yield of the chemical reactions leading to the preparation of the composite was above 96.46% with a good output. The composite was hydrophilic. The addition of ethylene carbonate as a surfactant and the mixing of the composite into the concrete in a suspension form enabled uniform dispersion of the composite. (2) In the sea waters of Zhoushan, China, bio-attachment was mainly dominated by barnacles and sea anemones. Polyaniline–alkaline copper carbonate composites had good anti-bio-attachment properties and could significantly reduce the amount of bio-attachment in concrete. (3) When the additive content was less than 0.20% of the concrete mass, it did not negatively affect the mechanical properties of the concrete specimens and exerted anti-corrosion and anti-biofouling effects. This reduced the strength loss of concrete and increased the service life of the concrete specimens in the ocean. To ensure the best application effect of the compound in concrete, the recommended content of the compound is 0.05–0.15% of the concrete mass.

High plasma homocysteine (Hcy) levels may indicate cardiovascular disease. However, sensitive and selective determination of Hcy remains a major challenge. Herein, we present a sensing strategy for Hcy by surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) method along with a specific reaction of o-phthalaldehyde (OPA) and Hcy. The obtained adduct 2-(1-carboxyl-3-thiopropyl)-1-isoindolinone (Hcy-OPA) can be directly detected by SERS using gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) as the substrate. The developed SERS method displays superior sensitivity (low detection limit of 2.50 × 10

Chiral cholesteric molecular tweezer 7a was synthesized, and its recognition properties for Ag+, Al3+, Ca2+ etc., were investigated by UV and fluorescence spectra. The results showed that in ethanol/Tris (1/1, v/v, pH 7.0) buffer solution, the host molecular tweezer 7a had a specific recognition ability for Ag+, the detection limit was up to 1 × 10−6 mol/L, and other metal ions had little effect on Ag+ recognition. At the same time, the naked-eye detection of Ag+ was realized by the light red color of the complex solution. Furthermore, the mechanism of recognition of Ag+ by molecular tweezer 7a was studied by a nuclear magnetic titration test and computer molecular simulation, and a rapid detection method of Ag+ using host molecular tweezer 7a was established. Through the determination of Ag+ in milk powder, quinoa and other food samples, it was proved that this novel method had a good application prospect for the detection of Ag+ in food.