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Abstract To evaluate the effect of irradiation on the preservation of potatoes, fresh potatoes were selected as the irradiation objects, and irradiated with 60Co-γ radiation source for 0, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 Gy, respectively. During the irradiation, the well-packaged Y1.79Bi0.01Eu0.2MgTiO6 novel thermoluminescence dosimeter material was placed together with the potatoes at the same position. Then, the potatoes were stored in the same temperature and humidity environment, and the quality changes of the potatoes were observed. The Y1.79Bi0.01Eu0.2MgTiO6 material had good performance indicators, and was used to measure the irradiation dose of the potatoes. The experiment showed that irradiation could appropriately extend the storage time of potatoes, and gamma irradiation of about 1000 Gy could achieve the best preservation effect. The main pathogenic fungi that cause dry rot of potatoes were Fusarium solani and Fusarium oxysporum, and the appropriate dose of 60Co-γ irradiation could effectively inhibit the spread and growth of these fungi.

Abstract We aimed to investigate the preventive effect of vitamin D2 on COVID-19 and the improvement of symptoms after COVID-19 infection. The study recruited 228 health care workers who tested negative PCR or antigen for COVID-19. Subjects were randomly allocated to vitamin D2 or non-intervention at a ratio 1:1. Subjects recorded PCR or antigen tests and the symptoms of COVID-19 twice a week during the follow-up visit. The concentration of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), C-reaction protein (CRP), complement component C1q and inflammatory cytokines were measured. The rates of COVID-19 infection were 50.5% in the vitamin D2 group and 52.4% in the non-intervention group (P = 0.785). There was no difference in the COVID-19 symptoms between the two groups. The mean 25(OH)D level significantly increased from 14.1 to 31.1 ng/mL after administration (P 30 ng/mL) and deficient groups (

Abstract LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2 (NMC811) is a popular cathode material for Li-ion batteries, yet degradation and side reactions at the cathode-electrolyte interface pose significant challenges to their long-term cycling stability. Coating LiNixMnyCo1−x−yO2 (NMC) with refractory materials has been widely used to improve the stability of the cathode-electrolyte interface, but mixed results have been reported for Al2O3 coatings of the Ni-rich NMC811 materials. To elucidate the role and effect of the Al2O3 coating, we have coated commercial-grade NMC811 electrodes with Al2O3 by the atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique. Through a systematic investigation of the long-term cycling stability at different upper cutoff voltages, the stability against ambient storage, the rate capability, and the charger transfer kinetics, our results show no significant differences between the Al2O3-coated and the bare (uncoated) electrodes. This highlights the contentious role of Al2O3 coating on Ni-rich NMC cathodes and calls into question the benefits of coating on commercial-grade electrodes.

Abstract Odours used by insects for foraging and mating are carried by the air. Insects induce airflows around them by flapping their wings, and the distribution of these airflows may strongly influence odour source localisation. The flightless silkworm moth, Bombyx mori, has been a prominent insect model for olfactory research. However, although there have been numerous studies on antenna morphology and its fluid dynamics, neurophysiology, and localisation algorithms, the airflow manipulation of the B. mori by fanning has not been thoroughly investigated. In this study, we performed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses of flapping B. mori to analyse this mechanism in depth. A three-dimensional simulation using reconstructed wing kinematics was used to investigate the effects of B. mori fanning on locomotion and pheromone capture. The fanning of the B. mori was found to generate an aerodynamic force on the scale of its weight through an aerodynamic mechanism similar to that of flying insects. Our simulations further indicate that the B. mori guides particles from its anterior direction within the ~ 60° horizontally by wing fanning. Hence, if it detects pheromones during fanning, the pheromone can be concluded to originate from the direction the head is pointing. The anisotropy in the sampling volume enables the B. mori to orient to the pheromone plume direction. These results provide new insights into insect behaviour and offer design guidelines for robots for odour source localisation.

Abstract The deltoid muscle and rotator cuff tissue are structural components that maintain the dynamic stability of the shoulder joint. However, atrophy of the deltoid muscle may affect the stability of the shoulder joint, which in turn alters the mechanical distribution of rotator cuff tissue. Currently, the effect of muscle volume changes in the deltoid muscle on reducing the load on the rotator cuff tissue is still unknown. Therefore, this paper intends to analyze the mechanical changes of rotator cuff tissue by deltoid muscle atrophy through finite elements. Based on previously published finite element shoulder models, the deltoid muscle was modeled by constructing deltoid muscle models with different degrees of atrophy as, 100% deltoid muscle (Group 1), 80% deltoid muscle (Group 2), and 50% deltoid muscle (Group 3), respectively. The three models were given the same external load to simulate glenohumeral joint abduction, and the stress changes in the rotator cuff tissue were analyzed and recorded. In all three models, the stress in the rotator cuff tissue showed different degrees of increase with the increase of abduction angle, especially in the supraspinatus muscle. At 90° of glenohumeral abduction, supraspinatus stress increased by 58% and 118% in Group 2 and Group 3, respectively, compared with Group 1; In the subscapularis, the stress in Group 3 increased by 59% and 25% compared with Group 1 and Group 2, respectively. In addition, the stress of the infraspinatus muscle and teres minor muscle in Group 2 and Group 3 were higher than that in Group 1 during the abduction angle from 30° to 90°. Deltoid atrophy alters the abduction movement pattern of the glenohumeral joint. During glenohumeral abduction activity, deltoid atrophy significantly increases the stress on the rotator cuff tissue, whereas normal deltoid volume helps maintain the mechanical balance of the rotator cuff tissue.

Abstract China is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the world, and agricultural GHG emission accounts for nearly a fifth of the total emission in China. To understand the carbon absorption and emission characteristics of agricultural production systems in those arid oasis areas, a typical representative city in northwestern China, Zhangye City, was selected for study.The emission factor method was used to analyze and calculate the characteristics of changing carbon emission dynamics in the whole agricultural production system in Zhangye city region (38,592 km2) from 2010 to 2021.The results revealed that carbon emissions during agricultural planting mainly come from fertilizers, which account for the highest proportion (47.9%) of total carbon emissions in agricultural planting. Animal enteric fermentation emissions from local livestock farming are the main contributor (86%) to GHG emissions. The annual average carbon absorption intensity is 4.4 t C-eq ha−1 for crop and 2.6 t C-eq ha−1 for the agricultural production system. The ratio of total carbon emissions from agricultural production to carbon sequestration of crops is 1:1.7. We find that the total carbon sequestration slightly exceeds its total carbon emissions in the study region, with an annual average of 41% for its sustainable development index. Carbon emissions of the agricultural production system in this oasis area are mainly driven by the livestock industry, mostly CH4 emissions from cattle raising.Reducing the local carbon emissions from the livestock industry, typically the cattle raising, will play a crucial role in reducing carbon emissions from this local agricultural production system and maintaining its net positive carbon balance.

Abstract The dual activation of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor (GIPR) has emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy for managing type 2 diabetes and obesity. Tirzepatide, a dual agonist peptide, has exhibited superior clinical efficacy in glycemic and weight control compared to selective GLP-1R agonists. Nevertheless, the structural basis of Tirzepatide's extended half-life, attributed to an acylation side chain on the parent peptide, raises questions regarding its partial agonistic activity. Employing molecular dynamics simulations, we explored the dynamic processes of peptide-receptor interactions. We uncovered a crucial salt bridge between parent peptide and GLP-1R/GIPR at K20, a feature not discernible in cryo-electron microscopy structures. Building upon these insights, we developed an optimization strategy based on the parent peptide which involved repositioning the acylation side chain. The results of both in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that the optimized peptide has twofold to threefold increase in agonistic activity compared to Tirzepatide while maintaining its extended half-life in plasma. This led to the design of BGM0504, which proved to be more effective than its predecessor, Tirzepatide, in both laboratory and animal studies.

Abstract Apparently, understanding airway management status may help to reduce risk and improve clinical practice. Given these facts, our team conducted a second survey on the current status of airway management for mainland China following our 2016 national airway survey. The national survey was conducted from November 7 to November 28, 2022. An electronic survey was sent to the New Youth Anesthesia Forum, where Chinese anesthesiologists completed the questionnaire via WeChat. A total of 3783 respondents completed the survey, with a response rate of 72.14%. So far, in 2022, 34.84% of anesthesiologists canceled or delayed surgery at least once due to difficult airway. For the anticipated difficult airway management, 66.11% of physicians would choose awake intubation under sedation and topical anesthesia, while the percentage seeking help has decreased compared to the 2016 survey. When encountering an emergency, 74.20% of respondents prefer to use the needle cricothyrotomy, albeit less than a quarter have actually performed it. Anesthesiologists with difficult airway training experience reached 72.96%, with a significant difference in participation between participants in Tier 3 hospitals and those in other levels of hospitals (P

Abstract Tumor-associated macrophages play a crucial role in the tumor microenvironment. Tripartite motif 59 (TRIM59), a member of the tripartite motif (TRIM) family, is known to be associated with immunological diseases and macrophage activation. The functional and molecular mechanisms by which TRIM59 affects the occurrence and development of colorectal cancer (CRC) through macrophages are still not well understood. To address this, we generated macrophage-specific TRIM59 conditional knockout mice and utilized these mice to establish colitis-associated cancer and MC38 transplanted CRC models for further investigation. We found that the deficiency of TRIM59 in macrophages inhibited colorectal tumorigenesis in mice. This tumor-suppressive effect was achieved by promoting the activation of M1 macrophages via STAT1 signaling pathway. Further mechanistic studies revealed that TRIM59 could regulate macrophage polarization by ubiquitinating and degrading STAT1. These findings provide evidence that TRIM59 deficiency promotes M1 macrophage activation and inhibits CRC through the STAT1 signaling pathway, suggesting that the TRIM59/STAT1 signaling pathway may be a promising target for CRC.

Abstract Detecting foreign objects in power transmission lines is essential for mitigating safety risks and maintaining line stability. Practical detection, however, presents challenges including varied target sizes, intricate backgrounds, and large model weights. To address these issues, this study introduces an innovative GEB-YOLO model, which balances detection performance and quantification. Firstly, the algorithm features a lightweight architecture, achieved by merging the GhostConv network with the advanced YOLOv8 model. This integration considerably lowers computational demands and parameters through streamlined linear operations. Secondly, this paper proposes a novel EC2f mechanism, a groundbreaking feature that bolsters the model’s information extraction capabilities. It enhances the relationship between weights and channels via one-dimensional convolution. Lastly, the BiFPN mechanism is employed to improve the model’s processing efficiency for targets of different sizes, utilizing bidirectional connections and swift feature fusion for normalization. Experimental results indicate the model’s superiority over existing models in precision and mAP, showing improvements of 3.7 and 6.8%, respectively. Crucially, the model’s parameters and FLOPs have been reduced by 10.0 and 7.4%, leading to a model that is both lighter and more efficient. These advancements offer invaluable insights for applying laser technology in detecting foreign objects, contributing significantly to both theory and practice.

Abstract Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable hematological malignancy with poor survival. Accumulating evidence reveals that lactylation modification plays a vital role in tumorigenesis. However, research on lactylation-related genes (LRGs) in predicting the prognosis of MM remains limited. Differentially expressed LRGs (DELRGs) between MM and normal samples were investigated from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Univariate Cox regression and LASSO Cox regression analysis were applied to construct gene signature associated with overall survival. The signature was validated in two external datasets. A nomogram was further constructed and evaluated. Additionally, Enrichment analysis, immune analysis, and drug chemosensitivity analysis between the two groups were investigated. qPCR and immunofluorescence staining were performed to validate the expression and localization of PFN1. CCK-8 and flow cytometry were performed to validate biological function. A total of 9 LRGs (TRIM28, PPIA, SOD1, RRP1B, IARS2, RB1, PFN1, PRCC, and FABP5) were selected to establish the prognostic signature. Kaplan–Meier survival curves showed that high-risk group patients had a remarkably worse prognosis in the training and validation cohorts. A nomogram was constructed based on LRGs signature and clinical characteristics, and showed excellent predictive power by calibration curve and C-index. Moreover, biological pathways, immunologic status, as well as sensitivity to chemotherapy drugs were different between high- and low-risk groups. Additionally, the hub gene PFN1 is highly expressed in MM, knocking down PFN1 induces cell cycle arrest, suppresses cell proliferation and promotes cell apoptosis. In conclusion, our study revealed that LRGs signature is a promising biomarker for MM that can effectively early distinguish high-risk patients and predict prognosis.

Abstract While associations between periodontitis and an elevated risk of cancer have been suggested, the results of existing observational studies have been inconsistent, also leaving room for further investigation into the underlying mechanisms. This study was designed to delve into the possible causal link between periodontitis and 20 standard cancers while concurrently identifying potential mediators. We initiated a Mendelian randomization analysis that drew from either publicly accessible or personally obtained genome-wide association study (GWAS) datasets. The inverse variance weighting (IVW) method served as our primary tool for analysis. To ensure the strength and consistency of our results, we implemented additional strategies, including weighted median, weighted mode, MR-Egger regression, and MR pleiotropy residual sum and outlier (MR-PRESSO), bolstered by funnel plots. Our analysis unveiled an elevated risk of head and neck cancer concomitant with periodontitis (p = 0.041, OR 0.999, 95% CI 0.999–1.000), specifically a heightened risk of oropharyngeal cancer (p = 0.022, OR 0.999, 95% CI 0.999–1.000). As a result of probing into potential mediators, Fusobacterium nucleatum emerged as a likely intermediary in the promoting effect of periodontitis on oropharyngeal cancer (p = 0.021, OR 0.999, 95% CI 0.998–1.000). Inversely, basal cell carcinoma and endometrial cancer demonstrated an association with an increased incidence of periodontitis (basal cell carcinoma: p = 0.020, OR 0.987, 95% CI 0.976–0.998; endometrial cancer: p = 0.027, OR 0.984, 95% CI 0.970–0.998). However, periodontitis exerted no significant causal impact on the 19 other common cancers or the three subtypes of head and neck cancer. To conclude, our results support the theory that periodontitis contributes to an enhanced risk of head and neck cancer, particularly oropharyngeal cancer, with Fusobacterium nucleatum functioning as a potential intermediary.

Abstract The colloidal borescope, using colloidal particle motion, is used to monitor the flow velocities and directions of groundwater. It integrates advanced techniques such as microscopy, high-speed photography, and big data computing and enjoys high sensitivity at the micron level. However, In the same well, the groundwater flow velocity monitored by colloidal hole mirror is varies greatly from that obtained by conventional hydrogeological monitoring, such as pumping test. In order to solve this problem, the stability catcher and stratified packer are designed to control the interference of the vertical flow in drilling, and to monitor the flow velocity and direction of groundwater velocity at the target aquifer and target fracture. Five wells with different aquifers and different groundwater types were selected for monitoring in south-central China. The instantaneous velocity and direction are converted into east–west component and north–south component, the average velocity and direction is calculated according to the time of 10 min, and the particle trajectory diagram is established. Based on these results, it proposed a concept of cumulative flow velocity. Using curve-fitting equations, the limits of cumulative flow velocities as the monitoring time tends to infinity were then calculated as the actual flow velocities of the groundwater. The permeability coefficient of aquifer is calculated by using the fissure ratio of aquifer, hydraulic slope and flow velocity, and compared with the permeability coefficient obtained by pumping test. The results are as follows: (1) The variation coefficient of the instantaneous flow velocity measured at the same depth in the same well at different times is greater than that of the time average flow velocity and greater than that of the cumulative flow velocity. The variation coefficient of the actual velocity is the smallest, indicating that the risk of using the actual flow velocity is lower. (2) The variation coefficient of the flow rate monitored at different depths in the same well is mainly controlled by the properties of the aquifer. The more uniform water storage space in the aquifer, the smaller the variation coefficient. (3) The comparison between the permeability coefficient obtained by monitoring and the permeability coefficient obtained by pumping test shows that the flow of structural fissure water controlled by planar fissure is more surface flow, and the results are consistent. When the groundwater flow is controlled by pores and solution gaps, the flow channel is complicated, which is easy to produce turbulent flow, and the result consistency is poor. (4) According to different research accuracy requirements, different monitoring and calculation methods can be selected for different aquifers and groundwater types. Researches show that, the permeability coefficient calculated for the actual flow velocity in well DR01 is the same as that calculated for the pumping test. The aquifer characteristics reflected by the coefficient of variation of the actual flow velocity in the same aquifer are more realistic. The pumping test method obtains the comprehensive parameters of a certain aquifer, and this method can be used to monitor a certain fissure. In this paper, the new technology developed for monitoring, and the new algorithm established for data processing, can accurately obtain the flow velocity and direction of groundwater, using capsule hole mirror monitoring method. The key parameters of hydrogeology can be obtained by using one well, which can reduce the time and cost input and improve the work efficiency.

Abstract Automated coronary angiography assessment requires precise vessel segmentation, a task complicated by uneven contrast filling and background noise. Our research introduces an ensemble U-Net model, SE-RegUNet, designed to accurately segment coronary vessels using 100 labeled angiographies from angiographic images. SE-RegUNet incorporates RegNet encoders and squeeze-and-excitation blocks to enhance feature extraction. A dual-phase image preprocessing strategy further improves the model's performance, employing unsharp masking and contrast-limited adaptive histogram equalization. Following fivefold cross-validation and Ranger21 optimization, the SE-RegUNet 4GF model emerged as the most effective, evidenced by performance metrics such as a Dice score of 0.72 and an accuracy of 0.97. Its potential for real-world application is highlighted by its ability to process images at 41.6 frames per second. External validation on the DCA1 dataset demonstrated the model's consistent robustness, achieving a Dice score of 0.76 and an accuracy of 0.97. The SE-RegUNet 4GF model's precision in segmenting blood vessels in coronary angiographies showcases its remarkable efficiency and accuracy. However, further development and clinical testing are necessary before it can be routinely implemented in medical practice.

Abstract Accurately predicting population mortality rates is crucial for effective retirement insurance and economic policy formulation. Recent advancements in deep learning time series forecasting (DLTSF) have led to improved mortality rate predictions compared to traditional models like Lee-Carter (LC). This study focuses on mortality rate prediction in large clusters across Europe. By utilizing PCA dimensionality reduction and statistical clustering techniques, we integrate age features from high-dimensional mortality data of multiple countries, analyzing their similarities and differences. To capture the heterogeneous characteristics, an adaptive adjustment matrix is generated, incorporating sequential variation and spatial geographical information. Additionally, a combination of graph neural networks and a transformer network with an adaptive adjustment matrix is employed to capture the spatiotemporal features between different clusters. Extensive numerical experiments using data from the Human Mortality Database validate the superiority of the proposed GT-A model over traditional LC models and other classic neural networks in terms of prediction accuracy. Consequently, the GT-A model serves as a powerful forecasting tool for global population studies and the international life insurance field.

Abstract In numerous applications, abnormal samples are hard to collect, limiting the use of well-established supervised learning methods. GAN-based models which trained in an unsupervised and single feature set manner have been proposed by simultaneously considering the reconstruction error and the latent space deviation between normal samples and abnormal samples. However, the ability to capture the input distribution of each feature set is limited. Hence, we propose an unsupervised and multi-feature model, Wave-GANomaly, trained only on normal samples to learn the distribution of these normal samples. The model predicts whether a given sample is normal or not by its deviation from the distribution of normal samples. Wave-GANomaly fuses and selects from the wave-based features extracted by the WaveBlock module and the convolution-based features. The WaveBlock has proven to efficiently improve the performance on image classification, object detection, and segmentation tasks. As a result, Wave-GANomaly achieves the best average area under the curve (AUC) on the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR)-10 dataset (94.3%) and on the Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology (MNIST) dataset (91.0%) when compared to existing state-of-the-art anomaly detectors such as GANomaly, Skip-GANomaly, and the skip-attention generative adversarial network (SAGAN). We further verify our method by the self-curated real-world dataset, the result show that our method is better than GANomaly which only use single feature set for training the model.

Abstract Liver cancer, a chronic non-communicable disease, represents a serious public health problem. Long-term trends in the burden of liver cancer disease are heterogeneous across regions. Incidence and mortality of liver cancer, based on the Global Burden of Disease, were collected from the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. Age–period–cohort model was utilized to reveal the secular trends and estimate the age, period and cohort effects on primary liver cancer due to specific etiologies. Both the age-standardized incidence and mortality rate of liver cancer in Hubei province were on the rise, although there were discrepancies between gender groups. From age–period–cohort analysis, both incidence and mortality of liver cancer due to Hepatitis B virus were the highest in all age groups. The incidence of all liver cancer groups increased with time period in males, while this upward trend was observed in females only in liver cancer due to alcohol use group. Cohort effects indicated the disease burden of liver cancer decreased with birth cohorts. Local drifts showed that the incidence of liver cancer due to specific etiologies was increasing in the age group of males between 40 and 75 years old. The impact of an aging population will continue in Hubei Province. the disease burden of liver cancer will continue to increase, and personalized prevention policies must be adopted to address these changes.

Abstract Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is a radiotherapy technique based on the enrichment of tumour cells with suitable 10-boron concentration and on subsequent neutron irradiation. Low-energy neutron irradiation produces a localized deposition of radiation dose caused by boron neutron capture reactions. Boron is vehiculated into tumour cells via proper borated formulations, able to accumulate in the malignancy more than in normal tissues. The neutron capture releases two high-LET charged particles (i.e., an alpha particle and a lithium ion), losing their energy in a distance comparable to the average dimension of one cell. Thus BNCT is selective at the cell level and characterized by high biological effectiveness. As the radiation field is due to the interaction of neutrons with the components of biological tissues and with boron, the dosimetry requires a formalism to express the absorbed dose into photon-equivalent units. This work analyzes a clinical case of an adenoid cystic carcinoma treated with carbon-ion radiotherapy (CIRT), located close to optic nerve and deep-seated as a practical example of how to apply the formalism of BNCT photon isoeffective dose and how to evaluate the BNCT dose distribution against CIRT. The example allows presenting different dosimetrical and radiobiological quantities and drawing conclusions on the potential of BNCT stemming on the clinical result of the CIRT. The patient received CIRT with a dose constraint on the optic nerve, affecting the peripheral part of the Planning Target Volume (PTV). After the treatment, the tumour recurred in this low-dose region. BNCT was simulated for the primary tumour, with the goal to calculate the dose distribution in isoeffective units and a Tumour Control Probability (TCP) to be compared with the one of the original treatment. BNCT was then evaluated for the recurrence in the underdosed region which was not optimally covered by charged particles due to the proximity of the optic nerve. Finally, a combined treatment consisting in BNCT and carbon ion therapy was considered to show the consistency and the potential of the model. For the primary tumour, the photon isoeffective dose distribution due to BNCT was evaluated and the resulted TCP was higher than that obtained for the CIRT. The formalism produced values that are consistent with those of carbon-ion. For the recurrence, BNCT dosimetry produces a similar TCP than that of primary tumour. A combined treatment was finally simulated, showing a TCP comparable to the BNCT-alone with overall dosimetric advantage in the most peripheral parts of the treatment volume. Isoeffective dose formalism is a robust tool to analyze BNCT dosimetry and to compare it with the photon-equivalent dose calculated for carbon-ion treatment. This study introduces for the first time the possibility to combine the dosimetry obtained by two different treatment modalities, showing the potential of exploiting the cellular targeting of BNCT combined with the precision of charged particles in delivering an homogeneous dose distribution in deep-seated tumours.

Abstract Lumbar disc herniation (LDH) is a clinically common degenerative disease of the spine, and spinal–pelvic sagittal balance and paravertebral muscle degeneration have been a research focus in recent years. To explore the relationship between the degeneration of paravertebral muscle and the changes in the spinal–pelvic sagittal parameters in LDH patients, 105 LDH patients (experimental group) and 63 healthy volunteers (control group) hospitalized in Ordos Central Hospital from January 2020 and January 2023 were included as study subjects. All the patients underwent lumbar magnetic resonance imaging and spinal X-ray using uniform criteria. The correlation between the paravertebral muscle and sagittal–pelvic sagittal parameters of the patients with LDH was obtained from two imaging examinations, and the data were organized and grouped to explore the correlation between these parameters. No significant difference in general data existed between the groups (P > 0.05). In the L4/5 LDH patients group, the ratio of fat infiltration (FIR) in the healthy side [multifidus (MF) and erector spinae (ES)] was negatively correlated with the lumbar lordosis (LL) (r = −0.461, r = −0.486, P

Abstract Wear is a common issue in the operation of emulsion pumps. When it becomes severe, it can lead to machine downtime and economic losses. This paper aims to investigate the wear phenomenon on the slideway of emulsion pumps using Archard’s wear model and the finite element method. The fretting friction and wear experiment was used to calibrate the parameters of the numerical model. Based on the established numerical model, a parametric analysis is conducted on the slideway experiencing the most severe wear. It is observed that the wear amount initially increases and then decreases as the crankshaft speed increases. Furthermore, a smaller clearance between the slide and the slider results in a reduced wear amount on the slideway. This study presents an effective numerical simulation method for studying the wear of emulsion pumps.

Abstract The effect of wet environments on the dust cake of filter media was studied. The collapse angles of dust particles and the collapse angles between dust particles and filter media increase with increasing dust moisture content, relative humidity, and spray rate. The smallest growth rate of collapse was observed under dust moisture content, while the largest growth rate occurred under the spray rate condition. The collapse angles between dust particles and filter media of coated filter media were smaller compared to those of mechanical filter media under different wet environments. The dust cake drag coefficients of both filter media initially increase and then decrease with an increase in the dust moisture content, decrease with the acceleration of the relative humidity, and show a pattern of first decreasing and then increasing as the spray rate increases. The dust loading capacity of both filter media follows an opposite trend to that of the dust cake drag coefficients.

Abstract Most treatment planning systems of boron neutron capture therapy perform dose calculations based on the assumption of a homogeneous boron distribution in tumors, which leads to dose distortion due to the difference between the tumor-to-normal tissue ratio (TNR) range measured in positron emission tomography images (PET) and the target delineation in computed tomography images of the treatment plan. The heterogeneous boron distribution in the target of the treatment plan can be obtained by image fusion. This study provides a way to quantify a heterogeneous boron distribution based on PET images. Theoretically, the same mean TNR for dose calculation by homogeneous or heterogeneous boron distribution should get almost the same mean dose. However, slightly different mean doses are found due to the partial volume effect for a small target volume. The wider the boron distribution is, the higher the impact on the dose-volume histogram distribution is. Dose distribution with homogeneous boron distribution may be overestimated in low boron uptake regions by wrong boron concentration and neutron flux depression. To accurately give the tumor prescription dose and achieve better tumor control, for low dose regions of the tumor should be considered more boron neutron capture therapy treatments or combined with other treatment modalities. The heterogeneous boron distribution must be taken into consideration to have an accurate dose estimation. Therefore, the way how medical physicists and clinicians process the TNR in gross tumor volume should be refined, and the method demonstrated in the work provides a good reference.

Abstract NeuMANTA is a new generation boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT)-specific treatment planning system developed by the Neuboron Medical Group and upgraded to an important feature, a Hounsfield unit (HU)-based material conversion algorithm. The range of HU values was refined to 96 specific groups and established corresponding to tissue information. The elemental compositions and mass densities have an important effect on the calculated dose distribution. The region of interest defined in the treatment plan can be converted into multiple material compositions based on HU values or assigned specified single material composition in NeuMANTA. Different material compositions may cause normal tissue maximum dose rates to differ by more than 10% in biologically equivalent doses and to differ by up to 6% in physically absorbed doses. Although the tumor has a lower proportion of BNCT background dose, the material composition difference may affect the minimum dose of biologically equivalent dose and physically absorbed dose by more than 3%. In addition, the difference in material composition could lead to a change in neutron moderation as well as scattering. Therefore, the material composition has a significant impact on the assessment of normal tissue side effects and tumor control probability. It is essential for accurate dose estimation in BNCT.

Abstract Transient ischemic attack (TIA) was clinically divided into anterior circulation (AC) or posterior circulation (PC). Previous study reported that ABCD2 score could predict the stroke risk after AC-TIA but might have limitation for PC-TIA. We aimed to classify TIA depending on neuroimaging and assess the value of ABCD2 score for predicting stroke risk in different territories. Research data was from TIA database of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. TIA patients with acute infarction on diffuse weighted imaging [that is, transient symptoms with infarction (TSI)] were divided into anterior and posterior circulation groups according to the location of infarction. The outcome was recurrent stroke within 7 and 90 days. The predictive power of ABCD2 score was determined using area under receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC) analyses. Overall, 382 AC-TSI and 112 PC-TSI patients were included. There were 38 (9.9%) AC-TSI patients and 11(9.8%) PC-TSI patients who had recurrent stroke at 7 days, and 66 (17.3%) AC-TSI patients and 19 (17.0%) PC-TSI patients who had recurrent stroke within 90 days. At 7 days, the AUC for ABCD2 score was 0.637 (95% confidence interval CI 0.554–0.720) in anterior circulation and 0.683 (95% CI 0.522–0.845) in posterior circulation. The C statistics for ABCD2 score in the two groups were not statistically significant (Z = − 0.499; P = 0.62). Similar result was found when the outcome time-point was set at 90 days. ABCD2 score could predict the short-term risk of recurrent stroke after AC-TSI and PC-TSI, and had similar predictive abilities for AC-TSI and PC-TSI.

Abstract The Monte Carlo method is the most commonly used dose calculation method in the field of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). General-purpose Monte Carlo (MC) code (e.g., MCNP) has been used in most treatment planning systems (TPS) to calculate dose distribution, which takes overmuch time in radiotherapy planning. Based on this, we developed COMPASS (COMpact PArticle Simulation System), an MC engine specifically for BNCT dose calculation. Several optimization algorithms are used in COMPASS to make it faster than general-purpose MC code. The parallel computation of COMPASS is performed by the message passing interface (MPI) library and OpenMP commands, which allows the user to increase computational speed by increasing the computer configurations. The physical dose of each voxel is calculated for developing a treatment plan. Comparison results show that the computed dose distribution of COMPASS is in good agreement with MCNP, and the computational efficiency is better than MCNP. These results validate that COMPASS has better performance than MCNP in BNCT dose calculation.

Abstract Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is a common side effect after laparoscopic surgery. The aim of the study is to investigate the variables that could predict PONV in patients who underwent laparoscopic gastrectomy. We divided patients who underwent laparoscopic gastrectomy into PONV and No-PONV groups. Propensity score matching (PSM) was applied to adjust confounding factors for further validation, and ordinal logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictors for PONV. In the ordinal logistic regression analysis, the preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (odds ratio [OR]: 3.19, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.38–7.38; p

Abstract In electronics manufacturing, surface defect detection is very important for product quality control, and defective products can cause severe customer complaints. At the same time, in the manufacturing process, the cycle time of each product is usually very short. Furthermore, high-resolution input images from high-resolution industrial cameras are necessary to meet the requirements for high quality control standards. Hence, how to design an accurate object detector with real-time inference speed that can accept high-resolution input is an important task. In this work, an accurate YOLO-style object detector was designed, ATT-YOLO, which uses only one self-attention module, many-scale feature extraction and integration in the backbone and feature pyramid, and an improved auto-anchor design to address this problem. There are few datasets for surface detection in electronics manufacturing. Hence, we curated a dataset consisting of 14,478 laptop surface defects, on which ATT-YOLO achieved 92.8% mAP0.5 for the binary-class object detection task. We also further verified our design on the COCO benchmark dataset. Considering both computation costs and the performance of object detectors, ATT-YOLO outperforms several state-of-the-art and lightweight object detectors on the COCO dataset. It achieves a 44.9% mAP score and 21.8 GFLOPs, which is better than the compared models including YOLOv8-small (44.9%, 28.6G), YOLOv7-tiny-SiLU (38.7%, 13.8G), YOLOv6-small (43.1%, 44.2G), pp-YOLOE-small (42.7%, 17.4G), YOLOX-small (39.6%, 26.8G), and YOLOv5-small (36.7%, 17.2G). We hope that this work can serve as a useful reference for the utilization of attention-based networks in real-world situations.

Abstract People judge the nature of human behaviors based on underlying intentions and possible outcomes. Recent studies have demonstrated a causal role of the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) in modulating both intention and intention-based outcome evaluations during social judgments. However, these studies mainly used hypothetical scenarios with socially undesirable contexts (bad/neutral intentions and bad/neutral outcomes), leaving the role of rTPJ in judging good intentions and good outcomes unclear. In the current study, participants were instructed to make goodness judgments as a third party toward the monetary allocations from one proposer to another responder. Critically, in some cases, the initial allocation by the proposer could be reversed by the computer, yielding combinations of good/bad intentions (of the proposer) with good/bad outcomes (for the responder). Anodal (n = 20), cathodal (n = 21), and sham (n = 21) transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the rTPJ were randomly assigned to 62 subjects to further examine the effects of stimulation over the rTPJ in modulating intention-based outcome evaluation. Compared to the anodal and sham stimulations, cathodal tDCS over the rTPJ reduced the goodness ratings of good/bad outcomes when the intentions were good, whereas it showed no significant effect on outcome ratings under unknown and bad intentions. Our results provide the first evidence that deactivating the rTPJ modulates outcome evaluation in an intention-dependent fashion, mainly by reducing the goodness rating towards both good/bad outcomes when the intentions are good. Our findings argue for a causal role of the rTPJ in modulating intention-based social judgments and point to nuanced effects of rTPJ modulation.

Abstract Dongting Lake is one of the most important inland freshwater lakes in China. To investigate the spatial distribution and seasonal variation characteristics of heavy metals (Cr, Co, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb) in the lake, 53 surface sediment samples were collected in the East Dongting Lake (ED Lake) in the wet and dry seasons. Results show Cr, Co, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb contents were 1.7 (1.9), 1.8 (2.0), 2.9 (3.0), 1.9 (1.9), 11.7 (13.1), and 2.0 (2.2)-fold of their geochemical soil background values of Hunan province (China) in the wet (dry) season. Spatial and seasonal heterogeneity could be found in the distribution of Cr, Co, Cu, Zn, and Pb in the surface sediments. The enrichment factor (EF) suggested that Cd has reached severe enrichment in the sediment. The result of the geo-accumulation index ( $${I}_{geo}$$ I geo ) indicated that Cr, Co, Cu, Zn, and Pb were at levels corresponding to low contamination, and moderately to highly polluted with Cd. Multivariate statistical analysis including pearson correlation analysis and principal component analysis was used for the identification of potential sources of the heavy metals in the sediments. The results showed that Cu, Zn, and Pb from the sediments of the East Dongting Lake in the wet and dry seasons were possibly anthropogenic sources, such as emissions from mining and smelting while Al, Fe, and Cr are attributed for natural sources. Cd enrichment in the sediments is influenced by both natural factors, and human activities in local areas.

Abstract It is essential to identify high risk transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients. The previous study reported that the CSR (comprehensive stroke recurrence) model, a neuroimaging model, had a high predictive ability of recurrent stroke. The aims of this study were to validate the predictive value of CSR model in TIA patients and compare the predictive ability with ABCD3-I score. Data were analyzed from the prospective hospital-based database of patients with TIA which defined by the World Health Organization time-based criteria. The predictive outcome was stroke occurrence at 90 days. The receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted and the C statistics were calculated as a measure of predictive ability. Among 1186 eligible patients, the mean age was 57.28 ± 12.17 years, and 474 (40.0%) patients had positive diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). There were 118 (9.9%) patients who had stroke within 90 days. In 1186 TIA patients, The C statistic of CSR model (0.754; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.729–0.778) was similar with that of ABCD3-I score (0.717; 95% CI 0.691–0.743; Z = 1.400; P = 0.1616). In 474 TIA patients with positive DWI, C statistic of CSR model (0.725; 95% CI 0.683–0.765) was statistically higher than that of ABCD3-I score (0.626; 95% CI 0.581–0.670; Z = 2.294; P = 0.0245). The CSR model had good predictive value for assessing stroke risk after TIA, and it had a higher predictive value than ABCD3-I score for assessing stroke risk for TIA patients with positive DWI.

Abstract Shikonin is the main component of the traditional Chinese medicine comfrey, which can inhibit the activity of PKM2 by regulating glycolysis and ATP production. Rheumatoid arthritis synovial cells (RA-FLSs) have been reported to increase glycolytic activity and have other similar hallmarks of metabolic activity. In this study, we investigated the effects of shikonin on glycolysis, mitochondrial function, and cell death in RA-FLSs. The results showed that shikonin induced apoptosis and autophagy in RA-FLSs by activating the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inhibiting intracellular ATP levels, glycolysis-related proteins, and the PI3K-AKT-mTOR signaling pathway. Shikonin can significantly reduce the expression of apoptosis-related proteins, paw swelling in rat arthritic tissues, and the levels of inflammatory factors in peripheral blood, such as TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-17A, and IL-1β while showing less toxicity to the liver and kidney.

Abstract Murine animal models are an established standard in translational research and provides a potential platform for studying heart valve disease. To date, studies on heart valve disease using murine models have been hindered by a lack of appropriate methodologies due to their small scale. In the present study, we developed a multi-scale, imaging-based approach to extract the functional structure and geometry for the murine heart valve. We chose the pulmonary valve (PV) to study, due to its importance in congenital heart valve disease. Excised pulmonary outflow tracts from eleven 1-year old C57BL/6J mice were fixed at 10, 20, and 30 mmHg to simulate physiological loading. Micro-computed tomography was used to reconstruct the 3D organ-level PV geometry, which was then spatially correlated with serial en-face scanning electron microscopy imaging to quantify local collagen fiber distributions. From the acquired volume renderings, we obtained the geometric descriptors of the murine PV under increasing transvalvular pressures, which demonstrated remarkable consistency. Results to date suggest that the preferred collagen orientation was predominantly in the circumferential direction, as in larger mammalian valves. The present study represents a first step in establishing organ-level murine models for the study of heart valve disease.

Abstract Myocardial infarction (MI) rapidly impairs cardiac contractile function and instigates maladaptive remodeling leading to heart failure. Patient-specific models are a maturing technology for developing and determining therapeutic modalities for MI that require accurate descriptions of myocardial mechanics. While substantial tissue volume reductions of 15–20% during systole have been reported, myocardium is commonly modeled as incompressible. We developed a myocardial model to simulate experimentally-observed systolic volume reductions in an ovine model of MI. Sheep-specific simulations of the cardiac cycle were performed using both incompressible and compressible tissue material models, and with synchronous or measurement-guided contraction. The compressible tissue model with measurement-guided contraction gave best agreement with experimentally measured reductions in tissue volume at peak systole, ventricular kinematics, and wall thickness changes. The incompressible model predicted myofiber peak contractile stresses approximately double the compressible model (182.8 kPa, 107.4 kPa respectively). Compensatory changes in remaining normal myocardium with MI present required less increase of contractile stress in the compressible model than the incompressible model (32.1%, 53.5%, respectively). The compressible model therefore provided more accurate representation of ventricular kinematics and potentially more realistic computed active contraction levels in the simulated infarcted heart. Our findings suggest that myocardial compressibility should be incorporated into future cardiac models for improved accuracy.

Abstract The role of fibroblasts in tissue fibrosis has been extensively studied. Activated fibroblasts, namely myofibroblasts, produce pathological extracellular matrix. CD248, a type I transmembrane glycoprotein, is expressed in fibroblasts after birth. In human chronic kidney disease, upregulated CD248 in myofibroblasts is linked to poor renal survival. In this study, we demonstrated a novel interaction between CD248 and macrophages to be a key step in mediating tissue fibrosis. CD248 was upregulated in myofibroblasts in murine models of renal and peritoneal fibrosis. Cd248 knockout (Cd248 –/– ) could attenuate both renal and peritoneal fibrosis. By parabiosis of GFP reporter mice and Cd248 –/– mice, we showed that attenuation of renal fibrosis was associated with a decrease of macrophage infiltration in Cd248 –/– mice. Moreover, decrease of chemokine (C–C motif) ligand 17 and Ccl22 was found in macrophages isolated from the fibrotic kidneys of Cd248 –/– mice. Because galectin-3-deficient macrophages showed decreased Ccl17 and Ccl22 in fibrotic kidneys, we further demonstrated that CD248 interacted specifically with galectin-3 of macrophages who then expressed CCL17 to activate collagen production in myofibroblasts. Mice with DNA vaccination targeting CD248 showed decreased fibrosis. We thus propose that CD248 targeting should be studied in the clinical tissue fibrosis setting.

Abstract The effects of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on patients with advanced cancer remain to be elucidated. We identified a cohort of patients with stage-IV cancer who received in-hospital CPR from the Taiwan Cancer Registry and National Health Insurance claims database, along with a matched cohort without cancer who also received in-hospital CPR. The main outcomes were post-discharge survival and in-hospital mortality. In total, 3,446 stage-IV cancer patients who underwent in-hospital CPR after cancer diagnosis were identified during January 2009–June 2014. A vast majority of the patients did not survive to discharge (n = 2,854, 82.8%). The median post-discharge survival was 22 days; 10.1% (n = 60; 1.7% of all patients) of the hospital survivors received anticancer therapy after discharge. We created 1:1 age–, sex–, Charlson comorbidity index (CCI)–, and year of CPR–matched noncancer and stage-IV cancer cohorts (n = 3,425 in both; in-hospital mortality rate = 82.1% and 82.8%, respectively). Regression analysis showed that the stage-IV cancer cohort had shorter post-discharge survival than did the noncancer cohort. The outcome of patients with advanced cancer was poor. Even among the survivors, post-discharge survival was short, with only few patients receiving further anticancer therapy.

Abstract We describe multi-institutional experience using free-breathing, 3D Spiral GRAPPA-based quantitative perfusion MRI in characterizing neoplastic liver masses. 45 patients (age: 48–72 years) were prospectively recruited at University Hospitals, Cleveland, USA on a 3 Tesla (T) MRI, and at Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai, China on a 1.5 T MRI. Contrast-enhanced volumetric T1-weighted images were acquired and a dual-input single-compartment model used to derive arterial fraction (AF), distribution volume (DV) and mean transit time (MTT) for the lesions and normal parenchyma. The measurements were compared using two-tailed Student’s t-test, with Bonferroni correction applied for multiple-comparison testing. 28 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and 17 metastatic lesions were evaluated. No significant difference was noted in perfusion parameters of normal liver parenchyma and neoplastic masses at two centers (p = 0.62 for AF, 0.015 for DV, 0.42 for MTT for HCC, p = 0.13 for AF, 0.97 for DV, 0.78 for MTT for metastases). There was statistically significant difference in AF, DV, and MTT of metastases and AF and DV of HCC compared to normal liver parenchyma (p

Abstract Recently, accumulating evidence has indicated that glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis (GIOP) is closely related to oxidative stress and apoptosis. Alpha-lipoic acid (LA), a naturally endogenous anti-oxidant, possesses anti-oxidative and anti-apoptosis activities, implicating LA as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of GIOP. In this study, the osteogenesis-promoting effects of LA against GIOP were investigated and the mechanisms were further probed. Here, the results showed that LA inhibited oxidative stress, suppressed apoptosis and improved osteopenia by promoting the expression of osteogenesis markers, including ALP, COL-I, OCN, BMP-2, RUNX2 and OSX. Further study revealed that the osteogenesis-promoting effects of LA likely occur via the regulation of the NOX4, NF-kappaB, JNK and PI3K/AKT pathways. The present study indicated that LA may prevent GIOP and promote osteogenesis and might be a candidate for the treatment of GIOP.

Abstract The high-pressure metallization and electrical transport behaviors of GaSb were systematically investigated using in situ temperature-dependent electrical resistivity measurements, Hall effect measurements, transmission electron microscopy analysis, and first-principles calculations. The temperature-dependent resistivity measurements revealed pressure-induced metallization of GaSb at approximately 7.0 GPa, which corresponds to a structural phase transition from F-43m to Imma. In addition, the activation energies for the conductivity and Hall effect measurements indicated that GaSb undergoes a carrier-type inversion (p-type to n-type) at approximately 4.5 GPa before metallization. The first-principles calculations also revealed that GaSb undergoes a phase transition from F-43m to Imma at 7.0 GPa and explained the carrier-type inversion at approximately 4.5 GPa. Finally, transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed the effect of the interface on the electrical transport behavior of a small-resistance GaSb sample and explained the discontinuous change of resistivity after metallization. Under high pressure, GaSb undergoes grain refinement, the number of interfaces increases, and carrier transport becomes more difficult, increasing the electrical resistivity.

Abstract Previously, we cloned a new gene termed ‘tongue cancer resistance-associated protein 1’ (TCRP1), which modulates tumorigenesis, enhances cisplatin (cDDP) resistance in cancers, and may be a potential target for reversing drug resistance. However, the mechanisms for regulating TCRP1 expression remain unclear. Herein, we combined bioinformatics analysis with luciferase reporter assay and ChIP assay to determine that c-Myc could directly bind to TCRP1 promoter to upregulate its expression. TCRP1 upregulation in multidrug resistant tongue cancer cells (Tca8113/PYM) and cisplatin-resistant A549 lung cancer cells (A549/DDP) was accompanied by c-Myc upregulation, compared to respective parental cells. In tongue and lung cancer cells, siRNA-mediated knockdown of c-Myc led to decrease TCRP1 expression, whereas overexpression c-Myc did the opposite. Moreover, TCRP1 knockdown attenuated chemoresistance resulting from c-Myc overexpression, but TCRP1 overexpression impaired the effect of c-Myc knockdown on chemosensitivity. Additionally, in both human tongue and lung cancer tissues, c-Myc protein expression positively correlated with TCRP1 protein expression and these protein levels were associated with worse prognosis for patients. Combined, these findings suggest that c-Myc could transcriptionally regulate TCRP1 in cell lines and clinical samples and identified the c-Myc-TCRP1 axis as a negative biomarker of prognosis in tongue and lung cancers.

Abstract Angiogenesis plays a critical role in the progression and vulnerability of atherosclerotic plaques; however, the orchestration of angiogenesis in atherosclerotic plaque formation remains unclear. The results of microarray analysis, real-time PCR and immunohistochemical analyses showed that Hairy/enhancer of split homologue-1 (Hes-1) expression was significantly decreased, while that of osteopontin (OPN) was increased, in atherosclerotic plaques. Meanwhile, immunofluorescence results demonstrated that both Hes-1 and OPN were expressed in endothelial cells (ECs) of neovessels in atherosclerotic plaques. The results of an in vitro study showed that Hes-1 was downregulated, while OPN was upregulated, in a time- and dose-dependent manner in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) by VEGF treatment. In addition, Hes-1 knockdown was found to have transcriptional promotion effect on OPN expression in HUVECs and enhance OPN-induced angiogenesis in response to VEGF. On the contrary, Hes-1 overexpression inhibited OPN expression in HUVECs and reduced angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo. The results of this study suggest that decreased Hes-1 expression in atherosclerotic plaques exaggerate VEGF-induced angiogenesis by upregulating OPN. Therefore, restoring Hes-1 expression and inhibiting OPN expression may be a promising strategy to prevent vulnerable plaque formation in patients with atherosclerosis.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.