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In this study, we consider the introduction of new mobility services and technologies into the megacity of Beijing, China, as per developed strategy and action plans, in order to investigate their potential contribution to sustainable mobility. This includes population relocation (decentralization), the construction of new rail lines, the introduction of shared bike services as a feeder to subway stations, the electrification of passenger vehicles and the adoption of automated and shared vehicles. The well-established, system dynamics-based MARS model is adapted to Beijing and further improved via the inclusion of these new services, technologies and policies. We find that decentralization can have a profound effect on overall sustainability if not considered in conjunction with other policies and that new rail lines and shared bikes may only have benefits in specific zones. Shared and automated vehicles could increase VKT by 60% and reduce active and public transport trips by a quarter. As such, nuanced integrated policy approaches will be required that are similar to those currently in place, such as imposed car shedding and taxi fleet control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glucocorticoid receptor (GR) overexpression has been linked to increased tumour aggressiveness and treatment resistance. GR antagonists have been shown to enhance treatment effectiveness. Emerging research has investigated mifepristone, a GR antagonist, as an anticancer agent with limited research in the context of oral cancer. This study investigated the effect of mifepristone at micromolar (µM) concentrations of 1, 5, 10 and 20 on the proliferation and migration of oral cancer cells, at 24 and 48 h. Scratch and scatter assays were utilised to assess cell migration, MTT assays were used to measure cell proliferation, Western blotting was used to investigate the expression of GR and the activation of underlying Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling pathways, and immunofluorescence (IF) was used to determine the localisation of proteins in HaCaT (immortalised human skin keratinocytes), TYS (oral adeno squamous cell carcinoma), and SAS-H1 cells (squamous cell carcinoma of human tongue). Mifepristone resulted in a dose-dependent reduction in the proliferation of HaCaT, TYS, and SAS-H1 cells. Mifepristone at a concentration of 20 µM effectively reduced collective migration and scattering of oral cancer cells, consistent with the suppression of the PI3K-Akt and MAPK signalling pathways, and reduced expression of N-Cadherin. An elongated cell morphology was, however, observed, which may be linked to the localisation pattern of E-Cadherin in response to mifepristone. Overall, this study found that a high concentration of mifepristone was effective in the suppression of migration and proliferation of oral cancer cells via the inhibition of PI3K-Akt and MAPK signalling pathways. Further investigation is needed to define its impact on epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning suturing skills is an important area of the undergraduate curriculum and ideally requires realistic and anatomically accurate surgical training models to prepare students for treating patients. Little is currently understood regarding which model might be perceived by students to be the best or which might most effectively facilitate their learning. The aim of this study was to compare four teaching models: a tabletop silicon dental model, a restricted access tabletop model, a traditional phantom head mounted model, and a Thiel cadaver. Student preferences were explored for each of the models. Following lecture and video-based teaching 67 fourth-year students attended a practical suturing teaching session followed by the second session more focused on the experience of cutting and suturing mucoperiosteal flaps. Forty-six students (67%) gave online anonymous feedback on the first session. The majority (95%) felt prepared to place a simple interrupted suture on a patient, and 88% felt confident to do so. Twenty-eight students (40%) provided feedback on the second session with 82% agreeing that they were prepared to cut a mucoperiosteal flap and 48% felt confident to do this for a patient. The cadaver model was rated as the best of the four models for both suturing and mucoperiosteal flap skills. These results support its use for teaching students to suturing and surgical skills. However, despite this teaching student-rated confidence to cut and suture flaps for a patient remains poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The utilization of segmentation method using volumetric data in adults dental age estimation (DAE) from cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) was further expanded by using current 5-Part Tooth Segmentation (SGt5) method. Additionally, supervised machine learning modelling--namely support vector regression (SVR) with linear and polynomial kernel, and regression tree -- was tested and compared with the multiple linear regression model. Material and Methods: CBCT scans from 99 patients aged between 20 to 59.99 was collected. Eighty eligible teeth including maxillary canine, lateral incisor, and central incisor were used in this study. Enamel to dentine volume ratio, pulp to dentine volume ratio, lower tooth volume ratio, and sex was utilized as independent variable to predict chronological age. Results: No multicollinearity was detected in the models. The best performing model comes from maxillary lateral incisor using SVR with polynomial kernel (Radj² = 0.73). The lowest error rate achieved by the model was given also by maxillary lateral incisor, with 4.86 years of mean average error and 6.05 years of root means squared error. However, SGt5 demands a complex approach to segment the enamel volume in the crown section and a lengthier labour time of 45 minutes per tooth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to an alarming threat of air pollution and climate change, governments around the world are now actively promoting electric vehicles. The case for vehicle electrification is even more important in big cities of developing countries, where motorcycle is a dominant mode of travel. To promote electric motorcycles successfully, we need to understand the factors that would drive the consumer choices when buying a motorcycle. This study chose Bandung in Indonesia as the case study location, where nearly 75% of vehicles are motorcycles. This study conducted a survey of preferences from over 700 residents and included battery charging methods such as plug-in/battery swap at home/office, superfast charging at stations, and deployed an innovative modelling approach constraining the mixture of distributions for monetary attributes. The study found that quick recharge in 10 minutes and battery swap at station are preferred over the base method of plugin at home/work. The battery swap at home has been perceived the same as plug-in home/work and the respondents are indifferent to this option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]