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To ensure the effectiveness of the inductive power transfer (IPT) systems for high power applications, the multiple coils are being used. But the cross-couplings among the same side coils reduce the efficiency of the system. Thus, the decoupling coils are commonly used to mitigate the same side couplings in multiple transmitters and receivers system. The decoupling coils are either used outside of the main coils or concentric with the main coils. In both cases, these decoupling coils do not take part in the power transmission and have some adverse effects on the system performance. In this paper, a new IPT system with dual transmitters and dual receivers with integrated decoupling coils is introduced. Besides mitigating the mutual inductances of the same side coils, the proposed decoupling coils are also taking part in power transmission. In addition, the proposed coils also have good misalignment performance. A three-dimensional finite element analysis (FEA) tool ANSYS MAXWELL is used to investigate the proposed magnetic coupler. A scaled-down experimental setup is used to verify the feasibility of the proposed structure. The maximum dc-dc efficiency of this system is 93.14 % while delivering 700 W to the load with a 200 mm air gap.

Antenatal glucocorticoids accelerate fetal lung maturation and reduce mortality in preterm babies but can trigger adverse effects on the cardiovascular system. The mechanisms underlying off-target effects of the synthetic glucocorticoids mostly used, Dexamethasone (Dex) and Betamethasone (Beta), are unknown. We investigated effects of Dex and Beta on cardiovascular structure and function, and underlying molecular mechanism using the chicken embryo, an established model system to isolate effects of therapy on the developing heart and vasculature, independent of effects on the mother or placenta. Fertilized eggs were treated with Dex (0.1 mg kg-1 ), Beta (0.1 mg kg-1 ), or water vehicle (Control) on embryonic day 14 (E14, term = 21 days). At E19, biometry, cardiovascular function, stereological, and molecular analyses were determined. Both glucocorticoids promoted growth restriction, with Beta being more severe. Beta compared with Dex induced greater cardiac diastolic dysfunction and also impaired systolic function. While Dex triggered cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, Beta promoted a decrease in cardiomyocyte number. Molecular changes of Dex on the developing heart included oxidative stress, activation of p38, and cleaved caspase 3. In contrast, impaired GR downregulation, activation of p53, p16, and MKK3 coupled with CDK2 transcriptional repression linked the effects of Beta on cardiomyocyte senescence. Beta but not Dex impaired NO-dependent relaxation of peripheral resistance arteries. Beta diminished contractile responses to potassium and phenylephrine, but Dex enhanced peripheral constrictor reactivity to endothelin-1. We conclude that Dex and Beta have direct differential detrimental effects on the developing cardiovascular system.

Military training is intense, difficult and often dangerous, so all kinds of injuries or diseases frequently occur during training. Most of the previous studies and reviews on military training-related injuries focused on musculoskeletal system, whereas there are no reviews of abdominal injuries and diseases. Although the incidence of military training-related abdominal injuries and diseases is relatively low, the patients' condition is often critical especially in the presence of abdominal organ injury, leading to multi-organ dysfunction syndrome and even death. This paper elaborates on common types of military training-related abdominal injuries and diseases as well as the prevention and treatment measures, which provides some basis for scientific and reasonable training and improvement of medical security.

Background: Curcumin possesses multiple bioactivities that have beneficial effects on diabetic foot ulcers. Herein, we aimed to conduct a preclinical systematic review of 9 studies, including a total of 262 animals, to assess the possible mechanisms of curcumin for wound healing in diabetic animals. Methods: Five databases were searched from inception to May 12, 2020; Rev-Man 5.3 software was applied for data analyses. Cochrane Collaboration’s tool 10-item checklist was used to evaluate the methodological quality, and data revealed scores of risk of bias ranging from 2 to 5. Results: Meta-analysis indicated that curcumin had significant effects on wound healing rate and blood vessel density when compared with control (P < 0.05). The wound regeneration properties of curcumin for diabetic wounds are thought to mainly work through the possible mechanisms of antioxidation, enhanced cell proliferation, increased collagen formation, and angiogenesis. However, the anti-inflammatory effect on wounds in diabetic animals remain controversial. Conclusions: The findings indicate that more randomized controlled trials should be pursued to obtain more reliable results regarding inflammatory response. Overall, curcumin might be a probable candidate for diabetic foot ulcers and may contribute to future clinical trials. Prospero Registration: CRD42020188981.

With reference to Sr2Be2B2O7, two new short-wave ultraviolet beryllium-free Sr2Be2B2O7-type zincoborates, Na3AEZn2B3O9 (AE = Mg and Ca), were successfully designed by a cosubstitution strategy and synthesized by a molten-salt method.

With a novel hindered urea bond, excellent mechanical robustness and recycling ability are well balanced in piperazine-based polyureas.

The utilization of food resources by aquatic consumers reflects the structure and functioning of river food webs. In lotic water systems, where food availability and predator–prey relationships vary with gradient changes in physical conditions, understanding diet assimilation by local communities is important for ecosystem conservation. In the subtropical Liuxi River, southern China, the relative contribution of basal resources to the diet assimilation of functional feeding groups (FFGs) was determined by stable carbon (13C) and nitrogen (15N) isotope analyses. The output of Bayesian mixing models showed that diatom‐dominated periphyton (epilithic biofilm), aquatic C3 plants (submerged hydrophytes), and suspended particulate organic matter (SPOM) associated with terrestrial C3 plants contributed the most to the diet assimilation of FFGs in the upper, middle, and lower reaches, respectively. The relative contribution of consumer diet assimilation was weighted by the biomass (wet weight, g/m2) of each FFG to reflect resource utilization at the assemblage level. From the upper to the lower reaches, the spatial variation in the diet assimilation of fish and invertebrate assemblages could be summarized as a longitudinal decrease in periphyton (from 57%–76% to, The instream consumers in the subtropical Liuxi River rely more on autochthonous production (e.g., periphyton and submerged hydrophytes) than on terrestrially derived allochthonous matter (e.g., terrestrial plants). The pattern of resource utilization by consumers in the mid‐upper Liuxi River is consistent with findings from other open subtropical and neotropical rivers and provides an evidence of the riverine productivity model. Our study indicates that protecting inherent producers in rivers (e.g., periphyton and submerged hydrophytes) and restoring their associated habitats (e.g., riffles with cobble substrate) are conducive to aquatic ecosystem management.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are associated with occurrence and development of tumors. Enhancer RNA (eRNA) is a special type of lncRNAs produced from transcription of enhancer elements. The function of eRNAs in tumors have elicited significant attention recently. However, the clinical significance and role of eRNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been fully explored. The current study sought to explore the expression level and prognostic value of key eRNAs in HCC. Bioinformatics analyses were used to explore expression levels of key prognostic eRNAs in HCC and their correlation with target genes. A total of 1580 enhancer RNAs (eRNAs) and 1791 target genes were initially retrieved from TCGA-LIHC gene expression database. Further analysis through survival and correlation analysis led to identification of 12 eRNAs and 13 target genes. The findings showed that DCP1A was the most prognosis-related eRNA. This eRNA showed the highest correlation with the target gene, PRKCD. Analysis showed that poor overall survival (OS) in HCC patients was correlated with high expression level of DCP1A (eRNA) and PRKCD (target gene). The up-regulation of DCP1A was associated with advanced tumor stage, larger tumor size and higher histological grade. The results of pan-cancer analysis showed that the expression of DCP1A was differentially expressed in 13 other types of tumor tissues and their corresponding normal tissues. This eRNA was highly expressed in digestive system tumors. Functional analysis showed that high expression level of DCP1A was implicated in multiple tumor-related signaling pathways. The findings of the current study indicated DCP1A is a novel biomarker that can be used as a potential therapeutic target for HCC patients.

High-rise apartments are one representative form in the era of urbanization. However, the management of the high-rise apartment is not easy because of large household densities and the complex stru...

To develop an effective strategy for accurate diagnosis of focal liver lesions (FLLs) in patients with non-high risk for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).From January 2012 to December 2015, consecutive patients with non-high risk for HCC who underwent contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) were included in this retrospective double-reader study. All patients were stratified into 2 different risks (intermediate, low-risk) groups according to criteria based on clinical characteristics, known as clinical risk stratification criteria. For the intermediate-risk group, the CEUS criteria for identifying benign lesions and HCCs were constructed based on selected CEUS features. The diagnostic performance of the clinical risk stratification criteria, and CEUS criteria for identifying benign lesions and HCCs was evaluated.This study included 348 FLLs in 348 patients. The sensitivity and specificity of the clinical risk stratification criteria for malignancy was 97.8 and 69.8%. Patients were classified as intermediate risk if they were male, or older than 40 years of age, or HBcAb positive, or having positive tumor markers. Otherwise, patients were classified as low risk. Among the 348 patients, 327 were in the intermediate-risk group and 21 were in the low-risk group. In the intermediate-risk group, the CEUS criteria for identifying benign lesions were any of the following features: 1) hyper/isoenhancement in the arterial phase without washout, 2) nonenhancement in all phases, 3) peripheral discontinuous globular enhancement in the arterial phase, 4) centrifugal enhancement or peripheral enhancement followed by no central enhancement, or 5) enhanced septa. The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the CEUS criteria for identifying benign lesions were 94.5, 83.0, and 99.6%, respectively. Arterial phase hyperenhancement followed by mild and late washout (60 seconds) was more common in HCC patients than in non-HCC patients (P .001). Using arterial phase hyperenhancement followed by mild and late washout as the CEUS criteria for identifying HCCs, the sensitivity and specificity were 52.6 and 95.3%, but unfortunately, the positive predictive value was only 82.0%. For the low-risk group, no further analysis was performed due to the small sample size.Initial clinical risk stratification followed by assessment of certain CEUS features appears to be a promising strategy for the accurate diagnosis of FLLs in patients not at high risk for HCC.

6G is believed to go beyond communication and provide integrated sensing and computing capabilities for a vision of Connected Intelligence with everything connected, everything sensed, and everything intelligent. Integrated sensing and communication will play a vital role for the fusion of physical and cyber worlds. The exploration of higher frequency bands, larger bandwidth, and more advanced large antenna technologies is paving the way towards the goal. In particular, the study of THz opens the possibility to have high resolution sensing and imaging capability on a communication mobile device. In this paper, we take a step along this direction and justify such possibility by building a THz sensing prototype with millimeter level imaging resolution while considering the physical aperture constraint of typical mobile device.

Crown width is a critical variable in reflecting the individual tree growth status and in developing forest growth and yield models. With the crown width base model as reference, we developed the crown width quantile regression models for different quantiles (0.50, 0.90, 0.93, 0.95, 0.96, 0.99) based on the data of 2763 Korean pines in 66 permanent plots from the 10-55 years old plantations in Dabiangou forest farm, mountainous areas of eastern Liaoning Province. We used the reparameterization method by introducing the single tree competition index (冠幅是反映单木生长状态及构建林木生长收获模型的重要变量。本研究以辽东山区大边沟林场10～55年生红松人工林为对象,基于66块固定样地的2763株红松的每木检尺数据,选取冠幅基础模型,采用再参数化的方法引入单木竞争指标(

Localized senile pruritus is a continued health problem for the elderly. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of artemether emulsion on localized senile pruritus.Sixty patients diagnosed with senile pruritus were randomized into the artemether emulsion (1%) group or emulsion base group in a 1:1 ratio (the artemether group vs the control group). The patients used artemether emulsion or emulsion base for pruritus twice daily for 2 weeks. The pruritus visual analog scale (VAS) and the rate of adverse events were evaluated in week 0 and week 2.The VAS scores in week 2 after treatment decreased significantly compared with those before treatment in both groups (P .05). After treatment, patients receiving the artemether emulsion had significantly lower mean VAS scores compared to those who received the emulsion base (1.21 ± 1.64 vs 3.67 ± 2.97, P .05). When the VAS scores were compared between the 2 groups before treatment, the effective rate of the artemether group was significantly higher than that of the control group (χ2 = 55, P .05) in week 2 after treatment. Besides, no adverse events occurred in both groups.Both artemether emulsion and emulsion base were effective in treating localized senile pruritus, and artemether emulsion was superior to emulsion base.

Governments, enterprises, and customers have become more concerned about environmental protection. Following the world’s largest carbon trading market (EU ETS), China has also implemented a market-based carbon trading mechanism (CAT) to reduce CO2. Simultaneously, customers have low-carbon preferences for environmental products. Thus, the enterprises’ strategic decisions and collaboration modes have changed. This article develops the Stackelberg game model to explore the impacts of CAT and customers’ low-carbon preference on the carbon emission reduction and promotion strategies in a retailer-led supply chain (such as RT-Mart, Walmart, Amazon, etc.). In this model, the retailer decides whether to promote environmentally safe products and the manufacturer decides whether to reduce CO2. We find that carbon trading market price and customers’ low-carbon preference are key factors influencing the retail price, total carbon emissions, and social welfare. Interestingly, there is not always a positive correlation between customers’ low-carbon preference and social welfare. To achieve Pareto improvement of social welfare, manufacturers and retailers require co-optimization. Theoretically, our research enriches the research streams of the CAT policy and socially responsible operations of the supply chain. Moreover, managerial insights are provided for retailer-led supply chain stakeholders and emission reduction regulators, which contribute to enhancing the social and environmental benefits of the supply chains.

Herein, we aimed to determine the clinical efficacy of recombinant human thrombopoietin (rhTPO) combined with glucocorticoids for treating immune thrombocytopenia (ITP).Clinical data of 87 patients with ITP admitted to our hospital were retrospectively analyzed, and patients were divided into two groups according to the treatment employed: 42 patients in the control group (CG) were prescribed glucocorticoids, and 45 patients in the study group (SG) received rhTPO combined with glucocorticoids.The total effective treatment rate in the SG (95.56%) was higher than that in the CG (76.19%) (rhTPO combined with glucocorticoids for treating ITP can effectively enhance the therapeutic effect, regulate the T lymphocyte subpopulation, rapidly increase the PLT level, and induce no significant effect on the coagulation function of patients, with good safety and high clinical promotion value.

Gestational hypoxia is a major contributor to fetal growth restriction (FGR) and perinatal morbidity and mortality and has been closely linked to the activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR) in the placenta. Recent studies on adverse pregnancy conditions show differential adaptive responses in pregnancies carrying male or female fetuses. Here, we use an established rat model of hypoxic pregnancy and FGR to test the hypothesis that chronic hypoxia promotes sexually dimorphic activation of the placental UPR. Our data showed that gestational hypoxia increased glucose regulatory protein 78 (GRP78) expression in male placentae, increased activating transcription factor 6 activation (ATF6) in female placentae, and did not induce changes in other UPR markers. In addition, gestational hypoxia reduced fetal weight only in males and ATF6 activation correlated with an increase in the fetal crown-rump-length/body weight ratio only in females. These results suggest sex-specific divergence in the placental adaptive response to gestational hypoxia, which may account for the sexual dimorphism observed in placental function and pregnancy outcomes in complicated pregnancies. Graphical Abstract

The migratory plant-parasitic nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus is the pathogen of the pine wilt disease (PWD), causing serious damage to pine forests in China. During the process of plant resistance to multiple pathogens, plant immunity plays a key role. In this current study, the pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) BxCDP1 in B. xylophilus has been identified, but the host target protein of BxCDP1 and its key amino acid region inducing the plant immunity have yet to be elucidated. We found that BxCDP1 could trigger superoxide production, H2O2 production, and callose deposits. A RING-H2 finger protein 1 (RHF1) of Pinus thunbergii was screened and characterized as a target protein of BxCDP1 by yeast two-hybrid and co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP). Moreover, two peptides (namely M9 and M16) proved to be key regions of BxCDP1 to induce PAMP-triggered immunity (PTI) in Nicotiana benthamiana, which also induced the expression of pathogenesis-related (PR) genes (PtPR-3, PtPR-4, and PtPR-5) in P. thunbergii and enhanced the resistance of the host to B. xylophilus. These results indicate that BxCDP1 plays a critical role in the interaction between B. xylophilus and P. thunbergii, and both peptides M9 and M16 have the potential to be developed and utilized as immune inducers of pines against B. xylophilus in future.

A praseodymium complex, [Pr(IA)2(H2O)4]nnCl (1) (HIA = isonicotinic acid), has been prepared via a solvothermal reaction and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The praseodymium ion ...

The mechanism of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) affecting magnetic field uniformity is studied in this work. The spatial distribution of MNPs in liquid is simulated based on Monte Carlo method. The induced field of the single MNP is combined with the magnetic field distribution of magnetofluid. In the simulation, magnetic field uniformity is described by a statistical distribution. As the chemical shift (CS) and full width at half maximum (FWHM) of magnetic resonance (MR) spectrum can reflect the uniformity of magnetic field, the simulation is verified by spectrum experiment. Simulation and measurement results prove that the CS and FWHM of the MR spectrum are basically positively correlated with the concentration of MNPs and negatively correlated with the temperature. The research results can explain how MNPs play a role in MR by affecting the uniform magnetic field, which is of great significance in improving the temperature measurement accuracy of magnetic nanothermometers and the spatial resolution of magnetic particle imaging.

Using a gaze-contingent moving-window paradigm, we investigated whether/how deafness affects perceptual processing in Chinese reading. Besides the manipulation of window size, word length of sentences used in the experiment was also manipulated to check whether deafness enhanced the word length effect on perceptual span. Significant interactions of window constraints and deafness and a three-way interaction were observed on reading rate. Smaller effects of window constraints for deaf Chinese readers and nonreliable three-way interactions were observed on forward saccade length. This suggests that deaf Chinese readers exhibit a larger perceptual span, and word length affected the span from which information was acquired for comprehension whereas both deafness and word length might have little impact on the span from which information is acquired for oculomotor targeting during natural reading of Chinese.

A neodymium (Nd)–mercury (Hg) complex [Nd(IA)2(H2O)3(NO3)(HgCl2)] n ·2nH2O·nEtOH (1; IA is isonicotinic acid anion) was synthesised and characterised. Compound 1 is of monoclinic system, space group C2/c with a = 25.4224(12), b = 8.1410(3), c = 22.2963(9) Å, β = 90.788(4)°, V = 4614.1(3) Å3, C14H24Cl2HgN3NdO13, Z = 8, M r = 858.09, D c = 2.471 g/cm3, S = 1.120, μ(Mo Kα) = 9.174 mm−1, F(000) = 3256, R = 0.0530 and wR = 0.1288. The mercury (II) (Hg2+) ions are bound by two terminal chloride (Cl−) ions and two nitrogen (N) atoms, displaying a distorted tetrahedral geometry. The neodymium (III) (Nd3+) ion is coordinated with nine oxygen (O) atoms to form a monocapped square antiprismatic polyhedron. Every two neighbouring neodymium (III) ions are interlinked by two μ 3-bridging IA groups to form a one-dimensional (1D) infinite –Nd–IA2–Nd– chain. The 1D chains link to each other through HgCl2N2 tetrahedra and yield a two-dimensional layer. It emits cyan photoluminescence, which should be due to the 4 G 11/2 → 4 I 9/2 transition of the 4f electrons of the neodymium ions. It exhibits Commission Internationale de l’Éclairage chromaticity coordinates of (0.1274, 0.3525). A solid-state diffuse reflectance spectrum unveils that it has a 2.51 eV band gap.

A novel erbium material with a fascinated mercury bromide cluster (Hg11Br34)12– anion, i.e., {[Er2(H2O)4(HIA)6]2n}(nHg11Br34)(nHgBr2)·4nH2O (denoted as 1 and HIA indicates the isonicotinic acid molecule), was successfully synthesized from a solvothermal reactor. Its single crystal structure was determined by single-crystal and powder X-ray diffractions. The Er3+ ions have a distorted square antiprism motif, and they are connected by isonicotinic acid molecules to yield a one-dimensional (1-D) chain. The Hg2+ ions show two or four coordination motifs. This compound contains an unprecedented mercury bromide cluster (Hg11Br34)12– anion. This compound shows upconversion green photoluminescence emission with a CIE (Commission Internationale de I'Eclairage) chromaticity coordinates at (0.1749, 0.4351). It has a wide band gap of 3.24 eV. A novel erbium material with a fascinated mercury bromide cluster (Hg11Br34)12– anion was reported. The Er3+ ions have a distorted square antiprism motif and the compound features a 1-D chain-like structure. The Hg2+ ions show two or four coordination motifs. It features upconversion green emission with CIE coordinates 0.1749 and 0.4351. It has a wide band gap of 3.24 eV.

The prevalence of maternal obesity is increasing at an alarming rate, and is providing a major challenge for obstetric practice. Adverse effects on maternal and fetal health are mediated by complex interactions between metabolic, inflammatory, and oxidative stress signaling in the placenta. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR) are common downstream pathways of cell stress, and there is evidence that this conserved homeostatic response may be a key mediator in the pathogenesis of placental dysfunction. We summarize the current literature on the placental cellular and molecular changes that occur in obese women. A special focus is cast onto placental ER stress in obese pregnancy, which may provide a novel link for future investigation.