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• The relation between industrial structure and eco-environment was explored. • Industrial investment structure and eco-environmental state had the greatest effect. • The comprehensive level of eco-environment surpassed that of industrial structure. • The coupling degree of two systems kept in the process of continuous optimization. • The scissors difference of two systems tended to be stable. Tremendous economic growth creates increasing pressure on the eco-environment, and the industrial structure has an important influence on the eco-environment. To explore the relation between the industrial structure and the eco-environment, we established a new evaluation index system for both the industrial structure and the eco-environment; then, using data on Beijing from 1992 to 2016, we applied an integrated approach involving the combination weight method, the coupling coordination degree model, the dynamic coupling coordination degree model and the scissors difference model with the following results. (1) The industrial investment structure and the eco-environment status account for the largest proportion of the industrial structure and the eco-environment index systems, respectively. (2) The comprehensive level of the industrial structure is initially higher than that of the industrial structure system and then gradually slows and lags behind. (3) The coupling coordination degree between the industrial structure and the eco-environment in Beijing shifts from "barely coordinated development" stage to "superior coordinated development" stage. (4) The dynamic coupling coordination degree of the whole system presents an S-shaped curve evolving from the "low-grade symbiosis" stage to the "harmonious development" stage and approaching the "utmost development" stage. (5) The scissors difference presents a V-shaped curve, and the gap in the development trend between the industrial structure and the eco-environment diminishes. This study discusses the relationship between the industrial structure and the eco-environment of Beijing from 1992 to 2016, which should be beneficial in promoting the coordinated development between the industrial structure and the eco-environment of Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Journal writing involving guided reflections on intercultural experiences has a potential in facilitating intercultural communicative competence (ICC). However, most of the research on reflective journal writing relied on content-based thematic analysis alone and neglected the use of language that reveals, complements or even distorts the true meaning of the content. Using linguistic tools provided by appraisal theory, the study investigated the attitudinal changes towards self and others in the reflective journals of intercultural encounter written by 41 undergraduates in an College English Intercultural Communication class in a Chinese university. Positive attitudinal changes were found, including the extension of reflection from people in the incidents to cultures they represented, more appreciation of the intercultural experience, more objectivity and empathy for others, and critical reflection on one's own behaviour in intercultural experience and one's initial ethnocentric interpretation of it. Problematic tendencies included outgroup-favouritism, non-judgement on the surface and overgeneralisation. Suggestions were provided for teachers who intend to use reflective journals in facilitating students' ICC growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study assessed the ability of conventional computed tomography (CT) features (including primary tumors, metastatic lesions, lymph nodes, and emphysema) to predict epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in advanced pulmonary adenocarcinoma.Methods: Patients who were diagnosed with advanced pulmonary adenocarcinoma between January 2017 and August 2017 and had undergone a chest CT and EGFR mutation testing were enrolled in this retrospective study. Qualitative and quantitative CT-features and clinical characteristics evaluated in this study included: primary tumor location, size, and morphology (including degree of lobulation, density, calcification, cavitation, vacuole sign, and air bronchogram), size and distribution of lung and pleural metastatic nodules, size and status of hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes, emphysema, organs with distant metastasis, and patient age, sex, and smoking history.Results: Of 201 patients, 107 (53.23%) were EGFR-mutation positive. The multivariate logistic regression indicated that EGFR mutations were significantly associated with smaller lymph nodes, a lower percentage of deep lobulation of the primary tumor and partial fusion of lymph nodes, and absence of emphysema. The area under the curve of logistic regression model for predicting EGFR mutations was 0.898.Conclusions: Conventional CT-features, including emphysema, degree of primary tumor lobulation, and lymph node size and status, help to predict the presence or absence of EGFR mutations in advanced pulmonary adenocarcinoma. Additionally, these same CT-features demonstrated that the CT manifestations of the EGFR mutant group were of relatively lower malignancy and less invasive as compared to the wild-type EGFR group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The current diagnostic methods for tuberculosis (TB) have several limitations. Although commercial serological tests based on antibody detection are available, their variable accuracies limit their roles in the clinic. The aim of this study was to discover the improved biomarkers for TB disease by investigating the serum profiles of IgG and IgM antibodies against nearly all Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) antigens in 36 active TB patients and 18 healthy controls (HCs) using proteome microarrays. Our results revealed that multiple antigens could induce stronger serum IgG or IgM responses in TB patients compared to HCs, among them, Rv2026c and Rv2421c were further validated by ELISA with sera from 221 samples and showed the moderate performance in diagnosing TB by receiver operating characteristic analysis. Moreover, logistic regression analysis was performed to establish a combined panel that provided better sensitivity and specificity at 82.5% and 88.12%, respectively, than single antigens in the diagnosis of active TB. Furthermore, the antibody reactivity against Rv2026c and Rv2421c was correlated with clinical backgrounds. These results suggest that the combination of different antigens and classes of antibodies could provide promise and encouragement in developing an efficient serological test for the diagnosis of active TB. Highlights • Serum profiles of IgG and IgM against MTB antigens were useful for discovering novel candidate biomarkers for TB diagnosis. • The combination of the Rv2026c- and Rv2421c-specific IgG and IgM showed some promise in the diagnosis of TB. • Antibody reactivity against Rv2026c and Rv2421c associated with clinical backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covalent organic polymers (COPs) are one of the most efficient and cost-effective adsorbents for removing heavy metals and antibiotics. Herein, three novel COPs were synthesized by a unique aldehyde and three hydrazine amines possessing varying numbers of acylhydrazone groups. And the H-COP-3 which is rich in acylhydrazone bonds gave the highest adsorption capacity (639.751 mg g−1) among the three materials on removing Hg(II) and equilibrium within 15 min, attributing to the strong affinity between acylhydrazone and Hg(II). Owing to the existence of hydrogen bonding and π-π stacking in the H-COPs and ibuprofen (IBP), the adsorption capacity of IBP on both new adsorbents was more than 230 mg g−1 showing no obvious disparity. Furthermore, H-COPs exhibit high stability over a wide pH range and still possess considerable Hg(II) and IBP adsorption capacity after multiple cycles. Our results reflect the great potential of these acylhydrazone-based COPs for environmental remediation. [Display omitted] • Three new acylhydrazone-based covalent organic polymers with plenty of imine groups used as sorbents. • H-COPs show high Hg(II) and IBP adsorption up to 639.751 mg g−1 and 242.775 mg g−1. • H-COPs are recyclable as Hg(II) and IBP sorbents at least six cycles. • H-COPs are polymers with certain crystallinity and thermally stable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical interpretation benefits from identifying analogies among famous people: Who are the Lincolns, Einsteins, Hitlers, and Mozarts? As a knowledge source that benefits many applications in language processing and knowledge representation, Wikipedia provides the information we need to make such comparisons. We investigate several approaches to convert the Wikipedia pages of approximately 600,000 historical figures into vector representations to quantify similarity. On the other hand, Wikipedia pages are assigned to different categories according to their contents as human-annotated labels. A rough similarity estimation could just count the number of shared Wikipedia categories. However, such counting can neither make good similarity quantification (i.e. Is there a difference between those with same number of shared categories?) nor make distinguishable comments on different categories (i.e. Is US Presidents more important than state lawyer when defining similarity?). We use the counting as an indicator to demonstrate high-level agreements of our similarity detection algorithms. In particular, we investigate four different unsupervised approaches to representing the semantic associations of individuals: (1) TF-IDF, (2) Weighted average of distributed word embedding, (3) LDA Topic analysis and (4) Deepwalk graph embedding from page links. All proved effective, but the Deepwalk embedding yielded an overall accuracy of 88.23% in our evaluation. Combining LDA and Deepwalk yielded even higher performance. Finally, we demonstrate that our similarity measurements can also be used to recognize the most descriptive Wikipedia categories for historical figures. We rank the descriptive level of Wikipedia categories according to their categorical coherence, and our ranking yield an overall agreement of 88.27% compared with human crowdsourced data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tim3/Gal9 pathway is associated with immunosuppression and worse clinical outcome in multiple cancers. To illustrate the specific mechanism of Tim3/Gal9 interaction in osteosarcoma, we examined expression, function, and regulation of Tim3/Gal9 in various cells from osteosarcoma patients. Data showed that CD4 + T cells, CD8 + T cells, and monocytes from both peripheral blood and tumor of osteosarcoma patients contained high frequencies of Tim3 + cells, while the Gal9 expression was primarily found in regulatory T cells (Tregs) from osteosarcoma patients and was elevated compared to that in non-cancer controls. The Tim3 + CD4 + and CD8 + T cells presented lower proliferation capacity compared to their Tim3 − counterparts, which could be reverted by blocking Tim3 or Gal9. Interestingly, purified Tim3 + CD4 + T cells secreted more interferon gamma (IFNγ) than purified Tim3 − CD4 + T cells, but IFNγ production by Tim3 + CD4 + T cells was vulnerable to Gal9-mediated suppression. In monocytes, Tim3 expression was associated with high interleukin (IL)-10 and low IL-12 cytokine secretion profile. Exogenous recombinant Gal9, as well as CD4 + CD25 + Treg supernatant, further decreased IL-12 expression in monocytes. In CD4 + T cell-monocyte coculture experiments, Tim3 + monocytes inhibited IFNγ expression from total CD4 + T cells and the development of IFNγ response in naive CD4 + T cells. Blocking the Tim3/Gal9 pathway reverted these effects. Together, these results suggested that in osteosarcoma patients, Tim3 expression did not directly mediate immune suppression, but the interaction between Tim3 + T cells and monocytes, naive CD4 + T cells, and Gal9-expressing CD4 + CD25 + Tregs could resulting in progressive suppression of Th1 responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Purpose: Ideal fluid management during surgery still poses a clinical dilemma gauging the benefits and adverse effects. This randomized controlled trial compared the tissue perfusion and coagulation profiles under clinically equivalent hydroxyethyl starch (HES 130/0.4) and lactated Ringer's solution (LR). Methods: Eighty-four patients undergoing major abdominal surgery were randomized to receive either HES or LR. Tissue perfusion parameters using heart rate, arterial blood pressure, central venous pressure, cardiac index, stroke volume index, and central venous oxygen saturation were measured at T0 (baseline), T1 (start of surgery), T2 (1 hour after start of surgery), and T3 (end of surgery). Coagulation parameters using thrombelastography (TEG) were measured at T0 (baseline), T4 (after 15 mL/kg fluid transfused), and T5 (24 hours after baseline). Results: The total amount of fluid administrated was 1547.9 ± 424.0 mL in HES group and 2303.1 ± 1033.7 mL in LR group (p < 0.001). The parameters of tissue perfusion and TEG did not differ significantly between groups at any time point except for a transient decrease in clot kinetic and clot strength at T4 for HES group. There was no significant difference in blood loss and consumption of blood products between the two fluids. Conclusion: HES 130/0.4 is a more efficient intravascular volume expander to maintain tissue perfusion than conventional crystalloid. Transient hypocoagulability induced by HES 130/0.4 does not warrant excessive blood loss and blood transfusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Admission levels of HE4 were significantly elevated in the patients with sepsis. • Septic non-survivors had significantly higher HE4 concentrations than survivors. • Serum levels of HE4 correlated with disease severity scores and cytokine levels. • HE4 was an independent mortality predictor in septic patients. Human epididymal protein 4 (HE4) has been widely used as an important clinical tumor biomarker for epithelial ovarian cancer. HE4 has recently been suggested to be an inflammatory biomarker and we hypothesized that the serum HE4 level upon intensive care unit (ICU) admission might predict prognosis in septic patients. We hypothesized that serum HE4 level upon intensive care unit (ICU) admission could predict prognosis in septic patients. Serum levels of HE4, procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), IL-6 and IL-8 were quantified, and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) scores were recorded on day one of admission to ICU. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) analysis of HE4, IL-6, PCT and SOFA at ICU admission for 28-day mortality was used to evaluate the ability of HE4 in predicting 28-day mortality of sepsis. Multivariate regression analysis was used to identify the independent risk factors for 28-day mortality. A total of 1289 patients were recruited, and 117 patients were included for final analysis. On day of ICU admission, septic patients had significantly higher levels of serum HE4 than those with infection without sepsis, those with ovarian cancer, or healthy controls. Compared with septic survivors, septic non-survivors presented with significantly higher serum HE4 concentrations. Serum levels of HE4 correlated with disease severity scores and cytokine levels (IL-6 and IL-8). Upon ICU admission, the AUC for HE4 level association with 28-day mortality was 0.881, higher than the AUC for SOFA (0.713), IL-6 (0.589), and PCT (0.567). A regression analysis showed that HE4 was an independent mortality predictor. HE4 can predict poor prognosis in septic patients, which may help to identify a group of septic patients at high risk of death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Let G be a simple connected graph with n vertices and m edges. Denote the degree of vertex by . The matrix is called the signless Laplacian of G, where and denote the diagonal matrix of vertex degrees and the adjacency matrix of G, respectively. Let be the largest eigenvalue of . In this paper, we first present two sharp upper bounds for involving the maximum degree and the minimum degree of the vertices of G and give a new proving method on another sharp upper bound for . Then we present three sharp lower bounds for involving the maximum degree and the minimum degree of the vertices of G. Moreover, we determine all extremal graphs which attain these sharp bounds. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A novel pH-sensitive semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) hydrogels were prepared by using konjac glucomannan (KGM) and poly(aspartic acid) (PAsp) with trisodium trimetaphosphate (STMP) as the cross-linking agent. The effects of component ratio, cross-linking density (STMP concentration), pH and ionic strength on the swelling properties of hydrogels were investigated. The structure of the semi-IPN hydrogels were characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), surface area analyzer and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The equilibrium swelling characteristics were investigated at 37°C in buffer solutions of pH 2.2 and 7.4 as simulated gastric and intestinal fluids, respectively. At pH 2.2, the release amount of 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) incorporated into the hydrogels was about 23% within 180min, while this value approached to 95% at pH 7.4. These results showed that the semi-IPN hydrogels could be a suitable polymeric carrier for site-specific drug delivery in the intestine. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

For the first time, a field survey was conducted to investigate the present situation, vertical distribution and ecological risks of heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Mn, Cr, Pb and As) from 21 in-situ samples drilled out from Yeshan iron mine tailings in the Jiangsu Province of China. The heavy metal contents obtained for the tailing wastes in decreasing order were as follows: Mn > Cu > Zn > As > Cr > Pb. The contents of heavy metals varied with depth, and the variation trends were not completely consistent. Vertical distribution profiles showed that heavy metals accumulated in certain strata. Both the monomial potential ecological risk factor (E) and the risk quotient (RQ) showed a high ecological risk for Cu, Mn and As. The comprehensive ecological risk index (RI) also indicated that the wastes presented a high ecological risk level, to which Cu, Mn and As were the key contributors. Our study showed that the health of individuals, especially children, living in the mining-impacted areas could be affected by the potential noncarcinogenic risk of copper, manganese and the carcinogenic risk of arsenic. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Thoracic endovascular aortic repair has been chosen as a less-invasive alternative to open surgery for the treatment of aortic dissections; however, the advantages have been challenged by the postoperative reintervention during the follow-up period. This study aimed at evaluating the incidence, reasons, and potential risk factors for reintervention. Methods Studies reporting reintervention after endovascular repair were identified by searching PubMed and Embase in accordance with preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses guidelines, and by reviewing the reference lists of retrieved articles. Sensitivity analysis and subgroup analyses were performed to determine the sources of heterogeneity. Funnel plot and Egger's test were used to determine the publication bias. Results A total of 27 studies encompassing 2403 patients with aortic dissection were identified. The pooled incidence of reintervention after endovascular repair was 15% (95% confidence interval, 12-19) during 33.7 months of follow-up. The 3 most common reasons for reintervention were endoleak (33.2%), false lumen perfusion and aortic dilation (19.8%), and new dissection (6.9%). The potential factors for reintervention were the mean age of onset and diabetes mellitus determined by performing a single meta-regression analysis ( P < .001 and .044, respectively). Conclusions Current data suggest that the incidence of reintervention after endovascular therapy is relatively high during midterm follow-up. Advanced age of onset is a risk factor and diabetes mellitus is a protective factor of reintervention after endovascular therapy. The possible mechanism that diabetes mellitus protects patients from reintervention should be explored further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this work, a series of glycerol-plasticized pea starch/konjac glucomannan (ST/KGM) blend films was prepared by a casting and solvent evaporation method. The structure, thermal behavior, and mechanical properties of the films were investigated by means of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, wide-angle X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and tensile testing. The results indicated that strong hydrogen bonding formed between macromolecules of starch (ST) and konjac glucomannan (KGM), resulting in a good miscibility between ST and KGM in the blends. Compared with the neat ST, the tensile strength of the blend films were enhanced significantly from 7.4 to 68.1MPa with an increase of KGM content from 0 to 70 wt%. The value of elongation at break of the blend films was higher than that of ST and reached a maximum value of 59.0% when the KGM content was 70 wt% and 20% of glycerol as plasticizer. The incorporation of KGM into the ST matrix also led to an increase of moisture uptake for the ST-based materials. The structure and properties of pea starch-based films were modified and improved by blending with KGM. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• The loci (GTA)9, (AT)17, (AT)15, (TA)18, (TTC)21 and (TA)10 are more highly polymorphic than other loci. • The VNTR profile generated a low-density clustering pattern in the counties of Sichuan and Yunnan. • Clusters were observed from the isolates from Hunan and Guizhou provinces at the county levels. • The most predominantly reported SNP was 3K followed by SNP 1D. • We detected the novel SNP 3J that has not yet been reported in China. • Maximum genotype stability was observed in current and long-standing strains. Understanding the nature of Mycobacterium leprae transmission is vital to implement better control strategies for leprosy elimination. The present study expands the knowledge of county-level strain diversity, distribution, and transmission patterns of leprosy in endemic provinces of China. We genetically characterized 290 clinical isolates of M. leprae from four endemic provinces using variable number tandem repeats (VNTR) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Attained genetic profiles and cluster consequences were contrasted with geographical and migration features of leprosy at county levels. Considering the allelic variability of 17 VNTR loci by the discriminatory index, (GTA)9, (AT)17, (AT)15, (TA)18, (TTC)21, and (TA)10 are reported to be more highly polymorphic than other loci. The VNTR profile generated the low-density clustering pattern in the counties of Sichuan and Yunnan, whereas clusters have been observed from the isolates from Huayuan (N = 6), Yongding (N = 3), Zixing (N = 3), Chenxi (N = 2) and Zhongfang (N = 2) counties of Hunan, and Zhijin (N = 3), Anlong (N = 2), Zhenning (N = 2), and Xixiu (N = 2) counties of Guizhou. In some clusters, people's social relations have been observed between villages. From the 290 clinical isolates, the most predominantly reported SNP was 3K (278, 95.8%), followed by SNP 1D (10, 3.4%), which are typically observed to be predominant in China. We also detected the novel SNP 3J (2, 0.8%), which has not yet been reported in China. The clustering pattern of M. leprae indicates the transmission of leprosy still persists at county levels, suggesting that there is a need to implement better approaches for tracing the close contacts of leprosy patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Primitive electronic waste (e-waste) recycling has become a growing environmental concern, and toxic heavy metals released from e-waste activities may continue to threaten the health of local people. To study the impact of heavy metals in people around e-waste sites, 349 people from e-waste recycling sites (exposure group) and 118 people from a green plantation (control group) were surveyed, and their urinary levels of lead (UPb), cadmium (UCd), manganese (UMn), copper (UCu), and Zinc (UZn) were assayed. Questionnaire surveys for risk factors were also performed and analyzed by using the Pearson correlation analysis. Results indicated that the levels of urinary Cd in both occupational dismantling people {GM(GSD) 0.72(0.71) ug/L} and non-occupational dismantling people {GM(GSD) 0.50(0.79) ug/L} were higher than the control group {GM(GSD) 0.27(0.85) ug/L}. Further analyses of correlations between urinary heavy metal levels and exposure factors in the exposed group revealed positive relationship between the duration of dismantling and the level of UPb (p<0.05). Meanwhile, rice sources from local village have a positive correlation with the level of UPb and UCd (p<0.01). Other factors, however, may also have influences on heavy metal burden, and not all urinary heavy metal levels can be contributed to e-waste dismantling exposure levels. Primitive e-waste recycling activities may contribute to the changes of urinary heavy metal levels and increase the health risk for those chronically working on e-waste dismantling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Hypertrophic scarring is abnormal proliferation of dermal fibroblasts and excessive deposition of extracellular matrix. To date, despite many studies, treatments have not been satisfactory. Genistein, a potent, specific inhibitor of tyrosine protein kinases (TPKs), has been proved to inhibit many kinds of tumour and some fibrotic diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of genistein on the proliferation and functions of hypertrophic scar fibroblasts (HSFBs) and the mechanism by which genistein inhibits TPK signal transduction. The first effect was observed by methyl-thiazol-diphenyl-tetrazolium assay and the second by [γ-32p] adenosine triphosphate incorporation assay. The results demonstrated that genistein inhibits the proliferation and function of HSFBs and changes the TPK signal transduction pathway, which can provide an experimental basis for treating HS with genistein. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]