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The 2019 Kidney Disease Outcome Quality Initiative (K/DOQI) guideline recommended evaluating arteriovenous fistula (AVF) malfunction risks primarily based on clinical monitoring, which can be assisted with the value of vascular access flow (Qa). Nevertheless, Qa thresholds recommended by different guidelines vary, ranging from 300 to 500 ml/min. This study investigated the optimal Qa threshold to predict future functional patency in AVFs with Qa 500 ml/min.Both the clinical indicators of access dysfunction and the Qa value were monitored in patients receiving hemodialysis by the radiocephalic AVF. Routine access flow surveillance was performed by the ultrasound dilution method (HD03, Transonic Inc.). The development of clinically significant indicators of access dysfunction, which necessitated percutaneous transluminal angiography (PTA) to maintain functional patency, was analyzed in this cohort.Among the enrolled 302 patients, Qa of 52 patients was under 500 ml/min. These 52 patients received 2 Qa measurements during the follow-up period. Of these 52 patients, serial Qa of 17 patients varied trivially and their AVF remained functional. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that a low Qa per ideal body weight (IBW) is an independent predictor of AVF functional loss. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of Qa/IBW in predicting future AVF functional loss revealed that the best cutoff value of Qa is 7.1 times the IBW.For radiocephalic AVFs with Qa 500 ml/min, the minimally required Qa to maintain access function is associated with individual IBW. The IBW-based Qa threshold assessment would allow more flexibility in the treatment of patients and reduce unnecessary invasive measures.

End-stage kidney disease (ESKD) is a global burden that reflects each country's unique condition. We used the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) of Taiwan to decipher changes in the mortality and international survival rates and to determine the effectiveness of the pre-end-stage renal disease care program (pre-ESRD care program) to guide future health policies for ESKD.We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of the NHIRD data along with records from the catastrophic illness certificate program of ESKD patients from 2010 to 2018.From 2010 to 2018, the annual dialysis-related mortality rate in Taiwan increased from 10.6 to 11.8 deaths per hundred patient-years. The mortality rate for patients below 40 years appears to be decreasing, reflecting the improved quality of care for ESKD patients. Patients above 75 years showed increasing mortality, indicating the prolonged survival and aging of the ESKD population. Patients undergoing dialysis who participated in the pre-ESRD care program had a higher post-dialysis initiation life expectancy than those who did not participate. Among the program enrollees, the post-dialysis initiation life expectancy was higher in patients who had participated for more than one year. Taiwan has one of the highest ESKD patient survival rates globally.From 2010 to 2018, the reduced mortality in young patients and aging of the ESKD population might indicate that the quality of care in Taiwan for ESKD has improved. Furthermore, a better survival rate after dialysis initiation was observed in the pre-ESRD care program participants.

This paper builds a two-sector, two-factor environmental model in which agents optimally choose the clean and dirty goods in order to display their social status. In contrast to the conventional notion, we show that greater social aspirations in consumption regardless of either clean or dirty goods have an ambiguous impact on growth, depending on whether the production of conspicuous goods is relatively labor- or capital-intensive, whether the production of conspicuous goods generates more or fewer emissions, and whether labor supply is or is not responsive to social status seeking. By connecting two conflicting aspects of consumer preference involving social aspirations and environmental concerns, our analysis offers a novel explanation for the environmental Kuznets curve and a theoretical support for the empirical possibility of a negative employment-growth relationship and the so-called Green New Deal. Our welfare analysis shows that social comparisons in consumption may increase, rather than decrease, social welfare. The Pigovian tax may only be socially sub-optimal in the two-sector economy because it is unable to completely correct the distortion caused by consumption externalities.

The objective of this study was to prepare an electromagnetic interference shielding material, waterborne polyurethane (WPU) filled with silver-nanoparticle-decorated functional reduced graphene oxide (Ag@FRGO). Functional reduced graphene oxide (FRGO) was functionalized through free-radical polymerization before chemical reduction, to prevent restacking and aggregation during the reduction. After the functionalization, the homogeneous dispersion of FRGO promoted the formation of conductive networks throughout the WPU matrix. To enhance the electrical conductivity and electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness (EMI SE) of the composites, silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were deposited on the FRGO surface. Subsequently, WPU composites were synthesized through the solution-mixing method. Their microstructure, morphology, electrical conductivity, and EMI SE were investigated, and the results showed that, among Ag@FRGO/WPU composites with different values for the weight ratio of Ag NPs to FRGO, the Ag@FRGO/WPU composite with 5 wt% FRGO and a weight ratio of Ag to NPs of 10:1 (10Ag@FRGO/WPU) exhibited the highest electrical conductivity (25.52 S/m) and an EMI SE of 35 dB in the frequency range of 8.2–12.4 GHz (X-band).

Recently, complex oxides have been shown to be promising candidate in dielectric materials of resistive random access memory (RRAM). However, the detailed switching information of complex oxide RRAM is still insufficient, and direct observation of the whole switching process is required to figure out the mechanism. In this study, we deposited SrCoOx (SCO) on a niobium-doped SrTiO3 substrate as the dielectric layer via pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The novel SCO device possesses excellent RRAM properties, high cycling endurance, a long data retention time, and uniform distributions of the high resistance state (HRS) and low resistance state (LRS) resistance and Set/Reset voltage. Furthermore, the switching mechanism was investigated by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), which showed that the switching behavior resulted from the topotactic phase transformation. In addition, the whole switching process was observed through in situ TEM, and the results strengthened the findings of the ex situ experiment. The discussion of this switching behavior provides support for a novel aspect of the RRAM switching mechanism and also a new option for the dielectric material in RRAM.

Cellular membrane potential plays a key role in the formation and retrieval of memories in the metazoan brain, but it remains unclear whether such memory can also be encoded in simpler organisms like bacteria. Here, we show that single-cell-level memory patterns can be imprinted in bacterial biofilms by light-induced changes in the membrane potential. We demonstrate that transient optical perturbations generate a persistent and robust potassium-channel-mediated change in the membrane potential of bacteria within the biofilm. The light-exposed cells respond in an anti-phase manner, relative to unexposed cells, to both natural and induced oscillations in extracellular ion concentrations. This anti-phase response, which persists for hours following the transient optical stimulus, enables a direct single-cell resolution visualization of spatial memory patterns within the biofilm. The ability to encode robust and persistent membrane-potential-based memory patterns could enable computations within prokaryotic communities and suggests a parallel between neurons and bacteria. We thank Leticia Galera-Laporta, Dong-yeon D. Lee, and Kaito Kikuchi for useful discussions; G.M.S. acknowledges support for this research from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (grant R01 GM121888 to G.M.S.) and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute-Simons Foundation Faculty Scholars program. J.G.-O. acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and FEDER (project PGC2018-101251-B-I00 and “' Maria de Maeztu ” Programme for Units of Excellence in R\&D, grant CEX2018-000792-M) , and from the Generalitat de Catalunya (ICREA Academia programme).

This study investigated the longitudinal relationship between rapid automatized naming (RAN) and Chinese character recognition for Taiwanese children moving from grades 1 to 3. A sample pool of 1412 kindergartners took a Digit RAN subtask and were then grouped into the slow naming group (SNG) or the matched subject group (MSG). The two groups were controlled for gender, age, socio-economic status and non-verbal intelligence. They then took the RAN task, a Phonological Awareness Test and the Graded Character Recognition Test in each of the next three years. The results of statistical analyses showed that the third-grade SNG children were more likely to be identified as reading disabled in comparison to their MSG counterparts. Regardless of the grade the SNG participants were in, RAN remained a significant predictor of character recognition in the three years of investigation. However, this predictive relationship did not apply to the MSG.

Malfunction of the arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is an important cause of morbidity and hospitalization in hemodialysis (HD) patients. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of far infrared therapy on the maturation and patency of newly created AVFs in patients with chronic kidney disease stage 4 or 5.Randomized controlled study.Patients with estimated glomerular filtration rate of 5-20 mL/min/1.73 m².40 minutes of far infrared therapy 3 times weekly for a year.The primary outcome is the rate of AVF malfunction within 12 months, with malfunction defined as either: (1) thrombosis without thrill for AVFs not undergoing HD or (2) receiving any type of interventional procedure due to a lower Kt/V (1.2) for patients undergoing HD. Secondary outcomes include: (1) cumulative primary unassisted AVF patency, defined as time from creation of the AVF to the first episode of AVF malfunction; (2) physiologic maturation of the AVF by the definition of AVF access blood flow (Qa) ≥500 mL/min and AVF diameter ≥4 mm at 3 months; and (3) clinical maturation of the AVF suitable for HD at 1 year.AVF Qa was measured by Doppler ultrasonography at 2 days and 1, 2, 3, and 12 months.We enrolled 122 patients who were randomly allocated to the intervention (n = 60) and control (n = 62) groups. In comparison to controls, patients in the intervention group had higher Qa values at 1, 2, 3, and 12 months; a higher rate of physiologic maturation (90% vs 76%; P = 0.04) at 3 months; and a lower rate of AVF malfunction (12% vs 29%; P = 0.02) but higher rates of AVF cumulative unassisted patency (87% vs 70%; P = 0.01) and clinical maturation (82% vs 60%; P = 0.008) within 12 months.This is a single-center nonblinded study.Far infrared therapy improves the access flow, maturation, and patency of newly created AVFs in patients with chronic kidney disease stages 4 and 5.

This paper focuses on the development and manufacture of an automated optical inspection (AOI) system for light emitting diode (LED) properties, which include the luminance and forward voltage. We use the concept of graphic supervisory control to combine LabVIEW software and programmable logic controller (PLC) for the motion control. By connecting the analog input block, PLC would read the forward voltage to judge whether this value is too large or not. In LED optical inspection, LabVIEW software is employed to coordinate charge coupled device (CCD) camera interface in acquiring data and processing image analysis. The LED luminance is inspected according to whether or not it achieves the desired standard pixels of binary morphologic area. In the inspection process, LEDs quickly advance on rail, and a pneumatic cylinder will sort them into different storages by PLC. The system characteristics mainly include automated platform control and imaging inspection. From experiments, the LED inspection speed could achieve 40–45 pieces per minute. For luminance inspection, the rate of accuracy approaches 100% when the inspection in a dark room or the brightness of exterior environments is fixed.