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Objective To investigate the relationship between lactate acid level and hospitalization mortality in neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Method Paediatric-specific critical care database collected clinical data from the intensive care unit of Children's Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang University Medical College from 2010 to 2018. Clinical and laboratory examination information of NEC patients was collected and divided into the death group and discharge group to find out the risk factors affecting the prognosis through univariate and multivariate analysis. Results Among 104 NEC neonates, the admission age was 7.5 days and the weight was 2.03 kg. Comparing the death group with the discharge group, there were significant differences in therapeutic regimen, pH, serum albumin, total protein, creatinine and lactate acid. Multivariate and threshold effect analysis showed that lactate acid had a linear correlation with hospital mortality, and newborns who died in the hospital had much higher lactate levels than those who were discharged. The mortality of NEC newborns increased by 40-45% for every 1 mmol/L increase in lactate acid level. Conclusions There was a correlation between lactate acid level and hospital mortality in newborns with NEC, and lactate acid level was an important index to evaluate the prognosis of NEC.

Do fertilization rates differ between intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) cycles treated with artificial oocyte activation (AOA) using 10 µmol/l ionomycin or commercial A23187 in women at risk of failed or impaired fertilization?This single-centre, 7-year retrospective cohort study included 157 couples with a history of total fertilization failure (TFF, 0%) or low fertilization (30%) after ICSI, or with severe oligo-astheno-teratozoospermia (OAT) in the male partner. Couples and underwent 171 ICSI-AOA cycles using either 10 µmol/l ionomycin or commercial A23187. The embryological and clinical outcomes were compared.Fertilization rates in the ionomycin group were significantly higher than those in the A23187 group for all three subgroups (TFF, 46.9% versus 28.4%, P = 0.002; low fertilization, 67.7% versus 49.2%, P 0.001; severe OAT, 66.4% versus 31.6%, P 0.001). AOA with ionomycin significantly increased the day 3 cleavage rate (P = 0.009) when compared with A23187 in the low fertilization group, but not in the TFF or severe OAT group (both P 0.05). The rates of day 3 good-quality embryos, clinical pregnancy, implantation and live birth, and the cumulative live birth, did not differ between the two groups (all P 0.05). A total of 64 live births resulted in 72 healthy babies born.AOA with 10 µmol/l ionomycin may be more effective than commercial A23187 in improving oocyte activation in patients at risk of failed or impaired fertilization, especially in cases of sperm-related defects.

In a prospective multicenter study, gemcitabine monotherapy followed by stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) was well tolerated with outcomes comparable to chemoradiation for locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC). Recent trials have reported improved survival with multiagent chemotherapy (MA-CTX) alone. This prospective trial explored whether SBRT could be safely delivered after MA-CTX. Herein, we report the long-term outcomes of adding SBRT after MA-CTX in LAPC patients and evaluate whether genetic profiles of specimens obtained before SBRT influence outcomes.This prospective nonrandomized controlled phase 2 trial enrolled 44 LAPC and 4 locally recurrent patients after multidisciplinary evaluation between 2012 and 2015 at a high-volume pancreatic cancer center. For induction CTX, most received modified FOLFIRINOX (mFFX), or gemcitabine and nab-paclitaxel (GnP) followed by 5-fraction SBRT for all. During fiducial placement, biopsies were obtained with DNA extracted for targeted sequencing using the Memorial Sloan Kettering-Integrated Mutation Profiling of Actionable Cancer Targets platform.Median induction CTX duration was ≥4 months, and 31 patients received mFFX (65%). Among 44 LAPC patients, 17 (39%) were surgically explored, and 12 of 16 (75%) achieved a R0 resection. Median overall survival (mOS) was 20.2 and 14.6 months from diagnosis and SBRT, respectively. One- and 2-year OS from SBRT was 58% and 28%. The mOS after resection was 28.6 and 22.4 months from diagnosis and SBRT, respectively. Median local progression-free survival was 23.9 and 15.8 months from diagnosis and SBRT, respectively. The mOS for pre-SBRT CA 19-9 ≤180 U/mL versus180 was 23.1 and 11.3 months, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.53; P = .04). Only 1 patient (2.1%) had late grade ≥2 gastrointestinal toxic effects attributable to SBRT. Despite significant pretreatment with chemotherapy, 88% of tumor specimens were effectively sequenced; survival outcomes were not significantly associated with specific mutational patterns. Quality of life was prospectively collected pre- and post-SBRT with the EORTC QLQ-C30 and PAN26 questionnaires showing no significant change.SBRT was safely administered with MA-CTX with minimal toxicity. A high proportion of LAPC patients underwent R0 resection with favorable survival outcomes.

Pickering emulsion hydrogels (PEHs) were developed as a pH-responsive, controlled-release delivery system to address the limitations of Pickering emulsions in some harsh processing or gastrointestinal conditions. Specifically, the PEHs were fabricated based on alginate and various concentrations of gellan gum (GG) with carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS) matrix. The encapsulation efficiency (EE), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) results proved the successful encapsulation. Furthermore, the hydrogels remained stable in the presence of destabilizing ions (Na

This paper contains a regression analysis of a database that merges the data of the Chinese Customs Database with the Chinese Industrial Enterprise Database. Empirical testing verifies, from the perspective of independent innovation, the impact of intermediate imports on export sophistication. The findings include three parts. First, intermediate imports contribute significantly and positively to manufacturing technological innovation, although the promotive role differs significantly with enterprise ownership, trade type, country of export destination and technological strengths. Second, although independent innovation has a direct promotive impact on export sophistication, it restrains the positive promotive role of intermediate imports on export sophistication, i.e., there is a negative moderation effect. Third, intermediate imports has a stronger promotive impact on enterprises at the nascence and growth stages, while independent innovation has a stronger promotive impact on enterprises at the growth and maturity stages.

Proteins are the executors of cellular physiological activities, and accurate structural and function elucidation are crucial for the refined mapping of proteins. As a feature engineering method, the reduction of amino acid composition is not only an important method for protein structure and function analysis, but also opens a broad horizon for the complex field of machine learning. Representing sequences with fewer amino acid types greatly reduces the complexity and noise of traditional feature engineering in dimension, and provides more interpretable predictive models for machine learning to capture key features. In this paper, we systematically reviewed the strategy and method studies of the reduced amino acid (RAA) alphabets, and summarized its main research in protein sequence alignment, functional classification, and prediction of structural properties, respectively. In the end, we gave a comprehensive analysis of 672 RAA alphabets from 74 reduction methods.

In the present study, an efficient sol-gel process combined with carbothermal reduction was designed to directly synthesize high purity hybrid ZrC–SiC powders by adding MgCl2 at a lowered temperature. The composition and morphology evolution of the final products were studied in detail. The fabrication conditions of the ZrC–SiC powders, such as the amount of MgCl2, heat-treating temperature and soaking time, were optimized. Experimental results revealed that the addition of MgCl2 could dramatically accelerate the formation of low carbon-residual ZrC–SiC powders even at 1400 °C, which is lower than the typical synthesis temperature of about 1600 °C. Thereinto, the ZrSiO4 transition phase, which appeared after MgCl2 addition, plays a vital role in reducing the carbothermal reduction temperature. Moreover, a stoichiometric carbon in the hybrid ZrC–SiC powders was realized by controlling MgCl2 addition.

Rechargeable Li batteries are promising candidates for next-generation energy storage devices due to their high energy density. Electrolyte compositions profoundly impact their electrochemical performance. The carbonate-based electrolytes employed in conventional Li-ion batteries (LIBs) are highly corrosive to elemental Li. Glyme-based electrolytes generally possess better stability towards reduction, but they suffer from an early oxidation under 4 V/Li, mismatched with high-voltage cathodes. Most recently, fluorinated solvents and salts demonstrated a positive effect on the cyclic behaviour of Li anode, but the high cost hampers their application. Herein, we designed an economical carbonate-glyme hybrid electrolyte (CGHE) compatible with both elemental Li anode and Ni-rich cathode. The resulted Li battery cycled at 2C delivers a specific capacity of 99.2 mAh g−1 after the 200th cycle, almost four times higher than the baseline electrolyte with a remained capacity of 27 mAh g−1. The hybrid electrolyte provides a capacity retention of 73 % at the 50th cycle for the cell with no Li excess, while the cell with typical carbonate electrolyte ultimately failed within 45 cycles. The merits originate from the unique solvation structure of the designed electrolyte. In particular, diglyme solvates both Li-ions and film-forming additive, while carbonates dilute the mixture, enabling facile ion migrations.

Cotton (Gossypium spp.) is the most important natural textile fiber crop in the world. The ideal plant architecture of cotton is suitable for mechanical harvesting and productivity in modern agricultural production. However, cotton genes regulating plant development and architecture have not been fully identified. We identified a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor, GhPAS1 (PAGODA1 SUPPRESSOR 1) in G. hirsutum (Upland cotton). GhPAS1 was located in the nucleus and showed a strong transcription activation effect. Tissue-specific expression patterns showed that GhPAS1 was highly expressed in floral organs, followed by high expression in early stages of ovule development and rapid fiber elongation. GhPAS1 overexpression in Arabidopsis and BRZ (brassinazole, BR biosynthesis inhibitor) treatment indicated that GhPAS1 positively regulates and responds to the BR (brassinosteroid) signaling pathway and promotes cell elongation. GhPAS1 overexpression in Arabidopsis mediated plant development in addition to increasing plant biomass. Virus-induced gene silencing of GhPAS1 indicated that down-regulation of GhPAS1 inhibited cotton growth and development, as plant height, fruit branch length, and boll size of silenced plants were lower than in control plants. Fiber length and seed yield were also lower in silenced plants. We conclude that GhPAS1, a bHLH transcription factor, regulates plant development and architecture in cotton. These findings may help breeders and researchers develop cotton cultivars with desirable agronomic characteristics.

Conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) have shown great promise for use in contemporary energy applications owing to their unique structures and tunable functionality. Here, we report a CMP embedded with a single-atom Co catalyst (Co-CMP) as an electrocatalytic sulfur host for promoting the cathode reactions of lithium−sulfur (Li−S) batteries. The Co-CMP was synthesized by copolymerizing a dibromo salcyen Co complex with tris(ethynylthiophene)triazine using standard Sonogashira coupling methodology. In addition to featuring a single-atom catalyst (SAC), the Co-CMP possesses a high quantity of pyridinic nitrogen atoms and relatively large pore sizes that collectively facilitate sulfur cathode chemistry. The performance displayed by Li−S cells fabricated with the Co-CMP was outstanding when compared with cells that were devoid of a SAC, particularly in terms of specific capacity (1404 vs. 1338 mA h g−1 at 0.1 C), rate capability (766 vs. 613 mA h g−1 at 2 C), and cycling stability (549 vs. 314 mA h g−1 after 1000 cycles at 0.5 C). Density functional theory calculations in conjunction with X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy measurements revealed that the single-atom Co catalyst lowers the cathode reaction energies by forming bonding interactions with the polysulfide anions as well as the Li cations that are present in sulfur cathodes. Since the methodology is modular and obviates the extreme steps required by other approaches, it can be employed to synthesize new classes of CMPs containing SACs with predictable structures and functions for use in a broad range of contemporary catalytic applications.

AJCC TNM stage and WHO grade (G) are two widely used staging systems to guide clinical management for pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (panNENs), based on clinical staging and pathological grading information, respectively. We proposed to integrate TNM stage and G grade into one staging system (TNMG) and to evaluate its clinical application as a prognostic indicator for panNENs. Accordingly, 5254 patients diagnosed with panNENs were used to evaluate and to validate the applicability of TNMG to panNENs. The predictive accuracy of TNMG system was compared with that of each separate staging/grading system. We found that TNM stage and G grade were independent risk factors for survival in both the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Result (SEER) and multicenter series. The interaction effect between TNM stage and G grade was significant. Twelve subgroups combining the TNM stage and G grade were proposed in the TNMG stage, which were classified into five stages TNMG. According to the TNMG staging classification in the SEER series, the estimated median survival for stages I, II, III, IV, and V were 203, 174, 112, 61, and 8 months, respectively. The predictive accuracy of TNMG stage was higher than that of TNM stage and G grade used independently. The TNMG stage classification was more accurate in predicting panNEN patient's prognosis than either the TNM stage or G grade.

Metal-contaminated plants after phytoremediation provide organic matter and trace metals for anaerobic fermentation. In this study, alfalfa straw harvested from an abandoned iron mine was used for anaerobic fermentation. The variation of metal speciation during the anaerobic fermentation process and the influences on fermentation parameters were investigated. The results showed that the group adding alfalfa increased the peak daily biogas yield by 33.40 % compared to the group with cow dung only. Fe in the fermenter was predominated by the soluble and the residual fraction. Cu was transformed from soluble Cu to residual Cu with the fermentation progressed. On the 13th day of fermentation, the percentage of soluble Fe decreased while the percentage of soluble Cu, Ni and Zn increased which induced the daily biogas yields peak. Metal speciation was correlated to the fermentation parameters. Daily biogas yields were negatively correlated to the acid-extractable fraction of Ni and Zn (p

A scientific method for evaluating the dust generation capacities of coal samples with varying properties and moisture contents is of great significance for the study on dust generation and prevention in coal mines. The impact crushing dust generation method, which attributes coal dust generation to a single variable, i.e. energy, avoids the interference terms such as the conical pick angle, depth and rotating dust in the cutting process and can well reflect the dust generation law of coals with different hardness. However, the selection of sample size, sample pretreatment method, impact crushing energy, dust screening method and time, impact crushing and dust screening program setting, etc. is controversial or inconclusive in current coal impact crushing dust generation method, leading to errors that affect the test results to varying extents. Consequently, the research results can hardly be universally recognized. In this paper, a large number of comparative tests were performed in the impact energy range of 20–200 J and the moisture content of 0–5.5%. The following conclusions were obtained: The particle size of the sample is determined to be 12–15 mm. It is the most reasonable to conduct dust screening on a vibrating screening machine for 5 min. The numbers of impacts and screenings should be minimized on the premise of ensuring sufficient crushing of the sample, and the program of 5 impacts plus 1 screening can excellently reflect the effect of moisture increment on dust generation capacity reduction. Furthermore, the reliability of the above conclusions and the adaptability of the test method proposed in this paper were verified by coal samples from another two mining areas. The verification results confirm the above conclusions and further prove the remarkable repeatability and reliability of the proposed test procedure.