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Ebsulfur and ebselen derivatives that were proven to be potent inhibitors against the main protease (MPro) of SARS-CoV-2 which is an essential enzyme for viral replication were chosen to study the quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) analysis using a classical multiple linear regression (MLR) and a machine learning approach of random forest (RF) and artificial neural network (ANN) in order to find the relationship between molecular structural properties and biological inhibitory activities. With the statistical criteria, the R2 values of MLR, RF, and ANN models for the training set were 0.83, 0.82, and 0.92, respectively. The RMSE values of the test were considered for model evaluation, and the results were 0.27, 0.18, and 0.09 for MLR, RF, and ANN models, respectively. Therefore, the ANN model was the best-obtained model for predicting the MPro inhibitory activity of thirteen new synthetic ebselen analogs that haven't tested the biological assay before. Notably, our predicted inhibitory activities against SARS-CoV-2 were then examined using enzyme-based assays and cytotoxicity tests, which found that compound P8 resulted in a good potential candidate for SARS-CoV-2 MPro inhibitory activity. Furthermore, the molecular dynamics simulations were performed to study the dynamic interaction of ligand and binding site; the results showed a binding pathway and mechanism of compound P8 with key residues surrounding the active site of SARS-CoV-2 MPro, which is useful for further development of ebselen derivatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to assess the association of five insulin resistance surrogates, namely HOMA-β (Homeostasis Model Assessment of Beta-cell Function), QUICKI (Quantitative Insulin Sensitivity Check Index), IGR (Insulin Glucose Ratio), e-IS (Estimated Insulin Sensitivity), and Bennett ISI(Bennett's insulin sensitivity index) with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in respondents with metabolic syndrome(MetS). The prospective cohort of 6662 participants aged 18 years and older with metabolic syndrome was extracted from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey(NHANES 1999–2016). The multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model, Kaplan-Meier survival curve, and log-rank tests were applied to determine the association between the five indices and all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality in the MetS population. Restricted cubic splines, a two-piece segmented Cox proportional hazards model, and threshold effect analyses were performed to evaluate the nonlinear relationship. Sensitivity analyses were then conducted by removing individuals with CKD, CHF, CAD, stroke, or cancer, respectively. All five insulin resistance (IR) surrogates displayed a negative association with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in participants with metabolic syndrome. Restricted cubic spline curves showed QUICKI, IGR, and e-IS had a nonlinear relationship with statistical significance. MetS population at the highest quartile of HOMA-β or IGR exhibited lower all-cause and cardiovascular event probabilities compared with those at the lowest quartile, and e-IS had a similar correlation with cardiovascular events. Threshold effect analyses showed that there were inflection points of IGR for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. As IGR gradually approached inflection points, the two types of mortality risks descended by 15%[HR 0.85(0.80,0.91)] and 19%[HR 0.81(0.71,0.92)], respectively. Sensitivity analysis indicated most results were robust, but Bennett ISI did not exhibit significant outcomes in participants without CKD. Our study provides evidence that HOMA-β, QUICKI, IGR, e-IS, and Bennett ISI displayed a reverse correlation with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality in participants with metabolic syndrome. The five IR surrogates should be given more attention during the follow-up of MetS population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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A smooth hypersurface over a finite field F q is called Frobenius nonclassical if the image of every geometric point under the q-th Frobenius endomorphism remains in the unique hyperplane tangent to the point. In this paper, we establish sharp lower and upper bounds for the degrees of such hypersurfaces, give characterizations for those achieving the maximal degrees, and prove in the surface case that they are Hermitian when their degrees attain the minimum. We also prove that the set of F q -rational points on a Frobenius nonclassical hypersurface form a blocking set with respect to lines, which indicates the existence of many F q -points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To explore the clinical characteristics, treatment, and prognosis of growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenoma (GHPA) patients with pediatric-onset, so as to facilitate clinical management. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was carried out between 102 pediatric-onset GHPA patients admitted to our hospital from January 2013 to June 2022 and 204 adult-onset GHPA patients who were randomly matched. Results: GHPA with pediatric-onset was predominantly male, associated with higher proportion of genetic syndromes, longer course, and delayed diagnosis. Clinical symptoms of visual field defects and menstrual abnormality were more common. The pediatric-onset group exhibited higher growth hormone (GH) nadir during oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), higher rates of hyperprolactinemia, larger maximum diameter of adenoma, and higher rates of optic chiasm compression, suprasellar invasion, and pituitary apoplexy. Hypertension, diabetes, and obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) were more common in the adult-onset group. Echocardiography results were similar between the two groups. The pediatric-onset group owned significantly higher treatment scores and proportions of multimodal therapy modality, more surgical complications, and a higher proportion of ki67 ≥ 3%. There was no significant difference in the final cure rate, but male patients with adult-onset had a worse prognosis. The recurrence rate was also similar between two groups. Hypopituitarism was more prevalent in the pediatric-onset group, while the adult-onset group had a higher incidence of other tumors. Conclusion: Pediatric-onset GHPA patients exhibit distinct clinical characteristics compared to adult-onset patients. Multimodal therapy modalities could help to achieve a cure rate comparable to that of adult-onset patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the control of volatile N-nitrosamines (NAs) has been of interest in the pharmaceutical and food industries, as many of these compounds are probable human carcinogens. Thus, rapid and trace-level quantitative determination methods are in urgent demand. In this work, ambient pressure ammonium-adduct ionization mass spectrometry was proposed for the sensitive detection of volatile nitrosamines in various pharmaceutical headspaces. The ammonium ions produced through electrospray ionization acted as reactant ions for NAs to generate ammonium–NA adduct ions and underwent in-source collision-induced dissociation to produce protonated NAs, which were detected by mass spectrometry. The ionization selectivity and sensitivity for various volatile NAs were improved significantly using the developed method, which was demonstrated by the limit of quantification (LOQ) below 52 ng L−1 for all NAs, and the quantitative performance was consequently improved. Different NAs exhibited almost equimolar response using NH4+ as the reactant ion, with at least a twofold enhancement in intensity for the individual compounds relative to when using H+ as the reactant ion. The proposed method is a rapid, sensitive, and environmentally economical approach that uses few reagents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industry 4.0 is the fourth industrial revolution for decentralized production through shared facilities to achieve on-demand manufacturing and resource efficiency. It evolves from Industry 3.0 which focuses on routine operation. Data analytics is the set of techniques focus on gain actionable insight to make smart decisions from a massive amount of data. As the performance of routine operation can be improved by smart decisions and smart decisions need the support from routine operation to collect relevant data, there is an increasing amount of research effort in the merge between Industry 4.0 and data analytics. To better understand current research efforts, hot topics, and tending topics on this critical intersection, the basic concepts in Industry 4.0 and data analytics are introduced first. Then the merge between them is decomposed into three components: industry sectors, cyber-physical systems, and analytic methods. Joint research efforts on different intersections with different components are studied and discussed. Finally, a systematic literature review on the interaction between Industry 4.0 and data analytics is conducted to understand the existing research focus and trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indirect revascularization is one of the main techniques for the treatment of Moyamoya disease. The formation of good collateral circulation is a key measure to improve cerebral blood perfusion and reduce the risk of secondary stroke, and is the main method for evaluating the effect of indirect revascularization. Therefore, how to predict and promote the formation of collateral circulation before and after surgery is important for improving the success rate of indirect revascularization in Moyamoya disease. Previous studies have shown that vascular endothelial growth factor, endothelial progenitor cells, Caveolin-1, and other factors observed in patients with Moyamoya disease may play a key role in the generation of collateral vessels after indirect revascularization through endothelial hyperplasia and smooth muscle migration. In addition, mutations in the genetic factor RNF213 have also been associated with this process. This study summarizes the factors and mechanisms influencing collateral circulation formation after indirect revascularization in Moyamoya disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finite-time synchronization is a crucial phenomenon observed in nonlinear complex systems, the settling time in such a dynamic phenomenon is heavily depends on the initial states which may be unaccessible beforehand in the real world. Eliminating the dependence of the settling time on initial states leads to major advantage and convenience in practical applications. This paper is concerned with the fixed-/preassigned-time synchronization of delayed complex-valued neural networks(CVNNs) with discontinuous activations. By designing novel state feedback controllers, and with the help of Filippov regularization and inequality techniques, some new criteria for achieving fixed-/preassigned-time synchronization are established. The obtained theoretical results cover and supplement existing ones of the CVNNs with continuous activations. In addition, the upper-bound of the settling time is explicitly estimated. Finally, the validity of the theoretical results is supported by numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors has led to an increase in randomized controlled trials exploring various first-line combination treatment regimens. With the introduction of new PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors, there are now more clinical options available. For the first time, the AK105 monoclonal antibody Penpulimab, developed in China, was included. The AK105-302 Phase III trial studied the efficacy and safety of Penpulimab combined with chemotherapy in patients with advanced or metastatic squamous NSCLC. To determine the optimal treatment options, we conducted an updated network meta-analysis to compare the effectiveness and safety of these regimens. Methods: The system retrieves data from Chinese and English electronic databases, Clinical Trials, and the gov Clinical Trial Registration website up to September 6, 2023. The study indirectly compared the efficacy and safety of PD-1/PD-L1 combination regimens, including overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), all-grade adverse events, and above-grade III adverse events. Subgroup analyses were conducted based on programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) level, histological type, ECOG score, sex, and smoking history. Results: Nineteen RCTS were included, with a total of ten thousand eight hundred patients. Penpulimab plus chemotherapy (Pen + CT) provided the best OS (HR = 0.55, 95% CI 0.38–0.81) for PD-L1 patients with non-selective advanced NSCLC. Except Nivolumab plus Ipilimumab (Niv + Ipi), other PD-1/PD-L1 combination therapies significantly extended PFS compared with CT, and Nivolumab plus Bevacizumab combined with chemotherapy (Niv + Bev + CT) (HR = 0.43, 95% CI 0.26–0.74) provided the best PFS benefit and was comparable to Pen + CT (HR = 1.0) for PFS prolongation. For ORR, except Niv + Ipi, all the other regimens significantly improved ORR compared with CT. In terms of safety, except Tor + CT, the incidence of any-grade AEs or grade ≥ 3 adverse events may be higher than those of chemotherapy. The subgroup analysis revealed that for patients with PD-L1 levels below 1%, treatment with Tor + CT resulted in the best progression-free survival (HR = 0.47, 95% CI 0.25–0.86). For patients with PD-L1 levels of 1% or higher, Sintilimab plus chemotherapy (Sin + CT) (HR = 0.56, 95% CI 0.31–0.99) and Camrelizumab plus chemotherapy (Cam + CT) (HR = 0.43, 95% CI 0.28–0.64) were associated with the best overall survival and progression-free survival, respectively. For patients with SqNSCLC, combined immunotherapy may provide greater survival benefits. For patients with Non-sqNSCLC, Niv + Bev + CT and Tor + CT were associated with optimal PFS and OS, respectively. Cam + CT provided the best PFS in male patients with a history of smoking and an ECOG score of 0. In both female and non-smoking patient subgroups, Pem + CT was associated with the best PFS and OS benefits. Conclusion: For patients with advanced non-selective PD-L1 NSCLC, two effective regimens are Pen + CT and Niv + Bev + CT, which rank first in OS and PFS among all patients. Cam + CT and Tor + CT have advantages for OS in patients with SqNSCLC and Non-sqNSCLC, respectively. Niv + Ipi + CT provided the best OS benefit for patients with an ECOG score of 0, while Pem + CT may be the most effective treatment for patients with an ECOG score of 1. Pem + CT has a better effect on female patients and non-smokers. Sin + CT was found to be the most effective treatment for male patients and the smoking subgroup, while Cam + CT was found to be the most effective for PFS. In addition, Tor + CT was associated with the best PFS for patients with negative PD-L1 expression. Pem + CT was found to significantly improve both PFS and OS compared to CT alone. For patients with positive PD-L1 expression, Sin + CT and Cam + CT were found to be optimal for OS and PFS, respectively. It is important to note that, with the exception of Tor + CT, the toxicity of the other combinations was higher than that of CT alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Intracranial vessel wall enhancement (VWE) on high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (HRMRI) is associated with the progression and poor prognosis of moyamoya disease (MMD). This study assessed potential risk factors for VWE in MMD. Methods: We evaluated MMD patients using HRMRI and traditional angiography examinations. The participants were divided into VWE and non-VWE groups based on HRMRI. Logistic regression was performed to compare the risk factors for VWE in MMD. The incidence of cerebrovascular events of the different subgroups according to risk factors was compared using Kaplan–Meier survival and Cox regression. Results: We included 283 MMD patients, 84 of whom had VWE on HRMRI. The VWE group had higher modified Rankin Scale scores at admission (p = 0.014) and a higher incidence of ischaemia and haemorrhage (p = 0.002) than did the non-VWE group. Risk factors for VWE included the ring finger protein 213 (RNF213) p.R4810K variant (odds ratio [OR] 2.01, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.08–3.76, p = 0.028), hyperhomocysteinaemia (HHcy) (OR 5.08, 95% CI 2.34–11.05, p < 0.001), and smoking history (OR 3.49, 95% CI 1.08–11.31, p = 0.037). During the follow-up of 63.9 ± 13.2 months (median 65 months), 18 recurrent stroke events occurred. Cox regression showed that VWE and the RNF213 p.R4810K variant were risk factors for stroke. Conclusion: The RNF213 p.R4810K variant is strongly associated with VWE and poor prognosis in MMD. HHcy and smoking are independent risk factors for VWE. Clinical relevance statement: Vessel wall enhancement in moyamoya disease is closely associated with poor prognosis, especially related to the ring finger protein 213 p.R4810K variant, hyperhomocysteinaemia, and smoking, providing crucial risk assessment information for the clinic. Key Points: • The baseline presence of vessel wall enhancement is significantly associated with poor prognosis in moyamoya disease. • The ring finger protein 213 p.R4810K variant is strongly associated with vessel wall enhancement and poor prognosis in moyamoya disease. • Hyperhomocysteinaemia and smoking are independent risk factors for vessel wall enhancement in moyamoya disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For this work, conditional averaging and Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) were used to analyze the salient three-dimensional structures in the wake of a DrivAer fastback model with smooth underbody. Conditional averaging revealed that the bi-stable structure of the wake consists of a ring-like structure with three vortex legs, which includes a vortex pair on the side associated with the bi-stability and one on the opposite side associated with the wheel vortex. POD revealed the entrainment of low-momentum fluid from the wheel wake into the vortex pair leads to an induced spanwise crossflow which drives a feedback loop for the bi-stability. The resultant bi-stable structure was dependent on the state of the wheels. With stationary wheels, the feedback mechanism is enhanced, leading to higher spanwise crossflow that breaks the ring-like vortex. A different structure was observed when the wheels rotate, wherein the ring-like structure is unbroken and pierced by the vortex pair. The feedback mechanism and resultant vortex structure are similar to those found in simplified square-back models. Given the similarity in bi-stability between realistic and simplified vehicles, the suppression of the bi-stability in realistic vehicles could initially be based on the same mechanism as that for simplified square-back models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There have been few reports on the risk factors for preoperative cerebral infarction in childhood moyamoya disease (MMD) in infants under 4 years. The aim of this retrospective study is to identify clinical and radiological risk factors for preoperative cerebral infarction in infants under 4 years old with MMD, and the optimal timing for EDAS was also considered. We retrospectively analyzed the risk factors for preoperative cerebral infarction, confirmed by magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), in pediatric patients aged ˂4 years who underwent encephaloduroarteriosynangiosis between April 2005 and July 2022. The clinical and radiological outcomes were determined by two independent reviewers. In addition, potential risk factors for preoperative cerebral infarction, including infarctions at diagnosis and while awaiting surgery, were analyzed using a univariate model and multivariate logistic regression to identify independent predictors of preoperative cerebral infarction. A total of 160 hemispheres from 83 patients aged <4 years with MMD were included in this study. The mean age of all surgical hemispheres at diagnosis was 2.17±0.831 years (range 0.380–3.81 years). In the multivariate logistic regression model, we included all variables with P<0.1 in the univariate analysis. The multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that preoperative MRA grade (odds ratio [OR], 2.05 [95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3–3.25], P=0. 002), and age at diagnosis (OR, 0.61 [95% CI, 0.4–0.92], P=0. 018) were predictive factors of infarction at diagnosis. The analysis further indicated that the onset of infarction (OR, 0.01 [95% CI, 0–0.08], P<0.001), preoperative MRA grade (OR, 1.7 [95% CI, 1.03–2.8], P=0.037), and duration from diagnosis to surgery (Diag-Op) (OR, 1.25 [95% CI, 1.11–1.41], P<0.001) were predictive factors for infarction while awaiting surgery. Moreover, the regression analysis indicated that family history (OR, 8.88 [95% CI, 0.91–86.83], P=0.06), preoperative MRA grade (OR, 8.72 [95% CI, 3.44–22.07], P<0.001), age at diagnosis (OR, 0.36 [95% CI, 0.14–0.91], P=0.031), and Diag-Op (OR, 1.38 [95% CI, 1.14–1.67], P=0.001) were predictive factors for total infarction. Therefore, during the entire treatment process, careful observation, adequate risk factor management, and optimal operation time are required to prevent preoperative cerebral infarction, particularly in pediatric patients with a family history, higher preoperative MRA grade, duration from diagnosis to operation longer than 3.53 months, and aged ˂3 years at diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Pulmonary neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) are the most frequent cause of ectopic adrenocorticotropic hormone syndrome (EAS); lung infection is common in EAS. An imaging finding of infection in EAS patients can mimic NENs. This retrospective study investigated EAS-associated pulmonary imaging indicators. Methods: Forty-five pulmonary NENs and 27 tumor-like infections from 59 EAS patients (45 NEN and 14 infection patients) were included. Clinical manifestations, CT features, 18F-FDG, or 68Ga-DOTATATE-PET/CT images and pathological results were collected. Results: High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (p < 0.001) and expectoration occurrence (p = 0.04) were higher, and finger oxygen saturation (p = 0.01) was lower in the infection group than the NENs group. Higher-grade NENs were underrepresented in our cohort. Pulmonary NENs were solitary primary tumors, 80% of which were peripheral tumors. Overlying vessel sign and airway involvement were more frequent in the NENs group (p < 0.001). Multifocal (p = 0.001) and peripheral (p = 0.02) lesions, cavity (p < 0.001), spiculation (p = 0.01), pleural retraction (p < 0.001), connection to pulmonary veins (p = 0.02), and distal atelectasis or inflammatory exudation (p = 0.001) were more frequent in the infection group. The median CT value increment between the non-contrast and arterial phases was significantly higher in NENs lesions (p < 0.001). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicated a moderate predictive ability at 48.3 HU of delta CT value (sensitivity, 95.0%; specificity, 54.1%). Conclusion: Chest CT scans are valuable for localizing and characterizing pulmonary lesions in rare EAS, thereby enabling prompt differential diagnosis and treatment. Critical relevance statement: Thin-slice CT images are valuable for the localization and identification of pulmonary ectopic adrenocorticotropic hormone syndrome lesions, leading to prompt differential diagnosis and effective treatment. Key Points: Lung tumor-like infections can mimic neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) in ectopic adrenocorticotropic hormone syndrome (EAS) patients. NENs are solitary lesions, whereas infections are multiple peripheral pseudotumors each with identifying imaging findings. Typical CT signs aid in localization and creating an appropriate differential diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic retinopathy (DR), a significant and vision-endangering complication associated with diabetes mellitus, constitutes a substantial portion of acquired instances of preventable blindness. The progression of DR appears to prominently feature the loss of retinal cells, encompassing neural retinal cells, pericytes, and endothelial cells. Therefore, mitigating the apoptosis of retinal cells in DR could potentially enhance the therapeutic approach for managing the condition by suppressing retinal vascular leakage. Recent advancements have highlighted the crucial regulatory roles played by non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) in diverse biological processes. Recent advancements have highlighted that non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), including microRNAs (miRNAs), circular RNAs (circRNAs), and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), act as central regulators in a wide array of biogenesis and biological functions, exerting control over gene expression associated with histogenesis and cellular differentiation within ocular tissues. Abnormal expression and activity of ncRNAs has been linked to the regulation of diverse cellular functions such as apoptosis, and proliferation. This implies a potential involvement of ncRNAs in the development of DR. Notably, ncRNAs and apoptosis exhibit reciprocal regulatory interactions, jointly influencing the destiny of retinal cells. Consequently, a thorough investigation into the complex relationship between apoptosis and ncRNAs is crucial for developing effective therapeutic and preventative strategies for DR. This review provides a fundamental comprehension of the apoptotic signaling pathways associated with DR. It then delves into the mutual relationship between apoptosis and ncRNAs in the context of DR pathogenesis. This study advances our understanding of the pathophysiology of DR and paves the way for the development of novel therapeutic strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Bone mineral density (BMD) impairment is one of the critical factors for long-term quality of life in adults growth hormone deficiency (AGHD). This study aims to investigate the annual changes in BMD in AGHD patients with different ages of onset and to identify predicting factors that influence BMD. Methods: AGHD patients (n = 160) with available data for 4 years follow-up from a major tertiary medical center in China were retrospectively included (110 [68.8%] childhood-onset, 119 [74.4%] male). BMD of the axial bone (including total hip, neck of femur, and L1–4) derived from dual X-ray absorptiometry and final height were investigated at the first visit, 12 months, 24 months, 36 months, and 48 months thereafter. Low BMD was defined as Z-score ≤ −2. Results: The prevalence of low BMD was 30.0% at baseline and 12.5% at 4 years of follow-up. The CO AGHD group presented a significantly lower BMD than the AO AGHD group at the baseline (P = 0.009). In contrast, the CO AGHD group had significantly greater median annual BMD change than the AO AGHD group (0.044 vs. −0.0003 g/cm2/year in L1–4, P < 0.001), indicating a significant difference in the overall BMD trend between CO and AO groups. Childhood-onset (odds ratio [OR] 0.326, P = 0.012), low serum testosterone (OR 0.847; P = 0.004) and FT4 (OR 0.595; P = 0.039) level were independent risk factors for BMD loss. Conclusion: The annual changes of BMD show a different pattern in AGHD patients with varying ages of onset. Patients with CO AGHD have a lower bone mass, and in general, appropriate replacement therapy is necessary for long-term bone health in AGHD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fiber pump lasers are widely used in a variety of fields, such as optical fiber communication, national defense, and medical beauty due to their high beam quality and intense laser energy. However, the alignment errors of optical parameters can influence the beam quality in the packaging of the fiber pump lasers. It is necessary to analyze the reflector, focusing lens, fiber, and the laser diode on the coupling influence between for guiding the fiber pump laser packaging. Firstly, we establish the optical path between the laser diode, focusing lens and reflector based on the physical ray-tracing method. On the other hand, the high coupling efficiency of whole system is achieved by optimize the parameters of each optical element. The simulation result shows that the highest coupling efficiency is 98.6% based on optimizing the parameters of the optical path while the experimental result of coupling efficiency is 90.36%. Also, the effects of refractive index, wavelength and fiber diameter on coupling efficiency are further investigated. The experimental results show that the radial displacement has the greatest influence on the coupling efficiency. The simulation results show that increasing the fiber core diameter can effectively improve the coupling efficiency. The results of rigorous analysis will provide an effective reference for manufacturing compact, high coupling efficiency fiber pumped laser. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly efficient and stable blue organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), although required for display and lighting applications, remain rare. Here we report a molecular perdeuteration strategy to stabilize blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters. Perdeuterated sky-blue TADF emitters exhibit higher efficiencies and doubled device lifetime in OLEDs compared with protonated emitters, owing to suppressed high-energy vibrations. Perdeuteration also leads to blue-shifted and narrowed spectra in the solid state, which in turn improves the Förster energy transfer to the deep-blue final emitter in TADF-sensitized fluorescent OLEDs. These devices exhibit a maximum external quantum efficiency of 33.1% and a lifetime to reach 80% of the initial luminance of 1,365 h with a Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage y coordinate of 0.20 at a luminance of 1,000 cd m−2, even outperforming blue phosphorescent OLEDs. Our perdeuteration strategy improves the device performance of blue OLEDs, paving the way for their broader applications in displays and lightings. Molecular perdeuteration of thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters improves the performance of blue organic light-emitting diodes, enabling a peak external quantum efficiency of 33.1% and a device lifetime to reach 80% of initial luminance of over 1,300 h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing mobile robots mostly use graph search algorithms for path planning, which suffer from relatively low planning efficiency owing to high redundancy and large computational complexity. Due to the limitations of the neighborhood search strategy, the robots could hardly obtain the most optimal global path. A global path planning algorithm, denoted as EDG*, is proposed by expanding nodes using a well-designed expanding disconnected graph operator (EDG) in this paper. Firstly, all obstacles are marked and their corners are located through the map pre-processing. Then, the EDG operator is designed to find points in non-obstruction areas to complete the rapid expansion of disconnected nodes. Finally, the EDG* heuristic iterative algorithm is proposed. It selects the candidate node through a specific valuation function and realizes the node expansion while avoiding collision with a minimum offset. Path planning experiments were conducted in a typical indoor environment and on the public dataset CSM. The result shows that the proposed EDG* reduced the planning time by more than 90% and total length of paths reduced by more than 4.6%. Compared to A*, Dijkstra and JPS, EDG* does not show an exponential explosion effect in map size. The EDG* showed better performance in terms of path smoothness, and collision avoidance. This shows that the EDG* algorithm proposed in this paper can improve the efficiency of path planning and enhance path quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to detect white matter changes and different effects of thyroid hormone on the white matter integrity in young adult male patients with childhood-onset growth hormone deficiency (CO-GHD), compared with healthy people. Methods: Magnetic resonance imaging (structural imaging and diffusion tensor imaging) was performed in 17 young adult male patients with CO-GHD and 17 healthy male controls. The white matter volume, mean diffusivity (MD) values and fractional anisotropy (FA) values were quantified and compared between two groups (CO-GHD group vs. control group). We assessed the interaction effects between thyroid hormone and groups (CO-GHD group vs. control group) on white matter integrity. Results: Patients with CO-GHD exhibited similar white matter volumes compared with controls. However, compared with the controls, patients with CO-GHD showed a significant reduction in FA values in six clusters and a substantial increase in MD values in four clusters, mainly involving the corticospinal tracts, corpus callosum and so on. Moreover, after correcting for insulin-like growth factor-1 levels, the significant interaction effects between groups (CO-GHD group vs. control group) and serum free thyroxine levels on MD values were noted in three clusters, mainly involving in superior longitudinal fasciculus and sagittal stratum. Conclusion: In conclusion, young males with CO-GHD showed white matter changes in multiple brain regions and different effects of thyroid hormone on the white matter integrity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early and accurate diagnosis of focal liver lesions is crucial for effective treatment and prognosis. We developed and validated a fully automated diagnostic system named Liver Artificial Intelligence Diagnosis System (LiAIDS) based on a diverse sample of 12,610 patients from 18 hospitals, both retrospectively and prospectively. In this study, LiAIDS achieved an F1-score of 0.940 for benign and 0.692 for malignant lesions, outperforming junior radiologists (benign: 0.830-0.890, malignant: 0.230-0.360) and being on par with senior radiologists (benign: 0.920-0.950, malignant: 0.550-0.650). Furthermore, with the assistance of LiAIDS, the diagnostic accuracy of all radiologists improved. For benign and malignant lesions, junior radiologists’ F1-scores improved to 0.936-0.946 and 0.667-0.680 respectively, while seniors improved to 0.950-0.961 and 0.679-0.753. Additionally, in a triage study of 13,192 consecutive patients, LiAIDS automatically classified 76.46% of patients as low risk with a high NPV of 99.0%. The evidence suggests that LiAIDS can serve as a routine diagnostic tool and enhance the diagnostic capabilities of radiologists for liver lesions.Early detection and accurate diagnosis of focal liver lesions are crucial for effective treatment and prognosis. Here, the authors present a fully automated diagnostic system that leverages multi-phase CT scans and clinical features, for diagnosing liver lesions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boron particles in solid-fuel ramjet combustion chambers typically exist in agglomerated form, and the gas composition within the chamber includes not only air but also propellant combustion products such as water vapor and CO2. This study investigates the thermal behavior, laser heating characteristics, and condensed-phase heating products of boron agglomerates in six distinct atmospheres: N2, O2, air, water vapor, CO2, and Ar. Thermal oxidation tests revealed that the reaction between boron and O2 dominates in an air atmosphere, while boron can still react with N2 in air to form granular boron nitride. Laser-induced heating resulted in ejection phenomena occurring in boron agglomerates when subjected to N2, air, water vapor, Ar, or O2 atmospheres, with the O2 atmosphere being the most conducive, exhibiting an average of 47 occurrences for individual agglomerates. The ejection process and frequency were found to be comparable in the air, Ar, and water vapor atmospheres, with an average ejection frequency ranging from 7 to 11 times. Although the ejection phenomenon occurred in the N2 atmosphere, its frequency was low, with an average of only two occurrences. Agglomerates underwent significant expansion before ejection, while single-particle boron did not exhibit ejection or expansion in any of these atmospheres. The highest surface temperatures of boron agglomerates upon laser heating in air, water vapor, N2, and Ar atmospheres were 2697.7 K, 2416.2 K, 2408.9 K, and 2392.1 K, respectively. Analysis of condensed-phase heating products revealed that boron agglomerates reacted with N2 or CO2 to form boron nitride or boron carbide, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Acromegalic patients with giant growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenomas (GHPAs) (≥ 40 mm) are relatively rare, and their clinical characteristics and treatment outcome data are limited. This study aims to analyze the clinical practice experience of giant GHPAs. Methods: Sixty-seven acromegalic patients with giant GHPAs and 67 patients with macro GHPAs (10–39 mm), matched for age and gender from the same hospital during the same period, were retrospectively recruited. The clinical characteristics, treatment, and outcomes were analyzed. Results: Enlargement of the extremities and facial features were the most common symptoms in most patients (92.5%). Compared with the macroadenoma group, more frequent visual impairment (86.6% vs. 25.4%, P < 0.001) and gonadal axis dysfunction (49.3% vs. 34.3%, P = 0.008), higher preoperative fasting GH, nadir GH after OGTT and IGF-1 levels, and a higher proportion of extrasellar tumor invasion were seen in the giant adenoma group. As the adenoma size increases, the total resection rate decreases, and postoperative complications and multimodal treatment strategies increase significantly. Fasting and nadir GH levels remained higher at 1 week postoperatively, and there were more surgical complications and cases of anterior hypopituitarism in the giant group. After a median follow-up of 36 months, 12 patients (36.4%) in the giant GHPA group and 17 (36.2%) in the macro GHPA group achieved biochemical remission. Other factors such as age of onset, age of diagnosis, delayed diagnosis time, metabolic complications, p53 positive rate, and Ki-67 index showed no significant difference between the two groups. Conclusions: With aggressive multimodal therapy, the biochemical remission rate of acromegalic patients with giant GHPAs is comparable to that of patients with macro adenoma. However, postoperative complications and hypopituitarism need to be closely monitored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The control of excited states and related emissive properties of gold(III) complexes mainly depends on the modulation of intramolecular electronic interactions among gold(III) metal center, chelating ligands and/or peripheral groups. However, luminescent gold(III) systems based on intermolecular electronic interactions have never been explored. Here we report a series of proof-of-concept gold(III) exciplexes using a simple gold(III) complex, AuDPPy, as an electron acceptor. The emissive properties of gold(III) exciplexes can be regulated by combining AuDPPy with different donors. Inspiringly, these gold(III) exciplexes have donor-dependent emission mechanisms: dominant phosphorescence or dual radiative channels of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) and phosphorescence. Consequently, these gold(III) exciplexes deliver green-to-red electroluminescence with external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of up to 10.1%. More importantly, using these gold(III) exciplexes to host multi-resonance TADF emitters results in narrowband yellow, orange, and deep-red electroluminescence with high EQEs of 23.5%, 24.4%, and 27.4%, respectively, competitive to the highest values for gold(III) OLEDs in similar color gamut. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose: To evaluate the incidence of malignancies in acromegaly and to identify risk factors for newly-diagnostic cancers, especially the excessive growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). Methods: A retrospective cohort including 1738 consecutive hospitalized patients with acromegaly in a single referral center between 2012 and 2020 (mean follow-up 4.3 years). A gender- and age-matched case-control study (280 patients from the cohort) was performed for risk factor analysis. Results: One hundred thirteen malignancies (67 diagnosed after acromegaly) were observed. The overall newly-diagnostic cancer risk of acromegaly was higher than the general population (standardized incidence ratio (SIR) 2.81; 95% CI 2.18–3.57). The risk of thyroid cancer (n = 33, SIR 21.42; 95% CI 13.74–30.08) and colorectal cancer (n = 8, SIR 3.17; 95% CI 1.37–6.25) was elevated. In the overall cohort, IGF-1 (ULN: 1.27 vs. 0.94, p = 0.057), GH (1.30 vs. 1.00 ng/ml, p = 0.12), and disease-controlled rate (34.9% vs. 45.9%, p = 0.203) at the last visit did not reach significance between patients with and without post-diagnostic cancer. In the case-control study, GH (1.80 vs. 0.90 ng/ml, p = 0.018) and IGF-1 (ULN: 1.27 vs. 0.91, p = 0.003) at the last visit were higher in patients with post-diagnostic cancers, with a lower disease-controlled rate. Elder age was a risk factor for cancer. Other metabolic comorbidities and the size of pituitary tumors were similar. Conclusion: The risk of malignancies, especially thyroid cancer, was increased in patients with acromegaly in our center. More cancer screening should be considered when managing acromegaly, especially in patients with higher posttreatment GH and IGF-1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly-efficient molecular photoswitching occurs ex-situ but not to-date inside electronic devices due to quenching of excited states by background interactions. Here we achieve fully reversible in-situ mechano-optoelectronic switching in self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of tetraphenylethylene molecules by bending their supporting electrodes to maximize aggregation-induced emission (AIE). We obtain stable, reversible switching across >1600 on/off cycles with large on/off ratio of (3.8 ± 0.1) × 103 and 140 ± 10 ms switching time which is 10-100× faster than other approaches. Multimodal characterization shows mechanically-controlled emission with UV-light enhancing the Coulomb interaction between the electrons and holes resulting in giant enhancement of molecular conductance. The best mechano-optoelectronic switching occurs in the most concave architecture that reduces ambient single-molecule conformational entropy creating artificially-tightened supramolecular assemblies. The performance can be further improved to achieve ultra-high switching ratio on the order of 105 using tetraphenylethylene derivatives with more AIE-active sites. Our results promise new applications from optimized interplay between mechanical force and optics in soft electronics. To date the performance of molecular electronics compared to silicon limits their applications. Yang et al. develop the first mechano-optoelectronic switch based on mechanically controlled aggregation-induced emission of the self-assembled molecules, which can be reversibly switched at high speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To assess the diagnostic performance of high-resolution contrast-enhanced MRI (hrMRI) with three-dimensional (3D) fast spin echo (FSE) sequence by comparison with conventional contrast-enhanced MRI (cMRI) and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (dMRI) with 2D FSE sequence for identifying pituitary microadenomas. Methods: This single-institutional retrospective study included 69 consecutive patients with Cushing's syndrome who underwent preoperative pituitary MRI, including cMRI, dMRI, and hrMRI, between January 2016 to December 2020. Reference standards were established by using all available imaging, clinical, surgical, and pathological resources. The diagnostic performance of cMRI, dMRI, and hrMRI for identifying pituitary microadenomas was independently evaluated by two experienced neuroradiologists. The area under the receiver operating characteristics curves (AUCs) were compared between protocols for each reader by using the DeLong test to assess the diagnostic performance for identifying pituitary microadenomas. The inter-observer agreement was assessed by using the κ analysis. Results: The diagnostic performance of hrMRI (AUC, 0.95–0.97) was higher than cMRI (AUC, 0.74–0.75; p ≤.002) and dMRI (AUC, 0.59–0.68; p ≤.001) for identifying pituitary microadenomas. The sensitivity and specificity of hrMRI were 90–93% and 100%, respectively. There were 78% (18/23) to 82% (14/17) of the patients, who were misdiagnosed on cMRI and dMRI and correctly diagnosed on hrMRI. The inter-observer agreement for identifying pituitary microadenomas was moderate on cMRI (κ = 0.50), moderate on dMRI (κ = 0.57), and almost perfect on hrMRI (κ = 0.91), respectively. Conclusions: The hrMRI showed higher diagnostic performance than cMRI and dMRI for identifying pituitary microadenomas in patients with Cushing's syndrome. Key Points: • The diagnostic performance of hrMRI was higher than cMRI and dMRI for identifying pituitary microadenomas in Cushing's syndrome. • About 80% of patients, who were misdiagnosed on cMRI and dMRI, were correctly diagnosed on hrMRI. • The inter-observer agreement for identifying pituitary microadenomas was almost perfect on hrMRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted a comprehensive investigation into the protective roles of boron (B) against trichloroacetic acid (TCA)-induced hepatotoxicity by assessing TCA exposure in vivo and exploring the potential mechanisms by which B protects against TCA-induced hepatotoxicity in vitro. For the in vivo study, we evaluated TCA-induced hepatotoxicity in adult male B6C3F1 mice exposed to 25, 50, 125, and 500 mg/kg/day of TCA, respectively, for 21 days. We found that the mice's liver weight was significantly increased, and that there were changes in hepatic histopathology, particularly in mice treated with the highest dosage (500 mg/kg/day). TCA also increased the hepatic oxidoreductase activity of medium-chain and long-chain acyl-coenzyme A (CoA), which are biomarkers of peroxisome proliferation, in a dose-dependent manner. Subsequently, we established a TCA-induced HepG2 cell model of oxidative damage to estimate the cytotoxicity and determine the positive effects of B administration in vitro. We found that B administration significantly reduced oxidative stress by attenuating the production of TCA-induced reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde. B also significantly downregulated the concentrations of certain cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, and transforming growth factor-beta, which are predominantly associated with the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway. In addition, B significantly upregulated phospho-p38 levels and downregulated Bax and p21 levels in the cytoplasm and downregulated p38 and p21 levels in the nucleus. Taken together, our findings suggest that the protective role of B against TCA-induced hepatotoxicity primarily involves alleviation of oxidative damage and cell apoptosis caused by TCA and might be mediated via the p38 MAPK pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To retrospectively summarize the clinical features of acromegaly complicated with fulminant pituitary apoplexy and analyze the prognostic factors to guide early identification and timely treatment of such patients. Methods: A retrospective analysis was carried out to summarize the clinical manifestations, hormone changes, imaging, treatment and follow-up of ten patients with acromegaly complicated with fulminant pituitary apoplexy admitted to our hospital from February 2013 to September 2021. Results: The mean age of the ten patients (five males and five females) at the time of pituitary apoplexy was 37.1 ± 13.4 years old. There were nine cases with sudden severe headaches and five cases with visual impairment. All patients had pituitary macroadenomas, of which six cases with Knosp grade ≥3. The level of GH/IGF-1 hormone after pituitary apoplexy was lower compared with pre-apoplexy, and 1 patient reached biochemical remission spontaneously. Seven patients underwent transsphenoidal pituitary surgery after apoplexy and one patient was treated with long-acting somatostatin analog. The biochemical remission rate was 37.5% in eight patients immediately after treatment and 50% at the last follow-up. Patients with Knosp grade ≥3 were less likely to achieve biochemical remission than those with Knosp grade <3 (16.7% vs. 100%, p = 0.048), and patients who achieved biochemical remission had a smaller maximum tumor diameter [20.1 (20.1,28.0) mm vs. 44.0 (44.0,60) mm, p = 0.016]. Conclusion: Acromegaly complicated with fulminant pituitary apoplexy remains a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current research on autonomous mobile robots focuses primarily on perceptual accuracy and autonomous performance. In commercial and domestic constructions, concrete, wood, and glass are typically used. Laser and visual mapping or planning algorithms are highly accurate in mapping wood panels and concrete walls. However, indoor and outdoor glass curtain walls may fail to perceive these transparent materials. In this study, a novel indoor glass recognition and map optimization method based on boundary guidance is proposed. First, the status of glass recognition techniques is analyzed comprehensively. Next, a glass image segmentation network based on boundary data guidance and the optimization of a planning map based on depth repair are proposed. Finally, map optimization and path-planning tests are conducted and compared using different algorithms. The results confirm the favorable adaptability of the proposed method to indoor transparent plates and glass curtain walls. Using the proposed method, the recognition accuracy of a public test set increases to 94.1%. After adding the planning map, incorrect coverage redundancies for two test scenes reduce by 59.84% and 55.7%. Herein, a glass recognition and map optimization method is proposed that offers sufficient capacity in perceiving indoor glass materials and recognizing indoor no-entry regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pursuit of ideal short-delayed thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters is hampered by the mutual exclusion of a small singlet-triplet energy gap (ΔEST) and a large oscillator strength (f). Here, by attaching an multiresonance-acceptor onto a sterically-uncrowded donor, we report TADF emitters bearing hybrid electronic excitations with a main donor-to-acceptor long-range (LR) and an auxiliary bridge-phenyl short-range (SR) charge-transfer characters, balancing a small ΔEST and a large f. Moreover, the incorporation of dual equivalent multiresonance-acceptors is found to double the f value without affecting the ΔEST. A large radiative decay rate over an order of magnitude higher than the intersystem crossing (ISC) rate, and a decent reverse ISC rate of >106 s−1 are simultaneously obtained in one emitter, leading to a short delayed-lifetime of ~0.88 μs. The corresponding organic light-emitting diode exhibits a record-high maximum external quantum efficiency of 40.4% with alleviated efficiency roll-off and extended lifetime.To possess a small singlet-triplet energy gap and a large oscillator strength simultaneously is critical for efficient thermally activated delayed fluorescent emitters. Here, the authors attach an multiresonance-acceptor onto a sterically-uncrowded donor for realizing a device efficiency of 40.4%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pure organic phosphors capable of room-temperature phosphorescence show a great potential in organic light-emitting diodes, while it is limited by the big challenge to realize efficient electroluminescence under electric excitation. Herein, we develop a class of organic phosphors based on acridine as the electron donor, triazine as the electron acceptor and oxygen as the bridge between them. Benefitting from the characteristic donor-oxygen-acceptor geometry, these compounds are found to behave an exciting aggregation-induced organic room-temperature electrophosphorescence, and achieve a record-high external quantum efficiency of 15.8% for non-doped devices. Furthermore, they can sensitize multi-resonant emitters in the absence of any additional wide bandgap host, leading to an effective narrowband emission with a peak external quantum efficiency of 26.4% and a small full-width at half maximum of 26 nm. The results clearly indicate that donor-oxygen-acceptor geometry is a promising strategy to design organic phosphors suitable for organic light-emitting diodes. Pure organic room-temperature phosphorescencent materials draw much attention but realising electroluminescence under electric excitation is challenging. Here the authors propose a donor-oxygen-acceptor molecular design realizing aggregation-induced organic room-temperature electrophosphorescence with high external quantum efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maleic acid polymer scale inhibitor is a new domestic seawater desalination scale inhibitor. This study tested the acute oral toxicity, sub-chronic toxicity and genotoxicity of this new inhibitor. The LD50 obtained from the acute oral toxicity test was 6810 and 9260 mg/kg·BW for male and female rats, as well as 1/5, 1/10 and 1/20 LD50 were as the dose for sub-chronic toxicity test. It showed the weight of male rats with high dose was significantly lower than the control group during the exposure period (p < 0.05), and the food consumption in the first 4 weeks was lower than the control group (p_week1 = 0.0261, p_week4 = 0.00222). The blood biochemical results showed the UREA in the medium- and high-dose groups were significantly higher than the control group (p_ female medium = 0.0047, p_high = 0.0037; p_male medium = 0.0026, p_high < 0.001), and increased as a dose dependence. Based on UREA results, the NOAEL and LOAEL were 1/20 LD50 and 1/10 LD50, respectively (males: 340.5 and 681 mg/kg·BW, females: 436 and 926 mg/kg·BW). Comet assay in vitro and Mammalian Erythrocyte Micronucleus Test were jointly to judge genotoxicity. This inhibitor did not cause chromosome aberrations in mouse bone marrow cells. However, the tail moment of CHO cell in all groups (p < 0.01) and the DNA% in tail in the 1/4 IC50 and IC50 groups were higher than the negative control (p < 0.001) in comet assay, suggesting the potential DNA damage in CHO cell. The oral LD50 and the NOAEL and LOAEL obtained in this study provides a theoretical basis for further toxicity research and risk assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The procollagen C-protease enhancer (PCOLCE) has been identified to influence tumor growth and metastasis in multiple cancers. However, the relationship between PCOLCE activity and the progression of gliomas remains largely unknown. Glioma RNA-seq data were derived from the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA) and The Cancer Genome Atlas databases for analysis. Kaplan–Meier survival curve, clinical characterization correlation, univariate and multivariate Cox, and receiver operating characteristic curve analyses were performed to assess the prognostic role of PCOLCE. Gene Ontology, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes, and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis were used to determine the functions or pathways associated with PCOLCE. The ESTIMATE and CIBERSORT algorithms, Spearman's rank correlation analysis, and Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER) databases were used to explore the relationship between PCOLCE and immune infiltration. Correlation analysis between PCOLCE, related genes, and immune cell markers was conducted using the TIMER database. Immunophenoscore assays were performed to determine differential PCOLCE expression levels in glioma. The sensitivity of multi-drugs were determined to explore potential chemotherapeutic agents in between PCOLCE. Compared to normal brain tissue, PCOLCE expression was increased in glioma and correlated with shorter overall survival (OS). Furthermore, significant differences were observed in the immune scores and immune cell infiltration levels. PCOLCE is positively associated with immune checkpoints and many immune markers. Additionally, PCOLCE expression was higher in gliomas with higher IPS Z-scores in CGGA. High expression of PCOLCE increased sensitivity to multiple chemotherapy agents in CGGA (P < 0.001), and TCGA. These results suggest that PCOLCE significantly influences the prognosis of patients with glioma, can serve as an independent prognostic factor, and is related to tumor immunity. PCOLCE may be a novel immune-related target for treating gliomas. Additionally, analysis of chemosensitivity in gliomas with high PCOLCE expression may provide a promising direction for drug development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban morphology plays a significant role in shaping the spatial distribution of crime. This study takes an environmental criminology perspective on crime and examines how residential burglary is related to two typical morphology features—housing density and composition, which were rarely concerned by previous research. Wuhan, the largest city in central China, was selected as the case study. We first applied a new urban morphology approach to identify the morphology category of each neighborhood based on its housing density and composition. Negative binomial regression models were adopted to evaluate the impacts of morphology factors on the residential burglary at the neighborhood level while controlling for socio-demographic features, transport facilities, housing price and age. Results suggest that both housing composition and density are significantly associated with residential burglary. In particular, one unit increase in Floor Space Index, an indicator of housing density and Ground Space Index, an indicator of housing composition could lead to an 11.9% and 9.1% increase in the incident rate of residential burglary. The 'block' and 'strip' composition exert more substantial impacts than 'point' composition; neighborhoods with 'high' and 'medium' residences tend to be more dangerous than neighborhoods with 'low' residences. Results of this study reveal that communities must be designed with the relationship between risk levels of residential burglary and the ways by which communities are designed in mind. Implications regarding burglary prevention and neighborhood planning practices are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) have attracted great interest due to their high surface area, porosity and conjugacy, which could be potentially applied in pollutant adsorption, heterogeneous photocatalysis and super capacitor. Iodine 129 (129I) and iodine 131 (131I), as the common volatile radioactive products in nuke waste, have a long radioactive half-life, which is an important issue all the time. Here, two novel conjugated microporous polymers (TPAsTr-CMP and TPAPyD-CMP), which are rich in N element, were synthesized via Suzuki reaction and characterized through FTIR, 13C NMR, SEM, TGA and etc. The surface areas calculated by BET are 449.1 m2/g for TPAsTr-CMP and 15.6 m2/g for TPAPyD-CMP, respectively. The iodine adsorption experiments at 350 K exhibited that the iodine uptake of TPAsTr-CMP was up to 3.52 g/g; while TPAPyD-CMP had the iodine uptake of 2.84 g/g. For dissolved iodine in cyclohexane, the TPAPyD-CMP performed a better adsorption capacity than TPAsTr-CMP. The adsorption capacity of TPAPyD-CMP was 333.8 mg/g, when initial iodine concentration was 500 mg/L, while that of TPAsTr-CMP was only 104.3 mg/g. The adsorption capacity to iodine should be attributed to their high surface area, effective adsorptive sites and expanded π-conjugated network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gelatinous underwater invertebrates such as jellyfish have organs that are transparent, luminescent and self-healing, which allow the creatures to navigate, camouflage themselves and, indeed, survive in aquatic environments. Artificial luminescent materials that can mimic such functionality can be used to develop aquatic wearable/stretchable displays and water-resistant devices. Here, a luminescent composite that is simultaneously transparent, tough and can autonomously self-heal in both dry and wet conditions is reported. A tough, self-healable fluorine elastomer with dipole–dipole interactions is synthesized as the polymer matrix. It exhibits excellent compatibility with metal halide perovskite quantum dots. The composite possesses a toughness of 19 MJ m−3, maximum strain of 1300% and capability to autonomously self-heal underwater. Notably, the material can withstand extremely harsh aqueous conditions, such as highly salty, acidic (pH = 1) and basic (pH = 13) environment for more than several months with almost no decay in mechanical performance or optical properties. Fabrication of perovskite-polymer composites that simultaneously possesses strong mechanical strength, high stretchability, high stability towards harsh aqueous environments and self-healing properties is challenging. Here, the authors report a luminescent composite that is simultaneously transparent, tough and can autonomously self-heal in both dry and wet conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differentiated cells can be reprogrammed to embryonic stem cell-like cells called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), in which the natural developmental differentiation process is reversed. It is unclear whether the multi-lineage cells can be isolated and identified during reprogramming. In the current study, we detected the expression of lineage markers, isolated neural lineages, and identified the related microRNAs during iPSC formation. Our results demonstrated that a neuroectoderm appeared earlier than mesoderm and definitive endoderm before forming colonies when mouse embryonic fibroblasts were subjected to iPSC formation using transcription factors (TFs). On day 3, the cells expressed Sox1 and Nestin and had ultrastructure consistent with the transition to identity neural germ layer lineage. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis revealed a peak (40%) in neural progenitor marker–positive cells. When subsequently cultured in a neural precursor cell medium, these cells proliferated slowly, became round and aggregated, generating into neurons and glia. Genome-wide microRNA (miRNA) analysis identified 45 differentially regulated miRNAs. Molecular network analysis demonstrated that these miRNAs validated 6,047 experimental mRNA targets. The GO functional annotation analysis of mRNA targets revealed that most genes were related to neurogenesis, such as growth cone, neuronal cell body, neuron projection, and cell junction synapse. The network of protein–protein interactions was observed, which demonstrated that key nodes of neural lineage reprogramming-associated targets were Sall1, Foxa2, Nf2, Ctnnb1, Shh, and Bmpr1a. Therefore, these data suggested that TFs can drive the reprogramming of somatic cells towards a pluripotent state via neuroectoderm. Moreover, the neural lineage reprogramming system can address how miRNAs influence their target sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we prove that a general version of Alladi's formula with Dirichlet convolution holds for arithmetical semigroups satisfying Axiom A or Axiom A # . As applications, we apply our main results to certain semigroups coming from algebraic number theory, arithmetical geometry, and graph theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypersonic boundary-layer flows over a circular cone at a moderate yaw angle can support strong crossflow instability away from the windward and leeward rays on the plane of symmetry. Due to the more efficient excitation of stationary crossflow vortices by surface roughness, a possible path to transition in such flows corresponds to rapid amplification of the high-frequency instabilities sustained in the presence of finite amplitude stationary crossflow vortices. This paper presents a computational analysis of crossflow instability over a 7-degree half-angle, yawed circular cone in a Mach 6 free stream. Specifically, the nonlinear evolution of an azimuthally localized crossflow vortex pattern and the linear amplification characteristics of high-frequency instabilities evolving in the presence of that pattern are described for the first time. Focusing on the azimuthally compact vortex pattern allows us to overcome significant limitations of the prior secondary instability analyses of azimuthally inhomogeneous boundary layer flows. A comparison between plane-marching parabolized stability equations and direct numerical simulations (DNS) reveals favorable agreement in regard to mode shapes, most amplified disturbance frequencies, and the N-factor evolution. In contrast, the quasiparallel predictions are found to result in a severe underprediction of the N-factors. The most amplified high-frequency instabilities are found to originate from Mack's second mode waves sustained within the upstream region of nearly unperturbed, quasi-homogeneous boundary layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In situ coordination-activated n-doping by air-stable metals in electron-transport organic ligands has proven to be a viable method to achieve Ohmic electron injection for organic optoelectronics. However, the mutual exclusion of ligands with high nucleophilic quality and strong electron affinity limits the injection efficiency. Here, we propose meta-linkage diphenanthroline-type ligands, which not only possess high electron affinity and good electron transport ability but also favour the formation of tetrahedrally coordinated double-helical metal complexes to decrease the ionization energy of air-stable metals. An electron injection layer (EIL) compatible with various cathodes and electron transport materials is developed with silver as an n-dopant, and the injection efficiency outperforms conventional EILs such as lithium compounds. A deep-blue organic light-emitting diode with an optimized EIL achieves a high current efficiency calibrated by the y colour coordinate (0.045) of 237 cd A−1 and a superb LT95 of 104.1 h at 5000 cd m−2. N-doping technologies are essential for high performance organic optoelectronics. Here, the authors report metalinkage diphenanthrolinetype ligands, which enable the formation of tetrahedrally coordinated double-helical metal complexes for coordination-activated n-doping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the theoretical results on the finite-time synchronization of two delayed inertial fuzzy neural networks. Different from the existing study about dynamics analysis for inertial neural networks, more adjustable parameters are introduced into the variable substitution, and a general Lyapunov function is constructed to realize synchronization in finite time. The analysis mainly employs the theory of finite-time stability theory, Lyapunov functional method and inequality techniques. Finally, numerical simulations are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate a diffusive avian influenza model with general incidence rate, the threshold dynamics for the model is completely characterized by the basic reproduction number R 0 . It is shown that if R 0 < 1 the disease-free steady state is globally asymptotically stable and the disease dies out; if R 0 > 1 then the disease persists. Finally, a numerical example is provided to support the theoretical analysis. Our model extended the previous known results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: lncRNA; Cancer; Inflammation EN lncRNA Cancer Inflammation 923 925 3 12/16/22 20221201 NES 221201 Xuanqi Liu, Jiongyuan Wang, and Lian Duan contributed to this article equally as the first author. Li SP I b i sp et al. ([8]) evidenced that lncRNA CTSLP8 modulated ovarian cancer cell progression and sensitivity to chemotherapy by altering cell glycolysis and c-Myc expression through PKM2. [Extracted from the article]

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the association between dilation and proliferation and anastomosis of perforating arteries, and intracranial hemorrhage in moyamoya disease (MMD) patients, using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (HRMRI). Methods: Adult patients with MMD at advanced stages were prospectively enrolled and underwent HRMRI exams. Dilation and proliferation of the lenticulostriate artery (LSA), medullary artery, and anterior or posterior choroidal arteries (AChA or PChA) were assessed. Abnormal anastomoses were identified between (1) the LSA and the medullary or insular arteries; (2) the thalamo-geniculate, thalamo-tuberal, or thalamo-perforating arteries and the medullary or insular arteries; and (3) the AChA or PChA and the medullary or insular arteries. The association between these variables and hemorrhagic events was calculated using univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: Fifty patients (14 men; mean age, 35.4 ± 9.7 years) were finally analyzed, including 17 hemorrhagic patients and 33 non-hemorrhagic patients. The inter-rater agreement for the qualitative evaluation of perforating arteries was good. Dilation and proliferation of the AChA or PChA (88.2% versus 54.5%, p = 0.027), and choroidal anastomosis (64.7% versus 18.2%, p = 0.002) were more frequently observed in patients with hemorrhage. Multivariate logistic regression showed that choroidal anastomosis remained significantly associated with hemorrhage (odds ratio = 5.95, 95% confidence interval = 1.21–29.25, p = 0.028). Conclusions: Choroidal anastomosis is independently associated with hemorrhagic events in adult patients with MMD at advanced stages. HRMRI can provide detailed information on both the anatomies and abnormal collaterals in MMD, which facilitates risk estimates of bleeding in MMD. Key Points: • High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging allows for the evaluation of perforating arteries in patients with moyamoya disease. • Choroidal anastomosis is associated with hemorrhagic events in patients with moyamoya disease. • High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging might facilitate further grading and classification of moyamoya vessels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]