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Wilms tumour (WT) is the most common kidney malignancy in children. Chemoresistance is the leading cause of tumour recurrence and poses a substantial therapeutic challenge. Increasing evidence has underscored the role of the tumour immune microenvironment (TIM) in cancers and the potential for immunotherapy to improve prognosis. There remain no reliable molecular markers for reflecting the immune landscape and predicting patient survival in WT. Here, we examine differences in gene expression by high-throughput RNA sequencing, focused on differentially expressed immune-related genes (IRGs) based on the ImmPort database. Via univariate Cox regression analysis and Lasso-penalized Cox regression analysis, IRGs were screened out to establish an immune signature. Kaplan-Meier curves, time-related ROC analysis, univariate and multivariate Cox regression studies, and nomograms were used to evaluate the accuracy and prognostic significance of this signature. Furthermore, we found that the immune signature could reflect the immune status and the immune cell infiltration character played in the tumour microenvironment (TME) and showed significant association with immune checkpoint molecules, suggesting that the poor outcome may be partially explained by its immunosuppressive TME. Remarkably, TIDE, a computational method to model tumour immune evasion mechanisms, showed that this signature holds great potential for predicting immunotherapy responses in the TARGET-wt cohort. To decipher the underlying mechanism, GSEA was applied to explore enriched pathways and biological processes associated with immunophenotyping and Connectivity map (CMap) along with DeSigN analysis for drug exploration. Finally, four candidate immune genes were selected, and their expression levels in WT cell lines were monitored via qRT-PCR. Meanwhile, we validated the function of a critical gene, NRP2. Taken together, we established a novel immune signature that may serve as an effective prognostic signature and predictive biomarker for immunotherapy response in WT patients. This study may give light on therapeutic strategies for WT patients from an immunological viewpoint.

Human polyomaviruses (HPyVs) can cause serious and deleterious infections in human. Yet, the molecular mechanism underlying these infections, particularly in polyomavirus nephropathy (PVAN), is not well-defined. In the present study, we aimed to identify human genes with codon usage bias (CUB) similar to that of HPyV genes and explore their potential involvement in the pathogenesis of PVAN. The relative synonymous codon usage (RSCU) values of genes of HPyVs and those of human genes were computed and used for Pearson correlation analysis. The involvement of the identified correlation genes in PVAN was analyzed by validating their differential expression in publicly available transcriptomics data. Functional enrichment was performed to uncover the role of sets of genes. The RSCU analysis indicated that the A- and T-ending codons are preferentially used in HPyV genes. In total, 5400 human genes were correlated to the HPyV genes. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network indicated strong interactions between these proteins. Gene expression analysis indicated that 229 of these genes were consistently and differentially expressed between normal kidney tissues and kidney tissues from PVAN patients. Functional enrichment analysis indicated that these genes were involved in biological processes related to transcription and in pathways related to protein ubiquitination pathway, apoptosis, cellular response to stress, inflammation and immune system. The identified genes may serve as diagnostic biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets for HPyV associated diseases, especially PVAN.

Urban green space (UGS) is essential for sustainable urbanization and human well-being. The utilization status of UGS is closely related to the provision of ecosystem services for urban residents. Limitations on data availability, however, have led to the absence of a comprehensive approach for evaluating the actual utilization status of UGS at a large scale. Furthermore, differences in actual UGS utilization between intra-urban and peri-urban areas have not received enough attention. This study used big data analysis by combining point of interest (POI) and land use and cover change (LUCC) to quantify the spatial patterns of UGS utilization, and to evaluate the actual utilization status of UGS in 366 cities on the Chinese mainland. We also explored the differences in the actual utilization of UGS in intra-urban and peri-urban areas. The results showed that 94.01% of UGS resources in China had not been utilized. There was a clear pattern of spatial mismatch between the stock and the actual utilization of UGS, especially in the northwestern region indicated by the Hu Huanyong Line. The actual utilization rate of UGS was closely related to the regional development level. There was a certain mismatch between the actual utilization and stock of intraurban green space (IUGS). The hot spots of the actual utilization rate of IUGS were in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan Provinces in southwestern China. The differences in UGS actual utilization rates between IUGS and peri-urban green space (PUGS) were small in eastern China, but large in southwestern and northwestern China. The actual utilization rate of IUGS in most Chinese cities was significantly larger than that of PUGS, indicating that PUGS were not well utilized. Our results provide scientific support for urban and regional planners in targeting specific areas for UGS design and development, and in optimizing future UGS planning in China.

BackgroundSexual dysfunction is a private set of disorders that may cause stigma for patients when discussing their private problems with doctors. They might also feel reluctant to initiate a face-to-face consultation. Internet searches are gradually becoming the first choice for people with sexual dysfunction to obtain health information. Globally, Wikipedia is the most popular and consulted validated encyclopedia website in the English-speaking world. Baidu Encyclopedia is becoming the dominant source in Chinese-speaking regions; however, the objectivity and readability of the content are yet to be evaluated. ObjectiveHence, we aimed to evaluate the reliability, readability, and objectivity of male sexual dysfunction content on Wikipedia and Baidu Encyclopedia. MethodsThe Chinese Baidu Encyclopedia and English Wikipedia were investigated. All possible synonymous and derivative keywords for the most common male sexual dysfunction, erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, and their most common complication, chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome, were screened. Two doctors evaluated the articles on Chinese Baidu Encyclopedia and English Wikipedia. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) scoring system, DISCERN instrument, and Global Quality Score (GQS) were used to assess the quality of disease-related articles. ResultsThe total DISCERN scores (P=.002) and JAMA scores (P=.001) for Wikipedia were significantly higher than those of Baidu Encyclopedia; there was no statistical difference between the GQS scores (P=.31) for these websites. Specifically, the DISCERN Section 1 score (P

Since prefabricated cabin substations became a comprehensive application achievement of the new infrastructure intelligent integrated system, its electrical equipment failure, and power system safety due to humidity condensation is of great concern. In this paper, thermoelectric cooling superconducting thermoelectric dehumidifiers (TCSTD) are developed and the optimal operating conditions and the dehumidification performance of the TCSTD under actual operating conditions are investigated through tests. The results show that the optimal dehumidification rate of the TCSTD is 188.4 ml/h when relative humidity is 95% and the outlet air velocity is 2.3 m/s. The addition of TCSTD on top of thermal assistance can further reduce the relative humidity to 53.05%, a reduction of up to 32.36%. TCSTD is used in high temperature, high humidity environments to reduce not only the ambient relative humidity but also the moisture content of the air. The proposal is that attention should be paid to both dehumidification and relative humidity per unit of power consumption to meet the requirements for moisture protection and energy saving in prefabricated cabin substations. The results of the study will provide a reference for the application of the new prefabricated cabin substation.

Nitrogen (N) inhibits soybean (Glycine max L.) nodulation and N2 fixation. Isoflavones secreted by soybean roots can stimulate signal transduction for symbiotic nodules, thus playing a key role in root nodule development and N2 fixation. The relationship between the inhibition of soybean nodulation, N2 fixation and isoflavones by N is still unclear. In this study, dual-root soybean plants were prepared by grafting, and N or isoflavones were supplied to unilateral roots. The number and dry weight of the soybean nodules, nitrogenase activity, isoflavone concentrations and relative changes in the level of expression of nodulation-related genes were measured to study the response relationship between the N systemic regulation the soybean nodule N2 fixation and changes in the concentrations of isoflavones in its roots. The results showed that N supply to one side of the dual-root soybeans systematically affected the N2 fixation of root nodules on both sides, and this effect began in the early stage of nodulation. Moreover, a unilateral supply of N systematically affected the concentrations of daidzein and genistein on both sides of the roots. The concentrations of isoflavones were consistent with the change trend of soybean root nodule and nodulation-related gene expression level. Treatment with unilateral N or isoflavones affected the soybean nodule N2 fixation and its nodulation-related genes, which had the same response to the changes in concentrations of root isoflavones. N regulates soybean nodulation and N2 fixation by systematically affecting the concentrations of isoflavones in the roots.

Usually, continuous effective optical observation data collected from a single-sensor within one year is not available, most studies conducted rice mapping in Northeast China using optical remote sensing images collected from multi-years and multi-sensors. Meanwhile, the accuracies of mapping results are limited by the employed traditional machine learning algorithms, which cannot fully exploit the deep abstract features contained in the multi-temporal images. Consequently, this paper developed a deep learning framework for large-scale rice mapping based on multi-temporal Sentinel-1 images in practice. It was achieved via semantic segmentation based on coupling of U-Net and prior knowledge (i.e., the coupled U-Net). Classification experiments were conducted in regions covered by complete and incomplete multi-temporal Sentinel-1 images to validate advantages of the coupled U-Net. Besides, feature visualization experiments were conducted, and the results showed that the coupled U-Net could further robustly learn deep abstract feature that was more suitable to express land covers. Finally, rice maps of Northeast China in different years were produced by the coupled U-Net and Sentinel-1 images. For the results of 2021, both rice producer’s and user’s accuracies exceeded 85%, while its overall accuracy and F1-score were higher than 0.9. For the results of 2019 and 2020, the rice areas of Northeast China extracted from Sentinel-1 images were 4.0% and 4.9% less than those of the subnational statistics data. This study provided a viable option toward practical large-scale rice mapping based on multi-temporal Sentinel-1 images through the coupling of prior knowledge and deep learning technology.

Fresh weight is a widely used growth indicator for quantifying crop growth. Traditional fresh weight measurement methods are time-consuming, laborious, and destructive. Non-destructive measurement of crop fresh weight is urgently needed in plant factories with high environment controllability. In this study, we proposed a multi-modal fusion based deep learning model for automatic estimation of lettuce shoot fresh weight by utilizing RGB-D images. The model combined geometric traits from empirical feature extraction and deep neural features from CNN. A lettuce leaf segmentation network based on U-Net was trained for extracting leaf boundary and geometric traits. A multi-branch regression network was performed to estimate fresh weight by fusing color, depth, and geometric features. The leaf segmentation model reported a reliable performance with a mIoU of 0.982 and an accuracy of 0.998. A total of 10 geometric traits were defined to describe the structure of the lettuce canopy from segmented images. The fresh weight estimation results showed that the proposed multi-modal fusion model significantly improved the accuracy of lettuce shoot fresh weight in different growth periods compared with baseline models. The model yielded a root mean square error (RMSE) of 25.3 g and a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.938 over the entire lettuce growth period. The experiment results demonstrated that the multi-modal fusion method could improve the fresh weight estimation performance by leveraging the advantages of empirical geometric traits and deep neural features simultaneously.

Revealing the spatiotemporal variations of nutrients in coastal waters is crucial to the understanding and evaluation of coastal environment, thereby providing efficient guidance for the aquatic environmental treatment. This study proposed a spatiotemporal-incorporated deep learning model, which is easily applicable to establish the quantitative relationships between measured environmental factors and large-scale satellite maps, and can reduce estimation errors by more than 40% compared with non-spatiotemporal-incorporated deep learning model. The spatiotemporal distributions of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and dissolved inorganic phosphate (DIP) over 44400 km2 of the East China Sea on 8-day scale from 2010 to 2018 were obtained. Based on the spatiotemporal variations, the water quality patterns were depicted, and the fluctuation variations of the two essential nutrients were found in the harbors with complex anthropogenic influences, in the typical estuaries with multiple river inputs, and in the open seas with important fisheries. Although the concentration of DIN and DIP decreased by 24% and 19% in 9 years, respectively, the water quality level in the inshore sea has not been significantly improved, especially in autumn and winter. Further, we quantitatively analyzed the main factors of deteriorated water and provided scientific suggestions for targeted monitoring and regional cooperative governances.

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is defined by left ventricular (or biventricular dilation) and systolic dysfunction, which eventually develops into congestive heart failure and arrhythmia. Vinculin is a membrane-associated protein, which functions to transmit contractile force. Defects in vinculin have been reported to be associated with DCM and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. A human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line (ZZUNEUi026-A) was generated from a DCM patient carrying heterozygous Vinculin mutant (c.A625 > T; p.Met209 > Leu). The cell line was derived from peripheral blood mononuclear cells by nonintegrative Sendai virus. ZZUNEUi026-A showed pluripotency markers and normal karyotype, and it could differentiate into three germ layers in vitro.

With the ongoing transformation of electricity generation from large thermal power plants to smaller renewable energy sources (RESs), such as wind and solar, modern renewable power systems need to address the new challenge of the increasing uncertainty and complexity caused by the deployment of electricity generation from RESs and the integration of flexible loads and new technologies. At present, a high volume of available data is provided by smart grid technologies, energy management systems (EMSs), and wide-area measurement systems (WAMSs), bringing more opportunities for data-driven methods. Deep reinforcement learning (DRL), as one of the state-of-the-art data-driven methods, is applied to learn optimal or near-optimal control policy by formulating the power system as a Markov decision process (MDP). This paper reviews the recent DRL algorithms and the existing work of operational control or emergency control based on DRL algorithms for modern renewable power systems and control-related problems for small signal stability. The fundamentals of DRL and several commonly used DRL algorithms are briefly introduced. Current issues and expected future directions are discussed.

Ceramic 3D printing is a promising technology that overcomes the limitations of traditional ceramic molding. It offers advantages such as refined models, reduced mold manufacturing costs, simplified processes, and automatic operation, which have attracted a growing number of researchers. However, current research tends to focus more on the molding process and print molding quality rather than exploring printing parameters in detail. In this study, we successfully prepared a large-size ceramic blank using screw extrusion stacking printing technology. Subsequent glazing and sintering processes were used to create complex ceramic handicrafts. Additionally, we used modeling and simulation technology to explore the fluid model printed by the printing nozzle at different flow rates. We adjusted two core parameters that affect the printing speed separately: three feed rates were set to be 0.001 m/s, 0.005 m/s, and 0.010 m/s, and three screw speeds were set to be 0.5 r/s, 1.5 r/s, and 2.5 r/s. Through a comparative analysis, we were able to simulate the printing exit speed, which ranged from 0.0751 m/s to 0.6828 m/s. It is evident that these two parameters have a significant impact on the printing exit speed. Our findings show that the extrusion velocity of clay is approximately 700 times faster than the inlet velocity at an inlet velocity of 0.001–0.010 m/s. Furthermore, the screw speed is influenced by the inlet velocity. Overall, our study sheds light on the importance of exploring printing parameters in ceramic 3D printing. By gaining a deeper understanding of the printing process, we can optimize printing parameters and further improve the quality of ceramic 3D printing.

We aimed to clarify the involvement of vitamin D status in virus or atypical pathogens infection in children with acute respiratory infections (ARIs). In this retrospective study, 295 patients with ARIs were attacked by a respiratory virus or a single atypical pathogen; 17 patients with ARIs induced by two pathogens, and 636 healthy children were included. Serum 25(OH)D levels of all children were measured. Oropharyngeal samples of the patients for viruses or atypical pathogens were studied by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). In our studies, 58.98% of the 295 single-infected subjects and 76.47% of the 17 co-infected subjects had 25(OH)D levels below the recommended 50.0 nmol/L; the mean 25(OH)D levels were 48.48 ± 19.91 nmol/L and 44.12 ± 12.78 nmol/L. Low serum 25(OH)D levels were remarkable in patients with one of seven viruses or atypical pathogens infected. These results were significantly different from those in the healthy group. There were no significant differences in 25(OH)D levels between single infection and co-infection groups. There were no differences in severity among means of 25(OH)D levels. Female or >6-year-old children patients with low serum 25(OH)D levels were more vulnerable to pathogenic respiratory pathogens. However, serum 25(OH)D levels may be related to the recovery of ARIs. These findings provide additional evidence for the development of strategies to prevent ARIs in children.

Abstract Background Mitochondrial dysfunction has been implicated as a significant factor in the liver disease process. Blueberry juice and probiotics (BP) synergistically improve liver function in alcoholic fatty liver disease (AFLD), although the mechanism for this effect was unclear. This study aims to investigate the effect and specific mechanisms of BP on AFLD. Methods C57/BL6 mice were randomly divided into seven groups: CG (control), MG (AFLD model), BJ (MG mice treated with blueberry), BJB (MG mice treated with BP), SI (AFLD mice treated with SIRT1 siRNA), BJSI (SI mice treated with blueberry), and BJBSI (SI mice treated with BP). The mice were fed an alcohol liquid diet for 10 days to establish the AFLD model, and subjected to BP and SIRT1 siRNA intervention for 10 days. Liver pathology was performed on day 11, and biochemical and molecular analyses of liver mitochondria were employed on day 12. Results BP significantly ameliorated hepatic mitochondrial injury, mitochondrial swelling, and hepatic necrosis in AFLD. BP alleviated hepatic mitochondrial dysfunction by increasing the expression of succinate dehydrogenase and cytochrome c oxidase, increasing respiratory control rate and the ADP/O ratio, and facilitating the synthesis of energy-related molecules. Besides, BP increased the expression of glutathione and superoxide dismutase, and inhibited malondialdehyde expression and reactive oxygen species activity. BP-induced sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), which activates peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator-1α, both of which mediate mitochondrial homeostasis. SIRT1 silencing suppressed the BP-induced changes in liver mitochondria, blunting its efficacy. Conclusions The ingredients of BP ameliorate hepatocyte mitochondrial dysfunction in AFLD mice.

Abstract We present the calibration strategy for the 20 kton liquid scintillator central detector of the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO). By utilizing a comprehensive multiple-source and multiple-positional calibration program, in combination with a novel dual calorimetry technique exploiting two independent photosensors and readout systems, we demonstrate that the JUNO central detector can achieve a better than 1% energy linearity and a 3% effective energy resolution, required by the neutrino mass ordering determination.

Abstract Background COVID-19 lockdowns may lead to physical inactivity, a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases. This study aims to determine: 1) the trajectory in daily step counts before, during and after the lockdown in China, and 2) the characteristics associated with the trajectories. Methods From December 2019 to July 2020, smartphone-based step counts were continuously collected in 815 Chinese adults residing in Shanghai over 202 days across three phases: before, during, and after the lockdown. Participant characteristics were reported, and height, weight and body composition measured before the lockdown. A ‘sharp’ regression discontinuity design with cluster robust standard errors was used to test the effect of the lockdown and reopening on daily steps and a linear mixed model was used to examine the characteristics associated with trajectories during the observed period. Results Based on 164,630 person-days of data, we found a sharp decline in daily step counts upon the lockdown (24/01/2020) by an average of 3796 (SE = 88) steps, followed by a significant trend of increase by 34 steps/day (SE = 2.5; p

Abstract Picea mongolica, a native species with excellent industrial wood quality and strong sand-fixing capacity, may be utilized in construction of urban green spaces in arid areas in China. However, now the sustainability of the ecosystems where this species grows is at serious risk due to a lack of natural regeneration. In this study, we developed an efficient regeneration system and comprehensively analyzed various factors affecting somatic embryogenesis (SE) using zygotic embryos as explants. We identified the optimal plant growth regulators (PGRs) performance and the best donor trees (k81) for the generation of somatic embryos (SEMs). Additionally, we confirmed that the positive developmental window of SEMs initiation was at the end of July to early August, which is when zygotic embryos was at the late embryogeny. In this time period, specific transcripts associated with the regulation of epigenetic modifications, plant hormone-related genes, and embryonic development-related transcription factors play important roles for early SEMs initiation. These results may provide a valuable resource for vegetative propagation of Picea mongolica. Our results may help to establish a reliable protocol for plantlet regeneration, which may facilitate urban greening applications and industrialization in arid areas.

Artocarpus gomezianus is a medicinal species native to Asia. To infer its phylogenetic relationship to the other Moraceae, the complete chloroplast genome of A. gomezianus was sequenced. The whole chloroplast genome is 160,743 bp in length, consisting of a pair of inverted repeat (IR) regions of 25,691 bp, one large single-copy (LSC) region of 89,241 bp, and one small singlecopy (SSC) region of 20,120 bp. The overall GC content of the complete chloroplast genome is 35.81%. Maximum likelihood analysis using 11 complete plastomes of the Moraceae and Cannabis sativa (Cannabaceae) designated as the outgroup, resolved A. gomezianus in a clade with A. petelotii and A. hypargyreus. These phylogenetic results are not consistent with previous findings based on nuclear loci in which A. gomezianus was grouped as a sister to a clade containing A. petelotii and A. hypargyreus. The complete chloroplast genome of A. gomezianus will provide a powerful tool to accelerate pharmacological development, systematics, and future phylogenetic studies in the Moraceae.

Many neurodegenerative disorders are caused by abnormal accumulation of misfolded proteins. In spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1), accumulation of polyglutamine-expanded (polyQ-expanded) ataxin-1 (ATXN1) causes neuronal toxicity. Lowering total ATXN1, especially the polyQ-expanded form, alleviates disease phenotypes in mice, but the molecular mechanism by which the mutant ATXN1 is specifically modulated is not understood. Here, we identified 22 mutant ATXN1 regulators by performing a cross-species screen of 7787 and 2144 genes in human cells and Drosophila eyes, respectively. Among them, transglutaminase 5 (TG5) preferentially regulated mutant ATXN1 over the WT protein. TG enzymes catalyzed cross-linking of ATXN1 in a polyQ-length–dependent manner, thereby preferentially modulating mutant ATXN1 stability and oligomerization. Perturbing Tg in Drosophila SCA1 models modulated mutant ATXN1 toxicity. Moreover, TG5 was enriched in the nuclei of SCA1-affected neurons and colocalized with nuclear ATXN1 inclusions in brain tissue from patients with SCA1. Our work provides a molecular insight into SCA1 pathogenesis and an opportunity for allele-specific targeting for neurodegenerative disorders.

Oriental melon (Cucumis melo var. acidulus) is one of the most economically important fruit crops worldwide. To elucidate the molecular basis related to soluble sugar and organic acid metabolism in the fruits of two oriental melon cultivars with different sweetness, we performed integrated metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses of the fruits of ‘Tianbao’ (A) with high sweetness and ‘Xiaocuigua’ (B) with low sweetness at different ripening stages. The high accumulation of sucrose, D-glucose, D-(+)-raffinose, and the relatively lower citric acid and malic acid might contribute to the sweet taste of A. By screening the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and correlation analysis of the DEGs and differentially accumulated metabolites, we deduced that the B cultivar might promote the conversion of glucose and fructose into intermediate compounds for downstream processes such as glycolysis. The tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle might also be enhanced compared to A, thus resulting in the differential accumulation of soluble sugars and organic acids, ultimately causing the taste difference between the two oriental melon cultivars. Our finding provides important information for further exploring the metabolic mechanisms of soluble sugars and organic acids in oriental melon.

Circular RNA (circRNA), which is a newly discovered non-coding RNA, has been documented to play important roles in miRNA sponges, and the dysregulation of which is involved in cancer development. However, circRNA expression profiles and their role in initiation and progression of Wilms tumor (WT) remain largely unclear at present. Here, we used paired WT samples and high-throughput RNA sequencing to identify differentially expressed circRNAs (DE-circRs) and mRNAs (DE-mRs). A total of 314 DE-circRs and 1612 DE-mRs were identified. The expression of a subset of differentially expressed genes was validated by qRT–PCR. A complete circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network was then constructed based on the common miRNA targets of DE-circRs and DE-mRs identified by miRanda prediction tool. The Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) indicated that several signaling pathways involving targeted DE-mRs within the ceRNA network were associated with cell cycle and immune response, which implies their participation in WT development to some extent. Subsequently, these targeted DE-mRs were subjected to implement PPI analysis and to identify 10 hub genes. Four hub genes were closely related to the survival of WT patients. We then filtered prognosis-related hub genes by Cox regression and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analysis to construct a prognosis-related risk score system based on a three-gene signature, which showed good discrimination and predictive ability for WT patient survival. Additionally, we analyzed the mutational landscape of these genes and the associations between their expression levels and those of immune checkpoint molecules and further demonstrated their potential impact on the efficacy of immunotherapy. qRT–PCR and western blotting (WB) analysis were used to validate key differentially expressed molecules at the RNA and protein levels, respectively. Besides these, we selected a key circRNA, circEYA1, for function validation. Overall, the current study presents the full-scale expression profiles of circRNAs and the circRNA-related ceRNA network in WT for the first time, deepening our understanding of the roles and downstream regulatory mechanisms of circRNAs in WT development and progression. We further constructed a useful immune-related prognostic signature, which could improve clinical outcome prediction and guide individualized treatment.

PurposeTo compare the safety, efficacy, and cosmetic results of single-incision scrotal orchiopexy (SISO) and traditional two-incision inguinal orchiopexy (TTIO) for primary palpable undescended testes (PUDTs) in children.Materials and MethodsA systematic literature search of all relevant studies published on PubMed, Embase, Medline, Cochrane Library, Web of Science database, and Wanfang data until July 2021 was conducted. The operative time, hospitalization duration, conversion rate, wound infection or dehiscence, scrotal hematoma or swelling, testicular atrophy, reascent, hernia or hydrocele, analgesics needs, and cosmetic results were compared between SISO and TTIO using the Mantel–Haenszel or inverse-variance method.ResultsA total of 17 studies involving 2,627 children (1,362 SISOs and 1,265 TTIOs) were included in the final analysis. The conversion rate of SISO was 3.6%. The SISO approach had a statistically significant shorter operative time than the TTIO approach for PUDT (weighted mean difference−11.96, 95% confidence interval −14.33 to −9.59, I2 = 79%, P < 0.00001) and a shorter hospital stay (weighted mean difference−1.05, 95% confidence interval −2.07 to −0.03, P = 0.04). SISO needed fewer analgesics and had better cosmetic results than TTIO. SISO had a similar total, short-term, or long-term complication rate with TTIO.ConclusionCompared with TTIO, SISO has the advantages of shorter operative time, shorter hospitalization duration, less postoperative pain, and better cosmetic appealing results. SISO is a safe, effective, promising, and potential minimal invasive surgical approach for PUDT. SISO is an alternative to TTIO in selected cryptorchid patients, especially for lower positioned ones.Systematic Review Registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/, identifier: CRD42021268562.

Abstract. Background. Estrogen is involved in the pathophysiological process of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), in which epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays an important role. Upregulation of aquaporin (AQP) 5, which is directly activated by estrogen, has been reported to promote EMT in multiple cells. This study aimed to examine the effects of AQP5 on estrogen-induced EMT in the prostate. Methods. Normal prostate (NP) tissue samples without any histopathological changes and BPH tissue samples with pathologically confirmed hyperplasia were obtained. An EMT cell model was subsequently established by adding estradiol (E2) to RWPE-1 cells, after which AQP5 knockdown was performed. Tissue morphological and immunohistochemical features were examined using hematoxylin-eosin and immunohistochemical staining. Western blot analysis was performed to determine the expression of AQPs, estrogen receptors, and EMT-related proteins. Cell proliferation was assessed and supernatants were collected for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to determine transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) concentrations. Immunofluorescence staining was performed to assess protein expressions in RWPE-1 cells. Results. BPH tissues exhibited greater EMT (TGF-β1: 1.362 ± 0.196 vs. 0.107 ± 0.067, P = 0.003; vimentin: 1.581 ± 0.508 vs. 0.221 ± 0.047, P

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has potential for several movement disorders. Here the authors show that DBS improves motor function in a mouse model of ataxia.

Liquid crystals (LC) have been found to have many unique characteristics during the last few decades. The liquid crystal phase is ubiquitous in the biological world, as well as in cellulose and its derivatives. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), which can obtain the chiral LC phase in aqueous suspension, have been attracting much attention. The unique size and properties of CNC, such as their light weight, special optical properties, non-toxicity, and biocompatibility, etc., have made them widely applicable in diverse fields. This brief literature review introduces the relationship between the LC phase and CNC. Advantages of CNC as a liquid crystal forming material and the preparation of CNC are discussed. The left-handed cholesteric phase structure and the corresponding unique optical properties of CNC-based LC are described in detail. The CNC-based LC aqueous suspension and three stages of forming LC phase are also described. Then, the main reasons accounting for the brittleness and non-uniformity of pristine CNC-based LC are summarized, as well as ways to overcome these problems. Finally, some optical applications of CNC-based LC films in anti-counterfeiting, colorimetric sensors, and composite devices are considered.

Abstract Background Both E2F transcription factor and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), which increase or decrease E2F activity by phosphorylating E2F or its partner, are involved in the control of cell proliferation, and some circRNAs and miRNAs regulate the expression of E2F and CDKs. However, little is known about whether dysregulation among E2Fs, CDKs, circRNAs and miRNAs occurs in human PCa. Methods The expression levels of CDK13 in PCa tissues and different cell lines were determined by quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot analysis. In vitro and in vivo assays were preformed to explore the biological effects of CDK13 in PCa cells. Co-immunoprecipitation anlysis coupled with mass spectrometry was used to identify E2F5 interaction with CDK13. A CRISPR-Cas9 complex was used to activate endogenous CDK13 and circCDK13 expression. Furthermore, the mechanism of circCDK13 was investigated by using loss-of-function and gain-of-function assays in vitro and in vivo. Results Here we show that CDK13 is significantly upregulated in human PCa tissues. CDK13 depletion and overexpression in PCa cells decrease and increase, respectively, cell proliferation, and the pro-proliferation effect of CDK13 is strengthened by its interaction with E2F5. Mechanistically, transcriptional activation of endogenous CDK13, but not the forced expression of CDK13 by its expression vector, remarkably promotes E2F5 protein expression by facilitating circCDK13 formation. Further, the upregulation of E2F5 enhances CDK13 transcription and promotes circCDK13 biogenesis, which in turn sponges miR-212-5p/449a and thus relieves their repression of the E2F5 expression, subsequently leading to the upregulation of E2F5 expression and PCa cell proliferation. Conclusions These findings suggest that CDK13 upregulation-induced formation of the positive feedback loop among circCDK13, miR-212-5p/miR-449a and E2F5 is responsible for PCa development. Targeting this newly identified regulatory axis may provide therapeutic benefit against PCa progression and drug resistance.

Abstract Background In order to reduce the burden on organ shortage around the world, using potential infectious donor might be an option. However, scarce evidences have been published on kidney transplantation (KTx) from hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) + donors to HBsAg- recipients [D (HBsAg+)/R(HBsAg-)] without hepatitis B virus (HBV) immunity. Here, we reported the results of D(HBsAg+/HBV DNA- or +)/R(HBsAg-) living KTx recipients with or without HBV immunity. Methods We retrospectively identified 83 D(HBsAg+)/R(HBsAg-) living KTx recipients, and 83 hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb) + living donors to HBcAb- recipients [D(HBcAb+)/R(HBcAb-)] were used as control group by reviewing medical archives and propensity score matching. Treatment failure (defined as any HBV serology conversion, liver injury, graft loss, or recipient death) is the primary endpoint. Results Twenty-four donors (28.9%) were HBV DNA+, and 20 recipients had no HBV immunity in the D(HBsAg+)/R(HBsAg-) group pre-transplantation. HBV prophylaxis was applied in all D(HBsAg+)/R(HBsAg-) recipients, while none was applied in the D(HBcAb+)/R(HBcAb-) group. We observed a significant higher treatment failure in D(HBsAg+)/R(HBsAg-) than D(HBcAb+)/R(HBcAb-) group (21.7% vs. 10.8%, P

Abstract Background Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) is a nutritionally balanced and flavonoid-rich crop plant that has been in cultivation for 4000 years and is now grown globally. Despite its nutraceutical and agricultural value, the characterization of its genetics and its domestication history is limited. Results Here, we report a comprehensive database of Tartary buckwheat genomic variation based on whole-genome resequencing of 510 germplasms. Our analysis suggests that two independent domestication events occurred in southwestern and northern China, resulting in diverse characteristics of modern Tartary buckwheat varieties. Genome-wide association studies for important agricultural traits identify several candidate genes, including FtUFGT3 and FtAP2YT1 that significantly correlate with flavonoid accumulation and grain weight, respectively. Conclusions We describe the domestication history of Tartary buckwheat and provide a detailed resource of genomic variation to allow for genomic-assisted breeding in the improvement of elite cultivars.

Abstract Background The high incidence of cerebral apoplexy makes it one of the most important causes of adult disability. Gait disorder is one of the hallmark symptoms in the sequelae of cerebral apoplexy. The recovery of walking ability is critical for improving patients’ quality of life. Innovative virtual reality technology has been widely used in post-stroke rehabilitation, whose effectiveness and safety have been widely verified. To date, however, there are few studies evaluating the effect of immersive virtual reality on stroke-related gait rehabilitation. This study outlines the application of immersive VR-assisted rehabilitation for gait rehabilitation of stroke patients for comparative evaluation with traditional rehabilitation. Methods The study describes a prospective, randomized controlled clinical trial. Thirty-six stroke patients will be screened and enrolled as subjects within 1 month of initial stroke and randomized into two groups. The VRT group (n = 18) will receive VR-assisted training (30 min) 5 days/week for 3 weeks. The non-VRT group (n = 18) will receive functional gait rehabilitation training (30 min) 5 days/week for 3 weeks. The primary outcomes and secondary outcomes will be conducted before intervention, 3 weeks after intervention, and 6 months after intervention. The primary outcomes will include time “up & go” test (TUGT). The secondary outcomes will include MMT muscle strength grading standard (MMT), Fugal-Meyer scale (FMA), motor function assessment scale (MAS), improved Barthel index scale (ADL), step with maximum knee angle, total support time, step frequency, step length, pace, and stride length. Discussion Virtual reality is an innovative technology with broad applications, current and prospective. Immersive VR-assisted rehabilitation in patients with vivid treatment scenarios in the form of virtual games will stimulate patients’ interest through active participation. The feedback of VR games can also provide patients with performance awareness and effect feedback, which could be incentivizing. This study may reveal an improved method of stroke rehabilitation which can be helpful for clinical decision-making and future practice. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR1900025375 . Registered on 25 August 2019

Encountering difficulties that emerge in programming learning are ubiquitous for novices. Those difficulties may reduce novices’ motivation for learning, even lead them to drop out. Automatically detecting the difficulties has been proved as an effective way to solve this problem. A potential method for the detection is to identify programmers’ behavioural patterns based on the sequences of programming events (e.g., editing, deleting, or debugging) when they experience programming difficulties. However, due to the diversity of these events, the plentiful difficulties generated from novices, and the naturally complicated behavioural patterns, accurately detecting the difficulties remains challenging. In this study, we propose a deep representation based on the programming events as the pre-treatment of a recurrent neural network with an attention mechanism to detect programming difficulty. This representation can be conducive to encode the complicated behavioural features (e.g., co-occurrence, sequences, and time intervals of the events) of the difficulty patterns for deep learning models. The results show that the accuracy of our method reaches 94%, which increases by 16% compared with the traditional machine learning model.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has become the infrastructure to widely support ubiquitous services. In this setting, a large number of smart object devices provide IoT services for people to carry on day-to-day activities. These services are easy to access, and thus, can be easily used by different users with different requirements through service allocation and composition. Nevertheless, with the increasing adoption and presence of IoT services, it becomes more difficult to find the appropriate IoT service compositions that can maximize the service utility of all the users’ requests. Moreover, the IoT devices are usually resource constrained and cannot effectively finish some complex task of service requests, thereby reducing the service quality. To address this problem, we develop a novel IoT service allocation mechanism in collaborative device-edge-cloud architecture. First, prevalence of frequent function interaction is mined to help construct IoT service allocation index. Second, service requests’ priority and their preferences towards branch nodes are further set and estimated to help maximize the service composition utility of multiple user requests. Third, edge device is exploited to help service execution and guarantee service allocation utility by offloading task from IoT devices. The results are demonstrated by conducting a set of extensive experiments, which show that the proposed method performs better than the alternative techniques in reducing the total energy consumption and promoting the service utility maximum.

We proposed a compact and efficient polarization rotator (PR) based on an asymmetric hybrid plasmonics waveguide (HPW) on the lithium-niobate-on-insulator (LNOI) platform. We focus on the design of rotation angle and balance between the two hybrid modes. The presented device exhibits a polarization extinction ratio as high as 59.58 dB and an insertion loss of 1.44 dB with the rotation length of only 13.7 $\mu$m. The fabrication tolerances and a suitable process are also discussed to meet the state-of-art technology.

We aimed to explore the associations between the age at which children undergo surgery for hypospadias and a range of social and clinical factors in a single center. Our aim was to promote the early surgical treatment of children with hypospadias. For a 6-year period, social and clinical data were collected from all children undergoing surgery to repair hypospadias in Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University (Chongqing, China), located in southwest of China. We analyzed the correlations between age at surgery and a range of social and clinical factors. A total of 1611 eligible cases were recruited, with a mean age of 54.3 months and a median age of 42 months: 234 cases (14.5%) were classified into a “timely operation” group, 419 (26.0%) cases into a “subtimely operation” group, and 958 (59.5%) cases into a “delayed operation” group. According to multivariate regression analyses, the higher the regional economic level, the closer the urethral opening to the perineum, and the higher the educational level of the guardians was, the younger the children were when they underwent the initial surgery for hypospadias; this was also the case for families without other children. Our subgroup analysis showed that the primary educational level of the guardians was a risk factor for subtimely surgery in their children (odds ratio [OR] = 1.52, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.08–2.15, P < 0.05). A lower regional economic level (OR = 1.87, 95% CI: 1.26–2.78, P < 0.01), a lower educational level of the guardians (OR = 3.84, 95% CI: 2.31–6.41, P < 0.01), and an anterior-segment urethral opening (OR1 [vs middle hypospadias] = 2.07, 95% CI: 1.42–3.03; OR2 [vs posterior hypospadias] = 2.63, 95% CI: 1.75–3.95; P < 0.01) were all risk factors for delayed surgery in children.

Abstract Routine monitoring of kidney transplant function is required for the standard care in post-transplantation management, including frequent measurements of serum creatinine with or without kidney biopsy. However, the invasiveness of these methods with potential for clinically significant complications makes them less than ideal. The objective of this study was to develop a non-invasive tool to monitor the kidney transplant function by using Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS). Urine and blood samples were collected from kidney transplant recipients after surgery. Silver nanoparticle-based SERS spectra of the urine were measured and evaluated using partial least squires (PLS) analysis. The SERS spectra were compared with conventional chemical markers of kidney transplant function to assess its predictive ability. A total of 110 kidney transplant recipients were included in this study. PLS results showed significant correlation with urine protein (R 2 = 0.4660, p

Background Kidneys obtained from deceased donors increase the incidence of delayed graft function (DGF) after renal transplantation. Here we investigated the influence of the risk factors of donors with DGF, and developed a donor risk scoring system for DGF prediction. Methods This retrospective study was conducted in 1807 deceased kidney donors and 3599 recipients who received donor kidneys via transplants in 29 centers in China. We quantified DGF associations with donor clinical characteristics. A donor risk scoring system was developed and validated using an independent sample set. Results The incidence of DGF from donors was 19.0%. Six of the donor characteristics analyzed, i.e., age, cause of death, history of hypertension, terminal serum creatinine, persistence of hypotension, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) time were risk factors for DGF. A 49-point scoring system of donor risk was established for DGF prediction and exhibited a superior degree of discrimination. External validation of DGF prediction revealed area under the receiver-operating characteristic (AUC) curves of 0.7552. Conclusions Our study determined the deceased donor risk factors related to DGF after renal transplantation pertinent to the Chinese cohort. The scoring system developed here had superior diagnostic significance and consistency and can be used by clinicians to make evidence-based decisions on the quality of kidneys from deceased donors and guide renal transplantation therapy.

The molecular mechanisms underlying lupus nephritis (LN) pathogenesis are not fully understood. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is involved in many pathological and physiological processes. We sought to investigate the roles of H2S in LN pathogenesis. H2S synthase cystathionine–lyase (CSE) and cystathionine–synthetase (CBS) expression was downregulated in renal tissues of patients with LN and their levels were associated with LN’s prognosis using the Nephroseq database. Reduced CSE and CBS protein expression in kidney tissues of LN patients and MRL/lpr mice were confirmed by immunohistochemistry. CSE and CBS mRNA levels were reduced in MRL/lpr and pristine- and R848-induced lupus mice. Given that H2S exerts an anti-inflammatory role partly via regulating inflammatory transcription factors (TFs), we analyzed hub TFs by using a bioinformatics approach. It showed that STAT1, RELA, and T-cell-related signaling pathways were enriched in LN. Increased STAT1 and RELA expression were confirmed in renal tissues of LN patients. Treatment of MRL/lpr and pristine mice with H2S donors alleviated systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) phenotypes and renal injury. H2S donors inhibited RELA level and T-cell infiltration in the kidneys of MRL/lpr and pristine mice. Our data indicated that CSE/CBS/H2S contributes to LN pathogenesis. Supplementation of H2S would be a potential therapeutic strategy for LN.

Purpose: Develop and validate an accessible prediction model using machine learning (ML) to predict the risk of chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression (CIM) in children with Wilms’ tumor (WT) before chemotherapy is administered, enabling early preventive management. Methods: A total of 1433 chemotherapy cycles in 437 children with WT who received chemotherapy in our hospital from January 2009 to March 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. Demographic data, clinicopathological characteristics, hematology and blood biochemistry baseline results, and medication information were collected. Six ML algorithms were used to construct prediction models, and the predictive efficacy of these models was evaluated to select the best model to predict the risk of grade ≥ 2 CIM in children with WT. A series of methods, such as the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC), the calibration curve, and the decision curve analysis (DCA) were used to test the model’s accuracy, discrimination, and clinical practicability. Results: Grade ≥ 2 CIM occurred in 58.5% (839/1433) of chemotherapy cycles. Based on the results of the training and validation cohorts, we finally identified that the extreme gradient boosting (XGB) model has the best predictive efficiency and stability, with an AUROC of up to 0.981 in the training set and up to 0.896 in the test set. In addition, the calibration curve and the DCA showed that the XGB model had the best discrimination and clinical practicability. The variables were ranked according to the feature importance, and the five variables contributing the most to the model were hemoglobin (Hgb), white blood cell count (WBC), alkaline phosphatase, coadministration of highly toxic chemotherapy drugs, and albumin. Conclusions: The incidence of grade ≥ 2 CIM was not low in children with WT, which needs attention. The XGB model was developed to predict the risk of grade ≥ 2 CIM in children with WT for the first time. The model has good predictive performance and stability and has the potential to be translated into clinical applications. Based on this modeling and application approach, the extension of CIM prediction models to other pediatric malignancies could be expected.

Micro-motion jamming is a new jamming method to inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) in recent years. Compared with traditional jamming methods, it is more flexible and controllable, and is a great threat to ISAR. The prerequisite of taking relevant anti-jamming measures is to recognize the patterns of micro-motion jamming. In this paper, a method of micro-motion jamming pattern recognition based on complex-valued convolutional neural network (CV-CNN) is proposed. The micro-motion jamming echo signals are serialized and input to the network, and the result of recognition is output. Compared with real-valued convolutional neural network (RV-CNN), it can be found that the proposed method has a higher recognition accuracy rate. Additionally, the recognition accuracy rate is analyzed with different signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and number of training samples. Simulation results prove the effectiveness of the proposed recognition method.

Copper-based metal halides are a group of potential scintillation materials with non-toxic and environmentally friendly properties. However, the slow growth rate of their crystals hinders their applications. In this paper, an organic [N(C2H5)4]2Cu2Br4 crystal was proposed for X-ray scintillation imaging. It was successfully synthesized using a fast solution-phased approach with a production rate of 100 mg/min. The photoluminescence quantum yield of the [N(C2H5)4]2Cu2Br4 crystal is 55% with good stability. More importantly, it has a bright blue emission with a large Stokes shift originating from self-trapped excitons, which contribute to the reabsorption-free characteristic. Its scintillation properties, with a light yield of 7623 photons MeV−1 and remarkable X-ray imaging performance, provide important guidance for the further study of X-ray scintillation crystals.

A hot-rolled medium manganese Q&P steel was annealed at an intercritical annealing temperature (670 °C) and quenched to four partitioning temperatures (300 °C, 280 °C, 260 °C, and 240 °C). The effect of the partitioning temperature on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the steel was studied. The microstructure evolution at different partitioning temperatures was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), a transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The results showed that, as the partition temperature increased, the fractions and the size of the fresh massive martensite (M2) increased, the initial lamellar martensite (M1) was coarsened, and the amount of M1 decreased. Moreover, the amounts of lath-like retained austenite (RA) decreased and the amounts of bulky austenite increased. The tested steel partitioned at 260 °C had relatively greater fractions of RA, in which there were sufficient contents of carbon diffused from M1. Therefore, the test steel partitioned at 260 °C showed fine comprehensive mechanical properties. The combination of tensile strength and elongation reached 30.3 GPa.%, and its work-hardening plateau was the longest, showing excellent ductility as it had sufficient fractions of the retained austenite with good stability.

Luminescent probes have wide applications in biological system analysis and environmental science. Here, one novel luminescent dinuclear europium compound with a crown ether analogous ligand was synthesized through a solvent–thermal reaction. Through transformation, upon the addition of Al3+ ions to the N,N′-dimethyl formamide solution of the europium compound, the luminescent intensity of the characteristic emission of Eu3+ decreased, and a new emission peak appeared at 346 nm and increased rapidly. The luminescent investigation indicated that it could act as a highly sensitive and selective luminescent probe for Al3+ ions. Moreover, mass spectrometry and single-crystal X-ray diffraction confirmed the formation of a new more stable trinuclear aluminium compound during the sensing process.

Tremor is the most common movement disorder. Several drugs reduce tremor severity, but no cures are available. Propranolol, a β-adrenergic receptor blocker, is the leading treatment for tremor. However, the in vivo circuit mechanisms by which propranolol decreases tremor remain unclear. Here, we test whether propranolol modulates activity in the cerebellum, a key node in the tremor network. We investigated the effects of propranolol in healthy control mice and Car8wdl/wdl mice, which exhibit pathophysiological tremor and ataxia due to cerebellar dysfunction. Propranolol reduced physiological tremor in control mice and reduced pathophysiological tremor in Car8wdl/wdl mice to control levels. Open field and footprinting assays showed that propranolol did not correct ataxia in Car8wdl/wdl mice. In vivo recordings in awake mice revealed that propranolol modulates the spiking activity of control and Car8wdl/wdl Purkinje cells. Recordings in cerebellar nuclei neurons, the targets of Purkinje cells, also revealed altered activity in propranolol-treated control and Car8wdl/wdl mice. Next, we tested whether propranolol reduces tremor through β1 and β2 adrenergic receptors. Propranolol did not change tremor amplitude or cerebellar nuclei activity in β1 and β2 null mice or Car8wdl/wdl mice lacking β1 and β2 receptor function. These data show that propranolol can modulate cerebellar circuit activity through β-adrenergic receptors and may contribute to tremor therapeutics.

Abstract Background Our previous study found that chicken KLF7 was an important regulator in formation of adipose tissue. In the present study, we analyzed the association for DNA methylation in chicken KLF7 with its transcripts of abdominal adipose tissue and blood metabolic indicators. Results The KLF7 transcripts of the adipose tissue of Chinese yellow broilers were associated with age (F = 6.67, P = 0.0035). In addition, the KLF7 transcripts were negatively correlated with blood glucose levels (r = − 0.61841, P = 0.0140). The DNA methylation levels of 26 CpG loci in the chicken KLF7 promoter and Exon 2 were studied by Sequenom MassArray. A total of 22 valid datasets were obtained. None of them was significantly different in relation to age (P > 0.05). However, the DNA methylation levels in the promoter were lower than those in Exon 2 (T = 40.74, P

Abstract Background The aim of this study was to quantify the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on pediatric operations, and establish preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative protocols to improve the pediatric operations. Methods We here compare the number of patients who underwent surgery in Chongqing Medical University Affiliated Children’s Hospital during the pandemic (January 23–March 11), after the pandemic (March 12–April 30), after our measures were put in place (May 1–May 21), and the equivalent period in 2019. Result During the COVID-19 pandemic, 62.68% fewer patients underwent surgery than during the homologous period of time 1 year earlier (P

The contamination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) may directly threaten human health. This study used a metagenomic approach to investigate the ARG profile in a drinking water treatment system (DWTS) in south China. In total, 317 ARG subtypes were detected; specifically, genes encoding bacitracin, multidrug, and sulfonamide were widely detected in the DWTS. Putative ARG hosts included Acidovorax (6.0%), Polynucleobacter (4.3%), Pseudomonas (3.4%), Escherichia (1.7%), and Klebsiella (1.5%) as the enriched biomarkers in the DWTS, which mainly carried bacitracin, beta-lactam, and aminoglycoside ARGs. From a further analysis of ARG-carrying contigs (ACCs), Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were the most common pathogens among the 49 ACC pathogens in the DWTS. The metagenomic binning results demonstrated that 33 high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) were discovered in the DWTS; particularly, the MAG identified as S. maltophilia-like (bin.195) harbored the greatest number of ARG subtypes (n = 8), namely, multidrug (n = 6; smeD, semE, multidrug_transporter, mexE, semB, and smeC), beta-lactam (n = 1; metallo-beta-lactamase), and aminoglycoside [n = 1; aph(3’)-IIb]. The strong positive correlation between MGEs and ARG subtypes revealed a high ARG dissemination risk in the DWTS. Based on the pure-culture method, 93 isolates that belong to 30 genera were recovered from the DWTS. Specifically, multidrug-resistant pathogens and opportunistic pathogens such as P. aeruginosa, Bacillus cereus, and S. maltophilia were detected in the DWTS. These insights into the DWTS’s antibiotic resistome indicated the need for more comprehensive ARG monitoring and management in the DWTS. Furthermore, more effective disinfection methods need to be developed to remove ARGs in DWTSs, and these findings could assist governing bodies in the surveillance of antibiotic resistance in DWTSs.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to provide a new strategy for non-cystoscopic double J urethral stent (JJS) removal, the transurethral retrograde fishing the double J urethral stent (TURFJJS), that avoids general anesthesia in pediatric populations.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the JJS removal records of patients having ureteropelvic junction obstruction (UPJO). We analyzed differences in the removal success rates, operation-related severe complications, total cost, duration, and parental satisfaction between TURFJJS and traditional cystoscopic double J urethral stent removal (CJJSR) procedures.ResultsA total of 324 patients with UPJO were included in this study. CJJSR yielded a success rate of 100%. TURFJJS achieved a success rate of 94.3%. The TURFJJS was just an outpatient procedure, and its total cost was about 800 Chinese yuan (US$ 124). There were no severe JJS removal-related complications using TURFJJS. Parental satisfaction was 98.2 and 92.5% for the CJJSR and TURFJJS protocols, respectively.ConclusionTURFJJS is safe, effective, cost-effective, and well-tolerated in pediatric patients, minimizing or eliminating the need for general anesthesia, additional hospitalization, and waste of time. TURFJJS should be widely used in pediatric urology.

Alkali metals are widely used as industrial materials in products such as electrochemical cells because of their properties that make them suited to high temperatures. In this study, three computational approaches including gene expression programming (GEP), least squares support vector machine (LSSVM), and adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) have been suggested to estimate density of different liquid alkali metals in extensive ranges of pressure and temperature. An experimental databank involving 595 experimental alkali metals’ densities has been gathered to prepare and test the models. The mathematical and visual comparisons of these models’ outputs and real density values are used to assess capacities of GEP, LSSVM, and ANFIS models in prediction of alkali metals’ density. The determined R-squared values for GEP, LSSVM, and ANFIS are 0.9999, 1, and 1, respectively. The MSE values are estimated to be 0.9184, 0.815, and 0.154 for GEP, ANFIS, and LSSVM, respectively. According to these results, these models can be suggested as simple and accurate ways for determining alkali metals’ properties. Results showed that LSSVM has the best performance in comparison with GEP and ANFIS. Moreover, the parametric analysis of input parameters is carried out to show the impact of them on alkali metals’ density. According to this analysis, the amount of lithium can be the most effective parameter on the mixture density.

Contact toxicity assessments of six reduced risk insecticides were carried out to compare their selectivity and sensitivity toward the minute pirate bug Orius strigicollis and its prey Thrips hawaiiensis. Additionally, and their potential exposure risk were evaluated for O. strigicollis. The LR50 value of acetamiprid, emamectin benzoate, cyetpyrafen, and indoxacarb to T. hawaiiensis were 0.126, 2.093, 7.486, and 2.264 g a.i. ha−1, respectively, far less than the maximum field recommended rate (MFRR) for each. These four insecticides showed higher selectivity for predator and prey with selectivity ratio values of 37.3, 14.8, 22.1, and 119.3, respectively. However, the LR50 value of acetamiprid and emamectin benzoate were lower than MFRR, and unacceptable (approximately unacceptable for emamectin benzoate) risk to O. strigicollis in in-field, and the opposite results were shown in cyetpyrafen and indoxacarb. Although T. hawaiiensis was more sensitive to abamectin than O. strigicollis, the insecticide had poor selectivity for both test insects. The LR50 value of spirotetramat was more than 3 fold MFRR for T. hawaiiensis and O. strigicollis, showing extremely low contact toxicity and selectivity. In general, acetamiprid, emamectin benzoate, cyetpyrafen, and indoxacarb showed high bioactivity against T. hawaiiensis, but only cyetpyrafen and indoxacarb could be well compatible with O. strigicollis, the combination of two insecticides with O. strigicollis indicated a potential strategy for the efficient and safe control of T. hawaiiensis.