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Background Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication after pediatric cardiac surgery and is associated with worse outcomes. Ibuprofen is widely used in the perioperative period and can affect kidney function in children. However, the association between ibuprofen exposure and AKI after pediatric cardiac surgery has not been determined yet.Methods In this retrospective cohort study, children undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass were studied. Exposure was defined as given ibuprofen in the first 7 days after surgery. Postoperative AKI was diagnosed using the KDIGO criteria. A multivariable Cox regression model was used to assess the association between ibuprofen exposure and postoperative AKI by taking ibuprofen as a time-varying covariate.Results Among 1,112 included children, 198 of them (17.8%) experienced AKI. In total, 396 children (35.6%) were exposed to ibuprofen. AKI occurred less frequently among children who were administered ibuprofen than among those who were not (46 of 396 [11.6%] vs. 152 of 716 [21.2%], p

Background: Hepatosteatosis is a common condition that can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. Galectin-3 (GAL-3) has been implicated in liver fibrosis and inflammation. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between GAL-3 and hepatosteatosis. Design: This study is a retrospective secondary analysis of data from a community health screening program. Methods: A total of 766 participants were included in the final analysis. Hepatosteatosis was diagnosed using ultrasonography, and GAL-3 levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between GAL-3 levels and the presence of hepatosteatosis, adjusting for age, sex, and other potential confounding factors. Results: The prevalence of moderate-to-severe hepatosteatosis in the study population was 31.5%. The participants with hepatosteatosis had a significantly higher mean level of GAL-3 compared to those without hepatosteatosis (16.6 ± 7.3 vs 13.5 ± 7.3 ng/ml; p 1 and GAL-3 >14.4 ng/ml was associated with a significantly increased risk (aOR 3.37, 95% CI: 1.90–5.99, p

IntroductionAtherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is associated with a high mortality rate due to vascular calcification. The role of fetuin-A in aortic arch calcification (AAC) is less well understood.MethodsAn analysis of secondary biomarkers was performed on 800 individuals from the biobank using the community database. AAC was defined by radiologists based on imaging. Multiple variables logical analysis was used for risk analysis.ResultsA total of 736 individual samples were collected based on age and gender. The average age is 65 ± 10 years, and half the population comprises men. In spite of similar body weight, renal function, and hepatic function, the AAC group had higher blood pressure and fetuin-A levels independently: systolic blood pressure (SBP) index ≥130 mmHg [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.85, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.34–2.57, p = 0.002] and fetuin-A (aOR 0.62, 95% CI 0.50–0.76, p

Pressure monitoring of a transformer oil tank can grasp the pressure change process caused by gas production when severe internal defects occur and take timely measures to ensure the safe operation of the transformer. Existing pressure sensors generally use metal encapsulation or have an air cavity structure, threatening the transformer's insulation if it is directly used inside the transformer. To this end, this paper proposes a method for developing a high-sensitivity, large-range, and metallization-free optical pressure sensing device with temperature compensation. Fiber grating is encapsulated by fluorosilicone rubber and supplemented by an epoxy resin shielding shell on the outside. At the same time, a double-grating vertical arrangement is adopted to improve pressure measurement sensitivity, further avoiding the influence of temperature rise caused by a defect of the transformer on the measurement result of the sensor. In addition, by optimizing the geometric structure of the internal sensitizing element, pre-stretching length of the fiber grating, gap distance, and other parameters, probe size can be reduced while ensuring the sensor's performance. Results show the proposed method can meet the requirements of sensor fabrication with different sensitivities and ranges, and to a certain extent, both high sensitivity and extensive ranges can be taken into account. The sensitivity of the fabricated prototype is 15 pm/kPa, and the range is about 0.2 MPa. At the same time, the metal-free feature of the sensor makes it suitable for use in various oil-immersed power equipment. It records oil pressure changes caused by oil discharge breakdown, making it sensitive to small pressure changes in early failures.

In this paper, we investigate a perturbed elliptic boundary value problem that exhibits critical growth characterized by a Trudinger–Moser-type inequality. Our primary focus is to establish the existence of two nontrivial solutions. This is achieved by employing a combination of the Trudinger–Moser-type inequality and a linking theorem based on the Z2-cohomological index. The main feature and novelty of this paper lies in extending the equation to N-Laplacian boundary value problems utilizing the aforementioned methods. This extension not only broadens the applicability of these techniques but also enriches the research outcomes in the field of nonlinear analysis.

The accumulation of senescent cells in kidneys is considered to contribute to age-related diseases and organismal aging. Mitochondria are considered a regulator of cell senescence process. Atrazine as a triazine herbicide poses a threat to renal health by disrupting mitochondrial homeostasis. Melatonin plays a critical role in maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis. The present study aims to explore the mechanism by which melatonin alleviates atrazine-induced renal injury and whether parkin-mediated mitophagy contributes to mitigating cell senescence. The study found that the level of parkin was decreased after atrazine exposure and negatively correlated with senescent markers. Melatonin treatment increased serum melatonin levels and mitigates atrazine-induced renal tubular epithelial cell senescence. Mechanistically, melatonin maintains the integrity of mitochondrial crista structure by increasing the levels of mitochondrial contact site and cristae organizing system, mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM), adenosine triphosphatase family AAA domain-containing protein 3A (ATAD3A), and sorting and assembly machinery 50 (Sam50) to prevent mitochondrial DNA release and subsequent activation of cyclic guanosine 5′-monophosphate–adenosine 5′-monophosphate synthase pathway. Furthermore, melatonin activates Sirtuin 3–superoxide dismutase 2 axis to eliminate the accumulation of reactive oxygen species in the kidney. More importantly, the antisenescence role of melatonin is largely determined by the activation of parkin-dependent mitophagy. These results offer novel insights into measures against cell senescence. Parkin-mediated mitophagy is a promising drug target for alleviating renal tubular epithelial cell senescence.

Introduction Dysmagnesemia has been demonstrated to be involved in the pathophysiology of kidney diseases and is common in cardiac surgical patients. It remains unknown whether changes of serum magnesium after cardiac surgery affect AKI. We aimed to investigate the association of early postoperative magnesium with cardiac surgery-associated AKI in adults.Methods We conducted a multicenter retrospective cohort study involving patients who underwent cardiac surgery in the eICU Collaborative Research Database between 2014 and 2015. AKI within 7 days after surgery was defined using both serum creatinine and urine output criteria of Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes definition. Postoperative AKI was analyzed using multivariable logistic regression with early postoperative serum magnesium measured within the first 24 h after surgery as a continuous variable and categorically by quartiles.Results Postoperative AKI was identified in 3498 of 6124 (57.1%) patients receiving cardiac surgery. The median (25th–75th percentiles) early postoperative serum magnesium level of the study population was 2.3 (2.0–2.7) mg/dL. Higher serum magnesium level was associated with a higher risk of developing postoperative AKI (adjusted odds ratio (OR), 1.46 per 1 mg/dL increase; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.31–1.62; p

Abstract Sarcopenia has been associated with conventional chemotherapy-related toxicity, postoperative complications and poor overall survival in patients with genotype-unselected metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic implications of sarcopenia and its change after perioperative cetuximab plus doublet chemotherapy and hepatectomy in patients with RAS wild-type colorectal liver metastasis (CRLM). Patients with CRLM from 2007 to 2018 in Chang Gung Research Database were retrospectively analyzed. Baseline characteristics as well as skeletal muscle index (SMI) at baseline and dynamic changes after interventions were collected. A multivariate Cox proportional hazard model was used to evaluate the effect of each parameter on overall survival (OS), and the Kaplan–Meier method was used to establish survival curves. A two-sided p value

Fabrication of silicon carbide (SiC) ceramics by digital light processing (DLP) technology is difficult owing to high refractive index and high ultraviolet (UV) absorptivity of SiC powders. The surface of the SiC powders can be coated with silicon oxide (SiO2) with low refractive index and low UV absorptivity via high-temperature oxidation, reducing the loss of UV energy in the DLP process and realizing the DLP preparation of the SiC ceramics. However, it is necessary to explore a high-temperature modification process to obtain a better modification effect of the SiC powders. Therefore, the high-temperature modification behavior of the SiC powders is thoroughly investigated in this paper. The results show that nano-scale oxide film is formed on the surface of the SiC powders by short-time high-temperature oxidation, effectively reducing the UV absorptivity and the surface refractive index (nʹ) of the SiC powders. When the oxidation temperature is 1300 ℃, compared with that of unoxidized SiC powders, the UV absorptivity of oxidized SiC powders decreases from 0.5065 to 0.4654, and a curing depth of SiC slurry increases from 22±4 to 59±4 μm. Finally, SiC green bodies are successfully prepared by the DLP with the the oxidized powders, and flexural strength of SiC sintered parts reaches 47.9±2.3 MPa after 3 h of atmospheric sintering at 2000 ℃ without any sintering aid.

The most important secondary resources of platinum group metals (PGMs) are spent automotive exhaust catalysts, which are called “mobile PGM mines.” Low-temperature iron-capture technology is a promising technology for recovering PGMs due to its high efficiency and low pollution. Because of the content of aluminosilicates and toxic heavy metals (Cr, Ba, Ni, and Mn), the disposal of iron-capture smelting slag is necessary. This paper is devoted to the solidification of heavy metals and the resource utilization of iron-capture smelting slag. Glass-ceramics were made by a one-step method using aluminosilicates as network formers. Heavy metals and CaF2 are employed as nucleating agents in pickling sludge. According to the analysis of differential scanning calorimetry, the glass transition temperature and crystallization temperature of samples are in the range of 650 ℃–700 ℃ and 800 ℃–920 ℃, respectively. The gap between the glass transition temperature and crystallization temperature of samples decreased from 211 ℃ to 150 ℃ when increasing the amount of pickling sludge from 7% to 28% (mass fraction). The devitrification activation energy decreased from 321.8 to 303.5 kJ·mol−1, while the Avrami index increased from 1.7 to 3.7. It demonstrates that pickling sludge can reduce the temperature difference between nucleation and crystallization, which is beneficial in realizing the one-step process. The effects of pickling sludge and heat treatment systems on glass-ceramics were investigated. The diopside phase is the main crystalline phase of glass-ceramics. Nepheline and Magnetite phases were detected when the amount of pickling sludge (mass fraction) reached 28%. The physical properties of the glass-ceramics were improved with the increase in heat treatment temperature and time. When the addition amount of pickling sludge (mass fraction) was 21%, the glass-ceramics prepared by heat treatment at 900 ℃ for 1.2 h had the best properties; namely, the density was 3.04 g·cm−3, the water absorption (mass fraction) was 0.11%, and the Vickers hardness and flexural strength were 742.72 HV and 119.32 MPa, respectively. The Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) leaching standard was met by heavy metals such as Cr, Ba, and Ni in the toxicity test. Glass structure analysis revealed that the pickling sludge increased the nonbridging oxygen content in the base glass while reducing the degree of glass network polymerization, resulting in an enhanced crystallization tendency. The pickling sludge proved to have potential as an inexpensive nucleating agent in the preparation of glass-ceramics with excellent performance. The glass-ceramics with these unique properties are promising to be applied as building materials.

Background: Thrombocytopenia is a common extrahepatic manifestation in chronic liver disease. However, there have been rare studies of impacts of risk for hepatitis C virus-associated thrombocytopenia (HCV-TP) and hepatitis B virus-associated thrombocytopenia (HBV-TP). The aim of this study is to evaluate different impacts of risk factors for HCV-TP and HBV-TP. Methods: We retrospectively collected 1803 HCV patients and 1652 HBV patients to examine the risk factors for time to moderate and severe thrombocytopenia (platelet counts

A three‐component cyclization reaction of O‐acyl oximes, silyl enol ethers and elemental sulfur has been developed, in which silyl enol ether acts as a C1 synthon to participate in cyclization reaction and build a series of 2‐aroylnaphthothiazoles and 2‐aroylbenzothienothiazoles. The preliminary exploration of the reaction mechanism indicated that this transformation probably proceeded through a radical process, involving S3⋅− as a key intermediate, enabling subsequent nucleophilic substitution with O‐acyl oximes to afford iminosulfur radical, which undergoes 1,3‐H shift to yield sulfur‐centered radical intermediate. And then this intermediate undergoes radical addition with silyl enol ether, leading to the formation of the titled products through intramolecular cyclization and oxidation. Moreover, the products obtained exhibit favorable fluorescence properties, which indicates their potential application as functional materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Mechanical stress plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD). The mechanosensitive Piezo1 ion channel can sense the changes in mechanical stress and convert the mechanical signals into chemical signals. This study aims to investigate the effect of Piezo1 on the mechanical stress-induced IVDD and explore the possible mechanism. Methods The expression of Piezo1 and collagen II in immunohistochemical staining, cervical curvature, and the stiffness of nucleus pulpous (NP) were performed in normal and degenerated human intervertebral discs. In the experiment, high-intensity compression was applied to mimic the mechanical environment of IVDD. The cell viability, matrix macromolecules, and pro-inflammatory cytokines were examined to investigate the effect of Piezo1 on mechanical stress-treated NP cells. Additionally, autophagy condition of NP cells was detected within high-intensity compression and/or the inhibitor of Piezo1, GsMTx4. Results The up-expression of Piezo1, down-expression of Col II, elevated stiffness of NP, and poor kyphosis were observed in degenerated human intervertebral discs. High-intensity stress significantly decreased cell viability and the synthesis of extracellular matrix but increased the expression of senescence-associated proteins (p53 and p16) and pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β) by mitochondrial dysfunction and suppression of autophagy. However, GsMTx4 can partly attenuate these effects. Conclusion Piezo1 upregulation under excessive mechanical stress promotes the apoptosis, senescence, and pro-inflammatory cytokines of NP and leads to the loss of extracellular matrix by mitochondrial dysfunction and the suppression of autophagy; on the other hand, the inhibition of Piezo1 can partly alleviate these effects.

AIM:To investigate the factors associated with short-term elevation of intraocular pressure(IOP)after conbercept intravitreal injection. METHODS:This study was a clinical prospective observational study. It enrolled in 269 eyes of 269 patients who were diagnosed retinopathy, and all patients receive conbercept intravitreal injection. Among them, 143 were males and 126 were females. There were 201 cases of age-related macular degeneration(ARMD)and 68 cases of other retinopathy patients. The mean age was 62.86±11.74 years. Non-contact pneumatic tonometer was used to measure the IOP of the patients before, 10, 30min, 2 and 4h after injection. The group was divided according to the IOP elevation 10min after injection. The IOP elevation 10 mmHg and above was defined as the IOP elevation group, and the IOP elevation less than 10 mmHg was defined as the IOP stable group. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the differences between the two groups.RESULTS:The average IOP of patients at 10, 30min, 2 and 4h after injection was 24.1, 20.2, 19.5 and 16.9 mmHg, respectively. The average IOP at each time point after injection was 6.7, 3.1, 1.7 and 0.5 mmHg higher than that before injection. Among them, 56 cases of increased IOP, 213 cases of stable IOP. There were no significant differences in age, best corrected visual acuity(BCVA), gender, eye side and disease type between two groups(all P>0.05). There were statistically significant differences in the number of injection(Z=-4.389, P=0.012), IOP before injection and IOP at each time point after injection(t=-5.343, -10.467, -8.933, -6.124, -4.635, all P

ObjectiveCentral precocious puberty (CPP) is a rare condition that causes early sexual development in children. Although the cure is effective, the etiology of central precocious puberty is unclear.MethodsIn total, 10 girls with central precocious puberty and same number of age-matched female controls were enrolled. Plasma samples were collected from each participant and subjected to untargeted metabolomics and lipidomics. Student's t-tests were employed to compare the mean of each metabolite and lipid. Furthermore, orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis was conducted and the variable importance in the projection was calculated to identify differentially expressed metabolites or lipids. Subsequent bioinformatics was conducted to investigate the potential function of differentially expressed metabolites and lipids.ResultsFifty-nine differentially expressed metabolites were identified based on the criteria used (variable importance in the projection >1 and a P value

Background Human platelet antigens (HPAs) are alloantigens for antiplatelet alloantibodies and associated with the risk of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). However, few studies have investigated associations among HPAs, antiplatelet autoantibodies, and cryoglobulins. Methods We enrolled 43 patients with primary ITP, 47 with hepatitis C virus-associated ITP (HCV-ITP), 21 with hepatitis B virus-associated ITP (HBV-ITP), 25 controls with HCV, and 1013 normal controls including HPA data of 998 Taiwanese blood donors. We analyzed HPA allele frequencies including HPA1-6 and 15, antiplatelet antibodies binding to platelet glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa, Ia/IIa, Ib/IX, IV, human leukocyte antigen class I, cryoglobulin IgG/A/M, and their associations with thrombocytopenia. Results In the whole ITP cohort, HPA2ab predicted a low platelet count. HPA2b was associated with the risk of developing ITP, but not with anti-GPIb/IX antibodies. HPA15b was correlated with multiple antiplatelet antibodies. In the primary ITP patients, HPA3b was correlated with cryoglobulin IgG/A/M. In contrast, in the HCV-ITP patients, HPA3b was correlated with anti-GPIIb/IIIa antibodies, HCV-ITP patients with anti-GPIIb/IIIa antibodies had a higher positive rate of cryoglobulin IgG and IgA caomparred with those without anti-GPIIb/IIIa antibodies. Similar to the antiplatelet antibodies, cryoglobulins were associated with clinical thrombocytopenia, especially cryoglobulin IgA. Furthermore, cryoglobulins in the HCV-ITP patients showed characteristics to antiplatelet antibodies. Conclusion HPA alleles were associated with antiplatelet autoantibodies but had different impacts in the patients with primary ITP and HCV-ITP. The pathophysiology and characteristics of antiplatelet antibodies were different between these two groups. HCV-ITP was considered to be a symptom of mixed cryoglobulinemia in the HCV patients.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is a new form of ultrasound (US) that can dynamically display microvessels in a highly sensitive manner. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of CEUS for characterizing testicular lesions in comparison with conventional US. Forty-seven patients with testicular lesions were enrolled. The histopathology results revealed that 31 cases were neoplastic (11 cases of seminomas, 8 nonseminomatous germ cell tumors, 8 lymphomas, 2 Leydig cell tumors, and 2 nonspecific tumors), and 16 cases were nonneoplastic (8 cases of infarctions, 3 epidermoid cysts, and 5 inflammation). The indicators of shallow lobulated morphology and cystic-solid echogenicity on conventional US were suggestive of germ cell tumors. More indicators on CEUS were found to be useful for characterizing testicular lesions. All the neoplastic lesions showed hyperenhancement on CEUS. Moreover, germ cell tumors presented with heterogeneous enhancement (73.7%, 14/19), a twisted blood vessel pattern, rapid wash-in and wash-out, and peripheral rim hyperenhancement signs. Lymphoma was characterized by nonbranching linear vessel patterns (87.5%, 7/8), rapid wash-in and slow wash-out. In nonneoplastic lesions, infarction and epidermoid cysts showed no enhancement, and abscesses were observed with marginal irregular enhancement. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of CEUS for differentiating between neoplastic and nonneoplastic lesions were 100%, 93.8%, and 97.9%, respectively, and these values were higher than those for conventional US (90.3%, 62.5%, and 80.9%, respectively). CEUS can sensitively reflect the microvascular perfusion in testicular lesions and offers high accuracy for characterizing them.

This study investigated the prevalence and occurrence of 3-monochloropropanediol esters (3-MCPDEs) and glycidyl esters (GEs) in domestically and commercially prepared food in Singapore and assessed the total dietary exposure for the Singaporean population. Minimal impact on the formation of 3-MCPDEs and GEs was observed from the domestic cooking methods commonly practiced in Singapore such as deep frying and stir frying. The estimated total dietary exposure to 3-MCPDEs for the Singaporean population (aged 15 to 92) was 0.982 µg/kg bw/day for general consumers and 2.212 µg/kg bw/day for high consumers (95th percentile), which accounted for 49.1% and 110.6% of the tolerable dietary intake (TDI) at 2 µg/kg bw/day by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The calculated margins of exposure (MOE) for GEs based on the dietary exposure for general consumers at 0.882 µg/kg bw/day and 2.209 µg/kg bw/day for high consumers were below 10,000, indicating a potential health concern. Our study showed that the occurrence of 3-MCPDEs and GEs varied among vegetable oils, and domestic cooking methods did not significantly impact the levels of 3-MCPDEs and GEs in prepared food. The critical factor influencing the prevalence and occurrence of 3-MCPDEs and GEs was the choice of oil used for cooking, which absorbed into the cooked food. It is essential to encourage the food industry to continue its innovation on mitigation measures to control and reduce 3-MCPDEs and GEs in vegetable oil production. Consumers are advised to make informed choices on food consumption and cooking oil for food preparation to reduce their exposure to 3-MCPDEs and GEs.

Hepatitis C virus-associated immune thrombocytopenia (HCV-ITP) has been assumed to be one of secondary ITP and associated with antiplatelet antibodies. This study was to clarify the antibody profile in HCV-ITP compared with primary ITP. We enrolled 55 HCV-ITP, 30 primary ITP, 11 Helicobacter pylori-ITP, 21 HCV control, and 16 healthy volunteers. We reviewed their blood cell counts, autoimmune markers, and spleen size. We used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit to detect the specific antibody to glycoproteins IIb/IIIa, Ia/IIa, Ib/IX, IV, and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I. Compared with primary ITP patients, HCV-ITP patients had an older age, lower white blood cell (WBC) count and fewer presented with severe thrombocytopenia. The rate of positive antibody detection was 63.6% for the HCV-ITP group higher than the rate of 40% for the primary ITP. In the HCV control, antiplatelet antibodies were detected in 38.1% patients and no one had more than two types of antibodies. The antiplatelet antibodies correlated to severer thrombocytopenia. An HLA class I antibody was associated with lower WBCs and larger spleen. In conclusion, HCV-ITP patients had a high rate of positive antiplatelet antibody. The antibodies were associated with not only lower platelets but also leukopenia and splenomegaly.

Abstract Background Evidence for peritoneal dialysis catheter (PDC) usage in pediatric patients undergoing surgery for deteriorating cardiac dysfunction is lacking. This investigation explored factors associated with PDC usage and its effectiveness in children with anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA). Methods Eighty-four children undergoing left coronary artery transfer were retrospectively recruited. The primary endpoint was the postoperative ratio of the general ward/[intensive care unit (ICU)] length of stay. Univariable and multivariable analyses were fitted to assess factors related most strongly to PDC and the ratio of general ward/ICU length of stay. Results Of the 84 patients, 17 (20.2%) underwent postoperative PDC placement. Patients with extreme cardiac dysfunction [left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤25%] were much more likely to require a PDC (OR, 9.88; 95% CI, 2.13–45.76; P = 0.003). Moreover, univariate analysis indicated that concomitant mitral repair significantly decreased the likelihood of PDC placement (OR, 0.25; 95% CI, 0.07–0.85; P = 0.026). In those with cardiac dysfunction (LVEF ≤50%), PDC use was associated with a reduced ratio of ward/ICU length of stay (B, − 1.62; 95% CI, − 2.77– -0.46; P = 0.008), as was age ≤ 12 months (B, − 1.57; 95% CI, − 2.88– -0.26; P = 0.02). At the 1-year follow-up, cardiac improvement was significantly greater in patients with PDC usage than in those without it (P

BackgroundIntraoperative transfusion is associated with adverse clinical outcomes in cardiac surgery. However, few studies have shown the impact of intraoperative red blood cell (RBC) transfusion on non-anemic patients undergoing cardiac surgery. We assessed the in-hospital clinical outcomes of non-anemic patients undergoing isolated valve replacements and investigated the predictors associated with intraoperative RBC transfusion.MethodsWe enrolled 345 non-anemic patients undergoing isolated valve replacements in our department from January 2015 to December 2019. The patients were stratified by the receipt of intraoperative RBC transfusion. Baseline characteristics were compared between groups and multiple logistic regression was used to identify the predictors for intraoperative RBC transfusion. The association between intraoperative RBC transfusion and in-hospital outcomes was also evaluated.ResultsIntraoperative RBC transfusion developed in 84 of the 345 enrolled patients (24.3%). Three independent predictors for intraoperative RBC transfusion of non-anemic patients undergoing isolated valve replacements were identified by multivariate logistic analysis, including female, iron deficiency and hemoglobin level. When the two groups were compared, a significant tendency of higher in-hospital mortality (6.0% vs. 1.1%, P = 0.033) and higher incidence of postoperative hypoxemia (9.5% vs. 2.7%, P = 0.007) were observed in the intraoperative RBC transfusion group. After adjustment, the presence of intraoperative RBC transfusion was associated with an increase in postoperative hypoxemia (OR = 3.36, 95% CI: 1.16–9.71, P = 0.026).ConclusionIntraoperative RBC transfusion was associated with poorer clinical outcomes in non-anemic adults undergoing isolated valve replacements, which significantly increased the risk of postoperative hypoxemia. The independent predictors of intraoperative RBC transfusion, such as iron deficiency and female, were identified, which may be helpful for risk assessment and perioperative management.

Background: Aortic stenosis (AS) increases left ventricular afterload, leading to cardiac damage and heart failure (HF). Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is an effective therapy for AS. No inotropic agents including levosimendan have been evaluated in patients undergoing TAVR.Methods: A total of 285 patients underwent TAVR between 2014 and 2019; 210 were included in the matched analysis and 105 received 0.1 μg/kg body weight/min levosimendan immediately after the prosthesis had been successfully implanted. Medical history, laboratory tests, and echocardiography results were analyzed. Endpoints including 2-year all-cause mortality, stroke, or HF-related hospitalization, and a combination of the above were analyzed by Cox proportional hazard models.Results: The levosimendan group had no difference in 2-year mortality compared with the control group (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.603, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.197–1.844; p = 0.375). However, levosimendan reduced stroke or HF-related hospitalization (HR: 0.346; 95% CI: 0.135–0.884; p = 0.027) and the combined endpoint (HR: 0.459, 95% CI: 0.215–0.980; p = 0.044). After adjusting for multiple variants, levosimendan still reduced stroke or HF-related hospitalization (HR: 0.346, 95% CI: 0.134–0.944; p = 0.038).Conclusion: Prophylactic levosimendan administration immediately after valve implantation in patients undergoing TAVR can reduce stroke or HF-related hospitalization but does not lower all-cause mortality.

As a new generation of new energy battery, lithium-ion battery is widely used in various fields, including electronic products, electric vehicles, and power supply, due to its advantages of high energy density, light weight, long cycle life, small self-discharge, no memory effect, and no pollution. With the wide application of lithium-ion battery, numerous research on its performance has been done, including its health assessment as one of the hot spots. Repeated charging and discharging of a lithium-ion battery that was run under full charge state results to internal irreversible chemical changes leading to a fall in the maximum available capacity. Specifically, a decline to 70%–80% of the rated capacity results in lithium-ion battery failure. Battery failure may lead to electrical equipment damage, resulting in safety accidents. Therefore, it is of great significance to predict the remaining usable life of lithium-ion battery for improving system reliability. In this paper, a combination prediction model for lithium-ion batteries with multimode decomposition was presented based on the long and short-term memory (LSTM) prediction model to learn about small changes in its degradation process. A complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (CEEMDAN) algorithm was used to divide the capacity into main degradation trend and some local degradation trend. Long Short-Term Memory Neural Network (LSTMNN) algorithm was then introduced to perform the capacity prediction of decomposed degradation data. Finally, some prediction results were integrated effectively. The maximum mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of the proposed CEEMDAN–LSTM lithium-ion battery combination prediction model does not exceed 1.5%. The average relative error is less than 3%, which is better than the other prediction model.

This study investigated the influence of ‘snackification’ in Singaporean diets, leading to increased dietary acrylamide exposure. Acrylamide concentrations in commonly consumed foods within and outside the main meals were measured using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). High acrylamide concentrations were detected in vegetables cooked at high temperatures (ranging from 0.5 to 478.4 µg/kg) and potato-based crackers and chips (ranging from 81.8 to 2095.8 µg/kg). The estimated total dietary exposure for the Singapore population was 0.165 µg/kg bw/day for general consumers and 0.392 µg/kg bw/day for high consumers (95th percentile). The acrylamide exposure from outside main meals was nearly equivalent to that from within the main meals. The calculated margins of exposure (MOE) were below 10,000, indicating potential human health concern. These findings highlight the need for industry practices and consumer advisories to reduce acrylamide exposure from foods consumed both within and outside main meals.

Two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic second-order topological insulators (SOTIs) coexisting with valley polarization have received increasing attention recently, while 2D valley-polarized ferrimagnetic (ferri-valley) SOTI has not been reported yet. In this work, we propose an effective six-band tight-binding model based on structural symmetry to confirm the possibility of coexistence of ferrimagnetism, second-order topological corner states, and valley polarization in 2D systems, and predict Mo2CSCl monolayer as the robust 2D ferri-valley SOTI with good structural stability, considerable Curie temperature estimated to be 100 K, and distinct valley polarization up to 109 meV under out-of-plane exchange field based on our model and first-principles calculations. Also, we find that the spin polarization direction of corner states combined with valley polarization can be controlled by switching the direction of the magnetization direction using an external magnetic field. These findings of the combination of intrinsic ferrimagnetism, second-order topological properties, and valley polarization in single 2D materials provide an ideal platform for practical applications in multifield-control spintronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AIM: To investigate the early changes of corneal higher-order aberrations(HOAs)of the anterior surface, posterior surface, and total cornea after femtosecond laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis(FS-LASIK)in mild to moderate myopic and high myopic patients. METHODS: This retrospective study included 129 patients(129 eyes)underwent FS-LASIK surgery from December 2018 to December 2019. Treated eyes were divided into two groups, according to the preoperative spherical equivalent(SE): mild to moderate myopic group(

Abstract Background Endoscopic resection for large, laterally spreading tumors (LSTs) in the cecum is challenging. Here we report on the clinical outcomes of hybrid endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) in large cecal LSTs. Methods We retrospectively reviewed data from patients with cecal LSTs ≥ 2 cm who underwent ESD or hybrid ESD procedures between January of 2008 and June of 2019. We compared the baseline characteristics and clinical outcomes, including procedure time, the en bloc and complete resection rates, and adverse events. Results A total of 62 patients were enrolled in the study. There were 27 patients in the ESD group and 35 patients in the hybrid ESD group, respectively. Hybrid ESD was more used for lesions with submucosal fibrosis. No other significant differences were found in patient characteristics between the two groups. The hybrid ESD group had a significantly shorter procedure time compared with the ESD group (27.60 ± 17.21 vs. 52.63 ± 44.202 min, P = 0.001). The en bloc resection rate (77.1% vs. 81.5%, P = 0.677) and complete resection rate (71.4% vs. 81.5%, P = 0.359) of hybrid ESD were relatively lower than that of the ESD group in despite of no significant difference was found. The perforation and post-procedure bleeding rate (2.9% vs. 3.7%, P = 0.684) were similar between the two groups. One patient perforated during the ESD procedure, which was surgically treated. One patient in the hybrid ESD group experienced post-procedure bleeding, which was successfully treated with endoscopic hemostasis. Post-procedural fever and abdominal pain occurred in six patients in the ESD group and five patients in the hybrid ESD group. One patient in the ESD group experienced recurrence, which was endoscopically resected. Conclusion The results of this study indicate that hybrid ESD may be an alternative resection strategy for large cecal LSTs with submucosal fibrosis.

Abstract Introduction The most striking feature of depression is sadness and a loss of interest in activities, which represents a major cause of disability globally. Therefore, it is necessary to identify novel antidepressants for clinical practice. Ginsenoside Rh2 (Rh2) is one of the major bioactive ginsenosides that can be extracted from Panax ginseng and has been demonstrated to improve both memory and learning. The purpose of this study was to provide broad insight into the mechanisms underlying depression and gain greater insights into antidepressant therapy. Methods In this study, we first established an effective and feasible depression animal model of chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) and behavioral testing was evaluated by the forced swim test (FST), the tail suspension test (TST) and the sucrose preference test. Following pretreatment with Rh2 (10 and 20 mg/kg), the immobility time of mice was reduced without affecting locomotor activity in both the FST and TST. Western blotting and immunofluorescence were used to investigate the activation of the hippocampal BDNF signaling pathway and hippocampal neurogenesis. Results Different concentrations of Rh2 significantly reduced depressive‐like symptoms in CUMS‐induced mice and downregulated the effects of the BDNF signaling cascade and neurogenesis in the hippocampus. Furthermore, the administration of K252a completely prevented the antidepressant‐like activity of Rh2 in mice. Conclusion The results indicated that Rh2 possesses the antidepression action via the positive regulation of the BDNF‐TrkB pathway.

Background: Exposure to particulate matter (PM) may contribute to lung inflammation and injury. The therapeutic effect of N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a well-known antioxidant, with regards to the prevention and treatment of fine PM (PM2.5)-induced lung injury is poorly understood. This study aimed to determine the effect of PM2.5 on the recruitment of neutrophils and Ly6Chigh monocytes into lung alveoli and the production of proinflammatory proteins by stimulating the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and to investigate the therapeutic effect of NAC on PM2.5-induced lung injury. Methods: C57BL/6 mice were exposed to a single administration of PM2.5 (200 μg/100 μl/mouse) or phosphate-buffered saline (control) via intratracheal instillation. The mice were injected intratracheally via a microsprayer aerosolizer with NAC (20 or 40 mg/kg) 1 h before PM2.5 instillation and 24 h after PM2.5 instillation. Total protein, VEGF, IL-6, and TNF-α in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were measured. Oxidative stress was evaluated by determining levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitrite in BALF. Flow cytometric analysis was used to identify and quantify neutrophils and Ly6Chigh and Ly6Clow monocyte subsets. Results: Neutrophil count, total protein, and VEGF content in BALF significantly increased after PM2.5 exposure and reached the highest level on day 2. Increased levels of TNF-alpha, IL-6, nitrite, and MDA in BALF were also noted. Flow cytometric analysis showed increased recruitment of neutrophils and Ly6Chigh, but not Ly6Clow monocytes, into lung alveoli. Treatment with NAC via the intratracheal spray significantly attenuated the recruitment of neutrophils and Ly6Chigh monocytes into lung alveoli in PM2.5-treated mice in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, NAC significantly attenuated the production of total protein, VEGF, nitrite, and MDA in the mice with PM2.5-induced lung injury in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusion: PM2.5-induced lung injury caused by the generation of oxidative stress led to the recruitment of neutrophils and Ly6Chigh monocytes, and production of inflammatory proteins. NAC treatment alleviated PM2.5-induced lung injury by attenuating the ROS-mediated recruitment of neutrophils and Ly6Chigh monocytes and lung inflammation.

ObjectivesRegular sports participation is a gendered phenomenon in China. Women have reported much higher constraints than men on time, partner, psychology, knowledge, and interest. This study explores personal, family, lifestyle, and health factors associated with sports participation.Study DesignThis study is a cross-sectional study.MethodsData were collected from the national reprehensive China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) database (2018) to analyze personal information, family background, lifestyle, and health in relation to women's sports participation. Multiple classification logistic regression was used to quantify the association between independent variables and sports time.ResultsWomen with high personal income and education, who were unmarried, in faster economic development areas have more awareness and more time for sports participation. Women who were overweight and self-rated as unattractive spent less time on sports participation. Women with a small family population and no children have more time for sports participation. Less time on the internet and moderate sleep contribute to active sports participation. Women with chronic diseases and high medical costs are less likely to participate in sports.ConclusionsNegative body aesthetic perception, the burden of family environment, modernization of lifestyle, and the normalization of sub-health are essential factors affecting women's sports participation. The government should understand the inner and outer barriers to women's participation in sports, develop policies and regulations to protect and support women's sports participation, and guide and monitor the effective implementation of women's sports activities.

AIM: To investigate the expression profiles of the transcription factor specificity protein 1 (Sp1) and collagen I in recurrent pterygial tissues. What is more, to compare the changes of Sp1 and collagen I among primary pterygial tissue, recurrent pterygial tissue and conjunctival tissue. METHODS: In the prospective study, we collected the pterygial tissues of 40 patients who underwent resection of primary pterygial tissue and recurrent pterygial tissue, and the conjunctival tissues of 10 patients with enucleation due to trauma. The relative expression levels of Sp1 and collagen I were analyzed by reverse transcription quantitative-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot. Paired t-test was performed to compare the Sp1 and collagen I of recurrent pterygial tissues, as well as the primary pterygial tissues and conjunctival tissues. In further, Pearson's hypothesis testing of correlation coefficients was used to compare the correlations of Sp1 and Collagen I. RESULTS: The content of Sp1 and collagen I mRNA and protein was significantly greater in recurrent pterygial tissue than that was in primary and conjunctival tissue (P

Abstract Borehole collapse will pose a threat to the safety of equipment and personnel during drilling operation. In this paper, a finite element multi-field coupling model for investigating borehole collapse in hydrate reservoir was developed. In this model, fluid seepage, heat transfer, hydrate dissociation and borehole deformation are all considered. Based on which, effects of drilling fluid density on both of hydrate dissociation and borehole collapse are investigated. The investigation results show that disturbance of drilling fluid invasion to hydrate reservoir will lead to hydrate dissociation around wellbore, and dissociation range narrows obviously with the increase in drilling fluid density. When the relative fluid density is 0.98, natural gas hydrates in reservoir with a width of about 16.65 cm around wellbore dissociate completely. However, dissociation range of natural gas hydrate has decreased to 12.08 cm when the relative fluid density is 1.10. Moreover, hydrate dissociation around wellbore caused by drilling fluid invasion may lead to borehole collapse, and borehole collapse can be significantly restrained with the increase in relative fluid density. Borehole enlargement rate is 33.67% when the relative fluid density is 0.98, but nearly no collapse area displays around wellbore when the relative fluid density increases to 1.12. In addition, investigation herein can provide an idea for designing drilling fluid density in hydrate reservoir when different allowable borehole enlargement rate is considered. The minimum fluid density designed for avoiding disastrous borehole collapse increases nonlinearly when higher requirements for borehole stability are proposed.

Abstract Background During anther development, the tapetum provides essential nutrients and materials for pollen development. In rice, multiple transcription factors and enzymes essential for tapetum development and pollen wall formation have been cloned from male-sterile lines. Results In this study, we obtained several lines in which the MYB transcription factor OsMS188 was knocked out through the CRISPR-Cas9 approach. The osms188 lines exhibited a male-sterile phenotype with aberrant development and degeneration of tapetal cells, absence of the sexine layer and defective anther cuticles. CYP703A3, CYP704B2, OsPKS1, OsPKS2, DPW and ABCG15 are sporopollenin synthesis and transport-related genes in rice. Plants with mutations in these genes are male sterile, with a defective sexine layer and anther cuticle. Further biochemical assays demonstrated that OsMS188 binds directly to the promoters of these genes to regulate their expression. UDT1, OsTDF1, TDR, bHLH142 and EAT1 are upstream regulators of rice tapetum development. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) and activation assays revealed that TDR directly regulates OsMS188 expression. Additionally, protein interaction assays indicated that TDR interacts with OsMS188 to regulate downstream gene expression. Conclusion Overall, OsMS188 is a key regulator of tapetum development and pollen wall formation. The gene regulatory network established in this work may facilitate future investigations of fertility regulation in rice and in other crop species.

Abstract Background The molecular mechanisms of ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) remain to be elucidated. The aim of the present study was to investigate the autophagy of spinal ligament fibroblasts derived from patients with OPLL and to examine whether autophagy-associated gene expression was correlated with the expression of osteogenic differentiation genes. Methods Expression of autophagy-associated genes was detected in 37 samples from 21 OPLL patients and 16 non-OPLL patients. The correlation of autophagy-associated gene expression and the expression of osteogenic differentiation genes was analyzed by Pearson’s correlation. The expression of autophagy-associated genes of ligament fibroblasts was assessed by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), western blotting, and immunofluorescence. The incidence of autophagy was assessed by flow cytometry. After knockdown using small interfering RNA targeting Beclin1, the expression of osteogenic differentiation genes were compared in spinal ligament fibroblasts. Results In clinical specimens, mRNA expression levels of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 and Beclin1 were higher in the OPLL group compared with the non-OPLL group. Pearson correlation analysis demonstrated that Beclin1 expression was positively correlated with expression of osteocalcin (OCN) (r = 0.8233, P < 0.001), alkaline phosphatase, biomineralization associated (ALP) (r = 0.7821, P < 0.001), and collagen type 1 (COL 1) (r = 0.6078, P = 0.001). Consistently, the upregulation of autophagy-associated genes in ligament fibroblasts from patients with OPLL were further confirmed by western blotting and immunofluorescence. The incidence of autophagy was also increased in ligament fibroblasts from patients with OPLL. Furthermore, knockdown of Beclin1 led to a decrease in the expression of OCN, ALP, and COL 1 by 63.2% (P < 0.01), 52% (P < 0.01), and 53.2% (P < 0.01) in ligament fibroblasts from patients with OPLL, respectively. Conclusions Beclin1-mediated autophagy was involved in the osteogenic differentiation of ligament fibroblasts and promoted the development of OPLL.

To study the hydrothermal behavior of cotton fiber, the carbonization process and structural evolution of discarded or waste cotton fiber (WCF) under hydrothermal conditions were investigated using microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), and glucose was used as a model compound. Results showed that high temperature was beneficial for the hydrolysis of discarded cotton fiber, and the yield of sugar was 4.5%, which was lower than that of MCC (6.51%). WCF and MCC were carbonized at 240–~260°C and 220–~240°C, respectively, whereas the carbonization temperature of glucose was lower than 220°C. The C/O ratios of WCF and glucose hydrothermal products were 5.79 and 5.85, respectively. The three kinds of hydrothermal carbonization products had similar crystal structures and oxygen-containing functional groups. The carbonized products of WCF contained many irregular particles, while the main products of glucose carbonization were 0.5-mm-sized carbon microspheres (CMSs). Results showed that glucose was an important intermediate in WCF carbonization and that there were two main pathways of hydrothermal carbonization of cotton fibers: some cotton fibers were completely hydrolyzed into glucose accompanied by nucleation and then the growth of CMSs. For the other part, the glucose ring of the oligosaccharide, formed by the incomplete hydrolysis of cotton fibers under hydrothermal conditions of high temperature and pressure, breaks and then forms particulate matter.

Abstract Background Lipid abnormality and obesity have been proposed to be associated with lumbar disc degeneration, but little is known about the effect of ‘lipid healthy but obese’ (LH-O) and ‘lipid abnormal but not obese’ (LA-NO) phenotypes on lumbar disc degeneration in Chinese. The study aims to determine the impact and distinction of LH-O and LA-NO phenotypes on lumbar disc degeneration in Chinese, and to identify the association of related factors with risk of lumbar disc degeneration. Methods A total of 678 individuals were included with lumbar magnetic resonance imaging, serum lipid levels and anthropometric measurements. Obesity was defined on the basis of body mass index or waist to hip ratio (WHR). Pfirrmann score and Weishaupt’s scale were utilized to assess the degree of disc degeneration and facet joint degeneration. Results The incidence of the LH-O and LA-NO phenotypes were 11.4% and 18.1%, respectively. LA-NO phenotype demonstrates a high incidence for disc degeneration (P 0.05). Elevated triglycerides and greater WHR may be the risk factors for lumbar disc degeneration in Chinese. Conclusion LH-O and LA-NO phenotypes are common with different status of disc degeneration in Chinese. Elevated triglycerides and abdominal obesity appear to play crucial roles in the development of lumbar disc degeneration.

The Minimum Mean-Square Error (MMSE) detector can achieve excellent Bit Error Rate (BER) performance in massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems. However, it involves high complexity large-scale matrix inversion operation with high degree, resulting in very high hardware requirements. To solve this problem, the article proposes a Generalized Weighted-Preconditioned Gauss-Seide (GS) (GW-PGS) iterative algorithm. In this algorithm, an initialization scheme based on preprocessing is first proposed, which speeds up the convergence speed without adding additional complexity. In addition, this paper proposes an adaptive weighting factor scheme. The experimental results show that compared with the traditional GS algorithm, the algorithm proposed in this paper can effectively reduce the BER and computational complexity.

To improve the decoding speed and performance of Weighted Bit Flipping (WBF) decoding algorithm for Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) codes, a two-stage WBF algorithm with a multi-/single-bit switching mechanism is proposed. It first performs multi-bit flipping decoding in the first-stage decoder. When cyclic flipping is detected or the maximum flipping function value is less than zero, it switches to the second-stage decoder. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm obtains gains both in average decoding iteration number and in decoding performance compared with the Sum of the Magnitude based WBF (SMWBF) and the Variable node updating based SMWBF (VSMWBF).

Abstract Background Postoperative hypoxemia in acute type A aortic dissection (AADA) is a common complication and is associated with negative outcomes. This study aimed to analyze the efficacy of low-dose (5–10 ppm) inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) in the management of hypoxemia after AADA surgery. Methods In this retrospective observational study, Medical records of patients who underwent AADA surgery at two institutions between January 2015 and January 2018 were collected. Patients with postoperative hypoxemia were classified as iNO and control groups. Clinical characteristics and outcomes were compared using a propensity score-matched (PSM) analysis. Results Among 436 patients who underwent surgical repair, 187 (42.9%) had hypoxemia and 43 were treated with low-dose iNO. After PSM, patients were included in the iNO treatment (n = 40) and PSM control (n = 94) groups in a 1:3 ratio. iNO ameliorated hypoxemia at 6, 24, 48, and 72 h after initiation, and shortened the durations of ventilator support (39.0 h (31.3–47.8) vs. 69.0 h (47.8–110.3), p

Abstract Background Vascular calcification is the major reason for high mortality of cardiovascular complications for diabetes. Interleukin (IL)-1β has been implicated in this pathogenesis, but its precise role and clinical evidence have not been clearly identified. Hence, this study was aimed to investigate whether high concentration of glucose (HG), which mimics the hyperglycemia environment, could initiate vascular calcification through NLRP3/IL-1β inflammasome and the underlying mechanism. Recently, 6-shogaol, a major ginger derivate, has been elucidated its pharmaceutic role for various diseases. Therefore, the aims of this study also determined 6-shogaol effect in vascular calcification of HG initiation. Result Human artery smooth muscle cells (HASMCs) were used in this study. Glucose concentrations at 5 and 25 mM were defined as normal and HG status, respectively. The results showed that HG could increase the NLRP3, cleaved caspase 1, and pro/mature IL-1β levels to induce the expressions of bone-related matrix proteins and subsequent HASMC calcification. This process was regulated by Akt activation and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Moreover, 6-shogaol could inhibit the Akt/ROS signaling and NLRP3/caspase 1/IL-1β inflammasome and hence attenuated HASMC calcification. Conclusions This study elucidates the detailed mechanism of HG-initiated HASMC calcification through NLRP3/caspase 1/IL-1β inflammasome and indicates a potential therapeutic role of 6-shogaol in vascular calcification complication of diabetes.