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Motivated by the practices of production sourcing in the apparel manufacturing industry, this article investigates an apparel manufacturing supply chain wherein an original brand manufacturer (OBM) may either outsource production to a competitive manufacturer (CM) or a non-CM (NCM) or set up factories to produce in-house, namely, Strategy C, Strategy NC, and Strategy N, respectively. If the OBM outsources production to the CM, technology spillover happens, and the CM is able to manufacture products with the same consumers’ preference level as the OBM does. We find that the OBM prefers Strategy N regardless of the manufacturing level and consumers’ product preference level when the investment cost is low. However, the OBM prefers Strategy C or NC when the investment cost is high. Specifically, when the manufacturing level is high, or the manufacturing level is medium, and the consumers’ product preference level is high, the OBM prefers Strategy NC; otherwise, the OBM prefers Strategy C. Furthermore, we demonstrate that employing the dual-sourcing strategy wherein the OBM outsources production to both CM and NCM simultaneously does not necessarily help OBM effectively mitigate the negative impact of technology spillover and delivery uncertainty, which depends on specific conditions.

Motivated by the practices of technology investment in the new energy vehicle manufacturing industry, this article investigates an outsourcing supply chain in which an original brand manufacturer (OBM) possessing the core new energy technology R&D outsources production to a competitive manufacturer (CM). To cater to market demands and increase market competitiveness, the CM may actively invest in technology with the OBM or by himself, or not, i.e., Strategies JI, OI, and NI, respectively. In particular, owing to technology spillover effect, the CM could use the technology inferior to the OBM's to produce his own-branded products in Strategy NI. Our results reveal that the OBM consistently profits the most in Strategy JI. However, the CM's preference strategy is influenced by the competition intensity, technology spillover level, consumers’ product preference, and cost-sharing ratio. In specific, when both the competition intensity and technology spillover are weak or the competition intensity is strong for arbitrary technology spillover level, the CM may prefer Strategy JI or OI depending on consumers’ product preference and cost-sharing ratio and never prefers Strategy NI. However, when the competition intensity is weak but the technology spillover level is strong, the CM may prefer Strategy NI in certain situations. Furthermore, our study extends the model to involve variable production costs, and reveals that the main results derived in the basic model still hold.

Background Post-stroke depression (PSD) is the most common psychological consequence among stroke patients. Increased inflammatory markers resulted from ischemic stroke probably played an important role in pathogenesis of depressive symptomology. We aimed to determine the relationship among stroke severity, systemic low-grade inflammation and depressive symptomology. Methods A total of 897 patients were consecutively recruited in this prospective cohort study and followed up for 1 year. The sample consisted of 436 ischemic stroke patients (23.4% female, median age = 57 years) from this cohort. Serum concentrations of inflammatory markers were measured in all 436 ischemic stroke patients, from fasting morning venous blood draws on admission. Stroke severity was evaluated by National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) on admission and post-stroke depressive symptomology were evaluated by 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) at 1 year after ischemic stroke. Results After fully adjusted for covariates, we observed that 1) NIHSS (Model 2: β=0.200, 95%CI, 0.057∼0.332), fibrinogen (Model 2: β=0.828, 95%CI, 0.269∼1.435), WBC (Model 2: β=0.354, 95%CI, 0.122∼0.577) and neutrophil count (Model 2: β=0.401, 95%CI, 0.126∼0.655) can independently predict the 1-year depressive symptomology after ischemic stroke; 2) fibrinogen (Indirect effect=0.027, 95%CI, 0.007∼0.063, 13.4% mediated), white blood count (WBC, Indirect effect=0.024, 95%CI, 0.005∼0.058, 11.8% mediated) and neutrophil counts (Indirect effect=0.030, 95%CI, 0.006∼0.069, 14.8% mediated) could partially mediated the association between stroke severity (NIHSS) and 1-year depressive symptomology, and 3) stroke severity might cause depressive symptomology partly through the chain mediating role of both fibrinogen and neutrophil count (chain mediated effect=0.003, 95%CI, 0.000∼0.011, p=0.025, 1.6% mediated). Conclusions These results suggested that fibrinogen, WBC and neutrophil count in systemic low-grade inflammation might be significant predictors of 1-year post stroke depressive symptomology and partial mediators of the relationship between stroke severity and 1-year depressive symptomology among ischemic stroke patients. In addition, the chain mediating effect of fibrinogen and neutrophil count might play an important role in the occurrence of 1-year post stroke depressive symptomology. However, no inflammatory marker was associated with 1-year depressive symptomology in females.

In this article, a hypersonic target electromagnetic (EM) scattering echo model combined with the inhomogeneous zonal medium model (IZMM) and the classical scattering center model (SCM) is proposed with a distributed satelliteborne array radar as the detection platform. A parallel physical optics (PO) method is used for multiview inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging of a moving hypersonic target covered with plasma sheath based on the analysis of high-resolution range profile in the S-X ultrawideband range, reconstructing 2-D EM scattering echo data (the target) and motion compensation. The results show that the surface of the inhomogeneous plasma sheath flow field is an excitation layer with random and irregular fluctuation characteristics, which increases the false scattering centroid of the 1-D range profile of the hypersonic target and can interfere with and disrupt the radar localization of the target along the radial direction. In addition, shallow scattering of EM waves occurs in the plasma sheath, and the average signal intensity of the target can gradually reduce from 0.5 x 10⁻⁵ at 60 km and 20 Ma to 0.1 x 10⁻⁵ at 30 km and 20 Ma, with a fivefold weakening of the overall scattered echo signal. In particular, the faster the hypersonic target travels at 30-km altitude, the weaker the imaged scattered echo signal becomes, with the average intensity of the imaged signal weakening by approximately threefold from 15 to 25 Ma. This study provides considerable technical support and data assurance to establish a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) automatic target recognition (ATR) database, and the findings of this study can be used as a reference for fine-structure feature analysis of hypersonic targets for feature extraction and the classification and identification of targets.

Background Compared to conventional intensity-modulated photon radiation therapy (IMRT), intensity-modulated proton radiation therapy (IMPT) has potential to reduce irradiation-induced late toxicities while maintaining excellent tumor control in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). However, the relevant cost-effectiveness remains controversial. Methods A Markov decision tree analysis was performed under the assumption that IMPT offered normal tissue complication probability reduction (NTCP reduction) in long-term dysphagia, xerostomia, and hearing loss, compared to IMRT. Base-case evaluation was performed on T2N2M0 NPC of median age (43 years old). A Chinese societal willingness-to-pay threshold (33558 US dollars [$])/quality-adjusted life-year [QALY]) was adopted. Results For patients at median age and having NTCP reduction of 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, and 60%, their incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were $102684.0/QALY, $43161.2/QALY, $24134.7/QALY, $13991.6/QALY, $8259.8/QALY, and $4436.1/QALY, respectively; IMPT should provide an NTCP reduction of ≥24% to be considered cost-effective. Conclusions IMPT has potential to be cost-effective for average Chinese NPC patients and should be validated clinically.

Purpose To investigate the efficacy and safety of low-dose bolus plus continuous infusion of penehyclidine in preventing postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) following bimaxillary surgery. Methods Three hundred fifty-four patients were randomly allocated into three groups. In the Control group, placebo (normal saline) was injected before anesthesia and infused over 48 h after surgery; in the Bolus group, 0.5 mg penehyclidine was injected before anesthesia, whereas placebo was infused after surgery; in the Infusion group, 0.25 mg penehyclidine were injected before anesthesia, another 0.25 mg penehyclidine was infused after surgery. The primary endpoint was the incidence of PONV within 72 h. Results A total of 353 patients were included in intention-to-treat analysis. The PONV incidence was 61.0% (72/118) in the Control group, 40.2% (47/117) in the Bolus group, and 28.0% (33/118) in the Infusion group. The incidence was significantly lower in the Bolus group than in the Control group (RR 0.66; 95% CI 0.51–0.86; adjusted P = 0.003) and in the Infusion group than in the Control group (RR 0.46; 95% CI 0.33–0.63; adjusted P P = 0.144). Emergence agitation occurred more frequently in the Bolus group than in the Control group (36.8% [43/117] vs. 21.2% [25/118], adjusted P = 0.027), but did not differ significantly between the Infusion and Control groups. Conclusions A low-dose bolus plus continuous infusion of penehyclidine was effective in preventing PONV without increasing emergence agitation. Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov. Identifier: NCT04454866.

Objective Wound drain used to be a routine procedure after craniotomy for aneurysm clipping, although this was not based on clinical evidence. The purpose of our study was to determine the necessity of wound drain placement after anterior circulation aneurysm surgery. Methods Retrospective analysis of patients with anterior circulation aneurysms treated by clipping in the Department of Neurosurgery, Wuhan University Zhongnan hospital from January 2019 to December 2019 was carried out. Demographic and clinical data, including age, sex, body mass index, disease history, results of the laboratory and imaging examinations, and surgical logs, were reviewed. Results A total of 236 patients (90 male and 146 female) were included in the analysis and were divided into a Drain group and a No Drain group according to whether postoperative wound drainage was applied. There was no statistical difference in the incidence of a postoperative extradural hematoma between patients in the 2 groups. However, the incidence of postoperative meningitis was higher in the Drain group than in the No Drain group (9.09% vs. 1.59%, P = 0.009), and the total length of stay and postoperative length of stay in the Drain group were also more extended than in the No Drain group (17.32 ± 6.45 vs. 14.43 ± 5.75, P = 0.005; 12.83 ± 5.07 vs. 9.82 ± 4.50, P = 0.007, respectively). Conclusions Postoperative wound drain did not significantly reduce the incidence of an extradural hematoma after anterior circulation aneurysm surgery. On the contrary, it may be associated with an increased incidence of postoperative meningitis and length of stay. Given these findings, the postoperative drain should be maintained cautiously and meet more rigorous application criteria.

With the boom of e-commerce, express delivery has been increasingly regarded as a bottleneck and key factor for achieving success. Additionally, whether to include such express delivery service or not is an important yet outstandingly unsolved problem for online retailers. In this regard, this paper uses a game-theoretic framework to investigate the channel structure, in which an offline retailer competes with an online retailer selling products to consumers through its partner express company. The consumers purchase from either an online or offline channel considering the delivery service as well as the inconvenience of shopping from physical stores. We consider three power structures: online retailer Stackelberg game, offline retailer Stackelberg game and Nash game. Under each power structure, we characterize the channel integration strategy for the online retailer. Interestingly, our results show that the online channel integration is not beneficial for the online retailer in most cases. Online retailers prefer to use express companies as intermediaries to avoid large logistics operations costs in the offline retailer Stackelberg game and Nash game. Only in the online retailer Stackelberg game, where the online retailer has the first-move advantage in the market, together with a moderate store-visiting inconvenience cost and a delivery service cost coefficient, will vertical integration improve the online channel’s profit. Dominant market power ensures sufficient profit to cover the logistics cost, and the moderate inconvenience cost and service cost coefficient promise a moderate logistics cost. Under this condition, the online retailer will choose the vertical integration strategy. We show in the extension that this strict condition can be relaxed when the online retailer owns a mixed channel. The online retailer with a mixed channel has more incentive to integrate than a pure online retailer does, as the mixed channel adds his power and helps to gain more market shares and profit. Our analysis generates managerial insights into the relationship between online retailers and express companies and provides a guide for implementing the vertical integration strategy in the online retailing industry.

Intussusception is one of the most common abdominal emergencies in early children. Intussusception recurs in 8-20% of children after successful nonoperative reduction. The aim of this study was to explore the ultrasound findings to predict risk of recurrence in pediatric intussusception after air enema reduction.A total of 336 intussusception children were followed up for 1 year after received successful air enema reduction. They were divided into the recurrent group and the non-recurrent group. The differences of clinical characteristics, ultrasonic features, and laboratory tests were analyzed by univariate analyses and the Cox proportional hazard model.Sixty-five children with recurrent intussusception were identified. There were statistically significances in the diameter of the mass, in the presence or absence of enlarged lymph nodes out of the sleeve, and in the sleeve between recurrent and non-recurrent groups (P .05). Other ultrasonic features, clinical characteristics, and blood parameters had no differences (P .05). Multivariate Cox proportional hazard model showed that the diameter of the mass and abdominal lymph nodes may be the risk factors of intussusception recurrence (HR = 1.395, 95% CI: 1.045~1.863 and HR = 2.078, 95% CI: 1.118~3.865, P .05). The cut-off value of mass diameter was 2.55 cm, above which recurrence is more likely.Intussusception recurrence was prone with greater mass diameter (2.55 cm) and enlarged abdominal lymph nodes. Although these ultrasound findings for recurrence do not necessarily reduce the rate of recurrence, it can predict the recurrent possibility, and help the emergency physicians to be more vigilant in these children and better counsel parents upon discharge.

Background: Few data are available concerning the prevalence and risk factors for allergic rhinitis (AR) in school children in Hubei Province which is located in the central part of China. This study investigated the epidemiological features of AR among school children in Hubei Province. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey on AR in school children was carried out in 5 cities in Hubei Province by cluster sampling from June to September 2018. Questionnaires were filled out by children and their parents jointly. The diagnostic criteria of AR were according to the SFAR. Questions from the questionnaire were used to examine the pattern of AR. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the risk factors for childhood allergies. Results: The total prevalence rate of AR was 16.16%, with 24.31% (Wuhan), 4.34% (Xiangyang), 4.31% (Tianmen), 10.92% (Jingmen), and 11.42% (Huangshi), respectively. The prevalence of AR was positively correlated with gross domestic product per capita (p < 0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed that male, city of Wuhan, family history of allergy, food allergy, drug allergy, air purifier, exposure to dust, living in towns or urban area before 2 years old, maternal age for 26–35 years old, and frequent application of antibiotics increased the risk of AR, while daily outdoor time for 1–2 h, daily sleeping time >8 h, siblings, and breastfeeding for >6 months reduced the risk significantly. Conclusion: We found the apparent geographic variation of children allergies in Hubei Province. Both genetic and environment factors had impacts on the prevalence of AR in school children. Public policies should specifically target at the local risk factors for different areas.

BACKGROUND Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) pathogenic variants have been identified to be associated with maternally inherited essential hypertension (MIEH). However, the distinctive clinical features and molecular pathogenesis of MIEH are not fully understood. METHODS In this study, we collected a Chinese MIEH family with extraordinary higher penetrance of essential hypertension (88.89%) and early ages of onset (31–40 years old), and performed clinical and genetic characterization for this family. The complete mitochondrial genome of the proband was sequenced and analyzed. RESULTS The maternally related members in this family were presented with severe increased blood pressure, left ventricular remodeling, and metabolic abnormalities. Through sequencing the entire mtDNA of the proband and performing systematic analysis of the mtDNA variants with a phylogenic approach, we identified a potentially pathogenic tRNA variant (m.15992A>G in the MT-TP gene) that may account for the MIEH in this family. One nonsynonymous variant (m.15077G>A in the MT-CYB gene) was identified to play a synergistic role with m.15992A>G to cause a high penetrance of MIEH. CONCLUSIONS Our results, together with previous findings, have indicated that tRNA pathogenic variants in the mtDNA could act important roles in the pathogenesis of MIEH through reducing mitochondrial translation and disturbing mitochondrial function.

Core-periphery structure detection (CPSD) in complex networks is essential to reveal functional nodes in the complicated systems, e.g., influential nodes in a social network and central cells in a biological network. Some progress has been made in solving the CPSD problem with heuristic algorithms. However, CPSD is naturally an NP-hard optimization problem and the core-periphery structures (CPSs) in real networks usually are not clearly distinguishable. The majority of the existing CPSD methods are single-objective methods relying on some assumptions, preference, and/or prior knowledge. They can provide only one trade-off solution that is inevitably biased and lacks of flexibility in terms of resolution. To address this issue, this paper formulates the CPSD problem as a multi-objective optimization problem (MOP), i.e., minimizing the core-node size and maximizing the core-node capacity of the CPSs, simultaneously. Solving the MOP can provide more accurate CPSs and allow one to explore the network structure at different preferred resolutions. A multi-objective memetic algorithm (called MOMA-PCLS) is accordingly proposed to solve the formulated problem. A new plateau-climbing local search (PCLS) method incorporating the information of the heavy-tailed distribution of the node capacity is introduced to fine-tune the individual solutions in MOMA-PCLS. By combining the evolutionary operations and PCLS, MOMA-PCLS manages to improve the search efficiency significantly. Experimental results on both synthetic and real-world data show the superiority of MOMA-PCLS to other state-of-the-art algorithms in detecting CPSs of complex networks.

In recent years, the rapid development of online marketplaces has given rise not only to co-opetitive relationships between sellers but also to information asymmetries between online marketplaces and sellers. This paper studies information sharing in an e-commerce setting consisting of an online marketplace, an upstream manufacturer and a reseller, where the online marketplace possesses superior demand information, while the manufacturer and reseller engage in a co-opetitive structure. The reseller procures products from the manufacturer under a wholesale price contract, and both the manufacturer and reseller sell the products through the online marketplace by paying a proportional commission fee. We examine four information-sharing scenarios: no information sharing (S1), full information sharing (S2), information sharing only with the manufacturer (S3) and information sharing only with the reseller (S4). Our analysis shows that when the intensity of competition between the manufacturer and reseller is relatively low and demand variability is moderate, the online marketplace prefers full information sharing; otherwise, it prefers to share its demand information only with the manufacturer. Moreover, interestingly, we find that the manufacturer always prefers the scenario with full information sharing to the scenario that endows her with an informational advantage over the reseller. In contrast, depending on the competitive intensity and demand variability, the reseller prefers either the scenario in which the online marketplace shares demand information with him only or that in which demand information is shared with the manufacturer only. Furthermore, we find that the equilibrium information-sharing outcome can be either full information sharing or information sharing only with the manufacturer. The rationale behind these results hinges on the interactions among the signaling cost, efficiency effect, and co-opetitive relationship between the manufacturer and reseller.

Guo Li,1 Ping Jing,2 Guohua Chen,3 Junhua Mei,3 Jinfeng Miao,1 Wenzhe Sun,1 Yan Lan,1 Xin Zhao,1 Xiuli Qiu,1 Zhou Zhu,1,&ast; Suiqiang Zhu1,&ast; 1Department of Neurology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430030, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Neurology, Wuhan Central Hospital, Wuhan, Hubei, 430014, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Neurology, Wuhan First Hospital, Wuhan, Hubei, 430022, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Zhou Zhu Tel +86-18171081029Email zhouzhu@hust.edu.cnSuiqiang Zhu Tel +86-13035101141Email zhusuiqiang@163.comPurpose: The early detection of major post-stroke depression (PSD) is essential to optimize patient care. A major PSD prediction tool needs to be developed and validated for early screening of major PSD patients.Patients and Methods: A total of 639 acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients from three hospitals were consecutively recruited and completed a 3-month follow-up. Sociodemographic, clinical and laboratory test data were collected on admission. With major depression criteria being met in the DSM-V, 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale For Depression (HRSD) score ≥ 17 at 3 months after stroke onset was regarded as the primary endpoint. Multiple imputation was used to substitute the missing values and multivariable logistic regression model was fitted to determine associated factors with a bootstrap backward selection process. The nomogram was constructed based on the regression coefficients of the associated factors. Performance of the nomogram was assessed by discrimination (C-statistics) and calibration curve.Results: A total of 7.04% (45/639) of patients were diagnosed with major PSD at 3 months. The final logistic regression model included age, baseline NIHSS and mRS scores, educational level, calcium–phosphorus product, history of hypertension and atrial fibrillation. The model had acceptable discrimination, based on a C-statistic of 0.81 (95% CI, 0.791– 0.829), with 71.1% sensitivity and 78.6% specificity. We also transformed the model to a nomogram, an easy-to-use clinical tool which could be used to facilitate the early screening of major PSD patients at 3 months.Conclusion: We identified several associated factors of major PSD at 3 months and constructed a convenient nomogram to guide follow-up and aid accurate prognostic assessment.Keywords: major post-stroke depression, nomogram, calcium–phosphorus product, C-statistic

In the context of Industry 4.0, corporate social responsibility (CSR) plays an increasingly important role in firm risk management. To mitigate risk and improve operational productivity, artificial intelligence (AI), a key disruptive technology, has been increasingly employed in many industries. In this study, we examine the relationship between CSR and idiosyncratic risk (IR) as moderated by AI innovation and operational efficiency based on data from 1614 firms in China during the period from 2010 to 2017. The empirical results show that CSR can negatively affect IR, while beyond a certain level, it acts in the opposite direction, exhibiting a U‐shaped relationship. In particular, operational efficiency shifts the turning point of the U‐shaped curve to the right, implying that firms with high operational efficiency can obtain a higher optimal benefit by improving their CSR. Furthermore, AI innovation flattens the U‐shaped curve, thereby weakening CSR's positive impact on IR. This result indicates that AI innovation is not always beneficial. As AI innovation can have some substitution effect on CSR, enterprises should focus on either CSR or AI innovation as their main differentiation strategy to maximize the utilization of resources. We further instrument CSR using the social expenditure ratio of the province where the firm is headquartered to address a potential endogeneity concern. Finally, we provide several prominent managerial implications for enterprises, governments, and investors.

Tumour metastasis is a major reason accounting for the poor prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC), and the discovery of targets in the primary tumours that can predict the risk of CRC metastasis is now urgently needed. In this study, we identified autophagy-related protein 9B (ATG9B) as a key potential target gene for CRC metastasis. High expression of ATG9B in tumour significantly increased the risk of metastasis and poor prognosis of CRC. Mechanistically, we further find that ATG9B promoted CRC invasion mainly through autophagy-independent manner. MYH9 is the pivotal interacting protein for ATG9B functioning, which directly binds to cytoplasmic peptide segments aa368–411 of ATG9B by its head domain. Furthermore, the combination of ATG9B and MYH9 enhance the stability of each other by decreasing their binding to E3 ubiquitin ligase STUB1, therefore preventing them from ubiquitin-mediated degradation, which further amplified the effect of ATG9B and MYH9 in CRC cells. During CRC cell invasion, ATG9B is transported to the cell edge with the assistance of MYH9 and accelerates focal adhesion (FA) assembly through mediating the interaction of endocytosed integrin β1 and Talin-1, which facilitated to integrin β1 activation. Clinically, upregulated expression of ATG9B in human CRC tissue is always accompanied with highly elevated expression of MYH9 and associated with advanced CRC stage and poor prognosis. Taken together, this study highlighted the important role of ATG9B in CRC metastasis by promoting focal adhesion assembly, and ATG9B together with MYH9 can provide a pair of potential therapeutic targets for preventing CRC progression.

Background Patients with rosacea often complained of low-tolerance to skincare. Aim To examine if the preexisted low-tolerance to skincare is associated with rosacea the occurrence of the Chinese population. Methods A retrospective case-control survey of 997 rosacea cases and 1,012 skin-healthy controls was carried out in China. Low-tolerance to skincare was evaluated based on the history of facial skin allergic reactions related to skincare in the past five years before the onset of rosacea. A comparative analysis was performed between the case and control groups by the chi-square test and the logistic regression analysis. Results History of facial skin allergic reaction due to skin care products (OR=5.110, 95%CI=3.893-6.706) and skin care in beauty salons (OR=3.002, 95%CI=1.506-5.981) both presented a positive correlations with the occurrence of rosacea. Facial masks and cosmetics were two of the most common products causing facial allergic reaction. The OR values increased with the increased frequency of allergic reactions related to facial mask and cosmetics. In addition, the history of facial skin allergic reaction had a significantly associated with the severity of self-reported symptoms of rosacea including dryness, burning, stinging and itching. Conclusions The condition of low-tolerance of the facial skin to skincare was closely associated with the occurrence of rosacea.

There are few studies regarding imaging markers for predicting postoperative rebleeding after stereotactic minimally invasive surgery (MIS) for hypertensive intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH), and little is known about the relationship between satellite sign on computed tomography (CT) scans and postoperative rebleeding after MIS. This study aimed to determine the value of the CT satellite sign in predicting postoperative rebleeding in patients with hypertensive ICH who undergo stereotactic MIS. We retrospectively examined and analysed 105 patients with hypertensive ICH who underwent standard stereotactic MIS for hematoma evacuation within 72 h following admission. Postoperative rebleeding occurred in 14 of 65 (21.5%) patients with the satellite sign on baseline CT, and in 5 of the 40 (12.5%) patients without the satellite sign. This difference was statistically significant. Positive and negative values of the satellite sign for predicting postoperative rebleeding were 21.5% and 87.5%, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis verified that baseline ICH volume and intraventricular rupture were independent predictors of postoperative rebleeding. In conclusion, the satellite sign on baseline CT scans may not predict postoperative rebleeding following stereotactic MIS for hypertensive ICH.

In connection with problems such as difficulty in the objective and accurate calculation of the index weight in the security risk assessment of an airborne network, as well as a unitary assessment result and poor descriptiveness, a risk assessment method for airborne network security based on an improved fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP)-cloud model has been proposed. First, the particularity of the airborne network is taken into account to establish an index system for the risk assessment of airborne network security. the traditional FAHP, information entropy is introduced to calculate the comprehensive weight, which is subsequently combined with the cloud model theory to construct an actual integrated cloud model. By calculating the degree of similarity between the actual integrated cloud model and the standard cloud model, the risk levels of airborne network security are determined. The simulation experiments show that this method can reflect the objectivity of the index weight, make the assessment results more visual and reliable, and fully reflect the fuzziness and randomness in the assessment.

The development of e-commerce is inseparable from the support of logistics industry, which has somewhat caused pressure on resource, energy, and environment. In the process of platform operation, m...

BACKGROUND Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread around the globe. On February 28, 2020, the World Health Organization adjusted the risk of spread and impact of COVID-19 to “very high” at the global level. Studies have mainly focused on the etiology, epidemiology, and treatment of COVID-19 to limit further spread and the negative impact of the disease, while less attention has been devoted to the follow-up and reexamination of patients who recovered from COVID-19 or were released from quarantine. CASE SUMMARY This study reports two cases where patients who had negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test results and met the criteria for discharge subsequently had positive RT-PCR test results. The clinical manifestations and computed tomography (CT) findings of these patients were examined. The conversion of RT-PCR test results in these two patients may be related to false-negative and false-positive outcomes of the test. CT images helped track improvement of pulmonary lesions. CONCLUSION The timing of discharge of COVID-19 patients should be determined by comprehensive analysis of CT images and RT-PCR test results.

Buffeting response of a double-sided catwalk designed for Maputo Bridge was investigated considering wind load nonlinearity, geometric nonlinearity, and self-excited forces. Buffeting analysis was conducted in time domain using an APDL-developed program in ANSYS, and the results were compared with the buffeting response under the traditional linear method. The wind field was simulated using the spectra representation method. Aerostatic coefficients were obtained from section model wind tunnel test. Parameter study has been carried out to investigate the effects of cross bridge interval and the gantry rope diameter on buffeting response. Referring to the ISO 2631-1(1997) standard and the annoyance rate model, the comfort of catwalk due to wind-induced vibration was evaluated. The results indicate that traditional linear calculation methods will underestimate the buffeting response of the catwalk, and enlarging the gantry rope size as well as decreasing the cross bridge interval would increase the comfort level. Moreover, the effect of gantry rope diameter was obvious than that of cross bridge interval. Annoyance rate model can evaluate the comfort level quantitatively compared to the ISO standard.

Ming Bai,1,* Zhi-Guo Li,2,* Yi Ba1 1Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Tianjin’s Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Minimally Invasive Digestive Surgery, Shanxi Cancer Hospital, Taiyuan, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Yi BaDepartment of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, 1 Middle Huanhu Road, Tianjin, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 18622221230Email bayi@tjmuch.comBackground: The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of kinase insert domain containing receptor (KDR) genetic variation on the efficacy of treatment and safety of patients with chemotherapy-refractory metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) receiving apatinib.Methods: A total of 108 patients with chemotherapy refractory metastatic CRC who were treated with apatinib participated in this study retrospectively. Efficacy of the patients’ treatment was evaluated. Prognosis was carried out and safety profile was documented, respectively. Blood specimens and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of the patients were obtained for the analysis of genetic variation and KDR gene mRNA expression, respectively. The association between genotype status and clinical outcomes was presented.Results: Objective response rate (ORR) and disease control rate (DCR) of the 108 patients with metastatic CRC receiving apatinib treatment were 5.6% and 69.4%, respectively. Survival analysis results exhibited that the median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of the 108 patients with metastatic CRC was 3.6 months (95% confidence interval (CI): 3.03– 4.17 months) and 8.9 months (95% CI: 7.57– 10.23 months), respectively. Subsequently, the analysis of KDR genetic variation indicated that rs2071559 was of clinical significance. The minor allele frequency of rs2071559 was 0.22 and the genotype status corresponded with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P=0.949). Prognosis analysis in a dominant inheritance manner through the combination of patients with TC and CC genotype showed that the median PFS of patients with TT genotype and TC/CC genotype was 4.1 and 3.0 months, respectively (P=0.012). Furthermore, the median OS of patients with the two genotypes was 10.5 and 6.1 months, respectively (P=0.007). Additionally, multivariate Cox regression analysis of OS showed that TC/CC genotype was an independent factor for OS (Hazard ratio (HR)=0.65, P=0.021). Interestingly, mRNA expression analysis suggested that the mRNA expression of KDR in PBMC differed significantly according to rs2071559 genotype status (P< 0.001).Conclusion: Apatinib demonstrated a potentially superior clinical outcome for patients with chemotherapy-refractory metastatic CRC. KDR polymorphism rs2071559 could be used as a potential biomarker for the prognosis evaluation of patients with CRC receiving apatinib therapy.Keywords: colorectal cancer, apatinib, kinase insert domain containing receptor, genetic variation, biomarker, clinical outcome, safety

Light-field microscopy has emerged as a technique of choice for high-speed volumetric imaging of fast biological processes. However, artifacts, nonuniform resolution and a slow reconstruction speed have limited its full capabilities for in toto extraction of dynamic spatiotemporal patterns in samples. Here, we combined a view-channel-depth (VCD) neural network with light-field microscopy to mitigate these limitations, yielding artifact-free three-dimensional image sequences with uniform spatial resolution and high-video-rate reconstruction throughput. We imaged neuronal activities across moving Caenorhabditis elegans and blood flow in a beating zebrafish heart at single-cell resolution with volumetric imaging rates up to 200 Hz. Reconstruction of light-field microscopy data with a deep-learning network achieves high reconstruction speed and reduces artifacts, as illustrated for moving C. elegans and beating zebrafish hearts.

Background Non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for 85% of lung cancer which is the most frequently diagnosed malignancy in China. Colon cancer associated transcript 1 (CCAT1) acts as an oncogene in enhancing tumor progression. However, the effects of CCAT1 in NSCLC remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of CCAT1 in NSCLC. Methods Wound healing and transwell assays were performed to measure cell migration. RT‐qPCR was employed to calculate the mRNA level of CCAT1 and miR‐490. Results High expression of CCAT1 was observed in NSCLC tissues and cells, with low expression of miR‐490. CCAT1 promoted the proliferation and metastasis of H1299 and A549 cells, while miR‐490 had the opposite effect. CCAT1 could specifically bind to miR‐490 and regulate its expression. MiR‐490 partially reversed the inhibitory effect of CCAT1 on cell proliferation and metastasis. Conclusions The CCAT1/miR‐490 molecular axis has been shown to be important for the treatment of NSCLC., CCAT1 promotes the survival and metastasis of H1299 cells, while miR‐490 has the opposite effect.The CCAT1/miR‐490 molecular axis has been shown to be important for the treatment of non‐small cell lung cancer.

As an important topic in computer vision and multimedia analysis, 3D shape recognition has attracted much research attention in recent years. For point cloud data and multiview data, various approaches have been proposed with remarkable performance. However, few works simultaneously employ the point cloud data and multiview data to represent 3D shapes, which is complementary and beneficial in our consideration. Moreover, existing multimodal approaches mainly focus on the multimodal fusion strategy or on exploring the relation between them. However, the intra-modality characteristic information and inter-modality complementary information are ignored in these methods. In this paper, we tackle the above limitations by introducing a novel Point-View Complementary Learning Network (PVCLN) to explore the potential of both the complementary information and characteristic information for 3D shape recognition. Inspired by the successful application of graph neural networks in capturing relations between features, we introduce a novel multimodal fusion strategy. Concretely, we first separately extract the visual feature from multiview data and structural feature from point cloud data. We then project the visual feature and structural feature into the same feature space to learn the complementary information between two modalities by modeling the inter-modality affinities. The characteristic information in each modality is also preserved by considering the intra-modality affinities. The intra-modality and inter-modality affinities compensate for the lacking characteristic information and enhance the complementary information in the feature learning process. Finally, the updated visual and structural features are further combined to achieve a unified representation for a 3D shape. We conduct extensive experiments to validate the superiority of the overall network and the effectiveness of each component. The proposed method is evaluated on the ModelNet40 dataset and the experimental results demonstrate that our framework achieves competitive performance in the 3D shape recognition task.

Network pruning is a significant way to improve the practicability of convolution neural networks (CNNs) by removing the redundant structure of the network model. However, in most of the existing network pruning methods l1 or l2 regularisation is applied to parameter matrices and the manual selection of pruning threshold is difficult and labor‐intensive. A novel CNNs network pruning method via l0 regularisation is proposed, which adopts l0 regularisation to expand the saliency gap between neurons. A half‐quadratic splitting (HQS) based iterative algorithm is put forward to calculate the approximation solution of l0 regularisation, which makes the joint optimisation problem of regularisation term and training loss function can be solved by various gradient‐based algorithms. Meanwhile, a hyperparameters selection method is designed to make most of the hyperparameters in the algorithm can be determined by examining the pre‐trained model. The results of experiments on MNIST, Fashion‐MNIST and CIFAR100 show that the proposed method can provide a much clearer pruning threshold by widening the saliency gap, and achieve a similar or even better compression performance, compared with the state‐of‐the‐art studies.

Background Evaluate the safety and efficacy of 104-week regimen of Telbivudine(LdT)-based optimization strategy for Chinese patients who have chronic hepatits B(CHB) with HBeAg-negative. Methods This multi-center, open-label, prospective study enrolled 108 HBeAg-negative CHB patients who received LdT (600 mg/day) for 24 weeks, Adefovir (ADV) was added if HBV DNA remained detectable at week 24, otherwise LdT was maintained to use until 104 weeks. HBV DNA, alanine amino transferase (ALT), hepatitis B surface antigen(HBsAg), creatinine kinase(CK), and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were measured, safety was assessed. Results Eighty-eight patients (81%) had HBV-DNA undetectable at 24 weeks and maintained to receive LdT monotherapy until 104 weeks, whereas the other 20 patients had HBV-DNA detectable and ADV was used in combination. For all patients, 72% of patients reached ALT normalization at 24 weeks, which increased to 80% at 52 weeks and 104 weeks, respectively.. 81% of total patients had undetectable HBV-DNA at 24 weeks, 92% at 52 weeks, and 94% at 104 weeks. The HBsAg titre declined steadily from baseline to 104 weeks (3.62 vs. 2.98 log10 IU/mL, p 2, p Conclusions LdT was well tolerated and effective, and 94% of patients achieved virological suppression after 104 weeks. Trial registration This study was registered in clinicaltrials.gov on January 31, 2012 and the ID No. was NCT01521975.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is causing huge impact on health, life, and global economy, which is characterized by rapid spreading of SARS-CoV-2, high number of confirmed cases and a fatality/case rate worldwide reported by WHO. The most effective intervention measure will be to develop safe and effective vaccines to protect the population from the disease and limit the spread of the virus. An inactivated, whole virus vaccine candidate of SARS-CoV-2 has been developed by Wuhan Institute of Biological Products and Wuhan Institute of Virology. The low toxicity, immunogenicity, and immune persistence were investigated in preclinical studies using seven different species of animals. The results showed that the vaccine candidate was well tolerated and stimulated high levels of specific IgG and neutralizing antibodies. Low or no toxicity in three species of animals was also demonstrated in preclinical study of the vaccine candidate. Biochemical analysis of structural proteins and purity analysis were performed. The inactivated, whole virion vaccine was characterized with safe double-inactivation, no use of DNases and high purity. Dosages, boosting times, adjuvants, and immunization schedules were shown to be important for stimulating a strong humoral immune response in animals tested. Preliminary observation in ongoing phase I and II clinical trials of the vaccine candidate in Wuzhi County, Henan Province, showed that the vaccine is well tolerant. The results were characterized by very low proportion and low degree of side effects, high levels of neutralizing antibodies, and seroconversion. These results consistent with the results obtained from preclinical data on the safety.

This paper explores the effect of government supervision on the development of FFBS by analyzing massive travel information data. Our identification strategy exploits a natural experiment focusing ...

Background For large hemispheric infarction (LHI), malignant cerebral edema (MCE) is a life-threatening complication with a mortality rate approaching 80%. Establishing a convenient prediction model of MCE after LHI is vital for the rapid identification of high-risk patients as well as for a better understanding of the potential mechanism underlying MCE. Methods One hundred forty-two consecutive patients with LHI within 24 h of onset between January 1, 2016 and August 31, 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. MCE was defined as patient death or received decompressive hemicraniectomy (DHC) with obvious mass effect (≥ 5 mm midline shift or Basal cistern effacement). Binary logistic regression was performed to identify independent predictors of MCE. Independent prognostic factors were incorporated to build a dynamic nomogram for MCE prediction. Results After adjusting for confounders, four independent factors were identified, including previously known atrial fibrillation (KAF), midline shift (MLS), National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and anterior cerebral artery (ACA) territory involvement. To facilitate the nomogram use for clinicians, we used the “Dynnom” package to build a dynamic MANA (acronym for MLS, ACA territory involvement, NIHSS and KAF) nomogram on web (http://www.MANA-nom.com) to calculate the exact probability of developing MCE. The MANA nomogram’s C-statistic was up to 0.887 ± 0.041 and the AUC-ROC value in this cohort was 0.887 (95%CI, 0.828 ~ 0.934). Conclusions Independent MCE predictors included KAF, MLS, NIHSS, and ACA territory involvement. The dynamic MANA nomogram is a convenient, practical and effective clinical decision-making tool for predicting MCE after LHI in Chinese patients.

Background Numerous biomechanical and clinical studies comparing different techniques for rotator cuff repair have been reported, yet universal consensus regarding the superior technique has not achieved. A medially-based single-row with triple-loaded suture anchor (also referred to as the Southern California Orthopedic Institute [SCOI] row) and a suture-bridge double-row (SB-DR) with Push-Locks have been shown to result in comparable improvement in treating rotator cuff tear, yet the biomechanical difference is unknown. The purpose of the current study was to determine whether a SCOI row repair had comparable initial biomechanical properties to a SB-DR repair. Methods Six matched pairs of fresh-frozen cadaveric shoulders with full-thickness supraspinatus tendon tears we created were included. Two different repairs were performed for each pair (SCOI row and SB-DR methods). Specimens were mounted on a material testing machine to undergo cyclic loading, which was cycled from 10 to 100 N at 1 Hz for 500 cycles. Construct gap formation was recorded at an interval of 50 cycles. Samples were then loaded to failure and modes of failure were recorded. Repeated-measures analysis of variance and pair-t test were used for statistical analyses. Results The construct gap formation did not differ between SCOI row and SB-DR repairs (P = 0.056). The last gap displacement was 1.93 ± 0.37 mm for SCOI row repair, and 1.49 ± 0.55 mm for SB-DR repair. The tensile load for 5 mm of elongation and ultimate failure were higher for SCOI row repair compared to SB-DR repair (P = 0.011 and 0.028, respectively). The ultimate failure load was 326.34 ± 11.52 N in the SCOI row group, and 299.82 ± 27.27 N in the SB-DR group. Rotator cuff repair with the SCOI row method failed primarily at the suture- tendon interface, whereas pullout of the lateral row anchors was the primary mechanism of failure for repair with the SB-DR method. Conclusion Rotator cuff repair with the SCOI row method has superior biomechanical properties when compared with the SB-DR method. Therefore, SCOI row repair using a medially-based single-row technique with triple-loaded suture anchor is recommended to improve the initial strength in treating full-thickness rotator cuff tears.

This paper addresses a general method for parameter identification in distributed parameter systems (DPSs) based on a reference model and measurement information. Moreover, the developed identification method is used to deal with secure communication problems. Firstly, in combination with the historical information measured by sensors, an iterative approach based on an approximator is put forward. Meanwhile, an execution scheme for the iterative approach is provided by an optimization policy. Subsequently, by bringing new mechanisms into quantum particle swarm optimization (QPSO) algorithm to enhance its search capability, we propose quantum-leading-following-based optimization (QLFBO) algorithm, which serves the optimization policy. Further, the global convergence for QLFBO algorithm is proved combined with the parameter identification problem of DPSs, and the computational complexity on this algorithm is discussed in detail. Finally, simulation experiments on the diffusion-reaction model are carried out by the iterative approach based on QLFBO algorithm under different measurement ways. Simultaneously, secure communication depending on this model is performed in the double-scroll Chua’s circuit and a lotus image via the investigated iterative strategy and encryption-decryption scheme. Simulation results verify the validity and practicability of the developed method.

Sialic acid-binding immunoglubulin-like lectin 9 (Siglec-9) is a ligand of vascular adhesion protein 1 (VAP-1). A gallium 68-labeled peptide of Siglec-9, 68Ga-DOTA-Siglec-9, holds promise as a novel PET tracer for imaging of inflammation. This first-in-human study investigated the safety, tolerability, biodistribution, and radiation dosimetry of this radiopharmaceutical. Methods: Six healthy males underwent dynamic whole-body PET/CT. Serial venous blood samples were drawn from 1–240 min after intravenous injection of 162 ± 4 MBq of 68Ga-DOTA-Siglec-9. In addition to gamma counting, the plasma samples were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography to detect intact tracer and radioactive metabolites. Radiation doses were calculated using the OLINDA/EXM 2.2 software. In addition, a patient with early rheumatoid arthritis was studied with both 68Ga-DOTA-Siglec-9 and 18F-FDG PET/CT to determine the ability of the new tracer to detect arthritis. Results:68Ga-DOTA-Siglec-9 was well tolerated by all subjects. 68Ga-DOTA-Siglec-9 was rapidly cleared from blood circulation and several radioactive metabolites were detected. The organs with the highest absorbed doses were the urinary bladder wall (0.38 mSv/MBq) and kidneys (0.054 mSv/MBq). The mean effective dose was 0.022 mSv/MBq (range 0.020–0.024 mSv/MBq). Most importantly, however, 68Ga-DOTA-Siglec-9 was able to detect arthritis comparable to 18F-FDG. Conclusion: Intravenous injection of 68Ga-DOTA-Siglec-9 was safe and biodistribution is favorable for testing of the tracer in larger group of patients with rheumatoid arthritis planned in the next phase of clinical trials. The effective radiation dose of 68Ga-DOTA-Siglec-9 was within the same range as those of other 68Ga-labeled tracers. Injection of 150 MBq of 68Ga-DOTA-Siglec-9 would expose a subject to 3.3 mSv. These findings support the possible repeated clinical use of 68Ga-DOTA-Siglec-9, e.g., in trials aiming to elucidate the treatment efficacy of novel drug candidates.

Objective Stress is a known trigger for seizures in patients with epilepsy (PWE). However, the association between stress and seizures has not been thoroughly investigated. In December 2019, an outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) occurred in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, causing tremendous collateral stress. This study was designed to evaluate the influence of the COVID‐19 outbreak on seizures in PWE in the most severely affected area, Wuhan, and its surrounding cities. Methods In this single‐center, cross‐sectional study, PWE were surveyed via online questionnaires between February 23 and March 5, 2020. Collected data included demographic information, epilepsy‐related characteristics (seizure type, frequency, antiepileptic drugs [AEDs], and medication management), direct and perceived threat of COVID‐19, and changes in seizures during the outbreak. Psychological comorbidities were evaluated by the Patient Health Questionnaire–9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder–7 items, and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify precipitants for seizure exacerbation. Results We received 362 completed questionnaires after excluding 12 duplicates (response rate = 63.51%). A total of 31 (8.56%) patients had increased seizures during the outbreak. Exposure history to COVID‐19 (P = .001), uncontrolled seizure after AED therapy (P = .020), seizure frequency of two or more times per month before the outbreak (P = .005), change of AED regimen during the outbreak (AED reduction, withdrawal, replacement, skipping altogether; P = .002), and worry about the adverse effect of the outbreak on overall seizure‐related issues (severity = moderate to critical; P = .038) were risk factors for increased seizures. Significance A minority of PWE experienced seizure exacerbation during the outbreak of COVID‐19. Stress, uncontrolled seizures, and inappropriate change in AED regimen were associated with increased seizures. Based on these findings, stress might be an independent precipitant for triggering seizures in some PWE.

Appropriate skincare is essential in the prevention and management of rosacea. We sought to investigate whether cleansing habits, the initial step of skin care, would influence the onset and progression of rosacea and their associations with clinical features of rosacea in the Chinese population. We analyzed the daily cleansing habits data collected from 999 rosacea cases and 1010 skin-healthy controls from China. Overall, the high frequency of cleansing (more than once daily) (OR = 1.450) and the large amount of cleansers (> 5 pieces/year) (OR = 1.612) presented a positive correlation with rosacea occurring. The cleansing duration and types of cleansers appeared not to be correlated with the onset of rosacea in this study. Significant risk factors also included the deep cleansing habits, such as the overuse of cleansing tool (more than four times/week) (OR 2.179) and oil control and exfoliating behaviors via daily used products (OR 2.435), facial mask (OR 1.459) or projects in beauty salons (OR 2.688). The analysis of the clinical features of rosacea showed that patients who prefer deep cleansing were more prone to present an initial symptom of papule and pustule (OR 1.63–3.15). What is more, using daily exfoliating products presented a positive correlation with the progression of the symptoms from flushing to erythema (OR = 2.01), papule and pustule (OR = 2.28) and telangiectasis (OR = 2.14), and the affected areas from a single area to pan facial (OR = 1.650). In conclusion, excessive cleansing habits were substantial risk factors for the incidence and progression of rosacea in the Chinese population.

The amount of energy transferred to the ground truly represents the performance of the seismic vibrator. So, it is crucial to investigate the transfer of energy in the vibrator-ground system and how parameters affect it. For this purpose, a model of vibrator-ground system considering frequency change is developed based on half-space theory, and methods of calculating energy transfer is innovatively proposed. Results show that the total energy done by the hydraulic force on the vibrator-ground system in the frequency band of 3–200 Hz is 3.156×105 J, and 9.11% of the energy is transferred to the ground. In addition, effects of structural parameters and soil parameters on energy transfer are carried out. It is concluded that lightweight reaction mass can significantly increase the total energy, but heavier reaction mass generates more ground energy. Baseplate with small mass not only helps the vibrator to transmit energy uniformly but also generates more ground energy above 100 Hz. Larger baseplate area can improve the baseplate-ground interaction to transfer more energy to the ground. For the effects of soil on energy transfer, the ground energy in low-frequency band is mainly dominated by soil elastic modulus, and both elastic modulus and density of soil have great effects on energy transferred to ground at high frequencies.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains a prominent public health concern despite several decades of attempts to develop therapies for the associated neurological and cognitive deficits. Effective models of this condition are imperative for better defining its pathophysiology and testing therapeutics. Human brain organoids are stem cell–derived neural tissues that recapitulate many of the steps of normal neurodevelopment, resulting in the reproduction of a substantial degree of brain architecture. Organoids are highly relevant to clinical conditions because of their human nature and three-dimensional tissue structure, yet they are easier to manipulate and interrogate experimentally than animals. Thus, they have the potential to serve as a novel platform for studying TBI. In this article, we discuss available in vitro models of TBI, active areas of inquiry on brain organoids, and how these two concepts could be merged.

Background. Intensive therapy with disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) has been reported to improve the outcomes of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, real-world study on the effect of intensive therapy on RA sustained remission is still lacking. This study aimed to investigate the outcome of sustained intensive DMARD therapy (SUIT) for RA in a real-world 5-year consecutive cohort. Methods. Based on a consecutive cohort of 610 out-patients with RA, remission of RA was assessed in 541 patients from 2012 to 2017, by dividing into SUIT, non-SUIT, and intermittent SUIT (Int-SUIT) groups. Changes in the disease activity scores were evaluated by 28-joint disease activity score based on erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28-ESR), 28-joint disease activity score based on C-reactive protein (DAS28-CRP), and clinical deep remission criteria (CliDR). Cumulative remission rates between different groups were compared using Kaplan-Meier curves and predictive factors of sustained remission were identified by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results. The remission rates of the SUIT group decreased from 12.0% (65/541) to 5.6% (20/359) based on DAS28-ESR, from 14.0% (76/541) to 7.2% (26/359) based on DAS28-CRP, and from 8.5% (46/541) to 3.1% (11/359) based on CliDR, respectively, with a gradually decreasing trend during the 5 years. The SUIT regimen led to a significantly higher cumulative remission rate than non-SUIT regimen based on DAS28-ESR (39.7% vs. 19.5%, P = 0.001), DAS28-CRP (42.0% vs. 19.6%, P = 0.001), and CliDR (24.5% vs. 8.7%, P = 0.001). The cumulative remission rates of patients treated with SUIT regimen were significantly higher than those treated with Int-SUIT regimen based on DAS28-ESR (39.7% vs. 25.7%, P = 0.043) and CliDR (24.5% vs. 14.2%, P = 0.047), but there was no significant difference between the two groups based on DAS28-CRP (42.0% vs. 27.4%, P = 0.066). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the use of SUIT regimen was an independent favorable predictor according to different remission definitions (for DAS28-ESR: odds ratio [OR], 2.215, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.271–3.861, P = 0.005; for DAS28-CRP: OR, 1.520, 95% CI: 1.345–1.783, P = 0.002; for CliDR: OR, 1.525, 95% CI: 1.314–1.875, P = 0.013). Conclusion. Sustained intensive treatment of RA is an optimal strategy in daily practice and will lead to an increased remission rate.

We consider a decentralized supply chain in which a downstream manufacturer purchases components from an upstream supplier privileged with private information about supply disruption risk. The supplier’s initial reliability, asymmetric to the manufacturer, is either low or high. We examine two representative contracts, i.e. the wholesale price and screening menu contracts. Under the wholesale price contract, we specify two practical regimes: pull and push. We derive and compare the firms’ equilibrium solutions, profitability, and channel performance in these two regimes. We find that in the push regime the payoff of either the high- or low-reliability supplier monotonically increases with their initial reliability, while the manufacturer’s payoff remains constant if the reliability enhancement cost is small; otherwise it will also monotonically increase. By contrast, in the pull regime, the manufacturer’s payoff will always increase, while the supplier’s payoff is non-monotonic with their initial reliability. We further show that the manufacturer’s payoff is non-increasing with the initial reliability heterogeneity in both the push and pull regimes. Under the screening menu contract, we also consider two regimes: contracting both high- and low-reliability suppliers, and contacting just the high-reliability supplier, respectively, and we derive the equilibrium solutions in each regime. The results reveal that the regime of contracting both suppliers dominates the regime of contracting only the high-reliability supplier under a certain condition. Comparing the wholesale price and screening menu contracts, we derive several interesting results. First, when either the reliability enhancement cost or initial supply reliability heterogeneity is sufficiently high, the pull regime is dominant for the manufacturer; the regime of contracting both suppliers is more favorable to the manufacturer when the reliability enhancement cost and initial supply reliability heterogeneity are low. Second, in the pull regime, more information transparency is detrimental to the manufacturer’s payoff when the supplier’s initial reliability is low, whereas the high-reliability supplier will surprisingly yield a higher profit under information symmetry. Third, the low-reliability supplier’s preference on information transparency hinges on the enhancement cost coefficient in the push regime.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are an emerging class of photoactive materials, solely composed of light elements. Their ordered structure, crystallinity, and high porosity led to enormous worldwide attention in many research fields. The extensive π-electron conjugation, light-harvesting and charge transport characteristics make them a fascinating polymer for photocatalytic systems. Versatile selection of building blocks and innumerable synthetic methodologies enable them to be a robust platform for solar energy production. In this mini-review, we summarized recent progress and challenges of the design, construction, and applications of COFs-based photocatalysts, and also presented some perspectives on challenges.

Quantum memories that are able to store arbitrary two-dimensional images offer advantages over light pulses memories, in terms of both speed and capacity. In this work, we propose an efficient scheme to realize the storage and retrieval of images in a four-level quasi-Λ system of cold atoms. This scheme relies on the cross-phase modulation controlled by an employed intensity dependent microwave field during the storage time. Both theoretical analysis and numerical simulation clearly show that the microwave field can effectively modify the spin coherence and improve the visibility of the reconstructed images with low nonlinear absorption. The phase shift and energy retrieving rate of the probe field are immune to the coupling field and the atomic optical density. Compared to the existing scheme, the maximum advantage of this one is that the energy loss in this process is reduced markedly. This work provides an alternative way for efficiently enhancing the performance of EIT based light-storage devices for all-optical quantum information processing.

BACKGROUND Colorectal cancer (CRC) could seriously threaten the physical and mental health of pilots. Shall they end their flying after treatment of CRC? With this study, we investigated the possibility of a gradual medical waiver for such pilots to fly aircrafts again after treatment of CRC. CASE SUMMARY We analyzed the medical waiver and clinical data of 3 pilots with CRC, who had accepted the treatment at the Department of General Surgery, Air Force Medical Center (formerly, Air Force General Hospital) between 2013 and 2018. All 3 cases underwent a series of comprehensive treatment courses, including radical resection of CRC, sequential radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. The follow-up results were satisfactory. After passing through the high-risk period of recurrence and metastasis of CRC, they all were given a medical waiver for flying again. Medical observation showed that their flying operations were safe. CONCLUSION The CRC treatment shall follow the guidelines for diagnosis and treatment and should simultaneously protect the combating capabilities of pilots as much as possible. It is safe for pilots with CRC, who are continuously monitored under medical observation after passing through the high-risk period of recurrence and metastasis, to undertake military flight missions again.