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Edge computing provides cloud services at the edge of the network for Internet of Things (IoT) devices. It aims to address low latency of the network and alleviates data processing of the cloud. This “cloud-edge-device” paradigm brings convenience as well as challenges for location-privacy protection of the IoT. In the edge computing environment, the fixed edge equipment supplies computing services for adjacent IoT devices. Therefore, edge computing suffers location leakage as the connection and authentication records imply the location of IoT devices. This article focuses on the location awareness in the edge computing environment. We adopt the “deniability” of authentication to prevent location leakage when IoT devices connect to the edge nodes. In our solution, an efficient deniable authentication based on a two-user ring signature is constructed. The robustness of authentication makes the fixed edge equipment accept the legal end devices. Besides, the deniability of authentication cannot convince any third party that the fact of this authentication occurred as communication transcript is no longer an evidence for this connection. Therefore, it handles the inherent location risk in edge computing. Compared to efficient deniable authentications, our protocol saves 10.728% and 14.696% computational cost, respectively.

Risk stratification of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) is based on experience with tumors of the stomach, small bowel, and rectum, which are far more common than GISTs of other sites. In this study from 47 institutions, we analyzed GISTs of the esophagus (n = 102), colon (n = 136), and appendix (n = 27) for their size, mitotic rate, morphology, and outcome to determine which criteria predict their behavior. Esophageal GISTs were small (median: 2.5 cm) with spindle cell morphology and a low mitotic rate (mean: 3.6/5 mm2). Twelve (12%) tumors progressed, including 11 with a mitotic rate >5/5 mm2 and one large (6.8 cm) GIST with a mitotic rate of 2/5 mm2. Colonic GISTs were smaller (median: 1.4 cm) and presented with abdominal pain or bleeding in 29% of cases. Most (92%) were composed of spindle cells with a mean mitotic rate of 4.6/5 mm2. Sixteen (12%) tumors progressed: 14 had mitotic rates >5/5 mm2, and two were >5.0 cm with a mitotic rate 5/5 mm2) and size >5.0 cm. These findings support the use of size and mitotic rate for prognostication of GISTs in these locations, similar to tumors of the stomach, small bowel, and rectum.

We study how local leaders matter for economic growth by examining the impacts of exogenous transfers of leaders across China’s provinces on land transactions in the primary market. We find that new provincial leaders attract investment in industrial land from the provinces of their previous positions. The leaders’ impacts are greater when their freedom to deploy their business connections in the land market is greater. More importantly, we find evidence of positive impacts of land transactions on economic growth, which should bode well for the careers of the local leaders, albeit there is some evidence of rent seeking among officials especially when they are too old for further promotion.

Block permutation and Co-XOR (BPCX) image encryption is a commonly used encryption method for reversible data hiding in the encryption domain, which can effectively improve the embedded capacity and the ability resisting the existing attacks including ciphertext-only attack and known plaintext attack (KPA). This paper proposes a KPA based on bit-block inversion and mean equivalent division (MED) to estimate the block permutation key of BPCX image encryption. Firstly, we divide an image block into the bit-block and point out that the maximum of the numbers of 0 bit and 1 bit of a bit-block before and after the Co-XOR encryption remains unchanged. And then two inversion rules of bit-block are defined to construct pseudo plain-ciphertext images to eliminate the influence of pixel value changes caused by Co-XOR encryption. Finally, the MED based KPA is designed to estimate the block permutation key sequence according to the pseudo plain-ciphertext images. The relationship between the key estimation accuracy and the number of known plain-ciphertext pairs, block size, and pseudo ciphertext are discussed. Experimental results show that even in the minimum block size (2×2), the average estimated correct rate of the block permutation sequence exceeds 40%. The block permutation key estimation accuracy is more than 50% when the block size is greater than 3×3. Some improved encryption methods against the proposed KPA are also given.

With the high penetration of the power electronic loads in the grid, the stability of static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) devices are greatly challenged. However, the conventional control methods for the modular multilevel converter (MMC) based STATCOM only consider the stability with small signal disturbances. This paper proposes a novel dual-layer back-stepping control (BSC) for the MMC based STATCOM. In the first layer, the BSC aims to regulate the sum of the capacitor energy and the reactive output current. In the second layer, the BSC aims to control the circulating current. Therefore, the proposed method possesses a fast dynamic response and accurate tracking with the Lyapunov stability of the MMC based STATCOM. Compared with the arm-control-based back-stepping control for MMC based inverters, the proposed method has a simplified structure and a reduced computation burden. In addition, the proposed method realizes the decoupled control between the output current and the circulating current. The simulation and experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. In addition, its robustness towards different circuit parameters and the operation ability under unbalanced grid fault is also verified.

Exploiting a tissue diagnosis method to abstain the involuted operating and consume valuable reagents while realizing high-speed and inexpensive pathological grading technology to supply a better scheme for cancer therapy is a significant method of cancers detection. A promising immuno-fluorescence strategy was rationally designed and synthesized by loading ruthenium complex into cervical cancer-targeted DNA-cage, which was well used to realize high-speed and inexpensive diagnosis of clinical cervical cancer tumor tissues avoiding the traditional multi-stage process, thus demonstrating high application potential in clinical pathological grading and surgical judgment. Moreover, it has been finding that Apts-DNA@Ru can enrichment in the tumor region, interestingly, no enrichment in normal cervical cancer tissue. It has the potential to realize the integration of in vivo diagnose and further synchronous treatment in the near future. Thence, this study demonstrates a strategy for integration of cancer-targeted DNA-cage and fluorescent RuPOP as alternative IHC reagents for next-generation more rapid convenient cancer detection.

Reversible data hiding in encrypted images (RDH-EI) technology is commonly used in cloud storage images for privacy protection. Most existing RDH-EI techniques reported in the literature applied block permutation and co-modulation (BPCM) encryption to generate encrypted images. This work analyses the security of the RDH-EI algorithm based on BPCM encryption under known plaintext attack (KPA). Different from the existing KPAs, this paper considers that attackers can perform KPA based on marked encrypted images and shows that BPCM encryption has the risk of information leakage. To find the constant features of a block before and after co-modulation, the first-pixel difference block (FDB) of a block is first defined. Then, a pseudo cypher difference image of the cyphertext image is constructed to eliminate the changed FDBs so that the differences in the cyphertext FDBs are the same as the FDBs in the corresponding plaintext difference image. Finally, we design an FDB-based block permutation key estimation method according to the plaintext difference image and pseudo cyphertext difference image. The influence of block size on key estimation accuracy and the time complexity of the proposed KPA algorithm are analysed and discussed. Experimental results show that the correct rate of key estimation is positively correlated with the block size and the number of plain-cyphertext pairs. The average correct rate of key estimation reaches 63% when the block size is greater than 33.

A method of reconstructing the original partial discharge (PD) signal to improve the accuracy of PD localization in cross‐linked polyethylene (XLPE) cables is presented here. XLPE cables, extremely sensitive to PDs, are the most popular underground cables in urban grids. The conventional PD localization methods, based on evaluation of the arrival times of PD pulses in the time domain, are negatively affected by the dispersion and attenuation of PD signals propagating in the power cable. A method for the accurate localization of PDs realized through inverse frequency domain modelling (IFDM) is presented here. The method, eliminating the systematic localization error caused by the dispersion and attenuation, significantly improves the localization accuracy. The locations of the PD are identified by comparing peak values of the initial PD signals reconstructed from different extracted pulses. A method for evaluating the propagation constant of the cable is also presented. The efficiency of the accurate localization method was verified by laboratory experiments. Besides, the inherent limitations of the conventional PD localization method for longer cable tests are discussed. The inevitable location error in the conventional methods does not exist in the new method.

Background & Aims G protein–coupled receptor (GPR) 120 has been implicated in regulating metabolic syndromes with anti-inflammatory function. However, the role of GPR120 in intestinal inflammation is unknown. Here, we investigated whether and how GPR120 regulates CD4+ T cell function to inhibit colitis development. Methods Dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)–induced colitis model, Citrobacter rodentium infection model, and CD4+ T cell adoptive transfer model were used to analyze the role of GPR120 in regulating colitis development. The effect of GPR120 on CD4+ T cell functions was analyzed by RNA sequencing, flow cytometry, and Seahorse metabolic assays. Mice were administered GPR120 agonist for investigating the potential of GPR120 agonist in preventing and treating colitis. Results Deficiency of GPR120 in CD4+ T cells resulted in more severe colitis in mice upon dextran sodium sulfate insult and enteric infection. Transfer of GPR120-deficient CD4+CD45Rbhi T cells induced more severe colitis in Rag–/– mice with lower intestinal interleukin (IL) 10+CD4+ T cells. Treatment with the GPR120 agonist CpdA promoted CD4+ T cell production of IL10 by up-regulating Blimp1 and enhancing glycolysis, which was regulated by mTOR. GPR120 agonist-treated wild-type, but not IL10-deficient and Blimp1-deficient, T helper type 1 cells induced less severe colitis. Furthermore, oral administration of GPR120 agonist protected mice from intestinal inflammation in both prevention and treatment schemes. Gpr120 expression was positively correlated with Il10 expression in the human colonic mucosa, including patients with inflammatory bowel diseases. Conclusions Our findings show the role of GPR120 in regulating intestinal CD4+ T cell production of IL10 to inhibit colitis development, which identifies GPR120 as a potential therapeutic target for treating inflammatory bowel diseases.

Introduction: Acupuncture has been applied with chemical drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the clinic. Whether such combination is effective and safe should be studied although it is recommended by some researchers. Methods: To explore the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture combined with chemical drugs for AD, databases like PubMed, Web of Science were searched to retrieve randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on AD treated with acupuncture and chemical drugs to perform meta-analysis. The risk of bias in each study was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Meta- analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3. Results: Five studies were included in which only donepezil combined with acupuncture was evaluated. Acupuncture combined with donepezil showed a significant difference in effectiveness rate [RR=1.45, 95% CI (1.19, 1.77), P =0.0002] compared with donepezil. On the comparison of mini-mental state examination (MMSE) score and Alzheimer's disease assessment scale cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog) score there was no difference. However, after one trial with severe AD patients was removed, acupuncture combined with donepezil showed better effect than donepezil alone. Conclusion: Acupuncture combined with donepezil could work on AD at the early stage or being mild, implying that acupuncture could be a complementary therapy for AD at the early stage or being mild. Besides, scalp acupuncture seems to be more effective on improving cognitive function. However, this conclusion must be considered cautiously, given the small sample size and lack of trials with high quality. Therefore, more high-quality, multicenter, prospective RCTs with large sample sizes are needed to further clarify the effect of acupuncture combined with chemical drugs for AD.

The growth state of flowers is affected by many factors such as temperature, humidity, and light. Therefore, the maintenance of flowers often requires more professional knowledge. Ordinary people are often at a loss when face with various flower representations and do not know where the problem is. In response to the above problems, this article proposes the use of deep learning to identify the growth status of flowers to assist people in successfully raising flowers. In this article, we propose that the mainstream convolutional neural network has the limitation of only inputting images. In terms of network input, data of the current growth environment of flowers will also be input to supplement the input data of the network. In view of the lack of information interaction in the network, in terms of network structure, the shallow and deep characteristics of the network are integrated to make the network performance more advantageous. Experiments show that this method can effectively improve the recognition rate of flower growth status, so as to correctly distinguish the current growth status of flowers.

Learning from a few examples (one/few-shot learning) on the fly is a key challenge for on-device machine intelligence. We present the first chip-level demonstration of one-shot learning with Stanford Associative memory for Programmable, Integrated Edge iNtelligence via life-long learning and Search (SAPIENS), a resistive random access memory (RRAM)-based non-volatile associative memory (AM) chip that serves as the backend for memory-augmented neural networks (MANNs). The 64-kb fully integrated RRAM-CMOS AM chip performs long-term feature embedding and retrieval, demonstrated on a 32-way one-shot learning task on the Omniglot dataset. Using only one example per class for 32 unseen classes during on-chip learning, SAPIENS achieves 79% measured inference accuracy on Omniglot, comparable to edge software model accuracy using five-level quantization (82%). It achieves an energy efficiency of 118 GOPS/W at 200 MHz for in-memory L1 distance computation and prediction. Multi-bank measurements on the same chip show that increasing the capacity from three banks (24 kb) to eight banks (64 kb) improves the chip accuracy from 73.5% to 79%, while minimizing the accuracy excursion due to bank-to-bank variability.

For a broad range of industrial, service, and household electric vehicles, dynamic charging is a viable option for energy replenishing that could reduce the size of the onboard energy storage, remove range limitations, and increase operating time. For those systems, timely detection of an approaching vehicle and the detection of strong coupling conditions between transmitter and receiver coils are of prime interest. A novel method is proposed in this article, which utilizes the existing embedded primary coil and power electronics modules to establish a precise detection system based on the power footprint of a traveling receiver. Next, a control algorithm is proposed to accurately control charger activation and deactivation time and deliver the required amount of energy during the coils maximum coupling. The proposed sigmoid-curve-based control algorithm achieves a robust, speed-independent, smooth transition between two states while providing fast dynamics for both aligned and misaligned conditions. Finally, a novel approach to test high-speed dynamic charging in laboratory conditions based on the receiver emulator is developed and used for experimental validation. The vehicle detection and control techniques have been validated through simulations and experimentally on a speed-controlled dynamic charging test station for a wide speed range. The proposed method does not require any additional hardware, sensing devices, or high-speed communication between the vehicle and the charging infrastructure.

Accurate and reliable segmentation of colorectal tumors and surrounding colorectal tissues on 3D magnetic resonance images has critical importance in preoperative prediction, staging, and radiotherapy. Previous works simply combine multilevel features without aggregating representative semantic information and without compensating for the loss of spatial information caused by down-sampling. Therefore, they are vulnerable to noise from complex backgrounds and suffer from misclassification and target incompleteness-related failures. In this paper, we address these limitations with a novel adaptive lesion-aware attention network (ALA-Net) which explicitly integrates useful contextual information with spatial details and captures richer feature dependencies based on 3D attention mechanisms. The model comprises two parallel encoding paths. One of these is designed to explore global contextual features and enlarge the receptive field using a recurrent strategy. The other captures sharper object boundaries and the details of small objects that are lost in repeated down-sampling layers. Our lesion-aware attention module adaptively captures long-range semantic dependencies and highlights the most discriminative features, improving semantic consistency and completeness. Furthermore, we introduce a prediction aggregation module to combine multiscale feature maps and to further filter out irrelevant information for precise voxel-wise prediction. Experimental results show that ALA-Net outperforms state-of-the-art methods and inherently generalizes well to other 3D medical images segmentation tasks, providing multiple benefits in terms of target completeness, reduction of false positives, and accurate detection of ambiguous lesion regions.

In the past ten years, the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in biomedicine has increased rapidly, which roots in the rapid growth of biomedicine data, the improvement of computing performance, and the development of deep learning methods. At present, there are great difficulties in front of AI for solving complex and comprehensive medical problems. Ontology can play an important role in how to make machines have stronger intelligence and has wider applications in the medical field. By using ontologies, (meta) data can be standardized so that data quality is improved and more data analysis methods can be introduced, data integration can be supported by the semantics relationships which are specified in ontologies, and effective logic expression in nature language can be better understood by machine. This can be a pathway to stronger AI. Under this circumstance, the Chinese Conference on Biomedical Ontology and Terminology was held in Beijing in autumn 2019, with the theme “Making Machine Understand Data”. The success of this conference further improves the development of ontology in the field of biomedical information in China, and will promote the integration of Chinese ontology research and application with the international standards and the findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability(FAIR) Data Principle.

BACKGROUND: Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, whether clinical outcomes are better in those who receive an invasive intervention plus medical therapy than in those who receive medical therapy alone is uncertain. METHODS: We randomly assigned 5179 patients with moderate or severe ischemia to an initial invasive strategy (angiography and revascularization when feasible) and medical therapy or to an initial conservative strategy of medical therapy alone and angiography if medical therapy failed. The primary outcome was a composite of death from cardiovascular causes, myocardial infarction, or hospitalization for unstable angina, heart failure, or resuscitated cardiac arrest. A key secondary outcome was death from cardiovascular causes or myocardial infarction. RESULTS: Over a median of 3.2 years, 318 primary outcome events occurred in the invasive-strategy group and 352 occurred in the conservative-strategy group. At 6 months, the cumulative event rate was 5.3% in the invasive-strategy group and 3.4% in the conservative-strategy group (difference, 1.9 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.8 to 3.0); at 5 years, the cumulative event rate was 16.4% and 18.2%, respectively (difference, -1.8 percentage points; 95% CI, -4.7 to 1.0). Results were similar with respect to the key secondary outcome. The incidence of the primary outcome was sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction; a secondary analysis yielded more procedural myocardial infarctions of uncertain clinical importance. There were 145 deaths in the invasive-strategy group and 144 deaths in the conservative-strategy group (hazard ratio, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.32). CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, we did not find evidence that an initial invasive strategy, as compared with an initial conservative strategy, reduced the risk of ischemic cardiovascular events or death from any cause over a median of 3.2 years. The trial findings were sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction that was used. (Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and others; ISCHEMIA ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01471522.).

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most common cancers in the world and it accounts for more than 90% of oral cancers. In this study, we tried to estimate the risk of early postoperative recurrence, secondary tumor and metastasis of OSCC to predict the patient's prognosis according to its clinical condition to help increase their survival by screening high-risk patients. 153 patients with OSCC who were over 40 years of age were studied during 1985-2020. The influencing factors included gender, race, stage of tumor progression, treatment method, histological grade and tumor location, date of diagnosis and death, which were analyzed by the Markov multi-state model. Also, their saliva was sampled to determine the amount of Matrix Metalloproteinase13 (MMP13). Following-up of patients for 60 months showed that one year after the end of treatment, the probability of death was almost the same for patients with early postoperative recurrence or secondary tumor, but after 5 years, patients with early postoperative recurrence are at higher risk of death. Also, the MMP13 amount in the saliva of patients showed that high levels of MMP13 belonged to metastasis of OSCC than early postoperative recurrence and secondary tumor. Therefore, patients with more amount of MMP13 are more involved in metastasis than early postoperative recurrence and secondary tumor. Approximate knowledge of OSCC patients' next state and time according to their clinical condition can be one of the ways of timely diagnosis and treatment and thus reduce their mortality rate.

With the outbreak of COVID-19, the national economy has been depressed because people cannot produce and assume goods normally. Thus, offline shopping become a problem in daily life. People have to adapt to the new social environment to make a living. Apparently, E-commerce is the most important result of economic development brought by the experiences of the business method during this pandemic. This paper introduces and uses the SWOT analysis method to list the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of E-commerce. There’s a case study of one of the most popular E-commerce companies in China, JingDong, in order to illustrate the strength of selling products online during COVID-19. This paper mainly focuses on the E-commerce development in China during the pandemic, and the research result shows that the platform business model, specifically the E-commerce, is the best choice for developing enterprises during the pandemic. How the business should choose for their progress can be found in this paper as well. Although E-commerce might have vices in some parts, due to the high profits brought to the enterprises by E-commerce, more people may still be willing to engage in the operation of E-commerce, and expand the team of Chinese E-commerce, thus promote economic prosperity as soon as possible.

Background Low-grade epilepsy-associated neuroepithelial tumor (LEAT) is highly responsive to surgery in general. The appropriate surgical strategy remains controversial in temporal LEAT. The aim of this study is to analyze the surgical seizure outcome of temporal LEAT, focusing on the aspects of surgical strategy. Methods Sixty-one patients from a single epilepsy center with temporal LEAT underwent surgery. The surgical strategy was according to the multidisciplinary presurgical evaluation. Electrocorticogram (ECoG)-assisted resection was utilized. Surgical extent including lesionectomy and extended resection was described in detail. Seizure outcome was classified as satisfactory (Engel class I) and unsatisfactory (Engel classes II–IV). Results After a median follow-up of 36.0 (30.0) months, 83.6% of patients achieved satisfactory outcome, including 72.1% with Engel class Ia. There was 39.3% (24/61) of patients with antiepileptic drug (AED) withdrawal. Use of ECoG (χ2 = 0.000, P > 0.1), preresection spike (χ2 = 0.000, P = 0.763), or spike residue (P = 0.545) was not correlated with the seizure outcome. For lateral temporal LEAT, outcome from lesionectomy was comparable to extended resection (χ2 = 0.499, P > 0.1). For mesial temporal LEAT, 94.7% (18/19) of patients who underwent additional hippocampectomy were satisfactory, whereas only 25% (1/4) of patients who underwent lesionectomy were satisfactory (P = 0.009). Conclusion Surgical treatment was highly effective for temporal LEAT. ECoG may not influence the seizure outcome. For lateral temporal LEAT, lesionectomy with or without cortectomy was sufficient in most patients. For mesial temporal LEAT, extended resection was recommended.

Ceramic aerogels are attractive candidates for high-temperature thermal insulation, catalysis support, and ultrafiltration materials, but their practical applications are usually limited by brittleness. Recently, reversible compressibility has been realized in flexible nanostructures-based ceramic aerogels. However, these modified aerogels still show fast and brittle fracture under tension. Herein, we demonstrate achieving reversible stretch and crack insensitivity in a highly compressible ceramic aerogel through engineering its microstructure by using curly SiC-SiO

PURPOSE To compare outcomes after arthroscopy in FAIS patients with preoperative asymptomatic gluteal tendinosis (GT) to a control group with no gluteal tendinosis. METHODS A retrospective analysis was performed using data from FAIS patients who had arthroscopy between 2016 and 2018. Asymptomatic GT was diagnosed using hip MRI without clinical symptoms. Patients with asymptomatic GT were 1:1 propensity-score matched to patients without GT. Patient-reported outcomes (HOS-ADL, iHOT-12, mHHS), VAS scores, radiographic measures, performed procedures, complications, and revision surgery were compared and analyzed for both groups. RESULTS A total of 105 asymptomatic GT hips and 105 hips without GT were found using propensity-score matching. When compared to preoperative levels, both groups demonstrated significant improvements in PROs and VAS scores at the final follow-up. Besides, there were no significant differences in preoperative scores, final outcome scores, or score improvements between the groups. Patients in the GT group were significantly less likely to achieve the MCID for the VAS score (72.4% vs 83.8%, p = 0.045). However, there were no other differences in the rate of meeting the PASS and MCID between the study and the control groups. CONCLUSION It was demonstrated in this study that FAIS patients with asymptomatic gluteal tendinosis can expect to experience similar good short-term patients-reported outcomes as compared with patients without gluteal tendinosis. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE III.

Learning motivation is crucial to online learning success, especially for K-12 students. Although previous research has proved that there are many factors influencing online learning motivation, few studies have systematically investigated this phenomenon from the integrated perspectives of community of inquiry and technology acceptance, two theoretical frameworks that are commonly used to explain experiences of and attitude towards online learning. This study investigates the effects of K-12 students' perceived presence and technology acceptance on their online learning motivation. A total of 13,610 valid questionnaires were collected from K-12 students from Wuhan and adjacent areas in central China participated in the survey. The findings reveal that: (1) perceived usefulness, self-efficacy, social presence, and perceived ease of use have a larger positive effect on online learning motivation, while cognitive presence has a small positive effect on online learning motivation; (2) teaching presence positively influences online learning motivation through social or cognitive presence; (3) factors, such as school location, previous online learning experience, family social-economic status, and prior academic achievements, may influence technology acceptance. The implications for designing, developing, and managing K-12 online education are discussed.

In information extraction, named entity recognition (NER) aims to locate named entities in unstructured text and classify them into predefined categories. Most existing methods for NER are sentence-level approaches, which only leverage the context information within a sentence and may cause inconsistent entity prediction. Several researchers have identified latent relationships between sentences in a document and therefore present numerous document-level frameworks that utilize the context information in a document. However, these frameworks cannot establish the correlation between sentences in different documents. To address this problem, we present a cross-document NER model that builds internal relationships for each token among all its multiple occurrences in different documents. A cross-document attention module is designed to calculate the cross-document representations. Furthermore, we add a multiclassification auxiliary task to utilize the coarse-grained entity information. The multi-objective optimization is employed through weighted summation and an autonomous approach utilizing the homoscedastic uncertainty of each task. Extensive experimental results on various data sets clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed approach, and our model achieves better results than the sentence-level and document-level NER models.

BACKGROUND: The intestinal microbiota is thought to be involved in the occurrence of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in remission (IBDR) with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)-type symptoms, but the specific distinct profile of these bacteria remains unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate this issue by conducting a cross-sectional study.METHODS: IBS patients were diagnosed according to Rome Ⅳ criteria, IBD diagnosed according to the criteria of European Crohn & Colitis Organization (ECCO), IBDR patients with IBS-type symptoms were defined according to related IBS-type symptoms meeting the Rome IV criteria in IBDR patients, and were included Crohn’s disease in remission (CDR) and ulcerative colitis in remission (UCR) based on Crohn’s Disease Activity Index (DAI) and Mayo Scoring System respectively. Healthy controls come from the physical examination center and exclude people with underlying diseases. All enrolled subjects were divided into six groups, as followed: Health Control, IBS, CDR with IBS-type symptoms (CDR-IBS+), CDR without IBS-type symptoms (CDR-IBS-), UCR-IBS+ and UCR-IBS-. We collected fresh fecal samples from all subjects and applied 16S rRNA sequencing analysis to detect the structure and diversity of the microbiota among different groups. RESULTS: A total of 97 subjects were included in this study, of which 18 were health controls, 34 IBS patients, 25 CDR and 20 UCR. The richness of intestinal microbiota in CDR-IBS-was significantly lower than that in the control and IBS groups based on the analysis of observed species and Chao index (P+ was significantly higher than CDR-IBS- group (median index: 254.8 vs 203, P=0.036). No difference was found in Alpha diversity between UCR-IBS+ and UCR-IBS-. At phylum level, there was no significant difference between UC or CD with IBS-type symptoms and those without related symptoms. At genus level, the number of Faecalibacterium in CDR-IBS+ increased significantly while Fusobacterium decreased compared with CDR-IBS-(mean relative abundance of Faecalibacterium: 20.35% vs 5.18%, PFusobacterium: 1.51% vs 5.2%, PCONCLUSIONS: CD patients in remission with IBS-type symptoms may be related to the increase of Faecalibacterium and decrease of Fusobacterium. UC patients in remission with IBS-type symptoms cannot be explained by changes in the abundance and structure of intestinal microbiota from our across-sectional study.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been shown to accelerate tumor recurrence, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy resistance. Immunotherapy is a powerful anticancer treatment that can significantly prolong the overall survival of patients with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). However, little is known about the function of genes related to tumor stemness and immune infiltration in LUAD. After integrating the tumor stemness index based on mRNA expression (mRNAsi), immune score, mRNA expression, and clinical information from the TCGA database, we screened 380 tumor stemness and immune (TSI)‐related genes and constructed a five TSI‐specific‐gene (CPS1, CCR2, NT5E, ANLN, and ABCC2) signature (TSISig) using a machine learning method. Survival analysis indicated that TSISig could stably predict the prognosis of patients with LUAD. Comparison of mRNAsi and immune score between high‐ and low‐TSISig groups suggested that TSISig characterized tumor stemness and immune infiltration. In addition, enrichment of immune subpopulations showed that the low‐TSISig group held more immune subpopulations. GSEA revealed that TSISig had a strong association with the cell cycle and human immune response. Further analysis revealed that TSISig not only had a good predictive ability for prognosis but could also serve as an excellent predictor of tumor recurrence and response to radiotherapy and immunotherapy in LUAD patients. TSISig might regulate the development of LUAD by coordinating tumor stemness and immune infiltration. Finally, a connectivity map (CMap) analysis demonstrated that the HDAC inhibitor could target TSISig., Gene signature based on genes related to tumor stemness and immune infiltration predicts the clinical outcome of radiotherapy and immunotherapy and relapse in lung adenocarcinoma

Background/aims Some inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients in remission suffer from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)-like symptoms (IBD-IBS). The pathogenesis has not yet been elucidated. The study aim is to evaluate relationships among quality of life (QOL), psychological status, and visceral sensitivity, and explore the formation mechanism of IBD-IBS. Methods Forty-seven patients with Crohn's disease in remission, 24 ulcerative colitis in remission, 26 IBS, and 20 healthy controls were included in the study. The abdominal pain, QOL, anxiety, and depression were evaluated through questionnaires. Visceral sensitivity was measured by rectal balloon distension. The serum levels of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and nerve growth factor (NGF) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The expressions of tryptase, 5-HT, NGF, and related receptors in colonic tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry and western blot. Results Prevalence of IBS-like symptoms in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis patients in clinical remission was 29.8% and 50.0%, respectively. The QOL was lower, the anxiety/depression scores were higher in IBD-IBS patients than those without IBS-like symptoms. Additionally, patients with IBD-IBS existed visceral hypersensitivity. Besides, abdominal pain was associated with poor QOL, visceral hypersensitivity, anxiety, and depression in IBD-IBS patients. The number of mast cells (MCs) and expressions of 5-HT, NGF, and related receptors were higher in IBD-IBS patients than those with no such symptoms. The serum levels of 5-HT and NGF positively correlated with abdominal pain and visceral hypersensitivity. Conclusion IBD-IBS patients may have low QOL and psychological abnormalities, as wells as visceral hypersensitivity which may be related to increased 5-HT and NGF levels released from activated mast cells.

Aiming at the problems of strong vibration, inconsistent subsoiling depth and high failure rate of air-pressure subsoiler, air-pressure subsoiler vibration characteristics was studied. In order to decrease the vibration, For the first time, the vibration characteristics of air-pressure subsoiler were obtained by modal analysis and vibration test. The vibration characteristics of the whole air-blown subsoiler are analyzed Through time domain analysis, it is found that the vibration acceleration of four deep loosening shovel is inconsistent. When the diesel engine is started, it is easy to cause inconsistent subsoiler depth. Then, by analyzing the vibration characteristics of the whole air-pressure subsoiler, it can be known that the external excitation source of the air-blown subsoiler is close to its own natural frequency. In order to avoid resonance caused by the vibration frequency of the external excitation source being close to the natural frequency of the air-pressure subsoiler, and to reduce the inconsistency of the subsoil depth, we optimize the design of air-pressure subsoiler. Instead of diesel engines, the steering gear box is connected with tractor power output shaft to provide power. The modal simulation of the optimized air-pressure subsoiler shows that the first-order natural frequency is obviously improved and the external excitation frequency is successfully avoided. It not only avoids resonance, reduces the damage of resonance components, but improves the service life of the subsoiler, greatly improves the structural reliability of the air-pressure subsoiler, at the same time, removes the main external excitation source, which greatly reduces the vibration in actual production and the inconsistency of subsoiling, which is of great significance in actual production. It provides a reference for the research of vibration characteristics, resonance avoidance and structure optimization of agricultural equipment.

Dyeing poly(lactic acid) (PLA) fiber with natural dyestuffs has attracted a lot of attentions due to the production of the fully eco-friendly textile products. In this study, PLA nonwoven fabric wa...

Purpose To identify the clinical features of intra-articular osteoid osteoma (OO) of the hip, to evaluate the clinical effect of arthroscopic excision for intra-articular OO, and to summarize the characteristics of revision cases of hip OO and the revision surgery under arthroscopy in these cases. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the data of 25 patients who underwent arthroscopic excision of hip OO. The case series included 10 patients who underwent revision surgery. Lesion location, presenting symptoms, and symptom duration were analyzed; postoperative improvement was assessed using the modified Harris Hip Score (mHHS) and International Hip Outcomes Tool (iHot-12) score. We examined the reasons for revision surgery and the characteristics of OO progression after the first surgery. Results The most common presenting symptom was groin pain that was relieved by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Varying degrees of limitation of range of motion (ROM) were present in all patients. The osteosclerosis around the tumor nest on computed tomography (CT) scan is a characteristic radiographic feature in this disease. However, the classic radiographic feature was apparent on plain x-rays in only 2 of 25 patients. As a kind of efficient radiological method, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can help in distinguishing OO from femoroacetabular impingement (FAI), as the latter is characterized by a large effusion and bone marrow edema at the atypical site of impingement. For the patients who had only 1 arthroscopic resection, the mean (± standard deviation) mHHS and iHot-12 scores were 70.30 ± 9.06 (range 51 to 86) and 75.07 ± 7.69 (57 to 88), respectively. At last follow-up, the mean scores were 98.30 ± 2.15 (94 to 100) and 97.76 ± 2.04 (94 to 100). For revision cases, the mean mHHS and iHot-12 scores were 68.55 ± 3.77 (60 to 72) and 67.88 ± 5.39 (56 to 76). At last follow-up, the mean scores were 97.11 ± 2.47 (94 to 100) and 95.22 ± 1.78 (94 to 100). In the present study, 24 of 25 patients (96%) reached the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) of mHHS, and 21 of 22 patients (95.2%) reached the MCID of iHot-12. Among the revision patients, the most common misdiagnosis at first surgery was FAI. Another feature is that a wrong diagnosis or incomplete intra-articular OO resection can stimulate the tumor and cause an inflammatory reaction and rapidly progressive OA, necessitating prompt revision surgery for complete removal. The degree of joint degeneration was related to the time since the first operation. Conclusion OO of the hip joint typically presents with pain and limited joint activity. Misdiagnosis as FAI or synovitis is common, and CT scan is very helpful for accuracy diagnosis. Arthroscopic excision appears to be an effective method for the treatment of OO of the hip joint. Level of Evidence IV, case series.

This study aimed to explore the protective effect of Shenfu on the hemodynamics and gut integrity in a porcine model of hemorrhagic shock. Hemorrhagic shock was induced in 32 domestic pigs with a rapid bleeding via the arterial sheath to a mean arterial pressure of 40 mm Hg within 10 min. Animals with hemorrhagic shock were then randomly assigned into the negative control group (n=8), receiving neither blood transfusion nor drug treatment; the blood transfusion group, in which animals were given blood transfusion alone; the saline group, in which animals were blood transfused and resuscitated with saline (3 mL/kg); and the Shenfu group, in which animals received blood transfusion and resuscitation with Shenfu (3 mL/kg). Blood tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 were measured using ELISAs. Tissue levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), Na+/K+-ATPase, Ca++ATPase, myeloperoxidase (MPO), and fatty acid binding protein 2 (FABP2) were determined using respective quantitation kits. Fluid resuscitation with Shenfu significantly improved HR, CI, and MAP of pig with hemorrhagic shock, which was accompanied with mitigation of tissue damages in intestinal epithelium. Blood TNF-α was reduced in the Shenfu group. Bcl-2 and cleaved caspase-3 expression in intestinal tissues were elevated and decreased, respectively, in pigs treated with Shenfu. Notably, treatment with Shenfu suppressed oxidative stress markers MDA, MPO, and FABP2 in the intestine. Oppositely, SOD, Na+/K+-ATPase and Ca++ATPase levels in intestinal tissues were promoted by Shenfu treatment. Shenfu demonstrates significant protective effect on the hemodynamics and gut epithelium of pigs with hemorrhagic shock.

Background: Identifying the arterial variation of the lateral circumflex femoral artery (LCFA) is a vital step in planning surgical and radiological approach. The aim of the study was to evaluate the variations and discuss the clinical correlates of the LCFA. Materials and methods: Fifty eight adult cadavers (male 45, female 13) with 115 usable sides were used to assess and classify the origin and branches of the LCFA. Also its external diameter, distance from mid-inguinal ligament to sites of origin from the profunda femoris artery or femoral arteries. Results: There were seven types of LCFA variations in this sample. We classified them as types A to G, of which type A was normal, that is, the one showing a single LCFA arising from the profunda femoris artery. Nearly 50.43% of the sample had type B–G variations, each having 13, 10, 23, 4, 4, and 3 cases, accounting for 11.30%, 8.70%, 20.00%, 3.48%, 3.48%, and 2.61%, respectively. Conclusions: There are many variant types in the LCFA. To avoid iatrogenic injuries, clinicians must have a sound understanding of the variation types of this important blood vessel.

We conducted a crossover study employing air cleaner intervention among 125 schoolchildren aged 9-12 years in a boarding school in Beijing, China. The PM concentrations were monitored, and 27 biomarkers were analyzed. We used the linear mixed-effects model to evaluate the association of intervention/time-weighted PM concentrations with biomarkers. The outcomes showed that air cleaner intervention was associated with FeNO, exhaled breath condensate (EBC) IL-1β, and IL-6, which decreased by 12.57%, 10.83%, and 4.33%, respectively. Similar results were observed in the associations with PMs. Lag 1 day PMs had the strongest relationship with biomarkers, and significant changes were observed in biomarkers such as FEV1, FeNO, EBC 8-iso, and MCP-1. Boys showed higher percentage changes than girls, and the related biomarkers were FeNO, EBC 4-HNE, IL-1β, IL-6, and MCP-1. The results showed that biomarkers such as FeNO, EBC IL-6, MCP-1, and 4-HNE could sensitively reflect the early abnormal response of the respiratory system under short-term PM exposure among healthy schoolchildren and indicated that (1) air cleaners exert a protective effect on children's respiratory system. (2) PM had lag and cumulative effect, lag 1 day had the greatest effect. (3) The boys were more sensitive than the girls.

Background: Calsequestrins (Casqs), comprising the Casq1 and Casq2 isoforms, buffer Ca 2+ and regulate its release in the sarcoplasmic reticulum of skeletal and cardiac muscle, respectively. Human inherited diseases associated with mutations in CASQ1 or CASQ2 include malignant hyperthermia/environmental heat stroke (MH/EHS) and catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia. However, patients with an MH/EHS event often experience arrhythmia for which the underlying mechanism remains unknown. Methods: Working hearts from conventional ( Casq1 -KO) and cardiac-specific ( Casq1 -CKO) Casq1 knockout mice were monitored in vivo and ex vivo by ECG and electric mapping, respectively. MH was induced by 2% isoflurane and treated intraperitoneally with dantrolene. Time-lapse imaging was used to monitor intracellular Ca 2+ activity in isolated mouse cardiomyocytes or neonatal rat ventricular myocytes with knockdown, overexpression, or truncation of the Casq1 gene. Conformational change in both Casqs was determined by cross-linking Western blot analysis. Results: Like patients with MH/EHS, Casq1 -KO and Casq1 -CKO mice had faster basal heart rate and ventricular tachycardia on exposure to 2% isoflurane, which could be relieved by dantrolene. Basal sinus tachycardia and ventricular ectopic electric triggering also occurred in Casq1 -KO hearts ex vivo. Accordingly, the ventricular cardiomyocytes from Casq1 -CKO mice displayed dantrolene-sensitive increased Ca 2+ waves and diastole premature Ca 2+ transients/oscillations on isoflurane. Neonatal rat ventricular myocytes with Casq1-knockdown had enhanced spontaneous Ca 2+ sparks/transients on isoflurane, whereas cells overexpressing Casq1 exhibited decreased Ca 2+ sparks/transients that were absent in cells with truncation of 9 amino acids at the C terminus of Casq1. Structural evaluation showed that most of the Casq1 protein was present as a polymer and physically interacted with ryanodine receptor-2 in the ventricular sarcoplasmic reticulum. The Casq1 isoform was also expressed in human myocardium. Mechanistically, exposure to 2% isoflurane or heating at 41 °C induced Casq1 oligomerization in mouse ventricular and skeletal muscle tissues, leading to a reduced Casq1/ryanodine receptor-2 interaction and increased ryanodine receptor-2 activity in the ventricle. Conclusions: Casq1 is expressed in the heart, where it regulates sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca 2+ release and heart rate. Casq1 deficiency independently causes MH/EHS-like ventricular arrhythmia by trigger-induced Casq1 oligomerization and a relief of its inhibitory effect on ryanodine receptor-2–mediated Ca 2+ release, thus revealing a new inherited arrhythmia and a novel mechanism for MH/EHS arrhythmogenesis.

Graphene nanoribbons are of potential use in the development of electronic and optoelectronic devices. However, the preparation of narrow and long nanoribbons with smooth edges, sizeable bandgaps and high mobilities is challenging. Here we show that sub-10-nm-wide semiconducting graphene nanoribbons with atomically smooth closed edges can be produced by squashing carbon nanotubes using a high-pressure and thermal treatment. With this approach, nanoribbons as narrow as 1.4 nm can be created, and up to 54% of single- and double-walled nanotubes in a sample can be converted into edge-closed nanoribbons. We also fabricate edge-opened nanoribbons using nitric acid as the oxidant to selectively etch the edges of the squashed nanotubes under high pressure. A field-effect transistor fabricated using a 2.8-nm-wide edge-closed nanoribbon exhibits an on/off current ratio of more than 104, from which a bandgap of around 494 meV is estimated. The device also exhibits a field-effect mobility of 2,443 cm2 V−1 s−1 and an on-state channel conductivity of 7.42 mS. Narrow, long graphene nanoribbons with atomically smooth and defect-free edges can be produced by squashing carbon nanotubes, and can be used to fabricate a sub-3-nm-wide channel field-effect transistor with a mobility of 2,443 cm2 V−1 s−1.

Increased microglial NADPH oxidase (NOX2) production may make an important contribution to the increased incidence and severity of ischemic stroke associated with diabetes. Imidazoline receptors are closely associated with neuroprotection, but the neuroprotective effects of the selective I2-imidazoline receptor ligand 2-(2-benzofuranyl)-2-imidazoline (2BFI) in diabetes has not been established. The effect of 2BFI on microglial NOX2 production was investigated using a co-culture of neurons and microglia, and the effect on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury was determined in diabetic rats. Garcia neurological scores, brain infarct volumes, brain water content, TUNEL staining, blood-brain barrier, and immunofluorescent labeling for microglia were evaluated. Western blots were used to determine gp91phox and Tyr1472 expression. Anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-10) and inflammatory cytokine secretion was determined using ELISA kits. The brain infarct volumes, TUNEL-positive neurons, expression of microglia, brain water content, blood-brain barrier structure damage, and gp91phox and Tyr1472 expression were increased, the Garcia neurological scores were significantly decreased in the IR group, and 2BFI relieved these alterations. The IL-10 concentration was increased in the IR group; 2BFI significantly improved this increase. The neuron apoptosis and necrosis rates, and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inflammatory cytokines, including IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, and 8-iso-PGF2α, were significantly increased by high glucose stimulation combined with oxygen-glucose deprivation treatment, which were inhibited by 2BFI. The 2BFI ameliorated cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in diabetes and decreased neuron death in an in vitro model. The mechanism underlying these findings may be related to the decreased production of inflammatory factors and reactive oxygen species from microglia.

Deep-learning (DL) methods have shown promising performance in predicting acoustic impedance from seismic data that is typically considered as an ill-posed problem for traditional inversion schemes. Most of DL methods are based on a 1D neural network that is straightforward to implement, but they often yield unreasonable lateral discontinuities while predicting a multidimensional impedance model trace by trace. We have developed an improvement over the 1D network by replacing it with a 2D convolutional neural network (CNN) and incorporating the constraints of an initial impedance model. The initial model is fed to the network to provide low-frequency trend control, which is helpful for 1D and 2D CNNs to yield stable impedance predictions. Our 2D CNN architecture is quite simple; however, due to the lack of 2D impedance labels, training it is not straightforward. To prepare a 2D training data set, we first define a random path that passes through multiple well logs. We then follow the path to extract a 2D seismic profile and an initial impedance profile that together form an input to the 2D CNN. The set of well logs (traversed by the path) serves as a partially labeled target. We train the 2D CNN with weak supervision by using an adaptive loss in which the output 2D impedance model is adaptively evaluated at the well logs only in the partially labeled target. Because the training data sets are randomly extracted in all directions in a 3D survey, the trained 2D CNN can predict a consistent 3D impedance model section by section in either the inline or crossline directions. Synthetic and field examples indicate that our 2D CNN is more robust to noise, recovers thin layers better, and yields a laterally more consistent impedance model than a 1D CNN with the same network architecture and the same training logs.

Objective Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been used as a treatment of last resort for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) for more than a decade. Many DBS targets have been proposed and tested clinically, but the underlying circuit mechanisms remain unclear. Uncovering white matter tracts (WMT) activated by DBS targets may provide crucial information about the circuit substrates mediating DBS efficacy in ameliorating TRD. Methods We performed probabilistic tractography using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging datas from 100 healthy volunteers in Human Connectome Project datasets to analyze the structural connectivity patterns of stimulation targeting currently-used DBS target for TRD. We generated mean and binary fiber distribution maps and calculated the numbers of WMT streamlines in the dataset. Results Probabilistic tracking results revealed that activation of distinct DBS targets demonstrated modulation of overlapping but considerably distinct pathways. DBS targets were categorized into 4 groups: Cortical, Striatal, Thalamic, and Medial Forebrain Bundle according to their main modulated WMT and brain areas. Our data also revealed that Brodmann area 10 and amygdala are hub structures that are associated with all DBS targets. Conclusions Our results together suggest that the distinct mechanism of DBS targets implies individualized target selection and formulation in the future of DBS treatment for TRD. The modulation of Brodmann area 10 and amygdala may be critical for the efficacy of DBS-mediated treatment of TRD.

Any disturbance in the ventilation system of a mine during a coal and gas outburst can lead to secondary disasters. This is because, on the one hand, the expansion power of the outburst source makes the airflow in the ventilation system countercurrent, causing the gas in this system to exceed the allowable limit. On the other hand, the airflow density changes because of the outburst and the consequent airflow mixing in the mine roadway, thereby changing the natural wind pressure. From this, the concept of natural gas wind pressure is proposed, and a calculation method for this pressure in a 3D model mine ventilation system is derived. For the “11.10” major coal and gas outburst that occurred in Shizhuang Coal Mine in Qujing, Yunnan Province, the entire process of the counter flow and gas dispersion flow in the main and auxiliary shafts is analyzed using the TF1M 3D simulation program, including the dynamic change in the natural wind pressure in the mine in each stage. The simulation shows that during the gas outburst period, the natural gas pressure of the countercurrent circuit is greater than that of the main fan. Between 140 s and 225 s following the outburst, the natural wind pressure once overcomes the fan pressure and reverses the airflow in the 1824 transport roadway, and the gas is withdrawn from the 1727 service point. Evidently, the natural pressure of the gas produced by the outburst affects the mine ventilation system. In the event of a coal and gas outburst in a private village coal mine, if the natural gas wind pressure can be reasonably utilized and the main fan stopped or the entire mine reversed in time, casualties may be minimized. Scholars studying coal and gas outburst mines should pay attention to mine airflow disorder due to the varying natural gas wind pressure when an outburst occurs and perform simulation drills of the outburst beforehand. Thus, a scientific emergency management plan for mine disaster prevention and reduction can be formulated.

Considering the lack of space resources limits the addition of conventional cables in urban centers, a three-in-one high temperature superconducting (HTS) cable, which has three separate superconducting cables inside a cryogenic pipe, can be used for urban power supply because of its small volume, large transmission power and low electromagnetic pollution. The three-in-one HTS cable gets a lot attention to be used for urban power supply nowadays. However, the uneven distribution of layer current in three-in-one superconducting cable is a challenge that it leads to the damage of superconducting tape, increasing losses and unstable performance. Therefore, applying an improved screening algorithm, a mathematical model is proposed and its calculation process is programmed in MATLAB for optimizing a 35 kV three-in-one superconducting cable to achieve the current sharing in the conducting layer of each phase. The resistance effect on each layer and the phase-to-phase distance influence on the layer current are considered when investigating the current carrying ability based on the numerical analysis model. Finally, a 35 kV/1 kA three-in-one high temperature superconducting cable short sample is constructed, and the current carrying operational performances of one of three-phase super-conducting cable are tested to verify the effectiveness of the optimization procedure.

Background Several individual studies have shown that circulating levels of odd-chain SFAs and very-long-chain SFAs (VLSFAs) may have beneficial effects, but the results are mixed. While the dietary and metabolic factors that may influence VLSFAs are not well-known, a previous study observed associations of VLSFA concentrations with variants in serine palmitoyl-transferase long-chain base subunit 3 (SPTLC3) gene. Objectives We investigated the associations of individual plasma SFAs and SPTLC3 gene rs680379 polymorphism with metabolic risk factors and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Methods We measured plasma SFAs using gas chromatography among 898 T2D cases and 1618 matched controls, and genotyped the SPTLC3 gene rs680379 polymorphism using the MassArray System among 1178 T2D cases and 1907 matched controls. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate ORs and 95% CIs. Results We found that plasma odd-chain SFAs and VLSFAs were correlated with favorable blood lipids and insulin resistance marker profiles. After multivariable adjustment, pentadecanoic acid (15:0) was inversely associated with the odds of T2D (OR per 1 SD difference: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.57, 0.70), as were measurements of 3 individual VLSFAs [arachidic acid (20:0), behenic acid (22:0), and lignoceric acid (24:0)], with ORs ranging from 0.60 to 0.72 (95% CIs ranging between 0.52 and 0.79). The associations between 3 individual VLSFAs and T2D were attenuated after further adjustment for triglycerides. Meanwhile, compared with the rs680379 GG genotype carriers, the ORs of T2D for the GA and AA genotype carriers were 0.81 (95% CI: 0.68-0.97) and 0.76 (95% CI: 0.61-0.96), respectively. Conclusions Plasma 15:0 and VLSFAs were inversely associated with T2D. Meanwhile, compared with the rs680379 GG genotype carriers, subjects with GA and AA genotypes were associated with decreased odds of T2D. More investigations are warranted to confirm our findings.

The hip joint is the largest weight‐bearing joint in the body and is surrounded by dense capsules and thick muscles. Hip arthroscopic techniques are suitable for the treatment of hip‐related conditions. These minimally invasive techniques have rapidly developed in China since 2007. Moreover, they have been used in the treatment of gluteal muscle contracture, snapping hip syndrome, femoral acetabular impingement, acetabular labral injury, hip labral calcification, synovial chondroma, osteoid osteoma, synovitis, osteonecrosis of the femoral head, and developmental dysplasia of the hip. This technique has showed its advantage in the total debridement of lesions, precision treatment, and less trauma. However, we lack understanding of the overall development of arthroscopic techniques in China. This review illustrates the recent development of hip arthroscopic techniques in China and related research progress., Hip arthroscopic techniques have rapidly developed in China in the last few decades. This review illustrates the recent development of hip arthroscopic techniques in China and related research progress.

In this egocentric network study, we explored Chinese collectivism in relation to social network characteristics and sex work-related stigma among mid-age female sex workers (FSWs). Respondent-driven sampling was used to recruit 1245 mid-age FSWs from three cities in China. We found that a one standard deviation (SD) increase in FSWs’ collectivism was associated with a 0.18 SD decrease in social support (95% CI − 0.32, − 0.04), a 0.20 SD decrease in network effective size (i.e., the diversity of a social network; 95% CI − 0.30, − 0.10), and a 0.21 SD decrease in network betweenness (i.e., the “bridging potential” of egos within their networks; 95% CI − 0.33, − 0.09). Among participants who perceived more sex work stigma, the association between collectivism and FSWs' network betweenness was attenuated. In a collective culture emphasizing group values and honor, belonging to a less interconnected social network may give FSWs a structural advantage to cope with stigma and secure social support.

In the coal exploration of China, the commonly used direct method within 120 min has potential errors in lost gas calculation of deep coal seam for its complex geological conditions. The exploration of deep coal resources by drilling holes in Huainan of Eastern China offered an opportunity to starting research into developing a new method. A developed method with error analysis was constructed to estimate the lost gas using the total desorption process obtained from exploratory coal cores. The accuracy of the direct method was also evaluated comparatively. The result shows that the desorption curve of tested coal samples matches the fitted curve equation. Desorption temperature and the tectonic coal with associated pore characteristics significantly affect the variation of the adsorption characteristics and the estimation of lost gas. The direct method obviously underestimates the lost gas, and methodology using a new lost gas estimation procedure with additional residual gas allows for achieving relatively accurate results of the determination of gas content in coal seams. The calculated result of the new method is about 1.00–1.41 times that of the direct method. The error analysis of desorption results allowed us to determine the dependence between the time (retrieval time and desorption time) and determination method. The time used for desorption in the tank is allowed to extend to less than 400 min or more than 1000 min, which is very potentially important to accurately get the coalbed gas content for coring samples, especially deep exploratory cores for field application.

Stretchable wearable devices for the continuous monitoring of physiological signals from deep tissues are constrained by the depth of signal penetration and by difficulties in resolving signals from specific tissues. Here, we report the development and testing of a prototype skin-conformal ultrasonic phased array for the monitoring of haemodynamic signals from tissues up to 14 cm beneath the skin. The device allows for active focusing and steering of ultrasound beams over a range of incident angles so as to target regions of interest. In healthy volunteers, we show that the phased array can be used to monitor Doppler spectra from cardiac tissues, record central blood flow waveforms and estimate cerebral blood supply in real time. Stretchable and conformal skin-worn ultrasonic phased arrays may open up opportunities for wearable diagnostics. A prototype skin-conformal ultrasonic phased array enables the monitoring of physiological signals from deep tissues, as shown for the measurements of cardiac Doppler waveforms and central and cerebral blood flows.

Random forests and dictionary-based statistical regressions have common characteristics, including non-linear mapping and supervised learning. To reduce the reconstruction error of high-resolution images, we integrate random forests and coupled dictionary learning. Textural differences of image blocks are considered by the classification of patches using an Auto-Encoder network. The proposed algorithm partitions an input LR image by 5 × 5 blocks and classifies training patches into six categories. A single random forest regressor is then trained corresponding to each class. The output of an RF is considered as an initial estimate of the HR slice. If a slice’s representation is sparse in the Discrete Cosine Transform domain, the initial reconstructed image is further improved by a coupled dictionary. In this study, we applied our method to abdominal CT scans and compared them to conventional and recent researches. We achieved an average improvement of 0.06 (2.37) using the SSIM (PSNR) index compared to the random forest + dictionary learning method. The low standard deviation of the results reveals the stability of the proposed method as well. The proposed algorithm depicts the effectiveness of classifying image patches and individual treatment of each class.

Estimating terrestrial water storage (TWS) with high spatial resolution is crucial for hydrological and water resource management. Comparing to traditional in-situ data measurement, observation fro...