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Problems such as a vanishing gradient and overfitting will occur when a recurrent neural network (RNN) is exploited to detect abnormal network traffic. In addition, some network traffic is unbalanced, which leads to low detection accuracy. Therefore, an unbalanced abnormal traffic detection method has been proposed. It is composed of the improved bidirectional residual gated recurrent unit (Res-BIGRU) and integrated dynamic extreme learning machine (IDELM). First, the candidate hidden state activation function of the GRU is changed into an unsaturated activation function. The residual connection is used to avoid the vanishing gradient. The purpose of alleviating network degradation is achieved, and the traffic features extracted are better. Second, an IDELM is proposed to solve the unbalanced classification. The minority samples are generated by the IDELM model. The set model in game theory is used to compute the combined weight, which improves the fitting effect. Third, two IDELMs are used to update the final classification results. Fourth, four network datasets and IoT datasets are used to verify the performance. The average accuracy on four network datasets is 91.11% when samples are unbalanced. Furthermore, it can be concluded that the improved Res-BIGRU and IDELM strategy is effective. Better classification results can be achieved when network traffic is unbalanced. In particular, the performance is better in unbalanced NSL-KDD datasets. The index values obtained are the best compared with other methods. It is also suitable for intrusion detection of the Internet of Things, which has good performance. The further advantage lies in that the robustness is better when there are other sample interferences.

Background Several studies have compared clinical results of the direct anterior approach (DAA) and the posterolateral approach (PLA) in total hip arthroplasty (THA); however, the effect of the surgical approach on outcome of THA remains controversial. Most of these studies used two distinct groups of patients, and THAs were performed by different surgeons, using different designs of prosthesis. These confounding factors may limit the strength of the conclusions. The purpose of this prospective, simultaneous bilateral randomized study was to investigate whether patients would perceive the difference between the direct anterior approach (DAA) and the posterolateral approach (PLA) after THA. Materials and methods Among 20 patients scheduled to undergo same-day bilateral THA between October 2017 and August 2019, one hip was randomly assigned to DAA and the other to PLA. Patient-reported outcome measures [Hip disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (HOOS), patients’ hip pain on mobilization] and physician-assessed measures [Harris Hip Score (HHS), operative time, intraoperative blood loss, cup abduction, cup anteversion, stem orientation, and incidence of complications (intraoperative fracture, nerve damage, incisional problem, or postoperative dislocation)] were compared. Results All patients were followed up for 12 months. Hip pain was significantly less with DAA-THA compared with PLA-THA at postoperative 1, 3, and 7 days (p p > 0.05). DAA-THA had a longer operative time and shorter length of incision compared with PLA-THA. There was no statistical difference between DAA-THA and PLA-THA in terms of intraoperative blood loss, cup abduction, cup anteversion, stem orientation, and perioperative complications (p > 0.05). Conclusions This study demonstrates that DAA-THA and PLA-THA could provide comparable HHS and HOOS at all follow-ups. Compared with PLA-THA, DAA-THA is associated with less hip pain within postoperative 7 days and shorter incision length, but longer operative time. Level of evidence Level I, therapeutic study. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trail Registry, ChiCTR1800019816. Registered 30 November 2018—retrospectively registered, http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=30863

Reducing emissions and improving sustainable development are two key goals of Clean development mechanism (CDM) projects. This study employs the global Malmquist-Luenberger index to estimate environmentally sensitive productivity from 2005 to 2013 at the Chinese provincial level and investigates the impact of CDM projects on sustainable development via panel quantile regressions. The findings reveal the CDM projects significantly stimulate environmentally sensitive productivity growth while developed provinces enjoy a greater promotion in growth. This effect becomes weaker as the environmentally sensitive productivity is enhanced. CDM projects with new constructions rather than refurbished existed constructions exhibit a strong promotion effect. By considering the investment and operating costs, environmentally friendly investment policies, with a focus on cost reduction, can attract technology transfer and promote the role of CDM projects. Furthermore, carbon emission reduction requires different incentives via the optimization of different CDM project types across regions.

OBJECTIVE To compare the analgesic effects of two types of spinal manipulation (SM) in acute lumbar radiculopathy (ALR) model rats induced by self-transplantation of autologous nucleus pulposus (ANP), and clarify the therapeutic mechanism. METHODS Totally 108 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 6 groups by a random number table (18 rats in each group), including a blank group with no interference, a sham operation group with a surgery by making a local soft tissue incision on the left side of L5-6 vertebral segment, a model group with ALR of L5 extraforaminal nerve by ANP self-transplantation without other interference, a sham manipulation (SMA) group with simulating physical rotation, as well as a mobilization (MOB) group with simulating low-velocity and variable-amplitude rotation and a manipulation (MAN) group with simulating high-velocity and low-amplitude rotation. The interventions in SMA, MOB, and MAN groups started 1 day after modeling followed by another 5 treatments at days 3, 5, 8, 10 and 12. Rats in the other 3 groups did not receive any special intervention. Behavioral pain tests of 50% mechanical pain withdrawal threshold (50% PWT) and paw withdrawal latency (PWL) were conducted 1 day before operation followed by another 10 tests on days 1-7, 10, 12 and 14. Immunohistochemical expression of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) was investigated on days 5 and 12 after operation. RESULTS After 3 experimental SM interventions, 50% PWT and PWL were higher in the MAN group than the SMA group on days 6 and 7, and higher on days 10, 12 and 14 postoperatively (P

Purpose The association between the process of postoperative pneumonia and lung cancer recurrence remains elusive in lung cancer surgery. Herein, the association between postoperative pneumonia and lung cancer recurrence was investigated, emphasizing the warning role of postoperative specific pneumonia in primary lung cancer resection patients. Methods The occurrence of postoperative pneumonia was assessed in 4–6 months (PPFS), 7–12 months (PPST), and lung cancer recurrence within 1 year (LRO) in 332 patients. The primary outcome was the development of PPST and LRO according to PPFS occurrence. The relevant risk factors of PPFS, PPST, and LRO were identified through multivariable regression analysis. Results During follow-up, 151 (45.48%) participants experienced PPFS. Irrespective of the existing postoperative pneumonia in 1–3 months (PPOT), PPFS significantly increased the risk of PPST (P < 0.01) and LRO (P < 0.01), and persistent PPST further increased the risk of LRO (P < 0.001). The generalized estimating equation identified chemotherapy as an independent risk factor for PPFS and PPST. Conclusion PPFS was associated with the increased risk of PPST and LRO. Postoperative pulmonary inflammation assessed 4 months post-surgery also significantly influenced LRO development, indicating a need for close follow-up of lung inflammatory conditions to improve patient outcomes., Graphical Abstract

With the popularization and application of cyber–physical systems in many industry and infrastructure fields, the security issue has been quite an important concern. This article addresses the defense problem against the data tampering attack under the framework of system identification with binary-valued observations. From the perspective of the attacker, it is shown that how to achieve the maximum hit effect with the least attack energy. From the perspective of the defender, a so-called compensation-oriented defense approach is proposed, and the corresponding identification algorithm is designed. The strong consistency of the algorithm is proved, and the asymptotic normality is obtained, based on which the optimal defense scheme is established. A simulation example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the defense algorithm and the main theoretical results.

Hydrogen can serve as a carrier to store renewable energy in large scale. However, hydrogen storage still remains a challenge in the current stage. It is difficult to meet the technical requirements applying the conventional storage of compressed gaseous hydrogen in high-pressure tanks or the solid-state storage of hydrogen in suitable materials. In the present work, a gaseous and solid-state (G-S) hybrid hydrogen storage system with a low working pressure below 5 MPa for a 10 kW hydrogen energy storage experiment platform is developed and validated. A Ti–Mn type hydrogen storage alloy with an effective hydrogen capacity of 1.7 wt% was prepared for the G-S hybrid hydrogen storage system. The G-S hybrid hydrogen storage tank has a high volumetric hydrogen storage density of 40.07 kg H2 m−3 and stores hydrogen under pressure below 5 MPa. It can readily release enough hydrogen at a temperature as low as −15 °C when the FC system is not fully activated and hot water is not available. The energy storage efficiency of this G-S hybrid hydrogen storage system is calculated to be 86.4%–95.9% when it is combined with an FC system. This work provides a method on how to design a G-S hydrogen storage system based on practical demands and demonstrates that the G-S hybrid hydrogen storage is a promising method for stationary hydrogen storage application.

Modal decomposition technology is an effective method to study the mode characteristics of laser beam in few-mode fibers. However, certain types of eigenmodes in the fiber can cause focal shift and affect the accuracy of modal decomposition. This article focuses on the influence of the focal shift of Laguerre-Gaussian mode and Linear Polarization mode on modal decomposition, and the research is based on correlation filter and the optimization algorithm of focal shift. The two-step ABCD algorithm is used to simulate and analyze the focal shift phenomenon of the two kinds of eigenmodes and the error influence of focal shift on the mode decomposition; Meanwhile, an iterative algorithm based on Fresnel diffraction is proposed to numerically calculate the light field distribution in focal plane to avoid the influence of focal shift errors. The focal shift analysis and its optimization algorithm make the modal decomposition technology be applicable to engineering applications.

The current computer vision usually requires abundant training samples to classify target images, while it requires only a small number of samples if it is the same task for humans. This article attempts to address the few-shot marine plankton image classification problem. The model proposed in this paper uses transfer learning to train a classifier on base classes and fine-tunes on new classes to train a new classifier. Considering the small number of training samples, effective representation of each image is very important. We use the soft max loss function and center loss function to jointly train the model in order to minimize the intra-class distance of the depth features and obtain more robust and discriminative depth features. We conduct experiments on multiple marine plankton image data sets, and the outcomes have proved the effectiveness of the model. Our model is competitive with many existing few-shot image classification models in performance.

INTRODUCTION: While most patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) receive therapy shortly after diagnosis, a subset of patients with indolent-behaving disease can safely defer treatment. In this subgroup, we evaluated the importance of treatment intensity in patients with MCL who defer initial therapy. METHODS: Out of 1134 patients with MCL from 12 academic centers, we analyzed 219 patients who initiated therapy at least 90 days after diagnosis. Patients who received induction with high-dose cytarabine and/or autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in first remission were considered to have received intensive therapy (n = 88) while all other approaches were non-intensive (n = 131). RESULTS: There was no difference in progression-free (PFS; P = .224) or overall survival (OS; P = .167) in deferred patients who received non-intensive vs. intensive therapy. Additionally, univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were performed for PFS and OS. Treatment at an academic center (HR 0.43, P = .015) was associated with improved OS in both univariate and multivariate models, while intensity of treatment was not associated with improved OS in either model. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that intensified initial treatment is not associated with improved survival after deferring initial therapy, although prospective studies are needed to determine which of these patients with MCL may benefit from intensive therapy.

Background Here we compared the clinical efficacy of bilateral percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) and percutaneous curved kyphoplasty (PCKP) in the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCF). Methods Seventy-two patients with single-level thoracolumbar OVCF were randomly divided into 2 groups (36 patients in each) and were subjected to either PCKP or bilateral PKP. The intraoperative fluoroscopy time, total surgical time, bone cement injection volume, bone cement leakage, preoperative and postoperative anterior vertebral height, Cobb angles, visual analog scales (VAS) and oswestry disability index questionnaire (ODI) were recorded. Results Both groups of patients had a trend towards improvements in VAS and ODI scores 24 h and 6 months after surgery, when compared to preoperative results, despite lack of statistical significance. The total surgical and intraoperative fluoroscopy times and intraoperative bone cement injection volume were significantly decreased in the PCKP group than those in the PKP group. The anterior edge height and Cobb angle of the injured vertebra were similarly improved after operation in both groups. Conclusion PCKP is safer, less invasive and quicker than traditional bilateral PKP despite similar short-term effects for the treatment of OVCF. Trial registration ChiCTR, ChiCTR2100042859. Registered 25 January 2021- Retrospectively registered.

Background: Testicular Germ Cell Tumor (TGCT) is the most common malignant tumor in young men, but there is a lack of a prediction model to evaluate the prognosis of patients with TGCT. Objective: To explore the prognostic factors for Progression-Free Survival (PFS) and construct a nomogram model for patients with early-stage TGCT after radical orchiectomy. Methods: Patients with TGCT from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database were used as the training cohort; univariate and multivariate cox analysis was performed. A nomogram was constructed based on the independent prognostic factors. Patients from the Nanfang Hospital affiliated with Southern Medical University were used as the cohort to validate the predictive ability using the nomogram model. Harrell's concordance index (C-index) and calibration plots were used to evaluate the nomogram. Results: A total of 110 and 62 patients with TGCT were included in the training cohort and validation cohort, respectively. Lymphatic Vascular Invasion (LVI), American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage and adjuvant therapy were independent prognostic factors in multivariate regression analyses and were included to establish a nomogram. The C-index in the training cohort for 1- , 3-, and 5-year PFS were 0.768, 0.74, and 0.689, respectively. While the C-index for 1-, 3-, and 5- year PFS in the external validation cohort were 0.853, 0.663 and 0.609, respectively. The calibration plots for 1-, 3-, and 5-year PFS in the training and validation cohort showed satisfactory consistency between predicted and actual outcomes. The nomogram revealed a better predictive ability for PFS than AJCC staging system. Conclusion: The nomogram as a simple and visual tool to predict individual PFS in patients with TGCT could guide clinicians and clinical pharmacists in therapeutic strategy.

A novel design of a nearly perfect metamaterial absorber based on square split-ring resonators for terahertz sensing applications is proposed and analyzed. The design in this report is simulated and analyzed by using standard numerical simulation software. Magnetic and electric resonant field enhancement in the impedance matched absorber cavity enables stronger interaction with the dielectric analyte. The proposed structure is based on the simultaneous increase in the electromagnetic field and the surface current distribution at the resonance frequency. An absorptivity of 99% is achieved at 0.53 THz with a narrow resonance peak and a Q-factor of 44.17. At a fixed analyte thickness, the resonance frequency is sensitive to the refractive index of the surrounding medium. The influence of the thickness of the covering sample on the sensitivity and absorption coefficient of the absorber is comprehensively analyzed, and the reported design can be used as a refractive index sensor with a high sensitivity of 126.0 GHz/RIU and a figure of merit of 10.5 in the refractive index range from 1.0 to 2.0 at an analyte thickness of $15.0~\mu \text{m}$ . The results show that the sensor has high sensitivity to the analyte covering it. The sensor not only exhibits good sensitivity to thin analytes but also shows high sensitivity to analytes more than $10~\mu \text{m}$ thick in the terahertz low frequency band. Specifically, the sensitivity changes rapidly when the thickness of the sample changes in the range of 0- $6~\mu \text{m}$ , but slowly in the range of 6- $16~\mu \text{m}$ . In general, the response of the resonance frequency to changes in the refractive index of the sample becomes more sensitive as the thickness of the sample is increased from 0 to $16~\mu \text{m}$ . The reported terahertz sensor of a metamaterial absorber has potential applications in biomedical sensing and trace detection of substances.

Straw returning usually gives rise to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the soil, and thus negatively affects carbon footprint (CF) of crop production. Numerous studies reported the effects of straw returning on the CF from single crop production. However, little is known about the integrated effects of different levels of straw returning on the CF and net ecosystem economic benefits (NEEB) from rice-wheat rotation. Here, we investigated the effects of different amounts of straw returning on soil CH4 and N2O emissions, GHG emissions from agricultural inputs (AIGHG), CF, and NEEB from a 2-year cycle of rice-wheat rotation. The CF was determined based on the total GHG emissions associated with crop production inputs and services. Overall, straw returning significantly increased annual CH4 emissions by 5.4–72.2% and reduced annual N2O emissions by 3.3–31.4% compared with straw removal. Straw returning remarkably increased rice grain yields by 8.1–9.9% and wheat grain yields by 10.2–21.1% compared with straw removal. The average annual AIGHG from rice-wheat rotation ranged from 3579 to 4987 kg CO2-eq ha–1. Diesel consumption played a dominant role in the AIGHG. The annual CF ranged from 0.96 to 1.31 kg CO2-eq kg–1 and increased with increasing straw returning amounts. The NEEB, which ranged from 14161 to 17413 CNY ha–1, was significantly affected by the levels of straw returning. The treatment with returning of 1/3 of preceding crop straw to the field (2.19–2.47 kg ha−1 year−1 of rice straw in the wheat season and 1.38–1.68 kg ha−1 year−1 of wheat straw in the rice season) resulted in relatively higher grain yield, the lowest CF, and the highest NEEB among all treatments, and thus can reduce CF, and increase grain yields and NEEB, and thus can be recommended as a sustainable approach to mitigate GHG emissions and increase economic benefits from rice-wheat rotation.

Background: The sustainable development of the building industry has drawn increasing attention around the world. Nanomaterials and nanotechnology play an important role in the processes of energy saving and reducing consumption in the building industry. Nanotechnology patents provide key technological support for the green development of the building industry. Based on patent data in China, this paper quantitatively analyzed the application of nanotechnology patents in the building industry and the time trend, regional differences, and evolution of China's nano-patent applications in the building field. Methods: In this study, the environmental total factor productivity of the building industry considering carbon constraints was determined and then used as the dependent variable to measure the green development of the building industry. On this basis, a panel data regression model was constructed to determine the impact of nano-patents on the green development of the building industry. Results: Nanotechnology patents in the building industry can significantly improve total factor productivity. From the perspective of patent composition, technology-based patents that focus on substantial innovation can significantly promote the green development of the building industry, whereas strategic patents show a significant inhibitory effect. Regionally, the western region of China has the advantage of being less developed and thus more efficient than the central and eastern regions in the application of new nano-products. Finally, the research also showed a significant lag in the application of China's nanotechnology patents and low implementation efficiency. Conclusion: Nano patents can promote green development in the building industry, but there is room for improvement in the speed with which laboratory inventions are transformed into building engineering applications.

Human trajectory prediction is essential and promising in many related applications. This is challenging due to the uncertainty of human behaviors, which can be influenced not only by himself, but also by the surrounding environment. Recent works based on long-short term memory &#x0028 LSTM &#x0029 models have brought tremendous improvements on the task of trajectory prediction. However, most of them focus on the spatial influence of humans but ignore the temporal influence. In this paper, we propose a novel spatial-temporal attention &#x0028 ST-Attention &#x0029 model, which studies spatial and temporal affinities jointly. Specifically, we introduce an attention mechanism to extract temporal affinity, learning the importance for historical trajectory information at different time instants. To explore spatial affinity, a deep neural network is employed to measure different importance of the neighbors. Experimental results show that our method achieves competitive performance compared with state-of-the-art methods on publicly available datasets.

The present study aimed to assess the usefulness of Dyna CT during transarterial uterine artery embolization (UAE) of fibroids. A total of 65 patients with symptomatic submucosal and intramural fibroids scheduled for transarterial UAE at the First People's Hospital of Changhou between May 2016 and September 2018 were included. Dyna CT and routine digital subtraction angiography (DSA) were performed in all patients during angiographic embolization of the bilateral internal iliac arteries. The visualization qualities of uterine artery origin and fibroids, as imaged by Dyna CT, were compared with DSA anterior-posterior images. Dyna CT provided excellent 3-dimensional visualization of vascular structures of the bilateral internal iliac arteries and uterine artery origin. Dyna CT was primarily useful in patients with overlapped uterine arteries or complex vascular anatomies on DSA anterior-posterior images (Dyna CT 100% vs. DSA anterior-posterior 69.2%, P=0.03). However, stained fibroids were identified in 57/65 cases (87.7%) by Dyna CT, and in all of the cases (100%) by DSA anterior-posterior imaging (P=0.03). Dyna CT is not suitable for procedural evaluation when used alone for transarterial UAE of fibroids. However, Dyna CT is an excellent supplement to DSA anterior-posterior imaging, as it provides additional information to aid in treatment planning.

In order to expand the application of polyimide resin matrix composites in the hot stage components of aeroengine, YSZ-based thermal protective composite coating was prepared on the surface of polyimide-based composites by detonation gun spraying. Sandblasting, sandpaper polishing and laser ablation were used to improve the surface roughness of the composites matrix. Bond bottom layer (Al, Cu, Zn), NiCoCrAl intermediate transition layer and YSZ top layer were matching with different thickness. The cross-section structure of the composite coating observed by SEM shows that the composite coatings of 0.1 mm Al bottom layer, 0.1 mm NiCoCrAl transition layer and 0.3 mm YSZ top layer are the best thickness matching for thermal protection of polyimide-based composite materials. There is no thermal damage to the surface and interior of the substrate during the preparation of the coating. The cross-section structure of the coating is uniform, and the interface between the layers is closely bonded and no micro-damage, Cracks and holes appear. After sandblasting, the bonding strength of the coating is 16.5 MPa by lattice laser texture treatment. The structure and thermal insulation properties of the composite coating are the best at 800 °C. The thermal conductivity is 1.46 W/(m·K), the specific heat capacity is 0.58 J/(g·K), and the thermal expansion coefficient is 7.89 × 10-6/K.

Heating rate is crucial to the pyrolysis process of charring materials in the thermal protection system (TPS) of spacecraft. In order to study the influence of heating rate on the thermal response of charring materials, a novel formula for pyrolysis rate of charring materials is presented on the basis of experimental results of charring materials under different heating rates and the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. Then combined with the pyrolysis layer model, from the numerical simulation we find an interesting result that the traditional method to determine pyrolysis rate without considering the heating rate is conservative for the design of TPS, but the novel method in this study contributes to optimization design of TPS in spacecraft.

Purpose Tranexamic acid (TXA) has been widely used in hip and knee arthroplasty to reduce perioperative blood loss and blood transfusion, but the dosage and efficacy of TXA in posterior lumbar spinal surgery are not fully clear. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of TXA and to determine whether 2 doses of TXA could reduce the blood loss in primary single-segment or double-segment posterior lumbar fusion surgery. Materials and methods A total of 150 patients with lumbar degenerative disease undergoing posterior lumbar interbody fusion surgery between October 2017 and February 2019 were randomized to 3 groups. Group A was treated with 0.9% normal saline solution without TXA, group B was treated with a 15 mg/kg loading dose intravenous infusion 30 minutes before surgery, and group C was treated with a 15 mg/kg loading dose intravenous infusion 30 minutes before surgery; then, the same dose was administered again 3 hours later. The assessed outcomes were the operation time, the total blood loss, the hidden blood loss, postoperative drainage, blood transfusions, incidence of venous thromboembolism, and incision infection. Results The total blood loss, the hidden blood loss, and postoperative drainage were the lowest in group C. The amount of intraoperative blood loss was similar among the 3 groups. The hemoglobin and hematocrit values of the third postoperative day were the highest in group C. No significant differences in the incidence of complications and adverse events from TXA use were observed among the 3 groups. The use of TXA, the operation time, and the number of fusion segments were identified as risk factors related to total blood loss. Conclusion Two doses of TXA significantly reduced the total blood loss, the hidden blood loss and postoperative drainage, and decreased hemoglobin and hematocrit drop in patients undergoing posterior lumbar fusion without increasing the risk of complications.

As a part of the energy transmission chain, gearboxes are considered as important components in rotating machines, and the gearbox failure results in costly economic losses. Therefore, it is necessary to detect the appearance of incipient gearbox faults by implementing an appropriate detected model. The incipient failure characteristics of the gearbox are weak and hidden in a set of time-varying series signals the vibration signals, which is difficult to effectively extract under the background of strong noise. The PCA method is not effective in detecting weak fault features in time-varying signals, so this paper proposes a method based on Deep Recursive Dynamic Principal Component Analysis (Deep RDPCA) to detect incipient faults in gearboxes. The proposed approach is modeled via both the deep decomposed theorems and time-varying dynamic model based on traditional PCA to extract characteristic of time-varying and weak fault information under the background of strong noise. The proposed method could get a better real-time reflection for changed system by introducing “Moving Window” technologies, so that the incipient fault of gearbox could be detected accurately, too. Finally, the effect of Deep RDPCA-based fault diagnosis is compared with the results of PCA, DPCA, RDPCA, Deep PCA, and Deep DPCA methods. It is concluded that the proposed method can effectively capture the time-varying relationship of process variables and accurately extract the weak fault characteristics in the vibration signal, which effectively improves the fault detection performance.

Stacking different two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials into composite structures opens an opportunity to fabricate electrodes combining the advantages of the individual nanomaterials. Here, different types of MXene nanosheets are combined to create flexible all-MXene hybrid films with high gravimetric capacitance and excellent rate performance for flexible supercapacitors. Ti3C2Tx nanosheets are introduced in between Nb2CTx layers, leading to a significantly increased interlayer spacing. The self-restacking of both types of MXene nanosheets is effectively impeded, accelerating the diffusion of electrolyte ions and enabling more accessible 2D nanochannels. The freestanding Ti3C2Tx/Nb2CTx films deliver a high gravimetric capacitance of 370 F g−1 at a scan rate of 2 mV s−1, good rate performance with 56.1% capacitance retention at 200 mV s−1 and a long cycle life. Furthermore, the energy density of the assembled all-solid-state symmetric supercapacitor can reach up to 5.5 mW h g−1 at a power density of 141.4 mW g−1. Serving as a stable power source unit, the all-solid-state supercapacitor was also integrated with a flex sensor to fabricate a self-powered device. The route to fabricate Ti3C2Tx/Nb2CTx hybrid films with enhanced electrochemical performance is also applicable for other MXenes, promoting the application of MXenes in flexible supercapacitors and integrated electronic devices.

In this study, we have theoretically designed a micro-structured photoconductive antenna based on the combination of split-ring resonator (SRR) and dipole photoconductive antenna. Further, we have used numerical simulations to prove that the proposed antenna can enhance the terahertz radiation characteristics. According to the equivalent circuit model analysis, the terahertz radiation power and the resonance frequency of this antenna were found to be closely related with the structural parameters of the SRR. A numerical model was established to simulate the effect of the structural parameters of SRR on the terahertz radiation characteristics of the proposed antenna. The results indicated that an increase in the width and length of SRR caused an increase in the peak power intensity and a decrease in the resonance frequency. Moreover, as the gap width of SRR was increased, the peak power intensity was decreased and the resonance frequency was increased. Furthermore, the terahertz radiation power increased with increase in the gap width of antennas. Overall, we show that high-power terahertz radiation sources with specific frequency can be obtained by optimizing the structural parameters of SRR, and such sources are potentially useful in a variety of fields such as biomedicine, material analysis, and detection systems.

Organization environment has significant influence on occupational health among medical workers. In current study, based on previous established questionnaires, we constructed a new questionnaire to evaluate the effects of organizational environment on occupational injury of medical workers. In a large-scale of investigation, a total of 2350 medical workers from 54 hospitals in Zhuhai city, China, were surveyed by the new questionnaire, and 2111 (91.2%) questionnaires were used for final analysis. The average score of organization environment of medical workers questionnaire was 91.33 ± 21.95. We found that as compared with the average levels, medical workers have higher incidences of behavioral symptoms such as depressed mood, obsessional thinking, and anxiety and so on. We also demonstrated the questionnaire scores correlated with the incidence of occupational disease, occupational injuries and the scores of SCL-90, implying its potential application to objectively measure the conditions of medial safety of medical workers in China. In all, we concluded that organizational environment has important implications on the assessment of occupational health of medical workers.

Impairment in semantic association has been reported in bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia (SZ) patients and could underlie abnormal speech patterns in both disorders. In this study, we compared the electrophysiological semantic processing features in patients with these two disorders. Participants (n = 61; BD = 19; SZ = 19; healthy controls [HCs] = 23) were administered a semantic judgment task and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Responses of the two patient groups were significantly slower than HCs, but comparable behavioral semantic priming effects were observed in both patient groups. The N400 priming effect was observed in all groups, with a delayed peak in the two patient groups. The N400 effect was enhanced for both BD and SZ patients over the left frontal and frontal pole region, but SZ patients showed additional reduction of N400 over the right posterior and occipital regions. The N400 mean amplitudes for related targets correlated with less severe negative symptoms in patients with SZ. Discriminant functional analysis using reaction time and N400 measures successfully classified 82% of the participants into their respective clinical groups. These results suggest that patients with BD and SZ have both overlapping and distinctive semantic processing dysfunction. These findings are consistent with the continuum conceptualization of these disorders, but also offer some support for the traditional Kraepelinian dichotomy.

Although an expanding array of effective treatments has resulted in recent improvement in survival of patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), outcomes remain heterogeneous, and identification of prognostic factors remains a priority. We assessed the prognostic impact of time to progression of disease (POD) after first-line therapy among 455 patients with relapsed MCL. Patients were categorized by duration of first remission as PRF/POD6, defined as progressive disease during induction or POD within 6 months of diagnosis (n = 65; 14%); POD6-24, defined as POD between 6 and 24 months after diagnosis (n = 153; 34%); and POD>24, defined as POD >24 months after diagnosis (n = 237; 53%). The median overall survival from POD (OS2) was 1.3 years (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.9-2.4) for patients with PRF/POD6, 3 years (95% CI, 2-6.8) for those with POD6-24, and 8 years (95% CI, 6.2-NR) for those with POD>24. Median OS2 was inferior in patients with early POD (defined as PRF/POD6 or POD6-24) after both intensive and less intensive frontline treatment. The prognostic performance of time until POD was replicated in an independent cohort of 245 patients with relapsed MCL, with median OS2 of 0.3 years (95% CI, 0.1-0.5) for PRF/POD6, 0.8 years (95% CI, 0.6-0.9) for POD6-24, and 2.4 years (95% CI 2.1-2.7) for POD>24. Early POD is associated with inferior OS2 in patients with relapsed MCL, identifying a high-risk population for future prospective studies.

Quantum cascade laser (QCL) is a new type of unipolar semiconductor laser. It has the advantages of narrow line width, tunable wavelength, high output power, etc. The QCL is widely used in gas detection, medical diagnosis, petrochemical industry, environmental pollution prevention and control, communications and military fields. Because it is difficult to cover the absorption peaks of multiple gases, a single QCL laser cannot detect and identify multiple different gases at the same time. Therefore, beam combination of multiple QCL laser is a feasible solution to achieve simultaneous online detection of multiple gases. This paper demonstrates a multi-wavelength QCL laser system based on spatial parallel beam combination. Four QCL lasers with wavelengths of 1274.70 cm-1, 1606.68 cm-1, 1831.84 cm-1, and 2226.18 cm-1 are integrated. The power of a single QCL reaches more than 100mW, and the total output power reaches 0.81W. By controlling the temperature of the heat sink, the wavelength tuning ranges of 9.65nm, 6.54nm, 7.54nm, and 10.45nm can be achieved respectively. The temperature tuning coefficients are 0.85nm/℃, 1.06 nm/℃, 1.25 nm/℃, 0.80 nm/℃, and the wavelength tuning accuracy is 85pm, 106pm, 125pm, 80pm. The system designed in this paper can simultaneously detect the gas whose absorption peak locates at the above four wavelength ranges, and can also customize a QCL laser with matched wavelength according to the absorption peak of the gas to be measured, which has good scalability.

Spot size converter (SSC) plays a role of paramount importance in the silicon photonics integrated circuit. In this article, we report the design of a reconfigurable spot size converter used in the hybrid integration of a DFB laser diode with a silicon photonic waveguide. Our SSC consists of subwavelength gratings and thermal phase shifters. Four subwavelength grating tips are used to improve horizontal misalignment tolerance. Meanwhile, the phase mismatch between two input waveguides is compensated by phase shifters to minimize insertion losses. Our simulated result has yielded a minimum insertion loss of 0.63 dB and an improvement of the horizontal misalignment from ±0.65 µm to ±1.69 µm for 1 dB excess insertion loss at the wavelength of 1310 nm. The phase shifters are designed to compensate any phase error in both the fabrication and bonding processes, which provides a completely new edge-coupling strategy for the silicon photonics integrated circuit.

Detecting various attacks and abnormal traffic in the network is extremely important to network security. Existing detection models used massive amounts of data to complete abnormal traffic detection. However, few-shot attack samples can only be intercepted in certain special scenarios. In addition, the discrimination of traffic attributes will also be affected by the change of feature attitude. But the traditional neural network model cannot detect this kind of attitude change. Therefore, the accuracy and efficiency of few-shot sample abnormal traffic detection are very low. In this paper, we proposed a few-shot abnormal network traffic detection method. It was composed of the multi-scale Deep-CapsNet and adversarial reconstruction. First, we designed an improved EM vector clustering of the Deep-CapsNet. The attitude transformation matrix was used to complete the prediction from low-level to high-level features. Second, a multi-scale convolutional capsule was designed to optimize the Deep-CapsNet. Third, an adversarial reconstruction classification network (ARCN) was proposed. The supervised source data classification and the unsupervised target data reconstruction were achieved. Moreover, we proposed an adversarial training strategy, which alleviated the noise interference during reconstruction. Fourth, the few-shot sample classification were obtained by combining multi-scale Deep-CapsNet and adversarial reconstruction. The ICSX2012 and CICIDS2017 datasets were used to verify the performance. The experimental results show that our method has better training performance. Moreover, it has the highest accuracy in two-classification and multi-classification. Especially it has good anti-noise performance and short running time, which can be used for real-time few-shot abnormal network traffic detection.

With the arrival of internet plus era, MOOC has been evolved various online learning forms. At the meanwhile the informationization of higher education has been developed towards mobility, school-based, and fragmentization. The deep integration of the traditional classroom teaching and MOOC has become an inevitable trend. Firstly, the development of MOOC and SPOC was analyzed, and a comparative study of MOOC and SPOC was presented. Afterwards, combined with the actual situation of application-oriented university teaching, the blended teaching mode based on the SPOC platform was designed. After the detail analysis of the teaching mode, the SPOC teaching platform was designed and built. The exploratory practice indicates that the blended teaching mode based on the SPOC platform has significant effects in the improvement of the teaching quality.

To identify clinical characteristics and risk factors related to the progression of interstitial lung disease (ILD) in patients with primary Sjogren’s syndrome (pSS). In this single-centered, retrospective study, a total of 83 identified pSS-ILD patients with relatively complete clinical data were finally enrolled. Clinical symptoms, laboratory data, high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT), and pulmonary function test (PFT) results were collected. A logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the independent risk factors for ILD progression, and a nomogram was plotted to construct a predictive model. The prevalence of pSS-ILD in our study was 18.89%. Among the 83 enrolled patients, 32 (38.6%) underwent ILD progression. The characteristic features associated with the progression of ILD included male sex, non-sicca onset, reticular pattern on HRCT, higher levels of baseline lactic dehydrogenase (LDH), and low baseline forced vital capacity (FVC). The results of multivariate logistic regression indicated that LDH (OR 1.008, p = 0.030) was an independent risk factor for ILD progression, while sicca onset (OR 0.254, p = 0.044) and FVC (OR 0.952, p = 0.003) were protective factors for ILD progression. A simple predictive model for ILD progression in pSS was developed and validated. pSS patients with non-sicca onset, high baseline LDH level, and low baseline FVC were at higher risk of ILD progression.

The success rate of the vascular interventional surgery (VIS) depends largely on the skill level of the surgeon. Surgeons with different skill levels will have differences in generating movement trajectory inside blood vessels. The operation skills and skill levels of surgeons during VIS can be evaluated through the images that include the movement trajectory of the distal part of the catheter. Thus, it is very meaningful to propose a method to correctly distinguish the operations of experienced surgeons from the operations of inexperienced surgeons. This paper presents a method to differentiate surgical skills of surgeons in vascular interventional surgery. In our study, the movement trajectory of the guidewire in the images based on the two-dimensional vascular models was firstly collected. Then, these images were manually annotated and the Elan software was used to annotate the operation time. In addition, whether the guidewire deformed when it collided with the vascular wall during the operation was obtained indicate the significant differences between the two groups. Corner detection algorithm was used to obtain the motion coordinates of the distal part of the guidewire in each operation. The coordinates of the distal part were drawn on a picture, that is, the distal end trajectory in an operation is generated. The above method was used to obtain all the movement trajectories of experienced and inexperienced operations. Finally, the VGG network was used to classify them and the results were obtained. Finally, the classification accuracy of the proposed method can reach 97.4% from the experimental results, which proved that the proposed method was effective and feasible.

Two-dimensional meso-scale finite element models with real aggregates are developed using images obtained by digital image processing to simulate crack propagation processes in concrete under uniaxial compression loading. The finite element model is regarded as a three-phase composite material composed of aggregate, mortar matrix and interface transition zone (ITZ). Cohesive elements with traction–separation laws are used to simulate complex nonlinear fracture. During the experiment, digital image correlation (DIC) was used to obtain the deformation and cracks of the specimens at different loading stages. The concept of strain ratio is proposed to describe the effectiveness of simulation. Results show that the numerical strain ratio curve and stress–strain curves are both in good agreement with experimental data. The consistency between the cracks obtained by simulation and those obtained by DIC shows the good performance of cohesive elements as well as the effectiveness of simulation. In summary, the model is able to provide accurate predictions of the whole fracture process in concrete under uniaxial compression loading.

Clinical outcomes and predictors of survival in patients with newly diagnosed mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) treated in the rituximab era (2000-2015) at 12 US academic centers were assessed to identify determinants of survival across age groups. Objectives were to characterize and compare practice patterns, outcomes and prognostic factors for survival in younger patients (age < 65) and older patients (age ≥ 65 years). Among 1162 patients included, 697 were younger and 465 were older. In younger patients, 2-year progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were 79% and 92% respectively; blastoid histology, ECOG ≥ 2, and lack of maintenance rituximab (MR) remained statistically relevant to poor OS on univariate analysis (UVA) and multivariate analysis (MVA). In older patients, 2-year PFS and OS rates were 67% and 86% respectively; lack of maintenance rituximab remained significantly associated with inferior PFS and OS on UVA and MVA (p < 0.001). Two-year PFS rates were 79%, and 67% and 2-year OS rates were 92% and 86% for ages < 65 and ≥ 65 respectively (p < 0.001). First-line high-dose cytarabine exposure and/or MR lessened the negative impact of age on survival. Taken collectively, survival outcomes for older patients remain inferior to those of younger patients in the rituximab era. However, maintenance rituximab and potentially high-dose cytarabine-based induction can mitigate the negative impact of age on survival.

Chronic liver inflammation is a complex pathological process under different stress conditions, and the roles of stellate cells and macrophages in chronic liver inflammation have been widely reported. Moderate liver inflammation can protect the liver from damage and facilitate the recovery of liver injury. However, an inflammatory response that is too intense can result in massive death of hepatocytes, which leads to irreversible damage to the liver parenchyma. Epigenetic regulation plays a key part in liver inflammation. This study reviews the regulation of epigenetics on stellate cells and macrophages to explore the new mechanisms of epigenetics on liver inflammation and provide new ideas for the treatment of liver disease.

Background: To explore the molecular mechanism of CPXM1 in gastric cancer (GC) metastasis.Methods: Based on the difference in expression of CPXM1 mRNA in GC tissues and normal gastric mucosa tissues in public databases, rt-PCR, WB and IHC staining experiments were performed to verify the expression of CPXM1 in fresh GC tissues. Bioinformatics analysis predicts the possible signal pathways of co-expression genes in CPXM1 overexpression group. The malignant phenotypes of GC cells was verified by in vivo and in vitro experiments. Using tunicamycin to inhibit the N-glycosylation of CPXM1 and constructing mutations. The plasmid further validated the specific N-glycosylation sites that affect the malignant phenotype of gastric cancer cells.Results: CPXM1 mRNA expression was significantly increased in GC tissues. The results of IHC staining and WB indicated that there was no difference in the expression of CPXM1 at the protein level. Knocking down CPXM1 expression in HGC-27 cells can significantly inhibit its migration and invasion ability. Increasing the expression of CPXM1 in MGC-803 and BGC-823 cell lines can significantly promote its migration and invasion capabilities. CPXM1 can also promote the adhesion of GC cells and change the cytoskeleton structure. The results of in-vivo experiments show that CPXM1 can promote the metastasis of GC cells in the abdominal cavity of nude mice. Bioinformatics analysis showed that the co-expressed genes of the CPXM1 high expression group were mainly enriched in cell adhesion function, and the experimental results verified that CPXM1 may promote the adhesion and metastasis of gastric cancer cells through the ITGB2/FAK signaling pathway. Through N-glycosylation site prediction and WB results, it was found that CPXM1 had abnormal N-glycosylation in GC tissues. Tunicamycin can reverse the ability of CPXM1 that promote the invasion of GC cells. After respectively mutating the N-glycosylation sites on CPXM1, it was found that N210 site is the key site for CPXM1 to promote the adhesion and invasion of GC cells.Conclusion: CPXM1 is upgraded in GC. CPXM1 can promote the adhesion, migration and invasion of GC cells and change cytoskeleton structure. The N210 site on CPXM1 is a key site affecting the malignant phenotype of GC.

With the development of our society, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) appear more frequently in people’s daily lives, which could become a threat to public security and privacy, especially at night. At the same time, laser active imaging is an important detection method for night vision. In this paper, we implement a UAV detection model for our laser active imaging system based on deep learning and a simulated dataset that we constructed. Firstly, the model is pre-trained on the largest available dataset. Then, it is transferred to a simulated dataset to learn about the UAV features. Finally, the trained model is tested on real laser active imaging data. The experimental results show that the performance of the proposed method is greatly improved compared to the model not trained on the simulated dataset, which verifies the transferability of features learned from the simulated data, the effectiveness of the proposed simulation method, and the feasibility of our solution for UAV detection in the laser active imaging domain. Furthermore, a comparative experiment with the previous method is carried out. The results show that our model can achieve high-precision, real-time detection at 104.1 frames per second (FPS).

Testicular damage is the anomaly that will often accompany diabetes mellitus. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the role that total flavonoids of Epimedium (TFE) played against streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic testicular dysfunction and to elucidate the mechanism of action. The diabetic rat model was induced by vein injection of STZ in healthy rats. Thirty male healthy Spraque-Dawley rats were randomly divided into following groups: the control group, the diabetic group, and the diabetic + TFE group. Gastrointestinal administration begins at fifth week of TFE for 6 weeks. After TFE administration, all animals were euthanized. Testicular tissue samples and blood samples of rats were collected for histopathological examination and for determination of levels of various biomarkers including blood glucose, testosterone, testicular enzymes, and oxidative stress indicators. All testes were weighted to calculate the testicular organ index. Hematoxylin-eosin staining was used for observing the testis and epididymis pathological changes. Protein expression (monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, transforming growth factor-beta-1, interleukin-6, and 3-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase) was detected by immunohistochemistry and western blot techniques. There was a significant difference in the changes between the diabetes group and the control group. As a result of treat with TFE, the blood glucose decreased but there was no significant difference, and other indicators showed significant improvement. TFE may protect against STZ-induced testicular injury by suppressing inflammation and oxidative stress.

ObjectivesThis study aims to investigate the role and mechanism of FGFR3 in macrophages and their biological effects on the pathology of arthritis.MethodsMice with conditional knockout of FGFR3 in myeloid cells (R3cKO) were generated. Gait behaviours of the mice were monitored at different ages. Spontaneous synovial joint destruction was evaluated by digital radiographic imaging and μCT analysis; changes of articular cartilage and synovitis were determined by histological analysis. The recruitment of macrophages in the synovium was examined by immunostaining and monocyte trafficking assay. RNA-seq analysis, Western blotting and chemotaxis experiment were performed on control and FGFR3-deficient macrophages. The peripheral blood from non-osteoarthritis (OA) donors and patients with OA were analysed. Mice were treated with neutralising antibody against CXCR7 to investigate the role of CXCR7 in arthritis.ResultsR3cKO mice but not control mice developed spontaneous cartilage destruction in multiple synovial joints at the age of 13 months. Moreover, the synovitis and macrophage accumulation were observed in the joints of 9-month-old R3cKO mice when the articular cartilage was not grossly destructed. FGFR3 deficiency in myeloid cells also aggravated joint destruction in DMM mouse model. Mechanically, FGFR3 deficiency promoted macrophage chemotaxis partly through activation of NF-κB/CXCR7 pathway. Inhibition of CXCR7 could significantly reverse FGFR3-deficiency-enhanced macrophage chemotaxis and the arthritic phenotype in R3cKO mice.ConclusionsOur study identifies the role of FGFR3 in synovial macrophage recruitment and synovitis, which provides a new insight into the pathological mechanisms of inflammation-related arthritis.

From the 1980s until the early 2000s, many developing governments adopted market liberalization policies due to relatively low agricultural prices and the implementation of structural programs by the IMF. Yet, a paradigm shift occurred with the emergence of the 2008 food crisis, which directed food-deficit governmental bodies to protectionist regimes supporting higher food self-sufficiency. Despite the importance of food autarky to shield domestic food markets, its effects have never been fully discussed in a formalized econometric framework. This article analyses wheat price volatility transmissions from global to local markets in 10 wheat importing countries, identifying the causality with conditional correlation functions (CCF), the degree of volatility transmissions using generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) models with the dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) specification and potential determinants with a panel analysis. The main findings reveal that a significant unidirectional Granger causality runs from international wheat price to local retail flour prices for wheat importing countries with an approximate five-month lag, the volatility correlations from international to local markets were strengthened around the period of the 2007–08 food crisis and a higher self-sufficiency rate plays a role in alleviating volatility passthroughs from international markets. This evidence that increasing the SSR of an agricultural commodity is effective in isolating the domestic market is valuable for policymakers in food importing countries. The primary beneficiaries of implementing the policy measure are risk-averse producers and consumers because their utility or welfare improves as the price volatility of foodstuffs declines.

Although 70–80% of newly diagnosed ovarian cancer patients respond to first-line therapy, almost all relapse and five-year survival remains below 50%. One strategy to increase five-year survival is prolonging time to relapse by improving first-line therapy response. However, no biomarker today can accurately predict individual response to therapy. In this study, we present analytical and prospective clinical validation of a new test that utilizes primary patient tissue in 3D cell culture to make patient-specific response predictions prior to initiation of treatment in the clinic. Test results were generated within seven days of tissue receipt from newly diagnosed ovarian cancer patients obtained at standard surgical debulking or laparoscopic biopsy. Patients were followed for clinical response to chemotherapy. In a study population of 44, the 32 test-predicted Responders had a clinical response rate of 100% across both adjuvant and neoadjuvant treated populations with an overall prediction accuracy of 89% (39 of 44, p

In order to guarantee the QoS requirements of multiple services in airborne all-domain heterogeneous and flexible networks, we propose a novel multi-priority and multi-path based QoS routing (MP2R) protocol in this paper. In the protocol, in terms of the route effectiveness and reliability, the route cost penalty function is constructed based on the multi-priority M/M/1 queueingqueuing system with the preemptive-resume policy. The minimum value of the function is derived through the optimization theory, and the optimum routing solution is acquired. The simulation results show that the MP2R protocol not only has the capabilities of differentiation services for different kinds of traffic and QoS provision, but also can utilize the network resource rationally, avoid congestion, achieve the load balancing, and meet the requirements of airborne all-domain heterogeneous and flexible networks effectively.

Our objective was to assess the impact of hs-cTnT elevation on functional outcome and mortality in AIS patients with large vessel occlusion (LVO) in the anterior circulation 3 months after ET and explore factors affecting hs-cTnT elevation. A total of 143 consecutive AIS patients with large vessel occlusion (LVO) in the anterior circulation following ET in a single stroke center were enrolled between January 2015 and November 2017. Hs-cTnT was quantitated on admission. Demographic characteristics, clinical data, functional outcome and all-cause mortality were compared between patients with elevated hs-cTnT levels (14 ng/L) and those with normal hs-cTnT levels (≤14 ng/L). 58/143(40.6%) patients showed elevated hs-cTnT levels before ET. Factors independently associated with hs-cTnT elevation were admission NIHSS score (OR = 1.08, 95% CI 1.01-1.16, p = 0.032), coronary heart disease (OR = 4.89, 95% CI 1.82-13.11, p = 0.002) and congestive heart failure (OR = 4.10, 95% CI 1.07-15.68, p = 0.039). In the univariate analysis, patients with elevated hs-cTnT levels were at significantly higher risk of 3-month poor outcome (p = 0.029) and mortality (p 0.001) than those with normal hs-cTnT levels. After multivariable analysis, hs-cTnT elevation remained an independent predictor of 3-month mortality (OR = 4.49, 95% CI 1.68-11.98, p = 0.003). In this cohort of AIS patients with LVO in the anterior circulation undergoing ET, hs-cTnT elevation is an independent predictor of 3-month mortality. Admission NIHSS score, coronary heart disease and congestive heart failure are independently associated with elevated hs-cTnT levels.

We study the effect of lateral error on the coupling efficiency and beam quality of a Gaussian beam coupled into a large-core multimode fiber. The formula for the effect of lateral error on coupling efficiency is derived in detail and verified with both simulations and experiments. The effect of lateral error on beam quality is also analyzed with the use of ZEMAX and verified with our experimental setup. The results show that lateral error can change the path of the light coupled into the fiber to such a large extent that it influences the power distribution of the Gaussian beam.

By using first-principles calculations based on HSE06 hybrid functional, the structural, electronic, and optical properties of CuYSe2 as a low cost absorber material have been studied. Our results show that CuYSe2 is a semiconductor with indirect band gap of 1.46 eV and optical band gap of 2.00 eV. Especially, an intermediate band has been found in Ga and In alloyed CuYSe2, respectively, which can be served as a stepping stone to optical absorption on low energy photons. Therefore, Ga and In alloyed CuYSe2 with an intermediate band as a new absorber material have been proposed.

Background This retrospective study compared the effects of total hip arthroplasty (THA) and traditional surgery using internal screw fixation for the treatment of avascular necrosis (AVN) of the femoral head. Material/Methods Two hundred and seventy patients with bilateral AVN of the femoral head were admitted for elective surgery, and 176 patients underwent THA (the THA group), and 94 patients underwent closed reduction screw fixation (the traditional surgery group). The Harris hip score (HHS) was used pre-operatively and to evaluate postoperative outcome. Results The mean operation time in the traditional surgery group (82.6±15.6 min) was significantly less compared with the THA group (104.8±14.2 min) (P=0.001). Intraoperative blood loss in the traditional surgery group (219.8±21.6 mL) was significantly less compared with the THA group (339.4±29.4 mL) (P=0.001). After treatment, the mean HHS score of the THA group (76.5±9.2 points) was significantly increased when compared with the traditional surgery group (61.4±10.5 points) (P=0.001). Disease recurrence rate in the THA group was significantly reduced compared with the traditional surgery group (P=0.001). The mean quality of life score of the THA group (85.5±6.4 points) was significantly higher than that of the traditional surgery group (73.4±8.8 points) (P=0.001). Conclusions Compared with closed reduction screw fixation, THA for AVN of the femoral head effectively reduced the length of hospital stay, time to recovery, and achieved an improved clinical outcome.