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Continual learning paradigm learns from a continuous stream of tasks in an incremental manner and aims to overcome the notorious issue: the catastrophic forgetting. In this work, we propose a new adaptive progressive network framework including two models for continual learning: Reinforced Continual Learning (RCL) and Bayesian Optimized Continual Learning with Attention mechanism (BOCL) to solve this fundamental issue. The core idea of this framework is to dynamically and adaptively expand the neural network structure upon the arrival of new tasks. RCL and BOCL employ reinforcement learning and Bayesian optimization to achieve it, respectively. An outstanding advantage of our proposed framework is that it will not forget the knowledge that has been learned through adaptively controlling the architecture. We propose effective ways of employing the learned knowledge in the two methods to control the size of the network. RCL employs previous knowledge directly while BOCL selectively utilizes previous knowledge (e.g., feature maps of previous tasks) via attention mechanism. The experiments on variants of MNIST, CIFAR-100 and Sequence of 5-Datasets demonstrate that our methods outperform the state-of-the-art in preventing catastrophic forgetting and fitting new tasks better under the same or less computing resource.

The aim of this study was to explore the associations between the aspartate aminotransferase-to-alanine aminotransferase ratio (AST/ALT) and coronary artery lesions (CALs) among patients with Kawasaki disease (KD). Medical records of KD patients presenting to a single center between January 2019 and December 2020 were retrospectively collected and analyzed. Univariate, multivariable-adjusted analyses, subgroup analyses, restricted cubic spline test, and fitted curves were used to evaluate the associations between AST/ALT and CALs. A total of 831 patients were enrolled, of which 201 (24.2%) had CALs on admission and 21 (2.5%) developed CALs de novo after intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). Multivariable-adjusted analyses models revealed that a lower AST/ALT was associated with an increased risk of CALs on admission when AST/ALT was a continuous variable (P = 0.007) and when it was a categorical variable (P for trend = 0.004). Each unit increase in AST/ALT was associated with a 22% lower risk of CALs on admission (odds ratio = 0.78, 95% confidence interval 0.65–0.94). A negative linear relationship was noted between AST/ALT and the risk of CALs on admission in both observed and fitted models. However, such associations were not observed in AST/ALT and CALs de novo after IVIG. None of the variables significantly modified the association between AST/ALT and CALs on admission and CALs de novo after IVIG (P > 0.05). Our findings suggested that AST/ALT was a risk factor of CALs, but was not associated with progressive CALs.

Background Weaning from venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO) has not been not well studied. VV-ECMO can be discontinued when patients tolerate noninjurious mechanical ventilation (MV) during a sweep gas-off trial (SGOT). However, predictors of safe liberation are unknown. Research Question Can safe liberation from VV-ECMO be predicted at the bedside? Study Design and Methods Two observational studies of adults weaned from VV-ECMO for severe ARDS at Toronto General Hospital were conducted. MV settings, respiratory mechanics, and clinical variables were analyzed to predict safe liberation from VV-ECMO, defined a priori as avoida7ce of ECMO recannulation, increased MV support, need for rescue therapy, or hemodynamic instability developed within 48 h following decannulation. Results During both studies, 83 patients were weaned from VV-ECMO, 21 (25%) of whom did not meet the criteria for safe liberation. In the retrospective study, higher tidal volume per predicted body weight (OR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.05-2.40; P = .03) and heart rate (OR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.022-1.15; P = .01) at the end of SGOT were significantly associated with increased odds of unsafe liberation when adjusted for age (OR, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.95-1.09; P = .63) and sequential organ failure assessment score (OR, 1.16; 95% CI, 0.86-1.56; P = .34). Change in ventilatory ratio had an imprecise association (OR, 2.7; 95% CI, 0.94-7.95; P = .06) with unsafe liberation when adjusted for age (OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.96-1.10; P = .42), sequential organ failure assessment score (OR, 1.11; 95% CI, 0.81-1.51; P = .52), and heart rate (OR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.01-1.13; P = .02). In the prospective study, patients who had unsafe liberation from VV-ECMO also had significantly higher inspiratory efforts (esophageal pressure swings, 9 [7-13] vs 18 [7-25] cm H2O; P = .03) and worse outcomes (longer MV duration, ICU and hospital length of stay). Interpretation Patients with higher tidal volume, heart rate, ventilatory ratio, and esophageal pressures swings during SGOT were less likely to achieve safe liberation from VV-ECMO.

BACKGROUND Donor-recipient size-matching has been repeatedly reported to improve outcomes following lung transplantation (LTx). However, there is significant variability in practice and the optimal strategy for size-matching is yet to be defined. For recipients with ILD, size-matching decisions are complicated by concerns regarding the potential impact of pre-LTx pulmonary restriction. We evaluate whether a specific donor-to-recipient size-matching strategy, based on predicted total lung capacity, benefits this patient group. METHODS This retrospective, single-centre, cohort study describes the post-LTx outcomes of adults who underwent LTx for ILD between 1983 and 2020. Only patients with restrictive physiology, based on pre-LTx pulmonary function testing were included. Post-LTx outcomes were compared based on donor-recipient predicted TLC (D-R pTLC) ratio. A D-R pTLC ratio of ≥0.8 or

Ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) has being increasingly used for the pretransplant assessment of extended-criteria donor lungs. Mathematical models to predict lung acceptance during EVLP have not been reported so far. Thus, we hypothesized that predictors of lung acceptance could be identified and used to develop a mathematical model describing the clinical decision-making process used in our institution. Donor lungs characteristics and EVLP physiologic parameters included in our EVLP registry were examined (derivation cohort). Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify predictors independently associated with lung acceptance. A mathematical model (EX vivo lung PerfusIon pREdiction [EXPIRE] model) for each hour of EVLP was developed and validated using a new cohort (validation cohort). Two hundred eighty donor lungs were assessed with EVLP. Of these, 186 (66%) were accepted for transplantation. ΔPO2 and static compliance/total lung capacity were identified as independent predictors of lung acceptance and their respective cut-off values were determined. The EXPIRE model showed a low discriminative power at the first hour of EVLP assessment (AUC: 0.69 [95% CI: 0.62-0.77]), which progressively improved up to the fourth hour (AUC: 0.87 [95% CI: 0.83-0.92]). In a validation cohort, the EXPIRE model demonstrated good discriminative power, peaking at the fourth hour (AUC: 0.85 [95% CI: 0.76-0.94]). The EXPIRE model may help to standardize lung assessment in centers using the Toronto EVLP technique and improve overall transplant rates.

Solid-state lasers have aroused many researchers’ interests for a variety of applications in military and industrial fields. Because of the preference for increased output power, Nd:YAG single crystals, which are the most widely used gain media, should be replaced by other more suitable candidates. Polycrystalline sesquioxide ceramics show great potential for use as gain media because their thermal and mechanical characteristics are suitable for use with high-energy laser systems. Recently, novel concepts of the gain media were also introduced. Herein, while briefly looking back on the progress of polycrystalline laser ceramics, we will discuss new interests in host materials and systems.

Summary As an analog of graphene, carbon nitrides have drawn increasing attention, ranging from artificial photosynthesis to synthetic organic chemistry. Notably, the most studied polymeric, C3N4, and other stoichiometric ones, such as C3N5, C4N3, and C3N, are commonly employed repetitive units of six-membered rings. Building blocks of five-membered rings (FMRs) are also fascinating and prevalent from a fundamental point of view, but FMR-based carbon nitrides are scarcely reported. Here, we propose a stable FMR-based C3N2 and the kinetic-oriented synthesis method via a pre-stabilization strategy using abundant-available zeolitic imidazolate framework as a precursor. The FMR topological structure and the associated dangling bonds were disclosed in C3N2, leading to an interesting p-π conjugation and splitting molecular orbitals, which remarkably narrowed the optical bandgap unusually down to 0.81 eV. The as-obtained C3N2 was further successfully applied to real-time, dynamic, and quantitative photoelectrochemical biosensing for practical non-transparent biosamples under near-infrared light irradiation.

Automatic quantification of the left ventricle (LV) from cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) images plays an important role in making the diagnosis procedure efficient, reliable, and alleviating the laborious reading work for physicians. Considerable efforts have been devoted to LV quantification using different strategies that include segmentation-based (SG) methods and the recent direct regression (DR) methods. Although both SG and DR methods have obtained great success for the task, a systematic platform to benchmark them remains absent because of differences in label information during model learning. In this paper, we conducted an unbiased evaluation and comparison of cardiac LV quantification methods that were submitted to the Left Ventricle Quantification (LVQuan) challenge, which was held in conjunction with the Statistical Atlases and Computational Modeling of the Heart (STACOM) workshop at the MICCAI 2018. The challenge was targeted at the quantification of 1) areas of LV cavity and myocardium, 2) dimensions of the LV cavity, 3) regional wall thicknesses (RWT), and 4) the cardiac phase, from mid-ventricle short-axis CMR images. First, we constructed a public quantification dataset Cardiac-DIG with ground truth labels for both the myocardium mask and these quantification targets across the entire cardiac cycle. Then, the key techniques employed by each submission were described. Next, quantitative validation of these submissions were conducted with the constructed dataset. The evaluation results revealed that both SG and DR methods can offer good LV quantification performance, even though DR methods do not require densely labeled masks for supervision. Among the 12 submissions, the DR method LDAMT offered the best performance, with a mean estimation error of 301 mm $^2$ for the two areas, 2.15 mm for the cavity dimensions, 2.03 mm for RWTs, and a 9.5% error rate for the cardiac phase classification. Three of the SG methods also delivered comparable performances. Finally, we discussed the advantages and disadvantages of SG and DR methods, as well as the unsolved problems in automatic cardiac quantification for clinical practice applications.

In recent years, the incidence of myopia has increased at an alarming rate among children and adolescents in China. The exploration of an effective prevention and control method for myopia is in urgent need. With the development of information technology in the past decade, artificial intelligence with the Internet of Things technology (AIoT) is characterized by strong computing power, advanced algorithm, continuous monitoring, and accurate prediction of long-term progression. Therefore, big data and artificial intelligence technology have the potential to be applied to data mining of myopia etiology and prediction of myopia occurrence and development. More recently, there has been a growing recognition that myopia study involving AIoT needs to undergo a rigorous evaluation to demonstrate robust results.

BACKGROUND: Based on posturography parameters during sleep deprivation (SD), a mental fatigue index (MFI) was constructed for healthy male cadets.METHODS: There were 37 young male subjects who volunteered for two successive days of SD. Their posturography balance, profile of mood status (POMS), and heart rate variability (HRV) were measured at four different times (10:00 and 22:00 of day 1, 10:00 and 22:00 of day 2). According to the methods used in our previous research, similar MFIs based on posturography parameters were computed. Then, correlations of MFIs with POMS scores and HRV values were evaluated by linear and nonlinear methods including quadratic, S-curve, growth, and exponential analyses.RESULTS: MFI continued to increase during SD and MFI as the independent variable had quadratic relationships with fluster (R2 0.057), depression (R2 0.067), and anger (R2 0.05) scores of POMS. A linear correlation was found between MFI and the depression score (R2 0.045) and MFI correlated linearly (R2 0.029) and nonlinearly (R2 0.03) with heart rate. Similarly, MFI reflected changes in the time and frequency domain parameters of HRV, with linear (R2range: 0.0290.082) or nonlinear (R2range: 0.0300.082) relationships.DISCUSSION: The increase of MFI was linked with amplification of personal negative moods and an imbalance of autonomic nervous system activity. The findings suggest that MFI might be a potential indicator of mental fatigue and provide a method to prevent driving fatigue and human errors.Cheng S, Yang J, Su M, Sun J, Xiong K, Ma J, Hu W. Postural stability change under sleep deprivation and mental fatigue status. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2021; 92(8):627632.

Biological inspiration evaluation has been widely acknowledged as one of the most important phases in biologically inspired design (BID) as it substantially determines the direction of the following-up design activities. However, it is inherently an interdisciplinary assessment, which includes both the engineering domain and the biological systems. Due to the lack of knowledge at the early stage of product design, the risk assessments mainly depend on experts' subjective judgments, which values are vague, imprecise, and even inconsistent. How to objectively evaluate the biological inspiration under such uncertain and interdisciplinary scenarios remains an open issue. To bridge such gaps, this study proposes a fuzzy rough number extended multi-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) to evaluate the biological inspiration for BID. A fuzzy rough number is introduced to represent the individual decision maker's risk assessment and aggregate respective evaluation values within the decision-making group. A fuzzy rough number extended decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory is presented to determine the criteria weights and a fuzzy rough number extended multi-attribute ideal real comparative analysis is proposed to rank the candidate biological inspirations. Experimental results and comparative analysis validate the superiority of the proposed MCGDM in handling the subjectivity and uncertainty in biological inspiration evaluation. This study was partly supported by the Shanghai Pujiang Program (Grant/Award No. 20PJ1406600).

Electromagnetic (EM) resistivity tools measure the electrical properties of downhole formations that are critical in determining the hydrocarbon saturation of a reservoir. In complex and heterogeneous reservoirs, both horizontal and vertical formation resistivities are required to obtain an accurate hydrocarbon saturation. For decades, wireline multicomponent induction type measurements have provided reliable determination of formation anisotropy, structural dip, and dip azimuth in wells with any orientation relative to the bedding planes. Logging-while-drilling (LWD) multi-array propagation resistivity tools have also demonstrated similar capability in deviated wells where the relative dip angle is between 45° and 90°. However, measuring anisotropy and dip in wells with a low relative dip angle still poses difficulties for LWD propagation resistivity systems because of the antenna structures employed. This paper describes the development of a new LWD EM sensor equipped with an innovative, co-located, tilted antenna structure. The tool, along with a unique processing scheme, enables the determination of horizontal and vertical resistivity as well as the dip angle and the azimuth of the formation based on an assumption of transversely isotropic (TI) formation models (Graciet and Shen, 1998) while drilling in real time. The co-located sensor design is capable of acquiring multicomponent signals that are sensitive to formation anisotropy and structural dip in wells at any orientation. Modeling studies and several field trials have proven that the design concept can detect these formation properties at any arbitrary wellbore deviation. This paper presents test results from the new technology, together with reference measurements from azimuthally compensated LWD and fully triaxial wireline resistivity measurements. A good comparison is observed in these trials, providing an independent verification of the tool performance. The azimuthal measurements of the new sensors allow for determining formation anisotropy and dip at any wellbore deviation (Bittar et al., 2011b; Bittar et al., 2012), as well as providing 360° azimuthal resistivity and geosignals and allowing a three-dimensional (3D) resistivity mapping technique for real-time decisions. Integrating the co-located antennas with deep-reading antennas in a near-bit collar further provides both anisotropy measurements and ultradeep signals very close to the bit and enhances look-ahead detection ranges for LWD applications.

The nanoporous (NP) GaN wafers which were fabricated by electrochemical etching (EC) method were used as substrates to deposit Er-doped Ga2O3 epitaxial films by pulsed layer deposition (PLD). The epitaxial relationship between the GaN and Er doped β-Ga2O3 film was Ga2O3 (−201) ‖ GaN (0001) with Ga2O3 [010] ‖ GaN [-12-10]. Compared to the Er doped films on the epi-GaN wafers with the porosity of 0%, ~20% and ~60%, the β-Ga2O3 film deposited on the wafer with a porosity of ~40%, which has an energy bandgap of ~4.89 eV, has the best crystal quality and optoelectronic properties. The performance enhancement should be due to improved crystalline quality as a result of the existence of nanopores in the etched substrates. The excellent properties of Er doped Ga2O3 films indicated that the films have great potential to fabricate Ga2O3 optoelectronic devices.

Improving the friction-induced noise suppression performance of TC4 has far-reaching significance for its wide application in the field of robots and semiconductors. The friction noises of TC4 with solid lubricant (Sn-Ag-Cu) filled into dimples (TCS) and TC4 were predicted by simulation analysis. The noise reduction performance of TCS during dry rotary sliding was discussed. TCS with dimple size of 0.6 mm (TCS-0.6) exhibited the prominent performance of noise reduction, which was attributed to the synergistic effect of dimples and solid lubricant. During the dry sliding process, the debris were contained by dimples, the stress distribution in matrix was modified by lubricant, and the defects were decreased. Hence, the roughness of worn surface was reduced, which was beneficial to obtaining the stable friction coefficient. Inhibiting the unstable vibration by controlling the friction coefficient of the system can effectively demote the friction-induced noise.

This study aimed to investigate fundus and optical coherence tomography angiography (angio-OCT) manifestations in carotid cavernous fistula (CCF) patients. Nine eyes of 7 CCF patients diagnosed with digital subtraction angiography (DSA) were included in this study. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure (IOP), slit lamp, fundus, spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), and optical coherence tomography angiography (angio-OCT) examination in the CCF patients and 10 normal controls were conducted. Subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) and macular vascular density (VD) were measured and compared with the control group. SFCT and VD were also compared before and after embolization therapy. Two male and 5 female CCF patients were included. The average age was 59.7 ±10.0 (years). Embolization therapy was conducted in 3 patients. Fundus manifestations included disc oedema and exudation, retinal venular dilation, and retinal haemorrhage. B-scan OCT examination revealed retinal and choroidal undulations, retinal-choroidal thickness, retinal cystoid oedema, and subretinal fluid. The SFCT of the affected eyes was thicker than that of the control group (412.3 ± 123.7 μm vs. 272.9 ± 62.9 μm; P = 0.006). Macular superficial capillary plexus (SCP) VD in affected eyes was lower than that in the control eyes (50.1 ±2.3 % vs. 52.7 ± 1.7 % ; P = 0.014). The SFCT was reduced, and the vessel density in the SCP was increased after embolization therapy. We demonstrated decreased VD in CCF patients with specific fundus and OCT manifestations. The pathological changes were immediately reduced after embolization therapy. This preliminary observation provides a supplemental method for the diagnosis and pathophysiological examination of CCF patients.

Sepsis is a serious syndrome that is caused by an unbalanced inflammatory response to infection and can cause high mortality. The role of interleukin-37 (IL-37) in estimating the mortality in patients with sepsis remains unknown. This study aims to reveal the clinical application of IL-37 as a potentially novel biomarker to predict mortality risk in patients with sepsis.The serum IL-37 level in 114 adult septic patient serum samples on the day of intensive care unit (ICU) admission, 56 non-sepsis ICU patients, and 56 healthy volunteers were measured and analyzed, and the 28-day survival status and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) scores of the participants were compared. Furthermore, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of IL-37, IL-6, and SOFA at ICU admission for 28-day survival was used to evaluate the ability of IL-37 in predicting the mortality of sepsis.The serum IL-37 level at admission was elevated in patients with sepsis. Moreover, the concentration of IL-37 in patients with sepsis was significantly higher than that in non-sepsis ICU patients and the healthy control group. In addition, the concentration of serum IL-37 in non-surviving patients with sepsis was significantly higher than that in survivors. In patients with sepsis on the day of ICU admission, the AUC associated with 28-day mortality was 0.67 (p = 0.0022;95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.57-0.77) for IL-37, 0.75 (p0.0001; 95% CI, 0.66-0.84) for SOFA, and 0.62 (p = 0.0342; 95% CI, 0.51-0.72) for IL-6. IL-37 and SOFA scores on the day of ICU admission of the patients with sepsis were found to be independent predictors of 28-day mortality, whereas IL-6 was not. The risk of mortality in patients with sepsis and high serum IL-37 concentration (≥107.05pg/ml) was 4.6 times that of patients with sepsis and low serum concentration. The AUC of IL-37 combined with SOFA-estimated 28-day mortality in patients with sepsis increased from 0.67 (p = 0.0022; 95% CI, 0.57-0.77) to 0.80 (p0.0001; 95% CI, 0.711-0.879). In addition, patients with sepsis and high serum IL-37 concentrations (≥107.05pg/ml) had poorer survival rate than those with low serum concentrations (107.05pg/ml).IL-37 concentrations at ICU admission are valuable for predicting the 28-day mortality risk of patients with sepsis, suggesting that IL-37 may be a novel biomarker. These findings can be used as a basis for guiding early clinical decision-making in treating patients with sepsis.

Introduction and Aims. Bile acids play an essential role in the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This study was aimed at investigating the association of the serum glycocholic acid- (GCA-) to-total bile acid (TBA) ratio with NAFLD in the general population. Materials and Methods. A total of 6708 subjects (2859 cases with NAFLD and 3849 controls) were enrolled in the development cohort and additional 1568 subjects (784 cases with NAFLD and 784 controls) in an independent validation cohort. Demographic characteristics and biochemical data were compared between subjects with NAFLD and controls. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the association of the GCA-to-TBA ratio with NAFLD. A novel model incorporating the GCA-to-TBA ratio was developed for screening NAFLD from the general population. Results. The serum TBA and GCA levels were significantly higher in subjects with NAFLD than in those without NAFLD (2.8 (2.0-4.2) μmol/L vs. 2.5 (1.8-3.7) μmol/L and 1.30 (1.10-1.53) μg/mL vs. 1.28 (1.08-1.50) μg/mL, respectively, all p ≤ 0.01 ), whereas the serum GCA-to-TBA ratio was significantly lower in subjects with NAFLD than in subjects without NAFLD (0.44 (0.33-0.60) vs. 0.48 (0.36-0.64), p ≤ 0.01 ). Logistic regression analysis showed that the GCA-to-TBA ratio was independently associated with NAFLD after adjustment for confounding factors (odds ratio: 0.81, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.71-0.92, p ≤ 0.01 ). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the novel developed GCA-to-TBA ratio score model in discriminating NAFLD was 0.84 (95% CI: 0.83-0.85) in the development cohort and was 0.91 (95% CI: 0.36-0.65) in the validation cohort. Conclusion. The serum GCA-to-TBA ratio is independently associated with NAFLD. A simple novel model incorporating the GCA-to-TBA ratio score has a good performance in discriminating NAFLD from the general population.

Energy and reserve markets are two important market components in the deregulated power industry. Energy markets provide a platform for generating companies, retailers, and big energy consumers to centrally trade electricity. However, owing to the varying renewable power generation, load variation and unexpected contingencies, energy supply and consumption always embody high uncertainties. Furthermore, due to the lack of low‐cost, large‐capacity energy storage devices, an instant balance between the generation and load is required under these uncertainties. Therefore, the reserve market is set up to address the balance‐disruptive uncertainties intrinsic to the power grid. Although this combined market design reduces the risk of the possible imbalance in energy supply and consumption, it does not guarantee that the frequency of the grid is satisfactory, even in the normal operation. This study analyzes the insufficiency of the energy and reserve market design in addressing frequency quality problems by exploring the root causes for the deteriorating frequency quality in the Australian National Electricity Market. A novel framework that incorporates the frequency quality, control capacity, and control cost to achieve the desired frequency quality is then presented. Case studies through a simple power system and the IEEE 30‐bus system demonstrate the efficacy of the presented methods.

Persisting concussion symptoms (PCS) can last for months, years, or indefinitely and affect a considerable number of concussion patients. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the prevalence of clinical symptoms of anxiety and depression and the relationship between PCS and quality of life in patients examined at the Canadian Concussion Centre. The Depression and Anxiety Stress Scale-42 (DASS-42) and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) were sent to 526 adult patients diagnosed with PCS. Median with interquartile range follow-up time was 5 (4-7) years. Of the 105 respondents, 35.2% displayed mild or greater symptoms of anxiety, depression, or both. Importantly, the number of previous concussions was correlated with elevations on the DASS-42 Anxiety (

Children (n = 240) between the ages of 2 and 17 years were randomly selected from three cities in China. The total amount of soil and dust (SD) on their hands was measured and ranged from 3.50–187.39 mg (median = 19.49 mg). We screened for seven elements (Ce, V, Y, Al, Ba, Sc, and Mn), and Ce levels were used to calculate hand SD by variability and soil elements. The main factors affecting SD amount were location and age group, as identified using a conditional inference tree. Hand SD and the hand SD intake rate were highest in Gansu Province, followed by Guangdong and Hubei provinces, respectively. Hand SD and the hand SD intake rate were highest among children in primary school, followed by kindergarten and secondary school, respectively. The hand SD intake rate of the three typical areas was 11.9 mg/d, which was about 26.6% of the children’s soil intake rate (44.8 mg/d), indicating that hand-to-mouth contact is not the main route for children’s soil intake in the three areas of China.

Background: Last December 2019, a cluster of viral pneumonia cases identified as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), was reported in Wuhan, China. We aimed to explore the frequencies of nasal symptoms in patients with COVID-19, including loss of smell and taste, as well as their presentation as the first symptom of the disease and their association with the severity of COVID-19.Methods: In this retrospective study, 1,206 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients were included and followed-up by telephone call one month after discharged from Tongji Hospital, Wuhan. Demographic data, laboratory values, comorbidities, symptoms, and numerical rating scale scores (0-10) of nasal symptoms were extracted from the hospital medical records, and confirmed or reevaluated by the telephone follow-up. Results: From COVID-19 patients (N = 1,172) completing follow-up, 199 (17%) subjects had severe COVID-19 and 342 (29.2%) reported nasal symptoms. The most common nasal symptom was loss of taste (20.6%, median score = 6), while 11.4% had loss of smell (median score = 5). The incidence of nasal symptom including loss of smell and loss of taste as the first onset symptom was Conclusions: In the Wuhan COVID-19 cohort, only 1 out of 10 hospital admitted patients had loss of smell while 1 out 5 reported loss of taste which was associated to severity of COVID-19. Most patients recovered smell and taste dysfunctions in 2 weeks.

Technological evolution has brought great changes to traditional industries. Nowadays farmers obtain great benefits such as intelligent production and convenient management from intelligent agriculture. Nevertheless, there still exists many flaws in current solutions. Deficiencies in energy management, data transmission and privacy preservation are supposed to be solved. In this paper, the privacy preserved cyber-physical searching framework is proposed to tackle these problems. This four-layer framework can provide a convenient way for farmers to manage production by simply searching for information they interested in. The data source layer contains many sensors for data collection. The data aggregation layer consists of data aggregation nodes deployed in the farms. The data transfer layer employs drones for retrieving data from data aggregation nodes. The cloud control layer is responsible for searching requests processing and privacy preservation. To realize better data collection and searching. The information centric network is introduced into this framework. Moreover, some methods are employed for privacy preservation. The simulation results show the feasibility of this framework.

Load shape dictionary (LSD) is a useful tool for utilizing the enormous amount of smart meter data to understand customers’ electricity consumption behaviors. To tackle the big data challenge as well as to better capture the load shape features, this article develops a bilevel LSD generation framework to cluster and index the residential load profiles into a neat local LSD and a global LSD based on the Derivative Dynamic Time Warping (DDTW) elastic dissimilarity measure. Different from the classic Dynamic Time Warping (DTW), DDTW works on the derivative of the raw data to avoid DTW’s problem of pathological alignments. To reduce the computational cost, a fast DDTW (FDDTW) is proposed to speed up the DDTW calculation. Based on the generated bilevel LSD, analytic approaches are proposed to extract features from the data indexed by the LSD to reveal useful information of customers’ electricity consumption behaviors. Numerical experiments on real premise data verify the effectiveness of the proposed methodology in terms of clustering performance and computational efficiency. Our analysis suggests that the proposed methodology can be applied to improve load forecasting, tariff design and demand response (DR) customer targeting.

Covalently bonded carbon nitride (CN) has stimulated extensive attention as a metal-free semiconductor. However, because of the complexity of polymeric structures, the acquisition of critical roles of each molecular constituent in CN for photocatalysis remains elusive. Herein, we clarify the fundamental active units of CN in photocatalysis by synthesizing CN with more detailed molecular structures. Enabled by microwave synthesis, the as-prepared CN consists of distinguishable melem (M1) and its incomplete condensed form (M2). We disclose rather than the traditional opinion of being involved in the whole photocatalytic processes, M1 and M2 make primary contributions in light absorption and charge separation, respectively. Meanwhile, oxygen molecules are unusually observed to be activated by participating in the photoexcited processes via electronic coupling mainly to M2. As a result, such CN has a higher activity, which was up to 8 times that of traditional bulk CN for photocatalytic oxidation of tetracycline in water., The acquisition of critical roles of each molecular constituent in carbon nitrides for photocatalysis remains elusive. Here the authors synthesize carbon nitrides with distinguishable units and reveal the roles of the different units in light absorption and charge separation.

Y2O3−MgO nanocomposite is introduced for infrared transparent ceramics due to its superior optical and mechanical characteristics. However, severe optical scattering and unnecessary absorption in the near- and mid-infrared regions restrict the applications of this material. Here, a broad mid-infrared transparent Y2O3−MgO nanocomposite is achieved for the first time through low temperature sintering using an LiF additive. The influence of LiF is successfully demonstrated on the mid-infrared transparency of the as-sintered and post-annealed nanocomposites. Spectroscopic analysis are also performed, and primary absorption factors of the Y2O3−MgO transparent ceramics are revealed. This study is a step toward designing widely utilized transparent ceramics.

Background Sellar lesions with central diabetes insipidus have a wide range of causes, and diagnosis is relatively difficult. The indication and clinical value of biopsy are still controversial. Objective To describe the etiology, demographic characteristics, manifestations, laboratory tests and imaging findings of this disease and to explore the clinical value and safety of endoscopic transsphenoidal biopsy. Methods Retrospective analysis of 124 patients with sellar lesions and central diabetes insipidus who underwent endoscopic transsphenoidal biopsy at the Neurosurgery Department, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, from 2011 to 2019. Results The main etiology includes congenital diseases, inflammatory/infectious diseases and tumor diseases. The most common diseases were germ cell tumors, Langerhans cell histiocytosis, lymphocytic hypophysitis, and Rathke's cleft cysts. Except for the age at the time of biopsy of patients with tumor diseases, which was significantly lower than that of the other two, the other clinical manifestations of the three types of diseases were not significantly different. Among the 124 patients, biopsy was performed via an endoscopic transsphenoidal approach for 101 with intrasellarly available lesions or via an endoscopic extended transsphenoidal approach for 23 with intrasellarly unavailable lesions. 6 patients had central nervous system infections after surgery, and 3 had cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea, of which 2 were surgically repaired. These incidences were basically the same as those of classic surgery. 2 patients had worse visual acuity, 2 had worse visual field, and 2 had worse eye movement. Excepting one patient, all of whom have recovered after treatment. Conclusions Noninvasive examination is difficult for identifying the common causes of this type of disease. Endoscopic transsphenoidal biopsy is relatively safe and effective, helps doctors to select the best treatment for patients, and is worth promoting.

With the rapid increase in electric vehicle adoption rate, both domains of power grid and transport system are facing operational challenges in the coordination and assessment of electric vehicle charging facilities. These facilities include not just public charging stations but also swapping stations and home charging stations that perform roles catering to different driver behaviors. If provided with sustainable strategies, these facilities can act as aggregators to help manage sudden peak loads. These different facilities will someday co-exist in the future, and it is crucial to plan and assess their interactions. Currently, there is limited research in exploring the coordination and ratio assessment of multiple charging facilities. Moreover, a model that addresses the complexity of charging facility decisions and the communication between multiple stakeholders still needs further investigated. The main stakeholders should not be limited to the station owners but should also include electric vehicle drivers and distributing company operators. This article proposes a layered decomposition model that considers decisions made by the main stakeholders in coordinating power transfers and assessing charging facility ratios. The Australian case studies for charging facility ratios in different renewable energy mix environments demonstrate the suitability of the proposed strategy.

The semisubmersible platform is one of the most important equipment for the exploitation of deep-sea oil and gas. And its survival and operational capacities depend on the towing and motion performances. The present work investigates the properties of different platform component designs based on their towing and motion performances under wind and waves by using an integrated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. The joint application of RANS and a VOF/6-DOF solver compiled in a new Fluent UDF Library is adopted for the main calculation. Numerical simulations and results demonstrate that the VOF/6-DOF solver is accurate and stable, which could achieve the same functions as the previous OpenFOAM scheme. In order to acquire a better towing performance, different shapes are suggested for the pontoon end shape, the column cross section, and the brace longitudinal section, respectively. As to the motion response, among all the three design selections, the column cross section has the greatest influence on the whole platform. The simulation results reveal that circle section increases the roll and pitch response and reduces the heave response, to which the square section is adverse.

BACKGROUND: The impacts of chronic airway diseases on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are far from understood. OBJECTIVE: To explore the influence of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) comorbidity on disease expression and outcomes, and the potential underlying mechanisms in COVID-19 patients. METHODS: A total of 961 hospitalized COVID-19 patients with a definite clinical outcome (death or discharge) were retrospectively enrolled. Demographic and clinical information were extracted from the medical records. Lung tissue sections from patients suffering from lung cancer were used for immunohistochemistry study of angiotensin-converting enzyme II (ACE2) expression. BEAS-2B cell line was stimulated with various cytokines. RESULTS: In this cohort, 21 subjects (2.2%) had COPD and 22 (2.3%) had asthma. After adjusting for confounding factors, COPD patients had higher risk of developing severe illness (OR: 23.433; 95% CI 1.525-360.135; P

Although optical coherence tomography (OCT) of the eyes has been studied to detect and monitor sellar masses, there is no recommendation for selecting the most effective measurement of OCT in clinical practice. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis to examine the efficacy of OCT in sellar mass lesions. We conducted a literature search in PubMed and EMBASE through April 26, 2020. The primary outcomes were the thickness of the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) and the macular ganglion cell complex (mGCC). The secondary outcomes included the thickness of the macular ganglion cell and inner plexiform layer (mGCIPL) and macular thickness. Random-effects models were used in all meta-analyses. Additionally, we conducted meta-regressions and subgroup analyses. We included 22 studies, involving 1347 eyes of patients and 1198 eyes of controls. When compared with the control group, the reductions in pRNFL, mGCC and macular thickness in the patient group were significantly different, whereas significant thinning of the mGCIPL was restricted to the nasal hemiretina. Furthermore, we found that before visual field (VF) defects occurred, significant thinning of the pRNFL and mGCC thickness could be detected by OCT. The change in OCT parameters also showed different patterns in different types of pituitary adenomas. Sellar mass lesions were associated with the changes in OCT measurements. The characteristic patterns of the OCT parameters may refine the diagnostic accuracy. Moreover, the alterations of OCT metrics before VF defects indicate the efficacy of OCT in early detection. Different types of pituitary adenomas may vary in OCT measurements, and their specific features warrant further research efforts.

Background Patients with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) experience difficulties with stability and trust in long-term relationships and have poor mental health, factors that may lead to suicidal ideation. We sought to verify whether psychosocial health problems among patients with STIs were associated with these patients’ suicidal ideation and to examine the syndemic effect of multiple psychosocial problems on suicidal ideation. Methods This was a cross-sectional study of 519 STI patients at the Shanghai Skin Disease Hospital. Demographic, psychosocial, and suicidal ideation information about the participants was collected by questionnaire. Logistic regressions were performed to detect the association between demographic variables and suicidal ideation, as well as each individual psychosocial variable and suicidal ideation, and to verify the syndemic effect of psychosocial factors. Results Of the participants, 25.0% (130/519) reported having suicidal ideation. In univariable analysis, low self-esteem, loneliness, depression, entrapment, defeat, and unsatisfied interpersonal needs were associated with suicidal ideation. Multivariable analysis found depression (odds ratio [OR]: 4.1; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.3–7.2) and entrapment (OR: 2.1; 95%CI: 1.1–4.1) each had a more significant relation with suicidal ideation than the other psychosocial problems examined. STI patients who experienced two or more psychosocial health problems had approximately fourfold odds of suicide ideation (adjusted OR [AOR]: 4.2; 95%CI: 2.6–6.8) compared with those in the non-syndemic group, especially in the high-level (five or more psychosocial problems) group (AOR: 7.0; 95%CI: 3.9–12.5). Conclusions The study found the participants had a high rate of suicidal ideation and suffered from severe psychosocial problems. These results show a syndemic effect of psychosocial problems on increasing the odds of suicidal ideation. Our findings suggest an urgent need for efforts to prevent suicidal ideation among STI patients toward improving the social and health conditions of this population.

An accurate and rich inter-personal relation knowledge graph (KG) not only provides a clear introduction of persons and the interconnections among them but also provide knowledge support for the intelligent service system. At present, most KGs are based on the encyclopedia tabular data. In this article, we mainly describe how to make full use of encyclopedic text to build a high-quality inter-personal relation KG. For solving the problem of missing attributes and errors in tabular data, we propose a method of combining pattern matching and deep learning models to extract attribute information from text data for attribute identification. The experimental results show that our method can effectively improve the coverage and accuracy of KGs.

For demand response (DR) programs that focus on the energy consumption of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), the knowledge on HVAC usage of individual customers is of great value for DR program implementation. This paper presents a novel methodology to extract space cooling usage from smart meter data. A multisequence, non-homogeneous Factorial Hidden Markov Model (MN-FHMM) is proposed to disaggregate the whole-house energy consumption into an HVAC component and a baseload (i.e., the sum of non-temperature-sensitive loads) component. Rather than holding a constant transition probability over the whole process, a time-varying transition probability model is developed to characterize the dynamic nature of the evolution of users’ energy consumption. We also discuss how to use the disaggregation results to estimate the HVAC related DR potential for individual customers, which can further inform DR programs to target customers more cost-effectively. Data experiments on ground truth data validate both the accuracy and the robustness of the proposed model as well as the effectiveness of the targeting strategy based on the disaggregation results.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of intracameral preservative-free triamcinolone acetonide (TA) on reducing inflammatory reactions after pediatric cataract surgery. Researches were comprehensively searched in PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials up to 30 November, 2019. Data of interest were extracted and analyzed by Review Manager 5.2. The primary outcome was cell deposits. The secondary outcomes included posterior synechias, fibrinous anterior chamber reaction, visual axis obscuration, and posterior capsule opacification. The odds ratio (OR), weight mean difference (WMD), and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were used to assess the strength of the association. In total, 45 articles were obtained. Finally, 5 studies with a total of 308 eyes were enrolled in this meta-analysis. Among these, 134 eyes underwent intracameral TA treatment and 174 eyes did not. In intracameral TA treatment group, the incidence of cell deposits (OR = 0.35, 95% CI 0.16–0.76, P = 0.008), posterior synechias (OR = 0.44, 95% CI 0.23–0.86, P = 0.02), and fibrinous anterior chamber reaction (OR = 0.12, 95% CI 0.01–1.05, P = 0.05) were lower compared to those in patients without intracameral TA treatment. Meanwhile, the incidence of visual axis obscuration (OR = 0.10, 95% CI 0.01–0.85, P = 0.04) and posterior capsule opacification (OR = 0.09, 95% CI 0.02–0.55, P = 0.009) were also reduced significantly. The intraocular pressure (IOP) was evaluated at the first month postoperatively (WMD = 0.84 mmHg, 95% CI 0.14–1.53, P = 0.02), but within the normal range. There was no difference of IOP between two groups at 6 months or above after operation (P = 0.93). The intracameral preservative-free TA in pediatric cataract surgery contributed to much less inflammatory reaction with the normal IOP range.

Few studies have investigated the prevalence of myopia in Northwest China. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the prevalence and associated factors of myopia and high myopia in adults aged 40–80 years in the Han and Yugur populations living in Gansu Province, Northwest China. A total of 3,845 participants were included. The overall age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of myopia (spherical equivalent (SE) + 0.5 D) were 16.4%, 0.7% and 26.2% in Yugur participants, respectively, and 34.3%, 5.0% and 19.2% in Han participants, respectively. The prevalence of myopia and high myopia in Han participants was significantly higher than that in Yugur participants (both P

Metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) was employed for the preparation of niobium (Nb)-doped SnO2 films on SiO2 glass substrates. The structure, optical and electrical properties of the Nb-doped SnO2 films were systemically studied. The X-ray diffraction results indicated that the polycrystalline rutile SnO2 films were obtained with a preferred SnO2 [110] growth direction. Among which, the 5.4 at.% Nb-doped SnO2 film showed the lowest resistivity of 1.0×10-3 Ω∙cm and the highest Hall mobility of 74 cm2∙V-1∙s-1. The average visible light transmittance of the 5.4 at.% Nb-doped SnO2 sample was more than 79%. The obtained Nb-doped SnO2 films exhibited low resistivity, high Hall mobility and good transparency, which might have wide applications in electric and photoelectric devices.

A hybrid AC/DC distribution network (HDN) is formed after multiple hybrid AC/DC microgrids (MGs) and distributed generators (DGs) are integrated into the distribution network. Voltage/var control (VVC) in this evolved system constitutes a big challenge to system operators as a large variety of voltage control devices with quite different control characteristics are expected to be co-managed. This study proposes a coordinated VVC scheme to regulate voltage in an HDN by integrating power management model of hybrid AC/DC MGs into HDN's VVC model. The devices at HDN's level and those in MGs are allocated into two different models, and two models are linked via an approach called mathematical programmes with equilibrium constraints to achieve system-wide coordination. In the proposed VVC, mechanical devices such on-load-tap changer (OLTC) and shunt capacitor (SC) are scheduled every 2 h to save their lifetime, while the electronically interfaced DGs and MGs are scheduled every 30 min to leverage their fast power support. Case studies on a modified IEEE 33 nodes distribution system validate that the proposed VVC can effectively coordinate MGs' power support with OLTC, SCs, and DGs, and it constitutes significant improvements on power loss reduction and voltage quality compared with traditional VVC.

Nanoporous GaN distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) with a high reflectivity (~ 92%), which was fabricated via a doping selective electrochemical etching process, were used to deposit Eu-doped β-Ga2O3 films by using pulsed layer deposition. Structural and chemical composition analyses indicated that the 900 °C-annealed film in air has the best crystalline quality and highest photoluminescence (PL) efficiency. The epitaxial relationship between the β-Ga2O3: Eu film and DBR mirror was Ga2O3 ( $$\overline{2}$$ 01)║GaN (0001) with Ga2O3 [010]║GaN [ $$\overline{1}$$ 2 $$\overline{1}$$ 0]. Compared to the Eu:Ga2O3 film on reference template, the 900 °C-annealed film on the DBR mirror presented a ~ 20-fold enhancement in the PL emission. The performance enhancement was attributed to light-coupling enhancement of the buried DBR mirror. Because of the good electrical properties of the annealed films, the fabricated DBR substrates pave the way for developing a range of rare-earth-doped Ga2O3 optoelectronic devices.

Battery swapping stations (BSSs) present an alternative way of charging electric vehicles (EVs) that can lead toward a sustainable EV ecosystem. Although research focusing on the BSS strategies has been ongoing, the results are fragmented. Currently, an integrated way of considering stochastic EV station visits through planning and operations has not been fully investigated. To create comprehensive and resilient battery swapping stations, a two-stage optimization with recourse is proposed. In the planning stage, the investment for battery purchases is recommended even before the EV station visit uncertainties are made known. In the operation stage, the battery allocation decisions, such as charging, discharging, and swapping are then coordinated. To apply the recourse strategy in creating representative scenarios, the EV station visit distribution techniques are also proposed using a modified K-means clustering method. Aside from the sensitivity analysis made with swapping prices and charging intervals, the strategy comparisons with conventional strategies have also demonstrated the practicality of the BSS coordination to future electricity and transportation networks.

Background To investigate the prevalence of pterygium and associated factors in Han and Mongolian adults at four survey sites in Inner Mongolia, China. Methods We conducted a population-based, cross-sectional study as part of the China National Health Survey (CNHS). By means of a stratified sampling method, we finally included 2651 participants of 30 years of age or older from a total of 3468 eligible residents. Factors associated with pterygium were analysed by a univariate analysis and logistic regression models. Results The study population included 1910 Han and 741 Mongolian adults. The mean age ± standard deviation of the study cohort was 48.93 ± 11.06 years. The overall prevalence of pterygium was 6.4% (n = 169); 1.4% (n = 38) of the cases were bilateral and 4.8% (n = 128) were unilateral. The most common grade of pterygium was Grade 2. Based on the results of the univariate analysis, eleven factors were included in a multivariate analysis. The results indicated that age (P P = 0.026), and time spent in rural areas (P Conclusions Our results indicated that outdoor occupation, old age and more time spent in rural areas were risk factors for pterygium in Inner Mongolia. At the same time, town as a survey site (Hohhot and Tsining District) was a protective factor for pterygium. Ethnicity, gender, smoking, diabetes and high blood pressure are not associated with pterygium.

Understanding residential household characteristics is crucial for retailers to provide customers personalized services. Current methods infer household characteristics from smart me-ter data in a centralized manner that requires the data of all re-tailers to be gathered together for model training. This may raise privacy concerns since the privacy-sensitive data are owned by dif-ferent retailers, and they may be unwilling to share the raw data. This paper proposes a federated learning (FL) based deep learning model to identify household characteristics. A hybrid model com-bining the convolutional neural network and long short-term neu-ral network is designed to learn spatial-temporal features from load profiles. It is implemented in a decentralized manner based on the FL framework. To improve the training speed and accuracy, an asynchronous stochastic gradient descent with delay compen-sation method is proposed to update the global model parameters. Comprehensive experiments are conducted to verify the effective-ness of the proposed method.

Functional and structural adaptation of common carotid artery could be one of the important causes of postflight orthostatic intolerance after microgravity exposure, the mechanisms of which remain unclear. Recent evidence indicates that long-term spaceflight increases carotid artery stiffness, which might present a high risk to astronaut health and postflight working ability. Studies have suggested that vascular calcification is a common pathological change in cardiovascular diseases that is mainly manifested as an increase in vascular stiffness. Therefore, this study investigated whether simulated microgravity induces calcification of common carotid artery and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. Four-week-old hindlimb-unweighted (HU) rats were used to simulate the deconditioning effects of microgravity on cardiovascular system. We found that simulated microgravity induced vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) osteogenic differentiation and medial calcification, increased receptor activator of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) ligand (RANKL) and RANK expression, and enhanced NF-κB activation in rat common carotid artery. In vitro activation of the RANK pathway with exogenous RANKL, a RANK ligand, increased RANK and osteoprotegerin (OPG) expression in HU rats. Moreover, the expression of osteogenic markers and activation of NF-κB in HU rats were further enhanced by exogenous RANKL but suppressed by the RANK inhibitor osteoprotegerin fusion protein (OPG-Fc). These results indicated that the OPG/RANKL/RANK system modulates VSMC osteogenic differentiation and medial calcification of common carotid artery in simulated microgravity rats by regulating the NF-kB pathway.

Engineering training, as an important part of the practice teaching of modern universities, plays a vital role in cultivating high-quality, high-level and innovative talents. Traditional engineering training solves the practice teaching problems in talents training. However, under the background of the manufacturing power strategy and emerging engineering education construction in the new era, it can no longer satisfy the needs of high-level, high-quality, and innovative talents in the new era. In order to play the role of the comprehensive practice of engineering training in cultivating innovative talents in the new era, it is urgent to explore and think a new model of comprehensive practice teaching of engineering training. This paper attempts to reform the comprehensive practice teaching model of engineering training, and cultivate high-level, high-quality and innovative talents by constructing an engineering training innovation system, integrating upstream and downstream related knowledge structures, building an open practice teaching platform, and forming a resource-complementary comprehensive training model. Finally, take the 3D printing practice training as an example to demonstrate the comprehensive practice teaching of engineering training.

The habenula (Hb) has been hypothesized to play an essential role in major depressive disorder (MDD) as it is considered to be an important node between fronto-limbic areas and midbrain monoaminergic structures based on animal studies. In this study, we aimed to investigate the differences in volume and T1 value of the Hb between patients with MDD and healthy control (HC) subjects. Analysis for the Hb volumes was performed using high-resolution 7-T magnetic resonance (MR) image data from 33 MDD patients and 36 healthy subjects. Two researchers blinded to the clinical data manually delineated the habenular nuclei and Hb volume, and T1 values were calculated based on overlapping voxels. We compared the Hb volume and T1 value between the MDD and HC groups and compared the volume and T1 values between the left and right Hbs in each group. Compared to HC subjects, MDD patients had a smaller right Hb volume; however, there was no significant volume difference in the left Hb between groups. In the MDD group, the right Hb was smaller in volume and lower in T1 value than the left Hb. The present findings suggest a smaller right Hb volume and left-right asymmetry of Hb volume in MDD. Future high-resolution 7-T MR imaging studies with larger sample sizes will be needed to derive a more definitive conclusion.

Clayey silt reservoirs bearing natural gas hydrates (NGH) are considered to be the hydrate-bearing reservoirs that boast the highest reserves but tend to be the most difficult to exploit. They are proved to be exploitable by the first NGH production test conducted in the South China Sea in 2017. Based on the understanding of the first production test, the China Geological Survey determined the optimal target NGH reservoirs for production test and conducted a detailed assessment, numerical and experimental simulation, and onshore testing of the reservoirs. After that, it conducted the second offshore NGH production test in 1225 m deep Shenhu Area, South China Sea (also referred to as the second production test) from October 2019 to April 2020. During the second production test, a series of technical challenges of drilling horizontal wells in shallow soft strata in deep sea were met, including wellhead stability, directional drilling of a horizontal well, reservoir stimulation and sand control, and accurate depressurization. As a result, 30 days of continuous gas production was achieved, with a cumulative gas production of 86.14 ×104 m3. Thus, the average daily gas production is 2.87 ×104 m3, which is 5.57 times as much as that obtained in the first production test. Therefore, both the cumulative gas production and the daily gas production were highly improved compared to the first production test. As indicated by the monitoring results of the second production test, there was no anomaly in methane content in the seafloor, seawater, and atmosphere throughout the whole production test. This successful production test further indicates that safe and effective NGH exploitation is feasible in clayey silt NGH reservoirs. The industrialization of hydrates consists of five stages in general, namely theoretical research and simulation experiments, exploratory production test, experimental production test, productive production test, and commercial production. The second production test serves as an important step from the exploratory production test to experimental production test.

In recent years, as a promising option to improve the overall efficiency of energy utilization and absorptive capacity of renewable energies, the integrated energy system (IES) has raised great interest in academies and industries. Multi-energy flow (MF) calculation, which differs from the traditional power flow calculation, plays a basic role in analyzing IES. MF calculation based on Newton-Raphson method has been proposed in literature, but its calculation efficiency is not high. In this paper, a fast decoupled MF (FDMF) calculation method for IES is proposed. Its main idea is to replace the original Jacobian matrix of MF calculation based on Newton-Raphson method with a diagonal and constant Jacobian matrix by the transformation. The simulations demonstrate that the proposed FDMF method can increase the calculation efficiency by at least 4 times with high calculation accuracy.

Purpose Plasma cells and immunoglobulins (Igs) play a pivotal role in the induction and maintenance of chronic inflammation in nasal polyps. During secondary immune responses, plasma cell survival and Ig production are regulated by the local environment. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the presence of long-lived plasma cells (LLPCs) and specific survival niches for LLPCs in human nasal polyps. Methods Nasal mucosal samples were cultured with an air-liquid interface system and the Ig levels in culture supernatants were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The characteristics of LLPCs in nasal polyps were determined by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. The expression of neurotrophins as well as their receptors was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, and Western blotting. Results The numbers of CD138⁺ total plasma cells and BCL2⁺ plasma cells were increased in both eosinophilic and non-eosinophilic nasal polyps compared with those in normal tissues. The production of IgG, IgA, and IgE was detected in culture supernatants even after a 32-day culture of nasal polyps. Although the total numbers of plasma cells were decreased in nasal polyps after culture, the numbers of BCL2⁺ plasma cells remained stable. The expression of nerve growth factor (NGF) as well as tropomyosin receptor kinase (Trk) A, a high-affinity receptor for NGF, was upregulated in both eosinophilic and non-eosinophilic nasal polyps. In addition, BCL2⁺ plasma cell numbers were positively correlated with NGF and TrkA mRNA expression in nasal mucosal tissues. Polyp plasma cells had the expression of TrkA. Conclusions Human nasal polyps harbor a population of LLPCs and NGF may be involved in their prolonged survival. LLPCs may be a novel therapeutic target for suppressing the local Ig production in nasal polyps.

It is meaningful to estimate the chalk dust behavior and its exposure for school-aged children and teachers who spend a lot of time in the classroom. In the present study, model classes were designed to characterize temporal and spatial variations of chalk dust in a classroom and indoor exposure dose to children and teachers. For about 20% of the entire class time, the PM2.5 level greatly exceeded that of ambient PM2.5 daily standard (35 μg m-3). Meanwhile, there was no apparent elevation of PM2.5 during the control experiment carried out using a whiteboard and a dry erase marker with the same teaching behavior. The largest quantity of chalk dust was deposited in the front of the classroom when a cleaner of the blackboard eraser was operated. A SEM image revealed that chalk particles have random shape in a broad range (mainly in the diameter range of 2.0 to 5.0 μm) of their size. The calculated chalk PM2.5 deposition dose, DosePM2.5 (μg), in the alveolar interstitial region revealed the highest level during the period from operating a cleaner of the chalkboard eraser to the end of the class. The DosePM2.5 (μg) in that period was 3.86, 18.95, and 15.79 μg for 10y male/female students, male teacher, and female teacher, respectively.