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This paper investigates the dynamic response and assesses the safety of a propylene tower subjected to blasting vibrations. A group of monitoring experiments on the response of the tower to blasting vibrations was carried out to this end. A model of a cantilever beam was used for the response along the horizontal direction and that of a strut for along the vertical direction. The theoretical and measured displacements were consistent in terms of time history curves and peak values. The design spectrum of the tower suitable for sustaining blasting vibrations was then proposed and verified, and its safety was assessed in combination with local requirements on seismic design. The results show that the first six modes of response should be considered under blasting vibrations in the horizontal direction, instead of the first three modes as in the case of an earthquake. The first three modes should be considered under blasting vibrations in the vertical direction. Owing to the importance higher modes in this scenario, the shear should be taken as the primary object of evaluation when assessing the safety of a tall propylene tower subjected to blasting vibrations.

Background/aim Embolus shedding is one of the important complications in carotid artery stenting (CAS). Carotid high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (HR-MRI) is often used to directly reflect important biological characteristics, such as plaque size and composition, as well as the structure of the carotid artery wall. The aim of this study was to investigate the predictive values of carotid HR-MRI for large embolus shedding in CAS. Materials and methods In total, 195 patients with carotid stenosis were enrolled. Preoperative carotid HR-MRI was performed to define the nature of the carotid plaques. CAS was performed in all patients, and intraoperative embolic protection devices were used to collect the shed emboli. According to the diameter and number of shed emboli, the patients were divided into the small-embolus group (group X) and large-embolus group (group Y). Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the risk factors of large embolus shedding. Results Group Y included 58 patients, and group X included 137 patients. Age, stenosis length, smoking, and ?3 transient cerebral ischemic attacks were risk factors for large embolus shedding. Two cases of shed large emboli developed from stable plaques, and 56 cases of large emboli developed from vulnerable plaques. When vulnerable plaques were associated with more risk factors, the incidences of large embolus shedding in cases with vulnerable plaques combined with 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 risk factors were 44 % (4/9), 68.1% (15/22), 72.2% (13/18), 76.5% (13/17), and 84.6% (11/13), respectively Conclusion: Carotid HR-MRI can predict the incidence of large embolus shedding in CAS.

Polygonum multiflorum (PM), a popular functional food, herbal and dietary supplement, is widely used as a tonic in China and East Asia. In recent years, it has attracted great concern for its ability to cause idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury (IDILI). However, identifying individuals susceptible to IDILI remains challenging. This is a prospective study. For 6 patients whose serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) after consuming PM was abnormally elevated (susceptible group), 15 patients with normal levels of liver injury markers were matched (tolerant group) based on similar baseline characteristics. ProcartaPlex Immunoassays were adopted to quantitatively detect 33 serum cytokines in the two groups of patients before consuming PM, to characterize the cytokine profile and screen differential cytokines. Subsequently, the susceptibility of potential biomarker to regulate PM-induced liver injury was validated in animal models. There were significant differences in the cytokine profile between susceptible and tolerant groups, wherein the susceptible patients showed immune perturbation characterized by high expression of multiple inflammatory cytokines, especially proinflammatory cytokine TNF-α level (P = 0.006). Among them, the cytokine TNF-α had the strongest correlation with ALT, the correlation coefficient was greater than 0.6, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was more than 0.8. Animal experiments revealed that both PM water extract and its susceptibility component of liver injury, cis-stilbene glucoside, could cause liver injury in the mice pre-stimulated by TNF-α. Conversely, administration of the same dose of drugs on blank mice did not show any hepatotoxicity. In conclusion, immune perturbation mainly mediated by TNF-α may regulate the susceptibility to PM-induced liver injury. This provides a new perspective for the study of susceptibility to IDILI.

Big data has been continuously generated from the rapidly developing of cloud/fog/edge computing, Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G technology. This big data not only brings great benefits and opportunities to human beings but also brings many risks and challenges. One major challenge is how to represent and treat higher-order and heterogeneous data from multi-sources. Tensors are emerging as powerful tools for representation and modeling of this data. Tensor decomposition can be used to extract potentially useful information from this data. Thus, it has attracted much attention from the big data community. The main target of this paper is to propose a novel data fusion framework to solve several main challenges of CPSS data applications, including CPSS big data representation, fusion, efficient computing, storage, robustness, and security issues. In this paper, we use many graphics to visualize complex tensor decomposition and transformation processes. The visualization may help the readers better understand tensor and tensor decomposition. It also provides a general guideline and a good starting point for those who are interested in tensor and tensor decomposition. Specifically, we first introduce the most extensively used matrix and tensor decomposition methods. Second, the current popular data fusion methods are reviewed and summarized. Third, we propose a novel tensor-network-conversion-based data fusion approach which can simultaneously analyze multiple matrices and multiple tensors. To better understand this approach, we give a brief review of tensor network. Fourth, based on the proposed approach, a novel CPSS big data fusion framework is proposed in this paper. Meanwhile, we verify it by a concise case study. Finally, some challenges and open problems of the proposed framework are discussed. The discussion also includes some exciting future research directions in the big data fusion field.

Purpose: This work reviews the literature regarding spontaneous closure of idiopathic full-thickness macular holes (FTMHs). Methods: Literature on patients with spontaneous idiopathic FTMH closure was reviewed via Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PubMed through July 16, 2020. A total of 27 of 66 identified articles were included. Results: A total of 68 eyes had spontaneous closure. Of the patients, 62.7% were women and the average age was 67.5 years. Visual acuity improved from Snellen 20/78 to 20/33 post closure. The average hole diameter was 176.8 μm; the largest was 350 μm. Most were stage 2 according to Gass and of small size according to International Vitreomacular Traction Study Group (IVTS) staging. The predominant classification system in recent literature is IVTS staging. The average optical coherence tomography–observed closure time was 4.5 months. Conclusions: On review, reported spontaneous closure rates of all idiopathic FTMH range from 3% to 15%, and no demographic subgroups are more likely to have closure. Holes ≤250 µm have higher closure rates (22.2%) than those in the range of >250 to 400 µm (13.3%) and ≥400 µm (0%). Closure is associated with favorable visual outcomes, and retinal bridging via glial cells is likely critical to closure. These determinations were based on limited numbers; prospective studies are needed to further ascertain rate, mechanism, and characteristics. IVTS staging provides reliable reporting and insight into whether FTMH can be observed before surgery.

PURPOSE To compare the visual outcomes after prompt pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with tap biopsy and intravitreal antimicrobial injection to treat postinjection and postsurgery endophthalmitis. METHODS The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Ovid MEDLINE, and Ovid Embase databases were searched for articles published between January 2010 and November 2020. Two independent reviewers selected articles and extracted data. We analyzed data in RevMan 5.3 and assessed methodological quality using the Cochrane ROBINS-I tool. The mean improvement in visual outcome was compared between PPV and intravitreal antimicrobial injection as a relative risk of improving ≥2 lines and a mean logarithm of the minimal angle of resolution difference in improvement. RESULTS Fifteen retrospective case series (1,355 eyes), of which 739 eyes (55%) received intravitreal antimicrobial injection and 616 (45%) received PPV as initial treatment, were included. The overall relative risk of improving 2 or more lines in PPV in comparison with intravitreal antimicrobial injection was 1.04 (95% CI 0.88-1.23; P = 0.61; I2 = 0%) with a mean difference of 0.04 (95% CI -0.18 to 0.27; P = 0.69; I2 = 0%). The results stayed robust when subgroup analysis based on causative procedure for endophthalmitis was performed. CONCLUSION Intravitreal antimicrobial injection is noninferior to PPV for the treatment of postcataract operation, postinjection, and post-PPV endophthalmitis.

Data are urgently needed on the real-world effectiveness of the currently administered COVID-19 vaccines. This case–control study evaluated the short-term effectiveness of currently administered vaccines in preventing confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection among veterans receiving care in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care system., Visual Abstract. SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Effectiveness in a High-Risk National Population. Data are urgently needed on the real-world effectiveness of the currently administered COVID-19 vaccines. This case–control study evaluated the short-term effectiveness of currently administered vaccines in preventing confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection among veterans receiving care in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care system. Visual Abstract. SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Effectiveness in a High-Risk National Population. Data are urgently needed on the real-world effectiveness of the currently administered COVID-19 vaccines. This case–control study evaluated the short-term effectiveness of currently administered vaccines in preventing confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection among veterans receiving care in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care system., Background: With the emergency use authorization of multiple vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 infection, data are urgently needed to determine their effectiveness in a real-world setting. Objective: To evaluate the short-term effectiveness of vaccines in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection. Design: Test-negative case–control study using conditional logistic regression. Setting: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care system. Participants: All veterans who had testing for SARS-CoV-2 infection between 15 December 2020 and 4 March 2021 and no confirmed infection before 15 December 2020. Intervention: SARS-CoV-2 vaccination with either the BNT-162b2 (Pfizer–BioNTech) or mRNA-1273 (Moderna) vaccine as part of routine clinical care. Measurements: Effectiveness of vaccination against confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. Results: Among 54 360 persons who tested positive and 54 360 propensity score–matched control participants, the median age was 61 years, 83.6% were male, and 62% were White. Median body mass index was 31 kg/m2 among those who tested positive and 30 kg/m2 among those who tested negative. Among those who tested positive, 9800 (18.0%) had been vaccinated; among those who tested negative, 17 825 (32.8%) had been vaccinated. Overall vaccine effectiveness 7 or more days after the second dose was 97.1% (95% CI, 96.6% to 97.5%). Effectiveness was 96.2% (CI, 95.5% to 96.9%) for the Pfizer–BioNTech BNT-162b2 vaccine and 98.2% (CI, 97.5% to 98.6%) for the Moderna mRNA-1273 vaccine. Effectiveness remained above 95% regardless of age group, sex, race, or presence of comorbidities. Limitations: Predominantly male population; lack of data on disease severity, mortality, and effectiveness by SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern; and short-term follow-up. Conclusion: Currently used vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 infection are highly effective in preventing confirmed infection in a high-risk population in a real-world setting. Primary Funding Source: None.

Objective: To explore the feasibility of drug reorganization in clinical practice through the drug reorganization service of clinical pharmacists for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in respiratory and critical care department, and to evaluate the effect of the service in multiple dimensions. Methods: a total of 100 patients with COPD admitted from January to July 2021 were randomly divided into two groups with 50 patients in each group. One group was treated with drug reforming intervention and the other group was not treated with intervention. Statistics and data analysis were carried out from three aspects: patient compliance, satisfaction and medication deviation. Results: (1) compliance: 48h after admission, there was no significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05); According to the data statistics on the day of discharge and after one month, the compliance of the two groups was statistically significant (P

To investigate the duration of humoral immune response in convalescent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, we conduct a 12-month longitudinal study through collecting a total of 1,782 plasma samples from 869 convalescent plasma donors in Wuhan, China and test specific antibody responses. The results show that positive rate of IgG antibody against receptor-binding domain of spike protein (RBD-IgG) to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the COVID-19 convalescent plasma donors exceeded 70% for 12 months post diagnosis. The level of RBD-IgG decreases with time, with the titer stabilizing at 35.7% of the initial level by the 9th month. Moreover, male plasma donors produce more RBD-IgG than female, and age of the patients positively correlates with the RBD-IgG titer. A strong positive correlation between RBD-IgG and neutralizing antibody titers is also identified. These results facilitate our understanding of SARS-CoV-2-induced immune memory to promote vaccine and therapy development., COVID-19 pandemic is a global health risk, but our understanding on the induced durable immunity remains scarce. Here the authors assess antibody responses in 869 convalescent COVID-19 patients to find that specific antibody titers reduce with time, and the RBD-IgG positive rate exceed 70% at 12 month post diagnosis, with male and older patients showing stronger responses.

Cardiac hypertrophy is the result of increased myocardial cell size responding to an increased workload and developmental signals. These extrinsic and intrinsic stimuli as key drivers of cardiac hypertrophy have spurred efforts to target their associated signaling pathways. The extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2), as an essential member of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), has been widely recognized for promoting cardiac growth. Several modified transgenic mouse models have been generated through either affecting the upstream kinase to change ERK1/2 activity, manipulating the direct role of ERK1/2 in the heart, or targeting phosphatases or MAPK scaffold proteins to alter total ERK1/2 activity in response to an increased workload. Using these models, both regulation of the upstream events and modulation of each isoform and indirect effector could provide important insights into how ERK1/2 modulates cardiomyocyte biology. Furthermore, a plethora of compounds, inhibitors, and regulators have emerged in consideration of ERK, or its MAPK kinases, are possible therapeutic targets against cardiac hypertrophic diseases. Herein, is a review of the available evidence regarding the exact role of ERK1/2 in regulating cardiac hypertrophy and a discussion of pharmacological strategy for treatment of cardiac hypertrophy.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) natural history studies are limited by not knowing the time of infection, small numbers and non-representative populations. No studies are available from the direct-acting antiviral agents (DAA) era. We created the largest known cohort of persons with HCV with a known window of seroconversion in the DAA era. We compared the annual cumulative incident events and incidence rate/1000 person-years of follow-up for liver cirrhosis, hepatic decompensation, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and mortality from the time of seroconversion among untreated and those treated and attaining a sustained virologic response (SVR). Among 12,881 persons in the final analyses, 10,417 had never been treated for HCV, 2464 (23.6%) were treated with a DAA regimen and 1836 (74.5%) attained SVR. After 9 years of follow-up, cirrhosis was diagnosed in 17.4% of untreated and 13.6% of the SVR group. Overall, 29.5% in the untreated versus 3.5% in the SVR group died. Incidence rates/1000 person-years of follow-up (95% CI) for untreated versus SVR group were 22.7 (21.6, 23.9) versus 19.5 (17.0, 21.9) for cirrhosis (p = 0.03), 0.1 (0.03, 0.2) versus 0.07 (-0.07, 0.2) for HCC (p = 0.74) and 35.4 (34.0, 36.8) versus 4.53 (3.4, 5.7) for mortality (p < 0.0001). After excluding those with alcohol-related diagnoses at baseline, the difference in cirrhosis was not statistically significant. Cirrhosis and mortality occur early and steadily increase over the first decade after acquiring HCV infection, while HCC is rarely observed. Those treated with a DAA regimen have sharply lower cirrhosis and mortality rates, particularly among those without alcohol abuse or dependence.

Nitrous oxide (N2O), also known as "laughing gas," is a colorless, nonirritating gas. Clinically, it is widely used as an inhaled anesthetic, analgesic, and anxiolytic. In recent years, recreational abuse of N2O has become increasingly common, especially among young adults and adolescents, but many of them lack awareness of the possible side effects associated with this drug. N2O abuse can damage multiple systems, especially the nervous system, but the exact mechanism of N2O toxicity remains controversial. At present, an increasing number of cases of nervous system damage caused by N2O abuse have been reported both at home and abroad. Discontinuation of N2O use and timely supplementation with vitamin B12 are essential for a good prognosis. Long-term abuse without timely treatment will eventually lead to irreversible neurological damage. In this article, we discuss the epidemiology of N2O abuse, neurotoxicity mechanisms, clinical manifestations, relevant auxiliary examinations, treatments, and prognosis to improve social awareness of N2O exposure risk, especially among users and clinicians.

Purpose: This work describes a stepwise surgical approach to draining choroidal detachments and 2 cases for which this approach was used. Methods: The first step involves insertion of an anterior chamber maintainer and a nonvalved 23- or 25-gauge trocar cannula at the highest peak of hemorrhagic choroidal detachment (as determined using B-scan ultrasonography), 6 to 8 mm from and angled 20° to 30° toward the limbus. The second step involves removal of the trocar to expose the sclerotomy. Alternatively, the second step can be insertion of a second trocar. The third step involves the creation of a small focal peritomy around the preexisting sclerotomy and enlargement of the preexisting sclerotomy into a radial sclerotomy. Progression between steps only occurs if prior steps did not provide adequate drainage. Results: Two cases of appositional hemorrhagic choroidal detachments in hypotonic eyes were successfully resolved by this stepwise approach. In case 1, a choroidal detachment developed after a corneal ulcer perforation. The hemorrhagic choroidal detachment in case 1 was resolved with steps 1 and 2, and an unnecessary scleral cutdown was avoided. In case 2, a choroidal detachment developed after a trabeculectomy. The detachment in case 2 required progression to step 3, extension of the trocar insertion site into a radial sclerotomy. Conclusions: This stepwise approach should be considered to reduce excessive manipulation of the globe and conjunctiva in hemorrhagic and serous choroidal detachments that warrant surgical intervention.

To investigate the mechanisms of electroacupuncture (EA) at Zusanli (ST 36), Liangmen (ST 21) and Sanyinjiao (SP 6) in intervening diabetic gastroparesis (DGP) based on calcium-activated chloride channel. Forty Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups, including a normal control group (group A), a model group (group B), an EA group (group C) and a metoclopramide group (group D), with 10 rats in each group. A single intraperitoneal injection of 2% streptozotocin (STZ) combined with 8-week high-glucose high-fat diet was used to establish a DGP rat model. After intervention, gastrointestinal propulsive rate was observed; the expression level of transmembrane protein 16A (TMEM16A) was examined by immunohistochemistry; the Ca2+ concentration in interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs) was detected by immunofluorescence; and whole-cell patch-clamp technique was applied to detect the current intensity of calcium-activated chloride channel (ICaCC) in ICCs in gastric antrum. After modeling, the blood glucose levels in group B, group C and group D were significantly increased compared with group A (all P

Due to open-cell foam materials have extensive application foreground in medium-low pressure drop reactors or reactive distillation with low liquid load operation, it has been a hot spot in this field to explore the liquid phase flow inside the pores of foam materials. The present investigation addresses the formation conditions of the vortex flow in matrix porous structure (MPS) that is made from 3D printing technology. An experimental system consisting of a high-speed camera with a macro lens and particle tracking system was used to investigate the effect of the liquid flow rate and the liquid viscosity on the vortex flow formation in MPS. The numerical analysis based on the CFD modeling was used to calculate the vortex flow behaviors and characteristics. This model is validated and compared with the results of experimental campaigns performed in MPS with the formation of stable vortex flow. It was also found that the radius and swirling velocity of the vortex can be decreased by increasing the liquid viscosity and it would be slightly affected by main flow velocity with 10 mL/min – 100 mL/min, which is helpful to construct the gas-liquid interface with the formation of vortex flow for realizing process intensification.

A series of platinum(II) complexes with controllable color emission obtained by regulating intra/intermolecular interactions have been synthesized. These complexes are highly emissive both in solution and in the solid state with microsecond lifetimes, attributed to the single molecular (3IL), excimer, and aggregation emission from their different excited states. All complexes display interesting color changeable photoluminescence depending on concentrations, excitation wavelengths, and good/poor solvents, and exhibit reversible vapochromic/mechanochromic behaviors, which are applicable in emission readable barcode modules and color changeable logo design. Furthermore, using the complexes as emitting materials coated on commercial NUV-LED chips, bright yellow to orange luminescence with a maximum output of 8434 cd m−2 and external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 2.58% could be achieved, providing a facile method to apply platinum(II) complexes in the solid state lighting field.

Objective To review the literature on noninfectious endophthalmitis (NIE) following intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide (IVTA). Design A literature review and case report. Participants Individuals who developed NIE after IVTA injection. Methods A review of the literature was undertaken using Ovid MEDLINE and EMBASE databases, and articles available up to and including December 30, 2019, were included. A total of 518 articles were identified, of which 27 were selected. We also present an illustrative case report. Results The incidence rate of NIE lies between 0.1% and 7.3% in most studies. Although the etiology of NIE is still the subject of investigation, proposed mechanisms include excipients and rheologic stress caused by small crystals. The time to presentation of NIE is often 1–3 days after IVTA injection, with symptoms of moderate to marked reduction in visual acuity along with signs of anterior chamber inflammatory reaction, hypopyon, and vitritis. Resolution occurs in 1–3 weeks in the majority of patients, and almost all return to their pre-injection visual acuity. Differences in the presentations of NIE, infectious endophthalmitis, and pseudo-endophthalmitis are discussed. We also present an illustrative case report of an 80-year-old woman who developed NIE after an IVTA injection for cystoid macular edema. Conclusions It is important to distinguish NIE from other forms of endophthalmitis because they have different natural histories and require different interventions and follow-up. NIE is rarely accompanied by significant pain or conjunctival erythema. Visual acuity is inconsistently affected and is therefore not a good criterion for identifying the type of presenting endophthalmitis.

Osteoarthritis is the most prevalent arthritis typically characterized by degradation of cartilage. However, its pathogenesis is not fully understood. Currently, osteoarthritis is best considered a disease of the whole "joint organ". Infrapatellar fat pad (IFP), an adipose tissue near synovium, is now attaching importance to researchers for its inflammatory phenotype. In this narrative review, a large body of evidence has been gathered for the involvement of IFP in the development of knee osteoarthritis. Additionally, the underlying mechanisms of how IFP can be involved in this process have been proposed. However, further investigations are needed to better understand its precise role in this process and its underlying mechanism, and beyond that, to develop new strategies to slow down the degenerative process and explore an effective and timely diagnosis of the disease.

BACKGROUND mTOR gene is a key component of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway, and its dysregulation is associated with various diseases. Several studies have demonstrated that tea drinking is a protective factor against tuberculosis (TB). This study was designed to explore five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of mTOR in the Han population of China to determine how their interactions with tea drinking affect susceptibility to TB. AIM To investigate if the polymorphisms of mTOR gene and the gene-tea interaction are associated with susceptibility to TB. METHODS In this case-control study, 503 patients with TB and 494 healthy controls were enrolled by a stratified sampling method. The cases were newly registered TB patients from the county-level centers for disease control and prevention, and the healthy controls were permanent residents from Xin’ansi Community, Changsha city. Demographic data and environmental exposure information including tea drinking were obtained from the study participants. We genotyped five potentially functional SNP sites (rs2295080, rs2024627, rs1057079, rs12137958, and rs7525957) of mTOR gene and assessed their associations with the risk of TB using logistic regression analysis, and marginal structural linear odds models were used to estimate the gene-environment interactions. RESULTS The frequencies of four SNPs (rs2295080, rs2024627, rs1057079, and rs7525957) were found to be associated with susceptibility to TB (P < 0.05). Genotypes GT (OR 1.334), GG (OR 2.224), and GT + GG (OR 1.403) at rs2295080; genotypes CT (OR 1.562) and CT + TT (OR 1.578) at rs2024627, genotypes CT (OR 1.597), CC (OR 2.858), and CT + CC (OR 1.682) at rs1057079; and genotypes CT (OR 1.559) and CT + CC (OR 1.568) at rs7525957 of mTOR gene were significantly more prevalent in TB patients than in healthy controls. The relative excess risk of interaction between the four SNPs (rs2295080, rs2024627, rs1057079, and rs7525957) of mTOR genes and tea drinking were found to be -1.5187 (95%CI: -1.9826, -1.0547, P < 0.05), -1.8270 (95%CI: -2.3587, -1.2952, P < 0.05), -2.3246 (95%CI: -2.9417, -1.7076, P < 0.05) and -0.4235 (95%CI: -0.7756, -0.0714, P < 0.05), respectively, which suggest negative interactions. CONCLUSION The polymorphisms of mTOR (rs2295080, rs2024627, rs1057079, and rs7525957) are associated with susceptibility to TB, and there is a negative interaction between each of the four SNPs and tea drinking.

An intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) is a common pancreatic precursor lesion, and it often harbors mutations in KRAS, GNAS, and RNF43. To clarify the molecular profiles of IPMNs, we conducted mutation analysis of KRAS, GNAS, and RNF43 in 61 IPMN formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) specimens. The mutation rates of codons 12, 13, and 61 in KRAS and codon 201 in GNAS were detected by Sanger sequencing. Next-generation sequencing was performed on RNF43, and the results were further verified by Sanger sequencing. We identified KRAS and GNAS mutations in 35 (57%) and 40 (66%) IPMN cases, respectively. GNAS mutations were significantly correlated with the morphologic subtype (P<0.001) and were more prevalent in the intestinal subtype (93%) than in the gastric (55%) and pancreatobiliary subtypes (44%) but were absent in the oncocytic subtype. RNF43 mutations were found in 5 cases (8%), all of which occurred in high-grade dysplasia and invasive lesions (2/5 and 3/5). All 5 cases harboring RNF43 mutations also exhibited GNAS mutations. RNF43 mutations were associated with a worse prognosis in invasive IPMN patients (P=0.002), while KRAS and GNAS mutations did not affect the prognosis of patients.

Treating HCV infection reduces overall mortality and reduces the risk of multiple extrahepatic complications. Whether the reduction in mortality is primarily due to a reduction in liver-related causes or extrahepatic complications is unknown.We identified HCV-positive individuals treated for HCV, and propensity score-matched them to HCV-positive/untreated and HCV-uninfected individuals in ERCHIVES between 2002-2016. We extracted cause of death data from the National Center for Health Statistics' National Death Index. Viral hepatitis-associated liver-related mortality rates among treated and untreated HCV-infected persons were calculated by treatment and attainment of sustained virologic response (SVR).Among 50,674 HCV-positive/treated (Group A), 31,749 HCV-positive/untreated (Group B) and 73,526 HCV-uninfected persons (Group C), 8.6% in Group A, 35.0% in Group B, and 14.3% in Group C died. Among those who died, viral hepatitis-associated liver-related mortality rates per 100 patient-years (95% CI) were: 0.28 (0.27-0.30) for Group A; 1.44 (1.38-1.49) for Group B; and 0.06 (0.05-0.06) for Group C; (p0.0001 for both comparisons). Among HCV-positive/treated persons, rates were 0.06 (0.05-0.06) for those with SVR vs. 0.78 (0.74-0.83) for those without SVR. In competing risks Cox proportional hazards analysis, treatment with all-oral DAA regimens (adjusted hazard ratio 0.11; 95% CI 0.09-0.14) and SVR (adjusted hazard ratio 0.10; 95% CI 0.08-0.11) were associated with reduced hazards of liver-related mortality.Treatment for HCV is associated with a significant reduction in viral hepatitis-associated liver-related mortality, which is particularly pronounced in those treated with DAA regimens and those who attain SVR. This may account for a significant proportion of the reduction in all-cause mortality reported in previous studies.Treating hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is known to reduce overall mortality. However, whether the reduction in mortality is primarily due to a reduction in liver-related causes or extrahepatic complications was previously unknown. Herein, we show that while treating HCV with direct-acting antiviral regimens has numerous extrahepatic benefits, a significant benefit can be attributed specifically to the reduction in liver-related mortality.

As a prototype single-phase multiferroic, BiFeO3 exhibits excellent electrical, magnetic, and magnetoelectric properties, appealing to many modern technological applications. One of its overlooked merits is a high piezoelectric performance originating from its large remnant polarization (Pr) and low dielectric constant (er). Furthermore, its high Curie temperature and large coercive field ensure good stabilities in device applications. However, to achieve close-to-intrinsic properties, a high processing temperature is usually used for the preparation of highly crystalline (epitaxial or highly oriented) BiFeO3 films. Proliferation of defects due to loss of volatile Bi2O3 in the high-temperature process and its incompatibility with CMOS-Si technologies have hindered the development of BiFeO3 film-based piezoelectric micro-electro-mechanical systems (piezo-MEMS) devices. In this work, we successfully sputter-deposited highly (100) oriented BiFeO3 thick films (∼1 μm) on Si at 350 °C through the use of a conductive perovskite buffer layer of LaNiO3. Formation of bulk and interfacial defects is suppressed by the combination of a low deposition temperature and an oxygen-rich processing atmosphere, resulting in chemically stoichiometric BiFeO3 films. These films displayed a high Pr (∼60 μC·cm-2), a low er (∼200), and a small dielectric loss (

Objectives To develop a new Chinese medicine (CM)-based drug and to evaluate its safety and effect for suppressing acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in COVID-19 patients. Methods A putative ARDS-suppressing drug Keguan-1 was first developed and then evaluated by a randomized, controlled two-arm trial. The two arms of the trial consist of a control therapy (alpha interferon inhalation, 50 µg twice daily; and lopinavir/ritonavir, 400 and 100 mg twice daily, respectively) and a testing therapy (control therapy plus Keguan-1 19.4 g twice daily) by random number table at 1:1 ratio with 24 cases each group. After 2-week treatment, adverse events, time to fever resolution, ARDS development, and lung injury on newly diagnosed COVID-19 patients were assessed. Results An analysis of the data from the first 30 participants showed that the control arm and the testing arm did not exhibit any significant differences in terms of adverse events. Based on this result, the study was expanded to include a total of 48 participants (24 cases each arm). The results show that compared with the control arm, the testing arm exhibited a significant improvement in time to fever resolution (P=0.035), and a significant reduction in the development of ARDS (P=0.048). Conclusions Keguan-1-based integrative therapy was safe and superior to the standard therapy in suppressing the development of ARDS in COVID-19 patients. (Trial registration No. NCT 04251871 at www.clinicaltrials.gov) Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at 10.1007/s11655-020-3426-7.

The choroid is a vascular network that supplies the bulk of the retina's oxygen and nutrient supply. Prior studies have associated changes in the thickness of the choroid with the presence of various cardiovascular diseases. This is the first review that summarizes current knowledge on the relationship between choroidal thickness and cardiovascular diseases while highlighting important findings. Acute hypertension increases choroidal thickness. Chronic hypertension and heart failure may decrease choroidal thickness, but controversy exists. Both coronary artery disease and carotid artery stenosis result in decreased choroidal thickness and blood flow. Carotid endarterectomy may reverse these changes. Choroidal thickening in early stages of carotid stenosis may arise from mechanisms compensating for ischemia. Hyperlipidemia is linked to choroidal thickening, while caffeine intake is linked to choroidal thinning. The effects of smoking and exercise are mixed. Changes in choroidal thickness have been linked to cardiovascular disease. Clarity regarding these changes could lead to the use of choroidal thickness changes as a noninvasive screening or prognostic test for pathological cardiovascular changes. Future studies should also investigate the effect of cardiovascular disease treatments on the choroid.

Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a special type of lung cancer that belongs to highly aggressive neuroendocrine tumors. At present, radiotherapy and chemotherapy remain the mainstay of treatment for SCLC. Progress in targeted therapies for SCLC with driver mutations has been slow, and these therapies are still under investigation in preclinical or early-phase clinical trials, and research on antiangiogenic tyrosine kinase inhibitors (e.g., anlotinib) has achieved some success. Immunotherapy is becoming an important treatment strategy for SCLC after radiotherapy and chemotherapy. In this article we review the recent advances in immunotherapy for SCLC.

Background This study aims to estimate prognostic indicators of new onset atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) through 3 to 5 years of follow‐up. Hypothesis For patients with ACS, some prognostic indicators can be used to predict new onset AF. Methods The Improving Care for Cardiovascular Disease in China‐ACS (CCC‐ACS) program was launched in 2014 by a collaborative initiative of the American Heart Association and Chinese Society of Cardiology. We enrolled 866 patients with ACS in a telephone follow‐up program. We inquired about each patient's general health and invited each patient to our hospital for further consultation. We also performed ambulatory electrocardiography and other relevant examinations. Results A total of 743 ACS patients were included in the study. After 3 to 5 years, 50 (0.67%) patients developed AF. In multivariable Cox models adjusting for AF risk factors in ACS patients, we found that NT‐proBNP [hazard ratio (HR) 2.625, 1.654‐4.166, P

Currently, there are no approved specific antiviral agents for novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this study, 10 severe patients confirmed by real-time viral RNA test were enrolled prospectively. One dose of 200 mL of convalescent plasma (CP) derived from recently recovered donors with the neutralizing antibody titers above 1:640 was transfused to the patients as an addition to maximal supportive care and antiviral agents. The primary endpoint was the safety of CP transfusion. The second endpoints were the improvement of clinical symptoms and laboratory parameters within 3 d after CP transfusion. The median time from onset of illness to CP transfusion was 16.5 d. After CP transfusion, the level of neutralizing antibody increased rapidly up to 1:640 in five cases, while that of the other four cases maintained at a high level (1:640). The clinical symptoms were significantly improved along with increase of oxyhemoglobin saturation within 3 d. Several parameters tended to improve as compared to pretransfusion, including increased lymphocyte counts (0.65 × 10 9 /L vs. 0.76 × 10 9 /L) and decreased C-reactive protein (55.98 mg/L vs. 18.13 mg/L). Radiological examinations showed varying degrees of absorption of lung lesions within 7 d. The viral load was undetectable after transfusion in seven patients who had previous viremia. No severe adverse effects were observed. This study showed CP therapy was well tolerated and could potentially improve the clinical outcomes through neutralizing viremia in severe COVID-19 cases. The optimal dose and time point, as well as the clinical benefit of CP therapy, needs further investigation in larger well-controlled trials.

International audience; The timely arrival of novel materials plays a simultaneous key and critical role in bringing advances to our society as the pace at which major technological breakthroughs take place is usually dictated by the discovery rate at which novel materials are identified within the chemical space. High throughput experimentation and computation strategy, now widely considered as a watershed in accelerating the discovery and optimization of novel materials in virtually every field, enables simultaneous screening, synthesis and characterization of large arrays of different material classes towards identification of the lead candidates for given system and targeted application. However, the ability to acquire data, through the continued advancement of automation platforms and workflows especially in the field of battery research and development, often outpaces the ability to optimally leverage obtained data for improved decision making. Closing this gap inevitably calls for adapted algorithms, development of reliable predictive models and enhanced integration with machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL) and artificial intelligence (AI). This Review aims to highlight state-of-the-art achievements along with an assessment of current and future challenges as well as resulting perspectives towards accelerated development of advanced battery electrolytes and their interfaces.

Purpose: In this study, we investigated the effect of treadmill exercise training on cardiac hypertrophy, collagen deposition, echo parameters and serum levels of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) in rats, and how they differ with various exercise intensities, hence exploring potential signal transduction.Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sedentary (SED), low-intensity running (LIR), medium-intensity running (MIR), and high-intensity running (HIR) groups. Each exercise group had 3 subgroups that were sacrificed for cardiac tissue analyses at 1, 4, and 8 weeks, respectively, and all rats participated in a daily 1 h treadmill routine 5 days per week. Echocardiographic measurements were performed 24 h after the last exercise session. Additionally, myocardium samples and blood were collected for histological and biochemical examinations. Changes in the extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2) signal pathway were detected by Western blotting.Results: After a week of running, ventricular myocyte size and the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 increased in the HIR group, while left ventricular (LV) diastolic diameter values and LV relative wall thickness increased in the LIR and MIR groups. In addition, we observed heart enlargement, cTnI decrease, and ERK1/2 signal activation in each of the exercise groups after 4 weeks of running. However, the HIR group displayed substantial rupture and increased fibrosis in myocardial tissue. In addition, compared with the LIR and MIR groups, 8 weeks of HIR resulted in structural damage, fiber deposition, and increased cTnI. However, there was no difference in the activation of ERK1/2 signaling between the exercise and SED groups.Conclusion: The effect of running on cardiac hypertrophy was intensity dependent. In contrast to LIR and MIR, the cardiac hypertrophy induced by 8 weeks of HIR was characterized by potential cardiomyocyte injury, which increased the risk of pathological development. Furthermore, the ERK signaling pathway was mainly involved in the compensatory hypertrophy process of the myocardium in the early stage of exercise and was positively correlated with exercise load. However, long-term exercise may attenuate ERK signaling activation.

BACKGROUND: Through previous studies and clinical practice, we have found that real-time ultrasound-guided (UG) spinal anesthesia (SA) and traditional landmark-guided (LG) SA each require a different minimum local anesthetic dose (MLAD) of ropivacaine. For this study, we used Dixon’s up-and-down sequential method to analyze and compare the MLAD of different ropivacaine concentrations required for the UG and LG SA methods. METHODS: A total of 120 patients undergoing knee surgery were consecutively recruited and randomly divided into four groups (30 patients per group). These groups were categorized as follows: Group I: high ropivacaine ultrasound-guided (HRUG), Group II: low ropivacaine ultrasound-guided (LRUG), Group III: high ropivacaine landmark-guided (HRLG), and Group IV: low ropivacaine landmark-guided (LRLG). SA was established by a bolus administration of up-and-down doses of 0.75% or 0.5% plain ropivacaine. Initial doses of 16, 18, 12, and 14 mg were administered to groups I–IV, and after that, increased or decreased by 1.5 mg according to dose effectiveness. Upon identifying the intervertebral puncture level, a lumbar X-ray was performed with metal markers, and actual radiographic findings were identified and compared to the initial markings. RESULTS: For UG groups, the MLAD in the LRUG group was significantly higher than in the HRUG group [20.192 mg (95% CI, 19.256–21.174) versus 17.176 mg (95% CI, 16.276–18.124), respectively; P

Advanced photoluminescent (PL) materials with unique and unclonable photophysical behaviors are important for potential applications in hazardous material detection and optical encryption. We herein present new detecting and encrypting models based on the uncommon reverse photoluminescence response of Eu(III) and Tb(III) complexes with isomorphic structures. Upon the stimulus of methanol vapor, the characteristic red emission of Eu(III) shows an unusual turn on magnification depending on crystal morphologies, manifesting a more sensitive response from the lamellar crystals with not so perfect crystalline forms, while the green emission of Tb(III) turns down conversely. This clarifies an unprecedent proof for the differentiated energy transfer (ET) pathway, i.e., triplet ET to Eu(III), while singlet ET to Tb(III) in lanthanide complexes. Furthermore, patterned taggants can be designed from the interweaving of unary and binary Eu/Tb(III) complexes, presenting new optical detecting and encrypting models with pixel-selective responding and methanol vapor detecting capacities.

With the integration of large-scale renewable energy and various new types of loads, the stochastic fluctuation characteristic of the power has seriously affected the secure and stable operation of interconnected power grids. In addition to active power fluctuations of AC tie-lines that have been studied in the past, the problem of dynamic fluctuation of bus voltage is also increasingly prominent. Firstly, the typical power fluctuations of electric railway traction load, smelting load, and wind power generation in modern power systems are presented and the accompanying voltage fluctuations are analyzed. Secondly, the dynamic fluctuation mechanism and distribution characteristic of the system voltage under special forced oscillation and generalized forced oscillation are studied. It is found that when the periodic disturbance induces a special forced oscillation, the voltage fluctuation has the same mode information compared to the power angle fluctuation. And it also has obvious peak characteristics near the natural frequency. When the stochastic disturbance induces generalized forced oscillation, the voltage fluctuations can be decomposed into proportional and resonant components according to its frequency domain characteristic. Finally, the above conclusions are verified by the simulation results of an IEEE 4-generator 2-area system.

OBJECTIVE To assess the diagnostic value of serum Candida mannan antigen (MN) and anti-mannan IgG and IgM antibodies for candidiasis. METHODS This study was a prospective cohort study. Clinical data and venous blood samples from 23 medical centres in Beijing, China were collected between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2018. All collected specimens were tested within one week for serum Candida MN and IgG and IgM antibodies using an ELISA kit. RESULTS A total of 452 patients were enrolled, including 188 patients in the Candida exposure groups (56 patients with Candida bloodstream infection, 69 patients with Candida-positive tracheal aspirate cultures and 63 patients with Candida-positive urine cultures) and 264 patients in the control groups (212 healthy controls and 52 patients with bacteraemia). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of the 56 patients with Candida bloodstream infection and 212 healthy controls showed that serum MN and IgG had good diagnostic value. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) values were 0.812 (95% CI, 0.750-0.873) and 0.866 (95% CI, 0.808-0.924), respectively, wherein the MN specificity and sensitivity were 86.79% and 60.71%, and the IgG were 84.43% and 80.36%, respectively. The AUC of the combination of serum MN and IgG was 0.871(95% CI, 0.813-0.929), and the specificity and sensitivity were 93.87% and 57.14%. CONCLUSIONS The serum levels of Candida MN and its IgG antibody have diagnostic value for Candida bloodstream infection, and combination of MN and IgG can improve diagnostic specificity and may provide a new approach for diagnosis of candidaemia.

Detection of early changes in rotational speed is highly required in on-line process monitoring of industrial manufacturing and numerical controlled machining. This paper proposes a Bag-of-Words (BoW) based feature extraction method that uses vibration signal with such a motivation. Initially, the BoW model is adopted to cluster a prior collection of vibration signals. Then, for a new vibration signal, two strategies: histogram-based encoding (HBE) and embedding-based encoding (EBE), are investigated respectively and comprehensively to encode it based on the BoW model, in order to extract its dynamic characteristic. The entropy is subsequently computed, supporting continuous analysis of dynamic machine status over time. Distance metric is finally adopted to make decision by hypothesis testing. The method is validated with both simulated and real-engineering signals. Results reveal excellent performance by using EBE, coupled with Kolmogorov distance, in the proposed method. Comparison with state-of-the-art competitors demonstrate the priority and robustness of the method.

The explosive growth of machine learning is largely due to the recent advancements in hardware and architecture. The engineering of network structures, taking advantage of the spatial or temporal translational isometry of patterns, naturally leads to bio-inspired, shared-weight structures such as convolutional neural networks, which have markedly reduced the number of free parameters. State-of-the-art microarchitectures commonly rely on weight-sharing techniques, but still suffer from the von Neumann bottleneck of transistor-based platforms. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the in situ training of a five-level convolutional neural network that self-adapts to non-idealities of the one-transistor one-memristor array to classify the MNIST dataset, achieving similar accuracy to the memristor-based multilayer perceptron with a reduction in trainable parameters of ~75% owing to the shared weights. In addition, the memristors encoded both spatial and temporal translational invariance simultaneously in a convolutional long short-term memory network—a memristor-based neural network with intrinsic 3D input processing—which was trained in situ to classify a synthetic MNIST sequence dataset using just 850 weights. These proof-of-principle demonstrations combine the architectural advantages of weight sharing and the area/energy efficiency boost of the memristors, paving the way to future edge artificial intelligence. Memristive devices can provide energy-efficient neural network implementations, but they must be tailored to suit different network architectures. Wang et al. develop a trainable weight-sharing mechanism for memristor-based CNNs and ConvLSTMs, achieving a 75% reduction in weights without compromising accuracy.

The objective of this work was to investigate the effect of boletus polysaccharide (BPS) on diabetic hepatopathy in streptozotocin (STZ)–induced type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) rats for the first time. The rats were fed with high-fat diet (HFD) for 4 weeks and induced with STZ by a single intraperitoneal injection to develop T2DM model. The HFD was given continually for another 4 weeks after diabetes induction, following the drugs of BPS (400 mg/kg bw/day) infused to stomach of rats once a day. After the administration, blood was drawn from the posterior orbital venous plexus of the inner canthus and the rats were then sacrificed. The blood glucose and lipid, alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) were detected immediately. Besides, their livers were dissected for biochemical and histopathological assays. And the levels of malonaldehyde, glutathione and antioxidant enzymes in liver were detected. In addition, histopathological examinations of liver were performed to verify the liver injury. The expressions of NF-κB, TNF-α, SREBP1c, and CYP7A1 were test to trace out the mechanistic pathways. Compared with T2DM model group, the blood glucose, TC, TG, ALT, AST, and MDA and so on were significantly reduced, and CAT, SOD, GSH, GPx were significantly increased in the rats treated with BPS. The histopathological examination showed the liver injury in BPS treated rats was alleviated. The expressions of SREBP1c, NF-κB and TNF-α were significantly decreased, and the expressions of CYP7A1 was significantly increased. All these experimental findings demonstrate that BPS exhibited antidiabetic effects rats possibly through its inhibition of oxidative stress and inflammation, supporting that BPS has a promising therapeutic effect in the treatment of diabetic hepatopathy in rats.

Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disease of continuous progress and environmental factors may affect the progress. COPD patients' activity tolerance and quality of life are associated with air quality. COPD exacerbation from the perspective of geographical air quality has not been reported. Objectives To explore environmental effect of two different geographical places on COPD exacerbation and the effect of cigarette smoke extract and carbon particles on bronchial epithelial cell viability. Methods Total 139 COPD patients, who lived in Beijing during summer and temporarily migrated to Sanya city in winter, have been enrolled. Respiratory symptoms and lung function data were collected when they were living in Beijing or Sanya, respectively. Effect of cigarette smoke extract plus ultrafine carbon particles on airway epithelial cells were studied. Measurements and main results Air pollution as measured by air quality index (AQI) in Beijing summer (113.1±14.2) was significantly worse than that in Sanya winter (49.4±8.9, p

Reinforced concrete (RC) is one of the most commonly used construction materials. However, impact and blast loads could completely destroy RC structures, causing tremendous casualties and property losses. Therefore, analyzing the damage mechanism and dynamic behaviour of RC structures under blast loading is significant. This paper presents a study on the behaviour of RC slabs subjected to air and underwater contact detonation. Two RC slabs were tested under real blast loads. One was tested under air contact explosion of 210 g TNT, the other was tested subjected to underwater contact explosion of 6 g TNT. Damage evolution and damage mechanism of the RC slabs subjected to the air and underwater contact explosions are investigated by using high-fidelity numerical models. The damage patterns obtained from the numerical models match well with those of the tests. The effect of experimental environments on the structural behaviour of the slabs subjected to the underwater explosions is also discussed. The different response of the RC slabs subjected air and underwater explosions with identical charge mass are analyzed contrastively by employing the validated coupled method. The results show that the present model can give a reliable prediction of damage characteristics for RC structures under various blast scenarios. The experimental environments have important influence on the structural response and bubble development. The damage of the RC slabs induced by underwater contact explosion is significantly larger than that caused by air contact blast with equal charge mass.

OBJECTIVE The use of the Pipeline embolization device (PED) for posterior circulation aneurysms is controversial. The aim of this study was to explore the safety and efficacy of PED for these aneurysms in a meta-analysis. Meta-regression was used to identify predictors for incomplete aneurysm occlusion and procedure-related complications. METHODS PubMed, Web of Science, and OVID databases were searched to identify all published references evaluating the treatment effect of PED for posterior circulation aneurysms. Only studies written in English that reported original data and included >10 cases were considered for inclusion. Patient demographics, aneurysm characteristics, angiographic outcomes, and clinical outcomes were extracted. A random-effects model was adopted to pool the obliteration rates and complication rates across selected studies. Finally, we conducted meta-regression analysis to identify predictors of angiographic outcomes. RESULTS 12 studies including 358 patients with 365 aneurysms were included. The pooled complete aneurysm obliteration rate was 82% (95% confidence interval 73%–90%), and pooled procedure-related complication rate was 18% (95% confidence interval 14%–22%). Increasing age predicted incomplete obliteration of aneurysms after PED treatment in these patients (P = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS PED is an alternative to treat intracranial aneurysms of the posterior circulation, achieving high complete occlusion rates, but it is less effective in elderly patients. The risk of procedure-related complications is not negligible. Further larger, long-term follow-up studies are needed before definitive conclusions can be drawn.

This paper presents an improved modeling method for bridge-type mechanism by taking the input displacement loss into consideration, and establishes an amplification ratio model of bridge-type mechanism according to compliance matrix method and elastic beam theory. Moreover, the amplification ratio of the designed bridge-type nano-positioner is obtained by taking the guiding mechanism as the external load of bridge-type mechanism. Comparing with existing methods, the proposed model is more accurate, which is further verified by finite element analysis(FEA) and experimental test. The consistency of the results obtained from theoretical model, FEA and experimental testing indicates that the proposed model can accurately predict the amplification characteristics of nano-positioners, which helps the analysis and design of bridge-type nano-positioners in practical applications.

Columns are the key load-bearing elements in infrastructures. Common cross-section shapes of columns are square and circle. Those columns may be subjected to various blasting scenarios. This paper investigates the effects of cross-section shape on the anti-knock performance of RC columns subjected to air and underwater blast loads. The reliability of the fully coupled Lagrangian-Eulerian numerical model is verified by comparing with the results of the field blast test. The damage characteristics and dynamic response of the RC column with different cross-section shapes subjected to contact and close-in air explosions are investigated. The anti-knock performance of the RC column with different cross-section shapes subjected to contact and close-in underwater explosion is also studied. Nonlinear dynamic response behavior and damage mechanism of the RC column subjected to contact and close-in explosion are compared. The improvement effects of the reinforcement ratio and ultra-high performance concrete on the blast resistance of the underwater RC column are investigated. The results show that the cross-section shape has an important influence on the anti-knock performance of the column, whether subjected to air or underwater explosions. Employing circular cross-section can effectively improve the blast resistance of the column.