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Background Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a multisystem rheumatic disease. Orofacial manifestations are commonly in SSc but maybe usually ignored and overshadowed by other systemic complications. Multiple comparative studies have been conducted to investigate the possible links between SSc and oral manifestations. The present study aimed to investigate the oral health status in patients with SSc. Methods Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched up to July 2020. Following outcomes were evaluated: Probing depth (PD), Attachment loss (AL), Bleeding on probing (BOP), Number or percentage of Sites with PD ≥ 4 mm, Prevalence of periodontitis, Number of teeth, Decayed Teeth, Missing teeth, Filled teeth, DMFT index, and the interincisal distance. Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) were applied for quality assessment. The statistical analysis was processed using the software STATA. Results 11 eligible studies were included. The maximum interincisor distance was significantly restricted in SSc patients (SMD − 1.061; 95 %CI [− 1.546, − 0.576]; Z = 4.29, P = 0.000).The prevalence of Periodontitis (OR 7.007; 95 %CI [3.529, 13.915]; Z = 5.56, P = 0.000), PD (SMD 3.101; 95 %CI [1.374, 4.829]; Z = 3.52, P = 0.000), AL(SMD 2.584; 95 %CI [0.321, 4.846]; Z = 2.24, P = 0.025), sites with PD ≥ 4mm (SMD 2.071 ; 95 %CI [0.267, 3.875]; Z = 2.25, P = 0.024) and the number of decayed teeth (SMD, 0.186; 95 %CI [0.007, 0.365]; Z = 2.04, P = 0.041) were increased significantly in SSc population in comparison with the controls. Conclusions SSc patients have limited mouth opening, higher periodontitis prevalence, and worse periodontal status, as well as an increased number of decayed teeth. Routinely oral hygiene instruction and initial periodontal treatment is recommended for SSc patients.

Background and Objectives: Kangaroo mother care (KMC) benefits preterm infants' health through increasing breastfeeding, but the longitudinal effects of KMC remain unknown. This study investigates ...

A through-plastic-via (TPV) three-dimensional (3D) integration approach is developed to integrate the organic field effect transistor (OFET) circuitry and the sensing/reference electrodes (SE/RE) for flexible bio-chemical sensor chips. Based on this approach, the SE can be fabricated using optimal processes on a different plastic substrate without concern of affecting the OFET part. Taking H+ detection as a proof-of-concept, it is demonstrated that a weak ion response ( $\sim ~7$ mV induced by 0.2 pH) is amplified by 10 times through an integrated OFET common source amplifier. With close integration of the OFET amplifier and the SE, external noise influence can also be suppressed, beneficial for improving signal-to-noise ratio and improving the detection limit.

The advent of Industry 4.0 where humans and intelligent machines coexist, allows machines to assist humans on production lines. During such processes, humans work with other humans and/or machines to produce the required products, forming human-related collaborations. Therefore, Industry 4.0 goes beyond a digital ecosystem by being considered as a System of Information Systems which matches heterogeneous systems. This heterogeneity causes poor information interoperability, weakening the effectiveness of collaboration. This poses an issue: how to facilitate human-related collaborations on production lines into Industry 4.0? Addressing it requires better information interoperability and the definition of indicators that can be used to generate recommendations during collaborations. In this article, we focus on indicators of collaboration context and integrate them into a collaboration context ontology to enhance human-related collaborations into Industry 4.0. We then show how to use it in generating context-aware collaborator recommendations.

Because of structural complexity, a “biosimilar” will not be exactly the same as its reference biologic treatment, but is required to be equivalent in all relevant attributes, including efficacy. T...

A flexible hybrid integration strategy combing both advantages of the silicon chip and the printed polymer sensors is demonstrated for low cost smart packaging with internet-of-things connectivity. In the system, the silicon chip, as the general part, performs wireless energy harvesting, sensor signal acquisition, data processing and transmission through mature standard interfaces. The functions, form factor, and substrate of the printed polymer sensors can be customized according to the packaging requirements. To prove the feasibility, a 13.56 MHz radio frequency identification (RFID) chip with multi-sensor interface is designed and taped out. Ammonia and anti-open sensors are fabricated using the same conducting polymer (PEDOT:PSS) through solution printing processes. After characterization of their performance individually, a flexible smart packaging system is implemented with packed pork by integrating the RFID chip and the sensors onto a packaging film. Both the product quality and the integrity of the packaging are able to be conveniently inspected with a smartphone.

Objective Urinary incontinence is highly prevalent among women, with a substantial effect on health-related quality of life. This article aimed to investigate the independent factors for urinary incontinence (UI) and the relative importance of each factor. Methods This study was a cross-sectional survey of Chinese women in Guangzhou. Female 20 years and older were invited to participate. The International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Urinary Incontinence Short Form was used to determine whether respondents are experiencing UI. Univariate and multivariate unconditional logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the significant risk factors associated with UI. Results A total of 2626 women were invited to participate in the survey. The response rate was 80.5% (2114/2626). The prevalence of UI among the study population was 31.2%. Old age, increased body mass index, childbirth, family history of any female pelvic floor disorders, symptoms of chronic cough or rhinitis, wearing a corset, and often drinking were independent risk factors for UI. Conclusions Urinary incontinence is common among Chinese women in Guangzhou. Among the factors that we are concerned with, old age and vaginal delivery are the two with greatest impact. Moreover, wearing a corset and drinking are the 2 lifestyle factors associated with UI.

This paper presents the fabrication of novel flexible sensors from metalized polymer films and their subsequent utilization for environmental applications. Polyethylene terephthalate films coated with thin-film of aluminum was used as a singular material to form the sensor patches. Optimization was done on the laser parameters to form laser-inscribed interdigitated electrodes on the aluminum side of the polymer films. The sensors were then used to detect the presence of sulfate ions in the water samples. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was used to detect the resistive and reactive changes with respect to the corresponding changes in the concentration of the tested solutions. Experiments were conducted using five different concentrations ranging between 0.1 ppm and 1000 ppm. The sensitivity, limit of detection and response time of the salts were 0.874 Ω/ppm, 0.1 ppm and one second, respectively. The repeatability of the sensors was also tested to validate their responses for the target analyte. An optimal frequency was chosen to form an IoT-based system that consisted of an impedance analyzer AD 5933, Wi-Fi embedded Arduino and 2:1 multiplexer ADG849. The interfacing of the microcontroller-sensed data was also done with the cloud server to showcase the potentiality of the developed systems as portable devices for real-time applications. Published version

The problem of the aging of the world's population is becoming more and more serious. Home care based on the Internet of Things technology is one of the solutions to the problem of elderly living alone. Elderly emotion recognition is an important challenge facing smart home care. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a deep learning based emotion recognition framework for the elderly living alone, composed of four deep learning networks, of which three deep learning networks process speech, text, and image data respectively. These data come from companion robots deployed in elderly homes is used as input data for the fourth deep learning network. Through the training of the annotated data set, an elderly emotion recognition model that can handle heterogeneous data (i.e., voice, text, and image data) is obtained.

The segmentation of sensor data plays an important role in the Recognition of the activities of daily living. In this paper, we summarize the state of the art of data stream segmentation in the past five years and divide them into four categories, i.e., change point detection based method, semantics based method, window based method, and deep learning-based methods. The summary shows that there are relatively few studies on segmentation using deep learning methods. Besides, there is a lack of a general platform, which can be used in comparing different methods.

This study aimed to investigate the influence of serum folate, vitamin B12 (VitB12) levels, and inflammation-based scores on the motor performance status in Parkinson's disease (PD). We retrospectively collected data from 148 consecutive patients with idiopathic PD first admitted to our hospital. We measured whole blood count, albumin, lactate dehydrogenase, C-reactive protein, folate, and VitB12 levels and calculated the inflammation-based scores. The following scales were applied to assess the motor performance status: activity of daily living scale (ADL, the Barthel Index), the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale Part III (UPDRS-III), and Hoehn–Yahr (H–Y) classification. The geometric mean of folate and VitB12 levels were 11.87 (ng/ml) and 330.52 (pmol/L), respectively. Folate deficiency (serum level < 4.0 ng/ml) and VitB12 deficiency (serum level < 133 pg/ml) were present in 0.7 and 5.4% of the patients, respectively. The mean prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) were 47.78 ± 4.42 and 470.81 ± 254.05, respectively. The multivariate analyses showed that serum VitB12 level (P = 0.002) and SII (P = 0.005) were significant factors for ADL score; serum folate (P = 0.027) and VitB12 (P = 0.037) levels for UPDRS-III score; and serum folate (P = 0.066) and VitB12 (P = 0.017) levels for H–Y classification. The elevated folate level did correlate with greater decline in UPDRS-III score (P = 0.023) and H–Y classification (P = 0.003), whereas there was an obvious increase in ADL score (P = 0.048). SII was negatively associated (P < 0.001) with the ADL score. The three-dimensional drawing, combined with the effect of folate and VitB12 levels, showed that the lowest level of folate was associated with the lowest ADL score and the highest UPDRS-III score and H–Y classification. This study indicates that serum folate, VitB12 levels, and SII are significant factors influencing the motor performance status in patients with PD. SII is negatively associated with ADL. Elevated serum folate level correlates with mild motor impairment in patients with PD.

Two narrow-bandgap block conjugated polymers with a (D1-A1)-(D2-A2) backbone architecture, namely PBDB-T-b-PIDIC2T and PBDB-T-b-PTY6, are designed and synthesized for single-component organic solar cells (SCOSCs). Both polymers contain same donor polymer, PBDB-T, but different polymerized nonfullerene molecule acceptors. Compared to all previously reported materials for SCOSCs, PBDB-T-b-PIDIC2T and PBDB-T-b-PTY6 exhibit narrower bandgap for better light harvesting. When incorporated into SCOSCs, the short-circuit current density (Jsc ) is significantly improved to over 15 mA cm-2 , together with a record-high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.64%. Moreover, these block copolymers exhibit low energy loss due to high charge transfer (CT) states (Ect ) plus small non-radiative loss (0.26 eV), and improved stability under both ambient condition and continuous 80 °C thermal stresses for over 1000 h. Determination of the charge carrier dynamics and film morphology in these SCOSCs reveals increased carrier recombination, relative to binary bulk-heterojunction devices, which is mainly due to reduced ordering of both donor and acceptor fragments. The close structural relationship between block polymers and their binary counterparts also provides an excellent framework to explore further molecular features that impact the photovoltaic performance and boost the state-of-the-art efficiency of SCOSCs.

This paper investigates the scheduling strategies for the virtual power plant (VPP) considering different development stages of the electricity market. Firstly, the operation models are formulated to characterize the aggregated components of VPP, including the distributed photovoltaic (PV), wind turbines, demand resources (DRs), electric vehicles (EV) and combined heat and power (CHP) unit as well as conventional units. Next, different operating frameworks have been proposed in order to derive the scheduling strategies of VPP for different development stages of the electricity market. Specifically, a price taker-based scheduling model is developed for VPP during the early stage of market construction. For the mature stage of market development, a bi-level framework is introduced to simulate the bidding and scheduling strategies of VPP acting as active participates. Moreover, the bi-level framework is further recast as a solvable problem. The proposed method is capable to characterize the scheduling strategies of VPP in different stages of market development.

During COVID-19 outbreak hospitals were congested and infliximab was interrupted. Thus, we performed this observational study to understand the consequent burden of complications in these special cluster of psoriatic patients. We followed up 56 psoriatic patients who were receiving Infliximab treatment by telephone. The majority of patients had lesions exacerbation, accompanied by anxiety emotion. It is suggested that reserving common drugs for psoriasis at home is necessary. Besides, telemedicine should be advocated as a main medical visit mode during the outbreak of COVID-19.

Integrating various collaborative tools, a web-based Collaborative Working Environment can support collaborations between users. In collaborative processes, many resources are produced and stored distributively within these tools. This raises an issue: how to organize these resources in a Collaborative Working Environment. In our research, we intend to consider a Collaborative Working Environment as an ontology-based collaborative System of Information Systems and apply a collaboration context ontology for managing resources and generating resource recommendations to users. In this paper, we present a prototype of such environments and show how it can be used.

Web-based Collaborative Working Environments intend to support collaborations between users by integrating and offering different collaborative tools. However, this makes it difficult for users to manage and find useful resources to advance their collaborations, which are stored distributively within these tools. This raises an issue: how to manage these resources and identify useful ones for users. In our research, we intend to consider a web-based Collaborative Working Environment as an ontology-based System of Information Systems and to apply a collaboration context ontology that can manage and recommend resources to users within the context of collaboration. In this paper, we present a prototype of such environments and show how context-aware resource recommendations can be generated.

Background: The IL-23/17 axis plays central role in the pathogenesis of several immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs). IL-23/17 antagonists showed significant improvement in the treatment for psoriasis and other IMIDs, including psoriasis(PSO), psoriatic arthritis(PsA), rheumatoid arthritis(RA) and ankylosing spondylitis(AS).Objective: To assess the safety of IL-23/17 antagonists therapy on patients with psoriasis and other IMIDs.Methods: Pooled analysis from thirty-nine placebo-controlled randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of IL-23/17 axis antagonists for IMIDs. Incidences of adverse events (AEs), serious adverse events (SAEs) and AEs of interest were applied to evaluate the safety profile.Result: A Total of 15967 patients were exposed to IL-23/17 axis antagonists. The proportions of patients suffered at least one AE in antagonists group and placebo-control group are 67.5% and 51.1% respectively. Incidence of SAE was increased in patients treated with IL-23/17 axis antagonists compared to patients given placebo (relative risk 2.03; 95% CI, 1.62, 2.56). Incidence of AEs of interest were all increased in patients treated with IL-23/17 axis antagonists compared to patients given placebo.Conclusion: In this analysis, we found increased risk of AEs, SAEs, nervous system disorder, cardiovascular disorder and hypertension among patients with IMIDs treated with IL-23/17 axis antagonists.

Thin and flexible sensors directly attached on the skin surface or cloths for real-time monitoring of diverse human physiological signals and body motions have attracted wide attention for applications in wearable healthcare and patient rehabilitation [1, 2]. For example, as illustrated in Fig. 1, with the strain and pressure sensors, various physiological signals related to health conditions and body motions can be monitored [3, 4]. To be able to detect these different physical signals in real time, the sensors need to achieve the required limit of detection, detection range, and sensitivity with fast enough response and recovery. For long-term wearable applications, biocompatibility with human skin, low power consumption, and durability of sensing performance are also key prerequisites. Another important feature, which would determine wide adoption of the sensors, is being imperceptible when they are worn on the human body. For that, the sensors need to be ultrathin, light, and of low Young’s modulus. Moreover, in some application cases (e.g., sensors on exposed parts of the skin), transparency or semitransparency is preferred for the sensors to be invisible [5]. Currently, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer is the popularly used base material for constructing various kinds of pressure and strain sensors due to its excellent flexible and elastic properties, biomedical compliance with human tissues, and commercial availability [6–9]. With external pressure or strain being applied, the induced mechanical structure deformation of PDMS (e.g., length or film thickness) results in changes of the resistance or capacitance of the fabricated devices to measure the applied stimuli [10, 11]. Therefore, the sensing performance is determined by the mechanical properties of the elastomer film. Unsatisfactorily, the bulk PDMS film, having a modulus of ∼1 MPa, cannot generate large enough structure deformation to be converted to detectable signal changes under weak pressure or strain forces [12]. Structuring the PDMS films to reduce the modulus for improved sensitivity has become a research hotspot [6, 13–18]. On the other hand, to obtain light and imperceptible sensors, processes and designs of making devices on ultrathin PDMS film are needed [19].

Sensor devices using different poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) based active layers were fabricated with all solution processes. It was found the devices of pristine PEDOT:PSS presented high response to humidity change, but little response to ammonia (NH3). In contrast, the DMSO doped PEDOT:PSS devices were nearly insensitive to humidity change, and exhibited significantly improved responsivity to NH3. Incorporation of AgNWs into the DMSO doped PEDOT:PSS film further enhanced the responsivity to NH3, while maintaining insensitivity to humidity changes. The mechanisms for such different sensing properties were revealed. Finally, the fabricated NH3 and humidity sensors using different PEDOT:PSS based films were integrated with a near field communication (NFC) chip to realize a flexible system, which was able to be attached on the packaging film for monitoring the meat freshness, with the sensing data being read out wirelessly by a smart phone.

Posaconazole is a broad-spectrum antibacterial drug for the treatment of invasive fungal infections. However, its clinical usage is limited by a lot of adverse reactions such as diarrhea. S-allylmercaptocysteine (SAMC), a garlic organosulfur compound, has a strong antioxidative and anti-inflammatory activity. This study aimed to examine the protective effects of SAMC on posaconazole-induced adverse effects. Mice were treated with the blank control, enteric coated posaconazole microparticles (POS group) and its combination with SAMC (Combination group). Oxidative stress markers, antioxidative activities and histological changes in the study mice were investigated. We found that the percentage of mice diarrhea was reduced by 20% in the combination group after administration for 1 week. The results reveal that the levels of TNF-α (p < 0.05), IL-1β (p < 0.01) and IL-6 (p < 0.01) in the serum of the POS group were significantly higher compared to the control group while the combination group decreased the POS-induced cytokine elevations (p < 0.05). The MDA content in colon tissues of the POS group increased distinctly (p < 0.01) compared with the control group. The combination groups dosed with the low and high strengths of SAMC decreased the MDA level about 20% and 30%, respectively, compared to the POS group. The histopathological results display that the colonic tissues of the combination groups had significant improvement in mucosal adhesions and inflammatory infiltration versus the POS group. Briefly, SAMC could alleviate the POS-induced adverse reactions by the mechanisms of antioxidation and anti-inflammation.

Background The neuroprotective effects of kallidinogenase against acute cerebral infarction have been demonstrated, and the use of microbubbles has been suggested as a therapeutic mechanism for drug delivery. This study was designed to investigate the optimal parameters for preparing kallidinogenase-loaded microbubbles (KLMs) and to evaluate the effects of KLM-targeted therapy on neurogenesis and angiogenesis following experimental acute cerebral infarction in rats. Materials and Methods KLMs were prepared by mechanical shaking. Male Wistar rats were randomly divided into an ultrasound-mediated KLM-treated group and 4 control groups. Treatments were administered via daily tail vein injection on 6 consecutive days, starting at 24 hours after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). The ultrasound-treated groups were subjected to a 2-MHz pulse of ultrasonic irradiation on the lateral skull of the ischemic side for 10 minutes during injection. Cell proliferation was examined using a 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine assay. Infarct volume and neurological function were evaluated on days 3 and 7 after MCAO. Results The ultrasound-mediated KLM and kallidinogenase treatments significantly increased the numbers of doublecortin-immunoreactive cells in the subventricular zone (SVZ) and laminin+ cells in the peri-infarction region on day 7 after MCAO, compared with the other 3 groups (all P Conclusions Treatment with the ultrasound-mediated KLMs promoted the proliferation of SVZ neuroblasts and vascular regeneration, which contributed to functional improvement after stroke. These findings provide a novel therapy for ischemic stroke.

Piezoelectric inkjet printing is used for fabricating poly (3,4-ethylene-dioxythiophene):poly (styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) ammonia (NH3) sensors; it has the advantages of drop-on-demand maskless manufacturing, great material saving, and compatibility with large area flexible substrates. Different from previous research efforts on forming line structures of smooth surface and even edge, this article shows that the inkjet-printed PEDOT:PSS line structures with nonideal morphology of scalloped edges can bring benefits of improved sensitivity. By simply controlling the drop spacing, narrower and thinner local regions are formed between adjacent ink drops in the fabricated line structures. Adsorption of NH3 gas molecules onto any of these regions, causing hole depletion, can significantly affect the carrier transport, thus improving sensitivity. Inkjet-printed PEDOT:PSS sensors present obviously improved response compared to the spin-coated ones. Compared to that of devices with smooth and straight lines, the responsivity of the devices at a drop spacing of 40m is improved by nearly threefold.

Graphical abstract, With the outbreak and rapid spread of COVID-19, the world health situation is unprecedentedly severe. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a common autoimmune disease, which can cause multiple organ damage. Numerous studies have shown that immune factors have important roles in the pathogenesis of both COVID-19 and SLE. In the early stages of COVID-19 and SLE pathogenesis, IFN-α expression is frequently increased, which aggravates the virus infection and promotes SLE development. In addition, increased IL-6 levels, caused by different mechanisms, are observed in the peripheral blood of patients with severe COVID-19 and SLE, stimulating a series of immune cascades that lead to a cytokine storm, as well as causing B cell hyperfunction and production of numerous of antibodies, aggravating both COVID-19 and SLE. In this review, we explore the background immunopathological mechanisms in COVID-19 and SLE and analyze the advantages and disadvantages of commonly used SLE drugs for patients with COVID-19, to optimize treatment plans for patients with SLE who develop COVID-19.

Renewable energy generation (REG) based on wind power and photovoltaic has become the main energy supply for the low-carbon energy transformation in China. It is an important task to guarantee the accommodation of renewable energy through the market-based mechanism. However, due to the uncertainty of REG output, the integration of a high proportion of renewable energy into power grids may bring risks to the electricity price. On the basis, this paper incorporates the guaranteed consumption of wind power and photovoltaic renewable energy into the electricity market clearing model and proposes a price risk assessment method. Firstly, the scenario generation algorithm is established to describe the uncertainty of REG output, and a representative set of limited scenarios is generated. Secondly, the clearing model of electricity market with renewable energy participation and the calculation method of nodal price are established. Then, the price risk indexes are proposed to assess the price risk caused by renewable energy uncertainty. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by the modified IEEE30 bus system. The findings could guide the participation of REG in the electricity market.

Social network sites (SNSs) have been found to be closely associated with responses to social exclusion and to impact people with high or low levels of social anxiety in different ways. Our study tested whether social anxiety, an individual difference variable, affected the association between SNSs and responses to social exclusion. A Cyberball game was conducted to create social exclusion, followed by a waiting period during which participants were observed to see whether they would choose to use SNSs. Afterwards, recovery from participants' negative responses to exclusion was measured. Results showed that using SNSs benefited the highly socially anxious (HSA) group in terms of recovering from disconnection and feeling a sense of meaningful existence more than the low socially anxious (LSA) group. However, recovery from disconnection was lower for LSA individuals who used SNSs than those who did not use SNSs. Our research suggests that SNSs benefited HSA individuals after social exclusion, but hindered the recovery of LSA individuals.

Gastric cancer remains as a common lethal malignancy worldwide. Developing novel anti-gastric cancer drugs with minimal side effects is necessary to address this public health issue. S-allylmercaptocysteine (SAMC), one of the water-soluble organosulfur garlic derivatives, has been demonstrated as a suppressive agent against tumors. In this study, we examined the effect of SAMC on human gastric carcinoma growth in vivo and explored the underlying mechanism. Human gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells were inoculated subcutaneously in BALB/c nude mice. When xenograft tumors reached about 100 mm3, mice were treated with SAMC for 30 days. We observed that SAMC administration in mice effectively delayed the growth of SGC-7901 xenografts without signs of toxicity. TUNEL staining confirmed that the tumors from SAMC-treated mice exhibited a markedly higher apoptotic index. Mechanistic studies suggested that this activity may arise from its effects on the caspase activation and modulation of MAPK and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways. Taken together, these data support development of SAMC as a potential agent for gastric cancer therapy.

Diallyl trisulfide (DATS), a garlic organosulfide, has shown excellent chemopreventive potential. Cisplatin (DDP) is widely used to treat solid malignant tumors, but causing serious side effects. In the current study, we attempted to elucidate the chemopreventive mechanisms of DATS in human gastric cancer BGC-823 cells in vitro, and to investigate whether DATS could enhance the anti-tumor efficacy of DDP and improve quality of life in BGC-823 xenograft mice in vivo. Treatment with DATS (25–400 μmol/L) dose-dependently inhibited the viability of BGC-823 cells in vitro with an IC50 of 115.2±4.3 μmol/L after 24 h drug exposure. DATS (50–200 μmol/L) induced cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase in BGC-823 cells, which correlated with significant accumulation of cyclin A2 and B1. DATS also induced BGC-823 cell apoptosis, which was accompanied by the modulation of Bcl-2 family members and caspase cascade activation. In BGC-823 xenograft mice, administration of DATS (20–40 mg·kg−1·d−1, ip) dose-dependently inhibited tumor growth and markedly reduced the number of Ki-67 positive cells in tumors. Interestingly, combined administration of DATS (30 mg·kg−1·d−1, ip) with DDP (5 mg/kg, every 5 d, ip) exhibited enhanced anti-tumor activity with fewer side effects. We showed that treatment of BGC-823 cells with DATS in vitro and in vivo significantly activated kinases such as p38 and JNK/MAPK and attenuated the Nrf2/Akt pathway. This study provides evidence that DATS exerts anticancer effects and enhances the antitumor efficacy of DDP, making it a novel candidate for adjuvant therapy for gastric cancer.

A 43-year-old woman presented with a 4-day history of right limb weakness. While biking 4 days earlier, she felt a weakness in her right hand and leg. She had a history of hypertension for more than 2 years, and was taking extended-release nifedipine tablets (40 mg) and perindopril (4 mg) daily, but her blood pressure was difficult to control (fluctuations of 150–180/90–115 mm Hg). The patient did not smoke or drink alcohol, and had no family history of similar diseases. The authors thank Dr. Haiyan Lou and Dr. Xiaodong Teng for their contributions.

The paper reports some of the essential works done on the utilization of sensors for the detection of food intake. Due to the health problems currently faced by the modern world, the detection of food intake has become one of the essential sectors where the researchers are getting invested. Because of the alteration in food quality, the imbalance caused in life due to personal and professional pressure, and transmission of new diseases as epidemics, the knowledge about the amount of food intake and time taken to consume the same has become essential to maintain a healthy life. Wearable and non-wearable sensors hold a pivotal role in monitoring the activities associated with food intake due to their quick response, simple operating principle, and the ability to provide instant feedback to the individual. This paper exhibits certain experiments done by the researchers using sensing prototypes to monitor individuals eating food under controlled conditions. It compares certain prototypes attached to the different parts of the body, as well as explains some of the challenges related to the current sensors. Finally, the current and future market survey is also outlined in the paper.

In order to study the spatiotemporal features of urban centre residents during peak hours during workdays and rest days, based on taxi on and off location information and urban points of interest data, a Geographic Information System (GIS) Kernel density estimation (KED) is used. Combined with the K-means clustering algorithm, the peak hours of residents ‘travel and hotspot areas for boarding and alighting are identified, and the strength of the interaction between residents in each area is analysis using the structured Georgy Voronoi, and the spatiotemporal features of residents’ travel are summarized.

Nocardia usually manifests as opportunistic infections in immunocompromised hosts. Here, we report a rare case of an immunocompetent patient with lymphocutaneous nocardiosis. The patient was a 34-y...

Working collaboratively is no longer an issue but a reality, what matters today is how to implement collaboration so that it is as successful as possible. It is therefore necessary to consider the criteria to be taken into account to promote its effectiveness. As part of our work, we are interested in taking into account the collaboration context for this purpose and the role that contact can take in this context. We wondered about its definition, representation and exploitation. The latter must be able to be done at different stages of collaboration: before, during and after. In this article, we present the collaboration context model that we have established and show why and how it can be used to establish successful collaboration.

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging high-fatality infectious disease caused by a novel phlebovirus belonging to the Bunyaviridae family. Thus, the independent predictors of death in this disease must be identified to improve the survival of affected patients. A total of 25 hospitalized patients with SFTS virus infection were enrolled in our study, and their medical records and laboratory data were reviewed. The risk factors for death were examined by binary logistic regression. The patient age was significantly higher in the deceased cases than in those who recovered (P = .020). Moreover, the occurrence of shock, respiratory failure, hemorrhagic manifestations, kidney dysfunction, and arrhythmia was significantly more common in the deceased cases than in the recovered cases (P = .016, P = .004, P = .005, P = .002, P = .038). Univariate binary logistic regression showed that shock, arrhythmia, and hemorrhage, as well as PCT, serum creatinine (Scr), and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) elevations, were the risk factors for death (odds ratio, OR 28.5, P = .015; OR 13.5, P = .027; OR 36, P = .008; OR 28.5, P = .015; OR 36, P = .008; and OR 76.0, P = .004). However, the BUN increase was the only independent risk factor for death indicated by multivariate logistic regression (OR 76.0, P = .004). SFTS presents with a high fatality rate. When patients with SFTS manifest shock, arrhythmia, hemorrhage, PCT increase, and Scr and BUN elevations, especially BUN > 8.2 μmol/L, health care providers should be alerted and must administer early intervention to prevent the progress to death.

A printable device structure design is introduced to fabricate low voltage organic field effect transistor (OFET) of steep subthreshold (80 mV/dec) using thick gate dielectric layers and high throughput printing/coating processes. The device design also bring benefit on excellent bias stress stability. The device is shown to able to be biased in the subthreshold regime with near zero gate voltage for low power and high sensitivity detection of both small H+ concentration (

ObjectiveThe effect of polyomavirus infection in HSCT recipients is poorly understood.MethodsWe evaluated 38 HSCT recipients. Polyomavirus was detected by nested qualitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays of urine. The risk factors for BK virus and JC virus were analysed. The kidney and liver functions of infected and uninfected patients were compared.ResultsBK virus, JC virus, and simian virus 40 were detected in 21%, 42%, and 0% of HSCT recipients respectively. HCMV infection was found to be an independent risk factor for JC virus infection (odds ratio (OR): 8.528), while transplants with mismatched HLA are more susceptible to BK virus infection (OR: 12.000). Liver function of JC virus-infected subjects was worse than that of uninfected subjects.ConclusionWe must be vigilant for opportunistic polyomavirus infections in HSCT recipients, especially those with HCMV co-infection or a mismatched HLA transplant. When unexplained liver function deterioration is observed, JC virus infection should be considered.

Ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors were fabricated with low temperature (

This study was aimed to investigate the anti-tumor, anti-metastasis and immunomodulatory effects of Yifei Tongluo (YFTL), a Chinese herbal formula, in Lewis lung carcinoma mice and to explore the underlying mechanisms. LLC cells were inoculated subcutaneously in C57BL/6 mice to establish the Lewis lung carcinoma model. We observed that YFTL effectively inhibited tumor growth and prolonged the overall survival of tumor-bearing mice. Additionally, YFTL treatment resulted in a significantly decreased number of surface lung metastatic lesions compared with the model control group. Meanwhile, TUNEL staining confirmed that the tumors from YFTL-treated mice exhibited a markedly higher apoptotic index. The results suggest that Akt and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPKs) pathways may be involved in YFTL-induced apoptosis. The results show that YFTL also inhibited the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-2, MMP-9, N-cadherin, and Vimentin expression, but increased E-cadherin expression. Mechanistic studies indicated that YFTL could suppress the angiogenesis and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of the tumor through Akt/ERK1/2 and TGF&beta, 1/Smad2 pathways. In addition, YFTL also showed immunomodulatory activities in improving the immunosuppressive state of tumor-bearing mice. Therefore, our findings could support the development of YFTL as a potential antineoplastic agent and a potentially useful anti-metastatic agent for lung carcinoma therapy.

Garlic has shown versatile medicinal activities in the prevention and treatment of diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, no individual garlic bioactive components have yet been determined in the COPD treatment effects. In this work, S-allylmercapto-l-cysteine (SAMC) identified in the aged garlic was selected as a model compound to determine its COPD therapeutic potential. The COPD model was established by using lipopolysaccharides (LPS) to stimulate the human airway submucosal gland cell line SPC-A1. Previous studies show that both MUC5AC up-regulation and AQP5 down-regulation play an important role in viscous COPD mucus secretions. The modulation effects of SAMC on LPS-induced MUC5AC and AQP5 productions in SPC-A1 cells were then evaluated. Pretreatment of the SPC-A1 cells with SAMC attenuated MUC5AC secretion and increased AQP5 expression in a dose-dependent manner in the non-cytotoxic concentration range of 20 to 100μM. Mechanistic studies suggested that SAMC could suppress the accumulation of MUC5AC mRNA and inhibit IкBα degradation and NF-кB p65 translocation. These results suggest that SAMC could be a promising candidate in the prevention and treatment of MUC5AC-associated disorders such as COPD.

Background Research suggests physical activity is linked to obesity. Further, the physical activity of healthy parents and their children is associated with each other. However, this relationship has not been examined in obese parents and their obese children. Methods The purpose of this study was to compare the physical activity and sedentary time of obese, low-income, ethnic minority parents and their children on weekdays and weekend days using accelerometry. Data were obtained from eight rural sites in the middle and eastern part of North Carolina (N.C.), United States (U.S.) from 2007-2010 using a rolling enrollment. One hundred and ninety-nine obese parents (94 % female) and their obese children (54 % female) wore accelerometers simultaneously for three weekdays and one weekend day. Total physical activity, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time and proportions were determined. Results Parents’ and children’s total physical activity and MVPA levels were lower on weekend days than weekdays. Total counts per minute for children on weekdays and weekend days were greater than for parents (p 0.13). Discussion Since physical activity levels of obese parents and their obese child are somewhat related, especially on weekend days, combined parent-child obesity programs focused on reducing sedentary time could be beneficial, particularly for the child. Conclusion In conclusion, this study of the physical activity levels of obese parents and their obese children found some relationships between the parents’ and children’s physical activity and sedentary behavior patterns, especially on weekend days. Trial registration NCT01378806 .

This paper chooses 11 personal characteristics of fund managers in China’s fund market and classifies them into four categories: physiological characteristics, educational background, professional experience and professional skills. Then, the paper uses DEA model and threshold panel model to study influences of fund managers’ personal characteristics on fund performance in China’s fund market. In this paper, the model of input-oriented DEA is used to calculate super efficiency DEA which measures fund performance. Empirical findings show that number of working days, years of being fund manager, number of funds held, master’s degree or doctorate degree, MBA degree, overseas study experience and the fund’s performance, has significant positive impact on fund performance, while age is negatively correlated with fund performance. In addition, the availability of professional skills such as CPA and CFA and the absence of major in business have no significant effect on fund performance.

Soft conductive films composed of a silver nanowire (AgNW) network, a neutral-pH PEDOT:PSS over-coating layer and a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer substrate are fabricated by large area compatible coating processes. The neutral-pH PEDOT:PSS layer is shown to be able to significantly improve the conductivity, stretchability and air stability of the conductive films. The soft conductive films are patterned using a simple maskless patterning approach to fabricate an 8 × 8 flexible pressure sensor array. It is shown that such soft conductive films can help to improve the sensitivity and reduce the signal crosstalk over the pressure sensor array.

In this paper, the forwarding objective and the mobility law of nodes in opportunistic networks are investigated to establish a mathematical model for further analysis, and then a new data forwarding algorithm is proposed. In this algorithm, according to the distance between the data holders and the destination, some intermediate nodes are selected to relay the data. Especially, the forwarding copies will be increased when the forwarding delay has reached a threshold, and thus the delivery ratio can be guaranteed. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can effectively reduce the storage occupancies of nodes, reduce the forwarding delay, and guarantee the delivery ratio.

We report a ZnO interfacial layer based on an environmentally friendly aqueous precursor for organic photovoltaics. Inverted PCDTBT devices based on this precursor show power conversion efficiencies of 6.8–7%. Unencapsulated devices stored in air display prolonged lifetimes extending over 200 hours with less than 20% drop in efficiency compared to devices based on the standard architecture.

An integration approach by laminating the thin-film transistor (TFT) backplane with the normal structure organic light emitting diode (OLED) front plane is proposed for active matrix OLED (AMOLED) displays. With this approach, top-emitting AMOLEDs driven by n-type TFTs can be realized by using the state-of-the-art normal structure OLED technologies without needs of introducing any new processes. To demonstrate this approach, simple solution processed low voltage (< 3V) ZnO TFTs and low voltage (< 3V) bottom emission OLEDs were fabricated and used in the integration to achieve low power operation.

Highly conductive, uniform, and transparent nitrogen-doped graphene multilayer films were produced by a layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly method. Such a technique was realized by alternate deposition of graphene oxide modified with the cationic surfactant N,N,N-trimethyl-1-dodecanaminium bromide (CTAB) and the anionic surfactant sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate. In this way, we can achieve a highly conductive (900 S/cm), uniform, and controllable graphene film in terms of thickness, transmittance, and sheet resistance after high-temperature reduction. The improved conductivity is attributed to better graphitization and nitrogen-doping introduced by CTAB. The organic light-emitting diode using such a multilayer graphene film fabricated by the LbL method as an anode obtains higher current density and luminance at low voltage compared to that with an indium-tin oxide (ITO) anode. Moreover, the current efficiency of graphene-based device is comparable to that of an ITO-based device. It is proved that such a nitrogen-doped multilayer graphene film developed by the LbL assembly technique is a promising candidate for a transparent electrode in organic electronics.

To cultivate students' ability to use the pharmacology principles in medical practice, case-oriented self-learning and review has partly replaced lecture-based teaching in our pharmacology course. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of an innovative teaching model in pharmacology teaching on the performance of medical undergraduates.A total of 185 third-year medical students participated in the study in 2011 and 2012. The students were randomized into the study group (case-oriented self-learning and review) and control group (traditional lecture-based teaching). Examination performances between the students in the 2 groups were compared, and questionnaires were designed for both the students participating in the study group and the teachers to assess the new teaching method.Mid-term examination performances in 2011 and 2012 were significantly better for the students in the study group than those in the control group (P0.01). On the final examination in 2011, significantly more students received an assessment of "excellent" in the study group than in the control group (P0.05). Moreover, students in the study group performed better than those in the control group on the final examination in 2012. The data from the questionnaires indicated that both teachers and students in the study group generally held positive attitudes toward the innovative teaching model.Case-oriented self-learning and review can improve students' internalization of basic pharmacological principles and provide a greater opportunity for self-study and collaborative study. The examination composition can affect the efficacy of the assessment of problem solving abilities.

A novel signal conditioning circuit for piezoresistive pressure sensor is introduced in this chapter. The applied pressure is measured by Wheatstone bridge which can reduce the bad influence of the temperature. The circuit structure consisting of two operational amplifiers and three D/A converters is used to solve the problems about small output and temperature effects on output of piezoresistive pressure sensor. All sensor parameters are fully programmable and on-chip stored using integrated memory. Due to its architecture, the proposed circuit is easy to fabricate and realize. Simulation result shows that the total system error can be reduced to less than 1.8 % in a temperature range of 0–85 °C by means of the signal conditioning circuit at a 5 V power supply.

In the present study, we investigated the effect of lipoxin A4 on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) following cardiac arrest (CA) in a rabbit model. Lipoxin A4 is a metabolite of arachidonic acid in the eicosanoid, it is called "brake signal" for its anti-inflammatory activity. Some inflammatory factors (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-10), NF-κB p65, infarct ratios, apoptotic index, cardiac troponin I (cTnI), hemodynamic and myocardial structures were measured or observed in different groups. Lipoxin A4 inhibits the expression of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α, the values of the infarct ratios, apoptotic index, the level of serum cTnI and NF-κB p65. Meanwhile, it improves the expression of IL-10, hemodynamic, myocardial structure, and function. These indicate that lipoxin A4 mitigates postresuscitation myocardial IRI in which anti-inflammation and suppression of NF-κB activation may play an important role.