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To enhance the photocatalytic activity, loading proper semiconductor with high efficiency and low cost is one of the most valid approaches. Herein, various amounts of CoWO4 as a novel metal-free material were loaded on Mn0.47Cd0.53S (MCS) nanorods for photocatalytic hydrogen production reaction. The CoWO4/Mn0.47Cd0.53S-25 (CW/MCS-25) exhibits the highest hydrogen production rate of 41.53 mmol·h−1·g−1 in the Na2S/Na2SO3 system, which is about 2.68 times higher than that of pristine MCS. The Mapping and HRTEM reveals the deposited of CoWO4 on the MCS. The detailed analyses of XPS, EIS, TRPL spectra and transient photocurrent responses indicate that CoWO4 and MCS interacted closely and the photogenerated electrons of CoWO4 can be transferred into MCS. In particular, the introduction of CoWO4 can further transfer the photogenerated holes of MCS, thereby inhibiting the photocorrosion of MCS and improving photocatalytic activity. This work provides a reference for the exploration of noble metal-free composite material and shows great potential in the photocatalytic application.

Based on magnetic medium theory, a newly invited magnetic corrosion detector (MCD) showed great potential in quantitative monitoring the corrosion process of steel rebar in concrete. To furtherly explore the application performance of MCD, a numerical model was established to simulate the magnetic induction intensity variation caused by corrosion of steel rebar. And the influence of the length and the positioning variance of steel rebar on the measurement were discussed based on experimental and numerical investigation. The research results indicate that the numerical simulation is a valid approach to reveal the essential performance of MCD in measuring the corrosion ratio of steel rebar in concrete. Based on the geometric and physical properties of MCD, the corrosion ratio of the steel rebar can be effectively measured. And the positioning variance of steel rebar has significant influence on the precision and sensitivity of MCD. It is suggested that the steel rebar should be placed right at the center of the test area during the measurement to achieve a high accuracy.

Myocardial injury is a severe complication of sepsis and contributes substantially to the death of critically ill patients. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) participate in the pathogenesis of sepsis-induced myocardial injury. In this study, we investigated the role of lncRNA X-inactive specific transcript (XIST) in septic myocardial injury and explored its mechanism. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated H9C2 cells and rats subjected to cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) were used as the in vitro and in vivo models. After exposure to LPS, XIST and c-Fos levels were upregulated, but miR-150-5p was downregulated in H9C2 cardiomyocytes and myocardial tissues. XIST affected viability, apoptosis, and pyroptosis in LPS-challenged H9C2 cells. Moreover, XIST knockdown attenuated LPS-induced injury in H9C2 cells by targeting the miR-150-5p/c-Fos axis. c-Fos could bound to the promoter of the TXNIP/XIST gene and enhanced TXNIP/XIST expression. Silencing of XIST improved cardiac function and survival rate and reduced apoptosis and pyroptosis by regulating the miR-150-5p/c-Fos axis in septic rats in vivo. Taken together, our data show that XIST/miR-150-5p/c-Fos axis affected septic myocardial injury, which may indicate a novel therapeutic strategy for sepsis-induced myocardial injury.

Xing-Liang Wang,1 Chao Peng,2 You-Wei Tu,2 Yun-Peng Liu,2 Wei Zhang,2 Yan Zhang,2 Guo-Jun Hua3 1Department of Orthopedics, Wuxi Second People’s Hospital, Wuxi, 214000, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The No.904 Hospital of People’s Liberation Army, Wuxi 214000, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Wuxi No.2 Chinese Medicine Hospital, Wuxi, 214000, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Guo-Jun HuaDepartment of Orthopedic Surgery, Wuxi No.2 Chinese Medicine Hospital, Wuxi, 214000, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail hgj13061@163.comXing-Liang WangDepartment of Orthopedics, Wuxi Second People’s Hospital, Wuxi, 214000, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail 15006176567@163.comPurpose: Recurrent patellar dislocation (RPD) is the most common complication of patellar instability and the medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) reconstruction has become its reference treatment. Lateral patellar retinaculum (LPR) release used to be performed in association with MPFL reconstruction. The aim of this study was to investigate the added values of MPFL reconstruction plus LPR release for RPD.Methods: After Institutional Review Board approval, RPD patients from October 2014 to April 2019 were randomly assigned into two groups (isolated MPFL reconstruction [Group I] and MPFL reconstruction plus LPR release [Group II]) and prospectively assessed until 12 months after surgery. Knee joints with flexion of 20° were scanned by a 64-row CT scanner. Congruence angle (CA), patella tilt angle (PTA), lateral patellofemoral angle (LPFA), tibial tuberosity-trochlear groove distance and patellar tilt with the quadriceps relaxed and contracted were measured. Knee function was assessed by Lysholm knee score and International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score. Patients were followed up for at least 12 months.Results: A total of 87 RPD patients (45 for Group I and 42 for Group II) were selected in this study. Preoperative clinical characteristics were not significantly different across groups. No serious complications were noted in either group. It was statistically insignificant between the two group patients in terms of postoperative patella associated measurements (P > 0.05 for all). The Lysholm score and IKDC score of Group I (84.5 ± 7.1 and 87.9 ± 7.2) were significantly less than that of Group II (89.7 ± 8.7 and 93.1 ± 7.7), which indicated the better knee function of Group II.Conclusion: LPR release plus MPFL reconstruction provides additional benefits compared with isolated MPFL reconstruction in knee function. A combination of surgical treatments for RPD should be recommended.Keywords: recurrent patella dislocation, medial patellofemoral ligament reconstruction, lateral patellar retinaculum release, prospective, combination treatment

Summary Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy and reliability of a novel monocanalicular silicone intubation (nMCI) technique for canalicular laceration repair in a series of patients treated over a 3-year period. Methods The case records of 86 patients (86 eyes) who had undergone nMCI-based surgical repair of canalicular lacerations were retrospectively reviewed. The silicone tube removal was planned for 3 months postoperatively. A minimal follow-up of 6 months was adopted for the final analysis. The primary outcome measures included anatomical patency on irrigation and relief from epiphora, which were assessed subjectively and objectively through a fluorescein dye disappearance test. Results A total of 86 patients (72 males and 14 females; mean age = 34 years) were included. The upper canaliculus was damaged in 13 cases, while the lower canaliculus was damaged in 73 cases. Successful stenting was achieved in all cases. The postoperative eyelid position was satisfactory in the majority of the patients. The mean period of stenting was 3 months, while the mean postoperative follow-up period was 6 months. There were no cases of premature stent extrusion. The functional drainage following stent removal was normal in 95% of the patients, while the syringing revealed full patency with no narrowing or reflux. Conclusion The present results suggest that the nMCI technique presents an effective and atraumatic surgical approach for adult patients with canalicular lacerations. The main advantages of the technique are the simple insertion and the easy removal of the tube, which results in high anatomical and functional success rates and offers an effective alternative in the treatment of monocanalicular lacerations.

Delamination in composite laminates reduces the structural stiffness and thus causes changes in the vibration responses of the laminates. Therefore, it is feasible to employ dynamic characteristics (such as natural frequencies and mode shapes) for delamination detection by using an optimization method. In the present study, a two-step method is proposed for the delamination detection in composite laminates using an experience-based learning algorithm. In the first step, one-dimensional equivalent through-thickness beam elements are employed to model the composite laminated beam and potential delamination locations are identified. In the second step, a typical three-dimensional finite mesh is utilized for the beam’s modeling and the detailed delamination information (including the delamination location, size, and interface layer) is detected. This two-step method combines the advantages of the two different modeling techniques and is able to significantly reduce the computational cost without reducing detection accuracy. The proposed method is applied for an eight-layer quasi-isotropic symmetric (0/-45/45/90)s composited beam with different delamination situations to verify its effectiveness and robustness. The performance of the two-step method is demonstrated by comparing with the one-step method and other three state-of-the-art algorithms (CMFOA, PSO, and SSA). Moreover, the influence of artificial noise on the accuracy of the detection performance is also investigated. Both numerical and experimental results confirm the superiority of the proposed method for delamination detection in composite laminates especially for the prediction of delamination interface.

Most studies about tunnel environments focus on the adjustment of brightness in tunnels and pay little attention to the decoration of the walls. This study is based on a highway tunnel in Jilin pro...

Background and objective Diabetes accelerates inflammaging in various tissue with an increase in senescent cell burden and senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) secretion, which is a significant cause of tissue dysfunction and contributes to the diabetic complications. Recently, inflammasomes are thought to contribute to inflammaging. Here, utilizing diabetic models in vivo and in vitro, we investigated the potential association between hyperglycemia-induced inflammaging and gingival tissue dysfunction and the mechanism underlying inflammasome-associated inflammaging. Materials and methods Gingival epithelium and serum were collected from control and diabetic patients and mice. The expression of p16, p21, and inflammasomes in the gingival epithelium, SASP factors in serum, and the molecular factors associated with gingival epithelial barrier function were assessed. Human oral keratinocyte (HOK) was stimulated with normal and high glucose, and pre-treated with Z-YVAD-FMK (Caspase-1 inhibitor) prior to evaluating cellular senescence, SASP secretion, and inflammasome activation. Results In vivo, hyperglycemia significantly elevated the local burden of senescent cells in the gingival epithelium and SASP factors in the serum and simultaneously reduced the expression levels of Claudin-1, E-cadherin, and Connexin 43 in the gingival epithelium. Interestingly, the inflammasomes were activated in the gingival epithelium. In vitro, high glucose-induced the inflammaging in HOK, and blocking inflammasome activation through inhibiting Caspase-1 and glucose-induced inflammaging. Conclusions Hyperglycemia accelerated inflammaging in the gingival epithelium through inflammasomes activation, which is potentially affiliated with a decline in the gingival epithelial barrier function in diabetes. Inflammasomes-related inflammaging may be the crucial mechanism underlying diabetic periodontitis and represents significant opportunities for advancing prevention and treatment options.

Background Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most invasive and metastatic neoplasms among the fatal malignancies of the digestive system. Abnormal expression of genes and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are reportedly linked to multiple cancers. However, the lncRNA-mRNA expression profiles and their molecular mechanisms in PC progression are poorly known. This study aimed to map the hub genes and lncRNAs which might play core roles in the development of PC. Methods This study used microarray expression analysis to screen for both differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially expressed lncRNAs (DElncRNAs) between PC and matched adjacent non-tumor (AN) tissues. In order to clarify the functional classification of DEGs, we conducted GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses via the Enrichr database. LncRNA-mRNA co-expressed networks were also constructed to explore the probable core regulating DEGs and DElncRNAs. Subsequently, the hub genes and lncRNAs were validated via the ONCOMINE and GEPIA databases and the co-expressed networks. Results By analyzing an mRNA-lncRNA microarray, we identified 943 mRNAs and 1,138 lncRNAs differentially expressed in PC tumors compared with the matched AN tissues. GO analysis confirmed that both up-regulated and down-regulated DEGs were enriched in multiple terms. The KEGG pathways enrichment analyses revealed that DEGs were mostly enriched in the focal adhesion and glutathione metabolism pathways, amongst others. Co-expressed networks were established to reveal the differential interactions between DEGs and DElncRNAs, and to indicate the core regulatory factors located at the core nodes of the co-expressed networks. The expression levels of potential core-regulating DEGs were validated by the GEPIA and ONCOMINE databases, and the relationship between overall survival and tumor stage and the potential core-regulating DEGs was analyzed using the GEPIA database. As a result, five genes and sixteen lncRNAs were finally considered as the hub transcripts in PC. Conclusions This study identified DEGs and DElncRNAs between PC tumors and matched AN tissues, and these transcripts were connected with malignant phenotypes in PC through different BPs and signaling pathways. Furthermore, five hub genes and sixteen lncRNAs were identified, which are expected to represent candidate diagnostic biomarkers or potential therapeutic targets for PC.

This paper focuses on an optimization problem arising in population biology. We investigate the effect of the resources distribution and the migration rate on the total population size of some species, which migrates among patches with the identical probability and grows logistically in each patch. We aim to maximize the total population size by the distribution of resources and the rate of migration.

With the rapid development of industrial production and aerospace, how to measure the plasma density has also developed rapidly. So a radio-frequency plasma transducer based on a three-layer dielec...

Purpose The effects of different combination of surgical techniques for recurrent patella dislocation (RPD) remain unclear. Thus, aim of this study was to investigate the surgical outcomes of different combination of surgical techniques for RPD. Methods The clinical data of 79 patients with RPD from August 2014 to October 2016 were analysed retrospectively. Knee joint was assessed according to measurements of the congruence angle (CA), patellar tilt angle (PTA) and lateral patellofemoral angle (LPFA). Knee function was evaluated by Kujala patellofemoral score, Lysholm knee score and Tegner score. Patients were followed up by out-patient examination and telephone till October 2018. Results Preoperative clinical characteristics were similar across groups. It was statistically insignificant among three groups in CA, PTA, LPFA and redislocation rate. In term of knee functions, the MPFL reconstruction and LPR release group had the highest score (Lysholm score: 91.82 ± 4.64, Kujala score: 94.22 ± 4.26, Tegner score: 5.80 ± 1.00, respectively) and the LPR release and MPR plication had the lowest score (Lysholm score: 78.10 ± 6.90, Kujala score: 80.91 ± 4.30, Tegner score: 4.98 ± 1.22, respectively). Conclusion Three combinations of surgical methods were similar in terms of postoperative joint congruence and redislocation rate, but MPFL reconstruction combined with LPR release is worthy to be promoted with the highest knee function scores.

The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to determine the efficacy of chlorhexidine (CHX) as an adjunctive therapy to mechanical debridement in the treatment of peri-implant diseases. Five databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trails, Web of Science, and ClinicalTrials.gov) were searched. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing mechanical debridement combined with CHX to mechanical debridement alone for patients with peri-implant disease were identified. The trial investigators evaluated factors indicating inflammatory levels, including bleeding on probing (BOP), probing depth (PD), and clinical attachment level (CAL). Six RCTs with 207 patients were ultimately included in this review. Low- to moderate-quality evidence demonstrated that the adjunctive CHX therapy had no significant effect on BOP reduction within 1 month (mean difference [MD], 0.10; 95% confidence interval [CI], −0.06 to 0.25), 3–4 months (MD, 0.06; 95% CI, −0.03 to 0.15), and 6–8 months (MD, 0.06; 95% CI, −0.03 to 0.14) of follow-up. Significant differences in PD reduction and CAL gain were also not found. Although 1 subgroup analysis revealed a significant result (MD, 009; 95% CI, 0.01–0.18) for the use of CHX solution, this could be interpreted as clinically slight. Based on available evidence, adding CHX to mechanical debridement, compared with mechanical debridement alone, did not significantly enhance the clinical results. Therefore, clinicians should consider the negligible effect of adjunctive CHX.

This study aimed to examine the efficacy of Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS2002) and Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form (MNA-SF) in recognizing sarcopenia and predicting its mortality in Chinese geriatric hospitalized patients. A prospective analysis was performed in 430 hospitalized geriatric patients. Nutrition status was assessed using the NRS2002 and MNA-SF scales. Anthropometric measures and biochemical parameters were carried out for each patient. Sarcopenia was defined according to the revised consensus definition of the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP2). Patients were follow-up for up to 26 months. The overall prevalence of sarcopenia was 35.3% in this population. In the sarcopenic patients, 53 (34.9%) were malnutrition/nutritional risk according to NRS2002 assessment and 101 (66.4%) patients were malnutrition/nutritional risk according to MNA-SF assessment. NRS2002 vs MNA-SF showed moderate agreement (κ = 0.460, P

Under the combined impacts of the operation time, design concept, and construction technology, extensive damage has occurred in tunnels built in China during the early stages of rapid development. ...

Background Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounts for more than 80% of the total lung cancer and gemcitabine (GEM)-based chemotherapy is the first-line therapeutic approach for NSCLC treatment. Owing to acquired chemo-resistance, the prognosis of NSCLC patients receiving GEM treatment is still poor. Methods Dysregulation of mRNAs in GEM-resistant (GR) NSCLC cells comparing to parental cells were profiled by analyzing GSEA6914 datasets from GEO database. Additionally, qRT-PCR were performed on clinically collected patient serum samples and transplanted tumor tissues and GEM-resistant (GR)/sensitive (GS) cell lines. In order to explore the functional role of tripartite motif protein 22 (TRIM22), gain and loss-of-function cell models were constructed in A549 and A549/GR respectively. MTT and Annexin V-FITC/propidium iodide (PI) staining assay were carried out to access the response to GEM of A549 and A549/GR cells. Observation of RFP-LC3 puncta and western blot detection of autophagy markers were used to evaluate autophagy. Bi-luciferase reporter assay was used to confirm the transcriptional regulatory relationship. Rescue experiments were carried out to confirm the FOXO3/TRIM22 regulatory axis in GEM susceptibility. Results TRIM22 was significantly upregulated in GR patient serum samples, transplanted tumor tissues and NSCLC cells which was negatively transcriptional regulated by FOXO3. TRIM22 overexpression attenuated the sensitivity of A549 to GEM and its depletion promoted the sensitivity of A549/GR to GEM. Additionally, TRIM22 promoted GEM-induced pro-survival autophagy to protected NSCLC cells from apoptosis. Conclusions TRIM22 was significantly upregulated in GR lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549 which is negatively transcriptional regulated by FOXO3. Due to the enhancement of pro-survival autophagy induced by TRIM22, the A549 cells became less sensitive to GEM. This study may provide a basis for screening target of liquid biopsy for predicting GEM sensitivity in NSCLC.

The design of new molecules with theoretical chemistry methods and further obtaining a fundamental understanding of the structure-property relationship are important for the development of high-efficiency hole-transporting materials (HTMs). Herein, the effect of semi-locked and fully-locked cores was systematically investigated based on two conformation-tunable tetrathienylethene (TTE) and tetraphenylethylene (TPE) units. Our results show that the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) levels of the locked TTE-2 and TTE-3 are clearly down-shifted compared with that of the unlocked TTE-1, which is due to the decreased electronic conjugation between the locked cores and the triphenylamine (TPA) arms, whereas the same situation is not found for TPE-3 due to the twisted core configuration. Compared with the TTE-series, the TPE-series exhibits less optical absorption in the visible light region and enhanced stability. Meanwhile, the hole mobility of the designed HTMs displays an increased trend from the unlocked core to the semi-locked and fully-locked cores due to the gradually increasing hole transfer integral with enhanced molecular planarity. In addition, we also found that the reorganization energy of the locked TTE cores is obviously lowered compared to that of the unlocked one, which plays an important role in increasing the hole mobility. In summary, this work can provide some useful clues for designing high-efficiency two-dimensional HTMs, and two potential promising candidates (TTE-3 and TPE-3) are proposed.

With the increasing expectations of electromagnetic devices, the defects of monofunctional devices that are susceptibly limited by external constraints are becoming more and more obvious and the integration of multiple functions has gradually become the pursuit of researchers. In this paper, a novel multifunctional metamaterial tailored by the solid state plasma (SSP) is proposed. By inspiring the particular SSP resonators, such a metamaterial can be handily switched back and forth among two functions and form three working states. When the proposed SSP metamaterial is served in State I, its function embodies as an energy absorber and the absorption which is over 90% for TE and TM modes are 5.84-7.30 GHz and 5.41-6.34 GHz whose relative bandwidths (RBs) are 22.22% and 15.83%, respectively. States II and III keep the same functionality of cross-polarization conversion but a distinct operating band. The polarization conversion rate (PCR) of State II which is higher than 90% is 7.40-12.20 GHz (the RB is 48.98%) and this operational range will be shifted to 5.71-8.47 GHz (the RB is 38.92%) after switching to State III. Compared with the conventional tunable devices, this SSP metamaterial has the advantage of functional diversity and it provides a new design idea of absorber and polarization converter to promote potential applications of multifunctional devices.

In this paper, we propose a novel gravity-tailored absorber to achieve two different absorption peaks at two different frequencies, whose improvement is based on the traditional sandwich structure. It is unusual that two dug grooves inside are filled with the liquid dielectrics. Since existing the gravity field, rotating this absorber in the xy plane will make the absorption peak change. In addition, this gravity-tailored absorber has a good stability of the incidence angle. The discussion of the power flow, the electric field, and structure parameters are also given to explain the physical mechanism. Compared with the existing manners of regulation, this regulation of presented absorber might be more convenient to achieve.

In this article, we demonstrate a tunable ultra-broadband metamaterial absorber (TUMA) in terahertz (THz) band which is based on the multilayered structure composed of an Au reflective layer, polyimide dielectric layers, and vanadium dioxide (VO2) periodic structures, respectively. We gain the tunable absorption spectra because of the room temperature phased-changed character of VO2. The relative bandwidth reaches to 81.2% and the absorption rate is over 90% at the frequency range of 1.63–3.86 THz when the temperature (t1) is 350 K, but when t1 = 300 K, the presented absorber is acted as a reflector whose absorption is small besides the frequency points of 9.75 THz and 9.81 THz. For the sake of comprehending the physical mechanism in-depth, the electric field (E-field) diagrams, the surface current distributions and the power loss density (PLD) of the TUMA are investigated. The influences of structural arguments and incident angle (θ) on the absorption are also analyzed. The emulated consequences show that the absorption spectrum can be regulated by changing structural parameters and incident angle and the tunable absorption regions can be obtained by altering the external temperature.

Exploration of low-cost and earth-abundant photocatalysts for efficient photocatalytic H2 evolution from water is an attractive solution to the global energy and environmental problems. Although MoS2 has been proved as an efficient co-catalyst for the H2 evolution reaction (HER), controllably and accurately constructing MoS2-hybridized photocatalysts at where the electrons extracted still remains a challenge. Here, a facile two-step approach of photoetching-photodeposition has been developed to prepare MoSx/etched-CdS (Mo-Cd(e)-S) with heterostructure accurately constructed on the CdS surface defects. This structure can significantly accelerate photo-induced charge separation and transportation owing to the place of heterostructure construction matching well with that of electrons extracted, numerous active sites introduced, and shorter charge transfer path from bulk to surface. Therefore the charge recombination is significantly retarded. As a result, the Mo-Cd(e)-S exhibits outstanding photocatalytic performance with a state-of-the-art H2 generation rate of 22.5 mmol g−1 h−1 under visible light irradiation (λ ≥ 420 nm) which is 70 times higher than that of pristine CdS. This work opens a new avenue for the low-cost but high efficient photocatalysts development.

Background: Youths are disproportionally affected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. We aimed to assess antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation and viral suppression rates among student and non-student youths in Hangzhou, China. Methods: Data were taken from the Chinese HIV/acquired immune deficiency syndrome Comprehensive Response Information Management System. Youths aged 15 to 24 years who were newly diagnosed with HIV between 2012 and 2016 and were living in Hangzhou were included in the study. Comparisons between student and non-student youths were made for ART initiation within 30 days, 90 days, and 12 months of HIV diagnosis, and the viral suppression rate at 12 months of HIV diagnosis and at 12 months of ART initiation. Results: A total of 707 cases met inclusion criteria, 29.6% of which were students and 70.4% were non-student youths. The student group had a higher proportion of ART initiation compared with the non-student group within 30 days of diagnosis (45.5% vs. 37.0%, P = 0.044), and a slightly higher but not statistically significant proportion at 90 days (67.0% vs. 62.7%), and 12 months (83.7% vs. 78.5%) of HIV diagnosis. ART initiation within 30 days improved from 90% in 2016. A smaller proportion of students experienced viral suppression compared with the non-student group (9.6% vs. 17.1%, P = 0.011) at 12 months after HIV diagnosis, but the suppression rate was similar at 12 months of ART initiation (69.9% vs. 71.1%, P = 0.743). Conclusions: ART initiation in both student and non-student youths has significantly improved between 2012 and 2016. However, the viral suppression rate remained unacceptably low at 12 months of HIV diagnosis in both student and non-student groups. Specific intervention strategies must be taken to address this challenge. Key words: Human immunodeficiency virus; Antiretroviral therapy; Viral suppression; Student; Non-student; Youths

Roof-fall accidents, happening near the driving faces of coal roadways, threaten the safety of construction operatives. Taking Jining No. 3 Coal Mine of Yanzhou Coal Mining Group Corp. (Jining City, Shandong Province, China) as the research object, we analysed the roof structure near the driving face of a coal roadway. Meanwhile, the disaster-inducing mechanism was studied through mechanical analysis and numerical simulation. The results demonstrated that the artificial support structure and C-shaped bracing structure co-determine the safety of the roof. With the length of unsupported roof (LUR) increasing, the control effects of the two structures experienced three stages of behaviour (i.e. a superimposed support stage, collaborative support stage, and independent support stage) on the roof. In these, coal at the top corners became looser and the roof span increased. As a result, the safety of the unsupported roof deteriorated, with the rear part being the first to become damaged, thus triggering a roof-fall accident. Based on the above conclusion, the research proposed safety-control criteria for an unsupported roof, and thus provides a critical basis for assessing support strength and ensuring the safety of tunneling construction operations.

As one of coal mine dynamic disasters, rockbursts generally result in abrupt displacements and unpredictable coal rock failures with disastrous consequences and pose serious threats to mine health and safety all over the world. To improve mine safety, this work investigated the disaster-inducing mechanism and safety-control measures of rockburst. Laboratory dynamic cyclic loading tests were used along with a high-speed camera to capture the bursting failure of coal which was used to characterize this disaster evolution. Acoustic emission data were acquired. By adopting the velocity tomography technique, these data were used to inverse the spatial stress distribution inside the coal at different loading stages. It was found that there are many localised areas with different degrees of stress concentration inside the coal. The failure process of coal consists of several stages of bursting damage with violent ejection of broken coal material. The bursting damage is likely to occur in areas characterized by high stress concentration and dense micro-cracks, and is attributed to the inhomogeneous accumulation and unstable release of elastic energy. Rockbursts can be weakened or avoided by reducing stress concentration and controlling energy release intensity. Application of safety-control measures including destress boreholes and destress blasting have achieved good prevention effects.

Physical traits such as the shape of the hand and face can be used for human recognition and identification in video surveillance systems and in biometric authentication smart card systems, as well as in personal health care. However, the accuracy of such systems suffers from illumination changes, unpredictability, and variability in appearance (e.g. occluded faces or hands, cluttered backgrounds, etc.). This work evaluates different statistical and chrominance models in different environments with increasingly cluttered backgrounds where changes in lighting are common and with no occlusions applied, in order to get a reliable neural network reconstruction of faces and hands, without taking into account the structural and temporal kinematics of the hands. First a statistical model is used for skin colour segmentation to roughly locate hands and faces. Then a neural network is used to reconstruct in 3D the hands and faces. For the filtering and the reconstruction we have used the growing neural gas algorithm which can preserve the topology of an object without restarting the learning process. Experiments conducted on our own database but also on four benchmark databases (Stirling’s, Alicante, Essex, and Stegmann’s) and on deaf individuals from normal 2D videos are freely available on the BSL signbank dataset. Results demonstrate the validity of our system to solve problems of face and hand segmentation and reconstruction under different environmental conditions. This work has been supported by the Spanish Government TIN2016-76515R Grant, supported with FEDER funds, the University of Alicante Project GRE16-19, the Valencian Government Project GV-2018-022, and the UK Dunhill Medical Trust Grant RPGF1802\37.

Spontaneous solar-driven water splitting to generate H2 with no pollution discharge is an ideal H2 generation approach. However, its efficiency remains far from real application owing to the poor light-harvesting and ultrafast charge recombination of photocatalysts. To address these issues, herein, we employed a novel but simple chemical bath deposition (CBD) method to construct CdS/SrTiO3 nanodots-on-nanocubes at room temperature (ca. 25 °C). The as-synthesized nanohybrids not only expand light absorption from ultraviolet (UV) to visible light but also significantly retard charge recombination owing to the well-defined heterostructure formation. As a result, the CdS/SrTiO3 exhibits high photocatalytic performance with H2 evolution rate of 1322 μmol g−1 h−1, which is 2.8 and 12.2 times higher than that of pristine CdS and SrTiO3, respectively. This work provides a universal approach for the heterostructure construction, and inspired by this, higher efficient photocatalysts for H2 evolution may be developed in the near future.

In this paper, we present a novel type of tunable gravity tailored metamaterial absorber (TGTMA) which can obtain a broadband absorption. Both seawater and oil are filled in the grooves inside the glass structures, which are the resonators of an absorber. The proposed absorber can be regulated by the gravity field, which is a brand new one compared with the previous designs. When the operating state of such a TGTMA is adjusted from one to another, a marvelous alteration of absorption can be achieved. For TM wave, the absorption band runs from 5.6 to 7.91 GHz which is over 90%, while the absorption keeps larger than 90% from 4.32 to 5.83 GHz when this absorber is rotated 180° in xy plane. The larger incident angle is the better performance of this TGTMA can be achieved. Further, the simulation results of the structure parameters are discussed. The surface current distributions, the power flows, and the power loss densities are also given to expound the physical mechanism of the proposed absorber. Importantly, compared with most of current tailoring approaches of the absorbers, the proposed method is more convenient.

ObjectiveTo develop a convenient nomogram for the bedside evaluation of patients with acute organophosphorus poisoning (AOPP).DesignThis was a retrospective study.SettingTwo independent hospitals in northern China, the First Hospital of Jilin University and the Lequn Hospital of the First Hospital of Jilin University.ParticipantsA total of 1657 consecutive patients admitted for the deliberate oral intake of AOPP within 24 hours from exposure and aged >18 years were enrolled between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2018. The exclusion criteria were: normal range of plasma cholinesterase, exposure to any other type of poisonous drug(s), severe chronic comorbidities including symptomatic heart failure (New York Heart Association III or IV) or any other kidney, liver and pulmonary diseases. Eight hundred and thirty-four patients were included.Primary outcome measureThe existence of severely poisoned cases, defined as patients with any of the following complications: cardiac arrest, respiratory failure requiring ventilator support, hypotension or in-hospital death.Results440 patients from one hospital were included in the study to develop a nomogram of severe AOPP, whereas 394 patients from the other hospital were used for the validation. Associated risk factors were identified by multivariate logistic regression. The nomogram was validated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). A nomogram was developed with age, white cells, albumin, cholinesterase, blood pH and lactic acid levels. The AUC was 0.875 (95% CI 0.837 to 0.913) and 0.855 (95% CI 0.81 to 0.9) in the derivation and validation cohorts, respectively. The calibration plot for the probability of severe AOPP showed an optimal agreement between the prediction by nomogram and actual observation in both derivation and validation cohorts.ConclusionA convenient severity evaluation nomogram for patients with AOPP was developed, which could be used by physicians in making clinical decisions and predicting patients’ prognosis.

Introduction Sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (SAHS) can change brain structure and function. These alterations are related to respiratory event-induced abnormal sleep, however, how brain activity changes during these events is less well understood. Methods To study information content and interaction among various cortical regions, we analyzed the variations of permutation entropy (PeEn) and symbolic transfer entropy (STE) of electroencephalography (EEG) activity during respiratory events. In this study, 57 patients with moderate SAHS were enrolled, including 2804 respiratory events. The events terminated with cortical arousal were independently researched. Results PeEn and STE were lower during apnea/hypopnea, and most of the brain interaction was higher after apnea/hypopnea termination than that before apnea in N2 stage. As indicated by STE, the respiratory events also affected the stability of information transmission mode. In N1, N2, and rapid eye movement (REM) stages, the information flow direction was posterior-to-anterior, but the anterior-to-posterior increased relatively during apnea/hypopnea. The above EEG activity trends maintained in events with cortical arousal. Conclusions These results may be related to the intermittent hypoxia during apnea and the cortical response. Furthermore, increased frontal information outflow, which was related to the compensatory activation of frontal neurons, may associate with cognitive function.

Background: To explore the epigenetic and biological functions of muc members in breast cancer. Results: Mutation analysis showed that most of the muc members had missense mutations and the breast cancer patients with muc13 had a poor prognosis. Methylation analysis showed that the methylation expression of muc1, muc4, muc5AC and muc13 was related closely. The differentially expressed muc1, muc13 and muc15 had a poor prognosis and were related to immune infiltrating lymphocytes in breast cancer microenvironment. Conclusions: The epigenetic basis and biological functions of muc members are closely related to the occurrence and development of breast cancer.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate how early A-waves could occur in type II diabetes, and what it implied functionally.Methods: We performed conduction velocity distribution (CVD) test in peroneal nerves of 37 type II diabetic patients with normal nerve conduction study (NCS) and 22 age-matched controls. The electrophysiological data and clinical information were analyzed.Results: A-waves were observed in 45.9% of diabetic patients and only in 1 person in healthy controls, all detected in the tibial nerves. The diabetic patients with A-waves showed faster conduction velocity in all quartiles in the motor peroneal nerves compared to the patients without A-waves, and their CVD histograms were shifted to the right side, consisting of a significantly larger percentage of fast conducting fibers. There was no significant difference in the CVD values of the upper extremity nerves among the patients with and without A-waves and the healthy controls.Conclusion: A-waves could occur in type II diabetes as early as when NCS showed normal, and represented as a sign of neuropathy as well as a sign of rescued motor nerve function.

Background Several studies have reported that circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are a promising marker for the diagnosis of thyroid cancer (TC) with recurrence or distant metastasis (DMs). However, some studies emerged with conflicting results. Therefore, we provide a meta-analysis to evaluate the diagnostic performance of CTC for detection of recurrence in patients of TC. Methods We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane library with the keywords “thyroid cancer” and “circulating tumor cells”. Data extraction and risk of bias assessment were performed independently by two reviewers. The summary receiver operating characteristic curve (SROC) and other parameters were adopted to summarize the overall test performance. The sensitivity of CTCs in the detection of recurrent TC was reviewed. All analyses were performed by STATA 12.0 and Meta-disc software. Results For CTCs expressing epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), seven studies were included in our meta-analysis. Pooled sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratio were 0.71 (95% CI: 0.63–0.78), 0.89 (95% CI: 0.84–0.94), and 26.75 (95% CI: 9.11–78.53); 0.78 (95% CI: 0.65–0.89), 0.88 (95% CI: 0.76–0.96), and 40.01 (95% CI: 10.49–152.63) for CTCs expressing thyroid stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR). The area under the SROC for EpCAM and TSHR were both 0.91. Conclusion CTC was a reliable marker for the diagnosis of TC patients with recurrence and DMs, and the sensitivity of CTCs expressing TSHR was higher than that of EpCAM. Additional research is warranted in order to establish uniformity in international guidelines, make up the drawbacks of conventional diagnostic methods and to prevent futile surgery.

Identifying the provenance of information posted on social media and how this information may have changed over time can be very helpful in assessing its trustworthiness. Here, we introduce a novel mechanism for discovering "post-based" information cascades, including the earliest relevant post and how its information has evolved over subsequent posts. Our prototype leverages multiple innovations in the combination of dynamic data sub-sampling and multiple natural language processing and analysis techniques, benefiting from deep learning architectures. We evaluate its performance on EMTD, a dataset that we have generated from our private experimental instance of the decentralised social network Mastodon, as well as the benchmark Microsoft Research Paraphrase Corpus, reporting no errors in sub-sampling based on clustering, and an average accuracy of 92% and F1 score of 93% for paraphrase identification.

Heparin, including unfractionated heparin (UFH), low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) and heparin derivatives, are commonly used in venous thromboembolism treatment and reportedly have beneficial effects on cancer survival. Heparin can affect the proliferation, adhesion, angiogenesis, migration and invasion of cancer cells via multiple mechanisms. The main mechanisms involve inhibition of heparanase, P-/L-selectin, angiogenesis, and interference with the CXCL12-CXCR4 axis. Here we summarize the current experimental evidence regarding the anti-cancer role of heparin and its derivatives, and conclude that there is evidence to support heparin’s role in inhibiting cancer progression, making it a promising anti-cancer agent.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Allergic airway inflammation is a major public health disease that affects up to 300 million people in the world. However, its management remains largely unsatisfactory. The dysfunction of pulmonary macrophages contributes greatly to the development of allergic airway inflammation. It has been reported that small extracellular vesicles derived from mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC-sEV) were able to display extensive therapeutic effects in some immune diseases. This study aimed to investigate the effects of MSC-sEV on allergic airway inflammation, and the role of macrophages involved in it. We successfully isolated MSC-sEV by using anion exchange chromatography, which were morphologically intact and positive for the specific EV markers. MSC-sEV significantly reduced infiltration of inflammatory cells and number of epithelial goblet cells in lung tissues of mice with allergic airway inflammation. Levels of inflammatory cells and cytokines in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were also significantly decreased. Importantly, levels of monocytes-derived alveolar macrophages and M2 macrophages were significantly reduced by MSC-sEV. MSC-sEV were excreted through spleen and liver at 24 h post-administration in mice, and were able to be taken in by macrophages both in vivo and in vitro. In addition, proteomics analysis of MSC-sEV revealed that the indicated three types of MSC-sEV contained different quantities of proteins and shared 312 common proteins, which may be involved in the therapeutic effects of MSC-sEV. In total, our study demonstrated that MSC-sEV isolated by anion exchange chromatography were able to ameliorate Th2-dominant allergic airway inflammation through immunoregulation on pulmonary macrophages, suggesting that MSC-sEV were promising alternative therapy for allergic airway inflammation in the future.

This study aimed to compare the prognostic value of malnutrition and sarcopenia for mortality in old adults over 80 years.A prospective analysis was performed in 427 hospitalized old adults. Anthropometric measures and biochemical parameters were carried out for each patient. Sarcopenia was defined according to the revised consensus definition of the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP2). Malnutrition was defined according to the European Society of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) criteria. Mortality data were available for up to 32 months of follow-up.The overall prevalence of sarcopenia and malnutrition was 35.1% and 19.4%, respectively. The percentage of coexistence of sarcopenia and malnutrition was 12.2%. Of the 427 participants, 83 deaths were reported during the mean follow-up periods of 24.9 months. Compared with non-sarcopenic subjects with well-nutrition, sarcopenic subjects with well-nutrition and non-sarcopenic subjects with well-nutrition had higher mortality risk (Hazard Ratio (HR), 2.36; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.31-4.24, P 0.001; HR, 4.33; 95% CI, 2.12-8.85, P = 0.004; respectively). The patients who coexisted with sarcopenia and malnutrition had the highest risk of mortality (HR, 7.31; 95% CI, 4.21-12.69, P 0.001). Both sarcopenia and malnutrition could predict mortality separately. Still, from the components of the Cox regression multivariate models, the malnutrition was one of the independent factors influencing the death, sarcopenia was not.When malnutrition and sarcopenia were compared together in a longitude cohort, malnutrition was an independent risk factor for mortality, while sarcopenia was not. The coexistence of malnutrition and sarcopenia showed a synergistically accumulated risk for death.

Background A prophylactic antimalarial drug that is both effective for protection and improves compliance is in high demand. Methods We conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded phase 3 trial to evaluate the 1:1 fixed-dose combination of naphthoquine-azithromycin (NQAZ) for safety and protection against Plasmodium infections in villages along the China-Myanmar border. A total of 631 residents, 5–65 years of age, were randomized into the drug group (n = 319) and the placebo group (n = 312) to receive NZAQ and placebo, respectively, as a single-dose monthly treatment. Follow-ups were conducted weekly to monitor for adverse events and malaria infections. Results Of the 531 subjects completing the trial, there were 46 and 3 blood smear–positive Plasmodium infections in the placebo and treatment groups, respectively. For the intent-to-treat analysis, the single-dose monthly NQAZ treatment had 93.62% protective efficacy (95% confidence interval [CI]: 91.72%–95.52%). For the per-protocol analysis, NQAZ treatment provided a 93.04% protective efficacy (95% CI: 90.98%–95.1%). Three smear-positive cases in the NQAZ group were all due to acute falciparum malaria. In comparison, NQAZ treatment provided 100% protection against the relapsing malaria Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium ovale. The treatment group had 5.6% of participants experiencing transient elevation of liver aminotransferases compared with 2.2% in the placebo group (P > .05). Conclusions Monthly prophylaxis with NQAZ tablets was well tolerated and highly effective for preventing Plasmodium infections. It may prove useful for eliminating P. vivax in areas with a high prevalence of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency in the population. Clinical Trials Registration ChiCTR1800020140.

Xiaoyan Zhang,* Xingliang Zhang,* Yunxia Zhu, Jun Tao, Zhen Zhang, Yue Zhang, Yanyan Wang, YingYing Ke, ChenXi Ren, Jun Xu Department of Geriatrics, Shanghai Jiaotong University Affiliated Sixth People’s Hospital, Shanghai 200233, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xiaoyan Zhang Email zhangxy971088@hotmail.comBackground and Aim: The presence of malnutrition in hospitalized geriatric patients is associated with an increased risk of mortality. This study aimed to examine the performance of Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS2002) and Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form (MNA-SF) in predicting mortality for hospitalized geriatric patients in China.Methods: A prospective analysis was performed in 536 hospitalized geriatric patients aged ≥ 65 years. Nutrition status was assessed using the MNA-SF and NRS2002 scales within 24hrs of admission. Anthropometric measures and biochemical parameters were carried out for each patient. Patients were follow-up for up to 2.5 years.Results: At baseline, 161 (30.04%) patients had malnutrition/nutritional risk according to NRS2002 assessment. According to MNA-SF, 284 (52.99%) patients had malnutrition/nutritional risk. Malnutrition/nutritional risk patients had lower anthropometric and biochemical parameters (P< 0.05). NRS2002 and MNA-SF had a strong correlation with classical nutritional markers (P< 0.05). NRS2002 versus MNA-SF showed moderate agreement (kappa=0.493, P< 0.001). During a median follow-up time of 795 days (range 10– 947 days), 118 (22%) participants died. The Kaplan–Meier curve demonstrated that malnutrition/nutritional risk patients according to NRS2002 or MNA-SF assessment had a higher risk of mortality than the normal nutrition patients (χ2=17.67, P< 0.001; χ2=28.999, P< 0.001, respectively). From the components of the Cox regression multivariate models, only the NRS2002 score was an independent risk factor influencing the mortality.Conclusion: Both NRS2002 and MNA-SF scores could predict mortality in Chinese hospitalized geriatric patients. But only NRS2002 score was the independent predictor for mortality.Keywords: NRS2002, MNA-SF, elderly, nutritional screening, malnutrition

Objectives To evaluate the efficacy of aromatherapy on dental anxiety. Methods A detailed protocol was registered a priori (PROSPERO: CRD42019141093). PubMed, EMBASE, CDSR, CENTRAL, CNKI and grey literature databases were searched from inception to 10 January 2020. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-randomised controlled trials (CCTs) that examined the effects of aromatherapy on dental anxiety, compare to either negative control (i.e. no aromatherapy) or other positive control approaches (e.g. music), were included. The risk of bias of the selected studies was evaluated using the Cochrane Collaboration's tool and ROBINS-I, while the certainty of evidence was assessed using GRADE. A narrative synthesis was performed, rather than meta-analysis, due to the high level of heterogeneity across studies. Results Eleven RCTs and six CCTs were included. The risk of bias was identified as either high or unclear in RCTs, and moderate to serious in CCTs. Performance bias and detection bias were the most prevalent in RCTs, followed by selection bias and reporting bias. As to CCTs, greater risk of bias was found in the selection of participants into the study and in the measurement of outcomes. Based on the selected studies, the most commonly used aromatherapy for dental anxiety management was lavender fragrance, followed by orange. Compared to the negative control condition, aromatherapy might reduce the anxiety-related physiological parameters and psychometric rating, pain, and mood, alertness, and calmness compared to the negative control condition; and there might be no intergroup difference in such outcomes between aromatherapy and music. However, GRADEs of the relevant evidence were judged as low to very low. Conclusions Compared to the negative control condition, aromatherapy is more effective to reduce dental anxiety and has comparable effects on dental anxiety compared to music intervention; however, the certainty of evidence is relatively limited. Further high-quality randomised trials with robust study design and large sample size are warranted to confirm our findings and to confirm the role of aromatherapy in relieving dental anxiety.

Background The conventional implant approach involves flap elevation, which may result in increased soft tissue and bone loss and postoperative morbidity. The flapless surgical technique, aided by three-dimensional medical imaging equipment, is regarded as a possible alternative to the conventional approach to alleviate the above issues. Several studies have been performed regarding the role of flapless implant surgery. However, the results are inconsistent and there is no robust synthesis of long-term evidence to better inform surgeons regarding which type of surgical technique is more beneficial to the long-term prognosis of patients in need of implant insertion. Aim To compare the long-term clinical performance after flapless implant surgery to that after the conventional approach with flap elevation. Methods PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and grey literature databases were searched from inception to 23 September 2019. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies comparing the long-term clinical performance after flapless implant surgery to that after the conventional approach over a follow-up of three years or more were included. Meta-analyses were conducted to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) or mean differences (MDs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) between the long-term implant survival rate, marginal bone loss, and complication rate of the flapless and conventional groups. Subgroup analyses were carried out to account for the possible effects of the guided or free-hand method during flapless surgery. Results Ten articles, including four RCTs and six cohort studies, satisfied the eligibility criteria and nine of them were included in the meta-analysis. There was no significant difference between the long-term implant survival rate [OR = 1.30, 95%CI (0.37, 4.54), P = 0.68], marginal bone loss [MD = 0.01, 95%CI (-0.42, 0.44), P = 0.97], and complication rate [OR = 1.44, 95%CI (0.77, 2.68), P = 0.25] after flapless implant surgery and the conventional approach. Moreover, subgroup analyses revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between the implant survival rate [guided: OR = 1.52, 95%CI (0.19, 12.35), P = 0.70]; free-hand: n = 1, could not be estimated), marginal bone loss [guided: MD = 0.22, 95%CI (-0.14, 0.59), P = 0.23; free-hand: MD = -0.27, 95%CI (-1.10, 0.57), P = 0.53], or complication rate [guided: OR = 1.16, 95%CI (0.52, 2.63), P = 0.71; free-hand: OR = 1.75, 95%CI (0.66, 4.63), P = 0.26] in the flapless and conventional groups either with use of the surgical guide or by the free-hand method. Conclusion The flapless surgery and conventional approach had comparable clinical performance over three years or more. The guided or free-hand technique does not significantly affect the long-term outcomes of flapless surgery.

The ageing population trend is correlated with an increased prevalence of acquired cognitive impairments such as dementia. Although there is no cure for dementia, a timely diagnosis helps in obtaining necessary support and appropriate medication. Researchers are working urgently to develop effective technological tools that can help doctors undertake early identification of cognitive disorder. In particular, screening for dementia in ageing Deaf signers of British Sign Language (BSL) poses additional challenges as the diagnostic process is bound up with conditions such as quality and availability of interpreters, as well as appropriate questionnaires and cognitive tests. On the other hand, deep learning based approaches for image and video analysis and understanding are promising, particularly the adoption of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), which require large amounts of training data. In this paper, however, we demonstrate novelty in the following way: a) a multi-modal machine learning based automatic recognition toolkit for early stages of dementia among BSL users in that features from several parts of the body contributing to the sign envelope, e.g., hand-arm movements and facial expressions, are combined, b) universality in that it is possible to apply our technique to users of any sign language, since it is language independent, c) given the trade-off between complexity and accuracy of machine learning (ML) prediction models as well as the limited amount of training and testing data being available, we show that our approach is not over-fitted and has the potential to scale up.

The next-generation library services platform helps the academic library alliance deepen the technical cooperation and innovate the cooperation mode. The platform has been widely used in Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum and The Joint University Librarians Advisory Committee. However, the relevant research and practice in China are still lacking. Based on the author’s learning and practical experience, this work analyzed the application of next-generation information technology (e.g., resource discovery system, cloud computing system, mobile library) in library services. As far as the author concerned, libraries can not only provide traditional literature services and information services, but also rely on the next-generation of information technology to provide multi-level knowledge services to meet the needs of users.

Background: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most lethal solid malignancies in the world due to its excessive cell proliferation and aggressive metastatic features. Emerging evidences revealed the importance of posttranscriptional modifications of RNAs in PC progression. However, knowledge about the 5-methylcytosine (m5C) RNA modification in PC is still extremely limited. In this study, we attempted to explore the expression changes and clinical significances of 12 known m5C-related genes among PC patients. Methods: A total of 362 normal and 382 tumor specimens from PC patients were examined for candidate m5C-related gene and protein expression by using quantitative PCR (qPCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC). The proliferation rate of PC cells was detected by MTS assay. Xenograft mouse models were used to assess the role of NSUN6 in PC tumor formation. Results: Through analyzing the four Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases, six m5C-related genes shown significant and consistent alterations were selected for further examination in our 3 independent PC cohorts. Finally, we identified the reduction of NSUN6 as a common feature of all PC sample sets examined. NSUN6 expression correlated with clinicopathologic parameters including T stage, and Ki67 + cell rate. Further assessing the transcriptional profiles of 50 PC tissues, we found biological processes associated with cell proliferation like cell cycle and G2M checkpoint were enriched in NSUN6 lower expression group. Helped by in vitro PC cell lines and in vivo xenograft mouse models, we confirmed the role of NSUN6 in regulating cell proliferation and PC tumor growth. Last but also importantly, we also show the good performance of NSUN6 in evaluating tumor recurrence and survival among PC patients. Conclusion: Our data suggested that NSUN6 is an important factor involved in regulating cell proliferation of PC, and highlights the potential of novel m5C-based clinical modalities as a therapeutic approach in PC patients. Funding Statement: This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 81803014, 81802424, and 81802911). Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: This study was approved by the Ethical Committee of Renji hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (approved protocol number: RA-2019-116). All of the subjects were provided with written informed consent before enrollment.

Background Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) were closely associated with asthma. However, there were no perspective studies about the effects of glucocorticoid on ILC2s in asthma patients. Our objective was to perform a perspective study and evaluate the ILC2 activity after glucocorticoid therapy in asthma patients. Methods The asthma and asthma with allergic rhinitis patients were treated with glucocorticoid for 3 months. The circulating ILC2 levels were evaluated. The effects of glucocorticoid on ILC2s and possible signalling pathways were investigated in vitro. Results The patients were well‐controlled, and the high ILC2 levels were significantly decreased at 1 and 3 months after treatment. Peripheral blood monocytes from allergic patients produced dramatic IL‐5, IL‐13 and IL‐9 in response to IL‐25, IL‐33 plus IL‐2, and glucocorticoid significantly decreased their levels. Moreover, ILC2s were identified to be the predominant source of IL‐5, IL‐13 and IL‐9, and glucocorticoid treatment was able to reverse their high levels. STAT3, STAT5, STAT6, JAK3 and MEK signalling pathways were proved to be involved in regulating ILC2 activity under the glucocorticoid treatment. Conclusion The data suggested that glucocorticoid administration could be effective in treating asthma by regulating ILC2s via MEK/JAK‐STAT signalling pathways. This provides a new understanding of glucocorticoid application in regard to allergic diseases.

Shale gas development throughout the world has resulted in a revolution in the field of global energy and has also become an important topic in China in recent years. While organic-rich shale is widely distributed in China and the initial commercialization of shale gas has been achieved, the research, exploration, and development of shale gas remain at an early stage. Problems exist with crucial technologies, innovation, institutional mechanisms, environmental protection, and other aspects of the industry. The shale gas exploration and development industry in China can learn from the experiences of other countries and strengthen its position in the market, with the support of new government policy. Given its unique geological conditions, China should speed up the introduction of technical innovation and establish its unique systems and methods for shale gas exploration and development.