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We report a unique case of a 25-year-old man who was incidentally identified to have a mass in the left adrenal gland region by computerized tomography scan. The image revealed a 1.8 × 1.6 cm, well-defined adrenal mass with moderately homogeneous enhancement. The mass was laparoscopically completely removed, and the diagnosis of a solid variant glomus tumor of the adrenal gland was rendered. There were no histologic features indicating atypia or malignance and no primary tumors anywhere else. The patient was free of disease at the 6-month follow-up. To our knowledge, this is the first case of primary adrenal glomus tumor described in the literature.

BCOR-CCNB3 fusion sarcoma is a recently described undifferentiated sarcoma with a novel recurrent inversion of 2 nearby genes BCOR and CCNB3. It typically affects bone and soft tissues of the pelvis, extremity, and paraspinal region and pursues variable clinical course. Primary renal BCOR-CCNB3 fusion sarcoma is very rare, and only a small number of cases have been documented. Accurate diagnosis is often challenging, and there is not any agreement for the treatment of this entity due to its rarity. We report findings of primary renal BCOR-CCNB3 fusion sarcoma in a 16-year-old boy with a brief review of the literature.

China is a middle-risk country for hip fracture at present, which differs from previous data that it was low-risk. By 2050, the total number of hip fractures in people older than 65 years is predicted to be 1.3 million. To assess hip fracture incidence in China and examine the heterogeneity of hip fracture in seven geographical regions of China. There were 238,230 hip fracture patients aged 65 years or older from 2013 to 2016 from a large national in-patients database (HQMS) involving 30.6 million hospitalizations. Taking into account the total national hospitalization rate per calendar year, we estimated the incidence of hip fracture per 100,000 residents older than 65 years in China overall and in seven geographical Chinese regions. The proportion of men and women older than 65 years with hip fractures was 1.00:1.95. Between 2013 and 2016, the number of hip fractures per 100,000 people age 65+ was 278. China has vast territories; the number of hip fractures per 100,000 people over 65 years old was 202 in Northeast China and 374 in Northwest China. Northwest has higher altitude, lower population density, is less developed with lower urbanization than Northeast China which is low altitude, and highly urbanized. China should no longer be regarded as a low-risk country for hip fracture. By 2050, the total number of hip fractures in people older than 65 years in China is predicted to be 1.3 million. Higher altitude areas had higher hip fracture rates than lower altitude, higher urbanized areas.

Aims To investigate the effect of losartan on preventing bladder fibrosis and protecting renal function in rats with neurogenic paralysis bladder (NPB). Materials and methods Rats were assigned to the transecting spinal nerves group (TSNG), transecting spinal nerves + losartan group (LSTG), and control group (CG). On Day 32 postsurgery, bladder capacity (BC), bladder compliance (ΔC), bladder leakage pressure (Pves.leak) of TSNG and LSTG while BC, ΔC, and bladder threshold pressure (Pves.thre) of CG were measured by cystometry in each cohort. Renal function and the expression quantity of Angiotensin Ⅱ (Ang II) in blood were detected, in addition Ang II, Ang II Type 1 receptor (AT1), transformation growth factor β1 (TGFβ1), Collagen Ⅲ, and collagen fibrin in the bladder tissue were detected too. Results ΔC in TSNG and LSTG decreased significantly compared to the CG. Pves.leak in TSNG and LSTG were significantly higher than Pves.thre in CG. Renal function of both TSNG and LSTG decreased significantly compared with the CG, but renal function in LSTG was better than in TSNG. Ang Ⅱ in blood and bladder tissue in TSNG and LSTG increased significantly compared with CG. AT1 was expressed in the bladder tissue of all rats. The TGFβ1, Collagen Ⅲ, and collagen fibrin expression level increased significantly in TSNG compared with LSTG and CG, while these levels were not significantly different between CG and LSTG. Conclusion Losartan might prevent NPB fibrosis by stopping the upregulated signaling of Ang II/AT1/TGFβ1 and consequently may reduce kidney damage from occurring.

Background Cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is the major long-term complications after heart transplantation, leading to mortality and re-transplantation. As available noninvasive biomarkers are scarce for CAV screening, we aimed to identify a proteomic signature for CAV detection. Methods Urinary proteome was measured by capillary electrophoresis coupled to mass spectrometry in 217 heart transplantation recipients. Participants were further randomly and evenly divided into the derivation cohort and validation cohort. The proteomic signature for CAV was identified by decision tree-based machine learning in the derivation cohort and further tested in the validation cohort. The pathway analysis was investigated with Reactome Pathway Database. Results We identified a proteomic signature with 27 urinary peptides, which yielded areas under the curve (AUC) of 0.83 and 0.71 in the derivation and validation cohort, respectively. In the validation cohort, it had a sensitivity of 68.4%, specificity of 73.2%, accuracy of 71.6%, negative predictive value of 81.3%. Including the proteomic signature into the basic model further improved the diagnostic accuracy with an relative integrated discrimination improvement of 25.9% and the continuous net reclassification improvement of 83.3% (p≤0.023). The pathways analysis on revealed that collagen turnover, platelet aggregation and coagulation, cell adhesion and motility might involve in the pathogenesis of CAV. Conclusions The proteomic signature might be valuable for the surveillance of CAV thereby reduce the frequency of invasive procedures after HTx. Moreover, the highlighted pathways might provide insights in the potential novel treatment targets for CAV. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – EU funding. Main funding source(s): European Research Council Advanced Researcher Grant and Proof-of-Concept Grant ROC curves of the urinary proteomicThe 25 highlighted enrichment pathways

OBJECTIVE To assess the current status of caesarean delivery (CD) in China, propose reference CD rates for China overall, and by regions, investigate the main indications for CDs and identify possible areas for safe reduction. DESIGN A multicentre cross-sectional study. SETTING A total of 94 hospitals across 23 provinces in China. POPULATION A total of 73 977 randomly selected deliveries. METHODS We used a modified Robson classification to characterise CDs in subgroups and by regions, and the World Health Organization (WHO) C-Model to calculate reference CD rates. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES CD rates in China. RESULTS In 2015-2016, the overall CD rate in China was 38.9% (95% CI 38.6-39.3%). Considering the obstetric characteristics of the population, the multivariable model-based reference CD rate was estimated at 28.5% (95% CI 28.3-28.8%). Accordingly, an absolute reduction of 10.4% (or 26.7% relative reduction) may be considered. The CD rate varied substantially by region. Previous CD was the most common indication in all regions, accounting for 38.2% of all CDs, followed by maternal request (9.8%), labour dystocia (8.3%), fetal distress (7.7%) and malpresentation (7.6%). Overall, 12.7% of women had prelabour CDs, contributing to 32.8% of the total CDs. CONCLUSIONS Nearly 39% of births were delivered by caesarean in China but a reduction of this rate by a quarter may be considered attainable. Repeat CD contributed more than one-third of the total CDs. Given the large variation in maternal characteristics, region-specific or even hospital-specific reference CD rates are needed for precision management of CD. TWEETABLE ABSTRACT The caesarean rate in 2015-2016 in China was 38.9%, whereas the reference rate was 28.5%.

The focal plane camera is the core component of the Wide Field-of-view Cherenkov/fluorescence Telescope Array (WFCTA) of the Large High-Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO). Because of the capability of working under moonlight without aging, silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) have been proven to be not only an alternative but also an improvement to conventional photomultiplier tubes (PMT) in this application. Eighteen SiPM-based cameras with square light funnels have been built for WFCTA. The telescopes have collected more than 100 million cosmic ray events and preliminary results indicate that these cameras are capable of working under moonlight. The characteristics of the light funnels and SiPMs pose challenges (e.g. dynamic range, dark count rate, assembly techniques). In this paper, we present the design features, manufacturing techniques and performances of these cameras. Finally, the test facilities, the test methods and results of SiPMs in the cameras are reported here., Comment: 45 pages, 21 figures, article

COVID-19 causes significant morbidity and mortality and early intervention is key to minimizing deadly complications. Available treatments, such as monoclonal antibody therapy, may limit complications, but only when given soon after symptom onset. Unfortunately, these treatments are often expensive, in limited supply, require administration within a hospital setting, and should be given before the onset of severe symptoms. These challenges have created the need for early triage of patients likely to develop life-threatening complications. To meet this need, we developed an automated patient risk assessment model using a real-world hospital system dataset with over 17,000 COVID-positive patients. Specifically, for each COVID-positive patient, we generate a separate risk score for each of four clinical outcomes including death within 30 days, mechanical ventilator use, ICU admission, and any catastrophic event (a superset of dangerous outcomes). We hypothesized that a deep learning binary classification approach can generate these four risk scores from electronic healthcare records data at the time of diagnosis. Our approach achieves significant performance on the four tasks with an area under receiver operating curve (AUROC) for any catastrophic outcome, death within 30 days, ventilator use, and ICU admission of 86.7%, 88.2%, 86.2%, and 87.8%, respectively. In addition, we visualize the sensitivity and specificity of these risk scores to allow clinicians to customize their usage within different clinical outcomes. We believe this work fulfills a clear clinical need for early detection of objective clinical outcomes and can be used for early screening for treatment intervention.

In the present work, Hall Effect gas sensors based on SnO2 nanowires for Hydrogen detection have been investigated. The SnO2 nanowires were synthesized on stainless steel mesh in a horizontal electrical furnace, and XRD, SEM, FESEM, XPS were employed to analyze the crystallographic structure, the morphology, and the SnO2 nanowires electron binding energy of SnO2 nanowires. The results indicate that the SnO2 nanowires synthesized at 950 °C are single crystals with rutile structure, 30 nm in diameter with hundreds of microns in length and composed of only Sn and O. The Hall Effect gas sensor fabricated from SnO2 nanowires showed the peak response of 7.81 towards 1000 ppm H2 under the optimal operating temperature of 125 °C and reversible response to H2 at different operating temperatures and H2 concentrations. In addition, the plausible response mechanism of the Hall Effect gas sensor based on SnO2 was discussed. The results demonstrate that the Hall Effect gas sensor based on SnO2 nanowires is very promising for the fabrication of cost effective and high-performance gas sensors.

Flutter is a long standing issue for fan blades of civil aero-engines and becomes of further concern for modern light-weight designs with increasing fan diameters to reach ultra-high bypass ratios. Accurate flutter prediction is therefore of prime consideration in the design process in order to avoid catastrophic blade failure in operation or expensive redesign iterations if spotted in ground or flight tests. The traditional energy method, which is based on the assumption of negligible aeroelastic coupling, has been used to great extend to predict flutter of turbomachinery components including aero-engine fan blades, and is today by far the most widely applied technique. The underlying assumption of fluid–structure decoupling, however, has to be questioned for large fan blades that are characterized by low mass ratios and low stiffness. Implications of the violation of the system decoupling assumption on the prediction capabilities of the energy method are important to understand for the fan designer in order to allow an informed decision on the flutter prediction tool to use. In this work a comprehensive comparative study is presented in which the energy method is contrasted to the predictions of a strongly coupled fluid–structure interaction method for varying values of mass ratio and blade stiffness of a transonic three-dimensional fan rotor. The strength of aeroelastic coupling is evaluated in terms of the aeroelastic frequency shift and its impact on the prediction accuracy of the energy method is investigated. The results show the capability of the energy method to accurately predict flutter for a wide range of mass ratio and stiffness configurations, but its prediction accuracy is reduced for combined low mass ratio and low stiffness blades. Mechanisms governing the aeroelastic frequency shift are explained to allow a better understanding of the effect and a method for its prediction based on results of a decoupled analysis is shown.

In a total flow system for geothermal energy extraction, the high pressure and temperature of geofluid are directly passed through the power turbine. During the expansion process, there is a significant drop in fluid pressure and these results into flash boiling. Flash boiling generates steam, which has a very high specific volume and an abrupt increase in fluid volume makes the turbine passage difficult to be designed. The reported study focuses on the computational fluid dynamic model of the two-phase turbine. Flash boiling has been incorporated through the thermal phase change approach that uses energy balance at the liquid-vapour interface considering a two-resistance analogy for heat transfer coefficients of both the phases.

A cryogenic CMOS preamplifier fabricated in 180 nm CMOS process has been developed for HPGe detectors with very large dynamic range covering from ~10 eV (dark matter) to 10 MeV (neutrino-less double beta decay). It consists of two-stage amplifiers. The first stage is a normal charge sensitive preamplifier and the second stage has dual gain channels to achieve large dynamic range. In order to achieve low noise, the input transistor of the preamplifier was optimized for 2 pF detector capacitance and the pulse reset was adopted without using a feedback resistor. The ENC was simulated to be 4.63 electrons with 0.1 pA leakage current in 77 K. A “pre-reset’ method was introduced to reduce the dead time for large signals caused by conventional pulse reset, during which the charge of the large signal will not be completely collected. A pre-reset will be triggered when the preamplifier output enters into the incomplete-charge-collection region if no signal presents. Hence the dead time will be significantly reduced to the reset time. The function of pre-reset scheme was verified by transient waveform simulation and experiment results. The output waveforms have also been recorded when the CMOS preamplifier worded at liquid nitrogen temperature.

Background and purpose MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been demonstrated to play crucial roles in the early stage of acute ischaemic stroke (AIS). The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression patterns of miRNAs in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from AIS patients and further explore related molecular mechanisms in stroke-induced immunodeficiency syndrome (SIDS). Methods The miRNA expression patterns of PBMCs were detected by miRNA microarray and validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in AIS patients and healthy controls. Bioinformatics methods and luciferase reporter assays were used to detect the downstream target genes. Following stimulation with lipopolysaccharide and interleukin-4, the expression of miR-4443, tumor necrosis factor receptor associated factor 4 (TRAF4) and the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) pathway were evaluated. Furthermore, transfection with miR-4443 mimic or inhibitor in the monocytes was carried out to gain insight into the mechanisms in SIDS. Results Interleukin-10 in AIS patients was significantly higher than that of healthy controls. The miRNA microarray analysis and qRTPCR validation showed that only miR-4443 was upregulated expressed in PBMCs from AIS patients, especially in monocytes. miR-4443 was shown to directly interact with the 3' untranslated regions of TRAF4, resulting in suppression of TRAF4 protein expression. Furthermore, the expression of miR-4443 and TRAF4 was regulated by stimulation with lipopolysaccharide or interleukin-4. Additionally, overexpression of miR-4443 suppressed the TRAF4/Iκα/NF-κB signaling pathway to activate the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines in monocytes. Conclusions The increased expression of miR-4443 induced monocyte dysfunction by targeting TRAF4, which may function as a crucial mediator in SIDS.

The present study was aimed to investigate the value of serum amyloid A in the early diagnosis of infection in patients with extracorporeal circulation and to evaluate the prognosis of patients. This was a prospective observational study. Patients admitted to the intensive care unit after cardiopulmonary bypass surgery between January 2017 and January 2019 were continuously collected. Daily blood serum amyloid A and traditional inflammatory markers (white blood cell, C-reactive protein and procalcitonin) were continuously monitored 1 day before surgery and 3 days after surgery. The efficacy of serum amyloid A and traditional inflammatory indicators in the early diagnosis of infection was assessed by receiving operating characteristic curve, and the efficacy of serum amyloid A in predicting the prognosis of patients was assessed by multivariate logistic regression analysis. A total of 150 patients admitted to ICU after extracorporeal circulation was included in the study period. There were 58 patients with perioperative infection and 92 patients in the non-infected group. There were 18 patients in the death group, accounting for 12 %. Serum amyloid A and traditional inflammatory indicators were increased in all patients on the first day after surgery compared with that before surgery, but in the non-infected group and the survival group, the decrease rate was significantly faster than that in the infected group and the death group within three days after surgery, p

The main scientific goal of the LHAASO WFCTA experiment is to measure the cosmic ray energy spectra and composition from 10 TeV to 1 EeV. Cherenkov photons in the extensive air shower measured by the SiPM camera of Cherenkov telescopes can be used to reconstruct the cosmic ray energy. The absolute calibration of the camera is a crucial step to achieve the accurate measurement of the cosmic ray energy spectrum. A multi-wavelength cylindrical illuminator based on LEDs is developed and mounted inside the telescope to calibrate and monitor the camera, and the illuminator’s stability is better than 0.5% under the temperature variation from -26 to 26 ° C. A portable probe with a single photoelectron resolution of 21.6% is developed. After calibration by National Institute of Metrology, China (NIM), the probe is taken to the LHAASO site to measure the absolute photon density of the cylindrical illuminator inside the telescope. Based on the illuminator with known photon density, the photon conversion factor of the camera can be calibrated, and the overall calibration uncertainty is less than 2.6%.

With the rapid development of microelectronics, computer, sensor and communication technology, the measuring and controlling of hydraulic structures has gradually realized automation and intelligent information collection will be more and more perfect. As a commonly used hydraulic structure, sluice gate needs to be combined with modern technology to provide basic data and control flow in more scientific and efficient ways. Different discharge methods are available to determine discharge under sluice gates. The present paper designs a new float type float and proposes a way to measure the discharge through the gate. This paper compares the new equation of (Q) with (e/H) under free flow condition with proposed equations by other researchers. The results shows that other equations fail to accurately determine the flow rate for the cases of free flow, while employing the new proposed equations can result in more accurate discharge estimation within the given ranges of the experimental study. The development of velocity profile under sluice gate is examined, and the effects of shear stress are studied. The new method can be used to predict the performance of sluice gates with different sizes under free -flow situations. These results may attract and guide numerical modelers of flow. A free flow automation measuring and controlling system based on single chip microcomputer and sensor can be designed, which will be application of computer, sensors and other modern technology. Thus realizing scientific water management, optimal allocation and accurate measurement of water resources.

Introduction: For technical renovation of the thermal plant, one frame structure workshop of 50,000 m2 construction area and one reinforcement concrete chimney of 150m height shall be demolished by blasting in the same time. The engineering environment is very complicated and the accommodation space for the structures collapse is limited. Therefore, the collapse sequence, direction, scope of the structures must be accurately controlled to ensure the safe operation of the adjacent generator unit and transformer station. Methods: By taking technical measures of theoretical analysis and numerical simulation etc., as well as research on structures collapse process and initiation system, it puts forward the technology of bidirectional folded collapse of the workshop and it uniquely adopts the initiation system that combined with “half-second delay inside drilling” and “millisecond delay outside drilling”. Results and Conclusion: Additionally, by using of the integrated vibration reduction technology in combination of the blasting ruins, buffer ditch and damping ditch, it has safely accomplished the blasting demolition work in high efficiency. Besides the blasting demolition vibration signal is collected and analyzed. The success of the blasting demolition will become valuable reference to other similar works.

Cybernetics provides a new set of ideas and methods for the study of modern science, and it has been fully applied in many areas. However, few people have introduced cybernetics into the field of remote sensing. The paper is based on the imaging process of remote sensing system, introducing cybernetics into the field of remote sensing, establishing a space-time closed-loop control theory for the actual operation of remote sensing. The paper made the process of spatial information coherently, and improved the comprehensive efficiency of the space information from acquisition, procession, transformation to application. We not only describes the application of cybernetics in remote sensing platform control, sensor control, data processing control, but also in whole system of remote sensing imaging process control. We achieve the information of output back to the input to control the efficient operation of the entire system. This breakthrough combination of cybernetics science and remote sensing science will improve remote sensing science to a higher level.

A flip-flop circuit hardened against soft errors is presented in this paper. This design is an improved version of Quatro for further enhanced soft-error resilience by integrating the guard-gate technique. The proposed design, as well as reference Quatro and regular flip-flops, was implemented and manufactured in a 65-nm CMOS bulk technology. Experimental characterization results of their alpha and heavy ions soft-error rates verified the superior hardening performance of the proposed design over the other two circuits.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Both diffusion tensor imaging and the apparent transverse relaxation rate have shown promise in differentiating Parkinson disease from atypical parkinsonism (particularly multiple system atrophy and progressive supranuclear palsy). The objective of the study was to assess the ability of DTI, the apparent transverse relaxation rate, and their combination for differentiating Parkinson disease, multiple system atrophy, progressive supranuclear palsy, and controls. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 106 subjects (36 controls, 35 patients with Parkinson disease, 16 with multiple system atrophy, and 19 with progressive supranuclear palsy) were included. DTI and the apparent transverse relaxation rate measures from the striatal, midbrain, limbic, and cerebellar regions were obtained and compared among groups. The discrimination performance of DTI and the apparent transverse relaxation rate among groups was assessed by using Elastic-Net machine learning and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. RESULTS: Compared with controls, patients with Parkinson disease showed significant apparent transverse relaxation rate differences in the red nucleus. Compared to those with Parkinson disease, patients with both multiple system atrophy and progressive supranuclear palsy showed more widespread changes, extending from the midbrain to striatal and cerebellar structures. The pattern of changes, however, was different between the 2 groups. For instance, patients with multiple system atrophy showed decreased fractional anisotropy and an increased apparent transverse relaxation rate in the subthalamic nucleus, whereas patients with progressive supranuclear palsy showed an increased mean diffusivity in the hippocampus. Combined, DTI and the apparent transverse relaxation rate were significantly better than DTI or the apparent transverse relaxation rate alone in separating controls from those with Parkinson disease/multiple system atrophy/progressive supranuclear palsy; controls from those with Parkinson disease; those with Parkinson disease from those with multiple system atrophy/progressive supranuclear palsy; and those with Parkinson disease from those with multiple system atrophy; but not those with Parkinson disease from those with progressive supranuclear palsy, or those with multiple system atrophy from those with progressive supranuclear palsy. CONCLUSIONS: DTI and the apparent transverse relaxation rate provide different but complementary information for different parkinsonisms. Combined DTI and apparent transverse relaxation rate may be a superior marker for the differential diagnosis of parkinsonisms.

Beta-glucosidase (GBA), also known as acid β-glucosidase, exhibits an activity of glucosylceramidase (EC 3.2.1.45). Three main isoforms of β-glucosidases have been identified in mammals: GBA1, GBA2, and GBA3. The deficiency of these enzymes leads to glucosylceramide accumulation, resulting in Gaucher's disease. The present study is focused on the cytosolic β-glucosidase, GBA3, and its relationship with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The expression of GBA3 mRNA in HCC was evaluated first using the TCGA database, and then by immunohistochemistry using tissue microarrays of 328 clinically characterized HCC samples and 151 non-tumor liver controls. Moreover, the presence of a correlation between GBA3 expression and clinicopathological characteristics of patients was examined. The obtained results indicated that the expression of GBA3 mRNA was significantly lower in HCC than in the adjacent non-tumor liver tissues. The expression of GBA3 was inversely related to the number of tumors (p=0.041), tumor size (p

Background Probiotics are mainly distributed in the mucosal system and have the ability to enhance mucosal barrier function and regulate immune responses. Broncho-Vaxom (BV), as a probiotic, has been applied to patients suffering from respiratory tract infections, but its potential effectiveness in allergic rhinitis (AR) has not been evaluated in human. This study aimed to investigate the clinical efficacy of BV in patients with persistent AR and to elucidate the underlying cellular mechanisms. Methods Sixty patients with AR were enrolled to this study and were randomly assigned to the BV group (n=30) and the placebo group (n=30). Changes of clinical symptoms and laboratory parameters of allergic inflammation were measured at baseline visit, immediately after BV treatment, four weeks, and eight weeks after the BV treatment. Results After BV treatment, medication score in the BV group was significantly decreased compared with placebo group, along with a significant drop of the total nasal symptom score and the individual nasal symptom scores (itching score: 23.72±5.32%; nasal rhinorrhea score: 18.59±4.83%; sneezing score: 23.08±4.98%). The levels of IL-4 and IL-13 in nasal lavage were diminished remarkably while the level of INF-I³ was markedly increased in the BV group. This rendered a significant reduction of the ratio of IL-4/INF-I³. Moreover, a decrease of eosinophils in nasal smear was observed after BV treatment. The BV-induced favorable changes sustained for at least four to eight weeks post BV treatment. Conclusion Oral administration of BV offers remarkable and sustained efficacy in alleviating AR symptoms and may be considered as an alternative therapeutic strategy for patients with persistent AR. BV acts by improving the overall mucosal immunity via restoring and maintaining the normal Th1/Th2 cytokine balance as an underlying cellular/signaling mechanism.

Based on the Chinese historical sunspots drawings, a data set consisting of the scanned images and all their digitized parameters from 1925 to 2015 have been constructed. In this paper, we briefly describe the developmental history of sunspots drawings in China. This paper describes the preliminary processing processes that strat from the initial data (inputing to the scanning equipment) to the parameters extraction, and finally summarizes the general features of this dataset. It is the first systematic project in Chinese solar-physics community that the historical observation of sunspots drawings were digitized. Our data set fills in an almost ninety years historical gap, which span 60 degrees from east to west and 50 degrees from north to south and have no continuous and detailed digital sunspot observation information. As a complementary to other sunspots observation in the world, our dataset provided abundant information to the long term solar cycles solar activity research., 40pages,m10 figures, 9 tables

We report an experimental demonstration of a machine learning approach to identify exotic topological phases, with a focus on the three-dimensional chiral topological insulators. We show that the convolutional neural networks---a class of deep feed-forward artificial neural networks with widespread applications in machine learning---can be trained to successfully identify different topological phases protected by chiral symmetry from experimental raw data generated with a solid-state quantum simulator. Our results explicitly showcase the exceptional power of machine learning in the experimental detection of topological phases, which paves a way to study rich topological phenomena with the machine learning toolbox., Main text: 5 pages with 3 figures; supplemental materials: 8 pages with 4 figures and 2 tables; accepted at Physical Review Letters

Summary Kümmell’s disease (eponymous name for osteonecrosis and collapse of a vertebral body due to ischemia and non-union of anterior vertebral body wedge fractures after major trauma) cannot heal spontaneously. Bone-filling mesh container (BFMC) can significantly relieve pain, help the correction of kyphosis, and may prevent cement leakage. This pilot study may provide the basis for the design of future studies. Purpose To compare the effectiveness and safety of BFMC and percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) for treatment of Kümmell’s disease. Methods From August 2016 to May 2018, 40 patients with Kümmell’s disease were admitted to Guizhou Provincial People’s Hospital. Among them, 20 patients (20 vertebral bodies) received PKP (PKP group) and the other 20 received BFMC (BFMC group). Operation time, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Cobb’s angle changes, and related complications were recorded. Results All patients underwent operations successfully. VAS scores and ODI of both groups at each postoperative time point were lower than preoperatively, with statistically significant difference (p p Conclusions Both PKP and BFMC technologies can significantly relieve pain and help the correction of kyphosis while treating Kümmell’s disease. Moreover, the BMFC may prevent cement leakage.

Various minimally invasive approaches have been described for infected necrotizing pancreatitis. This article describes a modified minimal-access retroperitoneal pancreatic necrosectomy (MARPN) procedure assisted by gas insufflation.This retrospective, observational study documented patients who had undergone a step-up MARPN between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2016. A minimum follow-up of 1 year was required for inclusion. The step-up approach involved percutaneous catheter drainage followed by the modified MARPN and necrosectomy. If more than one access site was needed it was categorized as complex MARPN.Of 212 patients with infected necrotizing pancreatitis, 164 (77·4 per cent) underwent a step-up approach. The median number of percutaneous catheter drains and MARPN procedures was 3 (range 1-7) and 1 (1-6) respectively. Ninety patients (54·9 per cent) underwent complex MARPN. For residual necrosis after MARPN, three patients (1·8 per cent) underwent sinus tract gastroscopy, and 11 (6·7 per cent) had sinography combined with a tube change. However, operations in 13 patients (7·9 per cent) required conversion to open surgery. Postoperative complications developed in 103 patients (62·8 per cent). The mortality rate was 6·1 per cent (10 deaths).A step-up approach using a modified MARPN for infected necrotizing pancreatitis is a reasonable option.Los procedimientos mínimamente invasivos se han convertido en los más frecuentes para el tratamiento de necrosis pancreáticas infectadas. El objetivo de este estudio fue presentar un procedimiento de necrosectomía pancreática retroperitoneal de acceso mínimo (minimal-access retroperitoneal pancreatic necrosectomy, MARPN) modificado y asistido mediante insuflación de gases, así como evaluar su seguridad y eficacia. MÉTODOS: Se realizó un análisis retrospectivo y observacional de los datos de un hospital desde el 1 de enero de 2010 hasta el 31 de diciembre de 2016. Se incluyeron en el análisis todos los pacientes en los que realizó un abordaje por etapas, que consistía en el drenaje percutáneo mediante la colocación de un catéter seguido de un procedimiento MARPN modificado, en los que se dispusiese de un seguimiento postoperatorio mínimo de 1 año. El MARPN en el lado derecho y la necrosectomía realizada a través de más de un acceso se clasificaron como MARPN complejo. Se evaluaron los resultados radiológicos y quirúrgicos.De 212 pacientes con necrosis pancreática infectada, en 164 (77,4%) se realizó un abordaje por etapas. La mediana del número de drenajes percutáneos y procedimientos MARPN fue 3 (rango, 1-7) y 1 (rango, 1-6), respectivamente. En 90 pacientes (54,9%) se realizó un MARPN complejo. Para la exéresis de necrosis residual después de un MARPN, en 3 pacientes (1,8%) se realizó mediante gastroscopia y en 11 pacientes (6,7%) con un recambio de drenaje bajo control radiológico. En 13 pacientes (7,9%) fue necesaria la reconversión a cirugía abierta. Hubo complicaciones postoperatorias en 103 pacientes (62,8%). La tasa de mortalidad fue del 6,1% (n = 10). CONCLUSIÓN: El abordaje por etapas con un MARPN modificado es seguro y efectivo en el tratamiento de la necrosis pancreática infectada.

A toroidal soft x-ray array system for spectrum and intensity measurements on the EXL-50 spherical tokamak is described. Silicon drift detectors and digital multichannel analyzers are adopted for all 21 channels of the array, and an average energy resolution of 147 eV at 5.89 keV has been achieved at count rates over 500 kcps. In total, 20 channels of the array are symmetrically observed in both co- and counter-current directions on the EXL-50 mid-plane with a spatial resolution of around 10 cm, and the remaining one serves as a background reference channel. Tungsten emissions from tungsten coating of the limiters on the central post are observed. The influence of hard x rays on measured soft x-ray spectra and system operation is discussed.

The LHAASO-WFCTA experiment, which aims to observe cosmic rays in the sub-EeV range using the fluorescence technique, uses a new generation of high-performance telescopes. To ensure that the experiment has excellent detection capability associated with the measurement of the energy spectrum, the primary composition of cosmic rays, and so on, an accurate geometrical reconstruction of air-shower events is fundamental. This paper describes the development and testing of geometrical reconstruction for stereo viewed events using the WFCTA (Wide Field of view Cherenkov/Fluorescence Telescope Array) detectors. Two approaches, which take full advantage of the WFCTA detectors, are investigated. One is the stereo-angular method, which uses the pointing of triggered SiPMs in the shower trajectory, and the other is the stereo-timing method, which uses the triggering time of the fired SiPMs. The results show that both methods have good geometrical resolution; the resolution of the stereo-timing method is slightly better than the stereo-angular method because the resolution of the latter is slightly limited by the shower track length.

Background Peripheral nerve injuries are a common clinical problem which may result in permanent loss of motor or sensory function. A better understanding of the signaling pathways that lead to successful nerve regeneration may help in discovering new therapeutic targets. The Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway plays significant roles in nerve development and regeneration. In a mouse model of facial nerve injury, Hedgehog-responsive fibroblasts increase in number both at the site of injury and within the distal nerve. However, the role of these cells in facial nerve regeneration is not fully understood. We hypothesize that the Hh pathway plays an angiogenic and pro-migratory role following facial nerve injury. Methods Hedgehog pathway modulators were applied to murine endoneurial fibroblasts isolated from the murine facial nerve. The impact of pathway modulation on endoneurial fibroblast migration and cell proliferation was assessed. Gene expression changes of known Hedgehog target genes and the key angiogenic factor Vegf-A were determined by qPCR. In vivo, mice were treated with pathway agonist (SAG21k) and injured facial nerve specimens were analyzed via immunofluorescence and in situ hybridization. Results Hedgehog pathway activation in facial nerve fibroblasts via SAG21k treatment increases Gli1 and Ptch1 expression, the rate of cellular migration, and Vegf-A expression in vitro. In vivo, expression of Gli1 and Vegf-A expression appears to increase after injury, particularly at the site of nerve injury and the distal nerve, as detected by immunofluorescence and in situ hybridization. Additionally, Gli1 transcripts co-localize with Vegf-A following transection injury to the facial nerve. Discussion These findings describe an angiogenic and pro-migratory role for the Hedgehog pathway mediated through effects on nerve fibroblasts. Given the critical role of Vegf-A in nerve regeneration, modulation of this pathway may represent a potential therapeutic target to improve facial nerve regeneration following injury.

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to investigate the relationship between persistent human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and cervical lesion. METHODS Clinical data of 16,320 patients who visited our clinic between January 2009 and December 2013 were collected. Retrospective analysis was performed to analyze the overall HPV infection and compare the infection rates of different subtypes among different age groups, to reveal the relationship between persistent HPV infection and cervical cytology. RESULTS The overall prevalence of HPV was 26.54%. The most common genotypes were HPV 52, HPV 16, HPV 58, CP8304, and HPV 53. The highest overall high-risk HPV prevalence was found in women older than 60 years, and the lowest prevalence was found in women between the ages of 30 and 39 years. There was no significant difference in low-risk HPV prevalence among different age groups (p = .693). The HPV clearance rate after 1 year among those with initial positive test was 87.65%. The constituent ratios of high- or low-risk HPV subtypes were not significantly different (p = .545) between nonpersistent-positive and persistent-positive (PP) groups. Conversely, the constituent ratios of singe- or multi-type HPV infection were significantly different (p < .05) between these 2 groups. The most common subtypes in PP group were HPV 16, 52, 58, CP8304, and 33. The occurrence rates of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance, high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion, and squamous cell carcinoma in the PP group significantly increased (p < .05). CONCLUSIONS Persistent HPV infections are mainly caused by multiple types of HPV and high-risk HPV. Our region should particularly pay attention to the prevention and treatment of HPV 16, 52, and 58.

Based on the selective area growth (SAG) technique, an enhancement mode GaN recessed gate MOSFET was fabricated successfully with negligible gate trapping effect, presenting an extremely small threshold voltage ( $V_{\mathrm {th}})$ hysteresis of 50 mV at a gate bias swing up to 10 V. Compared with the larger $V_{\mathrm {th}}$ hysteresis of a recessed gate GaN MOSFET fabricated by dry-etching, the correlation between the $V_{\mathrm {th}}$ hysteresis and the lattice damage related traps caused by plasma dry etching process has been confirmed. Furthermore, the SAG recessed MOSFET shows a lower turn-ON resistance due to the higher MOS channel mobility. We believe that all of these superior performance of SAG MOSFET are attributed to the damage free high quality GaN surface at the Al2O3/GaN MOS interface, which indicates that the SAG is a promising alternative technique toward stable GaN MOSFET for the power switching applications.

A mathematical model that considers the source-insulator interaction is presented for modeling flashover of outdoor insulators under contaminated conditions. The model is applied to suspension and post type insulators with wettable surfaces. Several IEEE test cases of practical power systems have been evaluated using PowerWorld® to estimate the source strength. Results included in this paper show that significant difference exists in the probability of flashover in actual power systems when compared to laboratory results using sources that satisfy international standards. It is found in this paper that flashover in service can occur at much lower levels of contamination than predicted by international standards.

Cold storage technology is one of the effective means to alleviate the imbalance of power load during peak and valley period. Based on a practical project, the operation of the ice storage air conditioning system was monitored for 26 days. Temperature, pressure, ice storage and other parameters were recorded. Through the analysis of the operation data and air temperature, it is found that the operation of the ice storage system is stable and consistent with the design condition. But there are still some shortcomings in the operating strategy. This paper provides some suggestions for the design and operation of air conditioning system in future projects.

BACKGROUND Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most common infectious diseases in clinic. Urine flow cytometry is receiving more and more attention due to its rapid forecast of UTIs. METHODS The Urine Flow Cytometer UF1000i has a series of software programs to quantify bacteria (BACT) and white blood cells (WBC), and describe the scatter diagram of bacteria. The UTIs were predicted based on the cutoff values with the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves of BACT and WBC counts. To evaluate the diagnostic performance of UF1000i for UTIs, the sensitivity and specificity of 889 urine samples were determined in comparison to the results of urine culture. Meanwhile the bacterial morphology indication of the UF1000i was evaluated in order to help doctors choose antibiotics. The angle of the scatter cloud with the x-axis was used to classify the infected bacteria as bacilli (< 30°) or cocci (≥ 30°). RESULTS The best cutoff value of BACT counts for predicting UTIs was 119 per µL, and the sensitivity and specificity were 95.5% and 88.7%, respectively. While the best cutoff value of WBC counts was 81.5 per µL, and the sensitivity and specificity were 77.6% and 76.7%, respectively. In addition, the best cutoff values for females were 583 BACT per µL and 137.5 WBC per µL. They were much higher than for males (118 BACT per µL and 91 WBC per µL). The coincidence of the bacterial morphology information between the UF1000i software indication and the bacterial actual morphology identified by urine culture was 83% (bacilli) and 68% (cocci), respectively. CONCLUSIONS Data demonstrated that the performance of BACT counts for UTIs is superior to WBC counts. In addition, the bacterial morphology could preliminarily be predicated by the scatter diagram. Since the urine flow cytometer UF1000i can provide the data of both BACT counts and the scatter diagram, the urine flow cytometry was regarded as a suitable method for screening UTIs. Moreover, it would be better to take gender into consideration when setting the best cutoff value for diagnosis of UTIs in clinic.

As a narrow bandgap semiconductor, the preparation of surface passivation layers on HgCdTe film epilayers is essential in the process of device fabrication. Most new infrared detectors use the mesa structure. A stable and reproducible passivation technology which meets the surface uniform cover of the high aspect ratio mesa is particularly important. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a new type of accurate surface thin film preparation technique, which has several characteristics such as depositing large-area uniform films, making the film thickness control at nanometer level feasible, and lower deposition temperature. ALD-ZnS film is prepared on the HgCdTe IRFPAs chip at 65°. I-V and R-V curves are similar to that of IRFPAs with CdTe thermal passivation. This shows that ALD ZnS film has a good potential application in the passivation of high aspect ratio mesa-array HgCdTe devices.

Background Polymyositis and dermatomyositis (PM/DM) are systemic autoimmune diseases with multiple organ involvements that manifest as muscular and cutaneous disorders, interstitial lung disease (ILD) and malignancies. However, information concerning the outcomes and associated factors for PM/DM patients who are hospitalised is limited. Objectives We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 982 PM/DM patients admitted to our centre from 2008 to 2014 and performed a case-control analysis to identify possible related risk factors for death among PM/DM patients in China. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the medical charts of PM/DM patients admitted to a Chinese tertiary referral hospital (Peking Union Medical College Hospital, PUMCH) from 2008 to 2014. The deceased group included 63 patients who had “deceased discharge” status or were confirmed to have died within two weeks of hospital discharge. The demographic data, clinical manifestations, and direct causes of death were analysed retrospectively. Medical records for 126 age- and sex-matched PM/DM patients were selected as controls from 982 inpatients successively admitted to the same centre during the same period. In addition to the comparison of clinical manifestations between the two groups, binary logistic regression was conducted to explore the risk factors related to PM/DM mortality. Results Over the past 6 years at PUMCH, the in-hospital mortality rate of PM/DM patients was 4.58%. The male gender and the elder patients had a high risk of death (p=0.031 and p=0.001 respectively). The three most frequent causes of death for PM/DM patients were pulmonary infection (35%), ILD exacerbation (21%) or both conditions (25%). Pulmonary infection (p Conclusions PM/DM patients continue to display high in-hospital mortality. Pulmonary infection is the strongest predictor of poor prognosis in PM/DM patients, followed by pneumomediastinum, Gottron’s papules, and elevated ESR. Reference [1] Murray SG, Schmajuk G, Trupin L, Lawson E, Cascino M, Barton J, et al. A population-based study of infection-related hospital mortality in patients with dermatomyositis/polymyositis. Arthritis care & research2015;67:673–680. doi:10.1002/acr.22501 Acknowledgements This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundations of China, Grant number: 81471615 and 81601430, URL: http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/. Disclosure of Interest None declared

Background The association of metabolic status with disease characteristics of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remain controversial. Body composition (BC) instead of body mass index (BMI) has been more and more recommended to assess metabolic status. Objectives To investigate the characteristics of BC in RA patients and their association with RA disease characteristics. Methods BC was assessed in RA patients and control subjects by bioelectric impedance analysis. Overfat was defined by body fat percentage (BF%) as ≥25% for men and ≥35% for women. Sarcopenia was defined by skeletal muscle mass index (SMMI)≤8.87 kg/m2 in men and ≤6.42 kg/m2 in women. Clinical data including disease activity, function and radiographic assessment were collected. Results There were 457 RA patients and 1,860 control subjects recruited. In RA patients, there were 17.7%, 58.0%, 20.1% and 4.2% with underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obesity respectively, and 32.4% were overfat, 11.4% with sarcopenia. Comparisons to control subjects in age and gender stratification showed that male RA patients had significantly lower BMI and SMMI with higher percentage of underweight and sarcopenia in almost all age subgroups; female patients had lower SMMI in all age subgroups and lower BMI with higher prevalence of sarcopenia but higher BF% at age ≤30 and 51–60 years (all P Conclusions This study showed lower SMMI and higher prevalence of sarcopenia in RA patients which were positively associated with joint damage. Disclosure of Interest None declared