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SnSe-based thermoelectric materials are being explored since they have potential high thermoelectric figure of merit. We synthesized polycrystalline AlxSn1-xSe (x = 0.01, 0.02, 0.03 and 0.04) by hot-pressing method, and combined theoretical estimation with experimental measurement to investigate the influence of Al doping on thermoelectric properties of SnSe. It was found that dopant Al can effectively adjust the band structure of SnSe by introducing intermediate band. Al doping with low content (x = 0.01 and 0.02) can introduce a single intermediate band close to the valence band maximum or conduction band minimum, achieving band engineering optimization. In high temperature region (498 K

Parabens are widely used as preservatives, which have been found to affect thyroid function in toxicological studies. However, population studies on whether they are associated with thyroid tumor remain unclear. This study aims to investigate the relationship between environmental paraben exposure and thyroid cancer and benign nodules. The detectable percentages of methyl paraben, ethyl paraben, and propyl paraben in the urinary samples of 425 study subjects were 99.06%, 95.29% and 92.00%, respectively. In the single pollutant model, we found statistically significant difference between certain parabens and thyroid cancer/ benign nodules. Further, we found the mixture effect of parabens on increased risk of thyroid cancer (OR = 0.24, 95% CI: 0.18, 0.31) and benign nodule (OR =1.33, 95% CI: 0.86, 1.80). The significant gender-associated effects were found in associations with certain parabens and thyroid cancer and benign nodules (Both P for interactions < 0.05). Overall, our results showed that individual exposure of paraben mixtures may be associated with the risk of thyroid cancer and benign nodules, and there were gender differences.

The role of micronutrients such as folate and vitamin B‐12 in bone quality has been widely studied with conflicting results. Ethnicity seems to play a large role on nutrient intake, as diet varies across cultures. In this study, we examined the relationships of BMD, proximal femur strength, and bone resorption with plasma folate and vitamin B‐12 in a cohort of 93 healthy postmenopausal women of Chinese‐Singaporean descent. The parameters examined were areal (aBMD) and volumetric BMD (vBMD) of the proximal femur and the third lumbar vertebra (L3), total body aBMD, proximal femur bending, compressive and impact strength indices (composite strength indices) and circulating levels of C‐telopeptide of type I collagen. Eighteen participants (19.4%) had aBMD in the osteoporotic range (osteoporosis group), 59 (63.4%) in the osteopenic range (osteopenia group), and the remaining 16 (17.2%) in the normal range (normal BMD group). Circulating folate levels were significantly higher in the normal BMD group compared with the osteoporosis group. Using linear regression analysis, we found that overall, aBMD and vBMD are positively associated with folate concentrations, whereas composite strength indices were positively associated with vitamin B‐12 concentrations. These findings support the existing literature and suggest a link between levels of circulating folate/vitamin B‐12 and BMD/bone strength in the cohort examined. Further investigation is needed to examine if individuals with inadequate circulating levels of these nutrients could decrease their risk for fragility fractures through better nutrition or vitamin supplementation. © 2020 The Authors. JBMR Plus published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research © 2020 The Authors. JBMR Plus published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

Objectives: The first aim of this study was to determine the metabolic type of individuals based on the postprandial metabolic response after the ingestion of a meal challenge that was high protein and either high glucose (high GI) or fructose (low GI). The second aim was to compare the baseline characteristics between the different metabolic types (metabotypes). The third aim was to assess whether the inclusion of fructose or glucose in a high-protein breakfast modulated the glucose, insulin, and TG response over a 4-h period. Methods: The study included 46 Asian women with a body mass index between 17 and 28 kg/m2 in a randomized crossover design. Metabolic typing was based on the assessment of the postprandial glycemic, insulin and triacylglycerol (TG) response after the ingestion of two high-protein meal challenges either high in fructose or glucose. Baseline characteristics were compared between the different metabolic types. Baseline and 4-h postprandial blood samples were collected and glucose, insulin, and TG levels were analyzed. Cluster analysis was used to phenotype the participants in distinct groups. Baseline characteristics including anthropometry, glycemic, and lipid profiles and resting metabolic rate were compared among the metabolic types. Results: Cluster analysis revealed that women could be grouped into three metabolic types based on postprandial glucose, insulin, and TG response after the fructose meal challenge: cluster 1 with an average glucose + high TG response (highTG; n = 12), cluster 2 with a high glucose + average TG response (highGLU; n = 8), and cluster 3 with an average glucose + average TG response (Avg; n = 26). Post hoc analysis revealed significantly greater waist-to-hip ratio and a worse lipid profile for the highTG cluster and a higher fasting blood glucose, body mass index, fat percentage, and hip circumference in the highGLU cluster. Conclusions: Three metabolic types with a distinct metabolic response could be distinguished after a high fructose meal. The results suggest a different risk profile and may indicate why some people develop diabetes in an obesogenic environment. Improved metabolic-type assessments will enable us to develop and optimize nutritional and medical interventions for individuals with differing diabetes risk.

Background A major technical challenge of prostatic arterial embolization (PAE) is the identification and catheterization of the prostatic arteries (PAs). Recently, MR angiography has been shown to help visualize PAs, but the clinical utility of MR angiography for this purpose is not known. Purpose To determine the efficacy of contrast material-enhanced MR angiography in identifying the PA and to evaluate its role in PAE for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Materials and Methods In this prospective study, 100 consecutive men who were scheduled to undergo PAE for BPH from January 2015 to May 2017 were assigned by using a randomized block design to either group A (n = 50; mean age, 71.7 years ± 11.9 [standard deviation]) without MR angiography or group B (n = 50; mean age, 72.3 years ± 12.2) with MR angiography prior to PAE. MR angiography findings of the PA anatomy were compared with those of digital subtraction angiography (DSA). The Student t test and Wilcoxon rank-sum test were used to compare the differences between the parameters indicating the performance of PAE. Results The mean age of the 100 men in the study was 72.0 years ± 11.8 (range, 51-88 years). Compared with DSA as the reference standard, MR angiography identified PAs with a sensitivity of 91.5% (97 of 106) and a positive predictive value of 100% (97 of 97). With the knowledge of tube obliquity and anatomy, group B had lower procedure times than group A (82.3 minutes ± 5.4 vs 123.9 minutes ± 12.4, P < .001) and shorter fluoroscopy times (13.8 minutes ± 2.7 vs 28.5 minutes ± 8.0, P < .001). Additionally, radiation dose was reduced for group A versus group B, from a median of 920 to 339 mGy (P = .004). Conclusion Contrast-enhanced MR angiography can accurately show anatomy for the prostate arteries, leading to shorter prostatic artery embolization times and lower radiation dose than when preprocedural prostate MR angiography is not performed. Published under a CC BY 4.0 license. Online supplemental material is available for this article. See also the editorial by Prince in this issue.

In the routine evaluation of the thyroid, imaging is often a useful modality, which gives anatomical and functional characteristics that can aid diagnosis. Thyroid ultrasonography is the principal imaging modality in this regard, whereas CT, MRI and PET scanning are much less frequently ordered for thyroid assessment through thyroid lesions are often discovered via such advanced imaging modalities as incidental findings.1 Unlike radiologists, most physicians tend to be unfamiliar with radiological features of thyroid disorders detected via these latter forms of scanning.2 A 25-year-old woman who was otherwise overtly healthy and asymptomatic without any history of medical illnesses or chronic medications had volunteered for a research study on brown fat. She underwent whole-body 18F-FDG PET/MR imaging according to a standard protocol. This unexpectedly revealed abnormally increased FDG uptake (SUVmax=6.84) over the anterior neck strangely reminiscent of typical radionuclide (99m Tc or 131I) thyroid scans of hyperthyroidism (figure …

PURPOSE To evaluate the safety and efficacy of prostatic artery embolization (PAE) using the combination of 50-μm and 100-μm polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) particles versus 100-μm PVA particles alone in the treatment of patients with symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). MATERIALS AND METHODS Over a 5-year period, 120 patients treated with PAE for lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) secondary to BPH were randomized to undergo embolization with 50-μm plus 100-μm PVA particles (group A) or 100-μm PVA particles alone (group B). Mean follow-up time was 34 months (range, 12-57 mo). There were no differences between groups regarding baseline data. Primary outcome measurements included change in International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and incidence of adverse events. Secondary outcome measurements included procedure-associated pain, prostate ischemia measured on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging 1 week after PAE, and changes over time in quality of life (QOL) questionnaire, peak urinary flow rate (Qmax), postvoid residual (PVR) volume, prostate volume (PV), prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, and International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) were evaluated. Recurrence of LUTS following PAE was defined as relief of LUTS temporally but increased IPSS ≥ 8 or QOL score ≥ 3 or decrease in Qmax to .05). At 24 month of follow-up, patients in group A had a greater decrease in mean IPSS (18.7 ± 12.5 vs 14.8 ± 13.5), QOL score (3.7 ± 1.5 vs 2.4 ± 1.8), Qmax (10.5 mL ± 9.5 vs 6.8 mL ± 5.0), PVR (92.0 mL ± 75.0 vs 60.0 mL ± 55.0), and PV (37.0 mL ± 19.5 vs 25.5 mL ± 15.0) compared with patients in group B (P

Insulin resistance (IR) is accompanied by increased areal or volumetric bone mineral density (aBMD or vBMD), but also higher fracture risk. Meanwhile, imbalances in bone health biomarkers affect insulin production. This study investigates the effect of IR on proximal femur and lumbar spine BMD, femoral neck bending, compressive and impact strength indices (Composite Strength Indices) and circulating levels of parathyroid hormone (PTH), C-telopeptide of Type I collagen (CTx-1) and 25(OH) Vitamin D3, in a cohort of 97 healthy, non-obese, menopausal Chinese-Singaporean women. Lumbar spine aBMD was inversely associated with IR and dependent on lean body mass (LBM) and age. No such associations were found for vBMD of the third lumbar vertebra, aBMD and vBMD of the proximal femur, or circulating levels of PTH, CTx-1 and 25(OH) Vitamin D3. Composite Strength Indices were inversely associated with IR and independent of LBM, but after adjusting for fat mass and age, this association remained valid only for the impact strength index. Composite Strength Indices were significantly lower in participants with a high degree of IR. Our findings on IR and Composite Strength Indices relationships were in agreement with previous studies on different cohorts, but those on IR and BMD associations were not.

Objectives Fructose is often recommended due to its ability to lower glycemic response and its increased thermogenic effect. Additionally, proteins can reduce the glycemic response of carbohydrate-rich foods and have a high diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT). The aim of this study was to investigate whether the inclusion of fructose in a high-protein meal would demonstrate metabolic advantages. Methods Nineteen Asian women (body mass index 17–28 kg/m2) consumed a low-glycemic index (GI; fructose) or high GI (glucose), high-protein breakfast followed by a standardized lunch in a randomized crossover design. Simultaneously, 8-h continuous glucose monitoring provided incremental area under the curve (iAUC) and 4-h indirect calorimetry provided DIT and respiratory quotient (RQ). Results The low GI diet resulted in a lower glucose iAUC (135 ± 25 versus 212 ± 23 mmol/L, P Conclusions Fructose is an effective sweetener in reducing glycemia and increasing DIT in the presence of a high-protein diet. However, the reduced fat oxidation after high fructose consumption might present a risk for increased lipogenesis.

With the rapid development of Web 2.0 and the rise of online social networks, finding community structures from user data has become a hot topic in network analysis. Although research achievements are numerous at present, most of these achievements cannot be adopted in large-scale social networks because of heavy computation. Previous studies have shown that label propagation is an efficient means to detect communities in social networks and is easy to implement; however, some drawbacks, such as low accuracy, high randomness, and the formation of a “monster” community, have been found. In this study, we propose an efficient community detection method based on the label propagation algorithm (LPA) with community kernel (CK-LPA). We assign a corresponding weight to each node according to node importance in the whole network and update node labels in sequence based on weight. Then, we discuss the composition of weights, the label updating strategy, the label propagation strategy, and the convergence conditions. Compared with the primitive LPA, existing drawbacks are solved by CK-LPA. Experiments and benchmarks reveal that our proposed method sustains nearly linear time complexity and exhibits significant improvements in the quality aspect of static community detection. Hence, the algorithm can be applied in large-scale social networks.

Drug substance (DS) color is an important quality attribute for release, stability and comparability studies of biologics. With the increase of DS concentrations and biologics pipelines made in chemically defined media, atypical DS color other than colorless or pale yellow has been recently reported in the biopharmaceutical industry. We recently observed a brown DS color in manufacturing. Although analytical characterization data indicated that the brown color DS had no major quality issue, it is necessary to find the root cause and reduce DS color to ease placebo design for clinical use. It was demonstrated that the brown color was caused by the chemically defined basal medium containing high levels of iron and vitamin B12 (VB12) regardless of cell lines. Iron caused tryptophan oxidation in the protein to form N-formylkynurenine and kynurenine products, which likely contributed to a yellow DS color. A pink DS color was caused by the residual VB12 bound to DS. The brown color was the result of the combinatory effect of yellow and pink colors. Finally a modified basal medium was developed to produce a pale yellow DS in manufacturing.

In order to solve the problems in the high computation, mono moving direction, low real time effect when switching gaits and unstable switching steps, etc., a fast computing method for omnidirectional motion planning of humanoid robot is proposed. The motion planning based on module design helps to obtain the moving trajectories in directions and the direction-switching algorithm based on one of multiple steps of segments helps to interconnect directional movements and realize the stability and fluency. The validity of method is proved by experiments.

The authors report a 12-mo-old girl with calcified cerebral cryptococcal granuloma. She was admitted with a 6-mo history of seizures. Laboratory examinations showed no abnormal findings. Electroencephalography revealed bilateral slow wave activity, greater in the right occipital region. CT showed an irregular calcified focus with small surrounding low density in the right parieto-occipital region. MRI demonstrated mixed signals without edema and visible flow-voids. The clinical symptoms mimicked intracranial vascular malformations. The diagnosis of cerebral cryptococcal granuloma was made by histopathology. Partial resection of the lesion with post-operatively antifungal and anticonvulsant therapy offered the satisfactory result. Cerebral cryptococcal granuloma is extremely rare, especially in infants. Calcification is indeed unusual. Cerebral cryptococcal granuloma should be included in the differential diagnosis of intracranial mass with calcification in infants.

To describe pregnancies and live births resulted from natural cycle IVF combined with in-vitro maturation (natural-cycle IVF/IVM) for three poor responder women after failure of stimulated cycles.For case 1 and 2, the mature oocytes from aspirated follicles were inseminated by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) immediately; immature oocytes were matured in vitro, and the embryos from mature and immature oocytes transferred on day 3 after oocyte retrieval. For case 3, 3 consecutive natural cycles were performed, in which the matured oocytes from in vivo or in vitro were vitrified in the first and second cycle, and warmed on the retrieval day of the third fresh cycle. Then the embryos resulted from vitrified-warmed and fresh oocytes were transferred.A total of 15 oocytes were obtained from the 7 retrieval cycles for the three cases. The case 1 was successfully pregnant at her first natural cycle, and case 2 was pregnant after two consecutive cycles. The two cases had successfully delivered and case 3 was in her ongoing pregnancy at the time of submission.These results demonstrate that natural-cycle IVF/IVM might be a reasonable and efficient treatment alternative for poor responder patients when stimulated cycle has failed.

Background Antithrombotic agents, including antiplatelet agents, anticoagulants and thrombolysis agents, have been widely used in the management of immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy in Chinese and Japanese populations. To systematically evaluate the effects of antithrombotic agents for IgA nephropathy. Methods Data sources consisted of MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Chinese Science and Technology Periodicals Databases (CNKI) and Japana Centra Revuo Medicina (http://www.jamas.gr.jp) up to April 5, 2011. The quality of the studies was evaluated from the intention to treat analysis and allocation concealment, as well as by the Jadad method. Meta-analyses were performed on the outcomes of proteinuria and renal function. Results Six articles met the predetermined inclusion criteria. Antithrombotic agents showed statistically significant effects on proteinuria (p

Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a safe and reliable modality of renal replacement therapy in patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD). One of the major issues that PD should overcome is its relatively higher technical failure compared with hemodialysis (HD). Dialysate leakage is a common mechanical complication that often lead to technique failure, however, it is hard to diagnose in the most positions. MR peritoneography is a promising method which can reveal the dialysate leakage visually. Here we report a PD patient suffered from dyspnea when she was under PD therapy, the patient was diagnosed with diaphragm leakage by MR peritoneography.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical efficacy of in vitro maturation-intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVM-ICSI) technique on the treatment of azoospermic patients with a history of infectious parotitis (mumps).Spermatozoa were obtained from the testes of azoospermic patients with a history of mumps and fertilized by ICSI. Eggs were retrieved from the spouse of patients in the natural cycle. Fertilized embryos were transferred into the uterus of patients' respective spouses.Live sperm were retrieved from 16 of out of 24 (67%) azoospermic patients with a history of mumps. Using IVM-ICSI, the normal fertilization rate was 71.2%. A total of 23 treatment cycles were completed in the spouses of 16 patients and of these, 9 patients' spouses became pregnant (a pregnancy rate of 39.1%). The success rate for infertility treatment of mumps patients was equally high at 56.3% (9/16).The IVM-ICSI technique is a simple, effective and economic method for infertility treatment in azoospermic patients with a history of mumps.

To determine retrospectively if quantitative measures of the comb sign at CT enterography correlated with laboratory indications in Crohn’s disease. We retrospectively included 72 known CD patients (47 male and 25 female patients) and 41 normal controls who had undergone CT enterography (CTE) from 2008 to 2010 and had high-sensitive C reaction protein (Hs-CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) results. We divided the 72 CD patients into two groups based on disease activity which was determined by Rutgeerts’ score. 41 patients were characterized as active disease while 31 patients were as inactive disease. For each individual, one reformatted coronal CTE image in which the comb sign (vasa recta) was most obviously displayed was selected by two experienced radiologists in a double blind manner. For each image, 20 regions of interest (ROI) with area of 1 cm2 were drawn and placed over the site where the comb sign exists; the comb sign amount was counted in each ROI and recorded. Total amount of the comb sign were assessed from 20 ROI data. Quantitative comb sign results were compared with Hs-CRP and ESR level. Quantitative comb sign score is significantly higher in the CD group than in the control group at both the arterial stage and venous stage (P

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine whether CT enterography (CTE) changes of Crohn's disease (CD) after treatment correlated with clinical remission. Materials and methods We retrospectively studied 50 known CD patients (male: 35; female: 15) with clinical remission in a period of 3 years (2005–2008). CD was diagnosed by clinical, enteroscopic and pathologic manifestations. Clinical remission was identified by experienced gastroenterologists using the combing criteria of clinical, endoscopy and laboratory tests. First CTE and endoscopy exams were performed during their first hospitalization in our hospital meanwhile CD diagnosis was made during that time. Repeated CTE and endoscopy exams were done after treatment. CTE findings were determined by two experienced radiologists with double-blind approach. Each patient was analyzed for the CTE parameters including bowel wall attenuation, bowel wall thickening (>3 mm), bowel wall thickening types (type A: multilayered mural stratification; type B: two layers with strong mucosal enhancement and prominent low-density submucosa; type C: two layers without strong mucosal enhancement; type D: homogeneous enhancement) comb sign, luminal stenosis (mild: luminal diameter 2–3 cm; moderate: luminal diameter 1–2 cm; severe: luminal diameter

Multiple calcified primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is extremely rare in childhood.We report a 4-year-old boy suffering from multiple calcified B-cell lymphoma in the brain with immunodeficiency.The boy had a history of walking weakness and seizure for 4 months. The serum levels of immunoglobulin G, A and M were decreased. Brain MRI showed multiple lesions which had ring enhancement. CT showed calcification in all of the lesions. The boy was firstly misdiagnosed with multiple chronic brain abscesses. Pathological analysis of biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of anaplastic diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.PCNSL should be included in the differential diagnosis of intracranial mass with calcification.

Background Measurement of basal metabolic rate (BMR) is suggested as a tool to estimate energy requirements. Therefore, BMR prediction equations have been developed in multiple populations because indirect calorimetry is not always feasible. However, there is a paucity of data on BMR measured in overweight and obese adults living in Asia and equations developed for this group of interest. The aim of this study was to develop a new BMR prediction equation for Chinese adults applicable for a large BMI range and compare it with commonly used prediction equations. Methods Subjects were 121 men and 111 women (age: 21–67 years, BMI: 16–41 kg/m2). Height, weight, and BMR were measured. Continuous open-circuit indirect calorimetry using a ventilated hood system for 30 min was used to measure BMR. A regression equation was derived using stepwise regression and accuracy was compared to 6 existing equations (Harris-Benedict, Henry, Liu, Yang, Owen and Mifflin). Additionally, the newly derived equation was cross-validated in a separate group of 70 Chinese subjects (26 men and 44 women, age: 21–69 years, BMI: 17–39 kg/m2). Results The equation developed from our data was: BMR (kJ/d) = 52.6 x weight (kg) + 828 x gender + 1960 (women = 0, men = 1; R2 = 0.81). The accuracy rate (within 10 % accurate) was 78 % which compared well to Owen (70 %), Henry (67 %), Mifflin (67 %), Liu (58 %), Harris-Benedict (45 %) and Yang (37 %) for the whole range of BMI. For a BMI greater than 23, the Singapore equation reached an accuracy rate of 76 %. Cross-validation proved an accuracy rate of 80 %. Conclusions To date, the newly developed Singapore equation is the most accurate BMR prediction equation in Chinese and is applicable for use in a large BMI range including those overweight and obese.

Most of the solid modelling systems available for kinematics analysis use polyhedra representation which needs large space of data storage and is rather inconvenient to handle models composed of sculptured surfaces as in the case of aircraft landing gear layout. A simplified representation using structured wireframe scheme is presented.