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Predicting customer repurchase propensity/frequency has received broad research interests from marketing, operations research, statistics, and computer science. In the field of marketing, Buy till You Die (BTYD) models are perhaps the most representative techniques for customer repurchase prediction. Those probabilistic models are parsimonious and typically involve only recency and frequency of customer activities. Contrary to BTYD models, a distinctly different class of predictive models for customer repurchase is machine learning. This class of models include a wide variety of computational and statistical learning algorithms. Unlike BTYD models built on low-dimensional inputs and behavioral assumptions, machine learning is more data-driven and excels at fitting predictive models to a large array of features from customer transactions. Using a large online retailing data, we empirically assess the prediction performance of BTYD modeling and machine learning. More importantly, we investigate how the two approaches can complement each other for repurchase prediction. We use the BG/BB model given the discrete and non-contractual problem setting and incorporate BG/BB estimates into high-dimensional Lasso regression. In addition to showing significant improvement over BG/BB and Lasso without BG/BB, the integrated Lasso-BG/BB provides interpretability and identifies BG/BB predictions as the most influential feature among ∼100 predictors. The lately developed CART-artificial neural networks exhibit similar patterns. Robustness checks further show the proposed Lasso-BG/BB outperforms two sophisticated recurrent neural networks, validating the complementarity of machine learning and BTYD modeling. We conclude by articulating how our interdisciplinary integration of the two modeling paradigms contributes to the theory and practice of predictive analytics.

Obesity-related glomerulopathy (ORG) is a secondary glomerular disease caused by obesity, with clinical manifestations such as proteinuria and glomerulomegaly. Currently, the high incidence of obesity brings a change in the spectrum of kidney diseases across the globe, including China. ORG has become another important secondary nephropathy leading to end-stage renal disease (ESRD), and its incidence has increased significantly. This trend is bound to bring about a serious socioeconomic burden. Therefore, it is urgent to study its pathogenesis and intervention measures. Currently, the occurrence and development mechanisms in ORG are complicated by many factors, which are still unclear. In the past 20 years, with the continuous intensive research on mechanisms such as hypoxia in the metabolic process, immune inflammation, and pyroptosis, there have been new advances in the mechanism of ORG, especially the important role of inflammation in podocyte injury and its impact on the progress of ORG. Here, we briefly review the possible pathogenic role of the inflammasome in the podocyte damage in ORG and summarize the possible therapeutical strategies targeting inflammasome.

In this study, we used meta-analysis to comprehensively evaluate the clinical efficacy of Kangfuxin Liquid in the treatment of diabetic patients with skin ulcers. Literature search was performed through PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang Data. The retrieval was not limited by language, and the search period was from 2010 to October 12, 2020. Diabetic patients with skin ulcers were treated with Kangfuxin Liquid combined with basic treatment as the treatment group and only basic treatment as the control group. Stata16.0 software was used for system evaluation. A total of 11 studies and 874 patients were included. Meta-analysis showed that 11 studies compared the treatment efficacy between the two groups, and the results showed that the treatment efficacy in the treatment group was significantly higher than that in the control group [OR = 5.38, 95% CI (3.52, 8.24), P < 0.001 ]. Among them, 9 studies compared the healing time of wounds. The healing time of the treatment group was significantly longer than that of the control group [SMD = −2.13, 95% CI (−2.85, −1.41), P < 0.001 ]. Five studies compared the length of stay, and the length of stay in the treatment group was shorter than that in the control group [SMD = −3.68, 95% CI (−5.38, −1.97), P < 0.001 ]. Compared with basic treatment, Kangfuxin Liquid combined with basic treatment has an ideal effect in the treatment of diabetic skin ulcers, which can improve the overall treatment efficiency and shorten the wound rehabilitation time and the length of stay.

The automatic and objective medical diagnostic model can be valuable to achieve early cancer detection, and thus reducing the mortality rate. In this paper, we propose a highly efficient multi-level malignant tissue detection through the designed adversarial CAC-UNet. A patch-level model with a pre-prediction strategy and a malignancy area guided label smoothing is adopted to remove the negative WSIs, with which to lower the risk of false positive detection. For the selected key patches by multi-model ensemble, an adversarial context-aware and appearance consistency UNet (CAC-UNet) is designed to achieve robust segmentation. In CAC-UNet, mirror designed discriminators are able to seamlessly fuse the whole feature maps of the skillfully designed powerful backbone network without any information loss. Besides, a mask prior is further added to guide the accurate segmentation mask prediction through an extra mask-domain discriminator. The proposed scheme achieves the best results in MICCAI DigestPath2019 challenge on colonoscopy tissue segmentation and classification task. The full implementation details and the trained models are available at https://github.com/Raykoooo/CAC-UNet., accepted by Neurocomputing; winner of the MICCAI DigestPath 2019 challenge on colonoscopy tissue segmentation and classification task

Objective: To characterize and compare the microbiome signature in the maternal, intrauterine, and fetal environments and the associated bacterial species in women who experienced preterm birth and term birth. Methods: A total of 140 women with singleton pregnancies were enrolled in this study. Among them, 31 experienced spontaneous preterm delivery (gestational age < 37 weeks), and 28 of them experienced vaginal delivery at term. Maternal peripheral blood, saliva, and vaginal discharge samples and fetal membrane, amniotic fluid, and cord blood samples were collected immediately after delivery under sterile conditions. DNA was isolated from the fetal membrane and umbilical cord blood samples, and the V3–V4 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene was sequenced. The sequence data were quality-filtered, chimera-checked, and organized into operational taxonomic units (OTUs) based on phylogeny. Principal coordinate analysis of beta diversity measures was used for visualization. The linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) algorithm and Wilcoxon test were used to differentiate the microbiomes found in the fetal membranes and cord blood in the cases of preterm birth. Results: OTU analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene showed similar microbiomes in the maternal peripheral blood, amniotic fluid, fetal membranes, and cord blood. However, the LEfSe algorithm revealed significantly different bacterial compositions in the fetal environment between the preterm and term groups, with some of the bacterial species originating from the maternal peripheral blood or saliva. Conclusions: The bacteria in the intrauterine and fetal environments may originate from other body sites through hematogenous transmission, and may cause the occurrence of preterm birth.

PurposeThis paper reports the panel discussion on the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) and robots in our lives. This discussion was held at the Digitization of the Individual (DOTI) workshop at the International Conference on Information Systems in 2019. Three scholars (in alphabetical order: Ting-Peng Liang, Lionel Robert and Suprateek Sarker) who have done AI- and robot-related research (to varying degrees) were invited to participate in the panel discussion. The panel was moderated by Manuel Trenz.Design/methodology/approachThis paper introduces the topic, chronicles the responses of the three panelists to the questions the workshop chairs posed and summarizes their responses, such that readers can have an overview of research on AI and robots in individuals' lives and insights about future research directions.FindingsThe panelists discussed four questions with regard to their research experiences on AI- and robot-related topics. They expressed their viewpoints on the underlying nature, potential and effects of AI in work and personal life domains. They also commented on the ethical dilemmas for research and practice and provided their outlook for future research in these emerging fields.Originality/valueThis paper aggregates the panelists' viewpoints, as expressed at the DOTI workshop. Crucial ethical and theoretical issues related to AI and robots in both work and personal life domains are addressed. Promising research directions to these cutting-edge research fields are also proposed.

Background Laparoscopic procedure has inherent merits of smaller incisions, better cosmesis, less postoperative pain, and earlier recovery. In the current study, we presented our method of purely laparoscopic feeding jejunostomy and compared its results with that of conventional open approach. Methods We retrospectively reviewed our patients from 2012 to 2019 who had received either laparoscopic jejunostomy (LJ, n = 29) or open ones (OJ, n = 94) in Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou. Peri-operative data and postoperative outcomes were analyzed. Results In the current study, we employed 3-0 Vicryl, instead of V-loc barbed sutures, for laparoscopic jejunostomy. The mean operative duration of LJ group was about 30 min longer than the OJ group (159 ± 57.2 mins vs 128 ± 34.6 mins; P = 0.001). There were no intraoperative complications reported in both groups. The patients in the LJ group suffered significantly less postoperative pain than in the OJ group (mean NRS 2.03 ± 0.9 vs. 2.79 ± 1.2; P = 0.002). The majority of patients in both groups received early enteral nutrition (P = 0.143). Conclusions Our study demonstrated that purely laparoscopic feeding jejunostomy is a safe and feasible procedure with less postoperative pain and excellent postoperative outcome. It also provides surgeons opportunities to enhance intracorporeal suture techniques.

GaAs photodiode is a critical O/E receiver component for high-speed optical link in data centers and HPC. In this work, GaAs P-i-N photodiodes with four different aperture diameters are developed for 50 Gb/s data detection. Device layer structure and the fabrication process are optimized to achieve low dark current, high responsivity and high bandwidth. An O/E microwave model based on the device physics and structure is developed and the simulated frequency responses agree well with the measurements. The 50 Gb/s NRZ eye-diagrams of optical link test are validated via the use of 20 and $25~{\mu }{m}$ diameter photodiodes and a 29 GHz 850 nm oxide VCSEL.

With the support of smart technology, IT-enabled services have become “smart” and have progressively disrupted existing markets. Ride-hailing services (RHSs) are widely regarded as representative of these IT-enabled services. However, few studies on IT-enabled services investigate how the technological attributes of smart technology influence service performance in a continuously changing environment. We developed our research model according to Wixom and Todd’s model, the literature on change management, and the literature on information system postadoption behavior. We conducted a large-scale field study by surveying 380 drivers from major metropolises in mainland China and a post hoc qualitative interpretation to validate our model. We found that smart technological attributes of RHS systems (i.e., monitoring, control, advisory support, and responsive support) positively influence functionality and content quality, which in turn influence service quality. In addition, service quality positively influences drivers’ postadoption attitudes and behaviors, including openness to RHS change, job satisfaction, and continuous usage intentions. Our findings provide important theoretical and practical implications.

Drug‐induced liver injury (DILI) is one of the common adverse effects of drug therapy, which is closely associated with oxidative stress, apoptosis, and inflammation response. Medium‐chain fatty acids (MCFA) were reported to relieve inflammation and attenuate oxidative stress. However, little has been known about the hepatoprotective effects of MCFA in DILI. In the present study, acetaminophen (AP) and rifampicin (RFP) were used to establish DILI models in LO2 cells, and the cytoprotective effects of MCFA on hepatocellular injury were investigated. Results showed that the optimal condition for the DILI model was treatment with 10 mM AP or 600 µM RFP for 24 hr. LCFA treatment markedly reduced the cell viability and increased the activities of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and lactate dehydrogenase. Meanwhile, LCFA treatment aggravated cell apoptosis, mitochondrial dysfunction, and oxidative stress. The mRNA and protein expression levels of inflammatory cytokines (IL‐1β and TNF‐α) were significantly elevated by LCFA. In contrast, MCFA treatment did not significantly affect cell viability, apoptosis, oxidative, stress and inflammation, and it did not produce the detrimental effects on DILI models. Therefore, we proposed that MCFA may be more safe and suitable than LCFA as nutrition support or the selection of daily dietary oil and fat for the patients with DILI., In this study, we investigated the optimal conditions for establishing the DILI model and the cytoprotective effects of MCFA on the model. Our results found that MCFA decreased the percentages of apoptotic cells, mitochondrial membrane potential as well as attenuated oxidative stress compared with LCFA. MCFA also down‐regulated the mRNA and protein expression of inflammatory cytokines.

Background Although research on the effects of comorbidities on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients is increasing, the risk of cancer history has not been evaluated for the mortality of patients with COVID-19. Methods In this retrospective study, we included 3232 patients with pathogen-confirmed COVID-19 who were hospitalized between January 18th and March 27th, 2020, at Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, China. Propensity score matching was used to minimize selection bias. Results In total, 2665 patients with complete clinical outcomes were analyzed. The impacts of age, sex, and comorbidities were evaluated separately using binary logistic regression analysis. The results showed that age, sex, and cancer history are independent risk factors for mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. COVID-19 patients with cancer exhibited a significant increase in mortality rate (29.4% vs. 10.2%, P < 0.0001). Furthermore, the clinical outcomes of patients with hematological malignancies were worse, with a mortality rate twice that of patients with solid tumors (50% vs. 26.1%). Importantly, cancer patients with complications had a significantly higher risk of poor outcomes. One hundred nine cancer patients were matched to noncancer controls in a 1:3 ratio by propensity score matching. After propensity score matching, the cancer patients still had a higher risk of mortality than the matched noncancer patients (odds ratio (OR) 2.98, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.76–5.06). Additionally, elevations in ferritin, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, procalcitonin, prothrombin time, interleukin-2 (IL-2) receptor, and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were observed in cancer patients. Conclusions We evaluated prognostic factors with epidemiological analysis and highlighted a higher risk of mortality for cancer patients with COVID-19. Importantly, cancer history was the only independent risk factor for COVID-19 among common comorbidities, while other comorbidities may act through other factors. Moreover, several laboratory parameters were significantly different between cancer patients and matched noncancer patients, which may indicate specific immune and inflammatory reactions in COVID-19 patients with cancer.

Significance The protein corona affects the clinical applications, organ targeting, and safety assessment of nanomaterials, and prediction of the protein corona would be valuable for the design of ideal nanomaterials. However, no methods to predict the protein corona are available. Overcoming the numerous quantitative and qualitative factors influencing corona formation, the present work builds models that precisely predict the functional composition of the protein corona and the cell recognition of nanoparticles (NPs) integrating machine learning and meta-analysis. This workflow provides an effective method to predict the functional composition of the protein corona that determines cell recognition to guide the synthesis and applications of NPs., Protein corona formation is critical for the design of ideal and safe nanoparticles (NPs) for nanomedicine, biosensing, organ targeting, and other applications, but methods to quantitatively predict the formation of the protein corona, especially for functional compositions, remain unavailable. The traditional linear regression model performs poorly for the protein corona, as measured by R2 (less than 0.40). Here, the performance with R2 over 0.75 in the prediction of the protein corona was achieved by integrating a machine learning model and meta-analysis. NPs without modification and surface modification were identified as the two most important factors determining protein corona formation. According to experimental verification, the functional protein compositions (e.g., immune proteins, complement proteins, and apolipoproteins) in complex coronas were precisely predicted with good R2 (most over 0.80). Moreover, the method successfully predicted the cellular recognition (e.g., cellular uptake by macrophages and cytokine release) mediated by functional corona proteins. This workflow provides a method to accurately and quantitatively predict the functional composition of the protein corona that determines cellular recognition and nanotoxicity to guide the synthesis and applications of a wide range of NPs by overcoming limitations and uncertainty.

Deep learning-based histopathology image classification is a key technique to help physicians in improving the accuracy and promptness of cancer diagnosis. However, the noisy labels are often inevitable in the complex manual annotation process, and thus mislead the training of the classification model. In this work, we introduce a novel hard sample aware noise robust learning method for histopathology image classification. To distinguish the informative hard samples from the harmful noisy ones, we build an easy/hard/noisy (EHN) detection model by using the sample training history. Then we integrate the EHN into a self-training architecture to lower the noise rate through gradually label correction. With the obtained almost clean dataset, we further propose a noise suppressing and hard enhancing (NSHE) scheme to train the noise robust model. Compared with the previous works, our method can save more clean samples and can be directly applied to the real-world noisy dataset scenario without using a clean subset. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme outperforms the current state-of-the-art methods in both the synthetic and real-world noisy datasets. The source code and data are available at https://github.com/bupt-ai-cz/HSA-NRL/., 14 pages, 20figures, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging

Reinforced concrete (RC) bridge piers of highway viaducts are exposed to the vehicular impact hazard with impact location usually close to the ground (i.e., bottom of the pier), thus resulting in dominant shear damage. Different simplified approaches for the assessment of RC bridge pier performance under impact loads are generally based on equivalent static models. One crucial element for these approaches is the determination of the static shear performances and residual axial capacity. Because of limited experimental results available under these conditions, six half-scale rectangular RC columns with different volumetric reinforcement ratios and axial compressive loads were tested under near-ground lateral loads with monotonic static conditions. Test results indicate a clear major diagonal crack at the bottom of RC columns with an inclination angle of approximately 30° below the point of application of the lateral load, and it eventually slips along the crack surface under axial loads followed by failure (i.e., loss of residual axial capacity). The increase in the volumetric reinforcement ratio significantly improves the shear deformation capacity and shear crack resistance with a slight increase in the shear capacity. The increase in the axial load can also slightly increase the shear capacity of the columns but is accompanied by a reduction in shear deformation capacity. Additionally, prediction performances of three commonly used shear capacity models for the case of RC columns under near-ground lateral loads are investigated. Finally, based on the test results, an existing residual axial capacity model is modified to improve its prediction performance.

Objectives To investigate the reproducibility, stability, internal consistency and the ability to grade malnutrition of Subjective Global Nutritional Assessment (SGNA) in outpatient children with cerebral palsy. Methods This was a part of a larger, cross-sectional study (ChiCTR2000033869) at the outpatient of a tertiary hospital. The recruitment and data collection of children with Cerebral Palsy aged from 1 to 18 years were from August 2020 to March 2021. The concurrent validity, inter-rater reliability, test-retest reliability and internal consistency of SGNA were tested. To analyze data, specificity, sensitivity, Kendall coefficient, Cohen's kappa coefficient, Spearman coefficient and Cronbach's α coefficient were used. Results The agreement between SGNA and anthropometric data was moderate to strong (k = 0.540-0.821). The sensitivity (71.70% to 89.74%) and specificity (77.67% to 91.03%) of SGNA to identify participants with z-score ≤-2 were good. The sensitivity of SGNA to identify participants with weight for age z-score ≤-3 was poor (30.00%). The interrater reliability (k = 0.703) and test-retest reliability (k = 0.779) were good. The item of edema was with poor agreement to SGNA nutritional grades (rs = 0.072), and after deleting it from SGNA, the Cronbach's α coefficient of SGNA increased from 0.715 to 0.886. Findings SGNA is good at identifying malnourished outpatient children with cerebral palsy, with excellent reproducibility and short-time stability. However, the ability to grade malnutrition is unsatisfactory. For further application in this group, a more appropriate item should be designed to replace the item of edema.

Objective The aim of this study was to study the relationship between adverse pregnant outcomes(APO) with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in pregnant women. Method From 2017 to 2019, we studied HBsAg (+) pregnant women and HBsAg (-) who gave birth at our hospital in Guangzhou City, China. We compared of the outcomes of pregnant women with HBsAg(+) or HBsAg(-). Further, among HBsAg(+) pregnant women, We compared of the outcomes of pregnant women with HBeAg(+) group or HBeAg(-) group, HBV DNA above 2×10e5IU/mL group or HBV DNA below 2×10e5IU/mL) group, respectively. Finally, multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the independent association between HBV infection and the risk of developing APO. Result First, Our research Indicates that the rates of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP), premature rupture of membrane (PROM), Fetal distress (FD), Oligohydramnios, Premature delivery (PD), Low birth weight (LBW), Meconium contamination (MC), Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia(NH) in HBsAg(+) group were higher than those in HBsAg(-) group (P5 IU/mL were higher than those in HBV DNA below 2×10e5 IU/mL group (P

The diagnosis of biopsy tissue with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained images has been widely used by pathologists to detect the lesions and assess the malignancy. Nevertheless, the diagnostic result relies on the visual observation of pathologists which may vary from person to person under different circumstances. With the advantage of automatically and adaptively learning features at multiple levels of abstraction, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have rapidly become promising alternatives for pathological image analysis. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an effective method for tumor classification called Hard Example Guided CNN. Our contribution is twofold: firstly, to optimize image representation, we design the CNN architecture as dual-branch, used for extracting global features and local features simultaneously. Secondly, we propose a re-weight training algorithm, which improves learning accuracy and accelerates the convergence by increasing the weight of hard examples. Extensive experiments on multiple datasets demonstrate the superiority of our proposed classification method.

A few published reports have described anterior spinal artery syndrome (ASAS) with cervical spondylosis based on clinical presentation and/or MRI study, but no photographs of anterior spinal arteries were provided in these studies. Here we present a case of ASAS with cervical spondylosis in a CT angiography (CTA) study. A previously healthy 31-year-old man was diagnosed with acute ASAS with cervical spondylosis. Neurological examination revealed four-limb weakness predominant in the distal part of the upper limbs and superficial sensory impairment below the cervical region. T2-weighted images on MRI showed an area of hyperintensity in the gray matter of the cervical cord from C3 to C5 with a disc herniation at the C4,5 vertebral level. CTA demonstrated that ASA was occluded at level C4,5 , which coincided with the location of disc herniation. Anterior spinal cord decompression and fusions were performed. The patient tolerated the procedure well and had complete resolution of his exertionally dependent myelopathic symptoms 1 week later. In conclusion, although ASAS with cervical spondylosis is rare, it can be diagnosed based on clinical symptoms and MRI and identified by CTA of ASA. A good neurological prognosis is anticipated after anterior spinal cord decompression and fusion is performed if disc herniation is responsible for ASA occlusion.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Taiwan. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with CRC mortality in several population-based studies. However, this effect of COPD on CRC shows no difference in some studies and remains unclear in Taiwan’s population. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using Taiwan’s nationwide database. Patients newly diagnosed with CRC were identified from 2007 to 2012 via the Taiwan Cancer Registry dataset and linked to the National Health Insurance research database to obtain their medical records. Propensity score matching (PSM) was applied at a ratio of 1:2 in COPD and non-COPD patients with CRC. The 5-year overall survival (OS) was analyzed using the Cox regression method. Results: This study included 43,249 patients with CRC, reduced to 13,707 patients after PSM. OS was lower in the COPD group than in the non-COPD group. The adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) for COPD was 1.26 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.19–1.33). Moreover, patients with CRC plus preexisting COPD showed a higher mortality risk in all stage CRC subgroup analysis. Conclusions: In this 5-year retrospective cohort study, patients with CRC and preexisting COPD had a higher mortality risk than those without preexisting COPD, suggesting these patients need more attention during treatment and follow-up.

Purpose The aim of this study was to construct and verify a computed tomography (CT) radiomics model for preoperative prediction of synchronous distant metastasis (SDM) in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) patients. Methods Overall, 172 patients with ccRCC were enrolled in the present research. Contrast-enhanced CT images were manually sketched, and 2994 quantitative radiomic features were extracted. The radiomic features were then normalized and subjected to hypothesis testing. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) was applied to dimension reduction, feature selection, and model construction. The performance of the predictive model was validated through analysis of the receiver operating characteristic curve. Multivariate and subgroup analyses were performed to verify the radiomic score as an independent predictor of SDM. Results The patients randomized into a training (n = 104) and a validation (n = 68) cohort in a 6:4 ratio. Through dimension reduction using LASSO regression, 9 radiomic features were used for the construction of the SDM prediction model. The model yielded moderate performance in both the training (area under the curve, 0.89; 95% confidence interval, 0.81-0.97) and the validation cohort (area under the curve, 0.83; 95% confidence interval, 0.69-0.95). Multivariate analysis showed that the CT radiomic signature was an independent risk factor for clinical parameters of ccRCC. Subgroup analysis revealed a significant connection between the SDM and radiomic signature, except for the lower pole of the kidney subgroup. Conclusions The CT-based radiomics model could be used as a noninvasive, personalized approach for SDM prediction in patients with ccRCC.

The prognostic impact and treatment responses among cervical cancer patients with different histological types remains inconclusive. To determine the prognostic effects of different histologic types, we identified 39,088 patients with a diagnosis of cervical cancer between 2004 and 2016 from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program.Variables related to the prognosis of cervical cancer were evaluated using log-rank method and univariate/multivariate Cox models before and after propensity score matching.Of the 36,310 patients, Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) was the most common histological type (n = 27,043, 74.5%), followed by adenocarcinoma (AC, n = 7755, 21.4%) and adenosquamous carcinoma (ASC, n = 1512, 4.1%). Compared to SCC patients, patients with AC (HR = 1.14, 95%CI = 1.09-1.20, P 0.01) and ASC (HR = 1.28, 95%CI = 1.18-1.40, P 0.01) showed significantly poorer prognosis. Subgroup analyses indicated that the differences in prognosis between AC and SCC were only observed in stage II and III patients (P 0.01). In patients with concurrent chemoradiotherapy, survival rates of patients with AC were significantly worse compared with similar patients with SCC (HR = 1.14, 95%CI = 1.03-1.27; P 0.01).The prognostic impact of histologic types among patients with cervical cancer depends on tumor stages and therapeutic approaches. Tailored treatment and follow-up planning need to be developed across patients with different histological types and stages.

Background: Insomnia is a common sleep disturbance in older adults and is associated with many poor health outcomes. This study aimed to investigate the relevance of insomnia in older adult outpatients and to analyze differences between genders in factors associated with insomnia.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the outpatient clinics of a tertiary hospital in Southern Taiwan from July to September 2018. A total of 400 consecutive subjects aged 60 years or older were recruited. Insomnia was defined as a score of > 6 points on the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS). Socio-demographics, health behaviors and clinical data were collected by face-to-face interview. Multivariable logistic regression was adopted for statistical analysis of the entire sample and stratified by gender.Results: Participants’ mean age was 74.74 ± 8.54 years, and the majority (93%) had more than one chronic disease. The prevalence of insomnia accounted for 30% (120/400) of all subjects, with males 22.9% (46/201) and females 37.2% (74/199). Gender, appetite, exercise, depressive symptoms, and sleep-related conditions such as short sleep duration, sleeping pills usage, medium-high risk of obstructive sleep apnea(OSA) and restless leg syndrome(RLS) were factors associated with insomnia in older adults. Exercise, sleeping pills usage, and RLS had an independent association with insomnia only in men, while appetite was associated with insomnia in women only.Conclusions: Insomnia is highly prevalent among older adults, predominantly females. Significant differences are found between genders in factors associated with insomnia. Understanding gender differences may help clinicians to modify associated factors when managing older adults with insomnia.

Dietary supplements and medications containing polyvalent cations can interact with integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) and decrease exposure to INSTIs. In this cross-sectional study of 513 people living with HIV (PLWH) who were on stable antiretroviral therapy, 57.5% and 6.6% reported concurrent use of dietary supplements and antacids, respectively. In the multivariable analysis, the use of antacids, but not dietary supplements containing polyvalent cations, was associated with HIV viremia in PLWH who received INSTI-based ART.

Epilepsy is a high incidence neurological disease, and its repeated attacks cause serious physical and psychological damage to the patient. Differentially expressed in normal and neoplastic cells (DENN) domain containing 5B (DENND5B) is a lipoprotein binding protein that mediates synaptic vesicle transport and regulates neuroplasticity and lipid metabolism. Nevertheless, the effect of DENND5B on seizures remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the association of DENND5B with epilepsy, detect its expression and distribution in the nervous system, and explore its role in epileptogenesis through western blot, immunofluorescence staining, and behavioral studies. In this experiment, two C57BL/6 mice models, which induced seizures by pentylenetetrazole and kainic acid, were established. We observed that the expression of DENND5B was reduced in the brains of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, and its expression was also similarly decreased in both chronic epileptic mice. The findings strongly suggest that DENND5B may be associated with epileptic seizures. Results of immunofluorescence showed that DENND5B was mainly expressed in the hippocampal region and co-located with neurons but not with astrocytes. Next, we used lentivirus to induce both lentiviral vector-mediated overexpression and knockdown of DENND5B in mice to test the change of susceptibility and severity of seizures in the two chronic seizure models. Knockdown of DENND5B was found to promote epileptic seizures, increase chronic spontaneous recurrent epileptic seizures and epileptic discharge, and reduce the incubation period. However, overexpression of DENND5B showed the opposite effect. These results suggest that DENND5B overexpression decreased the behavioral phenotype of epileptic seizures, but DENND5B downregulation had the opposite effect. In summary, our findings suggest that DENND5B can regulate epileptic seizures and may provide a new target for antiepileptic therapy.

Background A lack of information on specific and interventional factors for stillbirth has made designing preventive strategies difficult, and the stillbirth rate has declined more slowly than the neonatal death rate. We compared the prevalence of stillbirth among the offspring of women with or without abnormal placental perfusion (APP). Methods We conducted a hospital-based retrospective cohort study involving women with a singleton pregnancy between 2012 and 2016 (N = 41,632). Multivariate analysis was performed to compare the prevalence of stillbirth in infants exposed to APP (defined as any abnormality in right or left uterine artery pulsatility index or resistance index [UtA-PI, −RI] [e.g., > 95th percentile] or presence of early diastolic notching) with that in those not exposed to APP. Results Stillbirths were more common among women with APP than among those with normal placental perfusion (stillbirth rate, 4.3 ‰ vs 0.9 ‰; odds ratio (OR), 4.2; 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.2 to 8.0). The association strengths were consistent across groups of infants exposed to APP that separately defined by abnormality in right or left UtA-PI or -RI (OR ranged from 3.2 to 5.3; all P ≤ 0.008). The associations were slightly stronger for the unexplained stillbirths. Most of the unexplained stillbirth risk was attributed to APP (59.0%), while a foetal sex disparity existed (94.5% for males and 58.0% for females). Women with normal placental perfusion and a male foetus had higher credibility (e.g., higher specificities) in excluding stillbirths than those with APP and a female foetus at any given false negative rate from 1 to 10% (93.4% ~ 94.1% vs. 12.3% ~ 14.0%). Conclusions APP is associated with and accounts for most of the unexplained stillbirth risk. Different mechanisms exist between the sexes. The performance of screening for stillbirth may be improved by stratification according to sex and placental perfusion.

With the development of Internet of Things (IoT), massive amounts of data will be brought. By offloading caching from the cloud to the edge, edge caching technology represents a promising ...

Achieving T cell tolerance ensures superior clinical outcomes in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). However, the in vivo T cell tolerance profiles in physiological state need to be further delineated. Here, we characterized the gene expression profile in tolerant T cells which was induced in healthy donors by granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, a stem cell mobilizer extensively used in HSCT. We identified suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 (SOCS1) as an essential immune checkpoint for T cell tolerance in the mouse models and primary T cells in the HSCT context. Further spatial multiomics analysis characterized the distinct three-dimensional genome architecture and the gene regulatory network in tolerant T cells. We found STAT3 competes with CTCF and mediates the formation of a new chromatin loop between the SOCS1 promoter and upstream super enhancers during the induction of T cell tolerance. This study identifies SOCS1 as a key immune checkpoint and potential immune target for improving outcome of patients with HSCT.

To facilitate remote data acquisition and control of devices, Internet of things is a popular research field. Various factors are involved in the construction phase of highway engineering. In order to make proper decisions according to status of the engineering project, corresponding data should be obtained and processed in time. In this work, on-site construction site monitoring station is implemented with embedded Linux system, various kinds of sensors can be connected with it. Data can be stored and process at the station and uploaded to the data sharing cloud platform. Browser and Android App clients can connect to the on-site monitoring station or the data sharing platform. With the help of the data and instruction relay function, in both sceneries, data can be shared in real time and instructions can be sent to the on-site monitoring station instantly.

Objective: Aim to the relationship between adverse pregnant outcomes with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in pregnant women. Simultaneously, assess the incidence of adverse pregnancy outcomes (APO) among different serum HBV status in pregnant women. Method: From 2017 to 2019, we studied HBsAg (+) pregnant women and HBsAg (-) who gave birth at our hospital in Guangzhou City, China. We compared of the incidence of pregnant women with HBsAg(+) or HBsAg(-). Further, among HBsAg(+) pregnant women, We compared of the incidence of pregnant women with HBeAg(+) group or HBeAg(-) group, high HBV DNA loads (HBV DNA≥2×10^5IU/mL) group or low HBV DNA loads (HBV DNA＜2×10^5IU/mL) group, respectively. Finally, multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the independent association between HBV infection and the risk of developing APO.Result: First, Our research Indicates that the rates of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP), premature rupture of membrane (PROM), Fetal distress (FD), Oligohydramnios, Premature delivery (PD), Low birth weight (LBW), Meconium contamination (MC), Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia(NH) in HBsAg(+) group were higher than those in HBsAg(-) group (PPConclusions: Chronic HBV infection can increase the rate of host adverse pregnancy outcomes (APO). The maternal viral load and HBeAg status were significantly associated with the incidence of GDM and ICP. Maternal HBsAg carrier had an independent risk for GDM and ICP.

As the continuous miniaturization of floating-gate transistors approaches a physical limit, new innovations in device architectures, working principles, and device materials are in high demand. This study demonstrated a nonvolatile memory structure with multilevel data storage that features a van der Waals gate architecture made up of a partially oxidized surface layer/indium selenide (InSe) van der Waals interface. The key functionality of this proof-of-concept device is provided through the generation of charge-trapping sites via an indirect oxygen plasma treatment on the InSe surface layer. In contrast to floating-gate nonvolatile memory, these sites have the ability to retain charge without the help of a gate dielectric. Together with the layered structure, the surface layer with charge-trapping sites facilitates continual electrostatic doping in the underlying InSe layers. The van der Waals gating effect is further supported by trapped charge-induced core-level energy shifts and relative work function variations obtained from operando scanning X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Kelvin probe microscopy, respectively. On modulating the amount of electric field-induced trapped electrons by the electrostatic gate potential, eight distinct storage states remained over 3000 s. Moreover, the device exhibits a high current switching ratio of 106 within 11 cycles. The demonstrated characteristics suggest that the engineering of an InSe interface has potential applications for nonvolatile memory.

Electroacupuncture (EA) has been clinically used in knee osteoarthritis broadly and proved to be effective than other therapies with fewer side effects; however, the mechanism of electroacupuncture to work on cartilage remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of EA treatment on cartilage and the relationship between EA and proteins such as HIF-a and SOX9. EA (dilatational wave, 3–15 HZ, 1 mA) has been applied to bilateral Zusanli (ST36), Xuehai (SP10), Taixi (KI3), and Yanglingquan (GB34) of rats. Results showed that the cartilage of the knee osteoarthritis group had obvious damage and fissure formation while the EA group showed that the cartilage destruction was generally milder. In addition, the protein expression levels of HIF-1α, and chondrogenic markers such as Sox9, and ACAN in the electroacupuncture group were higher than those in the ACLT group. Also, the extracellular matrix protein expression levels of MMP13 and ADAMTS5 were decreased in the EA group. These findings indicate that EA could alleviate the severity of knee osteoarthritis, and HIF-a and SOX9 may closely attribute to the treatment.

Background: Paclitaxel remains the first-line chemotherapy regime for many malignant tumors. However, prognosis and adverse events under different dosing regimens (one-week versus three-week treatment) remain contradictory in many randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Here, we performed a comprehensive meta-analysis to measure the efficacy and toxicities of these two dosing regimens. Methods: Four databases were systematically retrieved from inception to December 2020. RCTs comparing one-week or three-week paclitaxel treatment for advanced malignant tumors with assessable outcomes (e.g., overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS)) were included. Findings: In total, 19 eligible RCTs involving 9 674 patients were included. Meta-analysis of pan-cancers revealed that weekly paclitaxel treatment was more beneficial regarding PFS compared to three-week paclitaxel treatment (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.82–0.99, P = 0.02). Nevertheless, there was no significant difference in terms of OS between the two dosing regimens (HR = 0.98, 95%CI = 0.91–1.06, P = 0.62). In terms of serious adverse events, grade 3 or 4 (G3/4) neutropenia (odds ratio (OR) = 0.60, 95%CI = 0.40–0.89, P = 0.01), G3/4 febrile neutropenia (OR = 0.67, 95%CI = 0.47–0.97, P = 0.03), G3/4 arthritis (OR = 0.34, 95%CI = 0.17–0.66, P = 0.001), and G3/4 alopecia (OR = 0.31, 95%CI = 0.19–0.49, P < 0.00001) occurred less often under weekly paclitaxel treatment compared to the three-week paclitaxel regimen. Interpretation: In summary, compared to the three-week paclitaxel regimen, weekly paclitaxel treatment demonstrates better PFS and fewer chemotherapy-induced hematological and non-hematological toxicities. Funding Information: This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (82072895, 81630060), and the research-oriented clinician funding program of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Declaration of Interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

To estimate the association of maternal thyroid dysfunction with the risk of gestational hypertension and diabetes. Whether the association was affected by gestational age at diagnosis and thyroid autoimmunity was further explored.A cohort study of 41 647 participants was conducted. Thyroid function (ie, thyroid-stimulating hormone [TSH] and free thyroxine [FT4]) was measured by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. Thyroid antibody positivity (eg, thyroperoxidase, thyroglobulin, and TSH receptor antibody) was indicated if the values of these antibodies exceeded the upper targets of the reference range. The relationship between maternal thyroid dysfunction and the risk of pre-eclampsia (PE) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) was assessed by multivariate logistic regression.Isolated hypothyroxinemia (defined as 5th ≤ TSH ≤ 95th percentile, FT45th percentile) was associated with the risk of PE (odds ratio [OR], 1.32; 95% CI, 1.10-1.58). Overt hypothyroidism (TSH95th percentile; FT45th percentile) was related to the risk of severe PE (OR, 2.59; 95% CI, 1.05-6.37). Being positive for TSH receptor antibody was associated with a decreased risk of GDM (OR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.35-0.70). A marginally significant association between overt hypothyroidism detected at the first trimester and the risk of GDM was found (OR, 1.60; 95% CI, 1.00-2.83). The association of thyroid dysfunction with the risk of PE and GDM was stronger among pregnant women who were negative for autoantibodies.Some types of thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy were associated with the risk of PE and GDM. The associations varied by gestational age at diagnosis and by thyroid autoantibody status.

Background The association between immune-related adverse events (irAEs) and survival outcomes in patients with advanced melanoma receiving therapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) has not been well established, particularly in Asian melanoma. Methods We retrospectively reviewed 49 melanoma patients undergoing therapy with ICIs (anti-PD-1 monotherapy), and analyzed the correlation between irAEs and clinical outcomes including progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Results: Overall, the patients who experienced grade 1–2 irAEs had longer PFS (median PFS, 4.6 vs. 2.5 months; HR, 0.52; 95% CI: 0.27–0.98; p = 0.042) and OS (median OS, 15.2 vs. 5.7 months; HR, 0.50; 95% CI: 0.24–1.02; p = 0.058) than the patients who did not experience irAEs. Regarding the type of irAE, the patients with either skin/vitiligo or endocrine irAEs showed better PFS (median PFS, 6.1 vs. 2.7 months; HR, 0.40, 95% CI: 0.21–0.74; p = 0.003) and OS (median OS, 18.7 vs. 4.5 months; HR, 0.34, 95% CI: 0.17–0.69, p = 0.003) than patients without any of these irAEs. Conclusions Melanoma patients undergoing anti-PD-1 monotherapy and experiencing mild-to-moderate irAEs (grade 1–2), particularly skin (vitiligo)/endocrine irAEs had favorable survival outcomes. Therefore, the association between irAEs and the clinical outcomes in melanoma patients undergoing anti-PD-1 ICIs may be severity and type dependent.

Background Preoperative identification of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC-ICC), and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is essential for treatment decision making. We aimed to use ultrasound-based radiomics analysis to non-invasively distinguish histopathological subtypes of primary liver cancer (PLC) before surgery. Methods We retrospectively analyzed ultrasound images of 668 PLC patients, comprising 531 HCC patients, 48 cHCC-ICC patients, and 89 ICC patients. The boundary of a tumor was manually determined on the largest imaging slice of the ultrasound medicine image by ITK-SNAP software (version 3.8.0), and then, the high-throughput radiomics features were extracted from the obtained region of interest (ROI) of the tumor. The combination of different dimension-reduction technologies and machine learning approaches was used to identify important features and develop the moderate radiomics model. The comprehensive ability of the radiomics model can be evaluated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Results After digitally processing tumor ultrasound images, 5,234 high-throughput radiomics features were obtained. We used the Spearman + least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression method for feature selection and logistics regression for modeling to develop the HCC-vs-non-HCC radiomics model (composed of 16 features). The Spearman + statistical test + random forest methods were used for feature selection, and logistics regression was applied for modeling to develop the ICC-vs-cHCC-ICC radiomics model (composed of 19 features). The overall performance of the radiomics model in identifying different histopathological types of PLC was moderate, with AUC values of 0.854 (training cohort) and 0.775 (test cohort) in the HCC-vs-non-HCC radiomics model and 0.920 (training cohort) and 0.728 (test cohort) in the ICC-vs-cHCC-ICC radiomics model. Conclusion Ultrasound-based radiomics models can help distinguish histopathological subtypes of PLC and provide effective clinical decision making for the accurate diagnosis and treatment of PLC.

Background New therapeutic options to address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic are urgently needed. One possible strategy is the repurposing of existing drugs approved for other indications as antiviral agents for SARS-CoV-2. Due to the commercial unavailability of SARS-CoV-2 drugs for treating COVID-19, we screened approximately 250 existing drugs or pharmacologically active compounds for their inhibitory activities against feline infectious peritonitis coronavirus (FIPV) and human coronavirus OC43 (HCoV-OC43), a human coronavirus in the same genus (Betacoronavirus) as SARS-CoV-2. Methods FIPV was proliferated in feline Fcwf-4 cells and HCoV-OC43 in human HCT-8 cells. Viral proliferation was assayed by visualization of cytopathic effects on the infected Fcwf-4 cells and immunofluorescent assay for detection of the nucleocapsid proteins of HCoV-OC43 in the HCT-8 cells. The concentrations (EC50) of each drug necessary to diminish viral activity to 50% of that for the untreated controls were determined. The viabilities of Fcwf-4 and HCT-8 cells were measured by crystal violet staining and MTS/PMS assay, respectively. Results Fifteen out of the 252 drugs or pharmacologically active compounds screened were found to be active against both FIPV and HCoV-OC43, with EC50 values ranging from 11 nM to 75 μM. They are all old drugs as follows, anisomycin, antimycin A, atovaquone, chloroquine, conivaptan, emetine, gemcitabine, homoharringtonine, niclosamide, nitazoxanide, oligomycin, salinomycin, tilorone, valinomycin, vismodegib. Conclusion All of the old drugs identified as having activity against FIPV and HCoV-OC43 have seen clinical use in their respective indications and are associated with known dosing schedules and adverse effect or toxicity profiles in humans. Those, when later confirmed to have an anti-viral effect on SARS-CoV-2, should be considered for immediate uses in COVID-19 patients., Graphical abstract Image 1

Background: Claudin family is a group of membrane proteins related to tight junction. There are many studies about them in cancer, but few studies pay attention to the relationship between them and the tumor microenvironment. In our research, we mainly focused on the genes related to the prognosis of ovarian cancer, and explored the relationship between them and the tumor microenvironment of ovarian cancer.Methods: The cBioProtal provided the genetic variation pattern of claudin gene family in ovarian cancer. The ONCOMINE database and Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) were used to exploring the mRNA expression of claudins in cancers. The prognostic potential of these genes was examined via Kaplan-Meier plotter. Immunologic signatures were enriched by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). The correlations between claudins and the tumor microenvironment of ovarian cancer were investigated via Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER).Results: In our research, claudin genes were altered in 363 (62%) of queried patients/samples. Abnormal expression levels of claudins were observed in various cancers. Among them, we found that CLDN3, CLDN4, CLDN6, CLDN10, CLDN15 and CLDN16 were significantly correlated with overall survival of patients with ovarian cancer. GSEA revealed that CLDN6 and CLDN10 were significantly enriched in immunologic signatures about B cell, CD4 T cell and CD8 T cell. What makes more sense is that CLDN6 and CLDN10 were found related to the tumor microenvironment. CLDN6 expression was negatively correlated with immune infiltration level in ovarian cancer, and CLDN10 expression was positively correlated with immune infiltration level in ovarian cancer. Further study revealed the CLDN6 expression level was negatively correlated with gene markers of various immune cells in ovarian cancer. And, the expression of CLDN10 was positive correlated with gene markers of immune cells in ovarian cancer.Conclusions: CLDN6 and CLDN10 were prognostic biomarkers, and correlated with immune infiltration in ovarian cancer. Our results revealed new roles for CLDN6 and CLDN10, and they were potential therapeutic targets in the treatment of ovarian cancer.

Predicting the biological responses to engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) is critical to their environmental health assessment. The disturbances of metabolic pathways reflect the global profile of biological responses to ENPs but are difficult to predict due to the highly heterogeneous data from complicated biological systems and various ENP properties. Herein, integrating multiple machine learning models and metabolomics enabled accurate prediction of the disturbance of metabolic pathways induced by 33 ENPs. Screening nine typical properties of ENPs identified type and size as the top features determining the effects on metabolic pathways. Similarity network analysis and decision tree models overcame the highly heterogeneous data sources to visualize and judge the occurrence of metabolic pathways depending on the sorting priority features. The model accuracy was verified by animal experiments and reached 75%-100%, even for the prediction of ENPs outside of databases. The models also predicted metabolic pathway-related histopathology. This work provides an approach for the quick assessment of environmental health risks induced by known and unknown ENPs.

Background The effect and extent of abnormal placental perfusion (APP) on the risk of male hypospadias are poorly understood. We compared the prevalence of male hypospadias in the offspring of women with APP and quantify the extent of the APP effect on the anomaly. Methods A hospital-based retrospective analysis of births from 2012 to 2016 was conducted in 2018. Women of singleton pregnancy and male infants born to them were included (N = 21,447). A multivariate analysis was performed to compare the prevalence of male hypospadias in infants exposed to APP with those that were not exposed to APP. Results Compared with the infants of women without APP, infants of women with APP showed an increased risk of male hypospadias (odds ratio, 2.40; 95% confidence interval, 1.09–5.29). The male hypospadias cumulative risk increased with the severity of APP. Infants exposed to severe APP had a significantly higher risk of male hypospadias than those without APP exposure (9.2 versus 1.7 per 1000 infants, P Conclusions Male hypospadias risk was associated with APP and increased with APP severity, as measured in the second trimester. APP had an important role in the development of the anomaly.

An integrated 3rd-order pseudocombline bandpass filter with pre-designed second to fundamental harmonic ratio is designed based on 0.25 μm GaAs (Gallium Arsenide) process. λ0/4 microstrip loaded wi...

AIM To establish an ultrasound-based radiomics model through machine learning methods and then to assess the ability of the model to differentiate infected focal liver lesions from malignant mimickers. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 104 patients with infected focal liver lesions and 485 patients with malignant hepatic tumours were included, consisting of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), cholangiocarcinoma (CC), combined hepatocellular–cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC-CC), and liver metastasis. Radiomics features were extracted from grey-scale ultrasound images. Feature selection and predictive modelling were carried out by dimensionality reduction methods and classifiers. The diagnostic effect of the prediction mode was assessed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. RESULTS In total, 5,234 radiomics features were extracted from grey-scale ultrasound image of every focal liver lesion. The ultrasound-based radiomics model had a favourable predictive value for differentiating infected focal liver lesions from malignant hepatic tumours, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.887 and 0.836 (HCC group), 0.896 and 0.766 (CC group), 0.944 and 0.754 (cHCC-CC group), 0.918 and 0.808 (liver metastasis group), and 0.949 and 0.745 (malignant hepatic tumour group) for the training set and validation set, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Ultrasound-based radiomics is helpful in differentiating infected focal liver lesions from malignant mimickers and has the potential for use as a supplement to conventional grey-scale ultrasound and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS).

Background The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused more than 193,825 deaths during the past few months. A quick-to-be-identified cure for the disease will be a therapeutic medicine that has prior use experiences in patients in order to resolve the current pandemic situation before it could become worsening. Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is hereby applied to identify the marketed drugs with potential for treating COVID-19. Methods An AI platform was established to identify potential old drugs with anti-coronavirus activities by using two different learning databases; one consisted of the compounds reported or proven active against SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, human immunodeficiency virus, influenza virus, and the other one containing the known 3C-like protease inhibitors. All AI predicted drugs were then tested for activities against a feline coronavirus in in vitro cell-based assay. These assay results were feedbacks to the AI system for relearning and thus to generate a modified AI model to search for old drugs again. Results After a few runs of AI learning and prediction processes, the AI system identified 80 marketed drugs with potential. Among them, 8 drugs (bedaquiline, brequinar, celecoxib, clofazimine, conivaptan, gemcitabine, tolcapone, and vismodegib) showed in vitro activities against the proliferation of a feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) virus in Fcwf-4 cells. In addition, 5 other drugs (boceprevir, chloroquine, homoharringtonine, tilorone, and salinomycin) were also found active during the exercises of AI approaches. Conclusion Having taken advantages of AI, we identified old drugs with activities against FIP coronavirus. Further studies are underway to demonstrate their activities against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro and in vivo at clinically achievable concentrations and doses. With prior use experiences in patients, these old drugs if proven active against SARS-CoV-2 can readily be applied for fighting COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the industrial revolution, scientific and technological advancements have made life more convenient and have facilitated the rapid growth of the global population. However, the amount of waste produced has also increased. Governments have invested a considerable amount of resources in solving this problem on waste source reduction and recycling. Accordingly, this study with a smart city concept developed a recyclable garbage sorting system that could be used in various locations to help eliminate littering in the city (from inconsistent waste disposal), diminish labor costs, and achieve the goals of increased recycling and reduced waste. This study integrated LoRaWAN communication networks (networks developed using the Internet of Things) with garbage sorting equipment to create a system that offers automated garbage can operation, environmental monitoring, and graphical interface monitoring. The system uses electrostatic capacitance-type proximity sensors to determine the types of garbage deposited in garbage cans. Furthermore, it contains an embedded motor and smart devices that can perform functions such as automatically opening and closing insertion points, sorting waste materials, initiating automated garbage compression, monitoring water levels, and issuing warnings when the water level exceeds the specified limit. This system employs a C# graphical monitoring interface to remind users to remove the garbage.

While previous studies have identified several factors that influence funders’ investment behavior in crowdfunding, few have explored the underlying mechanisms, particularly the potential boundary conditions in which the effect of funders’ trust varies. This paper examines two contextual variables: project type and funding level, which moderate the relationships between key antecedents and investment decisions. The research model based on the trust theory and dual-process perspective was developed and evaluated with a web-based experiment using actual crowdfunding projects chosen from a real crowdfunding site. Our findings provide new insight into the role of trust and its antecedents in different contexts.

This research investigated the optoelectronic properties and anisotropic stress of Mo-doped ZnO (MZO) films, which were deposited on polyethylene terephthalate and polycarbonate flexible substrates with radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The optical properties, x-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra, Hall effect measurements, and self-made phase-shift shadow moiré interferometer readings were utilized to evaluate the performances of the MZO films. Based on the results, the transmittance and (002) peak size of the XRD spectra decreased when the substrate temperature increased. However, this took place especially when the oxygen flow was on the increase. Also, carrier mobility, carrier concentration, and anisotropic stresses increased at higher substrate temperatures, but this was not the case when the oxygen flow increased. The energy gap ( E g ) of the MZO films showed a blueshift with an increase in the substrate temperatures, but this rather changed to a redshift when the oxygen flow was observed to be on the rise.

Background: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have significantly changed the current approach to cancer treatment. Although the use of ICIs has become the standard of care for advanced melanoma, reports of ICI use among Asian populations with melanoma are limited. Therefore, we conducted this retrospective study to assess the efficacy and safety of ICI use in Taiwanese patients. Patients: Patients with histologically confirmed melanoma treated with ICIs at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital from January 2014 to July 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. Univariant and multivariant analyses were performed to identify possible prognostic factors. Results: Among 80 patients, 45 were treatment-naive (56.3%), and 35 received prior systemic drugs other than ICIs. Regarding treatment regimens, patients were treated with ipilimumab (n = 9), nivolumab (n = 33), pembrolizumab (n = 16), or combination drugs (n = 22). Nine patients achieved either a complete (n = 2) or partial (n = 7) response and 13 patients were stable, with a resulting response rate of 11.3% and disease control rate of 27.5%. As of the last follow-up in January 2020, patients treated with combination drugs had longer median progression-free survival (PFS) of 5.6 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.6-9.6) months than nivolumab (2.9 months, 95% CI: 1.9-3.9 months), pembrolizumab (3.2 months, 95% CI: 2.6-3.8 months), and ipilimumab (2.6 months, 95% CI: 2.4-2.8 months; p = 0.011). No significant differences in overall survival (OS) among the four regimens (p = 0.891) were noted. In the multivariate analysis, combination treatment, disease control, and performance ≤ 1 were independent prognostic factors for PFS. Liver metastases and no disease control were independent unfavorable prognostic factors for OS. The most common factor was skin toxicity (45%), followed by endocrine toxicity (18.8%). Patients undergoing combination treatment experienced more frequent and serious adverse events than patients undergoing monotherapy. Conclusion: ICIs demonstrated efficacy and safety in Taiwanese patients with melanoma. Combination treatment showed the greatest efficacy, but this was also accompanied by greater toxicity among the four regimens. In addition, we identified important prognostic factors, such as liver metastases, performance status, and tumor response, for both PFS and OS. These findings could provide physicians with more information to justify clinical outcomes observed in Asian patients with advanced melanoma.

Ethnopharmacological relevance Diarrhea is a major medical problem in clinical practice. According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), different types of diarrhea should be treated with different TCM formulations based on the targeted medical condition. Dampness-heat diarrhea (DHD) is a serious diarrheal disease and Pulsatilla decoction (PD), a TCM, has been found effective against DHD. Objective The aim of this study was to clarify the mechanism of action of PD in DHD using an untargeted lipidomics strategy. Materials and methods Wistar rats were randomized to four groups, including the control group, model group, PD groups and self-healing group. The PD groups were given a daily intragastric gavage of PD at doses of 3.76 g/kg. The rat model of DHD established by such complex factors as high-sugar and high-fat diet, improper diet, high temperature and humidity environment, drinking and intraperitoneal injection of Escherichia coli., which imitated the inducing conditions of DHD. Then the clinical symptoms and signs, blood routine, serum inflammatory cytokines levels and the histopathological changes of main organs were detected and observed to evaluate DHD model and therapeutic effect of PD. Lipid biomarkers of DHD were selected by comparing the control and model groups with the colon lipidomics technology and an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled with Q Exactive plus mass analyzer. Multivariate statistical analysis and pattern recognition were employed to examine different lipids within the colon of PD-treated rats. Results The clinical symptoms and signs of the model rats were consistent with the diagnostic criteria of DHD. After treatment with PD, the clinical symptoms and signs of the rats with DHD were improved; the indexes of blood routine and inflammatory cytokines levels tended to be normal. The lipidomics profile of the model group were evidently disordered when compared to the control group. A total of 42 significantly altered lipids between the model-control groups were identified by multivariate statistical analysis. DHD may result from such lipid disorders which are related to glycerophospholipid metabolism, arachidonic acid (AA) metabolism, and sphingolipid metabolism. After PD treatment, the lipidomic profiles of the disorders tended to recover when compared to the model group. Twenty lipid molecules were identified and some glycerophospholipids and AA levels returned close to the normal level. Conclusion Glycerophospholipid metabolism may play an important role in the treatment of dampness-heat induced diarrhea using PD.