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The purpose of this study was to clarify the differences in the diagnosis and treatment outcomes between radioactive iodine-induced sialadenitis (RAIS) and chronic obstructive parotitis (COP). The study cohort comprised 47 consecutive patients diagnosed with RAIS and 50 patients with COP. All patients were treated by interventional endoscopy. Clinical, sialography, and endoscopy characteristics and treatment outcomes were compared between the two groups. Compared with the COP group, the RAIS group included more females (male:female ratio 1:8.4 vs 1:2.1; P = 0.011) and had a younger onset age (42 vs 50 years; P = 0.001) and shorter disease duration prior to hospital visit (5.4 vs 34.8 months; P0.001). In the RAIS group, sialography revealed obliteration of the main duct (20.4% vs 0%; P0.001), non-visualization of the main gland (23.7% vs 0%; P0.001), and incomplete contrast filling of the main gland (19.4% vs 6.4%; P = 0.008), which were scarcely observed in the COP group. Endoscopy revealed a higher percentage of duct atresia in RAIS compared to COP (20.4% vs 0%; P0.001). During follow-up, a higher percentage of RAIS patients had duct atresia and gland atrophy (49.5% vs 1.1%, P0.001). Compared with COP, RAIS more commonly involves younger females and has a shorter disease duration. Atresia of the main duct and atrophy of the gland parenchyma occur more often despite the use of interventional endoscopy.

A broadband wide-angle scanning array antenna with suppressed mutual coupling for 5G Sub-6G mobile communication applications is presented in this letter. To reduce mutual coupling, the metal columns are used in the dipole array antenna. The metal columns are positioned below the edge of the dipole, leading to the improved the impedance matching characteristics and a wider scanning angle. A 18 prototype of the suggested design has been manufactured and tested to ensure its usefulness. The overall dimension is 2.3300.2800.240 (0 is the free space wavelength at 2.5 GHz). The measured and simulated results are quite consistent. The main lobe achieves a scanning range of 60 at 2.5-4.5 GHz (57.1%, active VSWR

Background Lipoprotein(a)[Lp(a)] has been considered as an independent risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD). The present study aimed to evaluate the association between baseline serum Lp(a) and CAD progression determined by angiographic score. Methods A total of 814 patients who had undergone two or more coronary computed tomography angiography at least 6 months apart were consecutively enrolled and the coronary severity was determined by the Gensini score system. Patients were stratified into two groups according to Lp(a)>300 mg/L and Lp(a) ≤ 300 mg/L or classified as “progressors” and “non‐progressors” based on the Gensini score rate of change per year. The association of continuous Lp(a) and Lp(a)>300 mg/L with CAD progression were respectively assessed by logistic regression analysis. Moreover, further evaluation of those association was performed in subgroups of the study population. Results Patients in the “progressors” group had significant higher Lp(a) levels. Furthermore, the multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that elevated Lp(a) (odds ratio [OR]: 1.451, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.177–1.789, p300 mg/L (OR:1.642, 95% CI:1.018–2.649, p = .042) were positively associated with CAD progression after adjusting for confounding factors. In addition, those relation seemed to be more prominent in subjects with lower body mass index (OR: 1.880, 95% CI: 1.224–2.888, p for interaction = .060). Conclusions Elevated baseline serum Lp(a) is positively and independently associated with angiographic progression of CAD, particularly in participants with relatively low body mass index. Therefore, Lp(a) could be a potent risk factor for CAD progression, assisting in early risk stratification in cardiovascular patients.

Limited by the difficulty of management, the quality of online education is far worse than the quality of classroom teaching. In order to improve the effect of online education quality management, according to the actual needs of online teaching, this article builds personalized dynamic evaluation technology based on artificial intelligence big data technology and uses evaluation as the center of teaching. Each link in the teaching is for the generation and development of evaluation, and the teaching plan takes the learning objectives as the basis for the entire teaching process. Moreover, this research combines the needs analysis to build each functional module and build a model framework on this basis. In addition, in order to verify the performance of the model, this article conducts model analysis through practical teaching methods. The research results show that the model constructed in this paper has good performance.

In order to meet the rapid growth of educational data, to automate the processing of educational data business, improve operational efficiency and scientific decision-making, a statistical analysis platform for educational data is designed, and Hadoop-based education is designed from the conceptual model, logical model, and physical model. Data warehouse; designed and researched the storage of educational multidimensional data model; and then compared and tested the query efficiency and storage space of HBase and Hive in the Hadoop ecosystem based on educational big data, and used HBase+Hive integrated architecture to complete the education data The statistical analysis tasks and the function of the educational data statistical analysis platform are transplanted to the educational big data platform based on Hadoop; the performance test of the conversion efficiency of educational big data in the ETL link is performed, which illustrates the effectiveness of the educational big data platform based on Hadoop. An object-oriented analysis and design method used to analyze and design the business requirements of teaching resource sharing services. From the perspective of managers and teachers, use case diagrams and use case description tables to define system business requirements. The role of teachers is further refined as the theme of teaching and research. Participants, participants in the subject teaching and research, initiators of simulation teaching research and development, participants, famous teachers, high-quality course judges and experts. The recording, accumulation, statistics and analysis of students’ learning behaviors will provide more valuable applications for school education.

With the constant change of enterprise environment, the limitation of the traditional knowledge innovation management based on technology is increasingly apparent. This paper firstly analyses the m...

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a multi-system disease featured by movement disorder. Studies on ALS using static neuroimaging indexes demonstrated inconsistent results. However, recent work indicated that the intrinsic brain activity was time-varying, and the abnormal temporal dynamics of brain activity in ALS remains unknown. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were first obtained from 54 patients with ALS and 54 healthy controls (HCs). Then the dynamic regional homogeneity (d-ReHo) was calculated and compared between the two groups. Correlation analyses between altered d-ReHo and clinical scores were further performed. Compared with HCs, ALS patients showed higher d-ReHo in the left lingual gyrus while lower d-ReHo in the left rectus gyrus and left parahippocampal gyrus. Moreover, the d-ReHo in the left lingual gyrus exhibited correlation with disease progression rate in ALS at a trend level. Our findings suggested that altered dynamics in intrinsic brain activity might be a potential biomarker for diagnosing of ALS.

Objective To investigate the value of neuron-specific enolase (NSE), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and lymph node metastasis in predicating distant metastasis in patients with limited-stage small cell lung cancer (LD-SCLC). Methods Clinical pathological data of LD-SCLC patients in the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University between August 2009 and October 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. The age, gender, smoking, TNM, NSE, NLR, chemotherapy cycle, radiotherapy, surgery and new metastasis of lymph nodes of 47 cases with distant metastasis and 47 cases without distant metastasis in 1 year were compared. Finally, factors influencing distant metastasis were determined as the predictors. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve model was established based on logistic regression analysis of the factors obtained. Results Distant metastasis mainly involved brain (17/47), liver (17/47) and bone (17/47). Univariate analysis showed that patients with new lymph node metastasis, high NSE, pretreatment hilar lymph node metastasis and NLR were more prone to have distant metastasis. Multivariate analysis showed that new lymph node metastasis, high NSE, NLR and pretreatment hilar lymph node metastasis were independent predictors. The predictive model established using these predictors had an AUC of 0.872 (95%CI: 0.803-0.941), a sensitivity of 76.60% and a speciality of 80.85%. Conclusion The new lymph node metastasis, NLR and NSE are predictors of distant metastasis, and thus, may have a profound impact on treatment decision making. Patients with lower NLR and NSE expression levels and less new metastasis of lymph nodes have a lower distant metastasis rate.

CNN is inspired from Primary Visual (V1) neurons. It is a typical deep learning technique and can help teach machine how to see and identify objects. In the most recent decade, deep learning develops rapidly and has been well used in various fields of expertise such as computer vision and natural language processing. As the representative algorithm of deep learning, Convolution Neural Network (CNN) has been regarded as a breakthrough of historic significance in image processing and visual recognition tasks since the astonishing results achieved on ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Competition (ILSVRC) Unlike methods based on handcrafted features, CNN models can build high-level features from low-level ones in a data-driven fashion and have displayed great potential in medical image analysis among the aspects of segmentation of histological images identification, lesion detection, tissue classification, etc. This paper provides a review on CNN from the perspectives of its basic mechanism introduction, structure, typical architecture and main application in medical image analysis through analyzing over 100 references from Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science and various sources published from 1958 to 2020.

Semiconductor-based photoelectrocatalytic processes have attracted considerable research interest for solar energy collection and storage. Photoelectrocatalysis is a heterogeneous photocatalytic process in which a bias potential is applied to a photoelectrode, and thus the photoelectrocatalytic performance is closely related to the photoelectrode prepared by semiconductors. Among various semiconductors, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted more and more attention because of their unique properties such as optical properties and adjustable structure. Herein, a comprehensive review on different MOFs (Ti-based, Zn-based, Co-based, Fe-based, Cu-based, and mixed metal-based MOFs) for heterogeneous photoelectrocatalysis is carried out and, in particular, the application of this technique for CO2 conversion and water splitting is discussed. In addition, the challenges and development prospects of MOFs in photoelectrocatalysis are also presented.

The strain modulation on the magnetic and electronic transport properties of the ferromagnetic films is one of the hot topics due to the practical applications in flexible and wearable spintronic devices. However, the large strain-induced saturation magnetization and resistance change is not easy to achieve because most of the ferromagnetic films deposited on flexible substrates are polycrystalline or amorphous. Here, the flexible epitaxial γ'-Fe4N/mica films are fabricated by facing-target reactive sputtering. At a tensile strain with a radius of curvature (ROC) of 3 mm, the saturation magnetization (Ms) of the γ'-Fe4N/mica film is tailored significantly with a maximal variation of 210%. Meanwhile, the magnetic anisotropy was broadly tunable at different strains, where the out-of-plane Mr/Ms at a tensile strain of ROC = 2 mm is six times larger than that at the unbent state. Besides, the strain-tailored longitudinal resistance Rxx and anomalous Hall resistivity ρxy appear where the drop of Rxx (ρxy) reaches 5% (22%) at a tensile strain of ROC = 3 mm. The shift of the nitrogen position in the γ'-Fe4N unit cell at different bending strains plays a key role in the strain-tailored magnetic and electronic transport properties. The flexible epitaxial γ'-Fe4N films have the potential applications in magneto- and electromechanical wearable spintronic devices.

Glomerulosclerosis is a pathomorphological feature of glomerular lesions. Early detection, accurate judgement and effective prevention of the glomeruli is crucial not only for people with kidney disease, but also for the general population. We proposed a method in combination of traditional image analysis with modern machine learning diagnosis system model based on GoogLeNet for recognizing and distinguishing different categories of glomerulus in order to efficiently capture the important structures as well as to minimize manual effort and supervision. We proposed a novel deep learning model based on GoogLeNet with added batch-normalization layers to extract useful features and subsequently entered the features into SoftMax for classification. We also incorporated Bayesian Optimization algorithm and k-fold cross validation in this system for achieving a more reliable result. Our method has eventually achieved an overall accuracy of 95.04±4.99%, and F1 score of 94.44±3.11% for no glomerulus category, 96.73±5.23% for normal glomerulus category and 93.66±7.82% for globally sclerosed glomerulus category, which means this method can accurately determine the degree of glomerulosclerosis with little supervision. The experimental result also shows that this method has better performance when compared with other state-of art methods.

Background The strategy of isolated tricuspid valve surgery has undergone innovations in recent years. This study aimed to summarize our experience using an endoscopic approach to repeat isolated tricuspid valve surgery (RITS) after left-sided valve replacement (LSVR). Methods From June 2013 to May 2019, 79 patients underwent endoscopic RITS after LSVR at our institution. Patients were divided into the tricuspid valvuloplasty (TVP) group (N.=49) and the tricuspid valve replacement (TVR) group (N.=30); perioperative outcomes and follow-up results were compared. Results There were seven postoperative deaths (8.9%). In-hospital mortality was higher in the TVR group than in the TVP group, although this difference was not statistically significant (13.3% vs. 6.1%, P=0.417). More patients experienced residual moderate-to-severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR) at discharge in the TVP group than in the TVR group (26.7% vs. 0%, P=0.003). Five patients died from heart, and multiorgan failure during follow-up; the overall 3- and 5-year survival rates were 93.8% [95% confidence interval (CI): (87.1-99.9%)] and 85.3% (95% CI: 73.3-99.2%), respectively, and no significant differences were found between the two groups (P=0.103). The overall rates of the 3- and 5-year freedom from severe recurrent TR were 93.2% (95% CI: 85.9-99.9%) and 89.0% (78.7-99.9%), respectively, and no significant difference was found between groups (P=0.176). Conclusions Repeat isolated tricuspid valve surgery after left-sided valve replacement is associated with adverse perioperative outcomes. Endoscopic access offers an alternative approach for RITS after LSVR with acceptable results. TVP results in lower surgical mortality than TVR while carrying a higher risk of residual moderate-to-severe TR.

Purpose: Diagnostic of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) patients with P450 oxidoreductase deficiency (PORD) subtype is a difficult task as biochemical monitoring criteria is not well defined. For the identification of steroid hormone biomarkers in plasma to diagnose PORD. Methods: Study of the steroid hormone metabolic pathway, a novel method for the determination of 19 steroid hormone were established based on liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The measurement of 19 steroid hormones in plasma samples of clinical patients and normal reference population was carried out. A total of 9 clinically diagnosed patients (3 males, 6 females) with PORD were enrolled in the study. Results: In 9 patients with PORD, plasma pregnenolone, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, corticosterone, 11-deoxycorticosterone, 11-deoxycortisol, and 21-deoxycortisol, were significantly (P

An efficient and fast method to detect the position and coplanarity of pins is obtained by combining optics and laser in this study. By using the optical camera to position, enlarge and auto focus the ceramic column grid array (CCGA) device, adjusting the light source of lens to realize the transformation of light and dark field, the pin can be accurately identified, and the pin image within the field of view can be collected through the rapid automatic contour capture technology, the pin coordinate can be efficiently extracted, and the device position data can be calculated quickly. Then, the coplanarity calculation would be figured out by scanning the pin height data with a line laser. Through a variety of means such as measuring microscope, the parameters of the detection method and equipment settings are optimized. The coplanarity and position of CCGA devices are detected conveniently, efficiently and quickly, and the detection efficiency and accuracy are significantly improved.

How to achieve hair editing has always been a longstanding topic. The task of hair editing expects users to create a draft to customize hairstyle, textures and colors. Then it will translate the hair draft to corresponding authentic hair. However, hair generally has complex feature representations due to delicate textures and rich colors, which means it difficult to retain all the hair features during the generation process. Thus, how to reconstruct hair with visually pleasant textures and diverse colors is a challenge. To address this problem, this paper proposes a novel method that takes Image-to-Image Generative Adversarial Networks as the backbone and induces two-phase training mode to capture different hair features. In the first phase, networks take the hair colour draft as input to reconstruct low-frequency information. In the next phase, the result output in the first phase will be fed into the network again to refine hair. Our extensive experiments show that two-phase training mode can build up convincing hair images and also allows users to customize the style of hair in the textures as well as colors.

Objective We aimed to investigate the symptoms of inpatients with bipolar disorder (BD) in different types of families, and to explore the correlations between family coherence, family adaptability, and family functioning among inpatients with BD. Methods Inpatients with BD in Hebei, China (n = 61; mean age = 33.85±10.54; 39 males) participated in this study. Participants’ symptoms were evaluated using the Bech–Rafaelsen Mania Scale (BRMS) and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) at weeks 1, 4, and 8 after their admission to the hospital. Participants’ family type was assessed using the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale II–Chinese Version. Family functioning was assessed using Family Assessment Device. Results Participants were classified into three family types: balanced (n = 13), mid-range (n = 28), and extreme (n = 20). BRMS scores improved over time in patients from all three family types. Improvement was slightly better with the balanced than the extreme family type. HDRS scores showed an improving trend over time, although this was not significant. Family coherence, adaptability, and functioning were mutually correlated. Conclusion The family system and family functioning are important factors that clinicians should keep in mind when treating people with BD.

Leukopenia is the early clinical manifestation of benzene poisoning. The aim of our research was to evaluate the preventive effects of three kinds of garlic preparations on benzene induced leukopenia. The mouse model of Leukopenia was established with benzene orally. At the same time, mice were administrated with garlic homogenate (GH), garlic oil (GO) or diallyl trisulfide (DATS) as preventional measures. The counts of white blood cells (WBC), the organ indexes, pathological examinations, blood biochemical parameters, weight gains, and food intakes were evaluated to observe the protective effect and potential adverse events. The results demonstrated that the counts of WBC increased by 144.04%, 140.07%, and 148.34%, respectively, after intervention by GH (400 mg/kg), GO (60 mg/kg) and DATS (30 mg/kg), compared with that in the model group. The spleen and thymus indexes in the benzene model group were 44.99% and 54.04% lower than those in the blank control group, the number of spleen nodules reduced and the thymus atrophy, which were restored by three garlic preparations at different degree. The results suggested that the three preparations all could prevent the leukopenia and protect the organ injuries induced by benzene. However, the spleen index and weight gains revealed that GH and GO brought more adverse events than DATS.

Ferroelectric engineered pn doping in two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors hold essential promise in realizing customized functional devices in a reconfigurable manner. Here, we report the successful pn doping in molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) optoelectronic device by local patterned ferroelectric polarization, and its configuration into lateral diode and npn bipolar phototransistors for photodetection from such a versatile playground. The lateral pn diode formed in this way manifests efficient self-powered detection by separating ~12% photo-generated electrons and holes. When polarized as bipolar phototransistor, the device is customized with a gain ~1000 by its transistor action, reaching the responsivity ~12 A W−1 and detectivity over 1013 Jones while keeping a fast response speed within 20 μs. A promising pathway toward high performance optoelectronics is thus opened up based on local ferroelectric polarization coupled 2D semiconductors., Photodetectors based on two dimensional (2D) materials still suffer from low performance. Here, the authors tackle this issue by introducing a reconfigurable design enabled by locally tuning the doping of a 2D molybdenum disulfide film through the polarization of an underlying ferroelectric material.

Background Accumulating evidence suggests that epigenetic changes play key roles in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, the dynamic regulation of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) in diabetic peripheral blood DNA remains to be elucidated. Results We collected fasting blood samples (104 patients and 108 healthy controls) and glucose-stimulated blood samples at different time points (11 patients and 5 healthy controls underwent oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT)), as well as blood samples from six couples of diabetic and control rats. A HPLC-MS/MS system was used for quantifying global 5mC and 5hmC in genomic DNA from white blood cells (WBCs), and qPCR was performed for detecting mRNA expression of SIRT6 and TETs. We found that global 5mC decreased, while global 5hmC increased in both patients and diabetic rats, with lower 5mC being a risk factor of T2DM (OR = 0.524, 95%CI 0.402–0.683, p = 1.64 × 10−6). The OGTT data from patients showed that 5mC declined within 1 h and then returned to the fasting status at 2 h, while 5hmC rose from 0.5 h to 3 h with increasing glucose. However, the similar patterns were not found in the controls. The mRNA expression of TET2, TET3, and SIRT6 was upregulated in patients (p = 0.012, p = 0.026, and p = 0.035, respectively). The similar results were observed in diabetic OGTT and rats. Correlation analysis indicated that SIRT6 was positively correlated with TET2 in humans (r = 0.277, p

Current integrated thermal protection systems (ITPS) are generally devised with single layer metal sandwich panel and uniform insulation material, inevitably leading to limited thermal insulation effect and high risk of buckling failure. By contrast, here, ITPS, which incorporates graded insulation materials and multilayer ceramic matrix composite cellular sandwich panels, is devised to raise both thermal insulation effect and buckling strength. The effective thermal and mechanical properties are theoretically established. Transient heat transfer characteristics are numerically calculated. The results reveal that ITPS with specific graded insulation materials can present lower temperature and better temperature distribution uniformity than those of ITPS filled with uniform insulation material, demonstrating that graded insulation layers can firmly enhance the insulation effect. Besides, the insulation effect of ITPS, in which the densities and thermal conductivities of graded layers are taken arranged from low to high, is much better than those of ITPS which have opposite sequence. Moreover, the buckling strength is demonstrated to be significantly improved through the approach of integrating multilayer sandwich panels. The thermal short effect can be also suppressed, since it is demonstrated that the multilayer sandwich panels in the ITPS can reduce the temperature on bottom facesheet and raise the temperature distribution uniformity.

In recent years, the inland river shipping industry in China has been facing the pressure to comply with ‘low carbon shipping’ policies. Solar energy as one of the most widely used new energy sourc...

The design of assembly line layout is one of the most important influential factors for the company's performance. The inappropriate arrangement of the order of workstations in the assembly line could cause the excessive movement of the material. In order to increase productivity and reduce production cost, a multi-objective optimization model with minimum the transfer distance of semi-finished products and the total area of assembly line was established in this paper. The Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II was applied to obtain the results of this model. The coding method, genetic operation and fitness function for three different kinds of sewing assembly line layouts (multi-line, U-shape two-line and U-shape three-line) were studied, while the workstations were organized in three ways: the order of processes, the type of machines, and the components of garment. The efficiency of the model was verified by the practice of sewing assembly lines for men's shirt. The layout schemes are compared with other algorithms. The results illustrated that NSGA-II algorithm is an effective tool to solve the sewing assembly line layout problem. The transfer distances of semi-finished products in the multi-line and U-shape (three-line) layouts arranged by garment components workstation layout were short. The multi-line layout arranged by the type of machines workstation layout occupied the smallest area. The model is suitable for solving the layout problem of the garment sewing workshop in practice, shortening the production cycle, and reducing the production cost. A variety of assembly line layout schemes are provided for apparel manufacturers in this paper. Apparel manufacturers can select the appropriate assembly line layout based on the actual conditions of the workshop and product.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common reproductive endocrine disease characterized by persistent anovulation and hyperandrogenism, affecting approximately 8–10% of women of childbearing age and occupying an important position in the etiology of infertility. There is increasing evidence that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in the development of PCOS, but the potential regulatory mechanism is still unclear. This study performed high-throughput lncRNA sequencing of follicular fluid exosomes in non-PCOS infertility patients and PCOS infertility patients. The sequencing results led to the identification of 1,253 upregulated and 613 downregulated lncRNAs from a total of 1,866 detected candidates. There was no significant difference between the PCOS patients and non-PCOS patients in body mass index (BMI) or the fasting blood glucose (FBG) level. However, luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol (E2), testosterone (T), serum prolactin (PRL), and anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) levels were clearly upregulated in PCOS patients compared to those in non-PCOS patients. There was also an increase in LH/FSH (>2) in the PCOS patients. Functional analysis showed pathways related to endocytosis, the Hippo, the MAPK, and HTLV-1 infection. These results suggest that lncRNAs may play an important role in the pathogenesis of PCOS and may be potential targets for the diagnosis and treatment of PCOS.

Background: This study aimed to investigate the association of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) change during chemoradiation with the treatment response and survival profiles in advanced nonsmall-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Materials and Methods: Fifty-eight advanced NSCLC patients who underwent concurrent chemoradiation were enrolled, then their peripheral blood samples were collected before chemoradiation, and at 1 month postchemoradiation assessed the CTCs using a CTC-Biopsy system. Moreover, CTCs were classified as CTCs positive and CTCs negative according to CTCs' count, and change of CTCs was calculated. In addition, response of chemoradiation was evaluated at 1 month postchemoradiation, then progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were assessed. Results: Prechemoradiation CTCs positive were associated with increased TNM stage, but not other clinicopathologic characteristics. After chemoradiation, the CTCs' number [1.0 (0.0-3.0) vs. 4.0 (2.0-10.0)] and the percentage of CTC-positive cases (37.9% vs. 77.6%) were both decreased compared to those before chemoradiation. Regarding treatment response, prechemoradiation CTCs positive were associated with lower partial response; postchemoradiation CTCs positive were associated with reduced disease control rate, while CTCs' change during chemoradiation was not associated with treatment response. Kaplan-Meier curves showed that postchemoradiation CTCs positive and increased CTCs' number during chemoradiation were associated with reduced PFS, then multivariate Cox's regression analysis disclosed that they independently predicted decreased PFS. However, no correlation of CTCs' status or CTCs' change with OS was observed. Conclusions: Prechemoradiation CTCs relate to increased TNM stage and worse prognosis in chemoradiation-treated advanced NSCLC patients.

Under the background of new-type urbanization, the village-in-the-city reconstruction should not only focus on the property owners, but also on the rights to housing of the floating population which has been much neglected for a long time. Based on social exclusion theory, this paper focus on the marginalized vulnerable group in the village-in-the-city reconstruction—the floating population. According to the village-in-the-city reconstruction in Hangzhou and based on field investigation, case study analysis and comparative analysis, this paper examines social exclusion as it affects the floating population and their efforts to find rental accommodation in the village-in-the-city. The study then compares their present situation with their actual rights to housing. The paper concludes with the policy implications that follow from the analysis.

In this paper, a novel three-dimensional (3-D) Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) which is independent of incident angle is proposed. By mapping circular aperture unit elements of two-dimensional (2-D) FSS to spheres, an innovative 3-D FSS which contains annular aperture unit elements is designed. Through controlling structure parameters, the resonant frequency shift characteristics of the proposed 3-D FSS under oblique incidence can exhibit opposite tendency, which provides a possible way to offset the resonant frequency shift of the dielectric slab caused by different incidence angles. The performance of the proposed 3-D FSS loaded with dielectric slab demonstrates excellent resonance stability over a large range of oblique incidence, and the resonance frequency remains constant for different incident angles, even valid up until 80 degree.

The accompanying symptoms of hearing loss is slow and sensory, which makes detecting hearing loss of huge significance to the medical diagnosis and scientific research field. To improve the efficiency of hearing loss classification, we conducted a research on a dataset obtained from magnetic resonance imaging and presented a novel computer aided system based on stationary wavelet entropy, k-fold cross validation, single-hidden-layer feedforward neural network and genetic algorithm. Firstly, the features are extracted from each hearing loss image via stationary wavelet entropy. Then, we used the genetic algorithm to train the single-hidden-layer feedforward neural network. The system reaches an overall sensitivity of 89.89±2.50%, which means the model gives much better performance than manual interpretation.

Background Static changes in local brain activity in patients suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have been studied. However, the dynamic characteristics of local brain activity are poorly understood. Whether dynamic alterations could differentiate patients with ALS from healthy controls (HCs) remains unclear. Methods A total of 54 patients with ALS (mean age = 48.71 years, male/female = 36/18) and 54 (mean age = 48.30 years, male/female = 36/18) HCs underwent magnetic resonance imaging scans. To depict static alterations in cortical activity, amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) which measures the total power of regional activity was computed. Dynamic ALFF (d-ALFF) from all subjects was calculated using a sliding-window approach. Statistical differences in ALFF and d-ALFF between both groups were used as features to explore whether they could differentiate ALS from HC through support vector machine method. Results In contrast with HCs, patients with ALS displayed increased ALFF in the right inferior temporal gyrus and bilateral frontal gyrus and decreased ALFF in the left middle occipital gyrus and left precentral gyrus. Furthermore, patients with ALS demonstrated lower d-ALFF in widespread regions, including the right lingual gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus, bilateral precentral gyrus, and left paracentral lobule by comparison with HCs. In addition, the ALFF in the left superior orbitofrontal gyrus had a tendency of correlation with ALSFRS-R score and disease progression rate. The classification performance in distinguishing ALS was higher with both features of ALFF and d-ALFF than that with a single approach. Conclusions Decreased dynamic brain activity in the precentral gyrus, paracentral gyrus, lingual gyrus, and temporal regions was found in the ALS group. The combined ALFF and d-ALFF could distinguish ALS from HCs with a higher accuracy than ALFF and d-ALFF alone. These findings may provide important evidence for understanding the neuropathology underlying ALS.

Information leakage by side channels in web applications is a major security threat, even when web traffic is encrypted. In this paper, we describe an automated system to analyse leakages of user privacy. Previous works focus on communications directly interacting with sensitive information. We show how, in real-world web applications, user information can be leaked through "non-intuitive" communications, which do not contain direct interactions with sensitive information. Unexpectedly, we found that user privacy can be leaked more from this kind of "non-intuitive" communication than direct interactions. This work also discloses user identities can be inferred by traffic analysis. In this work, we combine machine learning to recognize traffic pattern, i.e., Hidden Markov model is used to fingerprint web traffic of user privacy.

BACKGROUND Atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence remains a tricky problem in patients undergoing ablation. This meta-analysis aimed to summarize the current literature to clarify whether renin-angiotensin system inhibitors (RASIs) prevent AF recurrence after ablation.Methods and Results:Relevant studies were searched on Pubmed and EMBASE through December 2019. Pooled relative risk (RR) of AF recurrence was calculated. Subgroup analyses according to study design, race, and follow-up duration were further performed. A total of 15 studies examining 4,300 patients were included, with 3 randomized controlled trials and 12 cohort studies. Overall analysis showed that RASIs significantly reduced AF recurrence after ablation (RR=0.83; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.70-0.98, P=0.028; I2=68.9%). Subgroup analysis further indicated that positive results were found in randomized controlled trials (RR=0.51, 95% CI 0.37-0.70, P

There are more than 7000 described rare diseases, most lacking specific treatment. Autosomal-dominant hyper-IgE syndrome (AD-HIES, also known as Job's syndrome) is caused by mutations in STAT3. These patients present with immunodeficiency accompanied by severe nonimmunological features, including skeletal, connective tissue, and vascular abnormalities, poor postinfection lung healing, and subsequent pulmonary failure. No specific therapies are available for these abnormalities. Here, we investigated underlying mechanisms in order to identify therapeutic targets. Histological analysis of skin wounds demonstrated delayed granulation tissue formation and vascularization during skin-wound healing in AD-HIES patients. Global gene expression analysis in AD-HIES patient skin fibroblasts identified deficiencies in a STAT3-controlled transcriptional network regulating extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling and angiogenesis, with hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) being a major contributor. Consistent with this, histological analysis of skin wounds and coronary arteries from AD-HIES patients showed decreased HIF-1α expression and revealed abnormal organization of the ECM and altered formation of the coronary vasa vasorum. Disease modeling using cell culture and mouse models of angiogenesis and wound healing confirmed these predicted deficiencies and demonstrated therapeutic benefit of HIF-1α-stabilizing drugs. The study provides mechanistic insights into AD-HIES pathophysiology and suggests potential treatment options for this rare disease.

A dual-band frequency selective surface (FSS) with large band ratio (BR) value for 5G communication is proposed and analyzed in this paper. This design is based on Patch-Aperture-Patch (PAP) model, and to cover both low-frequency and high-frequency bands of 5G communication without grating lobes, proper miniaturized elements are employed. In addition, unlike the traditional PAP structure, the exterior patches of designed unit don’t share the same dimension with the purpose of increasing the BR value. Simulation results show that the proposed FSS structure can generate band-pass response at 5 and 27 GHz, which are exactly the operation bands of 5G communication. In the meanwhile, there is no transmission window observed between two pass-bands and the out-of-band suppression is below -10 dB. The designed FSS has the advantages of low insertion loss, large band ratio, excellent polarization and azimuth stability and high out-of-band suppression, making it suitable for multiband 5G communication in the future.

Background Compared to people without diabetes, people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have an increased risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AF). Possible predictors of AF have not been adequately investigated in T2DM. We aimed to identify the factors associated with AF in such patients. Methods A total of 2,682 patients with T2DM, who was admitted to Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, the Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University between 1 June, 2015 to 1 Nov, 2019, were enrolled in the study. 641 patients were excluded. There were 122 patients with AF and 1,919 patients without AF. 1:1 propensity scores match was performed according to age and gender. Patients were divided into the two groups: with AF (122patients) and without AF (122patients). Clinical, demographic, echocardiographic, laboratorial data and medicine were compared between the groups. Results There was significant statistical difference in neutrophil, monocyte, creatinine, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), apolipoprotein A1 (ApoA1), apolipoprotein B100 (ApoB100), monocyte to high-density lipoprotein ratio (MHR), fasting glucose (FG), left atrial diameter (LAD), ejection fraction(EF), antiplatelet therapy and the prevalence of heart failure between the two groups. On multivariate logistic regression analysis, the increase of MHR, FG and LAD, as well as the decrease of TC and antiplatelet therapy were independent predictors of AF. On receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, using a cut-off level of 0.568, MHR predicted AF with a sensitivity of 65.6%, a specificity of 76.2%, and an AUC of 0.736(95% CI 0.673-0.800). Using a cut-off level of 0.507, the combination of TC, MHR, FG, LAD and antiplatele therapy predicted AF with a sensitivity of 73.0%, a specificity of 84.4%, and an AUC of 0.862(95% CI 0.816-0.907). Conclusions The increase of MHR, FG and LAD, as well as the decrease of TC and antiplatelet therapy were independent predictors of AF. MHR only, as well as the combination of TC, MHR, FG, LAD and antiplatelet therapy can better predict the risk of AF in patients with T2DM.

The fiber‐wireless (FiWi) access network is a very promising solution for next‐generation access networks. Because of the different protocols between its subnets, it is hard to globally optimize the operation of FiWi networks. Network virtualization technology is applied to FiWi networks to realize the coexistence of heterogeneous networks and centralized control of network resource. The existing virtual resource management methods always be designed to optimize virtual network (VN) request acceptance rate and survivability, but seldom consider energy consumption and varied requirements of quality of service (QoS) satisfaction, which is a hot and important topic in the industrial field. Therefore, this paper focuses on the QoS‐aware cross‐domain collaborative energy saving mechanism for FiWi virtual networks. First, the virtual network embedding (VNE) model, energy consumption model, and VNE profit model of FiWi networks are established. Then, a QoS‐aware in‐region VN embedding mechanism is proposed to guarantee service quality of different services. After that, an underlying resource updating mechanism based on energy efficiency awareness is designed to realize low‐load ONU and wireless routers co‐sleep in FiWi networks. Finally, a QoS‐aware re‐embedding mechanism is presented to allocate proper resource to the VNs affected by the sleeping mechanism. Especially for video VNs, a re‐embedding scheme which adopts traffic splitting and multipath route is introduced to meet resource limitation and low latency. Simulation results show that the proposed mechanism can reduce FiWi network's energy consumption, improve VNE profit, and ensure high embedding accepting rate and strict delay demand of high‐priority VNs.

Background Several studies have explored the association between P wave terminal force in lead V1 (PTFV1) and risk of atrial fibrillation (AF) occurrence, but the results were controversial. This meta‐analysis aimed to examine whether abnormal PTFV1 could predict AF occurrence. Methods We searched PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases for articles published before August 25, 2018. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) of AF occurrence were calculated using random‐effects models to explore the significance of PTFV1. Results A total of 12 studies examining 51,372 participants were included, with 9 studies analyzing PTFV1 as a categorical variable and 4 studies analyzing PTFV1 as a continuous variable. As a categorical variable, abnormal PTFV1 (>0.04 mm s) was significantly associated with AF occurrence with a pooled OR of 1.39 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.08–1.79, p = .01). Subgroup analysis found that ORs of studies in hemodialysis patients (OR = 4.89, 95% CI 2.54–9.90, p

Background: Faced with epidemic conditions, healthcare workers infection (HWI) has become a serious issue which reflects the severity of pandemic conditions and has an important pact on the healthcare system. Hereby, we compared the differences of HWI during the COVID-19 epidemic in two countries, Italy and South Korea, which have similar population and demographic distribution. Methods: We collected the open data updated on the official website about the confirmed cases of healthcare workers (HCWs) and the total population, and then explored the factors contributing to the reduction of HWI, including the basic medical index, initiatives to combat COVID-19, and the changes in healthcare pressure after the outbreak of the disease in the two countries. Finally, we investigated the correlation between indicators on "healthcare pressure" and HWI by computing the death and active cases combined with ICU beds and the number of HCWs. Findings: The results indicated that HWI presented a same trend with total infection in both Italy and South Korea, meanwhile, Italy had a higher proportion of HWI among the general population. And the intensity approach to assess the healthcare pressure was correlated with cumulative HWI (both number and rate) and the magnitude approach performed correlation with increased cases only in Italy. Interpretation: The intensity approach to assess the healthcare pressure expected to be a predictor and had the potential to warn the public of risks of an overload of the healthcare system and the consequent HWI, and that magnitude approach could be correlated to the increased HWI and total cases only when the healthcare system overloaded. This study attempts to explore the current condition of HWI and its related influence factors in two countries, aiming to draw more attention to HWI worldwide and give insight for the policy-making of medical system to provide better protection for HCWs in healthcare emergency. Funding Statement: This article was supported by a grant from National Science and Technology Major Project [Grant Number:2018ZX10101004003003] Declaration of Interests: No potential conflicts of interest were reported.

The National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51422507) and Hubei Provincial Leading High Talent Training Program Funded Project (No. HBSTD [2012] 86).

Edge structures are highly relevant to the electronic, magnetic, and catalytic properties of two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and their one-dimensional (1D) counterparts, i.e., nanoribbons, and should be precisely tailored for the desired application. In this work, we report the formation of novel Mo6S6 nanowire (NW)-terminated edges in monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) via an e–beam irradiation process combined with high temperature heating. The atomic structures of the NW-terminated edges and the dynamic formation process were observed experimentally using scanning transmission electron microscopy. Further analysis showed that the NW-terminated edge could be formed on both the Mo-zigzag (ZZ) edge and S-ZZ edge and could exhibit a stability superior to that of the pristine ZZ and armchair (AC) edges. In addition, analogous edge structures could also be formed in MoS2 nanoribbons and other TMD materials such as MoxW1−xSe2. We believe that these novel edge structures may impart novel properties to the 2D and 1D TMD materials and provide new opportunities for their applications in catalytic, spintronic, and electronic devices.

Background. Group A streptococcus (GAS) infections and poststreptococcal sequelae remain a health problem worldwide, which necessitates searching for an effective vaccine, while no licensed GAS vaccine is available. We have developed a divalent peptide vaccine composed of 84 amino acids to cover the main GAS serotypes (M1 and M12 streptococci) in China, and herein, we aimed to evaluate immunogenicity and safety of this vaccine.Methods. Mice were immunized with the vaccine. ELISA, indirect bactericidal test, and immunofluorescent assay were used to study immunogenicity. GAS challenge assay was used to test the protective effect. Safety was tested by histopathological analysis.Results. Immunized group mice (n=16) developed higher titer antibody after immunization than nonimmunized group mice (n=16) did. This antibody can deposit on the surface of GAS and promote killing of GAS, resulting in 93.1% decrease of M1 GAS and 89.5% of M12 GAS. When challenged with M1 and M12 streptococci, immunized group mice had a higher survival rate (87.5% and 75%) than nonimmunized group mice (37.5% and 25%). No autoimmune reactions were detected on organs of mice.Conclusion. The results suggest that this vaccine shows fair immunogenicity and safety, which will lead our research on GAS vaccine into clinical trial.

Monitoring cardiovascular activities plays a critical role in predicting and preventing cardiovascular diseases. Flexible and biosafe sensors that can provide complementary information about cardiovascular activity beyond the traditional electrocardiogram (ECG) are in great demand. Here, a novel eco-friendly in-situ gap-generation method by vaporizing soaked distilled water is developed to fabricate a no-spacer triboelectric nanogenerator (NSTENG). This NSTENG reveals more uniform stress/strain distributions and undergoes larger displacement compared with the traditional TENG with spacer under the same pressure; and it obliterates the obstruction on detection of subtle movements near spacer. The unique fabrication method also guarantees biological safety and avoids air contamination in vivo. The established wireless mobile system based on the NSTENG can precisely detect the full pulse waveforms and display them on the phone screen in real time. By mounting onto the rat’s heart, it can monitor normal heart motion and the measured heart rate has an accuracy of up to 99.73%. Moreover, the NSTENG can monitor abnormal heart motion and detect subtle heart movements that fail to be captured by the ECG. This work provides a new strategy that promotes the innovation of biosafe and new-structure TENGs, and offers new insights into developing wearable and implantable sensors.

The global shipping industry faces huge pressure to reduce its greenhouse (GHG) emissions due to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has introduced strict regulations to decrease GHG emissions from ships. New energy sources can provide a solution for green shipping because they have the advantages of abundant, renewable and clean. This paper examines the current progress made regarding the integration of new energy sources into conventional ship power systems, including solar energy, wind energy and fuel cells. It also discusses the possibilities for using the aforementioned three new energy sources in ship power systems ranging from technical principles to subsequent applications. Furthermore, basic working theories of new energy sources, application methods, existing new energy ships and core technologies required are summarized in detail. The integration of new energy sources into traditional ship power systems has enormous potential to bring the shipping industry in line with international regulatory requirements and is set to become a key focus of ship-related researches in the immediate future.

The stiffness characteristic is of significance for the mechanical metamaterials under the mechanical loading. This work explores the stiffness characteristics for a series of lightweight mechanical metamaterials with unique programmability in the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE). The effective stiffness is analytically established considering both stretching and bending deformations. The numerical modeling verifies the theoretical analysis. By rationally modulating the cell architectures, the programmable CTE ranged from negative to positive values and the lightweight is realized. Besides, the high specific stiffness could be achieved. Especially, the metamaterials VS and VH present superior specific stiffness. The coupling relationships of the stiffness, density and CTE are identified, and the high specific stiffness and low CTE can be obtained in the vertex-connected metamaterials, which benefits the dimensional stability controlling. Both large CTE and high specific stiffness are achieved in the metamaterial SH. Moreover, the comparisons with the commonly available materials identify that the metamaterials integrate the considerable stiffness and lightweight performances, as well as an exclusive function of programmable CTE. The analysis of the stiffness characteristic is expected to guide the applications of the metamaterials in engineering where the control of CTE, requirements of both lightweight and high stiffness should be strictly fulfilled.

Pediatric recurrent wheezing is a common disorder with potential asthma risk; however, its diagnosis much relies on physician's subjective evaluation. Hence, efficient noninvasive biomarkers are in great need. In this retrospective study, blood routine test was analyzed in 143 wheezing children and 137 control individuals, and various cell types were discriminated and counted. Total IgE in plasma was detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Receiver operating characteristic curve was plotted and area under curve (AUC) was calculated to evaluate the clinical potential of both indexes for diagnosing pediatric recurrent wheezing. The theoretical cutoff values for both indexes were also calculated using a Youden index. The results showed that neutrophil significantly increased in wheezing children, whereas lymphocyte decreased sharply. Total IgE, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) were significantly elevated in wheezing patients. Besides, NLR and PLR were found unchanged in different genders. The results showed that NLR (AUC = 0.647) and PLR (AUC = 0.628) were able to discriminate recurrent wheezing. Cutoff for NLR was 0.98 (Youden index 24.8%) and cutoff for PLR was 116.4 (Youden index 19.4%). The mentioned evidence supported NLR and PLR as potential diagnostic indexes for pediatric recurrent wheezing.

The estrogen (ER) or progesterone receptors (PR) is positively associated with better clinical outcomes in ovarian cancer. Whether metastasis or recurrence of ovarian cancer is correlated with this association has not been investigated. Data on 894 women with epithelial ovarian cancer were collected and the association between ER or PR positivity and peritoneal or lymph node metastases or recurrence was analysed. ER or PR positivity was higher in high-grade, low-grade serous and endometrioid carcinoma, but lower in mucinous and clear-cell carcinoma. Significantly higher ER or PR positivity was seen in endometrioid carcinoma or high-grade serous carcinoma with peritoneal metastases, respectively, but not other subtypes. In addition, there was no significant difference in ER or PR positivity between cases with and without lymph node metastasis in these five subtypes. In recurrent high-grade serous carcinoma with peritoneal metastases (n = 103), the positivity of ER or PR was 86% and 55% respectively. Our data demonstrate that the association between ER or PR positivity and peritoneal metastases was only seen in endometrioid or high grade serous carcinoma, respectively. There was no association of ER or PR positivity and lymph node metastases. The majority of recurrent high-grade serous carcinoma with peritoneal metastases (86%) were ER positive.

In this paper, a perception-based fabric recommendation system is proposed to help fashion designers to select the most appropriate fabric in the design process, meeting the perception of the target consumer. The proposed methodology is based on the development of an interactive hierarchical structure, decomposing the decision problem into five levels: goal, criteria (consumers' requirements), sub evaluation criteria (fabric properties), rating scale, and alternatives, which ensures the analysis of requirements of consumers and knowledge sharing among designers. The proposed knowledge-based recommendation system includes a collaborative design process, a commonly used sensory evaluation procedure, and a computational model using the Fuzzy AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and Fuzzy TOPSIS (Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution) algorithms. The Fuzzy AHP method is used to structure the fabric selection problem and determine the relevant weights of the concerned criteria and corresponding components, while the Fuzzy TOPSIS method is used to evaluate the alternative fabrics based on the criteria obtained from the AHP process and to give the total final ranking of the involved fabric alternatives. Experimental results indicate that, using the proposed interactive hierarchical structure, professional knowledge of the designers can be fully extracted to ensure a high level of consumer satisfaction.

// Fang Shen 1, * , Shouzhen Chen 1, * , Yifei Gao 1 , Xujing Dai 1 and Qi Chen 1, 2 1 The Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Fudan University, China 2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The University of Auckland, New Zealand * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Fang Shen, email: shenfang1213@126.com Qi Chen, email: q.chen@auckland.ac.nz Keywords: ovarian cancer, menopause, age at diagnosis, Chinese women Received: May 30, 2017 Accepted: July 25, 2017 Published: August 22, 2017 ABSTRACT The incidence of ovarian cancer depends on the ethnicity and geographical area. Menopausal status is a well-known risk factor for ovarian cancer and most cases occur after menopause in Caucasians. However, it is less clear how the status of menopause or age at diagnosis is associated with ovarian cancer including its subtypes in Chinese women. Data on 1,283 women with primary malignant or borderline ovarian cancer including age at diagnosis, age at menopause and histology from the largest women’s hospital in China was analysed. The median age at diagnosis was 53, 44 and 23 years for epithelial ovarian cancer or sex-cord tumors or germ cell tumors respectively. 58% of epithelial ovarian cancers were diagnosed after menopause, while 58% and 95% of sex-cord tumors and germ cell tumors were diagnosed before menopause. Around 60% of serous, endometrioid and clear-cell carcinoma of epithelial ovarian cancer were diagnosed after menopause, while 23% of mucinous carcinoma was diagnosed after menopause. The median age at diagnosis was 35 years for borderline ovarian cancer and 80% of patients were diagnosed before menopause. Our data demonstrates that the median age at diagnosis of ovarian cancer is younger in our study population than Caucasians reported in the literature regardless of malignant or borderline ovarian cancers, and regardless of subtypes of epithelial ovarian cancer. The prevalence of ovarian cancer is proportionately higher in our study population before menopause than Caucasians. Our results suggest clinicians to be more aware of the symptoms of ovarian cancer in premenopausal Chinese women.