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Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are widely used as important energy sources for mobile phones, electric vehicles, and drones. Experts have attempted to replace liquid electrolytes with solid electrolytes that have wider electrochemical window and higher stability due to the potential safety risks, such as electrolyte leakage, flammable solvents, poor thermal stability, and many side reactions caused by liquid electrolytes. However, finding suitable alternative materials using traditional approaches is very difficult due to the incredibly high cost in searching. Machine learning (ML)-based methods are currently introduced and used for material prediction. However, learning tools designed for domain experts to conduct intuitive performance comparison and analysis of ML models are rare. In this case, we propose an interactive visualization system for experts to select suitable ML models and understand and explore the predication results comprehensively. Our system uses a multifaceted visualization scheme designed to support analysis from various perspectives, such as feature distribution, data similarity, model performance, and result presentation. Case studies with actual lab experiments have been conducted by the experts, and the final results confirmed the effectiveness and helpfulness of our system.

This study sought to evaluate clinical features, treatment patterns, and outcomes of patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM) complicated by heart failure (HF). Thirty-two patients with IIM-HF admitted to the Peking Union Medical College Hospital between January 1999 and January 2018 were retrospectively reviewed, including 14 patients with polymyositis, 11 with dermatomyositis, and 7 with overlap syndrome. Survivors and no-survivors were compared on clinical characteristics and treatment. Although systemic symptoms were variable, all patients presented with elevated troponin I. Rapid atrial arrhythmia was the most frequent arrhythmia. Systolic dysfunction and restrictive diastolic dysfunction were typical presentations in echocardiography. Twenty-nine patients were followed up for a median of 2.8 years (0.1 month to 11 years). We recorded 13 deaths of cardiogenic cause, 1 of serious IIM, and 3 of infective complications. The median survival time from diagnosis of IIM-HF to all-cause mortality was 8.4 months (range from 1 month to 5 years). Both all-cause deaths and cardiogenic deaths were more reported in the methotrexate-alone group than in the combination therapy group (6/7 versus 3/10, P = 0.050; 5/6 versus 2/9, P = 0.041). Combination therapy including methotrexate (HR = 0.188, 95%CI 0.040-0.871, P = 0.033) and taking β-receptor blockers (HR = 0.249, 95%CI 0.086-0.719, P = 0.010) was associated with reduced risk of all-cause deaths. In conclusion, elevated troponin I, atrial arrhythmia, and systolic and restrictive diastolic dysfunction are typical characteristics of IIM-HF. Combined immunosuppression that includes methotrexate and β-receptor blockers seems to be important to improve survival.

High-power DC power electronic transformer (DC PET) is becoming the key equipment in the DC power network. Face-to-Face (F2F) DC transformers based on modular multilevel converter (MMC) have the modular structure and can flexibly design systems based on different voltage and power levels. Previous studies show that the control strategy of the F2F topology regulates the MMCs separately. Moreover, the voltage ratio of the DC sides depends on the intermediate AC transformer. In the current study, a new control strategy is proposed, which can change the DC voltage ratio by turning on/off submodules of each MMC bridge flexibly and set relevant parameters with different application scenarios. The algorithm enables the DC PET with F2F topology to operate in a dual active bridge (DAB) circuit mode. Thereby reducing the overall system size and meeting different demands of medium and high voltage application scenarios. According to the control strategy used, a submodule capacitor voltage equalization method is proposed to eliminate the capacitance voltage deviation and reduce the capacitance voltage stress. At the same time, the current characteristics of the AC conversion part in the DC transformer are analyzed. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed method is verified by simulation and experiments.

The aim of this study was to explore the possible association between diabetes mellitus and dental implant complications.A systematic literature review was conducted to answer the following PICO (Participants, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome) question: Is there association between diabetes mellitus and dental implant complications? Two independent searchers performed a literature search of the PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library and EMBASE databases for studies published until February 2020, focussing on studies including continuous outcomes, marginal bone loss (primary outcome), probing depth, and bleeding upon probing (secondary outcomes).A final total of 10 published studies were included in this systematic review. There were statistically significant differences between the groups with regard to marginal bone loss (

BACKGROUND: Considerable evidence has been presented that heart and health-related quality of life are directly linked in patients with various diseases. This exploratory study investigated whether cardiac structure and function were associated with health-related quality of life in the general population. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed in five villages of Shunyi, a suburban district of Beijing, from June 2013 to April 2016. All inhabitants aged 35 years or older living in five villages of Shunyi were invited to participate. Exclusion criteria were individuals who declined participation, who had incomplete Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) data, and who had suboptimal echocardiograms. HRQoL was evaluated by the Mandarin version of SF-36. The association between the echocardiography-derived cardiac structure and function and each domain of SF-36 was analyzed by the multivariate linear regression analysis after adjusted for conventional risk factors affecting HRQoL. RESULTS: The baseline data of 990 individuals were analyzed. The median age of the participants was 57 (50–63) years, and 367 (37.1%) were male, the average physical and mental component summary scores were 89.3 (79.8–94.3) and 90 (83.5–95) respectively. Tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion, an echocardiography-derived right ventricular parameter, was associated with all the subscales and summarized scores of SF-36 (all P

Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are widely used as the important energy sources in our daily life such as mobile phones, electric vehicles, and drones etc. Due to the potential safety risks caused by liquid electrolytes, the experts have tried to replace liquid electrolytes with solid ones. However, it is very difficult to find suitable alternatives materials in traditional ways for its incredible high cost in searching. Machine learning (ML) based methods are currently introduced and used for material prediction. But there is rarely an assisting learning tools designed for domain experts for institutive performance comparison and analysis of ML model. In this case, we propose an interactive visualization system for experts to select suitable ML models, understand and explore the predication results comprehensively. Our system employs a multi-faceted visualization scheme designed to support analysis from the perspective of feature composition, data similarity, model performance, and results presentation. A case study with real experiments in lab has been taken by the expert and the results of confirmed the effectiveness and helpfulness of our system.

BACKGROUND: Myocarditis is a rare complication of idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs), which is usually underestimated because of limited applications of endomyocardial biopsy and cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in clinical routines. METHODS: From January 2014 to January 2019, 62 patients with initial untreated IIMs were enrolled, including 31 cases with myocarditis (case group) and 31 cases without cardiac involvement (control group). Myocarditis secondary to IIMs was defined based on definitions of IIMs. All medical data were retrieved from electrical medical records of PUMCH. The differences between two groups in symptoms, serum levels of cardiac troponin I (cTnI), creatine kinase-isozyme and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) were analyzed. The comparisons of arrhythmia, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and restrictive diastolic dysfunction between two groups were conducted in the analysis of electrocardiogram and electrocardiogram. Besides, CMR data were analyzed to explore the characteristics of CMR in the identification of myocarditis. Meanwhile, 31 patients with myocarditis were divided into two subgroups based on the activity of anti-mitochondrial antibody M2 (AMA-M2), and the differences between two subgroups in the above tests were also analyzed. RESULTS: Compared with control group, patients with myocarditis exhibited shorter disease durations (defined as the period from onset symptoms of IIM to diagnosis of IIM), more symptoms associated with IIMs, more manifestations of heart failure, and higher frequency of positive AMA-M2 antibody (P

Purpose To assess the relative efficacy of several clinical treatments for postoperative analgesia of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction through network meta-analysis based on multiple published randomized controlled trials. Methods We searched PubMed, the Cochrane library, EMBASE, and Web of Science, each from inception until February 15, 2021. Outcomes including pain scores at rest (visual analog scale, numerical rating scales, and other scales, which were converted to a standardized 0-10 scale), morphine consumption, and complications were meta-analyzed. Quality of the included studies was assessed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool. The authors defined the best choice for postoperative analgesia as the one that had significant difference in pain scores, morphine consumption, and had no significant difference in the risk of complications compared with placebo in the initial 48 postoperative hours. Results In total, 66 studies with 4,168 patients were included in this network meta-analysis. Only periarticular infiltration was significantly superior to placebo in pain scores and morphine consumption (pain at 2 hours: mean difference [MD] –0.74, 95% confidence interval [CI] –1.36 to –0.12; pain at 6 hours: MD –0.81, 95% CI –1.42 to –0.21; pain at 12 hours: MD –0.85, 95% CI –1.53 to –0.17; pain at 24 hours: MD –0.80, 95% CI –1.19 to –0.40; morphine consumption at 24 hours: MD –10.12, 95% CI –14.31 to –5.93; morphine consumption at 48 hours: MD –5.62, 95% CI –6.74 to –4.51). Periarticular infiltration did not increase the risk of complications compared with placebo (nausea and vomiting: odds ratio [OR] 0.63, 95% CI 0.34-1.16; pruritus: OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.35-1.58; urinary retention: OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.25-1.23). In addition, There was no significant difference between adductor canal block and femoral nerve block in pain scores and morphine consumption (pain at 2 hours: MD –0.01, 95% CI –1.44 to 1.42; pain at 6 hours: MD 0.29, 95% CI –0.28 to 0.86; pain at 12 hours: MD 0.36, 95% CI –0.44 to 1.16; pain at 24 hours: MD 0.26, 95% CI –0.22 to 0.75; pain at 48 hours: MD –0.36, 95% CI –0.97 to 0.24; morphine at 24 hours: MD 1.04, 95% CI –4.70 to 6.79; morphine at 48 hours: MD –0.32, 95% CI –0.70 to 0.07; postoperative nausea and vomiting: OR 1.07, 95% CI 0.55-2.09; pruritus: OR 1.36, 95% CI 0.66-2.79; urinary retention: OR 1.41, 95% CI 0.37-5.29). Conclusions Based on current evidence, most analgesic methods could result in lower pain scores and decrease morphine consumption when compared with placebo; however, differences between methods were small and inconsistent. There seemed to be no significant difference between adductor canal block and femoral nerve block in pain score, morphine consumption and complications. Level of Evidence Level I, meta-analysis of Level I RCTs.

This work presents a new multi-aspect user-interest model for recommender systems to improve recommendation and prediction accuracy. We introduce the overall user satisfaction for a product to build a user-interest profile by computing the user-interest levels from multi-aspect reviews. A domain emotional dictionary is built to overcome the gap in quantity between negative and positive words for sentiment polarity analysis. A sentiment analysis model is designed to characterize the users’ sentiment polarity and strength based on uncertainty theory and the domain emotional dictionary. Accordingly, a new multi-aspect user-interest model is proposed by considering the sentiment analysis model with the user-interest profile. Then, our proposed model is applied to recommender systems and experimentally tested on five products of different categories from three e-commerce websites. Our model not only outperforms the traditional and state-of-the-art models on rating prediction tasks but also improves the recommendation accuracy in multiple domains.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most common chronic liver disorder, and yet with no pharmacological treatment approved worldwide. The repositioning of old drugs provides a safe approach for drug development. Vidofludimus, an inhibitor for dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) for the treatment of autoimmune disorders, is herein uncovered as a novel modulator for farnesoid X receptor (FXR) by biochemical and crystallographic analysis. We further revealed that vidofludimus exerts in vivo therapeutic effects on dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis in an FXR-dependent manner. Notably, vidofludimus also possesses remarkable beneficial effects in reducing NAFLD by targeting FXR, which may represent a unique approach in developing the treatment for NAFLD. Our findings not only reveal a promising template for the design of novel FXR ligands in treating autoimmune disorders, but also uncover a novel therapeutic effect for vidofludimus on NAFLD based on the newly established relationships among drugs, targets, and diseases.

Polymyositis (PM) and dermatomyositis (DM) are autoimmune diseases characterized by inflammation of skeletal muscle, primarily manifesting as chronic muscle weakness. Extramuscular organs can also be affected. Cardiac involvement is one of the visceral organ damages whose prevalence is underestimated and is a marker of poor prognosis leading to irreversible dysfunction or even death. Although early and accurate recognition of cardiac involvement remains a key barrier to improving survival in PM/ DM patients, considerable progress has been made, and an overview will be provided in this review. The new concept of multimodality imaging, which involves an integrated approach of echocardiography (Echo), cardiac magnetic resonance and sometimes positron emission tomography (PET), can facilitate diagnosis. The development of ultrasound technology, including strain analysis, stress Echo and contrast-enhanced Echo, helps disclose early cardiac dysfunction more sensitively than conventional Echo. Cardiac magnetic resonance unveils silent, acute or chronic myocarditis in PM/DM and is used to monitor treatment efficacy due to its excellent tissue characterization. PET can be useful thanks to the appearance of new tracers that can eliminate the effects of glucose uptake by normal cardiomyocytes. The sensitivity of endomyocardial biopsy may be increased by targeted sampling with the guidance of cardiac imaging. Troponin I is specific to cardiac injury, and investigations into antibodies against cardiac tissue are being carried out. Disease-specific mechanisms and therapies are also discussed to give more insights into cardiac involvement in PM and DM.

Decentralized applications achieve stronger security and fault tolerance by placing trust in the majority of users instead of a single third party. However, it also means that there will be no administrator to handle unexpected situations. Because there is no trusted central management service, a decentralized application can do little when a user loses their private key that unlocks the tokens and other assets the user possesses, and users are responsible for keeping exclusive control of their private keys. Therefore, as decentralized applications are becoming mainstream, and more and more non-tech savvy users began to use these decentralized apps, account recovery will be a much-needed feature. In this paper, we propose a method to recover an account by an arbitration process that utilizes the information asymmetry between the regular users and trade partners an individual may have had over the life of their blockchain account for which they lost access. Our method involves a spam filter to separate legitimate requests from malicious or spam requests, a robust voting mechanism backed by game-theoretic insights, and an extensive set of controls to avert any attacks.

With the increasing demand of electricity, AC and DC hybrid distribution network comes to be an effective solution in the near future. In the DC power transmission and distribution system, DC/DC converter is required for the interconnection of HVDC, MVDC and LVDC grids. Recent researches focus on face-to-face DC/DC converters based on cascaded DAB and MMC topology. This paper proposes a multi-port MMC based DC/DC converter topology, which is suitable for interconnection of DC grids with different voltage levels. The corresponding modulation and control strategy of this converter, which can transform the DC voltage at DC sides of the converter, are illustrated. Simulation and experimental results validates the modulation and control strategy of the proposed multi-port DC/DC converter topology.

With the deterioration of environmental problems and the shortage of fossil energy, DC distribution net with convenient access to distributed energy has a bright prospect. To connect DC buses with different voltage level, DC/DC converter becomes the focus of research. This paper focuses on the modulation strategy of DC-DC converter based on the modular multilevel converter (MMC) and Full-bridge, which is suitable for medium-low voltage and high-power transmission. On this structure, a quasi-square wave modulation strategy with voltage conversion ability is adopted to improve the performance of the DC-DC converter. This modulation strategy can flexibly alter the AC voltage peak value and limit the dv/dt on the edge of square wave. Simulation results in MATLAB/Simulink verified the proposed modulation strategy.

In this paper, a novel bidirectional modular dc-dc converter (BMC) with unipolar and bipolar structure for dc networks interconnection is proposed. Compared with traditional dc grid-connecting converters, the proposed converter can realizes high voltage gain with a transformerless structure and reduce the voltage stress across switches. Then, to solve the unbalanced current problem among power units in the BMC, a submodular structure is introduced. The control system was optimized for grid-connection applications by introducing the phase-interval operation between submodules to reduce the current and voltage ripple in both sides. Besides, the control system can provide various control strategies, including output voltage control, voltage gain control and power control to maintain the voltage level or keep a constant voltage gain of the networks and performing precise power control. Finally, simulations of both sub-modular unipolar BMC and bipolar BMC were implemented, and a 1-kW experimental 3-level unipolar prototype was developed.

Rationale: Anthracyclines cardiotoxicity characterized by dilated myocardiopathy has been well described in the literature. However, anthracyclines-induced valvular diseases have been seldom reported. Patient concerns: In this study, we present the case of a 62-year-old Chinese female patient with breast cancer developing severe mitral regurgitation after anthracycline exposure. Diagnoses: The patient was diagnosed with mitral regurgitation with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction and normal cardiac chamber dimensions in the sixth month after the last course of anthracycline-containing chemotherapy. However, continued decrease in LVEF with normal left ventricular wall thickness, and serial increases in left atrial and ventricular dimensions were observed in the follow-up echocardiography. Interventions: Treatments with oral itraconazole at a dose of 75 mg/day and local wound care with ciclopirox olamine ointment were administered. Outcomes: The patient responded well to the treatment with perindopril, metoprolol succinate, spirolactone, and furosemide, and symptoms associated with heart failure were dramatically relieved. Lessons: The incipient mitral regurgitation may serve as an early sign of myocardial dysfunction that can facilitate a timely recognition of cardiotoxicity, which is crucial to a timely change of chemotherapy regimen and an appropriate initiation of antiremodeling therapy that could limit anthracycline cardiotoxicity and improve overall outcome.

Remote sensing technology is widely used in land surveying and earth science research, such as the study of the earth’s oceans, glaciers, hydrology, ecology, geology and so on, is still in the military, intelligence, commercial, economic and other aspects can also be used to select the appropriate training samples, supervised classification with five kinds of single classifier, the classification accuracy comparison of different methods. It was found that the maximum classification accuracy of the two plots was the highest with the maximum likelihood method, but the classification accuracy was not the highest for 1 of the cultivated areas. Therefore, two decision fusion based multiple classifiers combination algorithms are proposed, and the results of single classifier are processed by using ENVI and IDL software. Compared with the classification results of a single classifier, the overall classification accuracy of multiple classifiers is improved by 2.5%, and the accuracy of 1 of the cultivated land in the study area is increased by 15.5%. Methods the combination of multiple classifiers can use different characteristics of single classifier, so as to compensate for the lack of a single classifier.

An improved modulation algorithm is proposed for three-phase face-to-face topology. The algorithm could make the face-to-face dc transformer use 1: 1 ac transformer or omit ac transformer in a wide variable ratio range to reducing the volume of the system. The simulation in MATLAB/Simulink validates the proposed algorithm.

Recent research on high voltage and power DC/DC converter mainly focus on the face-to-face topology based on modular multilevel converters (MMC). The topology consists of two MMC which are coupled by a transformer. It is easy to extend the module number according to the voltage level. However, the present modulation method in this topology cannot regulate the voltage transformation ratio on two dc sides. The ratio of the dc voltage mainly depends on the transformer ratio. This paper proposes a modulation method which can adjust the dc voltage ratio directly. Finally, a simulation model is established to verify the feasibility of the method.

While many studies on typical recommender systems focus on making recommendations to individual users, social activities usually involve groups of users. Issues related to group recommendations are increasingly becoming hot research topics. Among the differences between individual and group recommender systems, the most significant is social factors of group users. Social factors, including personality, expertise factor, interpersonal relationships, and preference similarities, widen the gap between group and individual recommendations. A new approach focuses on the impact of social factors on group recommender systemsâa computational model integrating the influences of personality, expertise factor, interpersonal relationships, and preference similarities. Comparative experiments are conducted on two datasets. The experimental results show that the proposed approach can provide more accurate and satisfactory group recommendations, especially when social influences are significant.

In this paper, we present a new communication protocol between peers in BitTorrent (BT) system based on the Luby-Transform (LT) code. Being different from standard BT, our protocol has three special strategies: peers transmitting coded block, REQUEST and PIECE messages processing that is based on the state of piece, and Rarest First algorithm taking uncompleted pieces into account. Then we simulate our protocol in peersim simulator. The results show that our system has a 26% increase on average in 50M-sized files compared with BT.

Tetris game is a classic game of logic control. This article gives a programming design of Tetris game based on the FPGA using VHDL. Game players can move and rotate blocks with the PS/2 interface keyboard, and the game video is showed in a VGA monitor. The game realized the function of the movement and rotation of blocks, randomly generating next blocks, eliminating rows, getting scores and speeding up. It also contained the normal mode corresponding to 7 types of blocks and the expert mode corresponding to 11 types of blocks. The successful transplant of Tetris game provides a template for the development of other visual control systems in the FPGA.

Background Chronic diarrhea in adults is a common symptom with a wide range of underlying etiologies. Although various strategies have been proposed for evaluation, there are still cases with undetermined origins even after extensive workup. Amyloidosis with gastrointestinal (GI) involvement is one of the causes that should be considered in adult patients with chronic diarrhea. We report a case of primary systemic amyloid light-chain (AL) amyloidosis, presenting initially as chronic diarrhea and weight loss. Case presentation A 43-year-old man with chronic diarrhea and weight loss was referred to our hospital. Prior to his presentation, extensive evaluation including an exploratory laparotomy was carried out and did not yield any valuable findings. An echocardiography performed after repeated episodes of orthostatic hypotension revealed infiltrative cardiomyopathy. Moreover, biopsies of the terminal ileum revealed amyloid deposition confirmed by Congo Red staining. Finally, a diagnosis of systemic AL amyloidosis was made after hematological workup. Anti-plasma cell therapy did ameliorate his GI symptoms. Conclusion Although amyloidosis with GI involvement is a rare cause of chronic diarrhea, it should be considered especially in patients with intestinal malabsorption and extra-GI manifestations, such as orthostatic hypotension. The delayed diagnosis in the present case highlights the importance of recognizing clinical “red flags” not seemingly related to one another, and underscores the need to get intestinal biopsies even with normal endoscopic appearance of the mucosa.