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Objectives: To investigate the clinical value of pre-treatment quantitative contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in assessing the response of colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) to chemotherapy plus targeted therapy., Methods: This study retrospectively enrolled 50 CRLM patients from the Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University as the training cohort and 14 patients from Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital as the testing cohort. Patients underwent the CEUS examination before receiving chemotherapy (CAPOX, FOLFOX, FOLFIRI, or FOLFOXIRI) plus targeted therapy (Bevacizumab or Cetuximab). The therapy response was determined according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors version 1.1 based on pre-treatment CT and 3-month follow-up CT after therapy. Dynamic analysis was performed by VueBox® software. Time-intensity curves with quantitative perfusion parameters were obtained. In the training cohort, univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to develop the predictive model of therapy response. The predictive performance of the developed model was validated in the testing cohort., Results: After the logistic regression analyses, the peak enhancement (PE) (odds ratio = 1.640; 95% confidence intervals [CI] 1.022-2.633) and time to peak (TTP) (odds ratio = 0.495; 95% CI 0.246-0.996) were determined as independent predictive factors. PE and TTP generated from VueBox® were not affected by ultrasound instruments and contrast agent dosage in therapy response evaluation (P > 0.05). The logistic regression model achieved satisfactory prediction performance (area under the curve: 0.923 in the training cohort and 0.854 in the testing cohort)., Conclusion: CEUS with dynamic quantitative perfusion analysis, which presents high consistency, has potential practical value in predicting the response of CRLM to chemotherapy plus targeted therapy., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

The autoregressive integrated moving average with exogenous regressors (ARIMAX) modeling studies of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) are still rare. This study aims to explore whether incorporating air pollution and meteorological factors can improve the performance of a time series model in predicting PTB. We collected the monthly incidence of PTB, records of six air pollutants and six meteorological factors in Ningbo of China from January 2015 to December 2019. Then, we constructed the ARIMA, univariate ARIMAX, and multivariate ARIMAX models. The ARIMAX model incorporated ambient factors, while the ARIMA model did not. After prewhitening, the cross-correlation analysis showed that PTB incidence was related to air pollution and meteorological factors with a lag effect. Air pollution and meteorological factors also had a correlation. We found that the multivariate ARIMAX model incorporating both the ozone with 0-month lag and the atmospheric pressure with 11-month lag had the best performance for predicting the incidence of PTB in 2019, with the lowest fitted mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 2.9097% and test MAPE of 9.2643%. However, ARIMAX has limited improvement in prediction accuracy compared with the ARIMA model. Our study also suggests the role of protecting the environment and reducing pollutants in controlling PTB and other infectious diseases.

Background: Preoperative determination of breast cancer molecular subtypes facilitates individualized treatment plan-making and improves patient prognosis. We aimed to develop an assembled convolutional neural network (ACNN) model for the preoperative prediction of molecular subtypes using multimodal ultrasound (US) images., Methods: This multicentre study prospectively evaluated a dataset of greyscale US, colour Doppler flow imaging (CDFI), and shear-wave elastography (SWE) images in 807 patients with 818 breast cancers from November 2016 to February 2021. The St. Gallen molecular subtypes of breast cancer were confirmed by postoperative immunohistochemical examination. The monomodal ACNN model based on greyscale US images, the dual-modal ACNN model based on greyscale US and CDFI images, and the multimodal ACNN model based on greyscale US and CDFI as well as SWE images were constructed in the training cohort. The performances of three ACNN models in predicting four- and five-classification molecular subtypes and identifying triple negative from non-triple negative subtypes were assessed and compared. The performance of the multimodal ACNN was also compared with preoperative core needle biopsy (CNB)., Finding: The performance of the multimodal ACNN model (macroaverage area under the curve [AUC]: 0.89-0.96) was superior to that of the dual-modal ACNN model (macroaverage AUC: 0.81-0.84) and the monomodal ACNN model (macroaverage AUC: 0.73-0.75) in predicting four-classification breast cancer molecular subtypes, which was also better than that of preoperative CNB (AUC: 0.89-0.99 vs. 0.67-0.82, p < 0.05). In addition, the multimodal ACNN model outperformed the other two ACNN models in predicting five-classification molecular subtypes (AUC: 0.87-0.94 vs. 0.78-0.81 vs. 0.71-0.78) and identifying triple negative from non-triple negative breast cancers (AUC: 0.934-0.970 vs. 0.688-0.830 vs. 0.536-0.650, p < 0.05). Moreover, the multimodal ACNN model obtained satisfactory prediction performance for both T1 and non-T1 lesions (AUC: 0.957-0.958 and 0.932-0.985)., Interpretation: The multimodal US-based ACNN model is a potential noninvasive decision-making method for the management of patients with breast cancer in clinical practice., Funding: This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 81725008 and 81927801), Shanghai Municipal Health Commission (Grants 2019LJ21 and SHSLCZDZK03502), and the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (Grants 19441903200, 19DZ2251100, and 21Y11910800)., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest T. Wu is an employee of GE Healthcare. D. Li is an employee of XiaoBaiShiJi Network Technical Co., Ltd. They do not hold any other financial interests in these companies. These companies had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis, patient recruitment or writing of the manuscript, the decision to submit the manuscript for publication or any aspect pertinent to the study. No products from this company were used in this study. The other authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Colloidal CdS sensitized nano-ZnO/chitosan (CdS@n-ZnO/CS) hydrogel was prepared and characterized extensively by XRD, SEM-EDS, TEM, UV-Vis DRS, FT-IR and TGA. The photocatalytic activity of CdS@n-ZnO/CS was evaluated with the photodegradation of congo red (CR) as an organic pollutant under solar light irradiation. The influences of initial dye concentration, catalyst dosage, recycling runs, and radical scavenger on decolorization of CR by CdS@n-ZnO/CS were investigated. 95% of CR was removed in just 1 min for 5.0 mg L -1 and 94.34% of CR was removed in 30 min for 100 mg L -1 . CdS@n-ZnO/CS exhibited an excellent and ultra-fast performance toward CR removal under solar light due to the synergistic effect of adsorption by chitosan and photocatalysis by ZnO and CdS in CdS@n-ZnO/CS hydrogel. Radical trapping control experiments indicated that h + and O 2 - played the major role for CR decolorization. The high performance of CdS@n-ZnO/CS hydrogel was also demonstrated under natural solar light irradiation, suggesting that CdS@n-ZnO/CS hydrogel could be used in practical wastewater treatment., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

In view of the problem of excessive manganese concentrations in the Xi'an Jinpen Reservoir during the flood season in 2017, the vertical distribution of manganese in density currents and its occurrence pattern were monitored at multiple monitoring sections along the upstream reaches to the main basin. The influences of density currents plunging into the reservoir on the migration and transformation of Mn were studied, and sedimentation, output, and deposition of manganese in the reservoir water were also specifically estimated during a single, typical storm runoff process. Devices for avoiding high turbidity and high load inflows in rainfall events were proposed. The results showed that significant increases of total manganese were induced by high-turbidity inflows, which largely degraded water quality during rainfall events. From 12 to 14 October, 9.11 tons of total manganese were transported into the reservoir during a single rainfall event, and the pollution conditions were largely remitted by flood discharges with an output of 6.22 tons; thus, the net deposition (manganese) was 1.47 tons. The manganese content and morphological changes along the upper reaches of the reservoir indicated that soil erosion occurred during the continuous rainfall process, and this caused a large amount of particulate pollutants to flow into the water body with the runoff. More than 70% of the total manganese in the water was in the iron-manganese oxide bound state. Correlation analysis was conducted with particles of different particle size ranges, and granular manganese particle sizes were about 2-20 μm. The findings indicate that when flood discharges with turbidity currents occur, this can effectively reduce the load of pollutants and the safety risks of water.

Bamboo forests have an efficient carbon sequestration capacity and play an important role in responding to global climate change. However, the current estimation of bamboo carbon storage has some errors, leading to uncertainty in the spatiotemporal pattern of bamboo forest carbon storage. This study simulated aboveground carbon storage of Zhejiang Province, China, during 1984-2014 based on the combination of an improved BIOME-BGC (biogeochemical cycles) model and remote sensing data, with the accuracy being verified with forest resource inventory data. The spatio-temporal distribution and environmental factors of aboveground carbon storage were analyzed. The results showed that the simulated carbon storage was accurate, with average correlation coefficient (r), root mean square error (RMSE) and relative bias (rBIAS) being 0.75, 7.24 Mg C·hm -2 and -2.57 Mg C·hm -2 , respectively. Generally, the aboveground carbon storage of bamboo forests in the whole province tended to increase from 1984 to 2014, the range of aboveground carbon density was 13.10-17.14 Mg C·hm -2 , and that of the total aboveground carbon storage was between 9.94-17.19 Tg C. The high aboveground carbon storage of bamboo was mainly distributed in developed bamboo industry areas, such as Anji, Lin'an, and Longyou. The change of aboveground carbon storage in bamboo forest was significantly correlated with temperature, precipitation, radiation, CO 2 concentration and nitrogen deposition, with higher partial correlation coefficients between precipitation and temperature and carbon storage.

This case-controlled study was designed to evaluate the association between various baseline parental factors and the risk of hypospadias in China. Patients were selected from tertiary referral hospitals in Anhui, a province in mid-eastern China. A questionnaire was given to the parents of each patient. The final database included 193 cases and 835 controls. The incidence of additional coexistent anomalies was 13.0%, primarily cryptorchidism (9.8%). Ten patients (5.1%) were from families with genital anomaly, including five families (2.6%) with hypospadias. The risks of hypospadias was higher for children of mothers > 35 (odds ratio [OR] =1.47) and < 18 (OR = 2.95) years of age, and in mothers who had consumed alcohol (OR = 2.67), used drugs (OR = 1.53) and had an infection (OR = 1.87) during pregnancy. The risk of hypospadias was also higher when mothers (OR = 1.68) and fathers (OR = 1.74) were engaged in agriculture. Other factors assessed were not associated with the risk of hypospadias.

Electroencephalogram based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) enable stroke and motor neuron disease patients to communicate and control devices. Mindfulness meditation has been claimed to enhance metacognitive regulation. The current study explores whether mindfulness meditation training can thus improve the performance of BCI users. To eliminate the possibility of expectation of improvement influencing the results, we introduced a music training condition. A norming study found that both meditation and music interventions elicited clear expectations for improvement on the BCI task, with the strength of expectation being closely matched. In the main 12 week intervention study, seventy-six healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to three groups: a meditation training group; a music training group; and a no treatment control group. The mindfulness meditation training group obtained a significantly higher BCI accuracy compared to both the music training and no-treatment control groups after the intervention, indicating effects of meditation above and beyond expectancy effects., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Aim: Intestinal tuberculosis (ITB) and Crohn's disease (CD) have overlapping clinical, radiographic, endoscopic and histologic features, which makes the distinction between these two disease entities a great challenge in tuberculosis-endemic countries. The aim of the study was to investigate the value of in vitro interferonγ release assay (T-SPOT.TB) in differentiating ITB from CD., Methods: From June 2008 to February 2010, a total of 93 consecutive patients with undetermined ITB or CD were prospectively recruited. Clinical, endoscopic, histologic and therapeutic responses were longitudinally monitored at follow-up evaluation until the final definite diagnosis has been reached., Results: After a median of 6 months' follow-up (interquartile range [IQR], 3.0 to 7.5 months), definitive diagnosis was achieved in 84 of the 93 patients (90%), with 19 having ITB and 65 having CD. On univariate analysis, a long duration of illness, chronic diarrhea, and anemia were significantly more common in CD (P<0.05). While night sweat, ascites, pulmonary lesions, circumferential ulcer on endoscopy, ileo-cecal valve involvement and epithelioid granulomas were significantly more common in ITB (P<0.05). On multivariate analysis, T-SPOT.TB (Hazard ratio 7.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.9-25.7) was found to be a good predictor for ITB diagnosis. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) of T-SPOT.TB were 84.2%, 75.4%, 50.0%, and 94.2%, respectively., Conclusions: When differentiating ITB and CD in tuberculosis-endemic regions, T-SPOT.TB blood test may be a helpful and practical diagnostic tool for its high NPV to rule out ITB., (Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: B(x) is a very rare ABO blood group phenotype and the molecular mechanism underlying it still remains largely unknown. This study reports two novel B(x) alleles in two Chinese individuals., Study Design and Methods: Serologic investigations including serum transferase activity assay were performed with standard methods. DNA sequences of all seven exons and exon-intron boundaries of ABO gene were analyzed using genomic DNA by polymerase chain reaction and direct DNA sequencing or sequencing after gene cloning., Results: B(x) phenotypes were diagnosed in these two individuals. DNA analysis revealed that the ABO gene of the two B(x) individuals was heterozygous of O01/B alleles. Two novel heterozygous mutations 905A>G and 541T>C were identified, respectively, which resulted in the amino acid changes D302G and W181R in the B glycosyltransferases. The mutations were not found in 120 randomly selected samples., Conclusion: Amino acid substitutions resulted from novel mutations 905A>G and 541T>C on ABO gene change highly conserved regions of the enzyme and may reduce the activity of the glycosyltransferases, leading to the B(x) phenotype.

Background: No quick and easy assessment tool is presently available to measure asthma control and outcome in Chinese children., Methods: We translated an established seven-item questionnaire into the Chinese Childhood Asthma Control Test (C-CACT) to measure asthma symptoms and their effect on daily function in 247 children aged 4-11 years enrolled from specialty clinics around Tainan. Subjects were classed as having either intermittent or persistent asthma and were evaluated at two outpatient visits 4-8 weeks apart (baseline and follow-up)., Results: C-CACT at baseline correlated significantly with physician evaluation scores (PES) except in predicted peak expiratory flow rate. There were significant differences for mean C-CACT score and mean PES between the intermittent group and persistent group. Internal consistency reliability of the survey was 0.741 at baseline and 0.759 at the follow-up visit. Test-retest reliability among 209 patients with the same specialist rating of asthma control at baseline and follow-up was r = 0.546 (P < 0.001). C-CACT scores of patients whose therapy needed to be stepped up was significantly lower than in those with unchanged or stepped-down therapy (F = 39.61, P < 0.001)., Conclusions: C-CACT provides a reliable, valid, and responsive measure of asthma control in Chinese children.

Objective: To investigate the main diseases jeopardizing the health of the iron miners and to explore the relationship between dust exposure and malignancies as well as other diseases., Methods: A retrospective study with a cohort of 7,469 workers employed between January 1, 1972 and December 31, 1974 in Daye Iron Ore Mine Co. in Hubei Province was conducted. Standardized mortality ratio (SMR) was calculated for the main causes of death using Chinese national mortality rates for reference., Results: All subjects were followed up through December 31, 2003 with an accumulation of 199, 108.0 person years. A total of 1,752 workers died. The cumulative mortality was 23.5%. The cancers, cerebrovascular diseases, non-malignant respiratory diseases and cardiovascular diseases were main diseases that threatened workers' life span. The SMR for all subjects was a little higher than expected based on the Chinese national mortality rates. The diseases causing the significantly higher death rate were the nasopharynx cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer, pneumoconiosis and accident with SMR 1.84, 1.51, 1.83, 14.94 and 1.25 respectively. Increased mortality was observed among dust-exposed workers in the cohort. The cumulative mortality from all causes such as stomach cancer, lung cancer, nonmalignant respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases and accident in dust exposed workers were significantly increased compared with those in non-exposure workers with RR 1.35, 1.83, 1.61, 2.27, 1.34 and 1.69 respectively., Conclusion: The risk factors especially dust exposure affect the health and lifespan of the iron mine workers.

Background: Coagulation factor VII (FVII) levels in plasma are usually related to ischemic heart disease (IHD) and cerebral infarction shares many of the risk factors related to IHD. Is there any relationship between factor VII and cerebral infarction? We investigated the relationship between FVII and acute cerebral infarction and reported genotype frequencies and allelic frequencies of FVII gene polymorphisms in the Chinese Han population., Methods: We recruited 62 patients with acute cerebral infarction confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from Ruijin Hospital, and 149 age-matched patients clinically free of vascular disease to act as controls. All of them were unrelated, and were from the Chinese Han population. FVII coagulant activity (FVIIc) was determined using an clotting assay, activated FVII (FVIIa) and FVII Ag were assayed using enzyme immunoassay kits. The FVII gene polymorphisms to be detected included-401G/T, -402G/A, 5'F7A1/A2, IVS7 and R353Q. 5'F7 and IVS7 were revealed by means of a PCR and direct agarose gel electrophoresis. The rest were examined by a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP)., Results: The results showed that FVIIc, FVIIAg and FVIIa were higher in the acute cerebral infarction group than in the control group (P < 0.01, P < 0.05, P < 0.05, respectively). There were no significant differences in the genotype frequencies of FVII gene polymorphisms between the two groups. The allelic frequencies in the Chinese Han population were as follows: -401G/T (96.64/3.36), -402G/A (52.01/47.99), 5'F7A1/A2 (96.64/3.36), IVS7 H5/H6/H7/H8 (0.34/52.35/46.98/0.34) and R353Q (95.64/4.36). There were significant differences (P < 0.01, P < 0.001, P < 0.001, P < 0.001, P < 0.001, respectively) in these allelic frequencies between the Chinese Han and European populations., Conclusions: The results indicate that increased plasma FVII levels may contribute to thrombosis in cerebral infarction. And there was no significant difference in genotype frequencies of these five FVII gene polymorphisms between the acute cerebral infarction and control groups. Moreover, these results showed that the frequencies of protective allele, including -401T, 5'F7 A2 and 353Q were lower, but that -402A, which was previously found to be associated with increased plasma FVII levels, is higher in Chinese Han population.