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BACKGROUND: This study aimed to explore the diagnostic accuracy of cardiac magnetic resonance tissue tracking (CMR-TT) technology in the quantitative evaluation of left myocardial infarction for differentiating between acute and chronic myocardial infarction. METHODS: A total of 104 human subjects were enrolled in this prospective study. Among them, 64 healthy subjects and 40 patients with left ventricular myocardial infarction and 7 days and 6 months’ follow-up CMR studies, including steady-state free precession (SSFP) sequence and late gadolinium enhancement MR imaging, were enrolled. The strain parameters of the infarcted myocardium, its corresponding remote segments, and global right ventricular strain were analyzed using tissue tracking technology, and CMR-TT 3D strain parameters in radial, circumferential, and longitudinal directions were obtained. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to determine the diagnostic accuracy of the CMR-TT strain parameters for discriminating between acute and chronic myocardial infarction. RESULTS: Peak radial strain (RS) of infarcted myocardium increased from 12.99±7.28 to 18.57±6.66 at 6 months (P

Carotenoids, which are natural pigments found abundantly in wide-ranging species, have diverse functions and high industrial potential. The carotenoid biosynthesis pathway is very complex and has multiple branches, while the accumulation of certain metabolites often affects other metabolites in this pathway. The

This study aimed to identify and prepare peptides from selenium (Se)-enriched soybeans and determine whether dietary Se-enriched soybean peptides (Se-SPep) could inhibit lung injury in mice induced by fine particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5). BALB/c mice were randomly divided into six groups. The mice in the prevention groups were pretreated with 378 mg kg

We aimed to explore the clinicodemographic characteristics and prognosis of grey zone squamous cell cancer (GZSCC) located in the overlapping or ambiguous area of oral cavity and oropharynx and to identify valuable factors that would improve its differential diagnosis and prognosis.Information of GZSCC patients in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database were compared to patients with oral cavity (OCSCC) and oropharyngeal (OPSCC) squamous cell carcinomas with corresponding HPV status, respectively. Kaplan-Meier method with log-rank test and multivariate Cox regression analysis were applied to assess associations between clinical characteristics and overall survival (OS). A predictive model integrating age, gender, marital status, HPV status and staging variables was conducted to classify GZSCC patients into three risk groups and verified internally by tenfold cross validation.A total of 3318 GZSCC, 10792 OPSCC and 6656 OCSCC patients were identified. HPV-positive GZSCC patients had the best 5-year OS as HPV-positive OPSCC (81% vs. 82%). However, the 5-year OS of HPV-negative/unknown GZSCC (43%/42%) were the worst among all groups, indicating that HPV status and the overlapping nature of tumors were valuable prognostic predictors in GZSCC patients. Compared with the strategy of dividing GZSCC into two groups by HPV status, the predictive model integrating more variables could additionally identify a unique high-risk GZSCC group with the lowest OS rate.GZSCC patients had distinct clinical characteristics and prognosis compared with OPSCC and OCSCC, integrating HPV status and other clinical factors could help distinguish GZSCC and predict their prognosis.

Games are consistently acknowledged as a powerful approach that can significantly impact people’s behavior towards living in a sustainable way. Sensory cues are regarded as influential factors in facilitating immersive experiences in gamified applications to foster sustainable behavior. As our perception of an environment is influenced not only by what we can see but also by additional sensory input such as sound and touch, additional sensory information can be part of the participant’s experience. This study systematically scrutinized game-based applications containing sensory cues to interpret current technology-assisted sustainable behavior development. This study provides a review of the impact of the sensory signals offered by video games, virtual reality, and augmented reality on pro-environmental behavioral intention. This research found that human senses can change the perception of immersion in multiple ways: visual (dimensions, angles, color), auditory (music, dialogue), and haptic, and these can affect sustainable behavior. Thus, we argue that multiple sensory modalities provide more opportunities to influence users to act sustainably. Based on the results, the theoretical contribution of this paper emphasizes the level of immersion, which is closely related to various sensory perceptions, and explains the correlation between them. In terms of industrial applications, it provides game designers, developers of VR and AR applications, and planners of sustainable education guidelines for the adoption of immersive scenarios.

The calligraphic works of particular calligraphers often contain only a limited number of characters, rather than the full set of Chinese characters required for typography, which does not meet practical needs. There is therefore a need to develop a complete set of calligraphic characters for calligraphers. Most of the recently popular methods for generating calligraphic characters are based on deep learning, using an end-to-end approach to generate the target image. Deep learning-based methods usually suffer from unsuccessful conversion of stroke structures when the printed font differs significantly from the target font structure. In this paper, we propose an involution-based calligraphic character generation model, which can realize the conversion from printed fonts to target calligraphic fonts. We improve the Pix2Pix model by using a new neural operator, involution, which focuses more on spatial feature processing and can better handle the relationship between strokes than the models using only convolution, so that the generated calligraphic characters have an accurate stroke structure. A self-attentive module and a residual block are also added to increase the depth of the network to improve the feature processing capability of the model. We evaluated our method and some baseline methods using the same dataset, and the experimental results demonstrate that our model is superior in both visual and quantitative evaluation.

In this study, D201 resin-hydrated iron oxide (HFO) nanocomposites were prepared for the first time for Cr(VI) removal in a high-gravity rotating packed bed (RPB), and then D201-HFO nanocomposites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results show that HFO nanoparticles embedded in D201 resin exhibit an average particle size of 10.34 nm, a narrow particle size distribution and excellent dispersibility. The use of 0.05 g of D201-HFO nanocomposite prepared in the RPB (D201-HFO-R) leads to efficient removal of Cr(VI) from 10 mg/L to below 50 ppb, and it has a higher reaction rate constant (k = 0.959 h−1) than that prepared in a stirred tank reactor (STR). D201-HFO-R nanocomposites also exhibit higher competitive adsorption of Cr(VI) against CO32–, NO3– and SO42−. Notably, it still shows good removal efficiency for Cr(VI) after five adsorption-regeneration cycles. The removal mechanism of Cr(VI) by D201-HFO-R mainly involves complexation and electrostatic attraction. This study provides a simple and facile method to prepare D201-HFO nanocomposites in the RPB for wastewater treatment.

Travel apps have exerted an increasingly important impact on tourism. Drawing on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), technology acceptance model (TAM) and motivation theory, this study develops ...

As the inputs of investment and employees in real estate sectors have continued to increase in recent years, it is crucial to study the evaluation of real estate performance. However, these rarely ...

This research focuses on a sample of European and Chinese elite universities for the period 2011–2015. We adopt a meta-frontier methodology to decompose their overall productivity in three main determinants: (1) technical efficiency compared with contemporaneous technology, (2) change in technical efficiency and (3) technology relative superiority of the two groups of universities. The results reveal different patterns of evolution: Chinese institutions’ productivity grows faster than that of their European counterparts (+ 7.15%/year vs 4.51%/year), however the latter maintain a higher level of technology in efficient production as a group.

This study identified the volatile beany flavor compounds and determined the microstructures, expansion rates, and secondary protein structures of different textured soybean proteins. The effect of energy input on the textured protein structure and the relationship between the protein structure and the beany flavor were elucidated. The results showed that the textured soybean proteins exhibited excellent porosity and hydrophobicity at a specific mechanical energy of 609 kJ/kg and a texturization temperature of 155 °C. Structural characterization showed that the textured soybean proteins formed large, uniform, dense air chamber cavity structures. Low α-helix and β-sheet content decreased the tightness of the protein. The evaporation of volatile beany flavor compounds with the moisture from the air chamber cavities was inhibited by the binding between the protein and beany flavor substances. The findings of this study provided new insight into volatile beany flavor modulation to improve the sensory quality of textured soybean proteins.

Semaphorins, a large group of highly conserved proteins, consist of eight subfamilies that are widely expressed in vertebrates, invertebrates, and viruses and exist in membrane-bound or secreted forms. First described as axon guidance cues during neurogenesis, semaphorins also perform physiological functions in other organ systems, such as bone homeostasis, immune response, and tumor progression. Semaphorin 7A (SEMA7A), also known as CDw108, is an immune semaphorin that modulates diverse immunoinflammatory processes, including immune cell interactions, inflammatory infiltration, and cytokine production. In addition, SEMA7A regulates the proliferation, migration, invasion, lymph formation, and angiogenesis of multiple types of tumor cells, and these effects are mediated by the interaction of SEMA7A with two specific receptors, PLXNC1 and integrins. Thus, SEMA7A is intimately related to the pathogenesis of multiple autoimmune and inflammation-related diseases and tumors. This review focuses on the role of SEMA7A in the pathogenesis of autoimmune disorders, inflammatory diseases, and tumors, as well as the underlying mechanisms. Furthermore, strategies targeting SEMA7A as a potential predictive, diagnostic, and therapeutic agent for these diseases are also addressed.

In this study, Cu–MnOX/γ-Al2O3 catalyst was first used for heterogeneous catalytic ozonation of nitrobenzene (NB) in a high-gravity rotating packed bed (RPB), as RPB could significantly improve the...

This paper aims to investigate the capacity utilization (CU) of selected large Chinese iron and steel enterprises by using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach. In this paper, we first propose a DEA model with an unrestricted capacity directional output distance function by incorporating two joint cost disposability relations and differentiating between non-emission-causing inputs and emission-causing inputs. Second, we define the status of decision-making units (DMUs) with excess capacity and design a method to identify insufficient variable inputs. We use a group of 48 largest Chinese iron and steel enterprises as our sample to investigate their performance in terms of CU indicator. The main findings are summarised and can be used to support the corresponding policymaking for the managers of both government and enterprises.

In vertebrates, the semaphorin family of proteins is composed of 21 members that are divided into five subfamilies, i.e. classes 3 to 7. Semaphorins play crucial roles in regulating multiple biological processes, such as neural remodeling, tissue regeneration, cancer progression, and, especially, in immunological regulation. Semaphorin 4D (SEMA4D), also known as CD100, is an important member of the semaphorin family and was first characterized as a lymphocyte-specific marker. SEMA4D has diverse effects on immunologic processes, including immune cell proliferation, differentiation, activation, and migration, through binding to its specific membrane receptors CD72, PLXNB1, and PLXNB2. Furthermore, SEMA4D and its underlying signaling have been increasingly linked with several immunological diseases. This review focuses on the significant immunoregulatory role of SEMA4D and the associated underlying mechanisms, as well as the potential application of SEMA4D as a diagnostic marker and therapeutic target for the treatment of immunological diseases.

With the continuous development of big data and the continuous improvement of people’s living standards, increasingly attention is paid to physical health. Swimming in this sport is effective in preventing the occurrence of arthritis. This paper analyzes the prevention and exploration of arthritis and relies on the traditional method of retrieving clinical literature on the treatment of knee osteoarthritis with traditional Chinese medicine and internal medicine, which requires a lot of manpower and material resources. At this time, the role of data mining technology is brought into play. This article analyzes the prevention of arthritis by swimming. If you rely on the traditional retrieval of clinical literature on the treatment of knee osteoarthritis with traditional Chinese medicine and internal medicine, you will find a lot of disordered data. It takes a lot of manpower and material resources to sort out the summary, and at this time, the role of data mining (DM) technology is brought into play. In this paper, the relevant information of the literature that meets the requirements is established in an Excel database, and the data of the relevant information is entered. Through sorting and analysis, the TCM syndrome types of knee osteoarthritis are summarized. Then, DM technology was used to carry out statistical analysis of frequency and prescription, to summarize the distribution characteristics of the corresponding knee osteoarthritis, TCM syndrome types, and the weight of each syndrome type, and to make a preliminary discussion at the same time. Finally, it is concluded that there are better prevention methods for arthritis in the research methods of traditional Chinese medicine. DM technology has been increasingly applied to all aspects of traditional Chinese medicine. DM technology has improved its research efficiency by 38% and achieved great results, which will play a greater role in promoting the research process of TCM syndrome.

To increase public awareness and disseminate health information, the WHO and health departments worldwide have been visualizing the latest statistics on the spread of COVID-19 to increase awareness and thus reduce its spread. Within various sources, graphs are frequently used to illustrate COVID-19 datasets. Limited research has provided insights into the effect of different graphs on emotional stress and ineffective behavioral strategies from a cross-cultural perspective. The result of current research suggests a graph with a high proportion size of the colored area (e.g., stacked area graph) might increase people's anxiety and social distancing intentions; people in collectivist culture might have a high level of anxiety and social distancing intentions; the effect of different graphs on social distancing intentions is mediated by anxiety experienced. Theoretical contribution and practical implications on health communication were also discussed in this study.

ObjectiveThis study aims to compare the efficacy of plasma kinetic loop resection of the prostate (PKRP) and transurethral vaporization of the prostate (TUVP) for the treatment of high-risk benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and analyze the influence of the related factors on the operation of BPH.MethodsA total of 108 high-risk BPH patients diagnosed in our hospital from March 2018 to September 2021 were selected and randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, with 54 cases in each group. The control group was treated with TUVP, and the observation group was treated with PKRP. The international prostate symptom score (IPSS), quality of life (QOL) index, maximum urine flow rate (Qmax), and residual urine volume (RU) were observed before and after treatment. The general information such as age, educational level, residence, and residence status of the patient, as well as clinical information such as surgical method, nocturia frequency, preoperative IPSS score, RU, medical history, and prostate texture, were also recorded. All patients were followed up for 1 month, and complications were recorded.ResultsThe IPSS score, QOL score, and RU of patients in the two groups were lower after treatment than those before treatment, and the Qmax was higher than that before treatment (P P P P P ConclusionPKRP in the treatment of high-risk BPH patients can effectively reduce the IPSS score, QOL score, and RU and significantly increase Qmax, with fewer complications and a good prognosis. Patients’ postoperative recovery was related to their age, surgical method, nocturia frequency, preoperative IPSS score, RU, and medical history. Therefore, choosing PKRP to treat high-risk BPH patients can effectively improve the postoperative urethral functional recovery of patients and reduce the occurrence of complications.

The phenomenon of longevity in Guangxi of China proved to be closely relevant to its specific dietary habits, but the exact effects of this diet on health remain to be explored. In this work, fourteen screened volunteers with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk followed a novel dietary pattern derived from centenarians of Guangxi, China for 2 weeks, then the effects of diet on human health were explored by measuring the health metrics and fecal metabolites. The results showed that the short-term dietary intervention significantly decreased the body weight, body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), mean systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) levels, while it significantly increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) levels. Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) indicated a distinct separation in the fecal metabolic profiles of volunteers before and after the intervention. Nine of these metabolites showed significant differences, including two metabolites increased (butyrate and citrulline), seven metabolites decreased (threonine, choline, glycine, aspartate, alanine, N-acetylglutamic acid and lysine). Pathway and enrichment analysis showed that the reduction in CVD risk by dietary intervention mainly affected five pathways, which include arginine biosynthesis; aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis; glycine, serine and threonine metabolism; alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism; and valine, leucine and isoleucine biosynthesis. Herein, the Guangxi longevity dietary pattern can provide a feasible healthy diet strategy for reducing the CVD risk and human beings.[http://www.chictr.org.cn], identifier [ChiCTR220 0058216].

During respiration, the expansion and contraction of the chest and abdomen are coupled with each other, presenting a complex torso movement pattern. A finite element (FE) model of chest breathing based on the HUMOS2 human body model was developed. One-dimensional muscle units with active contraction functions were incorporated into the model based on Hill's active muscle model so as to generate muscle contraction forces that can change over time. The model was validated by comparing it to the surface displacement of the chest and abdomen during respiration. Then, the mechanism of the coupled motion of the chest and abdomen was analyzed. The analyses revealed that since the abdominal wall muscles are connected to the lower edge of the rib cage through tendons, the movement of the rib cage may cause the abdominal wall muscles to be stretched in both horizontal and vertical in a supine position. The anteroposterior and the right–left diameters of the chest will increase at inspiration, while the right–left diameter of the abdomen will decrease even though the anteroposterior diameter of the abdomen increases. The external intercostal muscles at different regions had different effects on the motion of the ribs during respiration. In particular, the external intercostal muscles at the lateral region had a larger effect on pump handle movement than bucket handle movement, and the external intercostal muscles at the dorsal region had a greater influence on bucket handle movement than pump handle movement.

"Previous studies have widely explored the impacts of different parenting styles on children's developmental outcomes. Authoritative parenting is generally regarded as supportive and nurturing to children's psychological well-being. The concept of ""control"" is one of the important topics in the study of parenting. Previous studies mainly focused on the impacts of parental control over child discipline. However, the amount of research exploring the association between parental perceived controllability in their parenting practice and the choice of parenting styles is rare. The purpose of this study was to fill up this gap. A total of 157 parents participated in this survey, including 38 fathers and 119 mothers. The mean age of their children was 4.67. Three constructs were designed as independent variables to measure parental attributes on control, including parental efficacy, parental self-control, and parental perceived controllability over their children. This study was conducted within the context of the pandemic situation in which parents allowed their children and themselves to use mobile phones during the pandemic. Parental efficacy was measured by a one-item scale, as proposed by Bandura (2016), which was ""How much can you do to control the time your child spends"". The lack of parents' self-control was measured by studying how frequently they used their mobile phones with absent-mindedness. Parental perceived controllability was measured by parents' expected time consumption on a mobile phone by their child minus the exact time consumed in their mobile phone usage. The bigger the positive difference represented, the stronger parent's perceived controllability over child discipline. The result showed that the practice of the authoritative parenting style was significantly predicted by parental self-efficacy (?=0.239, p=0.003) and perceived controllability (?=0.154, p=0.050). However, the practice of authoritarian parenting style was predicted by a lack of self-control (?=0.423, p