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Three hundred 21-day-old male Qingjiaoma broilers were randomly assigned to six groups to investigate the effect of dietary stems and leaves of Astragalus mongholicus (AMSLs), Astragalus polysaccharides (APSs), Lactobacillus (Lac) and their combinations on finishing broilers in a 42-day feeding experiment. Supplementary 1% AMSLs, 1 000 mg/kg APSs and 4.5 × 1010 CFU/kg Lac improved significantly growth performance. Dietary AMSLs, APSs and Lac increased the serum concentrations of immunoglobulins IgA, IgG and complements C3 and C4. Furthermore, AMSLs increased glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities and total antioxidation capacity (T-AOC) and decreased the malondialdehyde (MDA) content in both serum and liver tissue. Compared with individual supplementation, the combination of Lac and AMSLs or APSs increased serum IgA, IgG, C3 and C4 concentrations. The combination of AMSLs and Lac increased serum GSH-Px activity and reduced the MDA content in the serum and liver tissue. These results suggested that AMSLs, APSs and Lac are beneficial feed additives, and the applications of combined Lac and AMSLs or APSs could synergistically improve immunity in broilers.

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics of Chlamydia psittaci pneumonia and evaluate the diagnostic value of Metagenomic Next‐Generation Sequencing (mNGS). A total of 44 patients diagnosed with Chlamydia psittaci pneumonia using mNGS were retrospectively analysed. The demographic and clinical features, laboratory data, imaging findings and clinical outcomes were collected. Results showed that 65.91% of the patients had a history of exposure to poultry or birds. All patients presented with fever. Apart from systemic and respiratory symptoms, some patients also presented with digestive and neurological symptoms. Respiratory failure was common among patients. The key laboratory tests were normal white blood cell counts, slightly elevated PCT, changes in levels of cardiac enzymes, liver enzymes and hyponatremia. Chest imaging revealed that most of the lesions contained patchy exudation or lobar consolidation of one lobe, especially in the lower lobe. Consolidation of both lungs was seen in critically ill patients. Although quinolones were effective in most patients, tetracyclines should be the first choice of treatment. The overall prognosis was good; however, patients who developed severe pneumonia had poor prognosis. The incidence of chlamydia psittaci pneumonia may be underestimated due to the nonspecific clinical manifestations and lack of confirmatory testing methods. The use of mNGS has increased the number of patients diagnosed with chlamydia psittaci pneumonia. mNGS is an effective diagnostic method for chlamydia psittaci pneumonia.

To explore the influences of gravel characteristics on hydraulic fracture propagation in conglomerate formations, the real rock fracture process analysis software was used under specific stress conditions: including gravel particle size, gravel volume content, and gravel strength. Based on the numerical simulation results, the fracture propagation process under different conditions was investigated and the type and evolution of fractures were described. The results showed that larger gravel particle sizes led to stronger shielding and induction effects on the fractures. With the increasing gravel particle size, the propagation model of the fractures changes gradually from by passing gravel to passing through gravel or embedding in gravel particles. When the gravel particle sizes are constant, with increasing gravel volume content, the conglomerate reservoir becomes more heterogeneous and the fractures become more easily shielded and inducted by the gravel particles. Therefore, the fractures become more dispersed and the fracture propagation laws become more complex, which allows the formation of a hydraulic fracture network. The greater the difference in the ratio of the strength parameters of the gravel to the strength parameters of the matrix, the more strongly the fractures are blocked by the gravels and the propagation model of fractures changes from passing through gravel to by passing gravel.

The surface radiation is a crucial variable for understanding global climate and eco-environment change, which exhibits significant variations over time and space. In this study, we used in situ ground observations to estimate variations of the surface radiation budget over grassland and urban areas in a subtropical humid region. Our results revealed a positive radiation budget that varied over different land covers. Specifically, grassland exhibited a higher shortwave radiation, while urban area was characterized by the higher longwave radiation. Notably, the surface radiation budget (Rn) was much greater in grassland (77.60 W2/m) than that in urban area (61.93 W2/m), which was mainly attributed to the difference in longwave radiation. Additionally, the atmospheric pressure showed a strong correlation with the radiations, while precipitation and relative humidity presented relatively weak correlations. Furthermore, the correlations with climate were stronger in grassland than that in urban areas, suggesting complex interactions with anthropogenic factors during the process of urbanization. Results of this study would help reveal the characteristics and corresponding mechanisms of surface radiation budgets, which would support climatic adaptation and ecology management.

ObjectiveTo summarize the general information and hotspots of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based clinical disease research over the past 10 years and provide some references for future research.MethodsThe related literature published between 1 January 2011 and 31 January 2022 was retrieved from the Web of Science core database (WoS). Bibliometric visualization analysis of countries/regions, institutions, authors, journals, keywords and references were conducted by using CiteSpace 6.1.R3.ResultsA total of 467 articles were included, and the annual number of articles published over nearly a decade showed an upward trend year-by-year. These articles mainly come from 39 countries/regions and 280 institutions. The representative country and institution were the USA and the University of Tubingen. We identified 266 authors, among which Andreas J Fallgatter and Ann-Christine Ehlis were the influential authors. Neuroimage was the most co-cited journal. The major topics in fNIRS disease research included activation, prefrontal cortex, working memory, cortex, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In recent years, the Frontier topics were executive function, functional connectivity, performance, diagnosis, Alzheimer’s disease, children, and adolescents. Based on the burst of co-cited references, gait research has received much attention.ConclusionThis study conducted a comprehensive, objective, and visual analysis of publications, and revealed the status of relevant studies, hot topics, and trends concerning fNIRS disease research from 2011 to 2022. It is hoped that this work would help researchers to identify new perspectives on potential collaborators, important topics, and research Frontiers.

Abstract Background Myocardial fibrosis changes the structure of myocardium, leads to cardiac dysfunction and induces arrhythmia and cardiac ischemia, threatening patients’ lives. Electroacupuncture at PC6 (Neiguan) was previously found to inhibit myocardial fibrosis. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play a variety of regulatory functions in myocardial fibrosis, but whether electroacupuncture can inhibit myocardial fibrosis by regulating lncRNA has rarely been reported. Methods In this study, we constructed myocardial fibrosis rat models using isoproterenol (ISO) and treated rats with electroacupuncture at PC6 point and non-point as control. Hematoxylin–eosin, Masson and Sirius Red staining were performed to assess the pathological changes and collagen deposition. The expression of fibrosis-related markers in rat myocardial tissue were detected by RT-qPCR and Western blot. Miat, an important long non-coding RNA, was selected to study the regulation of myocardial fibrosis by electroacupuncture at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. In post-transcriptional level, we explored the myocardial fibrosis regulation effect of Miat on the sponge effect of miR-133a-3p. At the transcriptional level, we studied the formation of heterodimer PPARG–RXRA complex and promotion of the TGF-β1 transcription. Results Miat was overexpressed by ISO injection in rats. We found that Miat can play a dual regulatory role in myocardial fibrosis. Miat can sponge miR-133a-3p in an Ago2-dependent manner, reduce the binding of miR-133a-3p target to the 3ʹUTR region of CTGF mRNA and improve the protein expression level of CTGF. In addition, it can also directly bind with PPARG protein, inhibit the formation of heterodimer PPARG–RXRA complex and then promote the transcription of TGF-β1. Electroacupuncture at PC6 point, but not at non-points, can reduce the expression of Miat, thus inhibiting the expression of CTGF and TGF-β1 and inhibiting myocardial fibrosis. Conclusion We revealed that electroacupuncture at PC6 point can inhibit the process of myocardial fibrosis by reducing the expression of lncRNA Miat, which is a potential therapeutic method for myocardial fibrosis.

Intertrochanteric fractures have become a severe public health problem in elderly patients. Proximal femoral nail anti-rotation (PFNA) is a commonly used intramedullary fixation device for unstable intertrochanteric fractures. Pelvic perforation by cephalic screw is a rare complication. We reported an 84-year-old female who fell at home and sustained an intertrochanteric fracture. The patient underwent surgery with PFNA as the intramedullary fixation device. Routine postoperative examination revealed medial migration of the helical blade that eventually caused pelvic perforation. We performed a cemented total hip arthroplasty as the savage procedure. At the latest follow-up of 12 months after total hip arthroplasty, the patient had no pain or loosening of the prosthesis in the left hip. Pelvic perforation should be considered when choosing PFNA as the intramedullary fixation device, especially in patients with severe osteoporosis wherein the helical blade can be easily inserted during the operation. The lack of devices to avoid oversliding of the helical blade in PFNA is an unreported cause of this complication and should be considered in such cases.

In order to study the propagation laws of acoustic wave of coal samples from the Upper Permian Xuanwei Formation in the east of Yunnan Province, China, under saturated water and dry conditions, the basic physical parameters, acoustic parameters and anisotropic parameters were obtained through the experiments. Based on FFT and wavelet analysis theory, the spectral characteristics of coal samples under different conditions were studied. The results show that physical parameters of coal samples in different directions have different values, that is, the anisotropy of coal samples is obvious. When the coal samples are saturated with water, the acoustic velocities and the attenuation coefficient increase, whereas the dominant frequency decreases. The signal amplitude of the frequency domain significantly decreases, that is, the internal structure of coal samples is damaged. The P-wave velocity and S-wave velocity increase with the increase of the confining pressure, whereas the anisotropy parameters decrease with the increase of the confining pressure. Overall, this study provides the basis to understand basic acoustic information and anisotropy characteristics of coal samples.

Rock mechanical properties play an important role in the exploration and development of shale oil reservoirs. To study the rock mechanical properties continuously distributed along the longitudinal direction of the formation, physical and mechanical property data of shales from the Permian Lucaogou Formation of the Junggar Basin were gathered through experimental tests. The regression analysis method was applied to obtain relationships between physical properties and rock mechanical properties. Based on this, new empirical relationships between rock mechanical properties were established. The results show that the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) ranged from 48.40 to 147.86 MPa, the Young’s modulus (Es) was between 3.02 and 20.63 GPa, the Poisson’s ratio (νs) ranged from 0.13 to 0.36, the cohesive force (C) ranged from 14.65 to 34.60 MPa, and the internal friction angle (φ) was between 27.61 and 46.94°. The rock mechanical properties were more sensitive to the P-wave interval transit time (Δtc) and bulk density (DEN). Among them, the UCS was more sensitive to Δtc, while the C, Es, and νs were more sensitive to Δtc/DEN. For UCS and Es, an exponential function correlation is more reliable than linear expression and power function, whereas for C and νs, power function and linear expression were adopted for higher accuracy, respectively. Compared with the empirical equations presented in the literature, the empirical equations established in the paper are more accurate and reliable, making them applicable to the Permian Lucaogou Formation shale oil reservoirs in the Jimusar Sag of the Junggar Basin.

A D−A type of luminophore, TPA-CDP, was designed and synthesized by using triphenylamine (TPA) as D (electron donor), 1,3-diaryl pyrazole with cyano groups (CDP) as A (electron acceptor) and employing a cyanovinyl segment as a recognition group. Firstly, TPA-CDP demonstrates effective fluorescence quenching as a sensor for I− by the nucleophilic addition reaction of the cyanovinyl segment with a high level of sensitivity, selectivity and a low determination limit of 4.43 μM. Interestingly, TPA-CDP exhibited an AIE phenomenon with the fw value reaching 50%. In addition, TPA-CDP displayed distinct mechanochromic fluorescence behavior with 70 nm red shift, which was observed over four repeated cycles. Furthermore, the mechanochromic fluorescence behavior of TPA-CDP, as observed in powder XRD experiments, was found to be associated with the morphological transition from a crystalline state to an amorphous state. These results confirm the significant potential of CDP as a powerful electron-deficient component in the creation of D−A-type mechanochromic fluorescence materials and biosensors for detecting I−.

Abstract Background Cancer cachexia, characterized by muscle and fat tissue wasting, is a major determinant of cancer‐related mortality without established treatment. Recent animal data revealed that cancer cells induce muscle wasting by releasing Hsp70 and Hsp90 as surface proteins on extracellular vesicles (EVs). Here, we test a therapeutic strategy for ameliorating cancer cachexia by inhibiting the release of Hsp70 and Hsp90 using proton pump inhibitor omeprazole. Methods Omeprazole effect on Hsp70/90 release through EVs by Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) cells in vitro, serum levels of Hsp70/90 and Hsp70/90‐carrying EVs in LLC tumour‐bearing mice, and LLC‐induced muscle protein degradation pathways in C2C12 myotubes and mice were determined. Omeprazole effect on endolysosomal pH and Rab27b expression in LLC cells were analysed. Results Omeprazole treatment of LLC cells inhibited Hsp70/90 and Hsp70/90‐carrying EV release in a dose‐dependent manner (1 to 10 μM) and attenuated the catabolic activity of LLC cell‐conditioned medium on C2C12 myotubes. Systemic omeprazole administration to LLC tumour‐bearing mice (5 mg/kg/day subcutaneously) for 2 weeks blocked elevation of serum Hsp70, Hsp90, and Hsp70/90‐carrying EVs, abrogated skeletal muscle catabolism, and prevented loss of muscle function as well as muscle and epididymal fat mass without altering tumour growth. Consequently, median survival increased by 23.3%. Mechanistically, omeprazole increased cancer cell endolysosomal pH level dose‐dependently (0.1 to 1 μM) by inhibiting vacuolar H+‐ATPase. Further, omeprazole suppressed the highly elevated expression of Rab27b, a key regulator of EV release, in LLC cells. Conclusions Omeprazole ameliorates cancer cachexia by inhibiting cancer cell release of Hsp70 and Hsp90.

Accurate sex estimation is crucial to determine the identity of human skeletal remains effectively. Here, we developed convolutional neural network (CNN) models for sex estimation on virtual hemi-pelvic regions, including the ventral pubis (VP), dorsal pubis (DP), greater sciatic notch (GSN), pelvic inlet (PI), ischium, and acetabulum from the Han population and compared these models with two experienced forensic anthropologists using morphological methods. A Computed Tomography (CT) dataset of 862 individuals was divided into the subgroups of training, validation, and testing, respectively. The CT-based virtual hemi-pelvises from the training and validation groups were used to calibrate sex estimation models; and then a testing dataset was used to evaluate the performance of the trained models and two human experts on the sex estimation of specific pelvic regions in terms of overall accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, F1 score, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Except for the ischium and acetabulum, the CNN models trained with the VP, DP, GSN, and PI images achieved excellent results with all the prediction metrics over 0.9. All accuracies were superior to those of the two forensic anthropologists in the independent testing. Notably, the heatmap results confirmed that the trained CNN models were focused on traditional sexual anatomic traits for sex classification. This study demonstrates the potential of AI techniques based on the radiological dataset in sex estimation of virtual pelvic models. The excellent sex estimation performance obtained by the CNN models indicates that this method is valuable to proceed with in prospective forensic trials.Key points Deep learning can be a promising alternative for sex estimation based on the pelvis in forensic anthropology. The deep learning convolutional neural network models outperformed two forensic anthropologists using classical morphological methods. The heatmaps indicated that the most known sex-related anatomic traits contributed to correct sex determination.

BackgroundThe continuous decline in the physical fitness of college students has become a serious social problem worldwide. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the effective method improving college students' physique. Previous studies have shown that Baduanjin exercise is beneficial in improving sleeping quality, mental health, body flexibility, and body physique. However, the evidence is unclear whether Baduanjin exercise can be recommended as an effective exercise to promote health-related physical fitness of college students.MethodsA total of 130 college students were recruited and randomly allocated to either the Baduanjin training or the control group at a ratio of 1:1. The students in the Baduanjin training group received a 12-week supervised Baduanjin exercise training intervention with a frequency of 1 h each day and 4 days per week, while those in the control group did not receive any specific exercise intervention and were informed to maintain their original lifestyle for 12 weeks. The outcomes of health-related physical fitness involving measurements of body flexibility, muscular strength, cardiopulmonary fitness, and body endurance were measured at baseline and after the 12-week intervention period. Mixed linear model was used to analyze the effect of the Baduanjin exercise intervention.ResultsMixed linear model analyses showed that the Baduanjin training group had a significant increase in the composite scores of health-related physical fitness compared to the control group from baseline to 12-week post-intervention with a medium effect size (d = 0.68, P = 0.006). Moreover, there were significant improvements in vital capacity, physical flexibility, 800/1,000 m endurance running, and body composition (measured by body mass index (BMI), fat mass and body fat ratio) at end of 12-week intervention in the Baduanjin training group. No adverse events were observed in this trial.ConclusionRegular Baduanjin training may be an effective, safe exercise form to promote the health-related physical fitness of young adults.Trial registrationChinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR-IOR-17013011. http://www.chictr.ogr.cn.

Objective: To conduct an inductive analysis of neuroimaging studies following the global popularity surrounding the effects of acupuncture. Methods: The relevant works of literature on acupuncture effects-related neuroimaging studies were retrieved from the web of science core collection database from the date of its establishment to 2022. Bibexcel software was used to extract information, such as article numbers, countries, journals, agencies, funding sources and keywords. The VOSviewer software’s co-occurrence and clustering module was used for the co-occurrence and cluster analysis of collaborative networks and high frequency keywords, such as authors, institutions and countries. Results: Neuroimaging research on the effects of acupuncture began in the 1960 s and has since received the extensive attention of scholars. China, The United States and South Korea conduct more neuroimaging research on the effects of acupuncture than other countries. Academic journals such as Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Neural Regeneration Research and Acupuncture in Medicine have published the highest number of acupuncture-related neuroimaging articles. Moreover, cluster analysis differentiates high-frequency keywords into six clusters. Furthermore, the use of the keyword ‘density atlas’ reveals that neuroimaging research on the effects of acupuncture surrounding pain and neurofunctional rehabilitation is currently the research focus. Conclusions: This bibliometric study identifies six important research hot spots: Static brain functional connectivity analysis of acupuncture analgesic effects, key theories on the scientific problems of acupuncture, acupuncture analgesic effect of the placebo effect, the neuroimaging of acupoint ST-36, the value of acupuncture in regulating the autonomic nerves and acupuncture therapy as complementary medicine.

The mode-I fracture toughness is of great significance for evaluating the fracturing ability of shale reservoirs. In this study, the mode-I fracture toughness of the shale in the Lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation, Southern Sichuan Basin was determined with the Cracked Chevron Notched Brazilian Disc (CCNBD). Based on the experimental data, the relationships among the mode-I fracture toughness, the density, the acoustic time and the clay mineral content were analyzed. The shale samples for fracture toughness test from cores were commonly limited, the investigation of fracture toughness using well logs was necessary. Therefore, a prediction model was proposed by correlating the fracture toughness with well logs responses. The results indicate that the fracture toughness of shale samples is from 0.4744 MPa·m1/2 to 1.0607 MPa·m1/2 with an average of 0.7817 MPa·m1/2, indicating that the anisotropy of fracture toughness of the Longmaxi Formation shale. The clay mineral content and the density have a positive effect on the fracture toughness, whereas the acoustic time plays a negative role on the fracture toughness. The clay mineral content has an important effect on the relationships among fracture toughness, acoustic time and density. The prediction model can provide continuous data of mode-I fracture toughness along the wellbore for field hydraulic fracturing operation, and it has certain guiding significance in the exploration and development of oil and gas reservoirs

Ovarian cancer (OvCa) is currently the fifth most lethal malignancy affecting women health owing to the lack of early diagnosis and treatment choices available before the disease has progressed to a later stage. Paclitaxel (PTX) has shown substantial antineoplastic action against a variety of human cancers, including OvCa, for multiple decades. Despite this, the therapeutic use of this drug is not yet adequate owing to surfactant-related toxicities and off-target effects. In response to these constraints, nanoparticle carriers have evolved as delivery tools for the biocompatible and target delivery of PTX. In this work, a novel polymeric PTX formulation was developed for targeted therapy of OvCa cells, which was achieved by prodrug engineering and HA decoration strategies. Further studies indicated that HA-coated nanodrugs (HA-PLA-PTX NPs) could preferentially accumulate in the CD44-expressing SKOV3 cells, which induced elevated cytotoxicity, reduced cell proliferation, and increased cell apoptosis. In vivo study also demonstrated that equivalent doses of HA-PLA-PTX NPs surpassed the clinical PTX formulation Taxol in a SKOV3 xenograft tumor model. In conclusion, HA-PLA-PTX NPs might be a potentially feasible delivery system for effective OvCa treatment.

Introduction Emotional disorders are often observed in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). IBD with emotional disorders leads to poor quality of life. This systematic review aims to assess the effectiveness of acupuncture in patients with IBD with emotional disorders.Methods and analysis Nine electronic databases, including Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, VIP Database and Wanfang Database, will be searched from inception to October 2021 without language restriction. The grey literature containing conference proceedings, as well as systematic reviews listed in the reference of definite publications, will also be retrieved. Randomised controlled trials either in English or Chinese reporting acupuncture therapy for IBD with emotional disorders will be included. The primary outcome is changes of emotional functioning outcomes. The Colitis Activity Index, Crohn’s Disease Activity Index, C reactive protein and adverse events will be assessed as the secondary outcomes. More than two assessors will conduct the study retrieval and selection, as well as the data extraction and evaluation of the risk of bias. Data synthesis will be performed using a random-effects model based on the results of heterogeneity. Data analysis will be performed using RevMan software (V.5.4). Moreover, the dichotomous data will be presented as risk ratios, and the continuous data will be calculated using weighted mean difference or standard mean difference.Ethics and dissemination This systematic review contains no individual patient data; thus, ethical approval is not required. Moreover, this review will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed journal or relevant conference.PROSPERO registration number CRD42020176340.

In this paper, the pore structure characteristics of shale samples from the Lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation in South of Sichuan Basin of China were investigated by total organic carbon (TOC) content determination, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), low pressure nitrogen adsorption (LPNA) and high pressure mercury injection (HPMI). The fractal dimension of shale samples was calculated based on Frenkel-Halsey-Hill (FHH) model and thermodynamic relation model. The results showed that the major mineral compositions of shales were quartz and clay content. Organic pores, intergranular pores, intragranular pores, microfractures were widely developed in the shale samples, of which organic pores were the most developed. The pore morphology was mainly ink bottle-shaped pores and slit-shaped pores; the pore size distribution of shale samples was complex with multiple distribution peaks, the pore size between 3 and 40 nm occupied the most of storage space. The fractal dimension Dn1 of pores between 2 nm and 10 nm was 2.7177–2.7933, while fractal dimension Dn2 of pores between 10 nm and 50 nm was 2.2439–2.5468. The fractal dimension Dr of macropores calculated by the thermodynamic model was 2.6401–2.7025.

BackgroundPhysical frailty and cognitive aging have important influences on poor clinical outcomes in older adults. Many studies have investigated the association between frailty and cognitive function, but whether vitamin D mediates the association between frailty and cognitive function is unclear. We explored the mediating role of vitamin D on the cross-sectional association between physical frailty and cognitive function using data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS).MethodsWe analyzed data from 1944 subjects aged 60 years and older from the 2011 CLHLS cohort. Frailty status was identified by the Osteoporotic Fracture Study (SOF) index. The Chinese version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) was used to assess cognitive function. Linear regression models were used to examine the association between frailty, vitamin D, and cognition, adjusted for a range of covariates. Mediation analyses tested the indirect effects of vitamin D on physical frailty and cognitive function.ResultPhysical frailty was negatively associated with vitamin D levels and scores on the MMSE, and vitamin D levels were positively associated with scores on the MMSE. Linear regression analysis showed that physical frailty and serum vitamin D concentration were significant predictors of cognitive function. Importantly, mediation analysis showed that serum vitamin D concentration significantly mediated the relationship between physical frailty and cognitive function.ConclusionThe association between physical frailty and cognitive function appears to be mediated by vitamin D. Future studies should explore whether serum vitamin D concentrations may mediate the association between physical frailty and cognitive decline and whether this mediating role is moderated by other factors.

Deoxyadenosine triphosphate (dATP) is an important biochemical molecule. In this paper, the synthesis of dATP from deoxyadenosine monophosphate (dAMP), catalyzed by Saccharomyces cerevisiae, was studied. By adding chemical effectors, an efficient ATP regeneration and coupling system was constructed to achieve efficient synthesis of dATP. Factorial and response surface designs were used to optimize process conditions. Optimal reaction conditions were as follows: dAMP 1.40 g/L, glucose 40.97 g/L, MgCl2·6H2O 4.00 g/L, KCl 2.00 g/L, NaH2PO4 31.20 g/L, yeast 300.00 g/L, ammonium chloride 0.67 g/L, acetaldehyde 11.64 mL/L, pH 7.0, temperature 29.6 °C. Under these conditions, the substrate conversion was 93.80% and the concentration of dATP in the reaction system was 2.10 g/L, which was 63.10% higher than before optimization, and the concentration of product was 4 times higher than before optimization. The effects of glucose, acetaldehyde, and temperature on the accumulation of dATP were analyzed.

The global tropospheric zenith delay grid products of VMF1 and VMF3 (Vienna mapping functions) with different resolutions are used to calculate the tropospheric zenith delay of eight IGS (International GNSS Service) stations in China, and the accuracy of the two products under different interpolation methods is analyzed. As a result, the accuracy of utilizing different interpolation methods shows no obvious differences. The interpolation accuracy of the VMF3 grid model is slightly higher than that of the VMF1, and the interpolation accuracy of tropospheric delay is related to the elevation difference of grid points. In addition, according to ERA5 (the fifth generation of the Global Climate Information Analysis data set), the atmospheric stratification tropospheric delay is obtained, and a ZTD (the zenith tropospheric delay) height change grid model is constructed using the least squares exponential fitting method. The accuracy of the model is verified using the tropospheric delay product provided by the IGS. Finally, the constructed ZTD height change grid model is used as ZTD height reduction to solve the problem of large tropospheric delay errors in the VMF interpolation when the height change is large. The model accuracy of URUM station improve from 96.47 mm.to 32.97 mm (65.82%).

Abstract Background and purposes The pathogenic BRCA1/2 germline mutations contributed to Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer (HBOC) susceptibility. The features of BRCA1/2 germline mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have not been systematically studied. Here we performed the first study investigating the characteristics of pathogenic BRCA1/2 germline mutations in Chinese NSCLC patients and compared them with those from Chinese HBOC. Methods Information on BRCA1/2 germline mutations from 9010 Chinese NSCLC patients were collected from available studies and analyzed, and compared with the BRCA1/2 germline mutations from Chinese HBOC BRCA1/2 database (LOVD database, 20,523 patients). Results 19 (20 carriers, 0.22 %) pathogenic BRCA1 and 60 (66 carriers, 0.73 %) pathogenic BRCA2 germline mutations from NSCLC were identified. The carrier frequency of BRCA1/2 in Chinese NSCLC patients (86/9010 = 0.95 %) was significantly lower than that in Chinese breast and ovary cancer patients (1481/20,523 = 7.2 %) (P

The acoustic response characteristics of shales were investigated by the acoustic transmission experiment, which is the basis of solving geological and engineering problems using the seismic or logging information during the process of the exploration and development of shale gas reservoirs. Based on the theory of acoustic wave and the background of acoustic transmission experiment, the initial condition, vibration source condition, boundary condition and stability condition were constructed, and the numerical simulation of acoustic transmission experiment of shales were completed through Matlab programming. The results show that under the same bedding angle, the acoustic time and attenuation coefficient of shales shown positive correlation with the bedding density; whereas under the same bedding density, the variation laws of the acoustic time and the attenuation coefficient of shales were more complex with the change of the bedding angle, that is, the acoustic time and attenuation coefficient of shales increased first, then decreased and then increased again with the increase of the bedding angle.

Acidosis is a hallmark of ischemic stroke and a promising neuroprotective target for preventing neuronal injury. Previously, genetic manipulations showed that blockade of acid-sensing ion channel 1a (ASIC1a)-mediated acidotoxicity could dramatically alleviate the volume of brain infarct and restore neurological function after cerebral ischemia. However, few pharmacological candidates have been identified to exhibit efficacy on ischemic stroke through inhibition of ASIC1a. In this work, we examined the ability of a toxin-inspired compound 5b (C5b), previously found to effectively inhibit ASIC1a in vitro, to exert protective effects in animal models of ischemic stroke in vivo. We found that C5b exerts significant neuroprotective effects not only in acid-induced neuronal death in vitro but also ischemic brain injury in vivo, suggesting that ASIC1a is a druggable target for therapeutic development. More importantly, C5b is able to cross the blood brain barrier and significantly reduce brain infarct volume when administered intravenously in the ischemic animal model, highlighting its systemic availability for therapies against neurodegeneration due to acidotoxicity. Together, our data demonstrate that C5b is a promising lead compound for neuroprotection through inhibiting ASIC1a, which warrants further translational studies.

Abstract By 2040, ~100 million people will have glaucoma. To date, there are a lack of high-efficiency glaucoma diagnostic tools based on visual fields (VFs). Herein, we develop and evaluate the performance of ‘iGlaucoma’, a smartphone application-based deep learning system (DLS) in detecting glaucomatous VF changes. A total of 1,614,808 data points of 10,784 VFs (5542 patients) from seven centers in China were included in this study, divided over two phases. In Phase I, 1,581,060 data points from 10,135 VFs of 5105 patients were included to train (8424 VFs), validate (598 VFs) and test (3 independent test sets—200, 406, 507 samples) the diagnostic performance of the DLS. In Phase II, using the same DLS, iGlaucoma cloud-based application further tested on 33,748 data points from 649 VFs of 437 patients from three glaucoma clinics. With reference to three experienced expert glaucomatologists, the diagnostic performance (area under curve [AUC], sensitivity and specificity) of the DLS and six ophthalmologists were evaluated in detecting glaucoma. In Phase I, the DLS outperformed all six ophthalmologists in the three test sets (AUC of 0.834–0.877, with a sensitivity of 0.831–0.922 and a specificity of 0.676–0.709). In Phase II, iGlaucoma had 0.99 accuracy in recognizing different patterns in pattern deviation probability plots region, with corresponding AUC, sensitivity and specificity of 0.966 (0.953–0.979), 0.954 (0.930–0.977), and 0.873 (0.838–0.908), respectively. The ‘iGlaucoma’ is a clinically effective glaucoma diagnostic tool to detect glaucoma from humphrey VFs, although the target population will need to be carefully identified with glaucoma expertise input.

Abstract Background The calcicole or calcifuge behavior of wild plants has been related to element deficiency or toxicity. For fern species, however, knowledge about their adaptive differences and responses to soil environmental changes is virtually absent. In the karst regions of southern China, most Adiantum species favor calcareous soils, but A. flabellulatum prefers acidic soils. Such contrasting preferences for soil types in the same genus are interesting and risky because their preferred soils may “pollute” each other due to extreme precipitation events. We mixed calcareous and acidic soils at 1:1 (v/v) to simulate the “polluted” soils and grew three Adiantum species (the calcicole A. capillus-veneris f. dissectum and A. malesianum and the calcifuge A. flabellulatum) on the calcareous, acidic and mixed soils for 120 d and assessed their growth performance and element concentrations. Results The calcareous soil showed the highest pH, Ca, Mg and P concentrations but the lowest K concentration, followed by the mixed soil, and the acidic soil. After 120 d of growth, the calcifuge A. flabellulatum on the calcareous and mixed soils exhibited lower SPAD and relative growth rate (RGR) than those on the acidic soil, and its leaf and root Ca, Mg and Fe concentrations were higher and K was lower on the calcareous soil than on the acidic soil. The calcicole A. capillus-veneris f. dissectum on the calcareous soil had similar leaf element concentrations and RGR with those on the mixed soil, but their leaf Ca, Fe and Al were lower and leaf P and K concentrations, SPAD and RGR were higher than those on the acidic soil. For the calcicole A. malesianum, leaf Ca, Fe and Al were lowest and leaf P and RGR were highest when grown on the mixed soil, intermediated on the calcareous soil, and on the acidic soil. Compared with A. malesianum, A. capillus-veneris f. dissectum had lower leaf Ca, Fe and Al but higher leaf Mg concentration when grown on the same calcareous or mixed soils. Conclusions A. capillus-veneris f. dissectum is a low leaf Ca calcicole species while A. malesianum is an Al accumulating calcicole species. They can effectively take up P and K to leaves and hence can thrive on calcareous soils. In contrast, the calcifuge A. flabellulatum grown on calcareous soils is stunted. Such growth performance may be attributed to the increased leaf Ca and decreased leaf K concentration. If their preferred soils are “polluted”, A. flabellulatum can grow worse, A. capillus-veneris f. dissectum can remain almost unaffected while A. malesianum will perform better.

Abstract Background Chest blunt trauma (CBT) and the resultant rib fractures often lead to thoracic collapse. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of displacement of the rib fracture and thoracic collapse on the thoracic volume by using normal chest CT data. Methods In this retrospective study, seven consecutive normal participants were selected from our hospital between June and July 2018. Normal thoracic models were reconstructed, followed by simulation of lateral fractures through the 4th to 9th ribs under three collapse modes with 1–5 cm of collapse. The thoracic collapse models (n = 630) were reconstructed using 3Dmax 2014. We calculated the thoracic volume and reduction percentage for each thoracic collapse model. Linear regression-based comparisons of thoracic volume reductions were performed. Results In all three collapse modes, the degree of the collapse was linearly correlated with the mean thoracic volume reduction. The reduction percentage in the posterior collapse mode was higher than that in the anterior collapse mode (P

In this paper, the thermal property parameters of rocks from different lithology were studied with the cores from the different formation in Sichuan Basin and Tarim Basin as the research objects. The influences of mineral composition, density, porosity and other factors on the thermal property parameters of rocks were analyzed. The acoustic response laws of the thermal property parameters of rocks were discussed, and the prediction models of the thermal property parameters of rocks were built. The results show that the lithology has obvious influence on the thermal conductivity and the thermal diffusion coefficient of rocks, whereas the lithology has little influence on the specific heat capacity of rocks. The clay minerals have a negative effect on the thermal conductivity and the thermal diffusion coefficient of rocks, whereas the quartz has a positive effect on the thermal conductivity and the thermal diffusion coefficient of rocks. And the clay minerals and quartz have no obvious effect on the specific heat capacity of rocks. The thermal conductivity and thermal diffusion coefficient of rocks are positively correlated with the density and the P-wave velocity, whereas there is a negative relationship between the thermal conductivity and the thermal diffusion coefficient of rocks and the porosity. And the specific heat capacity of rocks has a weak negative correlation with the density and the P-wave velocity, whereas the specific heat capacity has a weak positive correlation with the porosity. Based on the geophysical logging method, the prediction models of the thermal property parameters of rocks are established, which have a good prediction effect on the rock thermal property parameters.

Abstract Background The Lumbar sagittal parameters might be related to modic changes (MCs). However, studies on this topic have rarely been reported. The aim of this study was to identify the relationships between the lumbar sagittal parameters and the development of MCs. Methods The lumbar sagittal parameters of 321 patients with chronic low back pain from May 2016 to August 2018 were measured on X-ray by using Surgimap surgical planning software. Univariable analyses were used to test the potential variables of interest. Logistic regression models were then performed for the significant parameters to identify the independent factors associated with the development of MCs. Results More patients in the MCs group were older with more number of female than in the disc degeneration group (p < 0.05). In the univariate analysis, significant differences were detected for the parameters of lumbar lordosis, sacral slope, intervertebral height index, endplate concave angle, and intervertebral angle only at the L5/S1 level between the two groups. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that a smaller intervertebral height index was positively associated with the development of MCs at the level of L3/4 (p < 0.05). However, the positive role of gender was only for MCs at the L5/S1 level (p < 0.05). Conclusions The results of this study revealed that there were negative relationships between the lumbar sagittal parameters and MCs. Furthermore, being female and having a narrow intervertebral space were the independent risk factors for the development of MCs at the corresponding lumbar levels. Interestingly, body mass index might be not associated with MCs for the Chinese population.

Introduction Testicular cancer (TC) is the most frequent cancer among men aged 14–44 years. The risk of erectile dysfunction (ED) in TC patients varied within a wide range across different studies. This study aims to estimate the risk of ED in TC patients by conducting a meta-analysis of case-control studies. Material and methods Relevant studies were searched using PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library up to June 2019. Case-control studies that reported the incidence of ED in TC patients were included. Results A total of 8 studies involving 2060 TC patients and 2651 healthy men were included. All the TC patients underwent unilateral orchiectomy; other treatment modalities were also conducted if necessary. ED occurred in 16.9% (348/2060) of TC patients and 9.4% (251/2651) of healthy men. Compared with healthy men, TC patients experienced a significantly increased risk of ED (OR = 2.39, 95% CI: 1.56–3.67). Substantial heterogeneity was observed. In addition, subgroup analysis revealed that the risk (OR = 3.76, 95% CI: 2.45–5.78) for ED in TC patients with follow-up < 5 years was significantly higher than that (OR = 1.61, 95% CI: 1.10–3.67) with follow-up ≥ 5 years. Heterogeneity was improved after subgroup analysis. Conclusions TC patients experienced an increased risk for ED compared with healthy men. The long-term risk for ED in TC patients was lower than the short-term risk.

The objective of this study is to systematically investigate the evolution of silver surface segregation of silver/titanium oxide nanocomposite coatings produced by reactive sputtering process. Different thickness barrier layers were deposited on the surface of Ag-TiOx two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) composite coatings at different deposition rates. In 2D mode, the SEM images and XPS patterns clearly show that the still strong silver segregation occurred even 50 nm thickness barrier coated with very low deposition rate (3 nm/min), while a sharp decrease of silver surface segregation can be achieved when high barrier deposition rate (20 nm/min) was applied. The high angle annular dark field (HAADF) STEM images reveal that the high silver mobility can be effectively suppressed under high barrier deposition rate. Similar phenomenon can be observed in 3D Ag-TiOx composite coatings. Moreover, the comparable study of the metallic titanium barrier layers show that a 30 nm barrier layer is enough to cover all the silver NPs, and silver atoms diffusion onto the surface was stopped under pure Ar atmosphere. The silver surface segregation evolution indicates that silver segregation could be the result of the combined effect of sputtering plasma and activated oxygen environment.

(2N+1) selective harmonic elimination pulse-width modulation (SHE-PWM) is an effective switching strategy of the modular multilevel converter in medium-voltage cases. In these cases, the number of sub-modules (SMs) is not high. Compared to the traditional (N+1) SHE-PWM, (2N+1) SHE-PWM has N more voltage levels, thus it can yield much better harmonic performance. However, the task of selective harmonic elimination also becomes much more complicated since there are more switching angles to be determined. This paper proposes a differential harmony search algorithm (DHS) with a novel harmony improvisation procedure for solving this problem. The Bayesian optimization method is applied to find the optimal parameter configuration for DHS. The performance of DHS is compared with 6 other metaheuristic algorithms including differential evolution (DE), harmony search (HS), genetic algorithm (GA), particle swarm optimization (PSO), teaching and learning-based optimization (TLBO), and ant colony optimization (ACO). The comparison is conducted on a set of 100 (2N +1) SHE-PWM instances by varying the modulation index from 0.01 to 1.0 with a step of 0.01. The numerical results show that the proposed DHS outperforms other compared methods in terms of objective function values, algorithm robustness, the magnitude of fundamental harmonic, and the calculated total harmonic distortion values. The switching angles obtained by DHS are further validated by both Matlab/Simulink simulation and hardware experiment.

A variation of the One-to-one Pickup and Delivery Problem (OPDP) in connected graphs, the Split Demand One-to-one Pickup and Delivery Problem with the Shortest-path Transport along Real-life Paths (SDOPDPSTRP) is abstracted from passenger train operation plans based on networks. Unlike the classical OPDP, in the SDOPDPSTRP: the demands can be split and must be transported along the shortest path according to passengers requirements and vehicles should travel along a real-life path. A new kind of integer programming model is formulated for the SDOPDPSTRP based on the connection relationship between pickup-delivery demands (pd-pairs). Two different categories of splitting strategies are proposed to solve the SDOPDPSTRP: split the demands before the calculation and split the demands during the calculation. Two Multi-Start Variable Neighborhood Descent (a MS_VND originating from the other literature and a new MS_VND’ IN developed in this article) and seven neighborhood operators are proposed for these two splitting strategies to solve the SDOPDPSTRP. The results show that Approach III outperforms Approach I and Approach II in terms of average solutions with the same algorithm termination conditions and in terms of time efficiency, which has great practical significance for real-life transport organizations.

Introduction: Studies have demonstrated the epigenetic regulation of immune responses in various cancers. However, little is known about the RNA N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification patterns of the microenvironment (TME) cell infiltration in ovarian cancer (OC).Methods: We evaluated the correlation between m6A modification patterns and TME cell infiltration based on 459 OC samples from the Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene-Expression Omnibus database. We constructed an m6Ascore system to quantify m6A modification patterns using principal component analysis.Results: Based on unsupervised clustering, three m6A modification patterns were identified. Gene set variation analysis showed that the antigen presentation signal pathway, the NOTCH signaling pathway, and the metabolism-related pathway differed significantly across m6A modificaiton patterns. The m6Ascore is closely correlated with TME cell infiltration. OC patients with lower m6Ascores had worse outcomes. There was better risk stratification with combined m6Ascore and tumor mutation burden. The responses to immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment significantly differed between high and low m6Ascore groups.Conclusion: M6A modification plays an essential role in TME cell infiltration in OC. Evaluating the m6A modification patterns in OC patients could enhance our understanding of TME infiltration characterization and guide immunotherapy strategies.

Auxetic mechanical metamaterials are artificially architected materials that possess negative Poisson’s ratio, demonstrating transversal contracting deformation under external vertical compression loading. Their physical properties are mainly determined by spatial topological configurations. Traditionally, classical auxetic mechanical metamaterials exhibit relatively lower mechanical stiffness, compared to classic stretching dominated architectures. Nevertheless, in recent years, several novel auxetic mechanical metamaterials with high stiffness have been designed and proposed for energy absorption, load-bearing, and thermal-mechanical coupling applications. In this paper, mechanical design methods for designing auxetic structures with soft and stiff mechanical behavior are summarized and classified. For soft auxetic mechanical metamaterials, classic methods, such as using soft basic material, hierarchical design, tensile braided design, and curved ribs, are proposed. In comparison, for stiff auxetic mechanical metamaterials, design schemes, such as hard base material, hierarchical design, composite design, and adding additional load-bearing ribs, are proposed. Multi-functional applications of soft and stiff auxetic mechanical metamaterials are then reviewed. We hope this study could provide some guidelines for designing programmed auxetics with specified mechanical stiffness and deformation abilities according to demand.

Abstract The molecular simulation method was used to investigate the adsorption behaviors of methane on illite. The effects of several factors on methane adsorption, free gas amounts, and the proportions of absorbed gas in the illite nanopores, including the pore size, temperature, and water content, are discussed. The results obtained show that methane adsorption in illite nanopores is due mainly to van der Waals adsorption. With an increase in the pressure or of the pore size, the free gas amounts of methane increase, whereas the free gas amounts decrease with increasing temperature or water content. With increasing pressures or decreasing pore sizes, the methane adsorption capacity of the illite pores increases. When the pressure or pore size increases, the proportion of the adsorbed gas in the pores decreases. As the temperature increases, the methane adsorption capacity of the illite pores decreases, and the proportion of adsorbed gas in the illite pores decreases slightly. The adsorbed phase density decreases with increasing pore size and temperature, whereas the adsorbed phase density increases with increasing pressure. The electrostatic forces and hydrogen bonds have a positive effect on water adsorption in the illite nanopores, while the van der Waals forces have the opposite effect, which causes the water molecules in the illite pores to exist in the form of aggregates. The water molecules occupy the areas near the pore walls in a directional manner and occupy the adsorption space and the adsorption sites of methane, resulting in a decrease in the methane adsorption capacity and a slight reduction in the proportion of adsorbed gas.

Morphine, the main component of opium, is a commonly used analgesic in clinical practice, but its abuse potential limits its clinical application. Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in the mesolimbic circuitry play an important role in the rewarding effects of abused drugs. Previous studies have showed that α6β2* (* designated other subunits) nAChRs are mainly distributed in dopaminergic neurons in the midbrain area, which regulates the release of dopamine. So α6β2* nAChRs are regarded as a new target to treat drug abuse. α-Conotoxin TxIB was discovered in our lab, which is the most selective ligand to inhibit α6β2* nAChRs only. Antagonists of α6β2* nAChRs decreased nicotine, cocaine, and ethanol rewarding effects previously. However, their role in morphine addiction has not been reported so far. Thus, it is worth evaluating the effect of α-conotoxin TxIB on the morphine-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) and its behavioral changes in mice. Our results showed that TxIB inhibited expression and acquisition of morphine-induced CPP and did not produce a rewarding effect by itself. Moreover, repeated injections of TxIB have no effect on learning, memory, locomotor activity, and anxiety-like behavior. Therefore, blocking α6/α3β2β3 nAChRs inhibits the development of morphine-induced CPP. α-Conotoxin TxIB may be a potentially useful compound to mitigate the acquisition and/or retention of drug-context associations.

Glutamine is one of the most abundant amino acids in the cell. In mitochondria, glutaminases 1 and 2 (GLS1/2) hydrolyze glutamine to glutamate, which serves as the precursor of multiple metabolites. Here, we show that ammonium generated during GLS1/2-mediated glutaminolysis regulates lysosomal pH and in turn lysosomal degradation. In primary human skin fibroblasts BJ cells and mouse embryonic fibroblasts, deprivation of total amino acids for 1 h increased lysosomal degradation capacity as shown by the increased turnover of lipidated microtubule-associated proteins 1A/1B light chain 3B (LC3-II), several autophagic receptors, and endocytosed DQ-BSA. Removal of glutamine but not any other amino acids from the culture medium enhanced lysosomal degradation similarly as total amino acid starvation. The presence of glutamine in regular culture media increased lysosomal pH by >0.5 pH unit and the removal of glutamine caused lysosomal acidification. GLS1/2 knockdown, GLS1 antagonist, or ammonium scavengers reduced lysosomal pH in the presence of glutamine. The addition of glutamine or NH4Cl prevented the increase in lysosomal degradation and curtailed the extension of mTORC1 function during the early time period of amino acid starvation. Our findings suggest that glutamine tunes lysosomal pH by producing ammonium, which regulates lysosomal degradation to meet the demands of cellular activities. During the early stage of amino acid starvation, the glutamine-dependent mechanism allows more efficient use of internal reserves and endocytosed proteins to extend mTORC1 activation such that the normal anabolism is not easily interrupted by a brief disruption of the amino acid supply.

Conglomerate reservoir is an important part of unconventional oil and gas resources, which has great developmental potential. However, its sedimentary environment and structural background are complex, and its cementation types, gravel volume fraction and shape are quite different, which leads to its strong heterogeneity. When developing a conglomerate reservoir, it is extremely difficult to drill because of its strong heterogeneity. It is difficult to obtain the mechanical properties and laws of the conglomerate through physical experiments, which further restricts the development process of conglomerate reservoirs. In order to study its failure law, a three-dimensional numerical model of a conglomerate is built based on the discrete element method, and the effects of cementation strength and gravel characteristics on the mechanical properties of the conglomerate are emphatically studied. The results show that the elastic modulus and uniaxial compressive strength of the conglomerate decrease obviously with the decrease in cementation strength. With the increase in cementation strength, the normal contact force of the conglomerate model increases significantly, the distribution of normal contact force changes from cylinder to sphere, and the heterogeneity of the conglomerate decreases. There is a threshold value for the influence of cementation strength on mechanical properties of the conglomerate, and when the threshold is exceeded, the mechanical properties of the conglomerate no longer change obviously. With the increase in gravel content, the uniaxial compressive strength of the conglomerate decreases at first and then increases, the phenomenon of penetrating gravels and bypassing gravels increases, and the single diagonal crack changes into diagonal cross cracks; the cementation strength and gravel content of gravel jointly affect the mechanical properties and fracture morphology of the conglomerate, and its stress–strain relationship is the external macroscopic expression of normal contact force of internal particles.

Objective This study aimed to establish a new prognostic nomogram for bone metastasis in patients with prostate cancer (PCa). Methods This study retrospectively analyzed clinical data from 332 patients diagnosed with PCa from 2014 to 2019, and patients were randomly divided into a training set (n = 184) and a validation set (n = 148). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to establish a prediction model based on the training set, and a nomogram was constructed for visual presentation. The calibration, discrimination and clinical usefulness of the model were evaluated using the validation set. Results Total prostate-specific antigen, clinical tumor stage, Gleason score, prostate volume, red cell distribution width and serum alkaline phosphatase were selected as predictors to develop a prediction model of bone metastasis. After evaluation, the model developed in our study exhibited good discrimination (area under the curve: 0.958; 95% confidence interval: 0.93–0.98), calibration (U = 0.01) and clinical usefulness. Conclusions The new proposed model showed high accuracy for bone metastasis prediction in patients with PCa and good clinical usefulness.

Perovskite materials have attracted extensive attention because of their superior performance in the fields of photoelectric detection, photovoltaics, light-emitting diodes, metal–air batteries, etc. However, their development and application in the field of X-ray detectors have not been reviewed. In this paper, research on perovskite-based X-ray detectors is analyzed using the bibliometric method. This analysis sample includes the literature from 1997 to the present. In addition, the research status of perovskite-based scintillators and direct X-ray detectors under different crystallization conditions and different preparation methods is discussed. Finally, several problems that need to be overcome in the future of perovskite-based X-ray detectors are put forward.

Abstract Background Low health-related physical fitness in college students is a risk factor for future development of cardiovascular diseases at later stages in life, but appropriate exercise is one of the main determinant factors of health-related physical fitness. Previous studies have showed that Baduanjin exercise is beneficial in improving sleep quality, mental health, body flexibility, and body physique. However, the evidence is unclear whether Baduanjin exercise can be recommended as an effective exercise to promote health-related physical fitness of college students. Methods/design One hundred twenty college students will be recruited and randomly allocated to either the Baduanjin exercise or the control group at a ratio of 1:1. The students in the Baduanjin exercise group will receive a 12-week supervised Baduanjin exercise training intervention with a frequency of 1 h each day and 4 days per week, while those in the control group will not receive any specific exercise intervention and will be informed to maintain their original lifestyle for 12 weeks. The primary outcome of health-related physical fitness involving measurements of body flexibility, muscular strength, cardiopulmonary fitness, and body endurance will be measured at baseline and after the 12-week intervention period. Mixed linear models will be used to analyze the effect of the Baduanjin exercise intervention on the health-related physical fitness of college students. Discussion This is the first trial to evaluate the effects of Baduanjin exercise on health-related physical fitness in college students. If the results are as expected, they will provide evidence of Baduanjin exercise in promoting health-related physical fitness in young adults. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR-IOR-17013011. Registered on 17 November 2017.

Abstract Background Congestive heart failure is rarely observed in patients with acromegaly. Excessive growth hormone secretion and elevation of insulin-like growth factor 1 contribute to pathological changes in myocyte growth and structure, cardiac contractility, vascular function, and in later stage may progress to cardiac dysfunction. Early recognition of the condition is paramount, though the insidious progression of the disease commonly results in late diagnosis. Current standard regimens of pharmacological therapy, surgical treatment, radiotherapy are designed to normalize serum levels of both insulin-like growth factor 1 and growth hormone. In patients with late-stage heart failure due to acromegalic cardiomyopathy, cardiac resynchronization therapy might be a desirable treatment to help cardiac synchronization, improve symptoms, and eventually reduce hospital admissions together with mortality rates. Case presentation We describe a case of a 49-year-old man with a history of acromegaly who presented to our hospital with a diagnosis of decompensated systolic heart failure. Serial electrocardiograms showed wide (160–200 ms) QRS duration with left bundle branch block. Echocardiography showed severe left ventricular dysfunction that simultaneously achieved a left ventricular ejection fraction of 16%. Surgical indication was rarely assessed by neurosurgeons. Given that the stereotactic radiosurgery together with pharmacotherapy produced infinitesimal effects, cardiac resynchronization therapy was performed. Owing to biventricular synchronization and holding back reverse remodeling, the patient’s symptoms were successfully alleviated, and he was discharged from the hospital. Conclusions Congestive heart failure is a rare complication in acromegaly-induced cardiomyopathy (occurs in only 3% of patients). Early diagnosis and treatment with curative drugs more than cardiovascular implantable electronic devices might lead to better surgical outcomes in this group of patients.

Being a promising candidate technology for the fifth-generation cellular systems, the ultra-dense network (UDN) is capable of improving the system throughput by deploying more small cells (SCs) in the existing macro-cells (MCs). In most cases, base stations (BSs) from both the MCs tier and SCs tier are modeled as two independent homogeneous Poisson point processes (PPPs) or other point processes derived from a PPP. In the previous works, the area spectral efficiency (ASE) and energy efficiency (EE) are evaluated from a typical user's perspective, and this method works well in single-user scenarios. However, there are multiple users sharing spectral resources in practical cellular systems, and the above-mentioned method cannot work in these scenarios. Therefore, we investigate the ASE and EE from the perspective of a typical BS. Analytical results show that the ASE increases with the increasing SCs density, which means that deploying more SCs in the MCs coverage area is a feasible way to enhance the system throughput. However, the energy consumption of the entire network is increasing as the SCs density increases. Therefore, we employ the firefly algorithm to jointly optimize the ASE and EE for the two-tier heterogeneous UDN. Finally, the optimal system parameters can be found under two fixed weights for the ASE and EE, respectively.

This paper investigates deep learning for risk detection and trajectory tracking at construction sites. Typically, safety officers are responsible for inspecting and verifying site safety due to many potential risks. Traditional target detection algorithms depend heavily on hand-crafted features. However, these features are difficult to design, and detection accuracy is poor. To solve these problems, this paper proposes a deep-learning-based detection algorithm that uses pedestrian wearable devices (e.g., helmets and colored vests) to identify pedestrians. We train a special dataset by labeling helmets and colored vests to detect the two features among construction workers. Specifically, Kalman filter and Hungarian matching algorithms are employed to track pedestrian trajectories. The testing experiment is run on an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080Ti with a detection speed of 18 frames/s. The mean average precision can reach 0.89 when the intersection over union is set at 0.5.

Optical character recognition (OCR) has become one of the most important techniques in computer vision, given that it can easily obtain digital information from various images on the Internet of Things (IoT). However, existing OCR techniques pose a big challenge in the recognition of the Chinese uppercase characters due to their poor performance. In order to solve the problem, this paper proposes a deep learning-aided OCR technique for improving recognition accuracy. First, we generate a database of the Chinese uppercase characters to train four neural networks: a convolution neural network (CNN), a visual geometry group, a capsule network, and a residual network. Second, the four networks are tested on the generated dataset in terms of accuracy, network weight, and test time. Finally, in order to reduce test time and save computational resources, we also develop a lightweight CNN method to prune the network weight by 96.5% while reducing accuracy by no more than 1.26%.

Human emotions recognition (HERO) is considered as one of the important techniques for realizing the intelligent Internet of Things. The demand for a robust and precise facial expression recognition algorithm is urgent for the HERO. In this paper, we propose a deep recognition algorithm based on the ensemble deep learning model. The proposed algorithm consists of three sub-networks with different depths. Each sub-network is comprised of convolutional neutral networks and trained independently. The sub-network with more convolutional layers recognizes emotions by extracting local details such as the features of eyes and mouth, while the sub-network with less convolutional layers focuses on the macrostructure of the input image. The three sub-networks are assembled together to constitute the whole model. The experiment is based on the Kaggle facial expression recognition challenge database (FER2013), the Japanese female facial expression database, and the AffectNet database. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm achieves a test accuracy of 71.91%, 96.44%, and 62.11% better than other competitors, and increases the test accuracy by approximately 2-3% than unique sub-networks.