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Metastasis, a complex multi-stage process, is the primary cause of breast cancer-related death. Unfortunately, the molecular mechanisms underlying tumor metastasis have not been fully elucidated thus far. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) dictate the behaviours of tumor cells via multiple signaling pathways, resulting in tumor cell migration and invasion, as well as all stages of cancer progression. LncRNAs function as regulators in shaping cellular activities directly through influencing key genes involved in biological processes of the tumor, and representing promising novel targets in cancer diagnosis and therapy. We therefore sought to define the correlations between lncRNA expression and breast cancer metastasis, especially to investigate the functional pathway underlying lncRNA-mediated tumor invasion and metastasis process.In this study, we compared the lncRNA transcriptome profiles between primary breast cancer 4T1 cells and high metastatic 4T1-LG12 cells. We found that many differently expressed lncRNAs greatly correlated to the metastatic propensity of 4T1-LG12 cells, particularly lncRNA-45, a new lncRNA without functional annotations, which was found to be the most upregulated lncRNA transcribed by an internal region within the regulatory associated with protein of mechanistic target of rapamycin kinase (mTOR) complex 1 (Rptor) gene. LncRNA-45 was uncovered to be involved in the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition process of breast cancer cells, as evidenced by the observation that lncRNA-45 knockdown significantly suppressed the invasive capability of parental 4T1-LG12 cells. Molecular mechanistic investigation showed that reduced activity of mTORC1-associated pathway led to a decrease of total ribosomal protein S6 kinase, polypeptide 1 (S6K1) content and enhancement of autophagy, consequently compromising the metastatic propensity in lncRNA-45 knockdown cells.Overall, our experiments uncovered that the newly identified lncRNA-45 played a regulatory role in breast cancer cell metastasis.

This study aimed to investigate the performance of respiratory-gating imaging with reduced acquisition time using the total-body positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scanner.Imaging data of 71 patients with suspect malignancies who underwent total-body 2-[A total of 390 lesions were found in the thorax and upper abdomen. Lesion detectability was significantly higher in gated-15 (97.2%) than in ungated-15 (93.6%, p = 0.001) and ungated-5 (92.3%, p = 0.001), but comparable to Gated-6 (95.9%, p = 0.993). A total of 131 lesions were selected for quantitative analyses. Lesions in Gated-15 presented significantly larger standardized uptake values, tumor-to-liver ratio, and tumor-to-blood ratio, but smaller metabolic tumor volume, compared to those in Ungated-15 and Ungated-5 (all p0.001). These differences were more obvious in small lesions and in lesions from sites other than mediastinum/retroperitoneum. However, these indices were not significantly different between Gated-15 and Gated-6. Higher, but acceptable, image noise was identified in gated images than in ungated images.Respiratory-gating imaging with reduced scanning time using the total-body PET/CT scanner is superior to ungated imaging and can be used in the clinic.• In PET imaging, respiratory gating can improve lesion presentation and detectability but requires longer imaging time. • This single-center study showed that the total-body PET scanner allows respiratory-gated imaging with reduced and clinically acceptable scanning time.

The carbonyl-directed, mono C-H amination of arenes has been achieved using [Cp*Ir(III)Cl

With the wide application of location detection sensors in maritime surveillance, a large amount of raw automatic identification system (AIS) data is produced by many moving ships. Anomaly detection and restoration of the big AIS data are important issues in marine data mining, because they offer a reliable support to users to mining the behaviors of ships. This paper develops a novel approach to detect anomaly AIS data based on the ships’ maneuverability, such as the maximum acceleration, the minimum acceleration, the maximum distance, and the maximum angular displacement, which were designed to detect the anomaly AIS data. Furthermore, the performance of the developed approach is compared with that of Daiyong-Zhang’s method and Behrouz-Haji-Soleimani’s method to assess its detection efficiency. The results show that the proposed approach can be applied to easily extract the abnormal data. Finally, based on the developed approach to detect the anomaly data and cubic spline interpolation method to restore the AIS data, experiments are conducted on the AIS data of Xiamen Port of Fujian Province, China, that prove to be effective for marine intelligence research.

2219 aluminum alloy rings are important part of liquid cryogenic rocket fuel tanks. Residual stress is inevitably introduced in the forming process of the rings due to the nonlinear thermomechanical coupling conditions, which will affect its mechanical properties, fatigue properties, corrosion resistance, and dimensional stability. Thermal vibratory stress relief (TVSR) has great potential in reducing residual stress, and process optimization of TVSR is necessary to further improve its application, but it is rarely reported. In this study, process optimization of roll formed 2219 aluminum alloy rings is conducted. The influence of vibration amplitude, vibration time, vibration frequency, heating time, holding time, and cooling time on TVSR treatment are investigated. Results show that the maximum equivalent residual stress of 2219 aluminum alloy rings can be reduced by 93.6% after optimized TVSR treatment. With the increase in vibration time, heating time, holding time, and cooling time, the maximum equivalent stress decreases. However, the increase in the vibration amplitude results in an increase in the maximum equivalent stress. Further, a genetically optimized artificial neural network intelligent optimization algorithm is applied to quickly predict the TVSR effect of 2219 aluminum alloy rings.

A method for the synthesis of enantioenriched azaarylmethyl amine derivatives, which are useful building blocks is presented.

PurposeInfluenced by factors such as fluctuations in market supply and demand and the rapid development of new technologies, manufacturing companies are facing greater challenges to transform and upgrade. The existing relevant studies about sustainable innovation capabilities mostly focus on classification of innovation or from a static resource-based view and less on quantitative measurement from a dynamic perspective and inter-organizational relationships. This paper takes a dynamic capabilities and social capital theory, explore the concept and dimensions of sustainable innovation capabilities and then makes development of a new scale.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to develop a measure of sustainable innovation capabilities in two studies. Grounded theory methodology is used to explore the concept definition and dimensions of sustainable innovation capabilities. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis are conducted to refine and validate the factor structure, and then the authors developed the sustainable innovation capabilities scale.FindingsThe results show that sustainable innovation capabilities composed of ideation capabilities, opportunity capture capabilities, agile learning, creative inheritance and networking capabilities. The sustainable innovation capabilities that firms should possess are reflected at the firm level and inter-organizational relationship level, and the culture-specific dimension of creative inheritance reflects the influence of national and organizational culture.Originality/valueThe research reveals the internal driving force of the manufacturer's sustainable innovation capabilities, as well as the role and uniqueness embodied in the specific culture, providing a new perspective for improving the manufacturer's sustainable innovation capabilities.

Continuous fiber-reinforced composite 3D printing (CFRC 3DP) has become a hot topic of interest for many experts and scholars. Continuous fiber-reinforced prepreg filament (CFRPF) for printing needs to be prepared in advance. In this paper, on the basis of the resin fusion impregnation theory, a fabrication device was designed for continuous carbon fiber-reinforced polycarbonate prepreg filament (CCFRPF). Then, according to the orthogonal test and the TOPSIS entropy weight optimization theory, the optimization method for CFRPF/PC preparation process parameters was proposed, and the relationship between the preparation process parameters and the performance indexes was discussed. The results show that when preparing CCFRPF/PC, the weight of diameter performance index is the largest, about 0.75. The optimal combination of process parameters for CCFRPF/PC is, respectively, 285 °C for the outlet mold temperature, 305 °C for the impregnation mold temperature, and 1 m/min for the winding speed. In this case, the diameter, roundness, minimum curvature radius and tensile strength of 0.375 mm, 29.4 μm, 9.775 mm and 1298 MPa were achieved, respectively.

This study explored the utility of oral vitamin C in reducing radiation accumulation in the salivary glands during total-body dynamic PET/computed tomography (CT) imaging with 68Ga labeled Prostate-specific membrane antigen (68Ga-PSMA-11).We enrolled 31 patients who underwent total-body dynamic PET/CT imaging with 68Ga-PSMA-11, of which 11 were given oral vitamin C 30 min after starting the dynamic PET acquisition, whereas the others did not. The volume of interest was automatically segmented on the parotid and submandibular salivary glands once the PET acquisition was completed. The standard uptake value (SUV)mean and its slope during 30-60 min of the acquisition were compared between the trial and control groups.The SUVmean of the left and right parotid and submandibular glands in the trial group were 15.37 ± 3.07, 15.03 ± 2.64, 14.92 ± 4.38 and 15.38 ± 4.18, respectively. The respective values of the control group were 19.37 ± 3.82, 20.08 ± 3.55, 22.61 ± 5.62 and 22.73 ± 5.90. The SUVmean slope during 30-60 min of acquisition for the left and right parotid and submandibular glands in the trial group were 0.63 ± 0.13, 0.64 ± 0.14, 0.56 ± 0.25 and 0.62 ± 0.26, respectively. The respective values of the control group were 0.84 ± 0.21, 0.84 ± 0.17, 1.01 ± 0.34 and 1.02 ± 0.37.Oral vitamin C could reduce the accumulation of radiation in the salivary glands during 68Ga-PSMA-11 total-body dynamic PET/CT imaging.

The Linhe Depression is the largest tectonic unit in the Hetao Basin. The recently discovered commercial oil flow in the structural trap of wells JH2X and S5 has proved that the Meso-Cenozoic strata in the Linhe Depression have great exploration potential. Research on the kinematic model for the Mesozoic–Cenozoic Linhe Depression is important for analysing the geological conditions of hydrocarbon accumulation. In this study, field observations, seismic interpretation and scaled analogue modelling are performed. The results prove that the Linhe Depression experienced different stages of tectonic evolution, such as compressional depression (K1l), conversion from contraction to uniform subsidence (K1g), extensional rifting (E2–N2) and strike-slip deformation (Q), during the Mesozoic–Cenozoic eras. The kinematic model of negative inverted basins was first established with the early differential compression superimposed by the late extension. The seismic interpretation and analogue modelling results show that Jilantai Sag in the southern part of the Linhe Depression was subjected to compression from the Bayanwulashan fold–thrust belt on the NW side and the Helanshan fold–thrust belt on the SE side during Early Cretaceous time. Meanwhile, the Hanghou Sag in the northern part of the Linhe Depression was only compressed by the Langshan fold–thrust belt from the NW direction. The rifted structure generated by the extension from the SE direction during the Cenozoic Era resulted in the negative inversion of the pre-existing thrusts in different patterns. The intensity of negative inversion is controlled by several key factors, such as dip angle and the patterns of thrust faults, along with different basement textures. The morphological changes in the forebulge zone developed during Early Cretaceous time are responsible for the development of the segmented Central fault zones in the Hanghou Sag.

Cuie Gao,1 Lan Ge,1 Dewei Chen,2 Mengjie Zhang,2 Li Zhao,2 Wenying Liu,1 Shuguang Chen,1 Juan Wang,1 Cunjian Zhou,1 Xingwang Zhao,1 Shifei Li,1 Zhiqiang Song,1 Jian Li1 1Department of Dermatology, Southwest Hospital, Army Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Pathophysiology, Army Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Jian Li; Zhiqiang SongDepartment of Dermatology, Southwest Hospital, Army Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 23 68754290Fax +86 23 68755290Email leejian860@126.com; drsongzq@hotmail.comPurpose: Monocyte subsets, including classical, intermediate and non-classical monocytes, are involved in the pathogenesis of inflammatory or autoimmune diseases. The pathogenic role of monocytes in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with rosacea remains unclear. This study aimed to assess frequencies of monocyte subsets in PBMCs from rosacea patients before and after clinical treatment.Patients and Methods: We applied flow cytometry to examine frequencies of monocyte subsets in 116 patients with rosacea, while patients with 26 systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), 28 acne and 42 normal healthy subjects without skin problems (HC) were recruited as controls. Expression of C–C chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2) on monocytes and plasma levels of CC-chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2), high mobility group box-1 (HMGB-1), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) were measured in HC and rosacea patients before and after treatment.Results: The frequency of classical monocytes, but not intermediate or non-classical monocytes, was higher in rosacea as compared with HC, which decreased after treatment. Frequencies of monocyte subsets showed no gender difference, while increased with age in patients but not in HC. Frequencies of classical monocytes in patients with erythematotelangiectatic rosacea (ETR) and ETR-papulopustular rosacea (PPR) overlap were significantly higher than HC or patients with only PPR or phymatous rosacea (PhR). There was a significant higher expression of CCR2 in classical monocytes, with higher plasma levels of CCL2, HMGB-1, IL-1β and TNF-α in patients than in HC, which all significantly decreased after treatment.Conclusion: Our data indicated a possible association between abnormal classical monocytes frequencies and rosacea.Keywords: monocytes, classical monocytes, CCR2, rosacea

The cycling stability and rate performance of anode materials should be increased to meet the demands for automotive power batteries with a long-life and fast charging capability. In this study, a silica/graphite anode material was synthesized in situ via a hydrolysis-calcination route using ethyl orthosilicate as the silicon source. The morphology and structure of silica/graphite anode materials were examined by SEM, XRD, and XPS techniques. The electrochemical properties of silica/graphite materials were investigated by galvanostatic charge–discharge, cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques. The results showed that amorphous silica microspheres were embedded in the graphite matrix. This structure not only strengthened the bonding of Si–O–C but also improved the composition of the solid-electrolyte interphase. The specific capacity of the silica/graphite anode material could be stabilized at approximately 450 mAh g−1 after 300 cycles at a current density of 100 mA g−1, resulting in stable lithium storage due to the synergistic effect between the silica and graphite.

The present study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of ultra-low 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) activity in total-body positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) oncological studies. Methods: Thirty patients with cancer were enrolled prospectively and underwent a total-body PET/CT examination with an ultra-low 18F-FDG activity (0.37 MBq/kg) after an uptake time of 60 minutes. Among the enrolled patients, 11 were diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC). PET raw data were acquired within 15 minutes and reconstructed using data from the first 1, 2, 4, 8, 10 and the entire 15 min (G1, G2, G4, G8, G10, G15). Image quality was assessed qualitatively by two readers using a 5-point Likert scale twice. Cohen's kappa test was performed to investigate the intra-reader and inter-reader agreement. The standard uptake value (SUV)max of lesions, SUVmax, SUVmean, and standard deviation (SD) of the livers, the tumor-to-background ratio (TBR), and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were measured and compared. The acquisition time for a clinically acceptable image quality was determined using an ultra low activity injection. In a matched-pair study, 11 patients with CRC who received a full FDG activity (3.7 MBq/kg) with a 2-min PET acquisition were selected retrospectively with matched sex, height, weight, body mass index, glucose level, uptake time, and pathological types with the 11 CRC subjects in the prospective study. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed and compared between the 11 patients with CRC in the ultra-low activity group and their matched full activity controls. Results: Qualitative analysis of image quality showed good intra- and inter-reader agreements (all kappa > 0.7). All the images acquired for 8-min or longer scored over 3 (indicating clinical acceptability). There was no significant difference in TBR and liver SNR among all the images acquired for 8-min or longer. In the matched study, no significant difference was found in the image quality score and quantitative parameters between the ultra-low activity group with an 8-min acquisition and the full activity group with a 2-min acquisition. Conclusion: Ultra-low FDG activity injection with 8-min acquisition in a total-body PET/CT study can achieve acceptable image quality equivalent to that in the full activity group using 2-min acquisition.

Nonprecious transition metals [e.g., cobalt (Co), iron (Fe), and zinc (Zn)], and nitrogen doped carbon materials are considered to be the most attractive alternatives to precious metal catalysts. Herein, Cobalt decorated nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes were synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method and calcination. Benefiting from the N-doping, etching of Co nanoparticles to carbon nanotubes and synergistic effect between the components, the as-prepared Co/nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (Co-NCNT) displays a half-wave potential of 0.88 V (vs. RHE), a limiting current density of 5.6 mA cm−2, and electron transfer number of 3.9 in 0.1 M KOH. When applied in metal-air batteries, it delivered maximum power densities of 130.0 mW cm−2, 117.3 mW cm−2 and 58.6 mW cm−2 in alkaline Zn-air, Al-air batteries and neutral Mg-air batteries respectively, outperforming the commercial Pt/C. These demonstrate that the synthesized Co-NCNT is a promising candidate for ORR in metal-air batteries with both alkaline and neutral electrolytes.

This study was to evaluate the effects of an ultra-low dose of [18F]-FDG on the image quality of total-body PET/CT and its lesion detectability in colorectal cancer (CRC). Sixty-two CRC patients who underwent total-body PET/CT (uEXPLORER, United Imaging Healthcare, Shanghai, China) with an ultra-low dose (0.37 MBq/kg) of [18F]-FDG were enrolled in this retrospective study. The PET images were reconstructed with the entire 15-min dataset first and then split into 13-, 8-, 5-, 4-, 3-, 2-, and 1-min duration groups to simulate fast scanning images. For simplicity, the images reconstructed with the data from 15 to 1 min were referred to as G15, G13, and so on until G1. Subjective image quality was assessed with 5-point Likert scales. The objective image quality parameters included the SUVmax, SUVmean, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the liver and blood pool and the SUVmax and tumor-to-background ratio (TBR) of the lesions. G15 served as the control to evaluate lesion detectability. A total of 62 patients (43 men, 19 women; age 41–88, mean ± SD 64.0 ± 10.9 years) with 64 CRC primary tumor lesions and 10 low-grade intraepithelial neoplasia (LGIN) lesions were enrolled in this study. The subjective scores were highest for G15 (4.5 ± 0.5) and then decreased from G13 (4.3 ± 0.4) to G8 (3.7 ± 0.5). The liver SNR increased with the extension of acquisition time from G8 (17.2 ± 2.8) to G13 (20.6 ± 3.4) and G15 (21.9 ± 3.4). The liver SNR of G8 was not significantly different from that of G13 (p = 0.15) and was significantly different from that of G15 (p = 0.001). All 64 CRC lesions could be identified in all image groups, even on G1. One of ten LGINs was missed on G1, G2, and G3, and one LGIN was missed on G1, G2, G3, and G4. G15 served as the control, and 100% (48/48) lymph nodes could be found on G13 and G8 compared to 93.8% (45/48) lymph nodes on G5 and G4, 85.4% (41/48) lymph nodes on G3, 81.3% (39/48) lymph nodes on G2, and 77.1% (37/48) lymph nodes on G1. For liver metastases, there were no missed liver lesions on G13 and G8 and 3, 4, 6, 7, and 9 missed liver lesions on G5, G4, G3, G2, and G1, respectively. For other areas of metastasis, including the lung, peritoneum, and ovaries, there were no missed lesions in any group. Total-body PET/CT with an ultra-low dose of [18F]-FDG can maintain satisfactory image quality and lesion detectability in CRC.

When it comes to predicting experimental values of molecular properties with deep learning, the key problem is the lack of sufficient experimental data for training. We propose a method that consists of pretraining a graph neural network that aims to reproduce first-principles quantum mechanical results, followed by fine-tuning of a fully connected neural network against experimental results. The combined pretraining and fine-tuning model is expected to yield molecular properties close to experimental accuracy. This is made possible because first-principles quantum mechanical methods are often qualitatively correct or semiquantitatively accurate; thus, a calibration of the calculation results against high-precision but limited experiment data can improve accuracy greatly. Moreover, the method is highly efficient, as first-principles quantum mechanical calculation is bypassed. To demonstrate this, we apply the combined model to determine the experimental heats of formation of organic molecules made of H, C, O, N, or F atoms (up to 30 atoms), where mere 405 experimental data are used. The overall mean absolute error is 1.8 kcal/mol for these molecules.

The aim of the study was to determine a faster PET acquisition protocol for a total-body PET/CT scanner by assessing the image quality that is equivalent to a conventional digital PET/CT scanner from both a phantom and a clinical perspective. A phantom study using a NEMA/IEC NU-2 body phantom was first performed in both a total-body PET/CT (uEXPLORER) and a routine digital PET/CT (uMI 780), with a hot sphere to background activity concentration ratio of 4:1. The contrast recovery coefficient (CRC), background variability (BV), and recovery coefficient (RC: RCmax and RCmean) were assessed in the uEXPLORER with different scanning durations and reconstruction protocols, which were compared to those acquired from the uMI 780 with clinical acquisition settings. The coefficient of variation (COV) of the uMI 780 with clinical settings was calculated and used as a threshold reference to determine the optimized scanning duration and reconstruction protocol for the uEXPLORER. The obtained protocol from the phantom study was subsequently tested and validated in 30 oncology patients. Images acquired from the uMI 780 with 2–3 min per bed position were referred as G780 and served as the reference for comparison. All PET raw data from the uEXPLORER were reconstructed using the data-cutting technique to simulate a 30-s, 45-s, or 60-s acquisition duration, respectively. The iterations were 2 and 3 for the uEXPLORER, referred as G30s_3i, G45s_2i, G45s_3i, G60s_2i, and G60s_3i, respectively. A 5-point Likert scale was used in the qualitative analysis to assess the image quality. The image quality was also evaluated by the liver COV, the lesion target-to-background ratio (TBR), and the lesion signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In the phantom study, CRC, BV, RCmax, and RCmean in the uEXPLORER with different scanning durations and reconstruction iterations were compared with those in the uMI 780 with clinical settings. A minor fluctuation was found among different scanning durations. COV of the uMI 780 with clinical settings was 11.6%, and a protocol with a 30–45-s scanning duration and 2 or 3 iterations for the uEXPLORER was found to provide an equivalent image quality as the uMI 780. An almost perfect agreement was shown with a kappa value of 0.875. The qualitative score of the G30s_3i in the uEXPLORER was inferior to the G780 reference (p = 0.001); however, the scores of other groups in the uEXPLORER with a 45-s and above acquisition time were higher than the G780 in the uMI 780. In quantitative analysis, the delay time between the two scans in the two orders was not significantly different. There was no significant difference of the liver COV between the G780 and G30s_3i (p = 0.162). A total of 33 lesions were analyzed in the clinical patient study. There was no significant difference in lesion TBR between the reference G780 and the G45s_2i obtained from the uEXPLORER (p = 0.072), while the latter showed a higher lesion SNR value compared to that in uMI 780 with clinical settings (p

In this paper, the mechanical models of large-scale double row slewing ball bearing considering combined loading conditions were presented based on the rigid rings and flexible rings, respectively. And the contact properties between the ball and raceway were studied. These workflows for the calculation were described and programmed by MATLAB. The load distributions of slewing bearing for 2MW wind turbine were presented. The results indicated that the load distribution with the ideal stiff assumption differs from the load distribution determined by taking into account the flexibility of rings. With flexible rings, the magnitude of contact force is less than that of the rigid rings. The influences of the initial contact angle, the coefficient of groove curvature radius, the clearance on maximum contact force were analyzed and some suggestions have been discussed. These parameters have significant effects on the load distribution. The maximum contact force decreases with coefficient of groove curvature radius decrease. A three dimensional finite element model of the slewing bearing is established and analyzed. The simulated results are compared with that of mechanical models.

Introduction: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic and relapsing inflammatory skin disease characterized by severe pruritus and eczematous skin lesions. Subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) refers to repeated contact with gradually increasing doses of allergen extracts, which improve patient tolerance to such allergens and controls, or reduces allergic symptoms. This study aimed to explore the long-term efficacy and safety of SCIT for patients with AD sensitized to house-dust mite (HDM). Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 378 patients with HDM-sensitized AD. Among these patients, 164 received SCIT plus pharmacotherapy for 3 years (SCIT group) and the other 214 patients received only pharmacotherapy (non-SCIT group). The scoring atopic dermatitis (SCORAD) and pruritus visual analog scale (VAS) scores, laboratory test results, and adverse effects were recorded. Results: The SCORAD and pruritus VAS scores significantly decreased in the SCIT group. Also, the SCIT group showed higher reduction ratios of SCORAD and pruritus VAS scores than those observed in the non-SCIT group at 3 years after treatment initiation. The risk of development of new sensitization was higher in the non-SCIT group than in the SCIT group (relative risk 1.92 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.30‐2.85]; p < 0.05). The eosinophil count of the participants significantly differed in the complete response (CR) group (p < 0.05) but not in the non‐CR group (p = 0.098). However, the serum total immunoglobulin E value was not significantly reduced (p = 0.204). Of 8421 injections given to the patients, 231 injections (2.74%) showed adverse effects during the treatment period. Conclusion: Three years of SCIT can significantly reduce the severity and pruritus of moderate-to-severe AD with HDM sensitization. Patients who are multisensitized can also benefit from HDM SCIT. Patients can achieve long-term effects, such as prevention of neoallergen sensitization and inhibition of the allergy march.

"The initial experience of using total-body PET/computed tomography (CT) (uExplorer) in Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, is described. Compared with conventional PET/CT, total-body PET/CT imaging provides more comprehensive information for evaluation of disease. Using fludeoxyglucose F 18, regular-dose (3.7 MBq/kg), low-dose (1.85 MBq/kg), or extra low-dose (0.37 MBq/kg) scanning, as well as high-quality imaging, protocols were used in clinical practice according to the situation. Dynamic studies were also used to assess tumor biological characteristics or for radiotracer angiography."

The purpose was to explore the effects of total-body PET/CT with half-dose 18F-FDG activity on image quality, compared with those of conventional PET/CT with clinical routine full-dose 18F-FDG in lung cancer. Fifty-six primary lung cancer patients who underwent total-body PET/CT on a uEXPLORER scanner with half-dose (1.85 MBq/kg) 18F-FDG activity before treatment were retrospectively studied; among them, 28 patients were confirmed by postoperative pathologic examination and 28 patients by biopsy. After matching with the pathological study results, the other 28 patients with lung cancer who underwent surgery were selected for the full-dose (3.70 MBq/kg) group. Patients in the full-dose group were studied with a conventional uM780 PET/CT scanner. The acquisition time of the half-dose group was 15 min, split into 4-min and 2-min duration groups, which were all referred to as G15, G4 and G2, respectively. The PET/CT scanning speed in the full-dose group was 2 min/bed. Image quality was evaluated by subjective and objective analyses. The subjective analysis method was carried out with a 5-point scale (5-excellent, 1-poor). Objective analysis indicators of PET image quality included the SUVmax, SUVmean and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the liver; the SUVmax and SUVmean of the blood pool; and the SUVmax and tumour-to-background ratio (TBR) of the lesions. G15 served as the reference for G2 and G4 to test lesion detectability. Image quality scores in G2 (4.3 ± 0.7) were significantly higher than those in the full-dose group (3.7 ± 0.6) (p = 0.004). The mean and SD of the image quality scores in G4 and G15 were 4.9 ± 0.2 and 5.0 ± 0.0, respectively. The liver SNR in G2 was significantly higher than that in the full-dose group; the corresponding SNR were 11.7 ± 1.5 and 8.3 ± 1.2 (p

Transition metal compounds are attractive for their significant applications in supercapacitors and as non-noble metal catalysts for electrochemical water splitting. Herein, we develop Ni3S2 nanorods growing directly on Ni foam, which act as multifunctional additive-free Ni3S2@Ni electrode for supercapacitor and overall water splitting. Based on PVA-KOH gel electrolyte, the assembled all-solid-state Ni3S2@Ni//AC asymmetric supercapacitor delivers a high areal energy density of 0.52 mWh cm−2 at an areal power density of 9.02 mW cm−2, and exhibits an excellent cycling stability with a capacitance retention ratio of 89% after 10000 GCD cycles at a current density of 30 mA cm−2. For hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen evolution reaction in 1 M KOH, Ni3S2@Ni electrode achieves a benchmark of 10 mA cm−2 at overpotentials of 82 mV and 310 mV, respectively. Furthermore, the assembled Ni3S2@Ni||Ni3S2@Ni electrolyzer for overall water splitting attains a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at 1.61 V. The in-situ synthesis of Ni3S2@Ni electrode enriches the applications of additive-free transition metal compounds in high-performance energy storage devices and efficient electrocatalysis.

The purpose was to investigate the effects of short acquisition time on the image quality and the lesion detectability of oncological 18F-FDG total-body PET/CT. Nineteen oncological patients (6/13 women/men, age 65.6 ± 9.4 years) underwent total-body PET/CT on uEXPLORER scanner using 3D list mode. The administration of 18F-FDG was weight-based (4.4 MBq/kg). The acquisition time was 900 s, and PET data were reconstructed into 900-, 180-, 120-, 60-, 30-, and 18-s duration groups. The subjective PET image quality was scored using a 5-point scale (5, excellent; 1, poor) in 3 perspectives: overall quality, noise, and lesion conspicuity. The objective image quality was evaluated by SUVmax and standard deviation (SD) of the liver, SUVmax of the tumor, and tumor-to-background ratio (TBR). The lesion detectability was the percentage of identifiable lesions in the groups of 180 to 18 s using the group 900 s as reference. Our results showed that sufficient and acceptable subjective image quality could be achieved with 60- and 30-s groups, and good image quality scores were given to 180- and 120-s groups without significant difference. For shortened acquisition time, SD was increased, while SUVmax of tumor and TBR remained unchanged. The lesion detectability was decreased with shorter acquisition time, but the detection performance could be maintained until the 60-s group compared with the 900-s group, although the image quality degraded. The total-body PET/CT can significantly shorten the acquisition time with maintained lesion detectability and image quality.

Drug-induced tissue injury has become a growing public health problem. Gastrointestinal injury and liver dysfunction are the most common side effects related to drug therapies, resulting in high morbidity and mortality in recent years. The overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is critically involved in the pathogenesis of drug-induced tissue injury. Consequently, antioxidant therapy represents a very promising strategy for the treatment of drug-induced tissue injury. Herein, a multifunctional antioxidant nanotherapy (TON) is engineered from a cyclodextrin-derived ROS-responsive material and a radical scavenger tempol, and is capable of eliminating a broad spectrum of ROS. After oral administration, TON can passively accumulate in the inflamed gastrointestinal tissues in mice with indomethacin-induced gastrointestinal injury. Correspondingly, TON shows superior efficacy in two representative murine models of indomethacin-induced gastrointestinal injury and acetaminophen-induced hepatic injury via attenuating oxidative stress and mitigating inflammatory responses. Additionally, preliminary in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrate the good safety profile of TON. Consequently, the ROS-responsive antioxidant nanotherapy TON is promising for the treatment of drug-induced tissue and organ injury.

The Ni-Mo coating as a replacement for hard chrome plating has gained popularity due to its low environmental pollution. This thesis aims to investigate the characteristics of a Ni-Mo alloy brush coating on a 45# steel base material using the brush plating process. The composition of the plating solution was varied to analyze the effects on the surface morphology, microstructure, hardness, and wear resistance of the Ni-Mo coating. The experimental results demonstrate that the surface morphology of the brush coating is significantly influenced by the composition of the plating solution. As the concentration of nickel sulfate and sodium molybdate varies, the coating exhibits a clear preferential growth tendency. Higher nickel sulfate concentration leads to the growth of coating grain along the (111) crystal plane, while higher sodium molybdate concentration encourages the growth of coating grain along the (220) crystal plane. Increased nickel sulfate concentration results in refined coating grains, while increased sodium molybdate concentration causes more distortion and dislocation of the coating layer. It was observed that the brush plating coating of Ni-Mo alloy, with a nickel sulfate concentration of 400–500 g/L and a sodium molybdate concentration of 25–30 g/L, exhibits not only good surface morphology but also higher micro-hardness and wear resistance. Overall, the analysis of the effects of plating composition on the characteristics of Ni-Mo coating is crucial in developing a high-quality and effective coating for industrial applications.

Background The present study aimed to explore the boundary of acquisition time and propose an optimized acquisition time range for total-body positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) oncological imaging using half-dose 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) activity based on diagnostic needs. Methods In this retrospective study, an exploration cohort (October 2019 to December 2019) of 46 oncology patients was first studied. The acquisition time for all patients was 15 min and the acquired images were reconstructed and further split into 15-, 8-, 5-, 3-, 2, 1-min duration groups (abbreviated as G15, G8, G5, G3, G2, and G1). The image quality and lesion detectability of reconstructed PET images with different acquisition times were evaluated subjectively (5-point scale, lesion-detection rate) and objectively (standardized uptake values, target-to-background ratio). In the same way, the filtered acquisition times were further validated in a cohort of 147 oncology patients (December 2019 to June 2021). Results In the exploration cohort, the subjective scores for G1, G2, G3, G5, and G8 images were 2.0 ± 0.2, 2.9 ± 0.3, 3.0 ± 0.0, 3.9 ± 0.2, and 4.2 ± 0.4, respectively. Two cases in G1 were rated as 1 point. No significant difference in scores was observed between G5 and G8 (p > 0.99). In general, groups with a longer acquisition time showed lower background uptake and lesion conspicuity. Compared with G15, lesion-detection rate significantly reduced to 85.3% in G1 (p p > 0.99). The detection rates (204 lesions) significantly reduced to 94.1–90.2% in G3 and G2 (all p

Hydroperoxyalkyl radicals (˙QOOH) are transient intermediates in the atmospheric oxidation of volatile organic compounds and combustion of hydrocarbon fuels in low temperature (1000 K) environments. The carbon-centered ˙QOOH radicals are a critical juncture in the oxidation mechanism, but have generally eluded direct experimental observation of their structure, stability, and dissociation dynamics. Recently, this laboratory demonstrated that a prototypical ˙QOOH radical [˙CH

Objective: To identify optimal machine-learning methods for the radiomics-based differentiation of gliosarcoma (GSM) from glioblastoma (GBM). Materials and Methods: This retrospective study analyzed cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data of 83 patients with pathologically diagnosed GSM (58 men, 25 women; mean age, 50.5 ± 12.9 years; range, 16-77 years) and 100 patients with GBM (58 men, 42 women; mean age, 53.4 ± 14.1 years; range, 12-77 years) and divided them into a training and validation set randomly. Radiomics features were extracted from the tumor mass and peritumoral edema. Three feature selection and classification methods were evaluated in terms of their performance in distinguishing GSM and GBM: the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), Relief, and Random Forest (RF); and adaboost classifier (Ada), support vector machine (SVM), and RF; respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and accuracy (ACC) of each method were analyzed. Results: Based on tumor mass features, the selection method LASSO + classifier SVM was found to feature the highest AUC (0.85) and ACC (0.77) in the validation set, followed by Relief + RF (AUC = 0.84, ACC = 0.72) and LASSO + RF (AUC = 0.82, ACC = 0.75). Based on peritumoral edema features, Relief + SVM was found to have the highest AUC (0.78) and ACC (0.73) in the validation set. Regardless of the method, tumor mass features significantly outperformed peritumoral edema features in the differentiation of GSM from GBM (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the best radiomics model were superior to those obtained by the neuroradiologists. Conclusion: Our radiomics study identified the selection method LASSO combined with the classifier SVM as the optimal method for differentiating GSM from GBM based on tumor mass features.

Objectives. To systematically collate, appraise, and synthesize the current evidence on the Xuebijing injection (XBJI) for sepsis. Methods. Eight databases were searched for systematic reviews (SRs) or meta-analyses (MAs) on XBJI for sepsis. Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews-2 (AMSTAR-2), Preferred Reporting Item for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), and Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) methods were used to assess the methodological quality, reporting quality, and evidence quality of the enrolled studies, respectively. Results. Out of the 13 studies that were included, all studies were rated critically low quality based on AMSTAR-2 results. Based on the results obtained from PRISMA, all studies were reported to be over 80%, while the GRADE system yielded three outcome measures rated high-quality, 16 were of moderate quality, and the rest were of low or critically low quality. Conclusions. The combination of XBJI and Western medicine (WM) showed significant synergy for the treatment of sepsis compared to WM alone. However, this conclusion should be treated with caution since the quality of the SRs/MAs providing the evidence was relatively low.

In the open book question answering (OBQA) task, selecting the relevant passages and sentences from distracting information is crucial to reason the answer to a question. HotpotQA dataset is designed to teach and evaluate systems to do both passage ranking and sentence selection. Many existing frameworks use separate models to select relevant passages and sentences respectively. Such systems not only have high complexity in terms of the parameters of models but also fail to take the advantage of training these two tasks together since one task can be beneficial for the other one. In this work, we present a simple yet effective framework to address these limitations by jointly ranking passages and selecting sentences. Furthermore, we propose consistency and similarity constraints to promote the correlation and interaction between passage ranking and sentence selection.The experiments demonstrate that our framework can achieve competitive results with previous systems and outperform the baseline by 28\% in terms of exact matching of relevant sentences on the HotpotQA dataset., Accepted to NAACL SWR 2022

The purpose of this study was to investigate the image quality and diagnostic performance of different reconstructions over a wide range of patient body mass indices (BMIs) obtained by total-body PET/CT with ultra-lowA total of 63 patients who underwent total-body PET/CT with ultra-low activity (0.37 MBq/kg)Increased noise was associated with increased BMI in all reconstruction groups. Significant differences occurred in the liver SNR among BMI categories of OSEM reconstructions (P 0.001) but no difference was seen in the HYPER Iterative reconstructions between any of the BMI categories (P 0.05). With the increase in BMI, overall image quality and image noise scores decreased significantly in all reconstructions, but there was no statistically significant difference of lesion conspicuity. The overall image quality score of the obese group was not qualified (score = 2.7) in OSEM3, while the others were qualified. The lesion conspicuity scores were significantly higher in HYPER Iterative reconstructions and lower in OSEM2 than in OSEM3 (all P 0.05). The values of SUVConsidering the image quality and lesion analysis in

BackgroundDifferentiation between cerebral glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and solitary brain metastasis (MET) is important. The existing radiomic differentiation method ignores the clinical and routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features.PurposeTo differentiate between GBM and MET and between METs from the lungs (MET-lung) and other sites (MET-other) through clinical and routine MRI, and radiomics analyses.Methods and MaterialsA total of 350 patients were collected from two institutions, including 182 patients with GBM and 168 patients with MET, which were all proven by pathology. The ROI of the tumor was obtained on axial postcontrast MRI which was performed before operation. Seven radiomic feature selection methods and four classification algorithms constituted 28 classifiers in two classification strategies, with the best classifier serving as the final radiomics model. The clinical and combination models were constructed using the nomograms developed. The performance of the nomograms was evaluated in terms of calibration, discrimination, and clinical usefulness. Student’s t-test or the chi-square test was used to assess the differences in the clinical and radiological characteristics between the training and internal validation cohorts. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to assess the performance of developed models with the area under the curve (AUC).ResultsThe classifier fisher_decision tree (fisher_DT) showed the best performance (AUC: 0.696, 95% CI:0.608-0.783) for distinguishing between GBM and MET in internal validation cohorts; the classifier reliefF_random forest (reliefF_RF) showed the best performance (AUC: 0.759, 95% CI: 0.613-0.904) for distinguishing between MET-lung and MET-other in internal validation cohorts. The combination models incorporating the radiomics signature and clinical-radiological characteristics were superior to the clinical-radiological models in the two classification strategies (AUC: 0.764 for differentiation between GBM in internal validation cohorts and MET and 0.759 or differentiation between MET-lung and MET-other in internal validation cohorts). The nomograms showed satisfactory performance and calibration and were considered clinically useful, as revealed in the decision curve analysis.Data ConclusionThe combination of radiomic and non-radiomic features is helpful for the differentiation among GBM, MET-lung, and MET-other.

Purpose A 2-m axial field-of-view, total-body PET/CT scanner (uEXPLORER) has been recently developed to provide total-body coverage and ultra-high sensitivity, which together, enables opportunities for in vivo time-activity curve (TAC) measurement of all investigated organs simultaneously with high temporal resolution. This study aims at quantifying the cumulated activity and patient dose of 2-[F-18]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (F-18 FDG ) imaging by using delayed time-activity curves (TACs), measured out to 8-h post-injection, for different organs so that the comparison between quantifying approaches using short-time method (up to 75 min post-injection) or long-time method (up to 8 h post-injection) could be performed. Methods Organ TACs of 10 healthy volunteers were collected using total-body PET/CT in 4 periods after the intravenous injection of F-18 FDG. The 8-h post-injection TACs of 6 source organs were fitted using a spline method (based on Origin (version 8.1)). To compare with cumulated activity estimated from spline-fitted curves, the cumulated activity estimated from multi-exponential curve was also calculated. Exponential curve was fitted with shorter series of data consistent with clinical procedure and previous dosimetry works. An 8-h dynamic bladder wall dose model considering 2 voiding were employed to illustrate the differences in bladder wall dose caused by the different measurement durations. Organ absorbed doses were further estimated using Medical Internal Radiation Dose (MIRD) method and voxel phantoms. Results A short-time measurement could lead to significant bias in estimated cumulated activity for liver compared with long-time-measured spline fitted method, and the differences of cumulated activity were 18.38% on average. For the myocardium, the estimated cumulated activity difference was not statistically significant due to large variation in metabolism among individuals. The average residence time differences of brain, heart, kidney, liver, and lungs were 8.38%, 15.13%, 25.02%, 23.94%, and 16.50% between short-time and long-time methods. Regarding effective dose, the maximum differences of residence time between long-time-measured spline fitted curve and short-time-measured multi-exponential fitted curve was 9.93%. When using spline method, the bladder revealed the most difference in the effective dose among all the investigated organs with a bias up to 21.18%. The bladder wall dose calculated using a long-time dynamic model was 13.79% larger than the two-voiding dynamic model, and at least 50.17% lower than previous studies based on fixed bladder content volume. Conclusions Long-time measurement of multi-organ TACs with high temporal resolution enabled by a total-body PET/CT demonstrated that the clinical procedure with 20 min PET scan at 1 h after injection could be used for retrospective dosimetry analysis in most organs. As the bladder content contributed the most to the effective dose, a long-time dynamic model was recommended for the bladder wall dose estimation.

A deep neural network is constructed to yield in principle exact exchange-correlation potential. It requires merely the electron densities of small molecules and ions and yet can determine the exchange-correlation potentials of large molecules. We train and validate the neural network based on the data for H2 and HeH+ and subsequently determine the ground-state electron density of stretched HeH+, linear H3+, and H-He-He-H2+. Moreover, the deep neural network is proven to model the van der Waals interaction by being trained and validated on a data set containing He2. Comparisons to B3LYP are given to illustrate the accuracy and transferability of the neural network.

The existence of organic components in 2D hybrid organic–inorganic perovskites gives them significant structural flexibility in response to pressure. Here we study the high-pressure behavior and as...

Background PET/MR is transferring from a powerful scientific research tool to an imaging modality in clinical routine practice. Whole body PET/MR screening usually takes 30–50 minutes to finish, during which a few factors might induce patient discomfort and further cause degraded image quality. The aim of this report is to investigate the patients' perception of the imaging procedure and its correlation with image quality. Methods One hundred and twenty patients (63 males and 57 females, average age = 51.3 years, range 22–70 years) who had been diagnosed with cancer or had previous history of cancer were recruited and scanned with a simultaneous PET/MR system. A questionnaire was given to all patients retrospectively after the PET/MR scan, which has nine questions to assess patients' feeling of the scan on a Likert scale scoring system (1–5, 1 as most satisfied). All PET/MR images were also visually examined by two experts independently to evaluate the quality of the images. Six body locations were assessed and each location was evaluated also with a Likert scale scoring system (1–5, 5 as the best quality). Mann–Whitney U­test was used for statistical analysis to check if there is significant correlation between image quality and patient perceptions. Results With a total of 120 patients, 118 questionnaires were filled and returned for analysis. The patients’ characteristics were summarized in Table 4. The statistics of the patients’ perception in the questionnaire were illustrated in Tables 5–7. Statistical significant correlations were found between MR image quality and patients’ characteristics/perception. Conclusion Our results show that PET/MR scanning is generally safe and comfortable for most of the patients. Statistical analysis does not support the hypothesis that bad patient’s perception leads to degraded image quality.

Bacterial infection has become the major problem shared by all countries around the world at present, especially, bacterial biofilm and medical implant-associated infections become even more difficult to eradicate by their robust matrix structure, making them 1000-fold more resistant to conventional antibiotics. Therefore, it appears necessary to carry out a potent antibacterial polymeric coating with excellent antibacterial and antibiofilm performance with low coat as well as good biocompatibility. In this work, we report an innovative strategy to prepare an antibacterial coating on poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) substrate with cationic polyimidazolium salts (PIMS), using epoxy resin as curing agent, combining with surface radical polymerization of acrylic acid (AA) and Debus−Radziszewski reaction of formaldehyde, glyoxal, and chitosan. These results of In Vitro antibacterial assay, antibiofilm, hemolytic activity and In Vitro cytotoxicity test showed this antibacterial coating has good antibacterial and antibiofilm performance and biocompatibility.

Background The epidemiology and cause of ossification of the spinal ligaments (OSL) remains obscure. To date, there is no study that comprehensively evaluates the prevalence, distribution, and concomitance of each type of OSL by CT among general Chinese population. We therefore aimed to comprehensively investigate epidemiological characteristics of OSL using whole spine CT in the Chinese population and examine the factors that correlate with the presence of OSL. Methods Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL), ligamentum flavum (OLF), anterior longitudinal ligament (OALL), nuchal ligament (ONL), and diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) were evaluated from the subjects who underwent PET/CT for the purpose of cancer screening in our hospital. Prevalence, distribution, and concomitance of OSL were reviewed. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the risk factors of OSL. Results A total of 2000 subjects (1335 men and 665 women) were included. The prevalence rate of cervical OPLL (C-OPLL) was 4.1%, thoracic OPLL (T-OPLL) 2.25%, lumbar OPLL (L-OPLL) 0.8%, thoracic OLF (T-OLF) 37.65%, lumbar OLF (L-OLF) 1.45%, ONL 31.5%, DISH 3.85%. The most commonly involved level was C5 for C-OPLL, T1 for T-OPLL, T10 for T-OLF, and T8/9 for OALL. 21% of subjects with C-OPLL had T-OPLL, 44% of C-OPLL had T-OLF, 38% of T-OPLL had C-OPLL, 53% of T-OPLL had T-OLF, 44% of L-OPLL had T-OPLL, and 56% of L-OPLL had T-OLF. The average age of OSL-positive subjects was significantly higher than that of OSL-negative subjects. The results of the multiple regression analysis revealed that males had a strong association with DISH (odds ratio, 3.15; 95% confidence interval, 1.27–7.78; P = 0.013). Conclusion The prevalence of OSL in the Chinese was revealed. Tandem ossification is not uncommon in people with OSL. There is a high incidence of multiple-regional OPLL in the whole spine. Approximately half of the subjects with OPLL coexist with T-OLF. For patients with clinical symptoms induced by OPLL, thorough evaluation of whole spine using CT is recommended.