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Background As a life-threatening respiratory syndrome, acute lung injury (ALI) is characterized by uncontrollable inflammatory activities. Semaglutide (SEM) has been identified as an effective anti-inflammatory drug in a variety of diseases. This study intended to explore the functional effect and potential mechanisms of SEM in ALI. Methods Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was used to construct an in vivo ALI model based on Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats and an in vitro ALI model based on human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (HPAECs). Hematoxylin & eosin (H&E) staining and ELISA were applied to evaluate the histopathological changes in pulmonary tissues and detect TNF-α and IL-6 levels. RT-qPCR and Western blotting were used to measure gene and protein expressions in pulmonary tissues and cells. HPAEC viability and apoptosis were evaluated by CCK-8 method and flow cytometry methods. Results Semaglutide pretreatment significantly mitigated pulmonary injury, reduced TNF-α and IL-6 production, and led to a decrease in cleaved caspase-3 level and an increase in Bcl-2 level, suggesting SEM could ameliorate LPS-induced ALI in rats. In vitro, SEM increased the proliferative capability and mitigated inflammation and apoptosis in LPS-stimulated HPAECs. In addition, SEM inhibited HDAC5-mediated NF-κB signaling pathway in HPAECs. HDAC5 overexpression or NF-κB signaling activation could partly impair SEM-mediated protective effects against LPS-induced damage to HPAECs. Conclusion Semaglutide restrains LPS-induced ALI by inhibiting HDAC5/NF-κB signaling pathway.

Myopia goes far beyond the inconvenience it brings. It is a prevailing and vision-threatening eye disease, especially in Asia. Aberrantly expressed miR-708a and miR-148 are critical for accurate diagnosis, good prognosis, and precise response prediction of myopia. In this paper, we aim to examine the potential contributions of miR-708a, miR-148a, and PAX6 to high myopia (HM). First, aqueous samples were taken from 25 exclusively HM eyes and 25 exclusively cataract eyes. For next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics analysis, RNA from sample 30one was used. Twenty more samples were used for RT-qPCR. 341 miRNAs in total were found in HM eyes; 249 mature miRNAs and 17 new miRNAs showed differential expression. The expression of hsa-miR-127-3p, hsa-let-7i-5p, and hsa-miR-98-5p was identified using RT-qPCR. MiR-708a and miR-148, which may be linked to the development of myopia and serve as possible biomarkers, are notably highly expressed in atrial tissues of HM patients. Our findings may help deepen the understanding of the mechanisms behind the high expression of miR-708a and miR-148 in atrial tissues of patients with HM.

miRNA-491-5p was a short, noncoding RNA, usually down-expressed in various human tumors and regulated biological functions. However, the connection between miRNA-491-5p and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remained unclear. Therefore, the role of miRNA-491-5p played in HCC has been detected in this research. The results indicate that miRNA-491-5p is obviously diminished in tissues and cells of HCC (P < 0.001; P < 0.05). After miRNA-491-5p over-expressing, cell multiplication as well as invasion viability were significantly inhibited (P < 0.01). Double luciferase reporter gene detection system demonstrated epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene was considered directly target miR-491-5p, along with suppressed EGFR was observed in cells over-expressed miRNA-491-5p. Moreover, miRNA-491-5p functioned via the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Generally, this study illustrated that miRNA-491-5p promoted HCC progression via PI3K/Akt signaling pathway targeting EGFR, while miRNA-491-5p mimicking therapeutics may provide viable avenue for the medication of HCC.

In a structural chemistry context, the dense packing and the structure-directing agent (SDA) often play a crucial role in the formation of the desired crystal structure. Herein, we present two isomorphous decavanadate-type polyoxometalates, M2(NH4)4−x[V10−xMoxO28]·10H2O (M = Li and x = 0.13 for 1; M = Na and x = 0.95 for 2), prepared by solution evaporation under ambient conditions and characterized by the techniques of EDS, ICP-MS, TG, XPS, X-band EPR spectroscopy, and X-ray single crystal and powder diffractions. Both 1 and 2 crystallized in the space group P with analogous cell parameters, containing thermodynamically stable [M2(H2O)10]2+ (M = Li or Na) clusters, NH4+ ions and decavanadate-type polyoxoanions with V5+ and Mo6+ ions. The polyoxoanions and {M2(H2O)10}2+ cluster cations, owing to their comparable dimensions, arrange alternately to form dense packing along the a + c, c- and a-axis directions. As earlier reported, however, [(H2O)0.3@K6(H2O)12]H4.45[PV7.45Mo4.55O40]·11H2O (3) crystallizes in a CsCl-type dense packing structure under analogous crystal growth conditions. In 3, the thermodynamically-stable (H2O)0.3@K6(H2O)12 cluster cation and Keggin-type {Mo4.55V7.45PO40}10.45− polyoxoanion have comparable dimensions. This study clearly reveals the structure-directing effect of thermodynamically-stable aqueous alkali metal ion clusters, initially formed in the reaction mixture, on a polyoxoanion configuration in vanadium–molybdenum polyoxometalate solid solutions.

Technological advances are driving the growth of online health communities. However, there are some problems such as low user participation and insignificant social benefits in online health communities. This paper discusses the evolution law of information sharing behavior of members of online health community to study the influence of different behaviors on health information sharing results and explore the ways to improve the level of community information sharing. Based on BA scale-free network (Albert-Laszlo Barabas and Reka Albert scale-free network), this paper established an information sharing behavior model for members of online health community with the evolutionary game theory method, and discussed the influence of different game parameters and initial conditions on the evolution results of information sharing behavior of community patients with the method of numerical experiment. It is found that the key to improve the level of community information sharing is to improve the benefit of patients’ information sharing, the proportion of patients sharing information at the initial moment, and the degree of network nodes, and reduce the sharing cost. Community managers should improve the information conversion ability and information absorption ability of community patients through offline activities, professional guidance, and other forms. At the same time, it can reduce the difficulty and risk of information sharing and strengthen the connection among members, thus comprehensively enhancing the value of the community.

To evaluate and compare the surgical outcomes and complications of the modified circumcision using disposable circumcision suture device (device group) and the conventional dorsal slit circumcision (conventional group) in children.A total of 284 patients were randomized to either device group or conventional group. All patients were preoperatively assessed and evaluated at 4 weeks after surgery. The perioperative data and postoperative outcomes were compared between the 2 groups.No statistical differences were observed in the average age and indications between the 2 groups preoperatively (P.05). Compared with the conventional group, patients in the device group were shorter mean operative time, less blood loss, lower intraoperative and postoperative pain score, faster incision healing time and a higher satisfaction rate of penile cosmetic appearance (P.01). Similarly, the incidences of complication were significantly lower in the device group than in the conventional group (4.3% vs 12.3%, P.05).The modified circumcision using disposable circumcision suture device is a simple, safe, faster, and effective procedure and may become the attractive alternative to the conventional technique for the children, with a relatively lower complication rate and better cosmetic results. With the improvement of disposable circumcision suture device, the modified circumcision using disposable circumcision suture device has the potential to be widely used in the world.

Background: Previous studies showed neurography and tractography of the greater occipital nerve (GON). The purpose of this study was determining diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters of bilateral GONs and dorsal root ganglia (DRG) in unilateral cervicogenic headache as well as the grading value of DTI for severe headache. The correlation between DTI parameters and clinical characteristics was evaluated. Methods: The fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values in bilateral GONs and cervical DRG (C2 and C3) were measured. Grading values for headache severity was calculated using a receiver operating characteristics curve. The correlation was analyzed with Pearson’s coefficient. Results: The FA values of the symptomatic side of GON and cervical DRG (C2 and C3) were significantly lower than that of the asymptomatic side (all the P < 0.001), while the ADC values were significantly higher (P = 0.003, P < 0.001, and P = 0.003, respectively). The FA value of 0.205 in C2 DRG was considered the grading parameter for headache severity with sensitivity of 0.743 and specificity of 0.999 (P < 0.001). A negative correlation and a positive correlation between the FA and ADC value of the GON and headache index (HI; r = -0.420, P = 0.037 and r = 0.531, P = 0.006, respectively) was found. Conclusions: DTI parameters in the symptomatic side of the C2 and C3 DRG and GON were significantly changed. The FA value of the C2 DRG can grade headache severity. DTI parameters of the GON significantly correlated with HI.

LINC00202 is a newly identified long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) and has been demonstrated to involve in the progression of retinoblastoma (RB). Here, we further explored the role and the underlying molecular mechanism of LINC00202 on RB malignant properties and glycolysis. LINC00202, microRNA (miR)-204-5p, and 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMGCR) mRNA were detected by a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Cell proliferation and apoptosis were analyzed using cell counting kit-8 assay and colony formation assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Glucose metabolism was calculated by measuring the extracellular acidification rate (ECRA). Western blot was used to detect the levels of HMGCR, ki67, pro-caspase-3, cleaved-caspase-3, and lactate dehydrogenase A chain (LDHA). The interaction between miR-204-5p and LINC00202 or HMGCR was analyzed by the dual-luciferase reporter assay. Murine xenograft model was established to conductin vivoexperiments. LINC00202 expression was upregulated in RB tumor tissues and LINC00202 knockdown inhibited RB cell proliferation, glycolysis, and stimulated apoptosisin vitroas well as impeded tumor growthin vivo. MiR-204-5p directly bound to LINC00202 and HMGCR in RB cells, and LINC00202 functioned as a competing endogenous RNA in regulating HMGCR through competitively binding to miR-204-5p. More importantly, the regulation of malignant properties and glycolysis of RB cells mediated by LINC00202 could be reversed by abnormal miR-204-5p or HMGCR expression in RB cells. In all, LINC00202 promoted RB cell proliferation, glycolysis, and suppressed apoptosis by regulating the miR-204-5p/HMGCR axis, suggesting a novel therapeutic target for patients with RB.

Lead telluride (PbTe) is one of the reliable candidates for infrared (IR) optoelectronics with optimum band-gap as well as excellent photoelectric properties. Great interests had been paid on the growth and device applications with PbTe for the development of high-performance IR photodetectors especially those working in the near-infrared regime. Although a great deal of effort had been made to prepare PbTe nanostructures for miniaturized detectors, it is difficult to synthesize high-quality two-dimensional (2D) PbTe crystals due to its rock-salt non-layered structure. Herein, a facile strategy for controllable synthesis of ultrathin crystalline PbTe nanosheets by van der Waals epitaxy is reported. With an optimized growth temperature, which determines the morphology transit from triangular pyramid islands to regular square 2D planars, PbTe nanosheets in lateral size of tens of microns with thickness down to ~ 7 nm are achieved. Meanwhile, ultrasensitive near-infrared detectors (NIRDs) based on the as-grown 2D PbTe nanosheets have been demonstrated with an ultrahigh responsivity exceeding 3,847 A/W at the wavelength of 1,550 nm under room temperature. Our approach demonstrates that 2D PbTe nanosheets have great latent capacity of developing high-performance miniaturized IR optoelectronic devices.

Background: This meta-analysis aimed to compare the potential effects of local anesthesia (LA) and general anesthesia (GA) for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). Measurements: All relevant studies were searched from Pubmed, EMbase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library (January 1, 2016, to June 1, 2021). The main outcomes of this literature meta-analysis were 30-day mortality, procedural time, new pacemaker implantation, total stay in the hospital, use of the vasoactive drug, and intra-and postoperative complications and emergencies, including conversion to open, myocardial infarction, pulmonary complication, vascular complication, renal injury/failure, stroke, transesophageal echocardiography, life-threatening/major bleeding, cardiac tamponade, and emergency PCI. Pooled risk ratio (RR) and mean difference (MD) together with a 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. Results: A total of 17 studies, including 20938 patients, in the final analysis, fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Intra-and postoperative complications (myocardial infarction, vascular complication, renal injury/failure, stroke, and cardiac tamponade) undergoing TAVI in severe AS patients under GA do not offer a significant difference compared with LA. No differences were observed between LA and GA for new pacemaker implantation, total stay in the hospital, transesophageal echocardiography, and emergency PCI. LA has lower mortality compared with GA (RR 0.69, P = 0.600), pulmonary complications (RR 0.54, P = 0.278), life-threatening/major bleeding (RR 0.85, P = 0.855), and lower times of conversion to open (RR 0.22, P = 0.746). LA has many advantages, including a shorter procedure duration (MD=-0.38, P = 0.000) and reduction of the use of the vasoactive drug (RR 0.57, P = 0.000). Conclusions: For TAVI, both LA with or without sedation and GA are feasible and safe. LA appears a feasible alternative to GA for AS patients undergoing TAVI.

Sevoflurane is a new type of inhalation anesthetic used widely in the clinic. It has the characteristics of rapid induction, rapid recovery, and less irritative to the airway. Studies have shown that sevoflurane can affect the invasion and migration of a variety of malignant tumors. However, its effects on human glioma cells and related mechanisms are not clear. Cultured U251 and U87 cells were pretreated with sevoflurane. The effect of sevoflurane on proliferation was evaluated by MTT, and cell migration assay, cell apoptosis, and invasion ability were evaluated by wound-healing assay, cell apoptosis, and Transwell assays. Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and PI3K/AKT signaling pathway gene expression in sevoflurane-treated cell lines was measured by western blotting analysis, respectively. 5% sevoflurane significantly inhibited proliferation ability in both U251 and U87 cells. Sevoflurane inhibited glioma cells invasion and migration, and promoted apoptosis. Sevoflurane inhibited IGF-1 and promoted the expression of apoptosis-related proteins in glioma cells. In addition, sevoflurane inhibited the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in glioma cells. This study clarifies that sevoflurane inhibits proliferation, invasion, and migration, and promotes apoptosis in glioma cells. These effects are regulated by IGF-1, an upstream gene of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. These findings may be significant for the selection of anesthetic agents in glioma surgery to improve the prognosis of patients.

In this work, a facile two-step strategy had been developed to synthesize carbon coated manganese oxide for the fabrication of high performance supercapacitor. First, MnO2 nanoflakes were synthesized on Ni foam by a simple chemical deposition method. Then a thin layer of alginate sodium (NaAlg) coated the nanoflakes by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) and was calcined to carbon, which could increase the conductivity and prevent the crystal from dissolving. As a result, the carbon coated manganese oxide displayed an enhanced capacitance of 412 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1 and the capacitance retention maintained 95.7% after 10,000 cycles of charge/discharge, indicating that the binder-free process provided low internal resistance and reversible charge storage behavior.

Reference price plays a significant role in influencing purchase decisions of customers. Due to loss aversion, the asymmetric reference price effect on market demand should be taken into account. This paper develops a joint dynamic pricing and production model with asymmetric reference price effect. In a finite planning horizon, the demand rate is time-varying and depends on price as well as reference price. The decision-making problem with the asymmetric reference price effect turns to be a nonsmooth optimal control problem, which cannot be solved by standard optimal control method. As a special case, we first obtain the joint optimal dynamic pricing and production strategy with symmetric reference price effect by solving the corresponding standard optimal control problem based on Maximum principle. For the case of asymmetric reference price effect, we propose a systematical method on basis of optimality principle to solve the nonsmooth optimal control problem, and obtain the joint strategy. Numerical examples are employed to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. In addition, we assess the sensitivity analysis of system parameters to examine the impacts of asymmetric reference price on optimal pricing and production strategies and total profits.

Objective We analyzed US, CT, and MR images plus the pathological characteristics of 12 patients with pathologically confirmed schwannomatosis to explore the relationship between imaging and pathology.Method A retrospective analysis was undertaken over a 10-year period (01/01/2000-31/12/2019) of 12 patients undergoing Imaging and pathological examination for schwannomatosis, and the relevant literature was reviewed.Results The median age at diagnosis was 39.4 years (range, 22–56 years). We included the mean diameter of 36 lesions (5.10 ± 0.84 cm; range, 0.5–9.1 cm) in the focal observation. US showed that the mass boundary was clear, and most of the masses were low echo. CT showed that tumors were low density; the plain-scan CT value was 22–35 HU and enhancement amplitude 10–30 HU. MRI showed that most of the tumors were low or medium signal on T1-weighted image (T1WI) and high signal on T2WI; enhancement could be homogeneous or inhomogeneous. We could see the cellular Antoni A and myxoid Antoni B areas of the microscopic morphology. According to the proportions of the two areas, masses could be divided into four types: I, II, III and IV. Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining showed that the expression of S-100 protein was diffusely positive (36/36).Conclusions Imaging examination in schwannomatosis is helpful for localization and characterization of focus, as well as observation of the relationship between the tumor and the surrounding tissue structure. However, the specific diagnosis should also be based on pathological manifestations, IHC results and genetic analysis. Characteristics of mass imaging correlate with pathological changes in the mass.

Background Older persons are affected by mental and neurological disorders differently, and gender plays a significant role influencing geriatric disorder differentiation. Accordingly this study characterized gender differences in geriatric syndromes among hospitalized elderly Thai patients. Methods Probabilities of disease occurrence reflecting gender differences were calculated using historical data obtained from the Ministry of Public Health website, Thailand. We selected older patients aged 60 years and above admitted to inpatient departments in public hospitals with mental disorders and nervous system diseases from 2014 to 2018, counting over 160 000 cases each year. Descriptive statistics and odds ratios (ORs) were used to analyse and demonstrate gender differences. Results Compared to older females, older males had higher occurrences of four mental disorders revealed by OR and 95% confidence interval (CI) values: substance abuse (5.74, 5.08-6.49), alcohol use (5.66, 5.44-5.89), behavioural problems (1.34, 1.31-1.37), and schizophrenia (1.10, 1.06-1.14). Lower incidences for older males were seen in the same values for three mental disorders: neurotic issues (0.46, 0.44-0.49), mood disorders (0.58, 0.56-0.60), and dementia (0.91, 0.88-0.94). For neurological disorders, men had similar higher incidences for epilepsy (1.67, 1.63-1.72), cerebral palsy (1.61, 1.57-1.65), nervous system inflammatory diseases (1.53, 1.46-1.60), ischaemic attacks (1.42, 1.36-1.48), miscellaneous other nervous disorders (1.20; 1.18-1.22), and Parkinson's disease (1.15, 1.12-1.19). By contrast, older men had lower incidences of multiple sclerosis (0.55, 0.35-0.86), migraines (0.66, 0.62-0.70), and Alzheimer's disease (0.75, 0.71-0.78). Conclusion Accurate characterization of gender differences in geriatric syndromes can better inform policies for appropriate early detection and prevention, and contribute to the development of treatment and intervention for various issues affecting elderly men and women's health.

This study aimed at exploring the effects of combined epidural anesthesia and general anesthesia on the cognitive function and stress responses of elderly patients undergoing liver cancer surgery. One hundred and fifteen elderly patients were enrolled as research subjects. They were admitted to our hospital and underwent liver cancer surgery from August 2017 to May 2019. Fifty five cases were treated with general anesthesia (GA) (GA group), while the other sixty cases were treated with combined epidural anesthesia and general anesthesia (joint group). Scoring standards of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were used to evaluate the patients before and after operation. Their operating time, total fluid input (TFI), spontaneous breathing recovery time (SBRT), preoperative and postoperative indices of stress responses (epinephrine (EPI), cortisol (Cor), and norepinephrine (NE)), and postoperative adverse reactions were observed. There were statistically significant differences between the two groups with respect to anesthesia time, TFI, postoperative SBRT, and postoperative directional recovery time (DRT) (c P < 0.05 ). There was no difference in operating time, total fluid loss (TFL), and hospitalization time ( P > 0.05 ). After operation, patients in both groups experienced a cognitive decline of different degrees and the MMSE scores decreased. There was no significant difference in the score between the two groups before operation and 3 days and 7 days after operation ( P > 0.05 ). The score was significantly better in the joint group than that in the GA group at 6 hours and 1 day after operation ( P < 0.05 ). There were no significant differences in levels of EPI, Cor, and NE between the two groups before operation ( P > 0.05 ), but there were significant differences after operation. The total incidence of postoperative adverse reactions was 11.67% in the joint group and 25.45% in the GA group. In conclusion, combined epidural anesthesia and general anesthesia can significantly reduce postoperative cognitive dysfunction and inhibit postoperative stress responses in elderly patients undergoing liver cancer surgery. It has good application value in clinical practice.

As a type I interferon response gene, ubiquitin-specific protease 18 (USP18) has been shown to be widely involved in oxidative stress and immune regulation processes. However, the relationship between USP18 and acute lung injury (ALI) is unclear. This study aimed to analyze the role of USP18 in the pathogenesis of ALI. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment up-regulated the expression of USP18 mRNA and protein in human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (hPMVECs). USP18 overexpression increased the viability of LPS-induced hPMVECs, and reduced LPS-induced cell damage. Additionally, USP overexpression increased the activity of SOD and CAT, and reduced the production of NO and MDA in LPS-induced hPMVECs. Moreover, overexpression of USP18 inhibited the secretion of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-18 in LPS-induced hPMVECs. USP18 overexpression restrained LPS-induced upregulation of TLR4 and the excessive phosphorylation of p65 and IκBα, as well as the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). TLR4 agonist MPLA attenuated the inhibitory effect of USP18 overexpression on LPS-induced oxidative stress and inflammation in hPMVECs. In addition, USP18 ameliorated LPS induced ALI in vivo. In conclusion, USP18 may resist LPS-induced oxidative stress and inflammatory response in hPMVECs by inhibiting the TLR4/NF-κB/ROS signaling pathway, which may provide new and complementary strategies for ALI treatment.

Objective: To explore the therapeutic effect of low-molecular-weight heparin calcium (LMWH-Ca) combined with Xueshuantong injections in treating elderly acute deep venous thrombosis (ADVT) patients, and to analyze the effect of this combination on the coagulation function, hemorheology, and safety. Methods: A total of 122 elderly patients with ADVT who were treated in our hospital were recruited as the study cohort. The patients were randomly divided into a control group (n=61) and an observation group (n=61). The patients in the control group were given abdominal subcutaneous injections of low-molecular-weight heparin calcium (LMWH-Ca). The patients in the observation group were given intravenous drips of LMWH-Ca (low-molecular-weight heparin calcium) and Xueshuantong injections. After the treatment, comparisons of the detumescence times of the affected limb, the differences in the circumferences of the lower limbs, the coagulation parameters, the overall response rates, the incidences of complications, and the hemorheological parameters were conducted between both groups. Results: After the treatment, the detumescence times and the average differences in the circumferences of the lower limbs were significantly reduced (P0.05; P=0.343; P=0.298). Conclusion: To sum up, low-molecular-weight heparin combined with Xueshuantong injections can effectively treat elderly ADVT patients, reduce the differences in the circumferences of the lower limbs, regulate the coagulation function, and improve the blood viscosity, so it is worthy of clinical promotion.

The effectiveness of anterior serratus plane block in postoperative analgesia of thoracic surgery is beginning to emerge. Currently, there are 2 methods of anterior serratus plane block: deep serratus plane block (DSPB) and superficial serratus plane block (SSPB). In clinical practice, there is no an unified view regarding the advantages and disadvantages between 2 methods. This study aimed to observe and compare the analgesic effects of 2 methods on patients undergoing thoracoscopic lobectomy, in order to provide some suggestions for anesthesiologists when they choose anterior serratus plane block to perform postoperative analgesia for patients. Patients were randomly divided into 3 groups (21 patients/group): 1. general anesthesia group (P group); 2. combined general anesthesia and SSPB group (S group), and 3. combined general anesthesia and DSPB group (D group). The patients in groups S and D received 0.4 ml/kg of 0.375% ropivacaine for ultrasound-guided block after surgery. Postoperatively, flurbiprofen was used for rescue analgesia. Visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores were recorded at 6 hours, 12 hours, and 24 hours after surgery, and rescue analgesia, post-operative nausea, and vomiting were reported within 24 hours after surgery. At 6 hours, 12 hours, and 24 hours, the VAS scores and the rescue analgesia rates in groups S and D were significantly lower than those in group P (all P

Background Recent studies have focused on initial clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is the mainly revealing situation in Wuhan, Hubei. Aim This study aims to reveal more data on the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients outside of Wuhan, Zhejiang, China. Design This study was a retrospective case series. Methods Eighty-eight cases of laboratory-confirmed and three cases of clinically confirmed COVID-19 were admitted to five hospitals in Zhejiang province, China. Data were collected from 20 January 2020 to 11 February 2020. Results and discussion Of all 91 patients, 88 (96.70%) were laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 with throat swab samples that tested positive for SARS-Cov-2, three (3.30%) cases were clinically diagnosed. The median age of the patients was 50 (36.5–57) years, and female accounted for 59.34%. In this sample, 40 (43.96%) patients had contracted the disease from local cases, 31 (34.07%) patients had been to Wuhan/Hubei, eight (8.79%) patients had contacted with people from Wuhan, and 11 (12.09%) patients were diagnosed after having flown together in the same flight with no passenger that could later be identified as the source of infection. In particular within the city of Ningbo, 60.52% cases can be traced back to an event held in a temple. The most common symptoms were fever (71.43%), cough (60.44%) and fatigue (43.96%). The median of incubation period was 6 (interquartile range 3–8) days and the median time from the first visit to a doctor to the confirmed diagnosis was 1 (1–2) days. According to the chest computed tomography scans, 67.03% cases had bilateral pneumonia. Conclusions Social activity cluster, family cluster and flying alongside with persons already infected with COVID-19 were how people got infected with COVID-19 in Zhejiang.

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecological cancer worldwide. To date, the therapeutic approaches available for the treatment of ovarian cancer are still very limited. The present study first demonstrated that the Chinese herb, Oroxylin A, exerts inhibitory effects on both the migratory ability and viability of ovarian cancer cells. Notably, the inhibitory effects of the drug occurred in a dose‑dependent manner. Oroxylin A only inhibited cell migration at the lower dose, whereas it induced early or late apoptosis at the middle or higher doses, respectively. Mechanistically, Oroxylin A increased peroxisome proliferator‑activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) expression and altered the expression profile of progesterone receptor membrane component (PGRMC)1/2. Notably, PPARγ was revealed to play a central role in Oroxylin A‑mediated anticancer activity. The silencing of PPARγ significantly abrogated Oroxylin A‑induced apoptotic cell death and restored the expression profile of the PGRMC1/2 family in ovarian cancer cells. Collectively, the present study revealed that Oroxylin A exerted marked anticancer effects against ovarian cancer in vitro. Thus, Oroxylin A may have potential for use as a complementary therapy in the treatment of ovarian cancer.

The prediction of engineering parameters is crucial for engineering management. This study proposes an improved integrated artificial neural network (ANN) model, combining ANN with AdaBoost algorithm and cost sensitive method to predict engineering parameters. Through the integration of ANN and the set of prediction error threshold and cost value, it not only improves the generalization ability of ANN, but also ensures the scientificity of engineering prediction. The proposed model is applied to predict concrete compressive strength, and compared with artificial neural network, linear support vector machine, support vector regression, multiple linear regression, classification and regression tree. The results show that the mean absolute percentage errors are respectively 14.23%, 16.54%, 30.07%, 17.91%, 31.85%, and 26.08%. Compared with the other five models, the proposed model shows best prediction accuracy. The study shows that the proposed model is superior in engineering prediction.

As one of the most prevalent cancers among women worldwide, breast cancer has attracted the most attention by researchers. It has been verified that an accurate and early detection of breast cancer can increase the chances for the patients to take the right treatment plan and survive for a long time. Nowadays, numerous classification methods have been utilized for breast cancer diagnosis. However, most of these classification models have concentrated on maximum the classification accuracy, failed to take into account the unequal misclassification costs for the breast cancer diagnosis. To the best of our knowledge, misclassifying the cancerous patient as non-cancerous has much higher cost compared to misclassifying the non-cancerous as cancerous. Consequently, in order to tackle this deficiency and further improve the classification accuracy of the breast cancer diagnosis, we propose an improved cost-sensitive support vector machine classifier (ICS-SVM) for the diagnosis of breast cancer. In the proposed approach, we take full account of unequal misclassification costs of breast cancer intelligent diagnosis and provide more reasonable results over previous works and conventional classification models. To evaluate the performance of the proposed approach, Wisconsin Breast Cancer (WBC) and Wisconsin Diagnostic Breast Cancer (WDBC) breast cancer datasets obtained from the University of California at Irvine (UCI) machine learning repository have been studied. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed hybrid algorithm outperforms all the existing methods. Promisingly, the proposed method can be regarded as a useful clinical tool for breast cancer diagnosis and could also be applied to other illness diagnosis.

In this paper, a buried pipe cooling system is proposed for use in cold storage. To evaluate this cold storage system, the temperature non-uniformity and fluctuation are evaluated, and energy consumption is measured. The results show that the temperature in this cold storage unit is stable; the temperature non-uniformity ranges from 0.56 to 0.71 °C, and the temperature fluctuation ranges from 0.25 to 0.72 °C. The temperature characteristics at various vertical heights are substantially different. In the upper and middle layers, the temperature is relatively low. In the middle layer, the temperature characteristic is most stable (the temperature non-uniformity ranges from 0.21 to 0.33 °C, and the fluctuation is from 0.16 to 0.48 °C) relative to the lower and upper layers. Moreover, the specific energy consumption (SEC) of this cold storage unit is only 7.04 kW·h·m−3·year−1, which is lower than that of many previously studied cold storage units, due to numerous factors. Based on the results, certain heights are recommended to better maintain the quality of the food in storage. To conserve energy consumption in the later period of the cold storage operation, one option is to increase the cost in the early stage and apply various energy-saving methods during design and construction.