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PurposeBased on fMRI technology, we explored whether children with strabismus and amblyopia (SA) showed significant change in fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) values in specific brain regions compared with healthy controls and whether this change could point to the clinical manifestations and pathogenesis of children with strabismus to a certain extent.MethodsWe enrolled 23 children with SA and the same number matched healthy controls in the ophthalmology department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, and the whole brain was scanned by rs-fMRI. The fALFF value of each brain area was derived to examine whether there is a statistical difference between the two groups. Meanwhile, the ROC curve was made in a view to evaluate whether this difference proves useful as a diagnostic index. Finally, we analyzed whether changes in the fALFF value of some specific brain regions are related to clinical manifestations.ResultsCompared with HCs, children with SA presented decreased fALFF values in the left temporal pole: the superior temporal gyrus, right middle temporal gyrus, right superior frontal gyrus, and right supplementary motor area. Meanwhile, they also showed higher fALFF values in specific brain areas, which included the left precentral gyrus, left inferior parietal, and left precuneus.ConclusionChildren with SA showed abnormal fALFF values in different brain regions. Most of these regions were allocated to the visual formation pathway, the eye movement-related pathway, or other visual-related pathways, suggesting the pathological mechanism of the patient.

As a new form of digital assets based on blockchain technology, the cryptocurrency has received increasing attention from researchers and practitioners. However, less attention has been paid to their joint dynamics from the perspective of portfolio management. This paper investigates the dependence dynamics across four major cryptocurrencies and their economic importance in portfolio management using the data from January 2014 to June 2020. Our empirical analysis shows that significant economic gains can be obtained from modelling dynamic asymmetric dependence among cryptocurrencies. We show that our results are robust to the period of the recent market fluctuations caused by COVID-19.

Objective: Lung cancer is a common malignant tumor, characterized by being difficult to detect and lacking specific clinical manifestations. This study aimed to find out the risk factors of mediastinal lymph node metastasis and explore the correlation between serum tumor markers and mediastinal lymph node metastasis and lung cancer prognosis.Methods: A retrospective study of 3,042 lung cancer patients (330 patients with mediastinal lymph node metastasis and 2,712 patients without mediastinal lymph node metastasis) collected from the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University from April 1999 to July 2020. The patients were divided into two groups, namely, mediastinal lymph node metastasis group and non-mediastinal lymph node metastasis group. Student’s t test, non-parametric rank sum test and chi-square test were used to describe whether there is a significant difference between the two groups. We compared the serum biomarkers of the two groups of patients, including exploring serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP), calcium hemoglobin (HB), alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), CA125, CA-199, CA -153, cytokeratin fragment 19 (CYFRA 21-1), total prostate specific antigen (TPSA), neuron-specific enolase (NSE) levels and the incidence and prognosis of lung cancer mediastinal lymph node metastasis. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to determine its risk factors, and receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate its diagnostic value for mediastinal lymph node metastasis.Results: Binary logistic regression analysis showed that carcinoembryonic antigen and CYFRA 21-1 were independent risk factors for mediastinal lymph node metastasis in patients with lung cancer (p < 0.001 and p = 0.002, respectively). The sensitivity and specificity of CEA for the diagnosis of mediastinal lymph node metastasis were 90.2 and 7.6%, respectively; CYFRA 21-1 were 0.6 and 99.0%, respectively.Conclusion: Serum CEA and CYFRA 21-1 have predictive value in the diagnosis of mediastinal lymph node metastasis in patients with lung cancer.

Low AC loss of the winding of high-capacity high temperature superconducting (HTS) traction transformer is a very important link to introduce large capacity traction transformer into commercialization. A new winding structure is proposed for the transformer. The HV windings are made of double pancake coils (DPCs), which are wound by 4.8 mm-wide tapes, and the LV windings, which are wound by 12 mm-wide tapes, are solenoid coils. The electromagnetic characteristics of the new winding structure of the traction transformer are analyzed by H-formulation homogenization method and T-A formulation homogenization method respectively. Significant HTS tape cost reduction could be achieved without compromising AC loss by using hybrid windings into the new winding structure. We report that the H-formulation homogenization model and T-A formulation homogenization model are used to calculate the AC loss of the new winding structure with flux diverters (FDs) at the end. The results meet the design requirements of less than 2 kW, which shows the feasibility of the new winding structure. Due to the good convergence of H-formulation and poor convergence of T-A formulation under the homogenization model of the transformer, no one has used T-A formulation to calculate the electromagnetic characteristics of the transformer before. Due to the simplicity of T-A formulation applied to large-scale superconducting system, a new form of mesh generation is proposed to improve the convergence and accuracy of T-A formulation homogenization model calculation of the transformer in this paper. This paper verifies the correctness of the calculation of HTS transformer by T-A formulation, and provides a reference for the application of T-A formulation in more superconducting fields.

In this study, atypical choroid plexus papilloma was treated with high-dose rapamycin for 17 days preoperatively in an infant. Rapamycin significantly reduced the blood supply to the tumor while reducing the tumor volume, and most of the tumor was resected successfully. However, the infant developed hyperglycemia related to the rapamycin dose, which was effectively controlled by adjusting the dose and applying insulin.

This article investigates the performance of the industrial structure in different emerging markets under exogenous shocks during the COVID-19. Based on the ICIO database, we use System Dynamics to...

This paper investigates the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the Chinese stock market We show that the COVID-19 outbreak not only hurts the stock returns but also affects the stock price sensitivity to firm-specific information We document heterogeneous effects of the epidemic infection scale and the public attention about the pandemic The stock market response to firm-specific information is decelerated (accelerated) by the public attention (infection scale) Moreover, the decreasing (increasing) effect of the public attention (infection scale) on such response is more intensive to positively toned (negatively toned) firm-specific news articles Finally, we observe price reversal (momentum) following the public attention (infection scale) © 2020 Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand

Corporate default risk can affect financial stability and the macroeconomy. However, the determinants of corporate default risk in China are not well defined in the literature. We address this issue by using a rich credit event dataset of 981 Chinese listed firms over the period 1998–2013 and study the factors that affect default risk. We demonstrate that leverage, liquidity, firm size are the key firm-specific factors in determining default risk in China, along with macroeconomic factors like interest rate and stock return. Moreover, ‘Too big to fail’ only applies to non-SOEs, as default risk of SOEs is not affected by the firm size. We further find that high liquidity fails to reduce firms default risk, because small-sized firms which are financially constrained have limited cash to prevent financial distress, whereas large firms with greater cash holdings are able to mitigate their default risk as they are unconstrained.

Focusing on the equity exchange traded funds (ETFs) in China, we demonstrate the significant effect of ETF flows on the informativeness of the ETF index. Following the novel approach proposed by Xu et al (2019a). to identify different driving forces for ETF flows, we explore whether the forward‐looking ETF flows at a day’s closing substantially improve the index’s efficiency on the next day. The mechanism behind it is inter‐market information spread: the efficiency effect of the forward‐looking ETF flows strengthens when ETFs share more new information; and the forward‐looking ETF flows increase the information flow to the ETF index on the next day.

In this work, a facile one-step co-exfoliation method has been constructed to prepare the water-processable all-carbon composites (PG/GO) made of pristine graphene (PG) and graphene oxide (GO) using ultrasonic cell disruptor. The microstructure of the PG/GO composites can be conveniently controlled by varying the ultrasonic time and power. The morphology and structure of the PG/GO composites were characterized using UV-visible absorption spectra, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscope, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The application of these PG/GO composites to supercapacitor has been also explored. As a result, the PG/GO composites deliver more excellent electrochemical performance compared with most all-carbon composites reported. The composite synthesized under the optimized experimental condition (PG/GO10:1) exhibits a specific capacitance of 293.6 F g−1 at the scan rate of 10 mV s−1 and 326.3 F g−1 at the current density of 0.5 A g−1, respectively. The cycling stability of these PG/GO composites is quite good. The specific capacitance of PG/GO10:1 increases with increasing the cycle number and even breaks through 126.9% of the initial value after 10,000 cycles at the scan rate of 100 mV s−1.

An interface of laser ablation (LA) and stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) was developed to provide high spatial resolution organic carbon stable isotope analysis. Based on this, a LA-IRMS 13C/12C analytical method for organic carbon in standards and rice leaf was developed. The results showed that this system could carry out continuous on-line analysis of solid samples with high sensitivity, and the sampling amount was as low as tens of nanograms, which was 10000 times lower than that of traditional element analyzer (EA)-IRMS analysis. This method avoided many fractionation factors effectively in the process of sampling, transmission and ionization, and obtained repeatable and high-precision results. Combined with the advantages of laser ablation technique in situ sampling, the high-resolution carbon isotope distribution information of solid samples was obtained by using this method. This in-situ solid organic carbon isotope measurement technique was stable, reliable with high accuracy, and it would have a broad application prospect in the fields of environment, agriculture, forestry and ecology in the future.

Considering the severe economic impact of COVID-19, this study examines COVID-19's influence on the Chinese commodity market. The literature shows that COVID-19's influence in China during its abatement period has not been well investigated. We address this issue by the intraday analysis of the volatility from 16 commodity options contracts in the Chinese commodity options market over the period 2019-2021. We demonstrate that while the pandemic eased in China after its initial outbreak, it still significantly affected the volatility of Chinese agricultural commodities options. In contrast, its impacts on the volatility of options for petrochemicals, ores, and metals are negligible. This pattern reflects the role of pandemic-led supply disruptions affecting agricultural commodity prices as necessities, contributing to higher price volatility relative to non-agricultural commodities, which are less volatile.

The propionate (C3), the important components of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), had the effect of inhibiting pro-inflammatory macrophages. Earlier macrophages phenotypic transition from pro-inflammatory M1 to reparative M2 in early stage was a central juncture of cardiac dysfunction mitigation after myocardial infarction (MI).160 Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to 4 groups: sham group (n = 40), sham + C3 group (n = 40), MI group (n = 40) and MI + C3 group (n = 40). The rats in sham + C3 and MI + C3 group were treated with oral sodium propionate (200 mM), and equivalent concentration of sodium chloride was administered in sham and MI group as control. After 7 days of propionate adaptive feeding, rats were anesthetized and induced the MI by coronary occlusion. The classification of macrophages, the level of inflammatory factors and inflammatory signaling were estimated at 3rd days after thoracotomy, and the extent of myocardial fibrosis was evaluated at 7th and 28th days after operation. Echocardiography was estimated on 28th day after surgery. RAW264.7 cells, stimulated by LPS + IFN-γ with or without propionate, were harvested for western blot and supernatants were collected for cytokine analysis by ELISA.Propionate administration reduced the MI-induced myocardial fibrosis in infarcted border and attenuated cardiac function deterioration compared with MI group. In comparison with MI group, propionate promoted macrophages reduction, macrophage M2-like polarization, and inflammatory cytokines decrease in infarcted border zone following MI, which partly depends on the inhibition of JNK/P38/NFκB signaling pathways.Oral propionate in early stage, as a nutritional intervention, alleviated post-MI chronic cardiac remodeling and cardiac dysfunction at least in part by modulating macrophages polarization and pro-inflammatory cytokine, which were associated with reduction of JNK/P38/NFκB phosphorylation.

The short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) propionate (C3), a microorganism metabolite produced by gut microbial fermentation, has parasympathetic-activation effects. The cardiac autonomic rebalancing strategy is considered as an important therapeutic approach to myocardial infarction (MI)-produced ventricular arrhythmias (VAs). Thus, our research was designed to clarify the potential functions of the SCFA propionate in VAs and cardiac electrophysiology in MI rats. A hundred adult Sprague-Dawley rats were allocated to four groups: the sham group (200 mM sodium chloride), the sham + C3 group (200 mM propionate), the MI group (200 mM sodium chloride) and the MI + C3 group (200 mM propionate). In comparison with the sham group, propionate significantly increased the parasympathetic components heart rate variability (HRV) and acetylcholine levels, prolonged cardiac repolarization, induced STAT3 phosphorylation and up-regulated the c-fos expression in nodose ganglia and solitary nucleus. Propionate intake reduced the susceptibility to VAs. MI induced by coronary ligation caused a significant increase in the sympathetic components HRV, abnormal repolarization, global repolarization dispersion, norepinephrine and inflammatory cytokines, reduction and redistribution of Connexin 43 in the infarcted border zone, and activation of NFκB, which were attenuated in the MI + C3 group. Oral propionate supplementation, as a nutritional intervention, protected the heart against MI-induced VAs and cardiac electrophysiology instability partly by parasympathetic activation based on the gut-brain axis.