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Crabapples (Malus sp.) are ornamental woody plants that belong to the Rosaceae family. Flooding has severely hampered the growth and development of crabapple, and little is known about the molecular responses of crabapple to waterlogging tolerance. Cuttings of waterlogging-tolerant Malus hupehensis and waterlogging-intolerant Malus halliana received flooding treatment of 30 days and regular planting, respectively. Using transcriptome sequencing, we isolated 5703 and 2735 waterlogging-responsive genes from waterlogging-treated M. hupehensis and M. halliana leaves. Among these differentially expressed genes (DEGs), only 746 were shared by both. Several variables may explain the greater waterlogging tolerance of M. hupehensis: there were more waterlogging response genes related to carbohydrate and energy metabolism; signal transduction; antioxidation; lipid metabolism; protein and amino acid metabolism; and polysaccharide, cell wall, and cytoskeleton metabolism pathway in the waterlogged leaves of M. hupehensis than in M. halliana. In particular, the number of DEGs related to anaerobic metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation, γ-aminobutyric acid metabolism and cellulase, pectinase metabolism pathway in the flooded leaves of M. hupehensis was more than that in M. halliana. The alterations in gene expression patterns of the two crabapple species induced by waterlogging varied substantially. These outcomes pave the way for further studies into the functions of genes that may be involved in waterlogging tolerance in crabapples.

ObjectiveTo provide a reference for the prevention and control of myopia by analyzing and discussing the findings of an epidemiological survey of the prevalence of myopia among children and adolescents in Fuzhou City from 2019 to 2021.MethodsParticipants for this cross-sectional study were drawn from Gulou District and Minqing County in Fuzhou City using cluster random sampling to account for differences in population density, economic development, and other environmental variables.ResultsMyopia was more prevalent in 2020 than in 2019, but by 2021 it had dropped to about the same level as in 2019. Myopia was more prevalent among girls than boys during the course of the study period, with a three-year prevalence of 44.72% for boys and 52.16% for girls. Mild myopia accounted for 24.14% of all cases, followed by moderate myopia at 19.62%, and severe myopia at 4.58%. Students in urban regions had a prevalence of myopia equivalent to that of students in the suburbs, and this prevalence rose with age.ConclusionMyopia was quite prevalent among children and adolescents in Fuzhou City, and was shown to be steadily rising as students progressed through the school system. This suggests that all levels of government, educational institutions, medical facilities, and concerned parents in Fujian Province should focus on the issue of myopia and collaborate to reduce the risk factors for the development of myopia in school-aged participants.

IntroductionElectronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use among adolescents has become increasingly common; therefore, effectively reducing adolescent e-cigarette use is an urgent issue. We aimed to predict and identify potential factors related to adolescent e-cigarette use behaviors.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted using anonymous questionnaires given to Taiwanese high school students in 2020. Approximately 1,289 adolescent students completed questions on e-cigarette use, personal characteristics, family environment, and substances used. We performed multivariate logistic regression analyses to assess the model’s predictive performance in terms of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve.ResultsWe found that 9.3% of adolescent students used e-cigarettes. Tobacco smoking, close friends’ reactions to e-cigarette use, and the use of other substances were independent risk factors for adolescent e-cigarette use. Furthermore, relative to tobacco nonuse, tobacco use and tobacco smoking dependence had odds ratios of 76.49 and 113.81, respectively. The predictive accuracy of adolescent e-cigarette use from personal characteristics, family environment, and substance use status was 73.13, 75.91, and 93.80%, respectively.ConclusionThe present study highlights the need for early prevention of e-cigarette use among adolescents, particularly those with a history of using tobacco and other substances and those who have close friends with positive attitudes towards e-cigarette use.

Fat distribution is associated with cardiometabolic disease, although it has been less well studied than overall obesity. In a multiancestry exome-sequencing study, the authors identified predicted loss-of-function mutations in INHBE associated with favorable fat distribution and protection from type 2 diabetes.

There is growing recognition that the developments in piezoresistive devices from personal healthcare to artificial intelligence, will emerge as de novo translational success in electronic skin. Here, we review the updates with regard to piezoresistive sensors including basic fundamentals, design and fabrication, and device performance. We also discuss the prosperous advances in piezoresistive sensor application, which offer perspectives for future electronic skin.

ObjectiveTo systematically evaluate the role of blood lipid level in predicting the risk of Alzheimer′s disease (AD). MethodsWe searched Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Database, VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals (VIP), Pubmed, Web of Science, Springer, and Cocharne Library for literatures on the correlation between AD incidence and blood lipid level published in Chinese or English till June 2021 and supplementary manual tracing for some of the references was also conducted. Newcastle-Ottawa-Scale literature quality evaluation scale was adopted to evaluate the quality of the included studies. Statistical analyses were performed with RevMan5.3 software. ResultsA total of 15 eligible studies were selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and the data on blood lipid level were collected from 1 435 healthy elderly people and 2 162 elderly people with AD. Meta-analysis showed that there was no significant difference in total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) level between the AD sufferers and the healthy controls；low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was significantly higher in the AD sufferers than that in the healthy controls (mean difference [MD] = 3.59，95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.98 – 6.21); while, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was significantly lower in the AD sufferers than that in the healthy controls (MD = – 3.47，95% CI: – 5.94 – – 0.99). ConclusionHigher LDL-C level but lower HDL-C level may indicate a higher risk of AD in older adults.

Measurement(s) eye movement Technology Type(s) eye tracking Factor Type(s) word frequency • word length Sample Characteristic - Organism Human Sample Characteristic - Environment laboratory environment

Abstract Background The mechanism of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) in treating hepatic fibrosis remains unclear. Methods TGF-β1-induced hepatic stellate cell (HSC)-T6 and CCl4-induced hepatic fibrosis rats were treated with BMSCs. HSC-T6 cell activity was determined using the cell counting kit-8 assay, and the histology change was evaluated using hematoxylin and eosin and Masson staining. The expression of fibrosis markers was determined using real-time quantitative PCR, Western blotting, and immunocytochemistry. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) was used to screen the lncRNAs involved in the effect of BMSCs in fibrosis, and the function of fibrosis-associated lncRNA in fibrosis histology change and fibrosis marker expression was investigated. The potential miRNA target of lncRNA was predicted using R software. The interaction between lncRNA and miRNA was verified using luciferase report system and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) in 293T and HSC-T6 cells. Results BMSC attenuated TGF-β1-induced HSC-T6 activation and suppressed the expression of fibrosis-associated gene (MMP2, Collagen I, and αSMA) expression at the transcription and translation levels. BMSC treatment also improves hepatic fibrosis in rats with CCl4-induced fibrosis by decreasing the expression of fibrosis-associated genes and suppressing collagen deposition in the liver. RNA-seq revealed that AABR07028795.2 (lnc-BIHAA1) was downregulated in the TGF-β1-induced HSC-T6 after treatment with BMSCs as compared with those in TGF-β1-induced HSC-T6, and subsequently, functional analysis showed that lnc-BIHAA1 plays a beneficial role in suppressing hepatic fibrosis. Luciferase activity assay and RIP revealed that lnc-BIHAA1 interacted with the miRNA, rno-miR-667-5p, functioning as a fibrosis phenotype suppressor in TGF-β1-induced HSC-T6. Moreover, overexpression of rno-miR-667-5p significantly reverses the effect of lnc-BIHAA1 on HSC-T6. Conclusions BMSC treatment suppresses hepatic fibrosis by downregulating the lnc-BIHAA1/rno-miR-667-5p signaling pathway in HSCs. Our results provide a scientific basis for establishing BMSCs as a biological treatment method for liver fibrosis.

Abstract The limited performance of guideline‐recommended abdominal ultrasound and serum alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP) highlights the urgent, unmet need for new biomarkers for more accurate detection of early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To this end, we have conducted a prospective clinical validation study to evaluate the performance of the HelioLiver Test, a multi‐analyte blood test combining cell‐free DNA methylation patterns, clinical variables, and protein tumor markers. A blinded, multicenter validation study was performed with 247 subjects, including 122 subjects with HCC and 125 control subjects with chronic liver disease. The performance of the HelioLiver Test was compared with AFP and the GALAD score as established HCC surveillance blood tests. The performance of the HelioLiver Test (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUROC] = 0.944) was superior to both AFP (AUROC = 0.851; p < 0.0001) and GALAD (AUROC = 0.899; p < 0.0001). Using a prespecified diagnostic algorithm, the HelioLiver Test showed sensitivities of 85% (95% confidence interval [CI], 78%–90%) for HCC of any stage and 76% (95% CI, 60%–87%) for early stage (American Joint Committee on Cancer [AJCC] I and II) HCC. In contrast, AFP (≥20 ng/mL) alone and the GALAD score (≥−0.63) showed lower sensitivities of 62% (95% CI, 54%–70%) and 75% (95% CI, 67%‐82%) for HCC overall, and 57% (95% CI, 40%–71%) and 65% (95% CI, 49%–79%) for early stage (AJCC I and II) HCC, respectively. The specificities of the HelioLiver Test (91%; 95% CI, 85%–95%), AFP (97%; 95% CI, 92%–99%), and the GALAD score (94%; 95% CI, 88%–97%) were similar for control subjects. The HelioLiver Test showed superior performance for HCC detection compared to with both AFP and the GALAD score and warrants further evaluation in HCC surveillance settings.

Abstract In the field of vehicle system dynamics, it is significant to propose an appropriate quantitative indicator for system stability or dynamics characteristics. Lyapunov exponents method is an excellent quantitative indicator for analysing nonlinear system characteristics. It was used to studied the stable region of nonlinear vehicle plane motion system. However, the effect of Lyapunov exponents method in revealing the global dynamics characteristics has not been fully studied. Aiming at this key problem, this paper analyses the global characteristics of Lyapunov exponents with different degrees of freedom nonlinear models. The results show that Lyapunov exponents can well reflect the global layer characteristics for vehicle system. However, the value characteristic under different DOF models is not unified. The research and analysis in this paper supplement the quantitative analysis theory for vehicle system dynamics.

This paper examines the impact of uniform standards from economies' perspective in the presence of capital crunches. We show that converting to uniform standards has a positive marginal productivity effect to each economy by facilitating capital flows across economies and improving investment efficiency. However, converting to uniform standards also has an information quality effect that may bring a positive or a negative impact on an economy's expected output, depending on the severity of capital crunch and the information quality of the economies. In addition, there is a capital endowment effect, which positively affects an economy with a low capital endowment, but negatively affects an economy endowed with plentiful capital. Our analysis indicates that these effects jointly determine the overall impact of converting to uniform standards on an economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the fast radio burst (FRB) population using the first CHIME/FRB catalog. We first reconstruct the extragalactic dispersion measure–redshift relation (DM _E – z relation) from well-localized FRBs, then use it to infer the redshift and isotropic energy of the first CHIME/FRB catalog. The intrinsic energy distribution is modeled by the power law with an exponential cutoff, and the selection effect of the CHIME telescope is modeled by a two-parametric function of specific fluence. For the intrinsic redshift distribution, the star formation history (SFH) model and five other SFH-related models are considered. We construct the joint likelihood of fluence, energy, and redshift, and all the free parameters are constrained simultaneously using the Bayesian inference method. The Bayesian information criterion (BIC) is used to choose the model that best matches the observational data. For comparison, we fit our models with two data samples, i.e., the Full sample and the Gold sample. The power-law index and cutoff energy are tightly constrained to be 1.8 ≲ α ≲ 1.9 and $\mathrm{log}({E}_{c}/\mathrm{erg})\approx 42$ , which are almost independent of the redshift distribution model and the data sample we choose. The parameters involving the selection effect strongly depend on the data sample but are insensitive to the redshift distribution model. According to BIC, the pure SFH model is strongly disfavored by both the Full sample and Gold sample. For the other five SFH-related redshift distribution models, most of them can match the data well if the parameters are properly chosen. Therefore, with the present data, it is still premature to draw a conclusion on the FRB population.

Deep learning technology has made significant progress in agricultural image recognition tasks, but the parameter adjustment of deep models usually requires a lot of manual intervention, which is time-consuming and inefficient. To solve this challenge, this paper proposes an adaptive parameter tuning strategy that combines sine–cosine algorithm with Tent chaotic mapping to enhance sea horse optimization, which improves the search ability and convergence stability of standard sea horse optimization algorithm (SHO). Through adaptive optimization, this paper determines the best parameter configuration in ResNet-50 neural network and optimizes the model performance. The improved ESHO algorithm shows superior optimization effects than other algorithms in various performance indicators. The improved model achieves 96.7% accuracy in the corn disease image recognition task, and 96.4% accuracy in the jade fungus image recognition task. These results show that ESHO can not only effectively improve the accuracy of agricultural image recognition, but also reduce the need for manual parameter adjustment.

In spite of significant progress in the research of fast radio bursts (FRBs) in recent decades, their origin is still under extensive debate. Investigation of the population of FRBs can provide new insight into this interesting problem. In this paper, based on the first Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME)/FRB catalog, we construct a Bayesian framework to analyze the FRB population, with the selection effect of the CHIME telescope being properly taken into account. The energy function is modeled as the power law with an exponential cutoff. Four redshift distribution models are considered, i.e., the star formation history (SFH) model, and three time-delayed models (Gaussian delay, log-normal delay, and power-law delay). The free parameters are simultaneously constrained using the Bayesian inference method, and the Bayesian information criterion (BIC) is used in model comparison. According to the BIC, the log-normal delay model fits the data best. The power-law delay model and Gaussian delay model can also give reasonable fits, although they are not as good as the log-normal delay model. However, the SFH model is strongly disfavored compared with the three time-delayed models. The energy function is tightly constrained and is almost independent of the redshift models, with the best-fitting power-law index α ≈ 1.8 and cut-off energy $\mathrm{log}({E}_{c}/\mathrm{erg})\approx 42$ . The FRB population shows on average a 3 ∼ 5 billion yr time delay with respect to the SFH. Therefore, the hypothesis that the FRB population traces the SFH is conclusively ruled out.

Background/purpose: Streptococcus pneumoniae causes pneumonia and other invasive diseases, and is a leading cause of mortality in the elderly population. The present study aimed to provide current antimicrobial resistance and epidemiological profiles of S. pneumoniae infections in Taiwan. Methods: A total of 252 nonduplicate S. pneumoniae isolates were collected from patients admitted to 16 hospitals in Taiwan between January 2017 and December 2019, and were analyzed. The minimum inhibitory concentration of antibiotics was determined using the Vitek 2 automated system for antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Furthermore, epidemiological profiles of S. pneumoniae infections were analyzed. Results: Among the strains analyzed, 88% were recognized as invasive pneumococcal strains. According to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute criteria for non-meningitis, the prevalence of penicillin-non-susceptible S. pneumoniae demonstrated a declining trend from 43.6% in 2017 to 17.2% in 2019. However, the rate of penicillin-non-susceptible S. pneumoniae was 85.7% based on the criteria for meningitis. Furthermore, the prevalence of ceftriaxone-non-susceptible S. pneumoniae was 62.7% based on the criteria for meningitis. Isolates demonstrated higher susceptibility toward doripenem and ertapenem than toward meropenem and imipenem. An increased rate of non-susceptibility toward levofloxacin was observed in southern Taiwan (15.1%) and elderly patients (≥65 years; 11.4%). Most isolates were susceptible to vancomycin and linezolid. Conclusion: Empirical treatment with ceftriaxone monotherapy for pneumococcal meningitis should be carefully monitored owing to its high non-susceptibility rate. The susceptibility rates of most isolates to penicillin (used for treating non-meningitis pneumococcal diseases), carbapenems (ertapenem and doripenem), respiratory quinolones (moxifloxacin and levofloxacin), vancomycin, and linezolid suggested the potential of these antibiotics in treating pneumococcal diseases in Taiwan.

A new species, Oreocharis xieyongii T. Deng, D.G. Zhang & H. Sun, from Hunan Province, central China, is described. The combination of purple zygomorphic corolla with longer adaxial lobes and exserted stamens defines the species and discriminates it from all other current Oreocharis species. Morphological traits of the new species were compared to those of two similar species, Oreocharis xiangguiensis and O. rubrostriata. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the new species is nested within the Oreocharis. Although only half of Oreocharis species were included in our study, evolutionary character analysis indicates that the ancestral states of the genus are likely the purple corolla, longer abaxial lip and inserted stamens. The longer adaxial lip is perhaps an apomorphy and only present in O. xieyongii and O. rubrostriata. Both morphological and molecular evidence suggest that O. xieyongii is a taxon new to science.

過去創造課程教學模式上，大多側重創造歷程或創造技巧，並未對創造歷程與技巧進行統整。本研究在綜合過去創造歷程與創造技巧模式後，建構出「創造階段特定技巧模式」（Model of Creative Stage-specific Technique, MCST），依此模式設計課程並檢驗課程的效果。本研究以前、後測準實驗設計的方式，將65位大學生區分為MCST組與控制組。本研究的實驗程序如下：一、兩組均接受新編創造思考測驗、科技想像傾向量表及創意觀點量表之前測；二、MCST組的參與者接受30小時的MCST課程；控制組的參與者則未接受創造思考的相關課程；三、最後兩組參與者皆施測新編創造思考測驗、科技想像傾向量表及創意觀點量表之後測。結果顯示（相對於控制組）：一、MCST組的參與者在新編創造思考測驗的流暢力與變通力指標上皆有顯著的提升，在獨創力指標上則未見提升；二、MCST組的參與者在科技想像傾向量表的創新改造、感質表徵、實用評估、正向喜好、功能價值指標上皆有顯著的提升效果；在超越現實指標上則未見提升效果；三、在創意觀點量表上，MCST組顯示提升了創意成長觀，而且降低了創意固定觀。綜合上述可知，本研究發展之創造階段特定技巧模式是有效的，未來可應用於提升創造思考課程的實務中。 Creativity helps people lead a happier and more meaningful life. It fosters progress in art, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, commercial product design, advertising, and marketing. Moreover, creativity and innovation form the basis of competitive advantage. Therefore, creativity is a key skill, and a greater focus on its application in various fields is required. Creativity training can be conducted through two methods. The first method involves teaching a single creative thinking technique, focusing on promoting an individual’s ability to generate ideas. For example, Glover (1980) taught students to engage in divergent thinking (of unusual ways to use objects) and then discovered that this training could enhance the participants’ fluency, flexibility, and originality. The second method emphasizes the process of creation, which divides creative thinking into different stages, enhancing students’ ability to think creatively. Previous studies have focused on creative techniques or strategy training. Although these both enhance creativity, studies have no attempted to integrate all the skills and processes required for the effective application of creativity. The present study proposes a new method, the model of creative stage-specific techniques (MCST), in which each stage of creativity training focuses on developing specific creativity skills; those skills are then applied at each stage to enhance their effectiveness. By integrating the creative processes and specific skills within a creative thinking enhancement course, we can move beyond teaching models that narrowly focus on individual creative skills or creative processes. In this study, a new creative teaching course was designed on the basis of the proposed MCST, and teaching experiments that were conducted to empirically examine the effectiveness of the model. This 30-hour course covered the following units: 1. Introduction to the concepts of creativity: All basic behavior should have a goal (Schunk, 1990). Therefore, participants must understand that the goal of this course was to improve their creativity. According to the MCST, when learning how to think creatively, participants must first understand the definition of creativity and discern the characteristics of creative ideas or products. This unit helped define creativity by providing audiovisual examples of creative products and explained the factors that can impede or facilitate creative thinking as well as the real-life benefits of creativity. 2. Introduction to the MCST: To ensure that the participants fully comprehended the concept of creative thinking, they must gain a comprehensive understanding of the MCST. To achieve this, the participants were informed of the stage descriptions, and they developed an understanding of the processes required to generate a creative product and how creative techniques facilitate each stage of the creative thinking process. An understanding of the MCST ensures a systematic understanding of this process. The participants learned the techniques corresponding to each creative thinking stage in the following units. 3. Identifying problems: Most inventions stem from an impasse or problems encountered in daily life. This unit taught methods of identifying such problems, such as interviewing users or experts or gathering information from online searches, personal experience, or observation. 4. Problem construction: Once problems had been identified, the participants chose those in which they were the most interested. Subsequently, they were taught to construct problems from diverse perspectives. Participants were taught to reconstruct problems in this stage from the information gleaned from the preceding stage by using abstract thinking and representational change methods. In this unit, the concepts and methods of abstract thinking and representational change were discussed, and the same creative techniques were subsequently used to reconstruct problems. 5. Idea generation: This stage followed the problem construction stage (construction of multiple problems) and taught participants to use techniques such as forced associations, attribute listing, and morphological analysis to generate ideas. 6. Idea selection: After numerous ideas had been generated, the participants identified and examined the strengths and weaknesses through the listing method. Finally, the ideas with the most strengths and fewest weaknesses were selected for implementation. 7. Implementation: The selected ideas were implemented, and prototypes were produced. 8. Optimization: The prototypes from the previous stage must be improved. Once a prototype had been tested, its strengths and weaknesses were considered using the listing method employed in stage 6. Product weaknesses were identified for future improvement, and product strengths were augmented. In this study, a total of 65 college students were assigned to an MCST or control group to participate in a pretest, the training course, and a posttest. The procedures of were as follows: 1. For the pretest, both the MCST and control groups were assessed with the New Creative Thinking Test, Technological Imagination Disposition Scale, and Creative Mindsets Scale. 2. The MCST group then received the 30-hour MCST course, and the control group received a 30-hour course unrelated to creativity. 3. In the posttest, both groups were reassessed with the same creativity tests. The results were as follows: 1. The MCST group demonstrated a greater level of improvement than the control group in terms of fluency and flexibility on the New Creative Thinking Test; however, the two groups did not differ in originality. 2. The MCST group demonstrated a greater level of improvement than the control group in creative imagination, qualia representation, practical evaluation, positive emotion, and efficacy on the Technological Imagination Disposition Scale; however, the two groups did not differ in their ability to think beyond reality. 3. The MCST group exhibited greater improvement in the creative growth mindset and less of a fixed mindset than the control group did on the Creative Mindsets Scale. These results demonstrated that the creative thinking course based on the MCST was effective. In conclusion, the major contribution of this study is the development of the MCST. This new teaching model integrates creative processes and techniques and can substantially enhance individual creativity. In particular, the MCST is an overall creative thinking enhancement course that can be applied in different fields to promote creative thinking skills.

The term "micro-entrapment syndrome of nerves innervating the face (MESNIF)" is a relatively new concept. It refers to the micro-entrapment of facial nerve (trigeminal nerve and facial nerve) terminals for various reasons, resulting in one-side facial discomfort, subjective sensory abnormalities, or stiffness, and in certain cases, localized micro muscle movement abnormalities and motor disharmony. It is frequently caused by facial paralysis or chronic trigeminal neuritis or injury, and is prevalent in clinical practice. Peripheral facial paralysis affects 60%-70% of people. Both men and women are susceptible to it. It is most common in young and middle-aged women. At the moment, there are two types of therapy options for this disease: nonsurgical treatments and surgical treatments. Among surgical treatments, pulsed radiofrequency has good curative results. This paper describes two typical situations that had good curative effects.

BackgroundDexmedetomidine (DEX) is a sedative with greater preservation of cognitive function, reduced respiratory depression, and improved patient arousability. This study was designed to investigate the performance of DEX during anesthesia induction and to establish an effective DEX induction strategy, which could be valuable for multiple clinical conditions.MethodsPatients undergoing abdominal surgery were involved in this dose-finding trial. Dixon's up-and-down sequential method was employed to determine the effective dose of DEX to achieve the state of “loss of consciousness”, and an effective induction strategy was established with continuous infusion of DEX and remifentanil. The effects of DEX on hemodynamics, respiratory state, EEG, and anesthetic depth were monitored and analyzed.ResultsThrough the strategy mentioned, the depth of surgical anesthesia was successfully achieved by DEX-led anesthesia induction. The ED50 and ED95 of the initial infusion rate of DEX were 0.115 and 0.200 μg/kg/min, respectively, and the mean induction time was 18.3 min. The ED50 and ED95 of DEX to achieve the state of “loss of consciousness” were 2.899 (95% CI: 2.703–3.115) and 5.001 (95% CI: 4.544–5.700) μg/kg, respectively. The mean PSI on the loss of consciousness was 42.8 among the patients. During anesthesia induction, the hemodynamics including BP and HR were stable, and the EEG monitor showed decreased α and β powers and increased θ and δ in the frontal and pre-frontal cortices of the brain.ConclusionThis study indicated that continuous infusion of combined DEX and remifentanil could be an effective strategy for anesthesia induction. The EEG during the induction was similar to the physiological sleep process.

Multiple mental diseases could arise in people who have the disrupted in schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) gene. However, it was unknown how DISC1 might contribute to the development of tumors and immune responses. We extracted data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and TISIDB databases from stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD) patients, which revealed that DISC1 overexpression was closely associated with tumor histological type (mucinous vs. tubular, OR = 2.860, CI = 1.423–5.872, p = 0.004), as well as tumor stage and grade. Furthermore, the higher the DISC1 expression, the lower the overall 10-year survival rate. Patients with low DISC1 expression had a significantly longer progression-free interval (PFI) and disease-specific survival (DSS) than patients with high DISC1 expression. However, patients with higher DISC1 expression in the T3&T4, N0&N1 and M0 subgroups had poorer prognosis in terms of OS, DSS and PFI, as could be seen in the subgroup survival analysis. Public datasets were used to predict lncRNA-miRNA-DISC1 regulation. DISC1 was significantly up-regulated in GC(gastric cancer), and its expression levels showed a moderate to strong positive correlation with infiltration levels of effector memory T cells (Tem) and central memory T cells (Tcm), and a negative correlation was observed with Th17 cells and NK CD56bright cells. In addition, concomitant with the high expression of the DISC1 gene was a decrease in MHC-I (Major Histocompatibility Complex-I)expression and an increase in MHC-II expression, and altered chemokine expression. The upregulation of CXCL12 and CXCR4 expression could be caused by an increase in DISC1 expression.The above expression variability and correlation suggest a role for DISC1 in regulating tumor immunity in GC. These findings suggest that high expression of DISC1 could be an independent prognostic factor for GC.

This retrospective study was to compare clinical outcomes of ultrasound-guided needle release with corticosteroid injection vs. mini-open surgery in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). From January 2021 to December 2021, 40 patients (40 wrists) with CTS were analyzed in this study. The diagnosis was based on clinical symptoms, electrophysiological imaging, and ultrasound imaging. A total of 20 wrists were treated with ultrasound-guided needle release plus corticosteroid injection (Group A), and the other 20 wrists were treated with mini-open surgery (Group B). We evaluated the Boston carpal tunnel questionnaire, electrophysiological parameters (distal motor latency, sensory conduction velocity, and sensory nerve action potential of the median nerve), and ultrasound parameters (cross-sectional area, flattening ratio, and the thicknesses of transverse carpal ligament) both before and 3 months after treatment. Total treatment cost, duration of treatment, healing time, and complications were also recorded for the two groups. The Boston carpal tunnel questionnaire and electrophysiological and ultrasound outcomes at preoperatively and 3 months postoperatively had a significant difference for each group (each with P < 0.05). There were no complications such as infection, hemorrhage, vascular, nerve, or tendon injuries in both groups. Ultrasound-guided needle release and mini-open surgery are both effective measures in treating CTS patients. Ultrasound-guided needle release plus corticosteroid injection provides smaller incision, less cost, less time of treatment, and faster recovery compared with mini-open surgery. Ultrasound-guided needle release plus corticosteroid injection is better for clinical application.

BackgroundPotentially untreatable Plasmodium falciparum malaria threatens the Greater Mekong subregion. A previous series of pilot projects in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam suggested that mass drug administration was safe, and when added to provision of early diagnosis and treatment, could reduce the reservoir of P falciparum and interrupts transmission. We examined the effects of a scaled-up programme of this strategy in four townships of eastern Myanmar on the incidence of P falciparum malaria.MethodsThe programme was implemented in the four townships of Myawaddy, Kawkareik, Hlaingbwe, and Hpapun in Kayin state, Myanmar. Increased access to early diagnosis and treatment of malaria was provided to all villages through community-based malaria posts equipped with rapid diagnostic tests, and treatment with artemether-lumefantrine plus single low-dose primaquine. Villages were identified as malarial hotspots (operationally defined as >40% malaria, of which 20% was P falciparum) with surveys using ultrasensitive quantitative PCR either randomly or targeted at villages where the incidence of clinical cases of P falciparum malaria remained high (ie, >100 cases per 1000 individuals per year) despite a functioning malaria post. During each survey, a 2 mL sample of venous blood was obtained from randomly selected adults. Hotspots received targeted mass drug administration with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine plus single-dose primaquine once per month for 3 consecutive months in addition to the malaria posts. The main outcome was the change in village incidence of clinical P falciparum malaria, quantified using a multivariate, generalised, additive multilevel model. Malaria prevalence was measured in the hotspots 12 months after mass drug administration.FindingsBetween May 1, 2014, and April 30, 2017, 1222 malarial posts were opened, providing early diagnosis and treatment to an estimated 365 000 individuals. Incidence of P falciparum malaria decreased by 60 to 98% in the four townships. 272 prevalence surveys were undertaken and 69 hotspot villages were identified. By April 2017, 50 hotspots were treated with mass drug administration. Hotspot villages had a three times higher incidence of P falciparum at malarial posts than neighbouring villages (adjusted incidence rate ratio [IRR] 2·7, 95% CI 1·8-4·4). Early diagnosis and treatment was associated with a significant decrease in P falciparum incidence in hotspots (IRR 0·82, 95% CI 0·76-0·88 per quarter) and in other villages (0·75, 0·73-0·78 per quarter). Mass drug administration was associated with a five-times decrease in P falciparum incidence within hotspot villages (IRR 0·19, 95% CI 0·13-0·26). By April, 2017, 965 villages (79%) of 1222 corresponding to 104 village tracts were free from P falciparum malaria for at least 6 months. The prevalence of wild-type genotype for K13 molecular markers of artemisinin resistance was stable over the three years (39%; 249/631).InterpretationProviding early diagnosis and effective treatment substantially decreased village-level incidence of artemisinin-resistant P falciparum malaria in hard-to-reach, politically sensitive regions of eastern Myanmar. Targeted mass drug administration significantly reduced malaria incidence in hotspots. If these activities could proceed in all contiguous endemic areas in addition to standard control programmes already implemented, there is a possibility of subnational elimination of P falciparum.FundingThe Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Regional Artemisinin Initiative (Global Fund against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria), and the Wellcome Trust.

Abstract Accurate positioning is a fundamental prerequisite for intelligent connected vehicles (ICVs). Based on global navigation satellite systems, absolute positioning of ICVs can be augmented by cooperative positioning (CP) which fused the state‐related information shared in vehicular networks. Common CP relies on communication signals or special equipment to measure the distance between vehicles. This kind of ranging is suffering from multipath and non‐line of sight and hinders the improvement of CP. Using vehicle‐to‐target relative vectors (V2T‐RVs) based on on‐board sensors, which is immune to multipath and non‐line‐of‐sight, a distributed fusion framework named multisource‐multitarget cooperative positioning is proposed in this paper. Without knowing which target the V2T‐RVs are originated from, the positioning problem is converted into a multi‐target tracking problem by converting the V2T‐RVs into global coordinate. Then, a classic ellipse gate (EG) algorithm is used to pair the ICVs and the converted measurements. Finally, the sequential Kalman filter (KF) is used to complete the state estimation under multiple measurements and obtain the improved absolute position. The above EGKF method is verified in two scenarios generated by microscopic traffic simulator. Performance results show that the EGKF method within multisource‐multitarget cooperative positioning can significantly improve the positioning accuracy.

Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis is an autoimmune disease with a complex pathomechanism. Authors here show by single cell RNA sequencing that the thyroidal microenvironment in the disease is characterised by three stromal cell subtypes that are potentially responsible for the recruitment of infiltrating inflammatory immune cells, such as macrophages and dendritic cells.

The purpose of our study is to investigate the prognostic value of phosphatase and tensin homolog on chromosome 10 (PTEN) expression in patients with de novo metastatic castration naïve prostate cancer (mCNPC). A total of 205 patients with mCNPC at Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (Shanghai, China) were retrospectively examined. Immunohistochemical staining of PTEN was performed on prostate biopsy samples of these patients. Associations among clinicopathological features, patient survival and PTEN protein expression were analyzed. PTEN loss occurred in 58 of 205 (28.3%) patients. Loss of PTEN was significantly correlated with high metastatic volume (P = 0.017). No association between PTEN expression and Gleason score was observed. Patients with PTEN loss had significantly shorter progression-free survival (PFS, P < 0.001) and overall survival (OS, P < 0.001) compared with patients with intact PTEN expression. Multivariate analysis showed that elevated alkaline phosphatase, high metastatic volume and PTEN loss were independent poor prognostic factors for PFS. The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS) ≥2 and PTEN loss were independent poor prognostic factors for OS. The adjusted hazard ratio of PTEN loss for PFS and OS was 1.67 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.14–2.43, P = 0.008) and 1.95 (95% CI: 1.23–3.10, P = 0.005), respectively. PTEN loss was also significantly associated with shorter PFS (P = 0.025) and OS (P < 0.001) in patients with low-volume metastatic disease. Our data showed that PTEN loss is an independent predictor for shorter PFS and OS in patients with de novo mCNPC.

Abstract Background Reaching optimal vaccination rates is an essential public health strategy to control the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study aimed to simulate the optimal vaccination strategy to control the disease by developing an age-specific model based on the current transmission patterns of COVID-19 in Wuhan City, China. Methods We collected two indicators of COVID-19, including illness onset data and age of confirmed case in Wuhan City, from December 2, 2019, to March 16, 2020. The reported cases were divided into four age groups: group 1, ≤ 14 years old; group 2, 15 to 44 years old; group 3, 44 to 64 years old; and group 4, ≥ 65 years old. An age-specific susceptible-exposed-symptomatic-asymptomatic-recovered/removed model was developed to estimate the transmissibility and simulate the optimal vaccination strategy. The effective reproduction number (R eff) was used to estimate the transmission interaction in different age groups. Results A total of 47 722 new cases were reported in Wuhan City from December 2, 2019, to March 16, 2020. Before the travel ban of Wuhan City, the highest transmissibility was observed among age group 2 (R eff = 4.28), followed by group 2 to 3 (R eff = 2.61), and group 2 to 4 (R eff = 1.69). China should vaccinate at least 85% of the total population to interrupt transmission. The priority for controlling transmission should be to vaccinate 5% to 8% of individuals in age group 2 per day (ultimately vaccinated 90% of age group 2), followed by 10% of age group 3 per day (ultimately vaccinated 90% age group 3). However, the optimal vaccination strategy for reducing the disease severity identified individuals ≥ 65 years old as a priority group, followed by those 45–64 years old. Conclusions Approximately 85% of the total population (nearly 1.2 billion people) should be vaccinated to build an immune barrier in China to safely consider removing border restrictions. Based on these results, we concluded that 90% of adults aged 15–64 years should first be vaccinated to prevent transmission in China. Graphical Abstract

Background: Polypoid lesion of gallbladder (PLG) size larger than 10 mm is considered to be one of the surgical indications, but the final pathological results are mostly non-neoplastic polyps. The aim of the study was to define the risk factors to discriminate neoplastic PLG and create more precise criteria for surgical indications. Methods: A large scale, case-series study based on 2704 patients who underwent cholecystectomy for PLG was designed. Logistic regression analysis and receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was adopted to identify risk factors and the optimal size criteria for predicting neoplastic PLG. Results: Patients in the neoplastic group were significantly older than those in the non-neoplastic group and the average PLG size is much larger in the neoplastic group (18.5 ± 4.7 mm vs 12.6 ± 3.6 mm). Neoplastic PLGs are prone to be single and non-neoplastic polyps are usually multiple. On Multivariate logistic regression analysis, PLG size larger than 15 mm and age older than 43 years were found to be the independent risk factors to discriminate neoplastic PLG （Odds ratio 3.546 and 2.77 respectively）. The ROC curve showed that 12 mm might be the more reasonable PLG size threshold for the surgical suggestion. Conclusions: Considering its moderate diagnostic accuracy, the size of gallbladder polyp larger than 10 mm is insufficient to indicate surgical therapy for PLG and 12 mm should be the more optimal polyp's size threshold. Patients older than 43 years have a higher risk of having neoplastic polyps.

More and more people are entering the cryptocurrency market after Bitcoin (BTC) soared to nearly USD 20,000 in 2017. To promote the development of information technology and cryptocurrency marketing, various computerized systems integrating information technology with investment and financing are innovated continuously. In this study, the daily cryptocurrency prices were input to Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM); and the developing trend plots were drawn to predict and analyze the future cryptocurrency prices through deep learning. Finally, the business practices of cryptocurrency investment were modularized based on High-Level Fuzzy Petri Nets (HLFPNs) to make a better investment decision so that all investors can use this decision system to quickly understand the future cryptocurrency trend. The experimental results have shown that this decision system can provide effective investment information to achieve investors’ personal financial goals with the expectation of improving financial situations.

IntroductionCellular senescence is a cellular response to stress, including the activation of oncogenes, and is characterized by irreversible proliferation arrest. Restricted studies have provided a relationship between cellular senescence and immunotherapy for esophageal cancer.MethodsIn the present study, we obtained clinical sample of colon cancer from the TCGA database and cellular senescence-related genes from MSigDB and Genecard datasets. Cellular senescence-related prognostic genes were identified by WGCNA, COX, and lasso regression analysis, and a cellular senescence-related risk score (CSRS) was calculated. We constructed a prognostic model based on CSRS. Validation was performed with an independent cohort that GSE53625. Three scoring systems for immuno-infiltration analysis were performed, namely ssGSEA analysis, ESTIMATE scores and TIDE scores.ResultFive cellular senescence-related genes, including H3C1, IGFBP1, MT1E, SOX5 and CDHR4 and used to calculate risk score. Multivariate regression analysis using cox regression model showed that cellular senescence-related risk scores (HR=2.440, 95% CI=1.154-5.159, p=0.019) and pathological stage (HR=2.423, 95% CI=1.119-5.249, p=0.025) were associated with overall survival (OS). The nomogram model predicts better clinical benefit than the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging for prognosis of patients with esophageal cancer with a five-year AUC of 0.946. Patients with high CSRS had a poor prognosis (HR=2.93, 95%CI=1.74-4.94, p

With the development of high-volume manufacturing for very-large-scale integrated circuits, the purity of the light source in the extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) system needs to fulfil extreme requirements in order to avoid thermal effect, optical distortion and critical dimension errors caused by out-of-band radiations. This paper reviews the key technologies and developments of the spectral purity systems for both a free-standing system and a built-in system integrated with the collector. The main challenges and developing trends are also discussed, with a view towards practical applications for further improvement. Designing and manufacturing spectral purity systems for EUVL is not a single task; rather, it requires systematic considerations for all relevant modules. Moreover, the requirement of spectral purity filters drives the innovation in filtering technologies, optical micromachining and advanced metrology.

The dynamic prediction of financial distress can monitor the financial status of an enterprise in real time and provide evidence for financial analysts. However, currently, there are few studies concerning the dynamic prediction of financial distress in the financial sharing environment, so in order to fill this research gap, this study established a dynamic prediction model of financial distress in the financial sharing environment. Firstly, this study employed the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and entropy weight theory to determine an index system for the dynamic evaluation of financial distress in the financial sharing environment and gave the weight assignment method of the evaluation indexes. Then, based on the probabilistic neural network (PNN), this study constructed a dynamic prediction model of financial distress and used experimental results to verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the constructed model.