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Background and ObjectivesDiabetes mellitus (DM) contributes significantly to metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular events, and it may be a comorbidity of epilepsy. The objective of this study was to investigate whether long-term antiseizure medication (ASM) use is associated with the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.MethodsWe analyzed data from the Chang Gung Research Database. Patients aged ≥45 years who received ASM treatment from January 2001 to May 2019 were identified. Patients with DM-associated diseases and short-term ASM use were excluded. The patients were classified into nonenzyme interaction, enzyme-inducing, enzyme-inhibiting, and mixed ASM groups. The rate of incident diabetes associated with individual ASM was further analyzed. Propensity score weighting was performed to balance between-group differences. Analyses were conducted with Cox proportional regression models and stabilized inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW). Hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated at 3, 4, 6, and 9 years after the index date and the end of follow-up.ResultsA total of 5,103 patients were analyzed, of whom 474 took nonenzyme interaction ASMs, 1,156 took enzyme-inducing ASMs, 336 took enzyme-inhibiting ASMs, and 3,137 took mixed ASMs. During follow-up (39,248 person-years), 663 patients developed new-onset DM, and the prevalence was 13.0%. The incidence of DM plateaued at 6–9 years after ASM initiation. Enzyme-inhibiting ASMs were significantly associated with a higher HR starting at the third year and then throughout the study period. The HRs were 1.93 (95% CI 1.33–2.80), 1.85 (95% CI 1.24–2.75), and 2.08 (95% CI 1.43–3.03) in unadjusted, adjusted, and stabilized IPTW models, respectively, at the end of follow-up. The dosing of ASM did not increase the risk of DM, and none of the individual ASM analyses reached statistical significance.DiscussionThe long-term use of enzyme-inhibiting ASMs was associated with an increased risk of incident DM, and the risk increased with the duration of treatment. These findings may guide the choice of drugs in those requiring long-term ASM therapy, particularly in high-risk individuals.Classification of EvidenceThis study provides Class IV evidence that enzyme-inhibiting ASMs were associated with an increased risk of developing DM compared with nonenzyme interaction ASMs.

The scientific aspects of hydrogen storage in a single Mg atom have been investigated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations on gas-phase MgHn (n=1-20) clusters. It was found, at least...

The performance of content-based image retrieval(CBIR) system mainly depends on two key technologies:image feature extraction and image feature matching.In this paper,the color features of all the images are extracted,and an appropriate fuzzy algorithm is adopted in the process of color feature extraction to gain the fuzzy color features of image.Image feature ma-tching mainly depends on the similarity between two image feature vectors.In this paper,a novel fuzzy similarity measure method is proposed it adopts the similarity between the query image and its k nearest neighbor images to constitute the k-dimensional fuzzy feature vector of the query imagem,and adopts the similarity between each retrieved image and k nearest neighbor images of the query image to constitute the k-dimensional fuzzy feature vector of each retrieved image.Then it calculates the fuzzy similarity between the k-dimensional fuzzy feature vector of the query image and the k-dimensional fuzzy feature vector of each retrieved image,and the retrieved images are fed back to users in reverse order of the fuzzy similarity.In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed fuzzy color features,a series of experimental comparison are performed on the WANG dataset.In order to evaluate the performance of the image retrieval system based on different similarities,a series of experimental comparison are performed on WANG,Corel-5k and Corel-10K datasets.Experimental results show that the performance of the image retrieval system based on the maximum and minimum value outperforms that of the image retrieval systems based on the other three commonly used similarities.And the performance of the image retrieval system based on fuzzy similarity outperformsthat of the image retrieval system based on the maximum and minimum value.On the WANG,Corel-5k and Corel-10K datasets,the average precision of top 20 images retrieved by the image retrieval system based on fuzzy similarity is 4.92%,17.11% and 19.48% higher thanthat of top 20 images retrieved by the image retrieval system based on the maximum and minimum value respectively,and the average precision of top 100 images retrieved by the image retrieval system based on fuzzy similarity is 4.94%,22.61% and 33.02% higher that than of top 100 images retrieved by the image retrieval system based on the maximum and minimum value respectively.

In order to study the impact of the "carbon peak and neutrality" mode on future power generation and the environment in China, a Verhulst gray model was established to predict the development of the power generation industry from 2021 to 2060 under the non-"carbon peak and neutrality" mode. In addition, based on the "China 2030 Energy and Power Development Planning Research and 2060 Outlook Report," the development of the power generation industry from 2021 to 2060 under the "carbon peak and neutrality" mode was obtained, and the development scenarios of the future power generation industry in China under two models were compared and studied. The emission factors and emission reduction factors of CO

With immense impact on coastal ecosystems' function, especially on nutrient cycle, Spartina alterniflora has become the most importantly invasive species in coastal wetland of China. However, the alternation of sulfur level and transformation between different inorganic sulfur (IS) fractions caused by the plant are poorly understood. In order to study the effect of S. alterniflora invasion and growth on soil IS components, we used space-for-time substitution method and examined a whole year dynamics of different sulfur components in 0–60 cm soil of S. alterniflora tidal flat and mudflat at Jiaozhou Bay. Results indicated S. alterniflora improved soil sulfur level and its bio-availability, increased the contents of soil TS, total inorganic sulfur (TIS) and all of the IS fractions except hydrochloric acid volatile sulfur (HVS). But only the rate of soil adsorbed sulfur (AS) to TIS raised following invasion. In addition, S. alterniflora elevated the accumulation sites of soil Hydrochloric acid soluble sulfur (HSS) and HVS from deep soil to rhizosphere in spring. Key impact factors on IS fractions altered as invasion from soil physicochemical factors to plant fctors. Further, S. alterniflora encouraged the transformation of sulfur state from precipitation (HSS, HVS) to dissolved (HS, AS). This implies that the plant induced to an elevation of sulfur provided capacity and a reduction of sulfur toxicity in soil, which has vitally ecological significance for its expansion in costal wetlands. Now, S. alterniflora has occupied large area mudflat and was competing for habitat with native species in Jiaozhou Bay.

To investigate the effects of

The spatial relationship between the energy dissipation slabs and the vortex tubes is investigated based on the direct numerical simulation (DNS) of the channel flow. The spatial distance between these two structures is found to be slightly greater than the vortex radius. Comparison of the core areas of the vortex tubes and the dissipation slabs gives a mean ratio of 0.16 for the mean swirling strength and that of 2.89 for the mean dissipation rate. These results verify that in the channel flow the slabs of intense dissipation and the vortex tubes do not coincide in space. Rather they appear in pairs offset with a mean separation of approximately 10η.

Chemical modification of penicillin β-lactam ring was made. Six thiazolidine amides were produced through N4-C7 β-lactam ring opening of penicillin V methyl ester with various aliphatic, aromatic, and heterocyclic primary amines. Five 8-hydroxypenillic acid derivatives with side chains of methyl, propyl, benzyl, and diethylaminoethyl groups were yielded via β-lactam ring rearrangement from 6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-APA). Parallel synthetic methods were used for the alkylation of 8-hydroxypenillic acid and β-lactam ring opening of penicillin V methyl ester. The biological activities of the compounds were evaluated.

Qinzhou Bay consists of an inner bay, an outer bay and a connecting rocky inlet. A large-scale channel-shoal morphological system has been historically present in the outer bay. Qinzhou Harbor has utilized the east channel as access route and plans further dredging and expansion of its operational yard by land reclamation; meanwhile, a 6×1000 MW nuclear power plant is being constructed. The plant is to build long-range jetties to intake sea water as cooling water from the west channel and release thermal waste water into the same channel. To ascertain the combined influences of these large engineering projects upon the long-term evolution of the channel-shoal system this study uses FVCOM to investigate the tidal discharges, flow asymmetries and sediment discharges of three channels and perform one-hundred-year-long morphological simulation. It is found that the loss of wide intertidal flats and the cross-section of the inlet will not cause migration or merging of channels as long as tidal prism into the inner bay is not reduced significantly; meanwhile, the full-length dredging in the ebb-dominated east channel in terms of ‘bed-erodible tidal excursion’ can trigger long-term erosions in other ebb-dominated channels, and helps maintain the overall stability of channel-shoal system.

This study examines long-term channel-shoal stability in the Tieshan Bay, which is located on the southwest coast of China. A large-scale channel-shoal system has historically existed in the outer Tieshan Bay. A navigation waterway is initiated by cutting and dredging a mid-channel shoal to supply coal to a power plant on the middle coast of the Tieshan Bay. Dredging of the access channel to the Tieshan Port was conducted in two stages followed by land reclamation. It is thus of practical meaning to explore how the channel-shoal system will evolve in long term afterwards. This study uses the process-based finite-volume coastal ocean model (FVCOM) to investigate long-term (centennial) morphological evolution of the channel-shoal system. After well calibration of hydrodynamics and sediment transport, the model forecasts morphodynamic evolution in hundred years. The simulations show that continuous erosion in tidal channels and accretion over shoals and intertidal flats occur. However, the cutting and access channels will be subjected to long-term siltation. A secondary channel indicating the reorientation of the access channel will emerge, and a localized channel-ridge system at the junction of the major channels will be formed. The overall erosion/accretion pattern demonstrates the combined effect of bottom friction and advective sediment transport processes to be responsible for the channel-shoal formation. Dredging of the tidal channels will stimulate the stability of the channel-shoal pattern. It suggests that the navigation waterway should be set up following the long-term morphological evolution of the channel-shoal system at a design stage and maintenance dredging volume might thus be minimized.

Cephalosporins are important antibiotics. We synthesized new cephalosporin analogs containing novel side chains of methyl, propyl, benzyl, and phenoxy groups. Four synthetic methods with N-alkylation and N-acylation at position C-7 and esterification at position C-4 of 7-aminodesacetoxycephalosporanic acid are reported here.

The citric-acid coated Mn-Zn ferrite nanocrystalline was prepared by an improved co-precipitation method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and TEM measurements indicated that the coated samples were pure spinel Mn-Zn ferrite nanocrystalline and the particles coated after boiling circumfluence were more homogeneous than that before boiling circumfluence. Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) indicated that the Ms of the coated samples was higher than that without coating. Specially when the content of citric acid is 4.76wt% after boiling circumfluence, the Ms of the coated sample is 54.15 emu•g-1 which is 28.7% higher than that without coating.

With fast development of output, light-weighting and high performance of automobile, 17Cr2Ni2Mo steel, as an important vehicle-used gear steel, has to improve properties to fulfill the development. The performance of 17Cr2Ni2Mo steel is affected by quenching process parameters. In order to investigate the effect of austenitizing temperature and holding time on the quenching hardness and tensile strength, the central composite design (CCD) and response surface method (RSM) are applied to optimize the operating variables viz. austenitizing temperature and holding time. Multi-objective optimization developed for the two responses (quenching hardness and tensile strength) indicates the optimum conditions to be 920.46°C of austenitizing temperature and 0 h of holding time, while the values of quenching hardness, tensile strength are not less than 43.47 HRC and 1616.42 MPa. The gear has advantages with mechanical strength and abrasion resistance energy when 17Cr2Ni2Mo steel is produced using the optimum parameters.

20CrMnTi steel is usually employed in the fabrication of wearable parts subjected to medium dynamic load, such as change gear, gear shaft, cross pin end, etc., which are extensively adopted in the automobile industry. The stability of hardness ability and strength ability of 20CrMnTi steel are important performance in producing gear steel. For the sake of researching the effect of austenitizing temperature and holding time on the quenching hardness and tensile strength, the central composite design, response surface method and multi-objective optimization are carried out to optimize the operating variables viz. austenitizing temperature and holding time. The results indicate that the optimum conditions are austenitizing temperature of 910.54°C and holding time is 0 min. Meanwhile, the predicted values of quenching hardness and tensile strength are not less than 49.19 HRC and 1444.29 MPa.

A simple and novel direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation method for wideband signals is proposed. The proposed method estimates DOAs according to a covariance matrix which is constructed by summing up the covariance matrices of various frequency bins. It provides a lower computation complexity and a better performance compared to the traditional wideband DOA methods. This new idea is inspired by the concept of focusing transformation, and its validity is theoretically proved. A technique to determine an optimal focusing frequency is also introduced. Finally, simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the method.

Six thiazolidine amides (III) are produced through N4-C7 β-lactam ring opening of penicillin V methyl ester (I).

The sediment in river channel has long been one of the main resources for construction activities along the Yangtze River. As the Three Gorges Project was built and running, it is of great importance to make clear the characteristics of sand and gravel mining in upstream of the Yangtze River, which can be significant references for ensuring waterway stability and comprehensive management of the Three Gorges reservoir. In this research, sediment excavation activities along the Yangtze River were reviewed from a historical perspective. The mining activities has been documented as three specific stages: small scale mining from 1950s to 1970s, disordered massive development from 1970s to 2000s and the orderly mining according to related laws from 21th century to the present. The policies and rules for sand mining along the Yangtze River nowadays were introduced, including limits on annual total mining, permissible area, period, etc. Moreover, a management database under the framework of GIS, which based on field survey and official investigation, was established. Elaborate information was incorporated in the database, including the kind of sand mining location, annually exploitation quantity, type of the removal, etc. Then the type, size and distribution characteristics of in-channel mining points along the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River were analyzed. Finally, in conjunction with the hydrological data in recent years, the effects of the sand and gravel mining on the deposition of the reservoir were quantitative analyzed, particularly in terms of particle gradation and total amount of sediment.

An improved procedure for the preparation of the saddle-distorted porphyrin 2,3,5,7,8,10,12,13,15,17,18,20-dodecaphenylporphyrin (H2dpp) (yield = 75%) based on the Suzuki cross-coupling reaction between phenylboronic acid PhB(OH)2 and [2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18-octabromo-5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphyrin] has been developed. X-Ray diffraction studies of [MII(dpp)(CO)(py)] (M = Ru 1 or Os 3) showed that 1 and 3 are isostructural, and the porphyrin macrocycles exhibit severe out-of-plane saddle and ruffle distortions. In both 1 and 3 the pyrrole rings are alternately tilted up and down with respect to the least-squares plane of the 25-atom porphyrin core, and the pyrrole carbons experience an average displacement of 0.769 A from the least-squares plane compared to 0.78 A for free H2dpp, whereas the Ru and Os atoms are displaced by 0.1006 and 0.0792 A from the 25-atom porphyrin core respectively. The complex [RuVI(dpp)O2] 2, prepared by m-chloroperoxybenzoic acid oxidation, is an active oxidant for alkene epoxidations. In CH2Cl2 [containing 2%(w/w) pyrazole], styrene, norbornene and cis-stilbene were oxidised selectively to their respective epoxides in excellent yield. Complete stereoretention was observed for the oxidation of cis-stilbene, however oxidation of cis-β-methylstyrene afforded significant amounts of trans-epoxide suggesting that a carboradical mechanism is operative. The crystal structure of the complex [RuIV(dpp)(pz)2] (5), the product of the stoichiometric alkene oxidations, was determined. Magnetic susceptibility measurement (µeff = 3.24 µB) suggests the formulation of RuIV with two unpaired electrons in its electronic ground state. The Ru–N (pz) bond distances are 2.022(13) and 2.083(12) A. The reactions of 2 with alkenes in CH2Cl2 (with 2% Hpz) follow second-order kinetics: rate = k1[2][alkene]. For norbornene and styrene, the second-order rate constants, k1, in CH2Cl2 at 25.9 °C are (3.79 ± 0.04) × 10–3 and (4.78 ± 0.09) × 10–3 dm3 mol–1 s–1 respectively.

A grading cross bio-trickling filter was designed for H2S removal. Mixed microorganisms domesticated from the former experiment were immobilized to start up the trickling filter. Removal performances during starting up period and different loadings were investigated. Results showed that the immobilization of the trickling filter was completed within 3 d. The removal efficiency was higher than 99% when the inlet concentration was in the range of 110 mg x m(-3) to 230 mg x m(-3) (EBRT 30 s). At low inlet loadings, the front part of the trickling filter played a major role in H2S degradation, accounting for about 85%. Microbial diversity and population of the front part were superior to the tail one. At higher loadings, microbial diversity and population of the tail part increased significantly, from 4.5 x 10(7) cells x g (-1) to 5.17 x 10(8) cells x g(-1), and the elimination capacity was also improved,from 0.04 g x h(-1) to 0.67 g x h(-1). Rod-shaped bacteria were the dominant microorganisms on the surface of ceramics in the steady state as observed by SEM. The surfaces of ceramics were covered by a lot of microbial metabolites at high loadings. Analysis of the metabolites indicated that the majority of H2S was oxidized to sulfur and only a small portion was converted to sulfate.

Ruthenium(II) meso-tetrakis(4-chlorophenyl)porphyrinencapsulated in MCM-41 modified with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane is a stable catalyst for alkene oxidation by tert-butyl hydroperoxide with high product turnovers.

A ruthenium complex of meso-tetrakis(2,6-dichlorophenyl)porphyrin, [RuII(TDCPP)(CO)(EtOH)], is immobilized into mesoporous MCM-41 molecular sieves; the supported Ru catalyst can effect highly selective heterogeneous alkene epoxidations using 2,6-dichloropyridine N-oxide as terminal oxidant. Aromatic and aliphatic alkenes can be efficiently converted to their epoxides in good yields and selectivities, and cis-alkenes such as cis-stilbene, cis-β-methylstyrene, and cis-β-deuteriostyrene are epoxidized stereospecifically. Oxidation of cycloalkenes, e.g., norbornene and cyclooctene, can be carried out effectively using the heterogeneous Ru-catalyzed reaction while these alkenes are unreactive in the zeolite-based titanium silicate (TS-1)-catalyzed conditions (Murugavel, R.; Roesky, H. W. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 1997, 36, 477). On the other hand, the Ru/M-41(m) catalyst displays size selectivity in the (+)-limonene oxidation where the terminal CC bond (vs internal trisubstituted CC bond) becomes more readi...

The conventional multi-beam forming is performed at the element or subarray level. With the former it is not feasible for cost and complexity reasons to process all array element outputs individually. With the latter it is perfect to form singular beam but not perfect for multi-beam. In this paper combining pattern synthesis with spatial interpolation a multi-beam forming method is proposed, The new method can not only achieve multiple beams in arbitrary direction, but also avoid processing all array element outputs individually. Consequently, the proposed method is applicable in practice. Simulation results show that the new method is effective for the multi-beam forming of a large array.

The conventional minimum variance beamformer (MVB) is known to have better resolution and much better interference rejection capability when the array steering vector is accurately known. However, the major problem of the MVB is that it lacks robustness against the unknown array steering vector errors. Therefore, diagonal loading and its extended versions have been a popular approach to improve the robustness of MVB. In this paper, we provide an improved robust MVB (RMVB) algorithm, which has been derived by enforcing a spherical uncertainty set constraint on the array steering vector. The new algorithm has reasonable computation complexity and more numerical stability. Simulation results show that the new algorithm is effective in the presence of array steering vector errors.

The design and synthesis of a small library of 8-amidoflavone, 8-sulfonamidoflavone, 8-amido-7-hydroxyflavone, and heterocyclic analogues of flavopiridol is reported. The potential activity of these compounds as kinase inhibitors was evaluated by cytotoxicity studies in MCF-7 and ID-8 cancer cell lines and inhibition of CDK2-Cyclin A enzyme activity in vitro. The antiproliferative and CDK2-Cyclin A inhibitory activity of these analogues was significantly lower than the activity of flavopiridol. Molecular docking simulations were carried out and these studies suggested a different binding orientation inside the CDK2 binding pocket for these analogues compared to flavopiridol.

A ruthenium complex of meso-tetrakis(2,6-dichlorophenyl)porphyrin, [Ru(II)(TDCPP)(CO)(EtOH)], is immobilized into mesoporous MCM-41 molecular sieves; the supported Ru catalyst can effect highly selective heterogeneous alkene epoxidations using 2,6-dichloropyridine N-oxide as terminal oxidant. Aromatic and aliphatic alkenes can be efficiently converted to their epoxides in good yields and selectivities, and cis-alkenes such as cis-stilbene, cis-beta-methylstyrene, and cis-beta-deuteriostyrene are epoxidized stereospecifically. Oxidation of cycloalkenes, e.g., norbornene and cyclooctene, can be carried out effectively using the heterogeneous Ru-catalyzed reaction while these alkenes are unreactive in the zeolite-based titanium silicate (TS-1)-catalyzed conditions (Murugavel, R.; Roesky, H. W. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 1997, 36, 477). On the other hand, the Ru/M-41(m) catalyst displays size selectivity in the (+)-limonene oxidation where the terminal C=C bond (vs internal trisubstituted C=C bond) becomes more readily oxidized. Bulky 3,4,6-tri-O-benzyl-D-glucal has failed to react under the heterogeneous Ru-catalyzed conditions, whereas the smaller acetyl derivative is converted to a 3:1 mixture of alpha- and beta-glycal epoxides. The Ru/M-41(m) catalyst can be used repeatedly, and 67% of its initial activity is retained after 11 691 turnovers (three runs). The loss of activity is attributed to catalyst leaching and/or deactivation. On the basis of Hammett correlation (rho(+) = -0.72, R = 0.997) and product studies (cyclohexene and cis-alkenes as the substrates), a reactive dioxoruthenium(VI) porphyrin intermediate is not favored. An oxoruthenium(V) complex or oxoruthenium(IV) porphyrin cation radical could be the key intermediate for this highly selective epoxidation reaction.

1,19-Disubstituted tetradehydrocorrins have a ring structure that is closely related to the corrin ring found in vitamin B12. We herein report the isolation and full characterization of a Co(I)-TDHC species and X-ray crystal structures and full characterization of related Co(II) and Co(III) corrins as models for vitamin B12 complexes.

Ruthenium(II) meso-tetrakis(4-chlorophenyl)porphyrinencapsulated in MCM-41 modified with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane is a stable catalyst for alkene oxidation by tert-butyl hydroperoxide with high product turnovers.