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IntroductionExtended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae pose a huge threat to human health, especially in the context of complicated urinary tract infections (cUTIs). Carbapenems and piperacillin–tazobactam (PTZ) are two antimicrobial agents commonly used to treat cUTIs.MethodsA monocentric retrospective cohort study focused on the treatment of cUTIs in adults was conducted from January 2019 to November 2021. Patients with a positive urine culture strain yielding ≥ 103 colony-forming units per milliliter (CFU/mL), and sensitive to PTZ and carbapenems, were included. The primary endpoint was clinical success after antibiotic therapy. The secondary endpoint included rehospitalization and 90-day recurrence of cUTIs caused by ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae.ResultsOf the 195 patients included in this study, 110 were treated with PTZ while 85 were administered meropenem. The rate of clinical cure was similar between the PTZ and meropenem groups (80% vs. 78.8%, p = 0.84). However, the PTZ group had a lower duration of total antibiotic use (6 vs. 9; p < 0.01), lower duration of effective antibiotic therapy (6 vs. 8; p < 0.01), and lower duration of hospitalization (16 vs. 22; p < 0.01).DiscussionIn terms of adverse events, the safety of PTZ was higher than that of meropenem in the treatment of cUTIs.

The goal of this study was to determine whether the plasma leptin, nesfatin-1, cortisol, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and inflammatory cytokines could be used as potential biomarkers for the degree of craving in the alcohol-dependent patients after 1 month of abstinence. A total of 83 patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and 61 healthy subjects were assessed. Patients with AUD were selected from Department of Material Dependence, Anhui Mental Health Center, and subjects in the control group were selected from healthy volunteers. The Alcohol Urge questionnaire Scale (AUQ) was used to evaluate the extent of craving for alcohol, and the Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST), the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND), the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) were also assessed in patients with AUD. Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) was used for the measurement of plasma leptin, nesfatin-1, cortisol, BDNF, Interleukin-6 (IL-6), C-reactive protein (CRP), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels. Compare with healthy controls, the average leptin, leptin/BMI, IL-6, CRP, and TNF-α levels in patients with AUD were significantly increased, while the BDNF levels were significantly decreased. Moreover, the partial correlational analysis showed that the AUQ scores of the alcohol-dependent patients were positively correlated with the plasma leptin levels (r = 0.613, P < 0.001), rather than nesfatin-1 (r = 0.066, P = 0.569) after controlling for age as covariate. Furthermore, plasma nesfatin-1 levels were found to be correlated with the SDS scores (r = 0.366, P = 0.001) in the AUD group. In addition, plasma leptin levels were positively associated with the plasma IL-6 (r = 0.257, P = 0.033), CRP (r = 0.305, P = 0.011), and TNF-α (r = 0.311, P = 0.009) levels, and negatively associated with the BDNF levels (r = −0.245, P = 0.042) in patients with AUD. These results suggest that plasma leptin, but not nesfatin-1, might be a potential biomarker for the degree of craving in alcohol-dependent patients after 1 month of abstinence, the mechanism of which might be related to the dysfunction of the inflammatory cytokines and BDNF levels.

Introduction: Extended-spectrum b-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae pose a huge threat to human health, especially in the context of complicated urinary tract infections (cUTIs). Carbapenems and piperacillin-tazobactam (PTZ) are two antimicrobial agents commonly used to treat cUTIs. Methods: A monocentric retrospective cohort study focused on the treatment of cUTIs in adults was conducted from January 2019 to November 2021. Patients with a positive urine culture strain yielding = 103 colony-forming units per milliliter (CFU/mL), and sensitive to PTZ and carbapenems, were included. The primary endpoint was clinical success after antibiotic therapy. The secondary endpoint included rehospitalization and 90-day recurrence of cUTIs caused by ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae. Results: Of the 195 patients included in this study, 110 were treated with PTZ while 85 were administered meropenem. The rate of clinical cure was similar between the PTZ and meropenem groups (80% vs. 78.8%, p = 0.84). However, the PTZ group had a lower duration of total antibiotic use (6 vs. 9; p < 0.01), lowerduration of effective antibiotic therapy (6 vs. 8; p < 0.01), and lower duration of hospitalization (16 vs. 22; p < 0.01). Discussion: In terms of adverse events, the safety of PTZ was higher than that of meropenem in the treatment of cUTIs [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high-precision positioning technology of a rail-type patrol robot is an important research direction in the area of intelligent patrol inspection of belt conveyors. An excessively long mining belt conveyor and a complex working environment severely affect the positioning accuracy of patrol robots. This study aims to address the problems of poor adaptability to tracks and limited positioning accuracy of the positioning technology of rail-type patrol robots in the field of mining belt conveyor patrol inspection. Therefore, a high-precision positioning method based on a modified fusion of encoder and near field communication, abbreviated NFC, double sensors is proposed. This work analyzes the influence of track and track environment characteristics of the belt conveyor track patrol robot on the encoder coefficient. It also proposes a track segmentation principle based on the same characteristics of a track surface, providing a basis for the subsequent correction and fusion algorithm. A recursive positioning method of the absolute value encoder is constructed based on the data feedback characteristics carried by the robot. Through the historical positioning sensor data of robot operation, the encoder coefficients are modified according to sections and directions. Further, the encoder coefficient correction method based on recursive least squares is proposed to improve the adaptability of the encoder to the track. Hence, corresponding positioning methods are constructed according to the different positions of the robot’s track segments. At the end of the segment, the fusion positioning of the encoder and NFC data are realized based on the Kalman filtering algorithm to reduce the cumulative error of the encoder. In the segment, to improve the positioning accuracy of the encoder, the subsection and direction correction coefficient and real-time data of the encoder are used for recursive positioning. Therefore, combined with the positioning of each section of the track, the continuous high-precision positioning of the track-type patrol robot on the entire track can be realized. Moreover, an experimental platform is built for the proposed method to conduct physical testing. The modified fusion positioning method is compared with encoder positioning, RFID positioning, and fusion positioning based on encoder and NFC. The results of the correction experiment indicate that the modified fusion localization algorithm based on the encoder and NFC can effectively improve the adaptability of orbital inspection robot localization to the orbital environment. Meanwhile, the results of the modified fusion experiment indicate that the positioning method can improve the positioning accuracy of the orbital inspection robot. Therefore, the proposed positioning method can be applied to the application scenario of a long-distance mining belt conveyor patrol inspection.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are widely used in human and animal health care to reduce persistent inflammation, pain and fever because of their anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic effects. However, the improper discharge and disposal make it becomes a major contaminant in the environment, which poses a big threat to the ecosystem. For this reason, accurate, sensitive, effective, green, and economic techniques are urgently required and have been rapidly developed in recent years. This review summarizes the advancement of sample preparation technologies for NSAIDs involving solid-phase extraction, solid-phase microextraction, liquid-phase microextraction, QuEChERS, and matrix solid-phase dispersion. Meanwhile, we overview and compare analytical technologies for NSAIDs, including liquid chromatography-based methods, gas chromatography-based methods, capillary electrophoresis, and sensors, particularly the development of liquid chromatography-based methods. Furthermore, we focus on their progress and conduct a comparison between their advantages and disadvantages.

Land resources are the fundamental and basic requirements for human survival and development as well as for the agricultural production and industrial construction. In recent years, due to the impact of industrial construction and chemical pollution, the cultivable land area is gradually decreasing, and the available agricultural land may be gravely insufficient for food production in the future. In China, the amount of abandoned mine land has increased significantly because of China’s national supply-side structural reform program. The abandoned mine land can be transformed into agricultural land to effectively alleviate food crisis and the contradictory relationship existing between people and land, and improve the ecological environment of mining area. Abandoned mine land refers to the land that has lost its economic value due to a series of production operations and also the land that has not been artificially restored to original conditions after mining. Abandoned mine land is a large, external, and unstructured environment with multiple obstacles and uncertainties and cannot be accessed by humans. Therefore, mobile robots are used to access those areas, and even for mobile robots, planning their coverage path in those areas is difficult. In this paper, the boustrophedon cellular decomposition (BCD) method and biologically inspired neural network (BINN) algorithm were combined to complete the coverage path planning of mobile robots on abandoned mine land. First, for the known environment of the abandoned mine land, the BCD method was used to make regional decomposition of the complex environment. The map with comprehensive complexity was decomposed into several subregions without any obstacles. Second, an undirected graph (i.e., a set of objects called vertices or nodes that are connected together, where all the edges are bidirectional) was constructed according to the adjacency relationship of the subregions, and the depth first search algorithm was used to determine the transfer order between subregions. Finally, the BINN algorithm was used to determine the internal walking mode of and the regional transfer path between the subregions. Simulation results show that the BINN algorithm is of higher efficiency than any other path planning algorithms used to solve the robot path transfer problem. Moreover, the proposed method in this paper could work in complex, unstructured environments to complete the coverage path planning of mobile robots.

Abstract Background Major depressive disorder (MDD) is highly heterogeneous in pathogenesis and manifestations. Further classification may help characterize its heterogeneity. We previously have shown differential metabolomic profiles of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) diagnostic subtypes of MDD. We further determined brain connectomic associations with TCM subtypes of MDD. Methods In this naturalistic study, 44 medication-free patients with a recurrent depressive episode were classified into liver qi stagnation (LQS, n = 26) and Heart and Spleen Deficiency (HSD, n = 18) subtypes according to TCM diagnosis. Healthy subjects (n = 28) were included as controls. Whole-brain white matter connectivity was analyzed on diffusion tensor imaging. Results The LQS subtype showed significant differences in multiple network metrics of the angular gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, calcarine sulcus, and Heschl’s gyrus compared to the other two groups. The HSD subtype had markedly greater regional connectivity of the insula, parahippocampal gyrus, and posterior cingulate gyrus than the other two groups, and microstructural abnormalities of the frontal medial orbital gyrus and middle temporal pole. The insular betweenness centrality was strongly inversely correlated with the severity of depression and dichotomized the two subtypes at the optimal cutoff value with acceptable sensitivity and specificity. Conclusions The LQS subtype is mainly characterized by aberrant connectivity of the audiovisual perception-related temporal-occipital network, whereas the HSD subtype is more closely associated with hyperconnectivity and microstructural abnormalities of the limbic-paralimbic network. Insular connectivity may serve a biomarker for TCM-based classification of depression. Trial registration Registered at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02346682) on January 27, 2015

Abstract Background Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a highly heterogeneous disease. Further classification may characterize its heterogeneity. The purpose of this study was to examine whether metabolomic variables could differentiate traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) diagnostic subtypes of MDD. Methods Fifty medication-free patients who were experiencing a recurrent depressive episode were classified into Liver Qi Stagnation (LQS, n = 30) and Heart and Spleen Deficiency (HSD, n = 20) subtypes according to TCM diagnosis. Healthy volunteers (n = 28) were included as controls. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) was used to examine serum and urinary metabolomic profiles. Results Twenty-eight metabolites were identified for good separations between TCM subtypes and healthy controls in serum samples. Both TCM subtypes had similar profiles in proteinogenic branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) (valine, leucine, and isoleucine) and energy metabolism-related metabolites that were differentiated from healthy controls. The LQS subtype additionally differed from healthy controls in multiple amino acid metabolites that are involved in biosynthesis of monoamine and amino acid neurotransmitters, including phenylalanine, 3-hydroxybutric acid, o-tyrosine, glycine, l-tryptophan, and N-acetyl-l-aspartic acid. Threonic acid, methionine, stearic acid, and isobutyric acid are differentially associated with the two subtypes. Conclusions While both TCM subtypes are associated with aberrant BCAA and energy metabolism, the LQS subtype may represent an MDD subpopulation characterized by abnormalities in the biosynthesis of monoamine and amino acid neurotransmitters and closer associations with stress-related pathophysiology. The metabolites differentially associated with the two subtypes are promising biomarkers for predicting TCM subtype-specific antidepressant response [registered at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02346682) on January 27, 2015].

Lignin valorization is a challenge because of its complex structure and high thermal stability. Supercritical alcoholysis of lignin without external hydrogen in a self-made high-pressure reactor is investigated under different temperatures (450–500 °C) and solvents as well as catalysts by using a reactant suspension mode. Small-molecular arenes and mono-phenols (C7-C12) are generated under short residence time of 30 min. High temperature (500 °C) favors efficient deoxy-liquefaction of lignin (70%) and formation of small-molecular arenes (C6-C9). Solvents methanol and ethanol demonstrate much more synergistic effect on efficient deoxy-liquefaction of lignin than propanol. The catalyst Cu-C has the optimal activity and selectivity in methanol (70% of conversion, 83.93% of arenes), whereas Fe-SiC possesses the optimal catalytic deoxygenation in ethanol, resulting in the formation of arenes other than phenols. Further analysis indicates that lignin is converted into arenes by efficient cleavages of CO ether bonds and CC bonds under high temperature and pressure. Keywords: Lignin, Arenes, Alcoholysis, Aromatics, Deoxy-liquefaction

Typhoons, such as Soudelor, which caused the collapse of several onshore wind turbines in 2015, pose a considerable challenge to Taiwan’s wind energy industry. In this study the characteristics of the aerodynamic loads acting on a wind turbine due to wind gusts in a typhoon are studied with a view to providing a proper definition of the S-Class wind turbine proposed in International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61400-1. Furthermore, based on analysis of wind data during typhoons, as obtained from the meteorological mast in the Zhangbin coastal area, an extreme wind speed and gust model corresponding to the typhoon wind conditions in Taiwan are herein proposed. Finally, the flow fields around a parked wind turbine experiencing both an unsteady gust and a steady extreme wind were simulated by a numerical approach. Numerical results show that the aerodynamic shear force and overturning moment acting on the target wind turbine in a steady wind are significantly lower than those under an unsteady gust. The gust-induced amplification factors for aerodynamic loadings are then deduced from numerical simulations of extreme wind conditions.

An isolated photovoltaic micro-inverter for standalone and grid-tied applications is designed and implemented to achieve high efficiency. System configuration and design considerations, including the proposed active-clamp forward-flyback resonant converter for the DC-DC stage and a dual-frequency full-bridge inverter for the DC-AC stage, are analyzed and discussed. A prototype microinverter system is built and tested. Experimental results verify the feasibility of the proposed system, which achieves 95% power conversion efficiency at full load.

Chaotic synchronization, as a key technique of chaotic secure communication, has received much attention in recent years. This paper proposes a nonlinear synchronization scheme for the time-delay chaotic system in the presence of noise. In this scheme, an integrator is introduced to suppress the influence of channel noise in the synchronization process. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed scheme which is strongly robust against noises, especially the high-frequency noises.