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We prove the invariance of the Gibbs measure under the dynamics of the three-dimensional cubic wave equation, which is also known as the hyperbolic Φ 3 4 -model. This result is the hyperbolic counterpart to seminal works on the parabolic Φ 3 4 -model by Hairer (Invent. Math. 198(2):269–504, 2014) and Hairer-Matetski (Ann. Probab. 46(3):1651–1709, 2018). The heart of the matter lies in establishing local in time existence and uniqueness of solutions on the statistical ensemble, which is achieved by using a para-controlled ansatz for the solution, the analytical framework of the random tensor theory, and the combinatorial molecule estimates. The singularity of the Gibbs measure with respect to the Gaussian free field brings out a new caloric representation of the Gibbs measure and a synergy between the parabolic and hyperbolic theories embodied in the analysis of heat-wave stochastic objects. Furthermore from a purely hyperbolic standpoint our argument relies on key new ingredients that include a hidden cancellation between sextic stochastic objects and a new bilinear random tensor estimate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Emerging observational studies showed an association between dyslipidemia and aging. However, it remains unclear whether this association is causal, particularly in the case of Asians, which are aging more rapidly than other continents. Given the visible manifestations of aging often include changes in facial appearance, the objective of this study is to assess the causal relationship between dyslipidemia and facial aging in East Asian populations. Methods: SNPs related to dyslipidemia in East Asian people such as Total cholesterol (TC), High‐density‐lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), Low‐density‐lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), and Triglyceride (TG) along with outcomes data on facial aging, were extracted from public genome‐wide association studies (GWAS). A two‐sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was then performed using publicly available GWAS data to investigate the potential causal relationship. The effect estimates were primarily calculated using the fixed‐effects inverse variance weighted (IVW) method. Results: Totally, 88 SNPs related to HDL among 70657 East Asian participants in GWAS. Based on the primary causal effects model using MR analyses with the IVW method, high HDL level was demonstrated as significantly related to the risk of facial aging (OR, 1.060; 95% CI, 1.005–1.119, p = 0.034), while high TC level (OR, 0.995; 95% CI, 0.920–1.076, p = 0.903), high LDL level (OR, 0.980, 95% CI, 0.924–1.041, p = 0.515), as well as high TG level (OR, 0.999, 95% CI, 0.932–1.071, p = 0.974), showed no significant correlation with facial aging. Conclusions: The two‐sample MR analysis conducted in this study revealed a positive causal relationship between high HDL levels and facial aging. In contrast, facial aging demonstrated no significant correlation with high levels of TC, LDL, or TG. Further large‐sample prospective studies are needed to validate these findings and to provide appropriate recommendations regarding nutrition management to delay the aging process among old patients in East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a rare autoimmune disorder characterized by an unpredictable course of flares and remission with diverse manifestations. Lupus nephritis, one of the major disease manifestations of SLE for organ damage and mortality, is a key component of lupus classification criteria. Accurately identifying lupus nephritis in electronic health records (EHRs) would therefore benefit large cohort observational studies and clinical trials where characterization of the patient population is critical for recruitment, study design, and analysis. Lupus nephritis can be recognized through procedure codes and structured data, such as laboratory tests. However, other critical information documenting lupus nephritis, such as histologic reports from kidney biopsies and prior medical history narratives, require sophisticated text processing to mine information from pathology reports and clinical notes. In this study, we developed algorithms to identify lupus nephritis with and without natural language processing (NLP) using EHR data from the Northwestern Medicine Enterprise Data Warehouse (NMEDW). Methods: We developed five algorithms: a rule-based algorithm using only structured data (baseline algorithm) and four algorithms using different NLP models. The first NLP model applied simple regular expression for keywords search combined with structured data. The other three NLP models were based on regularized logistic regression and used different sets of features including positive mention of concept unique identifiers (CUIs), number of appearances of CUIs, and a mixture of three components (i.e. a curated list of CUIs, regular expression concepts, structured data) respectively. The baseline algorithm and the best performing NLP algorithm were externally validated on a dataset from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). Results: Our best performing NLP model incorporated features from both structured data, regular expression concepts, and mapped concept unique identifiers (CUIs) and showed improved F measure in both the NMEDW (0.41 vs 0.79) and VUMC (0.52 vs 0.93) datasets compared to the baseline lupus nephritis algorithm. Conclusion: Our NLP MetaMap mixed model improved the F-measure greatly compared to the structured data only algorithm in both internal and external validation datasets. The NLP algorithms can serve as powerful tools to accurately identify lupus nephritis phenotype in EHR for clinical research and better targeted therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermochemical pressurization is a possible weakening mechanism that could explain the hypermobility of large landslides in carbonate rock. However, the factors controlling the efficiency of this mechanism in generating hypermobility have not been elucidated. Here, we use mass and energy conservation equations—accounting for the thermal decomposition of carbonate and a thermoporoelastic mechanism—to evaluate the efficiency of thermochemical pressurization in the 2009 Jiweishan rockslide event in China. We consider distinct permeability functions for the shear zone and the rock wall, controlled by distinct mechanical processes, and explore the sensitivity of the model to changes in the values of the key parameters. We evaluate that a combination of pore pressure increase and the endothermic nature of the chemical reaction may effectively limit frictional heating. We observe that the increase in pore pressure is controlled by the permeability of the rock wall rather than by that of the shear zone and its thickness. We also find that the permeability of the damaged rock wall is the key factor controlling the energy ratio—a measure of efficiency. We conclude that the comparatively low velocity and small thickness of the sliding body, and the relatively high permeability of the formation in which the Jiweishan landslide developed may have limited the effect of thermal decomposition. Highlights: Shear-zone and wall rock permeabilities evolve differently during a landslide event in carbonate rock. Wall rock permeability controls pore pressure evolution and the efficiency of thermal decomposition. Thermal decomposition in the Jiweishan rockslide was limited but not negligible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the expression of WD repeat-containing protein 5 (WDR5) in cervical cancer tissue and its relationship with clinical pathological characteristics and prognosis of patients. Methods 105 CA patients admitted to our hospital from January 2018 to March 2020 were included as the study subjects, the cancer tissue and adjacent tissue samples of patients were collected, Immunohistochemical staining and Western blot were used to detect the level of WDR5 in CA tissue and adjacent cancer tissues. Immunohistochemistry and Western blot were used to determine the level; Survival analysis was conducted using the Kaplan Meier method; The influencing factors of patient prognosis were analyzed through Cox regression. Results Among 105 CA tissue samples, the positive expression rate of WDR5 (WDR5 positive cases/total cancer tissue cases) was 68.57% (72/105, which was higher than 22.86% (24/105) in adjacent cancer tissues (P < 0.05) ; Compared to adjacent tissues (1.00 ± 0.11, the expression level of WDR5 was higher in CA tissues (4.66 ± 0.98) (t = 38.030, P < 0.05 ). The expression level of WDR5 is related to the degree of differentiation, TNM staging, and lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05 ; The survival rate of WDR5 positive expression was 65.28% (47/72) lower than that of negative expression of 90.91% (30/33) (Log rank χ² = 6.732, P = 0.009) ; TNM staging, WDR5, degree of differentiation, and lymph node metastasis are all influencing factors for patient prognosis (P < 0.05 ). Conclusion The expression of WDR5 is elevated in cervical cancer tissues, and its changes are closely related to TNM staging, differentiation, lymph node metastasis, and prognosis in cervical cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It has been controversial that whether hardware removal will increase the risk of osteonecrosis of femoral head (ONFH) in fracture-healed patients who underwent internal fixation for femoral neck fractures (FNFs). This meta-analysis aimed to clarify the association of hardware removal with secondary hardware removal-induced ONFH (HR-ONFH). Methods: Four electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library) were searched for eligible studies published up to March 10, 2023. Studies reporting the relative risk of hardware status (i.e., risk rate, odds ratio [OR], or hazard ratio [HR]) were included. Newcastle–Ottawa scale (NOS) was used to assess risk of bias of included observational studies. Review Manager software was used to pool ORs and adjusted ORs. Results: Five studies were included into quantitative synthesis. Hardware removal was associated with a reduced risk of HR-ONFH in the synthesis of crude odds ratios (OR, 0.62, 95% CI 0.39–0.96). In the synthesis of adjusted odds ratios, hardware removal was associated with an increased risk of HR-ONFH (OR, 1.76, 95% CI 1.23–2.51). Conclusion: This study demonstrates that hardware removal was associated with an increased incidence of HR-ONFH in fracture-healed patients who underwent internal fixation due to FNFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, due to the rapid development of internet technology, the integration process of digital technology and financial services has accelerated. Digital Financial inclusion has emerged as the times require, becoming an important force to promote private enterprises to get out of financing difficulties. The development level evaluation of digital inclusive finance is a classical multiple attribute group decision making (MAGDM) problems. Recently, Recently, the Exponential TODIM(ExpTODIM) and (grey relational analysis) GRA method has been used to cope with MAGDM issues. The intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IFSs) are used as a tool for characterizing uncertain information during the development level evaluation of digital inclusive finance. In this paper, the intuitionistic fuzzy Exponential TODIM-GRA (IF-ExpTODIM-GRA) method is built to solve the MAGDM under IFSs. In the end, a numerical case study for development level evaluation of digital inclusive finance is supplied to validate the proposed method. The main contributions of this paper are outlined: (1) the ExpTODIM and GRA method has been extended to IFSs; (2) Information Entropy is used to derive weight under IFSs. (3) the IF-ExpTODIM-GRA method is founded to solve the MAGDM under IFSs; (4) a numerical case study for development level evaluation of digital inclusive finance and some comparative analysis are supplied to validate the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer has garnered global attention due to its high incidence worldwide, and even more noteworthy is that approximately 90% deaths due to breast cancer are attributed to cancer metastasis. Therefore, the early diagnosis of breast cancer metastasis holds significant importance for reducing mortality outcomes. Biosensors play a crucial role in the early detection of metastatic breast cancer due to their advantages, such as ease of use, portability, and real-time analysis capabilities. This review primarily described various types of sensors for detecting breast cancer metastasis based on biomarkers and cell characteristics, including electrochemical, optical, and microfluidic chips. We offered detailed descriptions of the performance of these various biosensors and made comparisons between them. Furthermore, we described the pathology of breast cancer and summarized commonly used biomarkers for metastatic breast cancer. Finally, we discussed the advantages of current-stage biosensors and the challenges that need to be addressed, as well as prospects for their future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We prove the instability of the Couette flow if the disturbances is less smooth than the Gevrey space of class 2. This shows that this is the critical regularity for this problem since it was proved in [5] that stability and inviscid damping hold for disturbances which are smoother than the Gevrey space of class 2. A big novelty is that this critical space is due to an instability mechanism which is completely nonlinear and is due to some energy cascade. © 2023 The Authors. Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study was to evaluate plasma galectin-3 levels from early pregnancy to delivery and explore the effects of galectin-3 on the function of trophoblast cells under high glucose exposure. Methods: The plasma galectin-3 levels were quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in the China National Birth Cohort (CNBC) at Peking University First Hospital, and the underlying signaling pathway was identified by protein–protein interaction (PPI) analysis, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), quantitative PCR (qPCR), western blotting, small interfering RNA (siRNA) transfections, and flow cytometry. Results: Significantly higher galectin-3 levels were found in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM group; n = 77) during the first and second trimesters than that in healthy pregnant women (HP group; n = 113) (P < 0.05). No significant differences in plasma galectin-3 levels were detected between GDM and HP groups in maternal third-trimester blood and cord blood. PPI analysis suggested potential interactions between galectin-3 and foxc1. The findings of GSEA showed that galectin-3 was involved in the cytochrome P450-related and complement-related pathways, and foxc1 was associated with type I diabetes mellitus. Additionally, high glucose (25 mM) significantly increased the expression levels of galectin-3 and foxc1 and induced apoptosis in HTR-8/SVneo cells. Further in vitro experiments showed that galectin-3/foxc1 pathway could protect HTR-8/SVneo cells against high glucose − induced apoptosis. Conclusion: Future studies were required to validate whether plasma galectin-3 might become a potential biomarker for hyperglycemia during pregnancy. Elevated galectin-3 levels might be a vital protective mechanism among those exposed to hyperglycemia during pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We provide the rigorous derivation of the wave kinetic equation from the cubic nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation at the kinetic timescale, under a particular scaling law that describes the limiting process. This solves a main conjecture in the theory of wave turbulence, i.e. the kinetic theory of nonlinear wave systems. Our result is the wave analog of Lanford's theorem on the derivation of the Boltzmann kinetic equation from particle systems, where in both cases one takes the thermodynamic limit as the size of the system diverges to infinity, and as the interaction strength of waves/radius of particles vanishes to 0, according to a particular scaling law (Boltzmann-Grad in the particle case). More precisely, in dimensions d ≥ 3 , we consider the (NLS) equation in a large box of size L with a weak nonlinearity of strength α . In the limit L → ∞ and α → 0 , under the scaling law α ∼ L − 1 , we show that the long-time behavior of (NLS) is statistically described by the wave kinetic equation, with well justified approximation, up to times that are O (1) (i.e. independent of L and α ) multiples of the kinetic timescale T kin ∼ α − 2 . This is the first result of its kind for any nonlinear dispersive system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how Mandarin speakers segment causal‐chain motion events in a verbalization task. The results demonstrate that Mandarin shows attentional bias for the causal source and goal in causal‐chain segmentation, which may be universal across languages. Furthermore, there is a correlation between directness of causation and the complexity of linguistic representations, with direct conceptualization leading to a preference for simpler constructions (e.g. causative verb construction, resultative verb construction), and indirect causation for more complex representations (e.g. causative periphrases and multi‐macro‐event constructions). The most salient factor for directness of causation in causal‐chain segmentation is spatio‐temporal contiguity. The macro‐event property (MEP) is used to test the tightness of Mandarin causative constructions from a typological perspective. It is concluded that Mandarin demonstrates greater similarity with Ewe and Lao, but differs from Japanese and Yukatek regarding grammatical integration and event integration in causal‐chain segmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the increasingly strengthened role of finance in modern economic development, theoretical research on regional financial competitiveness in the study of regional economic competitiveness becomes very important. For China at this stage, finance is in a period of rapid development, and its role has penetrated into all aspects of social and economic life. Especially after China's entry into the WTO, the pace of opening up the financial market has been further accelerated, and comprehensive evaluation and analysis of financial competitiveness is of great significance for comprehensively understanding and accurately grasping China's national conditions, national strength, and international competitiveness, promoting the long-term growth of China's financial competitiveness, and the sustainable development of the financial industry. The competitiveness evaluation of regional financial centers is looked as the multiple attribute decision-making (MADM) problem. This paper intends to propose a MADM methodology based on CoCoSo (Combined Compromise Solution) method under interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IVIFSs) for sustainable competitiveness evaluation of regional financial centers. At the end of this study, we noticed to a comparison between the proposed IVIF-CoCoSo approach with other existing methods to verify the effectiveness of the algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Early recurrence (ER) of rectal mucinous adenocarcinoma (MAC) has yet to be defined. We therefore explored risk factors for ER and constructed a predictive nomogram. Method: A total of 145 rectal MAC patients undergoing radical surgery were included. The minimum P value method was used to determine the optimal cut-off point to discriminate between ER and late recurrence (LR). Risk factors for ER were determined by a logistic regression analysis, and a predictive nomogram was constructed. Results: A total of 62 (42.8%) patients developed tumor recurrence. The optimal time to define ER was 12 months. A pre-treatment tumor distance from the anal verge ≤ 7 cm, pathological N stage, lymphovascular invasion, tumor deposits, and time to recurrence ≤ 12 months were significantly associated with a poor post-recurrence survival in patients with recurrence. A pre-treatment serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level > 10 ng/ml, pre-treatment tumor distance from the anal verge ≤ 7 cm, pathological N + stage, perineural invasion, and tumor deposits were identified as independent risk factors associated with ER. A nomogram predicting ER was constructed (C-index 0.870). Conclusion: The pre-treatment serum CEA level, pre-treatment tumor distance from the anal verge, pathological N + stage, perineural invasion, and tumor deposits were significantly predictive of ER for rectal MAC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large rockslides often exhibit long runout, suggesting a low mobilized shear resistance within their shear zone. Various weakening mechanisms are proposed to explain the hypermobility of rockslides. To describe a specific event, a single mechanism is usually invoked, which is thought to dominate the entire runout. Herein, with reference to largely coherent landslides with a water-saturated shear zone, we explore how the combined action of particle crushing and thermal pressurization might cause hypermobility by promoting pore-water pressure buildup. We develop a simple model based on mass and energy conservation for a block sliding on an inclined plane that we solve numerically. Parameter study is also applied to the model. The results indicated that these two mechanisms could have comparable magnitude, and their synergy might promote longer runout. We suggest that particle crushing could control the initial rapid acceleration, but its contribution may gradually fade as an ultimate particle size distribution is attained and thermally induced pressurization may become dominant. Particle crushing may lower the permeability and compressibility of the shear-zone material, enhancing the subsequent pressurization and runout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This study aimed to investigate how perceived overqualification is linked to an individual's career commitment among service sector employees in China. Additionally, it sought to examine the mediating role of career self-efficacy and the moderating effect of social support.Methods: This study collected data from 441 employees using a three-wave data collection design with a two-week gap between each round. Moreover, we employed partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the data.Results: The findings asserted that perceived overqualification was positively associated with employee career self-efficacy and commitment. Furthermore, career self-efficacy mediated the link between perceived overqualification and career commitment. The study also demonstrated that perceived overqualification and career self-efficacy were influenced by the level of social support received, with a stronger relationship observed when social support was high. These findings highlight the value of fostering social support and career self-efficacy among coworkers to increase overqualified employees' commitment to their careers and provide valuable insights for organizations seeking to manage their talent pool effectively.Discussion: The study suggests that when employees perceive themselves as overqualified for their job, it can lead to a higher sense of career self-efficacy, which is the belief in one's ability to perform job tasks effectively. This increased self-efficacy, in turn, can lead to a greater commitment to their career. Furthermore, fostering social support and building career self-efficacy can help organizations manage their overqualified pool effectively and improve employee satisfaction and productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large-area laser-clad coating was realized by overlapping laser tracks and thus presents overlap and non-overlap zones on the surface. The microstructure and corrosion behaviors of the overlap and non-overlap zones of the multi-track laser-clad nickel-based alloy coating at various flow rates and impact angles were investigated. Results indicated that overlap zone presented coarse columnar dendrites rather than cellular structures. The primary phases were mainly composed of γ-Ni, and the precipitation at the grain boundary was Ni6Mo6C. At the impact angle of 60° and flow rate of 6 m/s, overlap zone showed 2.0 × 10–7 A/cm2 higher stable potentiostatic polarization current density at passivation film destruction and furrow formation than non-overlap zone. The increase content of Mox+ (Mo) in non-overlap zone was 4.38% more than that in overlap zone after corrosion indicating the better Cl− corrosion resistance. The current densities increased with the enhanced flow rate. At the impact angle of 60°, the flow rate increased from 1 to 6 m/s, and the potentiostatic current density increased by 3.0 × 10–7–3.7 × 10–7 A/cm2. With the increase of the impact angle, the stable current densities increased first and then decreased. And the surface morphology changed from long and shallow ravines to short deep gully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The competitiveness evaluation of regional financial centers is frequently looked as the multiple attribute group decision-making (MAGDM) problem. Based on the TODIM method and fuzzy number intuitionistic fuzzy sets (FNIFS), this paper proposes a new FNIF-TODIM method to evaluate the competitiveness of regional financial centers. First, some basic theories related to FNIFS are briefly introduced. In addition, the weights of the attributes are obtained objectively using the CRITIC weighting method. Then, the traditional TODIM method is extended to FNIFS to obtain the final order of alternatives. As a result, all alternatives can be ranked and the best one for the competitiveness assessment of regional financial centers can be identified. Finally, an example for competitiveness evaluation of regional financial centers and some decision comparative analysis is listed. The results show that the established algorithmic approach is useful. The main works of this work are: (1) the paper constructs the FNIF-TODIM method for the evaluation of the competitiveness of regional financial centers; (2) the established method is illustrated by a case study for competitiveness evaluation of regional financial centers; and (3) some comparisons prove the rationality and advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catastrophes are often caused by friction weakening, as shown by the empirical volume effect of landslides. We use velocity-dependent, normal stress-dependent, power density-dependent and constant friction coefficient friction laws to determine the dominant friction weakening factor among velocity, normal stress and power density. We observe that the power density-dependent friction law not only adequately reflects the volume effect, the apparent friction coefficient first rapidly decreases with average thickness and then gradually stabilizes, but also mirrors the topographical effect. The apparent friction coefficient typically increases with drop height and slope angle, except when the volume is too small (thickness < 5 m). Predictions based on the power density friction law show that if the volume is less than a certain threshold (thickness < 5 m), the factor affecting the topographical effect would be biased toward velocity, whereas if it was greater than the threshold (thickness > 5 m), the factor affecting the topographical effect would be biased toward normal stress. Although the influence of velocity is generally smaller than that of normal stress, its influence cannot be ignored on a small scale. Overall, we obtain the power density, product of velocity and shear stress, dominant friction weakening instead of velocity alone, and normal stress alone. Notably, the power density more appropriately reflects the energy dissipation of friction weakening. Further this paper will provide a theoretical basis for predicting the motion of large long-runout landslide based on the power density-dependent friction law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: There is no established consensus on the optimal surgical approach to para‐aortic lymph node (PALN) dissection in patients with colorectal cancer. This study aimed to demonstrate the technical and oncological safety of minimally invasive PALN dissection for left‐sided colonic and rectal cancer patients with clinically suspected infrarenal PALN metastasis. Method: One hundered and one patients who underwent primary tumour resection and minimally invasive (laparoscopic n = 92, robotic n = 9) PALN dissection for left‐sided colonic and rectal cancer were included. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify risk factors for PALN metastasis. Survival outcomes were evaluated using the Kaplan–Meier (log‐rank) method. Results: Para‐aortic lymph node metastasis was pathologically confirmed in 23 patients (22.8%). Postoperative complications occurred in 22 patients (21.8%). Pathological N2 stage (OR = 9.337, p = 0.003) and inferior mesenteric artery LN metastasis (OR = 7.499, p = 0.009) were independently associated with PALN metastasis. The median follow‐up time was 32 months (range 3–92 months). In all patients, the 5‐year overall survival (OS) and progression‐free survival (PFS) rates were 76.1% and 69.5%, respectively. The 5‐year OS and PFS rates in patients with PALN metastasis were 49.8% and 47.5%, respectively. Patients with PALN metastasis had lower 5‐year OS (p = 0.023) and PFS rates (p = 0.035) than those without PALN metastasis. Conclusion: Minimally invasive PALN dissection had acceptable postoperative complications and may be oncologically beneficial in selected patients with clinically suspicious PALN metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, wave-pattern with particles on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) surface was induced by laser with the assistant of pre-strain. By analyzing the laser treated surface with an energy dispersive spectrometer, Raman spectra, scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope, it is found that no chemical modification occurs, but the young's modulus of the treated surface shifts dramatically to 43.4 MPa. This Young's modulus change, together with the existence of pre-train, causes buckling phenomenon that forms the wave-pattern with particles when the pre-strain is unloaded. As the laser fluence varies from 7.9 mJ cm−2 to 14.3 mJ cm−2, the wave-pattern with particles only appeared with the pre-strain at 30% and 45%. The laser fluence contributes positively to the length and the amplitude of the wave-pattern, while increased elongation on PDMS results in shorter wavelengths but higher amplitudes. HELA cells were seeded on the treated surface to verify the effect of the wave-pattern with particles on cell alignment. The experimental results show that the wave-pattern with particles improves the cell attachment. It was found that 96.2% of cells align at 0°–15° when the gap between two neighboring treated zones is shorter than the cell length. However, the cell alignment changes its direction to 75°–90° when the treated zone is narrowed and the gap is enlarged. This paper provides a simple method for forming a wave-pattern with particles and utilizes the pattern to regulate cell behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike traditional finance, digital inclusive finance is committed to integrating digital technology with the financial industry to bring groups originally excluded from traditional finance back into formal financial services and provide financial services at reasonable prices and matching needs for all social classes. Digital inclusive finance can effectively reduce the financing costs of SMEs, improve the external financing environment of enterprises, and provide more convenient, equal and perfect financial services for enterprises by using technical support such as "big data + artificial intelligence". The development level of digital inclusive finance is a classical multiple attributes group decision making (MAGDM). The Probabilistic hesitant fuzzy sets (PHFSs), which utilize the possible values and its possible membership degrees to depict decision-makers' behavior in different conditions, has been paid great attention. Though numerous methods have been applied in this environment since PHFSs has been introduced, there are still new fields to be explored. In this paper, we introduce the Cumulative Prospect Theory TODIM (CPT-TODIM) for probabilistic hesitant fuzzy MAGDM(PHF-MAGDM). Meanwhile, the information of entropy is utilized to calculate the weight of attributes, which is used to improve the classical TODIM method. At last, we utilize a numerical case for evaluating the development level of digital inclusive finance to compare the extended CPT-TODIM method with the classical TODIM method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fish-livestock integrated farming is a traditional practice in South China and Southeast Asia. The administration of antimicrobial agents in livestock may potentially facilitate the spread of antimicrobial resistance to aquaculture through the drainage of livestock manure. Aeromonas spp. are fish pathogens that are the predominant bacteria in water bodies. The aim of this study was to characterize multiple-drug-resistantAeromonas spp. isolated from integrated and nonintegrated fish-livestock farms and to investigate the occurrence of class 1 integrons. Of the 481 Aeromonas strains examined in this study, isolates from pig manure, fish, and environmental samples from pig-fish or goose-fish integrated farms were significantly more resistant to various antimicrobial agents than those from nonintegrated farms P < 0.05 . High rates of resistance to nalidixic acid and sulfamonomethoxine were observed in the isolates from the integrated farm. Fifty Aeromonas isolates (10.4%) from integrated farms contained class 1 integrons. In addition, 96.0% (48/50) of the integron-positive strains displayed multiple-drug resistance. Ten types of gene cassette arrays were determined by sequencing, including dfrA17, dfrA12-orfF-aadA2, catB8, dfrB4-catB3-aadA1, aac6(6′)-Ib-cr-arr-3, aac-II-blaOXA-21-catB3, aar2-aacA4-drfA1-orfC, aac(6′)-Ib-cr, dfrA15, and dfrB4-catB3-blaOXA-10-aadA1. Notably, among the 50 integron-positive isolates, twenty isolates showed integrons located in plasmids, which may facilitate the transmission of resistance in integrated farms. Our investigation confirmed the high prevalence of multiple antimicrobial resistances mediated by class 1 integrons in Aeromonas isolates from integrated farms. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a risk assessment method for antimicrobial resistance in aquaculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Pooled Cohort Equations (PCEs) are race- and sex-specific Cox proportional hazards (PH)-based models used for 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk prediction with acceptable discrimination. In recent years, neural network models have gained increasing popularity with their success in image recognition and text classification. Various survival neural network models have been proposed by combining survival analysis and neural network architecture to take advantage of the strengths from both. However, the performance of these survival neural network models compared to each other and to PCEs in ASCVD prediction is unknown. Methods: In this study, we used 6 cohorts from the Lifetime Risk Pooling Project (with 5 cohorts as training/internal validation and one cohort as external validation) and compared the performance of the PCEs in 10-year ASCVD risk prediction with an all two-way interactions Cox PH model (Cox PH-TWI) and three state-of-the-art neural network survival models including Nnet-survival, Deepsurv, and Cox-nnet. For all the models, we used the same 7 covariates as used in the PCEs. We fitted each of the aforementioned models in white females, white males, black females, and black males, respectively. We evaluated models' internal and external discrimination power and calibration. Results: The training/internal validation sample comprised 23216 individuals. The average age at baseline was 57.8 years old (SD = 9.6); 16% developed ASCVD during average follow-up of 10.50 (SD = 3.02) years. Based on 10 × 10 cross-validation, the method that had the highest C-statistics was Deepsurv (0.7371) for white males, Deepsurv and Cox PH-TWI (0.7972) for white females, PCE (0.6981) for black males, and Deepsurv (0.7886) for black females. In the external validation dataset, Deepsurv (0.7032), Cox-nnet (0.7282), PCE (0.6811), and Deepsurv (0.7316) had the highest C-statistics for white male, white female, black male, and black female population, respectively. Calibration plots showed that in 10 × 10 validation, all models had good calibration in all race and sex groups. In external validation, all models overestimated the risk for 10-year ASCVD. Conclusions: We demonstrated the use of the state-of-the-art neural network survival models in ASCVD risk prediction. Neural network survival models had similar if not superior discrimination and calibration compared to PCEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the emerging of the Internet of Things, chemiresistive gas sensors have been extensively applied in industrial production, food safety, medical diagnosis, and environment detection, etc. Considerable efforts have been devoted to improving the gas‐sensing performance through tailoring the structure, functions, defects and electrical conductivity of sensitive materials. Among the numerous sensitive materials, mesoporous semiconductor metal oxides possess unparalleled properties, including tunable pore size, high specific surface area, abundant metal–oxygen bonds, and rapid mass transfer/diffusion behavior (Knudsen diffusion), which have been regarded as the most potential sensitive materials. Herein, the synthesis strategies for mesoporous metal oxides are overviewed, the classical functionalization techniques of sensitive materials are also systemically summarized as a highlight, including construction of mesoporous structure, regulation of micro‐nano structure (i.e., heterojunctions), noble metal sensitization (e.g., Au, Pt, Ag, Pd) and heteroatomic doping (e.g., C, N, Si, S). In addition, the structure–function relationship of sensitive materials has been discussed at molecular‐atomic level, especially for the chemical sensitization effect, elucidating the interface adsorption/catalytic mechanism. Moreover, the challenges and perspectives are proposed, which will open a new door for the development of intelligent gas sensor in various applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ceramic rock slab is a kind of new material with the advantages of high hardness, wear resistance, and high-temperature resistance, and it is widely used in industry and households. However, problems such as easy chipping and serious tool wearing occurred in conventional grinding (CG). To overcome these challenges, this work introduces rotary ultrasonic grinding (RUG) in processing ceramic rock slabs. Study the theoretical motion trajectory of single abrasive grain and the removal mechanism of hard and brittle materials in RUG, and analyzed the influence of amplitude on cutting force in finite element simulation of single abrasive grain. A comparative process experiment of RUG and CG was performed on the hole processing of ceramic rock slabs. The experimental results showed that compared with CG, the cutting force and chipping area of RUG were reduced by 40.4 and 14.3%, respectively. The cutting force and chipping area decreased with the increase of the spindle speed and increased with the increase of the feed speed. With the increase of ultrasonic amplitude, the cutting force and chipping area decreased gradually, and the tool wear rate decreased from 0.54 to 0.10%, which effectively suppresses the spalling of abrasive grains on the surface of the tool and extends the life of the tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) is one of the highly susceptible genes to breast cancer (BC); however, the role of PTEN-related RNAs in BC remains poorly understood. Understanding the effect of PTEN-related RNAs and their mechanisms may be helpful to clinicians. We screened the differentially expressed RNAs (deRNAs) related to PTEN and established the competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network by integrating several databases. After that, the RNA model, prolactin receptor (PRLR)/calcium voltage-gated channel auxiliary subunit alpha2delta 1 (CACNA2D1), was obtained by KM survival analysis and logistic regression analysis. Finally, mutation, methylation, functional enrichment, and immune correlation were analyzed to explore the roles of these RNAs. Our results showed that PRLR might be harmful to BC, while CACNA2D1 might be beneficial to BC. Furthermore, the abnormal expression of PRLR in BC might result from mutation and hypomethylation, while the aberrant expression of CACNA2D1 might be ascribed to methylation. Mechanistically, PRLR might affect the prognosis of BC by inhibiting the expression of immune checkpoints, while CACNA2D1 might improve the prognosis of BC by increasing the immune cells infiltrating into BC and up-regulating the expression of immune checkpoints. The abnormal expression of PRLR and CACNA2D1 in BC is closely related to the prognosis of BC, and they may serve as targets for the treatment of BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four dinuclear osmium complexes have been constructed for antitumor phototherapy. The most potent Os4 has extremely high photothermal conversion capability under irradiation of an 808 nm low-power laser, targets mitochondria in human melanoma cells without nucleus affinity, and acts as an antitumor photothermal therapy agent in vitro and in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The clinical translation of therapeutic peptides is generally challenged by multiple issues involving absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion. In this study, a macrophage membrane-coated poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanodelivery system was developed to enhance the bioavailability of the somatostatin (SST) peptide, which faces the hurdles of short half-life and potential side effects in the treatment of chronic pancreatitis. Using a facile nanoprecipitation strategy, SST was loaded in the nanoparticles with an encapsulation efficiency (EE) and a loading efficiency (LE) of 73.68 ± 3.56% and 1.47 ± 0.07%, respectively. The final formulation of SST-loaded nanoparticles with the camouflage of macrophage membrane (MP-SST) showed a mean diameter of 151 ± 4 nm and an average zeta potential of −29.6 ± 0.3 mV, which were stable long term during storage. With an above 90% cell viability, a hemolysis level of about 2% (<5%) and a preference for being ingested by activated endothelial cells compared to macrophages, the membrane–polymer hybrid nanoparticle showed biocompatibility and targeting capability in vitro. After being intravenously administered to mice with chronic pancreatitis, the MP-SST increased the content of SST in the serum (123.6 ± 13.6 pg/mL) and pancreas (1144.9 ± 206.2 pg/g) compared to the treatment of (Dulbecco's phosphate-buffered saline) DPBS (61.7 ± 6.0 pg/mL in serum and 740.2 ± 172.4 pg/g in the pancreas). The recovery of SST by MP-SST downregulated the expressions of chronic pancreatitis-related factors and alleviated the histologic severity of the pancreas to the greatest extent compared to other treatment groups. This augmentation of SST therapeutic effects demonstrated the superiority of integrating the synthetic polymer with biological membranes in the design of nanoplatforms for advanced and smart peptide delivery. Other peptides like SST can also be delivered via the membrane–polymer hybrid nanosystem for the treatment of diseases, broadening and promoting the potential clinical applications of peptides as therapeutics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The property theory is a unique principle instructing traditional Chinese doctors to prescribe proper medicines against diseases. As an essential part of it, the five-flavor theory catalogs various Chinese materia medicas (CMMs) into five flavors (sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and pungent) based on their taste and medical functions. Although CMM has been successfully applied in China for thousands of years, it is still a big challenge to interpret CMM flavor via modern biomarkers, further deepening its elusiveness. Herein, to identify the correlation between gut microbiota and CMM flavor, we selected 14 CMMs with different flavors to prepare their aqueous extracts, quantified the contained major chemical components, and then performed full-length 16S rRNA sequencing to analyze the gut microbiota of C57BL/6 mice administrated with CMM extracts. We found that flavones, alkaloids, and saponins were the richest components for sweet-, bitter-, and pungent-flavored CMMs, respectively. Medicines with merged flavors (bitter-pungent and sweet-pungent) displayed mixed profiles of components. According to gut microbial analysis, modulation of CMMs belonging to the same flavor on the taxonomic classification was inconsistent to an extent, while the functional sets of gut microbiota, co-abundance gene groups (CAGs), strongly and differentially responded to distinct flavors. Moreover, these correlations were in line with their pharmacological actions. Therefore, the gut microbial functional sets (CAGs) could act as the possible indicator to reflect CMM flavor, rather than the composition of microbial community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

3D‐aware generative models have demonstrated their superb performance to generate 3D neural radiance fields (NeRF) from a collection of monocular 2D images even for topology‐varying object categories. However, these methods still lack the capability to separately control the shape and appearance of the objects in the generated radiance fields. In this paper, we propose a generative model for synthesizing radiance fields of topology‐varying objects with disentangled shape and appearance variations. Our method generates deformable radiance fields, which builds the dense correspondence between the density fields of the objects and encodes their appearances in a shared template field. Our disentanglement is achieved in an unsupervised manner without introducing extra labels to previous 3D‐aware GAN training. We also develop an effective image inversion scheme for reconstructing the radiance field of an object in a real monocular image and manipulating its shape and appearance. Experiments show that our method can successfully learn the generative model from unstructured monocular images and well disentangle the shape and appearance for objects (e.g., chairs) with large topological variance. The model trained on synthetic data can faithfully reconstruct the real object in a given single image and achieve high‐quality texture and shape editing results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) was widely used to treat menopause-related symptoms in menopausal women. However, MHT therapies were controversial with the increased risk of breast cancer because of different estrogen and progestogen combinations, and the molecular basis behind this phenomenon is currently not understood. To address this issue, we identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the estrogen plus progestogens treatment (EPT) and estrogen treatment (ET) using the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data. As a result, a total of 96 upregulated DEGs were first identified. Seven DEGs related to the cell cycle (CCNE2, CDCA5, RAD51, TCF19, KNTC1, MCM10, and NEIL3) were validated by RT-qPCR. Specifically, these seven DEGs were increased in EPT compared to ET (p < 0.05) and had higher expression levels in breast cancer than adjacent normal tissues (p < 0.05). Next, we found that estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer patients with a higher CNNE2 expression have a shorter overall survival time (p < 0.05), while this effect was not observed in the other six DEGs (p > 0.05). Interestingly, the molecular docking results showed that CCNE2 might bind to 17β-estradiol (−6.791 kcal/mol), progesterone (−6.847 kcal/mol), and medroxyprogesterone acetate (−6.314 kcal/mol) with a relatively strong binding affinity, respectively. Importantly, CNNE2 protein level could be upregulated with EPT and attenuated by estrogen receptor antagonist, acolbifene and had interactions with cancer driver genes (AKT1 and KRAS) and high mutation frequency gene (TP53 and PTEN) in breast cancer patients. In conclusion, the current study showed that CCNE2, CDCA5, RAD51, TCF19, KNTC1, MCM10, and NEIL3 might contribute to EPT-related tumorigenesis in breast cancer, with CCNE2 might be a sensitive risk indicator of breast cancer risk in women using MHT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) has neuroprotection on chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) against oxidative stress. HO-1 may represent a target for treatment with CCH. This study aimed to observe the effect of EGCG on cognition impaired in a rat model with CCH and investigate the mechanism. Sprague-Dawley rat models of CCH were established using the 2-VO procedures. Novel object recognition and Morris water maze tests were determined the effects of EGCG on the impaired cognitive functions; HE staining was for detecting the histopathological changes; oxidative stress was assessed by measuring MDA, SOD levels and HO-1 activity. Western blots were for the expression of HO-1, PI3K, Akt (p-Akt), and Nrf2. After EGCG treatment, the rats with CCH by 2-VO spent obviously longer time exploring the novel objects, had significantly shorter escape latency and better spatial exploring ability. Meanwhile, EGCG reduced the histopathological changes. Moreover, EGCG increased the concentration of SOD and the activity of HO-1, but decreased the MDA contents. Furthermore, EGCG treatment induced the expression of PI3K, p-Akt, Nrf2, and HO-1 protein, and they were partly reversed by the LY294002, siRNA-Nrf2, or ZnPP. EGCG has a neuroprotective effect on rat impaired cognition induced by CCH, possibly by modulating the PI3K/AKT/Nrf2/HO-1 pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chapter 2 looks at image metaphors, primary metaphors, compound metaphors, dead metaphors and the ways that they are mixed. It is suggested that mixed metaphors can be avoided by keeping incompatible metaphors apart, choosing irrelevant metaphors or selecting dead metaphors (p. 43). In Chapter 3, Sullivan summarizes three ways that metaphors are mixed: (i) putting metaphors together within a sentence (ii) choosing similar and related metaphors and (iii) selecting novel and living metaphors. [Extracted from the article]

COVID-19 has caused negative emotional responses in patients, with significant mental health consequences for the infected population. The need for an in-depth analysis of the emotional state of COVID-19 patients is imperative. This study employed semi-structured interviews and the text mining method to investigate features in lived experience narratives of COVID-19 patients and healthy controls with respect to five basic emotions. The aim was to identify differences in emotional status between the two matched groups of participants. The results indicate generally higher complexity and more expressive emotional language in healthy controls than in COVID-19 patients. Specifically, narratives of fear, happiness, and sadness by COVID-19 patients were significantly shorter as compared to healthy controls. Regarding lexical features, COVID-19 patients used more emotional words, in particular words of fear, disgust, and happiness, as opposed to those used by healthy controls. Emotional disorder symptoms of COVID-19 patients at the lexical level tended to focus on the emotions of fear and disgust. They narrated more in relation to self or family while healthy controls mainly talked about others. Our automatic emotional discourse analysis potentially distinguishes clinical status of COVID-19 patients versus healthy controls, and can thus be used to predict mental health disorder symptoms in COVID-19 patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rosacea is a common chronic facial inflammatory skin disease. However, treatment for "difficult-to-treat rosacea" cases has not been established. This 48-week, prospective, observational study analyzed patients who underwent three non-insulated fractional microneedle radiofrequency (NFMRF) sessions at 2-month intervals. Therapy efficacy, epidermal barrier function, and side effects were evaluated. 34 subjects completed the trial. NFMRF resulted in CEA score reduction from 2.65 ± 0.59 to 1.56 ± 0.50 (P < 0.001) and mean DLQI reduction from 16.70 ± 3.55 to 10.48 ± 2.92 (P < 0.001). The successes of CEA (44.12 vs. 2.94%), IGA (91.67 vs. 25.00%), and flushing (58.82 vs. 26.47%) were observed. Among 34 patients, 22 reported "excellent" or "good" improvement and 30 were "very" or "relatively" satisfied. Skin barrier results revealed that hemoglobin content significantly decreased from 376.47 ± 71.29 at visit 0 to 161.32 ± 52.86 at visit 3. 2 of 30 patients followed-up at 6 months had a relapse at 18 and 20 weeks, respectively. No serious side effects were observed. NFMRF alone results in visible improvement and has great efficacy for difficult-to-treat rosacea without compromising patient safety or damaging the skin barrier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimal momentum coupling between the ground-based laser impulse and space debris is studied. Considering the effects of diffraction, self-focusing and turbulence in the atmosphere, we derive the transcendental equation of the optimal coupling power of initial laser beams to achieve the optimal momentum coupling on the space debris and obtain the condition that the initial beam parameters (e.g., the initial beam width and the initial spatial coherence width) and atmospheric parameters (e.g., the atmospheric coherence length) should be satisfied. Thus, an effective design rule of the optimal laser–target momentum coupling is presented when a high-power laser beam propagates upward in the turbulent atmosphere. Moreover, an approximate method is proposed to derive the analytical formulae of the maximal beam power within a certain radius on the debris target and its corresponding maximal initial beam power. The results obtained in this paper is important for the application of the laser space-debris removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is one of the most widely used model organisms for studying vertebrate gene function and human disease, given the 70% conserved protein‐coding genes between zebrafish and human. Two of the most common laboratory zebrafish strains are Tuebingen and AB. Despite the fact that the zebrafish reference genome is derived from the Tuebingen strain, the AB strain is still widely used although a high‐quality genome comparable to Tuebingen is lacking. Here, we report a 1.40‐Gb representative de novo genome assembly of the AB strain (DrAB1), with contig N50 length of 21 Mb, by integrating Illumina short‐read sequencing, Nanopore long‐read sequencing and HiC‐based chromatin mapping. Compared with the published zebrafish Zv11 reference genome (GRCz11), this genome assembly shows considerable improvements in both contiguity and completeness. In addition, substantial structural differences and extensive sequence divergence of unprecedented resolution have been uncovered, especially with respect to 9,029,929 single nucleotide polymorphisms, 2,376,812 InDels, 32,623 insertions, 22,089 deletions and 220 inversions, which constitute ~2.6% of the DrAB1 genome. Many of these variants may have potential functional effects on phenotype, which should be considered in further experimental designs. Consequently, our study provides additional genomic resources and a high‐resolution structural variation map based on whole‐genome alignment for the zebrafish community, which could also be an indispensable reference genome from a model species in future research on fish phylogenetic genomics, comparative genomics and adaptive evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to assess the clinical implications of the advanced lung cancer inflammation index (ALI) in patients with right-sided colon cancer (RCC) after complete mesocolic excision (CME). Methods: A total of 441 patients with RCC who underwent CME were included. The optimal cut-off value for the ALI was determined using the X-tile software. Logistic and Cox regression analyses were used to identify risk factors for postoperative complications and long-term outcomes. Predictive nomograms for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were constructed after propensity score matching (PSM), and their performance was assessed using the net reclassification improvement index (NRI), integrated discrimination improvement index (IDI), and time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (time-ROC) curve analysis. Results: The optimal preoperative ALI cut-off value was 36.3. After PSM, ASA classification 3/4, operative duration, and a low ALI were independently associated with postoperative complications in the multivariate analysis (all P<0.05). Cox regression analysis revealed that an age >60 years, a carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) level >37 U/mL, pathological N+ stage, and a low ALI were independently correlated with OS (all P<0.05). A CA19-9 level >37 U/mL, pathological N+ stage, lymphovascular invasion, and a low ALI were independent predictors of DFS (all P<0.05). Predictive nomograms for OS and DFS were constructed using PSM. Furthermore, a nomogram combined with the ALI was consistently superior to a non-ALI nomogram or the pathological tumor-node-metastasis classification based on the NRI, IDI, and time-ROC curve analysis after PSM (all P<0.05). Conclusion: The ALI was an effective indicator for predicting short- and long-term outcomes in patients with RCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to assess the clinical implications of the advanced lung cancer inflammation index (ALI) in patients with right-sided colon cancer (RCC) after complete mesocolic excision (CME). Methods: A total of 441 patients with RCC who underwent CME were included. The optimal cut-off value for the ALI was determined using the X-tile software. Logistic and Cox regression analyses were used to identify risk factors for postoperative complications and long-term outcomes. Predictive nomograms for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were constructed after propensity score matching (PSM), and their performance was assessed using the net reclassification improvement index (NRI), integrated discrimination improvement index (IDI), and time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (time-ROC) curve analysis. Results: The optimal preoperative ALI cut-off value was 36.3. After PSM, ASA classification 3/4, operative duration, and a low ALI were independently associated with postoperative complications in the multivariate analysis (all P<0.05). Cox regression analysis revealed that an age >60 years, a carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) level >37 U/mL, pathological N+ stage, and a low ALI were independently correlated with OS (all P<0.05). A CA19-9 level >37 U/mL, pathological N+ stage, lymphovascular invasion, and a low ALI were independent predictors of DFS (all P<0.05). Predictive nomograms for OS and DFS were constructed using PSM. Furthermore, a nomogram combined with the ALI was consistently superior to a non-ALI nomogram or the pathological tumor-node-metastasis classification based on the NRI, IDI, and time-ROC curve analysis after PSM (all P<0.05). Conclusion: The ALI was an effective indicator for predicting short- and long-term outcomes in patients with RCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The latest version of Nanopore improves precision in wastewater viral surveillance. • Efficiency in fragmented viral genome detection is maximized with shorter amplicons. • As little as 0.001 Gb Nanopore data provides accurate real-time variant information. • Nanopore demonstrates utility in revealing dynamic SARS-CoV-2 patterns in Hong Kong. • Optimal cutoffs enable uncovering novel mutations and linking them with variants. Wastewater genomic sequencing stands as a pivotal complementary tool for viral surveillance in populations. While long-read Nanopore sequencing is a promising platform to provide real-time genomic data, concerns over the sequencing accuracy of the earlier Nanopore versions have somewhat restrained its widespread application in wastewater analysis. Here, we evaluate the latest improved version of Nanopore sequencing (R10.4.1), using SARS-CoV-2 as the model infectious virus, to demonstrate its effectiveness in wastewater viral monitoring. By comparing amplicon lengths of 400 bp and 1200 bp, we revealed that shorter PCR amplification is more suitable for wastewater samples due to viral genome fragmentation. Utilizing mock wastewater samples, we validated the reliability of Nanopore sequencing for variant identification by comparing it with Illumina sequencing results. The strength of Nanopore sequencing in generating real-time genomic data for providing early warning signals was also showcased, indicating that as little as 0.001 Gb of data can provide accurate results for variant prevalence. Our evaluation also identified optimal alteration frequency cutoffs (>50 %) for precise mutation profiling, achieving >99 % precision in detecting single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and insertions/deletions (indels). Monitoring two major wastewater treatment plants in Hong Kong from September 2022 to April 2023, covering over 4.5 million population, we observed a transition in dominant variants from BA.5 to XBB lineages, with XBB.1.5 being the most prevalent variants. Mutation detection also highlighted the potential of wastewater Nanopore sequencing in uncovering novel mutations and revealed links between signature mutations and specific variants. This study not only reveals the environmental implications of Nanopore sequencing in SARS-CoV-2 surveillance but also underscores its potential in broader applications including environmental health monitoring of other epidemic viruses, which could significantly enhance the field of wastewater-based epidemiology. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Clarifying the carbon structure and physical structure evolution mechanism of stabilized PP fibers during the carbonization process. • Revealed the dynamic reaction mechanism during the sulfonation of polypropylene fibers and established the conformational relationship between PP fibers and carbon fibers. • The mechanical properties and electrical resistivity of the prepared carbon fibers reached 338.6 MPa and 4.91×10−5 Ω·m, respectively. Utilizing polypropylene (PP) fibers as the precursor material, Polypropylene-based carbon fibers (CFPP) were obtained by carbonization after sulfonation cross-linking with sulfuric acid. First, the mechanism of structural evolution of sulfonated PP fiber (SFPP) during carbonization was investigated at temperatures between 500 °C-1300 °C. According to the results, the chemical structure, as well as the carbon structure transformation of SFPP, depending on the carbonization temperature, i.e., the removal of organic functional groups, the fusion to small aromatic structures, and the transformation to ordered carbon structures. The carbon content of the carbon fibers obtained at 1300 °C was as high as 93.4 %. Subsequently, various PP fibers with different diameters and crystalline structures were prepared by melt spinning and subsequent thermal-drawing treatment, and the relationship between their structures and the properties of CFPPs was investigated. The sulfonation reaction rate of PP fibers increased as the sulfonation reaction proceeded and was synergistically regulated by the crystalline structure and fiber diameter. The CFPP with a smaller diameter exhibited a more homogeneous skin-core structure, together with higher overall graphitization, smaller graphite layer spacing, and better graphite microcrystalline structure, and thus its conductivity and mechanical properties of the carbon fiber were significantly improved. The mechanical properties and volume resistivity of the prepared CFPP reached 338.6 MPa and 4.91×10−5 Ω·m, respectively. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxygen concentration and penetration depth are the two key factors that influence the therapeutic effect of photodynamic therapy (PDT) in hypoxic tumors. Developing a simple strategy to construct advanced type I photosensitizers (PSs) with near-infrared region (NIR) absorption has a wide application prospect but remains a challenge. Herein, based on simple D-π-A conjugated CQ-SO 3 and CQ-S-SO 3 , bovine serum albumin (BSA) was elaborately selected to construct the supramolecular assemblies CQ-SO 3 @BSA and CQ-S-SO 3 @BSA. Encouragingly, the high-stability CQ-S-SO 3 @BSA exhibited superior superoxide anion (O 2 ‑• ) generation and activated three-photon fluorescence properties (1240 nm excitation). Confocal microscopy imaging indicated that CQ-S-SO 3 @BSA can specifically target cancer cell membranes and penetrate 120 µm tissue depth, triggering cancer cell apoptosis under NIR-II light irradiation even in a hypoxic environment. This discovery emphasizes the potential for "killing two birds with one stone" based on supramolecular assembly, thereby opening up new possibilities for phototherapy. • Protein co-assembled strategy. • Superior O 2 ‑• generation. • NIR-II imaging-guided antihypoxic phototherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that if X is a Tychonoff metacompact weakly pseudocompact countably sieve-complete space then X is Čech-complete. A metric space X is Čech-complete if and only if X is Telgársky complete. Then it follows that an Oxtoby complete metric space is not necessarily Telgársky complete. This answers Question 11.1 in [8]. We give an internal characterization of subgroups of products of first-countable semitopological groups which are paracompact σ -spaces. We also discuss some properties of regular ω -balanced, locally ω -good semitopological groups with a q -point, property (w ⁎) and S m (G) ≤ ω. We finally give a sufficient condition under which a semitopological group is topologically isomorphic to a subgroup of a product of first-countable M 1 -semitopological groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exhaust from engines close to the fuselage can cause extreme turbulence and have a significant impact on the performance of airborne laser systems. In this paper, the combined effect of the jet engine and atmospheric turbulence on propagation of a Gaussian Schell‐model (GSM) array beam over long distances is studied in detail. Based on the two‐step propagation method, the analytical expressions of the cross‐spectral density (CSD) function, mean‐squared beam width and spectral degree of spatial coherence (DOC) of GSM array beams are derived. It is shown that the jet engine turbulence has a significant effect on the beam broadening even at a very short distance. As the propagation distance in the jet engine turbulence increases, the beam width is less effected by the spatial coherence. Meanwhile, the resistance of lower spatially coherent beam to the turbulence increases as the distance of the jet engine turbulence or the strength of the atmospheric turbulence increases. It is demonstrated that the effect of jet engine turbulence on the beam spreading can be equivalent to moderate or even severe atmospheric turbulence. Moreover, the DOC is a function with oscillatory phenomenon when the propagation distance is short or the strength of turbulence is low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the study, a hydroxypropyl guar gum (HPG) gel was prepared using modified nano-TiO2 particles as a crosslinking agent. Firstly, nano-TiO2 particles were prepared using the sol–gel method. Nano-TiO2 particles were spherical and densely distributed; the effective particle size was 29.0 nm, and particle size distribution was uniform. Then, the modified nano-TiO2 particles were synthesized by modifying nano-TiO2 with polyhydroxy carboxylate. The microstructure of nano-TiO2 and modified nano-TiO2 crosslinked HPG gel were investigated. The layered distribution and crosslinked network of the modified nano-TiO2 gel were denser than that of nano-TiO2 crosslinked HPG gel. The modified nano-TiO2 crosslinked HPG gel shows stable viscoelasticity at 60 ℃. Compared with nano-TiO2 crosslinked HPG gel, it has better temperature resistance and shear resistance, and can adapt to formation fracturing at 140 ℃, indicating that this gel may have potential application in fracturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Low blood pressure (BP) has been shown to be associated with increased mortality in patients with chronic heart failure. This study was designed to evaluate the relationships between diagnosed hypertension and the risk of ventricular arrhythmia (VA) and all-cause death in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD), including those with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (HFpEF) and indication for ICD secondary prevention. We hypothesized that a stable hypertension status, along with an increasing BP level, is associated with a reduction in the risk of VA in this population, thereby limiting ICD efficacy. Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 964 CHF patients, with hypertension diagnosis and hospitalized BP measurements obtained before ICD implantation. The primary outcome measure was defined as the composite of SCD, appropriate ICD therapy, and sustained VT. The secondary endpoint was time to death or heart transplantation (HTx). We performed multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression and entropy balancing to calculate weights to control for baseline imbalances with or without hypertension. The Fine–Gray subdistribution hazard model was used to confirm the results. The effect of random BP measurements on the primary outcome was illustrated in the Cox model with inverse probability weighting. Results: The 964 patients had a mean (SD) age of 58.9 (13.1) years; 762 (79.0%) were men. During the interrogation follow-up [median 2.81 years (interquartile range: 1.32–5.27 years)], 380 patients (39.4%) reached the primary outcome. A total of 244 (45.2%) VA events in non-hypertension patients and 136 (32.1%) in hypertension patients were observed. A total of 202 (21.0%) patients died, and 31 (3.2%) patients underwent heart transplantation (incidence 5.89 per 100 person-years; 95% CI: 5.16–6.70 per 100 person-years) during a median survival follow-up of 4.5 (IQR 2.8–6.8) years. A lower cumulative incidence of VA events was observed in hypertension patients in the initial unadjusted Kaplan–Meier time-to-event analysis [hazard ratio (HR): 0.65, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.53–0.80]. The protective effect was robust after entropy balancing (HR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.56–0.89) and counting death as a competing risk (HR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.51–1.00). Hypertension diagnosis did not associate with all-cause mortality in this population. Random systolic blood pressure was negatively associated with VA outcomes (p = 0.065). Conclusions: In hospitalized chronic heart failure patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, the hypertension status and higher systolic blood pressure measurements are independently associated with a lower risk of combined endpoints of ventricular arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death but not with all-cause mortality. Randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm the protective effect of hypertension on ventricular arrhythmia in chronic heart failure patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce the theory of random tensors, which naturally extends the method of random averaging operators in our earlier work (Deng et al. in: Invariant Gibbs measures and global strong solutions for the nonlinear Schrödinger equations in dimension two, arXiv:1910.08492), to study the propagation of randomness under nonlinear dispersive equations. By applying this theory we establish almost-sure local well-posedness for semilinear Schrödinger equations in the full subcritical range relative to the probabilistic scaling (Theorem 1.1). The solution we construct has an explicit expansion in terms of multilinear Gaussians with adapted random tensor coefficients. As a byproduct we also obtain new results concerning regular data and long-time solutions, in particular Theorem 1.6, which provides long-time control for random homogeneous data, demonstrating the highly nontrivial fact that the first energy cascade happens at a much later time than in the deterministic setting. In the random setting, the probabilistic scaling is the natural scaling for dispersive equations, and is different from the natural scaling for parabolic equations. Our theory of random tensors can be viewed as the dispersive counterpart of the existing parabolic theories (regularity structures, para-controlled calculus and renormalization group techniques). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatic CT segmentation of proximal femur has a great potential for use in orthopedic diseases, especially in the imaging-based assessments of hip fracture risk. In this study, we proposed an approach based on deep learning for the fast and automatic extraction of the periosteal and endosteal contours of proximal femur in order to differentiate cortical and trabecular bone compartments. A three-dimensional (3D) end-to-end fully convolutional neural network (CNN), which can better combine the information among neighbor slices and get more accurate segmentation results by 3D CNN, was developed for our segmentation task. The separation of cortical and trabecular bones derived from the QCT software MIAF-Femur was used as the segmentation reference. Two models with the same network structures were trained, and they achieved a dice similarity coefficient (DSC) of 97.82% and 96.53% for the periosteal and endosteal contours, respectively. Compared with MIAF-Femur, it takes half an hour to segment a case, and our CNN model takes a few minutes. To verify the excellent performance of our model for proximal femoral segmentation, we measured the volumes of different parts of the proximal femur and compared it with the ground truth, and the relative errors of femur volume between predicted result and ground truth are all less than 5%. This approach will be expected helpful to measure the bone mineral densities of cortical and trabecular bones, and to evaluate the bone strength based on FEA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the ability of next-generation sequencing (NGS) to conduct preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) for thalassemia using affected embryos. Methods: This study included data from 36 couples who underwent PGT for thalassemia without probands and relative pedigrees. NGS results were compared with prenatal diagnosis results. Results: Thirty-six couples (29 α-thalassemia and 7 β-thalassemia) underwent 41 PGT cycles (31 α-thalassemia and 10 β-thalassemia). Analysis using NGS produced conclusive results for all biopsied blastocysts (100%, 217/217). One hundred and sixty (73.7%, 160/217) were unaffected by thalassemia. Preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy revealed that 112 (70.0%, 112/160) were euploid. Single blastocysts were transferred into the uteri of 34 women (53 frozen embryo transfer [FET] cycles). Thirty-two cycles resulted in clinical pregnancies, with a clinical pregnancy rate of 60.1% (32/53) per FET cycle. Twenty-two cycles (22 couples) resulted in 23 live births, with a live birth rate of 43.4% (23/53; 3 cycles were ongoing pregnancies). All 25 embryos' prenatal diagnosis results and/or thalassemia gene analyses after delivery were concordant with the NGS-PGT results. Seven embryos (21.9%, 7/32) were miscarried before 12 weeks' gestation, and the abortion villus in four showed a normal karyotype and thalassemia results consistent with the NGS-PGT results. Aborted fetus samples from 3 cycles were not available because the pregnancy lasted less than 5 weeks. Conclusion: NGS can be used to conduct PGT for thalassemia using affected embryos as a reference. Trial registration: Retrospectively registered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]