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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to design a soft robot for performing detection, by using a hybrid drive to reach the target point faster and enable the robot to perform the detection task at a relatively fast speed. Design/methodology/approach The soft robot is driven by a mixture of motors and pneumatic pressure, in which the pneumatic pressure is used to drive the soft actuator to bend and the motors to drive the soft robot forward. The careful design of the actuator is based on a finite element simulation using ABAQUS, which combines a constant curvature differential model and the D-H method to analyze the motion space of the soft actuator. Findings The soft robot’s ability to adapt to the environment and cross obstacles has been demonstrated by building prototypes and complex environments such as grass, gravel, sand and pipes. Originality/value This design can improve the speed and smoothness of the motion of the soft robot, while retaining the good environmental flexibility of the soft robot. And the soft robot has good environmental adaptability and the ability to cross obstacles. The soft robot proposed in this paper has broad prospects in fields such as pipeline inspection and field exploration.

Background: Inflammatory bowel (IBD) disease plays an important role in the prevention and disease management. Immunosuppressive therapies have been found to induce IBD pathogenesis and reactivate latent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) . This study was aimed to explore the clinical significance of latent EBV infection in IBD patients. Methods: Latent EBV infection was determined by double staining for EBV encoded RNA (EBER) and CD20 in colon specimens of 43 IBD patients who underwent bowel resection. Based on the staining results, the patients were divided into two groups, according to their latent EBV infection states - negative (n=33) and positive (n=10). The clinic-pathological data were analyzed between the two different latent EBV groups and also between the mild-to-moderate and severe disease groups.Results: Systolic pressure (P=0.005), variety of disease (P=0.005), the severity of illness (P=0.002), and pre-op corticosteroids (P=0.025) were significantly different between the EBV-negative and EBV-positive groups. Systolic pressure (P=0.001), variety of disease (P=0.000), pre-op corticosteroids (P=0.011) and EBV infection (P=0.003) were significantly different between the mild-to-moderate and severe disease groups.Conclusions: IBD patients with latent EBV infection may manifest more severe illnesses. It is suggested that the role of EBV in IBD development should be further investigated and latent EBV infection in patients with serious IBD should be closely monitored, and therapeutic course should be optimized.

Aim: We investigated the expression of type-I gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor (GnRHR-I) in human tongue cancer SCC-25 cells and the effects of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)-I and its analog triptorelin on SCC-25 cells and the related mechanisms of action. Methods: We used RT-PCR, realtime PCR (qPCR) and western blotting to detect the expression of GnRHR-I mRNA and protein in SCC-25 cells, We also used a Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay to calculate cell viability, after treatment with GnRH-I or triptorelin. Results: Results of agarose gel electrophoresis and DNA sequencing showed that the GnRHR-I mRNA of SCC-25 cells were amplified correctly. Western blotting showed that the protein samples of SCC-25 cells had a specific reaction at approximately 60 kDa. GnRH or triptorelin inhibited the proliferation of SCC-25 cells in a dose-dependent manner. GnRH-I and triptorelin at the same concentrations did not significantly differ in inhibiting the proliferation of SCC-25 cells (10 µg/ml: P=0.44,20 µg/ml: P=0.57, 40µg/ml: P=0.28,80 µg/ml: P=0.051). Results of qPCR showed that triptorelin treatment led to stronger inhibition of GnRHR-I mRNA expression in SCC-25 cells than did GnRH-I treatment. (P

Background: Inflammatory bowel (IBD) disease plays an important role in the prevention and disease management. Immunosuppressive therapies have been found to induce IBD pathogenesis and reactivate latent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) . This study was aimed to explore the clinical significance of latent EBV infection in IBD patients. Methods: Latent EBV infection was determined by double staining for EBV encoded RNA (EBER) and CD20 in colon specimens of 43 IBD patients who underwent bowel resection. Based on the staining results, the patients were divided into two groups, according to their latent EBV infection states - negative (n=33) and positive (n=10). The clinic-pathological data were analyzed between the two different latent EBV groups and also between the mild-to-moderate and severe disease groups.Results: Systolic pressure (P=0.005), variety of disease (P=0.005), the severity of illness (P=0.002), and pre-op corticosteroids (P=0.025) were significantly different between the EBV-negative and EBV-positive groups. Systolic pressure (P=0.001), variety of disease (P=0.000), pre-op corticosteroids (P=0.011) and EBV infection (P=0.003) were significantly different between the mild-to-moderate and severe disease groups.Conclusions: IBD patients with latent EBV infection may manifest more severe illnesses. It is suggested that the role of EBV in IBD development should be further investigated and latent EBV infection in patients with serious IBD should be closely monitored, and therapeutic course should be optimized.

Purpose: We aimed to assess whether the aberrant methylation of GNAQ gene, which may involve in the clopidogrel resistance (CR), was associated with a higher risk of recurrent ischemic events in clopidogrel-treated acute ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients. Methods: This is a nested case-control study, 152 clopidogrel-treated acute ischemic stroke or TIA patients that were propensity-matched were included in the final analysis, including 36 patients with vascular recurrence set as cases. Methylation levels of GNAQ gene were identified with MassARRAY EpiTYPER assays. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to explore the predictive value of CpG units for recurrent ischemic events within 1 year.Mediation analysis was performed to assess the role of CR in describing the effect of GNAQ methylation on recurrent ischemic events. Results: A total of 16 differentially methylated CpG units were identified. Multivariate logistic analysis indicated that the average methylation of CpG 32–39 of GNAQ was associated with a significantly higher risk of ischemic events (p < 0.001). When transformed into dichotomous variables with the receiver operating characteristic curve, hypomethylation (Conclusions: Hypomethylation of CpG 32–39 of GANQ gene was associated with a higher risk of ischemic events for clopidogrel-treated acute ischemic stroke or TIA patients. Further studies were warranted to explain the possible mechanism.

Objective Acute pancreatitis in pregnancy (APIP) is a rare and serious complication during pregnancy. It has acute onset and is difficult to diagnose and treat. The aim of the present study was to describe the etiology, clinical manifestations, and maternofetal outcomes of APIP. Methods We retrospectively reviewed 32 pregnant women who were treated at three tertiary care hospitals in Beijing, China. The correlation between the causes of APIP, severity, laboratory indices, and outcomes was analyzed. Results The most common causes of APIP were hypertriglyceridemia (56.2%,18/32) and gallstones (28.1%, 9/32). Hypertriglyceridemia-induced APIP was associated with a higher rate of severe acute pancreatitis (P = 0.025). Serum level of triglycerides showed a positive correlation with the severity of APIP (P = 0.039). The most frequent presentation of APIP was abdominal pain (93.7%, 30/32). There were no maternal or fetal deaths in our study. Apgar scores at 1 min, 5 min, and 10 min of the premature neonates was correlated with the severity of APIP of the mother (P = 0.022; 0.002; 0.002). Conclusion High level of triglycerides may serve as a useful marker of the severity of APIP. The severity of APIP was associated with higher risk of neonate asphyxia. Appropriate timing of termination of pregnancy is a key imperative for APIP patients.

In this paper, a method for rapid visualization of parametric 3D modeling based on two 2D photographs is proposed. Firstly, the background difference method is used to detect and separate the human contours. Secondly, by preprocessing the SCAPE model and using deep learning to establish the correspondence between the contour map and the 3D human model, the improved GoogleNet network model is trained, and the corresponding size of the 3D human model can be reconstructed by inputting the actual human contour. Finally, the error analysis by setting the error evaluation function yields E a values of 8.1% and 5.9% for the front view and side view, respectively, which achieves an advantage in the study with which the same work was performed.

Background and objective To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of new anticoagulants and warfarin in the prevention of stroke in Chinese patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods The Markov model was constructed to compare patients’ quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) using drug cost, the cost of the examination after taking a drug, and the incremental cost of other treatments. Both dabigatran (110 and 150 mg, twice a day) and rivaroxaban (20 mg, once a day) were compared with warfarin (3–6 mg, once a day). Willingness to pay, three times the 2018 China GDP per capita (9481.88 $), was the cost-effect threshold in our study. Results The total cost were was 5317.31$, 29673.33$, 23615.49$, and 34324.91$ for warfarin, rivaroxaban, dabigatran 110 mg bid, and dabigatran 150 mg bid, respectively. The QALYs for each of the four interventions were 11.07 years, 15.46 years, 12.4 years, and 15 years, respectively. The cost-effectiveness analysis of the three new oral anticoagulants and warfarin showed that the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was 5548.07$/QALY when rivaroxaban was compared with warfarin. Rivaroxaban was the most cost-effective choice and warfarin was the least. Conclusions In Chinese patients with AF, although warfarin is cheaper, rivaroxaban has a better cost-effectiveness advantage from an economic point of view.

Obstacle avoidance is one of the most basic and significant research directions of mobile robot. However, the present obstacle avoidance algorithms of many mobile robots are complex and unable to adapt to complex and changeable environments. This paper proposed an obstacle avoidance system based on GA-aided OIF-Elman neural network. The system can guide mobile robot to complete the movement and obstacle avoidance in the environment with obstacles. Based on the data collected by the robot’s six infrared sensors, the system adjusts their direction and changes the robot’s motion at the next moment. After data training, the information of network is saved as system file. Then put the system file in simulation software for test. The experimental results prove that the system designed by GA-aided OIF-Elman network is more effective for obstacle avoidance, compared with the performance of general Elman network, GA-aided OHF-Elman/Elman network.

Nanosheets-constructed porous flower-like hierarchical nanostructure SnS 2 (which was labeled as F-SnS 2 ) was synthesized by heating the mixture of SnCl 2 ·2H 2 O and thiourea in air at 170 °C for 2 h, in combination with a subsequent washing with water. F-SnS 2 exhibited much more adsorption and faster visible-light (wavelength >420 nm)-irradiated photocatalytic reduction of aqueous Cr(VI), as compared with SnS 2 nanoparticles, nanoplates-assembled flowerlike hierarchical structure SnS 2 synthesized by hydrothermal method, Fe, N and C tri-doped TiO 2 , and hydrothermally treated g-C 3 N 4 . The underlying reasons for the far superior performance of F-SnS 2 were proposed, based on the comparison of the microstructure, specific surface area, optical, electrochemical impedance, photocurrent, surface charge, and Cr(VI) adsorption properties of F-SnS 2 and SnS 2 nanoparticles. Besides, the photocatalytic reusability and stability of F-SnS 2 , as well as the effects of photocatalytic testing parameters (including dosage of photocatalyst, initial pH and concentration of K 2 Cr 2 O 7 aqueous solution) on the Cr(VI) removal efficiency by F-SnS 2 were also studied. This work may advance our knowledge on the scalable low temperature solid phase synthesis of SnS 2 nanomaterial, and contribute to the application of SnS 2 in treating the Cr(VI)-polluted water.

Fabrication of heterojunction composites is an effective means for raising the photocatalytic efficiency of semiconductors. Based on the previous reports that any two substances among CeO2, SnS2 and polyaniline (PANI) can constitute heterojunction, this work employed both CeO2 and PANI to couple SnS2 with the objective of synthesizing a new high-efficiency CeO2/SnS2/PANI ternary composite visible-light photocatalyst. CeO2/SnS2/PANI ternary nanocomposite was prepared via an easy to implement three-step method. For the visible-light-induced catalytic reduction of aqueous Cr(VI), our synthesized CeO2/SnS2/PANI showed higher photocatalytic activity than ternary mechanical mixture, CeO2/SnS2, SnS2, CeO2, and the previously reported CPVC/SnS2/TiO2, SnO2/SnS2/CPVC and SnS2/Au visible-light photocatalysts. The boosted photocatalytic activity of CeO2/SnS2/PANI was attributed to its enhanced transfer and separation of photogenerated charge carriers, which was resulted from the heterojunction formation between any two components. This work is helpful for the design and synthesis of new high-efficiency ternary composite visible-light photocatalysts.

Aim: To evaluate the diagnostic value of dynamic contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the differential diagnosis of hepatic angiomyolipoma (HAML) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to clarify the relationship between histopathological features and CT or MRI imaging performances in HAML. Material and methods: Six HAML and 33 non-cirrhotic HCC patients confirmed by histopathology were retrospectively analyzed. The serum biomarkers, CT and MRI examinations were conventionally performed before the confirmatory histological diagnosis. The clinical data from their medical records was also analyzed. Results: Six HAML patients were annotated as two types according to CT and MRI imaging characteristics, including hypovascular type (n = 1) and hypervascular type (n = 5). The imaging performances of the 33 HCC patients were hypervas-cular type. Moreover, all the 5 hypervascular type HAML patients were misdiagnosed as HCC by CT or MRI. We also found that the hypervascular type of HAML patients contained more vessels and less fatty tissues in histopathology than hypovascular type of HAML patients. However, the clinical features included HCC high risk factors (hepatitis B or C), non-specific symptoms, male and increased serum alpha fetoprotein (AFP) were more common in HCC patients than HAML patients (P < 0.05, respectively). Conclusions: The CT or MRI imaging performances of HAML patients containing more vessels and less fatty tissues in histopathology resemble the imaging performance of HCC patients. These clinical features may be of great help in the differential diagnosis in the current clinical practices.

Urotensin II and the associated urotensin II receptor (UTR) are important in the carcinogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the clinical significance of UTR remains to be elucidated. The aim of the present study was to investigate if UTR exhibits the potential to act as a biomarker to predict the prognosis of HCC patients. The effects of UTR on motility and invasion of HCC cells were additionally investigated. UTR expression levels were determined by immunohistochemistry, in 83 HCC patients that previously underwent curative liver resection. The association between UTR levels and clinicopathological data were analyzed. In vitro, the expressions of UTR in QSG-7701, BEL-7402 and MHCC-97H cell lines were determined via western blotting. Small interfering (si)RNA was used to downregulate UTR in BEL-7402 and MHCC-97H cell lines, and the effects of UTR on tumor cell motility were tested by Transwell assay. UTR expression was associated with tumor number, size, histology and tumor node metastasis/Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer HCC stage. UTR expression levels were additionally associated with recurrence-free and overall survival in HCC patients by Kaplan-Meier curve analysis (P

Purpose Sodium glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are shown to cause small, but significant changes of lipid profiles, we aim to investigate whether such altered lipid profiles can be translated into clinically meaningful changes in dyslipidemia. Methods PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared SGLT2 inhibitors with placebo or other oral glucose-lowering drugs in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and reported the events of dyslipidemia. A random-effect meta-analysis was performed to calculate the pooled estimates with risk ratio (RR) for dyslipidemia risk and weighted mean difference for lipid profiles with their 95% confidential intervals (CIs). Results Of 2427 studies identified, 15 RCTs involving 7578 patients were included. This meta-analysis found no association between SGLT2 inhibitors and risk of dyslipidemia (RR: 1.13; 95% CI: 0.91-1.40). However, SGLT2 inhibitors were significantly associated with increases in total cholesterol by 0.15 mmol/L, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol by 0.12 mmol/L, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol by 0.07 mmol/L while they can significantly decrease triglycerides by -0.12 mmol/L compared to controls. Conclusions SGLT2 inhibitors were not associated with increased risk of dyslipidemia. Further trials with longitudinal assessment are needed to assess the effect of SGLT2 inhibitors on trajectories of changes of lipid metabolism.

The force integration method (FIM) and the methods based on the mode transfer principle are the frequently used choices for solving the vibro-impact problem of continuum. Notably, there are different solving options such as numerical and semianalytical procedures. In this paper, a new modeling method based on the mode transfer principle, called the relative mode transfer method (RMTM), is proposed, and its semianalytical solution is obtained. A typical vibro-impact problem of continuum beam is studied. The time-history response under periodic excitation is obtained using the FIM, mode transfer method (MTM) through numerical procedure, and the RMTM through numerical procedure and semianalytical procedure. The effects of the method on the system steady-state response, amplitude-frequency response, and sticking motion are discussed. The impact type is divided into “hard impact” and “soft impact” when obtaining the results.

An effective and environmental-friendly method was adopted to enhance the Cr(VI) adsorption and photocatalytic reduction activity of g-C 3 N 4 , which was prepared by thermal condensation of melamine. The enhancement was realized by hydrothermal treatment of g-C 3 N 4 in 1.9–7.6 mol/L HNO 3 aqueous solutions at 80–120 °C for 3–12 h. The compositions, structures and physiochemical properties of the hydrothermally treated g-C 3 N 4 were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, N 2 adsorption/desorption isotherms, Zeta potential analysis, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and photocurrent measurement, and their dark adsorption and visible-light (wavelength >420 nm)-driven photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) in aqueous solution were tested. It was found that the hydrothermally treated g-C 3 N 4 exhibited significantly enhanced Cr(VI) adsorption and photocatalytic reduction activity than g-C 3 N 4 . Moreover, larger concentration of HNO 3 aqueous solution, higher hydrothermal temperature or longer treatment time resulted in higher Cr(VI) adsorption and photocatalytic reduction activity of the hydrothermally treated g-C 3 N 4 . The reasons accounting for the enhanced Cr(VI) adsorption and photocatalytic reduction activity of the hydrothermally treated g-C 3 N 4 were discussed, and the different mechanisms for the photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) over g-C 3 N 4 and the hydrothermally treated g-C 3 N 4 were also proposed.

A 26-year-old man was admitted to Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University (Beijing, China) with a 4-day history of headache, moderate fever and numbness in the right upper limb. Prior to this, the patient had been diagnosed with cerebral hemorrhage by computed tomography (CT) scan upon visiting a local hospital. Chest X-ray revealed multiple lesions in the lungs. Following referral, no abnormalities were found elsewhere, including in the testes, during a physical examination. Additional examination of other tumor biomarkers was unremarkable, and the initial suspicion of parasitic infection was ruled out. Tests revealed extremely high levels of β-human chorionic gonadotropin (>200,000 mIU/ml). In addition, CT scans showed multiple metastases in the head, lungs, liver and kidneys. An ultrasound-guided Tru-Cut biopsy of the liver was performed in order to form a definitive diagnosis. Although the patient was treated with mannitol to reduce intracranial pressure, and with cefoperazone sodium and sulbactam sodium to fight infection, the patient succumbed to a cerebral hernia on the fourth day of hospitalization. Following this, the ultrasound-guided Tru-Cut liver biopsy result was received, which suggested a diagnosis of choriocarcinoma.