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Building multiple chemical crosslinks is an effective strategy to improve mechanical properties and to diversify final application of polysaccharide nanoparticles reinforced poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) physical hydrogels. In this work, PVA/cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) were used as composite substrate to fabricate ionic conductive hydrogels for strain sensor. Three types of characteristic crosslinks, including chemical crosslinking via boronic ester covalent bonds only, and with additional metal coordination bonding, as well as coexistence of physical crosslinks via PVA crystallites and aforementioned two kinds of chemical crosslinks, were constructed. The sample with triple crosslinks has superior mechanical strength and resistance to fatigue, and the polydopamine/Fe

A new rod-shaped MoO3-x@YF3:Yb3+,Er3+ integrated carrier for the NIR-II fluorescence imaging and chemotherapy has been successfully prepared by introducing the local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect and regulating the morphology and surface state. The analysis methods such as XRD, SEM, EDX, TEM, UV–Vis-NIR, PL and IR are used to study the structure, morphology, composition and properties. XRD, SEM and TEM analysis shows that the surface of MoO3-x is successfully coated with YF3:Yb3+, Er3+ nanocrystals of well-crystallized orthogonality, and the carrier obtained has a unique rod-like morphology. XPS analysis shows that Mo element exists in two valence states: Mo (VI) and Mo (V). Furthermore, PL analysis shows that the carrier has stronger luminescence intensity of up-conversion and the near-infrared second region (NIR II) under the excitation of 980 nm and 1540 nm, respectively. The drug delivery capacity and release effect of carrier are studied by using doxorubicin (DOX) as an anti-tumor template drug. The results shows that the carrier with unmodified polyethylene glycol (PEG) has strong drug loading capacity and release effect. The cytotoxicity of the carrier is performed using Hela cells. The result show that the cytotoxicity was obviously related to the concentration of MoO3-x@YF3:Yb3+,Er3+ nanoparticles. This work will solve the bottleneck of fluorescence imaging of visual drug delivery carriers, tumor penetration rate and efficient drug delivery.

Salmonella selectively colonizes into the hypoxic tumor region and exerts antitumor effects via multiple mechanisms, while the tumor colonized Salmonella recruits host neutrophils into the tumor, presenting a key immunological restraint to compromise the Salmonella efficacy. Here, we develop a combinatorial strategy by employing silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) to improve the efficacy and biosafety of Salmonella. The AgNPs were decorated with sialic acid (SA) to allow selective recognition of L-selectin on neutrophil surfaces, based on which the tumor-homing of AgNPs was achieved by neutrophil infiltration in the Salmonella colonized tumor. The tumor-targeting AgNPs exert the functions of (1) local depletion of neutrophils in tumors to boost the efficacy of Salmonella, (2) direct killing tumor cells via L-selectin-mediated intracellular delivery, and (3) clearing the residual Salmonella after complete tumor eradication to minimize the side effects. With a single tail vein injection of such combination treatment, the tumor was eliminated with high biosafety, resulting in a superior therapeutic outcome.

Background Skeletal muscle depletion is common in old adults and individuals with chronic comorbidities, who have an increased risk of developing severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is defined by hypoxia requiring supplemental oxygen. This study aimed to determine the association between skeletal muscle depletion and clinical outcomes in patients with severe COVID-19. Methods One hundred and sixteen patients with severe COVID-19 who underwent chest computed tomography scan on admission were included in this multicenter, retrospective study. Paraspinal muscle index (PMI) and radiodensity (PMD) were measured using computed tomography images. The primary composite outcome was the occurrence of critical illness (respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation, shock, or intensive care unit admission) or death, and the secondary outcomes were the duration of viral shedding and pulmonary fibrosis in the early rehabilitation phase. Logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards models were employed to evaluate the associations. Results The primary composite outcome occurred in 48 (41.4%) patients, who were older and had lower PMD (both p < .05). Higher PMD was associated with reduced risk of critical illness or death in a fully adjusted model overall (odds ratio [OR] per standard deviation [SD] increment: 0.87, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.80–0.95; p = .002) and in female patients (OR per SD increment: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.56–0.91; p = .006), although the effect was not statistically significant in male patients (p = .202). Higher PMD (hazard ratio [HR] per SD increment: 1.08, 95% CI: 1.02–1.14; p = .008) was associated with shorter duration of viral shedding among female survivors. However, no significant association was found between PMD and pulmonary fibrosis in the early rehabilitation phase, or between PMI and any outcome in both men and women. Conclusions Higher PMD, a proxy measure of lower muscle fat deposition, was associated with a reduced risk of disease deterioration and decreased likelihood of prolonged viral shedding among female patients with severe COVID-19.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has proven a powerful tool for multiplex detection and imaging due to its narrow peak width and high sensitivity. However, conventional SERS reporters are limited to thiolated compounds, which have limitations such as chemical stability and spectral overlap. Here, we used alkyne- and nitrile-bearing molecules to directly fabricate a set of SERS tags for multiplex imaging. The alkyne and nitrile groups act as both the anchoring points to interact with gold nanoparticle (AuNP) surfaces and the reporters exhibiting strong and nonoverlapping signals in the cellular Raman-silent region. The SERS tags were subsequently modified with different antibodies for multicolor imaging of cancer cells and human breast cancer tissues. The reporters have a simple and readily accessible structure, hence providing new opportunities to prepare SERS nanoprobes.

This study challenges the conventional correlation between economic performance and the level of the development of social security systems. By focusing on China's urban areas, we provide an overview of the components and benefits, from a comparative perspective, of China's current social security system. We also create a comprehensive and generally applicable method using factors such as economics and population, among others, as standards to evaluate the efficacy of China's system. In order to demonstrate our primary hypothesis – that the Chinese Communist Party government has to modify its social security system to adapt to or bring about changes in the basis of its legitimacy – we analyse Chinese social security records and other related data after 1949 by statistical methods. The formula we provide in this study can be used to forecast China's expenditure on its urban social security system, and other scholars can apply our methods to countries in which conditions are broadly similar.

Photoacoustic imaging (PA) has emerged as a novel and noninvasive imaging modality owing to its high spatial resolution and high soft tissue contrast. Herein, we loaded a near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence dye (CySCOOH) onto the surface of PEGylated graphene oxide (GO) via π-π stacking to increase the NIR absorbance of GO. The PA imaging proved that PEGylated GO-CysCOOH (GO-PEG-CysCOOH) significantly enhances the PA signal in the tumor site compared with free GO-PEG. We then utilized the strong optical absorbance of GO-PEG-CySCOOH in the NIR region for in vivo photothermal therapy, achieving efficient tumor ablation after intravenous injection of GO-PEG-CySCOOH and low-power laser irradiation on the tumor. Our results indicate that this graphene-based nanocomposite can be developed as a promising contrast agent for PA imaging and a thermal agent for imaging guided photothermal therapy.

Background Although multidrug-resistant (MDR) gram-negative bacteremia (GNB) has been recognized as an important cause of morbidity and mortality among abdominal solid organ transplant (ASOT) recipients, there are no data on its prognostic factors after an interim standard definition of MDR was proposed in 2012. The objective of this study was to describe the epidemiology, microbiology, and predictors of infection-related 30-day mortality in ASOT recipients with MDR GNB. Methods We performed a retrospective, double-center analysis of ASOT patients with MDR GNB over a 13-year study period. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify the risk factors for mortality. Results During the observational period, 2169 subjects underwent ASOT. Ninety-nine episodes of MDR GNB were diagnosed in 91 (4.6%) ASOT recipients, with a predominance of E.coli (29 isolates, 29.3%) and A.baumanii (24 isolates, 24.2%). The median age of these 91 recipients was 45 years (interquartile range 35–54). Mortality after the first episode of MDR GNB was 39.6% (36 deaths). The univariate analysis identified the following variables as predictors of MDR GNB-related mortality: lung focus (P = 0.001),nosocomial origin (P = 0.002), graft from donation after cardiac death or deceased donors (P = 0.023), presence of other concomitant bloodstream infection (P 1.5 mg/dl (P = 0.006), albumin 1.5 mg/dl (OR = 24.498, 95% CI = 3.449–173.998, P = 0.001), nosocomial origin (OR = 23.963, 95% CI = 1.285–46.991, P = 0.033), and presence of other concomitant bloodstream infections (OR = 27.074, 95% CI = 3.937–186.210, P = 0.001) were the variables associated with MDR GNB-related 30-day mortality. Conclusions MDR GNB was associated with high morbidity and mortality in ASOT recipients, with a predominant causative organisms being E.coli and A.baumanii. Nosocomial origin, as well as presence of other concomitant bloodstream infections, increased creatinine level and septic shock were the main predictors of MDR GNB-related 30-day mortality.

Author(s): Gu, Can; Chen, Wei-Ti; Zhang, Qiue; Chow, Ka Ming; Wu, Jianzhen; Tao, Lijian; Chan, Carmen WH | Abstract: BackgroundChinese women rarely undergo regular cervical screening. Women's decisions about cervical screening may be influenced by their perception of the risk of cervical cancer. Therefore, understanding how women perceive the risk of cervical cancer, how personal risk factors are interpreted, and the influence of cultural issues on cervical screening behavior is important.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to understand cervical cancer risk perception and the role of personal risk factors as they influence screening behavior among Chinese women.MethodAn exploratory qualitative research design was used. We conducted semistructured, in-depth interviews of 27 women in Changsha, a medium-size city in Hunan province, China.ResultsParticipants identified that cervical cancer had serious consequences, but they distanced themselves psychologically from the disease because they felt that "cervical cancer is a shameful and deadly disease." Although women identified some of the risk factors for the disease, they had little specific knowledge of human papillomavirus infection, its association with cervical cancer, and the importance of cervical screening.ConclusionThis study contributes new knowledge to the understanding of cervical screening behavior within a specific social and cultural context. Better efforts should be made to educate Chinese women on the risk of cervical cancer and emphasize that effective cancer treatments are available and that there is a good chance of survival.Implications for practiceNurses working with Chinese women should ensure that the information they provide is culturally sensitive, particularly by acknowledging the normative beliefs of this population group.

Automatic control systems is the specialized fundamental course of automation major. The teaching effect of this course will influence the learning of the post-requisites. It’s important to improve the teaching quality of this course. This paper analyzed the problems of existing teaching methods. According to these problems, teaching reform methods were proposed to engage and motivate students’ initiative, strengthen the students’ capability of analyzing and solving problems.

A novel image registration scheme is proposed. Low order Zernike moments are used as image global pattern features and feed into feedforward neural networks to provide translation, rotation and scaling parameters. Experimental results show that the proposed registration scheme is accurate and robust to noise.

In this paper, we propose a novel digital watermarking scheme in DCT domain based on fuzzy clustering technique and human visual system to adapt the embedding strength of different blocks according to block classification. We choose a binary image as watermark and embed it into the larger coefficients in mid-band frequency of the selected blocks. This method allows to embedding more robust watermark under a certain visual distance. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme can survive common image signal process.

In this paper, we propose an image adaptive watermarking scheme in DWT domain, by utilizing fuzzy clustering theory, the watermark can be adaptively embedded without degradation of the original image. In order to improve the robustness, we embedded watermark several times, and watermark can be extracted without referring to the original image. Simulations of various attacks will be given to demonstrate the robustness of the proposed algorithm.