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Shang-Rong Zhong,1 Han-Hsuan Yang,1– 3 Cheng-Hsi Liao,4– 7 Deng-Ho Yang,5,6,8,9 Shih-Kai Tu,1,5 Chia-Lien Hung,6 Chun-Cheng Liao1,5,6 1Department of Family Medicine, Taichung Armed Forces General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; 2Department of Occupational Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; 3School of Professional Education and Continuing Studies, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; 4Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Taichung Armed Forces General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; 5School of Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan; 6Department of Medical Education and Research, Taichung Armed Forces General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; 7Graduate Institute of Biomedical Science, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; 8Division of Rheumatology/Immunology/Allergy, Department of Internal Medicine, Taichung Armed Forces General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; 9Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taichung, TaiwanCorrespondence: Chun-Cheng Liao Email milkbottle97@yahoo.com.twPurpose: To assess the association between serum testosterone (T) and metabolic syndrome (MS) in different age groups in Taiwanese men.Materials and Methods: Male participants, regardless of age or any underlying disease, were identified from MJ Health Screening Center in Taiwan from 2007 to 2016 for this cross-sectional study. They were divided into three groups according to age, and further classified according to MS diagnosis. Basic patient characteristics with relevant parameters were obtained. One-way ANOVA of mean T values between different numbers of measures that exceeds the cut-off values of MS components was performed to assess the relationship of T and MS. Logistic regression analysis was also used to estimate the risk for MS with each increment in T, age, and BMI.Results: A total of 4,931 men were included. The MS group had significantly lower serum T levels compared to the non-MS group in each age group. The one-way ANOVA found the mean value of T was significantly higher in patients without MS component (6.19± 2.12 ng/mL) than those with 1– 5 MS components (with one MS component: 5.48± 2.13 ng/mL, two MS components: 4.93± 2.03 ng/mL, three MS components: 4.37± 1.60 ng/mL, four MS components: 4.13± 2.89 ng/mL, five MS components: 3.74± 1.27 ng/mL, and P< 0.001). There was no significant difference between the patients with three components and the patients with four or five components. Logistic regression models with age stratification showed T with lower odds ratio (OR) for MS after adjusting for BMI in those ≥ 65 years old (OR=0.693; 95% CI=0.559– 0.858; P< 0.001); 50– 64 years old (OR=0.868; 95% CI=0.802– 0.940; P< 0.001) and < 50 years old (OR=0.810; 95% CI=0.758– 0.865; P< 0.001).Conclusion: Lower serum T was strongly associated with MS, with the predictive value increasing with age in Taiwanese men.Keywords: testosterone, metabolic syndrome, hypogonadism, insulin resistance

Chun-Hsing Liao,1,2 Na-Yao Lee,3 Hung-Jen Tang,4,5 Susan Shin-Jung Lee,6,7 Chin-Fu Lin,8 Po-Liang Lu,9–11 Jiunn-Jong Wu,12 Wen-Chien Ko,13 Wen-Sen Lee,14 Po-Ren Hsueh15,16 1Department of Internal Medicine, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; 2Department of Medicine, Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; 3Department of Internal Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Medical College and Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan; 4Department of Internal Medicine, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan; 5Department of Health and Nutrition, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan, Taiwan; 6Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 7Faculty of Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; 8Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; 9Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 10Department of Laboratory Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 11Graduate Institute of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 12Department of Biotechnology and Laboratory Science in Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; 13Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; 14Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Wan Fang Medical Center, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 15Department of Laboratory Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan; 16Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro antimicrobial susceptibilities of clinically important Gram-negative bacteria from seven intensive care units in Taiwan in 2016. Materials and methods: In total, 300 non-duplicate isolates of Escherichia coli (n=100), Klebsiella pneumoniae (n=100), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n=100) collected from 300 patients were studied. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of these isolates to antimicrobial agents were determined using the broth microdilution method. Carbapenemase-encoding genes (blaKPC, blaNDM, blaIMP, blaVIM, and blaOXA-48-like) were studied for the isolates that were not susceptible to any carbapenems. Sequencing analysis of the mcr genes (mcr-1–5) was conducted for all isolates with colistin MICs ≥4 mg/L. Results: Ertapenem non-susceptibility was detected in 3% (n=3) E. coli and 12% (n=12) K. ­pneumoniae isolates. The susceptibility rates of imipenem, ceftazidime–avibactam (CAZ–AVB), and ceftolozane–tazobactam (CLZ–TAZ) were 99%, 99%, and 88%, respectively, for E. coli, 91%, 100%, and 80%, respectively, for K. pneumoniae, and 66%, 91%, and 93%, respectively, for P. aeruginosa. Carbapenemase-encoding genes were not detected in E. coli, were detected in four (33.3%) K. pneumoniae isolates that were not susceptible to ertapenem (three harboring blaKPC and one harboring blaOXA-48-like), and were not detected in P. aeruginosa isolates that were not susceptible to imipenem. One K. pneumoniae isolate was resistant to colistin (MIC 4 mg/L) and negative for mcr genes. Conclusion: CAZ–AVB exhibited excellent activity against carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, and CLZ–TAZ exhibited good activity against imipenem-resistant P. aeruginosa. Keywords: carbapenem resistance, second-generation, β-lactam, β-lactamase inhibitor combinations, carbapenemase-encoding genes, mcr

Yu-Tsung Huang,1–3 Chun-Hsing Liao,1,4 Shey-Ying Chen,5 Chia-Jui Yang,1,4 Hsin-Sui Hsu,1 Lee-Jene Teng,2,3 Po-Ren Hsueh2,6 1Department of Internal Medicine, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan; 2Department of Laboratory Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan; 3Department of Clinical Laboratory Science and Medical Biotechnology College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; 4Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; 5Department of Emergency Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan; 6Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan Objectives: This study investigated molecular characteristics of rifampin (RIF)-resistant (RIF-R) Staphylococcus aureus isolates recovered from patients receiving RIF-containing regimens for tuberculosis (TB). Patients and methods: Patients with TB who received RIF-containing regimens from November 2009 to May 2011 at a medical center were enrolled. Nasal swabs for S. aureus culture were obtained at the time of enrollment, and then every two months until two months after RIF treatment had been completed. Genetic relatedness of the isolates was determined using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, multilocus sequence typing, and gene typing of spa and SCCmec. The presence of RIF resistance-associated mutations in rpoB, and fusidic acid resistance genes fusB and fusC in the S. aureus isolates were analyzed. Results: Among the 200 patients enrolled in this study, 152 completed follow-ups during treatment, and 114 completed two months of follow-up after discontinuing use of RIF. At enrollment, ten patients (5%) had nasal colonization with S. aureus, namely eight with methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA), and two with methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA, ST59-SCCmecIV-RIF-susceptible). All these patients were decolonized after RIF usage. Two patients with MSSA colonization at enrollment showed recolonization with genetically unrelated MSSA strains two months after completion of RIF treatment. There were five ST45-SCCmecVT-RIF-R strains from two patients isolated during RIF exposure. Sequencing of rpoB in the RIF-R S. aureus isolates revealed different mutation sites between the MSSA and MRSA isolates. Conclusion: RIF-R S. aureus strains are more likely to result in persistent nasal carriage in TB patients receiving RIF treatment. Monitoring of emergence and possible dissemination of the MRSA ST45 strains among TB patients treated with RIF in Taiwan is warranted. Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant S. aureus, rifampin resistance, tuberculosis, nasal carriage, Taiwan

A three-dimensional CFD model was developed to simulate the full-loop of a dual fluidized-bed biomass gasification system consisting of a gasifier, a combustor, a cyclone separator, and a loop-seal. This full-loop simulation includes the chemical kinetic modeling of biomass drying and pyrolysis, heterogeneous char reactions, and homogeneous gas-phase reactions. In the model, the gas phase is described using Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and the particle phase is described with the Multiphase Particle-In-Cell (MP-PIC) method. The simulation was performed using the GPU-accelerated computing and the simulation results were compared with the gas composition and temperature measurements from a pilot-scale biomass gasification power plant (1MWth, 6tonsbiomass/day). The independence of the accuracy of the model on mesh resolution and computational particle number was determined. The impacts of the particle size distributions (PSD) and drag models on the reactive flows were also investigated.

C18H18N2O3S⋅C2HF3O2, monoclinic, P21 (no. 4), a = 6.0979(2) Å, b = 32.3052(9) Å, c = 11.0805(3) Å, β = 99.5620(10)°, V = 2152.46(11) Å3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.0570, wRref(F2) = 0.1470, T = 200(1) K.

Coking wastewater is one of refractory coal chemical wastewater with a high pollution load，complex organic pollutant composition and strong biological toxicity. The biochemical tail water still retains refractory organic compounds and exhibits a certain level of biological toxicity after conventional physical-chemical and biological treatment. COD fails to meet the discharge standards for pollutants from Emission Standard of Pollutants for Coking Chemical Industry （GB 16171-2012），and further processing is required. The characteristics of residual organic matter and biological toxicity in the biochemical tail water of coking wastewater were analyzed firstly. Subsequently，this review summarized the COD removal efficiency，the change rules of different organic components and biological toxicity in biochemical tail water after application of separation technologies （coagulation，adsorption，membrane filtration），transformation technologies （Fenton，catalytic ozone oxidation，electromagnetic enhanced oxidation technology，persulfate oxidation and electrochemical oxidation） and collaborative processes. It was pointed out that on the basis of understanding the characteristics of the biochemical tail water and biological toxicity transformation rules with various advanced technologies，the collaborative combination process and short process technology would be desired for the efficient treatment and the biological safety.

With the development of high-frequency carriers and high-capacity communications, ultrahigh-speed spectrum analyzer based on all-optical methods has been demonstrated in many fields. Limited by current data processing algorithms, ultrahigh-speed spectrum analyzers based on time-lens, such as frequency-domain light intensity spectrum analyzer (f-LISA) and parametric spectro-temporal analyzer (PASTA), are not yet to automatically process acquired data, which hinders their practicality. In this paper, a frame segmentation algorithm based on time-domain waveform analysis is proposed to achieve the automatic data processing of these analyzers, which can directly generate the spectro-temporal image of the signal under test. In a single-soliton test based on the f-LISA platform, the algorithm achieves an accuracy of 93.28% when the soliton changes and 90.04% when the soliton is stable. And in this test, the single-frame processing time of the algorithm is 419us. We believe the proposed algorithm will facilitate the practical application of spectrum analyzers like f-LISA and PASTA and provide a reference for other real-time measurement schemes.

Background: To analyze the value of four-dimensional computed tomography angiography (4D-CTA) combined with stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) for differentiating ruptured intracranial aneurysms and assessing the risk of ruptures.

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is a common type of skin cancer. Conventional approaches to BCC diagnosis often involve invasive histological examinations that can distort or even destroy information derived from the biomolecules in the sample. Therefore, a non-invasive, label-free examination method for the clinical diagnosis of BCC represents a critical advance. This study combined spectral- and time-resolved two-photon microscopy with a spectral phasor to extract rich biochemical information describing macroscopic tumor morphology and microscopic tumor metabolism. The proposed optical imaging technique achieved the rapid and efficient separation of tumor structures in systematic research conducted on normal and BCC human skin tissues. The results demonstrate that a combination of multidimensional data (e.g., fluorescence intensity, spectrum, and lifetime) with a spectral phasor can accurately identify tumor boundaries and achieve rapid separation. This label-free, real-time, multidimensional imaging technique serves as a complement to the conventional tumor diagnostic toolbox and demonstrates significant potential for the early diagnosis of BCC and wider applications in intraoperative auxiliary imaging.

C21H19BrN2O3, orthorhombic, Pna21 (no. 33) a = 25.412(3) Å, b = 21.329(2) Å, c = 7.0020(8) Å, V = 3795.2(7) Å3, Z = 8, Rgt(F) = 0.0390, wRref(F2) = 0.1009, T = 100(2) K.

Negative cognitive bias toward emotional stimuli is a main cognitive factor for depression, and also is a stable trait of depression. Previous studies showed enhanced negative affective processing and insufficient cognitive control can account for pathogenesis of depression, in terms of cognition. With the development of related researches, the mechanism of different negative cognitive biases (attention bias, processing bias and memory bias) in affective processing and the sub-component functions of cognitive control (updating, inhibiting and shifting) in depression were further studied. Especially in combination with the trend analysis of "neural network hierarchy" in the current cognitive neural field, we put forward a theoretical hypothesis of "dual-path hierarchical network model" for depression. That is, depression is caused by 3-level brain network of "heat"-"intermediate regulation"-"cold", which forms a "closed-loop neural circuit" through the paths of bottom-up affective processing and top-down cognitive control, with the 3 brain networks interacting together and finally mediating to depression.

Imaging of nanoscale magnetic textures within extended material systems is of critical importance to both fundamental research and technological applications. While high-resolution magnetic imaging of thin nanoscale samples is well established with electron and soft x-ray microscopy, the extension to micrometer-thick systems currently requires hard x rays, which limits high-resolution imaging to rare-earth magnets. Here, we overcome this limitation by establishing soft x-ray magnetic imaging of micrometer-thick systems using the pre-edge phase x-ray magnetic circular dichroism signal, thus making possible the study of a wide range of magnetic materials. By performing dichroic spectroptychography, we demonstrate high spatial resolution imaging of magnetic samples up to 1.7 μm thick, an order of magnitude higher than conventionally possible with soft x-ray absorption-based techniques. We demonstrate the applicability of the technique by harnessing the pre-edge phase to image thick chiral helimagnets, and naturally occurring magnetite particles, gaining insight into their three-dimensional magnetic configuration. This new regime of magnetic imaging makes possible the study of extended non-rare-earth systems that have until now been inaccessible, including magnetic textures for future spintronic applications, non-rare-earth permanent magnets for energy harvesting, and the magnetic configuration of giant magnetofossils.

Abstract Reconstructions of ocean oxygenation are critical for understanding the role of respired carbon storage in regulating atmospheric CO2. Independent sediment redox proxies are essential to assess such reconstructions. Here, we present a long magnetofossil record from the eastern Indian Ocean in which we observe coeval magnetic hardening and enrichment of larger, more elongated, and less oxidized magnetofossils during glacials compared to interglacials over the last ~900 ka. Our multi-proxy records of redox-sensitive magnetofossils, trace element concentrations, and benthic foraminiferal Δδ13C consistently suggest a recurrence of lower O2 in the glacial Indian Ocean over the last 21 marine isotope stages, as has been reported for the Atlantic and Pacific across the last glaciation. Consistent multi-proxy documentation of this repeated oxygen decline strongly supports the hypothesis that increased Indian Ocean glacial carbon storage played a significant role in atmospheric CO2 cycling and climate change over recent glacial/interglacial timescales.

Abstract Background Cortisol plays a role in the pathogenesis of central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC). CSC patients have abnormal time-dependent changes in cortisol levels. Here we report a rare case of a patient with central serous chorioretinopathy whose pigment epithelial detachment (PED) exhibited time-dependent recurrence and resolution. Case presentation A 47-year-old man presented in 2016 for vision loss in the left eye related to recurrent CSC. During follow-up, his PED was observed to resolve spontaneously while he was still in our clinic and recurred the next morning. Such time-dependent changes of the PED were observed in several next follow-ups without any intervention. After excluding possible external factors, the abnormal diurnal variation of cortisol was considered as the internal factor affecting PED. Conclusions This is the first article that described the spontaneous time-dependent recurrence and resolution of PED without external interference, where endogenous cortisol may be responsible. Interventions against the abnormal cortisol level might be a potential treatment strategy for CSC. More research is urged to explore the impact of the diurnal change in cortisol levels on eyes with CSC.

The splicing design of the existing road and the new road in the expansion project is an important part of the design work. Based on the analysis of the characteristics and the load effect of pavement structure on splicing, this paper points out that tensile crack or shear failure may occur at the splicing under the repeated action of the traffic load on the new/old pavement. According to the current structure design code of asphalt pavement in China, it is proposed that the horizontal tensile stress at the bottom of the splicing layer and the vertical shear stress at other layers of the splicing line should be controlled by adjusting the position and size of the excavated steps in addition to the conventional design index, and put forward the corresponding technical requirements and design process. It can be used for reference in the design of asphalt pavement reconstruction and expansion projects.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common malignant gastrointestinal tumor. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are revealed to be critically involved in CRC progression, providing new direction for exploring the pathogenesis of CRC. This study aimed to explore the biological functions and regulatory mechanisms of lncRNA AC125257.1 in CRC. Western blotting and reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction were used for the measurement of gene expression. Cell counting kit-8 assay and flow cytometry analysis were used to explore the effects of AC125257.1 on CRC cell viability and apoptosis. RNA pull-down and immunoprecipitation assays were performed for validating the binding between AC125257.1 and its potential downstream microRNA. Results showed that lncRNA AC125257.1 expression was upregulated in CRC cells and tumor tissues. AC125257.1 enhanced cell viability and suppressed apoptosis of CRC cells. Moreover, the knockdown of AC125257.1 suppressed CRC progression in vitro and inhibited tumor growth in vivo. miR-133a-3p was revealed to bind with AC125257.1 in CRC cells. CASC5 was proved to be targeted by miR-133a-3p. Moreover, rescue assays indicated that the knockdown of AC125257.1 suppressed the pathogenic overexpression of CASC5. To conclude, AC125257.1 aggravates CRC development via miR-873-5p/CASC5 axis. Our findings might suggest a novel perspective that AC125257.1 may become the target for CRC treatment.

Abstract Droplet microfluidics offers a platform from which new digital molecular assay, disease screening, wound healing and material synthesis technologies have been proposed. However, the current commercial droplet generation, assembly and imaging technologies are too expensive and rigid to permit rapid and broad-range tuning of droplet features/cargoes. This rapid prototyping bottleneck has limited further expansion of its application. Herein, an inexpensive home-made pipette droplet microfluidics kit is introduced. This kit includes elliptical pipette tips that can be fabricated with a simple DIY (Do-It-Yourself) tool, a unique tape-based or 3D printed shallow-center imaging chip that allows rapid monolayer droplet assembly/immobilization and imaging with a smart-phone camera or miniature microscope. The droplets are generated by manual or automatic pipetting without expensive and lab-bound microfluidic pumps. The droplet size and fluid viscosity/surface tension can be varied significantly because of our particular droplet generation, assembly and imaging designs. The versatility of this rapid prototyping kit is demonstrated with three representative applications that can benefit from a droplet microfluidic platform: (1) Droplets as microreactors for PCR reaction with reverse transcription to detect and quantify target RNAs. (2) Droplets as microcompartments for spirulina culturing and the optical color/turbidity changes in droplets with spirulina confirm successful photosynthetic culturing. (3) Droplets as templates/molds for controlled synthesis of gold-capped polyacrylamide/gold composite Janus microgels. The easily fabricated and user-friendly portable kit is hence ideally suited for design, training and educational labs.

Real-time spectral measurement technology is of great importance in observing transient phenomena and revealing ultrafast dynamics. This paper presents an approach for real-time observing intracavity soliton evolution processes in a mode-locked fiber laser by synchronizing multi-port time-division multiplexed measurements, pointing towards possible studies of intracavity dynamics in various optical systems.

The ever-increasing electromagnetic interference (EMI) pollution becomes an important issue in current environmental protection and human society. In this work, 3D BaTiO3(3DBT)@C porous ceramic framework was one-step fabricated by sol-gel method using environmentally friendly cleanroom wipers as template and calcined under inert atmosphere. Subsequently, epoxy (EP) resin was reversely incorporated into the above 3DBT@C network, resulting in the 3DBT@C/EP composite. Results showed that the cleanroom wiper was calcined and transformed into amorphous carbon within the 3DBT, leading to the excellent electrical conductivity of 3DBT@C. The reverse infiltration of EP maintained the successive 3DBT framework and excellent conductivity, thus endowing the 3DBT@C/EP composite with a good electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness (EMI SE) as high as 36.6 dBꞏmm-1 at 10.2 GHz. The absorption mechanism of EMI prevailed the EMI SE due to the large Ohmic loss and porous 3D network, implying potential applications in flexile shielding materials.

A novel biomass system has been developed that utilizes spent mushroom substrates (SMS) and combines a pre-drying and drying system. The novel biomass system consists of a boiler and an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC), which employs Isohexane as the working fluid to enable operation at high temperatures. The high moisture content of the SMS is dried by pre-drying from condensation waste heat of ORC and drying from the flue gas of the boiler to improve the calorific value of SMS. In the present study, the moisture content of the SMS and evaporation temperature of the ORC ranged from 50% to 65% and from 130℃ to 180℃. The results show although the thermal efficiency of ORC increased with an increase in evaporation temperature, the maximal output power is 412.21 kW at an evaporation temperature of 150 ℃. Additionally, when the moisture content of the SMS is 50 %, the thermal efficiency of the entire system approaches the maximal value (58.6%).

Fraud problems in loan application assessment cause significant losses for finance companies worldwide, and much research has focused on machine learning methods to improve the efficacy of fraud detection in some financial domains. However, diverse information falsification in individual fraud remains one of the most challenging problems in loan applications. To this end, we conducted an empirical study to explore the relationships between various fraud types and analyzed the factors influencing information fabrication. Weak relationships exist among different falsification types, and some essential factors play the same roles in different fraud types. In contrast, others have various or opposing effects on these types of frauds. Based on this finding, we propose a novel hierarchical multi-task learning approach to refine fraud-detection systems. Specifically, we first developed a hierarchical fraud category method to break down this problem into several subtasks according to the information types falsified by customers, reducing fraud identification's difficulty. Second, a heterogeneous network with a meta-path-based random walk and heterogeneous skip-gram model can solve the representation learning problem owing to the sophisticated relationships among the applicants' information. Furthermore, the final subtasks can be predicted using a multi-task learning approach with two prediction layers. The first layer provides the probabilities of general fraud categories as auxiliary information for the second layer, which is for specific subtask prediction. Finally, we conducted extensive experiments based on a real-world dataset to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

It is controversial whether patients who achieve clinical complete remission (cCR) of rectal cancer should be treated with the “watch and wait” (W&W) or radical resection (RR) strategy. Our study aimed to compare the survival outcomes and ostomy rate of the W&W and RR strategies. Between January 2008 and December 2015, we investigated 26 patients who achieved pathologic complete remission after undergoing RR and 36 patients who adopted the W&W strategy because of cCR. The tumor regrowth, salvage surgery, recurrence, disease-free, and overall survival (OS) rates were assessed. In our study, recurrences occurred in nine and two patients from the W&W and RR groups, respectively. Each patient in the RR group had a temporary or permanent ostomy, but only three (8.3%) had an ostomy in the W&W group. The 5-year recurrence rate was 25.0% in the W&W group and 7.7% in the RR group. Six patients (16.7%) had tumor regrowth in the W&W group, and all were resectable when regrowth. The 5-year OS rates between the two groups were nonsignificant. There is no specific risk factor for recurrence and OS. Under close surveillance, the W&W group achieved similar OS to the RR group and benefited from a lower ostomy rate.

Pulmonary Aspergillus infection may have a variety of manifestations depending on the patients’ immunity status and pre-existing lung conditions. Radiographically, aspergilloma, which is usually associated with noninvasive Aspergillus fumigatus conidia, may feature a characteristic mass in a cavity commonly located in the upper lobes of the lung. It is typically encountered upon pre-existing lung damage. Here we report Aspergillus growing in a pulmonary metastatic cavity in a 47-year-old male worker with a history of tongue cancer after a radical operation with neck dissection and concurrent chemotherapy in 2014. Chest radiography and computed tomography showed a cavitary lesion with a ball-in-hole lesion in the right upper lobe (RUL) and two cystic lesions within the bilateral upper lung field. Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial biopsy (EBUS-TBB) from the RUL anterior segmental bronchus (RB3) revealed the presence of Aspergillus conidia and squamous cell carcinoma. Wedge resection of the cystic lesion within the left upper lobe confirmed the diagnosis of metastatic squamous cell carcinoma. This is a rare case of aspergillosis within cavities of pulmonary metastases in a patient who was diagnosed with tongue squamous cell carcinoma. The conclusive distinction between neoplasm and fungal infection is difficult to achieve by radiography, and a pathological biopsy by EBUS-TBB is necessary to aid diagnosis. Clinicians should be aware of such an atypical presentation of metastases coexisting with Aspergillus infection.

Abstract Multipolarity remanence in greigite‐bearing sediments has long been recognized, but the cause of this anomalous remanence behavior is not well understood. Here, we use electron microscopic and magnetic analyses to investigate the origin of such multipolarity in Miocene greigite‐bearing sediments from the Pannonian Basin (Hungary). We find a magnetic softening and partial transformation of iron sulfides to magnetite and pyrrhotite from “single‐polarity” to “multi‐polarity” samples. The inward alteration of sulfide grains is topotactic and is size‐dependent with higher alteration in smaller grains. We propose a multi‐phase self‐reversal chemical remanent magnetization (CRM) mechanism in altered greigite: the neoformed magnetite/pyrrhotite shell acquires a CRM coupled in the opposite direction to the primary CRM of the greigite core, likely through magnetostatic interactions or interfacial exchange interactions between the closely contacting core and shell. This new greigite self‐reversal model can explain the commonly observed antiparallel polarities and has broad geochronological, tectonic and paleoenvironmental implications.

Key Clinical Message Common urinary symptoms may arise from metastases from uncommon sites. In patients with a history of cancer, the focus should be on the currently affected organ and the status of the underlying malignancy.

With the presence of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) asymptomatic infections detected, their proportion, transmission potential, and other aspects such as immunity and related emerging challenges have attracted people’s attention. We have found that based on high-quality research, asymptomatic infections account for at least one-third of the total cases, whereas based on systematic review and meta-analysis, the proportion is about one-fifth. Evaluating the true transmission potential of asymptomatic cases is difficult but critical, since it may affect national policies in response to COVID-19. We have summarized the current evidence and found, compared with symptomatic cases, the transmission capacity of asymptomatic individuals is weaker, even though they have similar viral load and relatively short virus shedding duration. As the outbreak progresses, asymptomatic infections have also been found to develop long COVID-19. In addition, the role of asymptomatic infection in COVID-19 remains to be further revealed as the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants continue to emerge. Nevertheless, as asymptomatic infections transmit the SARS-CoV-2 virus silently, they still pose a substantial threat to public health. Therefore, it is essential to conduct screening to obtain more knowledge about the asymptomatic infections and to detect them as soon as possible; meanwhile, management of them is also a key point in the fight against COVID-19 community transmission. The different management of asymptomatic infections in various countries are compared and the experience in China is displayed in detail.

As digitalization leads to the development of the global economy and artificial intelligence stimulates technological innovation, integrating smart management methods into project management is becoming more and more critical to the development of the construction industry. As an influential branch of engineering management, intelligent risk management in the construction field will be a future research direction. Hence, the aim of this study is to find the gaps and future research trends in intelligent risk management field by Systematic Literature Review. In order to achieve these objectives, 436 articles were selected from the WOS and Scopus databases to be analyzed by CiteSpace scientometric software, and the results were classified into collaborative network analysis, co-citation analysis, and public network analysis. From the analysis, China had the highest number of publications, while the United States was the most influential country in this field. The researchers at different institutions in this field have formed research teams despite the lack of collaboration between the authors and their institutions. In co-cited references, the emphasis was on traditional methods and applications of risk analysis, with fewer citations of novel methods. According to the keywords, the clusters of keywords, and the temporal evolution of the keywords, and combining the conceptual model, 5 research gaps areas were discovered. In order to fulfill these challenges and barriers, this study found the future research trends, including: developing digital management platform for intelligent construction management and risk management; building a decision-making system for risk management to find an optimum solution; refining building digital models which would be the basis of digital management platform; identifying and category the characteristic construction risk factors by using machine learning techniques, just like text mining or knowledge graph; building an API to embed decision making system into digital management platform, and the intelligent risk management system in real-time projects to verify its possibility.

Objective To analyze the status and influencing factors of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in rural areas of Moyu County, in the southern part of Xinjiang, and to provide scientific basis for early prevention and intervention strategies. Methods The baseline survey population in rural Xinjiang of the Natural Population Cohort Study in Northwest China was selected as the research object. A field survey was conducted from June to December 2018 in the rural areas of Moyu County, among the natural population aged 35 to 74, and the results of a questionnaire, physical examination and lung function measurement were collected. Finally, 3 249 valid samples were obtained. Stata 13.0 software was used for Chi-square test and trend Chi-square test. Univariate and multivariate binary logistic regression were adopted to analyze the correlation between related investigation factors and COPD. Results A total of 394 subjects (12.13%) were diagnosed with COPD. The prevalence of COPD was 12.59% (95% CI: 11.45%~13.83%) in subjects over 40 years old, it was increased with age (Chi-square trend=71.990, P < 0.001), and that of men was significantly higher than that of women (15.3% vs 10.1%, Chi-square=14.216, P < 0.001). After controlling confounding factors, multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that advanced age (50~ < 60 years old: OR=1.800, 95%CI: 1.203~2.694; 60~ < 70 years old: OR=3.035, 95%CI: 1.986~4.637; ≥70 years old: OR=5.602, 95%CI: 2.419~12.973), active smoking (OR=1.422, 95%CI: 1.077~1.877), use of traditional biofuels or coal (OR=2.258, 95%CI: 1.022~4.991), and a history of tuberculosis (OR=2.181, 95%CI: 1.291~3.682) were independent risk factors for local COPD. People with higher BMI (24.0~ < 28.0: OR=0.611, 95%CI: 0.449~0.830; ≥28.0: OR=0.470, 95%CI: 0.258~0.858) and using ventilation devices (OR=0.666, 95%CI: 0.473~0.937) had a lower risk of COPD. Conclusion The prevalence of COPD in rural areas of Moyu County is 12.13%, basically consistent with the domestic reports. In addition to the common risk factors like advanced age and smoking, the use of traditional biofuels or coal, lack of ventilation, and a history of tuberculosis are also closely associated with the risk of local COPD.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) has detrimental effects on the function of microvascular beds, resulting in blood–brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction. The objective of the study was to investigate whether DM affects the brain physiology through composition of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and compare gas tension and electrolyte levels in CSF between the diabetic and nondiabetic populations.

To explore the influence of the air gap under bolus on the superficial dose and the maximum dose depth during radiotherapy for superficial tumors. A 30 cm×30 cm×30 cm phantom and an adjacent 10 mm-thick bolus were created in the Eclipse treatment planning system (TPS). The bolus and phantom materials were set as water. The gaps between the bolus and phantom were set as 0 mm, 2 mm, 5 mm, 10 mm, 20 mm, and 30 mm-thick air. The source skin distance was set as 100 cm, while the field sizes were set as 5 cm×5 cm, 10 cm×10 cm, 15 cm×15 cm, 20 cm×20 cm, and 25 cm×25 cm. The dose (Ds) at a depth of 1 mm on the superficial surface and the depth value (dmax) of the maximum dose point in the phantom were obtained under different air gaps and field sizes. A PTW water tank was used to measure the Ds and dmax under the same conditions as the TPS on the Varian Trilogy linear accelerator, the superficial dose Ds was measured with the EBT3 film, and the ionization chamber was used to obtain dmax. The TPS and experimental measurement results were then compared. The results showed that the Ds from the TPS was 0 when there was no bolus, while the dose from the measurement was not 0. The TPS and measurement results showed that when the field size was 5 cm×5 cm, Ds decreased the fastest with the increase in air gap thickness. When the field size was 15 cm×15 cm or above, the change in Ds with the air gap thickness was relatively stable. The TPS and experimental measurement results showed that dmax was the largest without a bolus. The change in dmax in the TPS was relatively stable with an increase in air gap thickness. The experimental results showed that when the field size was 10 cm×10 cm or smaller, dmax changed more significantly as the air gap thickness increased. When the field size was 15 cm×15 cm or larger, dmax remained relatively stable as the air gap thickness increased. The TPS and experimental measurement results showed that the smaller the field size, the larger the dmax, except for large differences in Ds between them when there was no bolus. The differences in Ds of the other field sizes and air gap thicknesses were all close to 0. The overall differences between the TPS and the experimental measurement dmax values were large for different air gap thicknesses. The differences were larger for small field sizes than for large field sizes, and when the air gap thickness was 0 mm, the difference in dmax for all field sizes was the closest to 0. The TPS and experimental measurement results showed that a bolus with an underlying 0-mm air gap is needed during superficial tumor radiotherapy.

The capability of characterizing arbitrary and non-repetitive emission spectra with a high resolution in real-time is of great merit in various research fields. Optical frequency combs provide precise and stable frequency grids for the measurement of a single spectral line with high accuracy. Particularly, dual-comb spectroscopy enables spectral measurement with a large bandwidth spanning tens of nanometers, but it is limited to measuring absorption spectra and has to trade-off spectral resolution vs the acquisition frame rate set by the repetition rate. Here, to alleviate these restrictions, we propose and demonstrate time-resolved spectroscopy for an emission spectrum based on hybrid asynchronous optical sampling, which features a spectral resolution of 0.63 pm, a frame rate of 1 MHz, and a measurement bandwidth of 13.6 nm, simultaneously. A mode-locked fiber comb with a repetition frequency of f1 is harnessed to interrogate emission spectral features with high resolution via optical Fourier transform achieved using a time-lens. Subsequently, a soliton microcomb of repetition frequency f2s ≈ 1000f1 serving as a probe pulse implements hybrid asynchronous optical sampling, thus significantly increasing the acquisition rate by nearly 3 orders of magnitude. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, the frequency trajectory of a rapidly scanning laser with a linear chirp of 6.2 THz/s is tracked. We believe that chip-scale microcombs will make the fast and high-resolution emission spectroscopy presented here a powerful tool for widespread applications.

Nonreciprocal devices are crucial in scientific research and practical applications at all frequencies. Here the authors demonstrate an integrated terahertz optical isolator based on the magneto-optical effect in a nonreciprocal resonator.

Novel clade 2.3.4.4 H5 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) outbreaks have occurred since early 2015 in Taiwan and impacted the island economically, like they have many countries. This research investigates the immunogenicity of two HPAIV-like particles to assess their promise as vaccine candidates.

Abstract The Ocean Drilling Program Leg 158 drill holes from the Trans‐Atlantic Geotraverse hydrothermal field are investigated to understand the rock magnetic signatures of hydrothermal mineralization. A composite columnar section has been constructed through hole correlation to understand the stratigraphic variation of magnetomineralogy within the stockwork. Isothermal remanent magnetization components unmixing, first‐order reversal curve diagrams, low‐temperature magnetic signatures, and electron microscopic analyses disclose magnetic minerals of disparate occurrences related to predominating hydrothermal mineralization reactions in three broad zones: For basaltic basements, serpentinization of olivine phenocrysts during preliminary hydrothermal alteration produces magnetite, in addition to primary titanomagnetite; Chloritized and silicified zone samples contain relict titanomagnetite and exsolved magnetite that survived hydrothermal dissolution; Anhydrite and sulfide zone samples are dominated by magnetite and hematite, likely from oxidation of polymetallic sulfides due to exposure in oxidative seafloor environments during drilling. Our findings suggest that seafloor oxidation potentially modifies the magnetic properties of polymetallic sulfides in hydrothermal deposits, which applies to magnetic tomography of sophisticated subseafloor vent structures and prospecting seafloor massive sulfides (SMS) deposits therein. Meanwhile, we alert future deep‐sea mining that drilling may promote physicochemical alteration of SMS deposits, causing environmental risks. The established magnetic signatures ultimately contribute to understanding the in situ geological preservation of SMS deposits and optimizing exploitation procedures in the future.

Dissipative Kerr solitons in microcavity systems exhibit remarkable nonlinear dynamics. The real-time measurement of soliton motion facilitates the comprehensive understanding of soliton physics. In this Letter, an all-optical radio frequency (RF) spectrum analyzer (named f-LISA) is used to characterize various stable soliton states and to track relative soliton motion in real time. By applying an inverse Fourier transform to the broadband RF spectrum, the autocorrelation traces are obtained with a temporal resolution of 373 fs and an ultrahigh frame rate of 20.6 MHz. We successfully characterize not only the stable single soliton state but also the stable multi-soliton states with different azimuthal angles between adjacent solitons. Furthermore, the dynamics of soliton switching from four-soliton state to single soliton state is observed in a temporal window of 60 µs. It is believed that the proposed scheme provides an alternative way to visualize the multi-soliton trajectories and enable the study of the soliton dynamics in integrated microcavities.

Abstract Background Computed tomography (CT) is the preferred imaging technique for the evaluation of COVID-19 pneumonia. However, it is not suitable as a monitoring tool for pregnant women because of the risk of ionizing radiation damage to the fetus as well as the possible infection of others. In this study, we explored the value of bedside lung ultrasound (LUS) as an alternative to CT for the detection and monitoring of lung involvement in pregnant women with COVID-19. Methods Clinical and LUS data of 39 pregnant women with COVID-19 were retrospectively reviewed. All LUS and CT images were analyzed to summarize the findings and calculate LUS scores and CT scores for each patient. LUS findings were compared with CT, and correlation between LUS scores and CT scores was evaluated. Results Among the 39 pregnant women, there were 6 mild-type cases, 29 common-type cases, 4 severe-type cases, and no critical-type cases. The most common LUS findings of COVID-19 pneumonia in pregnant women were various grades of multiple B-lines (84.6%), thickened and irregular pleural lines (71.8%), pleural effusion (61.5%) and small multifocal consolidation limited to the subpleural space (35.9%). The mean LUS score at admission was 0 points in mild-type cases, 10.6 points in common-type cases and 15.3 points in severe-type cases (P

The number of World Irrigation Heritage Sites (WHIS), selected by the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), have reached 140 as of 2023, and 83 of them are located in Asia, China, Japan and Korea, which accounts for more than 65% of the total1. This shows that the value of the Eastern Irrigation Project is being recognized worldwide. As an irrigation project, the engineering technology used and the effect of irrigation on the people are one of the most concerned topics, but the spiritual value behind the project are less explored. This paper is based on the investigation and comparison of varied Oriental irrigation heritages of China, Japan and Korea in the register, extracting the common Oriental water control culture of the three countries, and proposing the use of such a culture to help the collaboration around heritage protection in East Asia.

With the steady progress of the “Belt and Road” Initiative construction, the economic and cultural ties between China, Japan, and South Korea have be-come increasingly close. When faced with the global issue of water control, the spirit of harmonious coexistence between human and nature shared by the three countries based on the agricultural culture of the ancient oriental farming civilization will be the key to solving the problem. This paper sum-marizes the internal relationship, scientific nature and modernity of the ori-ental water control culture of China, Japan and Korea, and proposes to carry out cross-cultural communication not only between the three countries but also beyond the border of East Asia.

Boasting exemplary national qualities and high educational value, Red Culture is a unique spiritual wealth that make the Chinese nation stand out from the rest nations. Under the new media environment, however, the collision between the disparate characteristics of Red Culture and new media has given rise to the predicament plaguing the communication of Red Culture. With the advent of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, both tangible and intangible cultural heritage and resources are being valued, tapped and cultivated across the country. With the cultural and creative industry in the ascendant, the concept of intellectual property (“IP”) has seeped into all aspects of our everyday lives. Against that backdrop, this study attempts to explore novel ways to link up the Red Culture resources scattered across China, to combine education with cultural tourism through the “4+5+2” cultural and creative IP empowerment model, and to pass on and spread Red Culture and add new value to the industry on the strength of influential IPs.

Peripheral nerve injury is a life-changing disability with significant socioeconomic consequences. In this rat model, we propose that partial enzyme digestion can facilitate the functional recovery of a crushed nerve. The sciatic nerves were harvested and in vitro cultured with the addition of Liberase to determine the appropriate enzyme amount in the hyaluronic acid (HA) membrane. Then, the sciatic nerve of adult male Sprague-Dawley rats was exposed, crushed, and then treated with partial enzyme digestion (either 0.001 or 0.002 unit/mm2 Liberase-HA membrane). The sciatic function index (SFI) for functional recovery of the sciatic nerve was evaluated. After 2 h of in vitro digestion, fascicles and axons were separated from each other, with the cells mobilized. Greater destruction of histology structures occurred in the high enzyme (Liberase-HA membrane at 0.002 unit/mm2) group at 24 h than in the low enzyme (0.001 unit/mm2) group at 48 h. In the SFI evaluation, the improvement in 0.001 unit/mm2 Liberase group was significantly better than control and 0.002 unit/mm2 Liberase group. Our study demonstrated that appropriate enzyme digestion had a significantly faster and earlier recovery.

Taking gas disaster risk macro early warning of all coal mines within the jurisdiction of all levels of coal mine safety supervision departments and mining group companies, it is pointed out that the basic data of regional coal mine gas disaster risk prediction has the characteristics of multi-source, heterogeneous, massive, multi-dimensional, etc., and there are some problems in data collection, such as incomplete information collection and single data collection mode, solidified dimensions, etc.; the basic data of regional coal mine gas disater risk prediction is divided into four types： natural environment risk data of regional mine, production system risk data of regional mine, gas prevention risk data of regional mine, and macro-security environmental risk data; collection technologies of coal mine safety monitoring and gas disaster early warning data with structured characteristics, supervision and law enforcement inspection data with semi-structured characteristics, and coal mine audio and video monitoring data with unstructured characteristics are introduced, and the research of coal mine safety monitoring and gas disaster warning data collection technology based on .NET Core cross-platform Web API, and macro-security environmental risk data collection technology based on topic crawler are introduced in detail; data collection system of gas disaster risk early warning for regional coal mines suitable for Internet environment is designed, and field test show that the system can comprehensively, reliably and timely collect basic data of regional coal mine gas disaster risk early warning.

A generalized Lugiato-Lefever equation in frequency domain for the modeling of Kerr frequency combs, including full-order frequency dependence of all parameters, is derived and solved without sacrifice of computational time. The proposed model shows high accuracy and efficiency in simulations, agreeing well with previous reports. Based on the proposed model, the influence of parametric frequency dependence is systemically investigated by generating octave-spanning combs in a silicon-nitride micro-ring-resonator with an air slot. The device is dispersion-tailored for broadband comb generation, and its parameters are strongly dependent on frequency. When considering three kinds of parametric influence separately, we reach the following conclusions. The frequency dependent propagation constant determines whether the dispersive wave is generated, matching well with the phase-matching condition. Besides, the frequency dependence of effective area and nonlinear refractive index can both introduce spectral blue-shift. Combining full-order frequency dependence of the three parameters together, a dispersive wave sideband emerges and this phenomenon has never been reported. Our work reveals that full-order frequency dependence of all parameters can be considered with high computational efficiency, which enables precise prediction of dispersive wave frequency for f-2f self-referencing and opens up more reliable avenues for the understanding of Kerr frequency comb generation, especially octave-spanning cases.

An efficient resource management strategy can save network resources and improve network quality of service (QoS). In order to solve the problem of resource management difficulties of multiple SPs sharing the same backhaul network and QoS mismatch in heterogeneous networks, a downstream resource management in 5G virtualized backhaul network is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the wavelength assignment problem is described as a mathematics model with the consideration of minimizing turning overhead and load balancing. The quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization algorithm is used to solve the mathematics model. Secondly, the 5G traffic is mapping to different priority queues in TWDM-PON by the proposed QoS mapping algorithm. Finally, the downstream traffic is scheduled by the proposed resource scheduling algorithm. Numerical results show that the proposed mechanism can maintain high resource utilization, reduce wavelength tuning overhead and improve the delay of traffic.

Objective To investigate the role of the bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2)-Smad1/5 and p38MAPK signaling pathways in the osteogenic differentiation of MSMSCs by insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1).Methods A recombinant adenovirus (RAD) and IGF1 expressing IGF1 gene were constructed. After osteogenic induction, qRT-PCR and Western blot were used to detect the phosphorylation level of Smad1/5 and the expression of the BMP-2 protein in the BMP-Smad signaling pathway; immunohistochemistry was used to observe the nuclear translocation of Smad1/5; qRT-PCR and Western blot were used to detect IGF with Noggin and SB203580, inhibitors of the p38MAPK signaling pathway 1-mediated osteogenic differentiation of MSMSCs.Results The recombinant IGF1 adenovirus was constructed successfully. MSMSCs were cultured in inductive medium after infection with different concentrations of Ad-IGF1, and then, the protein levels of BMP2 and p-Smad1/5 increased. IGF1 can also induce nuclear translocation of Smad1/5. In addition, Noggin significantly reduced the phosphorylation level of Smad1/5 and the formation of mineralized nodules in the MSMSCs. The mRNA levels of Runx2, OPN and ALP also decreased. In contrast, SB203580 decreased neither the phosphorylation level of p38 nor the mRNA expression of Runx2, OPN and ALP in the Ad-IGF1 MSMSCs.Conclusion IGF1 can promote the osteogenic differentiation of MSMSCs via the BMP2-Smad1/5 signaling pathway. In contrast, IGF1 may not promote the osteogenic differentiation of MSMSCs via the p38MAPK signaling pathway.

In this paper, axiomatic definitions of both L-convex bases and L-convex subbases are introduced and their relations with L-convex spaces are studied. Based on this, the notion of L-topological-convex space is introduced as a triple (X, 𝓣, 𝓒), where X is a nonempty set, 𝓒 is an L-convex structure on X and 𝓣 is an L-cotopology on X compatible with 𝓒. It can be characterized by many means.