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ObjectiveTo describe the epidemic characteristics of COVID-19 after policy adjustment from “Category B notifiable disease with category A management” to “Category B notifiable disease with category B management”， and to explore the protective effect of previous infection with SARS-CoV-2 on common symptoms of reinfection.MethodsHealthcare workers infected with SARS-CoV-2 in a grade A tertiary hospital in Shanghai were included in the study from December 4， 2022 to January 11， 2023. Data on demographic characteristics， clinical symptoms， medical history， and COVID-19 vaccination history were collected. We determined the epidemiological curve and characteristics， and then compared the difference in the severity of clinical symptoms between primary and reinfection subjects.ResultsA total of 2 704 cases were included in the study， of which 45 had reinfection， 605 （22.4%）were males， 608 （22.5%）were doctors， 1 275 （47.2%） were nurses， and 2 351 （86.9%） received ≥3 doses of COVID-19 vaccination. The average age of these healthcare workers was （34.9±9.1） years old. The number of cases with mild/moderate illness， asymptomatic infection， fever， headache， dry cough， expectoration， and chest tightness were 2 704 （100.0%）， 92 （3.4%）， 2 385 （88.2%）， 2 066 （76.4%）， 1 642 （60.7%）， 1 807 （66.8%）， and 439 （16.2%）， respectively. Reinfection was a protective factor for fever （OR=0.161， P

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a substantial pathology of the urinary system with a growing prevalence rate. However, current clinical methods have limitations for managing RCC due to the heterogeneity manifestations of the disease. Metabolic analyses are regarded as a preferred noninvasive approach in clinics, which can substantially benefit the characterization of RCC. This study constructs a nanoparticle‐enhanced laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (NELDI MS) to analyze metabolic fingerprints of renal tumors (n = 456) and healthy controls (n = 200). The classification models yielded the areas under curves (AUC) of 0.938 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.884–0.967) for distinguishing renal tumors from healthy controls, 0.850 for differentiating malignant from benign tumors (95% CI, 0.821–0.915), and 0.925–0.932 for classifying subtypes of RCC (95% CI, 0.821–0.915). For the early stage of RCC subtypes, the averaged diagnostic sensitivity of 90.5% and specificity of 91.3% in the test set is achieved. Metabolic biomarkers are identified as the potential indicator for subtype diagnosis (p < 0.05). To validate the prognostic performance, a predictive model for RCC participants and achieve the prediction of disease (p = 0.003) is constructed. The study provides a promising prospect for applying metabolic analytical tools for RCC characterization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is highly expressed in the liver during development and diseases. However, its role in the development and pathology of liver remains to be explored. The liver tissues of EpCAM-/- and wildtype (WT) mice at P0 stage were used for RNA sequencing. The differently expressed miRNAs, lncRNAs and mRNAs were selected and confirmed by qPCR. The expression of metabolism-related gene SET domain bifurcated 2 (Setdb2) was significantly increased in the liver of EpCAM-/- mice; the triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) levels in the liver were also markedly decreased in EpCAM-/- mice. The microRNA (miRNA)-long noncoding RNA (lncRNA)-mRNA regulatory networks indicated that EpCAM may play important roles in glucose and lipid metabolism of the liver during development and in disease. The comprehensive miRNA, lncRNA and mRNA expression profiles in the developing liver of EpCAM-/- mice established here might help to elucidate functions and mechanisms of EpCAM during development and in diseases of the liver.

PURPOSES: To establish a normative range of MemTrax (MTx) metrics in the Chinese population. METHODS: The correct response percentage (MTx‐%C) and mean response time (MTx‐RT) were obtained and the composite scores (MTx‐Cp) calculated. Generalized additive models for location, shape and scale (GAMLSS) were applied to create percentile curves and evaluate goodness of fit, and the speed‐accuracy trade‐off was investigated. RESULTS: 26,633 subjects, including 13,771 (51.71%) men participated in this study. Age‐ and education‐specific percentiles of the metrics were generated. Q tests and worm plots indicated adequate fit for models of MTx‐RT and MTx‐Cp. Models of MTx‐%C for the low and intermediate education fit acceptably, but not well enough for a high level of education. A significant speed‐accuracy trade‐off was observed for MTx‐%C from 72 to 94. CONCLUSIONS: GAMLSS is a reliable method to generate smoothed age‐ and education‐specific percentile curves of MTx metrics, which may be adopted for mass screening and follow‐ups addressing Alzheimer's disease or other cognitive diseases. Highlights: GAMLSS was applied to establish nonlinear percentile curves of cognitive decline.Subjects with a high level of education demonstrate a later onset and slower decline of cognition.Speed‐accuracy trade‐off effects were observed in a subgroup with moderate accuracy.MemTrax can be used as a mass‐screen instrument for active cognition health management advice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guangdong Province enjoys a very high economic status in China especially in terms of port construction. In response to the port development directions in China, the Guangdong government released a policy about the construction of Guangdong ports in the next 15 years. Based on the policy, this study proposes to evaluate the port efficiency of major ports in Guangdong Province during 2011–2020 using the Super-efficiency EBM-DEA model that considers undesirable outputs, and the spatial effect of port efficiency and its influencing factors is further analyzed using the spatial Durbin model. The empirical results shows that the overall port efficiency in Guangdong Province is not high and varies widely among port clusters, thereby lacking synergistic development. The results of the spatial Durbin model show that port efficiency is positively correlated with the level of economic development, port-city relationship and transportation structure, as well as negatively correlated with the efficiency of neighboring ports. The findings have a far-reaching impact on the development of port construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research provides a new method for preparing nanoparticle‐coated viscose nonwoven fabrics, which has broad application prospects in the functional fiber industry. In this work amino‐terminated hyperbranched polymer (HBP)‐capped Selenium nanoparticles (Se NPs) were synthesized for coating viscose nonwoven fabric (VNF) via impregnation method to produce a controllable and uniform Se NPs coating on the viscose fiber surface. The prepared Se NPs and the treated VNF were characterized by the transmission electron microscope (TEM), x‐ray diffraction (XRD), x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microcopy (FE‐SEM), and antibacterial measurement. The results indicate that the Se NPs were spherical shaped with an average size of 50 nm. FESEM, XRD, and XPS characterizations demonstrated that Se NPs can adsorbed and distributed uniformly on the fiber surface. Se NPs‐coated VNF showed above 99.9% bacterial reduction of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli while the Se element content on VNF was about 2.92 mg/g. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aramid nonwoven (AN), with lightweight and flexible features, is highly attractive as a thermal insulation material to prevent or minimize skin burn damage. However, it has a finite protective effect due to the restriction of the polymer material and the surface hairiness of nonwoven fabrics. This study aimed to introduce different shapes of TiO2 particles coated with Sn(Sb)O2 (ATO) so as to promote protective performance by taking advantage of the high refraction of TiO2@ATO in the visible light (Vis) and near-infrared (NIR) range. It is demonstrated that, compared with AN, the thermal protection effect of the obtained TiO2@ATO-coated AN (TiO2@ATO/AN) was significantly improved owing to the excellent radiation and conduction heat-shielding performance of the TiO2@ATO coating. The micro-morphology, Vis–NIR spectral features, heat-shielding performances, and thermal protective performance (TPP) values of different composite nonwovens were measured to explore their thermal insulation mechanisms and performances. Compared with pristine AN and AN coated with commercial nano-ATO (ATO/AN), the heating rate of TiO2@ATO/AN heated using an alcohol lamp was much lower. The maximum TPP values of TiO2@ATO/AN were enhanced to 1457.874 kW·s/m2, while the values for AN and ATO/AN were only 432.23 kW·s/m2 and 945.054 kW·s/m2, respectively. This study proposes an attractive solution for protecting fabrics against heat damage and opens up tremendous possibilities for heat-resistant nonwoven materials applied in the thermal protection field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]