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IntroductionBiliary tract cancers (BTC) are often diagnosed at an advanced stage where prognosis is poor and curative-intent surgery is infeasible. First-line cisplatin-gemcitabine chemotherapy for advanced gallbladder cancer has remained unchanged over more than a decade, but recent developments in immunotherapy such as durvalumab have highlighted promise as a combination treatment regime with current standard chemotherapy.MethodsIn this case description, we present a case of locally-advanced gallbladder adenocarcinoma involving the biliary confluence that was initially planned for an extended right hepatectomy after portal vein embolization. Interval imaging revealed peritoneal metastasis, which was confirmed on diagnostic laparoscopy and biopsy. The patient underwent 8 cycles of cisplatin 25 mg/m2 and gemcitabine 1,000 mg/m2 chemotherapy on days 1 and 8 of each 21-day cycle, with durvalumab (Imfinzi®) 1,500 mg immunotherapy on day 1 of every cycle, in accordance with the treatment protocol of the TOPAZ-1 trial. Repeat imaging demonstrated a stable primary lesion with no further evidence of peritoneal disease. The patient subsequently underwent curative-intent conversion surgery with an extended right hepatectomy and Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy, which were completed through a fully minimally-invasive laparoscopic approach.ResultsFinal pathological TNM classification was ypT1aN0, with near-complete pathological response to pre-surgical therapy, uninvolved margins (R0 resection) and tumour shrinkage from 2.5 centimetres on pre-operative cross-sectional imaging to 0.5 centimetres on final histology. The patient had an uneventful post-operative course, and was fit for discharge by the fourth post-operative day. He remained well after three months of routine post-operative follow-up, with no significant post-operative complications and biochemical or radiological evidence of disease recurrence.ConclusionOur case description highlights the immense potential of combination durvalumab immunotherapy with cisplatin-gemcitabine chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced gallbladder adenocarcinoma. The patient’s locally advanced disease was initially planned for complex open surgery, prior to discovery of peritoneal metastasis rendering it inoperable. This was successfully down-staged with combination therapy to eventual R0 resection via minimally-invasive surgery. In addition, this case description demonstrates the feasibility of a fully laparoscopic approach with postulated benefits of diagnostic re-evaluation of peritoneal disease, reduced wound pain and shorter length of hospital stay.

Abstract This case report highlights the investigation and treatment of a 70‐year‐old male with cytomegalovirus (CMV) cholangiopathy. The patient underwent a kidney transplant in 2016 and presented 3 years later with the atypical presentation of left shoulder pain associated with dilated biliary tree and mild transaminitis. Initial endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) showed diffuse stricture of the common bile duct, requiring stenting, and over the course of a year multiple stent changes were required to prevent cholestasis. CMV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were conducted on bile duct brushings and found to be positive. Oral valganciclovir was given for 6 weeks but the strictures did not resolve. He underwent a laparoscopic total choledochectomy and hepaticojejunostomy as definitive treatment. CMV involvement of the biliary tract has rarely been reported in kidney transplant patients. Antiviral therapy in the form of ganciclovir or valganciclovir is often sufficient to eradicate CMV infection and improve clinical disease. Surgical management should be considered only if the patient has failed medical therapy, or if there is suspicion of malignancy. This case shows that in renal transplant patients presenting with cholangiopathy, CMV disease should be considered as a possible differential even in patients without early CMV infection or with prior CMV prophylaxis.

For many years, the most common acid practice for sandstone acidizing is based on mud acid and dolomite formations using hydrochloric acid. During various stages of sandstone acidizing, different acids react with different minerals, and interactions of minerals with acids are an origin for precipitation reactions, which can be possibly deleterious as they may reduce reservoir permeability. During this research, the effects of chelates on pore size distribution, mineralogy, and grain size distribution have been investigated. Various chelates (GLDA, HEDTA, EDTA) were examined to react with different Berea Sandstone samples at a temperature of 180 °F and under 1000 psi confining pressure. Experimental techniques and analysis like Tescan Integrated Mineral Analysis (TIMA), were implemented in this research to understand the effect of chelates on Berea Sandstone. These results are related to elemental mass, element deportment, mineral mass, mineral locking, grain size distribution, and particle size distribution of the core samples reacted with different chelating agents. It has been found that all the chelating agents are effective in increasing the porosity and dissolving the cations from the Berea sandstone core sample. HEDTA proved to be more effective in dissolving quartz as compared to other chelates. GLDA proved to be more effective in the dissolution of rutile and zircon minerals. The significance of this research is the application of environment-friendly chelating agents to sandstone formation. Moreover, the detailed mineral analysis revealed that the most number of particles were dissolved by HEDTA.

Interannual variations in the end of the growing season (EOS) play a crucial role in assessing carbon and energy cycling within grassland ecosystems. Previous studies have often fixed the trend breakpoint in autumn phenology around the year 2000 to examine the response of the vegetation EOS to long-term climate change. However, the asymmetry of climate change and the diversity of grass species may lead to spatial disparities in EOS trend breakpoints, but little research has been done to quantify their characteristics and underlying climatic driving mechanisms. Focusing on the period from 1982 to 2015, this study extracts EOS data from six different grassland subregions in China to identify EOS trend breakpoints, and then investigates the associated climatic driving mechanisms. The results highlight the presence of significant breakpoints in the EOS trend within 54.1% of China's grasslands. Prior to 1997, the grassland EOS trend exhibited a pronounced delay, with a rate of 0.29 days per year (P

Anthraquinone derivatives, owing to their widespread resources, high structural diversity and excellent electrochemical characteristics, are a class of useful carbonyl materials that actively participate in multiple electrochemical processes. Nonetheless, good solubility of small molecules in organic electrolyte solutions causes a gradual decline in the cycle stability of related devices. Incorporating anthraquinone subunit into porous organic polymers (POPs) not only resolve the solubility problem but also endow the corresponding polymers with larger specific surface areas and more stable rigid structures, which is significantly meaningful to enhance the accessibility of active sites and improve the cycle stability of electrochemical devices. Recently, electrochemical energy conversion and storage have attracted growing attention in both scientific research and practical applications, and anthraquinone-based POPs play vital roles in these processes. Therefore, this article systematically summarizes the recent advances of anthraquinone-based POPs in electrochemical energy conversion and storage. Firstly, the synthesis of anthraquinone-based POPs is discussed, which will provide detailed information on how to select monomers as well as reactions and how to optimize reaction conditions to gain the desired POPs. Secondly, the practical applications of anthraquinone-based POPs in electrochemical energy conversion and storage are evaluated in detail, in which the morphology manipulation and conductivity improvement will be emphatically elaborated. Finally, the future development trend is also briefly prospected.

In this paper, we proposed a multi-beam dual-circularly polarized (dual-CP) reflect-array (RA) antenna for Ka-band application. Two reflection beams fed by the right-handed (RH) CP horn point to $\theta _{\mathrm {R}}=3.5^{\circ }$ and $\theta _{\mathrm {R}}= -3.5^{\circ }$ at R-plane, and two left-handed (LH) CP beams fed by LHCP horn point to $\theta _{\mathrm {L}}=3.5^{\circ }$ and $\theta _{\mathrm {L}}= -3.5^{\circ }$ at L-plane at 30 GHz. There is a null between the two co-polarization beams to distinguish them. The reflection plane is composed of a circuit board with a size of 160 mm $\times $ 160 mm $\times $ 0.762 mm with 1304 RA cells printed on it and a metal reflection plate. The RA cells have different reflection phases with the size of 4 mm $\times $ 4 mm, based on multi-resonant structure, designed by diamonds and arrows. Measured results show that the beam directions obtained by feeding the LHCP horn and RHCP horn are the same as the design directions. The peak gain between the two co-polarized beams is very close, and the 3-dB gain bandwidth (BW) is about 25%, 2-dB axial ratio (AR) BW is up to 40%, which has broad application prospects in the long-distance and high-precision communication.

Mg3Sb2 as a Zintl compound is a promising thermoelectric material with the intrinsically low lattice thermal conductivity and excellent n-type electrical properties, but its p-type electrical transport properties are poor. Here, the thermoelectric performance of Mg3Sb2 under the effect of biaxial strain is investigated by using first-principles method and Boltzmann transport theory. The application of biaxial strain enables tuning the band structure of Mg3Sb2 in such a way that the band degeneracy of both the conduction band and valence band increases. As the biaxial strain increases, the Seebeck coefficient of p-type Mg3Sb2 has a remarkable increase, leading to a significant improvement in power factor. This is mainly ascribed to the achievement of valence band orbital degeneracy. Meanwhile, the lattice thermal conductivity exhibits very slight biaxial strain dependence within the strain range considered in this work, which increases from 1.28 to 1.62 W m−1 K−1 at 300 K. Finally, the highest ZT of p-type Mg3Sb2 at 700 K can be up to 2.6 along the in-plane direction under −2.5% biaxial strain, which is almost three times that of the unstrained counterpart. The realization of high thermoelectric performance of p-type Mg3Sb2 will promote its practical applications as thermoelectric generators.

Background:. Laparoscopic donor right hepatectomy (LDRH) is a technically challenging procedure. There is increasing evidence demonstrating the safety of LDRH in high-volume expert centers. We report our center’s experience in implementing an LDRH program in a small- to medium-sized transplantation program. Methods:. Our center systematically introduced a laparoscopic hepatectomy program in 2006. We started with minor wedge resections followed by major hepatectomies with increasing complexities. In 2017, we performed our first laparoscopic living donor left lateral sectionectomy. Since 2018, we have performed 8 cases of right lobe living donor hepatectomy (laparoscopy-assisted: 4 and pure laparoscopic: 4). Results:. The median operative time was 418 (298–540) min, whereas the median blood loss was 300 (150–900) mL. Two patients (25%) had surgical drain placed intraoperatively. The median length of stay was 5 (3–8) d, and the median time to return to work was 55 (24–90) d. None of the donors sustained any long-term morbidity or mortality. Conclusions:. Small- to medium-sized transplant programs face unique challenges in adopting LDRH. Progressive introduction of complex laparoscopic surgery, a mature living donor liver transplantation program, appropriate patient selection, and the invitation of an expert to proctor the LDRH are necessary to ensure success.

Mobile energy storage (MES) is a typical flexible resource, which can be used to provide an emergency power supply for the distribution system. However, it is inevitable to consider the complicated coupling relations of mobile energy storage, transportation network, and power grid, which can cause issues of complex modeling and low efficiency. To address that, this paper proposes a mobile energy storage dispatch model to minimize the load curtailment. The framework of rolling optimization is established to update the optimal strategy with the real-time factors, including grid, transportation, and MES. To increase solving efficiency, the model is extended to a mixed integer second-order cone programming model. Finally, the simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in various scenarios.

The establishment of a civil-military integration supply chain system is the cornerstone of China’s strategic development in military-civilian integration. It is essential to explore cooperative innovation and development between upstream civilian enterprises and downstream military enterprises within the supply chain to optimise resource allocation and promote the sustainable use of civil-military resources. This exploration is a prerequisite for accelerating the formation of the civil-military integration supply chain system and holds significant importance for realising the internal synergy between the civilian industry and the military industry. However, utilizing the evolutionary game model as a foundation, this study delves into the impact of absorption capacity, transformation and integration capability, network synergy, and change and innovation capacity on the vertical cooperation and innovation behaviour within the supply chain of civil-military integration enterprises. Firstly, civilian enterprises are more cost-sensitive concerning collaborative innovation investments compared to military enterprises. Excessive costs can discourage collaboration between civilian and military entities. Secondly, strong exploratory and absorptive capabilities, along with network synergies, can enhance the benefits of cooperation and innovation among these enterprises, but they also introduce the risk of opportunistic “free-rider” behaviour. Thirdly, the dynamics of the technology and product chains are influenced by an excess supply for civilian enterprises, while the opposite is true for military enterprises. Finally, a strong capacity for transformation and integration fosters cooperative and innovative behaviours among enterprises, with civilian enterprises exhibiting greater responsiveness. This study brings new research perspectives to the forefront, exploring vertical cooperation and innovative development within supply chain enterprises, particularly through the lens of supply and demand dynamics. Additionally, it offers practical recommendations aimed at helping the government expedite the establishment of integrated military-civilian supply chains and foster the synergistic development of the two key sectors: the military and civilian economies.

Although quartzo-feldspathic metasedimentary rocks are widespread in high pressure-ultrahigh pressure (HP-UHP) metamorphic belts worldwide, their petrogenesis and metamorphic evolution is poorly understood. We discovered an UHP eclogite-facies felsic schist in the Western Tianshan metamorphic belt, China. Petrological observations and phase equilibria modeling both indicate the felsic schist experienced UHP metamorphism in the coesite stability field. In particular, it experienced prograde metamorphism at 21–24 kbar, 445°C–470°C, a pressure peak at 25–28 kbar and 490°C–525°C, and eventually heating with decompression to 20 kbar and 560°C. The obtained clockwise P-T path was consistent with those of other lithologies (eclogite and pelitic schist) from the same belt, which provides new evidence for the coherent exhumation of the UHP unit of the Western Tianshan metamorphic belt. The final uplift of the Western Tianshan oceanic crust to the surface is attributed to fluid activity and late tectonic deformation.

Collaborative innovation involving military and civilian actors is a key component of National Systems of Innovation. It is an approach that is explicitly promoted in China under the name of Military-Civilian Integration. To more effectively promote Military-Civilian Integration, it is necessary to study the impact of government subsidies on enterprise-level behavior. The research reported in this paper analyzes a composite subsidy policy’s influence on the cooperative innovation behavior of military and civilian enterprises with game theory. First, during the early stage of development, an R&D subsidy can stimulate firms to invest in technological innovation, but it harms the long-term and stable development of civil-military cooperation by encouraging free-riding behaviors. Second, as military-civilian integration continues and deepens, the input-output rate of the R&D will increase, and this makes the role of tax subsidies increasingly relevant. Third, the composite application of scale and tax subsidies will be most effective in reinforcing innovation during the Industrialization Stage. Fourth, further simulations show an apparent heterogeneity in the responses of the military enterprise and the civilian enterprise to the three kinds of subsidy that we have considered. Civilian enterprises are more sensitive to subsidies, while military enterprises are more sensitive to technology spillovers. Therefore, the government should build a military-civilian integration platform to share resources in ways that maintain security confidence and improve the R&D input-output rate. The government should strengthen confidentiality management, training, and risk prevention and control measures for military-civilian integration projects, to reduce the risk of technology spillover.

Abstract Chiral phenylglycinol is a very important chemical in the pharmaceutical manufacturing. Current methods for synthesis of chiral phenylglycinol often suffered from unsatisfied selectivity, low product yield and using the non-renewable resourced substrates, then the synthesis of chiral phenylglycinol remain a grand challenge. Design and construction of synthetic microbial consortia is a promising strategy to convert bio-based materials into high value-added chiral compounds. In this study, we reported a six-step artificial cascade biocatalysis system for conversion of bio-based l-phenylalanine into chiral phenylglycinol. This system was designed using a microbial consortium including two engineered recombinant Escherichia coli cell modules, one recombinant E. coli cell module co-expressed six different enzymes (phenylalanine ammonia lyase/ferulic acid decarboxylase/phenylacrylic acid decarboxylase/styrene monooxygenase/epoxide hydrolase/alcohol dehydrogenase) for efficient conversion of l-phenylalanine into 2-hydroxyacetophenone. The second recombinant E. coli cell module expressed an (R)-ω-transaminase or co-expressed the (S)-ω-transaminase, alanine dehydrogenase and glucose dehydrogenase for conversion of 2-hydroxyacetophenone into (S)- or (R)-phenylglycinol, respectively. Combining the two engineered E. coli cell modules, after the optimization of bioconversion conditions (including pH, temperature, glucose concentration, amine donor concentration and cell ratio), l-phenylalanine could be easily converted into (R)-phenylglycinol and (S)-phenylglycinol with up to 99% conversion and > 99% ee. Preparative scale biotransformation was also conducted on 100-mL scale, (S)-phenylglycinol and (R)-phenylglycinol could be obtained in 71.0% and 80.5% yields, > 99% ee, and 5.19 g/L d and 4.42 g/L d productivity, respectively. The salient features of this biocatalytic cascade system are good yields, excellent ee, mild reaction condition and no need for additional cofactor (NADH/NAD+), provide a practical biocatalytic method for sustainable synthesis of (S)-phenylglycinol and (R)-phenylglycinol from bio-based L-phenylalanine.

As an important demand-side management method, distributed load participation in demand response provides an important means for auxiliary services such as peak-clipping and calming fluctuations of renewable power generation. Air conditioning load is usually viewed as a typical thermostatically related load, and is widely distributed in residential areas. Residential air conditioning load is a kind of demand response resource with broad application prospect. During the peak load period in summer, air conditioning load accounts for more than 40% of urban electricity consumption. Moreover, air conditioning load has certain flexibility and controllability. Reasonable evaluation of its peak clipping potential can effectively promote the safety and economic efficiency of the power grid. This paper proposes an analysis method of air conditioning load demand response potential combined with electricity consumption data and physical model. Subsequently, the switching machine and working state of air-conditioning load are identified, model parameters are calculated, and the dynamic adjustment potential of air-conditioning load in the future period is analyzed. In this paper, the data of electricity consumption in a province of China is used in the case study, and the algorithm is verified by examples.

The evaluation of demand response (DR) potential is of vital significance for evaluating the possible power reduction, forming constraints for optimal economic dispatching, and targeting appropriate customers effectively. To improve the applicability and reliability of DR of air conditioning loads (ACLs), this paper presents a novel approach of the DR potential for aggregated customers, considering both the performance of physical response and incentive effect. For physics-based part, in order to better reveal the multi-uncertainties and various conditions, a load decomposition methodology is proposed, which non-intrusively disaggregates the whole energy usage into baseload and ACLs. Subsequently, a segment analysis methodology, including a modified regression method and a PSO iteration method, are developed for the static and dynamic parameter estimation, respectively. For incentive-based part, the electricity elasticity of both the electricity price and incentive are considered to calculate the load difference after changes of electricity price and incentive, which better consider the actual response willingness and capacity of customers. Furthermore, case studies based on low voltage distribution area in Jiangsu province, China validate a better performance of accuracy and robustness using the proposed methods, which are further applied to DR implementation and the results strongly prove that much difference (a maximum of more than 400 kW) appears resulting from different operational conditions and DR strategies. By comparison, the practical DR potential is much affected by the incentive, rather than the physics, which mainly stimulates the customers’ intention. And the equilibrium can be achieved by choosing the optimal incentive price to stimulate greater potential and save the cost simultaneously.

Carbon isotope composition (indicated by leaf δ13C) reflects plants' strategies to balance carbon acquisition and water loss, which is directly linked to water use efficiency. At a large scale, leaf δ13C has been demonstrated to be closely related to climate and plant functional types; however, at a regional scale, its variation across an aridity gradient and species categories and its covariation with traits in leaf economic spectrum (LES) traits are still unclear. Here, a multivariate statistical analysis was carried out with 271 observations of leaf δ13C from 22 sampling sites on the Loess Plateau. Our results showed that (1) mean leaf δ13C did not differ significantly among life forms in C3 plants, with the maximum mean values occurring in geophytes (−26.31‰) and the minimum values occurring in lianas (−28.29‰); (2) the leaf δ13C responses of different life forms, families and species categories to climates were consistent for C3 plants, namely, they presented similar response rates to changes along the aridity gradient (represented by the moisture index); (3) climate, soil, species category, and leaf economic spectrum traits jointly explained 78.4% of the variation in leaf δ13C for C3 plants. Species category was the largest determinant of leaf δ13C variations for both C3 and C4 plants. Revealing the variation in leaf δ13C of the Loess Plateau plants not only helps us to understand plant adaptation strategies under arid conditions but also provides scientific support for ecological management in vegetation restoration regions.

During spinning, the chemical component content of natural fibers has a great influence on the mechanical properties. How to rapidly and accurately measure these properties has become the focus of the industry. In this work, a grey model (GM) for rapid and accurate prediction of the mechanical properties of windmill palm fiber (WPF) was established to explore the effect of chemical component content on the Young’s modulus. The chemical component content of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin in WPF was studied using near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, and an NIR prediction model was established, with the measured chemical values as the control. The value of RC and RCV were more than 0.9, while the values of RMSEC and RMSEP were less than 1, which reflected the excellent accuracy of the NIR model. External validation and a two-tailed t-test were used to evaluate the accuracy of the NIR model prediction results. The GM(1,4) model of WPF chemical components and the Young’s modulus was established. The model indicated that the increase in cellulose and lignin content could promote the increase in the Young’s modulus, while the increase in hemicellulose content inhibited it. The establishment of the two models provides a theoretical basis for evaluating whether WPF can be used in spinning, which is convenient for the selection of spinning fibers in practical application.

Modern business judgment is mostly faced with complex, unclear nature, and not fully confirmed research objects and needs a lot of relevant data investigation, inherent contradiction retrieval, and the discovery and extraction of potential laws. Formulation of rules and evaluation of system uncertainty: Appropriate decisions can be made based on this. Rough set theory is a new mathematical tool to deal with uncertain knowledge. Therefore, the theory of rough set is helpful for decision-makers to solve the decision problems of complex systems. The simplification of knowledge of information systems and incomplete information systems and the theoretical and methodological study of rule acquisition are the central issues of rough set theory and applied research. A variety of simplified theories and methods have been proposed from a variety of viewpoints. However, there are still many theoretical problems that need to be investigated and solved in these aspects. In addition, the investment environment is a complex organic system that includes economic environment, social environment, resource environment, infrastructure, and other factors. There are a variety of data to measure these factors, which are mutually restrictive and interdependent. At present, domestic and foreign scholars have basically formed a series of assessment methods and models of investment environment assessment, but most of these assessment methods are affected by the differences in the degree of subjective factors of evaluators and the establishment of index weights in the assessment process. In most cases, more reliance is placed on subjective, artificial assignments and scoring loops. Therefore, it is an appropriate and reasonable method to evaluate the investment environment through data to evaluate all the factors affecting the investment environment and reach a comprehensive evaluation conclusion, which can effectively avoid human subjective factors to a certain extent.

Seabed methane seepage has gained attention from all over the world in recent years as an important source of greenhouse gas emission, and gas hydrates are also regarded as a key factor affecting climate change or even global warming due to their shallow burial and poor stability. However, the relationship between seabed methane seepage and gas hydrate systems is not clear although they often coexist in continental margins. It is of significance to clarify their relationship and better understand the contribution of gas hydrate systems or the deeper hydrocarbon reservoirs for methane flux leaking to the seawater or even the atmosphere by natural seepages at the seabed. In this paper, a geophysical examination of the global seabed methane seepage events has been conducted, and nearby gas hydrate stability zone and relevant fluid migration pathways have been interpreted or modelled using seismic data, multibeam data, or underwater photos. Results show that seabed methane seepage sites are often manifested as methane flares, pockmarks, deep-water corals, authigenic carbonates, and gas hydrate pingoes at the seabed, most of which are closely related to vertical fluid migration structures like faults, gas chimneys, mud volcanoes, and unconformity surfaces or are located in the landward limit of gas hydrate stability zone (LLGHSZ) where hydrate dissociation may have released a great volume of methane. Based on a comprehensive analysis of these features, three major types of seabed methane seepage are classified according to their spatial relationship with the location of LLGHSZ, deeper than the LLGHSZ (A), around the LLGHSZ (B), and shallower than LLGHSZ (C). These three seabed methane seepage types can be further divided into five subtypes considering whether the gas source of seabed methane seepage is from the gas hydrate systems or not. We propose subtype B2 represents the most important seabed methane seepage type due to the high density of seepage sites and large volume of released methane from massive focused vigorous methane seepage sites around the LLGHSZ. Based on the classification result of this research, more measures should be taken for subtype B2 seabed methane seepage to predict or even prevent ocean warming or climate change.

AIM:A total of 241 patients with chronic HCV infection were recruited to investigate the association between liver fibrosis and PLT counts, as well as with MPV, PDW and P-LCR indices. METHODS:The determination of PLT indices was carried out using a Sysmex XT-1800i automated hematology analyzer. Serological tests for HA, LN, C-IV and PIIINP were performed in 210 patients. The liver stiffness was measured in 69 patients by transient elastography (FibroScan). RESULTS:The analysis showed that the four serum fibrosis markers were negatively correlated with PLT counts, but positively correlated with the MPV, PDW and P-LCR values. Moreover, a similar pattern was found after analyzing the FibroScan measurements, which were negatively correlated with PLT counts, but positively correlated with MPV, PDW and P-LCR values. We subdivided the HCV-infected patients into mild and advanced fibrosis groups. The PLT counts were significantly decreased and the MPV, PDW and P-LCR values were significantly increased in the advanced fibrosis group when compared with the mild fibrosis group. CONCLUSIONS:Our results demonstrate that not only the PLT counts but also the MPV, PDW and P-LCR indices significantly correlate with liver fibrosis in HCV-infected patients. Therefore, these indices may be useful laboratory measures for evaluating liver fibrosis progression.

The vibration produced by blasting excavation in urban underground engineering has a significant influence on the surrounding environment, and the strength of vibration intensity involves many influencing factors. In order to predict the space-time effects of blasting vibration more accurately, an automatic intelligent monitoring system is constructed based on the rough set fuzzy neural network blasting vibration characteristic parameter prediction model and the network blasting vibrator (TC-6850). By setting up the regional monitoring network of monitoring points, the obtained monitoring data are analyzed. An artificial intelligence model is used to predict the influence of stratum condition, excavation hole, and high-rise building on blasting vibration velocity and frequency propagation. The results show that the artificial intelligence prediction model based on a rough set fuzzy neural network can accurately reflect the formation attenuation effect, hollow effect, and building amplification effect of blasting vibration by effectively fuzzing and standardizing the influencing factors. The propagation of blasting vibration in a soil–rock composite stratum is closely related to the surrounding rock conditions with a noticeable elastic modulus effect. The hollow effect is regional, which has a significant influence on the surrounding ground and buildings. Besides, the blasting vibration of the excavated area is stronger than that of the unexcavated area. The propagation of blasting vibration on high-rise buildings was complicated, of which the peak vibration velocity is maximum at the lower level of the building and decreased with the rise of the floor gradually. The whip sheath effect appears at the top floor, which is related to the blasting vibration frequency and the building’s natural vibration frequency.

Autumn phenology, commonly represented by the end of season (EOS), is considered to be the most sensitive and crucial productivity indicator of alpine and cold grassland in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Previous studies typically assumed that the rates of EOS changes remain unchanged over long time periods. However, pixel-scale analysis indicates the existence of turning points and differing EOS change rates before and after these points. The spatial heterogeneity and controls of these turning points remain unclear. In this study, the EOS turning point changes are extracted and their controls are explored by integrating long time-series remote sensing images and piecewise regression methods. The results indicate that the EOS changed over time with a delay rate of 0.08 days/year during 1982–2015. The rates of change are not consistent over different time periods, which clearly highlights the existence of turning points. The results show that temperature contributed most strongly to the EOS changes, followed by precipitation and insolation. Furthermore, the turning points of climate, human activities (e.g., grazing, economic development), and their intersections are found to jointly control the EOS turning points. This study is the first quantitative investigation into the spatial heterogeneity and controls of the EOS turning points on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and provides important insight into the growth mechanism of alpine and cold grassland.

A trait-based approach is an effective way to quantify plant adaptation strategies in response to changing environments. Single trait variations have been well depicted before; however, multi-trait covariations and their roles in shaping plant adaptation strategies along aridity gradients remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to reveal multi-trait covariation characteristics, their controls and their relevance to plant adaptation strategies. Using eight relevant plant functional traits and multivariate statistical approaches, we found the following: (1) the eight studied traits show evident covariation characteristics and could be grouped into four functional dimensions linked to plant strategies, namely energy balance, resource acquisition, resource investment and water use efficiency; (2) leaf area (LA) together with traits related to the leaf economic spectrum, including leaf nitrogen content per area (Narea), leaf nitrogen per mass (Nmass) and leaf dry mass per area (LMA), covaried along the aridity gradient (represented by the moisture index, MI) and dominated the trait–environmental change axis; (3) together, climate, soil and family can explain 50.4% of trait covariations; thus, vegetation succession along the aridity gradient cannot be neglected in trait covariations. Our findings provide novel perspectives toward a better understanding of plant adaptations to arid conditions and serve as a reference for vegetation restoration and management programs in arid regions.

In this work, a personal thermal management (PTM) device based on single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) functionalized polyester fabrics had been studied. Polyester fabrics were functionalized with SWCNTs through coating method with poly (butyl acrylate) emulsion as the adhesive. The SEM images exhibited that SWCNTs formed high-efficiently conductive networks due to the large aspect ratio and uniform dispersion. A steady-state temperature of 40 °C was achieved at the input voltage of 2.5 V within 7 s, which exhibited excellent electro-thermal performance. Even under periodic heating-cooling conditions, heating system still displayed relatively stable temperature and relative resistance, which could have potential application for wearable clothes.

Background: Hepatitis C virus has infected 130 to 150 million individuals globally. Atypical chemokine receptor 1 has become a focus of research because of its diverse roles in different diseases. However, little is known regarding the association of atypical chemokine receptor 1 polymorphism with susceptibility to hepatitis C virus. Aims: To determine the association of an atypical chemokine receptor 1 polymorphism (rs12075) with hepatitis C virus susceptibility. Study Design: Case-control study. Methods: We collected blood samples from 231 patients infected with hepatitis C virus and 239 blood donors as control subjects. Genotyping of atypical chemokine receptor 1 was performed using a 5ˊ-nuclease assay with TaqMan-minor groove binding probes. Comparisons between hepatitis C virus-infected patients and control subjects were assessed using Fisher’s exact test. Results: The genotype frequencies of FY*A/FY*A, FY*A/FY*B and FY*B/FY*B were 86.1%, 13.9% and 0% in the patient group, and 86.2%, 13.4% and 0.4% in the control group, respectively. The difference in atypical chemokine receptor 1 genotype frequencies between hepatitis C virus-infected patients and control group was not significant (p=1.00, OR=1.004, 95% CI=0.594-1.695). FY*A and FY*B allele frequencies were 93.1% and 6.9% in the patient group, and 92.9% and 7.1% in the control group, respectively. The difference in atypical chemokine receptor 1 allele frequencies between hepatitis C virus-infected patients and the control group was not significant (p=1.00, OR=0.972, 95% CI=0.589-1.603). Conclusion: Our result indicates that atypical chemokine receptor 1 polymorphism (rs12075) does not affect susceptibility to hepatitis C virus

Shrub layer diversity is an essential component of the forest ecosystem diversity, that contributes significantly to structuring the community and maintaining diversity, especially in plantation forests. In previous studies, researchers have reported the strong relationship among various factors (i.e., soil composition, mean annual temperature, etc.) and shrub diversity. However, how these factors jointly influence shrub diversity and which factors could be considered the key factors is still unknown. In this study, we attempted to quantify the effect among environmental factors, soil factors and forest stand factors on shrub diversity. Twenty-seven variables were selected from 57 Chinese pine plantation plots in Huanglong Mountain, Yanan City, Shaanxi Province, China. The path models showed that latent variable of soil properties is the main effective factor of latent variable of shrub diversity (directly effect, path coefficient = 0.344) and the latent variable of site conditions is another effective factor of latent variable of shrub diversity (indirectly effect, path coefficient = 0.177); Besides, the latent variable of site conditions and forest properties directly affect the latent variable of soil properties (path coefficient = 0.514 and 0.326, respectively). Among the latent variable of soil properties, soil water content (SWC) has the biggest weight of 0.666, which indicated the most significant contribution of SWC to latent variables of shrub diversity. Total nitrogen, weighted 0.375, and total phosphorus, weighted 0.308, are also important factors and make a similar contribution to latent variable of shrub diversity. Soil organic matter (SOM) has a minimal impact (lowest weight, 0.059); among the objective variables of site condition, altitude contributes the most and is followed by litter thickness, weighted at 0.722 and 0.448, respectively. Furthermore, among all the variables affecting the latent variable of forest properties, forest age is recognized as the maximum impactor of soil property change, which weighted −0.941; and is followed by forest stock volume and diameter at breast height (DBH), weighted 0.795 and 0.788, respectively. The crowding index (C) has the lowest weight (−0.235) and demonstrated that spatial distribution and crowding of trees have minimal impact on the latent variable of Soil properties. diversity Overall, our study provides new insights into quantifying the relationships among different driving factors that potentially play a significant role in determining shrub layer diversity within the plantation forest.

Current modifications used in small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), such as 2’-methoxy (2’-OMe) and 2’-fluoro (2’-F), improve stability, specificity or immunogenic properties but do not improve potency. These modifications were previously designed for use in antisense and not siRNA. We show, for the first time, that the siRNA-optimized novel 2’-O modifications, 2’-O-benzyl, and 2’-O-methyl-4-pyridine (2’-O-CH2Py(4)), are tolerated at multiple positions on the guide strand of siRNA sequences in vivo. 2’-O-benzyl and 2’-O-CH2Py(4) modifications were tested at each position individually along the guide strand in five sequences to determine positions that tolerated the modifications. The positions were combined together and found to increase potency and duration of siRNAs in vivo compared to their unmodified counterparts when delivered using lipid nanoparticles. For 2’-O-benzyl, four incorporations were tolerated with similar activity to the unmodified siRNA in vivo, while for 2’-O-CH2Py(4) six incorporations were tolerated. Increased in vivo activity was observed when the modifications were combined at positions 8 and 15 on the guide strand. Understanding the optimal placement of siRNA-optimized modifications needed for maximal in vivo activity is necessary for development of RNA-based therapeutics.