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Conventional complete dentures remain to be an important treatment for edentulous patients, especially those of low socioeconomic status. This study is a retrospective analysis that aims to elucidate influencing factors of post-insertion complications and patient satisfaction. Clinical records of 164 patients who received both maxillary and mandibular complete dentures at an Australian university teaching clinic were assessed and analysed. The parameters considered include reason for attendance, presenting clinical status, experience of operator, numbers of appointments for fabrication and adjustment, post-insertion complications and events, and patient satisfaction. The differences among selected attributes were analysed using a Mann–Whitney test, Chi-square test, or Kruskal–Wallis test where applicable, while the relationships between discrete variables were assessed by Kendall’s correlation. First, the number of appointments for fabrication differed significantly between female (6.8 ± 1.8) and male patients (6.2 ± 1.3; p = 0.025) and between student (6.7 ± 1.7) and professional operators (6.0 ± 1.1; p = 0.015). The number of appointments for adjustment was significantly associated with patient age (τb = 0.167, p = 0.003) and sharply declined after the first three months. Second, post-insertion pain was the most frequent complication, and it was significantly more associated with the mandible than the maxilla (χ2 = 21.670, p = 0.000). Similarly, mandibular complete dentures were also significantly more associated with post-insertion reline than the maxillary (χ2 = 8.804, p = 0.003). Lastly, patient satisfaction was significantly associated with patient attendance with old/worn dentures (χ2 = 9.468, p = 0.002), as well as the absence of retention/stability issues (χ2 = 41.712, p = 0.000), post-insertion reline (χ2 = 29.300, p = 0.000), or denture replacement (χ2 = 13.968, p = 0.000). Dissatisfied patients had a significantly higher age (70.9 ± 11.0 vs. 66.2 ± 12.6; p = 0.023) and number of appointments for adjustment (4.9 ± 3.5 vs. 3.1 ± 2.1; p = 0.001) than satisfied patients. In summary, these findings revealed the above factors that influence the fabrication process, post-insertion complication, and patient satisfaction of conventional complete dentures. Future research may include analysis of cases completed at private practices and consideration of other potentially relevant factors such as denture usage and mental status.

In this work, the effect of annealing temperature of Ti552 titanium alloy is systematically investigated based on mechanical property tests, electrochemical tests and static immersion tests. The results show that after the annealing treatment, the microstructure morphology of the α-phase transforms from striated to equiaxed, and the intergranular β-phase gradually increases. As the annealing temperature increases, the grain size gradually increases and the volume fraction of α-phase gradually decreases. The tensile strength and Vickers hardness are the maximum and the elongation is the minimum in the hot-rolled condition. With increasing annealing temperature, the strength and Vickers hardness of Ti552 alloy gradually decrease, while the elongation gradually increases. In 3.5 wt% NaCl solution, Ti552 alloy has similar corrosion behavior at different annealing temperatures, although its corrosion resistance varies. In potentiodynamic polarization and EIS testing, the annealed Ti552 alloy shows a low corrosion current density (10-6 A/cm2) and a high polarization impedance (106 Ω·cm2), indicating the formation of a dense and stable oxide film. Under annealing at 800 °C, the corrosion resistance is at its highest and the corrosion rate is the lowest, according to electrochemical and static immersion studies. The comprehensive analysis suggests that the corrosion behavior of Ti552 alloy in NaCl solution may be a result of the combined effect of the volume fraction of the β-phase and the grain size of the α-phase.

In this study, a large size Ti-0.3Mo-0.8Ni (TA10) alloy ingot melted by electron beam cold hearth melting (EBCHM) technology was investigated. The microstructure, mechanical properties, and corrosion behavior of as-cast, hot-rolled, and annealed TA10 alloys were investigated. The results show that different states of TA10 alloys have different microstructure and properties. The microstructure of the as-cast TA10 alloy exhibits the Widmanstätten α phase, and the hot-rolled TA10 sheet shows a fibrous structure with an obvious rolling streamline. After 650 °C annealing, the intergranular β phase decreases, and most of the strip α phase changes to the equiaxed α phase. With the annealing temperature increasing to 840 °C, the microstructure gradually changed from an equiaxed structure to a duplex structure. The mechanical properties of the TA10 alloy were enhanced after hot-rolling with an increase in ultimate tensile strength from 386.5 MPa to 610 MPa. Additionally, the elongation increased from 15.6 % to 23.3 %. Upon annealing at varying temperatures, it was observed that the strength decreased, reaching to 423.5 MPa at 650 °C and 478.2 MPa at 840 °C, while the plasticity increased significantly, reaching to 26.5 % at 650 °C and 28.6 % at 840 °C. The improved strength was attributed to the better grain boundary slip of the equiaxed structure. The corrosion resistance of titanium alloys is closely connected with their microstructure. The results of the immersion corrosion test indicate that the samples in various states exhibit similar corrosion behavior. Additionally, the hot-rolled TA10 alloy shows the highest corrosion resistance, with a lower corrosion rate of 0.34459 mm/year. The as-cast TA10 alloy shows the lowest corrosion resistance, with a lower corrosion rate of 1.37559 mm/year.

Abstract The limited surface coverage and activity of active hydrides on oxide surfaces pose challenges for efficient hydrogenation reactions. Herein, we quantitatively distinguish the long-puzzling homolytic dissociation of hydrogen from the heterolytic pathway on Ga2O3, that is useful for enhancing hydrogenation ability of oxides. By combining transient kinetic analysis with infrared and mass spectroscopies, we identify the catalytic role of coordinatively unsaturated Ga3+ in homolytic H2 dissociation, which is formed in-situ during the initial heterolytic dissociation. This site facilitates easy hydrogen dissociation at low temperatures, resulting in a high hydride coverage on Ga2O3 (H/surface Ga3+ ratio of 1.6 and H/OH ratio of 5.6). The effectiveness of homolytic dissociation is governed by the Ga-Ga distance, which is strongly influenced by the initial coordination of Ga3+. Consequently, by tuning the coordination of active Ga3+ species as well as the coverage and activity of hydrides, we achieve enhanced hydrogenation of CO2 to CO, methanol or light olefins by 4-6 times.

IntroductionDuring the global COVID-19 pandemic, densely populated megacities engaged in active international exchanges have faced the most severe impacts from both the disease and the associated infodemic. This study examines the factors influencing public participation behavior on government microblogs in these megacities during the pandemic. It guides megacities in disseminating epidemic information, promoting knowledge on epidemic prevention, managing public opinion, and addressing related matters.MethodsUtilizing the elaboration likelihood model’s central and peripheral routes, drawing on an empirical analysis of 6,677 epidemic-related microblogs from seven Chinese megacities, this study analyses the influence mechanisms influencing public participation behavior and reveals the regulatory role of confirmed case numbers. Meanwhile,a qualitative comparative analysis examines and discusses diferent confgurations of ixn fuential factors.ResultsThe study reveals that microblog content richness demonstrates a U-shaped impact on public participation behavior. Conversely, content interaction, content length, and the number of fans positively impact participation, while update frequency has a negative impact. Additionally, the number of new confrmed cases positively regulates the impact of microblog content and publisher characteristics on public participation behavior. Public participation behavior also varies based on publishing time and content semantic features. This study further revealed the different confgurations of influential factors by QCA method.ConclusionThis study reveals the impact mechanism of the microblog content and publisher characteristics on public participation behavior. It also demonstrates the regulatory role of newly confrmed cases in the way content and publishers’ characteristics influence public participation behavior. This study is of great significance for the operation of government microblogs, the release of emergency information, and the promotion of public participation.

Abstract The predictive value of cell‐free DNA (cfDNA) integrity for lymph node metastasis and short‐term postoperative recurrence in patients with proximal gastric carcinoma (PGC) after curative gastrectomy remains unclear. From August 2019 to March 2021, the cfDNA integrity was assessed in 107 patients with proximal gastric carcinoma who underwent total gastrectomy (TG). The correlation between cfDNA integrity and lymph node metastasis was inspected, and the optimal cutoff value of cfDNA integrity for lymph node metastasis was determined. Meanwhile, the cfDNA integrity was identically detected in 91 proximal gastric cancer patients receiving proximal gastrectomy (PG), as well as 41 heathy individuals. The diagnostic value of cfDNA integrity for short‐term postoperative recurrence was assessed in both cohorts. The cfDNA integrity in healthy control was significantly higher than that in TG (p

Determination of rock mechanical parameters is the most important step in rock mass quality evaluation and has significant impacts on geotechnical engineering practice. Rock mass integrity coefficient (KV) is one of the most efficient parameters, which is conventionally determined from boreholes. Such approaches, however, are time-consuming and expensive, offer low data coverage of point measurements, require heavy equipment, and are hardly conducted in steep topographic sites. Hence, borehole approaches cannot assess the subsurface thoroughly for rock mass quality evaluation. Alternatively, use of geophysical methods is non-invasive, rapid and economical. The proposed geophysical approach makes useful empirical correlation between geophysical and geotechnical parameters. We evaluated the rock mass quality via integration between KV measured from the limited boreholes and inverted resistivity obtained from electrical resistivity tomography (ERT). The borehole-ERT correlation provided KV along various geophysical profiles for more detailed 2D/3D (two-/three-dimensional) mapping of rock mass quality. The subsurface was thoroughly evaluated for rock masses with different engineering qualities, including highly weathered rock, semi-weathered rock, and fresh rock. Furthermore, ERT was integrated with induced polarization (IP) to resolve the uncertainty caused by water/clay content. Our results show that the proposed method, compared with the conventional approaches, can reduce the ambiguities caused by inadequate data, and give more accurate insights into the subsurface for rock mass quality evaluation.

AbstractPurpose The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness and reliability of adding traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the clinical intervention and explore mechanisms of action for chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) through meta- and network pharmacology analysis (NPAs).Methods A predefined search strategy was used to retrieve literature from PubMed, Embase database, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese BioMedical Literature Database (CBM), Wan Fang Data and China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP). After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 12 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included for meta-analysis to provide clinical evidence of the intervention effects. A network meta-analysis using Bayesian networks was conducted to observe the relative effects of different intervention measures and possible ranking of effects. The composition of the TCM formulation in the experimental group was analysed, and association rule mining was performed to identify hub herbal medicines. Target genes for CAG were searched in GeneCards, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man, PharmGKB, Therapeutic Target Database and DrugBank. A regulatory network was constructed to connect the target genes with active ingredients of the hub herbal medicines. Enrichment analyses were performed using the Gene Ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) to examine the central targets from a comprehensive viewpoint. Protein–protein interaction networks (PPINs) were constructed to identify hub genes and conduct molecular docking with differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and corresponding active molecules.Results A total of 1140 participants from 12 RCTs were included in the statistical analysis, confirming that the experimental group receiving the addition of TCM intervention had better clinical efficacy. Seven hub TCMs (Paeonia lactiflora, Atractylodes macrocephala, Pinellia ternata, Citrus reticulata, Codonopsis pilosula, Salvia miltiorrhiza and Coptis chinensis) were identified through association rule analysis of all included TCMs. Thirteen hub genes (CDKN1A, CASP3, STAT1, TP53, JUN, MAPK1, STAT3, MAPK3, MYC, HIF1A, FOS, MAPK14 and AKT1) were obtained from 90 gene PPINs. Differential gene expression analysis between the disease and normal gastric tissue identified MAPK1 and MAPK3 as the significant genes. Molecular docking analysis revealed that naringenin, luteolin and quercetin were the main active compounds with good binding activities to the two hub targets. GO analysis demonstrated the function of the targets in protein binding, while KEGG analysis indicated their involvement in important pathways related to cancer.Conclusions The results of a meta-analysis of 12 RCTs indicate that TCM intervention can improve the clinical treatment efficacy of CAG. NPAs identified seven hub TCM and 13 target genes associated with their actions, while bioinformatics analysis identified two DEGs between normal and CAG gastric tissues. Finally, molecular docking was employed to reveal the mechanism of action of the active molecules in TCM on the DEGs. These findings not only reveal the mechanisms of action of the active components of the TCMs, but also provide support for the development of new drugs, ultimately blocking the progression from chronic gastritis to gastric cancer.

The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in size-resolved particles emitted from diverse sources are required for quantification to reduce the emissions in order to protect public health. Twenty-four PAHs in size-segregated particles in the roadside environment of Beijing were observed from 1 October 2021 to 30 September 2022. The size distributions of PAHs were bimodal, with peak concentrations ranging from size fractions of 0.43 to 0.65 μm and 4.7 to 5.8 μm in all four seasons, respectively. The highest concentration of PAHs in fine particles (PM2.1) was 35.3 ng m−3 in winter, followed by 16.0 ng m−3 in autumn, 15.3 ng m−3 in spring, and 6.5 ng m−3 in summer. Conversely, the concentration of PAHs in coarse particles (PM2.1–9) ranged from 6.8 ng m−3 (summer) to 20.5 ng m−3 (winter) from low to high. The size fractions of 0.43–2.1 μm PAHs increased most from clear to polluted days, which could be ascribed to the heterogeneous reactions. Source apportionment using positive matrix factorization showed that four sources, namely biomass combustion, coal combustion, diesel vehicles, and gasoline vehicles accounted for PAHs with the estimation of 17.4%, 22.1%, 26.4%, and 23.2% to PAHs in PM2.1; and 19.6%, 24.3%, 23.6%, and 20.1% in PM2.1–9, respectively. Furthermore, we used the human alveolar epithelial cell (BEAS-2B) to assess the toxicological effects of size-resolved atmospheric PAHs. The results showed that the cell survival rate caused by fine particles was lower than that of coarse particles with the same concentrations of PAHs, which is mainly related to the higher content of highly toxic PAHs in fine particles.

The continuous expansion of freshwater fish culture is confronted with environmental problems owing to their high antibiotic inputs and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This study explored the antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) profiles of water and fish gut contents from three fishponds in Tianjin using a metagenomics approach. Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria were the most abundant phyla in all water samples. However, the microbial composition of the fish guts was distinctly different among the three aquaculture farms. Cetobacterium, Bacillus, Weissella, and Fusobacterium were the dominant genera in the gut contents of all fish. More than 20 unique ARGs with relatively high abundances were detected in both water and fish gut content samples. The dominant genes and pathways of antibiotic resistance mechanisms detected in all samples were antibiotic efflux, antibiotic inactivation, antibiotic target alteration, antibiotic target protection, antibiotic target replacement, and reduced permeability to antibiotics. In addition, our results indicate that antibiotics, such as florfenicol, and heavy metals, such as Zn and Cu, could have a significant correlation with some common ARGs, indicating that antibiotic-resistant bacteria could co-occur with heavy metals. Our study provides a research basis for the development of a strategy for practical antibiotic application and heavy metal monitoring in aquaculture.

Abstract Vibrio vulnificus is a pathogenic bacterium that causes disease in marine fish, affecting fish farming and human health worldwide. In May 2021, in the Bohai Bay region, a disease broke out in commercially farmed pearl gentian grouper (♀Epinephelus fuscoguttatus × ♂Epinephelus lanceolatus), causing huge economic losses. The diseased fish had skin lesions, water accumulation in their abdomens, and showed tissue and organ damage. V. vulnificus biotype 2 has been reported in eels and other marine fish, but it is less reported in pearl gentian grouper. In this study, the pathogenic strain isolated from diseased fish was identified as V. vulnificus EPL 0201 biotype 2 on the basis of physiological and biochemical characteristics and the results of 16S rRNA gene and gyrB sequencing, virulence gene detection, and recursive infection experiments. To gain a comprehensive understanding of the pathogenicity and drug resistance of this strain, whole-genome sequencing was performed. Whole-genome analysis showed that the gene map of this strain was complete. The Virulence Factor Database annotation results showed that this strain had the key virulence factor genes vvhA and rtxA, which cause host disease. In addition, this strain had genes conferring resistance against cephalosporins, aminoglycosides, tetracyclines, and sulfonamides. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing confirmed the presence of these resistance genes identified in the genome. The results of this study show that V. vulnificus EPL 0201 biotype 2 is a multi-drug resistant strain with high pathogenicity.

The emergence and development of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) provides an approach to understand the regulatory mechanisms of cell pluripotency and demonstrates the great potential of iPSCs in disease modeling. Acute myelitis defines a group of inflammatory diseases that cause acute nerve damage in the spinal cord; however, its pathophysiology remains to be elusive. In this study, we derived skin fibroblasts from a patient with acute myelitis (P-HAF) and then reprogrammed P-HAF cells to iPSCs using eight exogenous factors (namely, OCT4, SOX2, c-MYC, KLF4, NANOG, LIN28, RARG, and LRH1). We performed transcriptomic analysis of the P-HAF and compared the biological characteristics of the iPSCs derived from the patient (P-iPSCs) with those derived from normal individuals in terms of pluripotency, transcriptomic characteristics, and differentiation ability toward the ectoderm. Compared to the control iPSCs, the P-iPSCs displayed similar features of pluripotency and comparable capability of ectoderm differentiation in the specified culture. However, when tested in the common medium, the P-iPSCs showed attenuated potential for ectoderm differentiation. The transcriptomic analysis revealed that pathways enriched in P-iPSCs included those involved in Wnt signaling. To this end, we treated iPSCs and P-iPSCs with the Wnt signaling pathway inhibitor IWR1 during the differentiation process and found that the expression of the ectoderm marker Sox1 was increased significantly in P-iPSCs. This study provides a novel approach to investigating the pathogenesis of acute myelitis.

Developing effective and stable catalytic interfaces in the medium temperature region is a practical route to replace the existing water gas shift (WGS) process. Here the authors designed a composite Ni-Y2O3 catalyst achieving the highest WGS activity for Ni based catalysts.

Here, Brillouin optical microscopy noninvasively visualizes microscale anisotropy of the porcine cornea owing to its lamellar fiber structure and quantifies the longitudinal moduli of the bulk tissue. Anisotropy is also detected in angle-resolved measurement of the human cornea in vivo.

Rice husk (RH) and straw are common agricultural wastes in Asian countries, and they are potential bioresources for building materials. RH contains a large amount of SiO2, and many studies have burnt RH to ash and then used it as a silica supplement in cement and concrete. However, the combustion of RH has an additional cost and exacerbates CO2 emissions and air pollution. RH inherently has a low bulk density and porous structure; therefore, it should be possible to directly use RH as a lightweight additive in concrete. The purposes of this study were to use RH in the production of autoclaved lightweight concrete (ALC) and to examine the effects of RH on ALC properties. Four RHs with different particle sizes, i.e., >1.2 mm, 0.6–1.2 mm, 0.3–0.6 mm, and <0.3 mm, were used as lightweight additives, and the ALC specimens were prepared with 0–20 wt.% RHs by autoclaving at 189 °C for 12 h. The >0.3 mm RH was applicable to prepare the ALC specimens, and the decomposition effect of <0.3 mm RH was significant. Both the bulk density and the compressive strength of the ALC specimens decreased with increasing RH size. RH with a particle size larger than 1.2 mm seems more appropriate for ALC production than RH with a smaller particle size because of the lower bulk density and higher compressive strength. The Ca/Si ratio decreased with increasing RH size, which affected the formation of tobermorite and thus reduced the compressive strength of the ALC specimens. With a suitable water-to-solid (W/S) ratio, the use of RHs as lightweight additives can yield ALC specimens that meet the requirements of commercial products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Rock mass quality evaluation is a challenging task in geotechnical investigations given the natural heterogeneity and the limited data. These investigations mainly depend on the traditional drilling tests. However, such tests are expensive and time consuming, provide point measurements, and cannot be conducted in steep topographic areas, and thus cause uncertainties in the geological model. Conversely, geophysical methods such as electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) are non-invasive, user-friendly, and fast. In this work, we establish empirical correlation between ERT and limited drilling data to obtain rock mass integrity coefficient (Kv). The estimated Kv provides 2D/3D imaging of the rock mass quality evaluation via weathered/unweathered rock and faults detection in order to cover the entire area even where no drilling test exists. Compared with the past geotechnical investigations, our work reduce the ambiguities caused by the inadequate well tests and provide more accurate geological model for infrastructures design. Our work proposes that, in case of sparse borehole data, the established empirical equations can be used to determine Kv along different geophysical profiles via 2D/3D insight of the subsurface. Our approach is applicable in any hard rock setting, and the established correlations can be used in areas even where no well test exists.

Omnichannel retailing and sustainability are two important challenges for the fast fashion industry. However, the sustainable behavior of fast fashion consumers in an omnichannel environment has not received much attention from researchers. This paper aims to examine the factors that determine consumers’ willingness to participate in fast fashion brands’ used clothes recycling plans in an omnichannel retail environment. In particular, we examine the impact of individual consumer characteristics (environmental attitudes, consumer satisfaction), organizational arrangements constitutive for omnichannel retailing (channel integration), and their interplay (brand identification, impulsive consumption). A conceptual model was developed based on findings from previous research and tested on data that were collected online from Chinese fast fashion consumers. Findings suggest that consumers’ intentions for clothes recycling are mainly determined by individual factors, such as environmental attitudes and consumer satisfaction. Organizational arrangements (perceived channel integration) showed smaller effects. This study contributes to the literature on omnichannel (clothing) retail, as well as on sustainability in the clothing industry, by elucidating individual and organizational determinants of consumers’ recycling intentions for used clothes in an omnichannel environment. It helps retailers to organize used clothes recycling plans in an omnichannel environment and to motivate consumers to participate in them.