Search

Abstract Background We evaluated the influence of different partial carbon dioxide pressure (PaCO2) levels on organ perfusion in patients with respiratory failure receiving pressure-support ventilation with veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (V-V ECMO). Methods In this twelve patients prospective study, ECMO gas-flow was decreased from baseline (PaCO2

ABSTRACT: Sperm mobility (SM) is an objective index for measuring sperm motility; however, the mechanisms underlying its regulation in geese remain unclear. The present study sought to elucidate the genetic mechanism underlying SM traits in Zi geese (Anser cygnoides L.). To this end, three successive experiments were performed. In Experiment I, SM was determined in 40 ganders; the 3 ganders with the highest mobility and three with the lowest mobility were assigned to the high and low sperm mobility rank (SMR) groups, respectively. In Experiment II, the differences in fertility between the two SMR groups were assessed within two breeding flocks comprising the selected six ganders from Experiment I and 30 females (each flock had 3 ganders and 15 females). In Experiment III, the testes of the 6 ganders were harvested for histological observation and whole-transcriptome sequencing. Results revealed better fertility, well-developed seminiferous tubules, and abundant mature sperm in the high-SMR-flock compared to those of the low-SMR-flock (89 vs. 81%) (P < 0.05). Differential expression (DE) analysis identified 76 mRNAs, 344 lncRNAs, and 17 miRNAs between the SMR groups, with LOC106049708, XPNPEP3, GNB3, ADCY8, PRKAG3, oha-miR-182-5p, and ocu-miR-10b-5p identified as key mRNAs and miRNAs contributing to SM. Enrichment analysis implicated these DE RNAs in pathways related to ATP binding, cell metabolism, apelin signaling, Wnt signaling, and Adherens junctions. Additionally, competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks comprising 9 DE mRNAs, 17 DE miRNAs, and 169 DE lncRNAs were constructed. Two ceRNA network pathways (LOC106049708–oha-miR-182-5p–MSTRG.2479.6 and PRKAG3–ocu-miR-10b-5p–MSTRG.9047.14) were identified as key regulators of SM in geese. These findings offer crucial insights into the identification of key genes and ceRNA pathways influencing sperm mobility in geese.

Introduction Fluid resuscitation of patients with sepsis is crucial. This study explored the role of fluid balance in the early resuscitation of sepsis patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). Material and methods A retrospective study of patients with sepsis using the Peking Union Medical College Hospital Intensive Care Medical Information System and Database from January 2014 to June 2020 was performed. Based on the survival status on day 28, the training cohort was divided into an alive group (n = 1,803) and a deceased group (n = 429). Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify risk factors, and the integrated learning XGBoost algorithm was used to construct a model for predicting outcomes. ROC and Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the model. A verification cohort (n = 433) was used to verify the model. Results Univariate analysis showed that fluid balance is an important covariate. Based on the scatterplot distribution, a significant difference in mortality was determined between groups stratified with a balance of 1000 ml. There were associations in the multivariate analysis between poor outcomes and sex, PO2/FiO2, serum creatinine, FiO2, platelets, respiratory rate, SPO2, temperature, and total fluid volume (1000 ml). Among these variables, total fluid balance (1000 ml) had an OR of 1.98 (CI: 1.41–2.77, p < 0.001). Therefore, the model was built with these nine factors using XGBoost. Cross validation was used to verify generalizability. This model performed better than the SOFA and APACHE II models. The result was well verified in the verification cohort. A causal forest model suggested that patients with hypoxemia may suffer from positive fluid balance. Conclusions Sepsis fluid resuscitation in the ICU should be a targeted and goal-oriented treatment. A new prognostic prediction model was constructed and indicated that a 6-hour positive fluid balance after ICU initial admission is a risk factor for poor outcomes in sepsis patients. A 6-hour fluid balance above 1000 ml should be performed with caution.

Many local chicken breeds are rapidly declining and even facing extinction due to a variety of factors such as indiscriminate crossbreeding, climate fluctuations, epidemic outbreak, and environmental changes. Developing effective preservation strategies is important to address this situation. The special reproductive characteristics and gamete morphology of chickens pose challenges for preserving genetic heritage through the cryopreservation of genetic materials. Currently, gonad and primordial germ-cell cryopreservation and transplantation are the most promising approaches, especially for the genetic information in the W chromosome of female birds. The study of establishing sterile recipients is crucial for increasing the efficiency of the colonization of transplanted donor tissues and cells. Several classical methods, including ovariectomy and testectomy, busulfan, and irradiation, have been employed to deplete endogenous germ cells in recipient males before transplantation. These methods rely on the toxicity of chemical reagents and physical stimulation to kill germ cells. Recent advances in gene-editing technology have introduced sterile hosts via the knocking out of genes relevant to germ cells’ development. This review explores state-of-the-art technologies for preparing infertile avian recipients (mainly chickens) and aims to provide guidance for the conservation of poultry genetic material and breed restoration.

The health assessment of airborne lithium batteries is crucial for flight testing, ensuring the safety and reliability of aircraft power systems. This paper proposes a support vector machine-based algorithm for the health assessment of airborne lithium batteries, featuring a dynamic correction mechanism for the risk loss penalty parameter. The proposed approach systematically adjusts risk loss penalty parameters based on sample misjudgment ratios and incorporates fault identification corrections to meet the safety requirements of the airborne operation. The experimental results demonstrate the stability and reliability of the proposed algorithm in hyperplane deviation suppression as well as significant improvements in fault sample recall rates. When compared with traditional SVM and other baseline methods such as Random Forest and SVR, our method significantly outperformed these algorithms in terms of accuracy, recall rate, and precision rate. This study provides an efficient and reliable method for the health assessment of airborne lithium batteries, with significant application value.

Background: The relationship between perfusion index (PI) and organ dysfunction in patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) is not clear. This study aimed to explore the relationship between PI and renal function in the perioperative critical care setting and evaluate the predictive efficiency of PI on patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) in the ICU. Methods: This retrospective analysis involved 12,979 patients who had undergone an operation and were admitted to the ICU in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 2014 to December 2019. The distribution of average PI in the first 24 h after ICU admission and its correlation with AKI was calculated by Cox regression. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated to compare the ability of PI, mean arterial pressure (MAP), creatinine, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and central venous pressure (CVP) to discriminate AKI in the first 48 h in all perioperative critically ill patients. Results: Average PI in the first 24 h served as an independent protective factor of AKI (Odds ratio [OR]=0.786, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.704–0.873, P 2.12). Conclusions: As a local blood flow indicator, the initial 24-h average PI for perioperative critically ill patients can predict AKI during their first 120 h in the ICU.

Abstract Phase transition and floral induction in citrus requires several years of juvenility after germination. Such a long period of juvenility has been a major hindrance to its genetic improvement program. Studies have shown that miR156 along with its downstream genes SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING PROTEINS (SBP) and SBP-LIKE (SPL) mediate the phase transition and floral induction process in plants. Our current study has systematically analyzed SPLs in 15 different citrus-related species, systematically annotated them based on their close homology to their respective Arabidopsis orthologs, and confirmed the functional attributes of the selected members in floral precocity. The majority of the species harbored 15 SPLs. Their cis-element assessment suggested the involvement of the SPLs in diverse developmental and physiological processes in response to different biotic and abiotic cues. Among all, SPL5, SPL9, and SPL11 stood out as consistently differentially expressed SPLs in the adult and young tissues of different citrus-related species. Independent overexpression of their F. hindsii orthologs (FhSPL5, FhSPL9, and FhSPL11) brought an enhanced expression of endogenous FLOWERING LOCUS T leading to the significantly precocious flowering in transgenic Arabidopsis lines. Future study of the genes in the citrus plant itself is expected to conclude the assessments made in the current study. Graphical Abstract

The development of intensive care medicine is inseparable from the diversified monitoring data. Intensive care medicine has been closely integrated with data since its birth. Critical care research requires an integrative approach that embraces the complexity of critical illness and the computational technology and algorithms that can make it possible. Considering the need of standardization of application of big data in intensive care, Intensive Care Medicine Branch of China Health Information and Health Care Big Data Society, Standard Committee has convened expert group, secretary group and the external audit expert group to formulate Chinese Experts’ Consensus on the Application of Intensive Care Big Data (2022). This consensus makes 29 recommendations on the following five parts: Concept of intensive care big data, Important scientific issues, Standards and principles of database, Methodology in solving big data problems, Clinical application and safety consideration of intensive care big data. The consensus group believes this consensus is the starting step of application big data in the field of intensive care. More explorations and big data based retrospective research should be carried out in order to enhance safety and reliability of big data based models of critical care field.

Abstract Shape descriptors have recently gained popularity in shape matching, statistical shape modeling, etc. Their discriminative ability and efficiency play a decisive role in these tasks. In this paper, we first propose a novel handcrafted anisotropic spectral descriptor using Chebyshev polynomials, called the anisotropic Chebyshev descriptor (ACD); it can effectively capture shape features in multiple directions. The ACD inherits many good characteristics of spectral descriptors, such as being intrinsic, robust to changes in surface discretization, etc. Furthermore, due to the orthogonality of Chebyshev polynomials, the ACD is compact and can disambiguate intrinsic symmetry since several directions are considered. To improve the ACD’s discrimination ability, we construct a Chebyshev spectral manifold convolutional neural network (CSMCNN) that optimizes the ACD and produces a learned ACD. Our experimental results show that the ACD outperforms existing state-of-the-art handcrafted descriptors. The combination of the ACD and the CSMCNN is better than other state-of-the-art learned descriptors in terms of discrimination, efficiency, and robustness to changes in shape resolution and discretization.

In traditional deep functional maps for non-rigid shape correspondence, estimating a functional map including high-frequency information requires enough linearly independent features via the least square method, which is prone to be violated in practice, especially at an early stage of training, or costly post-processing, e.g. ZoomOut. In this paper, we propose a novel method called RFMNet (Robust Deep Functional Map Networks), which jointly considers training stability and more geometric shape features than previous works. We directly first produce a pointwise map by resorting to optimal transport and then convert it to an initial functional map. Such a mechanism mitigates the requirements for the descriptor and avoids the training instabilities resulting from the least square solver. Benefitting from the novel strategy, we successfully integrate a state-of-the-art geometric regularization for further optimizing the functional map, which substantially filters the initial functional map. We show our novel computing functional map module brings more stable training even under encoding the functional map with high-frequency information and faster convergence speed. Considering the pointwise and functional maps, an unsupervised loss is presented for penalizing the correspondence distortion of Delta functions between shapes. To catch discretization-resistant and orientation-aware shape features with our network, we utilize DiffusionNet as a feature extractor. Experimental results demonstrate our apparent superiority in correspondence quality and generalization across various shape discretizations and different datasets compared to the state-of-the-art learning methods.

ObjectiveThis meta-analysis aims to compare the efficacy and safety of peritoneal dialysis (PD) and hemodialysis (HD) in the treatment of diabetic kidney failure.MethodsFive databases were selected to retrieve research on PD and HD for diabetic kidney failure until 6 August 2022. A fixed-effects or random-effects model was utilized to calculate the standardized mean difference (SMD) or odds ratio (OR) based on the heterogeneity among studies.ResultsSixteen studies were included. The results showed that patients with diabetic kidney failure treated with PD had lower levels of albumin, total protein, and systolic blood pressure (SBP) and higher levels of urine volume, creatinine, and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and lower risk of cardiovascular and bleeding events, with significant statistical difference when compared with patients treated with HD (albumin: SMD = −1.22, 95%CI: −1.53, −0.91; total protein: SMD = −0.96, 95%CI: −1.16, −0.77; SBP: SMD = −0.35, 95%CI: −0.64, −0.06; urine volume: SMD = 0.68, 95%CI: 0.40, 0.96; creatinine: SMD = 0.49, 95%CI: 0.27, 0.72; BUN: SMD = 0.55, 95%CI: 0.25, 0.85; cardiovascular events: OR = 0.42, 95%CI: 0.28, 0.62; bleeding: OR = 0.41, 95%CI 0.27, 0.62).ConclusionThis meta-analysis summarized the advantages and disadvantages of PD and HD for treating diabetic kidney failure patients. Compared with HD, PD is more effective in preserving residual kidney function, reducing hemodynamic effect, and lowering the risk of bleeding and cardiovascular events in diabetic kidney failure patients, but it also predisposes to protein-energy malnutrition and increases the risk of infection.

ABSTRACT: The low reproductive efficiency (RE) of geese limits their production in the poultry industry. To select ganders with high breeding potential, the effect of 3 sperm mobility ranks (SMRs; high-, medium-, and low-SMR) on the RE of naturally mating geese was determined. To exclude the confounding effect of social rank (SR) on RE in naturally mating flocks, a 2-factor nested experimental design was used to differentiate the effects of SMR and SR on RE. Twenty-seven ganders and 135 geese (Zi geese, Anser cygnoides L.) at approximately 1 yr of age were divided into 3 flocks, each of which included the 3 SMR groups. Each SMR group included 3 ganders and 15 female geese. Relative genetic contribution (RGC) is defined as the number of offspring sired by 1 male as a percentage of the entire goslings in each flock, and it was used to compare the differences in RE among ganders. The frequency of agonistic behavioral interactions (ABIs) among the ganders was video recorded in each SMR group, and the SR of each gander was determined. In total, 1,026 eggs were incubated, and 609 goslings hatched. Parent-offspring relationships among 771 individuals from the 2 generations were identified using 20 microsatellite markers, and the RGC was calculated. Results showed that the SMR and SR had significant effects on RGC in naturally mating geese (P = 0.001 and P = 0.000, respectively). Significant differences in RGC were observed among the high- and medium- and low-SMR groups, with average RGCs of 14.3, 10.6, and 8.4%, respectively. The high-SMR group had the highest RGCs in each flock, and the ganders with high SR had the highest RGCs among the 3 SMRs. The study showed that in a naturally mating geese population, selecting for the sperm mobility traits of a gander can effectively improve the RE.

BackgroundHyperlactatemia is common in the intensive care unit (ICU) and relevant to prognosis, while the process of lactate normalization requires a relatively long period. We hypothesized that the dynamic change in base excess (BE) would be associated with ICU mortality and lactate clearance.MethodsWe performed a retrospective cohort study of adult patients with hyperlactatemia admitted to the ICU from 2016 to 2021. The patients were divided into two groups according to whether the peak BE in 12 h was reached in the first 6 h. We compared ICU mortality and lactate clearance at 6 and 12 h after ICU admission.ResultsDuring the study period, 1,608 patients were admitted to the ICU with a lactate concentration of >2.0 mmol/L and stayed in the ICU for >24 h. The mortality rate was 11.2%. The patients were divided into two groups according to whether the peak BE was reached in the first 6 h following ICU admission: Peak BE12h ≤ 6h and Peak BE12h > 6h. The patients were also recorded as whether bicarbonate treatment was received (bicarbonate group, CRRT included) or not (non-bicarbonate group). Furthermore, lactic acid clearance patterns were identified by time-series clustering (TSC) using various algorithms and distance measures. We compared ICU mortality and lactate clearance at 6 and 12 h after ICU admission with logistic regression. After adjustment for other confounding factors, we found that Peak BE12h > 6h was independently associated with ICU mortality with an odds ratio of 2.231 (p = 0.036) in the bicarbonate group and 2.359 (p < 0.005) in the non-bicarbonate group. In addition, based on the definition of >10% lactate clearance at 6 h or >30% at 12 h, we found that Peak BE12h ≤ 6h had 85.2% sensitivity and 38.1% specificity for effective lactate clearance. In time-series clustering analysis, four categories were discriminated, and pattern of lactic acid clearance reveals the early prognostic value of BE in clearance of lactic acid.ConclusionA prolonged time to reaching the peak BE was independently associated with ICU mortality. In patients with hyperlactatemia, Peak BE12h ≤ 6h could be used as an indicator to predict effective lactate clearance.

Abstract Carbon dots are zero‐dimensional carbon nanomaterials with quantum confinement effects and edge effects, which have aroused great interests in many disciplines such as energy, chemistry, materials, and environmental applications. They can be prepared by chemical oxidation, electrochemical synthesis, hydrothermal preparation, arc discharge, microwave synthesis, template method, and many other methods. However, the raw materials' high cost, the complexity and environmental‐unfriendly fabrication process limit their large‐scale production and commercialization. Herein, we review the latest developments of coal‐based carbon dots about selecting coal‐derived energy resources (bituminous coal, anthracite, lignite, coal tar, coke, etc.) the developments of synthesis processes, surface modification, and doping of carbon dots. The coal‐based carbon dots exhibit the advantages of unique fluorescence, efficient catalysis, excellent water solubility, low toxicity, inexpensive, good biocompatibility, and other advantages, which hold the potentiality for a wide range of applications such as environmental pollutants sensing, catalyst preparation, chemical analysis, energy storage, and medical imaging technology. This review aims to provide a guidance of finding abundant and cost‐effective precursors, green, simple and sustainable production processes to prepare coal‐based carbon dots, and make further efforts to exploit the application of carbon dots in broader fields.

There are a large number of tunnels built in permafrost regions every year in China. When investigating the road tunnels that have been in operation in cold regions, it was found that most of these tunnels have various freezing damages. Therefore, in the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of tunnels in cold regions, there are still many technical problems that need to be solved urgently. Among them, the problems of heat preservation, anti-freezing, and anti-drainage are the key technical problems to determine whether the tunnels in cold regions are affected by freezing damage. The project was based on the completed highway tunnels in Inner Mongolia. Given a series of special problems faced by the construction and management of tunnels in cold regions, a large number of reference documents were consulted. This paper designed thermal insulation, antifreeze, and anti-drainage technology for tunnels in the cold area of Jinpen Bay. The research in this paper can effectively reduce the probability of the occurrence of tunnel freezing damage, ensure the safety of the long-term operation of the tunnel lining structure, and greatly reduce maintenance costs, which have good economic and social benefits.

Abstract Background Studies reported that there is a relationship between volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) and hemoglobin (HGB) in sickle cell anemia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and chronic kidney disease, it is not clear whether this association exists in normal populations or different genders. In order to further clarify the relationship between vBMD and HGB, and provide the basis for the diagnosis of related diseases, this study was conducted in the physical examination population. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on a health check-up population from Wannan area of China from January to December 2018. The study involved 1238 individuals aged 23 to 85 years. Linear regression analysis and smooth curve were applied to determine the relationship of HGB and vBMD. Results The average level of vBMD in the population was 130.11 ± 79.51 mg/cm3, after adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), glucose (GLU), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL). A U-shape relationship was established between vBMD and HGB, the cut off value of HGB was 130 g/L. After gender stratification, the results showed a U-shaped curve relationship between vBMD and HGB in male group, and a linear relationship between vBMD and HGB in female group. The vBMD decreased with HGB when HGB

Microorganisms are closely related to the body’s physiological activities and growth and development of the body, and participate in many physiological metabolic activities. Analysis of the structure and source of early colonizing bacteria in the intestinal tract of humans and rodents shows that early colonizing bacteria in the intestinal tract of mammals have solid maternal characteristics, and maternal microbes play an essential role in the formation of progeny intestinal flora. The placental microbiome, maternal microbiome and breast milk microbiome are currently hot topics in the field of life science. This paper discusses the vertical transmission and endogenous sources of the mother-to-piglet microbiome through these three pathways, aiming to provide a new research idea for intervention in the intestinal microbiome in young piglets.

Background Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with an increased risk of the progression of coronary artery disease (CAD). However, there are few data on the relationship between CAD severity and the duration of CKD. This study assessed the predictive value of the duration of kidney dysfunction in CKD patients with CAD severity. Methods In 145 patients (63.4% male, n = 92; mean age, 68.8 ± 12.8 years) with CKD, severity of CAD was assessed by coronary angiography and quantified by SYNTAX scores, and duration of kidney dysfunction was either assessed by checking historical biochemical parameters of individuals or was based on enquiries. Results Patients with high SYNTAX scores (≥ 22) had a greater prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors including age, gender, history of heart failure and smoking. In CKD patients, SYNTAX scores were positively correlated to duration of CKD and serum uric acid (UA), and negatively correlated to high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) and ApoA1 levels. Univariate binary logistic regression and multivariate logistic analyses showed that SYNTAX scores correlated significantly with CKD duration, UA, and HDL-C. Receiver-operating characteristic analysis was used to explore a time point when coronary angiography application was economical and effective and yielded a Youden index of 6.5 years. Conclusions Together, our results demonstrated that the duration of kidney dysfunction was an independent correlate of the severity of CAD in patients with CKD. Our findings suggest that coronary angiography should be considered for CKD patients with renal insufficiency having lasted for more than 6.5 years.

ObjectiveFluid therapy for sepsis patients has always been a problem that puzzles clinicians, that is, knowing when patients need fluid infusion and when they need negative fluid balance. Different clinicians may have different judgment criteria and make different decisions. Recently, studies have suggested that different fluid treatment strategies can cause different clinical outcomes. This study is intended to establish and verify a model for judging the direction of fluid therapy based on machine learning.MethodThis study included 2705 sepsis patients from the Peking Union Medical College Hospital Intensive Care Medical Information System and Database (PICMISD) from January 2016 to April 2020. The training set and test set (January 2016 to June 2019) were randomly divided. Twenty-seven features were extracted for modeling, including 25 state features (bloc, vital sign, laboratory examination, blood gas assay and demographics), 1 action feature (fluid balance) and 1 outcome feature (ICU survival or death). SARSA was used to learn the data rules of the training set. Deep Q-learning (DQN) was used to learn the relationship between states and actions of the training set and predict the next balance. A double-robust estimator was used to evaluate the average expected reward of the test set in the deep Q-learning model. Lastly, we verified the difference between the predicted fluid therapy model and the actual treatment for the patient's prognoses, with sepsis patient data from July 2019 to April 2020 as the validation set.ResultsThe training set and test set were extracted from the same database, and the distribution of liquid balance was similar. Actions were divided into five intervals corresponding to 0–20, 20–40, 40–60, 60–80, and 80–100% percentiles of fluid balance. The higher the reward of Q(s, a) calculated by SARSA from the training set, the lower the mortality rate. Deep Q-learning indicates that both fluid balance differences that are too high and too low show an increase in mortality. The more consistent the fluid balance prediction with the real result, the lower the mortality rate. The smaller the difference between the prediction and the reality, the lower the mortality rate. The double-robust estimator shows that the model has satisfactory stability. The validation set indicates that the mortality rate of patients in the “predicted negative fluid balance and actual negative fluid balance” subgroup was the lowest, which was statistically significant, indicating that the model can be used for clinical verification.ConclusionWe used reinforcement learning to propose a possible prediction model for guiding the direction of fluid therapy for sepsis patients in the ICU. This model may accurately predict the best direction for fluid therapy, thereby improving patient prognosis.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of social rank (SR) on paternity efficiency (PE) in competitive mating flocks of geese. Thirty ganders and 150 geese (Zi geese, Anser cygnoides L.) aged approximately one, were divided into 3 groups. Flock 1 included 10 ganders and 50 female geese, flock 2 included 11 ganders and 55 female geese, and flock 3 included 9 ganders and 45 female geese. The frequency of the agonistic behavioral interactions (ABI) of the ganders and mating activity (MA) were video recorded in each flock. The SR of each gander was determined by the frequency of ABI with a score of 1 to 3 (1 being the dominant and 3 the most subordinate). To clarify the difference between being dominant and submissive, we collapsed rank 2 and rank 3 into a “subordinate” category. In total, 280 eggs were collected, and 219 goslings were hatched. Parent–offspring relationships among 399 individuals from the 2 generations were identified via 20 microsatellite markers, and the PE of each gander was calculated. There was no significant difference in individual body weight and semen quality factor among the different SR groups (dominant and subordinate), and the SR of the ganders was significantly correlated to PE for the 3 flocks. Goslings of high-ranking ganders contributed 48.68% in flock 1, 37.50% in flock 2, and 47.62% in flock 3. Approximately 45% of all goslings were sired by the 7 dominant ganders of the 30 total ganders across the 3 flocks. As SR has been shown to be heritable in geese, the selection of high-ranking ganders might be an effective way to improve reproductive efficiency in commercial geese flocks.

Introduction: The most common physiological and psychological disorders associated with critical care patients are pain and anxiety. Sedatives and analgesics are commonly used to relieve these symptoms. However, the adverse effects of sedatives and analgesics are common and inevitable. As a new type of sedative drug, limited number of trials are available to evaluate Remimazolam Besylate's availability and safety compared with propofol.Methods: This study is a single center, randomized, open-label, controlled trial. A total of 84 patients who meet ERAS criteria and receive mechanical ventilation in ICU, aged ≥18 years old will be included. Patients will be randomized (1:1) into two groups: Remimazolam Besylate group and Propofol group. The Primary outcomes includes satisfaction rate of sedation and incidence rate of major clinical events. Secondary outcomes including incidence of delirium, time to weaning and extubation, Difficulty of nursing RASS, BIS and PI, 28-days survival, side-effect and vital signs during medications, total dose and dose per kilogram body weight of analgesic and sedatives and incidence of rescue therapy in experimental group.Ethics and Dissemination: This trial has been approved by the ethics boards of Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Recruitment began in January 2022 and will continue until June 2022. Dissemination plans include presentations at scientific conferences, scientific publications, stakeholder engagement efforts and presentation to the public via lay media outlets.Clinical Trial Registration:www.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT04947345

The self-healing capability of cracks plays an important role in improving the durability of concrete. This study investigated the the self-healing capability of mortar with crystalline admixture and fly ash under three conditions. The compressive strength, water absorption, and surface crack pattern were used to evaluate self-healing capability of mortar, and the composition of the healing products was analyzed by x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The results indicated that the crystalline admixture could improve the self-healing capability of cementitious materials but caused a negative effect if adding too great an amount of fly ash (≥20%). The specimen that was immersed in water showed favorable self-healing capability of cracks. The healing products in cracks are mainly composed of CaCO3.

Background: Early prediction of the clinical outcome of patients with sepsis is of great significance and can guide treatment and reduce the mortality of patients. However, it is clinically difficult for clinicians.Methods: A total of 2,224 patients with sepsis were involved over a 3-year period (2016–2018) in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Peking Union Medical College Hospital. With all the key medical data from the first 6 h in the ICU, three machine learning models, logistic regression, random forest, and XGBoost, were used to predict mortality, severity (sepsis/septic shock), and length of ICU stay (LOS) (>6 days, ≤ 6 days). Missing data imputation and oversampling were completed on the dataset before introduction into the models.Results: Compared to the mortality and LOS predictions, the severity prediction achieved the best classification results, based on the area under the operating receiver characteristics (AUC), with the random forest classifier (sensitivity = 0.65, specificity = 0.73, F1 score = 0.72, AUC = 0.79). The random forest model also showed the best overall performance (mortality prediction: sensitivity = 0.50, specificity = 0.84, F1 score = 0.66, AUC = 0.74; LOS prediction: sensitivity = 0.79, specificity = 0.66, F1 score = 0.69, AUC = 0.76) among the three models. The predictive ability of the SOFA score itself was inferior to that of the above three models.Conclusions: Using the random forest classifier in the first 6 h of ICU admission can provide a comprehensive early warning of sepsis, which will contribute to the formulation and management of clinical decisions and the allocation and management of resources.

Abstract Background Patients with extensive burns usually develop pro-coagulation soon after the injury if there is no sepsis occurred. We describe the case of an extensive burn adult suffering from hypocoagulation not related to sepsis, but secondary to antibiotic treatment. Case presentation Here, we report a case of an adult male patient suffering from flame burns of 45% total body surface area (40% full thickness) combined with inhalation injury. Hypocoagulopathy with soaring prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time value occurred on third week post-burn while systemic infection had been under control by application of broad-spectrum antibiotics. Investigations showed that not the infection but vitamin K-related coagulation factor deficiency were responsible for unexpected bleeding. However, supplemental vitamin K was not the key as we expected, which prompted us trying to decode the underlying cause of coagulation disturbance in this patient and pick out the most effective treatment for live-saving. After the withdrawal of highly suspected broad-spectrum antibiotic, Meropenem®, disturbed vitamin K related coagulation factors gradually restored to their optimal levels so as to maintain normal coagulation status. Therefore, surgical procedures without further risk of bleeding could be carried out in time for wound recovery. The patient was discharged on post-burn day 67 and transferred to a secondary hospital for his rehabilitation. Conclusion Hypocoagulopathy may be devoted to different reasons other than sepsis in extensive burns. Early recognition of the cause for coagulation disturbance is critical to make appropriate treatment and save patients’ lives. This case illustrated the importance of unveiling the mist cause for coagulation disturbance occurred in extensive burn patient, which paved the way for optimal life-saving treatments. And we also recommend burn surgeons to be alerted to antibiotic-induced vitamin K deficiency-related coagulopathy among critical burn patients.

We study the problem of estimating the relative depth order of point pairs in a monocular image. Recent advances mainly focus on using deep convolutional neural networks to learn and infer the ordinal information from multiple contextual information of the point pairs, such as global scene context, local contextual information, and the locations. However, it remains unclear how much each context contributes to the task. To address this, we first examine the contribution of each context cue to the performance in the context of depth order estimation. We find out that the local context surrounding the point pairs contributes the most, and the global scene context helps little. Based on the findings, we propose a simple method, using a multi-scale densely-connected network to tackle the task. Instead of learning the global structure, we dedicate to explore the local structure by learning to regress from the regions of multiple sizes around the point pairs. Moreover, we use the recent densely connected network to encourage the substantial feature reuse as well as deepen our network to boost the performance. We show in experiments that the results of our approach are on par with or better than the state-of-the-art methods with the benefit of using only a small number of training data.

Inventory extraction and governance measures in urban land use have become important topics in urban regeneration research. This study aimed to inform design governance in urban regeneration through a point of interest (POI) data-based case study. An approximately 15 km2 rectangular development area was assessed for its characteristics and deficiencies. Frequency density analysis was conducted based on data identification of urban built environments and governance from an integrated planning perspective, using field research, spatial autocorrelation, Getis–Ord Gi* analysis, and SPSS. We (1) applied POI data to assess the frequency ratios of the function types for the 6008 buildings in the study area; (2) analysed layouts of POI densities in hotspots for different formats; and (3) applied an evidence-based approach and overlay analysis to identify the area’s functional morphological zones. Finally, the urban physical and morphological properties were identified and compared with the identification result of the urban functional areas to qualitatively evaluate the differences. Global Moran’s I of the POI density of Retail Business (B11), Restaurants (B13), Hotels (B14), Entertainment and Recreation (B3), and Residential Services (R22) were 0.35, 0.35, 0.06, 0.20, and 0.15, respectively, displaying a significant spatial clustering feature. However, for land types including Administrative Offices (A1), Finance and Insurance (B21), and Other Business Facilities (B29), the p-values between the POI density and the random pattern were 0.23, 0.71, 0.56, respectively, showing no significant difference. Our study provides recommendations for governance and integrated urban redevelopment planning to coordinate and guide further regeneration.

Background: Mitsugumin 53 or Tripartite motif 72 (MG53/TRIM72), a myokine/cardiokine belonging to the tripartite motif family, can protect the heart from ischemic injury and regulate lipid metabolism in rodents. However, its biological function in humans remains unclear. This study sought to investigate the relationship between circulating MG53 levels and coronary artery disease (CAD).Methods: The concentration of MG53 was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in serum samples from 639 patients who underwent angiography, including 205 controls, 222 patients with stable CAD, and 212 patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Logistic and linear regression analyses were used to analyze the relationship between MG53 and CAD.Results: MG53 levels were increased in patients with stable CAD and were highest in patients with AMI. Additionally, patients with comorbidities, such as chronic kidney disease (CKD) and diabetes also had a higher concentration of MG53. We found that MG53 is a significant diagnostic marker of CAD and AMI, as analyzed by logistic regression models. Multivariate linear regression models revealed that serum MG53 was significantly corelated positively with SYNTAX scores. Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) scores also correlated with serum MG53 levels, indicating that MG53 levels were associated with the severity of CAD and AMI after adjusting for multiple risk factors and clinical biomarkers.Conclusion: MG53 is a valuable diagnostic marker whose serum levels correlate with the presence and severity of stable CAD and AMI, and may represent a novel biomarker for diagnosing CAD and indicating the severity of CAD.

Modern expansion and three-dimensional growth are rapidly altering the morphological features of traditional cities. This morphological phenomenon fully reflects the internal organization mode and composition rules of modern cities. This study draws on the research method of three-dimensional fractal, focusing on the situation where there is less research on the fractal form at the block scale, and conducts a fractal research on the three-dimensional form of a city at the meso and micro scales, in order to reveal the fractal characteristics of modern urban density. Based on fractal theory, the urban form of Shenyang, Northeast China, was quantitatively analyzed using the box-counting (Minkowski–Bouligand) method to calculate the two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) box dimensions of urban areas. Next, by analyzing the correlations between morphological indicators and 2D and 3D fractal dimensions, this study proposes cluster features of the correlation between the 3D fractal dimension and floor-area ratio. Then, this study summarizes the fractal characteristics of Shenyang’s urban form, based on the cluster analysis and spatial features of various urban areas within the city. The analysis results show the fractal dimension of Shenyang’s urban form to have characteristic expected values; fractal dimension clusters reflect spatial differences in the forms of different urban areas. The 3D D value of architectural morphology fractal in urban areas of Shenyang is between 2.41 and 2.70. From this, the representative characteristics of Shenyang’s urban form were obtained: first, it has the fractal characteristics of morphological hierarchy and system embeddedness; second, under unified and standardized management, its basic urban form structure displays the fractal characteristics of morphological similarity and system hierarchy; and third, its 3D urban form characteristics include the spatial accumulation of clusters and morphological patches, creating a patchwork of different building heights and densities, with the spatial clustering of density form highly correlated with the fractal dimension. The results of this research will provide reference samples for the morphological identification, design control, and design review of modern cities, and enrich the research results of the application of fractal theory to urban morphology at the meso and micro scales.

Background: Mitsugumin 53 (MG53), a muscle-specific protein belonging to the TRIM family, has been demonstrated to protect the heart against oxidative injury. Although previous studies indicated that ischemic hearts released MG53 into circulation in mice, its effects in humans remains unknown. We aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of MG53 in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).Methods: Serum levels of MG53 were measured in 300 patients with STEMI, all patients were followed for 3 years. The primary endpoint was major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), defined as a composite of cardiovascular (CV) death, heart failure causing-rehospitalization, recurrent myocardial infarction (MI), and stroke.Results: Patients with a higher concentration of serum MG53 tended to be older, with a history of diabetes. MG53 levels were also highly associated with indicators reflecting heart function, such as left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), N terminal pro B type natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP), and cardiac troponin I (cTnI) at baseline. Kaplan-Meier survival curves demonstrated that patients with MG53 levels above the cutoff value (132.17 pg/ml) were more likely to have MACEs. Moreover, it was found to be a significant predictor of CV death (HR: 6.12; 95% CI: 2.10–17.86; p = 0.001). Furthermore, the C-statistic and Integrated Discrimination Improvement (IDI) values for MACEs were improved with MG53 as an independent risk factor or when combined with cTnI.Conclusions: MG53 is a valuable prognostic marker of MACE in patients with AMI, independent of established conventional risk factors, highlighting the significance of MG53 in risk stratification post-MI.

A highway project of up to 100 km/h is currently being constructed between Colombo and Katunayake International Airport across a Sri Lankan muskeg area. At this site, peat deposit was initially 0.8∼15.3 m thick and was underlain by sand, clay, or gneiss. The ground improvement methods adopted in the project were combined drainage consolidation-preloading methods, pipe pile foundation, and geogrids. This paper provides a detailed insight into the implementation of combined drainage consolidation-preloading methods used in the project, including sand pile, gravel pile, and plastic drainage plate as the prefabricated vertical drains. Periodical field-level observations were taken during the ten years, including the construction and postconstruction periods. The results show that peat soils’ consolidation coefficient has been increased several times to tens of times due to ground improvement. After removing the temporary surcharge, the highway embankments did not heave and was followed by long-term settlements totaling 1.3∼7.4 cm over the following seven years of observations. Analysis of the settlement records shows that combined drainage consolidation-preloading methods have helped accelerate drainage consolidation and reduce postconstruction settlement.

In order to solve some problems of lower blastocyst rate of early embryos in vitro and poor quality of blastocyst, application of a microfluidic chip with mechanical stimuli (MS) to imitate microenvironment of fallopian tube, to investigate the effect of a microfluidic chip with mechanical stimuli on the early embryo development in mammalian. We designed and made a novel and simple system to apply MS similar to those generated inside the oviduct to cultured mammalian embryos by using poly(dimethylsiloxiane). Using this microfluidic chip embryo culture device to culture 2-cell stage mouse embryo from in vitro fertilization. There were large differences in development rates of > 4-cell stage, development rates of morula (63.1 ± 12.5% vs. 80.6 ± 17.9%) and blastocyst (58.6 ± 2.3% vs. 73.2 ± 2.8%) between control and microfluidic chip group (p > 0.05). meanwhile, there was large differences in cell numbers of inner cell mass in blastocyst between control and microfluidic chip group (p > 0.05). These results suggested that the culture device can significantly improve blastocyst development rate of embryo in vitro and the quality of the blastocyst in mice, this novel and simple system was feasible to generate and apply MS similar to those generated inside the oviduct to cultured mammalian embryos

The search for potent, selective bioherbicides has been the focus of numerous studies for several decades. Developing an economically viable total chemical synthesis procedure has been the challenge for commercial-scale application of these nature-derived chemicals. An efficient and low-cost total synthesis of an allelopathic and antitumor N-trans-cinnamoyltyramine (NTCT) first reported in rice (Oryza sativa L.) was successfully achieved by one-step amidation from trans-cinnamic acid and tyramine. The synthesized NTCT inhibited root and hypocotyl growth of cress (Lepidium sativum L.) and barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli L.) at concentrations as low as 0.24 μM. The means of ED50 (the effective dose required for 50% plant growth inhibition) levels of the compound on cress and barnyardgrass hypocotyl and root elongations were 0.96 and 0.73 μM, respectively. Potential mechanisms underlying NTCT growth inhibition and its biosynthesis pathway were also suggested. The developed synthesis strategy could permit production of this synthesized allelochemical at a commercial scale as a bioherbicide.

Based on the innovative development trend brought by industrial internet in America，industry 4.0 in Germany and integration of informatization and industrialization policy in China，from the perspective of power generation enterprise，the thinking of Guohua Power on the development of“three-in-one”construction framework of smart power station，and the detailed design scheme using“one control and three management”center，the“APS+field bus”digital technology application and“one body two wings three promotion”information construction as the core，were stated. Following this blueprint，program management approach was innovated，the problem that the implementation workis multiple，complex and strongly relevant was solved，initial results in six areas was achieved，the overall operation level of power plant was improved，and experience for the development of smart power industry in China was accumulated.

Free range feeding pattern puts the chicken in a mixture of growth materials and enteric bacteria excreted by nature, while it is typically unique condition materials and enteric bacteria in commercial caged hens production. Thus, the gastrointestinal microflora in two feeding patterns could be various. However, it remains poorly understood how feeding patterns affect development and composition of layer hens’ intestinal microflora. In this study, the effect of feeding patterns on the bacteria community in layer hens’ gut was investigated using free range and caged feeding form. Samples of whole small intestines and cecal digesta were collected from young hens (8-weeks) and mature laying hens (30-weeks). Based on analysis using polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and sequencing of bacterial 16S rDNA gene amplicons, the microflora of all intestinal contents were affected by both feeding patterns and age of hens. Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Fusobacteria were the main components. Additionally, uncultured environmental samples were found too. There were large differences between young hens and adult laying hens, the latter had more Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, and bacterial community is more abundant in 30-weeks laying hens of all six phyla than 8-weeks young hens of only two phyla. In addition, the differences were also observed between free range and caged hens. Free range hens had richer Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria. Most of strains found were detected more abundant in small intestines than in cecum. Also the selected Lactic acid bacteria from hens gut were applied in feed and they had beneficial effects on growth performance and jejunal villus growth of young broilers. This study suggested that feeding patterns have an importance effect on the microflora composition of hens, which may impact the host nutritional status and intestinal health.

Four new quartic rational Said-Ball-like basis functions, which include the cubic Said-Ball basis functions as a special case, are constructed in this paper. The new basis is applied to generate a class of C1 continuous quartic rational Hermite interpolation splines with local tension shape parameters. The error estimate expression of the proposed interpolant is given and the sufficient conditions are derived for constructing a C1 positivity- or monotonicity- preserving interpolation spline. In addition, we extend the quartic rational Said-Ball-like basis to a triangular domain which has three tension shape parameters and includes the cubic triangular Said-Ball basis as a special case. In order to compute the corresponding patch stably and efficiently, a new de Casteljau-type algorithm is developed. Moreover, the G1 continuous conditions are deduced for the joining of two patches.

A biquartic rational interpolation spline surface over rectangular domain is constructed in this paper, which includes the classical bicubic Coons surface as a special case. Sufficient conditions for generating shape preserving interpolation splines for positive or monotonic surface data are deduced. The given numeric experiments show our method can deal with surface construction from positive or monotonic data effectively.