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Abstract With the increase of wind power generation, the safety and economy of power system operations are greatly influenced by the intermittency and fluctuation of wind power. To take the advantage of the complementary characteristics between different energy storage devices, a Hybrid Energy Storage System (HESS) consisting of Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) and Flywheel Energy Storage System (FESS) can alleviate the uncertainty of wind power. This article has proposed a coordinated control strategy through group consensus algorithm based on Model Predictive Control (MPC) for Hybrid Energy Storage Array (HESA) to smooth wind power fluctuations. To allocate power commands to the FESS and BESS, the fluctuation of wind power output is extracted with different frequency domain characteristics as instructions by Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) technology. Moreover, a group consensus algorithm based on MPC is proposed to complete the adaptive power allocation of energy storage units. Eventually, the actual wind farm data is used for the simulation to verify the effect of control strategy proposed in this paper. It can be seen that the developed group consensus algorithm based on MPC can cope with different frequency power commands, avoid overcharging and discharging of energy storage media, and smooth wind power effectively.

Abstract Background Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) is effective for arresting dental caries, presenting a valuable non-invasive treatment option in dentistry. Despite its therapeutic advantages, a significant drawback is the tooth discoloration that follows its application, which can affect patient acceptance. Addressing this aesthetic concern without diminishing the treatment's efficacy remains challenging in dental practice. This study explores strategies to improve the aesthetic outcomes of SDF treatments. Methods This in vitro study assessed the efficacy of Zinc in reducing SDF-induced discoloration on dentin blocks and examined its impact on the physical properties of dentin, including hardness and roughness. Dentin blocks were pre-treated with various concentrations of Zinc, followed by SDF application. Color changes were analyzed using Image J software, and cytotoxicity was evaluated using the CytoTox-ONE™ Homogeneous Membrane Integrity Assay. Dentin surface characteristics, including micro-hardness and roughness, were assessed using scanning electron microscopy. Results The study results revealed a dose-dependent efficacy of Zinc in reducing discoloration caused by SDF on dentin, with higher Zinc concentrations showing better improvement in color outcomes. The application of a 20 M Zinc solution prior to SDF treatment significantly reduced discoloration compared to SDF alone, measured on day 14. Additionally, no significant changes in the hardness or roughness of etched dentin were observed in Zinc + SDF group compared to the SDF alone group. Zinc treatments demonstrated a desirable outcome on mucosal cytotoxicity, comparable to that of the negative control. Conclusion Zinc significantly reduced SDF-induced tooth discoloration in a dose-dependent manner without affecting the etched dentin's micro-hardness and roughness, potentially improving patient acceptance, especially in visible areas of the mouth. Further research is warranted to validate the effectiveness of this zinc-enhanced treatment protocol in vivo. Clinical significance Zinc-enhanced SDF treatments could enhance patient acceptance, especially in visible areas of the mouth, offering an improved option for caries management.

Abstract Background Blood-derived mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA-CN) is a proxy measurement of mitochondrial function in the peripheral and central systems. Abnormal mtDNA-CN not only indicates impaired mtDNA replication and transcription machinery but also dysregulated biological processes such as energy and lipid metabolism. However, the relationship between mtDNA-CN and Alzheimer disease (AD) is unclear. Methods We performed two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) using publicly available summary statistics from GWAS for mtDNA-CN and AD to investigate the causal relationship between mtDNA-CN and AD. We estimated mtDNA-CN using whole-genome sequence data from blood and brain samples of 13,799 individuals from the Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project. Linear and Cox proportional hazards models adjusting for age, sex, and study phase were used to assess the association of mtDNA-CN with AD. The association of AD biomarkers and serum metabolites with mtDNA-CN in blood was evaluated in Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative using linear regression. We conducted a causal mediation analysis to test the natural indirect effects of mtDNA-CN change on AD risk through the significantly associated biomarkers and metabolites. Results MR analysis suggested a causal relationship between decreased blood-derived mtDNA-CN and increased risk of AD (OR = 0.68; P = 0.013). Survival analysis showed that decreased mtDNA-CN was significantly associated with higher risk of conversion from mild cognitive impairment to AD (HR = 0.80; P = 0.002). We also identified significant associations of mtDNA-CN with brain FDG-PET (β = 0.103; P = 0.022), amyloid-PET (β = 0.117; P = 0.034), CSF amyloid-β (Aβ) 42/40 (β=-0.124; P = 0.017), CSF t-Tau (β = 0.128; P = 0.015), p-Tau (β = 0.140; P = 0.008), and plasma NFL (β=-0.124; P = 0.004) in females. Several lipid species, amino acids, biogenic amines in serum were also significantly associated with mtDNA-CN. Causal mediation analyses showed that about a third of the effect of mtDNA-CN on AD risk was mediated by plasma NFL (P = 0.009), and this effect was more significant in females (P

Abstract Recent studies have suggested that Transposable Elements (TEs) residing in introns frequently splice into and alter primary gene-coding transcripts. To re-examine the exonization frequency of TEs into protein-coding gene transcripts, we re-analyzed a Drosophila neuron circadian rhythm RNAseq dataset and a deep long RNA fly midbrain RNAseq dataset using our Transposon Insertion and Depletion Analyzer (TIDAL) program. Our TIDAL results were able to predict several TE insertions from RNAseq data that were consistent with previous published studies. However, we also uncovered many discrepancies in TE-exonization calls, such as reads that mainly support intron retention of the TE and little support for chimeric mRNA spliced to the TE. We then deployed rigorous genomic DNA-PCR (gDNA-PCR) and RT-PCR procedures on TE-mRNA fusion candidates to see how many of bioinformatics predictions could be validated. By testing a w1118 strain from which the deeper long RNAseq data was derived and comparing to an OreR strain, only 9 of 23 TIDAL candidates (

Abstract Background Locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) poses unique challenges in treatment, with current neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NA-CRT) showing limitations. The CapeOX regimen emerges as a potential less aggressive neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for LARC. Methods We conducted a retrospective study involving treatment-naïve patients with LARC from March 2014 to March 2021 who received 2–4 cycles of CapeOX NAC followed by radical surgery. Treatment response was evaluated using tumor regression grade (TRG), MRI-based TRG (MRI-TRG), and Neoadjuvant Rectal (NAR) score. Results 94.7% of patients experienced symptom improvement and 96.4% achieved sphincter-preserving surgery. Post-NAC showed significant tumor regression and MRI confirmed a tumor length reduction (P

Objective To investigate the ability of radiological parameter canal bone ratio (CBR) to assess bone mineral density and to differentiate between patients with primary and multiple osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture (OVCF). Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on OVCF patients treated at our hospital. CBR was measured through full-spine x-rays. Patients were categorized into primary and multiple fracture groups. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis and area under the curve (AUC) calculation were used to assess the ability of parameters to predict osteoporosis and multiple fractures. Predictors of T values were analyzed by multiple linear regression, and independent risk factors for multiple fractures were determined by multiple logistic regression analysis. Results CBR showed a moderate negative correlation with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry T values (r = -0.642, p < 0.01). Higher CBR (odds ratio [OR], -6.483; 95% confidence interval [CI], -8.234 to -4.732; p < 0.01) and lower body mass index (OR, 0.054; 95% CI, 0.023–0.086; p < 0.01) were independent risk factors for osteoporosis. Patients with multiple fractures had lower T values (mean ±standard deviation [SD]: -3.76 ±0.73 vs. -2.83 ±0.75, p < 0.01) and higher CBR (mean ±SD: 0.54 ±0.07 vs. 0.46 ±0.06, p < 0.01). CBR had an AUC of 0.819 in predicting multiple fractures with a threshold of 0.53. T values prediction had an AUC of 0.816 with a threshold of -3.45. CBR > 0.53 was an independent risk factor for multiple fractures (OR, 14.66; 95% CI, 4.97–43.22; p < 0.01). Conclusion CBR is negatively correlated with bone mineral density (BMD) and can be a novel opportunistic BMD assessment method. It is a simple and effective measurement index for predicting multiple fractures, with predictive performance not inferior to T values.

BackgroundRadiomics, which involves the conversion of digital images into high-dimensional data, has been used in oncological studies since 2012. We analyzed the publications that had been conducted on this subject using bibliometric and visual methods to expound the hotpots and future trends regarding radiomics in evaluating lymph node status in oncology.MethodsDocuments published between 2012 and 2023, updated to August 1, 2024, were searched using the Scopus database. VOSviewer, R Package, and Microsoft Excel were used for visualization.ResultsA total of 898 original articles and reviews written in English and be related to radiomics for evaluating lymph node status in oncology, published between 2015 and 2023, were retrieved. A significant increase in the number of publications was observed, with an annual growth rate of 100.77%. The publications predominantly originated from three countries, with China leading in the number of publications and citations. Fudan University was the most contributing affiliation, followed by Sun Yat-sen University and Southern Medical University, all of which were from China. Tian J. from the Chinese Academy of Sciences contributed the most within 5885 authors. In addition, Frontiers in Oncology had the most publications and transcended other journals in recent 4 years. Moreover, the keywords co-occurrence suggested that the interplay of “radiomics” and “lymph node metastasis,” as well as “major clinical study” were the predominant topics, furthermore, the focused topics shifted from revealing the diagnosis of cancers to exploring the deep learning-based prediction of lymph node metastasis, suggesting the combination of artificial intelligence research would develop in the future.ConclusionThe present bibliometric and visual analysis described an approximately continuous trend of increasing publications related to radiomics in evaluating lymph node status in oncology and revealed that it could serve as an efficient tool for personalized diagnosis and treatment guidance in clinical patients, and combined artificial intelligence should be further considered in the future.

In the emerging field of valleytronics, it is aimed to coherently manipulate the valley pseudospin as an information‐bearing degree of freedom. The 2D transition‐metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) provide a unique possibility to generate an excitonic valley pseudospin, opening the way to valley information. Although significant development of valley pseudospin in layered materials has been achieved recently, looking for new TMDCs featuring robust valley phenomenon at room temperature is still desirable for practical applications. Herein, the valley pseudospin of the spiral WS2 with different layer thicknesses at room temperature is investigated by both circular and linear polarization‐resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy. In the experimental results, it is demonstrated that the spiral WS2 emerges robust valley polarization and valley coherence, the degree of circular polarization, and linear polarization gradually increase with the lift of the layer thicknesses, reaching up to 0.91 for valley polarization and 0.94 for valley coherence, respectively. The robust layer‐dependent valley pseudospin may originate from the intrinsic broken inversion symmetry, due to the spiral structure of the multilayer WS2. The robust and near‐unity valley polarization and valley coherence at room temperature in the spiral WS2 may provide a new platform for optical manipulation of the valley pseudospin for further valleytronics applications.

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has played an important role in the rapid growth of medical imaging diagnostic technology, especially in the diagnosis and treatment of brain tumors owing to its non-invasive characteristics and superior soft tissue contrast. However, brain tumors are characterized by high non-uniformity and non-obvious boundaries in MRI images because of their invasive and highly heterogeneous nature. In addition, the labeling of tumor areas is time-consuming and laborious. Methods: To address these issues, this study uses a residual grouped convolution module, convolutional block attention module, and bilinear interpolation upsampling method to improve the classical segmentation network U-net. The influence of network normalization, loss function, and network depth on segmentation performance is further considered. Results: In the experiments, the Dice score of the proposed segmentation model reached 97.581%, which is 12.438% higher than that of traditional U-net, demonstrating the effective segmentation of MRI brain tumor images. Conclusions: In conclusion, we use the improved U-net network to achieve a good segmentation effect of brain tumor MRI images.

Abstract The presence of heterogeneity in responses to oncolytic virotherapy poses a barrier to clinical effectiveness, as resistance to this treatment can occur through the inhibition of viral spread within the tumor, potentially leading to treatment failures. Here we show that 4-octyl itaconate (4-OI), a chemical derivative of the Krebs cycle-derived metabolite itaconate, enhances oncolytic virotherapy with VSVΔ51 in various models including human and murine resistant cancer cell lines, three-dimensional (3D) patient-derived colon tumoroids and organotypic brain tumor slices. Furthermore, 4-OI in combination with VSVΔ51 improves therapeutic outcomes in a resistant murine colon tumor model. Mechanistically, we find that 4-OI suppresses antiviral immunity in cancer cells through the modification of cysteine residues in MAVS and IKKβ independently of the NRF2/KEAP1 axis. We propose that the combination of a metabolite-derived drug with an oncolytic virus agent can greatly improve anticancer therapeutic outcomes by direct interference with the type I IFN and NF-κB-mediated antiviral responses.

Abstract The goal of blind image super-resolution (BISR) is to recover the corresponding high-resolution image from a given low-resolution image with unknown degradation. Prior related research has primarily focused effectively on utilizing the kernel as prior knowledge to recover the high-frequency components of image. However, they overlooked the function of structural prior information within the same image, which resulted in unsatisfactory recovery performance for textures with strong self-similarity. To address this issue, we propose a two stage blind super-resolution network that is based on kernel estimation strategy and is capable of integrating structural texture as prior knowledge. In the first stage, we utilize a dynamic kernel estimator to achieve degradation presentation embedding. Then, we propose a triple path attention groups consists of triple path attention blocks and a global feature fusion block to extract structural prior information to assist the recovery of details within images. The quantitative and qualitative results on standard benchmarks with various degradation settings, including Gaussian8 and DIV2KRK, validate that our proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in terms of fidelity and recovery of clear details. The relevant code is made available on this link as open source.

Abstract Minority Cultural Heritage (MCH) plays a crucial role in preserving human cultural and historical diversity. In Southwest China, there is a disparity between the abundance of ethnic minority cultural heritage resources and their inadequate protection and development. However, limited by interdisciplinary barriers, research into the distribution patterns of varied MCH in this area remains unexplored, making an initial step towards comprehensive preservation. The study investigates the relationship between MCH distribution and its association with factors of geography, climate, transportation, economics, and demographics, utilizing spatial geographic analysis, Geodetector methods, and social network analysis. The results indicate the following: (1) The distribution of 483 national-level MCH in Southwest China exhibits clustering, with a higher concentration in the southern regions. Honghe Prefecture, Dali Prefecture, and Qiandongnan Prefecture serve as the core areas with high MCH density, accounting for 47.2% of the total concentration. (2) All three categories of MCH show cohesive distribution patterns. cultural heritage clusters in the northern to southeastern regions of Yunnan Province, intangible cultural heritage clusters in the southeastern to southern regions of Guizhou Province, and agricultural cultural heritage clusters in the northern region of Yunnan Province. (3) The distribution of MCH among different ethnic minorities demonstrates polarization. The Yi and Tibetan ethnic groups have a higher quantity and diversity of MCH, while the Qiang, Lisu, and Jingpo ethnic groups have relatively fewer resources. (4) Single-factor analysis reveals that natural factors like the proportion of mountainous areas, river density, and annual average sunshine, as well as human factors like the proportion of minority population, urbanization rate, and road mileage, have the strongest explanatory power for the distribution of MCH. Furthermore, the interaction between these factors and others enhances the explanatory power for the distribution of MCH in Southwest China. This study provides scientific evidence for the assessment, protection, and sustainable development of MCH.

BackgroundSalvianolic acid B is the most abundant water-soluble component in the traditional Chinese medicine Danshen and can reduce myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (MI/R) injury through multiple targets and pathways. However, the role of SalB in protecting the myocardium from ischemia/reperfusion injury remains unclear.PurposeTo perform a preclinical systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the efficacy of Sal B in an animal model of myocardial infarction/reperfusion (MI/R) and to summarize the potential mechanisms of Sal B against MI/R.MethodsStudies published from inception to March 2024 were systematically searched in PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure Wanfang, and VIP databases. The methodological quality was determined using the SYRCLE RoB tool. The R software was used to analyze the data. The potential mechanisms are categorized and summarized.Results32 studies containing 732 animals were included. The results of the meta-analysis showed that Sal B reduced myocardial infarct size (p < 0.01), and the cardiological indices of CK-MB (p < 0.01), CK (p < 0.01), LDH (p < 0.01), and cTnI (p < 0.01) compared to the control group. In addition, Sal B increased cardiac function indices, such as LVFS (p < 0.01), -dp/dt max (p < 0.01), +dp/dt max (p < 0.01), and cardiac output (p < 0.01). The protective effects of Sal B on the myocardium after I/R may be mediated by attenuating oxidative stress and inflammation, promoting neovascularization, regulating vascular function, and attenuating cardiac myocyte apoptosis. Publication bias was observed in all the included studies. Further studies are required to elucidate the extent of the cardioprotective effects of SalB and the safety of its use.ConclusionTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first meta-analysis of Sal B in the treatment of MI/R injury, and Sal B demonstrated a positive effect on MI/R injury through the modulation of key pathological indicators and multiple signaling pathways. Further studies are needed to elucidate the extent to which SalB exerts its cardioprotective effects and the safety of its use.Systematic Review Registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/.

A 60-day feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary marine red yeast supplementation on growth performance, body composition, antioxidant, immunity, lipid metabolism, and mTOR signaling pathway in juvenile GIFT tilapia (Initial weight 21.12 ± 0.86 g). Five isonitrogenous and isolipidic experimental diets were formulated with graded levels of marine red yeast: 0 % (control group), 0.25 %, 0.50 %, 0.75 %, and 1.00 %. The results showed that different marine red yeast levels significantly increased (p < 0.05) the final weight, weight gain rate, specific growth rate, daily growth index, protein efficiency ratio, and condition factor, while significantly decreased (p < 0.05) the feed conversion ratio, viscera index, and hepatosomatic index. Different marine red yeast levels significantly increased (p < 0.05) the activities of foregut lipase, hindgut lipase, foregut α-amylase, midgut α-amylase, hindgut α-amylase, superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and total antioxidant capacity, while the malondialdehyde content expressed an opposite trend. Different marine red yeast levels significantly increased (p < 0.05) the activities (contents) of lysozyme, alkaline phosphatase, immunoglobulin M, and complement protein 3 in serum. Different marine red yeast levels significantly increased (p < 0.05) the relative expression of phosphoryl inositol-3-kinase, protein kinase B, mammalian target of rapamycin, ribosome S6 protein kinase 1, cholesterol response element binding protein 1, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ, leptin, acetyl-CoA carboxylase α, fatty acid synthase, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in liver, while the relative expression of PPARα, carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1, lipoprotein lipase, and hormone sensitive lipase expressed an opposite trend. In conclusion, dietary supplementation with marine red yeast significantly increased the growth performance, antioxidant capacity, initial immunity, lipid synthesis, and mTOR signaling pathway in juvenile GIFT tilapia. Based on the second-order polynomial regression analysis, the optimal dietary marine red yeast level was between 0.53 % and 0.60 %.

BackgroundTraditional observational studies exploring the association between air pollution and infections have been limited by small sample sizes and potential confounding factors. To address these limitations, we applied Mendelian randomization (MR) to investigate the potential causal relationships between particulate matter (PM2.5, PM2.5–10, and PM10), nitrogen dioxide, and nitrogen oxide and the risks of infections.MethodsSingle nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to air pollution were selected from the genome-wide association study (GWAS) of the UK Biobank. Publicly available summary data for infections were obtained from the FinnGen Biobank and the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative. The inverse variance weighted (IVW) meta-analysis was used as the primary method for obtaining the Mendelian randomization (MR) estimates. Complementary analyses were performed using the weighted median method, MR-Egger method, and MR Pleiotropy Residual Sum and Outlier (MR-PRESSO) test.ResultsThe fixed-effect IVW estimate showed that PM2.5, PM2.5–10 and Nitrogen oxides were suggestively associated with COVID-19 [for PM2.5: IVW (fe): OR 3.573(1.218,5.288), PIVW(fe) = 0.021; for PM2.5–10: IVW (fe): OR 2.940(1.385,6.239), PIVW(fe) = 0.005; for Nitrogen oxides, IVW (fe): OR 1.898(1.318,2.472), PIVW(fe) = 0.010]. PM2.5, PM2.5–10, PM10, and Nitrogen oxides were suggestively associated with bacterial pneumonia [for PM2.5: IVW(fe): OR 1.720 (1.007, 2.937), PIVW(fe) = 0.047; for PM2.5–10: IVW(fe): OR 1.752 (1.111, 2.767), P IVW(fe) = 0.016; for PM10: IVW(fe): OR 2.097 (1.045, 4.208), PIVW(fe) = 0.037; for Nitrogen oxides, IVW(fe): OR 3.907 (1.209, 5.987), PIVW(fe) = 0.023]. Furthermore, Nitrogen dioxide was suggestively associated with the risk of acute upper respiratory infections, while all air pollution were not associated with intestinal infections.ConclusionsOur results support a role of related air pollution in the Corona Virus Disease 2019, bacterial pneumonia and acute upper respiratory infections. More work is need for policy formulation to reduce the air pollution and the emission of toxic and of harmful gas.

Cadmium could induce various degrees of harm to aquatic organisms. A 30-day feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effects of cadmium on growth, muscle composition, digestive enzyme activity, gene expression of antioxidants and lipid metabolism in juvenile genetic improvement of farmed tilapia (GIFT, Oreochromis niloticus, Initial weight: 21.36 ± 0.24 g). Four cadmium concentrations of aquaculture water were designed: 0, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 mg/L Cd2+. The main results are as follows: Compared with the control group (0 mg/L Cd2+), the weight gain rate (WGR), specific growth rate (SGR), daily growth index (DGI), and spleen index (SI) of juvenile GIFT under cadmium stress were significantly decreased (p< 0.05). The contents of crude protein and crude lipid in muscle were significantly decreased (p< 0.05), and the ash was significantly increased (p< 0.05). The activities of trypsin, lipase, and α-amylase in the intestinal were significantly decreased (p< 0.05). The relative expression levels of carnitine palmityl transferase 1 (cpt-1), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (pparα), pparγ, hormone-sensitive lipase (hsl), lipoprotein lipase (lpl), malate dehydrogenase (mdh), leptin (lep), fatty acid synthetase (fas), cholesterol response element binding protein 1 (srebp1), squalene cyclooxygenase (sqle), and stearoyl-CoA desaturase (scd) genes in liver were significantly decreased (p< 0.05). The relative expression levels of catalase (cat), superoxide dismutase (sod), glutathione S-transferase (gst), and glutathione peroxidase (gsh-px) genes in the liver were significantly decreased (p< 0.05). In conclusion, exposure to cadmium stress could impact growth, muscle composition, digestive enzyme activity, gene expression of antioxidant and lipid metabolism in juvenile GIFT.

Abstract Our study investigated whether magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)‐based radiomics features could predict good response (GR) to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) and clinical outcome in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). Radiomics features were extracted from the T2 weighted (T2W) and Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) images of 1070 LARC patients retrospectively and prospectively recruited from three hospitals. To create radiomic models for GR prediction, three classifications were utilized. The radiomic model with the best performance was integrated with important clinical MRI features to create the combined model. Finally, two clinical MRI features and ten radiomic features were chosen for GR prediction. The combined model, constructed with the tumor size, MR‐detected extramural venous invasion, and radiomic signature generated by Support Vector Machine (SVM), showed promising discrimination of GR, with area under the curves of 0.799 (95% CI, 0.760–0.838), 0.797 (95% CI, 0.733–0.860), 0.754 (95% CI, 0.678–0.829), and 0.727 (95% CI, 0.641–0.813) in the training and three validation datasets, respectively. Decision curve analysis verified the clinical usefulness. Furthermore, according to Kaplan–Meier curves, patients with a high likelihood of GR as determined by the combined model had better disease‐free survival than those with a low probability. This radiomics model was developed based on large‐sample size, multicenter datasets, and prospective validation with high radiomics quality score, and also had clinical utility.

In the process of ascending and descending in deep-sea submerging and lifting cage nets, accompanied by changes in water pressure, pressure is one of the crucial environmental factors affecting the physiology and growth of fish. It directly relates to the comfort of farmed fish in the cage, thereby influencing the quality of aquaculture, especially for high-demanding species on the culture environment like the Larimichthys crocea. Investigating the stress level changes exhibited by L.crocea under environmental pressure variations, understanding the limit tolerance pressure, and its changes, can provide a theoretical basis for the design, application, and increased production of deep-sea submersible cage nets and L.crocea aquaculture. This study explores the effects of varying submersion depths (0–20 m) and speeds (0.6, 1, 1.3, 2, 4 m/min) on the behavioral responses of L.crocea in deep-sea cage environments. Key findings demonstrate that increased submersion depths and speeds significantly influence the physical behaviors and stress responses of the species. At submersion depths of 15 meters and 20 meters, the average swimming speed of the L.crocea exceeds 0.05 meters per second, the tail movement frequency is 1.42 times that of normal pressure, and the gasping frequency exceeds 20%., and at the highest speed of 4 m/min, the swimming speed reaches 0.0902 m/s—3.76 times greater than under normal pressure. The study determines that a submersion depth of 10 meters and a submersion speed of 0.6 meters per minute can minimize stress responses, providing critical insights for optimizing deep-sea aquaculture operations of L.crocea. These results offer valuable guidelines for the design and management of submersible cage systems.

Encouraging and astonishing developments have recently been achieved in image-based diagnostic technology. Modern medical care and imaging technology are becoming increasingly inseparable. However, the current diagnosis pattern of signal to image to knowledge inevitably leads to information distortion and noise introduction in the procedure of image reconstruction (from signal to image). Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that can mine knowledge from vast amounts of data offer opportunities to disrupt established workflows. In this prospective study, for the first time, we develop an AI-based signal-to-knowledge diagnostic scheme for lung nodule classification directly from the computed tomography (CT) raw data (the signal). We find that the raw data achieves almost comparable performance with CT, indicating that it is possible to diagnose diseases without reconstructing images. Moreover, the incorporation of raw data through three common convolutional network structures greatly improves the performance of the CT models in all cohorts (with a gain ranging from 0.01 to 0.12), demonstrating that raw data contains diagnostic information that CT does not possess. Our results break new ground and demonstrate the potential for direct signal-to-knowledge domain analysis.

Abstract Background For women diagnosed with HR-HPV DNA positivity in community hospitals, the necessity of investigating the potential presence of multiple HR-HPV infections upon referral to tertiary medical institutions remains unclear. Methods In our cohort, women tested positive for HR-HPV DNA during examinations in community hospitals, were subsequently referred to tertiary medical facilities, reevaluated HR-HPV genotype and categorized based on cytological and histopathological results. The risk of cytologic/histopathology abnormalities and ≧ high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion(HSIL) or Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia (CIN) 2 associated with individual genotypes and related multiple HPV infections are calculated. Results A total of 1677 women aged between 21 and 77 were finally included in the present study. The cytology group included 1202 women and the histopathological group included 475 women with at least one HR-HPV infection of any genotype. We only observed a higher risk of low grade cytological abnormalities in women with multiple infections than those in corresponding single infections (for all population with an OR of 1.85[1.39–2.46]; p

Abstract This study investigated the effect of replacing a portion of fish meal with unfermented and/or fermented soybean meal in juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). Four groups of juveniles (initial weight 110.31 ± 3.12 g) in triplicate were fed for 90 days on four different iso‐nitrogen and iso‐lipid diets. The G0 diet comprised 28% fish meal protein (control group). In the other three diets (G1, G2, and G3), 10% of the fish meal protein was replaced with unfermented and/or fermented soybean meal protein. The main results were: Compared with G0, the WGR, SGR, CF; the contents of GLU, TP, ALB, T‐CHO, and T‐AOC, the activities of AKP, CAT, SOD, GST, GSH‐PX, O2·‐CR, OH·‐CR, and GSH and the expressions of SOD, GSH‐PX, GST, CAT, and Nrf2 genes of juvenile coho salmon in G3 were significantly (p 0.05) of diet on their survival rate (SR). In conclusion, the fermented soybean meal in the juvenile coho salmon diet can replace 10% of the fish meal protein.

Small reservoir thickness， high crude oil viscosity， large steam heat loss， and short cyclic steam stimulation （CSS） period are problems facing in shallow-thin ultra-heavy oil reservoirs at the early stage of CSS development. Therefore， the development model of large CSS of alternating hot and cold fluid injection was proposed to improve the development effect effectively. In addition， carried out a three-dimensional physical simulation experiment of alternating heat and cold fluid injection in shallow-thin ultra-heavy oil reservoirs. The results show that the temperature of CSS decreases rapidly and the peak production is high because of the heat loss of the top and bottom cap rocks， but the single cycle production time is short， about 100 min. The injection of viscosity reducer can reduce the oil saturation near the well， improve the oil production rate， lower the water content， and increase the CSS period by more than 50 min at the production stage. Increasing temperature can enhance the viscosity reduction effect of the viscosity reducer， and the improvement effect during the second cycle is better than that during the first cycle. In addition， the production time is increased by 60 min， water content is cut by 45%， and the oil recovery is enhanced by 1.7%. The injection parameters of heat and cold fluid were optimized and the policy limits of this technology were established by a numerical simulation method： The best timing of alternating heat and cold fluid injection is the second or third cycle； and the injection strength is 0.02 t/m. The suitable reservoir thickness is less than 8 m； the crude oil viscosity is less than 200 000 mPa·s； the oil saturation is higher than 0.6， and the permeability is higher than 1 000 mD.

Abstract Background Brain metastasis (BM) is most common in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. This study aims to enhance BM risk prediction within three years for advanced NSCLC patients by using a deep learning-based segmentation and computed tomography (CT) radiomics-based ensemble learning model. Methods This retrospective study included 602 stage IIIA-IVB NSCLC patients, 309 BM patients and 293 non-BM patients, from two centers. Patients were divided into a training cohort (N = 376), an internal validation cohort (N = 161) and an external validation cohort (N = 65). Lung tumors were first segmented by using a three-dimensional (3D) deep residual U-Net network. Then, a total of 1106 radiomics features were computed by using pretreatment lung CT images to decode the imaging phenotypes of primary lung cancer. To reduce the dimensionality of the radiomics features, recursive feature elimination configured with the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regularization method was applied to select the optimal image features after removing the low-variance features. An ensemble learning algorithm of the extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) classifier was used to train and build a prediction model by fusing radiomics features and clinical features. Finally, Kaplan‒Meier (KM) survival analysis was used to evaluate the prognostic value of the prediction score generated by the radiomics–clinical model. Results The fused model achieved area under the receiver operating characteristic curve values of 0.91 ± 0.01, 0.89 ± 0.02 and 0.85 ± 0.05 on the training and two validation cohorts, respectively. Through KM survival analysis, the risk score generated by our model achieved a significant prognostic value for BM-free survival (BMFS) and overall survival (OS) in the two cohorts (P

In the task of fusing infrared and visible images, the extraction of features and fusion strategy significantly impacts the outcome of the fusion. However, prevailing fusion methods are often manually designed, unlearnable, and neglect to consider context adequately. To address these issues, this paper introduces a distributed architecture network based on attention mechanism and dense dilated convolution, realizing three-channel data fusion. This network employs a distributed fusion framework to fully utilize the fusion output of the previous step, capitalizing effectively on the target and texture information in infrared and visible images. Initially, two channels gather ample context from the source images through a dense dilated convolution module with multiscale channel attention. Subsequently, a fusion strategy based on coordinate mean attention is adopted to facilitate the fusion of results between the two channels. Then, the fused features and the preceding fusion results are fed into the fusion channel, minimizing loss of target and texture information in infrared and visible images. Furthermore, we incorporate an edge correction block, capable of refining the edge details of the fusion results and effectively suppressing noise. The proposed method demonstrates good fusion performance and extensive ablation experiments validate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. Simultaneously, both subjective qualitative and objective quantitative comparison results, conducted on public datasets such as RoadScene, TNO, and MSRS, indicate that the visual quality and evaluation metrics of our fusion images are comparable to those achieved by the state-of-the-art image fusion methods.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary Bacillus cereus supplementation on the growth performance, serum biochemistry, intestinal health, and Nrf2 and TLR/NF-κB signaling pathways of juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). Four different concentrations of B. cereus in the feed were prepared: 0 (control group), 2×107 CFU/g, 4×109 CFU/g, and 8×1011 CFU/g. Each group had three replicates, and each replicate was fed 20 juvenile coho salmon (initial body weight = 128.78 ± 5.75 g) for 10 weeks. Results showed that the addition of B. cereus to the weight gain rate, specific growth rate, feed conversion ratio, protein efficiency ratio, crude protein, and expression of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2, kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1B, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione S-transferase, glutathione-disulfide reductase, superoxide dismutase, catalase, toll like receptor 3 (TLR3), TLR7, heat shock protein family A member 8 (Hsp70), lysozyme, complement C3, nuclear factor NF-kappa-B, tumor necrosis factor, transforming growth factor beta, interferon gamma, interleukin-1 beta, interleukin-6, and interleukin-8 genes, as well as serum physiological and biochemical and liver antioxidant enzyme activity indicators, were significantly affected (P < 0.05). It could effectively improve the intestinal structure, intestinal flora, and function. However, the survival rate did not significantly differ among the groups (P > 0.05). In conclusion, the addition of B. cereus at a concentration of 4×109 CFU/g to diets can effectively promote the growth of juvenile coho salmon, enhance antioxidant and immune capabilities, and improve intestinal health.

Marine red yeast is a good feed additive for the aquaculture industry that can promote the growth of aquatic animals, and significantly improve their antioxidant capacity, survival rate, and nonspecific immune ability of the body. Our hypothesis is that dietary supplementation with marine red yeast could affect the serum biochemistry, muscle composition, muscle fatty acid composition, lipid metabolism enzyme activity, and expression of antioxidant and inflammatory genes in juvenile genetically improved farmed tilapia (GIFT, Oreochromis niloticus). Five diets with different levels of marine red yeast (0 %, 0.25 %, 0.50 %, 0.75 %, and 1.00 %) were used to feed juvenile GIFT (initial weight: 21.12 ± 0.86 g) for 60 days. The main results are as follows: Compared with the control group (0 % marine red yeast), the contents of total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and free fatty acid (FFA) in the serum of juvenile GIFT tilapia significantly increased (P < 0.05), while the contents of glucose (GLU), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (T-CHO), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) significantly decreased (P < 0.05). The contents of crude protein, crude fat, and docosahexaenoic acid + eicosapentaenoic acid (DHA+EPA) in the muscle significantly increased (P < 0.05), while the contents of moisture and monounsaturated fatty acids (∑MUFAs) significantly decreased (P < 0.05). The activities of acetyl CoA carboxylase α (ACCα), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), and stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) in the liver significantly increased (P < 0.05). The expression levels of catalase (cat), alkaline phosphatase (alp), nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (nrf2), lysozyme (lyz), glutathione S-transferase (gst), glutathione peroxidase (gsh-px), and superoxide dismutase (sod) genes in the liver significantly increased (P < 0.05). The expression levels of tumor necrosis factor α (tnf-α), interferon-γ (inf-γ), interleukin 6 (il-6), interleukin 8 (il-8), interleukin 1β (il-1β), and transforming growth factor-β (tgf-β1) genes in the liver, spleens, and head kidney significantly increased (P < 0.05), while the expression level of interleukin 10 (il-10) gene significantly decreased (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the addition of different levels of marine red yeast could significantly affect the serum biochemistry, muscle composition, muscle fatty acid composition, lipid metabolism enzyme activity, and expression of antioxidant and inflammatory genes in juvenile GIFT tilapia. Based on the results, the optimal dietary marine red yeast level was 0.50 %.

Summary: Background: Contrast-enhanced CT scans provide a means to detect unsuspected colorectal cancer. However, colorectal cancers in contrast-enhanced CT without bowel preparation may elude detection by radiologists. We aimed to develop a deep learning (DL) model for accurate detection of colorectal cancer, and evaluate whether it could improve the detection performance of radiologists. Methods: We developed a DL model using a manually annotated dataset (1196 cancer vs 1034 normal). The DL model was tested using an internal test set (98 vs 115), two external test sets (202 vs 265 in 1, and 252 vs 481 in 2), and a real-world test set (53 vs 1524). We compared the detection performance of the DL model with radiologists, and evaluated its capacity to enhance radiologists’ detection performance. Findings: In the four test sets, the DL model had the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) ranging between 0.957 and 0.994. In both the internal test set and external test set 1, the DL model yielded higher accuracy than that of radiologists (97.2% vs 86.0%, p 0.99), and it detected 2 cases that had been missed by radiologists. Interpretation: The developed DL model can accurately detect colorectal cancer and improve radiologists’ detection performance, showing its potential as an effective computer-aided detection tool. Funding: This study was supported by National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of China (No. 81925023); Regional Innovation and Development Joint Fund of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. U22A20345); National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82072090 and No. 82371954); Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence in Medical Image Analysis and Application (No. 2022B1212010011); High-level Hospital Construction Project (No. DFJHBF202105).

Under the structure of compulsory education, students in the United States are required to attend school until at least 16 years of age, which can be done at a variety of educational institutions, both public and private. Amongst public schools, students are each assigned a neighborhood school but also frequently have the option to attend a choice school. While the purpose of neighborhood schools is to provide a guaranteed educational option that accommodates most students, choice schools serve varied purposes that accommodate specific learning styles and societal goals. Four types of publicly funded choice schools are magnet, charter, alternative, and virtual schools. While each was established to serve a specific societal goal, their purposes have shifted over time and have produced varied student outcomes, both academic and non-academic.

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of varying levels of dietary chitosan supplementation on mitigating cadmium stress and its influence on growth performance, serum biochemical indices, antioxidant capacity, immune response, inflammatory response, and the expression of related genes in juvenile Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia (GIFT, Oreochromis niloticus). Five groups of juvenile tilapias (initial body weight 21.21 ± 0.24 g) were fed five diets with different levels (0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0%) of chitosan supplementation for 60 days under cadmium stress (0.2 mg/L Cd2+). The findings indicated that, compared with the 0% chitosan group, dietary chitosan could significantly increase (p < 0.05) the final weight (Wf), weight gain rate (WGR), specific growth rate (SGR), daily growth index (DGI), and condition factor (CF), while the feed conversion ratio (FCR) expressed the opposite trend in juvenile GIFT. Dietary chitosan could significantly increase (p < 0.05) the activities (contents) of cholinesterase (CHE), albumin (ALB), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), acid phosphatase (ACP), and lysozyme (LZM), while glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT), glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT), and complement 3 (C3) in the serum of juvenile GIFT expressed the opposite trend. Dietary chitosan could significantly increase (p < 0.05) the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) and significantly decrease (p < 0.05) the activities (contents) of glutathione S-transferase (GST), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and malondialdehyde (MDA) in the serum of juvenile GIFT. Dietary chitosan could significantly increase (p < 0.05) the activities (contents) of CAT, GST, GSH-Px, and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and significantly decrease (p < 0.05) the contents of MDA in the liver of juvenile GIFT. Dietary chitosan could significantly increase (p < 0.05) the activities (contents) of SOD, GSH-Px, T-AOC, Na+-K+-ATPase, and Ca2+-ATPase and significantly decrease (p < 0.05) the activities (contents) of CAT, GST, and MDA in the gills of juvenile GIFT. Dietary chitosan could significantly up-regulate (p < 0.05) the gene expression of cat, sod, gst, and gsh-px in the liver of juvenile GIFT. Dietary chitosan could significantly up-regulate (p < 0.05) the gene expression of interferon-γ (inf-γ) in the gills and spleen and significantly down-regulate (p < 0.05) the gene expression of inf-γ in the liver and head kidney of juvenile GIFT. Dietary chitosan could significantly down-regulate (p < 0.05) the gene expression of interleukin-6 (il-6), il-8, and tumor necrosis factor-α (tnf-α) in the liver, gills, head kidney, and spleen of juvenile GIFT. Dietary chitosan could significantly up-regulate (p < 0.05) the gene expression of il-10 in the liver, gills, head kidney, and spleen of juvenile GIFT. Dietary chitosan could significantly up-regulate (p < 0.05) the gene expression of transforming growth factor-β (tgf-β) in the liver and significantly down-regulate (p < 0.05) the gene expression of tgf-β in the head kidney and spleen of juvenile GIFT. In conclusion, dietary chitosan could mitigate the impact of cadmium stress on growth performance, serum biochemical indices, antioxidant capacity, immune response, inflammatory response, and related gene expression in juvenile GIFT. According to the analysis of second-order polynomial regression, it was found that the optimal dietary chitosan levels in juvenile GIFT was approximately 1.42% to 1.45%, based on its impact on Wf, WGR, SGR, and DGI.

Objectives: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic prompted a rapid shift from in-person to virtual learning in dental education. This study aims to assess the perceptions of virtual education learning among dental residents and faculty and employ regulatory focus theory (RFT) to understand the impact of motivational orientations on virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: In total, 46 dental residents and 10 faculty members in a dental institution participated in the study (June–August 2021). Questionnaires were used to obtain data on demographics, perceptions of virtual learning, burnout, and RFT types (promotion and prevention focus). Multiple regression analyses were used to examine factors associated with perceptions of virtual learning and burnout. Results: Overall, 70% of residents and 44% of faculty found virtual learning effective. Younger residents with less experience preferred virtual learning more than their older, experienced peers. Residents trained outside the U.S. and Canada favored in-person learning more than those trained within. Furthermore, residents with a higher promotion focus score found virtual learning more interactive for didactic courses. Additionally, 52% of residents experienced burnout, with a higher incidence among females (p = 0.044). Conclusions: Virtual learning is well received by dental residents and faculty, with potential for continued use post-pandemic. Future efforts should focus on creating an inclusive and supportive educational environment that meets the motivational and well-being needs of dental residents and faculty.

The study aimed to isolate Lactobacillaceae strains with in vitro hypoglycemic activity and probiotic properties and to determine their antidiabetic abilities in vivo. Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 22, L. plantarum 25, Limosilactobacillus fermentum 11, and L. fermentum 305 with high in vitro hypoglycemic activity were screened from 23 strains of Lactobacillaceae isolated from human feces and identified by 16S rDNA sequencing. The fasting blood glucose (FBG) of the mice was recorded weekly. After 12 weeks, liver, kidney, and pancreas tissues were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) to observe histomorphology; the inflammatory factors were assayed by Quantitative Real-time PCR; PI3K and AKT were measured by Western blot; the short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were determined by LC-MS/MS. Inhibitory activities of L. plantarum 22, L. plantarum 25, L. fermentum 11, and L. fermentum 305 against α-amylase were 62.29 ± 0.44%, 51.81 ± 3.65%, 58.40 ± 1.68%, and 57.48 ± 5.04%, respectively. Their inhibitory activities to α-glucosidase were 14.89 ± 0.38%, 15.32 ± 0.89%, 52.63 ± 3.07%, and 51.79 ± 1.13%, respectively. Their survival rate after simulated gastrointestinal test were 12.42 ± 2.84%, 9.10 ± 1.12%, 5.86 ± 0.52%, and 8.82 ± 2.50% and their adhesion rates to Caco-2 cell were 6.09 ± 0.39%, 6.37 ± 0.28%, 6.94 ± 0.27%, and 6.91 ± 0.11%, respectively. The orthogonal tests of bacterial powders of the four strains showed that the maximum inhibitory activities to α-amylase and α-glucosidase were 93.18 ± 1.19% and 75.33 ± 2.89%, respectively. The results showed that the mixture of Lactobacillaceae could lower FBG, reduce inflammation, and liver, kidney, and pancreas damage, promote PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, and increase the content of SCFAs. The combination of L. plantarum 22, L. plantarum 25, L. fermentum 11, and L. fermentum 305 can potentially improve type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Abstract Purpose To explore whether combining the Hounsfield unit (HU) values and vertebral bone quality (VBQ) scores can improve the BMD assessment in patients with lumbar degenerative diseases. Methods The HU values were measured by CT image, and VBQ scores were calculated by lumbar MRI image. The correlations of the opportunistic imaging parameters to the lowest T-scores were analyzed. Receiver-operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate the accuracy in detecting osteoporosis. Finally, the specificity and sensitivity of different combined methods of the HU values and VBQ scores in the diagnosis of osteoporosis were compared. Results Patients with osteoporosis had the lowest HU values and the highest VBQ scores. The correlation coefficients between the VBQ scores and the T-scores were smaller than HU values (L1 HU value: 0.702; average HU value:0.700; L1 VBQ score: -0.413; VBQ score: -0.386). The areas under the curve (AUCs) of the HU values were greater than those of the VBQ scores, and the AUCs of the L1 VBQ score were similar to the VBQ score (L1 HU value: 0.850; average HU value:0.857; L1 VBQ score: 0.704; VBQ score: 0.673). When combining the two imaging parameters in series, the specificity of the detection of osteoporosis was improved (L1 HU value and L1 VBQ score: 87.3%; Average HU value and VBQ score: 85.9%). When combining the two imaging parameters in parallel, the sensitivity of the detection of osteoporosis was improved (L1 HU value or L1 VBQ score: 88.1%; Average HU value or VBQ score: 91.5%). Conclusions Combinations of the HU values and VBQ scores could improve the diagnostic performance of osteoporosis. In addition, considering the same diagnostic performance but easier measurement, parameters at the single-segment level were recommended to assist in the diagnosis of osteoporosis.

Abstract Background Our study aimed to explore the potential of radiomics features derived from CT images in predicting the prognosis and response to adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) in patients with Stage II colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods A total of 478 patients with confirmed stage II CRC, with 313 from Shanghai (Training set) and 165 from Beijing (Validation set) were enrolled. Optimized features were selected using GridSearchCV and Iterative Feature Elimination (IFE) algorithm. Subsequently, we developed an ensemble random forest classifier to predict the probability of disease relapse.We evaluated the performance of the model using the concordance index (C-index), precision-recall curves, and area under the precision-recall curves (AUCPR). Results A radiomic model (namely the RF5 model) consisting of four radiomics features and T stage were developed. The RF5 model performed better than simple radiomics features or T stage alone, with higher C-index and AUCPR, as well as better sensitivity and specificity (C-indexRF5: 0.836; AUCPR = 0.711; Sensitivity = 0.610; Specificity = 0.935). We identified an optimal cutoff value of 0.1215 to split patients into high- or low-score subgroups, with those in the low-score group having better disease-free survival (DFS) (Training Set: P = 1.4e-11; Validation Set: P = 0.015). Furthermore, patients in the high-score group who received ACT had better DFS compared to those who did not receive ACT (P = 0.04). However, no statistical difference was found in low-score patients (P = 0.17). Conclusion The radiomic model can serve as a reliable tool for assessing prognosis and identifying the optimal candidates for ACT in Stage II CRC patients. Trial registration Retrospectively registered.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299694.].

ObjectiveXuebijing injection (XBJ) is a commonly used herbal medicine injection in China. However, the physical compatibility of XBJ with other intravenous drugs remains unclear. The purpose of this research is to evaluate physical compatibility of Xuebijing injection (XBJ) with 53 intravenous drugs (including 31 Chinese medicine injections and 22 chemicals) during simulated Y-site administration.MethodsY-site administration was simulated in vitro by admixing 0.33 ml/ml XBJ with an equal volume of other diluted 53 intravenous drugs, respectively. Physical compatibility including visual inspection, Tyndall beam, particle limits, turbidity, pH, chromacity value, spectroscopic absorption of 550 nm and 420 nm (A550 nm and A420 nm) were observed and assessed at 0, 1, 2, and 4 h. Physical compatibility was defined as all solutions with no color changes, no gas evolution, particulate formation and no Tyndall beam within 4 hours, turbidity changes ResultsXBJ was physically incompatible with 27 of the 53 intravenous drugs tested, 26 were compatible with XBJ for 4 h.ConclusionsXBJ should not be simultaneously co-administered with 27 of the 53 intravenous drugs during simulated Y-site. If coadministration was inevitable, flushing tube with NS or D5W before and after infusion of XBJ was needed. Assessment included visual inspection, Tyndall beam, turbidity measurement, particle counts, pH measurement, chromacity value measurement and absorption of A550 nm were proved to be valid and robust for the quality control of infusion and compatibility of Chinese herbal injection.

Candida albicans is a pathogenic fungus recently recognized for its role in severe early childhood caries development (S-ECC). C. albicans oral colonization begins at birth, but the extent of the mother's involvement in yeast transmission to their children is unclear, therefore, this study used a prospective mother-infant cohort to investigate the maternal contribution of C. albicans oral colonization in early life. Oral samples were collected from 160 mother-child dyads during pregnancy and from birth to two years of life. We used whole-genome sequencing to obtain the genetic information of C. albicans isolates and examined the genetic relatedness of C. albicans between mothers and their children using Multilocus Sequence Typing. Multivariate statistical methods were used to identify factors associated with C. albicans' acquisition (horizontal and vertical transmissions). Overall, 227 C. albicans oral isolates were obtained from 93 (58.1%) of mother-child pairs. eBURST analysis revealed 16 clonal complexes, and UPGMA analysis identified 6 clades, with clade 1 being the most populated 124 isolates (54.6%). Significantly, 94% of mothers and children with oral C. albicans had highly genetically related strains, highlighting a strong maternal influence on children's C. albicans acquisition. Although factors such as race, ethnicity, delivery method, and feeding behaviors did not show a significant association with C. albicans vertical transmission, the mother's oral hygiene status reflected by plaque index (PI) emerged as a significant factor; Mothers with higher dental plaque accumulation (PI >=2) had a significantly increased risk of vertically transmitting C. albicans to their infants [odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of 8.02 (1.21, 53.24), p=0.03]. Furthermore, Black infants and those who attended daycare had an elevated risk of acquiring C. albicans through horizontal transmission (p

Abstract Background Size and number of lymph nodes (LNs) were reported to be associated with the prognosis of stage II colorectal cancer (CRC). The purpose of this study was to determine the prognostic role of the size of LNs (SLNs) measured by computer tomography (CT) and the number of retrieved LNs (NLNs) in the relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) among stage II CRC patients. Methods Consecutive patients diagnosed with stage II CRC at Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC) from January 2011 to December 2015 were reviewed, and 351 patients were randomly divided into two cohorts for cross-validation. The optimal cut-off values were obtained using X-tile program. Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression analyses were conducted for the two cohorts. Results Data from 351 stage II CRC patients were analyzed. The cut-off values for SLNs and NLNs were 5.8 mm and 22, respectively, determined by the X-tile in the training cohort. In the validation cohort, Kaplan-Meier curves demonstrated SLNs (P = 0.0034) and NLNs (P = 0.0451) were positively correlated with RFS but not with OS. The median follow-up time in the training cohort and the validation cohort were 60.8 months and 61.0 months respectively. Univariate and multivariate analysis revealed that both SLNs (training cohort: Hazard Ratio (HR) = 2.361, 95% Confidence interval (CI): 1.044–5.338, P = 0.039; validation cohort: HR = 2.979, 95%CI: 1.435–5.184, P = 0.003) and NLNs (training cohort: HR = 0.335, 95%CI: 0.113–0.994, P = 0.049; validation cohort: HR = 0.375, 95%CI: 0.156-0.900, P = 0.021) were independent prognostic factors for RFS whereas not for OS. Conclusion SLNs and NLNs are independent prognostic factors for patients with stage II CRC. Patients with SLNs > 5.8 mm and NLNs ≤ 22 are apt to have higher risk of recurrence.

Abstract Background Benign metastasizing leiomyoma (BML) is a rare disease usually observed in women of reproductive or premenopausal age with a history of uterine myomectomy or hysterectomy. The most common sites of metastases are the pulmonary, and other sites include heart, bones, liver, lymph nodes, bladder, skeletal muscles, and central nervous system. Here, we report a case of a 50 year-old woman with a history of hysterectomy who was initially suspected of uterine sarcoma but was finally confirmed to have BML with lung and lymph node metastases, and discuss the treatment and prognosis of BML. Case presentation A 50 year-old woman with a history of total abdominal hysterectomy presented with mild but persistent abdominal pain for more than 3 months. She was suspected of having uterine sarcoma before surgery and laparoscopic extensive debulking surgery including bilateral oophorectomy, pelvic and para-aortic lymph node dissection to the level of the left renal vein, and transcutaneous dissection of the right inguinal lymph nodes. Pathology confirmed a benign leiomyoma, and the patient was diagnosed with BML. No medication was administered after the surgery, and the follow-up was of no significance. Conclusion Benign metastasizing leiomyoma (BML) is a rare disorder in which histologically benign smooth muscle tumors metastasize to extrauterine sites. Metastases are commonly observed in the lung, liver, lymph nodes, skin, bladder, esophagus, and skeletal muscles. BML is usually misdiagnosed as a malignant tumor before surgery until the pathology confirms its benign nature. However, this treatment remains controversial and undetermined. The prognosis is usually favorable owing to its benign nature.

AbstractPurpose This study aimed to develop a postoperative MRI-based fibrosis scoring system and to assess its correlation with anorectal function in locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) cases administered neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT).Methods Pathologically confirmed LARC cases administered nCRT and radical resection were assessed retrospectively. Based on postoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings, anastomotic fibrosis score (AFS) and perirectal fibrosis score (PFS) were determined to evaluate the extent of fibrosis. The Wexner continence score for anorectal function was obtained 2 years postoperatively and assessed for correlation with MRI fibrosis scores. The cases were divided into 2 groups by the median Wexner score. Univariable and multivariable analyses were adopted for building a nomogram model, whose diagnostic performance was estimated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and decision curve analyses (DCA).Results Finally, 144 patients with LARC were included in cohort 1 (training set). 52 patients were enrolled in cohort 2 (external validation set). Spearman correlation analysis indicated that AFS and PFS were positively correlated with the Wexner score. Univariable and multivariable analyses revealed age, tumor height, AFS, and PFS were independent predictors of anorectal function. The nomogram model achieved a good diagnostic performance, with AUCs of 0.800 and 0.827 in the training and validation sets, respectively; its predicting value was also confirmed by DCA.Conclusion The present study showed AFS and PFS derived from postoperative MRI are positively correlated with Wexner score. In addition, the new scoring system was effective in predicting anorectal function in LARC cases administered nCRT.

ABSTRACTObjective To assess the interactions between Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans during cariogenic biofilm formation.Methods The S. mutans and C. albicans duo-species biofilms were formed in 1% sucrose to mimic the high caries risk challenges. The biofilm structure was assessed using two-photon laser confocal microscopy. The transcriptome of 48h-biofilms was assessed by RNA-Seq. The expression of S. mutans and C. albicans virulence genes was examined via real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction.Results The morphogenesis of C. albicans-S. mutans duo-species biofilms was significantly altered when comparing to S. mutans or C. albicans single-species biofilm. Duo-species biofilms exhibited unique expression profile with a large number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including a higher expression of S. mutans atpD (acid-adaptive), C. albicans CHT2 (fungal cell wall chitin remodeling), and C. albicans SOD3 (cytotoxic oxygen radical destroying) (p < 0.05). KEGG pathway analyses further revealed that the majority of the up-regulated DEGs are related to microbial metabolism. Furthermore, the expressions of S. mutans and C. albicans key virulence genes (gtfB, gtfC, gtfD, ECE1, HWP1, ERG4, CHT2) were associated with sugar availability-related and time-related dynamics.Conclusion Cross-kingdom interactions impact S. mutans-C. albicans biofilm formations and dynamic expressions of virulence genes.

Cadmium is a highly ubiquitous environmental pollutant that poses a serious threat to human health. In this study, we assessed the cardiotoxicity of Cd exposure and explored the possible mechanisms by which Cd exerts its toxic effects. The results demonstrated that exposure to Cd via drinking water containing CdCl2 10 mg/dL for eight consecutive weeks induced cardiac injury in C57BL/6J mice. The histopathological changes of myocardial hemolysis, widening of myocardial space, and fracture of myocardial fiber were observed. Meanwhile, elevated levels of cardiac enzyme markers and up-regulation of pro-apoptotic genes also indicated cardiac injury after Cd exposure. Non-targeted lipidomic analysis demonstrated that Cd exposure altered cardiac lipid metabolism, resulted in an increase in pro-inflammatory lipids, and changed lipid distribution abundance. In addition, Cd exposure affected the secretion of inflammatory cytokines by activating the NF-κB signaling pathway, leading to cardiac inflammation in mice. Taken together, results of our present study expand our understanding of Cd cardiotoxicity at the lipidomic level and provide new experimental evidence for uncovering the association of Cd exposure with cardiovascular diseases.

Abstract Background With the advance in digital pathology and artificial intelligence (AI)‐powered approaches, necrosis is proposed as a marker of poor prognosis in colorectal cancer (CRC). However, most previous studies quantified necrosis merely as a tissue type and patch‐level segmentation. Thus, it was worth exploring and validating the prognostic and predictive value of necrosis proportion with a pixel‐level segmentation in large multicenter cohorts. Methods A semantic segmentation model was trained with 12 tissue types labeled by pathologists. Segmentation was performed using the U‐net model with a subsequently derived necrosis tumor ratio (NTR). We proposed the NTR score (NTR‐low or NTR‐high) to evaluate the prognostic and predictive value of necrosis for disease‐free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in the development (N = 443) and validation cohorts (N = 333) using 75% as a threshold. Results The 2‐category NTR was an independent prognostic factor and NTR‐low was associated with significant prolonged DFS (unadjusted HR for high vs. low 1.72 [95% CI 1.19–2.49] and 1.98 [1.22–3.23] in the development and validation cohorts). Similar trends were observed for OS. The prognostic value of NTR was maintained in the multivariate analysis for both cohorts. Furthermore, a stratified analysis showed that NTR‐high was a high risk with adjuvant chemotherapy for OS in stage II CRC (p = 0.047). Conclusion AI‐based pixel‐level quantified NTR has a stable prognostic value in CRC associated with unfavorable survival. Additionally, adjuvant chemotherapy provided survival benefits for patients with a high NTR score in stage II CRC.

Charter schools are educational institutions in the United States funded through taxation but operated privately under a charter or contract with a public entity, providing alternative public education options to families. Charter schools are subject to fewer rules and regulations and have greater autonomy than traditional public schools over operations, curriculum, and instruction, although have greater stakes in school accountability.

Abstract Background Suboptimal maternal oral health during pregnancy is potentially associated with adverse birth outcomes and increased dental caries risks in children. This study aimed to assess the oral microbiome and immune response following an innovative clinical regimen, Prenatal Total Oral Rehabilitation (PTOR), that fully restores women’s oral health to a “disease-free status” before delivery. Methods This prospective cohort study assessed 15 pregnant women at baseline and 3 follow-up visits (1 week, 2 weeks, and 2 months) after receiving PTOR. The salivary and supragingival plaque microbiomes were analyzed using metagenomic sequencing. Multiplexed Luminex cytokine assays were performed to examine immune response following PTOR. The association between salivary immune markers and oral microbiome was further examined. Results PTOR was associated with a reduction of periodontal pathogens in plaque, for instance, a lower relative abundance of Tannerella forsythia and Treponema denticola at 2 weeks compared to the baseline (p

Abstract Background Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a new syndrome with some clinical manifestations similar to Kawasaki disease (KD), which is difficult to distinguish. Objective The study aimed to characterize the demographic characteristics, clinical characteristics, laboratory features, cardiac complications, and treatment of MIS-C compared with KD. Study design Studies were selected by searching the PubMed, EMBASE and so on before February 28, 2022. Statistical analyses were performed using Review Manager 5.4 software and STATA 14.0. Results Fourteen studies with 2928 participants were included. MIS-C patients tended to be older and there was no significant difference in the sex ratio. In terms of clinical characteristics, MIS-C patients were more frequently represented with respiratory, gastrointestinal symptoms and shock. At the same time, they had a lower incidence of conjunctivitis than KD patients. MIS-C patients had lower lymphocyte counts, platelet (PLT) counts, erythrocyte sedimentation rates (ESRs), alanine transaminase (ALT), and albumin levels and had higher levels of aspartate transaminase (AST), N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP), troponin, C-reactive protein (CRP), D-dimer, fibrinogen, ferritin, and creatinine. MIS-C patients had a higher incidence of left ventricle (LV) dysfunction, valvular regurgitation, pericardial effusion, myocarditis, and pericarditis. The incidence of coronary artery lesion (CAL) was lower in MIS-C patients [OR (95% CI): 0.52 (0.29, 0.93), p =0.03], while it was similar in the acute period. MIS-C patients had higher utilization of glucocorticoids (GCs) and lower utilization of intravenous immune globulin (IVIG). Conclusions There were specific differences between MIS-C and KD, which might assist clinicians with the accurate recognition of MIS-C and further mechanistic research.

Background Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is the most common sleep-related breathing disorder, yet it remains undiagnosed in a large proportion of adults.Objective This study aims to investigate the status of patient delay and provider delay in OSA patients and examine related factors affecting patient delay in OSA individuals in China.Methods A cross-sectional design was conducted on a sample of 309 OSA patients (aged from 18 to 76, median age of 47 years, 84.8% male) in Northeast China. Participants were required to complete the sociodemographic questionnaire, the symptom characteristics questionnaire, the help-seeking attitude scale (HSAS), the social support rating scale and the chronic disease self-efficacy scales (CDSES) to test the hypothesis. Binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to explore factors that account for the patient delay.Results The median patient delay among OAS patients in this study was 22 months, the median provider delay was one month, and the median total delay was 26 months. As shown by multivariate analysis results, patients who have snored for over 6 years (OR = 3.377, 95%CI: 1.175–9.702) were more likely to experience prolonged patient delays. Per capita monthly family income above 3000 RMB (OR = 0.172, 95%CI: 0.052–0.571), taking up residence in cities or towns (OR = 0.484, 95%CI: 0.248–0.946), higher self-recognition of the disease (OR = 0.793, 95%CI: 0.647–0.972), higher objective support (OR = 0.825, 95%CI: 0.739–0.921) and stronger self-efficacy (OR = 0.674, 95%CI: 0.525–0.867) were significantly associated with shorter patient delays.Conclusion Patient delay is common in Chinese OSA patients. The upstream factors affecting the patient delay in individuals with OSA include income, place of residence, and objective support; midstream factors include self-recognition of the disease and self-efficacy; downstream factors include years of snoring.KEY MESSAGESDespite being a high-prevalence disease, many obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) patients are not clearly diagnosed and treated.The factors affecting the delay in seeking medical treatment in individuals with OSA included income, place of residence, objective support, self-recognition of the disease, self-efficacy and years of snoring.Investigations into OSA patients’ care-seeking behaviours can better reflect the secondary prevention of OSA, and it is crucial to pay attention to the delayed phase of patients.

BackgroundAmid the COVID-19 pandemic and other possible future infectious disease pandemics, dentistry needs to consider modified dental examination regimens that render quality care and ensure the safety of patients and dental health care personnel (DHCP). ObjectiveThis study aims to assess the acceptance and usability of an innovative mDentistry eHygiene model amid the COVID-19 pandemic. MethodsThis pilot study used a 2-stage implementation design to assess 2 critical components of an innovative mDentistry eHygiene model: virtual hygiene examination (eHygiene) and patient self-taken intraoral images (SELFIE), within the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network. Mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) were used to assess the acceptance and usability of the eHygiene model. ResultsA total of 85 patients and 18 DHCP participated in the study. Overall, the eHygiene model was well accepted by patients (System Usability Scale [SUS] score: mean 70.0, SD 23.7) and moderately accepted by dentists (SUS score: mean 51.3, SD 15.9) and hygienists (SUS score: mean 57.1, SD 23.8). Dentists and patients had good communication during the eHygiene examination, as assessed using the Dentist-Patient Communication scale. In the SELFIE session, patients completed tasks with minimum challenges and obtained diagnostic intraoral photos. Patients and DHCP suggested that although eHygiene has the potential to improve oral health care services, it should be used selectively depending on patients’ conditions. ConclusionsThe study results showed promise for the 2 components of the eHygiene model. eHygiene offers a complementary modality for oral health data collection and examination in dental offices, which would be particularly useful during an infectious disease outbreak. In addition, patients being able to capture critical oral health data in their home could facilitate dental treatment triage and oral health self-monitoring and potentially trigger oral health–promoting behaviors.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary chitosan supplementation on the muscle composition, digestion, lipid metabolism, and stress resistance, and their related gene expression, of juvenile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) subjected to cadmium (Cd2+) stress. Juvenile tilapia with an initial body weight of 21.21 ± 0.24 g were fed with a formulated feed containing five different levels (0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0%) of chitosan for 60 days, while the water in all experimental groups contained a Cd2+ concentration of 0.2 mg/L. The results showed that, compared with the control group (0% chitosan), the contents of crude fat and crude protein in the muscle, the activities of lipase, trypsin, and amylase in the intestine, as well as the relative expression levels of metallothionein (mt), cytochrome P450 1A (cyp1a), carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1 (cpt-1), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (pparα), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (pparγ), hormone-sensitive lipase (hsl), lipoprotein lipase (lpl), malate dehydrogenase (mdh), leptin (lep), fatty acid synthase (fas), sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (srebp1), and stearoyl-CoA desaturase (scd) genes in the liver of juveniles were significantly increased (p < 0.05). In conclusion, dietary chitosan supplementation could alleviate the effects of Cd2+ stress on the muscle composition, digestive enzymes, lipid metabolism, and stress resistance, and their related gene expression, of juvenile tilapia, and to some extent reduce the toxic effect of Cd2+ stress on tilapia.