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AIM: To investigate the influencing factors of corneal edema after phacoemulsification combined with intraocular lens(IOL)implantation in middle-aged and elderly patients with diabetic cataract, reducing postoperative complications of cataract in such patients.METHODS: A total of 198 middle-aged and elderly patients(226 eyes)with diabetic cataract who underwent phacoemulsification combined with IOL implantation in Zhongxian People's Hospital of Chongqing from August 2021 to June 2023 were retrospectively analyzed, and they were divided into corneal edema group(n=53)and non-corneal edema group(n=173)according to their postoperative corneal edema. Baseline data were collected and compared between the two groups, and the operation-related indexes such as preoperative corneal thickness, endothelial cell density, operation time and effective phaco time were recorded and compared between the two groups. The influencing factors of corneal edema were analyzed by multivariate Logistic model, and the risk nomogram was drawn.RESULTS: The age distribution of patients ≥60 years old in the corneal edema group was significantly higher than that in the non-corneal edema group, the duration of diabetes mellitus in the corneal edema group was significantly longer than that in the non-corneal edema group, and the lens nuclear hardness grade was significantly higher than that in the non-corneal edema group(all P

In order to deeply study the influence of parallel misalignment failure on fatigue life of pin couplings with elastic sleeves, on the basis of transient dynamic analysis, the influence of different degrees of parallel misalignment on fatigue life is obtained. Based on transient dynamic fatigue analysis data, combined with the differential autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model, the fatigue life prediction of pin couplings with elastic sleeves is realized. The results show that the minimum fatigue life of pin couplings with elastic sleeves decreases with the increase of the degree of parallel misalignment, and when the degree of parallel misalignment is less than 2.63%, the decrease of minimum fatigue life increases gradually. The predicted fatigue life of 4.74% parallel misalignment is 1.214 0×106, and the relative error between the predicted value and the simulation value is 0.22%, indicating the reliability of the ARIMA model in predicting fatigue life. The research results can provide guidance for the anti-fatigue optimization design of pin couplings with elastic sleeves.

Abstract The step‐up resonant converters are widely adopted to provide high voltage in kV‐level for electric propulsion system due to their high efficiency, low mass, modularisation, and high‐power density. The bipolar Cockcroft‐Walton voltage multiplier (BiCWVM) is a major circuit that steps up the voltage in the resonant converter. However, the diode non‐linearity in BiCWVM can introduce self‐sustained quasi‐periodic oscillations in the voltage and current waveforms, which is commonly known as the Deane and Hamill (DH) phenomenon. The oscillation can lead to higher magnetic loss and control failure, and it is more likely to present in the gallium nitride‐based converter due to the high‐frequency operation. The authors aim to investigate and mitigate the DH phenomenon systematically so that proper mitigation can be implemented. To facilitate the investigation, the circuit before the BiCWVM in the converter is derived and modelled as a voltage source vm and a series inductor Lsy. Also, the reverse recovery process of the diode in the BiCWVM can be represented by a piecewise‐linear (PWL) model, with the simplified circuit and PWL model, the relationship between voltage and current under different operating conditions can be determined with ease. The relationship allows to understand the mechanism of diode reverse recovery in BiCWVM that leads to DH phenomenon. Finally, a hybrid‐/full‐silicon carbide (SiC) design is proposed to mitigate the DH phenomenon, which is verified experimentally for a 300‐kHz, 5‐W, 20‐V/1.5‐kV GaN‐based step‐up resonant converter.

C16H12ClFO5, monclinic, P21/c (no. 14), a = 14.7536(6) Å, b = 7.8281(3) Å, c = 14.0501(7) Å, β = 111.174(5)° $111.174(5){}^{\circ}$ , V = 1513.13(12) Å3, Z = 4, R gt(F) = 0.0367, wR ref(F 2) = 0.0865, T = 296(2) K.

Introduction: Current research has mostly simplified CFRP components as isotropic media or homogenized them as anisotropic media, which fails to present the actual acoustic propagation behavior inside the CFRP components and restricts the accuracy of decoupling sound line tracking results and defect feature information.Method: Based on clarifying the influence of fiber direction on the spatial distribution of CFRP elastic properties, this paper proposes an acoustic modeling method for CFRP multi-directional plates considering the coupling effect of multi-layer structure and elastic anisotropy.Results: There are two main innovations: 1. The model is optimized using the Voigt representation method, which can quantitatively characterize the elastic anisotropy of any homogeneous material with a 6 × 6 elastic stiffness matrix containing 21 independent elastic constants. In this paper, the elastic stiffness matrix only includes five independent elastic constants; 2. Finite element simulation is used to analyze the propagation rules of ultrasonic waves inside CFRP and compare the detection methods with or without sound coupling layer.Discussion: The acoustic characteristics of the sound coupling layer are changed to find the optimal coupling method, reduce the refraction of ultrasonic waves in the specimen layer, and make the sound line path more accurate.

Objective To compare the hyoid bone position among patients with different sagittal skeletal malocclusions to provide a reference for clinicians to formulate treatment plans. Methods Lateral cephalograms of 284 orthodontic patients were selected. According to ANB angles, the types of skeletal malocclusion of patients were determined as follows: Class Ⅰ (1° ≤ ANB ≤ 5°), Class Ⅱ (ANB>5°) and Class Ⅲ (ANB0.05). The angle between the Gonion-hyoid point line and the hyoid point-Menton line (Go-Hy-Me) of Class Ⅱ patients was significantly smaller than that of Class Ⅰ patients, and the angle between the most anterior and inferior point of the third cervical vertebra-hyoid point line and the hyoid point-Sella line (C3-Hy-S) of Class Ⅲ patients was smaller than that of Class I patients (P0.05). Conclusions Compared with Class Ⅰ patients, the hyoid bone of Class Ⅱ patients in adult females was farther away from the mandible and that of Class Ⅲ patients in juveniles was farther away from the cervical vertebra and posterior cranial base.

Abstract The safe and reliable operation of power converter requires a protection circuit with fast response when the power device is subjected to the short‐circuit (SC) fault. In addition, the on‐line condition monitoring circuit is beneficial to provide a suggestion for the replacement of aged device. The silicon carbide (SiC) power devices promise the higher power density in the system performance, but is still limited by the poor SC reliability issue. Thus, it is crucial to improve the robustness of SiC‐based power converter from the circuit design. This work proposes a novel gate charge detection circuit for SiC devices. It achieves a high‐speed SC protection against hard switching fault (HSF) based on the difference of Miller capacitance between normal condition and SC fault. Meanwhile, the condition monitoring is achieved based on the high gate leakage current of aged device. A high‐precision analog amplifier circuit is designed to acquire the gate signal. The normal/fault signal is distinguished and the protection is triggered using a digital‐controlled method to reduce the hardware cost. A 600‐ns SC response time is achieved, and the monitoring circuit can differentiate the aged device from the healthy one.

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer around the world. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is characterized by the absence of three receptors: progesterone, estrogen, and human epidermal growth factor-2 receptor (HER2). Various synthetic chemotherapies have gained attention but they caused unwanted side effects. Therefore, some secondary therapies are now becoming famous against this disease. For instance, natural compounds have been extensively researched against many diseases. However, enzymatic degradation and low solubility remain a major concern. To combat these issues, various nanoparticles have been synthesized and optimized from time to time, which increases its solubility and hence therapeutic potential of a particular drug increases. In this study, we have synthesized Poly D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) loaded thymoquinone (TQ) nanoparticle (PLGA-TQ-NPs) and then coated them by chitosan (CS) (PLGA-CS-TQ-NPs), which was characterized by different methods. Size of non-coated NPs was 105 nm with PDI value of 0.3 and the size of coated NPs was 125 nm with PDI value of 0.4. Encapsulation efficiency (EE%) and Drug loading (DL%) was found to be 70.5 ± 2.33 and 3.38 for non-coated and 82.3 ± 3.11 and 2.66 for coated NPs respectively. We have also analysed their cell viability against MDA-MB-231 and SUM-149 TNBC cell lines. The resultant, nanoformulations exhibit anti-cancerous activity in a dose and time-dependent manner for MDA-MB-231 and SUM-149 cell lines with an IC50 value of (10.31 ± 1.15, 15.60 ± 1.25, 28.01 ± 1.24) and (23.54 ± 1.24, 22.37 ± 1.25, 35 ± 1.27) for TQ free, PLGA-TQ-NPs and PLGA-CS-TQ-NPs respectively. For the first time, we have developed a nanoformulations of PLGA loaded TQ coated with CS NPs (PLGA-CS-TQ-NPs) against TNBC which led to their enhanced anti-cancerous effects.

C9H11BrNiO8, monoclinic, P21/c (no. 14), a = 8.5077(16) Å, b = 6.7688(13) Å, c = 22.459(4) Å, β = 98.188(2)°, V = 1280.2(4) Å3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.0256, wRref(F2) = 0.0585, T = 296(2) K.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a kind of stem cells with high self-renewal ability and multi-directional differentiation potential. They can differentiate into a variety of different cells. Studies have shown that mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (MSC-EXO) are the main components of tumor microenvironment and play an important role in the occurrence and development of malignant tumors. Exosomes are a kind of extracellular vesicles secreted by eukaryotic cells; they can transmit bioactive molecules such as lipids, nucleic acids and proteins between cells, and they widely participate in the exchange of information between cells. This article reviews the role of mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes in malignant tumors and their application prospect.

Medical implants play a central role in modern medicine and both, naturally derived and synthetic materials have been explored as biomaterials for such devices. However, when implanted into living tissue, most materials initiate a host response. In addition, implants often cause bacterial infections leading to complications. Polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) coatings can be used for functionalization of medical implants improving the implant integration and reducing foreign body reactions. Some PEMs are also known to show antibacterial properties. We developed a PEM coating suggesting that it can decrease the risk of bacterial infections occurring after implantation while being highly biocompatible. We applied two different standard tests for evaluating the PEM’s antibacterial properties, the ISO norm (ISO 22196) and one ASTM norm (ASTM E2180) test. We found a reduction of bacterial growth on the PEM but to a different degree depending on the testing method. This result demonstrates the need for defining proper method to evaluate antibacterial properties of surface coatings.

Dioxins, environmentally stable and ubiquitous, have been found to induce metabolic changes especially in lipids and be related to multiple diseases. However, limited study is available on lipid alternations related to human exposure to dioxins. This study aims to explore the serum lipidomic characterization and to understand the underlying mechanisms of adverse health risks associated with dioxin exposure. A lipidomic study integrating nontargeted lipidomics, and targeted free fatty acid (FFA) and acyl-coenzyme A (acyl-CoA) analyses were conducted to investigate the 94 serum samples from two groups of male workers with remarkably different dioxin concentrations. The obtained results exhibited distinct lipidomic signatures between the high and low exposed groups. A total of 37 lipids were identified with the significant changes. The results revealed that dioxin exposure caused accumulations of triglyceride (TG), ceramide (Cer) and sphingoid (So), remodeling of glycerophospholipid (GP), imbalanced FFA metabolism, as well as upregulation of platelet-activating factor (PAF). These findings implied the associations between dioxin exposure and potential adverse health risks including inflammation, apoptosis, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), and liver diseases. This study is the first to explain the associations between dioxin exposure and health effects at the level of lipid metabolism.

Cadmium is a well-known hazardous pollutant that mainly comes from dietary, tobacco and occupational exposure, posing threat to kidney. However, there is still a lack of systematic study on metabolic pathways and urinary biomarkers related to its nephrotoxicity under cadmium exposure for both females and males. In this study, a mass spectrometry-based metabolomics investigation of a cohort of 144 volunteers was conducted to explore sex-specific metabolic alteration and to screen biomarkers related to cadmium-induced nephrotoxicity. When the concentration of urinary cadmium increased, creatine pathway, amino acid metabolism especially the tryptophan metabolism, aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, and purine metabolism were primarily influenced regardless of the gender. Also, the most specific biomarkers linked with nephrotoxicity based on the statistical analysis were detected including creatine, creatinine, l-tryptophan, adenine and uric acid. The study outcome might provide information to reflect the body burden and help improve health policy for risk assessment.

An aqueous protocol was developed for nattokinase purification under scalable conditions using a combination of salting out, anion exchange chromatography and ultra-filtration. The enzyme was firstly washed off from the fermented soybeans. The whole proteins were precipitated by ammonium sulfate and purified by anion exchange chromatography. The purified enzyme was finally refined by size exclusion chromatography and ultra-filtration at laboratory and industry-compatible level, respectively. There was a 476.18-fold increase in enzymatic activity with a 48.3% yield at the laboratory level and 429.75-fold increase in enzymatic activity with a 42.7% yield at the industrial-compatible scale. The protocol was universally adaptive for purifying the fibrinolytic enzymes produced by bacillus tequilensis, bacillus amyloliquefaciens, and bacillus cereus, showing a purification efficiency of 329.76-fold with 42.7% yield, 221.78-fold with 32.5% yield, and 288.56-fold with 38.7% yield, respectively. All procedures are scalable, aqueous, simple, cost-effective, and suitable for fibrinolytic enzymes industrial production.

Cadmium has been widely detected in the environment and various foods. The association between cadmium burden and osteoporosis has been studied in cohorts. However, the effects and mechanisms of environmental cadmium exposure on bone metabolism is poorly understood. This study aims to investigate the altered metabolites in bone cells affected by low-level cadmium by metabolomics analysis. Specifically, we used the dosage of cadmium that do not decrease the cell viability (determined by MTT assay) to treat Saos-2 cells for 24 h. ICP-MS was applied to quantify the cadmium in culture medium and cell precipitate. The cellular metabolites were extracted and analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The pathway analysis based on the identified differential metabolites showed that 1 μM cadmium significantly affected citric acid cycle and malate-aspartate shuttle, while 10 μM cadmium treatment affected citric acid cycle, alanine metabolism, glucose-alanine cycle, pyrimidine metabolism and glutamate metabolism. Taken together, 1 μM cadmium exposure could suppress the electrons transportation from the cytosol to mitochondrial matrix in Saos-2, and the impediment of the electron transport chain further inhibited downstream activities in citric acid cycle, which resulted in the accumulation of pyruvic acid. In addition, the suppressed pyrimidine degradation resulted in senescent nucleic acid accumulation and the decrease of mRNA transcription in Saos-2 cells. In general, our studies unveil the cadmium-induced metabolic perturbations in Saos-2 cells and demonstrate the feasibility of our established metabolomics pipeline to understand cadmium-induced effects on bone.

Polyelectrolyte multi-layer (PEM) coatings are prepared by alternative deposition of single polyelectrolyte monolayers on charged surfaces using the Layer-by-Layer (LbL) dip coating procedure. These are nanometre scaled coatings which allow fulfilling of different technical or biological requirements. The build-up process is based on selfassembly and self-organization of polycations and polyanions on different substrates including complex geometrical structures and even closed volumes, forming homogeneous layer without defects. Depending on the proper selection of the applied polyelectrolytes, coatings with different stabilities can be prepared. Some of the coatings are stable and cannot be removed from the surface. Others are degradable and can be used as systems for controlled local drug delivery. Here we summarise the results of our experience in preparation of PEM coatings with different functionalities. PEM coatings can be used as controllable delivery system for siRNA polyplexes. They can be used to control the adhesion of different cell types on the surfaces and support e.g. the endothelialisation process on cardio-vascular medical devices as e.g. stents or reduce the immunological response of the tissue after implantation. We summarise results from physical characterisation of the coatings (e.g. film thickness, roughness, electrical charge and hydrophilicity) combined with in-vitro biological studies on adhesion of HUVEC cells.

The Phenome-Wide Association Study (PheWAS) is increasingly used to broadly screen for potential treatment effects, e.g., IL6R variant as a proxy for IL6R antagonists. This approach offers an opportunity to address the limited power in clinical trials to study differential treatment effects across patient subgroups. However, limited methods exist to efficiently test for differences across subgroups in the thousands of multiple comparisons generated as part of a PheWAS. In this study, we developed an approach that maximizes the power to test for heterogeneous genotype-phenotype associations and applied this approach to an IL6R PheWAS among individuals of African (AFR) and European (EUR) ancestries. We identified 29 traits with differences in IL6R variant-phenotype associations, including a lower risk of type 2 diabetes in AFR (OR 0.96) vs EUR (OR 1.0, p-value for heterogeneity = 8.5 × 10-3), and higher white blood cell count (p-value for heterogeneity = 8.5 × 10-131). These data suggest a more salutary effect of IL6R blockade for T2D among individuals of AFR vs EUR ancestry and provide data to inform ongoing clinical trials targeting IL6 for an expanding number of conditions. Moreover, the method to test for heterogeneity of associations can be applied broadly to other large-scale genotype-phenotype screens in diverse populations.

In order to conduct dynamic health assessment for the roller bearing and describe the dynamic process of its performance degradation accurately,by using the method of combining the Self-organizing map（ SOM） and restricted Boltzmann machine（ RBM） to implement the health assessment of rolling bearing. With the consideration of degradation induced changes for response features,unsupervised learning scheme based on SOM,with the help of multi-domain feature sets consist of features in time domain,frequency domain and time-frequency domain,the optimal feature domain is constructed by sorting the diverse features adopting the sequential forward selection（ SFS） regulation,the mapping relationship between the selected feature vectors and bearing health status is obtained. To avoid the problems of being easy to be run into local optimum,parameter adjustment difficulties and a long training process,when conducting the learning process using traditional neural network algorithms,the model for health assessment is constructed by using the RBM as an alternative.Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can identify the health status of rolling bearing during the dynamic process of performance degradation with a good engineering applicability.

C16H16BrNO4S, monoclinic, P21/c (no. 14), a = 9.649(4) Å, b = 15.108(4) Å, c = 14.994(5) Å, β = 128.65(2)°, V = 1707.0(11) Å3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.0444, wRref(F2) = 0.0999, T = 293(2) K.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by age-dependent neurodegeneration and the accumulation of toxic phosphorylated [alpha]-synuclein (pS129-[alpha]-syn). The mechanisms underlying these crucial pathological changes remain unclear. Mutations in parkin RBR E3 ubiquitin protein ligase (PARK2), the gene encoding parkin that is phosphorylated by PTEN-induced putative kinase 1 (PINK1) to participate in mitophagy, cause early onset PD. However, current parkin-KO mouse and pig models do not exhibit neurodegeneration. In the current study, we utilized CRISPR/Cas9 technology to establish parkin-deficient monkey models at different ages. We found that parkin deficiency leads to substantia nigra neurodegeneration in adult monkey brains and that parkin phosphorylation decreases with aging, primarily due to increased insolubility of parkin. Phosphorylated parkin is important for neuroprotection and the reduction of pS129-[alpha]-syn. Consistently, overexpression of WT parkin, but not a mutant form that cannot be phosphorylated by PINK1, reduced the accumulation of pS129-[alpha]-syn. These findings identify parkin phosphorylation as a key factor in PD pathogenesis and suggest it as a promising target for therapeutic interventions., Introduction Parkinson's disease (PD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disease that affects 1%-2% of individuals over the age of 65 years (1). Although the majority of PD cases are sporadic with [...]