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Abstract Reinforcement learning (RL) is an effective method in training dialogue policies to steer the conversation towards successful task completion. However, most RL-based methods only rely on semantic inputs that lack empathy as they ignore the user emotional information. Moreover, these methods suffer from delayed rewards caused by the user simulator returning valuable results only at dialogue end. Recently, some methods have been proposed to learn the reward function together with user emotions, but they omit considering user emotion in each dialogue turn. In this paper, we proposed an emotion-sensitive dialogue policy model (ESDP), it incorporates user emotions information into dialogue policy and selects the optimal action by the combination of top-k actions with the user emotions. The user emotion information in each turn is used as an immediate reward for the current dialogue state to solve sparse rewards and the dependency on termination. Extensive experiments validate that our method outperforms the baseline approaches when combined with different Q-Learning algorithms, and also surpasses other popular existing dialog policies’ performance.

The phenomenon of fire or even explosion caused by thermal runaway of lithium-ion power batteries poses a serious threat to the safety of electric vehicles. An in-depth study of the core-material thermal runaway reaction mechanism and reaction chain is a prerequisite for proposing a mechanism to prevent battery thermal runaway and enhance battery safety. In this study, based on a 24 Ah commercial Li(Ni0.6Co0.2Mn0.2)O2/graphite soft pack battery, the heat production characteristics of different state of charge (SOC) cathode and anode materials, the separator, the electrolyte, and their combinations of the battery were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry. The results show that the reaction between the negative electrode and the electrolyte is the main mode of heat accumulation in the early stage of thermal runaway, and when the heat accumulation causes the temperature to reach a certain critical value, the violent reaction between the positive electrode and the electrolyte is triggered. The extent and timing of the heat production behaviour of the battery host material is closely related to the SOC, and with limited electrolyte content, there is a competitive relationship between the positive and negative electrodes and the electrolyte reaction, leading to different SOC batteries exhibiting different heat production characteristics. In addition, the above findings are correlated with the battery failure mechanisms through heating experiments of the battery monomer. The study of the electro-thermal properties of the main materials in this paper provides a strategy for achieving early warning and suppression of thermal runaway in batteries.

Bridging the communication gap between humans and social robots constitutes a critical area of research in the field of human-robot interaction (HRI). However, inducing self-disclosure in HRI is a challenging task, primarily due to the unique characteristics of social robots. This study aims to address the following research question: Can the design expression dimensions that influence user disclosure depth in the HRI process be deconstructed? Do design strategies take precedence over appearance design? Firstly, we segmented the focus of appearance design into three dimensions: Artistic Expression, Featured Expression, and Identified Expression, hypothesizing their level of significance. Subsequently, we created a prototype with balanced degrees for experimentation and invited 52 users to participate in HRI, guiding them to self-disclose and record data. Bayesian statistics were utilized to model the data and obtain comprehensive user feedback regarding appearance design. Based on the experimental results, we reviewed the content and potential order of the three dimensions and proposed our design and research model. Currently, at the theoretical level, there is no significant emphasis on users’ willingness to self-disclose in HRI. Our proposed model serves as a valuable tool for researchers in the fields of human-computer interaction, communication, and user experience design to gain quick insights into this topic. At the practical level, our model has reference significance for industrial and visual designers, enabling them to better comprehend the design goals, situations, and output design methods.

P2-type Mn-based layered oxides have emerged as one of the most promising cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries owing to their advantages of facile preparation and high theoretical capacity. However, challenges such as phase transition and irreversible oxygen release during cycling often lead to rapid structural distortion and the formation of oxygen vacancies, ultimately resulting in rapid capacity decay. Herein, a covalency modulation strategy is adopted to address these challenges and successfully achieved a stable P2-type Mn-based layered oxide by introducing strong covalent Ni─O bonds. The robust Ni─O motif plays a crucial role in maintaining the rigidity of transition metal (TM) layered frameworks, which efficiently alleviates the structural distortion and degradation of the coordination environments of local TM sites, thereby achieving durable structural stiffness over extended cycles. In addition, the strong covalent Ni─O bonds can also stabilize the local oxygen environment, effectively suppressing the irreversible oxygen release. Benefiting from these advancements, the as-designed Na 0.6 Mg 0.15 Mn 0.7 Ni 0.15 O 2 cathode displays a full solid-solution behavior with a low volume change of only 0.9% and an enhanced reversibility of lattice oxygen redox (OR) reaction. This investigation emphasizes the crucial role of covalency modulation in regulating OR chemistry and structural integrity to achieve high-energy-density Mn-based layered oxides., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Edible mushrooms have rich nutrition (e.g., proteins, dietary fibers, polysaccharides) and they can be potential sources of important ingredients in food processing. However, the cultivation of mushroom fruiting bodies needs a relatively long time, and they can be easily polluted during the growth process. At the same time, a lot of labor and larger planting areas are also required. As we all know, submerged fermentation is a good way to produce edible mushroom mycelia with less environmental pollution and small footprint, which are also rich in nutrition and bioactive components that are used as dietary supplements or health care products in the food industry. Therefore, it can be considered that the replacement of edible mushroom fruiting bodies with edible mushroom mycelia produced through submerged fermentation has great application potential in food production. At present, most of the research about edible mushroom mycelia focuses on the production of bioactive metabolites in fermentation liquid, but there are few reports that concentrate on their applications in food. This paper reviews the research progress of submerged culture of edible mushroom mycelia and their applications in food products.

Objectives: This randomized, single-blind, clinical trial compared the effectiveness of multifocal soft contact lenses (MFSCLs), orthokeratology contact lenses (Ortho-kCLs), and single vision spectacles (SVSs) for myopia control., Methods: Sixty-six eligible Chinese subjects, aged 7 to 15 years old with cycloplegic refraction measurements between -1.00 and -8.00 diopters (D), astigmatism not more than 1.00 D, and no history of myopia control treatment, were randomly assigned to wear MFSCLs, Ortho-kCLs, or SVSs for 1 year. For all three groups, baseline measurements of cycloplegic refraction, axial length (AL), and corneal endothelial cell density (CECD) were made. At the 6- and 12-month follow-up visits, changes in cycloplegic refraction, AL, and CECD were measured in the MFSCL and SVS groups. For the Ortho-kCL group, only changes in the AL were measured at 6 and 12 months, and CECD was measured at the 12-month follow-up visit., Results: After 1 year of lens wear, myopia progression of the SVS group, -0.938±0.117 D, was greater than that of the MFSCLs group, -0.591±0.106 D (P=0.032). Thus, MFSCLs reduced the rate of myopia progression by 37.0% compared with the SVSs. The AL elongations after 1 year were 0.30±0.03 mm for MFSCLs (P=0.027 vs SVSs), 0.31±0.04 mm for Ortho-kCLs (P=0.049 vs SVSs), and 0.41±0.04 mm for SVSs. Compared with the SVS group, the reduction in AL elongation was 26.8% and 24.4% in the MFSCL and Ortho-kCL groups, respectively. There were no significant differences in CECD among the three groups (P>0.05)., Conclusions: Compared with SVSs, wearing MFSCLs and Ortho-kCLs significantly delayed myopia progression. MFSCLs and Ortho-kCLs are safe and promising methods of myopia control (chictr.org number, ChiCTR2100048452)., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the Contact Lens Association of Opthalmologists.)

Atherosclerosis is the most common cause of cardiovascular disease globally, associated with a high incidence of clinical events. Accumulating evidence has elucidated that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) as a novel class of transcripts with critical roles in the pathophysiological processes of atherosclerosis. In this review, we summarize the recent progress of lncRNAs in the development of atherosclerosis. We mainly describe the diverse regulatory mechanisms of lncRNAs at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. This study may provide helpful insights about lncRNAs as therapeutic targets or biomarkers for atherosclerosis treatment.

Medical diagnostic imaging is essential for the differential diagnosis of cervical lymphadenopathy. Here we develop an ultrasound radiomics method for accurately differentiating cervical lymph node tuberculosis (LNTB), cervical lymphoma, reactive lymph node hyperplasia, and metastatic lymph nodes especially in the multi-operator, cross-machine, multicenter context. The inter-observer and intra-observer consistency of radiomics parameters from the region of interest were 0.8245 and 0.9228, respectively. The radiomics model showed good and repeatable diagnostic performance for multiple classification diagnosis of cervical lymphadenopathy, especially in LNTB (area under the curve, AUC: 0.673, 0.662, and 0.626) and cervical lymphoma (AUC: 0.623, 0.644, and 0.602) in the whole set, training set, and test set, respectively. However, the diagnostic performance of lymphadenopathy among skilled radiologists was varied (Kappa coefficient: 0.108, * p < 0.001). The diagnostic performance of radiomics is comparable and more reproducible compared with those of skilled radiologists. Our study offers a more comprehensive method for differentiating LNTB, cervical lymphoma, reactive lymph node hyperplasia, and metastatic LN., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Liu, Chen, Zhang, Li, Zhou, Zeng, Zhang, Li, Xv, Li, Zhu, Zhao, Chen, Huang, Li, Huang, Yang and Huang.)

Objective: To evaluate the prognostic value of the percentage of high-grade patterns (micropapillary, solid, and complex glands) in early-stage lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD)., Methods: A total of 1049 patients undergoing radical surgery with pathological T1-2N0M0 LUAD were screened retrospectively, and 191 patients were involved in the final analysis. Disease-free survival (DFS) was evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier curve and Cox regression analysis. The optimal cut-off value was determined using maximally selected rank statistics., Results: The entire cohort was divided into quartile groups based on the percentage of high-grade patterns: Group 1 (≤ 30%), Group 2 (31-55%), Group 3 (56-85%), and Group 4 (≥ 86%). There were significant differences in smoking history (P = 0.041), EGFR mutations (P < 0.001), and ALK rearrangement (P = 0.010) between the four groups, but no significant differences in other clinicopathological features. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that a higher percentage of high-grade patterns predicted worse DFS (P = 0.001), and multivariate analysis indicated that the percentage of high-grade patterns was an independent predictor (Group 2 vs. Group 1, HR = 2.136, P = 0.228; Group 3 vs. Group 1, HR = 3.355, P = 0.035; Group 4 vs. Group 1, HR = 5.147, P = 0.003, respectively). A cut-off value of 20% (P = 0.048) and 50% (P <0.001) for high-grade patterns were tested, and both revealed a significant difference in distinguishing DFS between subgroups., Conclusions: The percentage of high-grade patterns is associated with the prognosis of early-stage invasive LUAD. A higher percentage indicates a worse prognosis., (© 2022. Society of Surgical Oncology.)

Introduction: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a clinical syndrome with several characteristics. Steroid receptor RNA activator (SRA) is a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), which can increase the expression of steroid receptor-dependent gene. This study aimed to explore the changes in metabolic parameters and the predictive value of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to SRA ratios as new indicators in subjects with and without MetS in southern China., Material and Methods: There were 81 participants (39 with MetS and 42 without MetS) in this cross-sectional study. The expression of lncRNAs in PBMCs was evaluated by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The risks of SRA and PBMCs to SRA ratios contributing to the presence of MetS were estimated by univariate and multivariate logistic regression models. The area under the receiver (AUC) operating characteristic curve was employed to evaluate diagnostic accuracy., Results: MetS was positively correlated with cortisol, interleukin 6 (IL-6), white blood cell to SRA ratio (WTSR), lymphocyte to SRA ratio (LTSR), monocyte to SRA ratio (MTSR), and PBMC to SRA ratio (PTSR). A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to assess the value of LTSR (OR: 0.722; p < 0.001) for predicting MetS. The area under the curve yielded a cut-off value of 0.483, with a sensitivity of 76.9% and a specificity of 71.4% (p < 0.001)., Conclusion: In summary, SRA in PBMCs may be an important biomarker of stress reaction and may play a role in vulnerability to MetS. Also, the lymphocyte to SRA ratio demonstrated high accuracy in the diagnosis of MetS.

Purpose: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with chronic stress. miR-18a-5p and miR-22-3p are two miRNAs which can target the glucocorticoid receptor. This study looked at the changes in metabolic parameters and the predictive value of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to stress-associated miRNA ratios as new indicators in subjects with and without MetS in southern China. Patients and Methods . There were 81 participants (39 with MetS and 42 without MetS) in this cross-sectional study. The potential miRNAs were filtrated in the GEO database. The expression of miR-18a-5p and miR-22-3p in PBMCs was evaluated by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The risk of miRNA and PBMCs to stress-associated miRNA ratios contributing to the presence of MetS was estimated by univariate and multivariate logistic regression models. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to evaluate diagnostic accuracy., Results: MetS was positively correlated with cortisol, IL-6, lymphocyte to miR-18a-5p ratio (LT18R), lymphocyte to miR-22-3p ratio (LT22R), monocyte to miR-18a-5p ratio (MT18R), monocyte to miR-22-3p ratio (MT22R), PBMCs to miR-18a-5p ratio (PT18R), and PBMCs to miR-22-3p ratio (PT22R) and negatively associated with the expression levels of miR-18a-5p and miR-22-3p ( P < 0.05). In addition, PT18R (odds ratio: 0.894; 95% CI: 0.823-0.966; P < 0.001) and PT22R (odds ratio: 0.809; 95% CI: 0.717-0.900; P < 0.001) were independent predictors of MetS, respectively. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to assess the value of the PT18R-PT22R (PMR) panel (odds ratio: 0.905; 95% CI: 0.838-0.971; P < 0.001) for predicting MetS. The area under the curve yielded a cut-off value of 0.608, with sensitivity of 74.4% and specificity of 95.2% ( P < 0.001)., Conclusion: In summary, miR-18a-5p and miR-22-3p in PBMCs may be important biomarkers of stress reaction and may play a role in vulnerability to MetS. Besides, the inflammatory cells to the two miRNA ratios demonstrated high accuracy in the diagnosis of MetS., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Yuxiang Huang et al.)

Purpose: To compare the visual outcomes and optical quality of 2 presbyopia-correcting intraocular lenses (IOLs) with those of a monofocal IOL., Settings: Eye Center, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China., Design: Prospective cohort study., Methods: The study included patients who had cataract surgery and were implanted with a Tecnis Symfony Extended Range of Vision (EROV) IOL (ZXR00), a zonal refractive multifocal IOL (Lentis Comfort LS-313 MF15), or a monofocal IOL (Lentis L-313). Postoperative examinations took place at 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months and included visual acuity at far, intermediate, and near distances, defocus curves, contrast sensitivity, wavefront aberrations, and modulation transfer function (MTF). Patients completed the Visual Function Index questionnaire (VF-14), the Quality of Vision questionnaire (QoV), and a visual quality self-evaluation., Results: One hundred thirteen patients were enrolled. The EROV and multifocal IOLs achieved a significantly better range of intermediate vergences (P < .05), better distance-corrected intermediate visual acuity (P ≤ .001), higher VF-14 (P < .05) and visual quality self-evaluation scores (P < .05) than the monofocal IOL, but there were no significant differences between the 2 presbyopia-correcting IOLs. The EROV provided lower total wavefront aberrations and better MTF than the multifocal and the monofocal IOLs (P < .05) but demonstrated a worse QoV score (P < .05), especially for severity of halo (P < .01) and starburst (P < .05) symptoms., Conclusions: Both the Tecnis Symfony ZXR00 and the Lentis Comfort LS-313 MF15 offered excellent visual restoration and stable distance and intermediate visual acuity, good subjective visual function, and good contrast sensitivity. The EROV IOL provided better objective optical quality and more prominent dysphotopsia symptoms than the multifocal IOL.

Metabolic syndrome (MetS), which includes several clinical components such as abdominal obesity, insulin resistance (IR), dyslipidemia, microalbuminuria, hypertension, proinflammatory state, and oxidative stress (OS), has become a global epidemic health issue contributing to a high risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In recent years, microRNAs (miRNAs), used as noninvasive biomarkers for diagnosis and therapy, have aroused global interest in complex processes in health and diseases, including MetS and its components. MiRNAs can exist stably in serum, liver, skeletal muscle (SM), heart muscle, adipose tissue (AT), and β cells, because of their ability to escape the digestion of RNase. Here we first present an overall review on recent findings of the relationship between miRNAs and several main components of MetS, such as IR, obesity, diabetes, lipid metabolism, hypertension, hyperuricemia, and stress, to illustrate the targeting proteins or relevant pathways that are involved in the progress of MetS and also help us find promising novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.