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Background Adequate delivery of hemodialysis (HD), measured by the spKt/V derived from urea reduction, is an important determinant of clinical outcomes in chronic hemodialysis patients. However, the need for pre- and postdialysis blood samples prevented the assessment of spKt/V in every session.Methods This retrospective single-center study was performed on end-stage renal disease (ESKD) patients aged ≥ 18 years who received standard thrice-weekly chronic HD therapy. Eighty-seven variables, including general, intradialytic, and laboratory variables, were collected from the medical records for analysis. Five steps of preprocessing procedure were deployed to select only the most relevant variables. Six binary classification models were developed to predict whether spKt/V was higher than 1.4.Results A total of 1869 HD sessions from 373 ESKD patients were included in this study. The Random Forest model showed the best prediction for dialysis adequacy, with AUROC scores of 0.860 in the validation dataset and 0.873 in the testing dataset. Notably, an accessible model that solely relied on noninvasively collected general and dialysis-related variables maintained high prediction accuracy, with AUROC scores of 0.854 and 0.868 in the validation and testing datasets, respectively. The five most significant predictive variables were vascular access, gender, body mass index, ultrafiltration volume, and dialysis duration.Conclusion The study results suggest that the development of ML models for accurately predicting dialysis adequacy based on general and intradialytic variables is feasible. These models have the potential to be utilized for noninvasive clinical assessments of dialysis adequacy.

Abstract A plateau on the background inflaton potential can lead inflation into the ultraslow-roll (USR) stage, during which the primordial curvature perturbation $${{{\mathscr {R}}}}$$ R can still remarkably evolve outside the horizon. In this paper, the evolution of the Fourier mode $${{{\mathscr {R}}}}_k$$ R k and the resulting power spectrum $${{\mathscr {P}}}_{{{\mathscr {R}}}}(k)$$ P R ( k ) are systematically investigated. It is found that, when a scale crosses the horizon well before or after the USR stage, $${{{\mathscr {R}}}}_k$$ R k only revolves around the origin in the complex plane. In contrast, if a scale crosses the horizon around the start of the USR stage, the argument of $${{{\mathscr {R}}}}_k$$ R k will be nearly frozen and $${{{\mathscr {R}}}}_k$$ R k will have a subsequent linear evolution accordingly, in which it may stop rather near or extremely far away from the origin, naturally explaining the entire growing stage of $${{\mathscr {P}}}_{{{\mathscr {R}}}}(k)$$ P R ( k ) on small scales from the minimum to the peak. Moreover, there is a sharp dip in $${{\mathscr {P}}}_{{{\mathscr {R}}}}(k)$$ P R ( k ) , but the lowest point cannot reach 0 exactly. Our work provides a whole picture for $${{{\mathscr {R}}}}_k$$ R k and $${{\mathscr {P}}}_{{{\mathscr {R}}}}(k)$$ P R ( k ) in the USR inflation and will help our understanding of the relevant primordial black hole and gravitational wave physics.

Abstract Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been recognized as prevalent contributors to the development of inner retinal injuries including optic neuropathies such as glaucoma, non‐arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, traumatic optic neuropathy, and Leber hereditary optic neuropathy, among others. This underscores the pivotal significance of oxidative stress in the damage inflicted upon retinal tissue. To combat ROS‐related challenges, this study focuses on creating an injectable and tissue‐adhesive hydrogel with tailored antioxidant properties for retinal applications. GelCA, a gelatin‐modified hydrogel with photo‐crosslinkable and injectable properties, is developed. To enhance its antioxidant capabilities, curcumin‐loaded polydopamine nanoparticles (Cur@PDA NPs) are incorporated into the GelCA matrix, resulting in a multifunctional nanocomposite hydrogel referred to as Cur@PDA@GelCA. This hydrogel exhibits excellent biocompatibility in both in vitro and in vivo assessments, along with enhanced tissue adhesion facilitated by NPs in an in vivo model. Importantly, Cur@PDA@GelCA demonstrates the potential to mitigate oxidative stress when administered via intravitreal injection in retinal injury models such as the optic nerve crush model. These findings underscore its promise in advancing retinal tissue engineering and providing an innovative strategy for acute neuroprotection in the context of inner retinal injuries.

BackgroundStudies have confirmed that osteoporosis has been considered as one of the complications of diabetes, and the health hazards to patients are more obvious. This study is mainly based on the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database (TNHID). Through the analysis of TNHID, it is shown that the combined treatment of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) medicine in patients of diabetes with osteoporosis (T2DOP) with lower related risks.MethodsAccording to the study design, 3131 patients selected from TNHID who received TCM treatment were matched by 1-fold propensity score according to gender, age, and inclusion date as the control group. Cox proportional hazards analyzes were performed to compare fracture surgery, hospitalization, and all-cause mortality during a mean follow-up from 2000 to 2015.ResultsA total of 1055/1469/715 subjects (16.85%/23.46%/11.42%) had fracture surgery/inpatient/all-cause mortality of which 433/624/318 (13.83%/19.93%/10.16%) were in the TCM group) and 622/845/397 (19.87%/26.99%/12.68%) in the control group. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis showed that subjects in the TCM group had lower rates of fracture surgery, inpatient and all-cause mortality (adjusted HR = 0.467; 95% CI = 0.225-0.680, PConclusionThis study provides longitudinal evidence through a cohort study of the value of integrated TCM for T2DOP. More research is needed to fully understand the clinical significance of these results.

Breast cancer (BC) remains the foremost cause of cancer mortality globally, with neutrophils playing a critical role in its pathogenesis. As an essential tumor microenvironment (TME) component, neutrophils are emerging as pivotal factors in BC progression. Growing evidence has proved that neutrophils play a Janus- role in BC by polarizing into the anti-tumor (N1) or pro-tumor (N2) phenotype. Clinical trials are evaluating neutrophil-targeted therapies, including Reparixin (NCT02370238) and Tigatuzumab (NCT01307891); however, their clinical efficacy remains suboptimal. This review summarizes the evidence regarding the close relationship between neutrophils and BC, emphasizing the critical roles of neutrophils in regulating metabolic and immune pathways. Additionally, we summarize the existing therapeutic approaches that target neutrophils, highlighting the challenges, and affirming the rationale for continuing to explore neutrophils as a viable therapeutic target in BC management.

Abstract Background Diabetes with co-existing bone fragility or osteoporosis is common in elderly patients, whereas is frequently underestimated. Methods We conducted dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) with 7-site skinfold (SF) and dominant hand grip strength measurements among patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) to assess their gender-specific associations. A total of 103 patients with T2DM (60 females and 43 males), aged between 50 and 80 years (median 68.0 years) were enrolled and 45 non-DM females were also included to compare with T2DM females. Results Our results revealed osteoporosis was negatively correlated with grip strength in both genders, negatively correlated with lean mass solely in males and negatively correlated with fat mass (particular the gynoid fat mass and thigh SF thickness) in females. Via performing multivariable stepwise logistic regression, we identified grip strength in both genders and thigh SF thickness in females as predictors for osteoporosis. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis further disclosed 20.5 mm female thigh skinfold thickness, 18.1 kg female grip strength and 29.0 kg male grip strength as reasonable cutoff levels for predicting osteoporosis in the Taiwanese patients with T2DM. Conclusions Patients with T2DM presented gender-specific associations between osteoporosis, body composition and grip strength. Grip strength and thigh SF thickness might serve as predictors for detection of osteoporosis in patients with T2DM.

ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical characteristics and HLA genotypes of patients with immune checkpoint inhibitor-associated diabetes mellitus (ICI-DM) in China.MethodsWe enrolled 23 patients with ICI-DM and 51 patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D). Clinical characteristics of the patients were collected. HLA-DRB1, HLA-DQA1, and HLA-DQB1 genotyping was conducted via next-generation sequencing.ResultsThe ICI-DM patients had a male predominance (70.6%), a mean body mass index (BMI) of 21.2 ± 3.5 kg/m2, and a mean onset of ICI-DM in 5 (IQR, 3-9) cycles after ICI therapy. Most (78.3%) ICI-DM patients were treated with anti-PD-1, 78.3% presented with diabetic ketoacidosis, and all had low C-peptide levels and received multiple insulin injections. Compared to T1D patients, ICI-DM patients were significantly older (57.2 ± 12.4 vs 34.1 ± 15.7 years) and had higher blood glucose but lower HbA1c levels (P

For more practical applications, a simple decentralized $H_{\infty }$ proportional-integral-derivative (PID) team formation tracking strategy is proposed in this study for large-scale stochastic quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) under external disturbance, intrinsic stochastic fluctuation and trailing vortex coupling. By adopting the virtual leader concept, the reference trajectory of each UAV is generated by the combination of virtual leader trajectory with a specific time-varying formation offset to form a desired flight formation shape. Then, by using the proposed optimal $\text{H}_{\infty }$ decentralized PID controller, each UAV can efficiently attenuate the effect of external disturbance and trailing vortex coupling from the neighboring quadrotor UAVs on the team formation reference tracking performance simultaneously. To avoid solving a complex nonlinear Hamiltion Jacobi inequality (HJI) for PID control of each UAV, the Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy method is employed to interpolate several local linearized UAVs to approximate the nonlinear stochastic quadrotor UAV system so that the HJI can be transformed to a set of bilinear matrix inequalities (BMIs). By using novel variable transformation method, the optimal decentralized $\text{H}_{\infty }$ PID team formation tracking control problem of large-scale UAVs can be independently designed in terms of a set of independent LMIs-constrained optimization problems for each quadrotor UAV. Further, to simplify the design procedure in a single run, the large amount of decentralized $\text{H}_{\infty }$ PID controller parameters for each quadrotor UAV in the team formation can be efficiently obtained via the current convex optimization technique without any conventional parameter tuning procedure for PID design. Finally, a simulation example of team formation reference tracking control for 25 quadrotor UAVs with external disturbance and vortex coupling is given to validate the team formation tracking performance of the proposed decentralized $\text{H}_{\infty }$ PID tracking control method in comparison with conventional decentralized $H_{\infty }$ T-S fuzzy tracking control scheme.

In the domain of environmental science, pollutants of nanoscale plastic dimensions are acknowledged as subjects of intricate significance. Such entities, though minuscule, present formidable challenges to ecological systems and human health. The diminutive dimensions of these contaminants render their detection arduous, thus demanding the inception of avant-garde methodologies. The present manuscript postulates the employment of the tetraphenylethylene functional group with a fused xanthene (TPEF), a distinguished fluorophore, as an exemplary system for the discernment of nanoplastic particulates. The synthesis and characterization of TPEF have been exhaustively elucidated, revealing its paramount fluorescence attributes and inherent affinity for interaction with nanoplastics. When subjected to comparison with TPEF, nanoplastics are observed to manifest a more pronounced fluorescent luminescence than when associated with the conventional Nile Red (NR). Particularly, the TPEF has shown exceptional affinity for polystyrene (PS) nanoplastics. Further, the resilience of nanoplastics within the hypocotyl epidermis of soybeans, as well as their persistence in mung bean sprouts subsequent to rigorous rinsing protocols, has been meticulously examined. Additionally, this investigation furnishes empirical data signifying the existence of nano-dimensional plastic contaminants within HeLa cellular structures. The urgency of addressing the environmental ramifications engendered by these diminutive yet potent plastic constituents is emphatically highlighted in this manuscript. TPEF paves the way for prospective explorations, with the aspiration of devising efficacious mitigation strategies. Such strategies might encompass delineating the trajectories undertaken by nanoplastics within trophic networks or their ingress into human cellular architectures.

Abstract We report the generation of frequency-uncorrelated photon pairs from counter-propagating spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a periodically-poled KTP waveguide. The joint spectral intensity of photon pairs is characterized by measuring the corresponding stimulated process, namely, the difference frequency generation process. The experimental result shows a clear uncorrelated joint spectrum, where the backward-propagating photon has a narrow bandwidth of 7.46 GHz and the forward-propagating one has a bandwidth of 0.23 THz like the pump light. The heralded single-photon purity estimated through Schmidt decomposition is as high as 0.996, showing a perspective for ultra-purity and narrow-band single-photon generation. Such unique feature results from the backward-wave quasi-phase-matching condition and does not has a strict limitation on the material and working wavelength, thus fascinating its application in photonic quantum technologies.

Abstract Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. Patients with cancer are more likely to incur poor clinical outcomes. Due to the prevailing pandemic, we propose some surgical strategies for gastric cancer patients. Methods The ‘COVID-19’ period was defined as occurring between 2020 and 01-20 and 2020-03-20. The enrolled patients were divided into two groups, pre-COVID-19 group (PCG) and COVID-19 group (CG). A total of 109 patients with gastric cancer were enrolled in this study. Results The waiting time before admission increased by 4 days in the CG (PCG: 4.5 [IQR: 2, 7.8] vs. CG: 8.0 [IQR: 2,20]; p = 0.006). More patients had performed chest CT scans besides abdominal CT before admission during the COVID-19 period (PCG: 22 [32%] vs. CG: 30 [73%], p = 0.001). After admission during the COVID period, the waiting time before surgery was longer (PCG: 3[IQR: 2,5] vs. CG: 7[IQR: 5,9]; p

Background: The sputum Gram stain is an inexpensive, rapid, and convenient laboratory method that predicts the bacterial pathogens in patients with pneumonia. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of this method in predicting sputum culture results for critically ill pediatric patients. Methods: From June 2008 to June 2018, patients with pneumonia with an endotracheal or a tracheostomy tube in place in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Changhua Christian Hospital were enrolled retrospectively. Sputum was collected from each patient via the artificial airway for Gram stain and culture evaluations of bacterial pathogens. Mixed culture results were excluded. A successful prediction was defined as a match of the sputum Gram stain and culture results. Results: A total of 622 records were reviewed, of which 542 were analyzed. Haemophilus influenzae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Streptococcus pneumoniae were the three most common pathogens found. The overall prediction success rate of the sputum Gram stain was 59.23%. The sensitivity of the method in predicting gram-negative bacilli (GNB), gram-negative cocci (GNC), and gram-positive cocci (GPC) was 0.45, 0.67, and 0.61, respectively. Its specificity in predicting GNB, GNC, and GPC was 0.87, 0.98, and 0.87, respectively. Its positive likelihood ratio in predicting GNB, GNC, and GPC was 3.46, 33.50, and 4.69, respectively. The highest prediction success rate among all pathogens was for GNC. Conclusion: The sputum Gram stain had high specificity and relatively low sensitivity in predicting the bacterial pathogens in critically ill pediatric patients. Its high specificity in predicting sputum culture results means that clinicians can confidently use sputum Gram stain results to guide their antibiotic choice for treatment.

Background: Streptococcus suis (SS) is a major swine pathogen and a serious zoonotic pathogen causing septicemia and meningitis in piglets and humans. Using an immunoproteomic approach, we previously brought evidence that ornithine carbamoytransferase (OCT) may represent a vaccine candidate to protect against S. suis biofilm-related and acute infections. Method: In this study, the gene encoding OCT was cloned into the expression vector pET-28a and the recombinant protein was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21. The immunogenicity and protective efficacy of the SS OCT was further investigated in a mouse model. Results: The protein was found to be expressed in vivo and elicited high antibody titers following SS infections in mice. An animal challenge experiment with SS showed that 62.5% of mice immunized with the OCT protein were protected. Using an in vitro competitive adherence inhibition assay of adherence, evidence was obtained that OCT could significantly reduce the number of SS cells adhered to porcine kidney PK-15 cells. The bacterial levels recovered in mice of the OCT immunized group were significantly decreased in some organs, compared with the control group. Conclusion: In summary, our results suggest that the recombinant SS OCT protein, which is involved in bacterial adherence, may efficiently stimulate an immune response conferring protection against SS infections. It may therefore be considered as a potential vaccine candidate, although further studies are necessary to evaluate their use in swine. Keywords: Strepcotoccus suis, Ornithine carbamoyltransferase, Adherence, Vaccine

Optical quantum network plays an important role in large scale quantum communication. However, different components for photon generation, transmission, storage and manipulation in network usually cannot interact directly due to the wavelength and bandwidth differences, and thus interfaces are needed to overcome such problems. We propose an optical interface for frequency down-conversion and bandwidth compression based on the counter-propagating quasi-phase-matching difference frequency generation process in the periodically-poled lithium niobate on insulator waveguide. We prove that a separable spectral transfer function can be obtained only by choosing proper pump bandwidth, thus relaxing the limitation of material, dispersion, and working wavelength as a result of the counter-propagation phase-matching configuration. With numerical simulations, we show that our design results in a nearly separable transfer function with the Schmidt number very close to 1. With proper pump bandwidth, an photon at central wavelength of 550 nm with a bandwidth ranging from 50 GHz to 5 THz can be converted to a photon at central wavelength of 1,545 nm with a much narrower bandwidth of 33 GHz.

Nitrobenzene oxidation was executed utilizing an innovative method, in which Ag/Pb3O4 semiconductors irradiated by visible light were used for activation of persulfate into sulfate radicals. Batch mode experiments were accomplished to elucidate the effect of persulfate concentrations and Ag/Pb3O4 dosages on the nitrobenzene oxidation behaviors. The physicochemical properties of original and reacted Ag/Pb3O4 were illustrated by X-ray diffraction analyses, UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectra, FE-SEM images, EDS analyses, photoluminescence spectra and X-ray photoelectron spectra, respectively. The main oxidant was hypothesized to be sulfate radicals, induced from persulfate caused by photocatalysis of Ag/Pb3O4. It was clearly reflected on the scavenging experiments with addition of benzene, ethanol and methanol individually. As far as degradation pathways concerned, nitrobenzene was essentially transformed into hydroxycyclohexadienyl radicals, and sequentially converted to 2-nitrophenol, 3-nitrophenol or 4-nitrophenol simultaneously. Denitration of nitrophenols gave rise to synthesis of phenol, followed with generation of hydroquinone and p-benzoquinone.

The coherent superposition of position states in a quantum walk (QW) can be precisely engineered towards the desired distributions to meet the need of quantum information applications. The coherent distribution can make full use of quantum parallel in computation and simulation. Particularly, the uniform superposition provides the robust nonlocality, which has wide applications such as the generation of genuine multibit random numbers without postprocessing. We experimentally demonstrate that the rich dynamics featured with arbitrary coherent distributions can be obtained by introducing different sets of the time- and position-dependent operations. Such a QW is realized by a resource-constant and flexible optical circuit, in which the variable operation is executed based on a Sagnac interferometer in an intrinsically stable and precisely controlled way. Our results contribute to the practical realization of quantum-walk-based quantum computation, quantum simulations, and quantum information protocols.

The development of exciplex-type hosts for thermally activated delayed fluorescence organic light-emitting diodes is hindered by a lack of structural information for these donor:acceptor blends. Here, the authors report the pump-probe Step-Scan Fourier transform IR spectra for a D:A exciplex host.

Royal jelly (RJ) is known as a functional food for its diverse health-beneficial properties and complicated chemical compositions. Trans-10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10-HDA) is the exclusive lipid component in RJ. In the present study, the in vitro anti-inflammatory effect of 10-HDA in LTA (Lipoteichoic acid from Staphylococcus aureus) induced RAW 264.7 macrophages are evaluated. The results showed that 10-HDA had potent, dose-dependent inhibitory effects on the release of major inflammatory mediators and NO. Several key inflammatory genes, including IL-1β, IL-6, MCP-1 and COX-2 have also been suppressed by 10-HDA. Furthermore, the effects of 10-HDA on LTA-induced pulmonary damage were also examined in mice. It was found that the administration of 10-HDA (100 mg/kg) can provide protective effects by attenuating lung histopathological changes and modulating the secretion of LTA-stimulated inflammatory cytokines in mice, such as IL-10, MCP-1 and TNF-α. Conclusively, the results reveal the potent anti-inflammatory properties of 10-HDA and provide biological information for the future application.

Caryophyllata Flos or clove is widely used as a condiment and in Chinese medicine. It reportedly helps relieve asthma and allergies; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In particular, the mechanism affecting dendritic cells (DCs), which play a critical role in the immune response, remains unknown. In this study, we examine the effects of Caryophyllata Flos methanolic extract (CFME) and its major compound, eugenol, on DC functions. Our results showed that CFME and eugenol significantly inhibited DC activation and maturation. The IC50s of CFME and eugenol were approximately 25 µg/mL and 50 µM, respectively. CFME and eugenol halted T-cell proliferation. Contact hypersensitivity responses were inhibited in mice cosensitized with either CFME or eugenol. We demonstrated for the first time that clove and its major active ingredient, eugenol, exhibited a significant immunosuppressive effect on DC functions, revealing that clove is a functional food that can ameliorate chronic inflammation and autoimmunity.

Royal jelly (RJ), a hive product with versatile pharmacological activities, has been used as a traditional functional food to prevent or treat inflammatory diseases. However, little is known about the anti-inflammatory effect of RJ in microglial cells. The aim of this study is to assess the anti-inflammatory effects of RJ in lipopolysaccharide- (LPS-) induced murine immortalized BV-2 cells and to explore the underlying molecular mechanisms. Our results showed that in LPS-stimulated BV-2 cells, RJ significantly inhibited iNOS and COX-2 expression at mRNA and protein levels. The mRNA expression of IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α was also downregulated by RJ in a concentration-dependent manner. Additionally, RJ protected BV-2 cells against oxidative stress by upregulating heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) expression and by reducing reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO) production. Mechanistically, we found that RJ could alleviate inflammatory response in microglia by suppressing the phosphorylation of IκBα, p38, and JNK and by inhibiting the nucleus translocation of NF-κB p65. These findings suggest that RJ might be a promising functional food to delay inflammatory progress by influencing the microglia function.

Uraria crinita is used as a functional food ingredient. Little is known about the association between its immunomodulatory activity and its metabolites. We applied a precise strategy for screening metabolites using immunomodulatory fractions from a U. crinata root methanolic extract (UCME) in combination with bioactivity-guided fractionation and NMR-based identification. The fractions from UCME were evaluated in terms of their inhibitory activity against the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and TNF-α) by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated mouse bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDC). The role of the isoflavone genistein was indicated by the 1H NMR profiling of immunomodulatory subfractions (D-4 and D-5) and supported by the result that genistein-knockout subfractions (D-4 w/o and D-5 w/o) had a lower inhibitory activity compared to genistein-containing subfractions. This study suggests that genistein contributes to the immunomodulatory activity of UCME and will help in the standardization of functional food.