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Introduction: The present study aimed to analyze the clinical features and laboratory markers of patients with Delta variant SARS-CoV-2 and explore the role of platelet in predicting the severity of Delta. Methods: This retrospective, observational study was conducted on 863 patients laboratory-confirmed Delta variant SARS-CoV-2. These cases were sub-classified based on disease severity into mild (n = 304), moderate (n = 537), and severe (n = 22). A series of laboratory findings and clinical data were collected and analyzed during hospitalization. Results: Of 863 hospitalized patients with Delta, the median age was 38 years (interquartile range, 30–51 years) and 471 (54.58%) were male. The most common clinical symptoms mainly included cough, fever, pharyngalgia, expectoration, dyspnea, fatigue, and headache, and the commonest comorbidities were hypertension and diabetes. Among the hematological variables, neutrophil count, red blood cell count, and hemoglobin, were found to be statistically significant with regard to subcategories based of disease severity (p < 0.05). Among coagulation parameters, there was a statistically significant difference in D-dimer, fibrinogen, international normalized ratio, and prothrombin time (p < 0.05). Statistically significant differences were observed in platelet markers including platelet count, large platelet count, and plateletcrit (p < 0.05). Additionally, there was strong correlation between platelet and other parameters with disease severity. Logistical regression analysis and ROC curves showed that D-dimer was a single best marker of disease severity (p = 0.005, p < 0.0001); however, platelet (p = 0.009, p = 0.002) and plateletcrit (p = 0.002, p = 0.001) could also predict severe disease. Platelet was identified as an independent risk factor for severe Delta. Conclusion: Low platelet may be a marker of disease severity in Delta variant SARS-CoV-2 and may contribute to determine the severity of patients infected with Delta.

A large body of literature has identified that circular RNAs play critical roles in regulating the occurrence and development of cardiovascular disease. In the present study, we intended to provide new ideas and perspectives on the functional role of circ-CBFB in hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R)-injured cardiomyocytes. We observed that circ-CBFB expression was enhanced which was accompanied by a miR-495-3p reduction in response to H/R exposure. Functionally, deletion of circ-CBFB obviously potentiated cell viability and restrained cell apoptosis, which was accompanied by a remarkable elevation of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 but the repression of proapoptotic Bax and cleaved caspase-3 in response to H/R. Additionally, the absence of circ-CBFB dramatically prohibited H/R-evoked cardiomyocyte oxidative stress, as revealed by a decrease in reactive oxygen species overproduction, diminution in MAD content, and enhancement in SOD, CAT, and GSH-Px activities. Moreover, elimination of circ-CBFB resulted in improvement of mitochondrial dysfunction, as assessed by mitochondrial membrane potential, adenosine triphosphate production, and the release of cyto-c. Interestingly, circ-CBFB inversely regulated miR-495-3p expression via acting as a competing endogenous RNA. VDAC1 was identified to be a functional target of miR-495-3p and positively modulated by circ-CBFB. Mechanically, dissipation of miR-495-3p or augmentation of VDAC1 manifestly counteracted the beneficial effects of circ-CBFB knockdown on H/R-elicited cardiomyocyte insult. Collectively, these observations demonstrated that absence of circ-CBFB offered cardio-protection against H/R-triggered cardiomyocyte injury by relieving apoptosis, oxidative stress, and mitochondria dysfunction through miR-495-3p/VDAC1 axis. This work unveiled an innovative axis of circ-CBFB/miR-495-3p/VDAC1 in H/R-challenged cardiomyocyte damage, exerting its potential in providing new thoughts in acute myocardial infarction management.

Neonatal pneumonia is a high neonatal mortality disease. The current research was designed to elucidate the modulatory function and feasible molecular mechanism of UCA1 in LPS-induced injury in pneumonia. Herein, LPS was applied to induce WI-38 cell inflammatory damage. We displayed that UCA1 was elevated in LPS-injured WI-38 cells. In the functional aspect, intervention of UCA1 evidently aggrandized cell viability in LPS-triggered WI-38 cells. In the meanwhile, elimination of UCA1 distinctly assuaged cell apoptosis concomitant with declined levels of proapoptotic proteins Bax and C-caspase-3, and ascended the expression of antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2. Subsequently, disruption of UCA1 manifestly restrained inflammatory damage as characterized by declination of multiple pro-inflammatory factors IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α in WI-38 cells under LPS circumstance. More importantly, we predicted and verified that UCA1 functioned as a ceRNA by efficaciously binding to miR-499b-5p thereby inversely adjusting miR-499b-5p expression. Interesting, TLR4 was identified as direct target of miR-499b-5p, and positively regulated by UCA1 through sponging miR-499b-5p. Mechanistically, absence of miR-499b-5p or restoration of TLR4 impeded the beneficial effects of UCA1 ablation on LPS-stimulated apoptosis and inflammatory response. Collectively, these observations illuminated that UCA1 inhibition protected WI-38 cells against LPS-managed inflammatory injury and apoptosis process via miR-499b-5p/TLR4 crosstalk, which ultimately influencing the development of pneumonia.

BackgroundA novel variant of SARS-CoV-2, the Delta variant of concern (VOC), on disease severity is very unclear. In this retrospective study, we compared the clinical characteristics and the outcomes of patients infected with the Delta VOC and with wild-type strains during the local outbreak in Xi'an and Wuhan, China.MethodsThe clinical information pertaining to the 2927 cases (between February 10 and March 8, 2020) infected with wild-type strains and the 993 cases (between December 22, 2021and February 17, 2022) infected with the Delta VOC were extracted. The clinical characteristics and outcomes were compared the cohort of wild-type infection with the cohort of Delta VOC.ResultsAmong patients younger than 18 years old, the proportion of patients infected with the Delta VOC was significantly higher than that of patients infected with wild-type strains (12.2% vs. 0.3%). In cases with mild and moderate illness, the proportion of patients was higher in the Delta VOC group than that in the wild-type strain (40.9% and 56.6% vs. 0.70% and 3.10%). However, in severe and critical patients, the proportion of patients was significantly less in the Delta VOC group than that in the wild-type strain (1.6% and 0.9% vs. 24.2% and 72.0%). In cases with severe or critical illness, and in the Delta VOC cohort or the wild-type cohort, the prognosis of patients with lymphocytes blood levels that gradually rising is good after treatment, while the prognosis of patients with lymphocytes blood levels that remain low is poor and even death(pConclusionsUnder the two different anti-epidemic situations and anti-epidemic strategies, infection with the Delta VOC is characterized by younger patients, milder illness, and decreased risk of disease prognosis, compared with the SARS-CoV-2 wild-type lineage; lymphopenia is an effective predictor of deterioration in patients with Delta VOC and wild-type strains, calling for clinicians to understand of characteristics of them according to the different anti-epidemic situations and anti-epidemic strategies, and to guide clinical decision-making.

Photonic crystal processing was performed using nanosphere lithography as a low-cost procedure to enhance the quantum efficiency of AlGaN-based ultraviolet light emitting diodes. Spectral transmissivity/reflectivity and photoluminescence measurements, in conjunction with finite-element modeling and electromagnetic simulations, provide an indication of radiance enhancement with a photonic crystal periodicity comparable to the emission wavelength. To recondition the plasma-damaged sidewalls, post-processing methods based on high temperature annealing and surface treatment were evaluated, which in general, established a significant increase in light extraction efficiency. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy clarified the formation of surface oxides and hydroxides on the as-fabricated nanostructures, and their dissolution after wet-chemical processing is linked to enhanced optical output. Hydroxyl-termination was found to prevail after KOH etching, but significantly reduced after HCl or H3PO4 treatment. The two-step sequence of HCl followed by KOH treatment provided the best quality nanotextured surface for optical emission in this study, as indicated by the nearly 14.5-fold enhancement in photoluminescence intensity. Keywords: Photonic crystals, Ray tracing, Photoluminescence, Periodic nanostructures, Etching, Heat treatment

When it comes to the detection of defects in small-diameter tube, eddy current testing (ECT) using Bobbin probe is the traditional method. Although this way is quite efficient, it is not available to obtain the circumferential information of the defect due to its inherent disadvantage. In this study, a novel probe has been proposed which can obtain both axial and circumferential information of defects, still with high efficiency. During testing, the probe carries out axial scan for defect searching in axial direction, and when defect is discovered, the circumferential eccentric rotating scan module will be executed. Thus, this novel probe can achieve multiple defect information with high efficiency. The specific research contents are as follows. Firstly, the eccentric and rotatable EC probe is designed suitably for small-diameter tubes, with the simulation model built up for signal analysis. Then, the feasibility of this novel probe is verified by integrating the obtained simulation data, showing the advantages of the developed probe for obtaining both axial and circumferential multiple information of defects in small-diameter tube. Finally, the novel probe is fabricated, and the testing system is established. The corresponding experiments are conducted, certifying the superiority and efficiency of the new type of probe further.

Fe–rich BaFe0.7Co0.2Nb0.1O3–δ (BFCNb) oxide has been evaluated as the highly active cathode catalyst for IT–SOFC. Cubic structure with space group of Pm3 m is achieved through Co and Nb co–doping at B–sites of BaFeO3–δ. Though BFCNb exhibits poor electronic conductivity, the oxygen non–stoichiometry (δ) was demonstrated to be as high as 0.564–0.602 at 600–800 °C. Such high oxygen vacancy concentration obviously facilitates the catalytic activation for oxygen reduction. As expected, the BFCNb cathode exhibits excellent electrochemical performance: the polarization resistance of 0.017–0.056 Ω cm2 is achieved at 800–700 °C for BFCNb cathode on GDC electrolyte; the power output for a 300–μm–thick GDC supported single cell with BFCNb cathode attains 583–320 mW cm−2 at 800–700 °C and 0.5 V. However, the SOFC exhibits a performance loss of ~1.7%–0.86% after a 40 h short–term stability test. This may be due to the agglomeration of the BFCNb cathode particles and/or the strong chemical expansion of the BFCNb cathode.

Massive Multiple Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) have been very popular among children, juveniles, and adults since MMORPGs’ appearance in this digital age. MMORPGs can be applied to enhancing language learning, which is drawing researchers’ attention from different fields and many studies have validated MMORPGs’ positive effect on language learning. However, there are few studies on the underlying behavioral or neural mechanism of such effect. This paper reviews the educational application of the MMORPGs based on relevant macroscopic and microscopic studies, showing that gamers’ overall language proficiency or some specific language skills can be enhanced by real-time online interaction with peers and game narratives or instructions embedded in the MMORPGs. Mechanisms underlying the educational assistant role of MMORPGs in second language learning are discussed from both behavioral and neural perspectives. We suggest that attentional bias makes gamers/learners allocate more cognitive resources towards task-related stimuli in a controlled or an automatic way. Moreover, with a moderating role played by activation of reward circuit, playing the MMORPGs may strengthen or increase functional connectivity (FC) from seed regions such as left anterior insular/frontal operculum (AI/FO) and visual word form area (VWFA) to other language-related brain areas.

SVM has got very good results in the area of solving the classification, regression and density estimation problem in machine learning, has been successfully applied to practical problems of text recognition, speech classification, but the training time is too long is a big drawback. A new reduction strategy is proposed for training support vector machines. This method is fast in convergence without learning machine’s generalization performance, the results of simulation experiments show the feasibility and effectiveness of that method through this method.

To understand the incidence and trend of malaria in Xuzhou City, so as to provide the evidence for formulating the malaria control measures.The information of network reported malaria cases and epidemiological data were collected and analyzed statistically in Xuzhou City from 2010-2013.A total of 109 malaria cases were reported by the special report systems and the network report system in Xuzhou City from 2010 to 2013, in which there were 44 cases (40.37%) of vivax malaria, 62 cases (56.88%) of falciparum malaria, 2 cases (1.83%) of quartan malaria, 1 case (0.92%) of ovale malaria. The latter three were all imported from other countries. Totally 93 cases (85.32%) were confirmed by laboratory, and other 16 cases (14.68%) were diagnosed clinically. There was the incidence throughout the year and there were no obvious seasonal characteristics. The positive rate of blood test in the floating population was significantly higher than that of the local residents (Χ2 = 868.23, P0.01).The malaria endemic situation is in the steady decline period in Xuzhou City. The local infections decrease significantly but the imported falciparum malaria cases increase year by year. Therefore, the management for floating population and fever patients should be strengthened.

In this work, we used R-Soft software to simulate the coupling between multi-core photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) with different core diameters and distances. The simulation results show that the core distance within two wavelengths, different core diameters between the mode fields can be effectively coupled. The results are consistent with the evanescent wave propagation length of calculation. According to the designed structure based on the high temperature melting method, the multi-core PCF can be obtained by using two times technique of the optical fiber drawing tower. The core production of (2-, 7-, 19-core PCF) of coherent synthesis experiment, observed apparent interference fringes in the experiment, which shows that the mode fields of the multiple cores meet the coherent conditions. This article provides a theoretical basis and guidance to effectively achieve a coherent coupling for the further design and preparation of multi-core fibers (more than 19 cores).

The title complex, [Cu2(Hcac)(H2O)2] (H3cac = cyanuric acid, C3HN3O3), has been synthesized hydro­thermally. The dinuclear complex is generated from a unique half-mol­ecule by twofold symmetry; it contains a bridging Hcac mol­ecule connected to two copper(I) atoms, each of which is covalently bonded to a water mol­ecule in a linear geometry.

The growth and harvest of crops are closely related to photosynthesis and plants have strong absorption of red and blue light, in which red light has helminthic function. So it is very meaningful to transform the rest light in the vertical element of sunlight into red and blue light. The authors can simulate artificial light environment in order to develop green agriculture and increase production of plants. As we all know, rare-earth doped Eu3+ glass materials have wavelength conversion function. Based on the two views of the above, in this paper, the authors have prepared doped Eu3+ cadmium aluminium silicate glasses by high temperature solid-state reaction method. The absorption spectra, excitation spectra, emission spectra are obtained by experiment at room temperature, in which have strong red and blue emissions. Gain the best concentration of doping corresponding to the strongest absorption peak. The charge-transfer band (CT band)is moved to 320 nm (red shift)due to the addition of Cd2+. By changing alkali metal ions, we can adjust and mix different intensity of blue light according to the demand. Based on J-O theory, we can gain the structure order of samples by calculating intensity parameter omega2 and omega4.

The cadmium silicate glass samples of 40SiO 2 -14Al 2 O 3 -(40-x) CdO-2Li 2 O-2K 2 O-2Na 2 O-xEr 2 O 3 (x=0.15, 0.20, 0.25, 0.30, 0.35, 0.40 mol) was prepared by high-temperature solid-state reaction method, and it is pumped at 488 nm, 532 nm and 800 nm respectively. The results indicate that the main peak wavelengths are at 547 nm, 731 nm and 1534 nm excited at 488 nm. The relationship of the intensity between the emission light of 731 nm and Er3 + -doped concentration is nonlinear. Near-infrared light nearby 1534 nm is excited at 532 nm and 800 nm, but it is weaker at 800 nm. The glass samples open a outlook of application for conversion luminescence materials.

We have prepared (40SiO 2 -14Al 2 O 3 -(40-x) CdO-2Li 2 O-2K 2 O-2Na 2 O -x Eu 2 O 3 ) cadmium aluminium silicate glasses doped with europium by high temperature solid-state reaction method. The absorption spectra, excitation spectra, emission spectra are obtained. With the increase of Eu 2 O 3 , the absorption peaks are founded increasing to the best doped concentration and then reducing, which is nonlinear relationship. The charge-transfer band is moved to 320 nm due to the addition of Cd 2+ . We can see that the ratio of peak in 591 nm and 615 nm is 0.6-0.75 in general, and is unrelated to doped concentration. By changing concentration of Eu 3+ .We can adjust and mix different intensity of light according to the demand.

Using an improved borosilicate glass with small third-order optical nonlinearities, i.e., nonlinear refractive index (NLRI) and nonlinear absorption coefficient (NLAC), as the matrix and comparative glass, two types of Ho 3+ -doped glass are prepared with a solid-phase smelting process at a relatively low temperature, and their third-order optical nonlinearities are measured by the closed-aperture Z-scan technique using nanosecond laser pulses at 532nm wavelength. It is found that the matrix glass possesses a positive third-order NLRI and a positive third-order NLAC, and both the third-order NLRI and NLAC of Ho 3+ -doped glasses are one order larger than those of the matrix glass, respectively. Also, an open-aperture Z-scan experiment and an optical limiting experiment further demonstrate that the Ho 3+ -doped glasses have a high third-order NLAC. All the experimental results show that this Ho 3+ -doped glasses have good protection performance for the 532nm-laser.

The glass samples of SiO 2 -Al 2 O 3 -CdO-Li 2 O-K 2 O-Na 2 O with different Nd 3+ -doped concentration are prepared by high-temperature solid-state reaction method, and test the absorption spectrums as well as emission spectrum excited at 488 nm, 532 nm and 808 nm. The third-order optical nonlinear properties of glasses samples are investigated by the z-scan technique. With the increment of doping concentration of Nd 3+ , the third-order nonlinear refractive index and the absorption index increase, so it belongs to the self-focusing and reverse saturated absorption medium. The glass samples open a outlook of application for nonlinear optical medium and excellent luminescence materials.