In Taiwan, mountainous areas account for approximately two-thirds of the total area. The steep terrain and concentrated rainfall during typhoons cause landslides, which pose a considerable threat to mountain settlements. Therefore, models for analyzing rainfall-induced landslide hazards are urgently required to ensure adequate land use in mountainous areas. In this study, focusing on Pingtung County in southern Taiwan, we developed a landslide hazard index (IRL) to land use. Using FORMOSA-2 and SPOT-5 satellite images, data were collected before and after four typhoons (one in 2009 and three in 2013). The ArcGIS random tree classifier was used for interpreting satellite images to explore surface changes and disasters, which were used to analyze slope disturbances. The product of the maximum 3-h rolling rainfall intensity and effective accumulated rainfall was used as a rainfall trigger index (IRT). Considering environmental and slope disturbance factors, an index of slope environmental strength potential (ISESP) was developed through logistic regression (LR). Landslide hazard to land use was estimated using IRT and ISESP. The average coefficient of agreement (Kappa) was approximately 0.71 (medium to high accuracy); the overall accuracy of slope environmental strength potential analysis was approximately 80.4%. At a constant ISESP, IRT increased with the increasing hazard potential of rainfall-induced landslides. Furthermore, IRT and ISESP were positively correlated with landslide occurrence. When large ISESP values occur (e.g., fragile environment and high land development intensity), small IRT values may induce landslides.

Vaccination represents the historical milestone in medical sciences, which has been saving millions of lives. Nonetheless, continued outbreaks of emergent infectious diseases are swamping from every coast to every border all over the world. Modern vaccines are our most powerful arsenals to defend the public health of a global population ever since 1796. As unexpected, modern vaccination approaches have brought out all sorts of unwelcome pathogenic disorders to varying extents. Pathogenic viruses have also continued to evolve to defeat elaborate arsenals devised by human intelligence. In this review, we have covered a variety of vaccination approaches along with their sophisticated materials from the past to the most recent development. Furthermore, we discuss varied serious pathogenic outcomes elicited by contemporary vaccination programmes involving novel materials in real clinical trials. The complex immune mediators will be discussed in the context to tackle the complication of vaccine-induced pathogenesis. We will offer the insight into the intractable discrepancy of vaccine-associated pathology. The precision approach bestowed with evolutionary concepts will be considered as a feasible option to confront various issues of pathogenic complicacy.

Despite huge effort has been devoted to the design of the initiators and reaction conditions, it remains challenging to synthesize high molecular weight polypeptides with conventional solution phase synthesis. In this work, surface-initiated vapor deposition polymerization (SI-VDP) was utilized to graft synthetic polypeptides poly (γ-benzyl L-glutamate) (PBLG) from polystyrene (PS) resin beads by ring-opening polymerization of N-carboxyanhydrides (NCAs). It was demonstrated for the first time that high molecular weight bulk PBLG (> 500,000) could be readily obtained within one hour via solvent-free synthetic method which paves the way for the synthesis of copolypeptides with high molecular weight.

One of the most important sources of energy is the sun. Taiwan is located at north 22-25° latitude. Due to its proximity to the equator, it experiences only a small angle of sunlight incidence. Its unique geographical location which can obtain sustainable and stable solar resources. This study takes research on the forecast of solar radiation to maximize the benefits of solar power generation, and develops methods that can predict the future solar radiation pattern to help reduce the costs of solar power generation. This study builds supervised machine learning models, known as deep neural network (DNN) and long short-term memory neural network (LSTM). The hybrid supervised and unsupervised model, namely cluster-based artificial neural network (k-means clustering and fuzzy C-means clustering-based models), was developed. After establishing these models, the study evaluated their prediction results. For different prediction periods, the study selected the best-performing model based on the results and proposed combining them to establish a real-time updated solar radiation forecast system capable of predicting the next 12 hours. The study area covered Kaohsiung, Hualien, and Penghu in Taiwan. Data from ground stations of the Central Weather Administration, collected between 1993 and 2021, as well as the solar angle parameters of each station, were used as input data for the model. The results of this study show that different models have their advantages and disadvantages in predicting different future times. Therefore, the hybrid prediction system can predict future solar radiation more accurately than a single model.

Tocilizumab against interleukin-6 receptor (IL-6R) has been demonstrated to inhibit the progression of diverse cancers in vitro and in vivo. Nonetheless, evidence regarding the anti-tumor effects of Tocilizumab on human colorectal carcinoma (CRC) corresponding to IL-6R expression levels re-mains scarce. To investigate the influence of IL-6R expression, SW480 and HT-29 cells inoculated subcutaneously into NU/NU mice were used as our human CRC xenograft models with anti-IL-6R antibody (Tocilizumab) therapy. IL-6R expression levels, the histology of CRC growth/ invasiveness and tumor growth-related signaling pathway were estimated by H&E and immunohistochemical staining. SW480 tumor cells with higher IL-6R expression levels exerted better responsiveness in Tocilizumab therapy than the treated HT-29 group. Likewise, therapeutic effects of Tocilizumab on the proliferative ability with mitotic index and Ki-67 expressions, the invasiveness with MMP-9 proteinase expressions, ERK 1/2 and STAT3 signaling transduction in SW480 treatment group were superior to HT-29 treatment group. In light of our results, IL-6R is the key indicator for the efficacy of Tocilizumab treatment in CRC xenografts. From the perspective of precision medicine, tumor response to anti-IL-6R antibody therapy could be predicted on the basis of IL-6R expression levels. In this manner, Tocilizumab may serve as a targeted and promising anti-CRC therapy.

The rapid growth rate of the elderly population is a serious current issue in most countries, affecting them economically through needed medical treatment and healthcare planning. The priority concern is how to reduce the number of elderly people requiring long-term healthcare and raise the number who are able to live independently. This study executed a behavior assessment of elderly person’s self-reported use of electric scooters and analyzed their degree of acceptance of these assisted living tools, partly through a related factor analysis of our survey instrument. We used this questionnaire survey as our research method, applying SPSS22 software for factor analysis that revealed five survey facets.

The study addresses the urgent environmental issue of climate change, focusing specifically on the role of local food, which is produced and consumed locally, helps reduce carbon emissions by eliminating the need for long-distance transportation. Through quantitative analysis, this study elucidates the potential benefits in environmental impact achieved through the consumption of local food: the significant reduction in carbon emissions. Specifically, the consumption of local food is found to yield an annual decrease of 2,421,296 tCO2 emissions, representing 2.5% of South Korea’s total greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. This reduction further translates into an estimated economic value of USD 54.23 million (KRW 70.5 billion). This study underscores the potential of local food consumption as a tangible strategy to overcome environmental problems. Moreover, its academic contribution lies in its comprehensive analysis of the economic and empirical impacts of local food consumption on environment. Moving forward, we propose policies such as supporting local food distribution networks, providing public education on local food, fostering the local food industry, and providing incentives to revitalize local food consumption.

Background and Aims: Of all primary liver tumors, primary hepatic angiosarcoma (PHA) is a rare and aggressive malignant vascular tumor. The standard therapeutic care for hepatic angiosarcoma remains unclear. This study compared the survival outcomes of aggressive treatment (resection and liver transplant) and nonaggressive treatment (chemotherapy, transarterial chemoembolization [TACE], and conservative treatments) for patients with PHA and analyzed the prognostic factors influencing survival. Materials and Methods: Data of patients diagnosed as having PHA at our facility were retrospectively reviewed. The primary outcome was survival time. The secondary outcome was calculated baseline characteristics. Results: We included a total of 19 patients, who were divided into 2 treatment groups: aggressive (8 patients had undergone resection or transplants) and nonaggressive (11 patients had undergone TACE, chemotherapy, or conservative treatment). The mean survival time was 233.1 ± 189.7 days in the aggressive treatment group and 146.5 ± 115.8 days in the nonaggressive treatment group. A Kaplan-Meier plot revealed no significant difference in survival time between the 2 treatment groups (P = .3256). Conclusions: The survival time of patients receiving aggressive treatment was longer than that of those receiving nonaggressive treatment. The long term survival time in some selective cases of aggressive treatment will be achieved. Thought a difference was not significant between the groups. Because the number of patients was limited, more cases are required to confirm these findings.

The objective of this study aimed to develop biodegradable calcium alginate microspheres carrying doxorubicin (Dox) at the micrometer-scale for sustained-release and the capacity of pH regulatory for transarterial chemoembolization. Ultrasonic atomization and CaCl2 cross-linking technologies were used to prepare the microspheres. A 4 by 5 experiment was first designed to identify imperative parameters. The concentration of CaCl2 and the flow rate of the pump were found to be critical to generate microspheres with a constant volume median diameter (~ 39 m) across 5 groups with different alginate:NaHCO3 ratios using each corresponding flow rate. In each group, the encapsulation efficiency was positively correlated to the Dox-loaded efficiency. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy showed that NaHCO3 and Dox were step-by-step incorporated into the calcium alginate microspheres successfully. Microspheres containing alginate:NaHCO3 = 1 exhibited rough and porous surfaces, high Young’s modulus and hardness. In each group with the same alginate:NaHCO3 ratio, the swelling rates of microspheres were higher in PBS containing 10% FBS compared to those in PBS alone. Microspheres with relative high NaHCO3 concentrations in PBS containing 10% FBS maintained better physiological pH and higher accumulated Dox release ratios. In two distinct hepatocellular carcinoma-derived cell lines, treatments with microspheres carrying Dox demonstrated that the cell viabilities decreased in groups with relative high NaHCO3 ratios in time- and dose-dependent manners. Our results suggested that biodegradable alginate microspheres containing relative high NaHCO3 concentrations improved the cytotoxicity effects in vitro.

We prove general stability theorems for $n$-dimensional quartic-cubic-quadratic-additive type functional equations of the form \begin{eqnarray*} \sum_{i=1}^\ell c_i f \big( a_{i1}x_1 + a_{i2}x_2 + \cdots + a_{in}x_n \big) = 0 \end{eqnarray*} by applying the direct method. These stability theorems can save us much trouble of proving the stability of relevant solutions repeatedly appearing in the stability problems for various functional equations.

This work focuses on addressing the dynamic positioning and trajectory tracking problem for a 4 degree-of-freedom (DOF) unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) in the presence of nonlinear dynamics, parametric uncertainties, system constraints, and time-varying external disturbances. To tackle this problem, a disturbance observer-based control (DOBC) scheme is proposed. The scheme is structured around the model predictive control (MPC) method integrated with an extended active observer (EAOB). Compared to the conventional disturbance observer, the EAOB has the unique ability to handle both external disturbances and system/measurement noises simultaneously. The EAOB leverages a combination of sensor measurements and a system dynamic model to estimate disturbances in real-time, which allows continuous estimation and compensation of time-varying disturbances back to the controller. The proposed disturbance observer-based MPC (DOBMPC) is implemented by feeding the estimated disturbances back into the MPC’s prediction model, which forms a robust adaptive controller with a parameter-varying model. The proposed control strategy is validated through simulations in a Gazebo and Robot Operating System (ROS) environment. The results show that it can effectively reject unpredictable disturbances and improve the UUV’s control performance.

Taiwan’s auditors have suffered from processing excessive audit data, including drawing audit evidence. This study advances sampling techniques by integrating machine learning with sampling. This machine learning integration helps avoid sampling bias, keep randomness and variability, and target the risker samples. We first apply a Naive Bayes classifier to classify data into some classes. Next, a user-based, item-based, or hybrid approach is employed to draw audit evidence. The representativeness index is the primary metric for measuring the representativeness of audit evidence. The user-based approach denotes the selection of samples between two percentiles in a class as audit evidence. It may be equivalent to a combination of monetary and variable sampling methods. The item-based approach represents the choice of risky samples as audit evidence. It may be identical to a combination of non-statistical and monetary sampling methods. Auditors can hybridize those user-based and item-based approaches to balance representativeness and riskiness in selecting audit evidence. Three experiments show that sampling using machine learning integration has the benefits of drawing unbiased samples, handling complex patterns, correlations, and unstructured data, and improving efficiency in sampling big data. However, the limitations are the classification accuracy output by machine learning algorithms and the range of prior probabilities.

Abstract: Background: The optimal strategy for the microelimination of HCV within community settings remains ambiguous. We evaluated the percentage of participants who achieved linkage to care (LTC) following the conclusion of the screening campaign, and examined the diverse factors influencing LTC among these individuals. The effectiveness of recall intervention for the non-LTC population and its barriers were analyzed. Methods: We initiated an HCV patients recall program to identify the HCV participants who might not be treated after the HCV screening campaign. A program staff recalled HCV participants who lost to follow-up through the telephone from March 2019 to June 2019. They were informed of HCV treatment's importance, efficacy, availability, and safety. Result: Among 185 HCV-infected participants, 109 (58.9%) HCV-infected participants had obtained LTC. Compared with those who had LTC, those without LTC were older, lower education levels, were less aware of their HCV infection, less frequently lived in urban areas, and had less health insurance. At the end of the recall program, 125 (67.6 %) persons had liked to care. The proportion of LTC increased by 8.7 %. 119 persons had an HCV RNA test, and 82 (68.9%) had viremia. Of 82 patients with viremia, 78 (95.1%) received antiviral therapy. 76 (97.4 %) of them achieved a sustained virological response. Conclusion: After a community screening campaign, 59 % of participants with anti-HCV positive had LTC. The recall program can increase by 9 %. However, there were still 32% of HCV participants who couldn't be linked to care. Outreach care for non-LTC patients is a way worth trying to achieve micro-elimination of HCV in the rural community.

This study presents a novel approach to analyzing the present value of total profit for non-participating and participating insurance policies in order to determine the optimal profitability of non-participating and participating insurance policies based on applying the approach used in operations research to the field of finance. As such, a comprehensive insurance product evaluation model was developed using both mathematical models and numerical analysis to evaluate the demand for non-participating and participating life insurance policies in response to changes in interest rates. The findings indicate that non-participating life insurance policies offer greater solvency for insurance companies compared to participating policies. The study also highlights the significance of spontaneous and induced demand in determining the total profit of both types of policies. The study concludes that life insurance companies should focus on generating spontaneous consumer demand, reducing induced demand, and implementing the optimal pricing strategy to achieve maximum profits.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between sleep duration, dementia severity, age, and ANS regulation. This cross-sectional pilot study included 27 older patients with probable Alzheimer’s disease, hospitalized at a psychiatric center. We measured heart rate variability to assess ANS regulation at night, evaluated dementia severity using the Clinical Dementia Rating scale, and obtained sleep duration data from sleep diaries maintained by psychiatric nurses. The data were analyzed using repeated-measures generalized linear models with age, sex, dementia severity, and medication (antipsychotics) as covariates. A sleep duration of 7–8 h per night was associated with better ANS regulation than other sleep durations, as indicated by sympathovagal balance (p = 0.005). ANS dysregulation was characterized by a 20.7% increase in sympathetic nervous system activity and a 14.8% decrease in parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS) activity. We found a significant correlation between dementia severity and PSNS activity (p = 0.04) and observed an inverted U-shaped association between sleep duration and ANS regulation. This pilot study demonstrated that a sleep duration of 7–8 h per night may be critical in maintaining optimal ANS regulation. Bidirectional associations between sleep duration, inadequate sleep duration, aging, and ANS regulation warrant further investigation.

In this paper, we consider the generalized sextic functional equation \begin{align*} \sum_{i=0}^{7}{}_7 C_{i} (-1)^{7-i}f(x+iy) = 0. \end{align*} And by applying the fixed point theory in the sense of L. C\u adariu and V. Radu, we will discuss the stability of the solutions for this functional equation.

Sea fog event over the Eastern Yellow Sea on 15–16 April 2012 was reproduced in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) simulation with high-resolution to investigate the roles of phys-ical processes and synoptic-scale flows on advection fog with sea surface warming. Initially, longwave radiative cooling (LRC) with negative sensible heat flux (SHF) due to the turbulence af-ter sunset triggered a formation of cloud at the surface under the moist advection with a southerly wind. This is a conventional type of advection fog. At night, continuous cooling due to longwave radiation and SHF near the surface modulated the change of the SHF from negative to positive, resulting in a drastic increase in the latent heat flux (LHF) that provided sufficient moisture at lower atmosphere (self-moistening). This is a favorable condition for advection fog with sea sur-face heating (ssH), and this transition represents advection fog with ssH. Enhanced turbulent mixing driven by a buoyancy force increased the depth of the sea fog with a gradual rise in the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) height, even at nighttime. In addition, cold advec-tion with a prevailing northerly wind at the top of the MABL led to a drastic increase in turbulent mixing and the MABL height, which resulted in rapid growth of the height of sea fog due to ver-tical diffusion. After sunrise, shortwave radiative warming in the fog layers offsetting the LRC near the surface weakened thermal instability, which contributed to the reduction in the MABL height, even during the daytime. In addition, dry advection of northerly wind induced dissipa-tion of the fog via evaporation. An additional sensitivity test of sea surface salinity showed weaker and shallower sea fog than the control due to the decrease in both the LHF and local self-moistening.

In the first part of this talk we review some prerequisites for and essential arguments involved in the construction of the thermal-ground-state estimate for the deconfining phase in the thermodynamics of SU(2) Quantum Yang-Mills theory and how this structure supports its distinct excitations. The second part applies deconfining SU(2) Yang-Mills thermodynamics to the Cosmic Microwave Background in view of (i) a modified temperature-redshift relation with an interesting link to correlation-length criticality in the 3D Ising model, (ii) the implied minimal changes in the dark sector of the cosmological model, and (iii) best-fit parameter values of this model when confronted with the spectra of the angular two-point functions TT, TE, and EE, excluding the low-$l$ physics. The latter, which is treated in an incomplete way because of the omission of radiative effects, is addressed in passing towards future work.

On 17 October 1947, Niels Bohr was made a knight of the Order of the Elephant by the King of Denmark in view of his outstanding achievements and contributions to science. Bohr designed his own coat of arms that featured a pattern of Yin and Yang (Tai Chi symbol) to symbolize the wave-particle complementarity. However, Bohr’s Yin-Yang diagram (YYD) was neither drawn based on the principles of quantum mechanics, nor did it originate from the traditional Taoist YYD. Scientists still have doubts about the legitimacy of using YYD as the icon of the wave-particle complementarity, because the YYD belonging to quantum mechanics itself is unknown so far. This article reports the YYDs existing in quantum mechanics and justifies the role of YYD in the wave-particle duality by showing that any system, whether classical or quantum, has an ideal YYD as long as it satisfies Bohr’s principle of complementarity (BPC). The deviation of a deformed YYD from the ideal YYD indicates the extent to which a real system satisfies BPC. This article constructs the quantum YYD by the complex quantum trajectory of a particle tunneling via a step barrier, which displays the continuous transition between the wave behavior and the particle behavior. It appears that the YYD designed by Bohr in his coat of arms resembles the YYD generated by tunneling motion, not only in appearance but also in the governing equation.

We present set-theoretical solutions of the Yang-Baxter equation in BCK–algebras. Some solutions in BCK−algebras are not solutions in other structures (such as MV −algebras). Related to our investigations we also consider some new structures: Boolean coalgebras and a unified braid condition – quantum Yang-Baxter equation. Finally, we will see how poetry has accompanied the development / history of the Yang–Baxter equation.

Field-effect transistor (FET)-based biosensors stand as powerful analytical tools for detecting trace-specific biomolecules in diverse sample matrices, especially in the realms of pandemics and infectious diseases. The primary concern in applying these biosensors is their stability, a factor directly impacting the accuracy and reliability of sensing over extended durations. The risk of biosensor degradation is substantial, potentially jeopardizing sensitivity and selectivity and leading to inaccurate readings, including the possibility of false positives or negatives. This paper delves into the documented degradation of silicon nanobelt FET (NBFET) biosensors induced by buffer solutions. The results highlight a positive correlation between immersion time and the threshold voltage of NBFET devices. Secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis demonstrates a gradual increase in sodium and potassium ion concentrations within the silicon as immersion days progress. This outcome is ascribed to the nanobelt's exposure to the buffer solution during the biosensing period, enabling ion penetration from the buffer into the silicon. The study emphasizes the critical need to address buffer solution-induced degradation to ensure the long-term stability and performance of FET-based biosensors in practical applications.

Simply Summary: Translation of new cancer treatments between pets and human were noticed in comparative oncological investigation. The current study aims at evaluating a polyacetylenic glucoside purified from an edible herb, Bidens pilosa, to present its anti-angiogenic effects. We innovatively find this polyacetylenic glucoside, cytopiloyne, shows anti-angiogenic effect on different in vitro assays and various in vivo animal models under hypoxia. Based on results of this study, cytopiloyne will be a prospective herb angiogenesis inhibitor candidate to control animal or human cancer formation as adjuvant therapy. Abstract: Anti-angiogenesis is a pivotal combination treatment approach in cancer therapy but rare using on companion animals. This study aimed at evaluating the anti-angiogenic effect of a B. pilosa sourced polyacetylenic glucoside, cytopiloyne, on various in vitro assays and in vivo models. We provide evidences showing that CP has anti-angiogenic activities. Firstly, CP inhibited sponge/ Matrigel plug angiogenesis from tumor cells and decreased the survival of tumor cells on hypoxic conditions. Besides, CP declined PKCα protein expression which a protein leads to the growth and spread of tumors under hypoxia. Secondly, inhibitory effects of CP on endothelial angiogenesis were confirmed by chick chorioallantoic membrane assay, tube formation of SVEC4-10 cells and Matrigel plug assay. A dose-dependent CP treatment inhibited 4T1 cells proliferation under hypoxia and migration. It also suppresses VEGF transcription under hypoxia. Finally, we found that CP decreased PDIA4, a novel regulator of cancer growth, expression in endothelial cells. This effect was confirmed by PDIA4 knockout mice with reduced angiogenesis in Matrigel plug assay. Taken together, these results suggest that CP might act as a promising anti-angiogenic herbal agent candidate to be used in animal hypervascularized cancer of veterinary medicine or in combination to control human cancer as adjuvant therapy.

Patients with end stage liver disease (ESLD) undergoing liver transplantation are prone to thromboses both while on the waiting list or in the perioperative period. This hypercoagulability is associated with significant endothelial dysfunction (ED) due to nitric oxide dysregulation. ED in combination with increased thrombin generation are the main factors responsible for this hypercoagulability. Sepsis itself can significantly change the coagulation profile, but in combination with ESLD, sepsis, and septic shock is responsible for very complex changes in the patients coagulation making both assessment and management of coagulation in patients with ESLD very challenging. Viscoelastic testing (VET) is a preferred method of coagulation management in patients with cirrhosis because, as with standard laboratory testing, VET can assess the entire coagulation system including the interaction between both pro- and anticoagulants and platelets.

The rank-3 antisymmetric tensors which are the magnetic monopoles of SU(N) Yang-Mills gauge theory dynamics, unlike their counterparts in Maxwell’s U(1) electrodynamics, are non-vanishing, and do permit a net flux of Yang-Mills analogs to the magnetic field through closed spatial surfaces. When electric source currents of the same Yang-Mills dynamics are inverted and their fermions inserted into these Yang-Mills monopoles to create a system, this system in its unperturbed state contains exactly 3 fermions due to the monopole rank-3 and its 3 additive field strength gradient terms in covariant form. So to ensure that every fermion in this system occupies an exclusive quantum state, the Exclusion Principle is used to place each of the 3 fermions into the fundamental representation of the simple gauge group with an SU(3) symmetry. After the symmetry of the monopole is broken to make this system indivisible, the gauge bosons inside the monopole become massless, the SU(3) color symmetry of the fermions becomes exact, and a propagator is established for each fermion. The monopoles then have the same antisymmetric color singlet wavefunction as a baryon, and the field quanta of the magnetic fields fluxing through the monopole surface have the same symmetric color singlet wavefunction as a meson. Consequently, we are able to identify these fermions with colored quarks, the gauge bosons with gluons, the magnetic monopoles with baryons, and the fluxing entities with mesons, while establishing that the quarks and gluons remain confined and identifying the symmetry breaking with hadronization. Analytic tools developed along the way are then used to fill the Yang-Mills mass gap.

The diagnosis of a rolling bearing for monitoring its status is critical for maintaining industrial equipment using rolling bearings. The traditional method of diagnosing faults of the rolling bearing has low identification accuracy, which needs artificial feature extraction to enhance the accuracy. 1D-CNN method not only can diagnose bearing faults accurately but also overcome shortcomings of the traditional methods. Different from machine learning and other deep learning models, the 1D-CNN method does not need pre-processing one-dimensional data of rolling bearing’s vibration. Thus, it enhances the processing speed and improves the network structure to have a reasonable design for small sample data sets. This study proposes and tests a 1D-CNN method for diagnosing rolling bearings. By introducing the dropout operation, the method obtains high accuracy and improves the generalizing ability. The experimental results show 99.52% of the average accuracy under a single load and 98.26% under different loads.

COVID-19 is a highly infectious respiratory illness caused by SARS-CoV-2, and acute lung injury (ALI) is the major cause of COVID-19. The challenge in studying SARS-CoV-2 pathogenicity is the limited availability of animal models. Therefore, it is necessary to establish animal models that can reproduce multiple characteristics of ALI to study therapeutic applications. The present study established a mouse model that has features of ALI that are similar to COVID-19 syndrome to investigate the role of ACE2 and the administration of the Chinese herbal prescription NRICM101 in ALI. Mice with genetic modifications, including overexpression of human ACE2 (K18-hACE2 TG) and absence of ACE2 (mACE2 KO), were intratracheally instillated with hydrochloric acid. The acid intratracheal instillation induced severe immune cell infiltration, cytokine storms, and pulmonary disease in mice. Compared with K18-hACE2 TG mice, mACE2 KO mice exhibited dramatically increased levels of multiple inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, and TGF-β1) in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, histological evidence of lung injury, and dysregulation of MAPK and MMP activation. In mACE2 KO mice, NRICM101 could ameliorate the disease progression of acid-induced ALI. In conclusion, the established mouse model provided an effective platform for researchers to investigate pathological mechanisms and develop therapeutic strategies for ALI, including COVID-19-related ALI.

Xinjiang, as a climate-sensitive region in northwest China, holds significant importance in studying extreme weather events for agricultural production and socioeconomic development. Based on data from 52 meteorological stations and 23 extreme climate indicators in Xinjiang from 1960 to 2021, the 5a moving average, linear trend estimation, climate tendency rate, and GIS spatial analysis methods are used to analyze the distribution and change characteristics of extreme climate. The results revealed that from 1960 to 2021, TXx, TNx, TXn, TNn, FD, ID, TN10p, TX10p, and WSDI showed a significant upward trend, while SU, TR, TN90p, TX90p, and CSDI showed a significant downward trend. What is more, the range of changes in the extreme temperature indexes from 1990 to 2021 is higher than that of 1960 to 1989. The high-value areas of extreme indexes are primarily concentrated in the northern part, while the high-value areas of cold event indexes are mainly distributed in the southern part. The upward/downward trends all accounting for over 80.00% of the entire region. The Rx1day, Rx5day, PRCPTOT, R95p, R99p, R10, R20, and R25 showed a significant growth trend from 1960 to 2021, and the range of change in the extreme precipitation indexes from 1990 to 2021 was lower than that from 1960 to 1989. Moreover, their high-value areas and high climate tendency areas are mainly concentrated in the northern and western parts of Xinjiang, with upward trends all accounting for over 71.00% of the entire region. The research results provide theoretical foundations for formulating climate risk strategies in the northwest region of China.

In this study, robust composite solid electrolytes were developed and employed them to enhance the performance of Li-metal batteries significantly. The robust composite solid electrolytes are composed of a soft polymer, poly(ethylene oxide), a Li salt, bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI), and super ionic conductive ceramic fillers such as Li1.5Al0.5Ti1.5(PO4)3 (LATP), and Li6.4La3Zr1.4Ta0.6O12 (LLZTO). The main goal of this study is to enhance the electrochemical stability and ionic conductivity. The ionic conductivities of the composite solid electrolytes were found to be 2.08 × 10-4 and 1.64 × 10-4 S cm-1 with the introduction of LATP and LLZTO fillers, respectively. The results prove that the fabricated solid electrolyte was electrochemical stable at voltage exceeding 4.25 V vs. Li/Li+. The internal resistance of the solid electrolyte significantly reduced as compare to gel electrolyte. This reduction can be attributed owing to the alleviation of bulk electrolyte, charge-transfer, and interfacial electrolyte/electrode impedance. When LiFePO4 cathode sheets are coated with a composite solid electrolyte containing LATP powders, the resulting Li-metal battery displays high capacity at 5 C (with a capacity retention of 65.2% compared to the original capacity at 0.2 C) as well as superior cyclic stability and excellent Coulombic efficiency (> 99.5%, over 200 cycles). These results confirm that the composite solid electrolyte acts as a protective layer which have ability to prevent the growth of Li dendrites. Consequently, the fabricated electrolyte configuration can be engineered to enable high energy/power density and electrochemical stable cyclability in Li-metal batteries.

The research fills the policy research gap for the women entrepreneurship and sustainability performance for examining key successful factors. Previous women entrepreneurship research fails to offer policy recommendations. The research purpose is to investigate these factors affect women entrepreneurship capabilities and sustainability performance by using SEM analysis and making policy recommendation. This research employs online and mail survey and obtains 175 women entrepreneur sample. The study finds that family support and motivation have positive effect on women entrepreneurship capabilities and sustainability performance. Barriers have no effect on performance. Hopefully, the research can provide the guidance to contribute to women’s entrepreneurship opportunities for achieving SDGs. Policy recommendation and managerial implication are discussed in the article.

Technology can be seen everywhere and has been integrated into our lives.We are always using technology and enjoying the convenience brought by technology. However, physical retailers and e-commerce companies are also gradually adopting advanced technologies. Technology improves the purchasing environment and purchasing experience. Virtual reality and augmented reality have been hotly discussed in recent years. Technology, although virtual reality and augmented reality technology have not yet matured, it can be said that they will in the future It has great development potential. Virtual reality and augmented reality are also beginning to sprout in the retail industry. However, research on the acceptance of the use of virtual reality and augmented reality in the apparel shopping process is still lacking because This study explores how usefulness, ease of use, hedonicity, customer experience, customer engagement and satisfaction. To influence customer loyalty, this study adopted questionnaire survey and convenience sampling methods, and collected a total of 308 valid questionnaires. The analysis method used confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation model to verify the research hypothesis relationship. The results of this study found. Hedonic has a significant impact on customer loyalty, while usefulness, ease of use, customer experience, customer engagement and satisfaction Satisfaction does not have a significant impact on customer loyalty. This study explains the academic contribution of the research results. The practical implications in marketing are put forward, and specific suggestions and directions for future research are given.

Blocking the interaction of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein with the human angiotensin-converting enzyme II (hACE2) protein serves as a therapeutic strategy for treating COVID-19. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatments containing bioactive products could alleviate the symptoms of severe COVID-19. However, the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants has complicated the process of developing broad-spectrum drugs. As such, the aim in this study was to explore the efficacy of TCM treatments for SARS-CoV-2 variants through targeting the interaction of the viral spike protein with the hACE2 receptor. The antiviral activity was systematically evaluated using a pseudovirus system. Scutellaria baicalensis was found to be effective against SARS-CoV-2 infection through affecting the interaction of viral spike protein with the hACE2 protein. The active molecules of S. baicalensis were identified and analyzed. Baicalein and baicalin, a flavone and a flavone glycoside, respectively, found in S. baicalensis, exhibited strong inhibitory activities, targeting the viral spike protein or hACE2 protein, respectively. Under optimized conditions, virus infection was inhibited by 98% via baicalein-treated pseudovirus and baicalin-treated hACE2. In summary, we identified the potential SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors of the interaction of the Omicron spike protein and hACE2 receptor from S. baicalensis. Future studies on the therapeutic application of baicalein and baicalin against SARS-CoV-2 variants are needed.

Bone drilling is a common procedure used to create pilot holes for inserting screws to secure implants for fracture fixation. However, dis process can increase bone temperature, teh excessive heat can lead to cell death and thermal osteonecrosis, potentially causing early fixation failure or complications. We conducted a three-dimensional dynamic elastoplastic finite element model to evaluate teh propagation and distribution of heat during bone drilling and assess teh thermally TEMPeffected zone (TAZ) dat may lead to thermal necrosis. dis model investigates teh parameters influencing bone temperature during bone drilling, including drill diameter, rotational speed, feed force, and predrilled hole. Teh results indicate dat our FE model is sufficiently accurate in predicting teh temperature rise TEMPeffect during bone drilling. Teh maximum temperature decreases exponentially wif radial distance. When teh feed forces are 40 and 60 N, teh maximum temperature does not exceed 45 °C. However, wif feed forces of 10 and 20 N, both teh maximum temperature exceeds 45 °C wifin a radial distance of 0.2 mm, indicating a high-risk zone for potential thermal osteonecrosis. Wif teh two-stage drilling procedure, where a 2.5 mm pilot hole is pre-drilled, teh maximum temperature can be reduced by 14 °C. dis suggests dat higher feed force and rotational speed and/or using a two-stage drilling process could mitigate bone temperature elevation and reduce teh risk of thermal osteonecrosis during bone drilling.

Our previous retrospective observational study demonstrated the safety of laparoscopically assisted subtotal colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis and preservation of the superior rectal artery (SRA), without instances of leakage, in patients with slow-transit constipation (STC). Thus, we extended the enrollment period and enlarged the sample size to detect the differences in the post-operative complications, and surgical and functional outcomes between patients who underwent laparoscopically assisted subtotal colectomy with and without SRA preservation. We conducted a retrospective single-center analysis of patients with STC who underwent laparoscopically assisted subtotal colectomy between 2016 and 2020. The diagnosis of STC was based on the colonic transit and anal functional tests, and barium enema to exclude secondary causes. Patients were divided into group A that underwent surgery with SRA preservation, and group B that underwent ligation of the SRA during surgery. Outcome assessments for both groups included the incidence of anastomotic breakdown, intraoperative complications, length of hospital stay, estimated blood loss, time to first flatus, and complications. Propensity-score matching allocated 34 patients to groups A and B each. Postoperative bowel function, including time to first flatus, stool, and oral intake, recovered better in group A than that in group B. Anastomotic leakage, a significant postoperative complication, was less frequent in patients with SRA preservation. Preservation of the SRA in patients undergoing laparoscopically assisted subtotal colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis for STC is associated with favorable postoperative bowel function recovery and lower anastomotic leakage rates.

Background: Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) has gradually come to be regarded as an effective therapy, but the hospital mortality rate after ECPR is still high and unpredictable. The present study tested whether age-adjusted Charlson comorbidity index (ACCI) can be used as an objective selection criterion to ensure the most efficient utilization of medical resources. Methods: Adult patients (age ³ 18 years) receiving ECPR at our institution between 2006 and 2015 were included. Data regarding ECPR events and ACCI characteristics were collected immediately after extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) setup. Adverse events during hospitalization were also prospectively collected. The primary endpoint was survival to hospital discharge. The second endpoint was short-term (2-year) follow-up outcome. Results: A total of 461 patients included in the study were grouped into low ACCI (ACCI 0–3) (240, 52.1%) and high ACCI (ACCI 4–13) (221, 47.9%) groups. The median ACCI was 2 (IQR: 1–3) and 5 (IQR: 4–7) for the low and high ACCI groups, respectively (P < 0.001). Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)-to-ECMO duration was comparable between the groups (42.1 ± 25.6 and 41.3 ± 20.7 min in the low and high ACCI groups, respectively; P = 0.754). Regarding hospital survival rate, 256 patients (55.5%) died on ECMO support. A total of 205 patients (44.5%) were successfully weaned off ECMO, but only 138 patients (29.9%) survived to hospital discharge (32.1% and 27.6% in low and high ACCI group, P = 0.291). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed CPR-to-ECMO duration and CPR cause of septic shock as significant risk factors for hospital survival after ECPR (P = 0.043 and 0.014, respectively), whereas age and ACCI were not (P = 0.334 and 0.164, respectively). The 2-year survival rate after hospital discharge for the 138 hospital survivors was 96% and 74% in the low and high ACCI groups, respectively (P = 0.002.)Conclusions: High ACCI before ECPR does not predict poor outcome of hospital survival. Therefore, ECPR should not be rejected solely due to high ACCI. However, high ACCI in hospital survivors is associated with a higher 2-year mortality rate than low ACCI, and patients with high ACCI should be closely followed up.

Polysaccharides from marine algae exhibit beneficial biological activities. In this study, we examined the effect of polysaccharides from Codium fragile (PCF) on prebiotic and anti-obesity activity. PCF increases the growth of specific beneficial microbial populations with concomitant decrease in pathogenic microbes. Further, total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), and DPPH radical scavenging activity (DPPH activity) after fermentation with PCF as carbon source were higher than for the glucose as control. Moreover, PCF inhibited adipocyte differentiation by inducing differentiation-related factors when the induction of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes into adipocytes was induced. Therefore, we suggest that PCF can be used as prebiotic material with anti-obesity for human health.

Accurate segmentation of the Left Ventricle (LV) in Echocardiogram (Echo) images is essential for cardiovascular analysis. Conventional techniques are labor-intensive and exhibit inter-observer variability. Deep learning has emerged as a powerful tool for automated medical image segmentation, offering advantages in speed and potentially superior accuracy. This study explores the efficacy of employing the YOLO (You Only Look Once) segmentation model for automated LV segmentation in Echo images. YOLO, a cutting-edge object detection model, achieves exceptional speed-accuracy balance through its well-designed architecture. It utilizes efficient dilated convolutional layers and bottleneck blocks for feature extraction, while incorporating innovations like path aggregation and spatial attention mechanisms. These attributes make YOLO a compelling candidate for adaptation to LV segmentation in Echo images. We posit that by fine-tuning a pre-trained YOLO based model on a well-annotated Echo image dataset, we can leverage the model's strengths in real-time processing and precise object localization to achieve robust LV segmentation. The proposed approach entails fine-tuning a pre-trained YOLO model on a rigorously labeled Echo image dataset. Model performance has been evaluated using established metrics such as mean Average Precision (mAP) at an Intersection over Union (IoU) threshold of 50% (mAP50) with 98.31%and across a range of IoU thresholds from 50% to 95% (mAP50:95) with 75.27%. Successful implementation of YOLO for LV segmentation has the potential to significantly expedite and standardize Echo image analysis. This advancement could translate to improved clinical decision-making and enhanced patient care.

Sinulariolide, a natural product extracted from cultured-type soft coral Sinularia flexibilis, possesses bioactivity against the movement of several types of cancer cell. However, the molecular pathway of its effects on human bladder cancer remain poorly understood. Using a human bladder cancer cell line as an in vitro model, this study investigated the underlying mechanism of sinulariolide against cell migration/invasion in TSGH-8301 cells. We found that sinulariolide inhibited TSGH-8301 cell migration/invasion, and the effect was concentration-dependent. Furthermore, the protein expressions of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) MMP-2 and MMP-9, as well as urokinase, were significantly decreased after 24-h sinulariolide treatment. Meanwhile, the increased expressions of tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 were in parallel with an increased concentration of sinulariolide. Finally, the expressions of several key phosphorylated proteins in the mTOR signaling pathway were also downregulated by sinulariolide treatment. Our results demonstrated that sinulariolide has significant effects against TSGH-8301 cell migration/invasion, and its effects were associated with decreased levels of MMP-2/-9 and urokinase expression, as well as increased TIMP-1/TIMP-2 expression. The inhibitory effects were mediated by reducing phosphorylation proteins of the PI3K, AKT and mTOR signaling pathway. The findings suggested that sinulariolide is a good candidate for advanced investigation with the aim of developing a new drug for the treatment of human bladder cancer.

Mining wastes generate a high environmental impact, and population exposure to metals and metalloids. Phytoremediation is a technology that uses plants to remediate polluted sites, one of its limitations is seed germination in soil with high content of metals and metalloids. B. dactyloides is a native specie from semiarid regions, while C. dactylon is an introduced specie, both are tolerant to drought and low temperatures. Owing, the objective of this research was to evaluate the germination of both species, exposed to a multi-polluted soil with As, Cd, Pb and Zn of a mining site, pondering different pH conditions (from 5.0 to 9.0). The study considered 4 repetitions by type of seed and soil pH. B. dactyloides showed higher germination percentage (83%) with pH 7.8; while the greater germination of C. dactylon was 34 % at pH 6.0. In the soil at pH 5, the germination in both species was not reached, owing that metals are more bioavailable in an acid environment. C. dactylon is less tolerant to As, Cd, Pb and Zn, so it is considered not effective for phytoremediation process. B. dactyloides has a high phytoremediation potential for multi-polluted sites, but further experiments are needed.

The International Roughness Index (IRI) is the standard scale for evaluating road roughness in many countries in the world. The Taipei City government actively promotes a Road Smoothing Project and plans to complete the rehabilitation of the main and minor roads within its jurisdiction. This study aims to detect the road surface roughness in Taipei City and recommend appropriate IRI thresholds for road rehabilitation. A total of 171 asphalt concrete pavement sections in Taipei City with a total length of 803.49 km were analyzed and compared by IRI. The longitudinal profile of the detected road sections was measured using an inertial profiler. The statistical analysis showed that the IRI value prior to road leveling was mainly distributed between 5 and 8 m/km, while the IRI value after road leveling was mainly distributed between 3 and 4.5 m/km. This confirms that the implementation of the Road Smoothing Project has a significant effect on improving road smoothness. Moreover, based on the analysis results, it is recommended that the IRI threshold value for road rehabilitation in Taipei City be set at 4.50 m/km.

Breast cancer is a complex and heterogeneous disease that displays diverse molecular subtypes and clinical outcomes. Although it is known that the location of tumors can affect their biological behavior, the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. In our previous study, we found a differential methylation profile and membrane potential between left (L) and right (R)-sided breast tumors. In this current study, we aimed to identify the ion channels responsible for this phenomenon and determine any associated phenotypic features. To achieve this, experiments were conducted in mammary tumors in mice, human patient samples, and with data from public datasets. The results revealed that L-sided tumors have a more depolarized state than R-ones. We identified a 6-ion channel-gene signature (CACNA1C, CACNA2D2, CACNB2, KCNJ11, SCN3A, and SCN3B) associated with side: L-tumors exhibit lower expression levels than R-ones. Additionally, in silico analyses show that the signature correlates inversely with DNA methylation writers and with key biological processes involved in cancer progression, such as proliferation and stemness. The signature also correlates inversely with patients’ survival rates. In an in vivo mouse model, we confirmed that KI67 and CD44 markers were increased in L-sided tumors and similar tendency for KI67 was found in patient L-tumors. Overall, this study provides new insights into the potential impact of anatomical location on breast cancer biology and highlights the need for further investigation into possible differential treatment options.

3D Zernike moments based on 3D Zernike polynomials have been successfully applied to the field of voxelized 3D shape retrieval and have attracted more attention in biomedical image processing. As the order of 3D Zernike moments increases, both computational efficiency and numerical accuracy decrease. Due to this phenomenon, a more efficient and stable method for computing high-order 3D Zernike moments was proposed in this study. The proposed recursive formula for computing 3D Zernike radial polynomials combines the recursive calculation of spherical harmonics to develop a voxel-based algorithm for the calculation of 3D Zernike moments. The algorithm was applied to the 3D shape Michelangelo's David with a size of 150×150×150 voxels. As compared to the method without additional acceleration, the proposed method uses a group action of order sixteen orthogonal group and saving unnecessary iterations, the factor of speed-up is 56.783±3.999 when the order of Zernike moments is between 10 and 450. The proposed method also obtained an accurate reconstructed shape with the error rate (normalized mean square error) of 0.00 (4.17×10^-3) when the reconstruction was computed for all moments up to order 450.

Objective: Diabetes disproportionately affects African Americans leading to higher morbidity and mortality. This study explores the experiences of African Americans adults who successfully self-manage their type 2 diabetes (called Peer Ambassadors) and provided phone-based peer support in a 6-month culturally tailored diabetes self-management program for African Americans guided by the Information-Motivation-Behavioral skills model. Design: A group discussion using a semi-structured discussion guide was conducted. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify the facilitators and barriers to completing the role of a Peer Ambassador, and to develop strategies for overcoming possible challenges in the future. Setting: Key informant discussions were conducted in a community location to gain insights into Ambassadors’ motivations and challenges in delivering peer support. Participants: Three Peer Ambassadors completed ethics training, peer mentor training and received a phone call guide before providing support to their peers. Results: There were four core themes related to Peer Ambassador experiences: (1) Motivation to be a Peer Ambassador, (2) Program elements that supported Peer Ambassador role, (3) Key elements of achieving engagement, and (4) Challenges related to being a Peer Ambassador. Conclusions: This study showed Peer Ambassadors in a culturally tailored peer-supported self-management program found fulfillment in sharing experiences and supporting peers. They highly valued educational group sessions for knowledge updates and sustaining their health-related goals, suggesting the potential benefits of recognizing milestones or providing advanced training for future program sustainability. Findings suggest the importance of recruiting motivated patients and providing effective facilitation for peer support roles, including addressing barriers such as time commitment and lack of socialization opportunities.

The association between obesity and the risk of gliomas remains unclear. We sought to evaluate the potential association between general and abdominal obesity and the risk of gliomas based on a nationwide population-based cohort study of Koreans. Using data from the Korean National Health Insurance System cohort, 6,833,744 people older than 20 years who underwent regular national health examination in both 2009 and 2011 were followed until the end of 2017. We documented 4,771 glioma cases based on an ICD-10 code of C71 during the median follow-up period of 7.30 years. Individuals with a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25.0 kg/m2 were at significantly higher risk of gliomas than those with a BMI < 25.0 kg/m2 (HR 1.08 CI 1.02-1.15). Individuals with a waist circumference (WC) ≥ 90 cm (males)/85 cm (females) also had a significantly higher risk of gliomas than those with a WC < 90 cm (males)/85 cm (females) (HR 1.16 CI 1.09-1.24). In the group with a BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m2, individuals with abdominal obesity were at significantly higher risk of gliomas (HR 1.18 CI 1.09-1.27) than those without abdominal obesity. The role of abdominal obesity in this association was stronger in women than in men. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that obese people may be at higher risk of gliomas, especially centrally obese people from an Asian population with a BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m2. Loss of visceral fat in people with abdominal obesity may reduce their risk of gliomas.

Praeruptorin A(PA), a naturally existing pyranocumarin, is isolated from the dried root of Peucedanum praeruptorum Dunn. So far the anti-cancer effect and molecular mechanism behind Praeruptorin A action in human cervical cancer HeLa cells remain unknown. In the present study, we find that PA reduces cell proliferation and colony formation of human cervical cancer HeLa cells through inducing cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase. PA-upregulated p21 and p27 proteins are observed, accompanied with inhibition of cyclin D1 and S-phase kinase-associated protein 2(Skp2) proteins expression. PA could significantly inhibit migration and invasion of human HeLa cells. Meanwhile, PA significantly reduces invasive protein expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), and increases protein expression of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2). PA is observed to possess the capacity in suppressing ERK1/2 activation. PD98059 (ERK specific inhibitor) significantly enhances PA-induced downregulation of MMP-2 expression, and upregulation of TIMP-2 expression. Moreover, we found that PA treatment notably inhibits 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate(TPA)-upregulated ERK1/2 activation, MMP-2 expression, cellular migration and invasion in human HeLa cells. Taken together, these findings are the first to demonstrate the anti-cancer activity of PA, which may act as a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of human cervical cancer.

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the leading malignancy diseases worldwide, especially in Asian. CAST is a potential oncogene in GC carcinogenesis process. The character of macrophage infiltration in GC microenvironment was also unaddressed. Methods: We first applied machine searching in gene candidate evaluation of GC. CAST expression was analyzed via the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) and Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis 2 (GEPIA2) database. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was downloaded from STRING. We investigated the impact of CAST on clinical prognosis using Kaplan-Meier plotter. The correlations between CAST and Lgr5 and macrophage infiltration in GC was surveyed via TIMER 2.0. Finally, GeneMANIA was also used to evaluate the possible functional linkage between genes. Results: After machine-assisted searching, CAST expression was found signicant difference in the overall survival of GC patients. STRING revealed CAST related proteomics and transcriptomics associations, mainly about CAPN family. Moreover, CAST significantly impacts the prognosis of GC from other datasets validation. Notably, high CAST expression was correlated with worse overall survival in GC patients (hazard ratio = 1.59; logrank P = 9.4 x 10-8). CAST and Lgr5 expressions were both positively correlated with WNT 2 and WNT 2B. Among GC patients in several datasets, CAST and macrophage infiltration evaluated together showed no obvious trend toward poor clinical overall survival. Conclusion: CAST plays an important role in GC clinical prognosis and is associated with WNT 2/WNT 2B/Lgr5. Our study denmostrated that CAST in GC overall survival is regulated by macrophage infiltration.

As climate changes, our daily life has been much influenced by abnormal meteorological phenomena such as heavy rainfall, heat wave, heavy snowfall, and fine dust. Atmospheric air quality is worsening day by day and indoor air quality is also affected by interconnected daily activities throughout the inside and outside of buildings and houses. Nowadays, pollutants from various sources are emitted, transformed by sunlight, vapor, and ozone and transported into the city from country to country. Due to these reasons, there have been high demands to monitor the transportation of particulate matters and improve air quality. Monitoring of pollutants and identification of type and its concentration enables us to track and control its generation and consequently find out the solution. However, monitoring of pollutants, especially, particulate matter generation and its transportation is still not fully operated in atmospheric air due to its open nature and meteorological factors. Even though indoor air is relatively easy to monitor and control than outdoor in the aspect of specific volume and contaminant source, but it still needs to consider the meteorological parameters because indoor air is not fully separated from the outdoor air flow and contaminants transportation. In this study, optical approach using spectral sensor was attempted to reveal the feasibility of wavelength and chromaticity values of reflected light from specific particles. From the analysis of reflected light of various particulate matters according to different liquid additives, parameter studies were performed to investigate which experimental conditions can contribute to the enhanced selective sensing of particulate matters. Five different particulate matters such as household dust, soil, talc powder, gypsum powder and yellow pine tree pollen were utilized and observed to elucidate the relationship between property of particulate matter and detected light spectrum. Applicable approaches to assist current particle matter sensors and improve the selective sensing were suggested.

Chilling injury (CI), which causes seed browning in pepper, may arise following long-term cold storage, and is a major cause of postharvest losses. To explore potential strategies of minimizing the associated postharvest losses, the present study investigated the optimal pepper harvest time that could reduce levels of seed browning, in addition to the relationship between fruit maturity and seed browning. Fruit harvested 15 days after flowering (DAF) were sensitive to cold storage at 4°C and exhibited 100% seed browning (CI index, 4.0); in contrast, the seed browning rate of fruit harvested 35 DAF was 10% (CI index, 0.4) within 7 d of cold storage. Seed antioxidant activity was higher in seeds harvested at early stages (15 DAF to 20 DAF) than in seeds harvested at later stages (40 DAF to 50 DAF) at the beginning of storage. Pericarps of fruit harvested at 50 DAF exhibited the highest antioxidant activity. Lipoxygenase, catalase, and peroxidase activity, and the expression levels of cell wall-related genes, pectin methylesterase-like protein, and endo-β-1,4-glucanase were higher in seeds of immature fruit harvested 15 DAF than in seeds of mature fruit harvested 35 DAF. The endosperm separated from the seed coat in fruit harvested 35 DAF and the seeds did not brown under low-temperature storage. The lack of seed browning observed in mature fruit under low-temperature storage could be attributed to physical protection provided by the seed coat rather than cold stress resistance conferred by antioxidants.

The bay is a space barrier for the development of island-type cities and a high-quality waterfront landscape resource. This study takes Xiamen a typical island city in China as an example. First, It use the method of satellite telemetry technology combined with GIS software and spatial syntax, respectively, from the material space level and social space level, to summarize the rapid urbanization process of this city since 1990-2018, focusing on the construction process of three large-scale waterfront park systems in the transition period of inter-island development in it, and comparing the similarities and differences of their spatial forms. Further, from the choice of the axis model and the integrated analysis results, we discuss the spatial efficiency changes. The construction of the three major bay waterfront park systems in this city reflects a huge change in development pattern from lagging construction, synchronous planning, to advanced layout, providing a continuous and variable spatial form for the development of the bay region and improving space efficiency, which one of the important ways to develop and transform island-type cities. We hope to provide the reference for the development including sustainable development of other island cities around the world

Carnivore protoparvovirus 1 (CPPV-1) is a DNA virus causing gastrointestinal disease and immunosuppression in various terrestrial carnivores. Domestic dogs and cats are considered the primary CPPV-1 reservoirs. The habitat overlaps of wild carnivores and free-roaming dogs increases the threat of CPPV-1 transmission between them. This study explored the CPPV-1 distribution among wild carnivores through PCR screening and compared the DNA sequences of the partial capsid protein (VP2) between wild and domestic carnivores. In total, 181 samples were screened for the CPPV-1 VP2 gene, including 32 masked palm civets (Paguma larvata), 63 Chinese ferret badgers (Melogale moschata), and 86 crab-eating mongooses (Herpestes urva), from 2015 to 2019 in Taiwan. The average prevalence of CPPV-1 was 17.7% (32/181), with the highest prevalence in masked palm civets (37.5%). In addition, a masked palm civet was coinfected with two CPPV-1 strains. Among the 33 partial VP2 gene sequences, 23 were identical to sequences amplified from domestic dogs and cats in Asia and the remaining 10 were identified for the first time. This study demonstrated that CPPV-1 has circulated between domestic and wild carnivores in rural Taiwan. Therefore, further population control and health management of free-roaming domestic carnivores are recommended.

This paper aims the automatic ball balancers (ABBs) used in passive balancing devices for suppressing vibration of the eccentric rotor. The system model describes which equipped with a skew-mounted ABB with angular deviation. The dynamic equilibrium equations of the system are deduced from the perspective of three-dimensional (3D) dynamics. The results obtained are consistent with those derived from the Euler-Lagrange equations. It is exciting that the spatial dynamics method reveals the spatial geometric characteristic of dynamic balance positioning of the balls when the system is balanced with vibration suppression. The spatial property emerges the perpendicular line from each ball to the rotating spindle of the system must pass through the central axis of the orbit perpendicular to the ABB plane. This characteristic is a general rule that can be used to explain the phenomenon of the stable equilibrium positions of the balls in all previously studied cases.

(1) Background: Extremely low alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels are be-ing recognized as a risk factor of increasing mortality in the elderly in relation to frailty. In the elderly, both frailty and ischemic stroke are not only common, but also associated with mortality. This study aimed to investigate whether extremely low ALT levels increase the all-cause mortality rate in the elderly after ischemic stroke. (2) Methods: A retrospective review was performed on 901 patients with ischemic stroke admitted to a university-affiliated hospital between February 2014 and April 2019. The multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis was performed to determine whether extremely low ALT lev-els are an independent risk factor of mortality in elderly patients after ischem-ic stroke. (3) Results: This study enrolled 323 older adults (age ≥65 years) who were first diagnosed with ischemic stroke. The mean age of the participants was 76.5 ± 6.6 years, mean survival time was 37.1 ± 20.4 months, and the num-ber of deaths was 96 (29.7%). The multivariate Cox proportional hazard analy-sis revealed that the risk factors for all-cause mortality in the elderly after is-chemic stroke were age, initial National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, serum creatinine, and extremely low ALT level (<10 U/L) at the time of diag-nosis (adjusted hazard ratio: 3.243, 95% confidence interval: 1.945–5.408; P < 0.001) (4) Conclusions: Extremely low ALT level at the time of diagnosis (<10 U/L) is an independent risk factor that increases the mortality rate in the el-derly after ischemic stroke.

Antibiotics’ effect on Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) infection still remains controversial. A prospective study of 257 children with MP pneumonia during a recent epidemic (2015-2016) was conducted. All MP pneumonia patients were treated with corticosteroids within 24-36 h after admission. Initially, oral prednisolone (1 mg/kg) or intravenous methylprednisolone (IVMP) (1-2 mg/kg) was administered for mild pneumonia patients, and IVMP (5 -10 mg/kg/day) for severe pneumonia patients. If patients showed persistent fever for 36-48 hours or disease progression, additive IVMP (5 mg/kg or 10 mg/kg) was given. Eighty-five patients received only a broad-spectrum antibiotic without macrolide. The mean age and the male:female ratio were 5.6 ± 3.1 years, respectively. Seventy-four percent of patients (190/257) showed immediate defervescence within 24 h, and 95.7% (246/257) of patients showed defervescence within 72 h with improvements in clinical symptoms. Eight patients who received additive IVMP also showed clinical improvement within 48 h without adverse reactions. There were no clinical or laboratory differences between patients treated with a macrolide (n = 172) and without (n = 85). Early corticosteroid therapy might reduce disease morbidity and prevent disease progression in MP pneumonia patients without side effects, and antibiotics may have limited effects on MP infection.

Large quantities of clothing are routinely discarded, ending up in landfills that contribute to the environmental crisis; hence, it is worthwhile investigating how to dispose of this waste in a sustainable way. This study considered environmental values and prosocial behavior from a behaviorism theory. The aim was to set up an environmental protection model for the sustainable disposal of consumer clothing. A structural equation modeling analysis of 407 undergraduate and postgraduate consumer data in Taiwan revealed that consumers’ choice to donate clothing was influenced by environmental values and prosocial behaviors. Clothing resale was influenced by the factor of prosocial behavior. However, prosocial consumers used other disposal patterns instead of resale. Clothing reuse was not influenced by either environmental values or prosocial behavior. The results indicated that environmental values and prosocial behavior did in fact influence consumers’ choices regarding clothing donation. However, prosocial consumers used other disposal patterns instead of resale. Behaviorism theory model is effective in analyzing the factors influencing sustainable clothing disposal. To face clothing waste issues, one can intensify traditional values of industriousness and thriftiness, of compassion and sympathy to others, to accelerate the promotion of the sustainable disposal of clothing.

This study focuses on the impact of weak partial discharges (PDs) on defect recognition accuracy in epoxy resin through phase-resolved partial discharge (PRPD) analysis. Two measurement conditions are compared until PRPD pattern saturation: one-minute and one-hour durations. The PD data specifically target three void types located at different positions within the epoxy material. The aim is to evaluate how the presence of weak PDs at the PD extinction voltage (PDEV) influences defect recognition accuracy. This research sheds light on the potential implications of neglecting the significance of weak PD signals in defect detection. A convolutional neural network (CNN) model is trained using PRPD data recorded at the PD inception voltage (PDIV) and tested using the new PRPD data from both conditions recorded from a lower PDIV to a PDEV. The trained CNN model achieves a defect recognition accuracy of 100% for a one-hour duration, highlighting the importance of not neglecting weak PD signals. This emphasizes the significance of extended measurement duration and pattern saturation in capturing and analyzing weak PD signals for improved defect recognition. This study contributes to the advancement of practical applications by understanding the behavior of the epoxy material and enhancing defect detection techniques.

Water quality monitoring was an important objective in the surroundings. In this study, we investigated the sensing characteristics of the arrayed flexible chloride sensor with XBee wireless sensing system. The sensitivity and linearity of the wireless chloride sensing devices were 91.6 mV/pCl and 0.988, respectively. The hysteresis voltages were 50.14 mV and 36.71 mV during the cycles of 1 M → 10⁻¹ M → 1 M → 10⁻³ M → 1 M and 1 M → 10⁻³ M → 1 M → 10⁻¹ M → 1 M, respectively. The selectivity coefficients of the ClO⁻ ion, ClO₄⁻ ion, NO₃⁻ ion and I⁻ ion for Cl⁻ ion were 5.0 × 10⁻², 1.0 × 10⁻¹, 5.9 × 10⁻³ and 5.6×10⁻¹, respectively. The sensing characteristics of real time measurement were investigated for dynamic microfluidic. The arrayed flexible chloride sensor was integrated with the microfluidic device, syringe pump and wireless sensing system. The sensitivity and linearity were 273.1 mV/pCl and 0.978 at 35 μL/min, respectively.

Consumption of refined foods and beverages high in sugar make the teeth susceptible to the formation of biofilm, and lead to dental caries and diseases of the oral cavity such as periodontitis and periodontal disease. The aim of the present study was to determine the ability of selected probiotics to inhibit growth and biofilm formation by the cariogenic bacterium Streptococcus mutans in vitro. We screened strains of latic acid bacteria (LAB) (n=120) from the Bioresources Collection and Research Center (BCRC), saliva of healthy adults and infant stool. The antimicrobial activity of LAB in vitro was evaluated by agar spot culture and co-culture of the S. mutans strains. We determined the effect of heating and dilution factors (2- and 4-fold) on the antagonistic activity of LAB. Antagonistic substances in the spent culture suspensions (SCS) of LAB were precipitated by extraction with ammonium sulphate and chloroform to characterise the protein and lipophilic fractions. Results of co-culturing show that the SCS of the three LAB strains (Lactobacillus pentosus 13-1, 13-4 and Lactobacillus crispatus BCRC 14618) subjected to heat treatment showed significantly high antimicrobial activity. We found that substances produced by L. pentosus 13-4 which have the potential to exhibit antimicrobial properties might be lipophilic proteins. Additionally, we infer that the mechanism of reducing biofilm formation by Lactobacillus strains is associated with sucrose-dependent cell–cell adhesion and the gtfC level of glucosyltransferases (Gtfs) in the biofilm. Native LAB strains screened in our study may be used in chewing gums and other processed foods for preventing tooth decay.

The combination of freeze-dried aronia, red ginseng, ultraviolet-irradiated shiitake mushroom and natokinase (AGM; 3.4: 4.1: 2.4: 0.1) was examined to evaluate its effects on insulin resistance, insulin secretion and gut microbiome in a non-obese type 2 diabetic animal model. Pancreatectomized (Px) rats were provided high fat diets supplemented with either of 1) 0.5 g AGM (AGM-L), 2) 1 g AGM (AGM-H), 3) 1 g dextrin (control), or 4) 1g dextrin with 120 mg metformin (positive-control) per kg body weight for 12 weeks. AGM (1 g) contained 6.22 mg cyanidin-3-galactose, 2.5 mg ginsenoside Rg3 and 0.6 mg β-glucan. Px rats had decreased bone mineral density in the lumbar spine and femur and lean body mass in the hip and leg compared to the normal-control and AGM-L and AGM-H prevented the decrease. Visceral fat mass was lower in the control group than the normal-control group and its decrease was smaller by AGM-L and AGM-H. HOMA-IR was lower in descending order of the control, positive-control, AGM-L, AGM-H and normal-control groups. Glucose tolerance was deteriorated in the control group and it was improved by AGM-L and AGM-H more than in the positive-control group. Glucose tolerance is associated with insulin resistance and insulin secretion. Insulin tolerance indicated insulin resistance was highly impaired in diabetic rats, but it was improved in the ascending order of the positive-control, AGM-L and AGM-H. Insulin secretion capacity, measured by hyperglycemic clamp, was much lower in the control group than the normal-control group and it was improved in the ascending order of the positive-control, AGM-L and AGM-H. Diabetes modulated the composition of gut microbiome and AMG prevented the modulation of gut microbiome. In conclusion, AGM improved glucose metabolism by potentiating insulin secretion and reducing insulin resistance in insulin deficient type 2 diabetic rats. The improvement of diabetic status alleviated body composition changes and prevented changes of gut microbiome composition.

Pastes containing reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and LiCl-Mn(NO3)2·4H2O are screen-printed on a carbon cloth substrate and then calcined using a nitrogen atmospheric-pressure-plasma jet (APPJ) for conversion into rGO-LiMnOx nanocomposites. The APPJ processing time is within 300 s. RGO-LiMnOx on carbon cloth is used to sandwich H2SO4, LiCl, or Li2SO4 gel electrolytes to form hybrid supercapacitors (HSCs). The areal capacitance, energy density, and cycling stability of the HSCs are evaluated using electrochemical measurement. The Li2SO4 gel electrolyte HSC exhibits the highest areal capacitance and energy density but lower cycling stability. By contrast, the H2SO4 gel electrolyte HSC exhibits better cycling stability but lower areal capacitance and energy density.

Panax notoginseng is a traditional Chinese medicine, and saponins are its main active ingredients. The content of saponins in flower of P. notoginseng is the highest in the whole plant. Minor ginsenosides have stronger pharmacological activity than main ginsenosides, but its content in nature is very low. We can use extracted total saponins from P. notoginseng flower as the substrate to produce minor ginsenosides by biotransformation method. In this study, we used the fungus Talaromyces flavus and its crude enzymes to transform the extracted total saponins of P. notoginseng flower. Through the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the transformation substrates and products, it was found that minor ginsenosides Gyp-XVII, ginsenosides C-Mc1, C-Mx1, F2, Rg3, 20(R)-Rg3, Rk1 and Rg5 were found in the products and the conversion rate of the major saponins in P. notoginseng flower ranged from 44.16 to 55.22%, the yields of the minor ginsenosides ranged from 0.05 to 3.24%. This study provided a good experimental idea, greatly increased the utilization rate of total saponins in P. notoginseng flower, and laid a foundation for promoting the wide application of minor saponins.

Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) may convey high current and sustain high breakdown voltages; it may provide high power control. In a sense, how IGBT demonstrates the capability of power control was not specifically described, and the equivalent bipolar junction transistors (BJT) activated by an applied bias to the insulated gate is intriguing. As seen in Figure 1, IGBT shows an equivalent circuit structure containing two types of BJT, (NPN-type Bipolar transistor and PNP-type Bipolar transistor), which can be modeled as diode-associated transistor. Apparently, as a bias applies to the controlling gate, the channel beneath the gate oxide gets strongly inversed and turns out to be conductive just like what happens on metal-oxide-silicon field effect transistor (MOSFET), which provides necessary igniting currents to both BJTs and thus causes high current gain flowing through them-selves from the bottom. A proposed and renewed formula provides addressing the above scenario and successfully fitting the measured data that forms the characteristic curves. Some parameters in the proposed formula, which includes size and mobility associated constant, threshold voltage, and Early-Voltage-related lambda for MOSFET, explain and explore the underlying physics. IGBT thus enjoy high input impedance and high current gain due to MOSFET (Insulated Gate) and BJT, respectively. This formula combines both merits of MOSFET and BJT in order to fit the measured data. Indeed, the formula intimately fits IGBT electrical characteristic curves, and thus may be qualified and served as a model. The new model is then advisable for designing power integrated circuit to exactly achieve power saving, power control, and power efficiency.

The standard treatment for early-stage lung cancer is complete tumor excision by limited resection of the lung. Pre-operative localization is used before video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) to improve the accuracy of pulmonary nodule excision. However, lung atelectasis and hypoxia resulting from controlling apnea during the localization procedure may affect the localization accuracy. Pre-procedural pulmonary recruitment may improve respiratory mechanics and oxygenation during localization. In this study, we investigated the potential benefits of pre-localization pulmonary recruitment prior to pulmonary ground-glass nodule localization in a hybrid operating room. We hypothesized that pre-localization pulmonary recruitment would increase localization accuracy, improve oxygenation, and prevent the need for re-inflation during the localization procedure. We retrospectively enrolled patients with multiple pulmonary nodule localizations before surgical intervention in our hybrid operating room. We compared localization accuracies between patients who had undergone pre-procedure pulmonary recruitment and patients who had not. Saturation, re-inflation rate, apnea time, procedure-related pneumothorax, and procedure time were also recorded as secondary outcomes. Patients who had undergone pre-procedure recruitment had better saturation, shorter procedure time, and higher localization accuracy. The pre-procedure pulmonary recruitment maneuver was effective in increasing regional lung ventilation, leading to improved oxygenation and localization accuracy.

Background Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a widely recognized cardiovascular disease that is considered the leading cause of death worldwide, affecting people on a global scale. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), which involves procedures such as balloon angioplasty or stenting, plays an important role in opening blocked arteries and minimizing damage to the cardiac muscle. While the use of drug-eluting stents (DESs) has significantly reduced the occurrence of coronary restenosis, the problem of in-stent restenosis (ISR) continues to pose a significant clinical challenge. Gaining a deeper understanding of the clinical predictors associated with ISR is vital for early detection and appropriate treatment. Hence, this study aimed to evaluate the clinical predictors of ISR specifically in Taiwanese patients. Methods We conducted a single-center, retrospective case-control study, enrolling 517 CAD patients undergoing previous coronary stenting and stable angina with positive stress test or acute coronary syndrome (ACS) during follow-up between January 2019 and December 2022 at National Taiwan University Hospital. The patients were categorized into two groups: the ISR group, consisting of individuals who received drug-coated balloon (DCB) treatment (n=177), and the non-ISR group, comprising patients who did not receive DCB treatment (n=340). To gather relevant data, we meticulously reviewed the medical records and analyzed the findings from coronary angiography to assess the clinical characteristics of the patients. Results Patients with three-vessel disease (3VD) exhibited a higher prevalence of underlying diseases and were more likely to be taking aspirin and clopidogrel. Moreover, our analysis revealed that age (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.02, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.00 - 1.04, p = 0.037) and the presence of 3VD (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.15, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03 - 4.46, p = 0.039) were significantly associated with an increased risk of coronary ISR. Conclusions Older age and 3VD were the independent predictors of coronary ISR in CAD patients receiving coronary stent implantation.

Visible light communication (VLC) can offer the advantages of license and electromagnetic interference (EMI) free wireless transmission. As optical signal does not interference with the radio-frequency (RF) signal, VLC can be used to augment RF wireless communication to provide extra communication capacity while without degrading the performance of both signals. In order to achieve high performance VLC transmission, optical alignment between the optical transmit (Tx) and receiver (Rx) is very critical to enhance the received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Optical beam-steering at the Tx can be utilized to ensure narrow optical beam can reach the Rx; however, complicated and active tracking are required. Lenses or compound parabolic concentrators (CPCs) can be install in front of the Rx for focusing to enhance the SNR. However, these will limit the Rx field-of-view (FOV) and making the VLC transmission more subjected to misalignment issue. Hence, many creative optical antennas have been proposed and demonstrated using special optical materials as well as special Rx to enhance the FOV of VLC systems. However, they have their limitations, such as data rates and FOVs. In this work, we put forward and demonstrate a bi-direction free-space VLC system supporting multiple moveable Rxs using a light-diffusing optical fiber (LDOF). The downlink (DL) signal is launched from an head-end or central office (CO) far away to the LDOF at the client side via a free-space transmission. When the DL signal is launched to the LDOF, which acts as an optical antenna to re-transmit the DL signal to different moveable Rxs. The uplink (UL) signal is sent via the LDOF towards the CO. In a proof-of-concept demonstration, the LDOF is 100 cm long and the free space VLC transmission between the CO and the LDOF is 100 cm. 210 Mbit/s DL and 850 Mbit/s UL transmissions, meeting the pre-forward-error-correction bit error rate (pre-FEC BER = 3.8 × 10−3) threshold are achieved.

Introduction: This study explored the structural relationship between peer relations, exercise participation satisfaction, exercise commitment, and adherence to intention to exercise among Korean sports club participants. The objective was to offer insights that can enhance intentions for continuous exercise participation. Methods: To fulfill this objective, data were gathered using snowball sampling from teenagers at middle schools in Seoul and Gyeonggi, South Korea, who either currently participate in school sports clubs or have participated in the past. A total of 261 responses were analyzed using frequency, technical statistics, and confirmatory factor, reliability, correlation, and structural equation model analyses. Results: Through these analyses, this study found that peer relationships, exercise participation satisfaction, and exercise commitment were significant as both direct and indirect influences on exercise adherence intentions. Discussion: Intervention strategies should focus on fostering the positive emotions that stem from peer relationships.

The research aims to examine the extent to which the perceived organizational support (POS) predicted career related self and environmental exploration via the mediation effect of career adaptability. Multi-group comparisons based on the gender, majors and places of origin were also performed to evaluate the differences among these variables. An internet survey was conducted to collect empirical data from 611 Chinese undergraduates. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted to demonstrate the proposed relations in the model and multiple group analysis. Clearly supported was the direct relations between POS and career related self and environmental exploration and the mediation effect of career adaptability. The results also showed that gender and major are the moderating variables for the proposed model, and no significance difference among the rural and urban subgroups was found. POS could be effectively delivered to students in general, marginalized social groups, such as females and those majored in the humanities and social sciences in particular. Four dimensions of career adaptability (concern, control, curiosity and confidence) could also be targeted at in order to promote students’ sustainable employment. The findings provide a better understanding of the career construction model by incorporating the contextual factor in a collective cultural environment.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) is a swine wasting disease caused by coronavirus infection. It causes great economic damage to the swine industry worldwide. Despite the continued use of vaccines, PED outbreaks continue, highlighting the need to review the effectiveness of current vaccines and develop additional vaccines based on new platforms. Here, we review existing vaccine technologies for preventing PED and highlight promising technologies that may help control PED virus in the future.

Antibiotic-loaded bone cement (ALBC) plays a pivotal role in infection prevention and treatment related to musculoskeletal surgery. The release efficacy of antibiotics from ALBC is closely tied to its surface area, yet little is known about the effective release depth. To investigate the relationship between surface area, volume, and antibiotic elution, spheric ALBC specimens with consistent outer diameters but different internal metal sphere diameters were prepared. Two vancomycin doses were utilized in ALBC specimens with an outer diameter of 35 mm: high (4 g) and low (1 g). Each dosage group included five specimens containing embedded metal spheres with diameters of 15, 25, 29, 32, or 33 mm. The resulting shell-like ALBC specimens had thicknesses of 10 mm, 5 mm, 3 mm, 1.5 mm, or 1 mm, respectively. The specimens were immersed in sterile phosphate buffer solution, and antibiotic elution was measured at designated sampling times (1, 3, 6, 10, 24, 48, 72, and 168 hours). Methylene blue was employed to visualize penetration depth. Vancomycin elution did not display statistically significant differences between high- and low-dose groups. In both groups, specimens with 1 mm thickness exhibited a higher vancomycin release efficiency (high-dose group: 18560±5474 μg, 6.7%; low-dose group: 2017±419 μg, 2.6%), decreasing sharply in thicker ALBC specimens. Methylene blue penetration depth showed no apparent difference between high-dose and low-dose groups. ALBC thickness does not significantly impact antibiotic elution, while surface area and antibiotic dose exert notable effects. These in vitro findings offer potential applications in clinical treatments for musculoskeletal infections.

Background: This retrospective study evaluates the survival effects of metronomic maintenance therapy with fluoropyrimidine in patients with stage III colorectal cancer (CRC) according to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression. Methods: We enrolled 197 patients with stage III CRC who had undergone radical resection and FOLFOX regimen adjuvant chemotherapy. The clinicopathological features and effects of metronomic maintenance therapy on survival according to treatment group and EGFR expression were analyzed. By conducting an in vitro cell line study and in vivo study through knockdout of EGFR gene, we analyzed the capacities of cell proliferation and migration. Results: Postoperative relapse and mortality were significantly more common in the FOLFOX group. Metronomic maintenance therapy was a significantly independent predictive factor of postoperative relapse and mortality, as well as a prognostic factor of disease-free survival and overall survival. The significant differences of survival between the two groups were only observed in patients with positive EGFR expression. Conclusions: The present study suggested EGFR expression as the prognostic factor in patients with stage III CRC receiving metronomic maintenance therapy. By analyzing EGFR expression, we can identify the potential candidates with optimal survival benefit from metronomic maintenance therapy in patients with stage III CRC.

Abstract In order to solve the problem that it is difficult to obtain the accurate trigger signal moment when using the time difference of UAV flight acoustic signals collected by acoustic sensors arranged in advance to locate the position of UAVs when they cannot be tracked by radar and are difficult to be observed by the human eye, an acoustic source localisation method with improved empirical modal decomposition (REMD) under an adaptive frequency window is proposed. Firstly, the collected UAV flight signals are smoothed and filtered, then the robust empirical modal decomposition (REMD) is used for IMF modal decomposition and spectral analysis of the collected signals, and a panning frequency window with variable bandwidth is introduced for corresponding frequency locking and extracting the IMFs; the GWO optimisation is used and the sliding metrics are set to determine the position of the panning frequency window automatically; finally, the extracted Finally, the extracted IMF components are reconstructed according to the criterion, and the trigger signal moments in the reconstructed IMF components are resolved and recorded, and the algorithm is used to calculate the difference between the reception moments of different sensors; for the traditional sound source localisation algorithms with a small detection range, which are prone to fall into the no-solution or false-solution, i.e., unable to achieve the localisation, a weighted least-squares-based Chan-Taylor algorithm is proposed for the localisation computation, and a weighted least-squares algorithm is proposed for the localisation computation, through the Inputting the sensor delay parameter and solving the linear equation system to get the target position information; finally, this paper verifies the robustness and performance of the design method with simulated and actual signals. The results show that the maximum positioning error is no more than 5% in an area with a side length of 15m in the measurement area. With the improved accuracy of time delay estimation, the positioning simulation results meet the positioning requirements even though the positioning error is further expanded when the measurement area is further expanded.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is an active diterpenoid compound that is extracted from the leaves and stem of Cannabis sativa. Previous studies show that CBD is a non-psychotropic compound with significant anti-cancer effects. This study determines its cytotoxic effect on oral cancer cells and OECM1 cells and compares the outcomes with a chemotherapeutic drug, cisplatin. This study determines the effect of CBD on the viability, apoptosis, morphology and migration of OECM1 cells. Electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) is used to measure the change in cell impedance for cells that are treated with a series concentration of CBD for 24 hours. AlamarBlue and annexin V/7-AAD staining assays show that CBD has a cytotoxic effect on cell viability and induces cell apoptosis. ECIS analysis shows that CBD decreases the overall resistance and morphological parameters at 4 kHz in a concentration-dependent manner. There is a significant reduction in the wound-healing recovery rate for cells that are treated with 30 μM CBD. This study demonstrates that ECIS can be used for in vitro screening of anticancer drugs and is more sensitive, functional and comprehensive than traditional biochemical assays. CBD also increases cytotoxicity on cell survival and the migration of oral cancer cells, so it may be a therapeutic drug for oral cancer

This work aims to develop an autonomous system for the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to land on a moving platform such as the automobile or marine vessels, providing a promising solution for a long-endurance flight operation, a large mission coverage range, and a convenient recharging ground station. Different from most state-of-the-art UAV landing frameworks which rely on UAV’s onboard computers and sensors, the proposed system fully depends on the computation unit situated on the ground vehicle/marine vessel to serve as a landing guidance system. Such novel configuration can therefore lighten the burden of the UAV and computation power on the ground vehicle/marine vessel could be enhanced. In particular, we exploit a sensor fusion-based algorithm for the guidance system to perform UAV localization, whilst a control method based upon trajectory optimization is integrated. Indoor and outdoor experiments are conducted and the result shows that a precise autonomous landing on a 43 X 43 cm platform could be performed.

Study objective Since December 2019, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has caused over a million deaths and resulted in adverse socio-economic impacts worldwide. However, predictability and prognostication of clinical features vary among different populations. Methods We search PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, and WHO Global Health Library from December 2019 to April 2020 for studies reporting the risk factors, clinical features, and outcomes. The random-effect models for transformed prevalence (single-arm) or bivariate random-effect models (sensitivity and specificity) for correlated performance indicators. Results Among the 189 included studies representing 53,659 patients, the most sensitive predictor for COVID-19 infection was fever in adults (83%, 95% confidence interval [CI]:73–90%), and the most specific predictor was fatigue (96%, 95% CI: 80–99%). Fever was the most sensitive symptom in predicting the severity (89%, 95% CI:83–92%), followed by cough (71%, 95% CI:63–78%). The most specific predictor of severe COVID-19 was a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (99%, 95% CI:98–99%). The stage of the outbreak and age significantly affect the prevalence of fever, fatigue, cough, and dyspnea. Fever, cough, fatigue, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus combined have a 3.06 positive likelihood ratio (PLR) and a 0.59 negative likelihood ratio (NLR) in the diagnosis. Additionally, fever, cough, sputum production, myalgia, fatigue, and dyspnea combined have a 10.44 PLR and a 0.16 NLR in predicting severe COVID-19. Conclusions Understanding the different distribution of predictors essential for screening potential COVID-19 infection and severe outcomes and the combination of symptoms could improve the pre-test probability.

The KcsA is a prokaryotic potassium-oriented channel, which is sourced from the Streptomyces lividans soil bacteria. From extensive studies that have been carried over the KcsA potassium channel, it has been proved that various factors enable the gating and shuttling of the potassium ions into and out of the cells. Some of the factors include the different concentration of protons in the inside and outside membrane. The other factor is the existence of the selectivity filter equipped in the exit of channel pore, which enables the movement of the K⁺ ions. Not only are potassium ions present in the channel but also sodium ions. Potassium and sodium ions are the ions that are essential in the conductivity of a cell because of their charge. An intuitive idea about why K⁺ ions are at least 10,000 times more permeant than Na⁺ ions is presented in various entities. The hypothesis is that the selectivity ratio is probably related to the successive entry of Na⁺ ions, based on the premise that the ratio seems to be relevant to unpredictable quantities caused by Brownian corrosion of ions.

To understand the mechanisms involved in the anti-obesity effects Centella asi-atica (CA), we examined body weight, serum levels, white adipose tissue (WAT) weight, histological analysis, and the expression of cholesterol homeostasis- and lipid metabolism-related genes in mice with high-fat, high-sugar diet (HFHSD)-induced obesity that were orally treated with CA for 12 weeks. Eight-week-old, male C57BL/6J mice were assigned to the following four groups (eight mice/group): NOR, normal diet; Control, HFHSD; CA-L, HFHSD+CA 300 mg/kg; CA-H, HFHSD+CA 600 mg/kg. CA treatment signifi-cantly attenuated HFHSD-induced increase in body weight gain, serum glucose, serum triacylglycerol, and WAT weight (p < 0.05). Compared to that in Control group, adipocyte diameter and macrovesicular area of epididymal WAT signif-icantly decreased with CA treatment (p < 0.05). The mRNA expression levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), fatty acid synthase (FAS), cluster of differentiation 36 (CD36), 3- hydroxyl-3-methylglutaryl CoA reductase (HMGCR), and stearoyl CoA desaturase 1 (SCD 1) were significantly downregulated in the CA-H group compared to the Control group (p < 0.05). CA exerts anti-obesity effects by lowering body fat accumulation via regulat-ing gene expression in the liver and thus, is a potential lipid-lowering agent.

In Los Angeles, at one point, the Covid-19 testing positivity rate was 6.25%, or one in sixteen. This translates to, on average, one in sixteen specimens testing positive and the vast majority testing negative. Usually, we run sixteen tests on sixteen specimens to identify the positive one(s). This process can be time consuming and expensive. Since a group of negative specimens pooled together for testing will produce a negative result, one single test could potentially eliminate many specimens. Only when the pooled specimen tests positive do we need further testing to identify the positive one(s). Based on this concept, we designed a strategy that will identify the positive specimen(s) efficiently. Assuming one in sixteen specimens is positive, we find that only four tests are needed. Furthermore, we can run them simultaneously, saving both resources and time. Although, in the real world, we cannot make the assumption of only one positive specimen, the same strategy works with slight modification and proves to be much more efficient than the conventional testing. Our strategy returns an answer 48% of the time in four tests and one time cycle. Overall, the average number of tests is seven or eight depending on the follow-up testing, and the average time cycle is about one and a half.

Oral cancer ranks sixth among Taiwan's top 10 cancers, and most patients with poor prognosis acquire metastases. The essential fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) has been found to diminish many cancer properties. However, the anti-cancer activity of ALA in oral cancer has yet to be determined. Migration and invasion assays confirmed OSCC cells' EMT capabilities, whereas flow cytometry and Western blotting identified the molecular pathways. ALA dramatically reduced cell growth in a concentration dependent manner, according to the findings. Low concentrations of ALA (100 or 200 μM) inhibit colony formation, expression of Twist and EMT-related proteins, expression of MMP2/-9 proteins and enzyme activity, as well as cell migration and invasion. Treatment with high concentrations of ALA (200 or 400 μM) greatly increases JNK phosphorylation and c-jun nuclear accumulation, then upregulates the FasL/caspase8/caspase3 and Bid/cytochrome c/caspase9/caspase3 pathways, leading to cell death. Low concentrations of ALA inhibit SAS and GNM cell migration and invasion by suppressing Twist and downregulating EMT-related proteins, or by decreasing the protein expression and enzyme activity of MMP-2/-9, whereas high concentrations of ALA promote apoptosis by activating the JNK/FasL/caspase 8/caspase 3-extrinsic pathway and the Bid/cytochrome c/caspase 9 pathway. ALA demonstrates potential as a treatment for OSCC patients.

Emerging evidence demonstrated that using a new manufacturing technology to produce γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-fortified oolong (GO) tea could relieve human stress and exert versatile physiological benefits. The purpose of this human research aims to investigate therapeutic effects of daily GO tea consumption on the improvement of blood pressure, relaxation-related brain waves and quality of life (QOL) during a period of 28 consecutive days. Total polyphenols, major catechins and free amino acids were analyzed via HPLC assay. Changes of heart rate, blood pressure, α-brain wave (index of relaxation) and eight-item QOL score were investigated on day 0, 7, 14, 21 and 28, respectively. The chemical analysis results showed that GO tea contained the most abundant amino acids and GABA, contributing to the relaxation activity. Among all study participants, daily drinking GO tea could reduce systolic blood pressure on day 21 and diastolic blood pressure on day 28 (p &lt; 0.05, respectively). For participants with pre-hypertension, GO tea could effectively reduce heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure on day 28 (p &lt; 0.05). At the end of the study, incremental changes in alpha-brain wave and QOL scores were also demonstrated (p &lt; 0.05, respectively). This study recommended that GO tea might potentially serve as a natural source of alternative therapy to benefit blood pressure, stress-relief and QOL.

While pioglitazone reduces insulin resistance and hepatic gluconeogenesis effectively in patients with T2DM, these benefits remained controversial in patients with ESRD. We compared MACCEs and mortality (overall, infection-related, and MACCE-related) of pioglitazone to that of DPP4-inhibitors in patients with T2DM and ESRD. From Taiwan’s national health insurance database, 647 pioglitazone users and 6080 DPP4-inhibitors users between April 1st, 2006 and December 31th, 2016 were followed from the 91th date after the ESRD certification till study outcomes, independently; withdraw from the NHI program, death, or Dec. 31th, 2017. After weighting, risks of MACCEs (10.48% vs 12.62% per person-years, [HR]: 0.85, 95% [CI]: 0.729–0.985) and all-cause mortality (12.86% vs 13.22% per person-years, [HR]: 0.88, 95% [CI]: 0.771–0.995) are significantly lower in pioglitazone group. Subgroup analysis found lower MACCEs risk in the pioglitazone users without insulin therapy (6.44% vs 10.04% [HR]: 0.59, 95% [CI]: 0.42–0.82) and lower MACCEs related death (2.76% vs 3.84% [HR]: 0.61, 95% [CI]: 0.40–0.95) in the pioglitazone group with dyslipidemia, when comparing with DPP4-inhibitors users. Pioglitazone is associated with lower all-cause mortality and MACCEs in diabetic patients with ESRD, compared to DPP4-inhibitors. These benefits were further significant in the non-insulin users and patients with dyslipidemia.

A 57-year-old male with a history of hyperlipidemia and mild pulmonary hypertension presented for a left inguinal hernia repair. Preoperative electrocardiogram showed severe right axis deviation at 177 degrees and abnormal repolarization. Right ventricular hypertrophy secondary to pulmonary hypertension was the primary differential but was quickly ruled out due to the patient being asymptomatic and having great exercise tolerance. Dextrocardia was also ruled out due to normal progression on the precordial leads. The simultaneous severe right axis deviations of P, R, and T waves raised suspicion for erroneous lead placement. The repeat electrocardiogram confirmed the diagnosis.

Most of the existing influence maximization algorithms are not suitable for large-scale social networks due to their high time complexity or limited influence propagation range. Therefore, a D-RIS influence maximization algorithm is proposed based on the independent cascade model and combined with the reverse reachable set sampling. Under the premise that the influence propagation function satisfies monotonicity and submodularity, the D-RIS algorithm uses automatic debugging method to determine the critical value of the number of reverse reachable sets, which not only obtains a better influence propagation range, and greatly reduce the time complexity. The experimental results on the two real data sets of Slashdot and Epinions show that D-RIS algorithm is close to the CELF algorithm and higher than RIS algorithm, HighDegree algorithm, LIR algorithm and pBmH algorithm in influence propagation range. At the same time, it is significantly better than the CELF algorithm and RIS algorithm in running time, which indicates that D-RIS algorithm is more suitable for large scale social network.

We introduce a novel microscopic image dataset augmented with segmentation and detection labels specifically designed for microplastic analysis in sewage environments. Recognizing the increasing concern over microplastics — particles of synthetic polymers smaller than 5mm — and their detrimental effects on marine ecosystems and human health, our research focuses on enhancing detection and analytical methodologies through advanced computer vision and deep learning techniques. The dataset comprises high-resolution microscopic images of microplastics collected from sewage, meticulously labeled for both segmentation and detection tasks, aiming to facilitate accurate and efficient identification and quantification of microplastic pollution. In addition to dataset development, we present example deep learning models optimized for segmentation and detection of microplastics within complex sewage samples. The models demonstrate significant potential in automating the analysis of microplastic contamination, offering a scalable solution to environmental monitoring challenges. Furthermore, we ensure the accessibility and reproducibility of our research by making the dataset and model codes publicly available, accompanied by detailed documentation on GitHub and LabelBox. The dataset and example deep learning models are publicly available at the following GitHub link. https://anonymous.4open.science/r/Microplastics-in-Sewage-1BEF

Mechanical ventilation (MV), used in patients with acute lung injury (ALI), induces diaphragmatic myofiber atrophy and contractile inactivity, termed ventilator-induced diaphragm dysfunction. Phosphoinositide 3-kinase- (PI3K-) is crucial in modulating fibrogenesis during the reparative phase of ALI; however, the mechanisms regulating the interactions among MV, myofiber fibrosis, and PI3K- remain unclear. We hypothesized MV with or without bleomycin treatment would increase diaphragm muscle fibrosis through the PI3K- pathway. Five days after receiving a single bolus of 0.075 units bleomycin intratracheally, C57BL/6 mice were exposed to 6 or 10 mL/kg MV for 8 h after receiving 5 mg/kg of AS605240 intraperitoneally. In wild-type mice, bleomycin exposure followed by MV 10 mL/kg prompted significant increases in disruptions of diaphragmatic myofibrillar organization, transforming growth factor-1, oxidative loads, Masson’s trichrome staining, extracellular collagen levels, positive staining of -smooth muscle actin, PI3K- expression, and myonuclear apoptosis (P &lt; 0.05). Decreased diaphragm contractility and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor- coactivator-1 levels were also observed (P &lt; 0.05). MV-augmented bleomycin-induced diaphragm fibrosis and myonuclear apoptosis were attenuated in PI3K-γ-deficient mice and through AS605240-induced inhibition of PI3K- activity (P &lt; 0.05). MV-augmented diaphragm fibrosis after bleomycin-induced ALI is partially mediated through PI3K-γ. Therapy targeting PI3K-γ may ameliorate MV-associated diaphragm fibrosis.

A PLS-based quality prediction method is proposed for batch processes using two-dimensional extended windows. To realize the adoption of information in the direction of sampling time and batch, a new definition region of support (ROS), k-i-back-extended region of support (KIBROS), is proposed to establish the extended window, which including the data of the previous sampling times in the same batch, the data of the same sampling time in the historical batches, the data of the previous sampling times in the historical batches and the data of the later sampling times in the historical batches. According to these regions of support, extended windows are established, and different models are proposed based on the extended windows for batch processes quality prediction. Further, using a typical batch process as an example, the injection molding process, the proposed quality prediction method is experimentally verified, proving that the proposed methods have higher prediction accuracy than the traditional method and the prediction stability is also improved.

Since the college years represent an important period for forming oral health behaviors during adulthood, it is important that college students establish proper oral health-promoting behaviors. Therefore, this study aims to identify the effects of oral health education experience, knowledge, and practice behaviors on oral health care self-efficacy among college students, as studies related to this topic are scarce. A total of 236 college students participated in a questionnaire survey comprising 21 questions. The collected data were analyzed through a chi-square test, independent-samples t-test, and logistic regression analysis using SPSS version 22.0. Participants with oral health education experience showed higher levels of oral health knowledge and practice behaviors than those who did not, and the odds of them having oral health care self-efficacy was 3.743 higher. Moreover, a one-unit increase in oral health knowledge and practice behaviors was associated with a 1.199 and 1.351 increase in oral health care self-efficacy, respectively. For oral health promotion among college students, oral health care self-efficacy reinforcement programs tailored to college students should be developed. These should focus on expanding oral health education opportunities to promote improvement in oral health care self-efficacy by strengthening oral health knowledge and the motivation to practice oral health behaviors.

A Micro holes in a diamond are presented by using a homemade femtosecond (fs) Yb:KGW laser. An fs laser source was used emitting pulse duration of 230 fs at 1030 nm wavelength, whereas the spot size amounted to 8.9 μm. Parameters like pulse energy, and pulse number were varied over a wide range in order to evaluate their influence both on the micro hole geometry like hole diameter, circularity, taper angle, and on the drilling quality. Hourglass-shaped micro holes whose diameters decrease and increase again after a certain depth have important applications. The results demonstrate the feasibility of extending the drilling of an hourglass-shaped hole in a diamond sample, which has similar diameters at the hole entrance (92 μm) and exit (95 μm), but a much smaller diameter (28 μm) at a certain waist section inside the hole.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a leading cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality in both sexes globally. This is not unconnected with the heterogeneity and plasticity of CRC stem cells (CRC-SCs) which stealthily exploit niche-related and (epi)genetic factors to facilitate metastasis, chemoresistance, tumor recurrence, and disease progression. Despite accumulating evidence of the role of dysregulated microRNAs in malignancies, the therapeutic efficacy of pharmacological-targeting of CRC-SC-associated microRNAs is relatively under-explored. Experimental approach: In this present study, we employed relatively new bioinformatics approaches, analyses of microarray data, western blot, RT-PCR, and functional assays to show that hsa-miR-324-5p expression is significantly suppressed in CRC cells, and inversely correlates with the aberrant expression of SOD2. Results: This converse hsa-miR-324-5p/SOD2 relationship is associated with enhanced oncogenicity, which is effectively inhibited by 4-AAQB as evidenced by inhibited cell viability and proliferation, as well as, attenuated migration, invasion and clonogenicity in 4-AAQB-treated DLD1 and HCT116 cells. We also showed that 4-AAQB-induced re-expression of hsa-miR-324-5p, akin to short-interfering RNA reduced SOD2 expression, correlates with the concurrent down-regulation of SOD2, N-cadherin, vimentin, c-Myc, and BcL-xL2, with concomitant up-regulation of E-cadherin and BAX2 proteins. Enhanced expression of hsa-miR-324-5p in the CRC cells suppressed their tumorigenicity in vitro and in vivo. Additionally, 4-AAQB synergistically potentiates FOLFOX anticancer effect by eliciting the re-expression of SOD2-suppressed hsa-miR-324 and inhibiting SOD2-mediated tumorigenicity. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the pre-clinical anti-CSC efficacy of 4-AAQB, with or without FOLFOX in CRC, and suggest a potential novel therapeutic strategy for CRC patients.

In kidney, epithelial barrier has diverse functions in body fluid and electrolyte homeostasis, and urine production. Maintaining epithelial integrity fundamentally builds up physiological functionality of the renal epithelial barrier (REB). Specially, the REB) states regularly in osmotic dynamics. The osmotic dynamics gives rise of osmotic pressure that is a physical force. Overloading of osmotic pressure can crack epithelial integrity and damage REB. How REB endures the osmotic pressure force yet remains enigmatic. LMO7 (LIM domain only 7) is a protein associated with cell-cell junctional complex and cortical F-actin. LMO7 upregulation was observed in cells cultured in hypertonic condition. In kidney, LMO7 predominantly distributes in epithelial cells in renal tubules. Hypertonic stimulation leads to assembly of LMO7 and F-actin in cortical stress fibers in renal epithelial cells. Hypertonic-isotonic alternation as pressure force pushing plasma membrane inward/outward was set as osmotic disturbance and was applied to test FAK signaling and LMO7 functioning in maintaining junctional integrity. Along with junctional integrity, LMO7 depleted cells resulted in loss of junctional integrity in the epithelial sheet cultured hypertonic medium or hypertonic-isotonic alternation. On the other hand, FAK inhibited by PF-573228 leads to failure in robust cortical F-actin assembly and association of LMO7 with cortical F-actin in epithelial cells responding upon hypertonic stress. Epithelial integrity in context of osmotic stress, LMO7 and FAK signaling both involves in assembling robust cortical F-actin and maintaining junctional integrity. The LMO7 elaborately manages FAK activation in renal epithelial cells, which was evidently demonstrated in NRK-52E cells who have excessive FAK activation and lost epithelial integrity when cells with LMO7 depletion exposed to hypertonic environment. Our data suggests that LOM7 manages FAK activation and is responsible for maintaining REB under osmotic disturbance.

This study investigated the roles of low-molecular-weight fucoidan (LMWF) in enhancing the anti-cancer effects of fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy. HCT116 and Caco-2 cells were treated with LMWF and 5-FU. Cell viability, cell cycle, apoptosis, and migration were analyzed in both cell types. Potential mechanisms underlying how LMWF enhances the anti-cancer effects of fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy were also explored. The cell viability of HCT116 and Caco-2 cells was significantly reduced after treatment with a LMWF-5-FU combination. In HCT116 cells, LMWF enhanced the suppressive effects of 5-FU on cell viability through the 1) induction of cell cycle arrest in the S phase and 2) late apoptosis mediated by the Jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway. In Caco-2 cells, LMWF enhanced the suppressive effects of 5-FU on cell viability through both c-mesenchymal–epithelial transition (MET)/ Kirsten Rat Sarcoma virus (KRAS)/ extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and c-MET/ phosphatidyl-inositol 3-kinases (PI3K)/ protein kinase B (AKT) signaling pathways. Moreover, LMWF enhanced the suppressive effects of 5-FU on tumor cell migration through the c-MET/ matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 signaling pathway in both HCT116 and Caco-2 cells. Our results demonstrated that LMWF is a potential complementary therapy for enhancing the efficacies of fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy in colorectal cancers (CRCs) with the wild-type or mutated KRAS gene through different mechanisms. However, in vivo studies and in clinical trials are required to validate the results of the present study.

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is one of the most serious extra-articular complications of rheu-matoid arthritis (RA), which increases the mortality of RA. Because the pathogenesis of RA-ILD remains poorly understood, appropriate therapeutic strategies and biomarkers have not yet been identified. Thus, the goal of this review was to summarize and analyze the reported data on the etiology and pathogenesis of RA-ILD. The incidence of RA-ILD increases with age, and is also generally higher in men than in women and in patients with specific genetic variations and eth-nicity. Lifestyle factors associated with an increased risk of RA-ILD include smoking and exposure to pollutants. The presence of an anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody, high RA disease activity, and rheumatoid factor positivity also increase the risk of RA-ILD. We also explored the roles of biological processes (e.g., fibroblast–myofibroblast transition, epithelial–mesenchymal transition, and immunological processes), signaling pathways (e.g., JAK/STAT and PI3K/Akt), and the his-topathology of RA involved in RA-ILD pathogenesis based on published preclinical and clinical models of RA-ILD in animal and human studies.

A novel flexible humidity sensor, incorporating gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) and a trifunctional organosilica compound, has been developed through the integration of sol-gel processing, free radical polymerization, and self-assembly techniques. The trifunctional organosilica was initially synthesized by modifying (3-mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane (thiol-MPTMS) with 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (vinyl-TMSPMA). Subsequently, a hydrophilic polyelectrolyte, [3(methacryloylamino)propyl]trimethyl ammonium chloride (MAPTAC), was grafted onto the MPTMS-TMSPMA gel. The Au NPs were assembled onto the thiol groups present in the MPTMS-TMSPMA-MAPTAC gel network. The compositional and microstructural properties of the Au NPs/MPTMS-TMSPMA-MAPTAC composite film were investigated utilizing Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The presence of thiol groups and mesoporous silica skeletons ensured the stability of the humidity-sensing film on the substrate under highly humid conditions, while the hydrophilic groups functioned as humidity-sensitive sites. This innovative humidity sensor demonstrated high sensitivity, acceptable linearity, minimal hysteresis, and rapid response time across a broad range of working humidity levels. Based on the complex impedance spectra analysis, hydronium ions (H₃O⁺) were determined to govern the conductance process of the flexible humidity sensor.

This study focuses on a sample of Chinese listed companies from 2019 to 2020 to explore the relationships among corporate social responsibility, financial constraints, and financial performance. In addition, we discuss five factors affecting financial constraints. We also analyze the types of enterprises that can improve their financial performance by implementing corporate social responsibility keeping in mind the factors that lead to a high degree of financial constraint. The results indicate that: 1. The degree of financial constraints has a negative and significant impact on financial performance; 2. There is a reverse relationship between the degree of financial constraints and the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility measures; 3. Enterprises with high financial constraints (due to lower financial slack and revenue growth rates) can significantly improve their financial performance through the implementation of effective corporate social responsibility programs. 4. Enterprises with high financial constraints, caused by financial slack and revenue growth rate, can significantly improve their financial performance by implementing corporate social responsibility programs.

Fitts' law predicts the human movement response time for a specific task by a simple linear formulation, in which the intercept and the slope are estimated from the task's empirical data. This research was motivated by our pilot study, which found that the linear regression's essential assumptions are not satisfied in the literature. Furthermore, the keystone hypothesis in Fitts' law, that the movement time per response will be directly proportional to the minimum average amount of information per response demanded by the particular amplitude and target width, has never been formally tested. Therefore, this study developed an optional formulation derived from fusing the findings in psychology, physics, and physiology for fulfilling the statistical assumptions. An experiment was designed to test the hypothesis in Fitts' law and validate the proposed model. To conclude, our results indicated that movement time could be related to the index of difficulty underlying the same constant amplitude. The optional formulation accompanies the index of difficulty in Shannon form robustly performs the prediction better than the traditional model across studies. Finally, a new approach to modeling movement time prediction is deduced from our research results

The signal processing technique is one of the principal tools for diagnosing power quality (PQ) issues in electrical power systems. The Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) is a frequency analysis technique used to process power system signals and identify PQ problems. However, the DFT algorithm may lead to spectral leakage and picket-fence effect problems for asynchronously sampled signals that contain harmonic, inter-harmonic, and flicker components. To resolve this shortcoming, a hybrid method for frequency estimation based on a second-level DFT approach and a frequency-domain interpolation algorithm to obtain the accurate fundamental frequency of a power system is proposed in this paper. This method uses a second-level DFT to compute the cosine and sine parts for the fundamental frequency components of the acquired signals. Then, a frequency-domain interpolation approach is adopted to determine the amplitude ratio for the cosine and sine parts of the system's fundamental frequency. To demonstrate the performance of the proposed frequency estimation method, the observation window used by this paper to evaluate different estimation algorithms is 200 ms. According to the IEC standards, a 200 ms acquisition window is recommended for power system quality assessment. A set of mixed signals with harmonic, inter-harmonic, and flicker components with the fundamental frequency deviation is used. The evaluation results demonstrate the superiority of the new method over other approaches for assessing asynchronously sampled signals contaminated with noise, harmonic, inter-harmonic, and flicker components.

Oriental melons have a relatively short shelf life as they are harvested during the summer season and susceptible to cold-induced injuries. Typical chilling injury when stored at 4℃ is expressed as browning of the fruit suture. To prolong the shelf life and reduce browning of the fruit, the effects of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), X-tend modified atmosphere (MA)/modified humidity (MH) bulk packaging (XF), and polyethylene (PE) packaging, on oriental melons were investigated during storage at 4℃ and 10℃ for 14 days and under retail display conditions at 20℃. The O2 concentrations in PE packages stored at 4℃ and 10℃ ranged from 17.4–18.5%, whereas those in XF packages were reduced to 16.3–16.6%. The CO2 content of XF package (4.2–4.6%) was higher than that of PE package (1.4–1.9%) stored at 4℃ or 10℃. Relative humidity (RH) saturated in the PE packages but not in the XF packages after seven days of storage. Furthermore, PE packages performed better at maintaining melon weight and firmness than XF packages during storage at 10℃ for 14 days and under retail display conditions at 20℃. PE and XF packages effectively reduced the browning index of the peel and white linear sutures of oriental melons compared with the unpackaged control during cold storage at 4℃, and this observation was maintained at the retail display condition at 20℃. The enhanced CO2 levels, reduced O2 levels, and optimal RH values that were provided by the MAP, prevented the browning symptoms and improved the marketability and shelf life of oriental melons.

Taiwan cobra (Naja atra) bites account for approximately 20% of all venomous snakebites in Taiwan. In Taiwan, the rates of wound necrosis and secondary infection from Taiwan cobra bites are higher than those associated with other venomous snakebites. Clinical tools to evaluate the infection risk after Taiwan cobra bites are lacking. Therefore, in this study, we developed a useful clinical tool to evaluate the infection risk after Taiwan cobra bites. Moreover, we investigated wound infection bacteriology. We analyzed the data of patients bitten by N. atra who had undergone freeze-dried neurotoxic antivenin treatment in emergency rooms of the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital network, which comprises seven hospitals and the largest medical system in Taiwan, from January 2001 to May 2017. Because patients with wound necrosis required antibiotics for infection treatment, we included only patients with wound infection but without tissue necrosis in the development of our Cobra Bacteriology of Infections in Taiwanese snake Envenomation (Cobra BITE) score by using univariate and multiple logistic regression. In total, 8,295,497 emergency department visits occurred from January 2001 to May 2017, and 195 patients were diagnosed has having cobra bites. Among them, 23 and 30 patients had wound necrosis and wound infection, respectively. The wound infection rate was 27.2% (53/195). Regardless of whether the patients had necrosis, Enterococcus faecalis and Morganella morganii were the main bacteria identified in the culture report. Gentamicin, ceftriaxone, ciprofloxacin, and levofloxacin are the ideal first-line antibiotics for treating N. atra bite wounds in Taiwan. As per our Cobra BITE score, the three factors predicting secondary wound infection after cobra bites are hospital admission, a white blood cell count (in 103/µL) × by neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio value of ≥114.23, and the use of antivenin medication. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the Cobra BITE score system was 0.88. The ideal sensitivity and specificity were 0.89 and 0.76, respectively, and the optimal cutoff point for Cobra BITE score was 7. The Hosmer–Lemeshow p value was 0.4. In conclusion, our Cobra BITE study established a new practical clinical tool for clinicians to evaluate infection risk after N. atra bites. This score system enables the assessment of wound infections after N. atra bites, and it could be modified and improved in future for other Naja spp. bites.

An automated discharge imaging system (ADIS), a non-intrusive and safe approach, was developed for measuring river flows during flash flood events. ADIS consists of dual cameras to capture complete surface images in the near and far fields. Surface velocities are accurately measured using the Large Scale Particle Image Velocimetry (LSPIV) technique. The stream discharges are then obtained from the depth-averaged velocity (based upon an empirical velocity-index relationship) and cross-section area. The ADIS was deployed at the Yu-Feng gauging station in Shimen Reservoir upper catchment, northern Taiwan. For a rigorous validation, surface velocity measurements were conducted using ADIS/LSPIV and other instruments. In terms of the averaged surface velocity, all measured results were in good agreement with small differences, i.e., 0.004 to 0.39 m/s and 0.023 to 0.345 m/s when compared to those from acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) and surface velocity radar (SVR), respectively. The ADIS/LSPIV was further applied to measure surface velocities and discharges during typhoon events (i.e., Chan-Hom, Soudelor, Goni, and Dujuan) in 2015. The measured water level and surface velocity both showed rapid increases due to flash floods. The estimated discharges from ADIS/LSPIV and ADCP were compared, presenting good consistency with correlation coefficient R = 0.996 and normalized root mean square error NRMSE = 7.96%. The results of sensitivity analysis indicate that components till (τ) and roll (θ) of the camera are most sensitive parameter to affect the surface velocity using ADIS/LSPIV. Overall, the ADIS based upon LSPIV technique effectively measures surface velocities for reliable estimations of river discharges during typhoon events.

Green products have excellent potential for discovering and producing new medicinal products. In recent years, there is a growing interest towards the green synthesis of metal nanoparticles, particularly from plants sources. This eco-friendly approach was used in the recent research to biosynthesize zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) from Cissus antractica plant. The present study aims to examine the cell cytotoxicity, cell death, and pathways of apoptosis in lung cancer cells (A549) and inflammation properties treated with biosynthesized ZnO NPs. Additionally, synthe-sized ZnO nanoparticles were characterized using UV–vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The XRD and TEM analyses exhibited 31 nm as the size of synthesized nanoparticles, the pure crystal form of ZnO NPs, and the shape of the NPs as nearly spherical and hexagonal quartzite. The MTT assay used for cytotoxicity evaluation de-picted the significant toxic effect of CA-ZnONPs against the A549 lung cancer cells at concentra-tions up to 20 µg/mL than non-cancerous cells. Furthermore, we observed an elevated ROS level in cancer cells. These NPs also demonstrated dose-dependent ability to suppress colony for-mation and cell migration, which increases their potential as a lung cancer treatment. Further-more, The NPs formulation's ability to induce apoptosis in cancer cells was further supported by Hoechst and propidium iodide dye. Further, CA ZnO NPs increased the gene expression of BAX, Cyto-c, Caspase 3 and 9, but decreased the expression of Bcl-2, indicating that the nanoformulation triggered mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis. Besides, this study showed that NPs suppressed in-flammatory responses by subsequently decreasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, downregulating the expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, iNOS, COX-2, IL-6, IL-8, and NO. Moreover, the study's findings imply that Cissus antractica are a potential source with biosynthesize nanoparticles that can might be further investigated for the progress of an-ti-inflammatory and anti-cancer drugs with further study.

In recent years, the demand for coffee has increased tremendously. During the production process, green coffee beans are traditionally screened manually for defective beans before they are packed into coffee bean packages; however, this method is not only time-consuming but also increases the rate of human error due to fatigue. Therefore, this paper proposed a lightweight deep convolutional neural network (LDCNN) for the quality detection system of green coffee beans, which combined depthwise separable convolution (DSC), squeeze-and-excite block (SE block), skip block, and other frameworks. To avoid the influence of low parameters of the lightweight model caused by the model training process, rectified Adam (RA), lookahead (LA), and gradient centralization (GC) were included to improve efficiency; the model was also put into the embedded system. Finally, the local interpretable model-agnostic explanations (LIME) model was employed to explain the predictions of the model. The experimental results indicated that the accuracy rate of the model could reach up to 98.38% and the F1 score could be as high as 98.24% when detecting the quality of green coffee beans. Hence, it can obtain higher accuracy, lower computing time, and lower parameters. Moreover, the interpretable model verified that the lightweight model in this work is reliable, providing the basis for screening personnel to understand the judgment through its interpretability, thereby improving the classification and prediction of the model.

Fe-(9, 19, 28, 37)wt.% Cr alloys were corroded at 700 and 800 ^oC for 70 h under 1 atm of N₂, 1 atm of N₂/3.2%H₂O-mixed gas, and 1 atm of N₂/3.1%H₂O/2.42%H₂S-mixed gas. The corrosion rate of Fe-9Cr alloy increased with the addition of H₂O, and furthermore with the addition of H₂S in N₂ gas. Fe-9Cr alloy was always nonprotective. In contrast, Fe-(19, 28, 37) wt.%Cr alloys were protective in N₂ and N₂/H₂O-mixed gas because of formation of the Cr₂O₃ layer. They were, however, nonprotective in N₂/H₂O/H₂S-mixed gas because sulfidation dominated to form the outer FeS layer and the inner Cr₂S₃ layer containing some FeCr₂S₄.

Pseudolysimachion nakaianum (Ohwi) T.Yamaz. is an endemic species that is an important species in the forest ecosystems of South Korea. This study aimed to develop an in vitro propagation system for P. nakaianum, to enhance the availability of this rare and endemic plant for commercial horticulture and restoration efforts. We utilized cotyledon explants from in vitro germinated seeds and two types of explants (petiole and leaf) from in vitro seedlings to assess the impact of five different cytokinins on adventitious shoot organogenesis in P. nakaianum. The half-strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium, supplemented with 10 µM thidiazuron (TDZ) for both cotyledon and petiole explants, yielded the highest shoot induction rates (61.1 ± 9.6% and 26.7 ± 8.8%, respectively) and the greatest number of shoots (3 ± 0.6 and 4.4 ± 0.5, respectively). Responses from leaf explants were variable, with none showing in vitro regeneration. Successfully acclimatized P. nakaianum plantlets in a greenhouse demonstrated normal growth. This protocol outlines an effective method for the direct in vitro regeneration from cotyledon and petiole explants of P. nakaianum, providing valuable information for the conservation of this species.