Background:Current studies on the role of sex in the prognosis of acute vertebrobasilar artery occlusion (VBAO) are limited. We aimed to explore whether there are sex differences on outcomes in patients treated with endovascular therapy (EVT) for VBAO.Methods:Patients from December 2015 to December 2018 with acute VBAO within 24 h of the estimated occlusion time in 21 stroke centers in China were retrospectively analyzed. Baseline data between sexes were compared in the total population cohort...

Bright γ-ray sources are of great significance for fundamental research, medicine and industry. However, γ-ray production by bremsstrahlung, Compton scattering, and synchrotron radiation is often subjected to large divergence, wide size and/or low efficiency, making it difficult to achieve high-brightness γ-ray sources. Here we have found an efficient mechanism to generate γ-rays with unprecedented brilliance by use of an ultrarelativistic electron beam with nC charge incident onto a solid surface at grazing incidence. With this...

Bright γ-ray sources are of great significance for fundamental research, medicine and industry. However, γ-ray production by bremsstrahlung, Compton scattering, and synchrotron radiation is often subjected to large divergence, wide size and/or low efficiency, making it difficult to achieve high-brightness γ-ray sources. Here we have found an efficient mechanism to generate γ-rays with unprecedented brilliance by use of an ultrarelativistic electron beam with nC charge incident onto a solid surface at grazing incidence. With this...

Objective: Angina pectoris (AP), affecting over 523 million people, can be alleviated by corydalis rhizome (CR), usually combined with chuanxiong rhizome (CXR), angelica dahuricae radix (ADR), or astragali radix (AR) to enhance the effect. This study aims to distinguish the different mechanisms among 3 drug pairs to treat AP. Methods: The drug pair-disease intersection targets, compound targets, protein–protein interaction (PPI), and herb-compound-target-pathway network were obtained by Cytoscape, STRING, Gene Ontology (GO), and Kyoto Encyclopedia of...

This paper presents an additive Gompertz-Weibull (AGW) distribution, a four-parameter hybrid probability distribution, and its applications in reliability engineering. The failure rate (FR) function of the proposed model demonstrates an increasing trend and a variety of bathtub shapes with or without a low and yet long-stable segment, making it appropriate for modelling a wide variety of real-world problems. Some relationships between the AGW’s FR and its mean residual life functions are examined. For parameter estimation,...

BackgroundThe anatomical positioning of the graft during anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) is of great significance for restoring normal knee kinematics and preventing early joint degeneration. Therefore, the adjustment of the mispositioned guide pin becomes extremely important. Our research aims to test the time-zero biomechanical properties in adjusting inaccurate guide pins to the center of the tibial footprint in anatomical anterior cruciate ligament single-bundle reconstruction.MethodsPorcine tibias and bovine extensor tendons were used to simulate a...

Introduction:Brain metastasis (BM) is a significant risk factor for survival and prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). While surgical resection and radiotherapy are the primary treatment modalities, the overall prognosis in NSCLC patients with BM remains poor, and all therapies lead to adverse events. East Asian herbal medicine (EAHM) has broad prospects as an adjuvant treatment, but its efficacy and safety remain controversial. We propose to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize...

The pursuit of the common good is an important endeavor in business and marketing. The benefits of this pursuit to society are reflected in the increasing number of journal special issues dedicated to common good–related research and the recent observation that the marketing discipline is supportive of business research as a catalyst for positive change. Despite its importance, little is known about the nature of the common good within marketing scholarship. This article presents a...

The acquisition of neuronal activities across varying depths with high spatiotemporal resolution is essential for understanding the functional neural circuits in living animals. To address this challenge, we developed SImultaneous MultiPLanE imaging light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (SIMPLE-LSFM) by introducing a digital micromirror device into the illumination arm, which generated multiple sheets in the sample space to simultaneously excite multiple axial depths. Combined with the spherical-aberration-assisted point spread function and the encoded depth information of the detection...

Background: It remains controversial whether the application of chemotherapy has an impact on recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma (rNPC) patients with salvage radiotherapy. Here, we aimed to evaluate treatment outcomes of rNPC patients and derive a prognostic model to assess the benefit of chemotherapy in patients with re-radiotherapy. Methods: This study was conducted as a retrospective study. In total, 340 rNPC patients treated with salvage intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) or radiochemotherapy (RCT) from October 2006 to September 2019...

Direct femtosecond laser writing of ferroelectric domain structures has been an indispensable technique for engineering the second-order optical nonlinearity of materials in three dimensions. It utilizes localized thermoelectric field motivated by nonlinear absorption at the position of laser focus to manipulate domains. However, the impact of laser wavelengths, which is pivotal in nonlinear absorption, on the inverted domains are still sketchy. Herein, the light-induced ferroelectric domain inversion is experimentally studied. It is shown that the...

Direct femtosecond laser writing of ferroelectric domain structures has been an indispensable technique for engineering the second-order optical nonlinearity of materials in three dimensions. It utilizes localized thermoelectric field motivated by nonlinear absorption at the position of laser focus to manipulate domains. However, the impact of laser wavelengths, which is pivotal in nonlinear absorption, on the inverted domains are still sketchy. Herein, the light-induced ferroelectric domain inversion is experimentally studied. It is shown that the...

Direct femtosecond laser writing of ferroelectric domain structures has been an indispensable technique for engineering the second-order optical nonlinearity of materials in three dimensions. It utilizes localized thermoelectric field motivated by nonlinear absorption at the position of laser focus to manipulate domains. However, the impact of laser wavelengths, which is pivotal in nonlinear absorption, on the inverted domains are still sketchy. Herein, the light-induced ferroelectric domain inversion is experimentally studied. It is shown that the...

We aim to evaluate the marginal effects of covariates on time-to-disability in the elderly under the semi-competing risks framework, as death dependently censors disability, not vice versa. It becomes particularly challenging when time-to-disability is subject to interval censoring due to intermittent assessments. A left truncation issue arises when the age time scale is applied. We develop a flexible two-parameter copula-based semiparametric transformation model for semi-competing risks data subject to interval censoring and left truncation. The...

Fluorescence sensors for europium (Eu) ions are seldom reported. We study the synthesis of water-soluble quaternary I-III-VI QDs and investigate their fluorescence sensor application for detecting Eu ions. The as synthesized glutathione (GSH) capped AgZnInS (AZIS) QDs show great sensitivity and selectivity to Europium (Eu) ions among 13 different metal cations. Detail experiment results indicate that the fluorescence response of the AZIS QDs to increasing [Eu3+] include intensity quenching and peak wavelength blue-shift. The effective...

A new continuous flow synthetic method for preparing indole and its derivatives are successfully developed to overcome the disadvantages of traditional batch methods, such as low conversion rates, long reaction times, and amplification effects. The method represents a sustainable and efficient preparation of indole and its derivatives without the need for additional catalysts. By investigating the effects of the reaction temperature, the solvent, the equivalence ratio, and the residence time, high conversion rates and excellent...

Abstract Pathogenic variants in MYO15A are known to cause autosomal recessive nonsyndromic hearing loss (ARNSHL), DFNB3. We have previously reported on one ARNSHL family including two affected siblings and identified MYO15A c.5964+3G > A and c.8375 T > C (p.Val2792Ala) as the possible deafness-causing variants. Eight year follow up identified one new affected individual in this family, who also showed congenital, severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss. By whole exome sequencing, we identified a new...

Abstract Cauliflower is one of the most important vegetable crops grown worldwide. However, the lack of genetic diversity information and efficient molecular markers hinders efforts to improve cauliflower. This study aims to construct DNA fingerprints for 329 cauliflower cultivars based on SNP markers and the KASP system. After rigorous filtering, a total of 1662 candidate SNPs were obtained from nearly 17.9 million SNP loci. The mean values of PIC, MAF, heterozygosity and gene diversity of...

Abstract Background Cervical squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is known to arise through increasingly higher-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (SILs) or cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (CINs). This study aimed to describe sequential molecular changes and identify biomarkers in cervical malignant transformation. Methods Multidimensional data from five publicly available microarray and TCGA-CESC datasets were analyzed. Immunohistochemistry was carried out on 354 cervical tissues (42 normal, 62 CIN1, 26 CIN2, 47 CIN3, and 177 SCC) to determine the potential diagnostic...

Abstract Introduction Congenital heart disease (CHD) is one of the most prevalent birth defects in the world. The pathogenesis of CHD is complex and unclear. With the development of metabolomics technology, variations in metabolites may provide new clues about the causes of CHD and may serve as a biomarker during pregnancy. Methods Sixty-five amniotic fluid samples (28 cases and 37 controls) during the second and third trimesters were utilized in this study. The metabolomics of...

Abstract Background The SARS-CoV-2 containment strategy has been successful in mainland China prior to the emergence of Omicron. However, in the era of highly transmissible variants, whether it is possible for China to sustain a local containment policy and under what conditions China could transition away from it are of paramount importance at the current stage of the pandemic. Methods We developed a spatially structured, fully stochastic, individual-based SARS-CoV-2 transmission model to evaluate the feasibility...

Abstract Background In the ice-free area of maritime Antarctica, fungi are the essential functioning group in terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Until now, no study has been conducted to comprehensively assess fungal communities in various habitats in Antarctica. We aimed to characterize fungal communities in the eleven habitats (i.e., soil, seawater, vascular plant, dung, moss, marine alga, lichen, green alga, freshwater, feather) in the Fildes Region (maritime Antarctica) using next-generation sequencing. Results A total of 12...

Abstract Background The pathogenesis of neuropathic pain (NP) has not been fully elucidated. Gene changes in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) may contribute to the development of NP. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of endogenous noncoding RNAs that form covalently closed loop structures and are crucial for genetic and epigenetic regulation. However, little is known about circRNA changes in DRG neurons after peripheral nerve injury. Methods A sciatic nerve chronic constriction injury (CCI) model was...

Abstract Background The pathogenesis of neuropathic pain (NP) has not been fully elucidated. Gene changes in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) may contribute to the development of NP. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of endogenous noncoding RNAs that form covalently closed loop structures and are crucial for genetic and epigenetic regulation. However, little is known about circRNA changes in DRG neurons after peripheral nerve injury. Methods A sciatic nerve chronic constriction injury (CCI) model was...

Abstract Background Abnormal lipid accumulation has been recognized as a key element of immune dysregulation in microglia whose dysfunction contributes to neurodegenerative diseases. Microglia play essential roles in the clearance of lipid-rich cellular debris upon myelin damage or demyelination, a common pathogenic event in neuronal disorders. Apolipoprotein E (apoE) plays a pivotal role in brain lipid homeostasis; however, the apoE isoform-dependent mechanisms regulating microglial response upon demyelination remain unclear. Methods To determine how apoE isoforms...