Albumin/fibrinogen ratio (AFR): a significant predictor of postoperative delirium in older patients undergoing non-neurosurgical and non-cardiac surgery.

Objective: The purpose of this research was to evaluate the prognostic significance of preoperative albumin to fibrinogen (AFR) for postoperative delirium (POD) in older patients with non-neurosurgical and non-cardiac surgery.

Method: The retrospective cohort study included a group of patients aged 65 and above who underwent non-neurosurgical and non-cardiac surgery at the First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital from January 2014 to December 2021. AFR and POD correlation was evaluated through univariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis, as well as propensity score matching (PSM) and subgroup analysis.

Unraveling the response of secondary metabolites to cold tolerance in oil palm by integration of physiology and metabolomic analyses.

Background: Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), a tropical crop, is highly sensitive to temperature fluctuations, with low temperatures significantly limiting its growth, development, and geographical distribution. Understanding the adaptive mechanisms of oil palm under low-temperature stress is essential for developing cold-tolerant varieties. This study focused on analyzing the physiological and metabolomic responses of annual thin-shell oil palm seedlings to low-temperature exposure (8 °C) for different time periods: 0 h (CK), 0.

Sleep spindles as a predictor of cognitive motor dissociation and recovery of consciousness after acute brain injury.

Cognitive motor dissociation (CMD) can improve the accuracy to predict recovery of behaviorally unresponsive patients with acute brain injury, but acquisition and analysis of task-based electroencephalography (EEG) are technically challenging. N2 sleep patterns, such as sleep spindles on EEG, have been associated with good outcomes, rely on similar thalamocortical networks as consciousness and could provide less technically challenging complementary outcome predictors. In this prospective observational cohort study of 226 acutely brain injured patients, well-formed sleep spindles (WFSS) were more likely present in those with CMD than in those without CMD, often preceding the detection of CMD.

Development of a flexible fabric-based variable shape actuator for enhanced multi-DoF haptic feedback.

Conventional haptic feedback devices that rely on rigid components to achieve multiple degrees of freedom (DoF) often result in bulky, complex systems that hinder natural movement and increase user discomfort. This study addresses these limitations by substituting rigid materials with flexible, fabric-based materials to develop a variable shape actuator (VSA). The VSA is designed to provide multi-DoF haptic feedback by integrating contraction and expansion mechanisms within a lightweight, fabric structure.

Accurate POI recommendation for random groups with improved graph neural networks and a multi-negotiation model.

In recent years, the growing prevalence of group activities has brought increased interest in Point of Interest (POI) recommendations for groups. While significant progress has been made in recommending POIs for fixed groups, research on personality-aware recommendations for random groups has been still largely untouched. Moreover, existing works recommend a POI list for a group and the group makes further choice of the optimal POI, which results in poor user experience.

A highly efficient hybrid fiber optic laser using a cesium atom vapor cell as an optical gain medium.

A new scheme of a highly efficient hybrid laser cavity is proposed and experimentally demonstrated utilizing a hot cesium (Cs) vapor cell as an optical gain medium. The laser cavity consists of a macroscopic concave reflector (> 99% reflectivity) and a 4% Fresnel-reflecting facet of a single mode fiber (SMF). The cesium gain cell is located between these two reflectors.

Origin and evolution of the North Atlantic Oscillation.

The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the dominant mode of atmospheric variability in the North Atlantic region, plays a crucial role in weather and climate. Here, to investigate when the NAO emerged and how it evolved over geological timescales, we analyzed time-slice paleoclimate simulations during the breakup of the supercontinent Pangea, starting 160 million years ago (Ma). Our findings indicate that a present-day-like NAO mode gradually formed between 80 Ma and 60 Ma, driven by the expansion of the North Atlantic Ocean and the enhanced land-ocean contrast.

Enhanced Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Tobacco Stalk via Simultaneous Deconstruction and Modification through Triton X-100-mediated Organosolv Pretreatment.

Tobacco stalks (TS) present substantial potential for biofuel and biochemical production; however, their complex lignin structures and tightly bound carbohydrates pose significant challenges for enzymatic hydrolysis due to high recalcitrance. This study explores Triton-X 100-mediated 1,4-butanediol combined with AlCl3 pretreatment for TS fractionation towards improving enzymatic hydrolysis. Optimized pretreatment conditions achieved a significant removal of 87.

Impact of pilot public hospital reform on efficiencies: a DEA analysis of county hospitals in East China, 2009-2015.

Background: China started a pilot public hospital reform in 2012 to improve governance and efficiency in healthcare services delivery among county-level hospitals. This study aims to investigate the impact of the pilot reform on hospital efficiency and productivity by using a unique dataset of county hospitals in East China during 2009-2015.

Methods: A three-stage approach is used.

Cryo-EM Informed Molecular Dynamics Simulations to Investigate the Disulfide Hydrogel Self-Assembly.

Disulfide hydrogels, derived from cysteine-based redox systems, exhibit active self-assembly properties driven by reversible disulfide bond formation, making them a versatile platform for dynamic material design. Detailed cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) analysis revealed a consistent fiber diameter of 5.4 nm for individual fibers.

A review: Integration of NIRS and chemometric methods for tea quality control-principles, spectral preprocessing methods, machine learning algorithms, research progress, and future directions.

With the steady rise in tea production, the need for effective tea quality monitoring has become increasingly pressing. Traditional sensory evaluation and wet chemical detection methods are insufficient for real-time tea quality monitoring. As an emerging technology, near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) offers numerous advantages, such as preserving sample integrity, generating objective results, and enabling rapid, straightforward assessments.

Leveraging labelled data knowledge: A cooperative rectification learning network for semi-supervised 3D medical image segmentation.

Semi-supervised 3D medical image segmentation aims to achieve accurate segmentation using few labelled data and numerous unlabelled data. The main challenge in the design of semi-supervised learning methods consists in the effective use of the unlabelled data for training. A promising solution consists of ensuring consistent predictions across different views of the data, where the efficacy of this strategy depends on the accuracy of the pseudo-labels generated by the model for this consistency learning strategy.

[Morphological changes of eosinophilic coarse granules in epithelial cytoplasm of breast adenosis].

To investigate the morphological changes and immunophenotypic characteristics of eosinophilic coarse granules in the cytoplasm of epithelial cells of breast adenosis, and their clinicopathological significance. A total of 64 cases containing eosinophilic coarse granules in the cytoplasm of breast epithelial cells admitted to the Department of Pathology of the Seventh Medical Center of People's Liberation Army General Hospital and the Department of Pathology of Shandong Provincial Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital Affiliated to Qingdao University for admission and consultation from December 2019 to August 2023 were collected. The distribution and morphological characteristics of eosinophilic coarse granules in the epithelial cytoplasm in 64 cases of breast adenosis were observed.

Modelling analysis of career control sources and critical thinking among nursing undergraduates during the epidemic: a cross-sectional survey study.

Background: One of the goals of nursing education is to facilitate the transition of nursing students to nursing positions on graduation, and career locus of control can assess nursing students' expectations and beliefs about their future careers, while 'critical thinking skill' is listed by the International Organization for Medical Education as one of the most essential core competencies for medical graduates.

Objective: To investigate the distribution of career locus of control among nursing students before and after the COVID-19 epidemic, to explore the association between career locus of control and critical thinking and to analyse the pathways of influence of critical thinking on career locus of control among nursing students.

Design And Method: In this study, a total of 456 current undergraduate nursing students were selected online from Chengdu University in China in December 2022 and March 2024, respectively.

[Experience summary of coagulation rebalancing therapy for heat stroke-induced coagulopathy].

This case report describes the treatment process of a severe exertional heat stroke-induced coagulopathy in a 20-year-old firefighter. Through a comprehensive treatment strategy of five early and one prevention, including early cooling, early anticoagulation, early coagulation factor supplementation, early anti-inflammation, early blood purification, and prevention of complications, the patient was successfully treated. For the management of heat stroke-induced coagulopathy, based on the coagulation rebalancing strategy-namely anticoagulation combined with goal-directed replacement therapy, along with plasma diafiltration (PDF) treatment-the patient's coagulation function was effectively improved without any bleeding or thrombotic events.

[Obstetrical disseminated intravascular coagulation: a case report and literature review].

To report a case of obstetrical disseminated intravascular coagulation and discuss the treatment strategy of such cases. The clinical data and treatment process of the patient with cardiac arrest and disseminated intravascular coagulation after amniotic fluid embolism was analyzed, and the related literature was reviewed. Female, 36 years old, primigravida, was admitted to the hospital for delivery because of "amenorrhea for more than 9 months, lower abdominal pain for 14 hours with a small amount of vaginal bleeding for 2 hours", amniotic fluid embolism occurred after delivery, then cardiac arrest and DIC happened, which led to a large amount of blood loss, through the treatment methods of active circulatory and respiratory support, surgical interventions for two times, transfusion of erythrocytes, plasma, and cold precipitation, fibrinogen and other blood product for substitution, and early antifibrinolytic, the patient's life was successfully saved without irreversible organ function damage.

Astrocytic GluN2A alleviates sleep deprivation-induced elevation of Aβ through regulating neprilysin and AQP4 via the calcineurin/NFAT pathway.

Sleep disorders can increase amyloid beta (Aβ) burden in the brain and are linked to Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk. The precise mechanism by which sleep disturbances elevate Aβ levels is unclear. Our previous study has demonstrated that knocking down encoding gene Grin2a of astrocytic N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors GluN2A subunit could aggravate sleep deprivation (SD)-induced elevation of Aβ, indicating a protective role of astrocytic GluN2A in SD; but the underlying mechanism needs to be further elucidated.

Efficient biological funneling of lignin into 2-pyrone-4,6-dicarboxylic acid via electrocatalytic depolymerization and genetically engineered Pseudomonas putida KT2440.

Lignin has been an abundant biomass resource with remarkable potential to produce value-added chemicals. The comprehensive process from lignin degradation to the biological conversion of its monomers remains a challenge for demonstrating the industrial applicability of lignin refinery. Herein, Pseudomonas putida KT-PDCV overexpressing homologous vanillate-O-methylase (VanAB) could efficiently produce 2-pyrone-4,6-dicarboxylic acid (PDC) from lignin-derived compounds (LDC), including S-unit monomers (e.

AmyA contributes to the glycogen synthesis in Sulfolobus acidocaldarius.

Glycogen, an α-1,4 linked glucose polymer with α-1,6 linked branches, accumulates in Sulfolobus acidocaldarius in granular form and contributes to stress resistance. While the glg operon responsible for glycogen metabolism has been studied, the gene responsible for branch formation remained elusive. Interestingly, the ΔAmyA mutant failed to accumulate glycogen.

One-step microbial cultivated bacterial cellulose membrane with 1D/2D nanochannels for efficient osmotic energy conversion.

Osmotic energy conversion based on bio-inspired layered membranes has garnered significant interest. However, traditional biomass ion-selective membranes suffer from complex preparation, uneconomic nature, poor selectivity, and low power density. Here, we introduce scalable one-step in situ culture for nanofluidic membrane materials (GO/C-BC) composed of graphene oxide (GO), carboxymethyl cellulose sodium salt (CMC), and bacterial cellulose (BC).

Targeting regulation of lipid metabolism with polysaccharide of traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: A review.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become one of the most common chronic diseases in the world, and the effective treatment of NAFLD has been listed as a key problem to be solved urgently in contemporary medicine. Polysaccharides in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have a wide range of pharmacological activities. A large number of preclinical studies have confirmed that TCM polysaccharides can interfere with the occurrence and development of NAFLD at multiple interrelated levels, such as improving lipid metabolism and insulin resistance, regulating oxidative stress, alleviating immune inflammatory response, and regulating intestinal microbiota, thus showing great potential as a new anti-NAFLD drug.

[High expression of apolipoprotein C1 promotes proliferation and inhibits apoptosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma cells by activating the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway].

Objectives: To investigate the expression of apolipoprotein C1 (APOC1) in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and its effects on proliferation and apoptosis of PTC cells.

Methods: The expression level of APOC1 in PTC and its impact on prognosis were analyzed using GEPIA 2 and Kaplan-Meier databases. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Western blotting were used to detect the expression of APOC1 in PTC and adjacent tissues and in 3 PTC cell lines and normal thyroid Nthyori 3-1 cells.

[GPSM2 is highly expressed in gastric cancer to affect patient prognosis by promoting tumor cell proliferation].

Objectives: To explore the association between GPSM2 expression level and gastric cancer progression and analyze the functional pathways and action mechanism of GPSM2.

Methods: We analyzed GPSM2 expression levels in gastric cancer tumors based on data from the GEPIA database and the clinical data of 109 patients. Public databases enrichment analysis were used to assess the impact of GPSM2 expression level on survival outcomes and the functional pathways and action mechanism of GPSM2.