Role of contrast-enhanced ultrasound with time-intensity curve analysis about thyroid nodule and parenchyma for differentiating BRAF V600E mutation status.

Background: The BRAF V600E mutation was proven associated with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) which has more aggressive behavior and could affect the outcome of PTC. The objective of this study was to observe more contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) time-intensity curve (TIC)-based quantitative parameters in nodules and surrounding parenchyma and analyze the association between the TIC-based quantitative parameters and BRAF V600E mutation status in patients with PTC.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of 447 PTC patients was conducted.

Concomitant medication effects on patients with lung cancer taking immune checkpoint inhibitors a review.

In the past decade, a variety of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are currently approved for lung cancer in the world. As a new therapeutic approach, ICIs have shown significant clinical benefits in the first-line or second-line treatment for advanced lung cancer, improving the survival and quality of life of patients. Patients need to take multiple drugs in the meantime due to their own disease or side effects during treatment.

Linker-Mediated Delocalized Excited States in Dimeric Acceptors Enable Efficient Exciton Dissociation with Negligible Energy-Level Offsets.

Efficient exciton dissociation at low energy offsets is key to overcoming voltage losses in organic solar cells. In this work, we developed two dimeric acceptors, i-YT and o-YT, by precisely controlling the position of an asymmetric electron-donating linker. It induced the foldamer conformation of i-YT with a para linkage (relative to the dicyano groups), while retaining the unfold conformation for o-YT.

Calculation method and evolution rule of the strain energy density of sandstone under true triaxial compression.

Deep rock masses are typically in complex stress states, and research on the evolution of their strain energy density is of highly important for understanding their failure characteristics. In this work, a true triaxial stress‒balanced unloading test is designed to analyze the u and u evolution of sandstone under true triaxial compression conditions. The study results indicate that as σ increases, the elastic strain decreases in the σ and σ directions, whereas the residual strain progressively increases, and the magnitude of decrease in elastic strain exceeds the magnitude of increase in residual strain.

Ultrasound Imaging of Macrophages Intracellularly Labelled with Biosynthetic Gas Vesicles.

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a novel method for real-time imaging to track macrophages and to make it possible to visually track their dynamic features.

Procedures: The archaeon Halobacterium NRC-1 was cultured in an ATCC medium. Buoyant cells were allowed to produce biosynthetic gas vesicles (GVs), and isolated GVs were collected after lysis.

Systematic review of disparities in continuous glucose monitoring and insulin pump utilization in the United States: Key themes and evidentiary gaps.

Aim: This study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of real-world evidence pertaining to disparities in the utilization of continuous glucose monitors (CGMs)/insulin pumps to highlight potential evidentiary gaps and discern emerging themes from the literature.

Materials And Methods: A systematic review of published manuscripts and abstracts was conducted from: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Nursing and Allied Health, Web of Science and CINHAL. Attributes related to patients, outcomes, interventions (CGMs/pumps/both) and study type were captured.

Genome-Wide Association Study of Arsenic Accumulation in Polished Rice.

The accumulation of arsenic (As) in rice poses a significant threat to food safety and human health. Breeding rice varieties with low As accumulation is an effective strategy for mitigating the health risks associated with arsenic-contaminated rice. However, the genetic mechanisms underlying As accumulation in rice grains remain incompletely understood.

Selectively Modulating Componential Morphologies of Bulk Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells.

Achieving precise control over the nanoscale morphology of bulk heterojunction films presents a significant challenge for the conventional post-treatments employed in organic solar cells (OSCs). In this study, a near-infrared photon-assisted annealing (NPA) strategy is developed for fabricating high-performance OSCs under mild processing conditions. It is revealed a top NIR light illumination, together with the bottom heating, enables the selective tuning of the molecular arrangement and assembly of narrow bandgap acceptors in polymer networks to achieve optimal morphologies, as well as the acceptor-rich top surface of active layers.

Barriers to green human resources management (GHRM) implementation in developing countries: evidence from China.

Because of the current climate adaptation and long-term viability advancements, campaigners both locally and globally are pressuring businesses to embrace green practices. But there are challenges to putting green policies into action. The goal of this research was to analyze the most significant challenges encountered by Chinese businesses when attempting to implement environmentally responsible HR practices (GHRM).

Robust and Sustainable Indium Anode Leading to Efficient and Stable Organic Solar Cells.

The fast degradation of the charge-extraction interface at indium tin oxide (ITO) poses a significant obstacle to achieving long-term stability for organic solar cells (OSCs). Herein, a sustainable approach for recycling non-sustainable indium to construct efficient and stable OSCs and scale-up modules is developed. It is revealed that the recovered indium chloride (InCl ) from indium oxide waste can be applied as an effective hole-selective interfacial layer for the ITO electrode (noted as InCl -ITO anode) through simple aqueous fabrication, facilitating not only energy level alignment to photoactive blends but also mitigating parasitic absorption and charge recombination losses of the corresponding OSCs.

Characteristics, Recombination Methods, and Applications Progresses of Split-Cas9 System.

CRISPR technology has been used to revolutionize various facets of life sciences because of its potent gene editing capabilities. In particular, CRISPR technology is anticipated to be used to cure congenital disorders, and malignant cancers brought on by gene mutation. In this article, we introduce a Split-Cas9 system, in which Cas9 protein is split into two or more parts and recombined in cells to function specific induction circumstances.

E-commerce platform financing versus trade credit financing: Financing mode selection for online retailer considering live-stream selling in China.

Introduction: The rise of live-stream selling has made the e-commerce platform attractive to many small and medium-sized retailers that are often faced with capital constraints. The choice between the e-commerce platform financing (EPF) and trade credit financing (TCF) for the capital-constrained e-retailers engaging in live-stream selling is particularly important problem.

Methods: This paper considers a supply chain made up of a manufacturer, an e-commerce platform that offers live-stream selling service to consumers and an online retailer with capital constraint.

Effects of contact tracing and nucleic acid testing on the COVID-19 outbreak in Zunyi, China: data-driven study using a branching process model.

Background: During October 2021, China experienced localized outbreaks of COVID-19 in many cities. We analyzed the small local outbreak in Zunyi (Guizhou Province), a major city in southwestern China, and modeled the effects of different interventions on this outbreak.

Methods: Data on infections and contacts, provided by the Health Commission of Guizhou Province, were used to analyze the epidemiological characteristics of the outbreak and calculate the effectiveness of vaccination.

Optimization of Vaccination Clinics to Improve Staffing Decisions for COVID-19: A Time-Motion Study.

As the COVID-19 pandemic disturbed people's daily life for more than 2 years, many COVID-19 vaccines have been carried forward systematically to curb the transmission of the virus. However, high vaccination tasks bring great challenges to personnel allocation. We observed nine vaccination clinics in Huzhou and Shanghai and built a discrete-event simulation model to simulate the optimal staffing of vaccination clinics under 10 different scenarios.

ARIMA and ARIMA-ERNN models for prediction of pertussis incidence in mainland China from 2004 to 2021.

Objective: To compare an autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model with a model that combines ARIMA with the Elman recurrent neural network (ARIMA-ERNN) in predicting the incidence of pertussis in mainland China.

Background: The incidence of pertussis has increased rapidly in mainland China since 2016, making the disease an increasing public health threat. There is a pressing need for models capable of accurately predicting the incidence of pertussis in order to guide prevention and control measures.

Serum total bilirubin and new-onset hypertension in perimenopausal women: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: Previous studies have shown negative associations between total bilirubin (TBIL) and hypertension. However, the association of TBIL with new-onset hypertension in perimenopausal women is unknown.

Methods: A total of 196 perimenopausal women were included in this cross-sectional study of which 85 had new-onset hypertension.

Application and Prospect of CRISPR/Cas9 Technology in Reversing Drug Resistance of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Cancer drug resistance has always been a major factor affecting the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, which reduces the quality of life of patients. The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) technology, as an efficient and convenient new gene-editing technology, has provided a lot of help to the clinic and accelerated the research of cancer and drug resistance. In this review, we introduce the mechanisms of drug resistance in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), discuss how the CRISPR/Cas9 system can reverse multidrug resistance in NSCLC, and focus on drug resistance gene mutations.

Vaccination as an alternative to non-drug interventions to prevent local resurgence of COVID-19.

Background: While a COVID-19 vaccine protects people from serious illness and death, it remains a concern when and how to lift the high-cost and strict non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). This study examined the joint effect of vaccine coverage and NPIs on the control of local and sporadic resurgence of COVID-19 cases.

Methods: Between July 2021 and January 2022, we collected the large-scale testing information and case number of imported COVID-19 patients from the website of the National Health Commission of China.

Factors That Impact Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccination in Different Community-Dwelling Populations in China.

(1) Background: It is important to improve vaccination strategies and immunization programs to achieve herd immunity to infectious diseases. (2) Methods: To assess the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination, we conducted face-to-face surveys and online surveys in Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Qinghai provinces. A fixed-effect model and a random effects model were used to analyze factors associated with the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination.

Factors associated with the time to return negative RT-PCR from COVID-19 in paediatric patients: a retrospective cohort study.

Objective: This study aimed to describe the epidemiological and clinical features and potential factors related to the time to return negative reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR in discharged paediatric patients with COVID-19.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Unscheduled admissions to 12 tertiary hospitals in China.

Impact of immunization programs on 11 childhood vaccine-preventable diseases in China: 1950-2018.

To evaluate the achievements of China's immunization program between 1950 and 2018, we chose 11 vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) as representative notifiable diseases and used annual surveillance data obtained between 1950 and 2018 to derive disease incidence and mortality trends. Quasi-Poisson and polynomial regression models were used to estimate the impacts of specific vaccine programs, and life-table methods were used to calculate the loss of life expectancy, years of life lost, and loss of working years. The total notification number for the 11 VPDs was 211,866,000 from 1950 to 2018.

The burden of hand, foot, and mouth disease among children under different vaccination scenarios in China: a dynamic modelling study.

Background: Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common illness in young children. A monovalent vaccine has been developed in China protecting against enterovirus-71, bivalent vaccines preventing HFMD caused by two viruses are under development.

Objective: To predict and compare the incidence of HFMD under different vaccination scenarios in China.