Source tracing with cadmium isotope and risk assessment of heavy metals in sediment of an urban river, China.

The Nanfei River was one of dominant inflowing rivers of the fifth largest freshwater Chaohu Lake in China, which had been subjected to increasing nutrients and contaminants from population expansion, rapid industrialization and agricultural intensification in recent decades. In present study, surface sediment from the Nanfei River was collected to investigate the anthropogenic impact on distribution and bioavailability of heavy metals. Possible Cd sources along the river were constrained by using Cd isotope signatures and labile concentrations of heavy metals in sediment were determined through the DGT technique for risk assessment.

Artificial intelligence for prediction of COVID-19 progression using CT imaging and clinical data.

Objectives: Early recognition of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity can guide patient management. However, it is challenging to predict when COVID-19 patients will progress to critical illness. This study aimed to develop an artificial intelligence system to predict future deterioration to critical illness in COVID-19 patients.

Machine learning based on clinical characteristics and chest CT quantitative measurements for prediction of adverse clinical outcomes in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

Objectives: To develop and validate a machine learning model for the prediction of adverse outcomes in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

Methods: We included 424 patients with non-severe COVID-19 on admission from January 17, 2020, to February 17, 2020, in the primary cohort of this retrospective multicenter study. The extent of lung involvement was quantified on chest CT images by a deep learning-based framework.

Correlation between early features and prognosis of symptomatic COVID-19 discharged patients in Hunan, China.

To determine the correlation between the clinical, laboratory, and radiological findings and the hospitalization days in Coronavirus Infectious Disease-19 (COVID-19) discharged patients. We retrospectively identified 172 discharged patients with COVID-19 pneumonia from January 10, 2020, to February 28, 2020, in Hunan province. The patients were categorized into group 1 (≤ 19 days) and group 2 (> 19 days) based on the time from symptom onset to discharge.

Clinical Factors Associated with Progression and Prolonged Viral Shedding in COVID-19 Patients: A Multicenter Study.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic associated with a high mortality. Our study aimed to determine the clinical risk factors associated with disease progression and prolonged viral shedding in patients with COVID-19. Consecutive 564 hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 between January 17, 2020 and February 28, 2020 were included in this multicenter, retrospective study.

Early prediction of disease progression in COVID-19 pneumonia patients with chest CT and clinical characteristics.

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly spread to become a worldwide emergency. Early identification of patients at risk of progression may facilitate more individually aligned treatment plans and optimized utilization of medical resource. Here we conducted a multicenter retrospective study involving patients with moderate COVID-19 pneumonia to investigate the utility of chest computed tomography (CT) and clinical characteristics to risk-stratify the patients.

Effects of salts on the self-assembly behavior and antibacterial activity of a surfactant-like peptide.

Self-assembling peptides have become one of the most promising antibacterial agents due to their superior properties, such as simple molecular composition, favorable assembly structures, and rich designability. For maximum application in vivo, their activities in the presence of salts are desirable, however, the potent correlation between peptide nanostructures, antibacterial activity, and salt resistance behavior remains poorly explored. Previously, we have demonstrated that the potent antibacterial activity of a designed surfactant-like peptide Ac-A9K-NH2 benefited from its high self-assembly ability and appropriate size of its self-assembled nanostructures.

Association between incubation period and clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19.

Purpose: To investigate associations between the clinical characteristics and incubation periods of patients infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China.

Methods: Complete clinical and epidemiological data from 149 patients with COVID-19 at a hospital in Hunan Province, China, were collected and retrospectively analyzed.

Results: Analysis of the distribution and receiver operator characteristic curve of incubation periods showed that 7 days was the optimal cut-off value to assess differences in disease severity between groups.

Mechanistic Investigation of a Self-Assembling Peptide against .

Because of their distinctive mode of action in targeting bacterial cell membranes, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are increasingly regarded as a potential candidate for the development of novel antibiotics to combat the wide spread of bacterial resistance. To date, understanding of the exact molecular process by which AMPs act on the real bacterial envelope remains challenging. Simultaneously, the aggregated state of AMPs upon interaction with bacterial envelopes is still elusive.

Clinical characteristics of older and younger patients infected with SARS-CoV-2.

Background: SARS-CoV-2 causes high mortality risk in older patients. This study aims to characterize the clinical features of older and younger SARS-CoV-2 infected patients.

Results: A total of 239 patients were divided into the younger group (<60 years; n=181) and the older group (≥60 years; n=58).

Relationship between ABO blood group distribution and clinical characteristics in patients with COVID-19.

Objective: To explore ABO blood group distribution and clinical characteristics in patients with COVID-19.

Methods: The clinical data of 187 patients with COVID-19 seen between January 20, 2020 and March 5, 2020 at the First Hospital of Changsha were retrospectively analyzed. The differences in the ABO blood group distribution between COVID-19 patients and the control group (1991 cases) were analyzed.

Multistage CT features of coronavirus disease 2019.

Objectives: To determine imaging features of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in different stages, and to provide foundations for early diagnosis and treatment.

Methods: CT image data of 187 COVID-19 patients were analyzed in the period of hospitalization. CT scanning was performed on admission and repeated every 3 days.

Chest CT findings and clinical features of coronavirus disease 2019 in children.

Objectives: To describe the CT features and clinical characteristics of pediatric patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Methods: A total of 9 COVID-19 infected pediatric patients were included in this study. Clinical history, laboratory examination, and detailed CT imaging features were analyzed.

Clinical and radiological changes of hospitalised patients with COVID-19 pneumonia from disease onset to acute exacerbation: a multicentre paired cohort study.

Objectives: To analyse clinical and radiological changes from disease onset to exacerbation in coronavirus infectious disease-19 (COVID-19) patients.

Methods: We reviewed clinical histories of 276 patients with confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia and extracted data on patients who met the diagnostic criteria for COVID-19 severe/fatal pneumonia and had an acute exacerbation starting with mild or common pneumonia.

Results: Twenty-four patients were included.

Artificial Intelligence Augmentation of Radiologist Performance in Distinguishing COVID-19 from Pneumonia of Other Origin at Chest CT.

Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and pneumonia of other diseases share similar CT characteristics, which contributes to the challenges in differentiating them with high accuracy. Purpose To establish and evaluate an artificial intelligence (AI) system for differentiating COVID-19 and other pneumonia at chest CT and assessing radiologist performance without and with AI assistance. Materials and Methods A total of 521 patients with positive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction results for COVID-19 and abnormal chest CT findings were retrospectively identified from 10 hospitals from January 2020 to April 2020.

CT Scans of Patients with 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pneumonia.

The increasing speed of confirmed 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases is striking in China. The purpose of this study is to summarize the outcomes of patients with novel COVID-19 pneumonia (NCP) at our institution. In this single-center study, we retrospectively included 118 cases of NCP, from January 16, 2020 to February 4, 2020.

Relation Between Chest CT Findings and Clinical Conditions of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pneumonia: A Multicenter Study.

The increasing number of cases of confirmed coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in China is striking. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between chest CT findings and the clinical conditions of COVID-19 pneumonia. Data on 101 cases of COVID-19 pneumonia were retrospectively collected from four institutions in Hunan, China.

Generation of high-quality tunable Airy beams with an adaptive deformable mirror.

Self-accelerating Airy beams have emerged to hold great promise in wide applications due to their non-diffraction and self-healing characteristics. The generation of Airy beams with high quality and high efficiency still remains challenging for conventional diffractive or refractive optical elements. In this Letter, tunable Airy beams with high quality are realized using a reflective adaptive deformable mirror (DM).

[Effect of Jianpi Shengxue Granule on Fertility and Early Embryo Development Toxicity of Rats].

Objective To assess the effects of Jianpi Shengxue Granule (JSG) on the fertility and early embryo development in rats. Methods Totally 176 SD rats were stratified by sex, and divided into 4 groups, i.e.

The effect of laparoscopic excision vs open excision in children with choledochal cyst: a midterm follow-up study.

Purpose: Cyst excision with hepaticojejunostomy has been the classic procedure for treating choledochal cysts. Recently, laparoscopic treatment of the disease has gained popularity worldwide. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether laparoscopic management of choledochal cysts is as feasible and safe as conventional open surgery in children with this disease.

Lagrangian Texture Advection: Preserving both Spectrum and Velocity Field.

Texturing an animated fluid is a useful way to augment the visual complexity of pictures without increasing the simulation time. But texturing flowing fluids is a complex issue, as it creates conflicting requirements: we want to keep the key texture properties (features, spectrum) while advecting the texture with the underlying flow-which distorts it. In this paper, we present a new, Lagrangian, method for advecting textures: the advected texture is computed only locally and follows the velocity field at each pixel.

In vivo evaluation of the safety of triptolide-loaded hydrogel-thickened microemulsion.

Triptolide (TP) is a major active component of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F (TWHF), which is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA). TP has a narrow therapeutic window. To increase the therapeutic index of TP, a novel TP-loaded transdermal delivery system, named TP-loaded hydrogel-thickened microemulsion (TP-MTH), has been developed to treat RA.

[Forest fire spread modeling and 3D visualization in virtual forest landscape].

The traditional method for simulating the behaviors of forest fire is to use a single ellipse to represent all of the fire points in fire scene, which has many disadvantages, e.g., the simulated result is quite different to the real situation, and it is mainly based on 2D.