Association between baseline lipid profile and risk of worsening in patients with myasthenia gravis: A retrospective cohort study.

Background: Dyslipidemia has been implicated in autoimmunity; however, its association with myasthenia gravis (MG) prognosis is unclear. We aimed to investigate the correlation between baseline lipid profiles and risk of MG worsening.

Methods: This 7-year retrospective cohort study conducted at a Chinese hospital included 264 adult patients with MG.

A ruler detection method for auto-adjusting scales of shoeprint images.

Digital shoeprint comparison often requires the calibration of the image resolution so that features, such as patterns in shoeprints, can be compared on the same scale. To enable scaling, a shoeprint photograph can be taken with a forensic ruler in the same frame to obtain the pixel distance between two nearby graduations. However, manually measuring the number of pixels is a time-consuming process.

Effect of Sulfur Modification on Structural and Electrochemical Performance of Pitch-Based Carbon Materials for Lithium/Sodium Ion Batteries.

Coal tar pitch (CTP) has become an ideal choice in the preparation of anode precursors for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) because of its abundant carbon content, competitive pricing and adjustable structure properties. In this paper, sulfurized pitch-based carbon (SPC-800) was obtained by allowing CTP to react with sulfur at 350 °C and subsequently achieve carbonization at 800 °C. SPC-800 was more disordered and had a larger layer spacing than carbonized CTP (PC-800).

Effects of work-family conflict, social support and burnout on job satisfaction among primary care physicians in Huaihai economic zone.

Background: Primary care physicians (PCPs) are doctors in primary health care institutions, namely village clinics, township health centers and community health service centers (stations) who are the main providers of primary health care services in primary health care settings. Improving the overall health status of the population requires the support of a large number of primary care physicians; however, the job satisfaction of this group has not been sufficiently emphasized and recognized.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of primary care physicians' work-family conflict on their job satisfaction, as well as the mediating role of burnout and the moderating role of social support.

Comprehensive analysis of scRNA-Seq and bulk RNA-Seq reveals ubiquitin promotes pulmonary fibrosis in chronic pulmonary diseases.

It is estimated that there are 544.9 million people suffering from chronic respiratory diseases in the world, which is the third largest chronic disease. Although there are various clinical treatment methods, there is no specific drug for chronic pulmonary diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), interstitial lung disease (ILD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

On-demand green/red light-responsive self-doped SnO nanoparticles for single/multi-color transitioning fabrics.

Semiconductor/redox-based dual light-induced color switching systems (LCSs) with a visible light response at different wavelengths are highly sought after for efficient redox reactions. In this work, Sn self-doped SnO has been designed as nanophotocatalysts for preparing visible light-responsive inks/fabrics with single/multi-color abilities. The self-doping of SnO nanoparticles results in the formation of oxygen vacancies due to charge compensation effects leading to electron-driven photoreduction and photooxidation of LSC inks.

The changing scenario of drug discovery using AI to deep learning: Recent advancement, success stories, collaborations, and challenges.

Due to the transformation of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and technologies, AI-driven drug discovery has come to the forefront. It reduces the time and expenditure. Due to these advantages, pharmaceutical industries are concentrating on AI-driven drug discovery.

Learning clustering-friendly representations via partial information discrimination and cross-level interaction.

Despite significant advances in the deep clustering research, there remain three critical limitations to most of the existing approaches. First, they often derive the clustering result by associating some distribution-based loss to specific network layers, neglecting the potential benefits of leveraging the contrastive sample-wise relationships. Second, they frequently focus on representation learning at the full-image scale, overlooking the discriminative information latent in partial image regions.

Efficacy of Wuda Granule on Recovery of Gastrointestinal Function after Laparoscopic Bowel Resection: A Randomized Double-Blind Controlled Trial.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Wuda Granule (WDG) on recovery of gastrointestinal function after laparoscopic bowel resection in the setting of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS)-based perioperative care.

Methods: A total of 108 patients aged 18 years or older undergoing laparoscopic bowel resection with a surgical duration of 2 to 4.5 h were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either WDG or placebo (10 g/bag) twice a day from postoperative days 1-3, combining with ERAS-based perioperative care.

Efficient and simultaneous immobilization of fluoride and lead in water and tea garden soil by bayberry tannin foam loaded zirconium.

Nowadays, human activities intensified the combined pollution of fluoride and lead in acidic tea garden soil. The key to eliminating this combined pollution is to immobilize pollutants simultaneously, thus preventing their migration from tea garden soil to tea trees. In this paper, the natural product bayberry tannin was employed as raw material to fabricate functional materials (TF-Zr) for simultaneous adsorption of fluorine (F) and lead (Pb) in water and soil by the reactivity of tannin with Pb and the affinity of Zr with F.

Molecular characterization, spatio-temporal expression patterns of crtc2 gene and its immune roles in yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco).

cAMP response element binding (CREB) protein 2 (CRTC2) is a transcriptional coactivator of CREB and plays an important role in the immune system. Thus far, the physiological roles of Crtc2 in teleost are still poorly understood. In this study, the crtc2 gene was identified and characterized from yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco; therefore, the gene is termed as pfcrtc2), and its evolutionary and molecular characteristics as well as potential immunity-related roles were investigated.

Deep unfolding network with spatial alignment for multi-modal MRI reconstruction.

Multi-modal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) offers complementary diagnostic information, but some modalities are limited by the long scanning time. To accelerate the whole acquisition process, MRI reconstruction of one modality from highly under-sampled k-space data with another fully-sampled reference modality is an efficient solution. However, the misalignment between modalities, which is common in clinic practice, can negatively affect reconstruction quality.

Keap1-independent GSK-3β/Nrf2 signaling mediates electroacupuncture inhibition of oxidative stress to induce cerebral ischemia-reperfusion tolerance.

Purpose: Cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (CIR) injury is a devastating consequence of stroke characterized by oxidative stress-induced neuronal damage. Electroacupuncture (EA) has emerged as a potential therapeutic intervention for ischemic stroke, but its underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. This study aimed to elucidate whether EA exerts anti-oxidative stress effects against CIR injury by modulating the GSK-3β/Nrf2 pathway.

Optimization path of primary public health service talent team construction: a largescale survey in Huaihai Economic Zone, China.

Background: The primary public health service system is indispensable for the implementation of the "Healthy China 2030" strategy, and primary healthcare workers, as the key drivers of this system, play a pivotal role in its development and establishment to ensure population well-being. In developing countries, such as China, primary public health systems are still weak, and in order to address this phenomenon, health system reform is needed, and primary public health personnel are crucial to health system reform. The current situation of primary public health workers in low-income and developing countries is characterized by varying degrees of problems that need improvement.

Soft Corals-derived Dihydrosinularin Attenuates Neuronal Apoptosis in 6-hydroxydopamine-induced Cell Model of Parkinson's Disease by Regulating the PI3K Pathway.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is an irreversible, progressive disorder that profoundly impacts both motor and non-motor functions, thereby significantly diminishing the individual's quality of life. Dihydrosinularin (DHS), a natural bioactive molecule derived from soft corals, exhibits low cytotoxicity and anti-inflammatory properties. However, the therapeutic effects of DHS on neurotoxins and PD are currently unknown.

Reclassify High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer Patients Into Different Molecular Subtypes With Discrepancy Prognoses and Therapeutic Responses Based on Cancer-Associated Fibroblast-Enriched Prognostic Genes.

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) play critical roles in the metastasis and therapeutic response of high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC). Our study intended to select HGSC patients with unfavorable prognoses and therapeutic responses based on CAF-enriched prognostic genes. The bulk RNA and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data of tumor tissues were collected from the TCGA and GEO databases.

Precision Nanovaccines for Potent Vaccination.

Compared with traditional vaccines, nanoparticulate vaccines are especially suitable for delivering antigens of proteins, peptides, and nucleic acids and facilitating lymph node targeting. Moreover, apart from improving pharmacokinetics and safety, nanoparticulate vaccines assist antigens and molecular adjuvants in crossing biological barriers, targeting immune organs and antigen-presenting cells (APC), controlled release, and cross-presentation. However, the process that stimulates and orchestrates the immune response is complicated, involving spatiotemporal interactions of multiple cell types, including APCs, B cells, T cells, and macrophages.

The emerging hybrid electrochemical energy technologies.

Electrochemical energy devices serve as a vital link in the mutual conversion between chemical energy and electrical energy. This role positions them to be essential for achieving high-efficiency utilization and advancement of renewable energy. Electrochemical reactions, including anodic and cathodic reactions, play a crucial role in facilitating the connection between two types of charge carriers: electrons circulating within the external circuit and ions transportation within the internal electrolyte, which ensures the completion of the circuit in electrochemical devices.

Design, Modeling, and Testing of a Long-Stroke Fast Tool Servo Based on Corrugated Flexure Units.

To further enhance the performance of the fast tool servo (FTS) system in terms of stroke, load capacity, and application area, this paper proposes a novel fast tool servo device driven by a voice coil motor (VCM), based on a three-segment uniform corrugated flexure (CF) guiding mechanism, with a large stroke, high accuracy, and high dynamics. To describe the unified static characteristics of such device, the compliance matrix method is applied to establish its model, where the influence of CF beam structural parameters on the FTS device is investigated in detail. Furthermore, resolution and positioning accuracy tests are conducted to validate the features of the system.