Impact of nitroglycerin on machine-learning fractional flow reserve in coronary computed tomography (CT)-angiography.

Background: Nitroglycerin administration prior to examination improves stenosis assessment of coronary computed tomography (CT) angiography (CCTA). However, whether nitroglycerin influences CT-derived fractional flow reserve (FFR, CT-FFR) evaluation remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effect of nitroglycerin on diagnostic performance of CT-FFR.

Coronary Atherosclerosis Progression Provides Incremental Prognostic Value and Optimizes Risk Reclassification by Computed Tomography Angiography.

Purpose: This study investigated the prognostic value and risk reclassification ability of coronary atherosclerosis progression through serial coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA).

Materials And Methods: This study enrolled patients with suspected or confirmed coronary artery disease who underwent serial CCTA. Coronary atherosclerosis progression was represented by coronary artery calcium score (CACS) and segment stenosis score (SSS) progression.

From athletic excellence to academic influence: a study of retired Chinese athletes transitioning into the higher education sector.

While the career transition of athletes has been explored to several extents, it is often marked by complex psychosocial challenges and requires a redefined sense of identity and professional purpose. Research to date has predominately focused on the disadvantages or inequity emerging from broad social demographics without delving into specific career transition pathways, such as into higher education settings. This study specifically investigates the unique psychosocial factors underlying the career transition of retired Chinese athletes into higher education.

The spatial spillover effect and its attenuation boundary of urban economy on port efficiency.

Cities are commonly recognized as the immediate hinterland of ports and play a crucial role in fostering the sustainable development of ports. Therefore, it is imperative to investigate the influence of cities on ports. By employing panel data from 2001 to 2021 for both ports and cities in the Bohai Rim region, this study examines the spatial spillover effect of urban economy on port efficiency using the spatial error model (SEM).

Artistic sports activities effectiveness for enhancing students' academic performance among left-behind children: mediating effects of loneliness.

Introduction: Numerous studies within the school and academic contexts have underscored the profound impact of psychometric variables such as academic self-efficacy, self-esteem, and loneliness on academic achievement among children. Although physical activities and dance practices are known to bolster academic self-efficacy and enhance academic outcomes, the effect of Artistic Sports Activities on these psychological determinants among left-behind children (LBC) in rural schools remains underexplored.

Method: This study was conducted from September 2020 to January 2022 among 405 LBCs aged 9 to 13 from six randomly selected primary schools in Hunan Province, China.

One-pot synthesis of NiCo-phyllosilicate supported on zeolite for enhanced degradation of antibiotic contaminants.

The overuse of antibiotics currently results in the presence of various antibiotics being detected in water bodies, which poses potential risks to human health and the environment. Therefore, it is highly significant to remove antibiotics from water. In this study, we developed novel rod-like NiCo-phyllosilicate hybrid catalysts on calcined natural zeolite (NiCo@C-zeolite) via a facile one-pot process.

Transcriptome analysis of osteogenic differentiation of human maxillary sinus mesenchymal stem cells using RNA-Seq.

Recent studies have demonstrated that human maxillary sinus mesenchymal stem cells (hMSMSCs) have osteogenic potential and can be osteogenically induced. Here, we investigated pivotal molecular functions and candidates that contribute to the osteogenic differentiation of hMSMSCs. Human maxillary sinus membranes were harvested from 3 patients with jaw deformities.

The effects of Latino Dance intervention on academic and general self-efficacy with left-behind children: An experimental study in China.

Introduction: Although there is considerable research indicating that physical exercise and dance can strengthen children's self-efficacy, and children's self-efficacy can predict students' academic achievement at a wide range of academic levels. Few studies have been conducted using Latino Dance to improve self-efficacy in Left-Behind Children (LBC), especially the two aspects of student academic self-efficacy and general self-efficacy, while the mediator role of self-esteem between student academic self-efficacy and general self-efficacy has been less explored in previous research.

Methods: This study proposed to examine Latino Dance interventions to improve general self-efficacy and students' academic self-efficacy among LBC students in rural areas to boost students' academic performance, and the research team hypothesised that general self-efficacy, students' academic self-efficacy and self-esteem would improve following the intervention and that outcomes will have a significant positive correlation as students' self-esteem can mediate both their academic self-efficacy and their general self-efficacy.

A comparative study of the morphology and molecular biology between the Schneiderian membrane and palatine mucoperiosteum.

Schneiderian membrane is an indispensable structure for osteogenesis under the sinus floor space after maxillary sinus floor elevation.Therefore,this study aimed to compare the Schneiderian membrane and palatine mucoperiosteum in various aspects to explore whether the Schneiderian membrane has a periosteal layer and osteogenic ability. Schneiderian membrane and palatine mucoperiosteum specimens were collected and stained with HE, Masson, and Sirius red.

Diagnostic Value of Delayed Contrast-Enhanced Cardiac Computed Tomography for Detecting Left Atrial Appendage Thrombus in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation.

Objective: Delayed enhancement cardiac CT is a reliable tool for the diagnosis of left atrial appendage thrombus but limited for scanning heterogeneity. We aimed to explore the improvement of the 1 and 3-min delay phase at the diagnostic level to detect left atrial appendage thrombus, in order to set up a reasonable CT scanning scheme.

Materials And Methods: A total of 6,524 patients were continuously retrieved from January 2015 to September 2020 retrospectively.

The diverse roles of YAP in the regulation of human nasal epithelial remodeling.

Yes-associated protein (YAP) is essential in maintaining tissue size. Aberrant epithelial remodeling is a key pathological alteration in both inflammation and benign tumors in nasal mucosa. We sought to investigate the expression and localization patterns of YAP in remodeled nasal epithelium of basal cell hyperplasia, goblet cell metaplasia and squamous metaplasia.

Value of quantitative dynamic contrast-enhanced and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging in predicting extramural venous invasion in locally advanced gastric cancer and prognostic significance.

Background: Extramural venous invasion (EMVI) has been found to be related to poor prognosis in gastric cancer. Preoperative diagnosis of EMVI is challenging, as it can only be detected by surgical pathology. The present study aimed to investigate the value of quantitative dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in predicting EMVI preoperatively, and to determine the relationship between prediction results and prognosis in patients with locally advanced gastric cancer (LAGC).

Local IL-17 positive T cells are functionally associated with neutrophil infiltration and their development is regulated by mucosal microenvironment in nasal polyps.

Objective And Design: IL-17 plays essential roles in neutrophilic inflammation in the lower respiratory tract, however, the characteristics of local IL-17 T cells in nasal inflammatory mucosa are not fully understood. We investigated the roles of IL-17 T cells in regulating neutrophil infiltration and the effect of the mucosal microenvironment in modulating IL-17 T cell differentiation in CRSwNP tissues.

Subjects: 47 polyp tissues from chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) patients without corticosteroid therapy and 26 tissues from healthy mucosa were obtained.

LINC00968 promotes osteogenic differentiation in vitro and bone formation in vivo via regulation of miR-3658/RUNX2.

Osteogenic differentiation of dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) is considered as a promising strategy in posterior maxilla tooth implantation. Information on the function and mechanisms of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in osteogenic differentiation of DPSCs is growing, however, the mechanism of LINC00968 and miR-3658 in regulating osteogenic differentiation of DPSCs still needs to be explored. In this study, the LINC00968 and miR-3658 expression level was upregulated and downregulated in DPSCs and peri-implantitis DPSCs (pDPSCs) treated with bone morphogenic protein (BMP)2, respectively.

Improved Production of Malic Acid in by Abolishing Citric Acid Accumulation and Enhancing Glycolytic Flux.

Microbial fermentation was widely explored to produce malic acid. Previously, has been successfully engineered, and a high titer of malic acid was achieved with strain S575, but it also produced a high level of byproduct citric acid. Here, the capability of in malic acid biosynthesis was further improved by eliminating the accumulation of citric acid and enhancing glycolytic flux.

Development of a Cre-loxP-based genetic system in Aspergillus niger ATCC1015 and its application to construction of efficient organic acid-producing cell factories.

The filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger is widely used in the biotechnology industry for the production of chemicals and enzymes. Engineering of this valuable organism to improve its productivity is currently hampered by the lack of efficient genetic tools. Here, a Cre-loxP-based system for gene editing in A.

Stress-oscillation behaviour of semi-crystalline polymers: the case of poly(butylene succinate).

Stress oscillation has been observed in a number of linear thermoplastic polymers during the cold-drawing process, where the polymers exhibit periodic self-excited oscillatory neck propagation. However, the origin of the mechanical stress oscillation process and its relationship with the crystalline morphology of the polymer are still under debate. In this work, we revisit the stress oscillation behavior by studying a semi-crystalline polyester, poly(butylene succinate) (PBS), a biodegradable polymer suitable for biomedical and packaging applications.

Effects of Heat-Treatment Temperature on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Steel by MgO Nanoparticle Additions.

The characteristics and formation mechanisms of intragranular acicular ferrite (IAF) in steel with MgO nanoparticle additions were systematically investigated for different isothermal heat-treatment temperatures, and its influence on mechanical properties was also clarified. The results indicate that the inclusions were finely dispersed and refined after adding MgO nanoparticles. In addition, with decreasing heat-treatment temperature, the microstructure changed from grain boundary ferrite (GBF) and polygonal ferrite (PF) to intragranular acicular ferrite.

Porous poly (DL-lactic acid) modified chitosan-gelatin scaffolds for tissue engineering.

Chitosan-gelatin (Cs-Gel) scaffolds are modified with poly (DL-lactic acid) (PDLLA) dichloromethane solution of different concentrations (0.1, 0.5, and 1.