Prediction of Diabetic Macular Edema Using Knowledge Graph.

Diabetic macular edema (DME) is a significant complication of diabetes that impacts the eye and is a primary contributor to vision loss in individuals with diabetes. Early control of the related risk factors is crucial to reduce the incidence of DME. Artificial intelligence (AI) clinical decision-making tools can construct disease prediction models to aid in the clinical screening of the high-risk population for early disease intervention. However, conventional machine learning and data mining techniques have limitations in predicting diseases when dealing with missing feature values. To solve this problem, a knowledge graph displays the connection relationships of multi-source and multi-domain data in the form of a semantic network to enable cross-domain modeling and queries. This approach can facilitate the personalized prediction of diseases using any number of known feature data. In this study, we proposed an improved correlation enhancement algorithm based on knowledge graph reasoning to comprehensively evaluate the factors that influence DME to achieve disease prediction. We constructed a knowledge graph based on Neo4j by preprocessing the collected clinical data and analyzing the statistical rules. Based on reasoning using the statistical rules of the knowledge graph, we used the correlation enhancement coefficient and generalized closeness degree method to enhance the model. Meanwhile, we analyzed and verified these models' results using link prediction evaluation indicators. The disease prediction model proposed in this study achieved a precision rate of 86.21%, which is more accurate and efficient in predicting DME. Furthermore, the clinical decision support system developed using this model can facilitate personalized disease risk prediction, making it convenient for the clinical screening of a high-risk population and early disease intervention.

Real-Time In Situ Volatile Organic Compound Sensing by a Dual-Emissive Polynuclear Ln-MOF with Pronounced LnIII Luminescence Response.

Lanthanide metal-organic frameworks (Ln-MOFs) are promising for luminescence detection of volatile organic compound (VOC) vapors, but usually suffer from the silent or quenched Ln3+ emission. Herein, we report a new dual-emissive Eu-MOF composed of the coordinatively unsaturated Eu9 clusters that afford abundant open metal sites to form a confined "binding pocket" to facilitate the preconcentration and recognition of VOCs. Single-crystal structural analyses reveal that specific analytes can replace the OH oscillators in the first coordination sphere of Eu3+ and form a unique hydrogen-bonding second-sphere adduct tying adjacent Eu9 clusters together to minimize their nonradiative vibrational decay. With the promoted Eu3+ luminescence, the MOF realizes real-time in situ visual sensing of THF vapor (<1 s) and shows a quantitative ratiometric response to the vapor pressure with a limit of detection down to 17.33 Pa. Also, it represents a top-performing ratiometric luminescent thermometer.

Modulation of Hierarchical Pores in Metal-Organic Frameworks for Improved Dye Adsorption and Electrocatalytic Performance.

The hierarchical porous metal-organic framework (HP-MOF) has emerged as a hot topic in porous materials in consideration of their advantages in storage capacity and catalysis performance. Herein, we report the construction and property investigation of a series of HP-MOFs. A series of isoreticular microporous MOFs featuring the pacs topology network based on 2,4,6-tris(4-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine and different carboxylic acid ligands are found to be potential precursors to construct HP-MOFs. Through the decarboxylation of carboxylate ligands at high temperatures, a hierarchical porous structure could be obtained with the reservation of a crystalline framework. The formation of hierarchical pores is highly dependent on the structural and component nature (carboxylate ligands and metal centers) of the pristine MOF and the pyrolysis conditions (temperature and treatment time), indicating the highly tunable hierarchical pore characteristic of the HP-MOFs. By taking advantage of the increased pore volume and more exposed activation sites, the HP-MOFs reveal enhanced anionic dye adsorption capacity (800 mg·g-1 for Congo red and 140 mg·g-1 for methyl blue) and catalytic activity toward electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction (overpotential of 0.302 V at a current density of 10 mA·cm-2, 51 mV lower than that of the pristine MOF).

Efficient Regulation of Energy Transfer in a Multicomponent Dye-Loaded MOF for White-Light Emission Tuning.

Owing to their rich porosity and structural diversity, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) offer substantial advantages over other emission sources for the precise design and color regulation of white-light phosphors. However, achieving efficient white-light emission remains a considerable challenge. Herein, we report a strategy to achieve tunable and efficient white-light emission by regulating energy transfer in a multicomponent dye-loaded MOF. An anionic MOF NKU-114 featuring appropriate confined spaces is designed as a host to deliberately encapsulate three red-, green-, and blue-emissive dyes with adaptive spectral overlap, DSM, AF, and 9-AA, respectively, yielding the NKU-114@dyes composites. Integrating the suitable spectral overlap and efficient energy transfer between the dyes and the framework produced a white-light emission material containing the multicomponent dyes NKU-114@DSM/AF/9-AA. The obtained material has a broadband white emission with a high quantum yield (up to 42.07%) and nearly identical CIE coordinates of (0.34, 0.32), and the moderate correlated color temperature and color-rendering index value can reach up to 5101 K and 81, respectively, suggesting the potential of the multicomponent dye-loaded MOF for white-light-emitting phosphors with good color quality.

The Association Between Different Patterns of Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment and All-Cause Mortality Among Cancer Patients.

BACKGROUND: Cancer patients receiving Western medical treatment, frequently seek Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to alleviate adverse effects and prolong survival. OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the association between the use of TCM and cancer survival rate. Research into the effect of TCM on patient survival is limited, this analysis focused on 3 patterns of TCM use. METHODS: Three retrospective cohorts with different patterns of TCM use were selected from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan and analyzed. Patients with newly diagnosed cancer between 1997 and 2012 were classified into groups of prediagnosis, postdiagnosis, and continuous TCM use associated with awareness of cancer diagnosis. All demographic and clinical data were analyzed. RESULTS: After propensity score matching, longevity of the postdiagnosis and continuous TCM user was significantly longer than the non-TCM user. The adjusted hazard ratios of death in postdiagnosis and continuous TCM use groups (0.59 and 0.61, respectively) were lower than the non-TCM use group. CONCLUSION: The analysis suggests that cancer patients using TCM in conjunction with Western medical treatment exhibited a higher survival rate than patients not using TCM treatment.

Application of a smartphone nurse call system for nursing care.

BACKGROUND: Traditionally, a patient presses the nurse call button and alerts the central nursing station. This system cannot reach the primary care nurse directly. The aim of this study was to apply a new smartphone system through the cloud system and information technology that linked a smartphone and a mobile nursing station for nursing care service. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A smartphone and mobile nursing station were integrated into a smartphone nurse call system through the cloud and information technology for better nursing care. RESULTS: Waiting time for a patient to contact the most responsible nurse was reduced from 3.8 min to 6 s. The average time for pharmacists to locate the nurse for medication problem was reduced from 4.2 min to 1.8 min by the new system. CONCLUSIONS: After implementation of the smartphone nurse call system, patients received a more rapid response. This improved patients' satisfaction and reduced the number of complaints about longer waiting time due to the shortage of nurses.