Ecological risk assessment models for simulating impacts of land use and landscape pattern on ecosystem services.

Rapid urbanization involves the expansion of construction land, which changes the land use and landscape pattern in watersheds. Moreover, it degrades ecosystem services and habitat quality, thus creating adverse ecological impacts such as the diffusion of non-point source (NPS) pollution. Therefore, it is urgent to investigate the adverse effects and potential ecological risks caused by variations in land use due to territory development and urbanization. Houxi Basin is a typical Chinese southeastern coastal watershed in the process of urbanization, and the ecological risk from 2011 to 2019 is here assessed. Based on ecosystem vulnerability and the interference with the ecosystem, we evaluated the risk of degradation of habitat services provided by terrestrial ecosystems due to changes in landscape patterns. In addition, the export coefficient model is employed to build an exposure-response relationship between land use and NPS pollution to investigate the risk of degrading water-purification services provided by aquatic ecosystems. The results show that the risks of degrading habitat-provision services increase slightly but for water-purification services increases rapidly. Alternatively, the integrated optimization scenario of key areas for 2030 reduces the risk of pollution diffusion and the landscape risk by 4.27% and 10.25%, respectively, compared with the business-as-usual scenario. In summary, reasonable planning of land-use types and spatial layout is conducive to reducing ecological risks. Other conclusions can be drawn: the combined replacement of forest and grassland more effectively inhibits pollution diffusion than does replacing only forest or only grassland. Optimizing areas with high land-use impact coefficients inhibits pollution diffusion more effectively than does optimizing areas with high export coefficients. Lastly, instead of increasing the area of green land, adjusting its spatial layout proves to be more effective in lowering the ecological risk to water-purification and habitat-provision services.

Radiomics versus Conventional Assessment to Identify Symptomatic Participants at Carotid Computed Tomography Angiography.

INTRODUCTION: Carotid computed tomography angiography (CTA) is routinely used for evaluating the atherosclerotic process. Radiomics allows the extraction of imaging markers of lesion heterogeneity and spatial complexity. These quantitative features can be used as the input for machine learning (ML). Therefore, in this study, we aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of radiomics-based ML assessment of carotid CTA data to identify symptomatic patients with carotid artery atherosclerosis. METHODS: In this retrospective study, participants with carotid artery atherosclerosis who underwent carotid CTA and brain magnetic resonance imaging from May 2010 to December 2017 were studied. The participants were grouped into symptomatic and asymptomatic groups according to their recent symptoms (determination of ipsilateral ischemic stroke). Eight conventional plaque features and 2,107 radiomics parameters were extracted from carotid CTA images. A radiomics-based ML model was fitted on the training set, and the radiomics-based ML model and conventional assessment were compared using the area under the curve (AUC) to identify symptomatic participants. RESULTS: After excluding participants with other stroke sources, 120 patients with 148 carotid arteries were analyzed. Of these 148 carotid arteries, 34 (22.97%) were classified into the symptomatic group. Plaque ulceration (odds ratio [OR] = 0.257; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.094-0.698) and plaque enhancement (OR = 0.305; 95% CI, 0.094-0.988) were associated with the symptomatic status. Twenty radiomics parameters were chosen to be inputs in the radiomics-based ML model. In the identification of symptomatic participants, the discriminatory value of the radiomics-based ML model was significantly higher than that of the conventional assessment (AUC = 0.858 vs. AUC = 0.706, p = 0.021). CONCLUSION: Radiomics-based ML analysis improves the discriminatory power of carotid CTA in the identification of recent ischemic symptoms in patients with carotid artery atherosclerosis.

Comparison of automated and manual DWI-ASPECTS in acute ischemic stroke: total and region-specific assessment.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the DWI-Alberta Stroke Program Early Computed Tomography Score calculated by a deep learning-based automatic software tool (eDWI-ASPECTS) with the neuroradiologists' evaluation for the acute stroke, with emphasis on its performance on 10 individual ASPECTS regions, and to determine the reasons for inconsistencies between eDWI-ASPECTS and neuroradiologists' evaluation. METHODS: This retrospective study included patients with middle cerebral artery stroke who underwent MRI from 2010 to 2019. All scans were evaluated by eDWI-ASPECTS and two independent neuroradiologists (with 15 and 5 years of experience in stroke study). Inter-rater agreement and agreement between manual vs. automated methods for total and each region were evaluated by calculating Kendall's tau-b, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and kappa coefficient. RESULTS: In total, 309 patients met our study criteria. For total ASPECTS, eDWI-ASPECTS and manual raters had a strong positive correlation (Kendall's tau-b = 0.827 for junior raters vs. eDWI-ASPECTS; Kendall's tau-b = 0.870 for inter-raters; Kendall's tau-b = 0.848 for senior raters vs. eDWI-ASPECTS) and excellent agreement (ICC = 0.923 for junior raters and automated scores; ICC = 0.954 for inter-raters; ICC = 0.939 for senior raters and automated scores). Agreement was different for individual ASPECTS regions. All regions except for M5 region (κ = 0.216 for junior raters and automated scores), internal capsule (κ = 0.525 for junior raters and automated scores), and caudate (κ = 0.586 for senior raters and automated scores) showed good to excellent concordance. CONCLUSION: The eDWI-ASPECTS performed equally well as senior neuroradiologists' evaluation, although interference by uncertain scoring rules and midline shift resulted in poor to moderate consistency in the M5, internal capsule, and caudate nucleus regions. KEY POINTS: • The eDWI-ASPECTS based on deep learning perform equally well as senior neuroradiologists' evaluations. • Among the individual ASPECTS regions, the M5, internal capsule, and caudate regions mainly affected the overall consistency. • Uncertain scoring rules and midline shift are the main reasons for regional inconsistency.

Psychological distress in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic: Preliminary development of an assessment scale.

COVID-19 is now spreading worldwide, and poses some public mental health problems which requires close attention. This study aims to develop a scale of COVID-19 related psychological distress in healthy public (CORPD) to assess the severity of psychological distress in uninfected healthy populations. We compiled a 14-item scale which contains two dimensions- Anxiety & fear and Suspicion -using the classical measurement theory. 652 Chinese citizens consented and completed a survey through an online questionnaire APP. The reliability test showed that the scale had good internal consistency reliability and Split-Half reliability, and the validity test showed that it had good structure validity, content validity and criterion correlation validity. This scale can be used to assess the psychological distress of people in China and in other COVID-19-hit regions and countries. It also provides a reference for future studies on COVID-19 or other respiratory infectious diseases related public mental health.

Allosteric mechanism of the circadian protein Vivid resolved through Markov state model and machine learning analysis.

The fungal circadian clock photoreceptor Vivid (VVD) contains a photosensitive allosteric light, oxygen, voltage (LOV) domain that undergoes a large N-terminal conformational change. The mechanism by which a blue-light driven covalent bond formation leads to a global conformational change remains unclear, which hinders the further development of VVD as an optogenetic tool. We answered this question through a novel computational platform integrating Markov state models, machine learning methods, and newly developed community analysis algorithms. Applying this new integrative approach, we provided a quantitative evaluation of the contribution from the covalent bond to the protein global conformational change, and proposed an atomistic allosteric mechanism leading to the discovery of the unexpected importance of A'α/Aß and previously overlooked Eα/Fα loops in the conformational change. This approach could be applicable to other allosteric proteins in general to provide interpretable atomistic representations of their otherwise elusive allosteric mechanisms.

Different organophosphate flame retardant and metabolite concentrations in urine from male and female university students in Beijing and an assessment of exposure via indoor dust.

Organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) have been found in human samples and associated with adverse health effects. In the present study, OPFR and dialkyl and diaryl phosphate (DAP) concentrations in human urine were determined and differences in the concentrations in urine from males and females were investigated. Urine samples from 22 male and 26 female university students, paired dust samples from the dormitories (13 each for males and females), and 10 dust samples from university teaching buildings were analyzed. The tri-o-cresyl phosphate (TOCP), tri-p-cresyl phosphate (TPCP), and tris(2-chloroisopropyl)phosphate (TCIPP) concentrations were significantly higher (p = 0.049, 0.023, and 0.027, respectively) in urine from the female students than in urine from the male students. Similar differences were found between males and females in terms of OPFR exposure and OPFR concentrations in urine for three-fourths of the OPFRs. Questionnaire answers and calculations indicated that disparities in OPFR concentrations in urine were mainly caused by females spending much more time than males in dormitories. Organophosphate flame retardants may pose degrees of health risk similar to those of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and this must be considered when making decisions about controlling flame retardants. We are not aware of any previous studies that simultaneously monitor OPFRs and DAPs in human urine in China. Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;38:760-768. © 2019 SETAC.

[Occurrence and Human Exposure Risk Assessment of Organophosphate Esters in Drinking Water in the Weifang Binhai Economic-Technological Development Area].

Concentrations and composition of six organophosphate esters (OPEs) in drinking water in the Weifang Binhai Economic-Technological Development Area were detected by solid phase extraction-gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (SPE-GC-MS/MS). The correlations of OPEs in drinking water and pooled serum samples from the Weifang Binhai Economic-Technological Development Area were analyzed. The health risk posed by OPEs in drinking water was evaluated using the health risk assessment model recommended by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). The results showed that ∑6OPEs concentrations in the tap water samples ranged from 162-253 ng·L-1, while ∑6OPEs concentrations in groundwater ranged from 3.52-13.9 ng·L-1, two orders of magnitude lower than that in the tap water. Tris(2-chloroethyl)phosphate (TCEP) was the dominant OPE in the tap water samples, with the median level accounting for 94.81% of the ∑6OPEs. Triphenyl phosphate (TPhP) was the dominant OPE in groundwater, with the median level accounting for 47.55% of the ∑6OPEs. The composition of OPEs in the human mixed serum collected in 2011 and 2015 was strongly correlated with that in the tap water (r=0.990, P<0.01 and r=0.997, P<0.01, respectively). This indicates the significant contribution of OPEs in drinking water to OPEs in human serum. The daily intake (DI) of OPEs via drinking water was 0.26-7.48 ng·(kg·d)-1 and the non-cancer risk hazard quotient (HQ) of OPEs in drinking water ranged from 10-5.81-10-2.43, indicating a negligible non-cancer risk to the local residents exposed to OPEs through drinking water. The carcinogenic risks posed by TCEP in drinking water ranged from 10-8.82-10-6.79, which was lower than the theoretical threshold (Risk=10-6.00), while the carcinogenic risk of TCEP in tap water was higher than that in groundwater.

Outcomes based on risk assessment of anastomotic leakage after rectal cancer surgery.

PURPOSE: Anastomotic leakage (AL) is associated with high morbidity and mortality, high reoperation rates, and increased hospital length of stay. Here we investigated the risk factors for AL after anterior resection for rectal cancer with a double stapling technique. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data for 460 patients who underwent primary anterior resection with a double stapling technique for rectal carcinoma at a single institution from 2003 to 2007 were prospectively collected. All patients experienced a total mesorectal excision (TME) operation. Clinical AL was defined as the presence of leakage signs and confirmed by diagnostic work-up according to ICD-9 codes 997.4, 567.22 (abdominopelvic abscess), and 569.81 (fistula of the intestine). Univariate and logistic regression analyses of 20 variables were undertaken to determine risk factors for AL. Survival was analysed using the Cox regression method. RESULTS: AL was noted in 35 (7.6%) of 460 patients with rectal cancer. Median age of the patients was 65 (50-74) and 161 (35%) were male. The diagnosis of AL was made between the 6th and 12th postoperative day (POD; mean 8th POD). After univariate and multivariate analysis, age (p=0.004), gender (p=0.007), tumor site (p<0.001), preoperative body mass index (BMI) (p<0.001), the reduction of TSGF on 5th POD less than 10U/ml (p=0.044) and the pH value of pelvic dranage less than or equal to 6.978 on 3rd POD (p<0.001) were selected as 6 independent risk factors for AL. It was shown that significant differences in survival of the patients were AL-related (p<0.001), high ASA score related (p=0.036), high-level BMI related (p=0.007) and advanced TNM stage related (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: AL after anterior resection for rectal carcinoma is related to advanced age, low tumor site, male sex, high preoperative BMI, low pH value of pelvic drainage on POD 3 and a significant reduction of TSGF on POD 5. In addition to their high risk of immediate postoperative morbidity and mortality, AL, worse physical status, severe obesity and advanced TNM stage have similarly negative impact on survival.

[Clinical assessment of acceptability of shade mismatch of infiltrated alumina ceramic crowns].

PURPOSE: To measure and evaluate the acceptability of shade mismatch of infiltrated alumina ceramic crowns directly in clinic. METHODS: Ten cases with restoration of hot casting alumina ceramic crown were collected in clinic. L*, a*, b*, C, H, ΔE values of hot casting alumina ceramic crowns and corresponding natural teeth in natural light were surveyed and calculated, then analyzed with CIE1976L*a*b* color system, digital photography and Photoshop CS2. All statistical analyses and calculations were completed in paired t test with SAS6.12 software package. RESULTS: In cervical 1/3 region, significant statistical difference in lightness, a*, hue angle parameter value between alumina all-ceramic crown and natural tooth (P<0.01) was found; in middle 1/3 region, significant difference in a*, b*, saturation parameter value (P<0.01) existed; in incisory 1/3 region, the parameters had no significant difference (P>0.05). To parameter ΔE, there was significant difference in every region, but it was in the acceptable range. CONCLUSIONS: The acceptability of shade mismatch is about 6 ΔE units, we can analyse the color difference between the restoration and natural teeth directly in clinic through symmetry of central incisor.

Assessment of comparative genomic hybridization experiment by an in situ synthesized CombiMatrix microarray with Yersinia pestis vaccine strain EV76 DNA.

OBJECTIVE: The quality of microarray data influences the accuracy of comparative genomic analyses to a large extent. To ensure that the results obtained by using an in situ synthesized microarray are accurate, data quality is to be assessed by evaluating the melting temperature (Tm) of probes, probability of false synthesis rates, and fragmentation of labeled targets. METHODS: DNA from the Yersinia pestis vaccine strain EV76 was used for microarray analyses. Microarray results were confirmed by PCR. Statistical and bioinformatics methods were employed to perform microarray data analyses and evaluation. RESULTS: Correlation coefficients of the three datasets were above 0.95 after two-time stripping and hybridization with a labeled DNA with the size of fragmentation being 200 bp - 2 kb, which showed that the hybridization results were highly reproducible. Correlation coefficients were lower with the values ranging from 0.87 to 0.92 between the datasets generated from hybridization with different sizes of the labeled DNA fragment. For the relationship between Tm and signal intensity, there was a different distribution of Tm in the lowest 300 or 3,000 probes with a range of 70 °C-72 °C and the highest 300 or 3,000 probes with a range of 72 °C-74 °C. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that the initial microarray design may affect the accuracy of final analyses and that the probe Tm and the size of the labeled fragment may be the two factors of the greatest importance.