Enhancing the clinical value of single-phase computed tomography angiography in the assessment of collateral circulation in acute ischemic stroke: A narrative review.

Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) condition assessment and clinical prognosis are significantly influenced by the compensatory state of cerebral collateral circulation. A standard clinical test known as single-phase computed tomography angiography (sCTA) is useful for quickly and accurately assessing the creation or opening of cerebral collateral circulation, which is crucial for the diagnosis and treatment of AIS. To improve the clinical application of sCTA in the clinical assessment of collateral circulation, we examine the present use of sCTA in AIS in this work.

[Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Soils of a City in Guangdong Province Based on Source Oriented and Monte Carlo Models].

Taking a city in Guangdong Province as the research area, the concentration and spatial distribution characteristics of heavy metals in the surface soil were studied to clarify the situation of soil heavy metal pollution and priority control factors, providing basic data for the prevention and control of soil heavy metal pollution in the city. The content characteristics of heavy metals in 221 soil samples in the city were analyzed, and the potential health risk assessment and source analysis were carried out through the Monte Carlo model, the potential health risk assessment (HRA) model, and the PMF receptor model. It was found that heavy metals ω(As), ω(Hg), ω(Cd), ω(Pb), ω(Cr), ω(Cu), ω(Ni), and ω(Zn) in the soil of the city were 18.16, 0.43, 1.46, 68.57, 98.34, 64.19, 26.53, and 257.32 mg·kg-1, respectively, with a moderate to high degree of variation. Except for Ni concentration, the soil concentrations of other heavy metal elements exceeded the background values of soil in Guangdong Province to a certain extent, and the concentrations of Cd and Zn exceeded the national secondary standards, resulting in severe heavy metal pollution; the main sources of heavy metals were industrial sources, and natural parent materials, lead battery manufacturing, transportation, artificial cultivation, and pesticide and fertilizer inputs also had an undeniable impact on the accumulation of heavy metals in the soil. Heavy metals in the soil had a certain degree of tolerable carcinogenic health risk for both children and adults, whereas non-carcinogenic risks could be ignored. The potential health risk of children was greater than that of adults, and the main exposure route was through oral intake. The input sources of pesticides and fertilizers and As should be the main controlling factors for the health risks of heavy metals in the city's soil, followed by mixed sources and Cr. There were differences in the spatial distribution characteristics and relative pollution levels of heavy metals, and it is necessary to deepen zoning monitoring and control, strengthen soil pollution prevention and control, and reduce human input of heavy metals in soil.

Clinical value of the expression levels of tumor protein D52 and miR-133a on prognosis assessment of pancreatic cancer surgery.

Objective: To investigate the clinical value of the expression levels of tumor protein D52 (TPD52) and miR-133a on the prognosis assessment of pancreatic cancer surgery. Methods: This was a retrospective study. Ninety-seven patients who underwent radical surgery for pancreatic cancer in Cangzhou Central Hospital from January 2018 to January 2022 were selected and divided into four groups: TPD52 high expression group, TPD52 low expression group, miR-133a high expression group and miR-133a low expression group. The relationship between the expression levels of TPD52 and miR-133a and the clinicopathological features of patients with pancreatic cancer was analyzed. The COX regression model was used to analyze the risk factors affecting the prognosis of patients with pancreatic cancer. Results: The high expression rate of TPD52 and the low expression rate of miR-133a in pancreatic cancer tissues were higher than those in normal paracancerous tissues(P<0.05). Based on the comparison of prognosis and survival, the median survival time of patients with high expression of TPD52 and low expression of miR-133a was lower than that of patients with low expression of TPD52 and high expression of miR-133a, with a statistically significant difference(P<0.05). Moreover, multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that low differentiation of pancreatic cancer, III-IV stage of TNM, high expression of TPD52, as well as low expression of miR-133a were independent risk factors for postoperative survival of patients with pancreatic cancer(P<0.05). Conclusion: TPD52 is expressed at a high level whereas miR-133a at a low level in pancreatic cancer tissues, both of which together with low differentiation of pancreatic cancer and III-IV stage of TNM constitute independent risk factors affecting the surgical prognosis of patients with pancreatic cancer.

[Pollution Characteristics and Risk Assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Soils of Guangzhou].

In order to comprehensively study the pollution characteristics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons （PAHs） in soils of Guangzhou， 222 topsoil samples were collected and analyzed. The ecological risk of soil PAHs pollution was evaluated using the effect interval low/median method （ERL/ERM） and the （BaP） toxicity equivalent method， and the health risk of soil PAHs pollution was evaluated using the lifelong cancer risk increment model. The source of PAHs was analyzed using the characteristic compound ratio method and PMF model. The results indicated that： the content of surface soil （∑16PAHs） in Guangzhou was 38-11 115 µg·kg-1， with an average of 526 µg·kg-1， and 16 types of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon monomers showed strong variation. There was a certain degree of ecological risk of PAHs in Guangzhou， and there was already a significant ecological risk of PAHs pollution in individual sampling points， which were generally in a state of mild pollution. Based on the results of the health risk assessment， the contribution rates of total cancer risk in both adults and children were presented as follows： skin contact > ingestion of soil > respiratory intake. The health risk of children was greater than that of adults， and the overall health risk was within an acceptable range. Source analysis showed that the main sources of soil PAHs in Guangzhou were coal （37.1%）； diesel （32%）； coking （17.3%）； and mixed sources of traffic emissions， biomass combustion， and petrochemical product volatilization （13.6%）. The overall source of soil PAHs belonged to mixed sources. The research results have enriched our understanding of the pollution status of PAHs in the surface soil of Guangzhou and are helpful in promoting soil pollution prevention and control actions.

The nexus among CO2 emission, health expenditure and economic development in the OECD countries: New insights from a cross-sectional ARDL model.

To find a way to realize sustainable development, this paper applied a cross-sectional ARDL (CS-ARDL) method to explore the interaction between carbon emissions, economic development, and health care expenditure for OECD countries. Firstly, we conduct a cross-sectional test to check whether the data is confronted with this issue. Secondly, we conduct a panel unit root test and cointegration test to confirm whether the ARDL-based method is suitable for our data. Thirdly, we analyze the results and provide possible explanations. Lastly, we conduct a short-term causality test to detect the connection between different variables. The main conclusion of our study includes: 1) Health care is a necessity in OECD countries. 2) Environmental deterioration places a heavy burden on health care expenditure in OECD countries. 3) Health care expenditure of last year negatively affects health care expenditure. 4) There is a short-run causality relationship from CO2, economic development, and dependency rate of youth to health care expenditure in OECD countries. Related policy proposals are provided according to our analysis of the results.

Integrating large language models in systematic reviews: a framework and case study using ROBINS-I for risk of bias assessment.

Large language models (LLMs) may facilitate and expedite systematic reviews, although the approach to integrate LLMs in the review process is unclear. This study evaluates GPT-4 agreement with human reviewers in assessing the risk of bias using the Risk Of Bias In Non-randomised Studies of Interventions (ROBINS-I) tool and proposes a framework for integrating LLMs into systematic reviews. The case study demonstrated that raw per cent agreement was the highest for the ROBINS-I domain of 'Classification of Intervention'. Kendall agreement coefficient was highest for the domains of 'Participant Selection', 'Missing Data' and 'Measurement of Outcomes', suggesting moderate agreement in these domains. Raw agreement about the overall risk of bias across domains was 61% (Kendall coefficient=0.35). The proposed framework for integrating LLMs into systematic reviews consists of four domains: rationale for LLM use, protocol (task definition, model selection, prompt engineering, data entry methods, human role and success metrics), execution (iterative revisions to the protocol) and reporting. We identify five basic task types relevant to systematic reviews: selection, extraction, judgement, analysis and narration. Considering the agreement level with a human reviewer in the case study, pairing artificial intelligence with an independent human reviewer remains required.

Contamination and health risk assessment of heavy metals in soil surrounding an electroplating factory in JiaXing, China.

A total of 30 samples from the downwind direction of a certain electroplating company in Jiaxing were collected in layers to analyze their heavy metal content. The soil risk assessment was conducted from the perspective of ecological and human health risks using the ground accumulation index method and human health risk assessment method. The results showed that in all samples, cadmium and arsenic far exceeded the soil background values, with an average exceeding multiple of 14.31 and 64.42, respectively, and a exceeding rate of 100%. After evaluation by the ground accumulation index, among these six heavy metals, arsenic and cadmium belong to extremely serious pollution levels. The human health risk assessment of electroplating plants found that in the exposure risk assessment, the ingestion value was much greater than the harm caused by breathing and skin, and the maximum exposure damage value of arsenic to children and adults was 4.17 × 10-3, among the carcinogenic risks, the risk brought by consumption is much greater than the respiratory and skin carcinogenic risk index, with the highest value score of 3.37 for cadmium, arsenic, and zinc carcinogenic risks 3.37 × 10-6, 2.42 × 10-3, 1.10 × 10-4.

Assessment of aortic and peripheral arterial stiffness in patients with knee osteoarthritis by ultrasound Doppler derived pulse wave velocity.

Information regarding regional arterial stiffness assessment in osteoarthritis (OA) was scarce and sometimes contradictory. We aimed to investigate the aortic, lower limb peripheral arterial stiffness and their associations with knee OA. Patients with primary knee OA and matched non-OA controls were prospectively enrolled from two medical centers in China. The carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) and femoral-ankle pulse wave velocity (faPWV) were measured using a novel ultrasound technique. A total of 238 participants (including 128 patients with knee OA and 110 controls) were included. In OA patients, cfPWV was significantly higher than that of non-OA controls (9.40 ± 1.92 vs 8.25 ± 1.26 m/s, P < 0.0001). However, faPWV measurements in OA patients (12.10 ± 2.09 m/s) showed no significant difference compared with that of the controls (11.67 ± 2.52 m/s, P = 0.130). Multiple regression analysis revealed that cfPWV was independently associated with knee OA (P < 0.0001) after adjusting for the confounding factors including age, gender, smoking, mean blood pressure, body mass index, heart rate, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and lipids profiles. In contrast, faPWV did not show independent association with knee OA (P = 0.372) when after adjusting for confounding factors. In addition, Spearman's correlation analysis showed cfPWV had a significant correlation with Kellgren-Lawrence score (rs = 0.2333, P = 0.008), but no correlation was founded between faPWV with Kellgren-Lawrence score (rs = 0.1624, P = 0.067) in OA patients. This study demonstrated that stiffening of aorta, but not lower limb arteries, was independently associated with knee OA. Our findings may call for further implementation of routine aortic stiffness assessments so as to evaluate cardiovascular risk in patients with OA.

Low-cost BPO4 In Situ Synthetic Li3PO4 Coating and B/P-Doping to Boost 4.8 V Cyclability for Sulfide-Based All-Solid-State Lithium Batteries.

Structural damage of Ni-rich layered oxide cathodes such as LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 (NCM811) and serious interfacial side reactions and physical contact failures with sulfide electrolytes (SEs) are the main obstacles restricting ≥4.6 V high-voltage cyclability of all-solid-state lithium batteries (ASSLBs). To tackle this constraint, here, a modified NCM811 with Li3PO4 coating and B/P co-doping using inexpensive BPO4 as raw materials via the one-step in situ synthesis process is presented. Phosphates have good electrochemical stability and contain the same anion (O2-) and cation (P5+) as in cathode and SEs, respectively, thus Li3PO4 coating precludes interfacial anion exchange, lessening side reactivity. Based on the high bond energy of B─O and P─O, the lattice O and crystal texture of NCM811 can be stabilized by B3+/P5+ co-doping, thereby suppressing microcracks during high-voltage cycling. Therefore, when tested in combination with Li─In anode and Li6PS5Cl solid electrolytes (LPSCl), the modified NCM811 exhibits extraordinary performance, with 200.36 mAh g-1 initial discharge capacity (4.6 V), cycling 2300 cycles with decay rate as low as 0.01% per cycle (1C), and 208.26 mAh g-1 initial discharge capacity (4.8 V), cycling 1986 cycles with 0.02% per cycle decay rate. Simultaneously, it also has remarkable electrochemical abilities at both -20 °C and 60 °C.

Occurrence, distribution, and risk assessment of pesticides in surface water and sediment in Jiangsu Province, China.

The occurrence and distribution of 157 pesticides were investigated in surface water and sediment in Jiangsu Province, China. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to analyze and quantify these pesticides, and the risk quotient method was used to evaluate their respective environmental risk. The results showed that 91 pesticides were detected in surface water. The organophosphates (OPPs), fungicides, and amide herbicides were predominant. The total concentration in surface water ranged from 63.7 to 22,463 ng/L, 3.90 to 7262 ng/L, and ND to 34,120 ng/L, respectively. The mean concentration was 3479 ng/L, 1644 ng/L, and 1878 ng/L, respectively. The concentration range of detected pesticides in the Yangtze River Basin was generally lower than that in the Huai River Basin. In sediment samples, a total of 63 pesticides were detected. OPPs and amide herbicides were also ranked highest; the total concentration in sediment samples ranged from 2951 to 47,739 ng/g and 106 to 12,996 ng/g, respectively. And the mean concentrations was 6971 ng/g and 5130 ng/g, respectively. Suqian City had the highest concentration for OPPs and amide herbicides in the Huai River Basin, followed by Huai'an City, while Nanjing City and Yangzhou City ranked highest in the Yangtze River Basin. The spatial distribution of pesticides in Jiangsu Province indicated a concentration significantly higher in the western and northern regions than in the eastern and southern regions, and a concentration generally higher in lakes than in rivers. The risk assessment results showed that OPPs, fungicides, amide herbicides, organochlorines, and triazine herbicides in most surface water samples posed a high risk and had regional pollution characteristics. In sediment samples, organochlorines, carbamates, other herbicides, and other insecticides posed a high risk in northern Jiangsu Province, whereas OPPs, amide herbicides, and triazine herbicides posed high risks everywhere in Jiangsu Province.

Building Low-Cost, High-Performance Flexible Photodetector Based on Tetragonal Phase VO2 (A) Nanorod Networks.

We present a straightforward and cost-effective method for the fabrication of flexible photodetectors, utilizing tetragonal phase VO2 (A) nanorod (NR) networks. The devices exhibit exceptional photosensitivity, reproducibility, and stability in ambient conditions. With a 2.0 V bias voltage, the device demonstrates a photocurrent switching gain of 1982% and 282% under irradiation with light at wavelengths of 532 nm and 980 nm, respectively. The devices show a fast photoelectric response with rise times of 1.8 s and 1.9 s and decay times of 1.2 s and 1.7 s for light at wavelengths of 532 nm and 980 nm, respectively. In addition, the device demonstrates exceptional flexibility across large-angle bending and maintains excellent mechanical stability, even after undergoing numerous extreme bending cycles. We discuss the electron transport process within the nanorod networks, and propose a mechanism for the modulation of the barrier height induced by light. These characteristics reveal that the fabricated devices hold the potential to serve as a high-performance flexible photodetector.

Motivational simulated teaching of clinical skills using formative assessment methods for medical undergraduate students: between-group evaluation of a simulated course in a Chinese medical college.

OBJECTIVES: Teaching clinical skills is an important component of educational programmes for medical undergraduates. However, the extension of the interval between the completion of the course and qualification examination affects the performance of students in the skill examination. This study established a multisource evaluation system to determine whether formative assessment can enhance the instruction of clinical skills. METHODS: Formative assessment was introduced to the entire training course on clinical skills, in which diversified methods were used to observe the performance of students during training. Students in the experimental group received training for clinical skills using formative assessment (class of 2019, n=128), while students in the control group received traditional training without formative assessment (class of 2018, n=123). Both groups participated in the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) conducted by Tongji Medical College, and the exam scores were taken as the objective measure of course outcome. After completing the course, all students in the experimental group were instructed to fill in a questionnaire to evaluate their experience in the training programme, as a subjective measure of course outcome. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, students in the experimental group received significantly better practical scores in the four clinical skills tested by the OSCE. The questionnaire results revealed that the majority of students who were trained using formative assessment methods considered the course helpful for learning, and appreciated the course for the clinical skills they had gained, and the opportunity to receive and give feedback to the instructors. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study suggest that formative assessment methods are beneficial for learning clinical skills through simulated teaching, as shown by the improved objective clinical skills evaluated by the structured clinical examination, and the self-reported satisfaction with the learning process.

Assessment of a Synergistic Effect of Platelet-Rich Plasma and Stem Cell-Seeded Hydrogel for Healing of Rat Chronic Rotator Cuff Injuries.

Outcomes after repair of chronic rotator cuff injuries remain suboptimal. Type-1 collagen-rich tendon hydrogel was previously reported to improve healing in a rat chronic rotator cuff injury model. Stem cell seeding of the tendon hydrogel improved bone quality in the same model. This study aimed to examine whether there was a synergistic and dose-dependent effect of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) on tendon-bone interface healing by combining PRP with stem cell-seeded tendon hydrogel. Human cadaveric tendons were processed into a hydrogel. PRP was prepared at two different platelet concentrations: an initial concentration (initial PRP group) and a higher concentration (concentrated PRP group). Tendon hydrogel was mixed with adipose-derived stem cells and one of the platelet concentrations. Methylcellulose, as opposed to saline, was used as a negative control due to comparable viscosity. The supraspinatus tendon was detached bilaterally in 33 Sprague-Dawley rats (66 shoulders). Eight weeks later, each detached tendon was repaired, and a hydrogel mixture or control was injected at the repair site. Eight weeks after repair, shoulder samples were harvested and assigned for biomechanical testing (n = 42 shoulders) or a combination of bone morphological and histological assessment (n = 24 shoulders). Biomechanical testing showed significantly higher failure load and stiffness in the concentrated PRP group than in control. Yield load in the initial and concentrated PRP groups were significantly higher than that in the control. There were no statistically significant differences between the initial and concentrated PRP groups. The addition of the highly concentrated PRP to stem cells-seeded tendon hydrogel improved healing biomechanically after chronic rotator cuff injury in rats compared to control. However, synergistic and dose-dependent effects were not seen.

Effects of multimorbidity patterns and socioeconomic status on catastrophic health expenditure of widowed older adults in China.

Background: The high multimorbidity and lower socioeconomic status (SES) of older adults, can lead to catastrophic health expenditures (CHEs) for older adults' households. However, whether widowed older adults will bear such a financial burden has yet to be explored. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of multimorbidity patterns and SES on CHE in Chinese widowed older adults. Methods: Data was obtained from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). This is a cross-sectional study. A total of 1,721 widowed participants aged 60 years and older were enrolled in the study. Latent class analysis was performed based on 14 self-reported chronic diseases to identify multimorbidity patterns. The logistic model and Tobit model were used to analyze the influence of multimorbidity patterns and SES on the incidence and intensity of CHE, respectively. Results: About 36.72% of widowed older adults generated CHE. The incidence and intensity of CHE were significantly higher in the cardiovascular class and multisystem class than in the minimal disease class in multimorbidity patterns (cardiovascular class, multisystem class, and minimal disease class). Among SES-related indicators (education, occupation and household per capita income), respondents with a middle school and above education level were more likely to generate CHE compared to those who were illiterate. Respondents who were in the unemployed group were more likely to generate CHE compared to agricultural workers. In addition, respondents aged 70-79 years old, geographically located in the east, having other medical insurance, or having fewer family members are more likely to generate CHE and have higher CHE intensity. Conclusion: Widowed older adults are at high risk for CHE, especially those in the cardiovascular and multisystem disease classes, and those with low SES. Several mainstream health insurances do not provide significant relief. In addition, attention should be paid to the high-risk characteristics associated with CHE. It is necessary to carry out the popularization of chronic disease knowledge, improve the medical insurance system and medical service level, and provide more policy preferences and social support to widowed older adults.

Neutralizing the surging emissions amidst natural resource dependence, eco-innovation, and green energy in G7 countries: Insights for global environmental sustainability.

The unrelenting surge in global warming in the current era suggests the inevitable need for governments across the globe to embark on policy measures that will help flatten the curve of the surging emissions. Consequently, the concept of carbon neutrality has become a vital policy approach for countries to achieve sustainable development. The present study extends the debates on carbon neutrality by examining the extent to which prominent factors such as natural resource dependence, eco-innovation, and green energy (biofuel and renewable energy) facilitate or hinder strides toward achieving carbon neutral environment in G7 economies. The study considers the additional roles of carbon tax, environmental policy stringency, and financial development in longitudinal data ranging from 1997 to 2019. The verification of the stated hypotheses hinges on a battery of estimators comprising cross-sectional ARDL, common correlated effects mean group, augmented mean group, and panel quantile regression. The empirical findings show that green energy, carbon tax, and environmental policy support the drive towards carbon neutrality by reducing the stock of CO2 emissions. On the other hand, natural resource dependence and financial development hinder the carbon neutrality agenda by escalating the surge in CO2 emissions. Robustness analyses are conducted from the angle of an additional outcome variable and estimation technique of which the results corroborate the empirical regularity of the main findings. Policy implications are derived from the empirical findings.

Can financial development improve environmental quality? New findings from spatial measures of Chinese urban panel data.

China's economy has achieved remarkable success, while it has also paid a high environmental cost. Environmental pollution not only causes great economic losses, but also severely restricts the development of society. Both theory and practice demonstrate that financial development plays a significant role in environmental governance, but the internal mechanism of its impacts has remained to be explored. It is vital to investigate the influence mechanism of financial development on the environmental quality in order to accomplish sustainable economic development through finance and enhance environmental quality concurrently. This paper, using mediating model, spatial Durbin and spatial error model, constructs a theoretical framework financial development on environmental quality from two dimensions, i.e., Financial Interrelations Ratio (FIR) and Financial Efficiency (FE), based on panel data of 234 cities in China from 2010 to 2019. And the results are as follows: (1) the improvement of Financial Interrelations Ratio (FIR) and Financial Efficiency (FE) had not yet reached the level of environmental pollution improvement; (2) in terms of mechanism, the rise of the level of financial development promoted economic growth, but inhibited the optimization of industrial structure, which increased industrial pollution emissions and deteriorates environmental quality; (3) urban environment had significant spatial dependence; (4) the impact of financial development on environmental quality in eastern region has been transformed into an improvement effect, while it still shows a deteriorating effect in central and western regions. Some policy recommendations related to the use of financial development to improve environmental quality are proposed at last, which will help to promote ecological protection and high quality synergistic economic development in China.

Strategies of property developers in the context of carbon tax.

China needs to guide property developers in actively reducing emissions to reach carbon emission reduction targets and respond to global climate change. A carbon tax is an important policy tool. Still, to establish successful rules to steer property developers' reasonable carbon emission reduction behavior, we must first explore property developers' decision-making mechanisms. This study develops an emission reduction and price game model for property developers under the constraint of a carbon tax. It then applies reverse order induction and optimization methods to identify the game equilibrium solution for property developers. Using the game equilibria, we explore the carbon tax mechanism on emission reduction and property developer pricing strategies. We can derive the following conclusions if the carbon tax policy is not implemented: 1.House prices are related to the substitutability of the two types of competitive property developers. 2.The greater the substitutability, the greater the cost of emission reduction paid by consumers. 3.The game equilibrium carbon emission intensity is the average carbon emission intensity of the housing business. In the situation of enacting a carbon tax, we arrive at the following conclusions: 1.The profits of real estate developers who do not have the advantage of emission reduction continue to decline with the increase of carbon tax. 2. For real estate developers who have the advantage of decreasing emissions, profits declined initially and then increased as the carbon tax rate increased, and only when the carbon tax rate reaches Tm1* can they fully leverage the cost advantage and obtain ever-increasing profits. 3.Low tax rates should be adopted by the government at the start of the implementation of the carbon tax policy to provide a buffer time for real estate developers who do not have the advantage of emission reduction costs.

Efficacy and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Internet-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common and chronic mental illness with a high rate of disability. Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) makes online treatment available to patients and has been shown to be effective. However, 3-arm trials on ICBT, face-to-face cognitive behavioral group therapy (CBGT), and only medication are still lacking. OBJECTIVE: This study is a randomized, controlled, assessor-blinded trial of 3 groups for OCD: ICBT combined with medication, CBGT combined with medication, and conventional medical treatment (ie, treatment as usual [TAU]). The study aims to investigate the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of ICBT related to CBGT and TAU for adults with OCD in China. METHODS: In total, 99 patients with OCD were selected and randomly assigned to the ICBT, CBGT, and TAU groups for treatment for 6 weeks. The primary outcomes were the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (YBOCS) and the self-rating Florida Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (FOCI), compared at baseline, during treatment (3 weeks), and after treatment (6 weeks), to analyze efficacy. The secondary outcome was the EuroQol Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-VAS) scores of the EuroQol 5D Questionnaire (EQ-5D). The cost questionnaires were recorded to analyze cost-effectiveness. RESULTS: Repeated-measures ANOVA was used for data analysis, and the final effective sample size was 93 (ICBT: n=32, 34.4%; CBGT: n=28, 30.1%; TAU: n=33, 35.5%). After 6-week treatment, the YBOCS scores of the 3 groups significantly decreased (P<.001), and there were no significant differences among groups. The FOCI score of the ICBT (P=.001) and CBGT (P=.035) groups was significantly lower than that of the TAU group after treatment. The total cost of the CBGT group (renminbi [RMB] 6678.45, 95% CI 4460.88-8896.01 [US $1010.36, 95% CI 678.87-1345.84]) was significantly higher than that of the ICBT group (RMB 3308.81, 95% CI 2476.89-4140.73[US $500.58, 95% CI 374.72-626.43], P<.001) and the TAU group (RMB 2259.61, 95% CI 2074.16-2445.05 [US $341.85, 95% CI 313.79-369.90], P<.001) after treatment. The ICBT group spent RMB 303.19 (US $45.97) less than the CBGT group and RMB 11.57 (US $1.75) less than the TAU group for each unit reduction in the YBOCS score. CONCLUSIONS: Therapist-guided ICBT combined with medication is as effective as face-to-face CBGT combined with medication for OCD. ICBT combined with medication is more cost-effective than CBGT combined with medication and conventional medical treatment. It is expected to become an efficacious and economic alternative for adults with OCD when face-to-face CBGT is not available. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR1900023840; https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.html?proj=39294.

A Spring Compensation Method for a Low-Cost Biped Robot Based on Whole Body Control.

At present, the research and application of biped robots is more and more popular. The popularity of biped robots can be better promoted by improving the motion performance of low-cost biped robots. In this paper, the method of the Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) is used to track a robot's center of mass (COM). At the same time, the whole-body-control method and value function generated in the process of tracking COM are used to construct the quadratic programming (QP) model of a biped robot. Through the above method, the torque feedforward of the robot is obtained in the Drake simulation platform. The torque feedforward information of the robot is transformed into position feedforward information by spring compensation. In this paper, open loop control and spring compensation are used, respectively, to make the robot perform simple actions. Generally, after the compensation method of spring compensation is adopted, the roll angle and pitch angle of the upper body of the robot are closer to 0 after the robot performs an action. However, as the selected motion can introduce more forward and lateral motions, the robot needs more spring clearance compensation to improve performance. For improving the motion performance of a low-cost biped robot, the experimental results show that the spring compensation method is both reasonable and effective.

Status quo and predictors of Weibo users' attitudes toward lesbians and gay men in 31 provinces in the Chinese mainland: Analysis based on supervised machine learning and provincial panel data.

Introduction: Public attitudes toward consensual same-sex relations are crucial to lesbians' and gay men's rights and society's well-being, but research addressing this topic in China is limited. We comprehensively explored the current status and predictors of Weibo users' attitudes toward individuals who are lesbian or gay (IWLG) at the provincial level in the Chinese mainland. Methods: Natural language processing and machine learning techniques were incorporated to analyze 1,934,008 Weibo posts from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2020, to evaluate Weibo users' expressed attitudes toward IWLG in 31 provinces in the Chinese mainland guided by the ABC Model of attitude. Results: Although the general attitudes, feelings, and support for the rights of Weibo users toward IWLG among different provinces were relatively positive, knowledge about IWLG was noticeably inaccurate. Economic development and educational level positively predicted certain aspects of attitudes at the provincial level. Conclusion: Weibo users from different provinces are generally supportive and accepting of people who are gay and the rights of the gay community. However, considerable misconceptions and inaccurate knowledge of IWLG surfaced in Weibo users' posts. Economic development and educational level were important predictors of specific attitudes toward IWLG at the provincial level. Increased efforts to address the unbalanced and insufficient development between different provinces could help reduce the public's prejudice, stigma, and discrimination toward IWLG. Policies that facilitate greater implementation of Comprehensive Sexuality Education sequentially and effectively are suggested as well.