Postnatal feeding with high-fat combined with high-glucose diet induces precocious puberty in Sprague‒Dawley rat pups.

With economic development and overnutrition, including high-fat diets (HFD) and high-glucose diets (HGD), the incidence of obesity in children is increasing, and thus, the incidence of precocious puberty is increasing. Therefore, it is of great importance to construct a suitable animal model of overnutrition-induced precocious puberty for further in-depth study. Here, we fed a HFD, HGD, or HFD combined with a HGD to pups after P-21 weaning, while weaned pups fed a normal diet served as the control group. The results showed that HFD combined with a HGD increased the body weight (BW) of weaned rat pups. In addition, a HFD, HGD, and HFD combined with a HGD lowered the age at which vaginal opening occurred and accelerated the vaginal cell cycle. Furthermore, a HFD combined with a HGD increased the weight of the uterus and ovaries of weaned rat pups. Additionally, a HFD combined with a HGD promoted the development of reproductive organs in weaned female rat pups. Ultimately, a HFD combined with a HGD was found to elevate the serum levels of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), leptin, adiponectin, and oestradiol (E2) and increase hypothalamic GnRH, Kiss-1, and GPR54 expression levels in weaned female rat pups. The current study found that overnutrition, such as that through a HFD combined with HGD, could induce precocious puberty in weaned female rat pups. In addition, a rat model of overnutrition-induced precocious puberty was established.

Structural Health Monitoring Design and Performance Evaluation of a Middle-Span Bridge.

Structural health monitoring (SHM) has attracted significant attention over the past two decades due to its ability to provide real-time insight into the condition of structures. Despite the development of several SHM systems for long-span bridges, which play a crucial role in the assessment of these structures, studies focusing on short- or middle-span bridges remain scarce. This research paper presents an efficient and practical bridge monitoring and warning system established on a middle-span bridge, a key crossroad bridge located in Shenzhen. The monitoring system consists of sensors and measuring points that collect a substantial amount of data, enabling the close monitoring of various operational indicators to facilitate the early detection of threshold exceedances. Based on this system, the subtle condition of the bridge can be evaluated, and the operational condition of the bridge can be studied through the comparative analysis of the collected data. Over four months of monitoring, data including the strain and creep of the main beam, the strain and settlement of piers and the crack width of the bridge body are observed. Furthermore, the real-time operational status of the bridge is analyzed and evaluated through the combination of the collected data and the structural finite element model.

A Novel Floating High-Voltage Level Shifter with Pre-Storage Technique.

This paper proposes a novel floating high-voltage level shifter (FHV-LS) with the pre-storage technique for high speed and low deviation in propagation delay. With this technology, the transmission paths from input to output are optimized, and thus the propagation delay of the proposed FHV-LS is reduced to as low as the sub-nanosecond scale. To further reduce the propagation delay, a pull-up network with regulated strength is introduced to reduce the fall time, which is a crucial part of the propagation delay. In addition, a pseudosymmetrical input pair is used to improve the symmetry of FHV-LS structurally to balance between the rising and falling propagation delays. Moreover, a start-up circuit is developed to initialize the output state of FHV-LS during the VDDH power up. The proposed FHV-LS is implemented using 0.3-µm HVCMOS technology. Post-layout simulation shows that the propagation delays and energy per transition of the proposed FHV-LS are 384 ps and 77.7 pJ @VH = 5 V, respectively. Finally, the 500-points Monte Carlo are performed to verify the performance and the stability.

Determination, residue analysis and risk assessment of thiacloprid and spirotetramat in cowpeas under field conditions.

The dissipation and residue levels of thiacloprid, spirotetramat and its four metabolites residues in cowpeas were investigated under field conditions. The QuEChERS technique with high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was used to detect thiacloprid, spirotetramat and its four metabolites residues content in cowpeas. The recoveries were 81.3-95.1% at a spike level of 0.005-0.5 mg/kg, the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were 2.1-9.5%. The dissipation kinetics data showed that thiacloprid and spirotetramat in cowpeas were degraded with the half-lives of 1.14-1.54 days and 1.25-2.79 days. The terminal residues of thiacloprid and spirotetramat were 0.0255-0.4570 mg kg-1 and 0.0314-0.3070 mg kg-1 after application 2 times with a pre-harvest interval (PHI) of 3 days under the designed dosages. The chronic and acute dietary exposure assessment risk quotient (RQ) values of thiacloprid in cowpeas for different consumers were 2.44-4.41% and 8.72-15.78%, respectively, and those of spirotetramat were 1.03-1.87% and 0.18-0.32%, respectively, all of the RQ values were lower than 100%. The dietary risk of thiacloprid through cowpeas to consumers was higher than spirotetramat. The results from this study are important reference for Chinese governments to develop criteria for the safe and rational use of thiacloprid and spirotetramat, setting maximum residue levels (MRLs), monitoring the quality safety of agricultural products and protecting consumer health.

A Novel Occlusion-Aware Vote Cost for Light Field Depth Estimation.

Capturing the directions of light by light field cameras powers next-generation immersive multimedia applications. A critical problem in taking advantage of the rich visual information in light field images is depth estimation. Conventional light field depth estimation methods build a cost volume that measures the photo-consistency of pixels refocused to a range of depths, and the highest consistency indicates the correct depth. This strategy works well in most regions but usually generates blurry edges in the estimated depth map due to occlusions. Recent work shows that integrating occlusion models to light field depth estimation can largely reduce blurry edges. However, existing occlusion handling methods rely on complex edge-aided processing and post-refinement, and this reliance limits the resultant depth accuracy and impacts on the computational performance. In this paper, we propose a novel occlusion-aware vote cost (OAVC) which is able to accurately preserve edges in the depth map. Instead of using photo-consistency as an indicator of the correct depth, we construct a novel cost from a new perspective that counts the number of refocused pixels whose deviations from the central-view pixel are less than a small threshold, and utilizes that number to select the correct depth. The pixels from occluders are thus excluded in determining the correct depth. Without the use of any explicit occlusion handling methods, the proposed method can inherently preserve edges and produces high-quality depth estimates. Experimental results show that the proposed OAVC outperforms state-of-the-art light field depth estimation methods in terms of depth estimation accuracy and computational complexity.

Caregiver burden and influencing factors among family caregivers of patients with glioma: A cross-sectional survey.

OBJECTIVE: The main responsibility of caring for patients with glioma is assumed by family caregivers who experience a considerable burden during the care process. This study aimed to investigate the level of caregiver burden and explore its associated factors among family caregivers of patients with glioma. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study among 131 family caregivers of glioma patients from October 2017 to November 2019. We used the following measurement tools: a demographic questionnaire, the Zarit Burden interview (ZBI), the Hamilton anxiety and depression scale, and the family APGAR index. We used multiple linear regression analysis to determine the factors related to caregiver burden. RESULTS: The ZBI score for the family caregivers of glioma patients was 31.29 (SD = 13.54), and most caregivers (71.7%) reported moderate and severe caregiver burdens. Caregivers' daily sleep time and anxiety symptoms and patients' depressive symptoms independently predicted caregiver burden. CONCLUSIONS: Family caregivers of glioma patients experienced a moderate burden. Personalised psychological intervention and sleep health guidance for patients and caregivers should be considered to reduce family caregiver burden and enhance the quality of life and mental health of both patients and their caregivers.

Correlations between leaf economics, mechanical resistance and drought tolerance across 41 cycad species.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: We conducted a comprehensive analysis of the functional traits of leaves (leaflets) of cycads. The aim of this study was to clarify the functional divergence between the earlier origin Cycadaceae and the later differentiated Zamiaceae, and the differences in trait associations between cycads and angiosperms. METHODS: We selected 20 Cycadaceae species and 21 Zamiaceae species from the same cycad garden in South China, and measured their leaf structure, economic traits, mechanical resistance (Fp) and leaf water potential at the turgor loss point (πtlp). In addition, we compiled a dataset of geographical distribution along with climatic variables for these cycad species, and some leaf traits of tropical-sub-tropical angiosperm woody species from the literature for comparison. KEY RESULTS: The results showed significantly contrasting leaf trait syndromes between the two families, with Zamiaceae species exhibiting thicker leaves, higher carbon investments and greater Fp than Cycadaceae species. Leaf thickness (LT) and πtlp were correlated with mean climatic variables in their native distribution ranges, indicating their evolutionary adaptation to environmental conditions. Compared with the leaves of angiosperms, the cycad leaves were thicker and tougher, and more tolerant to desiccation. Greater Fp was associated with a higher structural investment in both angiosperms and cycads; however, cycads showed lower Fp at a given leaf mass per area or LT than angiosperms. Enhancement of Fp led to more negative πtlp in angiosperms, but the opposite trend was observed in cycads. CONCLUSIONS: Our results reveal that variations in leaf traits of cycads are mainly influenced by taxonomy and the environment of their native range. We also demonstrate similar leaf functional associations in terms of economics, but different relationships with regard to mechanics and drought tolerance between cycads and angiosperms. This study expands our understanding of the ecological strategies and likely responses of cycads to future climate change.

Acute Kidney Injury: Lessons from Pericardiectomy.

BACKGROUND: Acute kidney (renal) injury (AKI) is a severe and common complication that occurs in ~40% of patients undergoing cardiac surgery. AKI has been associated with increased mortality and worse prognosis. This prospective study was conducted to determine the risk factors for AKI after pericardiectomy and decrease the operative risk of mortality and morbidity. METHODS: This was a prospective, observational cohort study of patients with constrictive pericarditis undergoing pericardiectomy. All patients underwent pericardiectomy via median sternotomy. Serum creatinine was used as the diagnostic standard of AKI according to Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes classification. All survivors were monitored to the end date of the study. RESULTS: Consecutive patients (N = 92) undergoing pericardiectomy were divided into 2 groups: with AKI (n = 25) and without AKI (n = 67). The incidence of postoperative AKI was 27.2% (25/92). Hemodialysis was required for 10 patients (40%), and there were 5 operative deaths. Mortality, intubation time, time in intensive care unit, fresh-frozen plasma, and packed red cells of the group with AKI were significantly higher than those of the group without AKI. Both univariate and multivariate analyses showed that statistically significant independent predictors of AKI include intubation time, chest drainage, fresh-frozen plasma, and packed red cells. The latest follow-up data showed that 85 survivors were New York Heart Association class I (97.7%) and 2 were class II (2.3%). CONCLUSIONS: AKI after pericardiectomy is a serious complication and contributes to significantly increased morbidity and mortality. Prevention of AKI development after cardiac surgery and optimization of pre-, peri-, and postoperative factors that can reduce AKI, therefore, contribute to a better postoperative outcome and leads to lower rates of AKI, morbidity, and mortality.

Hybridized neural networks for non-invasive and continuous mortality risk assessment in neonates.

Premature birth is the primary risk factor in neonatal deaths, with the majority of extremely premature babies cared for in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Mortality risk prediction in this setting can greatly improve patient outcomes and resource utilization. However, existing schemes often require laborious medical testing and calculation, and are typically only calculated once at admission. In this work, we propose a shallow hybrid neural network for the prediction of mortality risk in 3-day, 7-day, and 14-day risk windows using only birthweight, gestational age, sex, and heart rate (HR) and respiratory rate (RR) information from a 12-h window. As such, this scheme is capable of continuously updating mortality risk assessment, enabling analysis of health trends and responses to treatment. The highest performing scheme was the network that considered mortality risk within 3 days, with this scheme outperforming state-of-the-art works in the literature and achieving an area under the receiver-operator curve (AUROC) of 0.9336 with standard deviation of 0.0337 across 5 folds of cross-validation. As such, we conclude that our proposed scheme could readily be used for continuously-updating mortality risk prediction in NICU environments.

[Hydrochemistry and Its Controlling Factors and Water Quality Assessment of Shallow Groundwater in the Weihe and Jinghe River Catchments].

The Weihe and Jinghe Rivers catchments are important tributaries of the Yellow River, where it is of great significance to evaluate groundwater hydrochemistry and quality for ecological protection and sustainable development. Piper diagrams, Gibbs, Na-normalized molar ratios, and ion correlation methods were used to analyze the chemical composition of groundwater in these two catchments. Furthermore, the WQI method, Wilcox diagrams, USSL diagrams, and Doneen diagrams were used to evaluate the suitability of groundwater quality for drinking and irrigation. The results showed that the Weihe and Jinghe River catchments are dominated by fresh and weakly alkaline water. Groundwater ion concentration in the Weihe River are higher than in Jinghe River except for Na+, and the major groundwater types are HCO3-Ca-Mg(accounted for 50%), and HCO3-Ca-Mg and HCO3-Na-K (accounted for 32.5%), respectively. The hydrochemistry of the Weihe and Jinghe River catchments is mainly controlled by rock weathering, primarily silicate weathering. Moreover, the groundwater chemistry in the research area is affected by mining and chemical fertilizer application for agriculture. Furthermore, the hydrochemistry of the Weihe River catchment is affected by cation exchange, although this was not obvious in some regions of the Jinghe River catchment. The overall groundwater quality of the two catchments was good, with the Jinghe River water quality being better than in the Weihe River catchment. Based on SSP, SAR, and PI, the groundwater in some parts of the study area cannot be directly used for irrigation as this would result in salinization and, thus, inhibit plant growth. Overall, the groundwater quality in the south of the study area is better than in the north, and is better in the Jinghe River catchment than in the Weihe River catchment according to these three indicators. This study provides a basis for the sustainable development of two catchments, providing baseline data for groundwater quality management.

Rapid Geographical Origin Identification and Quality Assessment of Angelicae Sinensis Radix by FT-NIR Spectroscopy.

Angelicae Sinensis Radix is a widely used traditional Chinese medicine and spice in China. The purpose of this study was to develop a methodology for geographical classification of Angelicae Sinensis Radix and determine the contents of ferulic acid and Z-ligustilide in the samples using near-infrared spectroscopy. A qualitative model was established to identify the geographical origin of Angelicae Sinensis Radix using Fourier transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy. Support vector machine (SVM) algorithms were used for the establishment of a qualitative model. The optimum SVM model had a recognition rate of 100% for the calibration set and 83.72% for the prediction set. In addition, a quantitative model was established to predict the content of ferulic acid and Z-ligustilide using FT-NIR. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) algorithms were used for the establishment of a quantitative model. Synergy interval-PLS (Si-PLS) was used to screen the characteristic spectral interval to obtain the best PLSR model. The coefficient of determination for calibration (R2C) for the best PLSR models established with the optimal spectral preprocessing method and selected important spectral regions for the quantitative determination of ferulic acid and Z-ligustilide was 0.9659 and 0.9611, respectively, while the coefficient of determination for prediction (R2P) was 0.9118 and 0.9206, respectively. The values of the ratio of prediction to deviation (RPD) of the two final optimized PLSR models were greater than 2. The results suggested that NIR spectroscopy combined with SVM and PLSR algorithms could be exploited in the discrimination of Angelicae Sinensis Radix from different geographical locations for quality assurance and monitoring. This study might serve as a reference for quality evaluation of agricultural, pharmaceutical, and food products.

Cumulative risk assessment of phthalates in edible vegetable oil consumed by Chinese residents.

BACKGROUND: Phthalates have been widely used as plasticizers in various industries and are widely focused on in the international community as a result of their reproductive toxicity. Exposure of Chinese residents to phthalates via edible vegetable oil occurs often. In the present study, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to detect the two main phthalates bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) in four major edible vegetable oil sources: an edible oil blend, soybean oil, peanut oil and rapeseed oil (a total of 1016 samples), as collected throughout China. Furthermore, cumulative risk assessment was used to estimate the reproductive health risk to Chinese residents caused by the phthalates that come from edible vegetable oils. RESULTS: Both phthalates were detected in four major edible vegetable oil sources. The phthalate with the highest detection rate was DBP (13.48%), followed by DEHP (7.78%). The results of the cumulative risk assessment showed that the hazard indices of these two phthalates in edible vegetable oils were less than 1, except in soybean oil. Nevertheless, the two phthalates had the lowest detection rates in soybean oil, which were 1.94% (DEHP) and 5.16% (DBP). In China, contamination levels of phthalates in the soils where oil crops are cultivated have a great influence on the phthalate concentrations in edible vegetable oils. CONCLUSION: It is recommended that Chinese residents who are consuming soybean oil choose well-known brands and regularly change their brand of consumption. The phthalates in edible vegetable oils pose a relatively small reproductive health risk to Chinese residents. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.

Waterproof, low-cost, long-battery-life sound trap for surveillance of male Aedes aegypti for rear-and-release mosquito control programmes.

BACKGROUND: Sterile male rear-and-release programmes are of growing interest for controlling Aedes aegypti, including use an "incompatible insect technique" (IIT) to suppress transmission of dengue, Zika, and other viruses. Under IIT, males infected with Wolbachia are released into the suppression area to induce cytoplasmic incompatibility in uninfected populations. These and similar mosquito-release programmes require cost-effective field surveys of both sexes to optimize the locations, timing, and quantity of releases. Unfortunately, traps that sample male Ae. aegypti effectively are expensive and usually require mains power. Recently, an electronic lure was developed that attracts males using a 484 Hz sinusoidal tone mimicking the female wingbeat frequencies, broadcast in a 120 s on/off cycle. When deployed in commercially available gravid Aedes traps (GATs), the new combination, sound-GAT (SGAT), captures both males and females effectively. Given its success, there is interest in optimizing SGAT to reduce cost and power usage while maximizing catch rates. METHODS: Options considered in this study included use of a smaller, lower-power microcontroller (Tiny) with either the original or a lower-cost speaker (lcS). A 30 s on/off cycle was tested in addition to the original 120 s cycle to minimize the potential that the longer cycle induced habituation. The original SGAT was compared against other traps incorporating the Tiny-based lures for mosquito capture in a large semi-field cage. The catch rates in waterproofed versions of this trap were then compared with catch rates in standard [BG-Sentinel 2 (BGS 2); Biogents AG, Regensburg, Germany] traps during an IIT field study in the Innisfail region of Queensland, Australia in 2017. RESULTS: The system with a low-power microcontroller and low-cost speaker playing a 30 s tone (Tiny-lcS-30s) caught the highest proportion of males. The mean proportions of males caught in a semi-field cage were not significantly different among the original design and the four low-power, low-cost versions of the SGAT. During the IIT field study, the waterproofed version of the highest-rated, Tiny-lcS-30s SGAT captured male Ae. aegypti at similar rates as co-located BGS-2 traps. CONCLUSIONS: Power- and cost-optimized, waterproofed versions of male Ae. aegypti acoustic lures in GATs are now available for field use in areas with sterile male mosquito rear-and-release programmes.

Plasma Lipoprotein-associated Phospholipase A2 and Superoxide Dismutase are Independent Predicators of Cognitive Impairment in Cerebral Small Vessel Disease Patients: Diagnosis and Assessment.

Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) are linked to regulating vascular/neuro-inflammation and stroke. Using a retrospective design, we investigated whether circulating Lp-PLA2 and SOD in cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) patients were associated with cognitive impairment. Eighty-seven CSVD patients were recruited. Plasma Lp-PLA2 and SOD were determined, and cognitive status was measured by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The severity of white matter hypoerintensities (WMHs) in CSVD patients was rated according to Fazekas scales, and Lp-PLA2/SOD levels and MMSE/MoCA were compared. Multiple linear regressions were used to evaluate the relationship between Lp-PLA2 and SOD and the cognitive impairment. Ordinal logistic regression and generalized linear models (OLRGLMs) were applied to confirm whether Lp-PLA2 and SOD are independent risk factors for cognitive impairment in CVSD. Lp-PLA2 and SOD with mild or severe cognitive impairment were lower than those with normal congnition. Lp-PLA2 and SOD in CSVD patients with severe WMHs were significantly lower than those with mild or moderate WMH lesions. We noted positive linear associations of Lp-PLA and SOD with cognitive impairment in CSVD, independent of LDL-C. OLRGLMs confirmed that Lp-PLA2 and SOD were independent risk factors of cognitive impairment in CSVD. Lp-PLA2 and SOD are independently associated with cognitive impairment and WMH lesion, and may be useful for the rapid evaluation of cognitive impairment in CSVD. Lp-PLA2/SOD are modifiable factors that may be considered as therapeutic targets for preventing cognitive impairment in CSVD.

Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse (ARFI) Elastography and Serological Markers in Assessment of Liver Fibrosis and Free Portal Pressure in Patients with Hepatitis B.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) elastography, AST-to-platelet ratio index (APRI), and FIB-4 in assessing liver fibrosis and free portal pressure in patients with hepatitis B. MATERIAL AND METHODS We enrolled 126 patients with hepatitis B who underwent liver surgery at the General Surgery Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Shihezi University Medical School from February 2013 to August 2015. Preoperatively, shear wave velocity (SWV) of the liver was measured with the Siemens S2000 ultrasound system to reflect liver stiffness. Serological markers were collected and fibrosis indices APRI and FIB-4 were calculated. Intraoperatively, liver tissues were harvested and free portal pressure (FPP) was measured. Postoperatively, fibrosis of liver tissues was pathologically staged. RESULTS The results of SWV, APRI, FIB-4, and FPP were all correlated with the degree of liver fibrosis (Spearman correlation coefficients: r=0.777, P<0.001; r=0.526, P<0.001; r=0.471, P<0.001; p<0.000; r=0.675, p<0.000). Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis showed that the areas under the curve (AUC) of ARFI, APRI, and FIB-4 in diagnosing liver fibrosis were 0.830, 0.768, and 0.717, respectively, for stage F≥1; 0.861, 0.773, and 0.754, respectively, for stage F≥2; 0.941, 0.793, and 0.779, respectively, for stage F≥3; and 0.945, 0.783, and 0.754, respectively, for stage F=4. SWV, APRI, and FIB-4 were all correlated with FPP (Pearson correlation coefficients: 0.387, P<0.001; 0.446, P<0.001; 0.419, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS ARFI, APRI, and FIB-4 can assess liver fibrosis in patients with hepatitis B when assessing the portal venous pressure. The difference in diagnostic efficacy between the 3 was not significant.

Assessment of the quality of pharmacoeconomic evaluation literature in China.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the quality of Chinese pharmacoeconomic-evaluation literature published between 2012-2014 retrieved from the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) in order to assess their adherence to recommendations of the Chinese Pharmacoeconomic Guidelines. METHODS: Identified literature was screened according to pre-specified criteria to access legibility for inclusion. Each included piece of literature was systematically compared against the recommendations proposed by the relevant Chinese guidelines. RESULTS: After culling, 259 studies were included in the comparative analysis. When compared to a previous study evaluating the quality of similar literature published between 1997-2007, the results showed improvements in certain technical aspects over the years. Particularly, an improvement was observed in more diverse evaluation methods being used, increased use of cost-utility analysis (2.43% in 2012-2014 vs 0.26% in 1997-2007) and use of discounting (45% in 2012-2014 vs 4.35% in 1997- 2007). In addition, a small number of studies were starting to apply modeling. CONCLUSION: The quality of economic evaluation literature has improved in recent years, with more researchers realizing the importance and necessity of using discounting, sensitivity analysis, and modeling when conducting economic evaluation. This study also highlights certain important areas needing further attention when conducting economic evaluations in China. These include the ICER threshold of economic analysis, more detailed guidance in performing sensitivity analysis and modeling, as well as transferability of cost data across different regions. Overall, the results would support the positive contribution of the Chinese Economic Guideline in promoting economic evaluations in China.

Mixture cytotoxicity assessment of ionic liquids and heavy metals in MCF-7 cells using mixtox.

Ionic liquids (ILs) are widely used as extractants for heavy metals. However, the effect of mixtures of ILs and heavy metals is rarely understood. In this study, we tested the cytotoxicity of four ILs, four heavy metals and their mixtures on human MCF-7 cells in 96-well microplates. The toxicity of single compounds in MCF-7 cells ranges from 3.07 × 10(-6) M for Cu(II) to 2.20 × 10(-3) M for 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate. The toxicity of heavy metals in MCF-7 is generally higher than the toxicity of ILs. A uniform experimental design was used to simulate environmentally realistic mixtures. Two classical reference models (concentration addition and independent action) were used to predict their mixture. The experiments to evaluate the toxicity of the mixture revealed antagonism among four ILs and four heavy metals in MCF-7 cells. Pearson correlation analysis showed that Ni(II) and 1-dodecyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride are positively correlated with the extent of antagonism, while 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate showed a negative correlation. Data analysis was conducted in the R package mixtox, which integrates features such as curve fitting, experimental design, and mixture toxicity prediction. The international community of toxicologists is welcome to use this package and provide feedback as suggestions and comments.

Economic burden of irritable bowel syndrome in China.

AIM: To estimate annual direct and indirect costs for patients diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and subtypes. METHODS: Patients completed a standardized questionnaire concerning usage of healthcare resources, travel costs, meals, and productivity loss of patients when seeking treatment for IBS. Total annual costs per patient were calculated as the sum of direct (including medical and nonmedical) and indirect costs. Total annual costs per patient among various IBS subtypes were compared. Analysis of variance and bootstrapped independent sample t-tests were performed to determine differences between groups after controlling for IBS subtypes. RESULTS: A total of 105 IBS patients (64.80% female), mean age of 57.12 years ± 10.31 years), mean disease duration of 4.31 years ± 5.40 years, were included. Total annual costs per patient were estimated as CNY18262.84 (USD2933.08). Inpatient and outpatient healthcare use were major cost drivers, accounting for 46.41%and 23.36% of total annual costs, respectively. Productivity loss accounted for 25.32% of total annual costs. The proportions of direct and indirect costs were similar to published studies in other countries. Nationally, the total costs of managing IBS would amount to CNY123.83 billion (USD1.99 billion). Among the IBS subtypes, total annual costs per patient of IBS-M was highest at CNY18891.18 (USD3034). Furthermore, there was significant difference in productivity loss among IBS subtypes (P = 0.031). CONCLUSION: IBS imposes a huge economic burden on patients and healthcare systems, which could account for 3.3% of the total healthcare budget for the entire Chinese nation. More than two-thirds of total annual costs of IBS consist of inpatient and outpatient healthcare use. Among the subtypes, IBS-M patients appear to have the greatest economic burden but require further confirmation.

Surgery scheduling optimization considering real life constraints and comprehensive operation cost of operating room.

BACKGROUND: Operating Room (OR) is the core sector in hospital expenditure, the operation management of which involves a complete three-stage surgery flow, multiple resources, prioritization of the various surgeries, and several real-life OR constraints. As such reasonable surgery scheduling is crucial to OR management. OBJECTIVE: To optimize OR management and reduce operation cost, a short-term surgery scheduling problem is proposed and defined based on the survey of the OR operation in a typical hospital in China. METHOD: The comprehensive operation cost is clearly defined considering both under-utilization and overutilization. A nested Ant Colony Optimization (nested-ACO) incorporated with several real-life OR constraints is proposed to solve such a combinatorial optimization problem. RESULTS: The 10-day manual surgery schedules from a hospital in China are compared with the optimized schedules solved by the nested-ACO. Comparison results show the advantage using the nested-ACO in several measurements: OR-related time, nurse-related time, variation in resources' working time, and the end time. CONCLUSIONS: The nested-ACO considering real-life operation constraints such as the difference between first and following case, surgeries priority, and fixed nurses in pre/post-operative stage is proposed to solve the surgery scheduling optimization problem. The results clearly show the benefit of using the nested-ACO in enhancing the OR management efficiency and minimizing the comprehensive overall operation cost.

Contrast-enhanced micro-computed tomography using ExiTron nano6000 for assessment of liver injury.

AIM: To explore the potential of contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) using ExiTron nano6000 for assessment of liver lesions in mouse models. METHODS: Three mouse models of liver lesions were used: bile duct ligation (BDL), lipopolysaccharide (LPS)/D-galactosamine (D-GalN), and alcohol. After injection with the contrast agent ExiTron nano6000, the mice were scanned with micro-CT. Liver lesions were evaluated using CECT images, hematoxylin and eosin staining, and serum aminotransferase levels. Macrophage distribution in the injury models was shown by immunohistochemical staining of CD68. The in vitro studies measured the densities of RAW264.7 under different conditions by CECT. RESULTS: In the in vitro studies, CECT provided specific and strong contrast enhancement of liver in mice. CECT could present heterogeneous images and densities of injured livers induced by BDL, LPS/D-GalN, and alcohol. The liver histology and immunochemistry of CD68 demonstrated that both dilated biliary tracts and necrosis in the injured livers could lead to the heterogeneous distribution of macrophages. The in vitro study showed that the RAW264.7 cell masses had higher densities after LPS activation. CONCLUSION: Micro-CT with the contrast agent ExiTron nano6000 is feasible for detecting various liver lesions by emphasizing the heterogeneous textures and densities of CECT images.