An opponent model for agent-based shared decision-making via a genetic algorithm.

Introduction: Shared decision-making (SDM) has received a great deal of attention as an effective way to achieve patient-centered medical care. SDM aims to bring doctors and patients together to develop treatment plans through negotiation. However, time pressure and subjective factors such as medical illiteracy and inadequate communication skills prevent doctors and patients from accurately expressing and obtaining their opponent's preferences. This problem leads to SDM being in an incomplete information environment, which significantly reduces the efficiency of the negotiation and even leads to failure. Methods: In this study, we integrated a negotiation strategy that predicts opponent preference using a genetic algorithm with an SDM auto-negotiation model constructed based on fuzzy constraints, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of SDM by addressing the problems posed by incomplete information environments and rapidly generating treatment plans with high mutual satisfaction. Results: A variety of negotiation scenarios are simulated in experiments and the proposed model is compared with other excellent negotiation models. The results indicated that the proposed model better adapts to multivariate scenarios and maintains higher mutual satisfaction. Discussion: The agent negotiation framework supports SDM participants in accessing treatment plans that fit individual preferences, thereby increasing treatment satisfaction. Adding GA opponent preference prediction to the SDM negotiation framework can effectively improve negotiation performance in incomplete information environments.

Congenital fiber-type disproportion presenting with type II respiratory failure after delivery: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Congenital fiber-type disproportion (CFTD) is a form of congenital myopathy. CFTD is rare, especially when presenting in patients with critical illnesses. Here, we report a case of CFTD presenting with type II respiratory failure after delivery and provide a review of the literature on CFTD. CASE SUMMARY: A 30-year-old woman was admitted to the obstetrics department of our hospital with premature rupture of the fetal membrane and with 7 h of regular contractions. After delivery, the patient experienced a refractory type II respiratory failure. Physical examination along with diagnostic procedures such as electromyography and biopsy confirmed CFTD. Use of invasive ventilator followed by intermittent use of noninvasive ventilator attenuated her symptoms. The patient recovered after ventilator-assisted respiration and was weaned off the noninvasive ventilator on the seventh day postpartum. CONCLUSION: Congenital myopathy should be considered a differential diagnosis for type II respiratory failures that cannot be attributed to other diseases.

Simple and Continuous Fabrication of Self-Propelled Micromotors with Photocatalytic Metal-Organic Frameworks for Enhanced Synergistic Environmental Remediation.

This work reports on a simple and general strategy for continuous fabrication of self-propelled micromotors with photocatalytic metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for enhanced synergistic degradation of organic contaminants. With emulsion microdroplets from microfluidics as templates, uniform porous micromotors decorated with Fe3O4@Ag nanoparticles (Fe3O4@AgNPs) at the bottom and zeolitic imidazolate framework-8@ZnO nanoparticles (ZIF-8@ZnONPs) on the surface can be synthesized. The spatial location of ZIF-8@ZnONPs and Fe3O4@AgNPs in micromotors is accurately controlled in one step via their directional migration in the confined microspace of emulsion droplets driven by interfacial energy and magnetic field. The nanoengines Fe3O4@AgNPs enable asymmetric decomposition of H2O2 for bubble-propelled motion and easy magnetic recycling of the micromotor. The porous structures of micromotors provide a large surface area, benefiting decoration of Fe3O4@AgNPs and their contact with H2O2 for promoting bubble generation and reduced micromotor weight for promoting bubble-propelled motion. The nanophotocatalysts ZIF-8@ZnONPs allow enrichment of organic contaminant molecules via adsorption for efficient photocatalytic degradation. With synergistic coupling of the photocatalysis of ZIF-8@ZnONPs and advanced oxidation of the H2O2/UV system, the micromotors with bubble-propelled motion for improved mixing can achieve enhanced degradation of organic contaminants via dual synergistic degradation mechanisms. As highlighted by degradation of rhodamine B, the micromotors exhibit the highest degradation performance as compared to control groups with a single degradation mechanism and with dual degradation mechanisms but without self-propelled motion. This simple fabrication strategy is general and can be flexibly extended to other MOF materials, which may open up new avenues for developing advanced MOF-integrated micromotors for myriad applications.

DFT Study of N2O Adsorption onto the Surface of M-Decorated Graphene Oxide (M = Mg, Cu or Ag).

In order to reduce the harm of nitrous oxide (N2O) on the environment, it is very important to find an effective way to capture and decompose this nitrous oxide. Based on the density functional theory (DFT), the adsorption mechanism of N2O on the surfaces of M-decorated (M = Mg, Cu or Ag) graphene oxide (GO) was studied in this paper. The results show that the effects of N2O adsorbed onto the surfaces of Mg-GO by O-end and Cu-GO by N-end are favorable among all of the adsorption types studied, whose adsorption energies are -1.40 eV and -1.47 eV, respectively. Both adsorption manners belong to chemisorption. For Ag-GO, however, both the adsorption strength and electron transfer with the N2O molecule are relatively weak, indicating it may not be promising for N2O removal. Moreover, when Gibbs free energy analyses were applied for the two adsorption types on Mg-GO by O-end and Cu-GO by N-end, it was found that the lowest temperatures required to undergo a chemisorption process are 209 °C and 338 °C, respectively. After being adsorbed onto the surface of Mg-GO by O-end, the N2O molecule will decompose into an N2 molecule and an active oxygen atom. Because of containing active oxygen atom, the structure O-Mg-GO has strong oxidizability, and can be reduced to Mg-GO. Therefore, Mg-GO can be used as a catalyst for N2O adsorption and decomposition. Cu-GO can be used as a candidate material for its strong adsorption to N2O.

Construction of recombinant Yarrowia lipolytica and its application in bio-transformation of lignocellulose.

Lignocellulose is a polysaccharide and an abundant biomass resource that widely exists in grains, beans, rice, and their by-products. Over 10 million tons of lignocellulose resources and processing products are produced every year in China. Three recombinant Y. lipolytica strains with cellulase (ß-glucosidase, endoglucanase and cellobiohydrolase) were constructed. The enzymatic activities of these enzymes were 14.181 U/mL, 16.307 U/mL, and 17.391 U/mL, respectively. The whole cell cellulases were used for a stover bio-transformation. The celluloses in the stover were partly degraded by the cellulases, and the degradation products were transformed into single cell protein (SCP) by the Y. lipolytica cells. After 15 d of fermentation with the whole cell cellulases, the protein content of the maize stover and the rice straw reached 16.23% and 14.75%, which increased by 168.26% and 161.52% compared with the control, respectively. This study provides a new stage for the efficient utilization of stover in the feed industry.

Synergistic effect of cellulase and xylanase during hydrolysis of natural lignocellulosic substrates.

Synergistic combination of cellulase and xylanase has been performed on pre-treated substrates in many previous studies, while few on natural substrates. In this study, three unpretreated lignocellulosic substrates were studied, including corncob, corn stover, and rice straw. The results indicated that when the mixed cellulase and xylanase were applied, reducing sugar concentrations were calculated as 19.53, 15.56, and 17.35mg/ml, respectively, based on the 3,5 dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) method. Compared to the treatment with only cellulose, the hydrolysis yields caused by mixed cellulase and xylanase were improved by 133%, 164%, and 545%, respectively. In addition, the conversion yield of corncob, corn stover, and rice straw by cellulase-xylanase co-treatment reached 43.9%, 48.5%, and 40.2%, respectively, based on HPLC analysis, which confirmed the synergistic effect of cellulase-xylanase that was much higher than either of the single enzyme treatment. The substrate morphology was also evaluated to explore the synergistic mechanism of cellulase-xylanase.

Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of corncobs with genetically modified Saccharomyces cerevisiae and characterization of their microstructure during hydrolysis.

Cellulose is an abundant natural polysaccharide that is universally distributed. It can be extracted from corncobs, which are inexpensive, easily accessible, renewable, and environmentally friendly. A common strategy for effectively utilizing cellulose is efficient heterogeneous expression of cellulase genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However, the improvement of cellulose utilization is a relevant issue. Based on our previous findings, we constructed an integrated secretion expression vector, pHBM368-pgk, containing a constitutive promoter sequence. Three genetically modified S. cerevisiae strains containing heterologous ß-glucosidase, exoglucanase, and endoglucanase genes were constructed. The results of a 1-L bioreactor fermentation process revealed that the mixed recombinant S. cerevisiae could efficiently carry out simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) by using corncobs as the sole carbon source. The ethanol concentration reached 6.37 g/L after 96 hours of fermentation, which was about 3 times higher than that produced by genetically modified S. cerevisiae with the inducible promoter sequence. To investigate the microstructure characteristics of hydrolyzed corncobs during the fermentation process, corncob residues were detected by using a scanning electron microscope. This study provides a feasible method to improve the effect of SSF using corncobs as the sole carbon source.

[Recognition of water-injected meat based on visible/near-infrared spectrum and sparse representation].

The present paper proposed a new nondestructive method based on visible/near infrared spectrum (Vis/NIRS) and sparse representation to rapidly and accurately discriminate between raw meat and water-injected meat. Water-injected meat model was built by injecting water into non-destructed meat samples comprising pigskin, fat layer and muscle layer. Vis/NIRS data were collected from raw meat and six scales of water-injected meat with spectrometers. To reduce the redundant information in the spectrum and improve the difference between the samples,. some preprocessing steps were performed for the spectral data, including light modulation and normalization. Effective spectral bands were extracted from the preprocessed spectral data. The meat samples were classified as raw meat and water-injected meat, and further, water-injected meat with different water injection rates. All the training samples were used to compose an atom dictionary, and test samples were represented by the sparsest linear combinations of these atoms via l1-minimization. Projection errors of test samples with respect to each category were calculated. A test sample was classified to the category with the minimum projection error, and leave-one-out cross-validation was conducted. The recognition performance from sparse representation was compared with that from support vector machine (SVM).. Experimental results showed that the overall recognition accuracy of sparse representation for raw meat and water-injected meat was more than 90%, which was higher than that of SVM. For water-injected meat samples with different water injection rates, the recognition accuracy presented a positive correlation with the water injection rate difference. Spare representation-based classifier eliminates the need for the training and feature extraction steps required by conventional pattern recognition models, and is suitable for processing data of high dimensionality and small sample size. Furthermore, it has a low computational cost. In this paper, spare representation is employed for the first time to identify water-injected meat based on Vis/NIRS, with a promising recognition accuracy. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can be effectively used for discriminating water-injected meat from raw meat.

[Raman microspectroscopic analysis of polychrome wooden artifact from the Astana tomb of the tang dynasty, Xinjiang, China].

The Turpan District is characterized by a typical dry climate, so that many organic relics have been well preserved. A piece of wooden artifact with 9 colors was unearthed from Astana graveyard which is rich in cultural connotations. In the present paper, Raman microscopy was employed for in-situ, nondestructive analysis of pigments that remained on this artifact, and many mineral pigments (gypsum, red lead, carbon black, haematite, atacamite) and vegetable dyes (gamboges and indigo) were identified. It is noteworthy that this is the earliest example that gamboges were used as yellow dye in China at present. The results show that the Gaochang people had mastered skills proficiently, including the preparation, deployment and usage of pigment. The investigation of pigments could provide a basis for the restoration and conservation of relies, and more evidence for pigments trade business and cultural exchanges.

[Expression of Mta-1 and VEGF and their correlation in the endometrial cancer].

AIM: To explore the expression of metastasis-associated protein 1(Mta-1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and their correlation in the endometrial cancer. METHODS: In 62 cases of endometrial cancer and 30 cases of normal endomedium, the expression of Mta-1 and VEGF was examined with immunohistochemistry and their correlation with pathological phenotype of the endometrial cancer was analyzed. RESULTS: The expression of Mta-1 and VEGF in endometrial cancer was higher than that in normal endomedium (P<0.01). The expression of Mta-1 and VEGF in endometrial cancer was related to clinical stage, pathologic type, lymph node metastasis and depth of myometrial invasion (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Positive correlation was observed between VEGF and Mta-1 expression(r=0.582, P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Expression of Mta-1 expression and VEGF is positively associated with the development and progression of endometrial cancer.

[Spectral analysis of ceramic-painting pigments from Taosi site].

Based on the analysis of Raman, IR spectroscopy and XRD methods, the structure of the different pigments and bond in red pigment in the ceramic from Taosi site in Xiangfeng county, Shanxi province was analyzed. It is very prominent that both red and white pigments have been well preserved. The red pigment was identified as HgS, while white pigment is CaCO3, and the bond in red pigment is CaCO3, which was made from white lime, and the reasons for its formation is because of carbon dioxide in air, which was absorbed by white lime over long history. Moreover, it was indicated that the Raman and IR spectra are more effective for identifying the ancient pigments in very few quantities than XRD. Furthermore, the fact that quartz was unfound in vermilion, suggested that the technique for synthetic vermilion might have been known in 4 000 years ago in Taosi site.

[Triplex-forming oligonucleotide inhibits the expression of tissue factor gene in endothelial cells induced by the blood flow shear stress in rats].

AIM: To study the effect of antiparallel phosphorothioate triplex-forming oligonucleotide (apsTFO) matching with the shear stress response element (SSRE) of tissue factor (TF) gene promoter region on the expression of TF in endothelial cells (ECs) of rat common carotid artery stenosis. METHODS: The model of common carotid artery middle segment stenosis was established by silica gel pipe loop ligation in SD rats. The mRNA expression and protein synthesis of TF, early growth response-1 (Egr-1) and specificity protein 1 (Sp1) were measured by in situ hybridization (ISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) technique. GT21-apsTFO, GT20-apsTFO, GT20-psTFO and FITC-labeled apsTFO, matching with the SSRE of TF gene promoter region, were designed, and intravenously injected into rats at 0.5 h before operation. TFO was detected 4 h after the operation, and the mRNA expression and protein synthesis of TF, Egr-1 and Sp1 were detected 6 h after the operation. RESULTS: There were much fluorescence in vascular tissue, especially in the nuclear of ECs 4.5 h after the injection of apsTFO. The mRNA expression and protein synthesis of TF reduced by 22% - 23% with injection of GT20-apsTFO 6.5 h after stenosis (P < 0.01) and by 10% - 11% with GT21-apsTFO at the same time (P < 0.05). The inhibition by GT20-apsTFO was stronger than that of the GT21-apsTFO (P < 0.05). The expression of TF was not inhibited by the GT20-psTFO (P > 0.05). The mRNA expression and protein synthesis of Egr-1 and Sp1 did not change in the rat treated with GT20-apsTFO, GT20-psTFO and GT21-apsTFO (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: apsTFO could mero-inhibit the expression of TF gene but could not change the expression of Egr-1 and Sp1 protein.

[Effects of the cutaneous and blood contents of glucose on wound healing in diabetic rats with superficial partial thickness scalding].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of the cutaneous and blood contents of glucose on wound healing in diabetic rats with superficial partial thickness scalding. METHODS: 96 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into control group and STZ-induced diabetic group, inflicted with superficial partial thickness scalding of 10% TBSA on the back. The glucose content in the blood and wound tissue were evaluated before injury and at day 1, day 3, day 5, day 7, day 10 and day 14 after injury. Wound healing process in the rats was dynamically observed by naked eyes and histologically examined. The cell cycles of keratinocytes from wound site were determined before injury and at day 3, day 7 and day 10 after injury. RESULTS: The concentrations of blood glucose in diabetic wound was significant increased than normal group (27.28 mmol/L +/- 0.80 mmol/L vs. 4.65 mmol/L +/- 0.14 mmol/L, P < 0.01). The content of local glucose in wound tissue were significantly correlated with that in the blood (r = 0.881, P < 0.05). When compared with the control group, wound healing of the diabetic rats were delayed with the characteristics of impaired epithelialization and decreased. percentages of S stage and G(2)/M stages of keratinocytes. CONCLUSION: Local glucose content in diabetic wound was varied with blood glucose concentration. The increased glucose concentration in diabetic wound was attributed to the impaired wound healing in diabetes. High glucose concentration could inhibit the epithelialization and decrease the keratinocyte proliferation.

Dynamic analysis for blood flow parameters of cardiovascular system on work load.

In order to study the dynamic mechanism of blood flow parameters of cardiovascular system on work load, a dynamic mathematical model which can be used to describe quantitatively blood flow parameters of human body on different work load is put forward in this paper. With the help of this model, the correlation of blood flow parameters is studied using the analytic method of function of multiple variables. The experimental results are consistent with the analytic results of dynamic model.

[Plane scan analysis of the surface of white and blue porcelain by SRXRF method].

In this article, the authors analyze the surface of a piece of porcelain shred in Xuande Period by SRXRF, and the result shows that each peak area of elements differs in distribution pattern. According to the relationship between element peak area and color variation, and yellow fleck in glaze, it is possible to divide 13 elements, i.e. K, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Hg, Rb, Sr, Y and Zr, into three groups. This phenomenon will indicate how to search the "finger elements" in each dynasty; at the same time, it will present important information for research on the forming mechanism of yellow flecks in glaze.