Evaluation of imaging indicators in differentiating idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus from Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND: There are currently many imaging indicators for idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH). However, their diagnostic performance has not been well compared, especially in differentiating iNPH from Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of these imaging indicators in differentiating iNPH from AD. METHODS: We retrospectively collected patients with iNPH from the West China Hospital between June 2016 and December 2023. Age-sex-matched patients with AD and healthy controls (HCs) are included as controls (ChiCTR2300070078, March 2023). Twelve imaging indicators were evaluated on MRI, including disproportionately enlarged subarachnoid space hydrocephalus (DESH), Evans' index (EI), callosal angle, z-EI, temporal horn, dilated Sylvian fissure, focal sulcal dilation, tight high convexity, deep white matter hyperintensities, periventricular hyperintensities, DESH scale, and Simplified Radscale. We analyzed the receiver operating characteristic curves and calculated the sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value (NPV), positive predictive value (PPV), and accuracy. RESULTS: A total of 46 patients with iNPH (mean age: 73.1 ± 6.5; 35 males), 46 patients with AD (mean age: 73.0 ± 6.6; 35 males), and 46 HCs (mean age: 73.0 ± 5.9; 35 males) were included. The largest area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was found in EI (0.93; 95 % CI: 0.89-0.98) and z-EI (0.93; 95 % CI: 0.87-0.98). DESH scale ≥ 6 had the highest specificity (93 %, 43/46). CONCLUSION: EI and z-EI had the best diagnostic performance in differentiating iNPH from AD. The DESH scale could assist in diagnosing iNPH due to its high specificity.

Mitochondria Energy Metabolism Depression as Novel Adjuvant to Sensitize Radiotherapy and Inhibit Radiation Induced-Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Currently, the typical combination therapy of programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) antibodies with radiotherapy (RT) still exhibits impaired immunogenic antitumor response in clinical due to lessened DNA damage and acquired immune tolerance via the upregulation of some other immune checkpoint inhibitors. Apart from this, such combination therapy may raise the occurrence rate of radiation-induced lung fibrosis (RIPF) due to enhanced systemic inflammation, leading to the ultimate death of cancer patients (average survival time of about 3 years). Therefore, it is newly revealed that mitochondria energy metabolism regulation can be used as a novel effective PD-L1 and transforming growth factor-ß (TGF-ß) dual-downregulation method. Following this, IR-TAM is prepared by conjugating mitochondria-targeted heptamethine cyanine dye IR-68 with oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) inhibitor Tamoxifen (TAM), which then self-assembled with albumin (Alb) to form IR-TAM@Alb nanoparticles. By doing this, tumor-targeting IR-TAM@Alb nanoparticle effectively reversed tumor hypoxia and depressed PD-L1 and TGF-ß expression to sensitize RT. Meanwhile, due to the capacity of heptamethine cyanine dye in targeting RIPF and the function of TAM in depressing TGF-ß, IR-TAM@Alb also ameliorated fibrosis development induced by RT.

Research on sound quality of roller chain transmission system based on multi-source transfer learning.

To establish the sound quality evaluation model of roller chain transmission system, we collect the running noise under different working conditions. After the noise samples are preprocessed, a group of experienced testers are organized to evaluate them subjectively. Mel frequency cepstral coefficient (MFCC) of each noise sample is calculated, and the MFCC feature map is used as an objective evaluation. Combining with the subjective and objective evaluation results of the roller chain system noise, we can get the original dataset of its sound quality research. However, the number of high-quality noise samples is relatively small. Based on the sound quality research of various chain transmission systems, a novel method called multi-source transfer learning convolutional neural network (MSTL-CNN) is proposed. By transferring knowledge from multiple source tasks to target task, the difficulty of small sample sound quality prediction is solved. Compared with the problem that single source task transfer learning has too much error on some samples, MSTL-CNN can give full play to the advantages of all transfer learning models. The results also show that the MSTL-CNN proposed in this paper is significantly better than the traditional sound quality evaluation methods.

[Differences in the Elderly Care Service Demand,Preference,and Tendency Between Urban and Rural Areas in the Pearl River Delta].

Objective To understand the differences in the demand,preference,and tendency for elderly care services between urban and rural areas in the Pearl River Delta (PRD),and to provide reference for the planning and balanced allocation of elderly care resources in urban and rural areas. Methods Using the multi-stage stratified random sampling method,we selected 7 community health service centers in 2 prefecture-level cities in the PRD and conducted a questionnaire survey on the elderly care service demand,preference,and tendency among 1919 regular residents aged 60 years and above who attended the centers. Results A total of 641 urban elderly residents (33.4%) and 1278 rural elderly residents (66.6%) were surveyed in the PRD.The urban and rural elderly residents showed differences in the child number (χ2=43.379,P<0.001),willingness to purchase socialized elderly care services (χ2=104.141,P<0.001),and attitudes to the concept of raising child to avoid elderly hardship (χ2=65.632,P<0.001).The proportion (71.8%) of rural elderly residents who prefer family-based elderly care was higher than that (57.1%) of urban elderly residents (χ2=41.373,P<0.001).The proportion (62.2%) of urban elderly residents clearly expressing their willingness to choose institutions for elderly care was higher than that (44.0%) of rural elderly residents (χ2=57.007,P<0.001).Compared with family-based elderly care,the willingness to choose institutional or community-based in-house elderly care was low among the urban elderly residents with surplus monthly household income or balanced income and expenditure;urban males,those with college education background or above,and those who purchased socialized elderly care services tended to prefer community-based in-house elderly care.In rural areas,the elderly residents who had local household registry were prone to choose institutional or community-based in-house elderly care,while those who had more than one child and those who were satisfied with the current living conditions were less willing to choose community-based in-house elderly care. Conclusions It is suggested that the urban-rural differences in the elderly care service demand,preference and tendency should be fully considered in the planning and allocation of urban and rural elderly care resources.Efforts remain to be made to develop diversified social elderly care services tailored to the characteristics of urban and rural areas.

Electrolyte design combining fluoro- with cyano-substitution solvents for anode-free Li metal batteries.

Fluoro-substitution solvents have achieved great success in electrolyte engineering for high-energy lithium metal batteries, which, however, is beset by low solvating power, thermal and chemical instability, and possible battery swelling. Instead, we herein introduce cyanogen as the electron-withdrawing group to enhance the oxidative stability of ether solvents, in which cyanogen and ether oxygen form the chelating structure with Li+ not notably undermining the solvating power. Cyano-group strongly bonds with transition metals (TMs) of NCM811 cathode to attenuate the catalytic reactivity of TMs toward bulk electrolytes. Besides, a stable and uniform cathode-electrolyte interphase (CEI) inhibits the violent oxidation decomposition of electrolytes and guarantees the structural integrity of the NCM811 cathode. Also, a N-containing and LiF-rich solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) in our electrolyte facilitates fast Li+ migration and dense Li deposition. Accordingly, our electrolyte enables a stable cycle of Li metal anode with Coulombic efficiency of 98.4% within 100 cycles. 81.8% capacity of 4.3 V NCM811 cathode remains after 200 cycles. Anode-free pouch cells with a capacity of 125 mAh maintain 76% capacity after 100 cycles, corresponding to an energy density of 397.5 Wh kg-1.

Mitochondrial Disruption Nanosystem Simultaneously Depressed Programmed Death Ligand-1 and Transforming Growth Factor-ß to Overcome Photodynamic Immunotherapy Resistance.

Currently, limited photosensitizers possess the capacity to reverse tumor hypoxia and reduce programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) and transforming growth factor-ß (TGF-ß) expression simultaneously, hindering the perfect photodynamic therapy (PDT) effect due to acquired immune resistance and the tumor hypoxic microenvironment. To tackle these challenges, in this research, we demonstrated that mitochondrial energy metabolism depression can be utilized as an innovative and efficient approach for reducing the expression of PD-L1 and TGF-ß simultaneously, which may offer a design strategy for a more ideal PDT nanosystem. Through proteomic analysis of 5637 cells, we revealed that tamoxifen (TMX) can incredibly regulate PD-L1 expression in tumor cells. Then, to selectively deliver clinically used mitochondrial energy metabolism depressant TMX to solid tumors as well as design an ideal PDT nanosystem, we synthesized MHI-TMX@ALB by combining a mitochondria-targeted heptamethine cyanine PDT-dye MHI with TMX through self-assembly with albumin (ALB). Interestingly enough, the MHI-TMX@ALB nanoparticle demonstrated effective reversion of tumor hypoxia and inhibition of PD-L1 protein expression at a lower dosage (7.5 times to TMX), which then enhanced the efficacy of photodynamic immunotherapy via enhancing T-cell infiltration. Apart from this, by leveraging the heptamethine dye's targeting capacity toward tumors and TMX's role in suppressing TGF-ß, MHI-TMX@ALB also more effectively mitigated 4T1 tumor lung metastasis development. All in all, the MHI-TMX@ALB nanoparticle could be used as a multifunctional economical PD-L1 and TGF-ß codepression immune-regulating strategy, broadening the potential clinical applications for a more ideal PDT nanosystem.

Recent progress, perspectives, and issues of engineered PD-L1 regulation nano-system to better cure tumor: A review.

Currently, immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapies that target the programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) have been used as revolutionary cancer treatments in the clinic. Apart from restoring the antitumor response of cytotoxic T cells by blocking the interaction between PD-L1 on tumor cells and programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) on T cells, PD-L1 proteins were also newly revealed to possess the capacity to accelerate DNA damage repair (DDR) and enhance tumor growth through multiple mechanisms, leading to the impaired efficacy of tumor therapies. Nevertheless, current free anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy still suffered from poor therapeutic outcomes in most solid tumors due to the non-selective tumor accumulation, ineludible severe cytotoxic effects, as well as the common occurrence of immune resistance. Recently, nanoparticles with efficient tumor-targeting capacity, tumor-responsive prosperity, and versatility for combination therapy were identified as new avenues for PD-L1 targeting cancer immunotherapies. In this review, we first summarized the multiple functions of PD-L1 protein in promoting tumor growth, accelerating DDR, as well as depressing immunotherapy efficacy. Following this, the effects and mechanisms of current clinically widespread tumor therapies on tumor PD-L1 expression were discussed. Then, we reviewed the recent advances in nanoparticles for anti-PD-L1 therapy via using PD-L1 antibodies, small interfering RNA (siRNA), microRNA (miRNA), clustered, regularly interspaced, short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), peptide, and small molecular drugs. At last, we discussed the challenges and perspectives to promote the clinical application of nanoparticles-based PD-L1-targeting therapy.

[Comparison of Functional Status Between Diabetic Patients With and Without Nephropathy Based on the International Classification of Functioning,Disability and Health Rehabilitation Set].

Objective To compare the functional status of diabetic patients with and without nephropathy and identify the items that diabetic patients with nephropathy are more likely to develop dysfunction than diabetic patients without nephropathy based on the international classification of functioning,disability and health rehabilitation set(ICF-RS).Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted.A total of 320 diabetic patients hospitalized in Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine from August 2021 to February 2022 were selected and assigned into a group with nephropathy and a group without nephropathy.The general characteristics,clinical examination,and laboratory findings were compared by the t test,rank sum test,and Chi-squared test.The functional status of the patients was compared between the two groups by the t test based on the ICF-RS.Logistic regression was employed to control interferential factors between the two groups and identify the association between nephropathy and ICF-RS problematic items among diabetic patients.Results The diabetic patients with nephropathy had more problematic items in ICF-RS(P<0.001),the body function dimension(P=0.003),the activity dimension(P<0.001),and the participation dimension(P<0.001)than those without nephropathy.Moreover,the diabetic patients with nephropathy experienced severer problems in 5 body function items(energy and drive functions,sleep functions,sexual functions,exercise tolerance functions,and muscle power functions),10 activity items(transferring oneself,walking,moving around using equipment,moving around,washing oneself,caring for body parts,toileting,dressing,doing housework,and looking after one's health),and 4 participation items(using transportation,assisting others,basic interpersonal interactions,and recreation and leisure)(all P<0.05).The Logistic regression results showed that compared with the diabetic patients without nephropathy,the diabetic patients with nephropathy were more likely to develop problems in energy and drive functions(aOR=4.35,95%CI=1.28-14.79,P=0.019),emotional functions(aOR=1.88,95%CI=1.06-3.34,P=0.031),sexual functions(aOR=3.39,95%CI=1.82-6.34,P<0.001),moving around(aOR=3.11,95%CI=1.76-5.52,P<0.001),doing housework(aOR=17.48,95%CI=3.57-85.60,P<0.001),looking after one's health(aOR=1.97,95%CI=1.13-3.43,P=0.017),using transportation(aOR=2.59,95%CI=1.38-4.88,P=0.003),and recreation and leisure(aOR=2.52,95%CI=1.46-4.35,P<0.001).Conclusion Compared with the diabetic patients without nephropathy,the patients with nephropathy suffer more ICF-RS problematic items and are more likely to develop dysfunction in certain items in all the three dimensions.

Prediction of upcoming urinary tract infection after intracerebral hemorrhage: a machine learning approach based on statistics collected at multiple time points.

Purpose: Accurate prediction of urinary tract infection (UTI) following intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) can significantly facilitate both timely medical interventions and therapeutic decisions in neurocritical care. Our study aimed to propose a machine learning method to predict an upcoming UTI by using multi-time-point statistics. Methods: A total of 110 patients were identified from a neuro-intensive care unit in this research. Laboratory test results at two time points were chosen: Lab 1 collected at the time of admission and Lab 2 collected at the time of 48 h after admission. Univariate analysis was performed to investigate if there were statistical differences between the UTI group and the non-UTI group. Machine learning models were built with various combinations of selected features and evaluated with accuracy (ACC), sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) values. Results: Corticosteroid usage (p < 0.001) and daily urinary volume (p < 0.001) were statistically significant risk factors for UTI. Moreover, there were statistical differences in laboratory test results between the UTI group and the non-UTI group at the two time points, as suggested by the univariate analysis. Among the machine learning models, the one incorporating clinical information and the rate of change in laboratory parameters outperformed the others. This model achieved ACC = 0.773, sensitivity = 0.785, specificity = 0.762, and AUC = 0.868 during training and 0.682, 0.685, 0.673, and 0.751 in the model test, respectively. Conclusion: The combination of clinical information and multi-time-point laboratory data can effectively predict upcoming UTIs after ICH in neurocritical care.

Insight into Polishing Slurry and Material Removal Mechanism of Photoassisted Chemical Mechanical Polishing of YAG Crystals.

Yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) crystals are an important gain medium in thin-sheet solid-state lasers, and their processing quality directly affects the performance of solid-state lasers. But it is difficult to achieve high efficiency and high quality of YAG crystals by traditional chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). In this study, we developed a new polishing slurry for photoassisted chemical mechanical polishing (PCMP) of YAG crystals. The polishing slurry is composed of peroxymonosulfate (PMS), manganese ferrite (MnFe2O4), alumina (Al2O3) abrasives, and deionized water. PCMP is conducted in an ultraviolet (UV) light environment. When employing this polishing slurry for PCMP processing of YAG crystals, the material removal rate (MRR) achieved 250 nm/min and the surface roughness achieved 0.35 nm Sa. The experiments verified that both UV light and MnFe2O4 can effectively activate PMS to produce active free radicals and further enhance the chemical action of the polishing slurry. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis results indicated that active radicals reacted with the surface structure of the crystal and removed the aluminum-oxygen octahedron in large quantities from it. The structural defects reduced the surface hardness of the crystal, which means that active free radicals can modify the crystal surface materials.

A highly sensitive flexible humidity sensor based on conductive tape and a carboxymethyl cellulose@graphene composite.

Flexible humidity sensors have found new applications in diverse fields including human healthcare, the Internet of Things, and so on. In this paper, a highly sensitive humidity sensor based on carboxymethyl cellulose@graphene and conductive adhesive tape was developed. The sensor was constructed on conductive tape which acted as both of the flexible substrate and the electrode to transmit electronic signals. A carboxymethyl cellulose@graphene composite was assembled on the substrate as the sensing layer by a simple spreading method in a 3-D printed groove mold. The sensitive material was characterized for its morphology, composition, crystalline phase, and hydrophilicity by SEM, EDS, XRD, and contact angle measurements. The effect of graphene on the sensitivity was investigated in detail by adjusting the doping concentration. Humidity sensing performance was tested in different relative humidity levels. The rapid responses under different respiratory conditions demonstrated their practical usability in continuous respiration monitoring and recognition of respiratory status. The conductive mechanism of the sensing film was studied by complex impedance spectroscopy under different relative humidity levels. A rational sensing mechanism was proposed integrating ionic conduction, electron conduction and swelling behavior of the carboxymethyl cellulose@graphene composite.

HDAC3 inhibitor (BRD3308) modulates microglial pyroptosis and neuroinflammation through PPARγ/NLRP3/GSDMD to improve neurological function after intraventricular hemorrhage in mice.

Neuroinflammation plays a vital role in intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH). Excessive neuroinflammation after IVH can activate the inflammasome in the cell and accelerate the occurrence of pyroptosis in cells, produce more inflammatory mediators, increase cell death, and lead to neurological deficits. Previous studies have reported that BRD3308 (BRD), an inhibitor of histone deacetylation by histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3), suppresses inflammation-induced apoptosis and exhibits anti-inflammatory properties. However, it is unclear how BRD reduces the occurrence of the inflammatory cascade. In this study, we stereotactically punctured the ventricles of male C57BL/6J mice and injected autologous blood via the tail vein to simulate ventricular hemorrhage. Magnetic resonance imaging was used to detect ventricular hemorrhage and enlargement. Our findings demonstrated that BRD treatment significantly improved neurobehavioral performance and decreased neuronal loss, microglial activation, and pyroptosis in the hippocampus after IVH. At the molecular level, this treatment upregulated the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) and inhibited NLRP3-mediated pyroptosis and inflammatory cytokines. Therefore, we concluded that BRD reduced pyroptosis and neuroinflammation and improve nerve function in part by activating the PPARγ/NLRP3/GSDMD signaling pathway. Our findings suggest a potential preventive role for BRD in IVH.

TUG-891 inhibits neuronal endoplasmic reticulum stress and pyroptosis activation and protects neurons in a mouse model of intraventricular hemorrhage.

Pyroptosis plays an important role in hemorrhagic stroke. Excessive endoplasmic reticulum stress can cause endoplasmic reticulum dysfunction and cellular pyroptosis by regulating the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain and leucine-rich repeat pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) pathway. However, the relationship between pyroptosis and endoplasmic reticulum stress after intraventricular hemorrhage is unclear. In this study, we established a mouse model of intraventricular hemorrhage and found pyroptosis and endoplasmic reticulum stress in brain tissue. Intraperitoneal injection of the selective GPR120 agonist TUG-891 inhibited endoplasmic reticulum stress, pyroptosis, and inflammation and protected neurons. The neuroprotective effect of TUG-891 appears related to inhibition of endoplasmic reticulum stress and pyroptosis activation.

Exploring employment preferences of nurses to improve retention in rural China.

BACKGROUND: The scarcity of nurses in rural China deserves serious consideration in light of the widening gap in health outcomes between rural and urban populations. The outflow of primary care nurses suggests the value of examining their employment preferences to identify possible effective incentives for their retention. METHODS: Our research used discrete choice experiment methodology designed to quantitatively measure the relative importance of various job attributes valued by primary care nurses using conditional logit and mixed logit models. Willingness to pay and uptake rates were also calculated. RESULTS: A total of 1744 registered nurses in township health centres were surveyed. Participants considered all the job attributes included in the study to be significant, with pay increases demonstrating the greatest potential to improve the retention of nurses. Among the non-monetary aspects of work, nurse-patient relationships, bianzhi (positions allocated to each unit by the Chinese government with special benefits) and educational opportunities ranked highest in importance for respondents. Responses to hypothetical policy proposals suggest that incentive packages are also likely to be effective. CONCLUSIONS: Policy making regarding rural nurses' retention is an important undertaking that requires an evidence-based approach. Our findings provide a range of policy options that shed light on effective retention strategies. Tailoring policy incentives to primary care nurses is also necessary.

The Proof-of-Concept of Anode-Free Rechargeable Mg Batteries.

The desperate pursuit of high gravimetric specific energy leads to the ignorance of volumetric energy density that is one of the basic requirements for batteries. Due to the high volumetric capacity, less-prone formation of dendrite, and low reduction potential of Mg metal, rechargeable Mg batteries are considered with innately high volumetric energy density. Nevertheless, the substantial elevation in energy density is compromised by extremely excessive Mg metal anode. Herein, the proof-of-concept of anode-free Mg2 Mo6 S8 -MgS/Cu batteries is proposed, in which MgS as the premagnesiation additive constantly decomposes to replenish Mg loss by electrolyte corrosion over cycling, while both Mg2 Mo6 S8 and MgS acts as the active material to reversibly provide high capacities. Besides, Mg2 Mo6 S8 shows superior catalytic activity on the decomposition of MgS and provides the strong affinity to polysulfides to restrain their dissolution. Consequently, the anode-free Mg2 Mo6 S8 -MgS/Cu batteries deliver a high reversible capacity of 190 mAh g-1 with the capacity retention of 92% after 100 cycles, corresponding to the highly competitive energy density of 420 Wh L-1 . The proposed anode-free Mg battery here spotlights the great promise of Mg batteries in achieving high volumetric energy densities, which will significantly expedite the advances of Mg batteries in practice.

Association between vascular risk factors and idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus: a Mendelian randomization study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Patients with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) have a higher prevalence of hypertension and diabetes. However, the causal effects of these vascular risk factors on iNPH remain unclear. This study aimed to explore the causal relationship between vascular risk factors (VRFs) and iNPH. METHODS: We conducted the Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis of iNPH. We included nineteen vascular risk factors related to hypertension, diabetes, lipids, obesity, smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise, sleep, and cardiovascular events as exposure factors. We used the inverse-variance weighted method for causal effect estimation and weighted median, maximum likelihood, and MR Egger regression methods for sensitivity analyses. RESULTS: We found that genetically predicting essential hypertension (OR = 1.608 (1.330-1.944), p = 0.013) and increased sleep duration (OR = 16.395 (5.624-47.799), p = 0.009) were associated with higher odds of iNPH. Type 1 diabetes (OR = 0.869 (0.828-0.913), p = 0.004) was associated with lower odds of iNPH. For the other 16 VRFs, there was no evidence that they were significantly associated with iNPH. Sensitivity analyses showed that essential hypertension and type 1 diabetes were significantly associated with iNPH. CONCLUSION: In our MR study on VRFs and iNPH, we found essential hypertension to be a causal risk factor for iNPH. This suggests that hypertension may be involved in the pathophysiological mechanism of iNPH.

Metformin Alleviates Delayed Hydrocephalus after Intraventricular Hemorrhage by Inhibiting Inflammation and Fibrosis.

Intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) is a subtype of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) with high morbidity and mortality. Posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus (PHH) is a common and major complication that affects prognosis, but the mechanism is still unclear. Inflammation and fibrosis have been well established as the major causes of PHH after IVH. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of metformin on IVH in adult male mice and further explored the underlying molecular mechanisms of these effects. In the acute phase, metformin treatment exerted dose-dependent neuroprotective effects by reducing periependymal apoptosis and neuronal degeneration and decreasing brain edema. Moreover, high-dose metformin reduced inflammatory cell infiltration and the release of proinflammatory factors, thus protecting ependymal structure integrity and subependymal neurons. In the chronic phase, metformin administration improved neurocognitive function and reduced delayed hydrocephalus. Additionally, metformin significantly inhibited basal subarachnoid fibrosis and ependymal glial scarring. The ependymal structures partially restored. Mechanically, IVH reduced phospho-AMPK (p-AMPK) and SIRT1 expression and activated the phospho-NF-κB (p-NF-κB) inflammatory signaling pathway. However, metformin treatment increased AMPK/SIRT1 expression and lowered the protein expression of p-NF-κB and its downstream inflammation. Compound C and EX527 administration reversed the anti-inflammatory effect of metformin. In conclusion, metformin attenuated neuroinflammation and subsequent fibrosis after IVH by regulating AMPK /SIRT1/ NF-κB pathways, thereby reducing delayed hydrocephalus. Metformin may be a promising therapeutic agent to prevent delayed hydrocephalus following IVH.

Longitudinal and transverse photophoretic force on a homogeneous sphere exerted by a Bessel beam with selective polarizations.

Predicting the photophoretic force exerted on an optical absorptive particle in a gaseous medium is a challenging problem because the problems of electromagnetic scattering, heat transfer, and gaseous molecule dynamics are involved and coupled with each other. Based on the calculation of the source function distribution inside a homogeneous sphere excited by a Bessel beam using the generalized Lorenz-Mie theory, analytical expressions of the asymmetry vector, which is the key quantity in the calculation of photophoretic force, are given using the adjoint boundary value method. Numerical simulations are performed to analyze the influences of polarization, the half-cone angle, and the beam order of the incident beam, particle size, and absorptivity of the particle on the asymmetry vector for both on-axis and off-axis illuminations. Longitudinal and transverse photophoretic forces on a homogeneous sphere are displayed for the slip-flow regime of gaseous media. The results offer important insights into the working mechanism underpinning the development of heat-mediated optical manipulation techniques and the measurement of the refractive index of particles.

Cohesive Multi-Modality Feature Learning and Fusion for COVID-19 Patient Severity Prediction.

The outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been a nightmare to citizens, hospitals, healthcare practitioners, and the economy in 2020. The overwhelming number of confirmed cases and suspected cases put forward an unprecedented challenge to the hospital's capacity of management and medical resource distribution. To reduce the possibility of cross-infection and attend a patient according to his severity level, expertly diagnosis and sophisticated medical examinations are often required but hard to fulfil during a pandemic. To facilitate the assessment of a patient's severity, this paper proposes a multi-modality feature learning and fusion model for end-to-end covid patient severity prediction using the blood test supported electronic medical record (EMR) and chest computerized tomography (CT) scan images. To evaluate a patient's severity by the co-occurrence of salient clinical features, the High-order Factorization Network (HoFN) is proposed to learn the impact of a set of clinical features without tedious feature engineering. On the other hand, an attention-based deep convolutional neural network (CNN) using pre-trained parameters are used to process the lung CT images. Finally, to achieve cohesion of cross-modality representation, we design a loss function to shift deep features of both-modality into the same feature space which improves the model's performance and robustness when one modality is absent. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed multi-modality feature learning and fusion model achieves high performance in an authentic scenario.

Mechanical Load-Induced Atomic-Scale Deformation Evolution and Mechanism of SiC Polytypes Using Molecular Dynamics Simulation.

Silicon carbide (SiC) is a promising semiconductor material for making high-performance power electronics with higher withstand voltage and lower loss. The development of cost-effective machining technology for fabricating SiC wafers requires a complete understanding of the deformation and removal mechanism. In this study, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were carried out to investigate the origins of the differences in elastic-plastic deformation characteristics of the SiC polytypes, including 3C-SiC, 4H-SiC and 6H-SiC, during nanoindentation. The atomic structures, pair correlation function and dislocation distribution during nanoindentation were extracted and analyzed. The main factors that cause elastic-plastic deformation have been revealed. The simulation results show that the deformation mechanisms of SiC polytypes are all dominated by amorphous phase transformation and dislocation behaviors. Most of the amorphous atoms recovered after completed unload. Dislocation analysis shows that the dislocations of 3C-SiC are mainly perfect dislocations during loading, while the perfect dislocations in 4H-SiC and 6H-SiC are relatively few. In addition, 4H-SiC also formed two types of stacking faults.