A novel Lenslet-ARray-Integrated spectacle lenses for myopia control: a one-year randomized, double-masked, controlled trial.

PURPOSE: To investigate the myopia control efficacy of novel Lenslet-ARray-Integrated (LARI) spectacle lenses with positive (PLARI) and negative (NLARI) power lenslets worn for one year in myopic children. DESIGN: Randomized, double-masked, controlled clinical trial. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 240 children, aged 6 to 12 years, with spherical equivalent refraction (SER) between -4.00 and -1.00 diopter (D), astigmatism of 1.50 D or less, and anisometropia of 1.00 D or less. METHODS: Participants were assigned randomly in a 1:1:1 ratio to PLARI, NLARI, and a control (single-vision (SV)) groups. Cycloplegic autorefraction and axial length were measured at baseline and 6-month intervals after lens wear. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Changes in SER, axial elongation (AE), and differences between groups. RESULTS: After 1-year, SER changes and AE in the PLARI and NLARI groups were significantly less than those in the SV group (SER: -0.30 ± 0.48 D, -0.21 ± 0.35 D, -0.66 ± 0.40 D; AE: 0.19 ± 0.20 mm, 0.17 ± 0.14 mm, 0.34 ± 0.18 mm, respectively) (all P < 0.001). There were no significant differences in SER changes and AE between PLARI and NLARI groups (P = 0.54 and P = 1.00, respectively). Younger age was associated with more rapid SER increase and larger AE in the SV (r = 0.40, P < 0.001 and r = -0.59, P < 0.001, respectively) and PLARI (r= 0.46, P < 0.001 and r = -0.52, P < 0.001, respectively) groups, but not in the NLARI group (r = -0.002, P = 0.98 and r = -0.08, P = 0.48, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with the SV group, both PLARI and NARI groups showed significantly slower myopia progression in terms of SER and axial elongation. Faster myopia progression, in terms of both SER and AE, was associated with younger age in the SV and PLARI groups, but not in the NLARI group.

[Authenticity discrimination for Galli Gigerii Endothelium Corneum based on UPLC-MS/MS and peptidomics].

Peptidomics was employed to systematically analyze the characteristic peptides in Galli Gigerii Endothelium Corneum and its adulterants and establish a method for distinguishing Galli Gigerii Endothelium Corneum from its adulterants, including the gizzard membranes from ducks, geese, and pigeons. UPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap-MS was combined with multivariate statistical analysis to analyze the peptides in Galli Gigerii Endothelium Corneum and its adulterants. The structures of peptides were identified by pNovo combined with manual recognition of spectra, and synthetic peptide standards were used for validation. LC-MS/MS was used to optimize the sample pre-processing conditions, including the extraction procedure, extraction time, extraction solvents, and solvent volumes, for the characteristic peptide LESY in Galli Gigerii Endothelium Corneum. Multiple reaction monitoring(MRM) in the ESI~+ mode with m/z 511.24→269.11 and 511.24→243.13 as detection ions was employed for qualitative and quantitative analyses. The established UPLC-MS/MS method demonstrated good specificity, stability, and durability. The content of LESY in 16 batches of Galli Gigerii Endothelium Corneum samples ranged from 55.03 to 113.36 µg·g~(-1). Additionally, a qualitative detection method for the common peptide RDPVLVSR in adulterants was established with m/z 471.28→785.45 and 471.28→670.41 as the detection ions. This study established a convenient, rapid, and accurate detection method for the characteristic peptides in Galli Gigerii Endothelium Corneum and its adulterants. The method possesses good specificity, stability, and durability, providing a valuable reference for the identification and quality control of Galli Gigerii Endothelium Corneum and other traditional Chinese medicines derived from animal sources.

Dysbiotic alteration in the fecal microbiota of patients with polycystic ovary syndrome.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common disease associated with high androgen and infertility. The gut microbiota plays an important role in metabolic diseases including obesity, hyperglycemia, and fatty liver. Although the gut microbiota has been associated with PCOS, little is known about the gut microbial structure and function in individuals with PCOS from Northeast China. In this study, 17 PCOS individuals and 17 age-matched healthy individuals were recruited for community structure and function analysis of the gut microbiota. The results showed that PCOS individuals have reduced diversity and richness of the gut microbiota compared with healthy individuals. Beta diversity analysis showed that the community structure of the gut microbiota of individuals with PCOS was significantly separated from healthy individuals. At the phylum level, PCOS individuals have reduced Firmicutes and Bacteroidota and increased Actinobacteriota and Proteobacteria compared with healthy individuals. At the family and genus levels, the composition of the gut microbiota between PCOS patients and healthy individuals was also significantly different. In addition, PICRUSt2 showed that individuals with PCOS have different microbial functions in the gut compared with healthy individuals. We finally confirmed that Bifidobacterium was enriched in the fecal samples of PCOS patients, while other 11 genera including Bacteroides, UCG_002, Eubacterium__coprostanoligenes_group_unclassified, Dialister, Firmicutes_unclassified, Ruminococcus, Alistipes, Christensenellaceae_R_7_group, Clostridia_UCG_014_unclassified, Roseburia, and Lachnospiraceae_unclassified were depleted compared with healthy individuals. These results indicate that individuals with PCOS have altered community structure and functions of the gut microbiota, which suggests that targeting the gut microbiota might be a potential strategy for PCOS intervention. IMPORTANCE: Gut microbiota plays a critical role in the development of PCOS. There is a complex and close interaction between PCOS and gut microbiota. The relationship between the pathogenesis and pathophysiological processes of PCOS and the structure and function of the gut microbiota needs further investigation.

Stitching method for panoramic nail fold images based on capillary contour enhancement.

Nail fold capillaroscopy is an important means of monitoring human health. Panoramic nail fold images improve the efficiency and accuracy of examinations. However, the acquisition of panoramic nail fold images is seldom studied and the problem manifests of few matching feature points when image stitching is used for such images. Therefore, this paper presents a method for panoramic nail fold image stitching based on vascular contour enhancement, which first solves the problem of few matching feature points by pre-processing the image with contrast-constrained adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE), bilateral filtering (BF), and sharpening algorithms. The panoramic images of the nail fold blood vessels are then successfully stitched using the fast robust feature (SURF), fast library of approximate nearest neighbors (FLANN) and random sample agreement (RANSAC) algorithms. The experimental results show that the panoramic image stitched by this paper's algorithm has a field of view width of 7.43 mm, which improves the efficiency and accuracy of diagnosis.

Machine-learning-based models assist the prediction of pulmonary embolism in autoimmune diseases: A retrospective, multicenter study.

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a severe and acute cardiovascular syndrome with high mortality among patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (AIIRDs). Accurate prediction and timely intervention play a pivotal role in enhancing survival rates. However, there is a notable scarcity of practical early prediction and risk assessment systems of PE in patients with AIIRD. METHODS: In the training cohort, 60 AIIRD with PE cases and 180 age-, gender-, and disease-matched AIIRD non-PE cases were identified from 7254 AIIRD cases in Tongji Hospital from 2014 to 2022. Univariable logistic regression (LR) and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) were used to select the clinical features for further training with machine learning (ML) methods, including random forest (RF), support vector machines (SVM), neural network (NN), logistic regression (LR), gradient boosted decision tree (GBDT), classification and regression trees (CART), and C5.0 models. The performances of these models were subsequently validated using a multicenter validation cohort. RESULTS: In the training cohort, 24 and 13 clinical features were selected by univariable LR and LASSO strategies, respectively. The five ML models (RF, SVM, NN, LR, and GBDT) showed promising performances, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) of 0.962-1.000 in the training cohort and 0.969-0.999 in the validation cohort. CART and C5.0 models achieved AUCs of 0.850 and 0.932, respectively, in the training cohort. Using D-dimer as a pre-screening index, the refined C5.0 model achieved an AUC exceeding 0.948 in the training cohort and an AUC above 0.925 in the validation cohort. These results markedly outperformed the use of D-dimer levels alone. CONCLUSION: ML-based models are proven to be precise for predicting the onset of PE in patients with AIIRD exhibiting clinical suspicion of PE. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chictr.org.cn: ChiCTR2200059599.

2% supramolecular salicylic acid hydrogel vs. adapaline gel in mild to moderate acne vulgaris treatment: A multicenter, randomized, evaluator-blind, parallel-controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: Salicylic acid (SA) has been used for treatment of acne of different severity levels. However, there are few researches about the safety and efficacy for treatment of mild to moderate acne, and the improvement of the skin condition by using 2% supramolecular salicylic acid (SSA) compared to Davuwen Adapaline gel. METHODS: A multicenter, randomized, assessor-blind and parallel-controlled study was conducted. A total of 500 patients (trial group: 249, control group: 251) with mild to moderate (grade I-II) facial acne vulgaris were recruited in this study over a 16-week trial period. Patients in the trial group were treated with Broda 2% SSA hydrogel, while control group treated with Davuwen Adapaline gel once a day. The number of inflammatory papules, comedones, and pustules were counted and the rate of lesion reduction was calculated pre- and post-treatment. Then, the skin physiological indicators, including L*a*b*, TEWL, skin sebum and hydration were measured. Statistical analysis was conducted using SAS 9.4. Significance was set at p = 0.05. RESULTS: At the end of 12 weeks' therapy, the regression and markedly improvement rate of the trail group and the control group were 51.01% and 43.10% respectively, and there was no significant difference in the improvement rate between two groups (p = 0.0831). Although, there was no difference in adverse events rate between two groups, the adverse events rate of the trail group was 0.40%, a little lower than the control group (0.80%). Moreover, there was a significant difference in the numbers of pores at T1 between two groups. CONCLUSION: Both 2% SSA and Adapaline gel were equally effective in the treatment of mild to moderate acne vulgaris. 2% SSA is worth the clinical promotion and application in mild to moderate acne vulgaris.

Reconfigurable Ag/HfO2/NiO/Pt Memristors with Stable Synchronous Synaptic and Neuronal Functions for Renewable Homogeneous Neuromorphic Computing System.

Artificial synapses and bionic neurons offer great potential in highly efficient computing paradigms. However, complex requirements for specific electronic devices in neuromorphic computing have made memristors face the challenge of process simplification and universality. Herein, reconfigurable Ag/HfO2/NiO/Pt memristors are designed for feasible switching between volatile and nonvolatile modes by compliance current controlled Ag filaments, which enables stable and reconfigurable synaptic and neuronal functions. A neuromorphic computing system effectively replicates the biological synaptic weight alteration and continuously accomplishes excitation and reset of artificial neurons, which consist of bionic synapses and artificial neurons based on isotype Ag/HfO2/NiO/Pt memristors. This reconfigurable electrical performance of the Ag/HfO2/NiO/Pt memristors takes advantage of simplified hardware design and delivers integrated circuits with high density, which exhibits great potency for future neural networks.

Construction and analysis of competitive endogenous RNA networks and prognostic models associated with ovarian cancer based on the exoRBase database.

OBJECTIVE: To construct a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) regulatory network in blood exosomes of patients with ovarian cancer (OC) using bioinformatics and explore its pathogenesis. METHODS: The exoRbase2.0 database was used to download blood exosome gene sequencing data from patients OC and normal controls and the expression profiles of exosomal mRNA, long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), and circular RNA (circRNA) were detected independently using R language for differential expression analysis. TargetScan and miRanda databases were combined for the prediction and differential expression of mRNA-binding microRNAs (miRNA). The miRcode and starBase databases were used to predict miRNAs that bind to differentially expressed lncRNAs and circRNAs repectively. The relevant mRNA, circRNA, lncRNA and their corresponding miRNA prediction data were imported into Cytoscape software for visualization of the ceRNA network. The R language and KEGG Orthology-based Annotation System (KOBAS) were used to execute and illustrate the Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses. Hub genes were identified using The CytoHubba plugin. RESULTS: Thirty-one differentially expressed mRNAs, 17 differentially expressed lncRNAs, and 24 differentially expressed circRNAs were screened. Cytoscape software was used to construct the ceRNA network with nine mRNA nodes, two lncRNA nodes, eight circRNA nodes, and 51 miRNA nodes. Both GO and KEGG were focused on the Spliceosome pathway, indicating that spliceosomes are closely linked with the development of OC, while heterogenous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K and RNA binding motif protein X-linked genes were the top 10 score Hub genes screened by Cytoscape software, including two lncRNAs, four mRNAs, and four circRNAs. In patients with OC, the expression of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4 gamma 2 (EIF4G2), SERPINE 1 mRNA binding protein 1 (SERBP1), ribosomal protein L15 (RPL15) and human leukocyte antigen complex P5 (HCP5) was significantly higher whereas that of testis expressed transcript, Y-linked 15 and DEAD-box helicase 3 Y-linked genes was lower compared to normal controls Immunocorrelation scores revealed that SERBP1 was significantly and negatively correlated with endothelial cells and CD4+ T cells and positively correlated with natural killer (NK) cells and macrophages, respectively; RPL15 was significantly positively correlated with macrophages and endothelial cells and negatively correlated with CD8+ T cells and uncharacterized cells, respectively. EIF4G2 was significantly and negatively correlated with endothelial cells and CD4+ T cells, and positively correlated with uncharacterized cells, respectively. Based on the survival data and the significant correlation characteristics derived from the multifactorial Cox analysis (P < 0.05), the survival prediction curves demonstrated that the prognostic factors associated with 3-year survival in patients with OC were The prognostic factors associated with survival were Macrophage, RPL15. CONCLUSION: This study successfully constructs a ceRNA regulatory network in blood exosomes of OV patients, which provides the specific targets for diagnosis and treatment of OC.

[Clinical study of constructing nomogram model based on multi-dimensional clinical indicators to predict prognosis of knee osteoarthritis].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the factors affecting the prognosis of patients with knee osteoarthritis, and to construct a nomogram prediction model in conjunction with multi-dimensional clinical indicators. METHODS: The clinical data of 234 patients with knee osteoarthritis who were treated in our hospital from January 2015 to June 2021 were retrospectively analyzed, including 126 males and 108 females；age more than 60 years old for 135 cases, age less than 60 years old for 99 cases. Lysholm knee function score was used to evaluate the prognosis of the patients, and the patients were divided into good prognosis group for 155 patients and poor prognosis group for 79 patients according to the prognosis. The clinical data of the subjects in the experimental cohort were analyzed by single factor and multiple factors. The patients were divided into experimental cohort and verification cohort, the results of the multiple factor analysis were visualized to obtain a nomogram prediction model, the receiver operating characteristic curve（ROC）, calibration curve and decision curve were used to evaluate the model's discrimination, accuracy and clinical benefit rate. RESULTS: The results of multivariate analysis showed that smoking, pre-treatment K-L grades of Ⅲ to Ⅳ, and high levels of interleukin 6 （IL-6） and matrix metallo proteinase-3 （MMP-3） were risk factors for the prognosis of patients with knee osteoarthritis. ROC test results showed that the area under the curve of the nomogram model in the experimental cohort and validation cohort was 0.806[95%CI（0.742, 0.866）] and 0.786[（95%CI（0.678, 0.893）], respectively. The results of the calibration curve showed that the Brier values of the experimental cohort and verification cohort were 0.151 points and 0.134 points, respectively. When the threshold probability value in the decision curve was set to 31%, the clinical benefit rates of the experimental cohort and validation cohort were 51% and 56%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The prognostic model of patients with knee osteoarthritis constructed based on multi-dimensional clinical data has both theoretical and practical significance, and can provide a reference for taking targeted measures to improve the prognosis of patients.

Efficient Spiking Neural Networks with Biologically Similar Lithium-Ion Memristor Neurons.

Benefiting from the brain-inspired event-driven feature and asynchronous sparse coding approach, spiking neural networks (SNNs) are becoming a potentially energy-efficient replacement for conventional artificial neural networks. However, neuromorphic devices used to construct SNNs persistently result in considerable energy consumption owing to the absence of sufficient biological parallels. Drawing inspiration from the transport nature of Na+ and K+ in synapses, here, a Li-based memristor (LixAlOy) was proposed to emulate the biological synapse, leveraging the similarity of Li as a homologous main group element to Na and K. The Li-based memristor exhibits ∼8 ns ultrafast operating speed, 1.91 and 0.72 linearity conductance modulation, and reproducible switching behavior, enabled by lithium vacancies forming a conductive filament mechanism. Moreover, these memristors are capable of simulating fundamental behaviors of a biological synapse, including long-term potentiation and long-term depression behaviors. Most importantly, a threshold-tunable leaky integrate-and-fire (TT-LIF) neuron is built using LixAlOy memristors, successfully integrating synaptic signals from both temporal and spatial levels and achieving an optimal threshold of SNNs. A computationally efficient TT-LIF-based SNN algorithm is also implemented for image recognition schemes, featuring a high recognition rate of 90.1% and an ultralow firing rate of 0.335%, which is 4 times lower than those of other memristor-based SNNs. Our studies reveal the ion dynamics mechanism of the LixAlOy memristor and confirm its potential in rapid switching and the construction of SNNs.

Improved nested U-structure for accurate nailfold capillary segmentation.

Changes in the structure and function of nailfold capillaries may be indicators of numerous diseases. Noninvasive diagnostic tools are commonly used for the extraction of morphological information from segmented nailfold capillaries to study physiological and pathological changes therein. However, current segmentation methods for nailfold capillaries cannot accurately separate capillaries from the background, resulting in issues such as unclear segmentation boundaries. Therefore, improving the accuracy of nailfold capillary segmentation is necessary to facilitate more efficient clinical diagnosis and research. Herein, we propose a nailfold capillary image segmentation method based on a U2-Net backbone network combined with a Transformer structure. This method integrates the U2-Net and Transformer networks to establish a decoder-encoder network, which inserts Transformer layers into the nested two-layer U-shaped architecture of the U2-Net. This structure effectively extracts multiscale features within stages and aggregates multilevel features across stages to generate high-resolution feature maps. The experimental results demonstrate an overall accuracy of 98.23 %, a Dice coefficient of 88.56 %, and an IoU of 80.41 % compared to the ground truth. Furthermore, our proposed method improves the overall accuracy by approximately 2 %, 3 %, and 5 % compared to the original U2-Net, Res-Unet, and U-Net, respectively. These results indicate that the Transformer-U2Net network performs well in nailfold capillary image segmentation and provides more detailed and accurate information on the segmented nailfold capillary structure, which may aid clinicians in the more precise diagnosis and treatment of nailfold capillary-related diseases.

Incidence and risk factors of stress urinary incontinence after laparoscopic hysterectomy.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the long-term effects of total hysterectomy on urinary function, evaluate the effects of preoperative nutritional status, urinary occult infection, and surgical factors on the induction of postoperative stress urinary incontinence (SUI), and explore the incidence and risk factors of SUI. STUDY DESIGN: From January 2017 to December 2017, 164 patients with benign non-prolapsing diseases who underwent a laparoscopic total hysterectomy in the First People's Hospital of Taicang were selected as the analysis objects. The International Incontinence Standard Questionnaire for Female Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (ICIQ-FLUTS) and Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire-short version 20 (PFDI-20) were used for telephone follow-up to subjectively assess the urinary function of patients, collect their medical records, and statistically analyze the number of postoperative SUI cases. Logistic multivariate analysis was used to analyze the influencing factors of postoperative female SUI, presented as adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: Only 97 out of 164 patients completed the ICIQ-FLUTS and PFDI-20 questionnaires. Among these participants, 28 patients (28.86%) were diagnosed with SUI (study group), while 69 patients (71.13%) were classified as women without SUI (control group). The age, menopause, parity ≥ 2 times, Body mass index (BMI) ≥ 28 kg/m2, neonatal weight ≥ 4000 g, history of chronic cough, preoperative hemoglobin ≤ 100 g/L, preoperative urine bacteria ≥ 100u/L, preoperative uterine volume ≥ 90 cm3, intraoperative blood loss, and operation time of the study group were compared with those of the control group. The differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). Further Logistic multivariate analysis showed that menopause, preoperative hemoglobin ≤ 100 g/L, preoperative urine bacteria ≥ 100u/L, uterine volume ≥ 90 cm3, history of chronic cough, BMI ≥ 28 kg/m2 were risk factors for postoperative SUI in patients undergoing hysterectomy (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Hysterectomy for benign non-prolapse diseases has a long-term potential impact on the urinary system of patients, and the risk of postoperative SUI increases. The main risk factors of SUI are parity, menopausal status, obesity, preoperative nutritional status, and occult infection of the urinary system.

Identification of genes and key pathways underlying the pathophysiological association between sarcopenia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

PURPOSE: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients are likely to develop sarcopenia, while the exact mechanism underlying the association between sarcopenia and COPD is still not clear. This cohort study aims to explore the genes, signaling pathways, and transcription factors (TFs) that are related to the molecular pathogenesis of sarcopenia and COPD. METHODS: According to the strict inclusion criteria, two gene sets (GSE8479 for sarcopenia and GSE76925 for COPD) were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) platform. Overlapping differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in sarcopenia and COPD were detected, and comprehensive bioinformatics analysis was conducted, including functional annotation, enrichment analysis of Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), construction of a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, co-expression analysis, identification and validation of hub genes, and TFs prediction and verification. RESULTS: In total, 118 downregulated and 92 upregulated common DEGs were detected. Functional analysis revealed that potential pathogenesis involves oxidoreductase activity and ferroptosis. Thirty hub genes were detected, and ATP metabolic process and oxidative phosphorylation were identified to be closely related to the hub genes. Validation analysis revealed that SAA1, C3, and ACSS2 were significantly upregulated, whereas ATF4, PPARGC1A, and MCTS1 were markedly downregulated in both sarcopenia and COPD. In addition, six TFs (NFKB1, RELA, IRF7, SP1, MYC, and JUN) were identified to regulate the expression of these genes, and SAA1 was found to be coregulated by NFKB1 and RELA. CONCLUSION: This study uncovers potential common mechanisms of COPD complicated by sarcopenia. The hub gene SAA1 and the NF-κB signaling pathway could be involved, and oxidative phosphorylation and ferroptosis might be important contributors to this comorbidity.

The CDK4/6 Inhibitor Palbociclib Induces Cell Senescence of High-grade Serous Ovarian Cancer Through Acetylation of p53.

Cell senescence is an anti-cancer strategy following DNA repair and apoptosis, which is associated with the initiation, progression, and treatment of ovarian cancer. The CDK4/6 inhibitor alters cell cycle and induces cell senescence dependent on retinoblastoma (RB) family proteins. Objective Herein, we aimed to explore the effects of Palbociclib (a CDK4/6 inhibitor) on cellular senescence of high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC). Cell viability and cell cycle were evaluated by cell counting kit-8 and flow cytometry. Cell senescence was analyzed using the SA-ß-gal staining assay. The senescence-associated secretory phenotype was assessed using quantitative PCR (qPCR). Senescence-related markers were tested using western blot. The role of Palbociclib in vivo was clarified using xenograft tumor. Acetylation of p53 was evaluated by qPCR and western blot. The results showed that Palbociclib inhibited cell viability, blocked cell cycle at G0/G1 phase, and induced cell senescence. A rescue study indicated that knockdown of p53 reversed the effects on cell cycle and senescence induced by Palbociclib. Moreover, we found that Palbociclib promotes P300-mediated p53 acetylation, thus increasing p53 stability and transcription activity. Moreover, Palbociclib suppressed tumor growth in vivo with increased p53 and acetylated p53 levels. In conclusion, Palbociclib induced cell senescence of HGSOC through P300-mediated p53 acetylation, suggesting that Palbociclib may have the effect of treating HGSOC.

Quality assessment of non-mydriatic fundus photographs for glaucoma screening in primary healthcare centres: a real-world study.

BACKGROUND: This study assessed the quality distribution of non-mydriatic fundus photographs (NMFPs) in real-world glaucoma screening and analysed its influencing factors. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in primary healthcare centres in the Yinzhou District, China, from 17 March to 3 December 2021. The quality distribution of bilateral NMFPs was assessed by the Digital Reading Department of the Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University. Generalised estimating equations and logistic regression models identified factors affecting image quality. RESULTS: A total of 17 232 photographs of 8616 subjects were assessed. Of these, 11.9% of images were reliable for the right eyes, while only 4.6% were reliable for the left eyes; 93.6% of images were readable in the right eyes, while 90.3% were readable in the left eyes. In adjusted models, older age was associated with decreased odds of image readability (adjusted OR (aOR)=1.07, 95% CI 1.06~1.08, p<0.001). A larger absolute value of spherical equivalent significantly decreased the odds of image readability (all p<0.001). Media opacity and worse visual acuity had a significantly lower likelihood of achieving readable NMFPs (aOR=1.52, 95% CI 1.31~1.75; aOR=1.70, 95% CI 1.42~2.02, respectively, all p<0.001). Astigmatism axes within 31°~60° and 121°~150° had lower odds of image readability (aOR=1.35, 95% CI 1.11~1.63, p<0.01) than astigmatism axes within 180°±30°. CONCLUSIONS: The image readability of NMFPs in large-scale glaucoma screening for individuals 50 years and older is comparable with relevant studies, but image reliability is unsatisfactory. Addressing the associated factors may be vital when implementing ophthalmological telemedicine in underserviced areas. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ChiCTR2200059277.

Alteration in gut mycobiota of patients with polycystic ovary syndrome.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a serious disease characterized by high androgen, insulin resistance (IR), hyperglycemia, and obesity, leading to infertility. The gut mycobiota has been reported to evolve in metabolic diseases including obesity, hyperglycemia, and fatty liver. However, little is known about the gut mycobiota and PCOS. In the current study, we recruited 17 PCOS patients and 17 age-matched healthy controls for community structure and functional analysis of the gut mycobiota. The results showed that PCOS patients have reduced diversity and richness of the gut microbiota compared with healthy controls. ß-Diversity analysis showed that the community structure of the gut microbiota of patients with PCOS was significantly different from healthy controls. At the phylum level, PCOS patients have reduced Basidiomycota and increased Ascomycota compared with healthy controls. At the family level, the higher relative abundance of Saccharomycetaceae and lower Trichosporonaceae and Ascomycota_unclassified were detected in PCOS patients than in healthy controls. At the genus level, different microbial compositions were also observed between PCOS patients and healthy controls. In addition, PICRUSt2 showed that patients with PCOS have different microbial functions in the gut compared with healthy controls. LEfSe indicated that Saccharomyces and Lentinula were enriched in the fecal samples of PCOS patients, while Aspergillus was depleted compared with healthy controls. Our finding indicates that PCOS patients have different community structures and functions of the gut mycobiota, which provides new insight into PCOS pathogenesis and intervention. IMPORTANCE It was found that intestinal fungi as well as serum metabolites in PCOS patients were significantly different from those in healthy subjects. However, no studies have been done to show exactly which fungus interacts with which bacteria in humans or which fungus acts alone. As fungal research progresses, it will be possible to fill this gap.

Research on Mental Workload of Deep-Sea Oceanauts Driving Operation Tasks from EEG Data.

A person's present mental state is closely associated with the frequency and temporal domain features of spontaneous electroencephalogram (EEG) impulses, which directly reflect neurophysiological signals of brain activity. EEG signals are employed in this study to measure the mental workload of drivers while they are operating a vehicle. A technique based on the quantum genetic algorithm (QGA) is suggested for improving the kernel function parameters of the multi-class support vector machine (MSVM). The performance of the algorithm based on the quantum genetic algorithm is found to be superior to that of other ways when other methods and the quantum genetic algorithm are evaluated for the parameter optimization of kernel function via simulation. A multi-classification support vector machine based on the quantum genetic algorithm (QGA-MSVM) is applied to identify the mental workload of oceanauts through the collection and feature extraction of EEG signals during driving simulation operation experiments in a sea basin area, a seamount area, and a hydrothermal area. Even with a limited data set, QGA-MSVM is able to accurately identify the cognitive burden experienced by ocean sailors, with an overall accuracy of 91.8%.

Automated nailfold capillary density measurement method based on improved YOLOv5.

Nailfold capillary density is an essential physiological parameter for analyzing nailfold health; however, clinical images of the nailfold are taken in many situations, and most clinicians subjectively analyze nailfold images. Therefore, based on the improved "you only look once v5" (YOLOv5) algorithm, this study proposes an automated method for measuring nailfold capillary density. The improved technique can effectively and rapidly detect distal capillaries by incorporating methods or structures such as 9mosaic, spatial pyramid pooling cross-stage partial construction, bilinear interpolation, and efficient intersection over union. First, the modified YOLOv5 algorithm was used to detect nailfold capillaries. Subsequently, the number of distal capillaries was filtered using the 90° method. Finally, the capillary density was calculated. The results showed that the Average Precision (AP)@0.5 value of the proposed approach reached 85.2 %, which was an improvement of 4.93 %, 5.24 %, and 107 % compared with the original YOLOv5, YOLOv6, and simple-faster rapid-region convolutional network (R-CNN), respectively. For different nailfold images, using the density calculated by nailfold experts as a benchmark, the calculated results of the proposed method were consistent with the manually calculated results and superior to those of the original YOLOv5.

Sea Cucumber-Inspired Aerogel for Ultrafast Hemostasis of Open Fracture.

The symptomatic management of hemorrhagic shock complicated by open fractures is a great challenge, because it is also complicated by complex wound bleeding, bacterial infection, and bone defects. Inspired by the water absorption and cross-sectional microstructure of sea cucumbers, in this study, a new sea cucumber-like aerogel (GCG) is proposed. Its aligned porous structure and composition can stop bleeding rapidly and effectively with a blood clotting index of 3.73 ± 1.8%. More importantly, the data of in vivo hemostasis test in an amputating rat tail hemostatic model (15.69 ± 2.45 s, 26.95 ± 8.43 mg) and liver puncture bleeding model (23.77 ± 2.68 s, 36.22 ± 16.92 mg) also indicate the excellent hemostatic performance of GCG. In addition, GCG also shows a significant inhibitory effect on S. aureus and E. coli, which can prevent the occurrence of postoperative osteomyelitis. Not only that, after filling in the bone defect, it is shown that this GCG aerogel completely degrades eight weeks after surgery and induces new bone ingrowth, achieving functional regeneration after hemostasis of an open fracture defect. Generally, because of its combination of hemostatic, antibacterial, and osteogenic activities, this new aerogel is a promising option for open fractures treatment.

Citral protects against LPS-induced endometritis by inhibiting ferroptosis through activating Nrf2 signaling pathway.

INTRODUCTION: Endometritis is the inflammatory condition of the uterus. Citral, a component of lemongrass oil, is known to exhibit anti-inflammatory activity. AIM: The effects of citral on LPS-induced endometritis were tested and the mechanisms were investigated. METHODS: LPS-induced endometritis mice model was established and the effects of citral were detected using this model. Inflammatory cytokines were tested by ELISA. Ferroptosis was assessed by detecting GSH, ATP, MDA, and Fe2+ levels. Signaling pathway was tested by western blot analysis. RESULTS: Citral prevented LPS-induced endometritis through attenuating uterine pathological changes and inflammatory cytokine release. Meanwhile, citral prevents LPS-induced ferroptosis through attenuating MDA and Fe2+ levels, as well as increasing ATP and GSH levels. Furthermore, citral up-regulated Nrf2 and HO-1 expression and attenuated NF-κB activation. In addition, in Nrf2 knockdown mice, the inhibitory roles of citral on ferroptosis and endometritis were largely reversed. CONCLUSION: Taken together, citral inhibited LPS-induced endometritis through preventing ferroptosis, which were regulated by Nrf2 signaling pathway.