The efficacy of expanded non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) in a high-risk twin pregnancies cohort.

INTRODUCTION: Our objective was to evaluate the efficacy of expanded non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) that includes both trisomies and copy number variants (CNVs) in high-risk twin pregnancies. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A prospective, double-blinded cohort study was conducted, enrolling 73 high-risk twin pregnancies characterized by increased risk of genetic disorders due to factors such as increased nuchal translucency, structural anomalies, fetal growth restriction, and other factors associated with chromosomal abnormality. Participants underwent invasive karyotyping and chromosomal microarray analysis, alongside separate expanded NIPT for research purposes. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of expanded NIPT were calculated. RESULTS: The cohort included 24 monochorionic and 49 dichorionic twin pregnancies. The median cell-free fetal DNA concentration in expanded NIPT was 16.7% (range 3.86%-49.1%), with a test failure rate of 1.4% (1/73). High-risk findings for trisomy 21/13/18 were identified in five cases (6.8%), Turner syndrome in one case (1.4%), and CNVs indicative of high risk for clinically significant microdeletion/microduplication syndromes (MMS) in ten cases (13.7%). Of these, 56 cases (76.7%) tested NIPT negative, revealing one false-negative for 45, X and five false-negatives for CNVs. Expanded NIPT achieved a detection rate of 100% (5/5) for trisomy 21/13/18 with a false-positive rate of 0% (0/5), a detection rate of 33.3% (1/3) for sex chromosome abnormalities with a false-positive rate of 0% (0/3), and a detection rate of 66.7% (4/6) for MMS with a false-positive rate of 3.0% (2/67). The positive predictive values for trisomy T21/13/18, sex chromosome abnormalities, and known MMS were 100% (5/5), 100% (1/1), and 66.7% (4/6) in the expanded NIPT, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The expanded NIPT demonstrated high detection rates for common trisomies and moderate detection rates for prenatal MMS in high-risk twin pregnancies. Further studies with large sample sizes in low-risk populations are needed.

Association between dietary copper intake and bone mineral density in children and adolescents aged 8-19 years: A cross-sectional study.

PURPOSE: Some studies showed the possible role of copper intake on bone mineral density (BMD) in adults or the elderly, but the association remained uncertain in children and adolescents. Our research explored the association between copper intake and BMD in individuals aged 8-19 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2016. METHODS: In the present study, 6,965 individuals aged 8-19 (mean age 13.18 ± 3.38 years) were enrolled from the NHANES 2011-2016. Copper intake was evaluated by averaging two 24-hour copper dietary intake recalls. Multivariate linear regression analyses were used to explore the association between copper intake and total BMD, subtotal BMD, and total spine BMD in children and adolescents. Stratified analyses and interaction tests were performed by age, gender, and race. RESULTS: Participants of the higher quartile of copper intake were more likely to be older, men, Non-Hispanic White, and Other Hispanic. They have higher values of poverty income ratio (PIR), serum phosphorus, blood urea nitrogen, serum vitamin D, and BMD and lower values of body mass index (BMI), cholesterol, total protein, and serum cotinine. In the fully adjusted model, we found positive associations between copper intake and total BMD (ß = 0.013, 95CI: 0.006, 0.019)), subtotal BMD (ß = 0.020, 95CI: 0.015, 0.024), and total spine BMD (ß = 0.014, 95CI: 0.009, 0.019). Stratified analyses showed that the association was stronger in men, individuals aged 14-19, Non-Hispanic White, and Other Hispanic. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that copper intake is positively associated with BMD in U.S. children and adolescents. The study emphasizes the role of copper intake on bone health in the early stages of life. However, more investigations are needed to verify our findings and their underlying mechanisms.

ECCT: Efficient Contrastive Clustering via Pseudo-Siamese Vision Transformer and Multi-view Augmentation.

Image clustering aims to divide a set of unlabeled images into multiple clusters. Recently, clustering methods based on contrastive learning have attracted much attention due to their ability to learn discriminative feature representations. Nevertheless, existing clustering algorithms face challenges in capturing global information and preserving semantic continuity. Additionally, these methods often exhibit relatively singular feature distributions, limiting the full potential of contrastive learning in clustering. These problems can have a negative impact on the performance of image clustering. To address the above problems, we propose a deep clustering framework termed Efficient Contrastive Clustering via Pseudo-Siamese Vision Transformer and Multi-view Augmentation (ECCT). The core idea is to introduce Vision Transformer (ViT) to provide the global view, and improve it with Hilbert Patch Embedding (HPE) module to construct a new ViT branch. Finally, we fuse the features extracted from the two ViT branches to obtain both global view and semantic coherence. In addition, we employ multi-view random aggressive augmentation to broaden the feature distribution, enabling the model to learn more comprehensive and richer contrastive features. Our results on five datasets demonstrate that ECCT outperforms previous clustering methods. In particular, the ARI metric of ECCT on the STL-10 (ImageNet-Dogs) dataset is 0.852 (0.424), which is 10.3% (4.8%) higher than the best baseline.

Factor structure and measurement invariance of the University Demand-Resource Questionnaire: further evidence from Hungarian university students.

Purpose: The present study aimed to further examine the factor structure and measurement invariance of the UDRQ among a sample of Hungarian university students. Methods: Firstly, the factor structure of the UDRQ was examined among 837 Hungarian university students. Specifically, two measurement models (first-order model and second-order model) were constructed and compared. Secondly, the internal consistency reliability of the UDRQ was examined. Thirdly, measurement invariance of the UDRQ was evaluated across genders. Finally, measurement invariance of the UDRQ was evaluated across two different samples. Results: It was found that the first-order model outperformed the second-order model and better represented the factor structure of the UDRQ subscales. Results of Cronbach's alpha and Composite Reliability suggested that the internal consistency reliabilities of the two UDRQ subscales were satisfactory. Measurement invariance analysis revealed that the UDRQ measurement model was strict invariant across genders and samples. Conclusion: The findings of the present study indicated that the UDRQ displayed satisfactory reliability and validity and could be used to assess demands and resources of Hungarian university students.

Incremental RPN: Hierarchical Region Proposal Network for Apple Leaf Disease Detection in Natural Environments.

Apple leaf diseases can seriously affect apple production and quality, and accurately detecting them can improve the efficiency of disease monitoring. Owing to the complex natural growth environment, apple leaf lesions may be easily confused with background noise, leading to poor performance. In this study, a cascaded Incremental Region Proposal Network (Inc-RPN) is proposed to accurately detect apple leaf diseases in natural environments. The proposed Inc-RPN has a two-layer RPN architecture, where the precursor RPN is leveraged to generate diseased leaf proposals, and the successor RPN focuses on extracting target disease spots based on diseased leaf proposals. In the successor RPN, a low-level feature aggregation module is designed to fully utilize the bridged features and preserve the semantic information of the target disease spots. An incremental module is also leveraged to extract aggregated diseased leaf features and target disease spot features. Finally, a novel position anchor generator is designed to generate anchors based on diseased leaf proposals. The experimental results show that the proposed Inc-RPN performs very well on the FALD_CED and Apple Leaf Disease datasets, showing that it can accurately perform apple leaf disease detection tasks.

Speciation of selenium-containing small molecules in urine and cell lysate by CE-ICPMS with in-capillary enrichment.

The quantitative speciation of selenium in biological systems is highly important for evaluating health status and elucidating transformations of Se species in physiological and pathological processes. Hyphenation of capillary electrophoresis with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (CE-ICPMS) is promising for this purpose. However, the unfavorable or insufficient sensitivity for selenium analysis with CE-ICPMS seriously limits its practical applications in biological analysis, e.g., cell analysis. Therefore, it is crucial to improve the detection sensitivity for Se species. In this study, CE-ICPMS sensitivities for five selenium species (selenocystamine (SeA), methyl-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-1-seleno-ß-d-galactopyranoside (SeSug 1), selenomethionine (SeMet), Se-Methylselenocysteine (MeSeCys) and selenocystine (SeCys)) were improved by in-capillary stacking via pH gradient between the zones of sample-leading buffer and the incorporation of isopropanol. The improvement on sensitivity of up to 9.9 folds was achieved in different biological samples, with LODs of 0.29-0.52 µg L-1. This approach was further applied for Se speciation in cell lysate, urine and culture medium. It showed that SeMet was more readily reduced in the medium and favorably accumulated by HepG2, HuH-7 and HCCLM3 cells with respect to SeSug 1 and MeSeCys. In cells, all the three Se species were largely transformed into other Se species. Furthermore, more than 70 % of SeMet reduced in medium was transformed into unknown Se species after 48-h interaction with cells.

Synthesis of Sb688-: Crafting a Homoatomic Antimony Nanotorus.

Pure-element cyclic molecules have garnered extensive attention owing to their intriguing structures and promising applications. Among these, carbon-based cyclic molecules such as cyclo[n]carbon (Cn, n = 10-26) and carbon nanotori have ignited significant interest in both experimental and theoretical investigations. However, systematic investigations of analogous cyclic counterparts of heavier main-group elements are limited, with only a few known by theoretical studies. Furthermore, these corresponding cyclic structures lack synthetic examples in the condensed phase, primarily attributed to their high reactivity resulting from lone electron pairs and the absence of electronic delocalization, which typically aids in stabilizing the structure. In this work, we introduce the pioneering synthesis of a pure antimony-based inorganic nanotorus, denoted as Sb688-, facilitated by the incorporation of C60 for oxidation by utilizing wet-chemistry methodologies. The unique nanotorus structure was meticulously examined via single-crystalline X-ray diffraction, unveiling its composition of 68 antimony atoms and forming a tubular structure with approximate dimensions of 18.5 × 18.4 Å2 in a square shape. Theoretical calculations further revealed that the nanotorus structure, characterized by 16 delocalized electrons distributed across eight 3c-2e σ bonds, effectively saturated the eight two-coordinated Sb atoms within the cluster. This study unveils an innovative approach to synthesizing cyclic compounds solely from pure elements, departing from traditional methods dependent on chemical vapor deposition or surface synthesis, and heralds a profound paradigm shift in physical science.

Osthole, a Coumarin from Cnidium monnieri: A Review on Its Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics, Safety, and Innovative Drug Delivery Platforms.

Osthole, a coumarin compound mainly derived from Cnidium monnieri (L.), has attracted much interest from the scientific community owing to its multiple therapeutic properties. However, its pharmacological mechanism, pharmacokinetics, and toxicological effects are far from clear. Furthermore, the potential drug delivery platforms of osthole remain to be comprehensively delineated. The present review aimed to systematically summarize the most up-to-date information related to pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, and safety issues related to osthole, and discuss the investigations of novel drug delivery platforms. The information herein discussed was retrieved from authoritative databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and so on, reviewing information published up until February of 2024. New evidence shows that osthole induces a sequence of therapeutic actions and has a moderate absorption rate and rapid metabolic characteristics. In addition, this phytoconstituent possesses potential hepatotoxicity, and caution should be exercised against the risk of the drug combination. Furthermore, given its needy solubility in aqueous medium and non-organizational targeting, novel drug delivery methods have been designed to overcome these shortcomings. Given the properties of osthole, its therapeutic benefits ought to be elucidated in a greater array of comprehensive research studies, and the molecular mechanisms underlying these benefits should be explored.

Leader Selection in Impulsive Multiagent Systems With Switching Topologies.

In leader-follower multiagent systems (MASs), seeking an efficient scheme to select a set of agents as leaders is important for realizing the expected cooperative performance. In this article, the problem of minimal leader selection is investigated for impulsive general linear MASs with switching topologies. This study focuses on selecting a set of agents as leaders that receive information from a reference signal directly, while minimizing the number of leaders, subject to consensus tracking performance. First, adopting the average dwell time technique and a time-ratio constraint, an explicit criterion for consensus tracking is derived as prepreparation for leader selection. Second, applying the submodular optimization framework, leader selection metrics are established based on the derived criterion. Third, employing the greedy rule, an efficient leader selection scheme is presented according to the established metrics. The scheme comprises two polynomial-time algorithms that return selected leader sets within a logarithmic bound of the optimum. Finally, the effectiveness of the developed leader selection scheme is verified using an illustrative example.

Identification of susceptibility modules and characteristic genes to osteoarthritis by WGCNA.

The susceptibility modules and characteristic genes of patients with osteoarthritis (OA) were determined by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), and the role of immune cells in OA related microenvironment was analyzed. GSE98918 and GSE117999 data sets are from GEO database. R language was used to conduct difference analysis for the new data set after merging. The formation of gene co-expression network, screening of susceptibility modules and screening of core genes are all through WGCNA. GO and KEGG enrichment analyses were used for Hub genes. The characteristic genes of the disease were obtained by Lasso regression screening. SSGSEA was used to estimate immune cell abundance in sample and a series of correlation analyses were performed. WGCNA was used to form 6 gene co-expression modules. The yellow-green module is identified as the susceptible module of OA. 202 genes were identified as core genes. Finally, RHOT2, FNBP4 and NARF were identified as the characteristic genes of OA. The results showed that the characteristic genes of OA were positively correlated with plasmacytoid dendritic cells, NKT cells and immature dendritic cells, but negatively correlated with active B cells. MDSC were the most abundant immune cells in cartilage. This study identified the Hippo signaling pathway, mTOR signaling pathway, and three characteristic genes (RHOT2, FNBP4, NARF) as being associated with osteoarthritis (OA). These three genes are downregulated in the cartilage of OA patients and may serve as biomarkers for early diagnosis and targeted therapy. Proper regulation of immune cells may aid in the treatment of OA. Future research should focus on developing tools to detect these genes and exploring their therapeutic applications.

Integrated transcriptomic analysis and machine learning for characterizing diagnostic biomarkers and immune cell infiltration in fetal growth restriction.

Background: Fetal growth restriction (FGR) occurs in 10% of pregnancies worldwide. Placenta dysfunction, as one of the most common causes of FGR, is associated with various poor perinatal outcomes. The main objectives of this study were to screen potential diagnostic biomarkers for FGR and to evaluate the function of immune cell infiltration in the process of FGR. Methods: Firstly, differential expression genes (DEGs) were identified in two Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets, and gene set enrichment analysis was performed. Diagnosis-related key genes were identified by using three machine learning algorithms (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator, random forest, and support vector machine model), and the nomogram was then developed. The receiver operating characteristic curve, calibration curve, and decision curve analysis curve were used to verify the validity of the diagnostic model. Using cell-type identification by estimating relative subsets of RNA transcripts (CIBERSORT), the characteristics of immune cell infiltration in placental tissue of FGR were evaluated and the candidate key immune cells of FGR were screened. In addition, this study also validated the diagnostic efficacy of TREM1 in the real world and explored associations between TREM1 and various clinical features. Results: By overlapping the genes selected by three machine learning algorithms, four key genes were identified from 290 DEGs, and the diagnostic model based on the key genes showed good predictive performance (AUC = 0.971). The analysis of immune cell infiltration indicated that a variety of immune cells may be involved in the development of FGR, and nine candidate key immune cells of FGR were screened. Results from real-world data further validated TREM1 as an effective diagnostic biomarker (AUC = 0.894) and TREM1 expression was associated with increased uterine artery PI (UtA-PI) (p-value = 0.029). Conclusion: Four candidate hub genes (SCD, SPINK1, TREM1, and HIST1H2BB) were identified, and the nomogram was constructed for FGR diagnosis. TREM1 was not only associated with a variety of key immune cells but also correlated with increased UtA-PI. The results of this study could provide some new clues for future research on the prediction and treatment of FGR.

Indefinite Robust Linear Quadratic Optimal Regulator for Discrete-Time Uncertain Singular Markov Jump Systems.

The robust LQ optimal regulator problem for discrete-time uncertain singular Markov jump systems (SMJSs) is solved by introducing a new quadratic cost function established by the penalty function method, which combines the penalty function and the weighting matrices. First, the indefinite robust optimal regulator problem for uncertain SMJSs is transformed into the robust optimal regulator problem with positive definite weighting matrices for uncertain Markov jump systems (MJSs). The transformed robust LQ problem is settled by the robust least-squares method, and the condition of the existence and analytic form of the robust optimal regulator are proposed. On the infinite horizon, the optimal state feedback is obtained, which can guarantee the regularity, causality, and stochastic stability of the corresponding optimal closed-loop system and eliminate the uncertain parameters of the closed-loop system. A numerical example and a practical example of DC motor are used to verify the validity of the conclusions.

Early Postoperative Patient-Reported Outcomes of Sarcopenia Versus Nonsarcopenia in Patients Undergoing Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery for Lung Cancer.

BACKGROUND: To compare early postoperative patient-reported outcomes between sarcopenic and nonsarcopenic patients undergoing video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for lung cancer. METHODS: The data used in this study were acquired from a longitudinal prospective study (CN-PRO-Lung 1) between November 2017 and January 2020. Skeletal muscle index was measured at L3 vertebral level on preoperative computed tomography to identify sarcopenia based on an established threshold. Symptoms severity and status of functional impairments were reported as proportions of patients with clinically relevant moderate-to-severe scores on 0-10 scales, which were measured by using the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory-Lung Cancer at baseline, daily postoperative hospitalization, and weekly after discharge up to 4 weeks. Symptom severity, functional status, and postoperative clinical outcomes were compared between the sarcopenia and nonsarcopenia groups. RESULTS: This study included 125 patients undergoing VATS for lung cancer. Sarcopenia was identified in 34 (27.2%) patients. Sarcopenic patients reported more moderate-to-severe pain (P = 0.002) at discharge and more moderate-to-severe fatigue (P = 0.027) during the 4 weeks after discharge. Besides, sarcopenic patients had a longer recovery time from both pain (P = 0.002) and fatigue (P = 0.007) than nonsarcopenic patients. Meanwhile, no significant between-group difference was found in the postoperative clinical outcomes (all P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Sarcopenic patients undergoing VATS for lung cancer may have more pain and fatigue, as well as longer symptoms recovery time than nonsarcopenic patients during the early postoperative period.

RNF135 Promotes Human Osteosarcoma Cell Growth and Inhibits Apoptosis by Upregulating the PI3K/AKT Pathway.

BACKGROUND: Ring finger protein 135 (RNF135) is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that has been implicated in the tumorigenesis of multiple human malignancies. However, whether RNF135 plays a role in the development of human osteosarcoma (OS) remains unknown. METHODS: RNF135 expression in 20 human OS and 20 human osteochondroma specimens were evaluated by means of immunohistochemistry staining. The effects of shRNA-mediated RNF135 knockdown on human OS cell growth and apoptosis were evaluated through a panel of in vitro studies on cell proliferation, colony formation, exposure of phosphatidylserine on the cell surface, and caspase 3/7 activation. The protein levels of PI3K, AKT, and p-AKT were determined by western blot analysis. RESULTS: We detected significantly higher RNF135 levels in human OS tissues than human osteochondroma tissues. In in vitro studies, shRNA-mediated RNF135 knockdown in human OS cells inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis. In addition, RNF135 knockdown reduced PI3K and p-AKT protein levels and activated caspase 3 and 7. CONCLUSIONS: These results supported that RNF135 contributes to human OS development through PI3K/AKT-dependent mechanisms. Targeting RNF135 may provide a new therapeutic approach for treating this human malignancy.

How Can Anomalous-Diffusion Neural Networks Under Connectomics Generate Optimized Spatiotemporal Dynamics.

Spatiotemporal dynamics in the brain have been recognized as strongly related to the formation of perceived and cognitive diseases, such as delusions and hallucinations in Alzheimer's disease. However, two practical considerations are rarely mentioned in related mechanism research: the connectomics networking and the anomalous diffusion generated by the complex medium between neurons and the complex topology of neural networks, respectively. Furthermore, how to optimize the corresponding dynamics behaviors has excellent implications for treating brain diseases. This article first realizes the networking under connectomics for an anomalous-diffusion single-neuron model and applies a nonlinear state feedback control to generate optimized dynamic behaviors, which provides a paradigm of nonequilibrium self-organization driven by anomalous diffusion. Then, by tracing the root distribution of the characteristic equation, some controlled conditions causing or inhibiting Turing instability and Hopf bifurcation are deduced, and the effects of self-diffusion and cross diffusion on Turing instability range are also revealed. At last, thorough numerical simulations are updated to illustrate the results. It is emphasized that delay, self-diffusion, cross diffusion, and fractional order occupy dominant positions in determining the network's spatiotemporal dynamics, and utilizing the control strategy can efficiently reduce Turing instability and delay Hopf bifurcation.

Volatile oil from Acori graminei Rhizoma affected the synaptic plasticity of rats with tic disorders by modulating dopaminergic and glutamatergic systems.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Acori graminei Rhizoma is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine for treating TD, with its main component being calamus volatile oil. Volatile Oil from Acori graminei Rhizoma (VOA)can protect nerve cells and alleviate learning and memory disorders. However, the mechanism of anti-tic of VOA is still unclear. AIM OF THE STUDY: We aimed to explore the effects of Volatile Oil from Acori Tatarinowii Rhizoma (VOA) on striatal dopaminergic and glutamatergic systems and synaptic plasticity of rats with Tic Disorder (TD), as well as its pharmaceutical mechanism against TD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study involved 48 (three-week-old) Sprague Dawley (SD) rats, which were randomly divided into two primary groups: Control (8) and TD (40). Rats in the TD group were injected intraperitoneally with 3,3-iminodipropionitrile (IDPN) to construct the TD rat model. They were divided into five subgroups: Model, Tiapride, VOA-high, VOA-medium, and VOA-low (N = 8). After modeling, VOA was administrated to rats in the VOA groups through gavage (once/day for four consecutive weeks), while rats in the blank control and model groups received normal saline of the same volume. The animals' behavioral changes were reflected using the stereotypic and motor behavior scores. After interferences, patterns of striatal neurons and the density of dendritic spines were investigated using H&E and Golgi staining, and the ultrastructure of striatal synapses was examined using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Furthermore, Ca2+ content was determined using the Ca2+ detector, and Dopamine (DA) and Glutamate (GLU) contents in serum and striatum were detected through ELISA. Finally, DRD1, DRD2, AMPAR1, NMPAR1, DAT, VMAT2, CAMKⅡ, and CREB expression in the striatum was detected using Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), Western Blotting (WB) and Immunohistochemical (IHC) methods. RESULTS: Compared to rats in the blank control and model groups, rats in the VOA groups showed lower stereotypic behavior scores. Furthermore, rats in the VOA groups exhibited relieved, neuron damage and increased quantities of neuronal dendrites and dendritic spines Additionally, based on TEM images show that, the VOA groups showed a clear synaptic structure and increased amounts of postsynaptic dense substances and synaptic vesicles. The VOA groups also exhibited reduced Ca2+ contents, and upregulation of DRD1, DRD2, DAT, AMPAR1, and NMPAR1 and downregulation of VMAT-2, CAMKⅡ, and CREB in the striatum. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, VOA could influence synaptic plasticity by tuning the dopaminergic and glutamatergic systems, thus relieving TD.

The Relationship Between Financial Stress and Job Performance in China: The Role of Work Engagement and Emotional Exhaustion.

Purpose: Economic pressure has become an important source of stress for employees. However, the conclusions regarding the relationship between financial stress and employees' work behavior are not consistent. The present study explored the relationship between financial stress and employee job performance with a Chinese sample and further explored how and when financial stress influenced job performance. Samples and Methods: The present study investigated five distinct companies operating in diverse sectors using a convenience sampling technique. Three hundred and twenty-one employees were recruited. Financial Stress, Job Performance, Work Engagement, and Emotional Exhaustion were measured for this investigation. The mediation effect was tested using a four-step procedure. The analysis of the moderated mediation model was performed using Hayes's PROCESS macro for SPSS. Results: The results found financial stress was positively related to job performance, and work engagement mediated the positive relationship between financial stress and job performance. In addition, emotional exhaustion moderated the mediating process between financial stress, work engagement, and job performance. Specifically, the beneficial effect of financial stress on work engagement disappeared when emotional exhaustion was high. Besides, a high level of emotional exhaustion weakened the positive relationship between work engagement and job performance. Conclusion: Financial stress plays a motivating role in employees' job performance in China. Work engagement is a key factor between financial stress and job performance. Notably, the positive effect of financial stress and work engagement on job performance is contingent upon the individual's level of emotional exhaustion. These results might explain the inconsistency of the effect of financial stress in previous research. Moreover, this finding suggests that emotional factors may not only be the result of stress but can also influence its effects.

Prenatal Diagnosed Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum: Identifying the Underlying Genetic Etiologies.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the genetic etiologies underlying agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC) and its pregnancy outcomes in the era of next-generation sequencing. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on prospectively collected prenatal ACC cases in which amniocentesis was performed between January 2016 and December 2022. ACC was divided into non-isolated and isolated according to the presence or absence of ultrasound abnormalities. Chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA), karyotyping and exome sequencing (ES) were performed after genetic counseling. Pregnancy outcomes were assessed by pediatric neurosurgeons and were followed up by telephone through their parents. RESULTS: Sixty-eight fetuses with ACC were enrolled in this study. CMA detected eight cases with pathogenic copy number variants (CNVs) and all were non-isolated ACC, with a detection rate of 11.8% (8/68). Among the CMA abnormalities, the majority (6/8) were detectable by karyotyping. ES was performed in 26 cases with normal CMA, revealing pathogenic or likely pathogenic gene variations in 12 cases (46.2%, 12/26), involving L1CMA, SMARCB1, PPP2R1A, ARID1B, USP34, CDC42, NFIA and DCC genes. The detection rates of ES in isolated and non-isolated ACC were 40% (6/15) and 54.5% (6/11), respectively. After excluding cases where pregnancy was terminated (56 cases), there were 12 live births, ranging in age from 15 months to 7 years. Of these, 91.7% (11 out of 12) demonstrated normal neurodevelopmental outcomes. Specifically, all five cases with isolated ACC and negative ES results exhibited normal neurodevelopment. The remaining six cases with favorable outcomes were all isolated ACC, among which ES identified variants of DCC and USP34 gene in one each case. The other four cases were CMA-negative and declined ES. CONCLUSIONS: We highlight the efficacy of prenatal ES in determining the genetic etiology of ACC, whether isolated or not. Favorable neurodevelopmental outcomes were observed when ACC was isolated and with normal ES results.

Vonoprazan-amoxicillin dual therapy for Helicobacter pylori eradication in Chinese population: A prospective, multicenter, randomized, two-stage study.

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of Vonoprazan-amoxicillin dual therapy (VAT) in the treatment of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is controversial. AIM: To evaluate the efficacy of VAT in the Chinese population. METHODS: This prospective, multicenter, randomized, open-label, and two-stage study was conducted at 23 centers in Fujian, China (May 2021-April 2022). H. pylori-infected patients were randomized to bismuth quadruple therapy (BQT), BQT-Vonoprazan (BQT-V), seven-day VAT (VAT-7), ten-day VAT (VAT-10), and fourteen-day VAT (VAT-14) groups. The primary endpoint was the H. pylori eradication rate. The secondary endpoint was the frequency of adverse events. This study was registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR2100045778. RESULTS: In the first stage, VAT-7 and BQT-V groups were selected for early termination because less than 23 among 28 cases were eradicated. In the second stage, the eradication rates for BQT, VAT-10, and VA-14 were 80.2% [95% confidence interval (95%CI): 71.4%-86.8%], 93.2% (86.6%-96.7%), 92.2% (85.3%-96.0%) in the intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis, and 80.9% (95%CI: 71.7%-87.5%), 94.0% (87.5%-97.2%), and 93.9% (87.4%-97.2%) in the per-protocol analysis. The ITT analysis showed a higher eradication rate in the VAT-10 and VAT-14 groups than in the BQT group (P = 0.022 and P = 0.046, respectively). The incidence of adverse events in the VAT-10 and VAT-14 groups was lower than in the BQT group (25.27% and 13.73% vs 37.62%, respectively; P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: VAT with a duration of 10 or 14 days achieves a higher eradication rate than the BQT, with a more tolerable safety profile in H. pylori-infected patients in Fujian.

Efficient Solar Steam Generation by Multiscale Photothermal Structures Derived from Cactus Stems.

Solar steam generation (SSG) is a promising technique that may find applications in seawater desalination, sewage treatment, etc. The core component for SSG devices is photothermal materials, among which biomass-derived carbon materials have been extensively attempted due to their low cost, wide availability, and diversified microstructures. However, the practical performance of these materials is not satisfactory because of the multifaceted structural requirements for photothermal materials in SSG scenarios. In this work, cactus stems, which possess abundant and multiscaled pores for simultaneous sunlight gathering and water evaporation, are applied as the photothermal structure for SSG devices after mild heat treatment. Consequently, the SSG device based on the carbonized cactus stems delivers high performance (an absorption rate of 93.7% of the solar spectrum, an evaporation rate of 2.02 kg m-2 h-1, and an efficiency of 91.4% under one solar irradiation). We anticipate that the material can be a potential candidate for efficient SSG devices and may shed light on the sustainable supply of water.