Accurate prediction of myopic progression and high myopia by machine learning.

Background: Myopia is a leading cause of visual impairment in Asia and worldwide. However, accurately predicting the progression of myopia and the high risk of myopia remains a challenge. This study aims to develop a predictive model for the development of myopia. Methods: We first retrospectively gathered 612 530 medical records from five independent cohorts, encompassing 227 543 patients ranging from infants to young adults. Subsequently, we developed a multivariate linear regression algorithm model to predict the progression of myopia and the risk of high myopia. Result: The model to predict the progression of myopia achieved an R2 value of 0.964 vs a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.119D [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.119, 1.146] in the internal validation set. It demonstrated strong generalizability, maintaining consistent performance across external validation sets: R2 = 0.950 vs MAE = 0.119D (95% CI: 0.119, 1.136) in validation study 1, R2 = 0.950 vs MAE = 0.121D (95% CI: 0.121, 1.144) in validation study 2, and R2 = 0.806 vs MAE = -0.066D (95% CI: -0.066, 0.569) in the Shanghai Children Myopia Study. In the Beijing Children Eye Study, the model achieved an R2 of 0.749 vs a MAE of 0.178D (95% CI: 0.178, 1.557). The model to predict the risk of high myopia achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.99 in the internal validation set and consistently high area under the curve values of 0.99, 0.99, 0.96 and 0.99 in the respective external validation sets. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates accurate prediction of myopia progression and risk of high myopia providing valuable insights for tailoring strategies to personalize and optimize the clinical management of myopia in children.

Hydrochemical evolution characteristics and genesis of groundwater under long-term infiltration (2007-2018) of reclaimed water in Chaobai River, Beijing.

The reuse of reclaimed water (RW) for river ecological restoration in global water-shortage regions has inevitably brought some potential risks for groundwater. However, little is known about the effects of reclaimed water on the hydrochemical evolution of groundwater especially under long-term infiltration conditions. Herein, 11-years monitoring data (2007-2018) of reclaimed water and groundwater were adopted to analyze the characteristics and genesis of groundwater hydrochemical evolution under long-term infiltration of reclaimed water from Jian River to Chaobai River in Beijing. The results showed that the hydrochemical components in groundwater totally performed a significant increase in Na+, Cl-, and K+and decrease in Ca2+, Mg2+, and HCO3- concentration after long-term infiltration of reclaimed water. Meanwhile, a significant hydrochemical evolution difference between the groundwater of Jian River and Chaobai River was observed. In Jian River, the hydrochemical type in groundwater shifted gradually from HCO3-Ca·Mg to the type of HCO3·Cl-Na·Ca approaching reclaimed water. In contrast, the hydrochemical evolution in the Chaobai River shows an obvious opposite trend from HCO3-Ca·Mg to HCO3·Cl-Na·Mg and finally deviating reclaimed water type of Cl·HCO3·SO4-Na. PHREEQC simulation indicated that the differences in hydrochemical evolution were mediated synergically by sediment thickness and geochemical processes (e.g. mixing and sulfate reduction). In such mediators, thinner sediment and strong mixing in the Jian River were confirmed to be the genesis of groundwater hydrochemical evolution progressively approaching reclaimed water. Different from the Jian River, multiple regression analyses revealed that the genesis of groundwater hydrochemical evolution in the Chaobai River was divided into two stages according to the increase of sediment thickness. Reclaimed water quality and infiltration amount are the leading proposed cause in the initial stage (2007-2008) due to thinner sediment formation, contributing 53.5% and 29.8% within the 95% confidence interval, respectively. Subsequently, the rise in sediment thickness is proved to play a crucial role in groundwater hydrochemical evolution trend away from reclaimed water (2009-2018), with a contribution of 41.6% within the 95% confidence interval. It is mainly attributed to the reduced reclaimed water infiltration rate and favorable sulfate reduction conditions. These findings advance our understanding on groundwater hydrochemical evolution under long-term infiltration of reclaimed water and also guide future prediction of evolution trends.

Insights into electrochemical decomposition mechanism of lipopolysaccharide using TiO2 nanotubes arrays electrode.

Electrochemical decomposition of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was firstly investigated over titania nanotubes (TNTs) arrays electrode. The TNTs layer of this electrode consisted of numerous tubular structures which arranged tightly, and the average diameter of each nanotube is 100 ±â€¯5 nm. The degradation of LPS and polysaccharides followed pseudo-first-order kinetics. The optimal LPS removal ratio was nearly 80 %. The endotoxin toxicity of LPS steadily decreased during the electrolysis process. The acute toxicity of the intermediates increased suddenly at the beginning of electrochemical degradation process (< 5 min), then maintained high inhibition ratio (> 95 %) for about 150 min, and decreased significantly (< 10 %) after electrolysis for 240 min. After 20 min of electrolysis, LPS with molecular weight of 116,854 Da was transformed into small molecular compounds with molecular weights of 59,312 - 12,209 Da. Possible degradation and detoxification mechanisms of LPS including electric-field-force-driving accumulation, adsorption and direct electron transfer on TNTs arrays electrode, and •OH oxidation were proposed. This study underscores that electrochemical technique can be applied to eliminate and decrease the toxicity of LPS from contaminated water.

Integration of phospholipid-complex nanocarrier assembly with endogenous N-oleoylethanolamine for efficient stroke therapy.

BACKGROUND: Leading to more and more deaths and disabilities, stroke has become a serious threat to human health. What's more, few effective drugs are available in clinic till now. RESULTS: In this research, we prepared a novel neuroprotective nanoformation (OEA-SPC NPs) via the combination of the nanoparticle drug delivery system with the endogenous N-oleoylethanolamine (OEA). By forming hydrogen bond between OEA and the carrier-soybean phosphatidylcholine (SPC), the form of OEA was turned into amorphus state when loading to the nanoparticles, which greatly improved its bioavailability. Then the following systematic experiments revealed the efficient neuroprotective effect of OEA-SPC NPs in vivo. Compared with the MCAO group, the cerebral infarct volume was reduced by 81.1%, and the edema degree by 78.4% via the oral administration of OEA-SPC NPs. And the neurological deficit scores illustrated that the MCAO rats treated with OEA-SPC NPs exhibited significantly less neurological dysfunction. The Morris water maze test indicated that the spatial learning and memory of cerebral ischemia model rats were almost recovered to the normal level. Besides, the OEA-SPC NPs could inhibit the inflammation of reperfusion to a very slight level. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the OEA-SPC NPs have a great chance to be a potential anti-stroke formation for clinic application and actually bring hope to thousands of stroke patients.

Response of PAH-degrading genes to PAH bioavailability in the overlying water, suspended sediment, and deposited sediment of the Yangtze River.

The degrading genes of hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) serve as indicators of in situ HOC degradation potential, and the existing forms and bioavailability of HOCs might influence the distribution of HOC-degrading genes in natural waters. However, little research has been conducted to study the relationship between them. In the present study, nahAc and nidA genes, which act as biomarkers for naphthalene- and pyrene-degrading bacteria, were selected as model genotypes to investigate the response of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-degrading genes to PAH bioavailability in the overlying water, suspended sediment (SPS), and deposited sediment of the Yangtze River. The freely dissolved concentration, typically used to reflect HOC bioavailability, and total dissolved, as well as sorbed concentrations of PAHs were determined. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all the PAH-ring hydroxylating dioxygenase gene sequences of Gram-negative bacteria (PAH-RHD[GN]) were closely related to nahAc, nagAc, nidA, and uncultured PAH-RHD genes. The PAH-RHD[GN] gene diversity as well as nahAc and nidA gene copy numbers decreased in the following order: deposited sediment>SPS>overlying water. The nahAc and nidA gene abundance was not significantly correlated with environmental parameters but was significantly correlated with the bioavailable existing forms of naphthalene and pyrene in the three phases. The nahAc gene copy numbers in the overlying water and deposited sediment were positively correlated with freely dissolved naphthalene concentrations in the overlying and pore water phases, respectively, and so were nidA gene copy numbers. This study suggests that the distribution and abundance of HOC-degrading bacterial population depend on the HOC bioavailability in aquatic environments.

Chromatographic behavior of epirubicin and its analogues on high-purity silica in hydrophilic interaction chromatography.

Hydrophilic interaction chromatography has been applied for the separation of epirubicin and its analogues using high-purity silica column with aqueous-organic mobile phase. Parameters affecting the chromatographic behavior of the solutes such as organic modifier, buffer pH, ionic strength and sample size, have been investigated. Of utmost importance for successful separation of these analogues is the choice of organic modifier, since it impacts both the solvent selectivity and the ionization of silica silanols as well as buffer solution, and consequently the retention behavior of solutes. Acetonitrile was shown to offer superior separation of these analogues to methanol, isopropanol or tetrahydrofuran. Results of the effects of organic modifier, buffer pH and ion strength indicate that the retention mechanism is a mixed-mode of adsorption and ion exchange. In addition, an irreversible adsorption of these compounds was found on silica in the weakly acidic or neutral mobile phases, and the effect of various factors on irreversible adsorption was also preliminarily discussed. More significantly, these basic compounds have exhibited peaks with a slanted front and a sharp tail, a typical overloading peak profile belonging to the behavior of competitive anti-Langmuir isotherm by increasing the sample size at the experimental conditions.

[Study on separation of epirubicin and doxorubicin isomers by displacement chromatography].

Displacement chromatography was successfully used to separate, at the preparative scale, a binary isomer mixture of epirubicin and doxorubicin, which are anthracycline antitumor antibiotics, on an analytical column (Kromasil KR100-10C18 column, 250 mm x 4.6 mm i.d., 10 microm). Displacement parameters such as the type and the concentration of displacer, the composition and the flow-rate of mobile phase were investigated. The displacer employed was 30 g/L benzethonium chloride. The flow-rate was 0.2 mL/min. Loading of feed at lower initial organic level of mobile phase coupled with displacement at higher organic level was found to give efficient separation. The binary isomer mixture of 30 mg was separated on the analytical column. The results have indicated that displacement mode had high efficiency, greatly reduced solvent consumption in the process of purification, and offered the possibility of both high resolution and high loading. It has also demonstrated again that high performance displacement chromatography is one of the effective methods for the purification of therapeutic compounds in industrial processes.

Displacement chromatography of isomers and therapeutic compounds.

Displacement chromatography was successfully used to separate a binary isomer mixture, epirubicin and doxorubicin, on Kromasil KR100-10 C18 250x4.6 mm I.D. (10 microm) column. Displacement parameters such as the types and the concentrations of displacer, the composition and the flow rate of the mobile phase were critically examined in this study. The displacer employed was 30 mg/ml benzethonium chloride. Loading of feed at lower initial organic level of mobile phase coupled with displacement at higher organic level was found to give efficient separation. A 30-mg amount of binary isomer mixture was separated on an analytical column. The purification of epirubicin from the closely related impurities present in raw product solution by displacement chromatography was also investigated. The purity of epirubicin required was greater than 99% with a recovery of 60%. The results have indicated that this process made good use of the high feed load, low solvent costs, and high resolution characteristics of displacement chromatography and offered the chromatographic engineer a powerful tool for the preparative purification of therapeutic compounds.