Prevalence of chronic diarrhea and its association with obesity in a Chinese community-based population.

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological data on chronic diarrhea in the Chinese population are lacking, and the association between obesity and chronic diarrhea in East Asian populations remains inconclusive. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of chronic diarrhea and its association with obesity in a representative community-dwelling Chinese population. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was based on a multistage, randomized cluster sampling involving 3503 residents aged 20-69 years from representative urban and rural communities in Beijing. Chronic diarrhea was assessed using the Bristol Stool Form Scale (BSFS), and obesity was determined based on body mass index (BMI). Logistic regression analysis and restricted cubic splines were used to evaluate the relationship between obesity and chronic diarrhea. RESULTS: The standardized prevalence of chronic diarrhea in the study population was 12.88%. The average BMI was 24.67 kg/m 2 . Of all the participants, 35.17% (1232/3503) of participants were classified as overweight and 16.13% (565/3503) as obese. After adjustment for potential confounders, individuals with obesity had an increased risk of chronic diarrhea as compared to normal weight individuals (odds ratio = 1.58, 95% confidence interval: 1.20-2.06). A nonlinear association between BMI and the risk of chronic diarrhea was observed in community residents of males and the overall participant group ( P  = 0.026 and 0.017, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: This study presents initial findings on the prevalence of chronic diarrhea among residents of Chinese communities while offering substantiated evidence regarding the significant association between obesity and chronic diarrhea. These findings offer a novel perspective on gastrointestinal health management.

Applications of Data Characteristic AI-Assisted Raman Spectroscopy in Pathological Classification.

Raman spectroscopy has been widely used for label-free biomolecular analysis of cells and tissues for pathological diagnosis in vitro and in vivo. AI technology facilitates disease diagnosis based on Raman spectroscopy, including machine learning (PCA and SVM), manifold learning (UMAP), and deep learning (ResNet and AlexNet). However, it is not clear how to optimize the appropriate AI classification model for different types of Raman spectral data. Here, we selected five representative Raman spectral data sets, including endometrial carcinoma, hepatoma extracellular vesicles, bacteria, melanoma cell, diabetic skin, with different characteristics regarding sample size, spectral data size, Raman shift range, tissue sites, Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence, and significant Raman shifts (i.e., wavenumbers with significant differences between groups), to explore the performance of different AI models (e.g., PCA-SVM, SVM, UMAP-SVM, ResNet or AlexNet). For data set of large spectral data size, Resnet performed better than PCA-SVM and UMAP. By building data characteristic-assisted AI classification model, we optimized the network parameters (e.g., principal components, activation function, and loss function) of AI model based on data size and KL divergence etc. The accuracy improved from 85.1 to 94.6% for endometrial carcinoma grading, from 77.1 to 90.7% for hepatoma extracellular vesicles detection, from 89.3 to 99.7% for melanoma cell detection, from 88.1 to 97.9% for bacterial identification, from 53.7 to 85.5% for diabetic skin screening, and mean time expense of 5 s.

Psychometric network analysis of the Intuitive Eating Scale-2 in Chinese general adults.

The Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2) is a measure of intuitive eating behaviors that has been extensively validated, with traditional latent variable modeling approaches, in youth and adults from many different populations, including college students in China. However, there is still a lack of research on the psychometric properties of the IES-2 in adults from the Chinese general population. Moreover, psychometric network analysis, as a complement to traditional latent variable modeling approaches, has not been used for examining the psychometric properties of the IES-2. Thus, the present study used a psychometric network approach to evaluate the psychometric properties of the IES-2 in Chinese adults from the general population. A sample of 700 Chinese general adults (50% women; Mage = 31.13 years, SD = 9.19) recruited online were included in the present study. Psychometric network analysis was performed. Exploratory graph analysis (EGA) identified four dimensions, which were well separated in the estimated network. The network structure showed excellent stability and metric measurement invariance (i.e., network loadings) across men and women. Furthermore, several items on the IES-2 were identified as key nodes in the network of the IES-2 that may be important for the development and maintenance of intuitive eating. For example, two items (i.e., "I trust my body to tell me when to eat," and "I trust my body to tell me when to stop eating") related to reliance on body cues were the most impactful nodes in the complete network. The findings of our study provide a greater understanding of the IES-2 from the perspective of network analysis and have implications for applications of intuitive eating interventions for general populations.

AIROGS: Artificial Intelligence for Robust Glaucoma Screening Challenge.

The early detection of glaucoma is essential in preventing visual impairment. Artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to analyze color fundus photographs (CFPs) in a cost-effective manner, making glaucoma screening more accessible. While AI models for glaucoma screening from CFPs have shown promising results in laboratory settings, their performance decreases significantly in real-world scenarios due to the presence of out-of-distribution and low-quality images. To address this issue, we propose the Artificial Intelligence for Robust Glaucoma Screening (AIROGS) challenge. This challenge includes a large dataset of around 113,000 images from about 60,000 patients and 500 different screening centers, and encourages the development of algorithms that are robust to ungradable and unexpected input data. We evaluated solutions from 14 teams in this paper and found that the best teams performed similarly to a set of 20 expert ophthalmologists and optometrists. The highest-scoring team achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.99 (95% CI: 0.98-0.99) for detecting ungradable images on-the-fly. Additionally, many of the algorithms showed robust performance when tested on three other publicly available datasets. These results demonstrate the feasibility of robust AI-enabled glaucoma screening.

Clinical and Endoscopic Features of Pneumatosis Cystoides Intestinalis: A Retrospective Study in 192 Patients.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis is not well recognized. Clinical features vary in several case reports, and prognosis remains unclear. We aimed to summarize the clinical and endoscopic features of pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis and to explore potential factors associated with lesion size. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively collected clinical and endoscopic features of patients diagnosed with pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis from July 2015 to October 2021. Patients were allocated to 2 groups according to lesion size with 2 cm as boundary value. Baseline characteristics were compared between the groups. RESULTS: A total of 192 patients were included in this study with a 1.3:1 male-to-female ratio. About 91 lesions (47.70%) were ≥2 cm and those patients were more likely to have a history of polypectomy or abdominal surgery compared to lesion size <2 cm (P < .05). For 50 patients who received follow-up colonoscopy, 28 cases (56.00%) disappeared spontaneously and 22 cases (44.00%) remained unchanged. No factors have been observed to be connected with prognosis. CONCLUSIONS: Colonoscopy is beneficial to the diagnosis of pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis. Patients with a history of polypectomy or abdominal surgery were more likely to develop lesions <2 cm. Most patients do not need special treatments and have favorable prognosis.

Wearable Clinic: From Microneedle-Based Sensors to Next-Generation Healthcare Platforms.

The rapid development of wearable biosensing calls for next-generation devices that allow continuous, real-time, and painless monitoring of health status along with responsive medical treatment. Microneedles have exhibited great potential for the direct access of dermal interstitial fluid (ISF) in a minimally invasive manner. Recent studies of microneedle-based devices have evolved from conventional off-line detection to multiplexed, wireless, and integrated sensing. In this review, the classification and fabrication techniques of microneedles are first introduced, and then the representative examples of microneedles for transdermal monitoring with different sensing modalities are summarized. State-of-the-art advances in therapeutic and closed-loop systems are presented to formulate guidelines for the development of next-generation microneedle-based healthcare platforms. The potential challenges and prospects are discussed to pave a new avenue toward pragmatic applications in the real world.

Impact of personality traits on start-up preparation of Hong Kong youths.

Entrepreneurship is a tool for driving economic and social progress. Especially in Hong Kong, the government has recently taken steps to encourage young people to engage in entrepreneurship. However, Hong Kong youths' entrepreneurial intentions are still low. The objective of this study is to empirically explore the impacts of personality traits on start-up preparation among Hong Kong youths through the constructs of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Through a multi-channel survey, we finally collected 230 valid respondents aged 18 to 40. In addition, this study used SmartPLS software to conduct confirmatory factor analysis for the measurement model as well as path analysis for the structural model. This study's results suggested that creativity, risk-taking propensity, need for achievement, and internal locus of control influence TPB models' components and indirectly influence start-up preparation through TPB models' components. Also, attitude and perceived behavioral control influence intention, and intention influences preparation. Furthermore, prior entrepreneurial experience and entrepreneurship education positively influence preparation. In conclusion, this study revealed the mediating effects of TPB components between four personality traits and start-up preparation. Finally, this study had theoretical implications by providing the influence of six personality traits on youths' entrepreneurial intention and preparation through the TPB model and the human capital theory. This study also had practical implications by providing suggestions for the government and higher education institutions.

Integrating the tripartite influence, minority stress, and social comparison theories to explain body image and disordered eating in Chinese sexual minority men and women.

Theories of eating pathology explain body image and disordered eating in diverse populations, including sexual minority (SM) individuals. Yet, previous efforts to extend theories of eating pathology to SM individuals have mostly focused on Western populations. The present study integrated the tripartite influence, minority stress, and social comparison models to explain variance in body image and disordered eating in Chinese SM men and women. Chinese self-identified SM adults (N = 1051; n = 519 men, n = 532 women) completed an online, cross-sectional study that assessed sociocultural influences (e.g., tripartite influence), minority stress, social comparisons, drive for muscularity, and disordered eating. Two integrated models were tested for men and women using structural equation modeling. Across both populations, sociocultural influences exerted the largest direct positive effects on body image and disordered eating. In men, only downward body image comparisons were uniquely related to outcomes. In women, higher upward body image comparisons were uniquely associated with higher drive for muscularity and higher downward body image comparisons were uniquely associated with higher thinness-oriented disordered eating. Minority stressors (e.g., sexual orientation concealment, internalized homophobia) were uniquely related to outcomes in men, not women. Findings extend existing theories of body image and disordered eating to Chinese SM populations.

Compound Raman microscopy for rapid diagnosis and antimicrobial susceptibility testing of pathogenic bacteria in urine.

Rapid identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) of bacteria are key interventions to curb the spread and emergence of antimicrobial resistance. The current gold standard identification and AST methods provide comprehensive diagnostic information but often take 3 to 5 days. Here, a compound Raman microscopy (CRM), which integrates Raman spectroscopy and stimulated Raman scattering microscopy in one system, is presented and demonstrated for rapid identification and AST of pathogens in urine. We generated an extensive bacterial Raman spectral dataset and applied deep learning to identify common clinical bacterial pathogens. In addition, we employed stimulated Raman scattering microscopy to quantify bacterial metabolic activity to determine their antimicrobial susceptibility. For proof-of-concept, we demonstrated an integrated assay to diagnose urinary tract infection pathogens, S. aureus and E. coli. Notably, the CRM system has the unique ability to provide Gram-staining classification and AST results within ~3 h directly from urine samples and shows great potential for clinical applications.

Multi-Cell-Type Openness-Weighted Association Studies for Trait-Associated Genomic Segments Prioritization.

Openness-weighted association study (OWAS) is a method that leverages the in silico prediction of chromatin accessibility to prioritize genome-wide association studies (GWAS) signals, and can provide novel insights into the roles of non-coding variants in complex diseases. A prerequisite to apply OWAS is to choose a trait-related cell type beforehand. However, for most complex traits, the trait-relevant cell types remain elusive. In addition, many complex traits involve multiple related cell types. To address these issues, we develop OWAS-joint, an efficient framework that aggregates predicted chromatin accessibility across multiple cell types, to prioritize disease-associated genomic segments. In simulation studies, we demonstrate that OWAS-joint achieves a greater statistical power compared to OWAS. Moreover, the heritability explained by OWAS-joint segments is higher than or comparable to OWAS segments. OWAS-joint segments also have high replication rates in independent replication cohorts. Applying the method to six complex human traits, we demonstrate the advantages of OWAS-joint over a single-cell-type OWAS approach. We highlight that OWAS-joint enhances the biological interpretation of disease mechanisms, especially for non-coding regions.

Association Between Retinal Microvascular Metrics Using Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography and Carotid Artery Stenosis in a Chinese Cohort.

Objectives: The main aim was to investigate the association between retinal microvascular metrics using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) and carotid artery stenosis (CAS) in an aging Chinese cohort. Methods: In this cross-sectional and observational study, 138 eyes of 138 participants were examined. Indices of the microcirculation measured by OCTA included mean vessel density (VD), skeleton density (SD), vessel diameter index (VDI), fractal dimension (FD) and foveal avascular zone (FAZ) of the superficial retinal layer (SRL) and deep retinal layer (DRL), and peripapillary vessel caliber. The correlation of these indices with the carotid atherosclerotic lesions including carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) and common carotid artery (CCA) plaque was assessed. Results: A total of 72 of 138 eyes demonstrated an increased (≥1 mm) CIMT, and 32 of the eyes presented common carotid plaques. Macular VD, SD, and FD were decreased with the increasing CCA caliber diameter (p < 0.05, respectively). Superficial and deep macular FDs were negatively associated with CIMT as well as the existence of CCA plaques (p < 0.05, respectively). Conclusion: Changes in retinal microvasculature accessed by OCTA may be used as one of the non-invasive early indicators to monitor asymptomatic CAS.

Fabrication of human serum albumin-imprinted photothermal nanoparticles for enhanced immunotherapy.

Photothermal nanoparticles have been confirmed to induce an antitumor immune response and turn "cold tumor" into "hot tumor". However, their delivery efficacy to tumors is limited by the elimination from the reticalendothel system. Herein, human serum albumin (HSA)-imprinted polymer coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles (Fe3O4@MIPs) are fabricated by oxidative polymerization of dopamine in the presence of HSA on the polydopamine pre-modified Fe3O4 nanoparticle surface, followed by the removal of HSA. The Fe3O4@MIPs exhibit rapid and specific reabsorption toward HSA. The molecularly imprinted sites on the Fe3O4@MIPs endow it with an albumin-rich protein corona in the blood and result in less elimination from the reticalendothel system than non-albumin-imprinted particles (Fe3O4@NIPs). Moreover, the molecularly imprinted polymer, which consists of polydopamine, also improves the photothermal effect of Fe3O4 nanoparticles. In vivo, the albumin camouflage in Fe3O4@MIPs produces a 2.6-fold improvement in tumor accumulation in comparison to Fe3O4@NIPs, and more heat is produced upon 808 nm laser irradiation, which further triggers an efficient immunogenic cell death (ICD) progress. Thus, the combination of Fe3O4@MIPs and PD-L1 antibody can not only inhibit the growth of primary tumors but also eliminates lung metastasis by eliciting immunological effect.

Observation of Spin-Momentum-Layer Locking in a Centrosymmetric Crystal.

The spin polarization in nonmagnetic materials is conventionally attributed to the outcome of spin-orbit coupling when the global inversion symmetry is broken. The recently discovered hidden spin polarization indicates that a specific atomic site asymmetry could also induce measurable spin polarization, leading to a paradigm shift in research on centrosymmetric crystals for potential spintronic applications. Here, combining spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and theoretical calculations, we report distinct spin-momentum-layer locking phenomena in a centrosymmetric, layered material, BiOI. The measured spin is highly polarized along the Brillouin zone boundary, while the same effect almost vanishes around the zone center due to its nonsymmorphic crystal structure. Our work demonstrates the existence of momentum-dependent hidden spin polarization and uncovers the microscopic mechanism of spin, momentum, and layer locking to each other, thus shedding light on the design metrics for future spintronic materials.

Spectral signatures of the surface anomalous Hall effect in magnetic axion insulators.

The topological surface states of magnetic topological systems, such as Weyl semimetals and axion insulators, are associated with unconventional transport properties such as nonzero or half-quantized surface anomalous Hall effect. Here we study the surface anomalous Hall effect and its spectral signatures in different magnetic topological phases using both model Hamiltonian and first-principles calculations. We demonstrate that by tailoring the magnetization and interlayer electron hopping, a rich three-dimensional topological phase diagram can be established, including three types of topologically distinct insulating phases bridged by Weyl semimetals, and can be directly mapped to realistic materials such as MnBi2Te4/(Bi2Te3)n systems. Among them, we find that the surface anomalous Hall conductivity in the axion-insulator phase is a well-localized quantity either saturated at or oscillating around e2/2h, depending on the magnetic homogeneity. We also discuss the resultant chiral hinge modes embedded inside the side surface bands as the potential experimental signatures for transport measurements. Our study is a significant step forward towards the direct realization of the long-sought axion insulators in realistic material systems.

Retinal microvascular metrics in untreated essential hypertensives using optical coherence tomography angiography.

PURPOSE: To quantify early changes of macular microvascular density, complexity, and peripapillary vessel caliber in hypertension using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). METHODS: Hypertension (137 eyes) and healthy eyes (79 eyes) as control were involved in this prospective observational study. Indices of the microcirculation included vessel density (VD), skeleton density (SD), vessel diameter index (VDI), fractal dimension (FD) and foveal avascular zone (FAZ) of superficial retinal layer (SRL) and deep retinal layer (DRL), and peripapillary vessel calibers. The correlation of these indices with mean arterial pressure (MAP) and ocular perfusion pressure (OPP) was analyzed. RESULTS: Mean VD of DRL, SD of SRL and DRL, and FD of SRL and DRL were significantly reduced in the macula of hypertensive eyes (all P < 0.01). Meanwhile, hypertensive eyes had margin results of narrower peripapillary arteriolar caliber (P = 0.04). No significant finding was demonstrated on VD of SRL, VDI and FAZ of SRL and DRL, peripapillary total vascular caliber, and peripapillary venal caliber (all P > 0.05). SD and VD of the DRL correlated negatively with MAP (both R = - 0.152, P = 0.03). CONCLUSION: OCTA algorithms may provide an additional inexpensive tool to aid in the preclinical assessment of hypertensive subject.

Local Disorder-Induced Elevation of Intrinsic Anomalous Hall Conductance in an Electron-Doped Magnetic Weyl Semimetal.

Topological materials are expected to show distinct transport signatures owing to their unique band-inversion characteristic and band-crossing points. However, the intentional modulation of such topological responses through experimentally feasible means has yet to be explored in depth. Here, an unusual elevation of the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) is obtained in electron (Ni)-doped magnetic Weyl semimetals Co_{3-x}Ni_{x}Sn_{2}S_{2}, showing peak values in the anomalous Hall-conductivity, Hall-angle, and Hall-factor at a relatively low doping level of x=0.11. The separation of intrinsic and extrinsic contributions using the TYJ scaling model indicates that such a significant enhancement is dominated by the intrinsic mechanism of the electronic Berry curvature. Theoretical calculations reveal that compared with the Fermi-level shifting from electron filling, a usually overlooked effect of doping, that is, local disorder, imposes a striking effect on broadening of the bands and narrowing of the inverted gap, thus resulting in an elevation of the integrated Berry curvature. Our results not only realize an enhancement of the AHE in a magnetic Weyl semimetal, but also provide a practical design principle for modulating the bands and transport properties in topological materials by exploiting the local disorder effect from doping.

Te-Vacancy-Induced Surface Collapse and Reconstruction in Antiferromagnetic Topological Insulator MnBi2Te4.

MnBi2Te4 is an antiferromagnetic topological insulator that has stimulated intense interest due to its exotic quantum phenomena and promising device applications. The surface structure is a determinant factor to understand the magnetic and topological behavior of MnBi2Te4, yet its precise atomic structure remains elusive. Here we discovered a surface collapse and reconstruction of few-layer MnBi2Te4 exfoliated under delicate protection. Instead of the ideal septuple-layer structure in the bulk, the collapsed surface is shown to reconstruct as a Mn-doped Bi2Te3 quintuple layer and a MnxBiyTe double layer with a clear van der Waals gap in between. Combined with first-principles calculations, such surface collapse is attributed to the abundant intrinsic Mn-Bi antisite defects and the tellurium vacancy in the exfoliated surface, which is further supported by in situ annealing and electron irradiation experiments. Our results shed light on the understanding of the intricate surface-bulk correspondence of MnBi2Te4 and provide an insightful perspective on the surface-related quantum measurements in MnBi2Te4 few-layer devices.

The Systematic Impact of Personal Characteristics on Entrepreneurial Intentions of Engineering Students.

The impact of personal characteristics on entrepreneurial intention is a classic topic in the field of entrepreneurship research. Previous research mostly used simple linear models, leading to a gap in the study on the interrelationship among personal characteristics and their systematic influence on entrepreneurial intention. This study investigates the interrelationship among the four specific entrepreneurial characteristics (i.e., need for achievement, locus of control, risk-taking propensity, and creativity) and their systematic influence on the entrepreneurial intention of engineering students. The research data is from 210 engineering students via a survey. Logistic regression and path analysis were used for data analysis. The findings suggest that creativity and risk-taking directly influence entrepreneurial intention while the need for achievement and the locus of control influence it indirectly. Implications for entrepreneurship education are finally discussed.

A van der Waals antiferromagnetic topological insulator with weak interlayer magnetic coupling.

Magnetic topological insulators (TI) provide an important material platform to explore quantum phenomena such as quantized anomalous Hall effect and Majorana modes, etc. Their successful material realization is thus essential for our fundamental understanding and potential technical revolutions. By realizing a bulk van der Waals material MnBi4Te7 with alternating septuple [MnBi2Te4] and quintuple [Bi2Te3] layers, we show that it is ferromagnetic in plane but antiferromagnetic along the c axis with an out-of-plane saturation field of ~0.22 T at 2 K. Our angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements and first-principles calculations further demonstrate that MnBi4Te7 is a Z2 antiferromagnetic TI with two types of surface states associated with the [MnBi2Te4] or [Bi2Te3] termination, respectively. Additionally, its superlattice nature may make various heterostructures of [MnBi2Te4] and [Bi2Te3] layers possible by exfoliation. Therefore, the low saturation field and the superlattice nature of MnBi4Te7 make it an ideal system to investigate rich emergent phenomena.

Rational Design Principles of the Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect in Superlatticelike Magnetic Topological Insulators.

As a paradigmatic phenomenon in condensed matter physics, the quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) in stoichiometric Chern insulators has drawn great interest for years. Using model Hamiltonian analysis and first-principles calculations, we establish a topological phase diagram and map different 2D configurations to it, which are taken from the recently grown magnetic topological insulators MnBi_{4}Te_{7} and MnBi_{6}Te_{10} with superlatticelike stacking patterns. These configurations manifest various topological phases, including the quantum spin Hall effect with and without time-reversal symmetry and QAHE. We then provide design principles to trigger the QAHE by tuning experimentally accessible knobs, such as the slab thickness and magnetization. Our work reveals that superlatticelike magnetic topological insulators with tunable exchange interactions are an ideal platform to realize the long-sought QAHE in pristine compounds, paving a new path within the area of topological materials.