Two-electron oxidized polyphenol chemistry-inspired superhydrophilic drug-carrying coatings for the construction of multifunctional nasolacrimal duct stents.

Nasolacrimal duct obstruction due to infection, inflammation, or excessive fibroblast proliferation may result in persistent tearing, intraocular inflammation, or even blindness. In this study, surface engineering techniques are applied to nasolacrimal duct stents for the first time. Based on the functioning of marine mussels, "one-pot" and "stepwise" methods were employed to construct a novel multifunctional superhydrophilic PDA/RAP coating using dopamine and rapamycin. Micron-sized rapamycin crystals combined with nano-sized polydopamine particles form a micro-nano topographical structure. Therefore, acting synergistically with in situ-generated hydrophilic groups (amino, carboxyl, and phenolic hydroxyl), they impart excellent and long-lasting superhydrophilicity to the nasolacrimal duct stent. The PDA/RAP coating effectively maintained the stability of the initial microenvironment during stent implantation by inhibiting the onset of acute inflammation and infection during the early stages of implantation. Meanwhile, the rapamycin crystals, supported by the superhydrophilic platform, exhibited a sustained-release capability that helped them to better exert their anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and anti-fibroblast proliferative properties, ensuring conducive conditions for the rapid repair of nasolacrimal duct epithelial cells, verified by a series of experiments. In conclusion, the PDA/RAP hydrophilic coating has anti-inflammatory, antifibrotic, antibacterial, and antithrombotic properties, offering a new strategy to address restenosis following clinical nasolacrimal duct stent implantation.

Cellulose-based bio-adsorbent from TEMPO-oxidized natural loofah for effective removal of Pb(II) and methylene blue.

Excessive discharge of inorganic and organic contaminants in water poses a serious threat to the ecosystems. However, most synthetic adsorbents lack cost-effectiveness in terms of preparation. Interestingly, loofah sponge (LS) was a natural absorbent that could effectively remove pollutions in wastewater, but its adsorption capacity is barely satisfactory. Herein, we present a novel strategy of TEMPO-oxidized loofah sponge (TOLS) to boost the adsorption performance of LS. The batch experiments demonstrated that the maximum removal capacity of TOLS for Pb(II) and methylene blue (MB) was 96.6 mg/g and 10.0 mg/g, respectively, which were 3.5 and 1.3 times that of pristine LS. Notably, the continuous-flow reaction testing of the mixed solution revealed that the elimination rate of Pb(II) and MB was still better than 90 % even after 16 h. Such excellent performance was benefit from the enhanced specific surface area and surface carboxyl content of TOLS. This work offers new insights into the rational development of multifunctional and inexpensive cellulose-based bio-adsorbents for wastewater remediation.

Semi-supervised learning for optical fiber sensor road intrusion signal detection.

This paper proposes a road intrusion detection model based on distributed optical fiber vibration sensors signals. Considering that the existing unsupervised classification method often has a high false alarm rate when meeting the new non-intrusion samples, we propose a one-dimensional semi-supervised generative adversarial network (1D-SSGAN) model for intrusion signal recognition. The 1D-SSGAN is composed of a generator and a discriminator. The output layer of the discriminator is mapped to N+1 classes, and the generator and discriminator are trained on the N class dataset. During the learning process of the generator against the discriminator, many new samples are generated based on a small number of samples, which effectively expands the datasets and assists the training of the discriminator. Experimental result analysis demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed model.

Agreement of Risk-of -Bias varied in systematic reviews on acupuncture and was associated with methodological quality.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of the study was to evaluate the consistency of risk of bias assessments for overlapping randomized controlled trials (RCTs) included in systematic reviews (SRs) on acupuncture. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Databases were searched for acupuncture SRs. A weighted kappa (κ) statistic was calculated, and logistic regression was used to explore the factors of disagreements. RESULTS: We included 241 RCTs from 109 SRs on acupuncture. The percentage disagreements ranged from 25% to 44%, with moderate agreement for random sequence generation (κ = 0.57), allocation concealment (κ = 0.50), and incomplete outcome data (κ = 0.50), besides fair agreement for blinding of participants and personnel (κ = 0.44), blinding of outcome assessment (κ = 0.31), and selective reporting (κ = 0.39). Only 19% RCTs were evaluated completely consistent. Methodological quality (random sequence generation, odds ratio (OR) = 3.46), international cooperation (allocation concealment, OR = 0.14; incomplete outcome data, OR = 0.14; selective reporting, OR = 0.05), and risk of bias reporting completeness score (selective reporting, OR = 0.53) significantly affected the relative odds of disagreements. CONCLUSION: The level of agreement varied from fair to moderate agreement depending on the risk of bias domain. Methodological quality appears to be an overarching factor to account for disagreements.

Use and reporting of risk of bias tools in 825 systematic reviews of acupuncture: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the use and reporting of risk of bias (RoB) tools in systematic reviews (SRs) of acupuncture. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: We extracted and analyzed information relating to RoB in acupuncture SRs via Medline, Embase and the Chinese CNKI (Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure), WanFang and VIP databases from their inception to 24 November 2017. Three subgroup analyses were used to check the influence of language, journal type and impact factor, following which we used descriptive analysis. RESULTS: We included 825 acupuncture SRs, of which 48% used the Cochrane RoB tool. Only 36% used the latest version of the Cochrane Handbook (version 5.1.0 at time of writing) with higher proportions among Cochrane SRs (65%) versus non-Cochrane SRs (34%), and high impact factor journals (58%) versus low or no impact factor journals (28% and 38%, respectively). In the last decade, there were notable increases in the use of the Cochrane RoB tool and Cochrane Handbook version 5.1.0, of 43% and 19%, respectively. Chinese-language SRs demonstrated proportionally higher tendencies to report an incorrect Cochrane Handbook version, increasing by 14% in the last 5 years. Additionally, 7% SRs did not report any results, and only 10% reported relatively complete and adequate RoB assessment. Cochrane SRs reported more complete assessments than Chinese-language or non-Cochrane English-language SRs. CONCLUSION: Use and reporting of RoB tools were suboptimal. Proportionally, use of the Cochrane RoB tool and Cochrane Handbook version 5.1.0 was low but rising. Our results highlight the prevalence and concerns of using unsuitable tools and the issue of incomplete RoB reporting. RoB tool application requires further improvement.

Risk of bias assessments and reporting quality of systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials examining acupuncture for depression: An overview and meta-epidemiology study.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the use of risk of bias (ROB) assessment tools and the reporting quality of ROB assessment results in systematic reviews (SRs) of acupuncture for depression, as well as to evaluate the ROB of depression-related randomized controlled trials (RCT). METHODS: Embase, Medline, Chinese Journal Full-Text Database (CJFD), VIP Chinese Technology Periodical Database, and WanFang Data Resource System of Digital Periodicals were searched from their inception to 24 November 2017. SRs of RCTs concerning acupuncture on depression were included. General characteristics and the information related to risk of bias in SRs were extracted. A descriptive analysis was used. RESULTS: Thirty-nine SRs were included. Of these, two (5%) did not perform a ROB assessment, 18.9% did not report the ROB assessment results, and 62.2% did not report the assessment results of each ROB item. Text descriptions and tables were commonly used in reporting forms. Only 32.4% of SRs reported support for judgment. The reporting rate of ROB assessment results was low in all items (13.5%-35.1%). Regarding RCTs, 59.7% used adequate randomization methods, 13.1% performed adequate allocation concealment, 12.5% performed adequate blinding of participants and personnel, 27.3% performed adequate blinding of the assessment outcomes, and 41.5% and 49.3% had a low ROB in terms of incomplete outcome data and selective outcome reporting, respectively. CONCLUSION: For the SRs of acupuncture for depression, the selection of ROB assessment tools needs to be optimized. The reporting quality is poor, and the overall ROB of RCTs is high. Therefore, the results may not be reliable.