Online Virtual Reality Networked Control Laboratory Applied in Control Engineering Education.

Online laboratories play an important role in engineering education. This work discusses a WebVR-based virtual laboratory system. The user enters the simulated laboratory environment through a virtual reality (VR) device and interacts with the experimental equipment, similar to hands-on experiments in a physical laboratory. In addition, the proposed system allows users to design their own control algorithms and observe the effects of different control parameters to enhance their understanding of the experiment. To illustrate the features of the proposed virtual laboratory, an example is provided in this paper, which is an experiment on a double inverted pendulum system. The experimental results show that the proposed system allows users to conduct experiments in an immersive and interactive manner and provides users with a complete experimental process from principal design to experimental operation. A solution is also provided to change any virtual laboratory into a WebVR-based virtual laboratory for education and training.

Spatial and Temporal Trends in Pancreatic Cancer Burden Attributable to High Body Mass Index at the Global and National Levels.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the spatiotemporal trends in pancreatic cancer (PC) disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and mortality attributable to high body-mass index (BMI) by age, gender, and countries from 1990 to 2019. METHODS: Data were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 results. We presented the annual number of PC DALYs and mortality, and corresponding age-standardized rates (ASDR and ASMR), which were further stratified by age, gender, and countries. The estimated annual percentage change (EAPC) was computed to assess the longitudinal trends in ASRs. RESULTS: In 2019, 0.7 million DALYs and 31.9 thousand deaths worldwide were caused by PC attributable to high BMI, with the largest amount reported in high-income North America, Western Europe, and East Asia. The corresponding ASDR and ASMR were highest in females and in high SDI regions, while quite varied across countries. The global EAPC in ASDR and ASMR was 1.45 (95% uncertainty interval [UI]: 1.40, 1.50) and 1.44 (95% UI: 1.39, 1.49), respectively. Almost all involved countries demonstrated significant uptrends in ASRs from 1990 to 2019. CONCLUSIONS: More productive efforts to reduce the impact of modifiable risk factors, such as overweight, should be undertaken, and thus effectively curb the rise of PC burden.

Frailty and long-term survival of patients with colorectal cancer: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Frailty has been related with the risk of postoperative complication in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the association between frailty and long-term survival in patients with CRC has not been comprehensively evaluated. We performed a meta-analysis to systematically evaluate the relationship between frailty and long-term survival of these patients. METHODS: Relevant cohort studies with follow-up duration ≥ 1 year were identified from Medline, Embase, and Web of Science. A random-effect model after incorporation of the between-study heterogeneity was selected to pool the results. RESULTS: Ten cohort studies with 35,546 patients were included, and 4100 (11.5%) of them had frailty. Pooled results showed that patients with frailty had worse overall survival compared to those without frailty at baseline (relative risk [RR]: 2.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.43-3.41, P < 0.001; I2 = 92%). Results were consistent for studies adjusting age (RR: 2.20, P < 0.001) or including older cancer patients only (RR: 2.28, P = 0.002). Subgroup analyses showed that difference in study design, follow-up duration, or study quality scores may not significantly affect the findings (P for subgroup analyses all > 0.05). Further meta-analyses with two datasets showed that frailty was also associated with worse cancer-specific survival (RR: 4.60, 95% CI 2.75-7.67, P < 0.001; I2 = 38%) and recurrence-free survival (RR: 1.72, 95% CI 1.30-2.28, P < 0.001; I2 = 0%). CONCLUSIONS: Frailty at admission is associated with worse survival of patients with colorectal cancer.

Giant Elastocaloric Effect in Ni-Mn-Ga-Based Alloys Boosted by a Large Lattice Volume Change upon the Martensitic Transformation.

High-performance elastocaloric materials are highly sought in developing energy-efficient and environmentally friendly solid-state elastocaloric refrigeration. Here, we present an effective strategy to achieve a giant elastocaloric response by enlarging the lattice volume change ΔV/V0 upon the martensitic transformation. Using the Ni50Mn50 binary alloy as the prototype, a large transformation entropy change ΔStr can be tailored in the vicinity of room temperature by simultaneously doping Cu and Ga. Especially, the |ΔStr| values in the ⟨001⟩A-textured Ni30Cu20Mn39.5Ga10.5 and Ni30Cu20Mn39Ga11 alloys prepared by directional solidification can be as large as 47.5 and 46.7 Jkg-1 K-1, respectively, due to the significant ΔV/V0 values, i.e., 1.81 and 1.82%, respectively. Such enhanced ΔStr values thus yield giant ΔTad values of up to -23.5 and -19.3 K on removing the compressive stress in these two alloys, being much higher than those in Heusler-type alloys reported previously. Moreover, owing to the relatively low driving stress endowed by the highly textured microstructure, the specific adiabatic temperature change (|ΔTad/Δσmax|) in the present work can be as large as 77.2 K/GPa. This work is expected to provide new routes in designing high-performance elastocaloric materials with the combination of a giant elastocaloric response and low driving stress.

FOXO3A Expression in Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies have reported various results regarding whether FOXO3A is related to various carcinomas. However, the prognostic significance of FOXO3A in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to validate the correlation between FOXO3A expression and oncological outcomes in UTUC. METHODS: The expression levels of FOXO3A in 107 UTUC patients were examined by immunohistochemistry (IHC). We examined the prognostic role of FOXO3A by using the Cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS: The results indicated that FOXO3A expression was notably decreased in UTUC tissue compared with control tissue. Decreased expression of FOXO3A was also related to advanced pathologic stage (P = 0.026), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.040), lymphovascular invasion (P < 0.001), and adjuvant therapy (P = 0.048). In addition, UTUC patients with low FOXO3A expression had a significantly shorter survival time, including both overall survival (OS) [hazard ratio (HR) 2.382, P = 0.004] and recurrence-free survival (RFS) (HR 2.385, P = 0.004), than those with high expression. Multivariate analyses showed that FOXO3A was a significant predictor for OS (HR 2.145, P = 0.014) and RFS (HR 2.227, P = 0.010) in UTUC patients. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that FOXO3A may be involved in the recurrence of UTUC and that it has certain clinical value in the therapeutic targeting and prognostic evaluation of UTUC.

Contribution of high body mass index and alcohol use to liver cancer-related mortality: A study based on 195 countries or territories.

BACKGROUND: High body mass index (BMI) and alcohol use are well-defined risk factors for liver cancer. AIMS: We aim to describe the contribution of high BMI and alcohol use to liver-cancer-related death at the global and national levels. METHODS: The data of liver cancer-related mortality attributable to all known risk factors, high BMI, and alcohol use were collected from the Global Burden of Disease database. The estimated average percentage change was used to quantify the liver cancer age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) trends. RESULTS: Globally, approximately 819,435 liver cancer-related deaths occurred in 2017, among which 415,867, 98,552, and 129,287 deaths could be ascribed to all 9 known risk factors, high BMI, and alcohol use, respectively. The overall ASMR increased from 4.42 per 100,000 to 5.17 per 100,000 in the study period. The liver cancer ASMR attributable to high BMI consistently increased at the global level and in most countries. The alcohol use-related liver cancer mortality decreased by 0.17% per year during the study period. However, a significant increase was found after 2008. CONCLUSION: The increase in high BMI-related liver cancer mortality suggests scarce attention to overweight and highlights its priority in future prevention schedules for liver cancer. Effective prevention measures are still needed to mitigate the adverse impact of alcohol consumption.

Mortality trends of colorectal cancer among overweight patients at the global and national levels.

PURPOSE: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a commonly diagnosed malignancy with highly heterogeneous incidence and mortality rates worldwide. High body mass index (BMI) is a well-defined risk factor for CRC. The mortality trends of CRC among patients who are overweight contributions at the global and national levels are largely unknown. METHOD: We collected data on CRC-related mortality attributable to high BMI from 1990 to 2017 from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 database. The annual average percentage change (AAPC) was used to quantify the CRC age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) trends. RESULTS: Globally, approximately 896,040 CRC-related deaths occurred in 2017, among which 73,222 (8.2%; 54,193 in men and 19,029 in women) deaths were attributable to high BMI. The high-BMI-related CRC ASMR increased from 0.81 per 100,000 in 1990 to 0.93 per 100,000 in 2017, with an AAPC of 0.42 (95% CI 0.36, 0.49). The increasing trend was consistent among populations of different sexes and ages. A more pronounced increase was found in men and in regions with middle or low socio-demographic indexes. CONCLUSION: The increase in high-BMI-related CRC mortality suggests scarce attention to overweight in the current prevention strategies and highlights its priority in future prevention strategies for CRC.

Trends in and Predictions of Colorectal Cancer Incidence and Mortality in China From 1990 to 2025.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) has emerged as a major public health concern in China during the last decade. In this study, we investigated the disease burden posed by CRC and analyzed temporal trends in CRC incidence and mortality rates in this country. We collected CRC incidence data from the Cancer Incidence in Five Continents, Volume XI dataset and the age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR) and age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) of CRC by sex and age, from the 2016 Global Burden of Diseases Study. We used the average annual percentage change (AAPC) to quantify temporal trends in CRC incidence and mortality from 1990 to 2016 and found the ASIR of CRC increased from 14.25 per 100,000 in 1990 to 25.27 per 100,000 in 2016 (AAPC = 2.34, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.29, 2.39). Cancer cases increased from 104.3 thousand to 392.8 thousand during the same period. The ASIR increased by 2.76% (95% CI 2.66%, 2.85%) and 1.70% (95% CI 1.64%, 1.76%) per year in males and females, respectively. The highest AAPC was found in people aged 15-49 years (2.76, 95% CI 2.59, 2.94). Cancer deaths increased from 81.1 thousand in 1990 to 167.1 thousand in 2016, while the ASMR remained stable (-0.04, 95% CI -0.13, 0.05), A mild increase (AAPC = 0.42, 95% CI 0.34, 0.51) was found among males and a significant decrease (AAPC = -0.75, 95% CI -0.90, -0.60) was found among females. Between 2016 and 2025, cancer cases and deaths are expected to increase from 392.8 and 167.1 thousand in 2016 to 642.3 (95% CI 498.4, 732.1) and 221.1 thousand (95% CI 122.5, 314.8) in 2025, respectively. Our study showed a steady increase in the CRC incidence in China over the past three decades and predicted a further increase in the near future. To combat this health concern, the prevention and management of known risk factors should be promoted through national polices. Greater priority should be given to CRC prevention in younger adults, and CRC screening should be widely adopted for this population.

Association between cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) 8473 T > C polymorphism and cancer risk: a meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis.

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have investigated the relationship between COX-2 8473 T > C polymorphism and cancer susceptibility, however, the results remain controversial. Therefore, we carried out the present meta-analysis to obtain a more accurate assessment of this potential association. METHODS: In this meta-analysis, 79 case-control studies were included with a total of 38,634 cases and 55,206 controls. We searched all relevant articles published in PubMed, EMBASE, OVID, Web of Science, CNKI and Wanfang Data, till September 29, 2017. The pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to evaluate the strength of the association. We performed subgroup analysis according to ethnicity, source of controls, genotyping method and cancer type. Moreover, Trial sequential analysis (TSA) was implemented to decrease the risk of type I error and estimate whether the current evidence of the results was sufficient and conclusive. RESULTS: Overall, our results indicated that 8473 T > C polymorphism was not associated with cancer susceptibility. However, stratified analysis showed that the polymorphism was associated with a statistically significant decreased risk for nasopharyngeal cancer and bladder cancer, but an increased risk for esophageal cancer and skin cancer. Interestingly, TSA demonstrated that the evidence of the result was sufficient in this study. CONCLUSION: No significant association between COX-2 8473 T > C polymorphism and cancer risk was detected.

N-(2,5-Dimethoxy-phen-yl)-4-nitro-benzene-sulfonamide.

The title compound, C(14)H(14)N(2)O(6)S, is an inter-mediate for the synthesis of ß-3-adrenergic receptor agonists. The two meth-oxy groups are approximately coplanar with the attached benzene ring [C-O-C-C = -2.7 (4) and 9.4 (4)°]. The dihedral angle between the two aromatic rings is 67.16 (12)°. An intra-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen bond is observed. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked into chains along the c axis by C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds.