Lifestyle factors and lung cancer risk among never smokers in the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow's Health (CanPath).

BACKGROUND: Although smoking is the primary risk factor for lung cancer, 15-25% of lung cancers occur in never smokers. Emerging evidence suggests lifestyle factors are associated with lung cancer risk, but few studies among never smokers exist. METHODS: A case-control study of never smokers within the Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow's Health was conducted. At recruitment, participants provided data on lifestyle, health history and sociodemographic factors. Incident lung cancers were identified through linkage with administrative health records. Cases (n = 190) were matched to controls (n = 760) on age, sex, and follow-up time. Logistic regression analyses, adjusted for matching factors and annual income, were used to identify associations between lifestyle factors and lung cancer risk. RESULTS: Consumption of < 5 servings of fruits and vegetables/day was associated with higher risk of lung cancer (OR 1.50, 95% CI 1.03-2.17). Short or long sleep (≤ 6 or > 9 h/night) was also associated with increased risk of lung cancer (OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.01-2.29). No associations were observed for obesity measures, alcohol consumption, or physical activity. CONCLUSION: Our findings provide evidence of a potential role between sleep, fruits and vegetable consumption, and lung cancer risk in a pan-Canadian, non-smoking population. However, the sample size is modest, and further investigation is needed.

Online Trajectory Estimation Based on a Network-Wide Cellular Fingerprint Map.

Cellular signaling data is widely available in mobile communications and contains abundant movement sensing information of individual travelers. Using cellular signaling data to estimate the trajectories of mobile users can benefit many location-based applications, including infectious disease tracing and screening, network flow sensing, traffic scheduling, etc. However, conventional methods rely too much on heuristic hypotheses or hardware-dependent network fingerprinting approaches. To address the above issues, NF-Track (Network-wide Fingerprinting based Tracking) is proposed to realize accurate online map-matching of cellular location sequences. In particular, neither prior assumptions such as arterial preference and less-turn preference or extra hardware-relevant parameters such as RSS and SNR are required for the proposed framework. Therefore, it has a strong generalization ability to be flexibly deployed in the cloud computing environment of telecom operators. In this architecture, a novel segment-granularity fingerprint map is put forward to provide sufficient prior knowledge. Then, a real-time trajectory estimation process is developed for precise positioning and tracking. In our experiments implemented on the urban road network, NF-Track can achieve a recall rate of 91.68% and a precision rate of 90.35% in sophisticated traffic scenes, which are superior to the state-of-the-art model-based unsupervised learning approaches.

Emerging Roles of Air Gases in Lipid Bilayers.

Recent studies indicate that changing the physical properties of lipid bilayers may profoundly change the function of membrane proteins. Here, the effects of dissolved nitrogen and oxygen molecules on the mechanical properties and stability of lipid bilayers are investigated using differential confocal microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and molecular dynamics simulations. All experiments evidence the presence of dissolved air gas in lipid bilayers prepared without gas control. The lipid bilayers in degassed solutions are softer and less stable than those in ambient solutions. High concentrations of nitrogen increase the bending moduli and stability of the lipid bilayers and impede phase separation in ternary lipid bilayers. The effect of oxygen is less prominent. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that higher nitrogen affinity accounts for increased rigidity. These findings have fundamental and wide implications for phenomena related to lipid bilayers and cell membranes, including the origin of life.

Investigating Interfacial Effects on Surface Nanobubbles without Pinning Using Molecular Dynamics Simulation.

We investigated how the stability of aqueous argon surface nanobubbles on hydrophobic surfaces depends on gas adsorption, solid-gas interaction energy, and the bulk gas concentration using molecular dynamics simulation with the SPC/E water solvent. We observed stable surface nanobubbles without surface pinning sites for longer than 160 ns, contrary to previous findings using monoatomic Lennard-Jones solvent. In addition, the hydrophobicity of a substrate has an effect to reduce the requirement degree of oversaturation on water bulk. We found that the gas enrichment layer, gas adsorption monolayer on the hydrophobic substrate, and water hydrogen bonding near the interface are likely necessary conditions for nanobubble stability. We concluded that gas nanobubble stability does not necessarily require three-phase pinning sites.

Prediction of Lymphovascular invasion status in breast cancer based on magnetic resonance imaging radiomics features.

OBJECTIVE: This study intended to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of using clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) radiomics features to predict lymphovascular invasion (LVI) status in breast cancer (BC) patients. METHODS: A total of 182 BC patients were retrospectively collected and randomly divided into a training set (n = 127) and a validation set (n = 55) in a 7:3 ratio. Based on pathological examination results, the training set was further divided into LVI group (n = 60) and non-LVI group (n = 67), and the validation set was divided into LVI group (n = 24) and non-LVI group (n = 31). General data and MRI examination indicators were compared. Multivariate logistic regression was utilized to analyze MRI radiomics features and clinically relevant indicators that were significant in the baseline information of patients in training set, independent risk factors were identified, and a logistic regression model was built. The accuracy of logistic model was validated using ROC curves in training and validation sets. RESULTS: Age, pathohistological classification, tumor length, tumor width, presence or absence of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) cho peak, presence or absence of spicule sign, peritumoral enhancement, and peritumoral edema were statistically significant (P < 0.05) between the two groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis presented that spicule and peritumoral edema were independent risk factors for LVI in BC patients (P < 0.05). The ROC curve illustrated that AUC of the logistic regression model in the training set was 0.807 (95%CI: 0.730-0.885) and that in the validation set was 0.837 (95%CI: 0.731-0.944). CONCLUSION: Radiomics features of spicule sign and peritumoral edema were independent risk factors for LVI in BC patients. A logistic regression model based on these factors, along with age, could accurately predict LVI occurrence in BC patients, providing data support for diagnosis and modeling of LVI in BC patients.

City-scale synthetic individual-level vehicle trip data.

Trip data that records each vehicle's trip activity on the road network describes the operation of urban traffic from the individual perspective, and it is extremely valuable for transportation research. However, restricted by data privacy, the trip data of individual-level cannot be opened for all researchers, while the need for it is very urgent. In this paper, we produce a city-scale synthetic individual-level vehicle trip dataset by generating for each individual based on the historical trip data, where the availability and trip data privacy protection are balanced. Privacy protection inevitably affects the availability of data. Therefore, we have conducted numerous experiments to demonstrate the performance and reliability of the synthetic data in different dimensions and at different granularities to help users properly judge the tasks it can perform. The result shows that the synthetic data is consistent with the real data (i.e., historical data) on the aggregated level and reasonable from the individual perspective.

A hybrid trigger strategy based mixed impulsive control scheme on uncertain local field neural networks with leakage delay.

Solved in this paper is the stabilization of uncertain local field neural networks (ULFNNs) with leakage delay by dint of a mixed impulsive control scheme. The impulsive control instants are decided by a Lyapunov functional-based event triggered scheme and a periodic impulse triggered scheme. Based on the proposed control scheme, sufficient conditions are deduced for eliminating the Zeno behavior and guaranteeing the uniform asymptotic stability (UAS) of the delayed ULFNNs in the framework of Lyapunov functional analysis method. Different from individual event triggered impulse control strategy where the triggered instants may be unexpected, the mixed impulsive control scheme can release the impulse control instants in line with the distance between any two adjacent successful control points, which improves the control performance and also achieves the goal of saving the communication resource. Furthermore, the decay behavior of impulse control signal is considered to make mathematical derivation more practical, and based on this behavior, a criterion is derived to make ensure the exponential stability of delayed ULFNNs. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the designed controller for the ULFNNs with leakage delay.

Distribution Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Organochlorine Pesticides in Agricultural Soil from Xiamen City.

The concentration and distribution of 15 organochlorine pesticides in the soil of Xiamen City were determined. Overall, among the 15 selected target pesticides, 14 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were detected (hexachlorobenzene was not). The range of detected pesticides was undetected-10.04 ng/g, the total detection rate was 35.2%, and the three pollutants with the highest detection rate in all samples were Heptachlor (66.7%), δ-Hexachlorocyclohexane (60.0%), and p, p'-Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane (58.3%). The degree of pollution in descending order was Tong'an > Xiang'an > Jimei > Haicang. Linear regression analysis of soil properties and OCP concentration distribution revealed that OCPs were positively correlated with water content, dissolved organic carbon, and pH and negatively correlated with cation exchange capacity. The origin of OCPs was evaluated using the relationship between the parent compound and its metabolites, with possible new hexachlorocyclohexane and isomer (HCHs) input. By comparing the risk screening values of ΣHCHs and ΣDDTs in "Soil Environmental Quality Standards", the concentrations in all soil samples were lower than the standard values, which indicated that the OCP residues in Xiamen were very low.

City-scale holographic traffic flow data based on vehicular trajectory resampling.

Despite abundant accessible traffic data, researches on traffic flow estimation and optimization still face the dilemma of detailedness and integrity in the measurement. A dataset of city-scale vehicular continuous trajectories featuring the finest resolution and integrity, as known as the holographic traffic data, would be a breakthrough, for it could reproduce every detail of the traffic flow evolution and reveal the personal mobility pattern within the city. Due to the high coverage of Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) devices in Xuancheng city, we constructed one-month continuous trajectories of daily 80,000 vehicles in the city with accurate intersection passing time and no travel path estimation bias. With such holographic traffic data, it is possible to reproduce every detail of the traffic flow evolution. We presented a set of traffic flow data based on the holographic trajectories resampling, covering the whole city, including stationary average speed and flow data of 5-minute intervals and dynamic floating car data (FCD).

Diabetes medications and cancer risk associations: a systematic review and meta-analysis of evidence over the past 10 years.

Diabetes medications may modify the risk of certain cancers. We systematically searched MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane CENTRAL from 2011 to March 2021 for studies evaluating associations between diabetes medications and the risk of breast, lung, colorectal, prostate, liver, and pancreatic cancers. A total of 92 studies (3 randomized controlled trials, 64 cohort studies, and 25 case-control studies) were identified in the systematic review, involving 171 million participants. Inverse relationships with colorectal (n = 18; RR = 0.85; 95% CI = 0.78-0.92) and liver cancers (n = 10; RR = 0.55; 95% CI = 0.46-0.66) were observed in biguanide users. Thiazolidinediones were associated with lower risks of breast (n = 6; RR = 0.87; 95% CI = 0.80-0.95), lung (n = 6; RR = 0.77; 95% CI = 0.61-0.96) and liver (n = 8; RR = 0.83; 95% CI = 0.72-0.95) cancers. Insulins were negatively associated with breast (n = 15; RR = 0.90; 95% CI = 0.82-0.98) and prostate cancer risks (n = 7; RR = 0.74; 95% CI = 0.56-0.98). Positive associations were found between insulin secretagogues and pancreatic cancer (n = 5; RR = 1.26; 95% CI = 1.01-1.57), and between insulins and liver (n = 7; RR = 1.74; 95% CI = 1.08-2.80) and pancreatic cancers (n = 8; RR = 2.41; 95% CI = 1.08-5.36). Overall, biguanide and thiazolidinedione use carried no risk, or potentially lower risk of some cancers, while insulin secretagogue and insulin use were associated with increased pancreatic cancer risk.

Perceived Intrinsic Motivation Mediates the Effect of Motive Incongruence on Job Burnout and Job Satisfaction.

Job burnout is a profound concern in modern society producing enormous financial and emotional costs for companies, health insurances, and the individual employee. In this study, we aimed at contributing to the literature on determinants of job burnout by investigating the indirect effects of implicit and explicit motive discrepancies (IED) through intrinsic motivation, with the aim of replicating previous findings from the literature. In addition, we extended this research by adding job satisfaction as an outcome variable in the mediation model, as well as volition as a moderator in these relationships. We preregistered our study and collected data from 136 participants (82 females; Mage = 29.33 years, SDage = 6.30) using indirect measures (for implicit motives) and self-report measures (for explicit motives, job burnout, job satisfaction and volition). IED was shown to have an indirect effect on both job burnout and job satisfaction through intrinsic motivation. Additionally, these indirect effects were mitigated by high levels volition. We discuss implications of our findings for research and practice.Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2021.1980758.

Accuracy Assessment of the Planar Morphology of Valley Bank Gullies Extracted with High Resolution Remote Sensing Imagery on the Loess Plateau, China.

Gully erosion is a serious environmental problem worldwide, causing soil loss, land degradation, silting up of reservoirs and even catastrophic flooding. Mapping gully features from remote sensing imagery is crucial for assisting in understanding gully erosion mechanisms, predicting its development processes and assessing its environmental and socio-economic effects over large areas, especially under the increasing global climate extremes and intensive human activities. However, the potential of using increasingly available high-resolution remote sensing imagery to detect and delineate gullies has been less evaluated. Hence, 130 gullies occurred along a transect were selected from a typical watershed in the hilly and gully region of the Chinese Loess Plateau, and visually interpreted from a Pleiades-1B satellite image (panchromatic-sharpened image at 0.5 m resolution fused with 2.0 m multi-spectral bands). The interpreted gullies were compared with their measured data obtained in the field using a differential global positioning system (GPS). Results showed that gullies could generally be accurately interpreted from the image, with an average relative error of gully area and gully perimeter being 11.1% and 8.9%, respectively, and 74.2% and 82.3% of the relative errors for gully area and gully perimeter were within 15%. But involving field measurements of gullies in present imagery-based gully studies is still recommended. To judge whether gullies were mapped accurately further, a standard adopting one-pixel tolerance along the mapped gully edges was proposed and proved to be practical. Correlation analysis indicated that larger gullies could be interpreted more accurately but increasing gully shape complexity would decrease interpreting accuracy. Overall lower vegetation coverage in winter due to the withering and falling of vegetation rarely affected gully interpreting. Furthermore, gully detectability on remote sensing imagery in this region was lower than the other places of the world, due to the overall broken topography in the Loess Plateau, thus images with higher resolution than normally perceived are needed when mapping erosion features here. Taking these influencing factors (gully dimension and shape complexity, vegetation coverage, topography) into account will be favorable to select appropriate imagery and gullies (as study objects) in future imagery-based gully studies. Finally, two linear regression models were built to correct gully area (Aip, m²) and gully perimeter (Pip, m) visually extracted, by connecting them with the measured area (Ams, m²) and perimeter (Pms, m). The correction models were Ams=1.021Aip+0.139 and Pms=0.949Pip+ 0.722, respectively. These models could be helpful for improving the accuracy of interpreting results, and further accurately estimating gully development and developing more effective automated gully extraction methods on the Loess Plateau of China.

Synthesis of solvent-stabilized colloidal nanoparticles of platinum, rhodium, and ruthenium by microwave-polyol process.

Solvent-stabilized Pt, Rh, and Ru colloidal nanoparticles were synthesized by a microwave-polyol process. They were characterized by TEM and XPS, XRD, and UV-vis examination. These colloids have small particle sizes with narrow size distribution, and they were stable in glycol upon storage under ambient condition for months. Separation and XPS characterization of the intermediate colloids demonstrated the two-step mechanism for the formation of solvent-stabilized metal colloids via hydrolysis.

Primary cutaneous malignant granular cell tumor: a case report in China and review of the literature.

Granular cell tumor is rare and accounts for approximately 0.5% of all soft tissue tumors. The malignant granular cell tumor, especially cutaneous malignant granular cell tumor is extremely rare. The present case is the first patient of primary cutaneous malignant granular cell tumor reported from China in English. A review of the literature is performed, and the presentation, position, pathological diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of the patients with cutaneous malignant granular cell tumor of the reported cases before is analysed.

Discovery of potent and selective inhibitors of 11beta-HSD1 for the treatment of metabolic syndrome.

High throughput screening efforts have identified a novel class of dichloroaniline amide 11beta-HSD1 inhibitors. SAR studies initiated from dichloroaniline 4 focused on retaining the potency and selectivity profile of the lead.