The large-scale stock price fluctuations that occur from time to time in the global stock market highlight the important research significance of stock price crash risk. Existing researches have paid ...little attention to the impact of abnormal audit fees on stock price crash risk. This article explores its relationship with stock prices from this perspective. The relationship between the crash risk and whether the abnormal audit fee can be used as an early warning signal for the company’s stock price crash risk has enriched the related research on the influencing factors of the stock price crash risk and the early warning mechanism.
This study investigates the factors contributing to COVID vaccine hesitancy. Vaccine hesitancy has commonly been attributed to susceptibility to misinformation and linked to particular ...socio-demographic factors and personality traits. We present a new perspective, emphasizing the interplay between individual cognitive styles and perceptions of public health institutions. In January 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic, 318 participants underwent a comprehensive assessment, including self-report measures of personality and clinical characteristics, as well as a behavioral task that assessed information processing styles. During 2021, attitudes towards vaccines, scientists, and the CDC were measured at three time points (February-October). Panel data analysis and structural equation modeling revealed nuanced relationships between these measures and information processing styles over time. Trust in public health institutions, authoritarian submission, and lower information processing capabilities together contribute to vaccine acceptance. Information processing capacities influenced vaccination decisions independently from the trust level, but their impact was partially mediated by authoritarian tendencies. These findings underscore the multifactorial nature of vaccine hesitancy, which emerges as a product of interactions between individual cognitive styles and perceptions of public health institutions. This novel perspective provides valuable insights into the underlying mechanisms that drive this complex phenomenon.
The Stop the Bleed (STB) training program was launched by the White House to minimize hemorrhagic deaths. Few studies focused on the STB were reported outside the United States. This study aimed to ...evaluate the effectiveness of a problem-, team- and evidence-based learning (PTEBL) approach to teaching, compared to traditional teaching methods currently employed in STB courses in China.
This study was a parallel group, unmasked, randomised controlled trial. We included third-year medical students of a five-year training program from the Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University who voluntarily participated in the trial. One hundred fifty-three medical students were randomized (1:1) into the PTEBL group (n = 77) or traditional group (n = 76). Every group was led by a single instructor. The instructor in the PTEBL group has experienced in educational reform. However, the instructor in the traditional group follows a traditional teaching mode. The teaching courses for both student groups had the same duration of four hours. Questionnaires were conducted to assess teaching quality before and after the course. The trial was registered in the Central South University (No. 2021JY188).
In the PTEBL group, students reported mastery in three fundamental STB skills-Direct Finger Compression (61/77, 79.2%), Packing (72/77, 93.8%), and Tourniquet Placement (71/77, 92.2%) respectively, while 76.3% (58/76), 89.5% (68/76), and 88.2% (67/76) of students in the traditional group (P > 0.05 for each pairwise comparison). 96.1% (74/77) of students in the PTEBL group felt prepared to help in an emergency, while 90.8% (69/76) of students in the traditional group (P > 0.05). 94.8% (73/77) of students reported improved teamwork skills after the PTEBL course, in contrast with 81.6% (62/76) of students in the traditional course (P = 0.011). Furthermore, a positive correlation was observed between improved clinical thinking skills and improved teamwork skills (R = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.74-0.88; P < 0.001).
Compared with the traditional teaching method, the PTEBL method was superior in teaching teamwork skills, and has equally effectively taught hemostasis techniques in the emergency setting. The PTEBL method can be introduced to the STB training in China.
Clade 2.3.4.4 H5N6 avian influenza virus (AIV) has been predominant in poultry in China, and the circulating haemagglutinin (HA) gene has changed from clade 2.3.4.4h to clade 2.3.4.4b in recent ...years. In 2021, we isolated four H5N6 viruses from ducks during the routine surveillance of AIV in China. The whole-genome sequencing results demonstrated that the four isolates all belonged to the currently prevalent clade 2.3.4.4b but had different internal gene constellations, which could be divided into G1 and G2 genotypes. Specifically, G1 possessed H9-like PB2 and PB1 genes on the H5-like genetic backbone while G2 owned an H3-like PB1 gene and the H5-like remaining internal genes. By determining the characteristics of H5N6 viruses, including growth performance on different cells, plaque-formation ability, virus attachment ability, and pathogenicity and transmission in different animal models, we found that G1 strains were more conducive to replication in mammalian cells (MDCK and A549) and BALB/c mice than G2 strains. However, G2 strains were more advantageously replicated in avian cells (CEF and DF-1) and slightly more transmissible in waterfowls (mallards) than G1 strains. This study enriched the epidemiological data of H5 subtype AIV to further understand its dynamic evolution, and laid the foundation for further research on the mechanism of low pathogenic AIV internal genes in generating novel H5 subtype reassortants.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a temporally and spatially precisely controllable, noninvasive, and potentially highly efficient method of phototherapy. The three components of PDT primarily include ...photosensitizers, oxygen, and light. PDT employs specific wavelengths of light to active photosensitizers at the tumor site, generating reactive oxygen species that are fatal to tumor cells. Nevertheless, traditional photosensitizers have disadvantages such as poor water solubility, severe oxygen‐dependency, and low targetability, and the light is difficult to penetrate the deep tumor tissue, which remains the toughest task in the application of PDT in the clinic. Here, we systematically summarize the development and the molecular mechanisms of photosensitizers, and the challenges of PDT in tumor management, highlighting the advantages of nanocarriers‐based PDT against cancer. The development of third generation photosensitizers has opened up new horizons in PDT, and the cooperation between nanocarriers and PDT has attained satisfactory achievements. Finally, the clinical studies of PDT are discussed. Overall, we present an overview and our perspective of PDT in the field of tumor management, and we believe this work will provide a new insight into tumor‐based PDT.
We highlight the development and molecular mechanisms underlying the activation of photosensitizers, the challenges of PDT in tumor management, and the advantages of nanocarriers‐based PDT against cancer.
In a recently introduced method for nanobubble generation, water is replaced with NaCl solution. It has the same mechanism as alcohol/water exchange: a liquid of higher gas solubility is used to ...replace one of lower gas solubility. Herein, the opposite process is realized by replacement of saline solutions with water. Interestingly, nanobubbles are also observed by AFM when different concentrations and valences of saline liquids are employed.
Repeatable nanobubble generation on a highly ordered pyrolytic graphite surface can be achieved by replacing water with saline solution or saline solution with water (see picture). Interestingly, nanobubbles are also observed by atomic force microscopy when saline liquids of different concentrations and valences are employed.
•P4 probes with aggregation caused quenching property enabled the signal discrimination of integrated nanocarriers (NC) from disintegrated NC.•Clarify the effect of the height of dissolving ...microneedles (DMNs) on in vivo fate of NC loaded in DMNs from spatial and temporal perspectives.•Facilitate the clinical translation of NC-incorporated DMNs.
Dissolving microneedles (DMNs) hold great popularity because of their precise drug delivery and administration portability. DMNs with different lengths could reach different depths of punctures that consequently resulted in different diffusive effects. Therefore, to clarify the effect of the length of the needles on in vivo fate of DMNs is of great significance. In this study, solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) were chosen as the model NC loaded in DMNs. To unambiguously determine the biological fate of the DMNs, P4 probe with aggregation caused quenching property was encapsulated in SLNs to enable the visualization of the process of the disintegration of SLNs. P4-encapsulated SLNs were loaded into DMNs with the lengths of 1200 μm, 800 μm, and 400 μm (named as DMN-1200, DMN-800, and DMN-400). By tracking the fluorescence signal distribution after skin piercing, the influence of the lengths of the needles on DMNs to the in vivo fate of the intact SLNs was explored. In the spatial dimension, intact NC loaded DMNs showed a length-dependent diffusion depth. In the temporal dimension, the diffusion rates of DMN-1200, DMN-800, and DMN-400 were similar within 24 h after insertion. It was inferred that DMNs with shorter needles would be ideal for the diseases on the superficial layer of the skin, while the ones with longer needles could be utilized in the treatment of diseases in deeper dermal and subcutaneous layers. The results of the study can act as a valuable guidance for future design and development of NC-loaded DMNs.
Diblock copolyelectrolytes have received extensive attention in recent years due to their wide applications as novel solid-state and polymeric electrolytes; however, predictably tuning the ...morphologies and microphase structures of the diblock copolyelectrolytes for their performance optimization remains a significant challenge. In this paper, using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations, we discover a cascade of microphase structures of the A X B Y -type diblock copolyelectrolytes (composed of a hydrophobic block A X and a polyelectrolyte block B Y ) through the application of an external electric field. Importantly, we find that the percolated phases of charged blocks which are desired for ion transportation can be realized at different block ratios solely through electric field regulations. Specifically, our simulations show that with increasing the electric field strength, (i) copolyelectrolytes at the block ratio of f A = X/(X + Y) = 0.67 undergo the lamellar–cylindrical–disordered microphase transitions; (ii) copolyelectrolytes with f A = 0.50 undergo cylindrical–disordered microphase transition; and (iii) copolyelectrolytes at f A = 0.33 experience the spherical–cylindrical–disordered transitions. The newly formed microphases caused by the electric field application can stably exist as the electric field is switched off and further re-enter the initial microphases through appropriate annealing manipulations. In particular, we systematically investigate the formation mechanisms and structural properties for each microphase and summarize the dependence of diverse morphologies of diblock copolyelectrolytes on the electric field strengths and directions, block ratios, and system temperatures. Our work contributes to the fundamental understanding of charged block copolymers in response to external electric fields and provides insight into the design and development of novel polymeric electrolytes with predesigned structural/thermodynamic properties.
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