Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a global health problem that causes major illnesses and disabilities worldwide. Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that the prevalence of AR has increased progressively ...over the last few decades in more developed countries and currently affects up to 40% of the population worldwide. Likewise, a rising trend of AR has also been observed over the last 2-3 decades in developing countries including China, with the prevalence of AR varying widely in these countries. A survey of self-reported AR over a 6-year period in the general Chinese adult population reported that the standardized prevalence of adult AR increased from 11.1% in 2005 to 17.6% in 2011. An increasing number of Journal Articles and imporclinical trials on the epidemiology, pathophysiologic mechanisms, diagnosis, management and comorbidities of AR in Chinese subjects have been published in international peer-reviewed journals over the past 2 decades, and substantially added to our understanding of this disease as a global problem. Although guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of AR in Chinese subjects have also been published, they have not been translated into English and therefore not generally accessible for reference to non-Chinese speaking international medical communities. Moreover, methods for the diagnosis and treatment of AR in China have not been standardized entirely and some patients are still treated according to regional preferences. Thus, the present guidelines have been developed by the Chinese Society of Allergy to be accessible to both national and international medical communities involved in the management of AR patients. These guidelines have been prepared in line with existing international guidelines to provide evidence-based recommendations for the diagnosis and management of AR in China.
Network-on-chip (NoC) has played a vital role in enabling high-speed and energy-efficient data communication among different cores in a multi-or many-core System-on-Chip (SoC). To mitigate the ...pessimistic timing margin reversed for severe process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) variations, we presented a wide supply voltage range router with a novel error detection and correction (EDAC) technique adopted in its latch-based pipeline for high energy efficiency. Especially, a unified clock-gated error correction scheme is presented to address dynamic timing errors under PVT variations and functional pipeline stalls when occurring allocation failure (packet fails to obtain an output port) or flow control (the next router stalls the current packet transmitting) in one cycle. Moreover, a latch-based pipeline structure with three non-overlapped clocks is adopted to further reduce the short-path padding overhead, which is significantly increased in the ultra-low voltage (ULV) regime. Consequently, we prototyped a 2 × 2 2D mesh NoC test chip with 28-nm CMOS technology. Compared with the margined baseline with a 10% VDD drop, measurement results show that the proposed router enables 1.4×, 32.4%, and 7.5% improvements in frequency, energy, and area, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed techniques can reduce packet loss by 200× and increase throughput by 19.9% for the NoC at 0.4 V, 25∘C.
In this work, the chemical vapor transport method was used to grow ferromagnetic Cr5Te6 single crystal. Novel multiple magnetic phase transitions have been discovered by magnetization measurements. ...The critical behavior from ferromagnetism to paramagnetism transition has been investigated in detail. The magnetic entropy changes are estimated by the Maxwell relation. The critical parameters of β = 0.405, γ = 1.200, δ = 3.96 as well as the Curie point TC≈ 338 K are determined by various theoretical models. The calculated critical parameters are not only intrinsic and self-consistent, but also obey the scaling equation around TC. Further analysis using renormalization theory reveals that the spin interaction for Cr5Te6 is long-range type, and its magnetic interaction cannot be classified into an universal class, the spin exchange interaction distance decays as J(r)≈r−4.79.
•Cr5Te6 is the highest Cr composition single crystal in all the published results.•The multiple magnetic phase transitions in Cr5Te6 are discovered.•The critical behavior in Cr5Te6 is investigated in detail.
Due to the high transfer ability of cancer cell, cancer has been regarded as a world-wide high mortality disease. Quantitative analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can provide some valuable ...clinical information that is particularly critical for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Along with the rapid development of micro-/nano-fabrication technique, the three-dimensional (3D) bionic interface-based analysis method has become a hot research topic in the area of nanotechnology and life science. Micro-/nano-structure-based devices have been identified as being one of the easiest and most effective techniques for CTCs capture applications.
We demonstrated an electrospun nanofibers-deposited nickel (Ni) micropillars-based cytosensor for electrochemical detection of CTCs. Breast cancer cell line with rich EpCAM expression (MCF7) were selected as model CTCs. The ultra-long poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanofibers were firstly-crosswise stacked onto the surface of Ni micropillars by electrospinning to construct a 3D bionic interface for capturing EpCAM-expressing CTCs, following immuno-recognition with quantum dots functionalized anti-EpCAM antibody (QDs-Ab) and forming immunocomplexes on the micro-/nano-chip.
The Ni micropillars in the longitudinal direction not only play a certain electrical conductivity in the electrochemical detection, but also its special structure improves the efficiency of cell capture. The cross-aligned nanofibers could simulate the extracellular matrix to provide a good microenvironment which is better for cell adhesion and physiological functions. Bioprobe containing quantum dots will release Cd
in the process of acid dissolution, resulting in a change in current. Beneath favourable conditions, the suggested 3D cytosensor demonstrated high sensitivity with a broad range of 10
-10
cells mL
and a detection limit of 8 cells mL
.
We constructed a novel 3D electrochemical cytosensor based on Ni micropillars, PLGA electrospun nanofibers and quantum dots bioprobe, which could be used to highly sensitive and selective analysis of CTCs. More significantly, the 3D cytosensor can efficiently identify CTCs from whole blood, which suggested the potential applications of our technique for the clinical diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of cancers.
The microbiome in the insect reproductive tract is poorly understood. Our previous study demonstrated the presence of Lactobacillus spp. in female moths, but their distribution and function remain ...unclear. Lactobacillus spp. are known as the 'healthy' vaginal microbiome in humans.
Here, we studied the microbiome in the reproductive system (RS) and gut of Spodoptera frugiperda using 16S rDNA sequences. The obtained 4315 bacterial OTUs were classified into 61 phyla and 642 genera, with Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroidota being the top three dominant phyla and Enterococcus and Asaia being dominant genera in most samples. Mating dramatically increased the abundance of pathogens or pathogenic functions in the gut, while in the RS, the change range was trivial. Taxonomy assignment identified thirteen Lactobacillus spp. in S. frugiperda, with Lactobacillus crustorum and Lactobacillus murinus showing high abundance. Three species found in S. frugiperda, namely L. reuteri, L. plantarum and L. brevis, have also been identified as human 'healthy' vaginal bacterial species. Lactobacillus spp. showed higher abundance in the RS of virgin females and lower abundance in the RS of virgin males and the gut of virgin females. Mating reduced their abundance in the RS of females but increased their abundance in the RS of males, especially in males mated with multiple females. The RS of virgin females and of multiple mated males were very similar in terms of composition and abundance of Lactobacillus species, with Lactobacillus crustorum showing much higher abundance in both tissues, potentially due to sexual transmission.
Lactobacillus spp. showed high abundance and diversity in the RS of female moths. The higher abundance of Lactobacillus spp. in the RS of female moths and the similarity of Lactobacillus species in female moths with human 'healthy' vaginal Lactobacillus spp. suggest that these bacterial strains are also an important microbiome in the RS of female moths.
OM, SEM, EBSD, and other analytical techniques were utilized to investigate the effects of the rotating speed of a mixing head on the microstructures and mechanical properties of a joint. The results ...indicate that, compared with the base material, the grain size in the nugget zone is significantly refined. Furthermore, as the rotational speed of the mixing head increases, the grain size in the nugget zone increases noticeably, and the proportion of high-angle grain boundary length initially decreases and then increases. The texture types in different areas of the joint are markedly distinct: the base material primarily consists of recrystallization texture and rolling texture, while the core zone mainly comprises C-shear texture. Among the joints tested at various rotation speeds, the lowest hardness values are observed in the advancing side heat-affected zone, and the tensile properties of the joints are notably reduced due to the dissolution and coarsening of the second phase. The joint exhibits optimal performance at 1000 r/min, with a tensile strength and elongation of 196.3 MPa and 13.5%, respectively.
Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is a complex upper airway disease affecting up to 11% of the population of Western Europe. In these western countries, 85% of the CRSwNP disease ...reveals a type 2 inflammatory pattern. In the last 15 years, several randomized double-blind studies on monoclonal antibodies in CRSwNP were performed. These studies demonstrated for the first time that biologics targeting type 2 immune reactions might be successful in nasal polyps. The target proteins, interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5, IL-13, and IgE were previously identified as key mediators in studies using nasal polyp tissues to measure and to interact in ex-vivo settings. No biomarkers have been identified to predict response to a specific biologic or to monitor treatment success. These studies were characterized by small numbers of patients and heterogeneous populations. They did, however, pave the way for currently performed and analyzed phase 3 studies, which will possibly lead to the registration of the first biologic drug with the indication CRSwNP. The studies already provide indications on the effects to be expected from those biologics; the results of phase-3 studies in larger populations will be decisive for the indications, patient selection, and finally the stopping rules for those drugs in subjects with severe nasal polyps, in whom the current standard of care including topical and oral glucocorticosteroids, antibiotics and surgical procedures failed to control the disease. We may expect that those biologics will open new perspectives for those patients with severe polyposis with, but also independent of asthma, allowing to avoid the possible adverse events resulting from systemic glucocorticosteroids and surgery.
Previous studies on the endotyping of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) that were based on inflammatory factors have broadened our understanding of the disease. However, the endotype of CRS combined with ...inflammatory and remodeling features has not yet been clearly elucidated.
We sought to identify the endotypes of patients with CRS according to inflammatory and remodeling factors.
Forty-eight inflammatory and remodeling factors in the nasal mucosal tissues of 128 CRS patients and 24 control subjects from northern China were analyzed by Luminex, ELISA, and ImmunoCAP. Sixteen factors were used to perform the cluster analysis. The characteristics of each cluster were analyzed using correlation analysis and validated by immunofluorescence staining.
Patients were classified into 5 clusters. Clusters 1 and 2 showed non-type 2 signatures with low biomarker concentrations, except for IL-19 and IL-27. Cluster 3 involved a low type 2 endotype with the highest expression of neutrophil factors, such as granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, IL-8, and myeloperoxidase, and remodeling factors, such as matrix metalloproteinases and fibronectin. Cluster 4 exhibited moderate type 2 inflammation. Cluster 5 exhibited high type 2 inflammation, which was associated with relatively higher levels of neutrophil and remodeling factors. The proportion of CRS with nasal polyps, asthma, allergies, anosmia, aspirin sensitivity, and the recurrence of CRS increased from clusters 1 to 5.
Diverse inflammatory mechanisms result in distinct CRS endotypes and remodeling profiles. The explicit differentiation and accurate description of these endotypes will guide targeted treatment decisions.
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An adaptively smart wireless power transfer (WPT) system is proposed by using a 2-bit programmable metasurface (PMS), in which an indoor dynamic charging application scenario is described and ...near-field focused (NFF) technique is adopted to transmit wireless powers. Theoretical analyses of NFF PMS are presented to illustrate its WPT capabilities. To implement dynamic WPTs, digital phase-shift quantization of PMS element is investigated, indicating that 2-bit quantization scheme is a preferred solution. As experimental demonstrations, a 2-bit 12 × 12 PMS operating at 5.8 GHz is designed, fabricated, and tested. High-power focal spots that can be regulated to focus at different near-field positions are measured in an anechoic chamber. We conduct multiple WPT experiments by using the 2-bit PMS as the transmitter and a 4 × 4 microstrip array antenna as the receiver. Experimental results show that the proposed 2-bit PMS can continuously transmit the wireless powers to the receiver even though the target is moving, and the WPT efficiency is maintained over 9.1%, which has about 16.3 dB improvement at the end of the trajectory compared to the fixed NFF beam. This work is one of the first attempts to thoroughly examine the possibility of the dynamic WPTs using PMS, offering a brand-new manner for the adaptively smart WPT systems.
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