The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is the defining global health crisis of our time and the greatest challenge facing the world. Meteorological parameters are reportedly crucial factors ...affecting respiratory infectious disease epidemics; however, the effect of meteorological parameters on COVID-19 remains controversial. This study investigated the effects of temperature and relative humidity on daily new cases and daily new deaths of COVID-19, which has useful implications for policymakers and the public. Daily data on meteorological conditions, new cases and new deaths of COVID-19 were collected for 166 countries (excluding China) as of March 27, 2020. Log-linear generalized additive model was used to analyze the effects of temperature and relative humidity on daily new cases and daily new deaths of COVID-19, with potential confounders controlled for, including wind speed, median age of the national population, Global Health Security Index, Human Development Index and population density. Our findings revealed that temperature and relative humidity were both negatively related to daily new cases and deaths. A 1 °C increase in temperature was associated with a 3.08% (95% CI: 1.53%, 4.63%) reduction in daily new cases and a 1.19% (95% CI: 0.44%, 1.95%) reduction in daily new deaths, whereas a 1% increase in relative humidity was associated with a 0.85% (95% CI: 0.51%, 1.19%) reduction in daily new cases and a 0.51% (95% CI: 0.34%, 0.67%) reduction in daily new deaths. The results remained robust when different lag structures and the sensitivity analysis were used. These findings provide preliminary evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic may be partially suppressed with temperature and humidity increases. However, active measures must be taken to control the source of infection, block transmission and prevent further spread of COVID-19.
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•First study to explore the effects of temperature and humidity on the daily new cases and deaths of COVID-19 worldwide.•We used log-linear GAM to analyze the effects.•We considered the lag effects and the cumulative effects of weather conditions.•Temperature and relative humidity were both negatively related to the daily new cases and daily new deaths of COVID-19
Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) α, β/δ, and γ modulate lipid homeostasis. PPARα regulates lipid metabolism in the liver, the organ that largely controls whole-body nutrient/energy ...homeostasis, and its abnormalities may lead to hepatic steatosis, steatohepatitis, steatofibrosis, and liver cancer. PPARβ/δ promotes fatty acid β-oxidation largely in extrahepatic organs, and PPARγ stores triacylglycerol in adipocytes. Investigations using liver-specific PPAR-disrupted mice have revealed major but distinct contributions of the three PPARs in the liver. This review summarizes the findings of liver-specific PPAR-null mice and discusses the role of PPARs in the liver.
Effective and accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), as well as its prodromal stage (i.e., mild cognitive impairment (MCI)), has attracted more and more attention recently. So far, multiple ...biomarkers have been shown to be sensitive to the diagnosis of AD and MCI, i.e., structural MR imaging (MRI) for brain atrophy measurement, functional imaging (e.g., FDG-PET) for hypometabolism quantification, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for quantification of specific proteins. However, most existing research focuses on only a single modality of biomarkers for diagnosis of AD and MCI, although recent studies have shown that different biomarkers may provide complementary information for the diagnosis of AD and MCI. In this paper, we propose to combine three modalities of biomarkers, i.e., MRI, FDG-PET, and CSF biomarkers, to discriminate between AD (or MCI) and healthy controls, using a kernel combination method. Specifically, ADNI baseline MRI, FDG-PET, and CSF data from 51AD patients, 99 MCI patients (including 43 MCI converters who had converted to AD within 18months and 56 MCI non-converters who had not converted to AD within 18months), and 52 healthy controls are used for development and validation of our proposed multimodal classification method. In particular, for each MR or FDG-PET image, 93 volumetric features are extracted from the 93 regions of interest (ROIs), automatically labeled by an atlas warping algorithm. For CSF biomarkers, their original values are directly used as features. Then, a linear support vector machine (SVM) is adopted to evaluate the classification accuracy, using a 10-fold cross-validation. As a result, for classifying AD from healthy controls, we achieve a classification accuracy of 93.2% (with a sensitivity of 93% and a specificity of 93.3%) when combining all three modalities of biomarkers, and only 86.5% when using even the best individual modality of biomarkers. Similarly, for classifying MCI from healthy controls, we achieve a classification accuracy of 76.4% (with a sensitivity of 81.8% and a specificity of 66%) for our combined method, and only 72% even using the best individual modality of biomarkers. Further analysis on MCI sensitivity of our combined method indicates that 91.5% of MCI converters and 73.4% of MCI non-converters are correctly classified. Moreover, we also evaluate the classification performance when employing a feature selection method to select the most discriminative MR and FDG-PET features. Again, our combined method shows considerably better performance, compared to the case of using an individual modality of biomarkers.
► We propose to combine MRI, FDG-PET, and CSF biomarkers, to discriminate between AD (or MCI) and healthy controls, using a kernel combination method. ► A high accuracy of 93.2% for AD classification and a high sensitivity of 91.5% (for MCI converters) for MCI classification. ► Each modality is indispensable for achieving good classification. ► CSF and PET have the highest complementary information and MRI and PET have the highest similar information for classification.
We develop s-dependent competing risk model for systems subject to multiple degradation processes and random shocks using time-varying copulas. The proposed model allows for a more flexible ...dependence structure between risks in which (a) the dependent relationship between random shocks and degradation processes is modulated by a time-scaled covariate factor, and (b) the dependent relationship among various degradation processes is fitted using the copula method. Two types of random shocks are considered in the model: fatal shocks, which fails the system immediately; and nonfatal shocks, which does not. In a nonfatal shock situation there are two impacts towards the degradation processes: sudden increment jumps, and degradation rate accelerations. The comparison results of the system reliability estimation from both constant and time-varying copulas are illustrated in the numerical examples to demonstrate the application of the proposed model. The modified joint distribution bounds in terms of Kendall's tau and Spearman's rho provide an improvement to Frechet-Hoeffding bounds for estimating the possible system reliability range.
Purpose: Case-based learning (CBL) is now used as a teaching strategy to promote clinical problem-solving ability. The purpose of this study was to determine whether CBL is superior to the ...traditional teaching method in teaching lung cancer curriculum to oncology students.
Methods: This study was a randomized controlled trial, enrolled 80 first-year oncology postgraduates from Bengbu medical college in the past 3 years. They were randomized to divide into 2 groups, had courses with the same lung cancer contents and timing. The experimental group (n = 40) utilized the CBL method while the control group (n = 40) used the traditional lecture-based teaching method. A questionnaire was used to attain the students' learning satisfaction and self-efficacy of the course, and a post-study examination was used to assess end-of-course performance.
Results: Complete data were obtained from participating students (n = 40 in CBL; n = 40 in traditional teaching). The CBL group performed significantly better in questionnaire and examination compared to traditional teaching groups. Students showed high levels of satisfaction and problem-solving ability in the CBL group.
Conclusion: Compared with the traditional teaching method. The case teaching method is a more effective teaching method to improve the ability of problem-solving for graduate students in medical oncology.
•Pre-soaking process improved CO2 curing efficiency on recycled fine aggregate (RFA).•CO2 cured RFA showed low water absorption, powder content and crush value.•Mortars with carbonated RFA achieved ...excellent flowability and high strength.•CaCO3 from carbonation reaction reduced the porosity of RFA and relative mortars.
Because of a long storage time, recycled fine aggregates (RFAs) derived from demolition concrete have an extremely low content of carbonatable compounds, which makes it difficult to improve their performance through a regular carbonation process. In this study, we attempted to increase the content of carbonatable compounds in demolition RFAs via calcium hydroxide (CH) pre-soaking for enhancing the carbonation effectiveness. RFAs pre-soaked with CH before carbonation exhibited better properties, including a lower crush value, water absorption, and powder content, as well as a higher strength, than RFAs subjected to carbonation alone. The effect of the carbonation parameters on CO2 curing was examined, and the optimal condition was identified. Experimental results show that the crush value, water absorption, and powder content were significantly reduced by curing the RFAs under the optimal condition (ORFAs). Moreover, the flowability of mortars prepared with ORFAs was improved, and the compressive strength at 28d was increased. The porosity of mortars made prepared using ORFAs was reduced, and the pore structure was refined, as revealed by a mercury intrusion porosity test. The enhancement mechanism was investigated using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy.
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in the pathology of various tumors, including colorectal cancer (CRC). The crosstalk between carcinoma- associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and cancer cells in ...the tumor microenvironment promotes tumor development and confers chemoresistance. In this study, we further investigated the underlying tumor-promoting roles of CAFs and the molecular mediators involved in these processes.
The AOM/DSS-induced colitis-associated cancer (CAC) mouse model was established, and RNA sequencing was performed. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) sequences were used to knock down H19. Cell apoptosis was measured by flow cytometry. SW480 cells with H19 stably knocked down were used to establish a xenograft model. The indicated protein levels in xenograft tumor tissues were confirmed by immunohistochemistry assay, and cell apoptosis was analyzed by TUNEL apoptosis assay. RNA-FISH and immunofluorescence assays were performed to assess the expression of H19 in tumor stroma and cancer nests. The AldeRed ALDH detection assay was performed to detect intracellular aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) enzyme activity. Isolated exosomes were identified by transmission electron microscopy, nanoparticle tracking and Western blotting.
H19 was highly expressed in the tumor tissues of CAC mice compared with the expression in normal colon tissues. The up-regulation of H19 was also confirmed in CRC patient samples at different tumor node metastasis (TNM) stages. Moreover, H19 was associated with the stemness of colorectal cancer stem cells (CSCs) in CRC specimens. H19 promoted the stemness of CSCs and increased the frequency of tumor-initiating cells. RNA-FISH showed higher expression of H19 in tumor stroma than in cancer nests. Of note, H19 was enriched in CAF-derived conditioned medium and exosomes, which in turn promoted the stemness of CSCs and the chemoresistance of CRC cells
and
. Furthermore, H19 activated the β-catenin pathway via acting as a competing endogenous RNA sponge for miR-141 in CRC, while miR-141 significantly inhibited the stemness of CRC cells.
CAFs promote the stemness and chemoresistance of CRC by transferring exosomal H19. H19 activated the β-catenin pathway via acting as a competing endogenous RNA sponge for miR-141, while miR-141 inhibited the stemness of CRC cells. Our findings indicate that H19 expressed by CAFs of the colorectal tumor stroma contributes to tumor development and chemoresistance.
DNA modifications such as 5-methylcytosine （5mC） and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine （5hmC） are epigenetic marks known to affect global gene efpression in mammals. Given their prevalence in the human genome, ...close correlation with gene expression and high chemical stability, these DNA epigenetic marks could serve as ideal biomarkers for cancer diagnosis. Taking advantage of a highly sensitive and selective chemical labeling technology, we report here the genome-wide profiling of 5hmC in circulating cell-free DNA （cfDNA） and in genomic DNA （gDNA） of paired tumor and adjacent tissues collected from a cohort of 260 patients recently diagnosed with colorectal, gastric, pancreatic, liv- er or thyroid cancer and normal tissues from 90 healthy individuals. 5hmC was mainly distributed in transcriptionally active regions coincident with open chromatin and permissive histone modifications. Robust cancer-associated 5hmC signatures were identified in cfDNA that were characteristic for specific cancer types. 5hmC-based biomarkers of cir- culating cfDNA were highly predictive of colorectal and gastric cancers and were superior to conventional biomarkers and comparable to 5hmC biomarkers from tissue biopsies. Thus, this new strategy could lead to the development of effective, minimally invasive methods for diagnosis and prognosis of cancer from the analyses of blood samples.
The Zn metal anode is considered one of the most promising anode choices for aqueous Zn‐based batteries. Nevertheless, dendrites and intricate side reactions have hindered its usage. Herein, an ...elastic and anti‐corrosive interlayer is introduced to address the problem. The idiosyncratic dielectric behavior of amorphous and nanostructured silicon nitride (Si3N4) is utilized to manipulate the ion kinetics, by uniformly dispersing its particles in polyacrylonitrile (PAN) to fabricate an interlayer attached to Zn metal (PSN‐Zn). PAN serves as an elastic constraint to inhibit drastic dendrite evolution and blocks H2O/O2 corrosion, and Si3N4 with a high dielectric constant can facilitate the ion kinetics and endow uniform Zn deposition. The electrochemical stability and deposition consistency of the Zn anodes are greatly improved, with an extended lifespan of over 800 h at 1 mA cm−2. Even under draconian deep‐discharging (DODZn = 60%) and high current density (10 mA cm−2), the PSN‐Zn anode can still operate stably for over 250 h. The effect of the dielectric property is systematically discussed and verified by experiments and theoretical simulations. Moreover, full cells with vanadium‐ and manganese‐based cathodes also deliver excellent performance, indicating the use of the multifunctional interlayer as an appealing approach for rechargeable aqueous zinc batteries.
Side reactions and dendrites can be effectively suppressed by coating an anti‐corrosive and Zn‐ion‐regulating interlayer on the Zn anode. In the layer, polyacrylonitrile acts as an H2O/O2 barrier, and amorphous Si3N4 nanoparticles with special dielectric properties can enhance ion kinetics and endow uniform Zn deposition. The Zn anodes with the coating can deliver good performance even under harsh cycling conditions.
Based on the theory of the existing research of the project portfolio management, the paper analyzes the key factors of the project portfolio selection, and evaluates them using the fuzzy ...comprehensive evaluation method. Finally, the paper builds a project portfolio choice integer programming model based on 0/1 integer programming, which is based on the organizations strategies.
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