A hierarchical model of accelerating factors to promote urban renewal and reconstruction of unsafe and old buildings.

The issue of urban renewal is complex and multifaceted. In this study, six specialists in the construction industry were invited to conduct audio interviews, which were compiled into verbatim text. The key phrases were extracted by Grounded theory, and three levels of coding were retrieved. The data were categorized into ten accelerating urban renewal factors in three constructs to establish an Analytic Hierarchy Process framework. Using institutional theory to construct outcomes based on grounded theory, transforming these into specific urban renewal relation issue elements. 113 AHP questionnaires were collected from five types of specialists, including practitioners, professionals, participants in urban renewal, academics, and government staff. The results show that relaxing the plot ratio control and incentives is ranked No. 1 by practitioners, participants in urban renewal, professionals, and academics, indicating that the factor is highly valued by specialists but neglected by government staff. Secondly, practitioners, academics, participants in urban renewal, and professionals identified incentives and rewards for urban renewal and enhancing the trust and credibility of urban renewal projects as crucial factors. However, the government staff showed a different weighting. This indicates that government staff is determined to accelerate urban renewal. Finally, the suggestion of this study is in line with the views of the specialists interviewed, who suggest that the government should hold public hearings regularly and seriously to listen to people and specialists. Only through public hearings can all parties reach a consensus. The government should consolidate the views of all parties to amend or enact a bill on urban renewal that is more in line with the changes of the times, including appropriately relaxing the control of building plot ratio and other accelerating factors, to promote urban renewal in Taiwan.

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children in the context of coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic / 中国当代儿科杂志

Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a complex syndrome characterized by multi-organ involvement that has emerged in the context of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak. The clinical presentation of MIS-C is similar to Kawasaki disease but predominantly presents with fever and gastrointestinal symptoms, and severe cases can involve toxic shock and cardiac dysfunction. Epidemiological findings indicate that the majority of MIS-C patients test positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. The pathogenesis and pathophysiology of MIS-C remain unclear, though immune dysregulation following SARS-CoV-2 infection is considered a major contributing factor. Current treatment approaches for MIS-C primarily involve intravenous immunoglobulin therapy and symptomatic supportive care. This review article provides a comprehensive overview of the definition, epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of MIS-C.

Association of psoriasis with chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background and objective: Previous studies have shown that patients with psoriasis are at higher risk of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) compared with general population; however, data on the differences in the occurrence of CKD and ESRD between patients with psoriasis and non-psoriatic controls are limited and inconsistent. The aim of this study was to carry out a comparison of the probability of suffering CKD and ESRD in patients with or without psoriasis by conducting a meta-analysis of cohort studies. Methods: Cohort studies on PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and Cochrane Library by March, 2023 were searched for. The studies were screened according to pre-established inclusion criteria. Hazard ratios (HRs) and a 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the renal outcomes among patients with psoriasis were calculated using the random-effect, generic inverse variance method. Subgroup analysis was related to the severity of psoriasis. Results: A total of seven retrospective cohort studies were included, including 738,104 psoriasis patients and 3,443,438 non-psoriasis subjects, published from 2013 to 2020. Compared to controls without psoriasis, patients with psoriasis had an increased risk of CKD and ESRD, with pooled hazard ratios of 1.65 (95% CI, 1.29-2.12) and 1.37 (95% CI, 1.14-1.64), respectively. Besides, the incidence of CKD and ESRD is positively correlated with the severity of psoriasis. Conclusion: This study showed that compared to patients without psoriasis, patients with psoriasis, especially those with severe psoriasis, had a significantly increased risk of developing CKD and ESRD. Considering the limitations of this meta-analysis, more high-quality and well-designed studies are needed in the future to validate our findings.

Single-pixel three-dimensional imaging of the terahertz-wave by complex-field synthesis.

We propose a novel three-dimensional (3D) imaging technique by terahertz (THz) waves. Specifically, we modulate the THz wave using diffusers to produce three different speckle-like illumination patterns. The object is raster scanned by the three illumination patterns to generate three raw images via the single-pixel detection method. Subsequently, we synthesize a complex field using the three raw images. Finally, the retrieved image is calculated using the phase correlation of the complex point spread function. The proposed imaging system is simple and highly cost-effective. Therefore, it is a promising technique that can be adopted for industrial inspection and security screening.

Effect of dexamethasone combined with aminophylline on perioperative airway responses in COVID-19 convalescent patients undergoing gynecological laparoscopic surgery / 中华麻醉学杂志

Objective:To evaluate the effect of dexamethasone combined with aminophylline on perioperative airway responses in COVID-19 convalescent patients undergoing gynecological laparoscopic surgery.Methods:Sixty-eight COVID-19 convalescent patients, aged 25-57 yr, of American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status classification Ⅰ or Ⅱ, undergoing gynecological laparoscopic surgery, were divided into experimental group ( n=34) and control group ( n=34). In experimental group, dexamethasone 10 mg was intravenously injected at the beginning of anesthesia induction, and aminophylline 0.25 g (in 100 ml of normal saline) was intravenously infused for 10 min starting from 15 min before the end of surgery. In control group, the equal volume of normal saline was administrated instead at the same time point. Airway secretions, laryngospasm and bronchospasm were recorded from the time point before operation to 24 h after operation, and coughing was also recorded from emergence to 3 min after extubation. The blood eosinophils (EOS) count, percentage of EOS (EOS%), and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio were determined, and plasma C reactive protein level was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay before operation and at 24 h after operation. The serum levels of interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α and interferon-γ were measured before operation, at 5 and 10 min after extubation and at 24 h after operation. Results:Compared with control group, the incidence of coughing, severity of coughing, incidence of increased airway secretion, and grade of airway secretion were significantly decreased, the levels of EOS, EOS%, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and plasma C reactive protein in peripheral blood and serum levels of interferon-γ, interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α were significantly decreased after operation ( P<0.05), and no significant change was found in the incidence of bronchial spasm in experimental group ( P>0.05). No laryngeal spasm occurred in both groups. Conclusions:Dexamethasone combined with aminophylline can relieve the perioperative airway responses by inhibition of inflammatory responses in COVID-19 convalescent patients undergoing gynecological laparoscopic surgery.

Sound touch elastography linear combined with ultrasound score for staging liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B / 中华超声影像学杂志

Objective:To study the value of sound touch elastography (STE) linear combined with ultrasound score (US) in the diagnosis of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) liver fibrosis, and to investigate whether their combination can improve the diagnostic efficiency of subdividing the degree of CHB liver fibrosis. Furthermore, a comparison with STE linear combined with the serological model was performed to seek the optimal linear combination model.Methods:A total of 313 subjects were enrolled from September 2018 to December 2021 in Shenzhen Third People′s Hospital Affiliated to Guangdong Medical University, including 259 patients with CHB who had completed liver biopsy and 54 healthy volunteers. CHB patients were divided into liver fibrosis group (F1-F4 group) according to METAVIR classification standard, and healthy volunteers were used as the control group. All subjects underwent liver ultrasound examination, STE and blood biochemical indexes of liver function. The US was performed according to the liver ultrasound examination, and the liver stiffness measurement (LSM) was measured by STE, aspartate aminotransferase and platelet ratio index (APRI) was calculated by blood biochemical index. Fisher discriminant analysis was used to establish the linear combination (LC) diagnostic marker of US and LSM, and the linear combination (LC2) diagnostic marker of LSM and APRI, successively. Spearman rank correlation coefficient was used to analyze the correlations between US, LSM, APRI, LC2, LC and pathological results. The ROC curves of US, LSM, APRI, LC2 and LC for diagnosing CHB liver fibrosis were plotted, and the diagnostic efficiency of above diagnostic markers was evaluated according to the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and area under the ROC curve (AUC).Results:The formula for the linear combination of US and LSM was LC=0.986 0×US+ 0.166 7×LSM, and LC was highly positively correlated with pathological findings ( rs=0.851, P<0.001), higher than US, LSM, LC2 and APRI ( rs=0.825, 0.775, 0.802, 0.586, all P<0.001). LC showed the best diagnostic efficiency. The AUCs for diagnosing ≥F1, ≥F2, ≥F3 liver fibrosis and =F4 cirrhosis were 0.945, 0.911, 0.954, 0.955, respectively, which superior to the AUCs of US (0.913, 0.879, 0.934 and 0.916, respectively), the AUCs of LSM (0.860, 0.871, 0.934 and 0.952, respectively) and the AUCs of LC2(0.899, 0.883, 0.941, 0.946, respectively). Compared with US, the AUC of LC diagnosis of ≥F1, ≥F2, ≥F3 liver fibrosis and =F4 cirrhosis increased by 3.2%, 3.2%, 2.0% and 3.9%, respectively, with all significant differences ( P<0.05). Compared with LSM, the AUC of LC increased by 8.5%, 4.0%, 2.0% and 0.3%, respectively, with significant difference ( P<0.05) except for stage =F4 cirrhosis.Compared with LC2, the AUC of LC increased by 4.6%, 2.8%, 1.3% and 0.9%, respectively, and there were significant differences in the diagnosis of ≥F1 and ≥F2 liver fibrosis ( P<0.05). Moreover, the overall efficiency of LC2 was not significantly improved than LSM, the difference was not significant ( P>0.05). Conclusions:US, LSM, LC2 and LC can be used to diagnose the degree of CHB liver fibrosis, but LC is better than US or LSM and LC2 alone, especially in the subdivision of mild liver fibrosis, which is a promising new diagnostic marker to subdivide the degree of CHB liver fibrosis.

Research progress of RNA drugs delivery / 药学学报

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) medicines have strong therapeutic potential for numerous rare genetic illnesses and malignancies because of its exact programmability based on Watson-Crick base pairing principle and unique ability to regulate gene expression. However, RNA medicines still have limitations in many areas, including stability, half-life time, immunogenicity, organ selectivity, cellular uptake and endosomal escape efficiency despite their great therapeutic potentials. This review briefly introduced numerous RNA medications [mostly messenger RNA (mRNA), small interfering RNA (siRNA), microRNA (miRNA) and antisense oligonucleotide (ASO)] that have intrigued of researchers in recent years, as well as their action mechanism in vivo. A number of delivery techniques, such as chemical modification, ligands coupling and nanocarriers have been proposed. The manufacture and applications of lipid nanoparticle, polymer nanoparticle and exosomes were discussed in depth. The goal of this work is to give a theoretical foundation and design concepts for the development of effective and safe RNA delivery technology, as well as to facilitate RNA therapeutic clinical translation.

To join the rebuild or not? An exploration of the factors influencing the public's intention to participate in urban renewal.

Due to the lack of trust in the builder and indeterminate benefits, it is a struggle for people in Taiwan to make up their minds to participate in urban renewal. This leads to the completion rate of urban renewal of fewer than one ten-thousandth of the new construction needed. This study investigated the perspective on the research variables for people in Taiwan and how those influence their intention to participate in urban renewal. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior, the research framework is designed with the trust of urban renewal project builders and the perceived benefits of public participation as the independent variables. Attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control are the mediating variables, and the general public's intention to participate in urban renewal is the dependent variable. A total of 545 valid questionnaires were collected through the survey. The results showed that the respondents' trust in the builder of the urban renewal project positively and significantly influenced their perceived benefits of the project, and the respondents' trust in the builder significantly influenced their subjective norms. The perceived benefits positively and significantly affected their attitudes and subjective norms, and people's attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control positively and significantly affected their intention to participate in urban renewal. People's perceived benefits in urban renewal projects affected their participation intention through attitudes and subjective norms. The variable perceived benefits most strongly influenced people's intention to participate in urban renewal in this study. This study provides practical suggestions for the government and builders to increase people's intention to participate in urban renewal. This study modeled two independent variables, trust in the builder and perceived benefits, under the urban renewal context in Taiwan. In future works, other factors could be included, such as tax incentives, floor area rewards, and fair appraisal.

Recording of a holographic cylindrical vector beam converter with a truncated cone prism.

This Letter proposes a holographic cylindrical vector beam converter (HCVBC) design that incorporates a continuously polarization-selective volume hologram circular-grating. A specially designed truncated cone prism is adopted for recording, which is conducted with a single incident, expanded, radially polarized beam. A prototype of this HCVBC was recorded and tested successfully. This design has the advantages of high diffraction efficiency, a narrow band, compactness, and planar configuration; thus, it is especially suitable for low-cost mass production and has high potential for application in related fields.

How Is the Lung Cancer Incidence Rate Associated with Environmental Risks? Machine-Learning-Based Modeling and Benchmarking.

The lung cancer threat has become a critical issue for public health. Research has been devoted to its clinical study but only a few studies have addressed the issue from a holistic perspective that included social, economic, and environmental dimensions. Therefore, in this study, risk factors or features, such as air pollution, tobacco use, socioeconomic status, employment status, marital status, and environment, were comprehensively considered when constructing a predictive model. These risk factors were analyzed and selected using stepwise regression and the variance inflation factor to eliminate the possibility of multicollinearity. To build efficient and informative prediction models of lung cancer incidence rates, several machine learning algorithms with cross-validation were adopted, namely, linear regression, support vector regression, random forest, K-nearest neighbor, and cubist model tree. A case study in Taiwan showed that the cubist model tree with feature selection was the best model with an RMSE of 3.310 and an R-squared of 0.960. Through these predictive models, we also found that apart from smoking, the average NO2 concentration, employment percentage, and number of factories were also important factors that had significant impacts on the incidence of lung cancer. In addition, the random forest model without feature selection and with feature selection could support the interpretation of the most contributing variables. The predictive model proposed in the present study can help to precisely analyze and estimate lung cancer incidence rates so that effective preventative measures can be developed. Furthermore, the risk factors involved in the predictive model can help with the future analysis of lung cancer incidence rates from a holistic perspective.

Differences in User Information Behavior between Official Media and Private Media during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Weibo is a widely used social media platform showing all kinds of information related to the COVID-19 pandemic promptly in China. Official media and private media are two typical types of media on Weibo. Due to the different characteristics of these two media types, in the context of public health emergencies, it is worth exploring whether there are differences in the users' interactive behavior with information from these two types of media. This is of great significance to the integration and development of these two types of media.This study obtained data on the interaction behaviors of Weibo users with posts published by the two media types at various stages of the pandemic. Statistical analyses have confirmed significant differences in interaction behavior data between users and these two media types. In future research, based on the findings of this study, we will investigate the reasons behind these differences to provide relevant guidelines and suggestions for the release of different media in public health emergencies by conducting a deep dive analysis of user reviews.

A comparative study of artificial intelligence nasal polyp classification based on whole-slide imaging and JESREC diagnostic criteria / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

Objective: To explore the types and clinical characteristics of chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) based on artificial intelligence and whole-slide imaging (WSI), and to explore the consistency of the diagnostic criteria of the Japanese epidemiological survey of refractory eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis (JESREC) in Chinese CRSwNP patients. Methods: The data of 136 patients with CRSwNP (101 males and 35 females, aging 14 to 70 years) who underwent endoscopic sinus surgery from 2018 to 2019 in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University were analysed retrospectively. The preoperative clinical characteristics of patients were collected, such as visual analogue scale (VAS) of nasal symptoms, peripheral blood inflammatory cell count, total immunoglobulin E (IgE), Lund-Kennedy score and Lund-Mackay score. The proportion of inflammatory cells such as eosinophils, lymphocytes, plasma cells and neutrophils were calculated on the WSI of each patient through artificial intelligence chronic rhinosinusitis evaluation platform 2.0 (AICEP 2.0), and the specific type of nasal polyps was then obtained as eosinophilic CRSwNP (eCRSwNP) or non-eosinophilic CRSwNP (non-eCRSwNP). In addition, the JESREC diagnostic criteria was used to classify the nasal polyps, and the classification results were compared with the current gold standard for nasal polyps diagnosis (pathological diagnosis based on WSI). The accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the diagnostic criteria of JESREC were evaluated. The data were expressed in M (Q1, Q3) and statistically analyzed by SPSS 17.0. Results: There was no significant difference between eCRSwNP and non-eCRSwNP in age distribution, gender, time of onset, total VAS score, Lund-Kennedy score or Lund-Mackay score. However, there was a significant difference in the ratio of nasal polyp inflammatory cells (eosinophils 40.5% (22.8%, 54.7%) vs 2.5% (1.0%, 5.3%), neutrophils 0.3% (0.1%, 0.7%) vs 1.3% (0.5%, 3.6%), lymphocytes 49.9% (39.3%, 65.9%) vs 82.0% (72.8%, 87.5%), plasma cells 5.1% (3.6%, 10.5%) vs 13.0% (7.4%, 16.3%), χ2 value was 9.91, 4.66, 8.28, 5.06, respectively, all P<0.05). In addition, eCRSwNP had a significantly higher level of proportion of allergic symptoms (nasal itching and sneezing), asthma, peripheral blood eosinophil and total IgE (all P<0.05). The overall accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the JESREC diagnostic criteria was 74.3%, 81.3% and 64.3%, respectively. Conclusions: The eCRSwNP based on artificial intelligence and WSI has significant high level of allergic symptoms, asthma, peripheral blood eosinophils and total IgE, and the percentages of inflammatory cells in nasal polyps are different from that of non-eCRSwNP. The JESREC diagnostic criteria has good consistency in our research.

Clinical study of magnetic pole acupuncture combined with Bobath method in treating hemiplegia after traumatic brain injury / 国际中医中药杂志

Objective:Effects of pole-specific acupuncture combined with Bobath on upper limb function, daily life ability and nerve function after traumatic brain injury were observed.Methods:A total of 142 patients with cerebral hemiplegia after traumatic brain injury from January 2019 to December 2020, were divided into the Bobath group (47 cases), the pole-specific acupuncture group (47 cases) and combination group (48 cases) by the random number method. Bobath group received Bobath rehabilitation, the pole-specific acupuncture group received pole-specific acupuncture rehabilitation, and combination group was given pole-specific acupuncture rehabilitation and Bobath treatment. The overall rehabilitation efficiency, limb function Fugl-Meyer scale score, Barthel index of daily life ability, nerve function, and other indicators were observed and compared.Results:After treatment, the overall recovery efficiency (86.96%) in combination group was significantly higher than that of the Bobath group (65.96%) and acupuncture group (64.44%)( χ2=5.84, P=0.016). After treatment, the limb function Fugl-Meyer scale (including upper limb and lower limb function scores)( F=19.38, 24.83, all Ps<0.01), daily life ability Barthel index (including cognitive ability situation score, language ability score, self-care ability score, social adaptability score and total score) of combination group were significantly higher than those in the Bobath group and acupuncture group ( F=14.91, 15.87, 18.71, 18.88, 32.62, all Ps<0.001), while the NIHSS score of combination group was significantly lower than that of the Bobath group and acupuncture group ( F=31.71, P<0.01). After treatment, the NE[(58.29±9.82)μg/L vs. (86.29±12.35)μg/L, (88.34±12.87)μg/L, F=33.39], DA[(204.29±20.26)μg/L vs. (278.72±27.56)μg/L, (281.14±27.82)μg/L, F=55.50], 5-HT[(231.27±20.12)μg/L vs. (294.74±29.34)μg/L, (298.19±28.73)μg/L, F=13.86], E[(21.85±3.19)μg/L vs. (28.37±4.07)μg/L, (28.26±4.14)μg/L, F=9.34] of combination group were significantly lower than those in the Bobath group and acupuncture group ( P<0.01). Conclusion:Magnetic pole-specific acupuncture combined with Bobath can improve the function of limbs, daily quality of life and nerve function of the patients with traumatic craniocerebral injury with cerebral palsy.

Maternal subclinical hypothyroidism and behavioral problems in preschoolers: A cohort study / 中华内分泌代谢杂志

Objective:To investigate the effects of maternal subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) on preschoolers′ behavioral problems.Methods:Based on the Ma′ anshan Birth Cohort, pregnant women who had their first antenatal checkup in Maternal and Child Health Center in Ma′ anshan were recruited from May 2013 to September 2014. Data on demographic, obstetric information, and maternal exposure were collected. Women′s fasting venous blood in the first, second, and third trimesters of pregnancy was collected. The levels of thyroid hormones [thyrotropin (TSH), free thyroxine (FT 4)] and thyroid autoantibodies [thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb), thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb)] in maternal blood were retrospectively detected by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. Preschoolers′ behavioral problems were assessed by Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/1.5-5). Poisson regression models were adopted to examine the effect of maternal SCH on preschoolers′ internalizing and externalizing problems and the critical period. Results:In this study, the reference of maternal thyroid indexes was established (between 2.5 th and 97.5 th percentile). The reference of TSH in the first, second, and third trimester of pregnancy was 0.04-4.90 μIU/mL, 0.75-6.08 μIU/mL, and 0.58-5.59 μIU/mL respectively; and the reference of FT 4 was 13.19-23.27 pmol/L, 9.14-15.32 pmol/L, and 9.53-17.45 pmol/L respectively. In the first, second, and third trimester of pregnancy, the prevalence of SCH was found to be 2.0% (25/1 224), 1.6% (19/1 218), and 1.7% (21/1 220), respectively. After adjusting for confounding factors, maternal SCH in the first trimester was associated with the risk of anxiety and depression in preschool children ( OR=3.06, 95% CI 1.05-8.98). Maternal SCH in the second trimester was found to be associated with the risk of overreaction in preschool children ( OR=2.65, 95% CI 1.13-6.21). Conclusions:The establishment of thyroid hormones reference range for pregnant women in Ma′ anshan area is beneficial to the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of thyroid diseases during pregnancy in this area. Maternal SCH during pregnancy is associated with increased risk of behavioral problems in preschool children. In the first trimester, maternal SCH was associated with preschoolers′ anxiety and depression, and in the second trimester, maternal SCH was associated with preschoolers′ emotional reactivity.

Analysis of dental amalgam fillings on primary Sjögren's syndrome: A population-based case-control study in Taiwan.

ABSTRACT: Primary Sjören's syndrome (pSS) is an autoimmune disease characterized by the inflammatory infiltrate and progressive dysfunction of salivary glands. Dental amalgam with mercury has been raised the public concerns regarding its purported mercury toxicity from dental amalgam to possible systemic inflammatory and immune reactions.In this study, a nationwide population-based database was employed to investigate the association of amalgam filling (AMF) and the risk of pSS. A retrospective case-control study was sourced from the Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) from 2000 to 2013. Case and control groups were matched by sex, age, urbanization level, monthly income, and comorbidities using the propensity score method with a 1:1 ratio. In this study, 5848 cases and 5848 controls were included.The results demonstrated no statistically significant differences between AMF and pSS (odds ratio [OR]: 0.974, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.904-1.049). In addition, pSS was also not associated with AMF for women (OR: 0.743, 95% CI = 0.552-1.000) and men (OR: 1.006, 95% CI = 0.670-1.509), respectively.Taken together, evidence demonstrated that the association of AMF and pSS was inconsistent from this robust register databank.

Down-sampling slim camera using a micro-lens array.

The thickness of a camera is proportional to the image distance, although the lens can be replaced by a flat optics, such as a meta lens. However, there is no suitable method to reduce this thickness for low-cost applications. Here we proposed a novel down-sampling slim camera based on a micro-lens array (MLA) and an array sensor. By down-sampling the multiple micro images with a suitable array sensor, an enlarged image directly appears. Since the imaging module only consists of a low-resolution array sensor and an MLA, the thickness of the camera can be reduced to sub-millimeter. The proposed low-cost slim camera is suitable for imaging and sensing of internet-of-things (IoT) in particular. It also has a great application potential in the imaging of non-visible light.

Pharmacokinetics and complementary evaluation system-based guidance on prophylaxis of paediatric patients with haemophilia A in China with Kovaltry: protocol of the LEAP study.

INTRODUCTION: Haemophilia A is a rare inherited bleeding disease caused by the deficiency of coagulation factor VIII (FVIII). The main treatment protocol is to administer regular exogenous FVIII concentrate infusions. With the discovery of variability in individualised pharmacokinetics (PK) and bleeding phenotype, the previous weight-based approach needs to be replaced by more advanced PK-tailored prophylaxis with an accurate evaluation system. In this study, we combine individualised PK profiles and a complementary evaluation system to guide prophylaxis in paediatric patients with haemophilia A. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a single-centre, prospective single-arm study. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of a new strategy combining PK and a complementary evaluation system to treat haemophilia A in Chinese paediatric patients. Sixty paediatric patients with haemophilia will be recruited. After PK testing, they will receive a PK-guided stepup prophylaxis in the next 2 years. The dosing regimen will be determined according to individualised PK profiles and complementary evaluation findings. Related indicators at the end of the study will be compared with the values at treatment initiation to examine the effectiveness of this new strategy. The demographic data of the investigated patients will be summarised by descriptive statistics. Quantitative data will be described by summary statistics, including arithmetic median, range, mean and arithmetic SD. Analyses will use t-test to compare indicators such as bleeding rate and imaging score at both ends of the study as well as during follow-up. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study has been approved by the Ethics Committee of Beijing Children's Hospital (Number 2020-Z-095). The findings will be presented at international meetings such as World Federation of Hemophilia World Congress. Related manuscripts will be submitted to peer-review journals such as Blood and Hemophilia. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ChiCTR2000037821; Pre-results.

A Prospective Observational Study to Investigate Performance of a Chest X-ray Artificial Intelligence Diagnostic Support Tool Across 12 U.S. Hospitals

ImportanceAn artificial intelligence (AI)-based model to predict COVID-19 likelihood from chest x-ray (CXR) findings can serve as an important adjunct to accelerate immediate clinical decision making and improve clinical decision making. Despite significant efforts, many limitations and biases exist in previously developed AI diagnostic models for COVID-19. Utilizing a large set of local and international CXR images, we developed an AI model with high performance on temporal and external validation. ObjectiveInvestigate real-time performance of an AI-enabled COVID-19 diagnostic support system across a 12-hospital system. DesignProspective observational study. SettingLabeled frontal CXR images (samples of COVID-19 and non-COVID-19) from the M Health Fairview (Minnesota, USA), Valencian Region Medical ImageBank (Spain), MIMIC-CXR, Open-I 2013 Chest X-ray Collection, GitHub COVID-19 Image Data Collection (International), Indiana University (Indiana, USA), and Emory University (Georgia, USA) ParticipantsInternal (training, temporal, and real-time validation): 51,592 CXRs; Public: 27,424 CXRs; External (Indiana University): 10,002 CXRs; External (Emory University): 2002 CXRs Main Outcome and MeasureModel performance assessed via receiver operating characteristic (ROC), Precision-Recall curves, and F1 score. ResultsPatients that were COVID-19 positive had significantly higher COVID-19 Diagnostic Scores (median .1 [IQR: 0.0-0.8] vs median 0.0 [IQR: 0.0-0.1], p < 0.001) than patients that were COVID-19 negative. Pre-implementation the AI-model performed well on temporal validation (AUROC 0.8) and external validation (AUROC 0.76 at Indiana U, AUROC 0.72 at Emory U). The model was noted to have unrealistic performance (AUROC > 0.95) using publicly available databases. Real-time model performance was unchanged over 19 weeks of implementation (AUROC 0.70). On subgroup analysis, the model had improved discrimination for patients with "severe" as compared to "mild or moderate" disease, p < 0.001. Model performance was highest in Asians and lowest in whites and similar between males and females. Conclusions and RelevanceAI-based diagnostic tools may serve as an adjunct, but not replacement, for clinical decision support of COVID-19 diagnosis, which largely hinges on exposure history, signs, and symptoms. While AI-based tools have not yet reached full diagnostic potential in COVID-19, they may still offer valuable information to clinicians taken into consideration along with clinical signs and symptoms.

Development of optical depth-sensing technology with a mechanical control lens and diffuser.

A novel, to the best of our knowledge, depth-sensing technology that enables a shallow depth of field was developed by adding a diffuser to the rear end of a mechanical control lens that can capture 2D images. The sensor in the optical depth-sensing system obtains the function curve between the motor step and the focus distance through calibration and imports the measured values into the control program's database. The optical depth-sensing system scans the visible range of an interval, and the Laplacian equation can be applied to confirm whether the interval was in focus by judging the sharpness of the contour of the objects captured in the interval and to define the outline of the objects. Then, the depth information can be obtained by calculating the focus distance based on the motor step during scanning. Finally, the focus images of individual objects are used to calculate the image contours in the depth direction. The focus images of each object are combined to reconstruct a 2.5D model within the sensing range. The optical depth-sensing system is not affected by sunlight or the material of the measured object. Furthermore, the system can be used to obtain color images by using a modified lens. The optical path is simple and does not require complex calculations. Therefore, the proposed system is not easily affected by the environment and exhibits high resolution and calculation speed.

Categorizing SHR and WKY rats by chi2 algorithm and decision tree.

Classifying mental disorder is a big issue in psychology in recent years. This article focuses on offering a relation between decision tree and encoding of fMRI that can simplify the analysis of different mental disorders and has a high ROC over 0.9. Here we encode fMRI information to the power-law distribution with integer elements by the graph theory in which the network is characterized by degrees that measure the number of effective links exceeding the threshold of Pearson correlation among voxels. When the degrees are ranked from low to high, the network equation can be fit by the power-law distribution. Here we use the mentally disordered SHR and WKY rats as samples and employ decision tree from chi2 algorithm to classify different states of mental disorder. This method not only provides the decision tree and encoding, but also enables the construction of a transformation matrix that is capable of connecting different metal disorders. Although the latter attempt is still in its fancy, it may have a contribution to unraveling the mystery of psychological processes.