The Causal Association Between Medication Intake and Increased Risk of Psoriasis.

INTRODUCTION: Psoriasis is a chronic, inflammatory, and papulo-squamous skin disorder without a radical cure. Although previous observational analyses have discovered a relationship between medication intake and increased risk of psoriasis, they are susceptible to confounders. OBJECTIVES: We intend to ascertain if there is a causal association between specific medication intake and increased risk of psoriasis by utilizing the Mendelian randomization (MR) method. METHODS: We obtained the genome-wide association study (GWAS) data for medication intake (23 types, N = 1809) from UK Biobank samples. And we sourced the GWAS data for psoriasis from the 8th release of the FinnGen database, which included 8,075 psoriasis cases and 330,975 healthy control cases. Then a two-sample MR study was performed to determine their causal association, and inverse-variance-weighted MR (IVW-MR) was applied to calculate the effect estimates. RESULTS: The IVW-MR analysis uncovered a positive correlation between the intake of HMG CoA reductase inhibitors and the increased risk of psoriasis (odds ratio [OR] = 1.167, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.084-1.257). Similarly, the use of thyroid preparations (OR=1.080, 95% CI=1.026-1.138), nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory and antirheumatic products (OR=1.406, 95% CI=1.037-1.908), anilides (OR=1.379, 95% CI=1.004-1.894), antihistamines for systemic use (OR=1.341, 95% CI=1.104-1.630), and antihypertensives (OR=1.099, 95% CI=1.016-1.190) were associated with an increased risk of psoriasis. We did not find evidence from IVW-MR for other associations. CONCLUSIONS: Our study offers a causal testimony that the intake of HMG CoA reductase inhibitors, thyroid preparations, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory and antirheumatic products, anilides, antihistamines for systemic use, and antihypertensives will potentially increase the risk of psoriasis.

Data-Driven Optimal Bipartite Consensus Control for Second-Order Multiagent Systems via Policy Gradient Reinforcement Learning.

This article investigates the optimal bipartite consensus control (OBCC) problem for unknown second-order discrete-time multiagent systems (MASs). First, the coopetition network is constructed to describe the cooperative and competitive relationships between agents, and the OBCC problem is proposed by the tracking error and related performance index function. Based on the distributed policy gradient reinforcement learning (RL) theory, a data-driven distributed optimal control strategy is obtained to guarantee the bipartite consensus of all agents' position and velocity states. In addition, the offline data sets ensure the learning efficiency of the system. These data sets are generated by running the system in real time. Besides, the designed algorithm is an asynchronous version, which is essential to solve the challenge caused by the computational ability difference between nodes in MASs. Then, by means of the functional analysis and Lyapunov theory, the stability of the proposed MASs and the convergence of the learning process are analyzed. Furthermore, an actor-critic structure containing two neural networks is used to implement the proposed methods. Finally, a numerical simulation shows the effectiveness and validity of the results.

Novel Extended State Observer Design for Uncertain Nonlinear Systems via Refined Dynamic Event-Triggered Communication Protocol.

In this article, an extended state observer (ESO) design problem is investigated for uncertain nonlinear systems subject to limited network bandwidth. First, for rational information exchange scheduling, a dynamic event-triggered (DET) communication protocol is proposed. Different from the traditional static event-triggered strategies with fixed thresholds, an internal dynamic variable is introduced to be adaptively adjusted by a dual-directional regulating mechanism. Thus, more desirable tradeoff between observation performance and communication resource efficiency is achieved. Second, inspired by our early work on Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy ESO (TSFESO), a novel paradigm of event-triggered TSFESO is initially proposed. Third, under the DET mechanism, the TSFESO design approach is derived to carry out exponential convergence for estimation error dynamics. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by numerical examples. The nonlinear estimating efficiency and linear numerical tractability are integrated in TSFESO. In addition, a generalized ESO formulation is developed to allow some nonadditive uncertainties incompatible with total disturbance, such as improved event-triggered strategy, and thus, the application sphere of ESO is further expanded.

Fuzzy-Affine-Model-Based Filtering Design for Continuous-Time Roesser-Type 2-D Nonlinear Systems.

This article tackles the problem of filtering design for continuous-time Roesser-type 2-D nonlinear systems via Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy affine models. The aim is to design an admissible piecewise affine (PWA) filter such that the filtering error system is asymptotically stable with a prescribed disturbance attenuation level. First, 2-D Roesser nonlinear systems are approximated by a kind of 2-D fuzzy affine models with norm-bounded uncertainties. Then, the premise variable space of the 2-D fuzzy affine systems is partitioned into two classes of subspaces, that is: 1) crisp regions and 2) fuzzy regions. For each region, boundary continuity matrices and characterizing matrices are constructed by utilizing the space partition information and 2-D structure. After that, novel piecewise Lyapunov functions are constructed, based on which together with S -procedure, the asymptotic stability with H∞ performance is guaranteed for the filtering error system. By the projection lemma and some elegant convexification techniques, the PWA H∞ filtering design conditions are obtained. Finally, the less conservativeness and effectiveness of the proposed approach over a common Lyapunov function-based one are illustrated by simulation studies.

[Analysis of the influence of tibial component posterior slope angle on short- and mid-term effectiveness of unicompartmental knee arthroplasty].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of tibial component posterior slope angle (TCPSA) on the short- and mid-term effectiveness of unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA). METHODS: The clinical data of the patients with anterior medial knee osteoarthritis (KOA) treated by UKA between May 2014 and May 2019 were retrospectively analysed. There were 10 males and 45 females with a median age of 68 years (range, 49-83 years). The body mass index (BMI) was 27.63-52.26 kg/m 2, with an average of 40.04 kg/m 2. There were 28 cases of left knee, 21 cases of right knee, and 6 cases of double knees. The disease duration was from 7 months to 12 years, with an average of 4.33 years. Measurements of posterior tibial slope (PTS) and TCPSA were performed on the knee joint X-ray films of patients before operation and at last follow-up, respectively. According to the postoperative TCPSA, patients were divided into TCPSA<4° group (group A), 4°≤TCPSA<9° group (group B), and TCPSA>9° group (group C) with the quartile method. Baseline data such as age, gender, BMI, and affected side were compared among the 3 groups, as well as the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) score, visual analogue scale (VAS) score, and range of motion (ROM) before and after operation. RESULTS: All 55 patients were followed up 17-72 months, with an average of 36 months. No complication such as prosthesis loosening, infection, tibial plateau collapse, and dislocation of the meniscus pad occurred. The preoperative PTS was (7.38±3.37)°, and the postoperative TCPSA was (6.25±3.22)°, showing no significant difference ( t=1.815, P=0.074). According to postoperative TCPSA, there were 12 knees in group A, 32 in group B, and 17 in group C. There was no significant difference in age, gender, BMI, affected side, and preoperative HSS scores, ROM, and VAS scores among the 3 groups ( P>0.05). At last follow-up, the HSS scores, ROM, and VAS scores of the 3 groups significantly improved when compared with preoperative ones ( P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the difference of the above indicators before and after operation among 3 groups ( P>0.05). CONCLUSION: The patients with anterior medial KOA may have good short- and mid-term effectiveness after UKA. Among the recommended range of TCPSA, there is no significant influence on the postoperative short- and mid-term effectiveness. Long-term effectiveness need to extend the follow-up time and expand the sample size for research verification.

Prognosis Risk Model Based on Pyroptosis-Related lncRNAs for Bladder Cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Bladder cancer (BC) is the most common malignancy in the urinary system and is prone to recurrence and metastasis. Pyroptosis is a kind of cell necrosis that is triggered by the gasdermin protein family. lncRNAs are noncoding RNAs that are more than 200 nucleotides long. Both pyroptosis and lncRNAs are associated with tumor development and progression. This study is aimed at exploring and establishing a prognostic signature of BC based on pyroptosis-related lncRNAs. METHODS: In this study, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database provided us with the RNA sequencing transcriptome data of bladder cancer patients, and we identified differentially expressed pyroptosis-related lncRNAs in bladder cancer. Then, the prognostic significance of these lncRNAs was assessed using univariate Cox regression analysis and LASSO regression analysis. Subsequently, 4 pyroptosis-related lncRNAs, namely, AL121652.1, AL161729.4, AC007128.1, and AC124312.3, were identified by multivariate Cox regression analysis, thus constructing the prognostic risk model. Then, we compared the levels of immune infiltration, differences in cell function, immune checkpoints, and m6A-related gene expression levels between the high- and low-risk groups. RESULT: Patients were divided into low-risk or high-risk groups based on the median risk score. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis indicated that the overall survival of bladder cancer patients in the low-risk group was substantially superior to that in the high-risk group (p < 0.001). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve further confirmed the credibility of our model. Moreover, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) indicated that these were different signal pathways significantly enriched between the two groups. Immune infiltration, immune checkpoint, and N6-methyladenosine-related gene analysis also reflected that there were notable differences between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Therefore, this prognostic risk model is based on the level of pyroptotic lncRNAs, which is conducive to individualized assessment of the risk of patients and provides a reference for clinical treatment. This will also help provide insights into the prognosis and treatment of bladder cancer.

Reliable Control for Flexible Spacecraft Systems With Aperiodic Sampling and Stochastic Actuator Failures.

This article addresses the aperiodic sampled-data control problem for flexible spacecraft with stochastic actuator failures. Flexible spacecraft dynamics are approximated by a group of T-S fuzzy models due to strong nonlinearity, and the multi-stochastic failures of spacecraft are depicted by a time-continuous and state-discrete Markov chain. To reduce the design conservativeness, a membership-sampling-dependent Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional (MSDLKF) is introduced to utilize the information of fuzzy membership functions and aperiodic sampling modes. Furthermore, a number of reliable fuzzy controllers are designed to obtain the exponential attitude stabilization under the circumstances of stochastic failures. At the same time, disturbance attenuation is ensured. The solution of the fuzzy controller gains can be obtained by solving a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). In the end, an example of the practical flexible spacecraft system is given to illustrate the feasibility and validity of the proposed fuzzy control methods.

[Effect of body mass index on short- and medium-term effectiveness of unicompartmental knee arthroplasty].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of body mass index (BMI) on the short- and medium-term effectiveness of unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) in the treatment of anterior medial compartmental osteoarthritis of knee joint. METHODS: The clinical data of 55 patients (61 knees) with anterior medial compartmental osteoarthritis of knee joint treated with minimally invasive UKA between May 2014 and May 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. According to BMI, the patients were divided into 3 groups: normal body mass group [group A, BMI 18.50-24.99 kg/m 2, 23 cases (25 knees)], overweight group [group B, BMI 25.00-29.99 kg/m 2, 23 cases (25 knees)], obesity group [group C, BMI 30.00-39.99 kg/m 2, 9 cases (11 knees)]. There was no significant difference in gender, age, sides, disease duration, and preoperative American Special Surgery Hospital (HSS) score, pain visual analogue scale (VAS) score, and knee range of motion (ROM) among 3 groups ( P>0.05). The operation time, intraoperative dominant blood loss, and the postoperative decreased amount of hemoglobin at 1 week were recorded and compared among 3 groups. The HSS score, VAS score, and ROM were used to evaluate the knee function and pain improvement. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the operation time, the intraoperative dominant blood loss, and the postoperative decreased amount of hemoglobin at 1 week among 3 groups ( P>0.05). All the 55 patients were followed up 5-60 months, with an average of 24 months. No complication such as infection, fat embolism, or deep venous thrombosis of lower extremity occurred after operation. The anteroposterior and lateral X-ray films of the knee joint showed that no dislocation or loosening of the prosthesis occurred and the position of the prosthesis was good. At last follow-up, the HSS score, VAS score, and ROM of the 3 groups were significantly improved when compared with preoperative ones ( P<0.05); but there was no significant difference among 3 groups ( P>0.05). CONCLUSION: For obese and overweight patients with anterior medial compartmental osteoarthritis of the knee joint, the use of minimally invasive UKA can achieve satisfactory short- and medium-term effectiveness, and the long-term effectiveness needs further follow-up.

Stability Analysis for Delayed Neural Networks via Improved Auxiliary Polynomial-Based Functions.

This brief is concerned with stability analysis for delayed neural networks (DNNs). By establishing polynomials and introducing slack variables reasonably, some improved delay-product type of auxiliary polynomial-based functions (APFs) is developed to exploit additional degrees of freedom and more information on extra states. Then, by constructing Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional using APFs and integrals of quadratic forms with high order scalar functions, a novel stability criterion is derived for DNNs, in which the benefits of the improved inequalities are fully integrated and the information on delay and its derivative is well reflected. By virtue of the advantages of APFs, more desirable performance is achieved through the proposed approach, which is demonstrated by the numerical examples.

[A retrospective study on the application of cemented polyethylene liner technique in hip revision].

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of cemented polyethylene liner technique in hip revision. Methods: Based on inclusion criteria, the clinical data of 26 patients who were undergone hip revision between January 2011 and December 2013, were retrospectively reviewed. Among them, 14 cases were treated with isolated liner exchange (group A) and 12 cases were treated with cemented polyethylene liner technique (group B). There was no significant difference in gender, age, the time from primary total hip arthroplasty to revision, and the preoperative Harris score between 2 groups ( P>0.05). The post-operative Harris score and complications were compared between 2 groups, and X-ray findings of the hip joint were recorded to review the position of hip components. Results: All patients were followed up 4.4-6.4 years (mean, 5.4 years). Except for two femoral fractures during the revision (1 in each group), there was no other complication in 2 groups. The hip pain relieved and the lame gait corrected in 2 groups. The hip's function of 2 groups improved gradually after operation, with a better Harris score at 3 months and the best at the last follow-up, compared with preoperative scores ( P<0.05). There was no significant difference in Harris score at difference time points after operation between 2 group ( P>0.05). X-ray films showed no dislocation, aseptic loosening, and other interface related complication. Conclusion: For the cases without the chance to do change liner, cemented polyethylene liner technique has a good effectiveness. But restrict patient selection should be considered before hip revision.

Improved Stability Analysis for Delayed Neural Networks.

In this brief, by constructing an augmented Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional in a triple integral form, the stability analysis of delayed neural networks is investigated. In order to exploit more accurate bounds for the derivatives of triple integrals, new double integral inequalities are developed, which include some recently introduced estimation techniques as special cases. The information on the activation function is taken into full consideration. Taking advantages of the proposed inequalities, the stability criteria with less conservatism are derived. The improvement of the obtained approaches is verified by numerical examples.

Further results on stabilization for interval time-delay systems via new integral inequality approach.

This paper investigates the stability and stabilization problems for interval time-delay systems. By introducing a new delay partitioning approach, various Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals with triple-integral terms are established to make full use of system information. In order to reduce the conservatism, improved integral inequalities are developed for estimation of double integrals, which show remarkable outperformance over the Jensen and Wirtinger ones. Particularly, the relationship between the time-delay and each subinterval is taken into consideration. The resulting stability criteria are less conservative than some recent methods. Based on the derived condition, the state-feedback controller design approach is also given. Finally, the numerical examples and the application to inverted pendulum system are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches.

Improved Electrochemical Performance of LiFePO4@N-Doped Carbon Nanocomposites Using Polybenzoxazine as Nitrogen and Carbon Sources.

Polybenzoxazine is used as a novel carbon and nitrogen source for coating LiFePO4 to obtain LiFePO4@nitrogen-doped carbon (LFP@NC) nanocomposites. The nitrogen-doped graphene-like carbon that is in situ coated on nanometer-sized LiFePO4 particles can effectively enhance the electrical conductivity and provide fast Li+ transport paths. When used as a cathode material for lithium-ion batteries, the LFP@NC nanocomposite (88.4 wt % of LiFePO4) exhibits a favorable rate performance and stable cycling performance.

New H∞ control approaches for interval time-delay systems with disturbances and their applications.

In this paper, the H∞ performance and control problems for linear systems with interval state or input delays and disturbances are investigated. In order to exploit more information on the delay range, the quadruple -integral terms and quadratic forms of triple integrals are introduced into the Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional (LKF). Particularly, an improved integral inequality is developed for estimation of the cross terms in triple-integral type, which displays significant improvement over the Wirtinger inequality. As a result, a less conservative H∞ performance criterion is derived without requiring many slack variables. Based on the criterion, the H∞ controller design approaches are obtained. Besides the numerical examples, the applications to the practical systems are also provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches.

Improved stability and stabilization design for networked control systems using new quadruple-integral functionals.

This paper investigates stability analysis and stabilization for networked control systems. By a refined delay decomposition approach, slightly different Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals (LKFs) with quadruple-integral terms and augmented vectors containing triple-integral forms of state are constructed. New integral inequalities are proposed to estimate the cross terms from derivatives of the LKFs, which can be proved to offer tighter bounds than what the Jensen one produces theoretically. Moreover, the non-strictly proper rational functions in deriving process are fully handled via reciprocally convex approach. A state feedback controller design approach is also developed. Numerical examples and applications to practical power and oscillator systems demonstrate the superiority of the proposed criteria in conservatism reduction compared to some existing ones.

Novel delay-partitioning stabilization approach for networked control system via Wirtinger-based inequalities.

This paper studies the problems of stability analysis and state feedback stabilization for networked control system. By developing a novel delay-partitioning approach, the information on both the range of network-induced delay and the maximum number of consecutive data packet dropouts can be taken into full consideration. Various augmented Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals (LKFs) with triple-integral terms are constructed for the two delay subintervals. Moreover, the Wirtinger-based inequalities in combination with an improved reciprocal convexity are utilized to estimate the derivatives of LKFs more accurately. The proposed approaches have improved the stability conditions without increasing much computational complexity. Based on the obtained stability criterion, a stabilization controller design approach is also given. Finally, four numerical examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness and outperformance of the proposed approaches.

Infliximab is superior to other biological agents for treatment of active ulcerative colitis: A meta-analysis.

AIM: To compare the efficacy and safety of biological agents for the treatment of active ulcerative colitis (UC). METHODS: PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane library were searched to screen relevant articles from January 1996 to August 2014. The mixed treatment comparison meta-analysis within a Bayesian framework was performed using WinBUGS14 software. The proportions of patients reaching clinical response, clinical remission and mucosal healing in induction and maintenance phases were analyzed as efficacy indicators. Serious adverse events in maintenance phase were analyzed as safety indicators. RESULTS: The meta-analysis results showed that biological agents achieved better clinical response, clinical remission and mucosal healing than placebo. Indirect comparison indicated that in induction phase, infliximab was more effective than adalimumab in inducing clinical response (OR = 0.41, 95%CI: 0.29-0.57), clinical remission (OR = 0.33, 95%CI: 0.19-0.56) and mucosal healing (OR = 0.33, 95%CI: 0.19-0.56), and golimumab in inducing clinical response (OR = 0.66, 95%CI: 0.39-2.33) and mucosal healing (OR = 2.15, 95%CI: 1.18-4.22). No significant difference was found between placebo and biological agents regarding their safety. CONCLUSION: All biological agents were superior to placebo for UC treatment in both induction and maintenance phases with a similar safety profile, and infliximab had a better clinical effect than the other biological agents.

[A biomechanical study on polyethylene liner cementing into a fixed acetabular shell in revision total hip arthroplasty].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the strength of polyethylene linercement interface when cementing a new liner into a fixed acetabular cup in revision. METHODS: Twenty-five pairs of metal acetabular cups with polyethylene liners were randomly divided into 5 groups: 1 group with standard locking device as control group (group A), other liners were cemented into acetabular cups as 4 experimental groups. According to different intersection angles of metal acetabular cups with polyethylene liners and the polyethylene liners with or without metal ball, the 4 experimental groups were no ball 0 degrees group (group B), 0 degrees group (group C), 10 degrees group (group D), and 20 degrees group (group E), metal acetabular cups intersected with polyethylene liners without metal ball in group B, with metal ball in groups C, D, and E, respectively. The lever-out biomechanical test reproduced in vivo failure mechanism was then performed to evaluate the lever-out failure strength of liner-cement-metal cup interface. RESULTS: The values of liver-out failure force were (626.68 +/- 206.12), (915.04 +/- 197.49), (449.02 +/- 119.78), (814.68 +/- 53.89), and (1 033.05 +/- 226.44) N in groups A, B, C, D, and E, respectively, showing significant differences for comparison among groups (F = 8.989, P = 0.000). The values of liver-out failure force in groups B and E were significantly higher than that in group A (P < 0.05), but no significant difference was found between groups C, D and group A (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Cementation of polyethylene liner into a malposition shell meeting within 20 degrees can provide enough fixed strength.