Controllable nonautonomous localized waves and dynamics for a quasi-1D Gross-Pitaevskii equation in Bose-Einstein condensations with attractive interaction.

This paper investigates dynamical behaviors and controllability of some nonautonomous localized waves based on the Gross-Pitaevskii equation with attractive interatomic interactions. Our approach is a relation constructed between the Gross-Pitaevskii equation and the standard nonlinear Schrödinger equation through a new self-similarity transformation which is to convert the exact solutions of the latter to the former's. Subsequently, one can obtain the nonautonomous breather solutions and higher-order rogue wave solutions of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. It has been shown that the nonautonomous localized waves can be controlled by the parameters within the self-similarity transformation, rather than relying solely on the nonlinear intensity, spectral parameters, and external potential. The control mechanism can induce an unusual number of loosely bound higher-order rogue waves. The asymptotic analysis of unusual loosely bound rogue waves shows that their essence is energy transfer among rogue waves. Numerical simulations test the dynamical stability of obtained localized wave solutions, which indicate that modifying the parameters in the self-similarity transformation can improve the stability of unstable localized waves and prolong their lifespan. We numerically confirm that the rogue wave controlled by the self-similarity transformation can be reproduced from a chaotic initial background field, hence anticipating the feasibility of its experimental observation, and propose an experimental method for observing these phenomena in Bose-Einstein condensates. The method presented in this paper can help to induce and observe new stable localized waves in some physical systems.

Analysis of hepatitis B virus infection in 1424 patients with different pathological types of lymphoma (2018-2022): A real-world, retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE: Recent studies have found a high prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), especially B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (B-NHL). However, most studies did not classify it and analyze the correlation between HBV and its various subtypes. METHODS: The authors retrospectively analyzed 1424 patients with lymphoma. Differences in the prevalence of HBV infection in patients with different pathological types of lymphoma were analyzed. The clinical characteristics, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) of HBV-positive and negative B-NHL subtypes were compared according to HBV infection. RESULTS: The HBV infection rate in NHL patients was 7.65%, which was higher than that in HL patients (2.59%, p < 0.05). The HBV infection rate in the B-NHL was higher than that in the T-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (T-NHL) (8.14% vs. 4.95%). The HBV infection rate in the aggressive B-NHL was similar to that of the indolent B-NHL (8.30% vs. 7.88%), and the highest HBV infection rates were found in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma, but no significant differences in clinical characteristics, PFS, and OS were seen between HBV-positive and negative patients in the two subtypes. CONCLUSIONS: There was an association between HBV infection and the development of NHL and HBV infection may play a role in the pathogenesis of B-NHL, but not T-NHL.

Does Focal Kyphotic Deformity at Non-responsible Levels Affect the Outcomes of Anterior Cervical Decompression and Fusion?

OBJECTIVE: Focal cervical kyphotic deformity (FCK) without neurologic compression is not uncommon in patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) who underwent anterior cervical decompression and fusion (ACDF) surgery. It remains unclear whether FCK at non-responsible levels needs to be treated simultaneously. This study aims to investigate whether FCK at non-responsible levels is the prognostic factor for CSM and elucidate the surgical indication for FCK. METHODS: Patients with CSM who underwent ACDF between January 2016 and April 2021 were included. Patients were divided into two groups according to the presence of FCK and two classifications according to global cervical sagittal alignment. Clinical outcomes were compared using Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scores and recovery rate (RR) of neurologic function. Univariate and multivariate analysis based on RR assessed the relationship between various possible prognostic factors and clinical outcomes. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was used to determine the optimal cutoff value of the focal Cobb angle to predict poor clinical outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 94 patients were included, 41 with FCK and 53 without. Overall, the RR of neurologic function was significantly lower in the FCK than in the non-FCK group. Further analysis showed that the RR difference between the two groups was only observed in hypo-lordosis classification (kyphotic and sigmoid alignment), but not in the lordosis classification. Multivariate analysis showed that the preoperative focal Cobb angle in the FCK level (OR = 0.42; 95% CI = 0.18-0.97) was independently associated with clinical outcomes in the hypo-lordosis classification. The optimal cutoff point of the preoperative focal kyphotic Cobb angle was calculated at 4.05°. CONCLUSION: For CSM with hypo-lordosis, FCK was a risk factor for poor postoperative outcomes. Surgeons may consider treating the FCK simultaneously if the focal kyphotic Cobb angle of FCK is greater than 4.05° and is accompanied by cervical global kyphotic or sigmoid deformity.

Institutional quality, economic development, and the sustainable outcomes of PPP projects: An empirical analysis of failed PPP projects in China from 2014 to 2020.

The trajectory of China's PPP market since 2014, characterized by rapid expansion and a high failure rate, now plunges into a state of limbo and uncertainty. Through a quantitative analysis of failed PPP projects in China from 2014 to 2020, this study investigates the impact of local government institutional quality, private capital business environment, local economic development, and local fiscal affordability on the development and implementation of PPP projects. The findings reveal that larger government size is associated with a higher likelihood of PPP project failure, while a favorable private capital business environment can mitigate the failure rate of local PPP projects. Furthermore, empirical results demonstrate a positive relationship between local fiscal affordability and the success rate of PPP projects. The analysis underscores the significant influence of the institutional environment on the effectiveness of PPP projects and provides policy recommendations for local governments to enhance the business environment and other key factors contributing to the resilience of PPP projects.

Bruceine A alleviates alcoholic liver disease by inhibiting AIM2 inflammasome activation via activating FXR.

BACKGROUND: Alcoholic liver disease (ALD), a public health challenge worldwide caused by long-term persistent drinking, is life-threatening with minimal approved therapies. Hepatic steatosis accompanied by inflammation is an initial and inevitable stage in the complex progression of simple alcoholic liver injury to more severe liver diseases such as hepatitis, liver fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. PURPOSE: We aimed to identify the therapeutic role of Bruceine A (BA) in ALD whilst attempting to explore whether its protective effects depend specifically on the farnesoid X receptor (FXR). METHODS: Autodock was applied to detect the affinity between BA and FXR. Lieber-DeCarli liquid diet with 5 % ethanol (v/v) was adopted to establish the mouse ALD model. The lentivirus mediating FXR (LV-FXR) was injected into mice via the tail vein to establish FXR-overexpressed mice. FXR silencing or overexpression plasmids were transfected into AML-12 cells prior to ethanol stimulation. Quantitative real-time PCR, Western blotting and immunofluorescence assays were employed to determine the expression of related genes. We subjected liver sections to H&E and Oil Red O staining to evaluate the liver histological injury and the deposition of lipid droplets. RESULTS: BA significantly reduced body weight and liver-to-body weight ratios as well as biochemical indexes in mice. Ethanol-induced liver damage and lipid accumulation could be alleviated by BA treatment. BA bound to FXR by two hydrogen bonds. There was a positive correlation between BA administration and FXR expression. BA inhibited the expression of lipid synthesis genes and enhanced the expression of lipid metabolism genes by activating FXR, thus alleviating steatosis in ALD. Moreover, BA exerted an ameliorative effect against inflammation by inhibiting the activation of absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2) inflammasome by activating FXR. FXR overexpression possessed the ability to counter the accumulation of lipid and the activation of AIM2 inflammasome caused by ethanol. FXR deficiency exacerbated ethanol-induced liver steatosis and inflammation. The hepatoprotective effect of BA could be disrupted by FXR antagonist guggulsterone (GS) in vivo and FXR siRNA in vitro. CONCLUSION: BA alleviated alcoholic liver disease by inhibiting AIM2 inflammasome activation through an FXR-dependent mechanism. This study may potentially represent a new therapeutic approach for ALD.

Occurrence and Ecological Risk of Alkylamine Triazines in Chinese Estuarine Sediments: An Emerging Class of Persistent, Mobile, and Toxic Substances.

Identifying persistent, mobile, and toxic (PMT) substances from synthetic chemicals is critical for chemical management and ecological risk assessment. Inspired by the triazine analogues (e.g., atrazine and melamine) in the original European Union's list of PMT substances, the occurrence and compositions of alkylamine triazines (AATs) in the estuarine sediments of main rivers along the eastern coast of China were comprehensively explored by an integrated strategy of target, suspect, and nontarget screening analysis. A total of 44 AATs were identified, of which 23 were confirmed by comparison with authentic standards. Among the remaining tentatively identified analogues, 18 were emerging pollutants not previously reported in the environment. Tri- and di-AATs were the dominant analogues, and varied geographic distributions of AATs were apparent in the investigated regions. Toxic unit calculations indicated that there were acute and chronic risks to algae from AATs on a large geographical scale, with the antifouling biocide cybutryne as a key driver. The assessment of physicochemical properties further revealed that more than half of the AATs could be categorized as potential PMT and very persistent and very mobile substances at the screening level. These results highlight that AATs are a class of PMT substances posing high ecological impacts on the aquatic environment and therefore require more attention.

Time trends in the burden of low back pain and its associated risk factors in China from 1990 to 2019.

Background: From 1990 to 2019, low back pain (LBP) was the leading cause of years lived with disability (YLDs) in China. However, the change patterns of LBP and its risk factors in China remain unclear. Methods: Data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 were used. We used the join-point regression model and age-period-cohort analysis to evaluate the time trends of attributable risk factors on the burden of LBP. Results: In 2019, the risk factors included in this analysis accounted for 4.36 million YLDs of LBP, representing 42.2% of all YLDs of LBP in China, with 2.86 million due to occupational ergonomic factors, 1.74 million due to smoking, and 0.46 million due to high body mass index (BMI). The age-standardized YLD rates of LBP showed downward trends during 1990-2019, while there was a faster decline between 1990 and 1994. The curves of local drifts, which reflected the average annual percentage change across age groups, showed an increasing trend with age for high BMI and smoking, and a downward trend for occupational ergonomic factors. The YLD rates for LBP increased dramatically with age for high BMI, while it reached a peak at 40-60 years old for occupational ergonomic factors, and 65-80 years old for smoking. The period and cohort rate ratios of LBP YLD decreased in the past 3 decades for occupational ergonomic factors and smoking, while increased for high BMI. Conclusions: Our results provided strong evidence that there were diverse changing patterns for different risk factors, highlighting the need for risk-specific strategies. The translational potential of this article: China has the largest senior population and the fastest aging population in the world. Given that LBP typically occurs in the senior population, there would be an increasing LBP burden on China's health system. This suggests that effective strategies for LBP prevention should be strictly implemented in China, particularly in the senior population, which is of crucial translational potential.

Methylation entropy landscape of Chinese long-lived individuals reveals lower epigenetic noise related to human healthy aging.

The transition from ordered to noisy is a significant epigenetic signature of aging and age-related disease. As a paradigm of healthy human aging and longevity, long-lived individuals (LLI, >90 years old) may possess characteristic strategies in coping with the disordered epigenetic regulation. In this study, we constructed high-resolution blood epigenetic noise landscapes for this cohort by a methylation entropy (ME) method using whole genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS). Although a universal increase in global ME occurred with chronological age in general control samples, this trend was suppressed in LLIs. Importantly, we identified 38,923 genomic regions with LLI-specific lower ME (LLI-specific lower entropy regions, for short, LLI-specific LERs). These regions were overrepresented in promoters, which likely function in transcriptional noise suppression. Genes associated with LLI-specific LERs have a considerable impact on SNP-based heritability of some aging-related disorders (e.g., asthma and stroke). Furthermore, neutrophil was identified as the primary cell type sustaining LLI-specific LERs. Our results highlight the stability of epigenetic order in promoters of genes involved with aging and age-related disorders within LLI epigenomes. This unique epigenetic feature reveals a previously unknown role of epigenetic order maintenance in specific genomic regions of LLIs, which helps open a new avenue on the epigenetic regulation mechanism in human healthy aging and longevity.

Construct Phenylethanoid Glycosides Harnessing Biosynthetic Networks, Protein Engineering and One-Pot Multienzyme Cascades.

Phenylethanoid glycosides (PhGs) exhibit a multitude of structural variations linked to diverse pharmacological activities. Assembling various PhGs via multienzyme cascades represents a concise strategy over traditional synthetic methods. However, the challenge lies in identifying a comprehensive set of catalytic enzymes. This study explores biosynthetic PhG reconstruction from natural precursors, aiming to replicate and amplify their structural diversity. We discovered 12 catalytic enzymes, including four novel 6'-OH glycosyltransferases and three new polyphenol oxidases, revealing the intricate network in PhG biosynthesis. Subsequently, the crystal structure of CmGT3 (2.62 Å) was obtained, guiding the identification of conserved residue 144# as a critical determinant for sugar donor specificity. Engineering this residue in PhG glycosyltransferases (FsGT61, CmGT3, and FsGT6) altered their sugar donor recognition. Finally, a one-pot multienzyme cascade was established, where the combined action of glycosyltransferases and acyltransferases boosted conversion rates by up to 12.6-fold. This cascade facilitated the reconstruction of 26 PhGs with conversion rates ranging from 5-100 %, and 20 additional PhGs detectable by mass spectrometry. PhGs with extra glycosyl and hydroxyl modules demonstrated notable liver cell protection. This work not only provides catalytic tools for PhG biosynthesis, but also serves as a proof-of-concept for cell-free enzymatic construction of diverse natural products.

Community detection in the human connectome: Method types, differences and their impact on inference.

Community structure is a fundamental topological characteristic of optimally organized brain networks. Currently, there is no clear standard or systematic approach for selecting the most appropriate community detection method. Furthermore, the impact of method choice on the accuracy and robustness of estimated communities (and network modularity), as well as method-dependent relationships between network communities and cognitive and other individual measures, are not well understood. This study analyzed large datasets of real brain networks (estimated from resting-state fMRI from n $$ n $$ = 5251 pre/early adolescents in the adolescent brain cognitive development [ABCD] study), and n $$ n $$ = 5338 synthetic networks with heterogeneous, data-inspired topologies, with the goal to investigate and compare three classes of community detection methods: (i) modularity maximization-based (Newman and Louvain), (ii) probabilistic (Bayesian inference within the framework of stochastic block modeling (SBM)), and (iii) geometric (based on graph Ricci flow). Extensive comparisons between methods and their individual accuracy (relative to the ground truth in synthetic networks), and reliability (when applied to multiple fMRI runs from the same brains) suggest that the underlying brain network topology plays a critical role in the accuracy, reliability and agreement of community detection methods. Consistent method (dis)similarities, and their correlations with topological properties, were estimated across fMRI runs. Based on synthetic graphs, most methods performed similarly and had comparable high accuracy only in some topological regimes, specifically those corresponding to developed connectomes with at least quasi-optimal community organization. In contrast, in densely and/or weakly connected networks with difficult to detect communities, the methods yielded highly dissimilar results, with Bayesian inference within SBM having significantly higher accuracy compared to all others. Associations between method-specific modularity and demographic, anthropometric, physiological and cognitive parameters showed mostly method invariance but some method dependence as well. Although method sensitivity to different levels of community structure may in part explain method-dependent associations between modularity estimates and parameters of interest, method dependence also highlights potential issues of reliability and reproducibility. These findings suggest that a probabilistic approach, such as Bayesian inference in the framework of SBM, may provide consistently reliable estimates of community structure across network topologies. In addition, to maximize robustness of biological inferences, identified network communities and their cognitive, behavioral and other correlates should be confirmed with multiple reliable detection methods.

Speciation, bioaccumulation, and toxicity of the newly deposited atmospheric heavy metals in soil-earthworm (Eisenia fetida) system near a large copper smelter.

The speciation, bioaccumulation, and toxicity of the newly deposited atmospheric heavy metals in the soil-earthworm (Eisenia fetida) system were investigated by a fully factorial atmospheric exposure experiment using soils exposed to 0.8-year and 1.8-year atmospheric depositions. The results shown that the newly deposited metals (Cu, Cd, and Pb) primarily accumulated in the topsoil (0-6 cm) and were present as the highly bioavailable speciation. They can migrate further to increase the concentrations of Cu, Cd, and Pb in soil solution of the deeper layer (at 10 cm) by 12 %-436 %. Earthworms tended to preferentially accumulate the newly deposited metals, which contributed 10 %-61 % of Cu, Cd, and Pb in earthworms. Further, for the unpolluted and moderately polluted soils, the newly deposited metals induced the significant oxidative stress in earthworms, resulting in significant increases in antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, CAT, and GSH-Px). No significant differences were observed in the levels of heavy metals in soil solutions, bioaccumulation, and enzyme activities in earthworms exposed to 0.8-year and 1.8-year depositions, indicating the bioavailability of atmospheric metals deposited into soils was rapidly decreased with time. This study highlights the high bioaccumulation and toxicity of heavy metals to earthworm from the new atmospheric deposition during the earthworm growing period.

The Causality between Human Immunoglobulin G (IgG) N-Glycosylation and Aging: A Mendelian Randomization Study.

BACKGROUND: Immunoglobulin G (IgG) N-glycosylation is considered a potential biomarker for aging and various pathological conditions. However, whether these changes in IgG N-glycosylation are a consequence or a contributor to the aging process remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the causality between IgG N-glycosylation and aging using Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. METHODS: We utilized genetic variants associated with IgG N-glycosylation traits, the frailty index (FI), and leukocyte telomere length (LTL) from a previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) on individuals of European ancestry. Two-sample and multivariable MR analyses were conducted, employing the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method. Sensitivity analyses were performed to assess potential confounding factors. RESULTS: Using the IVW method, we found suggestive evidence of a causal association between GP14 and FI (ß 0.026, 95% CI 0.003 to 0.050, p = 0.027) and LTL (ß -0.020, 95% CI -0.037 to -0.002, p = 0.029) in the two-sample MR analysis. In the multivariable MR analysis, suggestive evidence was found for GP23 and FI (ß -0.119, 95% CI -0.219 to -0.019, p = 0.019) and GP2 and LTL (ß 0.140, 95% CI 0.020 to 0.260, p = 0.023). CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, our results supported a potentially causal effect of lower GP23 levels on an advanced aging state. Additional verification is required to further substantiate the causal relationship between glycosylation and aging.

Photoacoustic detection of transient phase transformation of nanoparticles.

The controllable preparation of spherical micro/nano particles of various materials has been achieved via the technology of the laser synthesis and processing of colloids (LSPC) recently. However, there is limited in situ research on the evolution processes of nanoparticles in photothermal transient environments, such as solid-state crystal transformations and changes of state, which limits the understanding and application of LSPC. Photoacoustic (PA) signals are sensitive to the optical, thermal and elastic properties of the medium, and can be used to measure the thermal and spectroscopic properties of matter. In this paper, the PA signals generated by the interaction of the laser with the surrounding liquid medium (ethanol, water, glycerin, etc.) and nanoparticles (Ag, TiO2, CeO2, ZrO2, etc.) are studied when the tunable LSPC technique provides different photothermal conditions (such as thermal expansion, solid crystal transformation and evaporation). It is found that semiconductors with different bandgaps, as light absorbers, have the ability to selectively absorb laser beams of different wavelengths. By changing the wavelength, the PA intensity can be adjusted accordingly. In addition, based on the fast laser heating and tunable fluence characteristics of non-focused laser beams in LSPC technology, transient processes such as material phase transitions and changes of state can be excited separately by adjusting the laser fluence. Taking titanium dioxide as an example, the PA signals generated by laser selective excitation of A-R (anatase into rutile) phase transitions and rutile vaporization can be detected.

Improved RRT* Algorithm for Disinfecting Robot Path Planning.

In this paper, an improved APF-GFARRT* (artificial potential field-guided fuzzy adaptive rapidly exploring random trees) algorithm based on APF (artificial potential field) guided sampling and fuzzy adaptive expansion is proposed to solve the problems of weak orientation and low search success rate when randomly expanding nodes using the RRT (rapidly exploring random trees) algorithm for disinfecting robots in the dense environment of disinfection operation. Considering the inherent randomness of tree growth in the RRT* algorithm, a combination of APF with RRT* is introduced to enhance the purposefulness of the sampling process. In addition, in the context of RRT* facing dense and restricted environments such as narrow passages, adaptive step-size adjustment is implemented using fuzzy control. It accelerates the algorithm's convergence and improves search efficiency in a specific area. The proposed algorithm is validated and analyzed in a specialized environment designed in MATLAB, and comparisons are made with existing path planning algorithms, including RRT, RRT*, and APF-RRT*. Experimental results show the excellent exploration speed of the improved algorithm, reducing the average initial path search time by about 46.52% compared to the other three algorithms. In addition, the improved algorithm exhibits faster convergence, significantly reducing the average iteration count and the average final path cost by about 10.01%. The algorithm's enhanced adaptability in unique environments is particularly noteworthy, increasing the chances of successfully finding paths and generating more rational and smoother paths than other algorithms. Experimental results validate the proposed algorithm as a practical and feasible solution for similar problems.

Origin and evolution of pentanucleotide repeat expansions at the familial cortical myoclonic tremor with epilepsy type1 - SAMD12 locus.

Familial cortical myoclonic tremor with epilepsy type 1 (FCMTE1) is caused by (TTTTA)exp(TTTCA)exp repeat expansions in SAMD12, while pure (TTTTA)exp is polymorphic. Our investigation focused on the origin and evolution of pure (TTTTA)exp and (TTTTA)exp(TTTCA)exp at this locus. We observed a founder effect between them. The phylogenetic analysis suggested that the (TTTTA)exp(TTTCA)exp might be generated from pure (TTTTA)exp through infrequent transformation events. Long-read sequencing revealed somatic generation of (TTTTA)exp(TTTCA)exp from pure (TTTTA)exp, likely via long segment (TTTCA) repeats insertion. Our findings indicate close relationships between the non-pathogenic (TTTTA)exp and the pathogenic (TTTTA)exp(TTTCA)exp, with dynamic interconversions. This sheds light on the genesis of pathogenic repeat expansions from ancestral premutation alleles. Our results may guide future studies in detecting novel repeat expansion disorders and elucidating repeat expansion mutational processes, thereby enhancing our understanding of human genomic variation.

RAAWC-UNet: an apple leaf and disease segmentation method based on residual attention and atrous spatial pyramid pooling improved UNet with weight compression loss.

Introduction: Early detection of leaf diseases is necessary to control the spread of plant diseases, and one of the important steps is the segmentation of leaf and disease images. The uneven light and leaf overlap in complex situations make segmentation of leaves and diseases quite difficult. Moreover, the significant differences in ratios of leaf and disease pixels results in a challenge in identifying diseases. Methods: To solve the above issues, the residual attention mechanism combined with atrous spatial pyramid pooling and weight compression loss of UNet is proposed, which is named RAAWC-UNet. Firstly, weights compression loss is a method that introduces a modulation factor in front of the cross-entropy loss, aiming at solving the problem of the imbalance between foreground and background pixels. Secondly, the residual network and the convolutional block attention module are combined to form Res_CBAM. It can accurately localize pixels at the edge of the disease and alleviate the vanishing of gradient and semantic information from downsampling. Finally, in the last layer of downsampling, the atrous spatial pyramid pooling is used instead of two convolutions to solve the problem of insufficient spatial context information. Results: The experimental results show that the proposed RAAWC-UNet increases the intersection over union in leaf and disease segmentation by 1.91% and 5.61%, and the pixel accuracy of disease by 4.65% compared with UNet. Discussion: The effectiveness of the proposed method was further verified by the better results in comparison with deep learning methods with similar network architectures.

Association between inflammatory bowel disease and cancer risk: evidence triangulation from genetic correlation, Mendelian randomization, and colocalization analyses across East Asian and European populations.

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), has been associated with several cancer risks in observational studies, but the observed associations have been inconsistent and may face the bias of confounding and reverse causality. The potential causal relationships between IBD and the risk of cancers remain largely unclear. METHODS: We performed genome-wide linkage disequilibrium score regression (LDSC), standard two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR), and colocalization analyses using summary genome-wide association study (GWAS) data across East Asian and European populations to evaluate the causal relationships between IBD and cancers. Sensitivity analyses for the MR approach were additionally performed to explore the stability of the results. RESULTS: There were no significant genetic correlations between IBD, CD, or UC and cancers (all P values > 0.05) in East Asian or European populations. According to the main MR analysis, no significant causal relationship was observed between IBD and cancers in the East Asian population. There were significant associations between CD and ovarian cancer (odds ratio [OR] = 0.898, 95% CI = 0.844-0.955) and between UC and nonmelanoma skin cancer (OR = 1.002, 95% CI = 1.000-1.004, P = 0.019) in the European population. The multivariable MR analysis did not find any of the above significant associations. There was no shared causal variant to prove the associations of IBD, CD, or UC with cancers in East Asian or European populations using colocalization analysis. CONCLUSIONS: We did not provide robust genetic evidence of causal associations between IBD and cancer risk. Exposure to IBD might not independently contribute to the risk of cancers, and the increased risk of cancers observed in observational studies might be attributed to factors accompanying the diagnosis of IBD.

Validity and reliability of the sleep health index among patients with spinal degenerative diseases.

OBJECTIVE: To test the validity and reliability of the Sleep Health Index (SHI) in a Chinese clinical sample, and thereby provide more evidence for the assessment of sleep health in future research and clinical practice. METHODS: This study used a cross-sectional design. A convenient sample of 265 participants with spinal degenerative diseases was recruited from outpatient clinics. The SHI, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), and EuroQoL 5-Dimension 5-Level (EQ-5D-5L) were administered via REDCap. Structural, concurrent, convergent, known-group validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability were evaluated. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a 3-factor structure (sleep duration, sleep quality, and disordered sleep). The overall SHI score had a high correlation with PSQI and ISI (r = -0.62 and -0.70, respectively) as well as a moderate correlation with PHQ-9 (r = -0.50, p<0.001). The overall SHI was significantly associated with VAS, ESS, and EQ-5D-5L (r = -0.15 to -0.23, p<0.05). Participants with pain had a lower score on the sleep quality sub-index than those without (p<0.001). Those with chronic diseases had a significantly lower score on the sleep duration sub-index than those without (p<0.05). Those with depression, poor sleep quality, and insomnia had lower scores on the overall scale and the three sub-indices than those without (p<0.05). The overall SHI showed acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.74) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.73). CONCLUSIONS: The Chinese version of SHI showed good validity and acceptable reliability and could be used to assess sleep health among clinical populations.

Experimental study of precursory features of CO2 blasting-induced coal rock fracture based on grayscale and texture analysis.

CO2 blasting has been identified as a potent method for enhancing the permeability of coal seams and improving gas drainage efficiency. This study is focused on elucidating the deformation and fracture mechanisms of coal and rock during CO2 blasting and on identifying the precursor characteristics of these processes. To this end, a CO2 blasting-induced coal rock fracture pressure model and a gas pressure distribution model were developed. The research utilized a self-developed CO2 blasting test platform along with a non-contact full-strain field measurement analysis system. Briquette samples were subjected to CO2 blasting tests under controlled experimental conditions, which included an axial pressure of 1.0 MPa and variable gas pressures of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 MPa. This methodology enabled the capture of the principal strain field on the surface of the samples. The Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) was employed to extract and analyze the grayscale and texture features of the strain cloud maps, facilitating a quantitative assessment of their evolution. The aim was to pinpoint the precursor characteristics associated with coal rock cracking and crack propagation. The results revealed that: (1) During the cracking and subsequent propagation of samples, the strain field's grayscale histogram underwent a transformation from a "broad and low" to a "narrow and high" configuration, with a consistent increase in peak frequency. Specifically, at 3 ms, a primary crack was observed in the sample, evidenced by a grayscale peak frequency of 0.0846. By 9 ms, as the crack propagated, the grayscale peak frequency escalated to 0.1626. (2) The texture feature parameters experienced their initial abrupt change at 3ms. Correlation with the gas pressure distribution model indicated that this was the crack initiation moment in the sample. (3) A secondary abrupt shift in the texture feature parameters occurred at 9ms, in conjunction with experimental phenomena, was identified as the crack propagation phase. Monitoring the grayscale and texture features of the principal strain field on the coal rock surface proved effective in recognizing the precursor characteristics of crack initiation and propagation. This research has the potential to reduce blasting costs in coal mines, optimize blasting effects, and provided theoretical guidance for enhancing gas extraction efficiency from deep and low permeability coal seams.

Hepatitis B surface antigen positivity is associated with poor short- and long-term outcomes in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma who received CHOP or R-CHOP.

Objective: The development of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is closely related to the host infection status. China is a highly endemic area for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. It is not clear whether HBV infection has a consistent effect on the prognostic implications of patients with DLBCL in different treatment settings. Materials and methods: We conducted a cohort study of 692 patients with DLBCL receiving three or more cycles of treatment with a CHOP or R-CHOP regimen from the First Hospital of Jilin University between July 2011 and July 2022. The patients were divided into two groups based on their hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) status: HBsAg-positive (n = 84, 12.1%) and HBsAg-negative (n = 608, 87.9%) groups. Tumor specimens from 180 patients with primary DLBCL were collected for next-generation sequencing (NGS). Results: The HBsAg-positive group had more frequent abnormal liver function (P = 0.003), hypoalbuminemia (P < 0.001), incidence of > 2 extranodal organs (P = 0.011), and spleen involvement (P < 0.001) than the HBsAg-negative group. HBsAg-positive patients had lower complete response (CR) and overall response rates (ORR) rates (all the p values < 0.05), in either the CHOP group or R-CHOP group. Among patients receiving R-CHOP, the rates of disease progression within 12 and 24 months were higher in the HBsAg-positive group than in the HBsAg-negative group (P=0.018, P=0.029). However, no significant difference in disease progression was observed between HBsAg-positive and HBsAg-negative patients in the CHOP group(P > 0.05). HBsAg positivity (OS: HR [95% CI] = 2.511 [1.214-5.192], P = 0.013) was only associated with poorer OS in the CHOP group. Whereas in the R-CHOP group, HBsAg positivity was associated with both poorer OS and PFS (OS: HR [95% CI] = 1.672 [1.050-2.665], P = 0.030; PFS: HR [95% CI] = 1.536 [1.013-2.331], P = 0.043). Additionally, HBsAg-positive patients with DLBCL also had a higher prevalence of mutations in MYC, ATM, PTPN6, and epigenetically regulated genes. Conclusion: These findings suggest that HBsAg-positive DLBCL patients may represent a distinct subgroup with a poorer prognosis. The standard therapies may be insufficient and new therapeutic strategies should be developed based on a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of chemoresistance.