First CLAS12 Measurement of Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering Beam-Spin Asymmetries in the Extended Valence Region

Deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) allows one to probe generalized parton distributions describing the 3D structure of the nucleon. We report the first measurement of the DVCS beam-spin asymmetry using the CLAS12 spectrometer with a 10.2 and 10.6 GeV electron beam scattering from unpolarized protons. The results greatly extend the Q^{2} and Bjorken-x phase space beyond the existing data in the valence region and provide 1600 new data points measured with unprecedented statistical uncertainty, setting new, tight constraints for future phenomenological studies.

Evaluating the effect of temperature and multiple bends on an automated pork belly firmness conveyor belt classification system

Skin-on, and bone-in bellies (n = 94) were cut into Canadian specifications and assessed on an automated conveyor belt system based on different levels of firmness. Temperature settings at 4 °C, 2 °C, and - 1.5 °C had significant effect (P < 0.05) on the bending angle, after 24 cm of the belly had passed the nosebar. The stepwise regression relationship had R² ∼ 0.18-0.67 between iodine value and bending angle at all temperatures. Bending bellies multiple times changed firmness classification of bellies at 4 and 2 °C, but bend number did not influence firmness classification at -1.5 °C. The automated conveyer belt system presented the potential to classify pork bellies based on firmness for industrial applications.

Rh(III)-Catalyzed Successive C-H Activations of 2-Phenyl-3H-indoles and Cyclization Cascades to Construct Highly Fused Indole Heteropolycycles

Rh(III)-catalyzed successive C-H activations of 2-phenyl-3H-indoles and cyclization cascades with diazo compounds were developed to construct highly fused indole heteropolycycles with a broad range of substrates and good yields. In particular, this transformation included two successive C-H activations and unusual [3+3] and [4+2] sequential cyclization cascades, in which the diazo compound played a different role in the two cyclization processes, while simultaneously forming a highly fused polycyclic indole scaffold with a new quaternary carbon center.

Diabetes knowledge and training needs among non-endocrinology nurses

Background

It is necessary to determine the diabetes knowledge level among non-endocrinology nurses in primary care hospitals to develop continuing education strategies.

Method

A questionnaire survey was conducted among 6819 non-endocrinology nurses in 70 primary hospitals in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to assess their diabetes knowledge level and training needs. Factors affecting knowledge level were analyzed using multiple linear regression models.

Results

Diabetes knowledge was low, particularly for diabetes monitoring. Knowledge was higher in nurses who had in-service education and training in diabetes; most believed that training was necessary and hoped to improve their ability to care for diabetic patients. The most suitable training method was considered to be each nurse was taught by an assigned person after centralized specialized education and training.

Conclusion

Non-endocrinology nurses in primary care hospitals lack knowledge of diabetes and have a strong need for training. Systematic training is required to ensure that patients receive high-quality and comprehensive care.

FSNet: Focus Scanning Network for Camouflaged Object Detection

Camouflaged object detection (COD) aims to discover objects that blend in with the background due to similar colors or textures, etc. Existing deep learning methods do not systematically illustrate the key tasks in COD, which seriously hinders the improvement of its performance. In this paper, we introduce the concept of focus areas that represent some regions containing discernable colors or textures, and develop a two-stage focus scanning network for camouflaged object detection. Specifically, a novel encoder-decoder module is first designed to determine a region where the focus areas may appear. In this process, a multi-layer Swin transformer is deployed to encode global context information between the object and the background, and a novel cross-connection decoder is proposed to fuse cross-layer textures or semantics. Then, we utilize the multi-scale dilated convolution to obtain discriminative features with different scales in focus areas. Meanwhile, the dynamic difficulty aware loss is designed to guide the network paying more attention to structural details. Extensive experimental results on the benchmarks, including CAMO, CHAMELEON, COD10K, and NC4K, illustrate that the proposed method performs favorably against other state-of-the-art methods.

First Measurement of Λ Electroproduction off Nuclei in the Current and Target Fragmentation Regions

We report results of Λ hyperon production in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering off deuterium, carbon, iron, and lead targets obtained with the CLAS detector and the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility 5.014 GeV electron beam. These results represent the first measurements of the Λ multiplicity ratio and transverse momentum broadening as a function of the energy fraction (z) in the current and target fragmentation regions. The multiplicity ratio exhibits a strong suppression at high z and an enhancement at low z. The measured transverse momentum broadening is an order of magnitude greater than that seen for light mesons. This indicates that the propagating entity interacts very strongly with the nuclear medium, which suggests that propagation of diquark configurations in the nuclear medium takes place at least part of the time, even at high z. The trends of these results are qualitatively described by the Giessen Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck transport model, particularly for the multiplicity ratios. These observations will potentially open a new era of studies of the structure of the nucleon as well as of strange baryons.

Self-Double-Emulsifying Drug Delivery System Enteric-Coated Capsules: A Novel Approach to Improve Oral Bioavailability and Anti-inflammatory Activity of Panax notoginseng Saponins

In this work, self-double-emulsifying drug delivery system enteric-coated capsules (PNS-SDE-ECC) were used to enhance the oral bioavailability and anti-inflammatory effects of Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS), which are rapidly biodegradable, poorly membrane permeable, and highly water-soluble compounds. The PNS-SDEDDS formulated by a modified two-step method spontaneously emulsified to W/O/W double emulsions in the outer aqueous solution, which significantly promoted the absorption of PNS in the intestinal tract. The release study revealed that PNS-SDE-ECC exhibited sustained release of PNS within 24 h and the stability study indicated that PNS-SDE-ECC were stable at room temperature for up to 3 months. Furthermore, compared to PNS gastric capsules, the relative bioavailability of NGR1, GRg1, GRe, GRb1, and GRd in PNS-SDE-ECC was increased by 4.83, 10.78, 9.25, 3.58, and 4.63 times, respectively. More importantly, PNS-SDE-ECC significantly reduced OXZ-induced inflammatory damage in the colon by regulating the expression of TNF-α, IL-4, IL-13, and MPO cytokines. Overall, the prepared PNS-SDE-ECC may serve as a viable vehicle for increasing the oral bioavailability of PNS and its anti-inflammatory action on ulcerative colitis.

Intrinsic Graph Learning With Discrete Constrained Diffusion-Fusion

Graphs are essential to improve the performance of graph-based machine learning methods, such as spectral clustering. Various well-designed methods have been proposed to learn graphs that depict specific properties of real-world data. Joint learning of knowledge in different graphs is an effective means to uncover the intrinsic structure of samples. However, the existing methods fail to simultaneously mine the global and local information related to sample structure and distribution when multiple graphs are available, and further research is needed. Hence, we propose a novel intrinsic graph learning (IGL) with discrete constrained diffusion-fusion to solve the above problem in this article. In detail, given a set of the predefined graphs, IGL first obtains the graph encoding the global high-order manifold structure via the diffusion-fusion mechanism based on the tensor product graph. Then, two discrete operators are integrated to fine-prune the obtained graph. One of them limits the maximum number of neighbors connected to each sample, thereby removing redundant and erroneous edges. The other one forces the rank of the Laplacian matrix of the obtained graph to be equal to the number of sample clusters, which guarantees that samples from the same subgraph belong to the same cluster and vice versa. Moreover, a new strategy of weight learning is designed to accurately quantify the contribution of pairwise predefined graphs in the optimization process. Extensive experiments on six single-view and two multiview datasets have demonstrated that our proposed method outperforms the previous state-of-the-art methods on the clustering task.

[Research progress in the pathogenesis mechanism of dental fluorosis]

Dental fluorosis is a developmental disturbance of dental enamel caused by excessive fluoride intake during tooth development, leading to the changes in morphology, structure and function of tooth enamel, which can affect the aesthetics and function of teeth. There are many factors which may account for the occurrence of dental fluorosis. However, the pathogenesis mechanism underlying dental fluorosis has not been fully clarified.In recent years, researches in the fields of fluoride-induced stress response pathways, signaling pathways and apoptosis at the molecular and genetic level had provided extensive knowledge of dental fluorosis. This article focuses on the latest research progress in the mechanism of dental fluorosis, which include the effects of fluoride on ameloblasts and enamel matrix proteins, genetic polymorphism and dietary nutrients, in order to provide new references for the targeted prevention and treatment of dental fluorosis.

Encapsulation in Amylose Inclusion Complex Enhances the Stability and Release of Vitamin D

Vitamin D plays a significant role in the physiological functions of the human body. However, the application of vitamin D in functional foods is limited due to its sensitivity to light and oxygen. Therefore, in this study, we developed an effective method to protect vitamin D by encapsulating it in amylose. In detail, vitamin D was encapsulated by amylose inclusion complex, followed by structural characterization and evaluation of its stability and release properties. The results of X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed that vitamin D was successfully encapsulated in the amylose inclusion complex, and the loading capacity was 1.96% ± 0.02%. The photostability and thermal stability of vitamin D after encapsulation was increased by 59% and 28%, respectively. In addition, in vitro simulated digestion showed that vitamin D was protected through the simulated gastric environment and can be released gradually in the simulated intestinal fluid, implying its improved bioaccessibility. Our findings provide a practical strategy for the development of functional foods based on vitamin D.

Intra-articular treatment of temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis by injecting actively-loaded meloxicam liposomes with dual-functions of anti-inflammation and lubrication

Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) osteoarthritis is a common osteochondral degenerative disease which can severely affect patient's mouth opening and mastication. Meloxicam (MLX), one of the most widely used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, is the main clinical therapy for the treatment of TMJ osteoarthritis. However, the clinical effect is greatly compromised because of its poor water solubility and high lipophilicity. In the present study, we developed an actively-loaded liposomal formulation, namely MLX-Ca(AC)₂Lipo, using meglumine to enhance aqueous solubility and divalent metal (Ca²⁺) solution to improve encapsulation efficiency. By the formation of the nano-bowl shaped MLX-Ca precipitates inside the liposomes, MLX-Ca(AC)₂Lipo successfully achieved an optimal encapsulation efficiency as high as 98.4% compared with previous passive loading method (60.6%). Additionally, MLX-Ca(AC)₂Lipo maintained stable, and the slow drug release not only prolonged the duration of drug efficacy but also improved bioavailability. It was shown in the in vitro and in vivo tests that MLX-Ca(AC)₂Lipo downregulated the synthesis of the inflammatory factors (such as prostaglandin-E2) and as a consequence reduced chondrocytes apoptosis and extracellular matrix degeneration. Furthermore, the intra-articular injection of MLX-Ca(AC)₂Lipo enhanced bioinspired lubrication of TMJ, protecting the cartilage from progressive wear. In summary, MLX-Ca(AC)₂Lipo with dual-functions of anti-inflammation and lubrication is a promising nanomedicine for the treatment of TMJ osteoarthritis by intra-articular injection.

Observation of Correlations between Spin and Transverse Momenta in Back-to-Back Dihadron Production at CLAS12

We report the first measurements of deep inelastic scattering spin-dependent azimuthal asymmetries in back-to-back dihadron electroproduction in the deep inelastic scattering process. In this reaction, two hadrons are produced in opposite hemispheres along the z axis in the virtual photon-target nucleon center-of-mass frame, with the first hadron produced in the current-fragmentation region and the second in the target-fragmentation region. The data were taken with longitudinally polarized electron beams of 10.2 and 10.6 GeV incident on an unpolarized liquid-hydrogen target using the CLAS12 spectrometer at Jefferson Lab. Observed nonzero sinΔϕ modulations in ep→e^{'}pπ^{+}X events, where Δϕ is the difference of the azimuthal angles of the proton and pion in the virtual photon and target nucleon center-of-mass frame, indicate that correlations between the spin and transverse momenta of hadrons produced in the target- and current-fragmentation regions may be significant. The measured beam-spin asymmetries provide a first access in dihadron production to a previously unexplored leading-twist spin- and transverse-momentum-dependent fracture function. The fracture functions describe the hadronization of the target remnant after the hard scattering of a virtual photon off a quark in the target particle and provide a new avenue for studying nucleonic structure and hadronization.

Feature Consistency-Based Prototype Network for Open-Set Hyperspectral Image Classification

Hyperspectral image (HSI) classification methods have made great progress in recent years. However, most of these methods are rooted in the closed-set assumption that the class distribution in the training and testing stages is consistent, which cannot handle the unknown class in open-world scenes. In this work, we propose a feature consistency-based prototype network (FCPN) for open-set HSI classification, which is composed of three steps. First, a three-layer convolutional network is designed to extract the discriminative features, where a contrastive clustering module is introduced to enhance the discrimination. Then, the extracted features are used to construct a scalable prototype set. Finally, a prototype-guided open-set module (POSM) is proposed to identify the known samples and unknown samples. Extensive experiments reveal that our method achieves remarkable classification performance over other state-of-the-art classification techniques.

[A preliminary study on the construction and application of the smart classroom teaching mode in endodontics]

Objective: To evaluate the application effect of smart classroom teaching mode in undergraduate teaching of endodontics. Methods: Through micro-lecture and massive open online course which were closely integrated with clinical practice and frontier advances, we build a new smart classroom teaching mode of endodontics relying on information technology such as the medical education cloud APP platform. The mode was applied to the undergraduate teaching of grade 2017 (110 students) and grade 2018 (107 students) in 2020 and 2021 respectively (experimental group). The theoretical examination was conducted for the grade 2016 (control group, 111 students applied traditional teaching methods) in 2019, and for two experimental grades in 2020 and 2021 respectively. A questionnaire survey was conducted for the 2018 undergraduates to investigate the experience of the smart classroom teaching mode, and the application effect of the smart classroom teaching mode was evaluated by comparing the offline theoretical test scores of grades 2016, 2017 and 2018. Results: The results of the questionnaire showed that students in grade 2018 recognized the overall form of smart classroom teaching mode, and 75.2% (79/105) of the students satisfied with the teaching process, considering that it could enhance learning interest and enthusiasm, improve self-learning ability, facilitate the understanding and memory of knowledge points, as well as increase the extension and expansion of professional knowledge. Thirty-seven point one percent (39/105) of the students thought that smart classroom teaching mode was not conducive to the interaction between teachers and students and couldn't improve learning efficiency. Comparing the final theoretical examination scores of students in three years, it was found that the average scores of 2021 (78.79±9.88) and 2020 (76.45±8.33) were significantly higher than that of 2019 (67.67±10.58) (t=6.77, P<0.001; t=8.51, P<0.001). The average score in 2021 was higher than that in 2020, although the difference was not significant (t=1.79, P=0.223). Conclusions: The application of smart classroom mode improved the teaching effect of endodontics, which is worthy of further promotion to provide a positive reference in improving the educating effects of oral medicine.

Epigenetic association study uncovered H3K27 acetylation enhancers and dysregulated genes in high-fat-diet-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in rats

Aim: To evaluate the regulatory landscape underlying the active enhancer marked by H3K27ac in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in rats. Materials & methods: H3K27ac chromatin immunoprecipitation and high-throughput RNA sequencing to construct regulatory profiles and transcriptome of liver from NAFLD rat model induced by HFD. De novo motif analysis for differential H3K27ac peaks. Functional enrichment, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway and protein-protein interaction network were examined for differential peak-genes. The mechanism was further verified by western blot, chromatin immunoprecipitation-quantitative PCR and real-time PCR. Results: A total of 1831 differential H3K27ac peaks were identified significantly correlating with transcription factors and target genes (CYP8B1, PLA2G12B, SLC27A5, CYP7A1 and APOC3) involved in lipid and energy homeostasis. Conclusion: Altered acetylation induced by HFD leads to the dysregulation of gene expression, further elucidating the epigenetic mechanism in the etiology of NAFLD.

Cefiderocol Dosing for Patients Receiving Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy

In this report, we describe our scientific approach for including effluent flow rate (QE )-based dosing recommendations of cefiderocol for patients receiving continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) in the product labeling. The total clearance (CL) of cefiderocol in patients receiving CRRT was estimated as the sum of patients' nonrenal clearance (CLnonrenal ) and extracorporeal clearance by CRRT (CLCRRT ), based on the following rationale: (a) The renal clearance (CLrenal ) of cefiderocol is assumed to be negligible in patients receiving CRRT, (b) CLnonrenal represents the CRRT patients' own remaining systemic clearance and is estimated from the observed clearance in participants with creatinine clearance (CLcr) < 15 mL/minute without undergoing hemodialysis, and (c) CLCRRT was estimated by the product of unbound (free) fraction of plasma drug concentration (fu ) and QE because the free fraction of low-molecular-weight compounds like cefiderocol (752 Da) can be completely filtered by CRRT, regardless of CRRT modality. Hence, cefiderocol CL in CRRT patients was calculated by the equation of CL = CLnonrenal  + fu  × QE . Accordingly, the cefiderocol dosing regimens for patients receiving CRRT in clinically relevant ranges of QE were determined with the goal of achieving an average daily area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) observed in patients not receiving CRRT. Subsequently, pharmacokinetic (PK) simulations demonstrated that cefiderocol PK profiles following the QE -based dosing in patients receiving CRRT would be similar to those in patients not receiving CRRT.

Observation of Azimuth-Dependent Suppression of Hadron Pairs in Electron Scattering off Nuclei

We present the first measurement of dihadron angular correlations in electron-nucleus scattering. The data were taken with the CLAS detector and a 5.0 GeV electron beam incident on deuterium, carbon, iron, and lead targets. Relative to deuterium, the nuclear yields of charged-pion pairs show a strong suppression for azimuthally opposite pairs, no suppression for azimuthally nearby pairs, and an enhancement of pairs with large invariant mass. These effects grow with increased nuclear size. The data are qualitatively described by the gibuu model, which suggests that hadrons form near the nuclear surface and undergo multiple scattering in nuclei.These results show that angular correlation studies can open a new way to elucidate how hadrons form and interact inside nuclei.

Prospects of animal models and their application in studies on adaptive immunity to SARS-CoV-2

The adaptive immune response induced by SARS-CoV-2 plays a key role in the antiviral process and can protect the body from the threat of infection for a certain period of time. However, owing to the limitations of clinical studies, the antiviral mechanisms, protective thresholds, and persistence of the immune memory of adaptive immune responses remain unclear. This review summarizes existing research models for SARS-CoV-2 and elaborates on the advantages of animal models in simulating the clinical symptoms of COVID-19 in humans. In addition, we systematically summarize the research progress on the SARS-CoV-2 adaptive immune response and the remaining key issues, as well as the application and prospects of animal models in this field. This paper provides direction for in-depth analysis of the anti-SARS-CoV-2 mechanism of the adaptive immune response and lays the foundation for the development and application of vaccines and drugs.

Self-compression of stimulated Raman backscattering by a flying focus

The regime of self-compression has been proposed for plasma-based backward Raman amplification upon a flying focus. By using a pumping focus moving with a speed equal to the group velocity of stimulated Raman backscattering (SRBS), only a short part of SRBS which always synchronizes with the flying focus can be amplified. Therefore, instead of a short pulse, plasma noise or a long pulse can seed the BRA amplifiers. Here we demonstrate the regime by 2D particle-in-cell simulations, showing that the pump pulse is compressed from 26 ps to 116 fs, with an output amplitude comparable with the case of a well-synchronized short seed. As only one laser pulse is used in the simulation, the results present a significant path to simplify the Raman amplifiers.

[The influence of sacroiliac joint reduction quality on the clinical effect of bionic reduction and internal fixation for pelvic ring injury]

Objective: To examine the influence of sacroiliac joint reduction quality on the clinical effect of bionic reduction and internal fixation for pelvic ring injury. Methods: From January 2014 to February 2019,the clinical data of 78 patients diagnosed with pelvic ring injury involving sacroiliac joints and treated with bionic reduction and internal fixation at Honghui Hospital Affiliated to Medical College of Xi'an Jiaotong University were retrospectively analyzed.There were 48 males and 30 females,aged (48.3±8.3)years (range:28 to 68 years).After bionic reduction and internal fixation,the patients were grouped according to the maximum displacement distance (d) of sacroiliac joint residual on the damaged side measured by CT examination. Patients with d≤5 mm were included in anatomical bionic reduction group,and patients with d>5 mm were included in non-anatomical bionic reduction group.In non-anatomical bionic reduction group,according to the direction of residual displacement,the patients were divided into separation displacement group and anterior-posterior displacement group. The X-ray examination was performed immediately and at the last follow-up after operation.If sacroiliac joint was relocated,or internal plant loosening,displacement,fracture and re-displacement of fracture,it was defined as internal fixation failure.Majeed pelvic fracture scoring system was used to evaluate the postoperative functional status of the two groups,and visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the postoperative pain.Comparison between groups was performed by completely random design ANOVA,χ² test,Fisher's exact test,Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H test. Results: According to the CT examination,28 cases were included in anatomical bionic reduction group,and 50 cases were included in non-anatomical bionic reduction group.In non-anatomical bionic reduction group,27 cases were divided into separation displacement group and 23 cases were in anterior-posterior displacement group.There was no significant difference in general data among anatomical bionic reduction group,separation displacement group and anterior-posterior displacement group (P>0.05). The follow-up time was (37.8±6.6) months (range:25 to 51 months). At the last follow up,the excellent and good rate of Majeed score in anatomical bionic reduction group was 96.4%(27/28),which was better than that in separation displacement group(74.1%(20/27)) and anterior-posterior displacement group (30.4%(7/23)),the difference was statistically significant (Z=-6.479,P<0.01;Z=-6.256,P<0.01); and the good rate of the separation displacement group was better than that of the anterior-posterior displacement group(Z=-3.607,P<0.01).The VAS of anatomical bionic reduction group (17 cases with 0 point, 11 cases with 1 to 3 points) were lower than that of the displacement group (6 cases with 0 point,16 cases with 1 to 3 points,5 cases with 4 to 6 points) and anterior-posterior displacement group (3 cases with 0 point,7 cases with 1 to 3 points,13 cases with 4 to 6 points),the difference was statistically significant (Z=-3.515,P<0.01;Z=-3.506,P<0.01),and there was no difference between separation displacement group and anterior-posterior displacement group.Total of 8 cases of internal fixation failure occurred,and the failure rate of anatomical bionic reduction group (0,0/28) was lower than that of the separation displacement group (11.1%,3/27) and anterior-posterior displacement group (21.7%,5/23) (P=0.111,P=0.014),and there was no difference between separation displacement group and anterior-posterior displacement group(P=0.444). Conclusions: In the bionic reduction and internal fixation of pelvic fracture involving sacroiliac joint injury,the functional status,pain and internal fixation failure rate of patients with anatomical bionic reduction of sacroiliac joint are significantly better than those in the non-anatomical bionic reduction.The functional recovery of patients with separation displacement is better than that of the patients with anterior and posterior displacement.