Browse Articles

Urodynamic assessment and proteomic analysis of lower urinary tract dysfunction following nerve-sparing radical hysterectomy

Author Correction: Observation of an ultra-high-energy cosmic neutrino with KM3NeT

Screening system for assessing suitability of cognitive behavioral therapy for chronic low back pain

Improved production of thermostable pectinase from novel Bacillus siamensis (BIOSMNF45) using computational-conventional approach

Associations between expected and observed psychological responses to acute resistance exercise in analogue generalized anxiety disorder

Macrophages protect against sensory axon loss in peripheral neuropathy

Energy efficiency evaluation of construction projects using data envelopment analysis and Tobit regression

Downscaling micro- and nano-perovskite LEDs

A hybrid model based on transformer and Mamba for enhanced sequence modeling

Water structure and electric fields at the interface of oil droplets

Cooper-pair density modulation state in an iron-based superconductor

Global engineering effects of soil invertebrates on ecosystem functions

Microsatellite-based real-time quantum key distribution

A systems-level, semi-quantitative landscape of metabolic flux in C. elegans

Systems-level design principles of metabolic rewiring in an animal

Time-restricted feeding reduced blood pressure and improved cardiac structure and function by regulating both circulating and local renin-angiotensin systems in spontaneously hypertensive rat model

Objective To investigate whether time-restricted feeding (TRF) can reduce blood pressure (BP) and improve cardiac structure and function in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) by regulating the renin-angiotensin system (RAS). Methods Wistar Kyoto rats and SHR underwent 16 weeks of TRF intervention, with daily feeding restricted to 9 am–5 pm. The effects of TRF on systolic BP, diastolic BP, mean BP, body weight (BW), heart weight (HW), HW/BW ratio, cardiac structure and function, and RAS activity in the circulating and left ventricular (LV) tissues were investigated. Results TRF effectively reduced systolic BP, mean BP, diastolic BP, and BW; improved hypertension-induced cardiac structural and functional damage; and inhibited the ACE-Ang-II-AT1 axis in circulating and LV tissues. Conclusion TRF effectively inhibits RAS activity in both circulating and LV tissues, thereby lowering BP and mitigating structural and functional cardiac damage associated with hypertension.

Characteristics of Dutch ED patients and their journey through the acute care chain: A province-wide flash-mob study

Background Insight in characteristics and journey of patients in the Acute Care Chain (ACC) who visit the Emergency Department (ED) is lacking. Existing studies focus on prespecified (time-sensitive) complex conditions like major trauma and stroke, and on the hospital phase. This study provides a representative overview of adult ED patients and their journey through the ACC with focus on differences between those with and without prespecified complex conditions. Methods A prospective 72-hour flash-mob study was conducted in 2022 across all six EDs in the province of Limburg, the Netherlands, encompassing unselected adult patients. Baseline characteristics, journey, and time within ACC were collected. Patients with a prespecified complex condition (stroke, myocardial infarction, aortic syndrome and major trauma) were compared to those without. Results Out of 794 adult ED patients, 585 (73.7%) were included. Patients reported symptoms for a median of 1 day (IQR 0-4) before their ED visit; 56.3% encountered ≥ 1 healthcare provider. General practitioners referred 56.1% of patients, and emergency medical services transported 32.9%. The median time in ACC was 5.0 hours (IQR 3.5-6.9), with 3.0 hours (IQR 2.0-4.2) spent in the ED. The three most prevalent presenting complaints were minor trauma (28.5%), abdominal pain (14.6%) and dyspnoea (12.5%), while 9.3% presented with prespecified complex conditions. Patients with a prespecified complex condition were more often triaged highly urgent (53.6% vs 13.9%, p < 0.001) and received a complex work-up (79.6% vs 41.2%, p < 0.001). Conclusion In our province-wide study, ED patients had symptoms for 1 day and over half of them already contacted a healthcare provider. Time in ACC was 5 hours, with a substantial proportion of time spent prehospitally. Prespecified complex conditions accounted for less than 1 in 10 ED patients. These findings highlight that, to optimise care and care policy, it is essential to examine the entire ACC for unselected patients. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06079099

Effect of opioid-free anesthesia combined with pectoral nerve block on the quality of recovery in patients after mastectomy: A randomized, controlled trial

Objective To evaluate the impact of opioid-free anesthesia (OFA) combined with regional blocks on the quality of recovery (QoR) in patients who underwent mastectomy. Methods This randomized controlled trial involved 132 mastectomy patients who were randomized to receive either OFA combined with PECS block or opioid-based anesthesia (OBA) combined with PECS block. The QoR was assessed using the QoR-15 global score at 24 h post-surgery. Secondary outcomes included postoperative sufentanil consumption, incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) scores at 1, 4, and 24 h, incidence of postoperative adverse events, extubation, incidence of severe bradycardia and intraoperative mean artrial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) at after entering the operating room (T0, baseline value), after intubation (T1), after skin incision (T2), and after extubation (T3). Results The QoR-15 global score at 24 h was not significantly different between groups (MD = -0.4, 95% CI [-3.8 to 4.7], P = 0.67). Postoperative sufentanil consumptions (P = 0.075), the incidence of PONV (P = 0.12), NRS scores at 1 h (P = 0.36), 4 h (P = 0.53), and 24 h (P = 0.02) were not significantly different. Incidence of adverse events (OR = 0, 95% CI [0 to 0.44], P = 0.0063) were lower in Group OFA than that in Group OBA. Extubation time was significantly longer in Group OFA than in Group OBA (MD = 15, 95%CI [10–18], P <  0.001). MAPs at T1 and T2 were significantly higher in Group OFA than in Group OBA (P <  0.0125), while MAP and HR at T3 were significantly lower in Group OFA than in Group OBA(P <  0.0125). Incidence of severe bradycardia were not significantly different (P = 0.67). Conclusion In conclusion, while OFA contributes to a reduction in adverse events, its integration with PECS blocks does not improve QoR or postoperative analgesia at 24 h post-mastectomy. Moreover, OFA was associated with a prolonged extubation time. Trial registration chictr.org; registration number: ChiCTR2100043575.

RETRACTED: Advancing enterprise risk management with deep learning: A predictive approach using the XGBoost-CNN-BiLSTM model

Enterprise risk management is a key element to ensure the sustainable and steady development of enterprises. However, traditional risk management methods have certain limitations when facing complex market environments and diverse risk events. This study introduces a deep learning-based risk management model utilizing the XGBoost-CNN-BiLSTM framework to enhance the prediction and detection of risk events. This model combines the structured data processing capabilities of XGBoost, the feature extraction capabilities of CNN, and the time series processing capabilities of BiLSTM to more comprehensively capture the key characteristics of risk events. Through experimental verification on multiple data sets, our model has achieved significant advantages in key indicators such as accuracy, recall, F1 score, and AUC. For example, on the S&P 500 historical data set, our model achieved a precision rate of 93.84% and a recall rate of 95.75%, further verifying its effectiveness in predicting risk events. These experimental results fully demonstrate the robustness and superiority of our model. Our research is of great significance, not only providing a more reliable risk management method for enterprises, but also providing useful inspiration for the application of deep learning in the field of risk management.

Passive compliance or active innovation: The diffusion of public sport policies in China

As an important tool for governing, regulating, and safeguarding national sports, sports policy not only centralizes and expresses the state’s vision for sports but also advances the development of the sports economy, and distributes the benefits of social sports. Accordingly, we collect policy samples from 31 provinces of China. Adopting the central–local relationship perspective, we use the grey correlation analysis method to explore the intrinsic relationship between the factors influencing the diffusion of public sports policies and the degree of policy text reproduction by provincial governments. We aim to encourage provincial governments to innovate policy texts based on local development needs, geographic position, and resource capabilities, This will enhance the diffusion of public sports policies and contribute to national and global sports governance. The diffusion of China’s public sports policies is influenced by six secondary indicators: economic level, population size, sports organizations, public sports demand, central government policy pressure, and learning effect. The policy environment, shaped primarily by central government policy pressure and the learning effect, has the greatest influence on the reproduction of provincial public sports policy texts.