Safety and Effectiveness of Using Disposable Ultrasonic Shears to Coagulate 5–7 mm Blood Vessels: Protocol for a Prospective, Multicenter, Randomized, Parallel Controlled, Non-Inferiority Clinical Trial

BACKGROUND: The ultrasonic scalpel is widely used during surgery. It is safe and effective to close the pulmonary artery branch vessels of 7 mm or below with an ultrasonic energy device as reported. However, there have been no multicenter randomized clinical trial to assess the safety and effectiveness of using ultrasonic scalpel to coagulate 5-7 mm blood vessels in thoracic surgery. METHODS: This is a prospective, multicenter, randomized, parallel controlled, non-inferiority clinical trial. A total of 144 eligible patients planning to undergo lung or esophageal surgery will be randomly allocated to the experimental group and the control group. The investigational product (Disposable Ultrasonic Shears manufactured by Reach Surgical, Inc.) and the control product (Harmonic Ace + 7, 5 mm Diameter Shears with Advanced Hemostasis) will be used in each group. The primary endpoint is the success rate of coagulating target blood vessels during surgery. Secondary endpoints include postoperative rebleeding, intraoperative bleeding volume, drainage volume, surgical duration, etc. Postoperative follow-up before and after discharge will be performed. DISCUSSION: This clinical trial aims to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of using the investigational product (Disposable Ultrasonic Shears manufactured by Reach Surgical, Inc.) and that of the control product (Harmonic Ace + 7, 5 mm Diameter Shears with Advanced Hemostasis) to coagulate 5-7 mm blood vessels in thoracic surgery. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT06002737. The trial was prospectively registered on 16 August 2023, https://www. CLINICALTRIALS: gov/study/NCT06002737

Experiments and simulations on interactions between 2,3-bis(hydroxymethyl)-2,3-dinitro-1,4-butanediol tetranitrate (DNTN) with some energetic components and inert materials

Abstract In order to survey the application prospects of 2,3-bis(hydroxymethyl)-2,3-dinitro-1,4-butanediol tetranitrate (DNTN, NEST-1, SMX) in high - energy solid rocket propellants and explosives, the interactionsbetween DNTN with some energetic components and inert materials were investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and molecular dynamic (MD) methods, where glycidyl azide polymer (GAP), cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX), cyclotetramethylenetetranitroamine (HMX), lead 3-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-5-onate (NTO-Pb), hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane (CL-20), aluminum powder (Al) and magnesium powder (Mg), 3,4-dinitrofurzanfuroxan (DNTF), N-guanylurea-dinitramide (GUDN), N-butyl-N-(2-nitroxy-ethyl)nitramine (Bu-NENA), bis(2,2-dinitropropyl) acetal (BDNPA)/bis(2,2-dinitropropyl) formal (BDNPF) mixture (A3), nitrocellulose - nitroglycerine (NC-NG) and ammonium dinitramide (ADN) were used as energetic components and hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB), polyoxytetram ethylene-co- oxyethylene (PET), addition product of hexamethylene diisocyanate and water (N-100), 2,4-toluene diisocyanate (TDI), 1,3-dimethyl-1,3-diphenyl urea (C2), carbon black (C.B.), aluminum oxide (Al2O3), lead phthalate (φ-Pb), N-nitro-dihydroxyethylamine dinitrate (DINA), cupric 2,4-dihydroxy-benzoate (β-Cu) were used as inert materials. The impact and friction sensitivities of DNTN and DNTN in combination with energetic materials were obtained. . It was concluded that the binary systems of DNTN with RDX, HMX, NTO-Pb, Al, Mg, ADN, NC-NG, HTPB, PET, C2, C.B., β-Cu and Al2O3 are compatible, whereas systems of DNTN with GAP, CL-20, A3, N-100, TDI and DINA are slightly sensitive, and those containing DNTF and GUDN are incompatible. It is demonstrated that no consequential trend between sensitivity and compatibility is found. The mechanical properties and safety performance of GAP mixtures plasticized with three plasticizers decrease in the following order: [BTTN] > [TMETN] > [Bu-NENA]

OR-032 Effects of Protein Supplement Timing during 4-Week Resistance Training on Muscle Hypertrophy in Males

Objective Nutrient timing is a new system of exercise nutrition that can help improve strength and lean body mass in a short time and does not require a change in exercise plan and energy intake. The concept of nutrient timing began to be used to solve problems such as the stagnation of muscle strength growth in high-protein diets, high quality proteins to gain weight and strength, but to obtain and utilize nutrient supplements at the right time to maximize muscle growth. Therefore, it is necessary to supplement the appropriate nutrients at different times. At present, some studies have found that the type and protein supplementation timing have some influence on the resistance training of high-level athletes. Protein supplementation before or after exercise plays a positive role in improving sports performance, recovery after exercise, muscle hypertrophy and muscle strength improvement. Due to the different types, dosage and time of protein supplementation, there are still some differences. It is still necessary to study the effect of nutrient timing of whey protein and the CEUS on the morphological indices of the rectus femoris. Therefore, by observing the thickness, circumference and area of the rectus femoris, we observed the effect of different nutrient timing and lower limb strength training on the shape of rectus femoris in healthy male youth. It is suggested that the different timing and dosage produce different effects and provide scientific suggestions for the later strength training and whey protein supplementation. Methods A total of 32 healthy male students participated in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Subjects were randomly divided into four groups, the control group (Group A), the pre-exercise supplementary group (Group B), the after-exercise supplementary group (Group C) and both pre-exercise and after-exercise supplementary group (Group D), which were supplemented by: two bottles of placebo before and after the training in Group A. two bottles of whey protein water before training and two bottles of placebo after training in Group B. two bottles of placebo before training and two bottles of whey protein water after training in Group C. two bottles of whey protein water before and after training in Group D. the bottles of supplements before training should be supplemented half an hour before the start of training, and the bottles of supplements after training should be supplemented within half an hour after training. Each bottle of whey protein water was 350ml which contained 15g whey protein. The training method was 70% 1RM for barbell squat, 4 sets of 10 times, each set rest for 60s. Three training sessions were conducted each week, and the training lasted for four weeks. During this period, in order to deal with the training effect, at the end of the second week, we performed a maximum squat strength test to adjust the training intensity for the following two weeks. The body composition test used GE lunar IDXA, a dual-energy X-ray scanning method and the indexes were body weight, muscle mass and FFM. The CEUS used GE Vivid 7 holographic Color Doppler Ultrasound Diagnostic system. The test sites of CEUS were in the anterior superior iliac crest and the upper margin of the patella 1/4, and the indexes were the thickness of the femoral rectus femoris, the circumference of the rectus femoris, and the cross-sectional area of the femoral rectus femoris. Tests were performed before and after 4-week resistance training. After the intervention, the variance of paired sample t test and One Way ANOVA were used to test the significance of each group. Results According to the change of the body composition, compared with the control group (Group A), the FFM of Group B, Group C and Group D were decreased, but there were no significant differences (p>0.05). The muscle mass of Group C increased from 54.53±4.64 kg to 58.54±5.82 kg, and muscle mass of Group D increased from 55.74±4.09 kg to 58.75±4.74 kg, compared to group A, Group C and Group D had significant increase in muscle mass (p<0.05). Body composition is mainly composed of adipose tissue and lean tissue, the body composition is influenced by the acquired factors, resistance training will also decrease the FFM and the increase the lean weight. Combined with 4-week resistance training with protein supplementation, we can see that the FFM in Group B, Group C and Group D declined a lot, which may be related to protein supplementation. The muscle mass of Group C and Group D were significantly improved, it was indicated that after resistance training, protein supplementation can improve muscle mass, but there was no differences between Group C and Group D, which indicates that the increase of protein supplementation has little effect on the increase of muscle mass, which may be due to the increase of protein supplement, the amount of muscle synthesis will increase, but the amount of decomposition will increase, too. In addition, the changes in the synthesis and decomposition, resulting in little change in muscle mass. About the morphological changes of rectus femoris in dominant leg, compared with the control group (Group A), the thickness of the rectus femoris (changed from 12.55±3.94 mm to 16.71±3.04 mm), the circumference of the rectus femoris (changed from 8.38±1.98 cm to 10.08±1.79 cm), the cross-sectional area of the rectus femoris (changed from 3.64±1.91 cm2 to 5.43±1.61 cm2) in Group C and the thickness of the rectus femoris (changed from 14.12±2.33 mm to 15.91±2.10 mm) in Group D were significantly increased (P<0.05). The thickness of the rectus femoris, the circumference of the rectus femoris, the cross-sectional area of the rectus femoris in Group B and the circumference of the rectus femoris and the cross-sectional area of the rectus femoris in Group D were also increased, but there were no significant changes (p>0.05). About the morphological changes of rectus femoris in non-dominant leg, compared with the control group (Group A), the thickness of the rectus femoris (changed from 13.54±3.82 mm to 16.77±3.37 mm), the cross-sectional area of the rectus femoris (changed from 4.07±2.11 cm2 to 5.42±1.86 cm2) in Group C and the thickness of the rectus femoris (changed from 13.46±2.91 mm to 16.39±1.24 mm) in Group D were significantly increased (P<0.05). The thickness of the rectus femoris, the circumference of the rectus femoris, the cross-sectional area of the rectus femoris in Group B, the circumference of the rectus femoris in Group C and the circumference of the rectus femoris and the cross-sectional area of the rectus femoris in Group D were also increased, but there were no significant changes (p>0.05). It could be seen from the results that the thickness, circumference and cross-sectional area of rectus femoris in Group C and Group D had a significant increase, and the change in Group B was not significant, indicating that after resistance training, protein supplementation will have better effects, more conducive to promoting the synthesis of muscle protein, so that the morphology of muscle was more obvious. From the comparison between Group C and Group D, we can see that the morphology of the rectus femoris in Group C has a significant change, although there were significant changes in the thickness of the rectus femoris in Group D, there was no significant increase in the circumference and cross-sectional area of the rectus femoris, which showed that the increase of protein supplementation had little effect on the morphology of the rectus femoris. This may be related to the synthesis and decomposition rate of the muscle, the increase in protein intake, to some extent, accelerated the rate of muscle synthesis, but the rate of decomposition of the muscle will also be accelerated, the synthesis rate and the rate of decomposition to achieve a positive balance. The rectus femoris of Group D will have a significant increase, but compared to group C, the effects were not obvious. Conclusions For the nutrient timing of the whey protein, taking whey protein after exercise is the better timing to improve the thickness, circumference, cross-sectional area of rectus femoris and the muscle mass by the lower limb resistance training for males. There is a certain effect on the reduction of body FFM, but no significant improvement is found. The increase of whey protein supplementation may have little effect on body composition and muscle hypertrophy

OR-027 Research about Training Monitoring during Different training periods in Chinese Elite Swimmers

Objective Training monitoring has become an integral component of total athlete training. Systematically monitoring the physiological and biochemical variables related to performance helps coaches and athletes to measure the effectiveness of their training programs and decide how to revise or update those programs, especially in swimming training. The key purpose of this study is to evaluate the physical function characteristics during preparation season and stress response during competition training sessions in 2017, and provides the helpful data for scientific training for the implementation of the preparation process. Methods During the preparation period, the National Swimming Team athletes were planed to screen and test the physical function characteristics. There are 39 male athletes and 37 female athletes to participate in the study. Body composition was assessed with dual energy X-ray (DXA). Anthropometric characteristics were assessed using Anthroscan 3D VITUS body scanner, and pulmonary function test using CHEST portable lung function meter(HI-101). During the competition period, the training load monitoring targets were 2 elite players who participated in XVII World Aquatics Championship in Budapest-2017 and the National Games 2017. The monitoring methods mainly included: blood tests (including Hb, CK, BU, testosterone, cortisol and ferritin etc.) were used to monitor the athlete's fitness functional status, and the Z-score method was used to express the index changes of two athletes; blood lactate was used to monitor the training load of athletes, and urine indexes were used to monitor body fluid balance and fatigue. Results 1. During the preparation period, the weight of male athletes is 78.4±8.2kg, the percentage of body fat is 15.9±2.8%, the weight of female athletes is 64.8±6.6kg, and the percentage of body fat is 24.2±3.5%. The vital capacity(VC) was 6.65±0.87 L for males and 4.86±0.69 L for females, the value of forced vital capacity(FVC) was 4.29±1.33 L for males and 3.43±0.96 L for females, and the mean value of ventilation per minute was 148.1±23.12 L for males and 110.4 ± 19.67 L for females. 2. During the competition preparation period, Z score was used to express the blood indicators of two athletes, before the XVII World Aquatics Championship in Budapest-2017, the Z score of Hb, T, T/C ratio and ferritin were (-0.5, 0, -0.4, 1.1) and (-0.8, -0.1, -1.0, 0), respectively. Before the competition of the National Games, the Z scores were (1.0, 0.3, 0.7, 0.6) and (1.4, 1.0, 0.1, -0.6) respectively. 3. Training load monitoring was carried out using the blood lactate control test, as the training load increased, the athletes' performance improved and the lactate level increased slightly. 4. The urine indicator test is used to observe the athlete's dehydration and recovery. On the second morning after the intensive training day, both athletes were negative for urine protein and with normal urine specific gravity. Conclusions 1. The screen and tests about the physical function characteristics of swimming athletes during preparation period is useful to develop a personalized training plan; 2. Z-score is easy and feasible for the elite swimmers to monitoring physical fitness capabilities, and higher Z-score is related with better athletic performance; 3. Blood lactate control test can be used for the training intensity monitoring of swimmers, athletes show higher levels of lactic acid metabolism and higher athletic performance before the competition

High-throughput Sequencing Analysis of Diversity and Spatial Heterogeneity of Fungal Community in Pit Muds of Different Ages for Baijiu Production

The fungal community structure, the relationship between fungal flora and physicochemical factors, and the prediction of fungal function in pit muds from different spatial positions of 10- and 50-year-old cellars at Jinhui liquor Co. Ltd. were studied by using Illumina NovaSeq high-throughput sequencing, redundancy analysis and Fungi Functional Guild (FUNGuild). The results showed that the fungal diversity and richness of the 10-year-old pit mud decreased with increasing depth; the fungal diversity of the 50-year-old pit mud showed an overall increasing trend, while the fungal richness initially decrease and then increased. Moreover, for the 10-year-old pit, the fungal diversity and richness of the upper layer of the pit wall were significantly higher than those of the other positions (P < 0.05), while for the 50-year-old cellar, the fungal diversity and richness of the bottom layer were significantly higher than those of the other locations (P < 0.05). The fungal diversity and richness were significantly higher in the wall of the 10-year-old cellar than the 50-year-old cellar (P < 0.05), but were significantly higher in the bottom of the 50-year-old cellar than the 10-year-old cellar (P < 0.05). A total of 21 fungal phyla and 520 genera were detected in all pit mud samples, the relative abundance of four dominant phyla (Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Mortierellomycota and Rozellomycota) and most dominant genera such as Aspergillus and Kazachstania showed significant changes among pit ages and spatial locations (P < 0.05). Fusarium, Aspergillus, Saccharomyces and Monascus were positively correlated with the contents of water, humus, K+ and Ca2+, while Cladosporium and Vishniacozyma were positively correlated with pH. Seven nutritional modes of fungi were observed, mainly including saprophytic and pathological-saprophytic-symbiotic nutritional modes, and four single and seven mixed functional groups were determined. This study provides a theoretical basis for clarifying the structure and spatial distribution of fungal community in Jinhui Baijiu pit mud

Negative Regulation of Interferon-β Gene Expression during Acute and Persistent Virus Infections

The production of type I interferons (IFNs) in response to viral infections is critical for antiviral immunity. However, IFN production is transient, and continued expression can lead to inflammatory or autoimmune diseases. Thus, understanding the mechanisms underlying the negative regulation of IFN expression could lead to the development of novel therapeutic approaches to the treatment of these diseases. We report that the transcription factor IRF3 plays a central role in the negative regulation of interferon-β (IFNβ) expression during both acute and persistent (chronic) virus infections. We show that the degradation of IRF3 during acute infections, rather than the activation of transcriptional repressors, leads to the down regulation of IFNβ expression. We also show that the block to IFNβ expression in mouse embryonic fibroblasts that are persistently infected with Sendai virus (SeV) correlates with the absence of transcriptionally active IRF3. Remarkably, ongoing protein synthesis and viral replication are required to maintain repression of the IFNβ gene in persistently infected cells, as the gene can be activated by the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide, or by the antiviral drug ribavirin. Finally, we show that the SeV V protein inhibits IRF3 activity in persistently infected cells. Thus, in conjunction with the known interference with STAT1 by the SeV C protein, both IFN activation and its signaling pathways are blocked in persistently infected cells. We conclude that the transcription factor IRF3 is targeted for turnover and inactivation through distinct mechanisms from both the host cells and virus, leading to the inhibition of IFNβ gene expression during acute and persistent viral infections. These observations show that IRF3 plays a critical role, not only in the activation of the IFNβ gene, but also in the controlling the duration of its expression. (284 words

Prediction of overall survival for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer : development of a prognostic model through a crowdsourced challenge with open clinical trial data

Background Improvements to prognostic models in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer have the potential to augment clinical trial design and guide treatment strategies. In partnership with Project Data Sphere, a not-for-profit initiative allowing data from cancer clinical trials to be shared broadly with researchers, we designed an open-data, crowdsourced, DREAM (Dialogue for Reverse Engineering Assessments and Methods) challenge to not only identify a better prognostic model for prediction of survival in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer but also engage a community of international data scientists to study this disease. Methods Data from the comparator arms of four phase 3 clinical trials in first-line metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer were obtained from Project Data Sphere, comprising 476 patients treated with docetaxel and prednisone from the ASCENT2 trial, 526 patients treated with docetaxel, prednisone, and placebo in the MAINSAIL trial, 598 patients treated with docetaxel, prednisone or prednisolone, and placebo in the VENICE trial, and 470 patients treated with docetaxel and placebo in the ENTHUSE 33 trial. Datasets consisting of more than 150 clinical variables were curated centrally, including demographics, laboratory values, medical history, lesion sites, and previous treatments. Data from ASCENT2, MAINSAIL, and VENICE were released publicly to be used as training data to predict the outcome of interest-namely, overall survival. Clinical data were also released for ENTHUSE 33, but data for outcome variables (overall survival and event status) were hidden from the challenge participants so that ENTHUSE 33 could be used for independent validation. Methods were evaluated using the integrated time-dependent area under the curve (iAUC). The reference model, based on eight clinical variables and a penalised Cox proportional-hazards model, was used to compare method performance. Further validation was done using data from a fifth trial-ENTHUSE M1-in which 266 patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer were treated with placebo alone. Findings 50 independent methods were developed to predict overall survival and were evaluated through the DREAM challenge. The top performer was based on an ensemble of penalised Cox regression models (ePCR), which uniquely identified predictive interaction effects with immune biomarkers and markers of hepatic and renal function. Overall, ePCR outperformed all other methods (iAUC 0.791; Bayes factor >5) and surpassed the reference model (iAUC 0.743; Bayes factor >20). Both the ePCR model and reference models stratified patients in the ENTHUSE 33 trial into high-risk and low-risk groups with significantly different overall survival (ePCR: hazard ratio 3.32, 95% CI 2.39-4.62, p Interpretation Novel prognostic factors were delineated, and the assessment of 50 methods developed by independent international teams establishes a benchmark for development of methods in the future. The results of this effort show that data-sharing, when combined with a crowdsourced challenge, is a robust and powerful framework to develop new prognostic models in advanced prostate cancer.Peer reviewe

The Eighteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys: Targeting and First Spectra from SDSS-V

The eighteenth data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys (SDSS) is the first one for SDSS-V, the fifth generation of the survey. SDSS-V comprises three primary scientific programs, or "Mappers": Milky Way Mapper (MWM), Black Hole Mapper (BHM), and Local Volume Mapper (LVM). This data release contains extensive targeting information for the two multi-object spectroscopy programs (MWM and BHM), including input catalogs and selection functions for their numerous scientific objectives. We describe the production of the targeting databases and their calibration- and scientifically-focused components. DR18 also includes ~25,000 new SDSS spectra and supplemental information for X-ray sources identified by eROSITA in its eFEDS field. We present updates to some of the SDSS software pipelines and preview changes anticipated for DR19. We also describe three value-added catalogs (VACs) based on SDSS-IV data that have been published since DR17, and one VAC based on the SDSS-V data in the eFEDS field.Comment: Accepted to ApJ