The impact of users' trust on intention to use the mobile medical platform: Evidence from China

IntroductionThe mobile medical platform effectively complements offline medical services as it can provide patients with broader and more convenient medical services, effectively solving the shortage of medical resources in the public health system. Although the public interest in healthcare service platforms continues to rise, the market data shows that the adoption and acceptance have not reached a high level. How to increase the utilization rate of the mobile medical platform to relieve medical pressure has become an urgent issue to be discussed. Based on the framework of “trust-intention” this research introduces innovation acceptance and technical risk concerns as the two moderating variables to attempt to build a research model of users' intention to use the mobile medical platform. The analysis illustrated that users' trust in the mobile medical platform would positively affect their use intention. The researchers further explored the moderating role of innovation acceptance and technical risk concerns.MethodsUse questionnaire to collect data in China, then use the OLS least square method for the regression test.ResultsThe results showed that users with high personal innovation acceptance would positively promote the relationship between trust and use intention. In contrast, users who are more concerned about the risks of innovative technologies will weaken the relationship between trust and use intention.DiscussionThe findings theoretically extend the academic research of use intention to the specific context of the mobile medical platform and enrich the research framework of “trust-intention”

Helical Luttinger liquid on the edge of a 2-dimensional topological antiferromagnet

Boundary helical Luttinger liquid (HLL) with broken bulk time-reversal symmetry belongs to a unique topological class which may occur in antiferromagnets (AFM). Here, we search for signatures of HLL on the edge of a recently discovered topological AFM, MnBi2Te4 even-layer. Using scanning superconducting quantum interference device, we directly image helical edge current in the AFM ground state appearing at its charge neutral point. Such helical edge state accompanies an insulating bulk which is topologically distinct from the ferromagnetic Chern insulator phase as revealed in a magnetic field driven quantum phase transition. The edge conductance of the AFM order follows a power-law as a function of temperature and source-drain bias which serves as strong evidence for HLL. Such HLL scaling is robust at finite fields below the quantum critical point. The observed HLL in a layered AFM semiconductor represents a highly tunable topological matter compatible with future spintronics and quantum computation

Carvacrol, a Food-Additive, Provides Neuroprotection on Focal Cerebral Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in Mice

Carvacrol (CAR), a naturally occurring monoterpenic phenol and food additive, has been shown to have antimicrobials, antitumor, and antidepressant-like activities. A previous study demonstrated that CAR has the ability to protect liver against ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats. In this study, we investigated the protective effects of CAR on cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury in a middle cerebral artery occlusion mouse model. We found that CAR (50 mg/kg) significantly reduced infarct volume and improved neurological deficits after 75 min of ischemia and 24 h of reperfusion. This neuroprotection was in a dose-dependent manner. Post-treatment with CAR still provided protection on infarct volume when it was administered intraperitoneally at 2 h after reperfusion; however, intracerebroventricular post-treatment reduced infarct volume even when the mice were treated with CAR at 6 h after reperfusion. These findings indicated that CAR has an extended therapeutic window, but delivery strategies may affect the protective effects of CAR. Further, we found that CAR significantly decreased the level of cleaved caspase-3, a marker of apoptosis, suggesting the anti-apoptotic activity of CAR. Finally, our data indicated that CAR treatment increased the level of phosphorylated Akt and the neuroprotection of CAR was reversed by a PI3K inhibitor LY-294002, demonstrating the involvement of the PI3K/Akt pathway in the anti-apoptotic mechanisms of CAR. Due to its safety and wide use in the food industry, CAR is a promising agent to be translated into clinical trials

Hormone-Dependent Expression of a Steroidogenic Acute Regulatory Protein Natural Antisense Transcript in MA-10 Mouse Tumor Leydig Cells

Cholesterol transport is essential for many physiological processes, including steroidogenesis. In steroidogenic cells hormone-induced cholesterol transport is controlled by a protein complex that includes steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR). Star is expressed as 3.5-, 2.8-, and 1.6-kb transcripts that differ only in their 3′-untranslated regions. Because these transcripts share the same promoter, mRNA stability may be involved in their differential regulation and expression. Recently, the identification of natural antisense transcripts (NATs) has added another level of regulation to eukaryotic gene expression. Here we identified a new NAT that is complementary to the spliced Star mRNA sequence. Using 5′ and 3′ RACE, strand-specific RT-PCR, and ribonuclease protection assays, we demonstrated that Star NAT is expressed in MA-10 Leydig cells and steroidogenic murine tissues. Furthermore, we established that human chorionic gonadotropin stimulates Star NAT expression via cAMP. Our results show that sense-antisense Star RNAs may be coordinately regulated since they are co-expressed in MA-10 cells. Overexpression of Star NAT had a differential effect on the expression of the different Star sense transcripts following cAMP stimulation. Meanwhile, the levels of StAR protein and progesterone production were downregulated in the presence of Star NAT. Our data identify antisense transcription as an additional mechanism involved in the regulation of steroid biosynthesis

SOME IMPROVED ALGORITHMS ON THE SINGLE MACHINE HIERARCHICAL SCHEDULING WITH TOTAL TARDINESS AS THE PRIMARY CRITERION

It is well-known that a single machine scheduling problem of minimizing the total tardiness is NP-hard. Recently, Liu, Ng and Cheng solved some special hierarchical minimization problems with total tardiness as the primary criterion by the Algorithm TAP (Two Assignment Problems) in O(n3) time. And in this paper we present some algorithms for these problems with running time O(n log n).Bicriteria scheduling, total tardiness, batch processing machine

A note on the single machine scheduling to minimize the number of tardy jobs with deadlines

It is known that the single machine scheduling problem of minimizing the number of tardy jobs is polynomially solvable. However, it becomes NP-hard if each job has a deadline. Recently, Huo et al. solved some special cases by a backwards scheduling approach. In this note we present a dual approach--forwards greedy algorithms which may have better running time. For example, in the case that the due dates, deadlines, and processing times are agreeable, the running time of the backwards scheduling algorithm is O(n2), while that of the forwards algorithm is O(nlogn).Scheduling Number of tardy jobs Deadline Independent set

Short‐term prediction of behind‐the‐meter PV power based on attention‐LSTM and transfer learning

Abstract Distributed photovoltaic (PV) systems often lack adequate measurements due to cost considerations, which makes it very difficult to predict them accurately. Here, an approach is proposed for behind‐the‐meter (BTM) PV power prediction using attention‐LSTM neural network and transfer learning. First, the weather is classified into four types based on the deviation ratio β. Second, the correlation analysis algorithm identifies the weather factors that contribute the most to PV power generation as GHI, DNI, humidity, and temperature. Then, attention‐LSTM pre‐trained model is constructed, in which the LSTM network fully extracts the temporal characteristics of PV power generation, while the attention mechanism enhances the attention to the important information in the input. Finally, a novel BTM PV short‐term power prediction method using transfer learning that the upper layer parameters of the pre‐trained model were frozen, and a small amount of DP‐NB data was used to fine‐tune the model. The proposed methodology has higher prediction accuracy compared with other benchmark methods under four weather types, and the time cost is saved by freezing the parameters of the first layer of the network by 37.2%

Serum activities of liver enzymes in workers exposed to sub-TLV levels of dimethylformamide

Objectives: The aim of this study has been to investigate serum activities of liver enzymes in workers exposed to sub-TLV levels of dimethylformamide (DMF). Material and Methods: Seventy-two workers and 72 healthy controls participated in the study. All subjects underwent complete physical examinations and abdominal ultrasound examination. Serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and c-glutamyl transpeptidase (c-GT) were determined by an auto-chemistry analyzer. The data of airborne concentrations of DMF was obtained from the local Center of Disease Control and Prevention. The level of urine N-acetyl-S-(N-methylcarbamoyl)cysteine (AMCC) was measured by means of high-performance liquid chromatography. Results: Time weighted average (TWA) concentration of the DMF in workplace was 18.6 (range: 9.8–36.2) mg/m3. The concentration of the AMCC in workers’ urine was 28.32 (range: 1.8–58.6) mg/l and 9 workers’ AMCC exceeded the biological exposure index (40 mg/l). Thirty-one workers reported gastrointestinal symptoms (abdominal pain, nausea, anorexia) and 10 workers reported headache, dizziness and/or palpitation in the exposed group. Serum analysis revealed that both the mean of serum activities of liver enzymes (ALT, AST and c-GT) and the percentage of workers with abnormal liver function were significantly higher in the exposed group as compared to the controls. Conclusions: Dimethylformamide can cause liver damage even if air concentration is in the sub-threshold limit value (sub-TLV) level. The protection of skin contact against the exposure to the DMF might be a critical issue as far as the occupational health is concerned