Factors associated with loss to follow-up before and after treatment initiation among patients with tuberculosis: A 5-year observation in China

BackgroundLoss to follow-up (LTFU) is a significant barrier to the completion of anti-tuberculosis (TB) treatment and a major predictor of TB-associated deaths. Currently, research on LTFU-related factors in China is both scarce and inconsistent.MethodsWe collected information from the TB observation database of the National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Diseases. The data of all patients who were documented as LTFU were assessed retrospectively and compared with those of patients who were not LTFU. Descriptive epidemiology and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify the factors associated with LTFU.ResultsA total of 24,265 TB patients were included in the analysis. Of them, 3,046 were categorized as LTFU, including 678 who were lost before treatment initiation and 2,368 who were lost afterwards. The previous history of TB was independently associated with LTFU before treatment initiation. Having medical insurance, chronic hepatitis or cirrhosis, and providing an alternative contact were independent predictive factors for LTFU after treatment initiation.ConclusionLoss to follow-up is frequent in the management of patients with TB and can be predicted using patients’ treatment history, clinical characteristics, and socioeconomic factors. Our research illustrates the importance of early assessment and intervention after diagnosis. Targeted measures can improve patient engagement and ultimately treatment adherence, leading to better health outcomes and disease control

IGFBP2 Plays an Essential Role in Cognitive Development during Early Life

Identifying the mechanisms underlying cognitive development in early life is a critical objective. The expression of insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 (IGFBP2) in the hippocampus increases during neonatal development and is associated with learning and memory, but a causal connection has not been established. Here, it is reported that neurons and astrocytes expressing IGFBP2 are distributed throughout the hippocampus. IGFBP2 enhances excitatory inputs onto CA1 pyramidal neurons, facilitating intrinsic excitability and spike transmission, and regulates plasticity at excitatory synapses in a cell-type specific manner. It facilitates long-term potentiation (LTP) by enhancing N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-dependent excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC), and enhances neurite proliferation and elongation. Knockout of igfbp2 reduces the numbers of pyramidal cells and interneurons, impairs LTP and cognitive performance, and reduces tonic excitation of pyramidal neurons that are all rescued by IGFBP2. The results provide insight into the requirement for IGFBP2 in cognition in early life

DEVELOPMENT FOR BREEDING PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ON PIG FARMS

Abstract The study was conducted to supply systemic and dynamic analysis data to support a better operation on a breeding pig farm with process management, especially in reproduction parameters. A full simulation model on a breeding pig farm running was proposed in the study, and a series of definitions of process parameters related to service performance, farrowing performance and weaning performance was put forward. Some of them are described on the calculating models. The relationship structural database was designed and a set of digital management information system was developed, based on proposed definitions and models by using Visual Basic 6.0 Access databases and Crystal report combined with genetic characteristic of different pig breeds. The System supplies a series of convenient , intelligent input interfaces of original datum, and all different reproduction data can be counted, analyzed and graphically shown, based on different performances in a specific duration, and it can dynamically derive out all sows history card that shows a complete reproduction performances including some important indexes such as farrowing rate, farrowing interval, average gestation days and average weaned weight et al. in terms of parities, which can be used to decide whether a female needs to be fell into disuse. Therefore, with the help of system analysis and software design techniques, the system made it possible to realize information management and intelligence analysis for a breeding pig farm based on whole digital management of reproduction process from services through weaning and among different categories of breeding pigs and parities

A GmRAV ortholog is involved in photoperiod and sucrose control of flowering time in soybean.

Photoperiod and sucrose levels play a key role in the control of flowering. GmRAV reflected a diurnal rhythm with the highest expression at 4 h after the beginning of a dark period in soybean leaves, and was highly up-regulated under short-day (SD) conditions, despite of not following a diurnal pattern under long-day (LD) conditions. GmRAV-i (GmRAV-inhibition) transgenic soybean exhibited early flowering phenotype. Two of the FT Arabidopsis homologs, GmFT2a and GmFT5a, were highly expressed in the leaves of soybeans with inhibition (-i) of GmRAV under SD conditions. Moreover, the transcript levels of the two FT homologs in GmRAV-i soybeans were more sensitive to SD conditions than LD conditions compared to the WT plant. GmRAV-i soybeans and Arabidopsis rav mutants showed more sensitive hypocotyl elongation responses when compared with wild-type seedlings, and GmRAV-ox overevpressed in tobacco revealed no sensitive changes in hypocotyl length. These indicated that GmRAV was a novel negative regulator of SD-mediated flowering and hypocotyl elongation. Although sucrose has been suggested to promote flowering induction in many plant species, high concentration of sucrose (4% [w/v]) applied into media defer flowering time in Arabidopsis wild-type and rav mutant. This delayed flowering stage might be caused by reduction of LEAFY expression. Furthermore, Arabidopsis rav mutants and GmRAV-i soybean plants were less sensitive to sucrose by the inhibition assays of hypocotyls and roots growth. In contrast, transgenic GmRAV overexpressing (-ox) tobacco plants displayed more sensitivity to sucrose. In conclusion, GmRAV was inferred to have a fundamental function in photoperiod, darkness, and sucrose signaling responses to regulate plant development and flowering induction

An Efficient Multiobjective Backtracking Search Algorithm for Single Machine Scheduling with Controllable Processing Times

The scheduling problem with controllable processing times (CPT) is one of the most important research topics in the scheduling field due to its widespread application. Because of the complexity of this problem, a majority of research mainly addressed single-objective small scale problems. However, most practical problems are multiobjective and large scale issues. Multiobjective metaheuristics are very efficient in solving such problems. This paper studies a single machine scheduling problem with CPT for minimizing total tardiness and compression cost simultaneously. We aim to develop a new multiobjective discrete backtracking search algorithm (MODBSA) to solve this problem. To accommodate the characteristic of the problem, a solution representation is constructed by a permutation vector and an amount vector of compression processing times. Furthermore, two major improvement strategies named adaptive selection scheme and total cost reduction strategy are developed. The adaptive selection scheme is used to select a suitable population to enhance the search efficiency of MODBSA, and the total cost reduction strategy is developed to further improve the quality of solutions. For the assessment of MODBSA, MODBSA is compared with other algorithms including NSGA-II, SPEA2, and PAES. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed MODBSA is a promising algorithm for such scheduling problem

Water-potassium coupling at different growth stages improved kiwifruit (Actinidia spp.) quality and water/potassium productivity without yield loss in the humid areas of South China

Precise water and nutrient regulation are the key to improving fruit quality and water productivity for kiwifruit orchards in Central Sichuan's hilly region where seasonal drought is becoming increasingly severe. Here, an experiment was set up to clarify how water-potassium coupling at different growth stages affects kiwifruit yield, water/potassium productivity and quality. A conventional fertigation was set as the control treatment (CK), and two water deficit treatments (60% and 80% CK, denoted as LW and HW, respectively) with three potassium (K) deficit levels (40%, 60% and 80% CK, denoted as LK, MK and HK, respectively) were applied at each growth stage of the cultivar “Jinyan” kiwifruit. The phenolic compounds and key enzyme activities were evaluated, in addition to the yield and traditional physical and nutritional properties. Results showed that the water and K deficit would reduce the yield of kiwifruit, however the yield of HWMK treatments at stages I and II showed no significant differences compared with CK (P > 0.05), HWMK treatment at stage III even increased the fruit yield. Water productivity (WP) and K partial factor productivity (KPFP) showed a trend of HW>LW, and reached the highest in HWMK treatment at all growth stages. The physical qualities were more affected by water, especially at stages I and II. HWMK treatments at stages I and II significantly increased fruit firmness by 30.20% and 21.56%, respectively (P  0.05). The correlation analysis revealed a highly significant correlation between fruit nutritional qualities and key enzyme activities (P < 0.01), indicating that water-potassium coupling influenced nutritional quality by regulating the enzyme activity involved in metabolic processes. Principal component analysis (PCA) confirmed the results of correlation analysis, and found that HWMK treatment at stages I and II and HWHK treatment at stage III were most efficient in improving kiwifruit nutritional qualities. Overall, the stimulatory effect of fruit qualities to water-potassium coupling was growth stage dependent, water-potassium coupling affected fruit quality by regulating the enzyme activity. HWMK treatment at stages I and II and HWHK treatment at stage III were most efficient in improving fruit quality and water/potassium productivity without yield loss under water and fertilizer saving conditions, which could be suggested as the optimal strategy of fertigation in the humid areas of South China

Z‑Scheme NiTiO₃/g‑C₃N₄ Heterojunctions with Enhanced Photoelectrochemical and Photocatalytic Performances under Visible LED Light Irradiation

Direct Z-scheme NiTiO₃/g-C₃N₄ heterojunctions were successfully assembled by using simple calcination method and the photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic performance were investigated by light emitting diode (LED). The photoanode composed by the heterojunction with about 50 wt % NiTiO₃ content exhibits the best photoelectrochemical activity with photoconversion efficiency up to 0.066%, which is 4.4 and 3.13 times larger than NiTiO₃ or g-C₃N₄. The remarkably enhanced photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic activity of the heterojunction can be due to the efficiently photogenerated electron–hole separation by a Z-scheme mechanism

List of primer for real-time PCR analysis used in the present study.

<p>List of primer for real-time PCR analysis used in the present study.</p

Effects of day length on hypocotyl length in 9-day-old wild-type and <i>GmRAV-i</i> soybean seedlings under LDs and SDs.

<p>A, Histograms of the mean (<i>n = </i>20) for seedlings grown on medium. All seedlings were transgenic for the soybeans indicated. The seedlings were scored 9 d after sowing. Scale bar = 10 mm. **Significant differences in comparison to the non-transgenic lines at P<0.01 (Student’s t test). B, Representative seedlings are shown.</p