Chronic jet lag alters gut microbiome and mycobiome and promotes the progression of MAFLD in HFHFD-fed mice

Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease worldwide. Circadian disruptors, such as chronic jet lag (CJ), may be new risk factors for MAFLD development. However, the roles of CJ on MAFLD are insufficiently understood, with mechanisms remaining elusive. Studies suggest a link between gut microbiome dysbiosis and MAFLD, but most of the studies are mainly focused on gut bacteria, ignoring other components of gut microbes, such as gut fungi (mycobiome), and few studies have addressed the rhythm of the gut fungi. This study explored the effects of CJ on MAFLD and its related microbiotic and mycobiotic mechanisms in mice fed a high fat and high fructose diet (HFHFD). Forty-eight C57BL6J male mice were divided into four groups: mice on a normal diet exposed to a normal circadian cycle (ND-NC), mice on a normal diet subjected to CJ (ND-CJ), mice on a HFHFD exposed to a normal circadian cycle (HFHFD-NC), and mice on a HFHFD subjected to CJ (HFHFD-CJ). After 16 weeks, the composition and rhythm of microbiota and mycobiome in colon contents were compared among groups. The results showed that CJ exacerbated hepatic steatohepatitis in the HFHFD-fed mice. Compared with HFHFD-NC mice, HFHFD-CJ mice had increases in Aspergillus, Blumeria and lower abundances of Akkermansia, Lactococcus, Prevotella, Clostridium, Bifidobacterium, Wickerhamomyces, and Saccharomycopsis genera. The fungi-bacterial interaction network became more complex after HFHFD and/or CJ interventions. The study revealed that CJ altered the composition and structure of the gut bacteria and fungi, disrupted the rhythmic oscillation of the gut microbiota and mycobiome, affected interactions among the gut microbiome, and promoted the progression of MAFLD in HFHFD mice

LLM-Mini-CEX: Automatic Evaluation of Large Language Model for Diagnostic Conversation

There is an increasing interest in developing LLMs for medical diagnosis to improve diagnosis efficiency. Despite their alluring technological potential, there is no unified and comprehensive evaluation criterion, leading to the inability to evaluate the quality and potential risks of medical LLMs, further hindering the application of LLMs in medical treatment scenarios. Besides, current evaluations heavily rely on labor-intensive interactions with LLMs to obtain diagnostic dialogues and human evaluation on the quality of diagnosis dialogue. To tackle the lack of unified and comprehensive evaluation criterion, we first initially establish an evaluation criterion, termed LLM-specific Mini-CEX to assess the diagnostic capabilities of LLMs effectively, based on original Mini-CEX. To address the labor-intensive interaction problem, we develop a patient simulator to engage in automatic conversations with LLMs, and utilize ChatGPT for evaluating diagnosis dialogues automatically. Experimental results show that the LLM-specific Mini-CEX is adequate and necessary to evaluate medical diagnosis dialogue. Besides, ChatGPT can replace manual evaluation on the metrics of humanistic qualities and provides reproducible and automated comparisons between different LLMs

Synthesis and characterisation of controllably functionalised polyaniline nanofibres

A novel method for functionalising solution based polyaniline (PAni) nanofibres is reported whereby the degree of side-chain attachment can be controllably altered. The covalent attachment of functional side-groups to the surface of PAni nanostructures is achieved by post-polymerisation reflux in the presence of a nucleophile and the functionalised nanomaterial can be purified by simple centrifugation. The technique is therefore easily scalable. We demonstrate that control over the extent of side-chain attachment can be achieved simply by altering the amount of nucleophile added during reflux. We provide evidence that covalently attached carboxlate side-chains influence the doping mechanism of polyaniline and can be used to introduce self-doping behaviour. Acid functionalised nanofibres remain redox active and retain their optical switching capabilities in response to changes in the local chemical environment, thus making them suitable for adaptive sensing applications

Dust aerosol optical depth retrieval and dust storm detection for Xinjiang Region using Indian National Satellite Observations

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang) is located near the western border of China. Xinjiang has a high frequency of dust storms, especially in late winter and early spring. Geostationary satellite remote sensing offers an ideal way to monitor the regional distribution and intensity of dust storms, which can impact the regional climate. In this study observations from the Indian National Satellite (INSAT) 3D are used for dust storm detection in Xinjiang because of the frequent 30-min observations with six bands. An analysis of the optical properties of dust and its quantitative relationship with dust storms in Xinjiang is presented for dust events in April 2014. The Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) derived using six predefined aerosol types shows great potential to identify dust events. Cross validation between INSAT-3D retrieved AOD and MODIS AOD shows a high coefficient of determination (R2 = 0.92). Ground validation using AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) AOD also shows a good correlation with R2 of 0.77. We combined the apparent reflectance (top-of-atmospheric reflectance) of visible and shortwave infrared bands, brightness temperature of infrared bands and retrieved AOD into a new Enhanced Dust Index (EDI). EDI reveals not only dust extent but also the intensity. EDI performed very well in measuring the intensity of dust storms between 22 and 24 April 2014. A visual comparison between EDI and Feng Yun-2E (FY-2E) Infrared Difference Dust Index (IDDI) also shows a high level of similarity. A good linear correlation (R2 of 0.78) between EDI and visibility on the ground demonstrates good performance of EDI in estimating dust intensity. A simple threshold method was found to have a good performance in delineating the extent of the dust plumes but inadequate for providing information on dust plume intensity

Preface

2021 International Conference on Environmental Engineering and Energy (ICEEE 2021) was held online in Wuhan, China, on November 20, 2021. ICEEE 2021 is co-sponsored by Modern International Green Culture Communication Association (MIGCCA), and the conference proceeding is published by IOP Publishing. ICEEE 2021 provides an excellent international forum for sharing knowledge and results in theory, methodology and applications of environmental engineering and energy. The conference looks for significant contributions to all major fields of environmental engineering and energy in theoretical and application aspects. The aim of the conference is to provide a platform to the global researchers and practitioners from both academia as well as industry to meet and share cutting-edge development in the fields.The ICEEE 2021 proceedings tend to collect the up-to-date, comprehensive and worldwide state-of-art knowledge on environmental engineering and energy. All of accepted papers were subjected to strict peer-reviewing by 2–5 expert reviewers. The papers have been selected for this volume because of quality and the relevance to the conference. We hope this book will not only provide the readers a broad overview of the latest research results, but also provide the readers a valuable summary and reference in these fields.COVID-19 cases were found in difference provinces, which were cluster of infection. In order to avoid virus' spreading, the organiser switched the conference to a virtual one. It was held online on November 20, 2021 via Tencent Meeting. The virtual conference consisted of Opening Speech (10 mins), Keynote Speeches (40 mins presentation + 10 mins Q&A), and Oral Presentation (15-20 mins presentation + 10 mins Q&A) and Concluding Remarks (5 mins). The number of attendees are more than expectation

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase 1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age  6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score  652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc = 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N = 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in Asia and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701

Clinical Application of Atlantoaxial Pedicle Screw Placement Assisted by a Modified 3D-Printed Navigation Template

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the primary clinical value of atlantoaxial pedicle screw placement assisted by a modified 3D-printed navigation template. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the cases of 17 patients treated from June 2015 to September 2016 with atlantoaxial pedicle screw placement assisted by a modified 3D-printed navigation template. All procedures were performed prior to surgery, including thin-slice CT scanning, medical image sampling and computerized 3D modeling of the atlantoaxial joint, optimal pedicle screw trajectory determination, and anatomical trait acquisition for the atlantoaxial pedicle, spinous process of the axis, vertebral lamina and posterior lateral mass, and design of a reverse template. During surgery, a navigation template was tightly attached to the atlantoaxial joint to assist in pedicle screw placement. Surgeons subsequently used an electric drill to remove the template through a guide channel and then placed the atlantoaxial pedicle screw. Observed indexes included the VAS score, JOA improvement rate, surgery duration, and blood loss. RESULTS: Surgery was successful in all 17 patients, with an average operation duration of 106±25 min and an average blood loss of 220±125 ml. Three days postoperatively, the VAS score decreased from 6.42±2.21 to 3.15±1.26. Six months postoperatively, the score decreased to 2.05±1.56. The postoperative JOA score increased significantly from 7.68±2.51 to 11.65±2.72 3 d after surgery and to 13.65±2.57 after 6 months. Sixty-eight pedicle screws were inserted successfully, with 34 in the atlas and 34 in the axis. According to the Kawaguchi standard, 66 screws were in grade 0 (97.06%), and 2 were in grade 1 (2.94%). The pre- and postoperative transverse and sagittal screw angles showed no significant differences. CONCLUSIONS: Atlantoaxial pedicle screw placement assisted by a modified 3D-printed navigation template is worth recommending due to the improved accuracy in screw placement, improved patient safety and beneficial clinical effects