A134: The Effect of Aerobic Exercise on Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Obese Adolescents with High Executive Function

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of 4 weeks of aerobic exercise on the cardiorespiratory fitness of adolescents with obesity and varying levels of executive function. Methods: We recruited 80 adolescents with obesity to participate in a summer camp in China in 2022, and select 57 as research subjects based on the 2018 Screening for Overweight and Obesity in School-Age Children and Adolescents standard. The participants underwent morphological and 20-meter shuttle run tests to assess their VO2max. A comprehensive assessment of executive function was conducted using the Stroop task, the Wechsler Memory Scale, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. The participants were divided into low and high executive function groups based on the median score of their EFz (Executive Function z-scores). The participants received six days per week, two sessions per day, and two hours per session of aerobic exercise under the guidance of professional coaches. The exercises included fat-burning exercises, such as calisthenics, and sports like badminton. The exercise intensity was controlled at 60-70% HRmax, and the participants wore heart rate monitors throughout the exercise session. During the camp, the participants\u27 diets were managed by professional nutritionists, and any additional energy intake was strictly prohibited. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 26.0. Data were checked for normality using the S-W test. VO2max(mL·kg-1·min-1) values were expressed as means and SD. ΔVO2max=W4 (VO2max)-W0(VO2max), VO2max%=ΔVO2max/W0(VO2max)×100%, Independent sample t-tests were used to compare groups, and paired sample t-tests were used to compare W0 and W4 values within groups. P \u3c 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: After 4 weeks of aerobic exercise, there was a significant improvement in VO2max in both the low (41.69±3.88 vs. 43.94±4.36mL·kg-1·min-1, P \u3c 0.001) and high (41.10±3.71 vs. 44.84±3.71mL·kg-1·min-1, P \u3c 0.001) executive function groups. There was no significant difference in VO2max between the two groups before or after the exercise (P = 0.536 and P = 0.407, respectively). However, there was a significant difference in ΔVO2max (2.25±1.87vs.3.77±2.99mL·kg-1·min-1, P = 0.007) and ΔVO2max% (5.43±4.67% vs. 9.45±5.77%, P = 0.006) between the low and high executive function groups, with the high executive function group showing a significantly greater improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness compared to the low executive function group. Conclusion: Four weeks of aerobic exercise can improve the cardiorespiratory fitness of adolescents with obesity, with a greater improvement was observed in those with high executive function compared to those with low executive function

By-product rare earth elements deposits in China and their resource potential

Objective  China is the largest producer of rare earth element (REE) and hosts the largest amount of REE resources. Various types of REE deposits have been reported in China, with alkaline-carbonatite related light REE deposits and ion-adsorption heavy REE deposits being the most important ones. Other REE deposit types include REE placers and deposits with REE by-products. Currently, the development of rare earth resources in China is primarily focused carbonatite-alkaline related light REE deposits and ion-adsorption type heavy REE deposits. REE in placer deposits and other REE by-products have not been effectively utilized.   Methods  Based on existing exploration studies and whole-rock REE geochemistry data analysis, this study provides a brief review of the types and resource potential of deposits with REE by-products in China.   Results  China's by-products REE resource types include marine sedimentary phosphate, coal, bauxite, and magmatic iron-phosphate deposits. These deposits, particularly marine sedimentary phosphate deposits and bauxite, contain enormous potential REE resources. REEs in bauxite are primarily light REE, with some containing high amount of scandium (Sc). In sedimentary phosphate deposits, the proportion of heavy REEs (including yttrium) is high, particularly in the S−P−Al−Sr rich ores that occur as the layers overlying the phosphorite in the Shifang-type phosphate deposits of Sichuan Province. These S−P−Al−Sr rich ores have significantly higher REE content than phosphorite, with medium and heavy REE accounting for over 50%, along with various critical metals, making these ores highly valuable in terms of both resource and economic significance. Furthermore, REE resources in magmatic (iron) phosphate deposits, coal, oil shale, and gold deposits deserve attention.   Conclusions  Owing to the lack of detailed exploration data, the full extent of China's by-products REE resources remains unclear. The comprehensive utilization of resources, as well as the technology for REE recovery and extraction, requires improvement.   Significance  Strengthening the evaluation and comprehensive utilization of China's associated REE resources, particularly by fully utilizing the REE resources associated with phosphate and bauxite deposits, can effectively alleviate the pressure on China's HREE supply. This represents an important measure for implementing China's fundamental national policies on resource conservation and environmental protection

Ovarian cancer targeted therapy: current landscape and future challenges

Ovarian cancer is one of the deadliest malignancies in women and remains the leading cause of death from gynecological cancers worldwide. The standard treatment typically involves tumor-reducing surgery and cytotoxic chemotherapy; however, many patients are unable to tolerate the side effects of these treatments or experience recurrence due to significant drug resistance, which limits the overall clinical benefits. Consequently, there is a pressing need for novel therapeutic strategies. In recent years, Targeted therapies, including anti-angiogenic drugs, PARP inhibitors, and immune checkpoint inhibitors, have revolutionized ovarian cancer treatment. Additionally, drug targeting and therapeutic efficacy have been substantially enhanced through carrier technologies and conjugation strategies, such as antibody-drug conjugates, polymer-drug conjugates, and dual-targeted nanomedicines. These innovative strategies aim to selectively target ovarian cancer cells, overcome drug resistance, and reduce systemic toxicity, thus achieving optimal therapeutic outcomes. This review aims to critically evaluate the progress and challenges in ovarian cancer targeted therapy and propose future research directions to improve clinical outcomes efforts toward providing more effective and personalized treatment options for ovarian cancer patients

The open banking era:An optimal model for the emergency fund

The COVID-19 outbreak has negatively impacted the income of many bank users. Many users without emergency funds had difficulty coping with this unexpected event and had to use credit or apply to the government for bailout funds. Therefore, it is necessary to develop spending plans and deposit plans based on transaction data of users to assist them in saving sufficient emergency funds to cope with unexpected events. In this paper, an emergency fund model is proposed, and two optimization algorithms are applied to solve the optimal solution of the model. Secondly, an early warning mechanism is proposed, i.e. an unexpected prevention index and a consumption index are proposed to measure the ability of users to cope with unexpected events and the reasonableness of their expenditure respectively, which provides early warning to users. Finally, the model is experimented with real bank users and the performance of the model is analysed. The experiments show that compared to the no-planning scenario, the model helps users to save more emergency funds to cope with unexpected events, furthermore, the proposed model is real-time and sensitive.</p

EEG-based emotion classification using spiking neural networks

A novel method of using the spiking neural networks (SNNs) and the electroencephalograph (EEG) processing techniques to recognize emotion states is proposed in this paper. Three algorithms including discrete wavelet transform (DWT), variance and fast Fourier transform (FFT) are employed to extract the EEG signals, which are further taken by the SNN for the emotion classification. Two datasets, i.e., DEAP and SEED, are used to validate the proposed method. For the former dataset, the emotional states include arousal, valence, dominance and liking where each state is denoted as either high or low status. For the latter dataset, the emotional states are divided into three categories (negative, positive and neutral). Experimental results show that by using the variance data processing technique and SNN, the emotion states of arousal, valence, dominance and liking can be classified with accuracies of 74%, 78%, 80% and 86.27% for the DEAP dataset, and an overall accuracy is 96.67% for the SEED dataset, which outperform the FFT and DWT processing methods. In the meantime, this work achieves a better emotion classification performance than the benchmarking approaches, and also demonstrates the advantages of using SNN for the emotion state classifications

Relationship between serum PTH, potassium (K+), calcium (Ca2+), blood phosphate (PO4), parathyroid hormone (PTH), albumin (ALB) levels and orthostatic hypotension in hemodialysis patients

Background: Orthostatic hypotension (OH) in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients is a frequent chronic complication. OH may lead to inadequate dialysis, cardiovascular complications, and death. This study explored the relationship between OH and various factors, including serum levels of parathyroid hormone (PTH), potassium (K+), calcium (Ca2+), blood phosphate (PO4), albumin (ALB) levels and Orthostatic Hypotension in Hemodialysis Patients. Methods: 121 MHD patients were enrolled, and their clinical data were acquired. They were categorised into a control (Ctrl) group (normal patients) and an observation (Obs) group (OH patients) based on the diagnostic criteria for OH. Differences in clinical data between patients in different groups were compared, and binary logistic regression (BLR) analysis was performed to assess contributing factors. Results: Among 121 MHD patients, 40 (33.06%) experienced OH. Comparative analysis demonstrated that patients in the OH group were significantly older, had higher supine systolic blood pressure, increased prevalence of diabetes, and elevated PTH levels, with concomitantly lower blood pressure responses at 1 and 3 minutes after standing, as well as reduced ALB and triglyceride levels (P&lt;0.05). Binary logistic regression analysis further identified advanced age and comorbid diabetes as independent risk factors, whereas higher ALB levels were independently protective against OH. Conclusions: This study confirms a relatively high incidence of OH in MHD patients and underscores that advanced age, diabetes, and low serum albumin levels are significant independent predictors of OH. These findings suggest that early identification and targeted intervention in high-risk patients could improve hemodialysis outcomes and reduce cardiovascular complications

When silence is golden: The use of strategic silence in crisis management

Presented at Conference on Corporate Communication 2018, May 29 – June 1, New York</p

Clinical Observation of Dingxiang Guanshitong Hanhua Pills Alone and Its Combination with Fugui Guanshitong Granules in the Treatment of Advanced Esophageal Cancer

Background Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has become an important option for patients with advanced esophageal cancer (EC) who are not able to undergo surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or with disease progression after chemotherapy. The purpose of this study is to investigate the application effects of Dingxiang Guanshitong Hanhua Pills alone and its combination with Fugui Guanshitong Granules, in order to improve the quality of life of patients with advanced EC, and provide an effective TCM treatment schemes for EC. Objective To evaluate the effects of Dingxiang Guanshitong Hanhua Pills alone and its combination with Fugui Guanshitong Granules on survival rate and quality of life of patients with EC after 6 weeks of treatment. Methods A total of 109 patients with advanced EC admitted to nine centers such as the First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of CM, Linzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Jia County Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January 2020 to April 2021 were selected as the research objects and divided into the control group, experimental group 1 and experimental group 2 by block randomization method. The control group received Danggui Buxue Decoction and Guizhi Renshen Decoction Granules, the experimental group 1 received Fugui Guanshitong Granules and Dingxiang Guanshitong Hanhua Pills, the experimental group 2 received Dingxiang Guanshitong Hanhua Pills, with the course of 6 weeks in the above three groups. The survival rate after 6 weeks of treatment, Quality of Life (QOL) score, Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) score, TCM syndrome score (dysphagia, poststernal chest pain, mucus vomiting, loss of appetite, fatigue) before and after treatment of the three groups were compared, and safety evaluation was conducted. Results After 6 weeks of treatment, the survival rate was 72.7% in the control group, 88.6% in the experimental group 1, and 86.8% in the experimental group 2, and there was no statistically significant difference in the survival rates among the three groups after 6 weeks of treatment (&#x03C7;2=4.036, P=0.133). There was no interaction effect of group and time on QOL score, KPS score, and TCM syndrome score (Pinteraction&gt;0.05). The main effect of group was not significant on QOL score, KPS score and TCM syndrome score (Pinterclass&gt;0.05). The main effect of time was significant on QOL score, KPS score and TCM syndrome score (Ptime&lt;0.05). There was an interaction effect of group and time on mucus vomiting score (Pinteraction&lt;0.05), the scores of loss of appetite and mucus vomiting in the experimental group 2 were significantly lower than the experimental group 1 (P&lt;0.05). Adverse events in the three groups included diarrhea, fever, dry mouth, sore throat, inability to eat, lung infection, without serious complications. There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse events among the three groups (&#x03C7;2=0.063, P=0.969) . Conclusion All three treatment schemes can relieve the clinical symptoms and improve the quality of life of the patients with advanced EC. Moreover, the efficacy of Dingxiang Guanshitong Hanhua Pills alone on appetite loss and mucus vomiting was better than that of Danggui Buxue Decoction and Guizhi Renshen Decoction Granules and the combination of Dingxiang Guanshitong Hanhua Pills and Fugui Guanshitong Granules