The Current Situation and Differences of the Real Estate Bubble between China and the United States

With the continuous expansion of real estate bubbles in China and the United States, the two countries' governments have introduced various policies according to their respective national conditions to prevent the bursting of the real estate bubbles. This article describes how the real estate bubbles in China and the United States formed, the status quo, and the differences between the real estate bubbles in China and the United States. Because the economic systems and management methods of China and the United States are very different, studying the differences in real estate bubbles between China and the United States has excellent enlightenment and significance for China

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Correction to: Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Microfluidic biosensor devices for disease monitoring and cancer study

With the recent advances in nanomaterials, biosensor design, and microfluidic technology, the point-of-care devices have shown a potential to revolutionize the future health care diagnostics and therapy practices. The intelligent use of nanomaterials is predicted to solve the challenge of efficient signal capture of the recognition event and signal amplification of the biosensor. Cu-CuO nanoparticles decorated TiO2 nanotubes were synthesized and fabricated as the electrode for non-enzymatic glucose sensor. The glucose biosensor showed great sensor performance such as high sensitivity, great specificity and wide linear detection range toward glucose. While nanomaterials modified electrode showed promising analytical performance, reliable and low-cost mass production of nanostructured electrode will further facilitate the real application for biosensors. A novel and simple method was proposed to prepare nanopattern in polymer-based electrode for biosensors. The repeatability of our method was better than traditional ones because of using a predefined mold. A polyurethane (PU) nanospiked gold electrode-based label-free electrochemical immunosensor for Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) toxin B detection was developed. The PU nanospiked gold electrode-based immunosensor showed detection limit as low as 0.5 pg/mL, good specificity and repeatability. Benefiting from its low cost and simple processing, the fabricated immunosensor can be used as a disposable electrochemical sensor for toxin B rapid detection. Microfluidic device merged as a powerful platform for the manipulation of different chemical and physical factors, mimicking physiological microenvironment, study of cell migration and metastasis, on-chip diagnostics and monitoring. I designed and fabricated a PDMS microfluidic device for the study of vimentin effect in cell migration and cancer metastasis. Using this microchannel assay, it was demonstrated that the knockdown of vimentin decreases 3T3 fibroblast cell directional migration speed in confined microchannels, meanwhile leading-edge morphologies of 3T3 fibroblast and 3T3 vimentin knockdown cells were observed to be different during migration. The integration of biosensors in microfluidic devices has great potential in stand-alone or hand-held systems for point-of-care diagnostics. Glycol-modified polyethylene terephthalate (PETG)-based microfluidic devices with embedded channels and gold film electrode (GFE) are developed by a one-step, low-cost, straightforward, and mass-producible method, and are sealed by a reversible hydrophilic tape-based mechanism. The PETG/GFE device was fabricated for simultaneous detection of cytokines on chip. Mxene nanomaterial was proposed as the probe material due to its great electron transfer ability, excellent catalytic ability and good biocompatibility. This work provides insights into nanomaterials synthesis, nanofabrication and microfabrication for microfluidic biosensor device, enhances our understanding point-of-care diagnostics platforms for disease diagnostics, cancer metastasis study and treatment, and offers a variety of diagnostics platforms for future clinical use

Bin Gong Effect of Oxidation Chemistry of Supercritical Water on Stress Corrosion Cracking of Austenitic Steels

Austenitic steel is a candidate material for supercritical water-cooled reactor (SCWR). This study is to investigate the stress corrosion cracking (SCC) behavior of HR3C under the effect of supercritical water chemistry. A transition phenomenon of the water parameters was monitored during a pseudocritical region by water quality experiments at 650°C and 30 MPa. The stress-strain curves and fracture time of HR3C were obtained by slow strain rate tensile (SSRT) tests in the supercritical water at 620°C and 25 MPa. The concentration of the dissolved oxygen (DO) was 200-1000 μg=kg, and the strain rate was 7.5 × 10 −7 =s. The recent results showed that the failure mode was dominated by intergranular brittle fracture. The relations of the oxygen concentration and the fracture time were nonlinear. 200-500 μg=kg of oxygen accelerated the cracking, but a longer fracture time was measured when the oxygen concentration was increased to 1000 μg=kg. Chromium depletion occurred in the oxide layer at the tip of cracks. Grain size increased and chain-precipitated phases were observed in the fractured specimens. These characteristics were considered to contribute to the intergranular SCC