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This letter presents a compact integrated self‐resonating microwave source capable of simultaneous dual‐band operation and polarisation reconfiguration. The design integrates a modified dual‐polarised patch antenna with a reconfigurable pulse‐triggered network. This reconfigurable pulse‐triggered network charges the antenna to a high DC potential and then triggers the accumulated charges to oscillate, therefore directly converting DC energy into concurrent dual‐band RF pulses. Moreover, the reconfigurable nature of the pulse‐triggered network enables dynamic switching between two orthogonal linear polarisation states (e.g., 0° and 90°). Both simulations and experiments validate the microwave source's capability to generate concurrent dual‐band pulses while dynamically reconfiguring its polarisation state.

Drug-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) represents a severe adverse drug reaction with substantial implications for patient safety. The pathophysiology of ARDS is characterized by inflammatory cascades, endothelial dysfunction, and increased vascular permeability, culminating in pulmonary edema and compromised gas exchange. While prior studies have emphasized the impact of drug-induced adverse events (ADEs) in critical illness, comprehensive analyses leveraging large-scale databases remain underexplored. This study analyzed data from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) database, covering the period from the first quarter of 2004 to the fourth quarter of 2024. The dataset underwent meticulous preprocessing, including deduplication and standardization of adverse event and drug nomenclature using the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) and WHO Drug Dictionaries. Disproportionality analyses were conducted using established metrics, including the Reporting Odds Ratio (ROR), Proportional Reporting Ratio (PRR), Chi-Square, Information Component (IC), and Empirical Bayes Geometric Mean (EBGM), to identify ADE signals. The final dataset comprised 18,613,992 patients, of whom 15,986 were identified as experiencing targeted ADEs. The findings revealed that drug-induced ARDS is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Among the 15,986 patients with targeted ADEs, 46.69% were male and 42.81% were female, with a median age of 55 years. Notably, 26.01% of patients were aged 65 or older. The majority of reports originated from the United States (37.86%), followed by France (13.64%) and Japan (8.65%). Severe outcomes were prevalent, with 65.04% of patients requiring hospitalization, 51.21% resulting in death, and 30.64% classified as life-threatening. Time-to-onset analysis demonstrated that 17.23% of ADEs occurred within the first 30 days of drug administration, with a median onset time of 19 days. This study highlights the critical nature of drug-induced ARDS and underscores the necessity for continuous pharmacovigilance and timely intervention in ADE management. The findings provide valuable insights into the demographic and clinical profiles of patients experiencing targeted ADEs, emphasizing the importance of robust drug safety surveillance. Future research should focus on elucidating risk factors, underlying mechanisms, and long-term outcomes associated with ADEs to enhance patient safety and optimize clinical management strategies.

Bone and cartilage disorders are the leading causes of musculoskeletal disability. There is no absolute cure for all bone and cartilage disorders. The exploration of natural compounds for the potential therapeutic use against bone and cartilage disorders is proving promising. Among these natural chemicals, naringin, a flavanone glycoside, is a potential candidate due to its multifaceted pharmacological activities in bone and cartilage tissues. Emerging studies indicate that naringin may promote osteogenic differentiation, inhibit osteoclast formation, and exhibit protective effects against osteoporosis in vivo and in vitro. Many signaling pathways, such as BMP-2, Wnt/β-catenin, and VEGF/VEGFR, participate in the biological actions of naringin in mediating the pathological development of osteoporosis. In addition, the anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative stress, and anti-apoptosis abilities of naringin also demonstrate its beneficial effects against bone and cartilage disorders, including intervertebral disc degeneration, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, bone and cartilage tumors, and tibial dyschondroplasia. Naringin exhibits protective effects against bone and cartilage disorders. However, more efforts are still needed due to, at least in part, the uncertainty of drug targets. Further biological and pharmacological evaluations of naringin and its applications in bone tissue engineering, particularly its therapeutic effects against osteoporosis, might result in developing potential drug candidates.

Objectives To evaluate the oncologic and functional results of scapular reconstruction after partial or total scapulectomy for chondrosarcoma. Materials and methods Twenty-one patients with chondrosarcoma who underwent partial or total scapulectomy between January 2005 and July 2019 were reviewed retrospectively. Results At a mean follow-up of 62.6 months (range, 13–123 months), four patients developed local recurrence, and three developed distant metastases, one of which developed both recurrence and metastasis. The overall survival rate of patients at 5 years was 84.6%, the disease-free survival rate was 69.3%, and the complication rate was 19% (4/21). The 1993 American Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS93) scores of patients in the partial scapulectomy group, total scapulectomy + humeral suspension group and prosthetic reconstruction group were 26.50 ± 1.38, 19.00 ± 2.58, and 21.38 ± 2.62, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between the partial scapulectomy group and the total scapulectomy + humeral suspension or prosthetic reconstruction group ( P  = 0.006 and 0.0336, respectively). The range of motion of the shoulder joint for forward flexion was 80.83° ± 11.14°, 51.25° ± 21.36°, and 52.50° ± 11.02°, respectively. The p-values for the comparison between the partial scapulectomy group and the total scapulectomy + humeral suspension or prosthetic reconstruction group were 0.0493 and 0.0174, respectively. And the range of motion of abduction was 75.00° ± 10.49°, 32.50° ± 11.90°, 41.88° ± 11.63°, respectively. Patients in the partial scapulectomy group had significantly better postoperative shoulder abduction function than the total scapulectomy + humeral suspension or prosthetic reconstruction group ( P  = 0.0035 and 0.0304, respectively). There was no significant difference in MSTS93 scores and flexion and abduction function of the shoulder joint in the upper extremity after total scapulectomy with humeral suspension or prosthetic reconstruction ( P  > 0.05). Conclusions Surgical treatment of chondrosarcoma of the scapula can achieve a satisfactory prognosis and shoulder function. Total scapulectomy followed by prosthetic reconstruction or humeral suspension are both feasible treatments. Highlights Surgical treatment of chondrosarcoma of the scapula can achieve good oncologic and functional outcomes. Prosthetic reconstruction of the scapula after scapulectomy does not provide better functional results than humeral suspension, and both are feasible treatment modalities.

This paper proposes a system utilizing a Renishaw XL80 positioning error measuring interferometer and sensitivity analysis design to measure six-degree-of-freedom (6 DOF) geometric errors of a machine tool’s linear guide. Each error is characterized by high independence with significantly reduced crosstalk, and error calculations are extremely fast and accurate. Initially, the real light path was simulated using Zemax. Then, Matlab’s skew ray tracing method was used to perform mathematical modeling and ray matching. Each error’s sensitivity to the sensor was then analyzed, and curve fitting was used to simplify and speed up the mathematical model computations. Finally, Solidworks was used to design the set of system modules, bringing the proposed system closer to a product. This system measured actual 6 DOF geometric errors of a machine tool’s linear guide, and a comparison is made with the Renishaw XL-80 interferometer measurements. The resulting pitch, yaw, horizontal straightness, and vertical straightness error deviation ranges are ±0.5 arcsec, ±3.6 arcsec, ±2.1 μm, and ±2.3 μm, respectively. The maximum repeatability deviations for the measured guide’s pitch, yaw, roll, horizontal straightness, vertical straightness, and positioning errors are 0.4 arcsec, 0.2 arcsec, 4.2 arcsec, 1.5 μm, 0.3 μm, and 3 μm, respectively.

With the continuous development of deep reinforcement learning in intelligent control, combining automatic curriculum learning and deep reinforcement learning can improve the training performance and efficiency of algorithms from easy to difficult. Most existing automatic curriculum learning algorithms perform curriculum ranking through expert experience and a single network, which has the problems of difficult curriculum task ranking and slow convergence speed. In this paper, we propose a curriculum reinforcement learning method based on K-Fold Cross Validation that can estimate the relativity score of task curriculum difficulty. Drawing lessons from the human concept of curriculum learning from easy to difficult, this method divides automatic curriculum learning into a curriculum difficulty assessment stage and a curriculum sorting stage. Through parallel training of the teacher model and cross-evaluation of task sample difficulty, the method can better sequence curriculum learning tasks. Finally, simulation comparison experiments were carried out in two types of multi-agent experimental environments. The experimental results show that the automatic curriculum learning method based on K-Fold cross-validation can improve the training speed of the MADDPG algorithm, and at the same time has a certain generality for multi-agent deep reinforcement learning algorithm based on the replay buffer mechanism.

Background The Sino-Himalayan flora harbors highly diverse high-elevation biotas, but our understanding of its evolutionary history in temporal and spatial dimensions is limited. In this study, we integrated a dated phylogenetic tree with comprehensive species distribution data to investigate changes over time and space in floristic elements, including the tropical, Tethys, northern temperate, and East Asian floristic elements, across the entire Sino-Himalaya and its three floristic regions: the Yunnan Plateau, Hengduan Mountains, and East Himalaya regions. Results Our results revealed that the Sino-Himalayan flora developed from lowland biomes and was predominantly characterized by tropical floristic elements before the collision between the Indian subcontinent and Eurasia during the Early Cenozoic. Subsequently, from the Late Eocene onwards, the uplifts of the Himalaya and Hengduan Mountains transformed the Sino-Himalayan region into a wet and cold plateau, on which harsh and diverse ecological conditions forced the rapid evolution of local angiosperms, giving birth to characteristic taxa adapted to the high altitudes and cold habitat. The percentage of temperate floristic elements increased and exceeded that of tropical floristic elements by the Late Miocene. Conclusions The Sino-Himalayan flora underwent four significant formation periods and experienced a considerable increase in endemic genera and species in the Miocene, which remain crucial to the present-day patterns of plant diversity. Our findings support the view that the Sino-Himalayan flora is relatively young but has ancient origins. The three major shifts in the divergence of genera and species during the four formation periods were primarily influenced by the uplifts of the Himalaya and Hengduan Mountains and the onset and intensification of the Asian monsoon system. Additionally, the temporal patterns of floristic elements differed among the three floristic regions of the Sino-Himalaya, indicating that the uplift of the Himalaya and surrounding areas was asynchronous. Compared to the Yunnan Plateau region, the East Himalaya and Hengduan Mountains experienced more recent and drastic uplifts, resulting in highly intricate topography with diverse habitats that promoted the rapid radiation of endemic genera and species in these regions.

Based on the US Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS), signal mining of adverse drug events (AEs) caused by Botulinum Toxin Type A (BoNTA) was performed to explore its safety implications for the treatment of cerebral palsy (CP). The OpenVigil 2.1 platform was used to extract AE reports on BoNTA from the FAERS database, covering the period from the fourth quarter of 2003 to the second quarter of 2024. Safety data were analyzed using the Reporting Odds Ratio (ROR) and Proportional Reporting Ratio (PRR), with BoNTA designated as the primary suspect drug. A total of 124,538 AE reports related to BoNTA were identified, showing an overall upward trend in the annual report counts. Most reports originated from the United States, with patients predominantly aged 36-60 years and predominantly female. Prolonged hospitalization was the most frequently reported serious adverse event. Signal analysis identified 325 disproportionately reported events across 21 system-organ classes (SOCs). The top five preferred terms (PTs) by frequency were eyelid ptosis, dysphagia, muscle weakness, blurred vision, and injection site swelling. The top five PTs based on signal strength were brow ptosis, Mephisto sign, botulism, bizarre personal appearance, and neuromuscular toxicity. Notable lowest-level terms (LLTs) included eye swelling, injection site edema, facial pain, facial discomfort, increased residual urine volume, blurred vision, and eyelid swelling. In clinical practice involving BoNTA for CP treatment, clinicians should pay close attention to these identified signals. Strengthened pre-injection evaluation and post-injection monitoring are recommended to enable early detection and timely intervention, ensuring medication safety for patients.

HIV-1 persists in a latent reservoir in resting CD4+ T cells despite antiretroviral therapy (ART). The reservoir decays slowly over the first 7 years of ART (t1/2 = 44 months). However, whether decay continues with long-term ART is unclear. Recent integration site studies indicate gradual selection against inducible, intact proviruses, raising speculation that decades of ART might allow treatment interruption without viral rebound. Therefore, we measured the reservoir in 42 people on long-term ART (mean 22 years) using a quantitative viral outgrowth assay. After 7 years of ART, there was no long-term decrease in the frequency of inducible, replication-competent proviruses but rather an increase with an estimated doubling time of 23 years. Another reservoir assay, the intact proviral DNA assay, confirmed that reservoir decay with t1/2 of 44 months did not continue with long-term ART. The lack of decay reflected proliferation of infected cells. Most inducible, replication-competent viruses (79.8%) had env sequences identical to those of other isolates from the same sample. Thus, although integration site analysis indicates changes in reservoir composition, the proliferation of CD4+ T cells counteracts decay, maintaining the frequency of inducible, replication-competent proviruses at roughly constant levels over the long term. These results reinforce the need for lifelong ART.

Numerous supraglottic airway device (SADs) have been designed for adults; however, their relative efficacy, indicated by parameters such as adequacy of sealing, ease of application, and postinsertion complications, remains unclear. We conducted a systematic review and network meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of various SADs. We searched electronic databases for randomized controlled trials comparing at least two types of SADs published before December 2019. The primary outcomes were oropharyngeal leak pressure (OLP), risk of first-attempt insertion failure, and postoperative sore throat rate (POST). We included 108 studies (n = 10,645) comparing 17 types of SAD. The Proseal laryngeal mask airway (LMA), the I-gel supraglottic airway, the Supreme LMA, the Streamlined Liner of the Pharynx Airway, the SoftSeal, the Cobra Perilaryngeal Airway, the Air-Q, the Laryngeal Tube, the Laryngeal Tube Suction II, the Laryngeal Tube Suction Disposable, AuraGain, and Protector had significantly higher OLP (mean difference ranging from 3.98 to 9.18 cmH 2 O) compared with that of a classic LMA (C-LMA). The Protector exhibited the highest OLP and was ranked first. All SADs had a similar likelihood of first-attempt insertion failure and POST compared with the C-LMA. Our findings indicate that the Protector may be the best SAD because it has the highest OLP. Systematic review registration PROSPERO: CRD42017065273.