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Ultrafine nano-scale Cu 2 Sb alloy confined in a three-dimensional porous carbon was synthesized using NaCl template-assisted vacuum freeze-drying followed by high-temperature sintering and was evaluated as an anode for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) and potassium-ion batteries (PIBs). The alloy exerts excellent cycling durability (the capacity can be maintained at 328.3 mA·h·g −1 after 100 cycles for SIBs and 260 mA·h·g −1 for PIBs) and rate capability (199 mA·h·g −1 at 5 A·g −1 for SIBs and 148 mA·h·g −1 at 5 A·g −1 for PIBs) because of the smooth electron transport path, fast Na/K ion diffusion rate, and restricted volume changes from the synergistic effect of three-dimensional porous carbon networks and the ultrafine bimetallic nanoalloy. This study provides an ingenious design route and a simple preparation method toward exploring a high-property electrode for K-ion and Na-ion batteries, and it also introduces broad application prospects for other electrochemical applications.

Research objectives: The policy of free pay normal university students education is the symbol of respecting teachers and valuing education, and its implementation is of great strategic significance in promoting primary and secondary school education level in an all-around way. It is quite urgent to strengthen studying on education and cultivation of sports major free normal students. Research methods: Literature consultation, questionnaire survey, and mathematical statistics are applied to explore the effects of sports major free normal students’ individual consciousness on education belief. Research process: Individual anticipation, occupational identity and integrity awareness are chosen as three specific dimensions of sports major free normal students’ individual consciousness; analyses and comparison are made on their relative problems. Conclusions: The negative effects of individual anticipation on education belief comes from concerns about post-graduate study; In occupational identity, the realization of social status and individual value will contribute to inexhaustible impetus for developing education belief; In integrity awareness, ethical conduct has positive impacts on education belief. Finally, it presents an outlook of the future development of sports major free normal students’ education belief.

BackgroundThe role of laparoscopic-assisted natural orifice specimen extraction (LA-NOSE) colectomy in the treatment of left-sided colon cancer has not been well defined, and there remains confusion about how to conveniently exteriorize specimens through natural orifices. Therefore, we introduced a homemade invention, the Cai tube, to facilitate the extraction of specimens and compared the clinical outcomes of LA-NOSE with conventional laparoscopic (CL) colectomy for left-sided colon cancer.MethodsFrom March 2015 to August 2017, patients with left-sided colon cancer were randomly divided into LA-NOSE and CL groups. Specimens were extracted through the anus with the help of a Cai tube (Patent Number: ZL201410168748.2) in the LA-NOSE group. The primary outcome measure was postoperative pain. Secondary outcomes were the duration of operation, postoperative recovery, surgical morbidity, pathological quality of the specimen, and long-term outcomes, including 3-year overall survival, disease-free survival, local recurrence, and overall recurrence.ResultsA total of 60 patients (30 per group) were recruited for this study. None of the patients required emergency conversion to conventional laparoscopic or open surgery during the operation. The postoperative maximum pain score was significantly lower in the LA-NOSE group (mean 2.5 vs. 5.1, P = 0.001), as was the additional analgesia requirement (mean 2/30 vs. 10/30, P = 0.021). Patients in the LA-NOSE group experienced a shorter first time to passage of flatus (mean 2.2 vs. 3.1 days, P = 0.026). All patients could control their defecation at 6 months after surgery. The comparison between the two groups showed no significant differences in the operative time, bleeding volume, postoperative hospital stay, surgical morbidity rates, number of lymph nodes harvested, or resection margin status. The mean follow-up was 48 months (range 7–59) and was similar in both groups. The results showed no differences in long-term outcomes between the two groups.ConclusionIn the treatment of left-sided colon cancer, compared with conventional laparoscopic colectomy, LA-NOSE colectomy using the Cai tube exhibited lower postoperative pain, shorter recovery of gastrointestinal function, and similar long-term outcomes.Registration numberChiCTR-OOR-15007060 (http://www.chictr.org.cn/).

Phospho-PRAS40(Thr246) (phosphorylated proline-rich Akt substrate of 40 kilodaltons at Thr246) is a biomarker for phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway activation and AKT inhibitors sensitivity. In this study, we immunohistochemically investigated the expression of phospho-PRAS40(Thr246) in 141 gastric cancer tumors, and evaluated its clinicopathological and prognostic significance. Sixty-four cases (45.4%) were defined as phospho-PRAS40(Thr246) positive. Phospho-PRAS40(Thr246) correlated positively with lymph node metastasis, lymphatic infiltration, vascular infiltration and shorter survival. Furthermore, phospho-PRAS40(Thr246) is an independent prognostic factor for gastric cancer. Our data suggest that phospho-PRAS40(Thr246) was frequently expressed in gastric cancers, and correlated with malignant progression and poor prognosis of patients. PI3K pathway-targeted therapies should be considered in the future treatment of gastric cancers.

Purpose To evaluate the diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced (CE) ultrasound using Sonazoid (SNZ–CEUS) by comparing with contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CE–CT) and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CE–MRI) for differentiating benign and malignant renal masses. Materials and methods 306 consecutive patients (from 7 centers) with renal masses (40 benign tumors, 266 malignant tumors) diagnosed by both SNZ–CEUS, CE–CT or CE–MRI were enrolled between September 2020 and February 2021. The examinations were performed within 7 days, but the sequence was not fixed. Histologic results were available for 301 of 306 (98.37%) lesions and 5 lesions were considered benign after at least 2 year follow-up without change in size and image characteristics. The diagnostic performances were evaluated by sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and compared by McNemar’s test. Results In the head-to-head comparison, SNZ–CEUS and CE–MRI had comparable sensitivity (95.60 vs. 94.51%, P  = 0.997), specificity (65.22 vs. 73.91%, P  = 0.752), positive predictive value (91.58 vs. 93.48%) and negative predictive value (78.95 vs. 77.27%); SNZ–CEUS and CE–CT showed similar sensitivity (97.31 vs. 96.24%, P  = 0.724); however, SNZ–CEUS had relatively lower than specificity than CE–CT (59.09 vs. 68.18%, P  = 0.683). For nodules > 4 cm, CE–MRI demonstrated higher specificity than SNZ–CEUS (90.91 vs. 72.73%, P  = 0.617) without compromise the sensitivity. Conclusions SNZ–CEUS, CE–CT, and CE–MRI demonstrate desirable and comparable sensitivity for the differentiation of renal mass. However, the specificity of all three imaging modalities is not satisfactory. SNZ–CEUS may be a suitable alternative modality for patients with renal dysfunction and those allergic to gadolinium or iodine-based agents. Key Points This prospective multicenter study demonstrated that the diagnostic performance of SNZ–CEUS was comparable to CE–CT and CE–MRI. The three imaging modalities displayed desirable sensitivity, while the specificity needs to be further improved. CE–MRI may have better specificity than SNZ–CEUS for differentiating renal masses bigger than 4 cm

Background The histopathological and molecular heterogeneity of normal tissue adjacent to cancerous tissue (NTAC) and normal tissue adjacent to benign tissue (NTAB), and the availability of limited specimens make deciphering the mechanisms of carcinogenesis challenging. Our goal was to identify histogenetic biomarkers that could be reliably used to define a transforming fingerprint using RNA in situ hybridization. Methods We evaluated 15 tumor-related RNA in situ hybridization biomarkers using tumor microarray and samples of seven tumor-adjacent normal tissues from 314 patients. Biomarkers were determined using comprehensive statistical methods (significance of support vector machine-based artificial intelligence and area under curve scoring of classification distribution). Results TP53 was found to be a most reliable index ( P <10 -7 ; area under curve >87%) for distinguishing NTAC from NTAB, according to the results of a significance panel ( BCL10 , BECN1 , BRCA2 , FITH , PTCH11 and TP53 ). Conclusions The genetic alterations in TP53 between NTAC and NTAB may provide new insight into the field of cancerization and tumor transformation.

The purpose of our meta-analysis is to examine the associations between three single nucieotide polymorphisms of endothelial nitric oxide synthase （eNOS） gene, G894T, intron 4 and T-786C, and the risk of erectile dysfunction. An electronic database search was performed to identify case-control studies reporting the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms of eNOS gene and erectile dysfunction. Stringent inclusion and exclusion criteria were employed to select high-quality studies for this meta-analysis. Comprehensive Meta-analysis 2.0 software （Biostat Inc., Englewood, New Jersey, USA） was used for statistical analysis of the data extracted from the selected studies. From the initial 203 articles retrieved from database search, this meta-analysis finally selected 12 high-quality case-control studies that conformed to our inclusion criteria. The 12 studies contained a total of 1962 patients with erectile dysfunction and 1752 healthy controls. The results of our meta-analysis showed that G894T correlated with an increased risk erectile dysfunction under both the allele and dominant models （allele： OR = 1.556, 95% CI -- 1.064-2.275, P = 0.023; dominant： OR = 1.613, 95% CI = 1.050-2.476, P = 0.029）. A similar association was found between T-786C and erectile dysfunction under the allele model （OR = 1.679, 95% CI = 1.341-2.102, P 〈 0.001）, but not under the dominant model （all P 〉 0.05）. Our meta-analysis showed that the two single nucleotide polymorphisms in eNOS gene, G894T and T-786C, are strongly associated with the risk of erectile dysfunction.

Background Although hepatectomy is often performed with the Pringle maneuver, the problem of hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury (HIRI) can also be serious. Thus, the present study was designed to investigate the protective effect of S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe) on HIRI, especially for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) associated with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and cirrhosis. Methods Eighty-one HCC patients with chronic HBV infection, undergoing partial hepatectomy with inflow occlusion, were divided into three groups. In the pretreatment group (PR group, n = 26), patients were given SAMe two hours before surgery. In the post-treatment group (PO group, n = 25), patients were given SAMe six hours after surgery. And in the control group (control group, n = 30), patients received partial hepatectomy without any SAMe. All pre-, intra- and postoperative blood samples were collected to measure the plasma levels of transaminases, bilirubin and cytokines. The results were compared among the three groups. Results There were no statistically significant intergroup differences observed in age, gender, hepatic inflow occlusion time and the results of liver function tests. Preoperative administration of SAMe (PR group) significantly reduced the plasma levels of alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transferase (AST), total bilirubin (TBIL) and direct bilirubin (DBIL) as compared to the other two groups. In the PO group, TBIL and DBIL were significantly lower than in the control group. Significant differences were also seen in IL-6 and TNF-α between the PR group and the other groups. In all groups, postoperative liver reserve function in the PR group as revealed by ICGR15 (Post ICGR15) was at its best before abdominal closure. Compared to the control group, the risk of complications and the hospital stay after surgery were significantly meliorated in the PR group. Additionally, patients with cirrhosis had a more acute rate of change in ALT and AST than non-cirrhotic patients. Conclusions Taken together, our preliminary findings suggest that preoperative administration of SAMe is useful and safe for reducing the HIRI in partial hepatectomy, especially for HCC patients whose disease is associated with chronic HBV infection and cirrhosis.

Independent component analysis (ICA) has been widely deployed to the analysis of microarray datasets. Although it was pointed out that after ICA transformation, different independent components (ICs) are of different biological significance, the IC selection problem is still far from fully explored. In this paper, we propose a genetic algorithm (GA) based ensemble independent component selection (EICS) system. In this system, GA is applied to select a set of optimal IC subsets, which are then used to build diverse and accurate base classifiers. Finally, all base classifiers are combined with majority vote rule. To show the validity of the proposed method, we apply it to classify three DNA microarray data sets involving various human normal and tumor tissue samples. The experimental results show that our ensemble method obtains stable and satisfying classification results when compared with several existing methods.

Background：Many clinical studies have been published involving the use of a high hip center （HHC）,achieved good follow-up.However,there is a little anatomic guidance in the literature regarding the amount of bone stock available for initial implant coverage in this area of the ilium.The purpose of this study was to evaluate the thickness and width of the human ilium and related acetabular cup coverage for guiding acetabular component placement in HHC.Methods：A total of 120 normal hips in 60 cases of adult patients from lower extremities computer tomographic angiography Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine data were chosen for the study.After importing the data to the mimics software,we chose the cross sections every 5-mm increments from the rotational center of the hip to the cephalic of the ilium according the body sagittal axis,then we measured the thickness and width of the ilium for each cross section in axial plane,calculated the cup coverage at each chosen section.Results：At the acetabular dome,the mean thickness and width of the ilium were 49.71 ± 4.88 mm and 38.92 ± 3.67 mm,respectively,whereas at 1 cm above the dome,decreased to 41.35 ± 5.13 and 31.13 ± 3.37 respectively,and 2 cm above the dome,decreased to 31.25 ± 4.04 and 26.65 ± 3.43,respectively.Acetabular cup averaged coverage for 40-,50-,and 60-mm hemispheric shells,was 100%,89%,and 44% at the acetabular dome,100%,43.7%,and 27.5% for 1 cm above the dome,and 37.5%,21.9%,and 14.2% for 2 cm above the dome.Conclusions：HHC reconstructions within 1cm above the acetabular dome will be an acceptable and smaller diameter prosthesis would be better.