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Dexmedetomidine (DEX) is a highly selective α2 adrenergic receptor (α2AR) agonist currently used in clinical settings. Because DEX has dose-dependent advantages of sedation, analgesia, antianxiety, inhibition of sympathetic nervous system activity, cardiovascular stabilization, and significant reduction of postoperative delirium and agitation, but does not produce respiratory depression and agitation, it is widely used in clinical anesthesia and ICU departments. In recent years, much clinical study and basic research has confirmed that DEX has a protective effect on a variety of organs, including the nervous system, heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, and small intestine. It acts by reducing the inflammatory response in these organs, activating antiapoptotic signaling pathways which protect cells from damage. Therefore, based on wide clinical application and safety, DEX may become a promising clinical multiorgan protection drug in the future. In this article, we review the physiological effects related to organ protection in α2AR agonists along with the organ-protective effects and mechanisms of DEX to understand their combined application value.

As a new form of computing based on the core technology of cloud computing and built on edge infrastructure, edge computing can handle computing-intensive and delay-sensitive tasks. In mobile edge computing (MEC) assisted by 5G technology, offloading computing tasks of edge devices to the edge servers in edge network can effectively reduce delay. Designing a reasonable task offloading strategy in a resource-constrained multi-user and multi-MEC system to meet users’ needs is a challenge issue. In industrial internet of things (IIoT) environment, considering the rapid increase of industrial edge devices and the heterogenous edge servers, a particle swarm optimization (PSO)-based task offloading strategy is proposed to offload tasks from resource-constrained edge devices to edge servers with energy efficiency and low delay style. A multi-objective optimization problem that considers time delay, energy consumption and task execution cost is proposed. The fitness function of the particle represents the total cost of offloading all tasks to different MEC servers. The offloading strategy based on PSO is compared with the genetic algorithm (GA) and the simulated annealing algorithm (SA) through simulation experiments. The experimental results show that the task offloading strategy based on PSO can reduce the delay of the MEC server, balance the energy consumption of the MEC server, and effectively realize the reasonable resource allocation.

A multi-model fusion evaluation method based on indexes construction is discussed in this paper for evaluating the maturity level of an Uncertainty Analysis System for Radiotherapy (UASR). First, a system for evaluating the capability maturity of the UASR is established. Second, three first-level evaluation indicators for people, technology and process are constructed, and twelve second-level evaluation indicators are formed under the three first-level indicators. Next, by combining the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) with the Entropy Weight Method (EWM), the subjectivity brought by the AHP is reduced, and the AHP-EWM model is combined with a Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation Model (FSEM). The level of the maturity model is determined by both scoring mechanisms together, making the assessment more reliable than that produced when a single model is used. To assess the maturity of the target hospital, UASR maturity assessment software is designed, and the affiliated hospital of the University of South China is selected for a practical application. After the experts’ scores are input into the UASR maturity assessment software, the calculated final score of 0.7848 confirms that the UASR reaches the management level, indicating a robust management framework and enhanced operational capacity. This research offers a practical methodology for optimizing the implementation of the UASR and guiding its iterative improvement.

Photon upconversion in lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles offers a wide variety of applications including deep-tissue biophotonics. However, the upconversion luminescence and efficiency, especially involving multiple photons, is still limited by the concentration quenching effect. Here, we demonstrate a multilayered core-shell-shell structure for lanthanide doped NaYF 4 , where Er 3+ activators and Yb 3+ sensitizers are spatially separated, which can enhance the multiphoton emission from Er 3+ by 100-fold compared with the multiphoton emission from canonical core-shell nanocrystals. This difference is due to the excitation energy transfer at the interface between activator core and sensitizer shell being unexpectedly efficient, as revealed by the structural and temperature dependence of the multiphoton upconversion luminescence. Therefore, the concentration quenching is suppressed via alleviation of cross-relaxation between the activator and the sensitizer, resulting in a high quantum yield of up to 6.34% for this layered structure. These findings will enable versatile design of multiphoton upconverting nanoparticles overcoming the conventional limitation. Photon upconversion in nanoparticles is often limited by concentration quenching. The authors present a multi-layered particle approach that enables increased upconversion efficiency by reducing cross-relaxation, through spatial separation of activator and sensitizer.

Tuning the local reaction environment is an important and challenging issue for determining electrochemical performances. Herein, we propose a strategy of intentionally engineering the local reaction environment to yield highly active catalysts. Taking Pt δ− nanoparticles supported on oxygen vacancy enriched MgO nanosheets as a prototypical example, we have successfully created a local acid-like environment in the alkaline medium and achieve excellent hydrogen evolution reaction performances. The local acid-like environment is evidenced by operando Raman, synchrotron radiation infrared and X-ray absorption spectroscopy that observes a key H 3 O + intermediate emergence on the surface of MgO and accumulation around Pt δ− sites during electrocatalysis. Further analysis confirms that the critical factors of the forming the local acid-like environment include: the oxygen vacancy enriched MgO facilitates H 2 O dissociation to generate H 3 O + species; the F centers of MgO transfers its unpaired electrons to Pt, leading to the formation of electron-enriched Pt δ− species; positively charged H 3 O + migrates to negatively charged Pt δ− and accumulates around Pt δ− nanoparticles due to the electrostatic attraction, thus creating a local acidic environment in the alkaline medium. While catalysts have intrinsic activities toward reactions, such performances often require further optimization. Here, authors engineer an acid-like environment in alkaline media by fine-tuning the reaction environment of platinum nanoparticles on oxide nanosheets for H 2 evolution electrocatalysis.

We aim to assess the level of family burden of schizophrenia patients and identify its predicting factors in a rural community sample of China. A sample of 327 primary caregivers was recruited through a one-stage cluster sampling in Ningxiang County of Hunan province, China. Family burden was assessed using the Family Burden Interview Schedule (FBIS) of Pai and Kapur. Our results showed that the mean score of FBIS was 23.62±9.76 (range, 0-48), with over half (52%) caregivers reported their family burden being moderate and severe. Among the six domains of family burden, financial burden (76%) was the commonest burden, while disruption of family interactions (37%) was the least mentioned. A multivariate analysis of family burden revealed that patient being admitted for over 3 times, caregiver being female, having a middle school education, and with additional dependents, as well as higher care network function were positive predictors of family burden, while higher patient function and family function, and increasing patient age were negative predictors of family burden. Intervention to decrease family burden may be best served by improving family function and exploring alternative care model instead of hospitalization.

Metamaterial absorbers (MMAs) offer a novel and flexible method to realize perfect absorption in specific frequencies, especially in the THz range. Despite the exotic abilities to manipulate light, most previously reported MMAs still suffer from limited bandwidth and tunability. Here we present a thermally switchable terahertz (THz) metasurface that exhibits ultra-broadband absorption and high-transmission characteristics at different ambient temperatures. Our simulations demonstrate that at room temperature the structure is highly transparent. When the ambient temperature reaches 358 K, the proposed design exhibits an ultra-broadband absorption from 0.398 to 1.356 THz with the absorptivity maintaining above 90% and the relative absorption bandwidth reaches up to 109.2%. The structure is demonstrated to be insensitive to the incident angle. Moreover, the bandwidth of such a structure can easily be expanded or reduced by cascading or removing the rings, providing high scalability in practical applications. Such a thermally switchable THz metasurface may have potential applications in various fields, such as optical switching, THz imaging, modulating and filtering.

The microscopic reaction pathway plays a crucial role in determining the electrochemical performance. However, artificially manipulating the reaction pathway still faces considerable challenges. In this study, we focus on the classical acidic water oxidation based on RuO 2 catalysts, which currently face the issues of low activity and poor stability. As a proof-of-concept, we propose a strategy to create local structural symmetry but oxidation-state asymmetric Mn 4-δ -O-Ru 4+δ active sites by introducing Mn atoms into RuO 2 host, thereby switching the reaction pathway from traditional adsorbate evolution mechanism to oxide path mechanism. Through advanced operando synchrotron spectroscopies and density functional theory calculations, we demonstrate the synergistic effect of dual-active metal sites in asymmetric Mn 4-δ -O-Ru 4+δ microstructure in optimizing the adsorption energy and rate-determining step barrier via an oxide path mechanism. This study highlights the importance of engineering reaction pathways and provides an alternative strategy for promoting acidic water oxidation. Microscopic reaction pathways are crucial for electrochemical performance, but manipulating them remains challenging. Here, the authors report an approach that involves integrating Mn into RuO 2 catalysts to switch the reaction mechanism of the oxygen evolution reaction from a traditional single metal-site adsorbate evolution mechanism to a different dual-metal-site oxide path mechanism.

Monitoring the blast furnace shaft static pressure is crucial for maintaining a stable ironmaking process. Traditional rule-based methods and manual inspections suffer from high labor costs and inconsistent standards. This article proposes a new unsupervised anomaly detection framework that combines adversarial autoencoder with variational mode decomposition (VMD). Firstly, using VMD combined with sample entropy calculation and clustering algorithm, the trend, period, and other components of multidimensional signals are extracted, and then these components are integrated into an improved adversarial training autoencoder to detect global and local anomalies. The proposed method has an accuracy of 0.95, a recall rate of 0.91, and an F1 score of 0.93. Which demonstrates the method effectively captures multi-scale anomalies including value bias, morphological changes, and sudden fluctuations, while providing analysts with interpretable anomaly detail diagnosis.

The present study aims to provide a comprehensive profile of the primary family caregivers of schizophrenia individuals in rural China. A cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 327 primary family caregivers of schizophrenia individuals recruited through a one-stage cluster sampling in Ningxiang County of Hunan province, China. The social demographic and psychological profiles of primary caregivers were measured using standard scales and self–designed scales. The typical caregiver profile consists of a 58-year old married first degree relative (mostly parents or spouses) with a low socio-economic position. Most of them have been caregiving for over 10 years (74.3%) and have some physical illness (67.0%). The major caregiving activities were medicine management (71.6%) and hospital visit (69.4%), yet there is still 17.1% primary caregivers involved with neither of the care. Most (84%) of caregivers reported some kind of burden, with anxiety in 45.9% of caregivers and depression in 45.4%. Family caregivers also reported positive aspects of caregiving including a well-functional family (51.0%) and rewarding feelings (58.3%). The findings of the present study have brought attention to a special group of family caregivers for schizophrenia, with implications for intervention on them in the future. •This study was the first to draw a full-picture profile of primary family caregivers of schizophrenia in rural China.•The primary caregivers were mainly old-aged first degree relatives with low socioeconomic position.•Their main caregiving activities involved hospital visit and medicine management.•Both positive and negative mental health states were reported common among the caregivers.