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Indoor positioning has grasped great attention in recent years. A number of efforts have been exerted to achieve high positioning accuracy. However, there exists no technology that proves its efficacy in various situations. In this paper, we propose a novel positioning method based on fusing trilateration and dead reckoning. We employ Kalman filtering as a position fusion algorithm. Moreover, we adopt an Android device with Bluetooth Low Energy modules as the communication platform to avoid excessive energy consumption and to improve the stability of the received signal strength. To further improve the positioning accuracy, we take the environmental context information into account while generating the position fixes. Extensive experiments in a testbed are conducted to examine the performance of three approaches: trilateration, dead reckoning and the fusion method. Additionally, the influence of the knowledge of the environmental context is also examined. Finally, our proposed fusion method outperforms both trilateration and dead reckoning in terms of accuracy: experimental results show that the Kalman-based fusion, for our settings, achieves a positioning accuracy of less than one meter.

This study applied the non-parametric four-stage data envelopment analysis method (Four-Stage DEA) to measure the relative efficiencies of Chinese public hospitals from 2010 to 2016, and to determine how efficiencies were affected by eight factors. A sample of public hospitals (n = 84) was selected from Chongqing, China, including general hospitals and traditional Chinese medicine hospitals graded level 2 or above. The Four-Stage-DEA method was chosen since it enables the control of the impact of environment factors on efficiency evaluation results. Data on the number of staff, government financial subsidies, the number of beds and fixed assets were used as input whereas the number of out-patients and emergency department patients and visits, the number of discharged patients, medical and health service income and hospital bed utilization rate were chosen as study outputs. As relevant environmental variables, we selected GDP per capita, permanent population, population density, number of hospitals and number of available sickbeds in local medical institutions. The relative efficiencies (i.e. technical, pure technical, scale) of sample hospitals were also calculated to analyze the change between the first stage and fourth stage every year. The study found that Four-Stage-DEA can effectively filter the impact of environmental factors on evaluation results, which sets it apart from other models commonly used in existing studies.

Background The aim of this study is to explore the indicative role of Asthma Control Test (ACT) score in the use of dust mite immunotherapy for asthmatic children by comparing the recovery of lung function in these children who have different ACT scores with or without undergoing dust mite immunotherapy, and to provide a more accurate and applicable method to select the population for dust mite immunotherapy. Methods A total of 200 children diagnosed with asthma who had tested positive for dust mite allergens from February 2019 to January 2021 were divided into the observation group and control group based on whether sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) for dust mite allergy was incorporated into their regular asthma treatment. These two groups were further subdivided into ACT > 19 and ACT ≤ 19 groups based on the ACT scores before treatment. After 1 year of follow-up, the lung function and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) levels of these four groups were compared before and after treatment. Results A total of 160 asthmatic children completed the study. We found that the observation group with ACT > 19 showed better improvement in forced vital capacity (FVC) (z = -2.338 P  = 0.019), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) (t = 3.02 P  = 0.007), forced expiratory flow at 50% of FVC (FEF50) (t = 2.807 P  = 0.012), and forced expiratory flow at 25% of FVC (FEF25) (t = 3.032 P  = 0.007) than the control group with ACT > 19. Moreover, the observation group with ACT ≤ 19 showed significantly better improvement in FVC (z = -3.554 P  < 0.001), FEV1 (z = -3.71 P  < 0.001),forced expiratory flow at 75% of FVC (FEF75) (z = -3.8 P  < 0.001), FEF50 (z = -3.733 P  < 0.001), FEF25 (z = -5.593 P  < 0.001), maximal mid-expiratory flow (MMEF) (z = -3.930 P  < 0.001), and FeNO (z = -2.218 P  = 0.027) than the control group with ACT ≤ 19. We found that in the observation group, irrespective of whether ACT > 19 or ACT ≤ 19, there was some improvement in all indicators, but there was no significant difference between the two subgroups. In the control group, patients with ACT > 19 showed significantly less improvement in FEV1 and FEF75 than patients with ACT ≤ 19 (z = -2.567 P  = 0.010, t = 2.624 P  = 0.010, respectively). Conclusions Immunotherapy for dust mites is effective in improving lung function in children with asthma, especially in those with ACT > 19 before treatment.

Type H vessels are specialized blood vessels found in the bone marrow that are closely associated with osteogenic activity. They are characterized by high expression of endomucin and CD31. Type H vessels form in the cancellous bone area during long bone development to provide adequate nutritional support for cells near the growth plate. They also influence the proliferation and differentiation of osteoprogenitors and osteoclasts in a paracrine manner, thereby creating a suitable microenvironment to facilitate new bone formation. Because of the close relationship between type H vessels and osteogenic activity, it has been found that type H vessels play a role in the physiological and pathological processes of bone diseases such as fracture healing, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, osteonecrosis, and tumor bone metastasis. Moreover, experimental treatments targeting type H vessels can improve the outcomes of these diseases. Here, we reviewed the molecular mechanisms related to type H vessels and their associated osteogenic activities, which are helpful in further understanding the role of type H vessels in bone metabolism and will provide a theoretical basis and ideas for comprehending bone diseases from the vascular perspective.

Objective Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) has emerged as a critical global public health. To investigate the dynamic changes of drug resistance genes and virulence traits in carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae during colonization-infection transitions, supporting clinical prevention strategies. Methods A total of 18 cases each of CRKP colonization-to-infection and infection-to-colonization were enrolled from ICU patients. Genomic DNA from 72 isolates was used for PCR detection of resistance genes, virulence genes, and capsular serotype genes among the 72 isolates. KPC-positive isolates underwent Sanger sequencing for subtyping, and the string test was employed to assist in defining the hypervirulent phenotype. Results No significant differences were observed in clinical features between groups. All isolates carried bla KPC−2 without other resistance genes. The colonization-to-infection group showed higher virulence gene detection rates (50.00% vs. 27.78%), with 4 cases exhibiting increased virulence genes during infection. Conversely, 2 cases in the infection-to-colonization group showed reduced virulence genes. Capsular serotyping identified three isolates (4.17%) carrying hypervirulence-associated serotypes: a K1 strain from a blood sample (Case 8) showing virulence gene increase during infection, and two K57 strains (Case 34) lacking virulence genes. 11 hypervirulent CRKP (15.28%) were identified, with 9 from the colonization-to-infection group. Conclusion CRKP maintains stable resistance genes during colonization-infection transitions, but dynamic virulence changes indicate higher infection risks when colonization converts to infection. Enhanced monitoring of virulence and resistance is critical to control hv-CRKP spread in ICUs.

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) play a significant role in a large number of applications, e.g., healthcare and industry. A WSN typically consists of a large number of sensor nodes which rely on limited power sources in many applications. Therefore, improving the energy efficiency of WSNs becomes a crucial topic in the research community. As a fundamental service in WSNs, network flooding offers the advantages that information can be distributed fast and reliably throughout an entire network. However, network flooding suffers from low energy efficiency due to the large number of redundant transmissions in the network. In this work, we exploit connected dominating sets (CDS) to enhance the energy efficiency of network flooding by reducing the number of transmissions. For this purpose, we propose a connected dominating set-based flooding protocol (CONE). CONE inhibits nodes that are not in the CDS from rebroadcasting packets during the flooding process. Furthermore, we evaluate the performance of CONE in both simulations and a real-world testbed, and then we compare CONE to a baseline protocol. Experimental results show that CONE improves the end-to-end reliability and reduces the duty cycle of network flooding in the simulations. Additionally, CONE reduces the average energy consumption in the FlockLab testbed by 15%.

Lithium-ion batteries have found various modern applications due to their high energy density, long cycle life, and low self-discharge. However, increased use of these batteries has been accompanied by an increase in safety concerns, such as spontaneous fires or explosions due to impact or indentation. Mechanical damage to a battery cell is often enough reason to discard it. However, if an Electric Vehicle is involved in a crash, there is no means to visually inspect all the cells inside a pack, sometimes consisting of thousands of cells. Furthermore, there is no documented report on how mechanical damage may change the electrical response of a cell, which in turn can be used to detect damaged cells by the battery management system (BMS). In this research, we investigated the effects of mechanical deformation on electrical responses of Lithium-ion cells to understand what parameters in electrical response can be used to detect damage where cells cannot be visually inspected. We used charge-discharge cycling data, capacity fade measurement, and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) in combination with advanced modeling techniques. Our results indicate that many cell parameters may remain unchanged under moderate indentation, which makes detection of a damaged cell a challenging task for the battery pack and BMS designers.

Exonic deletions in NRXN1 have been associated with several neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism, schizophrenia and developmental delay. However, the molecular mechanism by which NRXN1 deletions impact neurodevelopment remains unclear. Here we used human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) as models to investigate the functional impacts of NRXN1 knockdown. We first generated hiPSCs from skin fibroblasts and differentiated them into neural stem cells (NSCs). We reduced NRXN1 expression in NSCs via a controlled shRNAmir-based knockdown system during differentiation, and monitored the transcriptome alteration by RNA-Seq and quantitative PCR at several time points. Interestingly, half reduction of NRXN1 expression resulted in changes of expression levels for the cell adhesion pathway (20 genes, P = 2.8×10(-6)) and neuron differentiation pathway (13 genes, P = 2.1×10(-4)), implicating that single-gene perturbation can impact biological networks important for neurodevelopment. Furthermore, astrocyte marker GFAP was significantly reduced in a time dependent manner that correlated with NRXN1 reduction. This observation was reproduced in both hiPSCs and hESCs. In summary, based on in vitro models, NRXN1 deletions impact several biological processes during neurodevelopment, including synaptic adhesion and neuron differentiation. Our study highlights the utility of stem cell models in understanding the functional roles of copy number variations (CNVs) in conferring susceptibility to neurodevelopmental diseases.

Adhesion after tendon injury, which can result in limb movement disorders, is a common clinical complication; however, effective treatment methods are lacking. Hyaluronic acid hydrogels are a new biomedical material used to prevent tendon adhesion owing to their good biocompatibility. In addition, potential drugs that inhibit adhesion formation have gradually been discovered. The anti-adhesion effects of a combination of loaded drugs into hydrogels have become an emerging trend. However, current drug delivery systems usually lack specific regulation of drug release, and the effectiveness of drugs for treating tendon adhesions is mostly flawed. In this study, we identified a new drug, imatinib mesylate (IM), that prevents tendon adhesion and explored its related molecular pathways. In addition, we designed a pH-responsive sustained-release hydrogel for delivery. Using the metal-organic framework ZIF-8 as a drug carrier, we achieved controlled drug release to increase the effective drug dose at the peak of adhesion formation to achieve better therapeutic effects. The results showed that IM blocked the formation of peritendon adhesions by inhibiting the PDGFRβ/ERK/STAT3/CLDN1 pathway. Furthermore, the hydrogel with ZIF-8 exhibited better physical properties and drug release curves than the hydrogel loaded only with drugs, showing better prevention and treatment effects on tendon adhesion. [Display omitted] •A ph responsive drug delivery system of hydrogel adapted to the microenvironment of tendon repair after injury was developed.•Controlled release effect was achieved by using oxidized hyaluronic acid hydrogel containing metal organic framework ZIF-8 as drug carrier.•The hydrogel loaded with ZIF-8 had better mechanical properties.•Explored the molecular pathway of imatinib mesylate in inhibiting tendon adhesion.

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the different extent of inhibition of endogenous insulin secretion by the reduction of C-peptide levels in an euglycemic clamp study and its effects on the evaluation of pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics of insulin preparations, and quality of clamp study to determine the best reduction range of C-peptide levels. Methods: Healthy Chinese male volunteers were enrolled and underwent a single-dose euglycemic clamp test. Participants were subcutaneously injected with long-acting insulin glargine (0.4 IU/kg). Blood samples were collected pretest and up to 24 h post-test to assess pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics (PD), and C-peptide levels. Results: We divided the 39 volunteers enrolled in the study into three groups according to the reduction of C-peptide levels: group A (ratio of C-peptide reduction <30%, n = 13), group B (ratio of C-peptide reduction between ≥ 30% and <50%, n = 15), and group C (ratio of C-peptide reduction ≥50%, n = 11); there were significant differences in the three groups ( p = 0.000). The upper and lower limits of blood glucose oscillation in group C was statistically lower than the other groups, the range of oscillating glucose levels in group C was −17.0 ± 6.6% to −1.1 ± 6.7%. The AUC 0–24 h in groups A, B, and C were 9.7 ± 2.2, 11.0 ± 2.9, and 11.9 ± 2.1 ng/ml × min, respectively, which indicated an increasing trend in the three groups ( P trend = 0.041). For quality assessment, the average glucose ( p = 0.000) and MEFTG ( p = 0.001) levels in three groups were significantly different. Conclusion: The different extent of inhibition of endogenous insulin will influence the PK/PD of insulin preparations and the quality of the euglycemic clamp. Furthermore, the ratio of C-peptide reduction should be above 50% to free from the interference of endogenous insulin, and the range of blood glucose levels should be consistently maintained at −10% to 0 in the euglycemic clamp.