Simple Strategy Research Articles

Outcomes of Glaucoma Referrals in Adults Aged 18 to 40 Years.

While early detection of glaucoma is vital to prevent irreversible vision loss, there are sparse data on the effectiveness of glaucoma referrals and methods to establish evidence-based referral guidelines in large, diverse populations. To assess the prevalence and risk factors for diagnosed glaucoma and loss to follow-up among adult patients aged 18 to 40 years after a new diagnosis of referable glaucoma (ie, with glaucoma or suspected glaucoma). This retrospective cohort study included patients aged 18 to 40 years presenting to Kaiser Permanente Southern California, a large managed health care system, for first-time eye examinations between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2018. Data analysis occurred between September 2022 and August 2024. The primary outcome was glaucoma diagnosed within 2 years of the first eye examination. The secondary outcome was the loss to follow-up, defined as failure to receive a glaucoma evaluation with visual field or optical coherence tomography testing within 2 years. The cohort included 292 453 patients aged 18 to 40 years who underwent first-time eye evaluations (mean [SD] age, 29.8 [6.4] years). Among 12 050 identified patients with referable glaucoma (52.3% female), 6827 (56.7%) completed glaucoma evaluations, of whom 563 (8.2%) were diagnosed with glaucoma (344 [61.1%] with open angle, 28 [5.0%] with angle closure, 84 [14.9%] with secondary glaucoma, and 107 [19.0%] with unspecified glaucoma). On multivariable analysis, male sex (odds ratio [OR], 1.55 [95% CI, 1.07-2.27]), higher intraocular pressure (IOP) (OR, 1.19 [95% CI, 1.15-1.23] per 1 mm Hg), and greater cup-disc ratio (CDR) (OR, 1.53 [95% CI, 1.34-1.75] per 0.1 unit) were associated with greater odds of glaucoma. Dichotomized age, IOP, and CDR models stratified 51 of 1613 patients (3.2%) into the low-risk group and 202 of 1477 patients (13.7%) into the high-risk group. Being younger than 32 years and having an IOP less than 18 mm Hg and a CDR less than 0.7 yielded a negative predictive value of 98.2% for a glaucoma diagnosis. In this cohort study, the diagnostic yield of glaucoma referrals was low among adults aged 18 to 40 years with first-time eye examinations. A simple risk-stratification strategy could help identify individuals with low and high risks of developing glaucoma, and adoption of evidence-based risk stratification and referral guidelines by health care systems and clinicians could improve equity of glaucoma care and use of eye-care resources.

Quantum adversarial learning for kernel methods

We show that hybrid quantum classifiers based on quantum kernel methods and support vector machines are vulnerable against adversarial attacks, namely small engineered perturbations of the input data can deceive the classifier into predicting the wrong result. Nonetheless, we also show that simple defense strategies based on data augmentation with a few crafted perturbations can make the classifier robust against new attacks. Our results find applications in security-critical learning problems and in mitigating the effect of some forms of quantum noise, since the attacker can also be understood as part of the surrounding environment.

Designing stormwater controls to protect streams from erosion - A simple (and implementable) channel protection strategy

Designing stormwater controls to protect streams from erosion - A simple (and implementable) channel protection strategy

Efficacy and Cellular Mechanism of Biomimetic Marine Adhesive Protein-Based Coating Against Skin Photoaging.

Skin photoaging is a problem worldwide, clinically often accompanied by collagen decline, increased wrinkles, loss of skin elasticity, structurally weakened skin, and other complications,which urgently demand effective treatment strategies. The biosafety and efficacy of single-function therapies for repairing skin photoaging are still challenging for clinical medicine today. At present, numerous studies report that the wet adhesive proteins driven from marine organisms play a critical role in the biomedical material field, particularly in aquatic environments. In this study, a natural recombinant protein-based coating from scallop byssal protein is prepared to investigate the efficacy and cellular mechanism in accelerating the repair of UVB-induced photoaging in a mouse model. In vitro experiments demonstrate the safety of the coating and its efficacy in enhancing cell adhesion, spreading, proliferation, and migration. Additionally, the coating effectively scavenges reactive oxygen species, promotes the expression of cell adhesion molecules and anti-apoptotic proteins, and inhibits inflammatory responses. In animal tests, the coating exhibited remarkable adsorption properties, showing significant potential for in situ regenerative therapy, as evidenced by its ability to protect against UVB-induced skin photoaging and oxidative stress. These findings suggest that Sbp9Δ coating provides a simple, safe, and innovative strategy for treating skin photoaging.

Room-Temperature Synthesis of Amorphous Fe-Doped Nickel Phosphate for High-Efficiency Alkaline Seawater Oxidation.

The construction of an efficient and durable oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst through a simple synthesis strategy is crucial for the hydrogen produced from seawater splitting. However, achieving this goal remains a great challenge. Herein, the synthesis of amorphous Fe-doped nickel phosphate (Fe-NixPO4) as a high-performance OER electrocatalysts for alkaline freshwater/seawater splitting is presented using a straightforward co-precipitation method at room-temperature. Experimental results reveal the structural reconstruction of Fe-NixPO4 into Fe-doped NiOOH decorated with PO4 3-. The collaborative interplay between Ni2+ and Fe3+, along with the decoration of PO4 3-, can effectively modulate the electronic environment of the electrocatalyst. Consequently, the optimized Fe-NixPO4 exhibits exceptional OER activity, requiring overpotentials of 359 and 422mV to generate 1000mA cm-2 in alkaline freshwater and alkaline seawater, respectively. Moreover, Fe-NixPO4 also displays outstanding stability for 100h at 100mA cm-2 in alkaline seawater. This research presents a viable approach for fabricating OER electrocatalysts with exceptional efficiency for seawater electrolysis.

Innovative asymmetric CoSA‐N‐Ti3C2Tx catalysis: unleashing superoxide radicals for rapid self‐coupling removal of phenolic pollutant

The polymerization pathway of contaminants rivals the traditional mineralization pathway in water purification technologies. However, designing suitable oxidative environments to steer contaminants toward polymerization remains challenging. This study introduces a nitrogen‐oxygen double coordination strategy to create an asymmetrical microenvironment for Co atoms on Ti3C2Tx MXenes, resulting in a novel Co‐N2O3 microcellular structure that efficiently activates peroxymonosulfate. This unique activation capability led to the complete removal of various phenolic pollutants within 3 min, outperforming the representative Co single‐atom catalysts reported in the past three years. Identifying and recognizing reactive oxygen species highlight the crucial role of ·O2−. The efficient pollutant removal occurs through a ·O2−‐mediated radical pathway, functioning as a self‐coupling reaction rather than deep oxidation. Theoretical calculations demonstrate that the electron‐rich pollutants transfer more electrons to the catalyst surface, inducing the reduction of dissolved oxygen to ·O2− in the Co‐N2O3 microregion. In a practical continuous flow‐through application, the system achieved 100% acetaminophen removal efficiency in 6.5 h, with a hydraulic retention time of just 0.98 s. This study provides new insights into the previously underappreciated role of ·O2− in pollutant purification, offering a simple strategy for advancing aggregation removal technology in the field of wastewater treatment.

Innovative asymmetric CoSA-N-Ti3C2Tx catalysis: unleashing superoxide radicals for rapid self-coupling removal of phenolic pollutant.

The polymerization pathway of contaminants rivals the traditional mineralization pathway in water purification technologies. However, designing suitable oxidative environments to steer contaminants toward polymerization remains challenging. This study introduces a nitrogen-oxygen double coordination strategy to create an asymmetrical microenvironment for Co atoms on Ti3C2Tx MXenes, resulting in a novel Co-N2O3 microcellular structure that efficiently activates peroxymonosulfate. This unique activation capability led to the complete removal of various phenolic pollutants within 3 min, outperforming the representative Co single-atom catalysts reported in the past three years. Identifying and recognizing reactive oxygen species highlight the crucial role of ·O2-. The efficient pollutant removal occurs through a ·O2--mediated radical pathway, functioning as a self-coupling reaction rather than deep oxidation. Theoretical calculations demonstrate that the electron-rich pollutants transfer more electrons to the catalyst surface, inducing the reduction of dissolved oxygen to ·O2- in the Co-N2O3 microregion. In a practical continuous flow-through application, the system achieved 100% acetaminophen removal efficiency in 6.5 h, with a hydraulic retention time of just 0.98 s. This study provides new insights into the previously underappreciated role of ·O2- in pollutant purification, offering a simple strategy for advancing aggregation removal technology in the field of wastewater treatment.

High-Durability Cellulose-Based Composite Paper with Superior Electromagnetic Interference Shielding.

Highly efficient electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials are critical for portable hardware and flexible electronics, where mechanical durability often poses challenges. Here, the excellent wear resistance and flexibility of thermoplastic polyurethane are utilized to provide a "protective layer" for EMI equipment. A carbon nanotube/cellulose/thermoplastic polyurethane (CNT/paper/TPU) composite paper with a three-layer structure was prepared using a coating method. Strong hydrogen bonds between CNTs, cellulose, and TPU ensured robust integration. The composite, with a thickness of 0.54 mm and conductivity of 1040 S/m, achieved exceptional EMI shielding effectiveness of 69.0 dB. It demonstrated durability against water, solvents, bending, and friction while maintaining shielding performance. Furthermore, its excellent mechanical properties and fatigue resistance significantly enhance equipment lifespan. Therefore, it is expected that this work will open a simple strategy for developing materials with excellent durable EMI shielding properties.

A simple efficient strategy of wood protection derived from essential oil-based superhydrophobic coatings with excellent abrasion and mildew resistance

A simple efficient strategy of wood protection derived from essential oil-based superhydrophobic coatings with excellent abrasion and mildew resistance

Photo-induced multiple charge transfer resonance of Ce-MOF for SERS detection of nucleic acid.

Sensitive and accurate detection of important cancer markers MicroRNAs (miRNAs) is critical to prevent and treat disease. Among many detection techniques, surface-enhanced Raman scattering(SERS) has attracted much attention due to its advantages such as narrow spectral peak, low interference and non-destructive detection. Interestingly, non-noble metal SERS substrates show good prospects due to their outstanding spectral reproducibility and biocompatibility. However, the low SERS sensitivity of non-noble metal substrates also limited their detection performance. Therefore, it is crucial to design a non-noble metal substrate with high SERS sensitivity for nucleic acid detection. In this study, we found that the photo induction (30min) of Ce-MOF has high SERS performance (abbreviated as Ce-MOF30). It is due to that photo-induction can regulate the energy level of the Ce-MOF and break the benzene-C bonds to introduce a defect energy level, which provides additional charge transfer channels. The Ce-MOF30 substrates can achieve an enhancement factor (EF) of 6.71×106 for Methylene blue (MB), about 7-fold higher than pristine Ce-MOF, which is the best Ce-based SERS substrate so far. Finally, a SERS detection platform was fabricated by combining the Mg2+ assisted dual signal amplification for miRNA 141 assay, and the detection limit was 1.72fM. This work proposed a simple photo-induction strategy to enhance SERS performance, which supplied a new detection platform for detection of nucleic acid and further expand the application of non-noble metal substrate in SERS field.

A relatively simple preparation strategy of void-involved Fe2O3/C and its lithium storage

A relatively simple preparation strategy of void-involved Fe2O3/C and its lithium storage

Global Context Volume construction and semantics-guided disparity refinement for stereo matching

The accuracy of stereo matching has been greatly improved with the advent of convolutional neural networks. However, existing methods still perform poorly in regions of low-texture and reflections due to insufficient matching information. In this paper, we propose a novel semantic stereo matching network named GSSNet, which combines global context information with high-level semantic clues to further enrich the matching features. Specifically, we employ Swin Transformer as a joint feature extractor to capture multi-scale global features for both semantic segmentation and disparity estimation. By fusing low-resolution multi-scale feature maps progressively, we construct a Global Context Volume (GCV) representation covering long-range receptive field for initial disparity estimation. Initial disparities are further refined with a high-level embedding learned from the semantic segmentation branch of the network through residual learning. During training, due to the lack of joint annotations, we also propose a simple and effective pseudo-labeling strategy. Comprehensive experimental results demonstrated on various datasets manifest the effectiveness of the proposed GSSNet. Among all published methods as of 9, February 2024, our approach ranks 1st on KITTI 2012 leaderboard and 3rd on KITTI 2015 leaderboard, and produces competitive results on Scene Flow and Cityscapes datasets. Code will be available at https://github.com/Twil-7/GSSNet.

Stable, recyclable, hybrid ionic-electronic conductive hydrogels with non-covalent networks enhanced by bagasse cellulose nanofibrils for wearable sensors.

Conductive hydrogels are utilized in flexible sensors due to their high-water content, excellent elasticity, and shape controllability. However, the sharp increase in resistance of this material under enormous strain leads to instability in the sensing process. This study presents a straightforward method for creating a stable, recyclable, hybrid ionic-electronic conductive (HIEC) hydrogel via a simple one-pot strategy using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), bagasse cellulose nanofibrils (CNF), and graphene(G) with sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS). The SDBS/G hemimicelles are formed through hydrophobic and π-π stacking interactions between SDBS and G, enhancing the dispersibility of G. Then SDBS/G hemimicelles were integrated into a non-covalent cross-linking network from CNF and PVA, which ensures recyclability and stability. The CNF-PVA-Graphene (CPG) hydrogel exhibited high and stable sensing sensitivity (average gauge factor up to 1.99), high conductivity (0.36S/m), low graphene concentration (0.16wt%), low detection limit (1%), and fast response time (0.17s). The sensor can detect large (wrist and knee) and small (pulse and laryngeal prominence) body movements. After recycling, the hydrogel sensors maintained high conductivity sensitivity (average gauge factor up to 1.01) and good tensile properties (360% strain). This study introduces a new approach of hybrid conductive biomass-based hydrogel sensors for precisely monitoring human movements.

Sustainable surface coating strategy for the Interface compatibilization of hybrid high-density polyethylene microfibers and geopolymer-based composite: A versatile path for an efficient brittle to ductile-like transition

Geopolymer-based mortars (GMs) are known for their high compressive strength, but their brittleness under tensile and bending loads has limited their structural applications. To overcome these challenges, enhancing the fiber-matrix interface in fiber-reinforced GMs is crucial to achieve better load transfer. In this study, we employed an eco-friendly, non-invasive, and scalable surface coating method by dispersing metakaolin particles on the fiber surface. The fibers' chemical structure, morphology, thermal stability, and mechanical properties were analyzed, confirming the successful treatment with no major defects. When incorporated into GMs at 0.3 wt.%/binder, the treated fibers achieved remarkable mechanical improvements, including a 1,065% increase in flexural toughness, a 190% rise in flexural strength, and notable strain-hardening behavior, marking a transition from brittle to ductile-like failure. Additionally, the flexural modulus, split tensile strength, and compressive strength increased by 92%, 154%, and 7%, respectively. These results demonstrate the effectiveness and the potential of such a simple and sustainable fiber compatibilization strategy in developing durable, high-performance fiber-reinforced geopolymer composites for construction applications.

The efficacy of targeted therapy and/or immunotherapy with or without chemotherapy in patients with colorectal cancer: A network meta-analysis.

The use of targeted drugs and immunotherapy has significantly impacted the treatment of Colorectal Cancer. However, horizontal comparison among various regimens is extremely rare. Therefore, we evaluated the survival efficacy of multiple treatment regimens of targeted therapy and/or immunotherapy with or without chemotherapy in patients with Colorectal Cancer. A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases, covering the period from the establishment of the databases to October 29, 2024. To obtain articles that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and contained the required data for conducting a network meta-analysis (NMA). The NMA evaluated overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). A total of 90 studies were identified, comprising a sample size of 33,167 subjects. In terms of PFS, compared with simple chemotherapy strategies, most of the other single or combined strategies are significantly effective, among which targeted therapy strategies have more advantages. Encorafenib+Binimetinib+Cetuximab (ENC-BIN-CET) shows significant benefits in all comparisons except when compared with Chemotherapy+Cetuximab+Dalotuzumab (Chemo-CET-DAL), Encorafenib+Cetuximab (ENC-CET), and Panitumumab+Sotorasib (PAN-SOT). The ENC-CET and PAN-SOT targeted strategies also show significant benefits. Pembrolizumab (PEM) monotherapy has advantages over all others except when it is not superior to some targeted strategies. Chemotherapy+Bevacizumab+Atezolizumab is only inferior to some strategies. In terms of OS, the combinations of Chemotherapy+Bevacizumab, ENC-CET, Chemotherapy+Panitumumab, and ENC-BIN-CET are superior to simple chemotherapy regimens. ENC-BIN-CET shows OS benefits in all comparisons except some. ENC-CET significantly improves OS in most cases, and PEM also significantly improves OS in some regimens. In the probability ranking of OS and PFS, ENC-BIN-CET has the best effect, followed by ENC-CET. In conclusion, pembrolizumab is still effective in prolonging survival. Dual- and triple-drug targeted strategies are the best in terms of OS and PFS, and the combination of targeted immunotherapy and chemotherapy also works. However, not all combinations are beneficial. As targeted drugs play an active role, specific drugs for colorectal cancer regimens should be carefully selected.

A simple strategy to overcome strength-ductility trade-off via tailoring ferrite characteristic in medium Mn steel

This study examined the role of ferrite (tempered martensite) characteristics on the austenite mechanical stability and the mechanical properties of medium Mn steel. It was found that the morphology of ferrite in the annealed microstructure has a significant impact on the austenite mechanical stability and mechanical properties of medium Mn steel. The large massive ferrite grains distributed minimal strain during tensile loading, resulting in significant interphase strain incompatibility and consequently low total elongation and austenite mechanical stability of the experimental steel. Inserting a short-duration high-temperature annealing into the traditional intercritical annealing (IA) process can reduce the proportion of blocky ferrite grains by promoting the nucleation of austenite within the defect-free martensite block in the hot-rolled microstructure of the experimental steel. By adjusting the duration of high-temperature annealing, it is possible to simultaneously optimize the ferrite morphology and intrinsic mechanical stability of austenite, drastically enhancing the mechanical properties of medium Mn steel. In this study, the total elongation of the experimental steel increased from 25.1% to 46.3%, and the product of strength and elongation (PSE) increased from 25.75 GPa·% to 52.78 GPa·%. Ferrite regulation provides a new strategy for medium Mn steel to overcome strength-ductility trade-off through simple processing.

Electrospun robust, biodegradable, bioactive, and nanostructured sutures to accelerate the chronic wound healing

The design and development of advanced surgical sutures with appropriate structure and abundant bio-functions are urgently required for the chronic wound closure and treatment. In this study, an integrated technique routine combining modified electrospinning with hot stretching process was proposed and implemented to fabricate poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) nanofiber sutures, and the Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge-Radix Puerariae herbal compound (SRHC) was encapsulated into PLLA nanofibers during the electrospinning process to enrich the biofunction of as-generated sutures. All the PLLA sutures loading without or with SRHC were found to exhibit bead-free and highly-aligned nanofiber structure. The addition of SRHC was found to have no significant influences on the fiber morphology, diameter, and the crystallinity of as-prepared PLLA sutures. Importantly, all the SRHC-contained PLLA nanofiber sutures possessed excellent tensile and knot strength, which were of significant importance for the surgical suture applications. Besides, the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of these sutures obviously enhanced with the increasing of SRHC concentration. Furthermore, thein vitrocell tests illustrated that the high fiber orientation of the sutures was able to efficiently induce the human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) to migrate in a rapid manner, and the sutures loaded with high content of SRHC could significantly promote the attachment and proliferation of HDFs in comparison. Thein vivodiabetic mouse model experiments revealed that all the as-developed PLLA sutures could effectively close the wound, but the PLLA sutures containing high content of SRHC could dramatically promote the wound healing with high quality by shortening the healing time, improving the collagen deposition, neovascularization, and the regeneration of hair follicles, especially compared with commercial polyester (PET) suture. This study offers a simple and easily-handling strategy to develop robust, biodegradable, bioactive, and nanostructured PLLA sutures, which shows huge potential for the treatment of hard-to-heal diabetic wounds.

Simple and effective strategies to pick up foods for a meal assistant robot integrated with an integrated spoon and chopstick mechanism

Simple and effective strategies to pick up foods for a meal assistant robot integrated with an integrated spoon and chopstick mechanism

Rapid and accurate demultiplexing of direct RNA nanopore sequencing datasets with SeqTagger.

Nanopore direct RNA sequencing (DRS) enables direct measurement of RNA molecules, including their native RNA modifications, without prior conversion to cDNA. However, commercial methods for molecular barcoding of multiple DRS samples are lacking, and community-driven efforts, such as DeePlexiCon, are not compatible with newer RNA chemistry flowcells and the latest-generation GPU cards. To overcome these limitations, we introduce SeqTagger, a rapid and robust method that can demultiplex direct RNA sequencing datasets with 99% precision and 95% recall. We demonstrate the applicability of SeqTagger in both RNA002/R9.4 and RNA004/RNA chemistries and show its robust performance both for long and short RNA libraries, including custom libraries that do not contain standard poly(A) tails, such as Nano-tRNAseq libraries. Finally, we demonstrate that increasing the multiplexing up to 96 barcodes yields highly accurate demultiplexing models. SeqTagger can be executed in a standalone manner or through the MasterOfPores NextFlow workflow. The availability of an efficient and simple multiplexing strategy improves the cost-effectiveness of this technology and facilitates the analysis of low-input biological samples.

Regulating Interphase Chemistry by Targeted Functionalization of Hard Carbon Anode in Ester-based Electrolytes for High-Performance Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Commercial hard carbon (HC) anode suffers from unexpected interphase chemistry rooted in the parasitic reactions between surface oxygen-functional groups and ester-based electrolytes. Herein, an innovative strategy is proposed to regulate interphase chemistry by tailoring targeted functional groups on the HC surface, where highly active undesirable oxygen-functional groups are skillfully converted into a Si-O-Si molecular layer favorable for anchoring anions. Then, an inorganic/organic hybrid solid electrolyte interphase with low interfacial charge transfer resistance and enhanced cycling durability is constructed successfully. Consequently, the modified HC anode delivers an excellent rate capability of 206.2 mAh g-1 at 0.5 A g-1 and a remarkable capacity retention of 92.5% after 1000 cycles at 1.0 A g-1. Moreover, the coin-type full-cell equipped with Na2Fe[Fe(CN)6] cathode exhibits an exceptional capacity retention ratio of 80.9% after 800 cycles at 1C. The present simple and effective interfacial modification strategy offers a promising and alternative avenue for promoting the development and practicability of HC anode in ester-based electrolytes for sodium-ion batteries.