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Considering the random impulses of mechanical noise and the limitations involved while identifying mechanical fault impulse signals via traditional measurement indices of signal-to-noise ratio, which require the characteristic frequency to be known in advance, this study proposes an adaptive unsaturated stochastic resonance method employing maximum cross-correlated kurtosis as the signal detection index. The proposed method combines the features of a cross-correlated coefficient to indicate periodic fault transients and those of spectrum kurtosis to locate these transients in the frequency domain. Actual vibration signals collected from motor and gear bearings subjected to heavy noise are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Through a coarse tree-based machine learning method, the proposed method is verified to be more suitable for explaining the periodic impulse components of bearing signals, as compared to the ensemble empirical mode decomposition denoising method and unsaturated stochastic resonance using the kurtosis-intercorrelation index.

Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is associated with high morbidity and mortality. We aimed to investigate associations between hepatic histology and clinical characteristics in treatment-naïve children with CHB in Shanghai, China.The liver biopsy specimens of 278 treatment-naïve children with CHB virus infection were scored for inflammation and fibrosis, and correlations with clinical and laboratory data were determined.CHB clinical, virologic, and pathologic features were studied in 278 treatment-naïve children (177 [63.7%] males) in Shanghai, China. Maternal sera were positive for hepatitis B surface antigen for 277 children. At biopsy, 87.4% of patients were hepatitis B e antigen-positive. The median age at biopsy was 5.1 years (interquartile range 2.8-8.4 years). Hepatitis B virus (HBV) deoxyribonucleic acid levels were generally high (mean 7.4 logSubstantial heterogeneity in inflammatory and fibrotic levels was observed in treatment-naïve children with CHB in Shanghai, China. Serum ALT levels80 U/l may be a strong indicator of the degree of hepatic inflammation and fibrosis severity. Moderate fibrosis and cirrhosis can appear in children aged 3 years or younger.

Nociception refers to the process of encoding and processing noxious stimuli, which allow animals to detect and avoid potentially harmful stimuli. Several types of stimuli can trigger nociceptive sensory transduction, including thermal, noxious chemicals, and harsh mechanical stimulation that depend on the corresponding nociceptors. In view of the high evolutionary conservation of the mechanisms that govern nociception from Drosophila melanogaster to mammals, investigation in the fruit fly Drosophila help us understand how the sensory nervous system works and what happen in nociception. Here, we present an overview of currently identified conserved genetics of nociception, the nociceptive sensory neurons responsible for detecting noxious stimuli, and various assays for evaluating different nociception. Finally, we cover development of anti-pain drug using fly model. These comparisons illustrate the value of using Drosophila as model for uncovering nociception mechanisms, which are essential for identifying new treatment goals and developing novel analgesics that are applicable to human health.

An unsaturated stochastic resonance (USR) method to overcome the output saturation phenomenon observed in the classical bistable stochastic resonance (CBSR) method has been examined. However, the parameters of USR models can lead to inaccurate results while identifying the characteristic frequency amid high levels of background noise. To overcome this limitation, an adaptive piecewise hybrid stochastic resonance (APHSR) method that introduces a parameter μ to improve the performance of fault characteristic detection is proposed. The optimal parameters are determined automatically using both 3D reverse positioning and least-squares methods, combing with signal-to-noise ratio and spectral value as evaluation criteria. The significance of parameter μ is demonstrated by analyzing the critical amplitude and Kramers' escape rate. When the results were evaluated through comparison with the CBSR and USR methods via a simulation and two experiments on a motor and a parallel gearbox, it was demonstrated to be more capable of diagnosing the early faults of rotating machinery especially in high levels of background noise.

Balamuthia amoebic encephalitis has a subacute-to-chronic course and is almost invariably fatal owing to delayed diagnosis and a lack of effective therapy. Here, we report a 13-year-old girl with cutaneous lesions and multifocal granulomatous encephalitis. The patient underwent a series of tests and was suspected as having tuberculosis. She was treated with various empiric therapies without improvement. She was finally correctly diagnosed via next-generation sequencing of the cerebrospinal fluid. The patient deteriorated rapidly and died 2 months after being diagnosed with Balamuthia mandrillaris encephalitis. This study highlights the important clinical significance of next-generation sequencing, which provides better diagnostic testing for unexplained paediatric encephalitis, especially that caused by rare or emerging pathogens.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) virus infection is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. We aim to investigate the association between hepatic histology and clinical characteristics in asymptomatic treatment-naïve children chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) in Shanghai China. METHODS: Liver biopsies of 278 asymptomatic treatment-naïve children with chronic hepatitis B virus infection were scored for inflammation and fibrosis, and correlated with clinical and laboratory data. RESULTS: The clinical, virologic and pathologic features of chronic HBV infection were studied in 278 treatment-naïve children from Shanghai, China, of who were all asymptomatic. And 177 (63.7%) of the children were male. Sera from mothers of 277 of these children were HBsAg positive. Up to 87.4% of subjects were hepatitis B e antigen-positive at the time of the biopsy. The median age at biopsy was 5.1 years (interquartile range 2.8-8.4 years). HBV DNA levels were generally high (mean 7.4 log10 IU/mL), as was serum alanine aminotransferase (median 105 U/L). Using the Ishak-modified histology activity index scoring system, no inflammation was seen in 2.9% cases, mild inflammation was in 22.3%, moderate in 73.4%, and severe in 1.4%. No fibrosis was seen in 11.5%, mild fibrosis in 32.7%, moderate fibrosis in 47.5%, and cirrhosis in 8.3%. When serum ALT level was < 80 (2×ULN) and > 80 U/L, the degree of inflammation (PP<3 and >3 years (P<3 years at biopsy. No correlation was found between histological changes with gender, HBV genotypes or HBV DNA levels. CONCLUSION: Significantly wide range of inflammation and fibrosis is seen in asymptomatic treatment-naïve children with chronic hepatitis B in Shanghai China. Serum ALT >80 U/L may be a strong indicator of the degree of hepatic inflammation and severity of fibrosis. Moderate fibrosis and cirrhosis has already appeared in aged <3 years children.

Objective. We investigated the expression patterns, potential functions, unique prognostic value, and potential therapeutic targets of E2Fs in brain and CNS cancer and tumor-infiltrating immune cell microenvironments. Methods. We analyzed E2F mRNA expression levels in diverse cancer types via Oncomine and GEPIA databases, respectively. Moreover, we evaluated the prognostic values using GEPIA database and TCGAportal database and the correlation of E2F expression with immune infiltration and the correlation between immune cell infiltration and GBM and LGG prognosis via TIMER database. Then, cBioPortal, GeneMANIA, and DAVID databases were used for mutation analysis, PPI network analysis of coexpressed gene, and functional enrichment analysis. Results. E2F1-8 expression increased in most cancers, including brain and CNS cancer. Higher expression in E2F1, 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8 indicated poor OS of LGG. Higher E2F3–6 and E2F1–8 expressions correlated with poor prognosis and increased immune infiltration levels in CD8+ T cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and DCs in GBM and CD8+ T cells, B cells, CD4+ T cells, neutrophils, macrophages, and DCs in LGG, respectively. Conclusion. E2F1–8 and E2F2–8 could be hopeful prognostic biomarkers of GBM and LGG, respectively. E2F3–6 and E2F1–8 could be likely therapeutic targets in patients with immune cell infiltration of GBM and LGG, respectively.

Objective: To study and compare the clinical effects of azithromycin and erythromycin on children with mycoplasma pneumonia. Methods: Total 132 children with mycoplasma pneumonia who were admitted to our hospital between November 2017 and September 2018 were selected as the research subjects. All the children were divided into an observation group and a control group according to random number table, 66 each. The observation group was treated with azithromycin, while the control group was treated with erythromycin. The therapeutic effect, incidence of adverse reactions and disappearance time of clinical symptoms were compared between the two groups. Results: The total efficacy of the observation group was 98.04%, and that of the control group was 74.51%; there was a significant difference (X2=7.184, P=0.007). The incidence of adverse reactions in the observation group was 15.69%, significantly lower than that in the control group (41.18%) (X2=6.376, P=0.002). The disappearance of fever, cough, rale and X ray shadow of the observation group was significantly earlier than that of the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P

Breast cancer is a malignant tumor that seriously affects females’ physical health, which is the leading cause of cancer death among Chinese female. Estimating early diagnostic and prognostic markers are helpful to conduct treatment for patients with breast cancer. Accumulating investigations focused on the role of Jab1 and S100A8 proteins in the development and metastasis. In our study, we performed the immunohistochemical stain for Jab1 and S100A8 in breast carcinoma and para-carcinoma samples. We have found that the positive rate of Jab1 and S100A8 in breast cancer was higher than that in para-carcinoma tissues. The expression level of Jab1 and S100A8 in breast cancer might have a close relationship with the histologic grade and lymphatic metastasis. The two proteins might be promising supplementary targets for the treatment and prognosis of breast cancers in clinical pathology.

Objective: To investigate the clinical effect of budesonide nebulization in the treatment of ventilator associated pneumonia of newborns and its safety. Methods: Forty-five newborns who had ventilator associated pneumonia and were admitted into the Binzhou People’s Hospital between May 2014 and May 2015 were selected and included as an observation group. Moreover, another forty-five newborns who had ventilator associated pneumonia but did not undergo budesonide treatment in 2014 were randomly selected and included as a control group. Patients in the observation group were given budesonide suspension nebulization in addition to the conventional treatment. The evaluation indicators for therapeutic effect were compared between the two groups. The changes of head circumference, height and weight and death rate were observed by follow up after treatment. Results: The mechanical ventilation time, time for recovering from chest X-ray scan and hospitalization time of patients in the observation group were shorter than that of the control group, and the difference had statistical significance (P0.05). The cumulative death rate of the observation group in the 6th month after treatment was significantly lower than that of the control group, and the difference had statistical significance (P

Weak vibration signals generated by faults in rolling element bearings are often masked by high levels of background noise, which leads to inaccurate fault detection. To overcome the masking, a stochastic resonance based on decomposition and reconstruction method is employed for early bearing fault diagnosis. First, theoretical analysis is performed to confirm the requirement for signal preprocessing. Subsequently, a novel cross correlation kurtosis is defined as an index to obtain an optimal intrinsic mode function after empirical mode decomposition. Finally, the preprocessed signal is clarified via a stochastic resonance method and reconstructed for bearing fault diagnosis. Combined with ensemble bagged trees-based machine learning, the decomposition and reconstruction stochastic resonance method was beneficial for detecting fault signals from incoming noisy vibration signals using simulated and actual vibration signals. According to the results, the proposed method was superior to traditional stochastic resonance method and variational mode decomposition with the k-number method.