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This paper provides an overview of the structure and performance of Chinese integrated pond fish farming systems, based on analysis of survey data for 1013 ponds on 101 farms in eight Chinese provinces. A province-by-province examination of gross and net fish yields supports the traditional Chinese classification of provinces into high, medium and low productivity classes according to fish farm output: average net fish yields for surveyed ponds in each class were 7958.4981 and 3321 kg ha-1 year-1 respectively. The paper includes summaries and analyses of data on fish stocking and harvesting, use of feeds and fertilizers, fish—animal integration, capital inputs, and the overall cost and revenue structure in each productivity class. In addition to variations in aggregate input and output levels, a key difference between productivity classes is seen to lie in the stocking model utilized; filter-feeding fish dominate in poorer areas, while ‘feeding fish’ (grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idella (Valenciennes), black carp, Myhpharyngodoti piceus (Richardson), and omnivorous carps) dominate in high-productivity provinces. These results are examined in light of regional differences in culturing tradition, socio-economics, infrastructure, climate and geographical factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A transparent population modelling approach is used to analyse a large-scale extensive fish culture system, the bighead carp, Aristichthys nobilis (Richardson 1845), fishery in a Chinese reservoir. The population model incorporates explicit sub-models for density-dependent growth and size-dependent mortality, and allows the assessment of stocking density, seed fish size, fishing mortality (fishing effort), and gear selectivity. The process of model building and parameter estimation from stocking and catch data is described in detail. The full analysis is carried out in computer spreadsheets where all model components are visible and can easily be modified to take account of specific conditions, or to explore different assumptions. The practical use of the model in management decision making is discussed, together with data requirements and the possible need for experimental management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine changes in the work nature of nurses after the introduction of Health Care Assistants (HCAs). Background: HCAs with a role similar to those adopted in the UK of assisting the nurse were piloted in a teaching hospital in Hong Kong. Method: A quasi-experimental design was used to compare the observed activities of HCAs and nurses in four wards of a teaching hospital, before and after the introduction of HCAs. As the amount of staff activity is influenced by the amount of work, patient dependency data were gained from record reviews and nurse interviews. Findings: HCAs in orthopaedic and medical wards provided more basic care than those in surgical and gynaecological wards. Nurses in wards with HCAs performed significantly fewer activities than nurses in control wards. Conclusions: HCAs presence accounted for a reduction in both direct and indirect care provided by nurses. Overall, HCAs provided more basic than technical and indirect care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between the dwelling time of trains and the crowding situations at Mass Transit Railway (MTR) stations in Hong Kong. Regression models were established for the dwelling delays of trains due to congestion at stations, and a simulation model making use of the Monte-Carlo technique is developed to assess the reliability of the estimated train dwelling time. Therefore, the distribution and the confidence interval of the train dwelling time can be predicted on the basis of observed boarding and alighting distributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim This paper is based on research into case management that aimed to evaluate the processes of the introduction of case management for elderly people into the community nursing services in Hong Kong. Background The Hospital Authority in Hong Kong introduced a pilot Case Management scheme into the Community Nursing Services. A research project was therefore developed to evaluate this case management model. Method The processes were measured through information gained from group interviews, daily diaries and weekly activity sheets. Findings The roles and work practices of the Care Co-ordinators and Case Managers are described and the benefits of case management to patients, carers and nurses are highlighted. Difficulties are also discussed and good practices are identified. Conclusion Staff in the hospital and community need time to get used to the model of case management and to the accompanying documentation. The role of the case manager needs to be clearly dilineated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This study set out to capture the work dynamics and impact of nurse managers during healthcare restructuring. Background: The nurse managers are instrumental to healthcare reform in which the ultimate goal is the promotion of a cost-effective healthcare delivery system. Methods: A case study approach was used. Interviews were conducted with 12 nurse managers working in an acute hospital in Hong Kong. The data was analysed initially by thematic analysis, followed by the extended case method. Findings: This study showed that the coalition of the nurse and manager role gives rise to the professional-managerial class (PMC). These nurse PMCs enjoyed the kind of power, job satisfaction and work autonomy that frontline nurses did not experience. They managed nurses who predominantly occupied the workforce and managed nursing care that composed the main bulk of work in hospital service. Conclusions: The emergence of a group of nurse managers is essential to a cost-effective service, and to maximize nursing efforts in healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several approaches to preventing burnout are compared. One hundred and fifty-four nurses in five Hong Kong hospitals completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), the Organizational Socialization Inventory (OSI), and three measures of personal stress management. Results indicated that favourable evaluations on the four OSI domains (job training, organizational understanding, coworker support and future prospects) yielded strong negative correlations with the burnout components. Also, the personal stress management measures had strong negative correlations with depersonalization and decreased personal accomplishment, but none were related to emotional exhaustion. Stepwise regression analyses indicated that training was the only (inverse) predictor of emotional exhaustion, whereas interpersonal skills and understanding were strong (inverse) predictors of depersonalization. Additionally, interpersonal skills and coworker support were excellent (inverse) predictors of decreased personal accomplishment. The findings are discussed in terms of their relevance to nursing administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The average annual daily traffic (AADT) volumes can be estimated by using a short period count of less than twenty-four hour duration. In this paper, the neural network method is adopted for the estimation of AADT from short period counts and for the determination of the most appropriate length of counts. A case study is carried out by analysing data at thirteen locations on trunk roads and primary roads in urban area of Hong Kong. The estimation accuracy is also compared with the one obtained by regression analysis approach. The results show that the neural network approach consistently performed better than the regression analysis approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buses will remain the backbone of public transport systems for some time to come because of their lower cost and higher flexibility in relation to rail transport. However, buses are perceived as being an inferior mode of public transport and do not offer as much carrying capacity as rail transport. Following the Curitiba model, this paper looks at the potential for transferring some of the key advantages of rail transport to bus operations. This involves transforming bus stops into enclosed stations, with ticket purchase and/or checking in the station and at-grade access to vehicles. It also involves the extensive use of bus lanes. The potential contribution of transport telematics is looked at, in particular the use of smartcards for payment in a closed fare system. The potential role of the Curitiba model for China is assessed in the context of toll road construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the overpressure and petroleum generation and accumulation in the Dongying Depressions of the Bohaiwan Basin in China. Occurrence of abnormally high formation pressures; Sedimentation and distribution of centers of active petroleum generation; Magnitude of overpressuring.

Cross-border passengers from Hong Kong to Shenzhen by the east Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR) through the Lo Wu customs exceed nearly 200 thousand on a special day such as a day during the Chinese Spring Festival. Such heavy passenger demand often exceeds the processing and holding capacity of the Lo Wu customs for many hours a day. Thus, passengers must be metered off at all entrance stations along the KCR line through ticket rationing to restrain the number of passengers waiting at Lo Wu within its safe holding capacity. This paper proposes an optimal control strategy and model to deal with this passenger crowding and control problem. Because the maximum passenger checkout rate at Lo Wu is fixed, total passenger waiting time is not affected by the control strategy for given time-dependent arriving rates at each station. An equity-based control strategy is thus proposed to equalize the waiting times of passengers arriving at all stations at the same time. This equity is achieved through optimal allocation of the total quota of tickets to all entrance stations for each train service. The total ticket quota for each train service is determined such that the capacity constraint of the passenger queue at Lo Wu is satisfied. The control problem is formulated as a successive linear programming problem and demonstrated for the KCR system with partially simulated data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Amur sturgeon, Acipenser schrenckii is a large riverine species (max. 3 m length and 190 kg weight) native to the Amur River. In the middle Amur River, males first spawn at 7–8 years of age and females at 9–10 years. Due to overfishing and habitat alteration, the abundance of wild stocks has rapidly declined in recent years. Using wild adults, artificial spawning began in the 1950s in China, and since the early 1990s Amur sturgeon has become the most popular sturgeon for aquaculture. The species is adaptive to many conditions of artificial culture, including traditional Chinese fish culture ponds, lakes, reservoirs, and cages. It will grow well on many types of food, and 1-year-old fish reared on commercial diets weigh 900–1200 g. Based on the examination of females reared for broodstock, first full sexual maturity is expected at 5–6 years of age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current method to classify graphite morphology types of grey cast iron is based on traditional subjective observation, and it cannot be used for quantitative analysis. Since microstructures have a great effect on the mechanical properties of grey cast iron and different types have totally different characters, six types of grey cast iron are discussed and an image-processing software subsystem that performs the classification and quantitative analysis automatically based on a kind of composed feature vector and artificial neural network (ANN) is described. There are three kinds of texture features: fractal dimension, roughness and two-dimension autoregression, which are used as an extracted feature input vector of ANN classifier. Compared with using only one, the checkout correct precision increased greatly. On the other hand, to achieve the quantitative analysis and show the different types clearly, the region segmentation idea was applied to the system. The percentages of the regions with different type are reported correctly. Furthermore, this paper tentatively introduces a new empirical method to decide the number of ANN hidden nodes, which are usually considered as a difficulty in ANN structure decision. It was found that the optimum hidden node number of the experimental data was the same as that obtained using the new method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an elastic demand network equilibrium model for networks with transit and walking modes. In Hong Kong, the multi-mode transit system services over 90% of the total journeys and the demand on it is continuously increasing. Transit and walking modes are related to each other as transit passengers have to walk to and from transit stops. In this paper, the multi-mode elastic-demand network equilibrium problem is formulated as a variational inequality problem where the combined mode and route choices are modeled in a hierarchical logit structures and the total travel demand for each origin-destination pair is explicitly given by an elastic demand function. In addition, the capacity constraint for transit vehicles and the effects of bi-directional flows on walkways are considered in the proposed model. All these congestion effects are taken into account for modeling the travel choices. A solution algorithm is developed to solve the multi-mode elastic-demand network equilibrium model. It is based on a Block Gauss-Seidel decomposition approach coupled with the method of successive averages. A numerical example is used to illustrate the application of the proposed model and solution algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the most populous country in the world with a heavy reliance on public transit, China's public transit privatization has a global significance. China's post-Mao economic reform and establishment of market-oriented economy have stimulated its public transit privatization at a very fast pace. The largest Chinese cities have been spearheading the implementation of different privatization measures, such as granting franchises, company merger, company reorganization, public/private partnership, responsibility systems, and many others. All these privatization efforts have yielded preliminary successful results, even though some obstacles are encountered. In the future, new privatization-related laws are expected to be enacted, government functions and business functions would be further separated, privatizing other public transit services besides operation would take place, and some negative impacts associated with privatization would be mitigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the analysis and comparisons of discharge headways at 26 sites in Hong Kong. Previous studies here established good understanding of the average discharge headway under various conditions but very few studies dealt with discharge headway of individual vehicles which is a vital component in the traffic simulation at signalized intersections. This study that looked into the discharge headway of individual vehicles found that the discharge headway at different queue position follows the Type I Extreme Value Distribution. A method of estimating site-specific parameters for this distribution has also been proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complete cytochromeband the control region of mtDNA (about 2070 bp in total) of 10 strains belonging to three subspecies of the common carp, including three wild subspecies (the Yangtze River wild common carp– Cyprinus carpio haematopterus, Yuanjiang River wild common carp– Cyprinus carpio rubrofuscusand Volga River wild common carp– Cyprinus carpio carpio) and seven domestic strains (Xingguo red carp, Russian scattered scaled mirror carp, Qingtian carp, Japanese Koi carp, purse red carp, Big-belly carp, German mirror carp) were sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the 10 strains form three distinct clades, corresponding toC. c. haematopterus,C. c. rubrofuscusandC. c. carpiorespectively. Purse red carp, an endemic domestic strain in Jiangxi province of China, showed a higher evolution rate in comparison with the other strains ofC. c. haematopterus, most probably because of intensive selection and a long history of domestication. Base variation ratios among the three subspecies varied from 0.78% (betweenC. c. haematopterusandC. c. rubrofuscus) to 1.47%(betweenC. c. carpioandC. c. rubrofuscus). The topography of the phylogenetic tree and the geographic distribution of three subspecies closely resemble each other. The divergence time betweenC. c. carpioand the other two subspecies was estimated to be about 0.9 Myr and about 0.5 Myr betweenC. c. haematopterusandC. c. rubrofuscus. Based on phylogenetic analysis,C. c. rubrofuscusmight have diverged fromC. c. haematopterus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different factors have been shown to influence the development of models of advanced nursing practice (ANP) in primary-care settings. Although ANP is being developed in hospitals in Hong Kong, China, it remains undeveloped in primary care and little is known about the factors determining the development of such a model. The aims of the present study were to investigate the contribution of different models of nursing practice to the care provided in primary-care settings in Hong Kong, and to examine the determinants influencing the development of a model of ANP in such settings. A multiple case study design was selected using both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. Sampling methods reflected the population groups and stage of the case study. Sampling included a total population of 41 nurses from whom a secondary volunteer sample was drawn for face-to-face interviews. In each case study, a convenience sample of 70 patients were recruited, from whom 10 were selected purposively for a semi-structured telephone interview. An opportunistic sample of healthcare professionals was also selected. The within-case and cross-case analysis demonstrated four major determinants influencing the development of ANP: (1) current models of nursing practice; (2) the use of skills mix; (3) the perceived contribution of ANP to patient care; and (4) patients’ expectations of care. The level of autonomy of individual nurses was considered particularly important. These determinants were used to develop a model of ANP for a primary-care setting. In conclusion, although the findings highlight the complexity determining the development and implementation of ANP in primary care, the proposed model suggests that definitions of advanced practice are appropriate to a range of practice models and cultural settings. However, the findings highlight the importance of assessing the effectiveness of such models in terms of cost and long-term patient outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a procedure for the estimation of origin-destination (O-D) matrices for a multimodal public transit network. The system consists of a number of favored public transit modes that are obtained from a modal split process in a traditional four-step transportation model. The demand of each favored mode is assigned to the multimodal network, which is comprised of a set of connected links of different public transit modes. An entropy maximization procedure is proposed to simultaneously estimate the O-D demand matrices of all favored modes, which are consistent with target data sets such as the boarding counts and line segment flows that are observed directly in the network. A case study of the Hong Kong multimodal transit network is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is primarily transmitted by bio-aerosol droplets or direct personal contacts. This paper presents a detailed study of environmental evidence of possible airborne transmission in a hospital ward during the largest nosocomial SARS outbreak in Hong Kong in March 2003. Retrospective on-site inspections and measurements of the ventilation design and air distribution system were carried out on July 17, 2003. Limited on-site measurements of bio-aerosol dispersion were also carried out on July 22. Computational fluid dynamics simulations were performed to analyze the bio-aerosol dispersion in the hospital ward. We attempted to predict the air distribution during the time of measurement in July 2003 and the time of exposure in March 2003. The predicted bio-aerosol concentration distribution in the ward seemed to agree fairly well with the spatial infection pattern of SARS cases. Possible improvement to air distribution in the hospital ward was also considered. Our study revealed the need for the development of improved ventilation and air-conditioning systems in an isolation ward or a general hospital ward for infectious respiratory diseases. The outbreak in Ward 8A, which was in a general hospital and could house nearly 40 patients, demonstrated the cross-infection risks of respiratory infectious diseases in hospitals if a potential highly infectious patient was not identified and isolated. Our example simulation, which extended the SARS Busters’ design for an isolation room to Ward 8A, demonstrated that there was room for improvement to minimize cross-infection in large general hospital wards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a case study is carried out in Hong Kong for demonstration of the Transport Information System (TIS) prototype. A traffic flow simulator (TFS) is presented to forecast the short-term travel times that can be served as a predicted travel time database for the TIS in Hong Kong. In the TFS, a stochastic deviation coefficient is incorporated to simulate the minute-by-minute fluctuation of traffic flows within the peak hour period. The purposes of the case study are: 1) to show the applicability of the TFS for larger-scale road network; and 2) to illustrate the short-term forecasting of path travel times in practice. The results of the case study show that the TFS can be applied to real network effectively. The predicted travel times are compared with the observed travel times on the selected paths for an OD pair. The results show that the observed path travel times fall in the 90% confidence interval of the predicted path travel times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of coexistent duodenal ulcer and gastric cancer in China, then to explore the features of clinical manifestations, endoscopy, pathology and possible pathogenesis. A retrospective analysis has been made on medical records in Remin Hospital, Wuhan University, Hubei Province, China from January 1991 to December 2002. 37 cases of coexistent duodenal ulcer and gastric cancer were found. 24.3% (9/37) had previous history of duodenal ulcer. 81.0% (30/37) of them lack alarm symptoms or signs and 87.1% (27/31) had alleviation in abdominal pain by acid inhibitor. Duodenal ulcer was single in all cases with seven in A1 stage, three in A2 stage, one in H1 stage, one in H2 stage, seven in S1 stage and 18 in S2 stage. 89.2% (33/37) of concurrent gastric cancer were in the corpus and antrum, with 78.1% (29/37) of them belonging to Bormann type II and 87.1% (27/37) being moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma. 83.7% of patients (31/37) had positive rapid urease test. The coexisting gastric cancer in patients with duodenal ulcer is infrequent but not rare. Gastroscopy screening and routine follow-up are necessary for patients with duodenal ulcer. Helicobacter pylori may be important pathogen for it. Helicobacter pylori eradication is recommended in patients with duodenal ulcer to reduce the risk of contaminant gastric cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Thiopurine drugs are used as immunosuppressant or cytotoxic drugs. Thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) methylates and thereby modulates the therapeutic and toxic effects of these drugs. The activity of TPMT is affected by genetic polymorphism of TPMT alleles, and these alleles have not been studied in Tibetans and Bolivians. Objectives: To analyse the TPMT allelic frequencies in Tibetans and Bolivians. Methods: We developed an inexpensive method for collecting blood and extracting genomic DNA. Genomic DNA was extracted from blood spots of 50 Tibetans and 115 Bolivians. The frequencies of allelic variants of TPMT gene ( TPMT*1 to TPMT*8) were determined using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique. Results: The allelic frequencies of TPMT*1 were 99 and 93·48% for Tibetans and Bolivians, respectively. The corresponding allelic frequencies of TPMT*3A were 0 and 6·52% and those of TPMT*3C were 1·0 and 0%. No TPMT*2, 3B, 3D, 4–8 were found in these two populations. Conclusions: As with Caucasian populations, TPMT*3A is the most prevalent mutant allele in Bolivians. Our results may be of value in helping to guide the prescription of thiopurine drugs in these populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents several plenary lectures on indoor air quality. Discussion on indoor air quality; Quantitative relations between indoor environmental quality and work performance or health; Indoor air pollution from household fuel combustion in China; Investigation on transient thermal environment.

The tongue sole Cynoglossus semilaevis, an inshore fish in China, has showed great potential in aquaculture recently. However, poor survival was recorded during the period of weaning from live Artemia to artificial diets. In this paper, the influence of co-feeding larvae with live and inert diet on weaning performance was described. The C. semilaevis larvae were reared at 21 ± 1 °C and fed four different feeding regimes from 6 days post-hatching (dph): A, Artemia (10 individuals mL−1); B, Artemia (5 individuals mL−1); C, mixed diet (10 Artemia individuals mL−1 and 12 mg L−1 inert diet); and D, mixed diet (5 Artemia individuals mL−1 and 12 mg L−1 inert diet). Rotifers were also supplied in all cases during the first days of feeding. Mixed diets of commercial formulated feed and live prey (rotifers and Artemia) allowed larvae to complete metamorphosis, achieving similar specific growth rate (SGR) (18.5 ± 1.4% and 18.7 ± 1.6%) and survival (40 ± 7.6% and 48.5 ± 6.8%) compared with larvae fed on live feed alone (SGR of 18.3 ± 1.2%, 19.3 ± 1.9% and survival of 41.2 ± 11.3%, 38 ± 4.9%). However, in metamorphosed fish, when live feed was withdrawn on 31 dph, there was significant difference ( P < 0.05) in survival and growth among treatments. Metamorphosed fish, previously fed mixture diets during larval stages, had similar survival (62.1 ± 7.6% and 62.8 ± 3.9% for regimes C and D, respectively) but higher than that obtained for fish that previously fed on live feed (49.3 ± 2% and 42.1 ± 3.9% for regimes A and B, respectively) after weaning (day 60). The SGR of weaned fish previously fed live feed was similar (3.1 ± 0.6% and 2.92 ± 0.6% for regimes A and B, respectively) but lower than that recorded for fish that was fed from day 6 to day 30 on the mixed diet (4.5 ± 1.1% and 4.9 ± 0.3% for regimes C and D, respectively). It is suggested that weaning of C. semilaevis from early development would appear to be feasible and larval co-feeding improves growth and survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barriers faced by general practitioners in Hong Kong to manage patients with depression and anxiety disorders and their association with postgraduate qualification in family medicine were studied. Postal questionnaires were sent to 179 family medicine tutors affiliated with a university in Hong Kong with a response rate of 64.2%. ‘Too time consuming’ was the largest barrier for these physicians in treating patients with depression and anxiety. General practitioners without higher qualifications in family medicine were significantly more likely to report ‘lack of confidence’, ‘lack of experience’ and ‘lack of supporting service’ as being the barriers in treating patients with depression and anxiety. Our results showed that time constraint is an important barrier for general practitioners in managing patients with depression and anxiety in Hong Kong. Having a higher qualification in family medicine may reduce the barriers of having lack of confidence and experience in these physicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A long-term field investigation was carried out in naturally ventilated residential buildings in Shanghai from April 2003 to November 2004. A total of 1768 returned questionnaires were collected in the study. This study deals with the thermal sensation of occupants in naturally ventilated buildings and the change in thermal neutral temperature with season. The range of accepted temperature in naturally ventilated buildings is between 14.7°C Top and 29.8°C Top. The results also report the findings of the adaptive comfort model in Shanghai that determines the adaptive relationship of neutral temperature with outdoor air temperature. Practical Implications A long-term field study was carried out in residential buildings in Shanghai to find the relationship between thermal sensation, indoor neutral temperature and outdoor temperature. This paper presents findings of thermal comfort and discusses the more sustainable standard for the indoor climate of residential buildings in Shanghai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to assess the adjunctive effects of orlistat on weight loss and the influence of weight reduction on glycaemic control in overweight Chinese female type 2 diabetic patients. A randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind, 12-week study was conducted. Chinese female type 2 diabetic patients, overweight (body mass index > 25 kg/m2), poorly controlled glucose levels [glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) > 8%], were randomly assigned to two groups. In addition to their oral hypoglycaemic agents (maximal doses of sulphonylureas and metformin), one group ( n = 30) received a placebo and the other ( n = 30) received orlistat 120 mg t.i.d. for 12 weeks. Comparing the changes that occurred after 12 weeks in the orlistat and placebo groups, the former showed significantly greater reduction in bodyweight (2.5 vs. 0.4 kg; p < 0.05), fasting plasma insulin level (p < 0.01), 2-h postprandial blood glucose after glucose challenge (p < 0.01), insulin resistance (p < 0.01), HbA1c (p < 0.05), total cholesterol and triglyceride levels (p < 0.05, respectively). No significant differences were found between treatment groups in blood pressure and heart rate. The addition of orlistat to oral hypoglycaemic agents resulted in a significant weight reduction and improvement of metabolic control in overweight Chinese female type 2 diabetic patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic improvement using the mass selection method of growth performance and stripe pattern on caudal fin in selected F6, F7 and F8 generations from genetically improved farmed tilapia strain Nile tilapia was evaluated at the National Tilapia Seed Farm of Qingdao, north China. In experiment I (2003), the average of daily body-weight gain of F7 was 12.5% higher than F6, and 28.6% higher than F5 ( P<0.05). In experiment II (2004), the average daily body-weight gain of F8 was 12.9% larger than F7, and 56.9% larger than F6 ( P<0.05). Coefficient of variation [(SD/mean)100] of body weight of F8 decreased significantly ( P<0.05) to 79.7% of F6 and 72.9% of F7, respectively, indicating that the growth became more synchronous after continuous selection. The percentage of fish with ideal vertical and parallel stripes on caudal fins in F5, F6, F7 and F8 reached 24.8%, 28.8%, 32.2% and 37.6%, respectively, significantly higher than that of the base population (17.6%) ( P<0.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective – To determine the prevalence of dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) in rural China. Methods – A cross-sectional study was conducted within a cohort of adults older than 50 years of age in Linxian County, China. A Chinese version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (CMMSE) was used to screen cases of possible dementia. Three different cutoff points on CMMSE were applied depending on the participant's level of education. The participants then were given psychiatric interviews, medical and neurological examinations, and psychometric tests to ascertain the clinical diagnoses of dementia and AD. Results – Among the 16,095 participants, 5.26% were screened positive with 374 diagnosed as having dementia. Among them, AD accounted for 80.5%. The adjusted prevalence rates were 0.33%, 0.89%, 3.43%, and 8.19% in people in age groups 50–54, 55–64, 65–74, and 75 and above, respectively. The prevalence of AD correlated with the participant's level of education, and was 2.61%, 0.94%, and 0.56% in the illiterate group, in the primary school group, and in the middle school or higher group, respectively. Adjusted by education levels a higher prevalence in women was observed in the illiterate group. Conclusions – The prevalence of dementia in this population is similar to that reported from other areas in mainland China and Taiwan with aging being a significant risk factor. After controlling for age, being a female and having received less number of years of education were associated with an higher prevalence of AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the proliferation of Scylla paramamosain's aquaculture in China. It could be noted that Scylla paramamosain is the most common mud crab under genus Scylla in the country. The farming of mud crabs has grown rapidly across the country and was approximately 50,000 tonnes in 2003. S. paramamosain is considered to be more abundant along the coasts of the South China Sea among the four mud crab species. However, their classification was held controversial due to their changing taxonomy in the past. It was then argued in 1960 that the genus Scylla has a single species Scylla serrata.

We compared the school environment, asthma and allergy in 10 schools in Taiyuan, China, with eight schools in Uppsala, Sweden. In total 2193 pupils (mean age 13 years) participated. Chinese pupils had more respiratory symptoms, particularly daytime breathlessness after exercise (29.8% vs. 7.1%; P < 0.001), while cat allergy (1.2% vs. 6.6%; P < 0.001) and dog allergy (1.3% vs. 4.0%; P < 0.01) was less common. Cumulative incidence of asthma (1.8% vs. 9.5%; P < 0.001) and doctor's diagnosed asthma (1.2% vs. 9.0%; P < 0.001) were less common in China, indicating an under-diagnosis of asthma. Chinese classrooms were colder (mean 14.7 vs. 21.4°C), more humid (mean 42% vs. 31% RH) and had higher CO2-levels (mean 2211 vs. 761 ppm). Levels of cat (Fel d1), dog (Can f1) allergens were low in settled dust from China (<200 ng/g dust), but high in airborne dust on Petri-dishes (GM 16.8 ng/m2/day for Fel d1 and 17.7 for Can f1). The Swedish settled dust contained cat, dog and horse allergens in high levels (median 1300 ng/g, 1650 ng/g, 1250 U/g dust, respectively). In conclusion, there were large differences in the school environment, and in respiratory symptom and allergy. Allergen measurements in settled dust only may largely underestimate the classroom exposure. Practical Implications There is a need to improve the school environment, both in China and Sweden. The Swedish schools contained high levels of cat, dog and horse allergens and more amounts of open shelves and textiles that can accumulate dust and allergens. The air measurements indicated that Chinese schools may contain significant amounts of cat and dog allergen, and analysis of settled dust only may not reflect the true allergen exposure. Since the Chinese schools had no mechanical ventilation, they could not fulfill the ventilation standard in winter, and hence there is a need for improving the ventilation. The great discrepancy between respiratory symptoms and reports on asthma, and the high prevalence of attacks of breathlessness without wheeze, may have implication for future questionnaire studies on asthma in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive risk analysis should always precede a stocking program. In order to determine the genetic effects of the program, information on genetic composition of the population both prior and after the stocking program is required. Genetic variations within and among three annual spawning runs of Chinese sturgeon were measured by six microsatellites. We found substantial genetic variation remaining within all spawning runs, probably related to the recent nature of the population impact, the longevity of the species, and their apparent self-incompatibility. A subtle genetic structure was detected in the annual spawning runs by an unsupervised self-organizing model. Meanwhile these genetically differentiated spawning stocks may occur sympatrically on a small geographic scale. These results further suggest that the current supportive breeding of A. sinensis may require a careful identification of broodstocks in artificial propagation in order to avoid admixture and hybridization among these genetically different spawning stocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the facilities and techniques of fingerling production for the Chinese Sturgeon (Acipencer sinesis) cultivation as practiced in the hatchery of the Yangtze River Fisheries Research Institute are described. Initiation of feeding in larvae, adaptation of young fish to formulated feeds, water temperature control, and maintaining other water quality parameters within limits as well as disease control techniques were the key factors affecting the survival rate and growth performance of young Chinese Sturgeons. The suitable range of water temperatures for fingerling rearing is considered to be between 18 and 22. The feed conversion rate when using formulated turtle-feed at 70 days post-hatch was 0.45 while that of specific sturgeon-feed was 0.67. Under our experimental conditions, SGR (Specific Growth Rate) of the young Chinese sturgeon was 8.15% day-1, 7.71% day-1 and 6.96% day-1 in the years 2000, 2001 and 2003, respectively. Fingerlings of 10-15 cm total length were produced in our facilities and were at that time ready for release into the natural Chinese Sturgeon habitats. Disease control still is a major problem requiring more intensive research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquaculture of Spinibarbus denticulatus (Oshima, 1926), a fish species indigenous to North Vietnam and Eastern China, is constrained by lack of fingerlings for stocking ponds and cages. As these fish do not naturally breed in captivity, carp pituitary extract (CPE), luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone analogue (LHRHa) with domperidone (DOM) and human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) were administered at various doses to induce ovulation. A first set of experiments evaluated the response to LHRHa (30, 40 and 50 μg kg−1) with or without DOM (10 mg kg−1), CPE (20, 30 and 40 mg kg−1) and HCG (3000, 4000 and 5000 IU kg−1). A second set of experiments evaluated the dose response to LHRHa (30, 35, 40 and 50 μg kg−1) primed with 6 mg kg−1 of CPE, and HCG (3000, 3500, 4000, 5000 IU kg−1) primed with 6 mg kg−1 of CPE. The treatment groups were compared with each other and the control (injected with 0.9% saline solution). Only 25% and 50% ovulation resulted when treated with LHRHa at 40 and 50 μg kg−1, whereas 100% ovulation was achieved with an addition of DOM to LHRHa. Both 30 and 40 mg kg−1 CPE induced 100% ovulation. However, HCG (4000 and 5000 IU kg−1) induced ovulation in only 33% of females. When primed with CPE, the minimum dose of LHRHa required was 35 μg kg−1 to achieve 70% ovulation. Priming HCG with CPE also resulted in 100% ovulation, and the minimum effective dose of HCG to induce ovulation was 3500 IU kg−1 with 60% ovulation. Fertilization and hatch rates observed in this study with different hormonal stimulation were high (80–93%). The results indicate that while the use of combined hormone strategy has no apparent advantage over a single hormone strategy, LHRHa+DOM (40 μg kg−1+10.0 mg kg−1) and CPE (30 mg kg−1) are most effective in consistently inducing ovulation and thus can be used for commercial hatchery production of S. denticulatus larvae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives – To investigate the significance of oligoclonal bands (OCBs) and intrathecal IgG fractions (IgGIF) for the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) in northern China. Materials and methods – OCBs in cerebrospinal fluid from 30 patients with MS, 34 with other inflammatory neurological diseases (IND) and 22 with non-inflammatory neurological diseases (NIND) were detected using isoelectric focusing. IgGIF was calculated based on corresponding formula. Results – There was no significant difference in the frequencies of positive OCBs and elevated IgGIF between the MS group and the IND group. Compared with NIND, the MS and IND groups had a significantly higher incidence of OCBs and elevated IgGIF. The sensitivity, specificity and positive result likelihood ratio of OCBs for the diagnosis of MS were 63.3%, 74.2% and 2.5 respectively; those of IgGIF were 36.7%, 84.5% and 2.4. Conclusions – The two parameters, OCBs and IgGIF are of less diagnostic value for MS in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2001–2003, a team of researchers from the United States and China performed an independent, multidisciplinary review of China's National Improved Stove Program carried out since the 1980s. As part of a 3500-household survey, a subsample of 396 rural households were monitored for particulate matter less than 4 μm (PM4) in kitchens and living rooms over 24 h, of which 159 were measured in both summer and winter. Carbon monoxide was measured in a 40% subsample. The results of this indoor air quality (IAQ) component indicate that for nearly all household stove or fuel groupings, PM4 levels were higher than – and sometimes more than twice as high as – the national PM10 standard for indoor air (150 μg PM10/m3). If these results are typical, then a large fraction of China's rural population is now chronically exposed to levels of pollution far higher than those determined by the Chinese government to harm human health. Further, we observed highly diverse fuel usage patterns in these regions in China, supporting the observations in the household survey of multiple stoves being present in many kitchens. Improved stoves resulted in reduced PM4 from biomass fuel combinations, but still not at levels that meet standards, and little improvement was observed in indoor pollution levels when other unimproved stoves were present in the same kitchen. As many households change fuels according to daily and seasonal factors, resulting in different seasonal concentrations in living rooms and kitchens, assessing health implications from fuel use requires longitudinal evaluation of fuel use and IAQ levels, combined with accurate time-activity information. Practical Implications Leaving aside the difficult issue of enforcement, it is uncertain whether Chinese household IAQ standards represent realistic objectives for current attainment given current patterns of energy consumption in rural China, which rely so heavily on unprocessed solid fuels. Even when used with chimneys, these fuels emit substantial pollution into the household environment. It is probable that low-emission technologies involving gaseous/liquid fuels or high combustion - efficiency biomass stoves need to be promoted in order to achieve these standards for the greater part of the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a case study of the prediction, potential and control of plume in wet cooling towers from a huge commercial building in Hong Kong based on the weather data available for a particular year. The power input is found to be lower and the coefficient of performance (COP) moderate when all the 10 towers with low speed are in use, while it is found to be reverse when there are five towers, especially, three low and two high-speed towers are used. It is also found that the combined heating and cooling option can be a better approach than that of the heating option alone from the point of view of thermodynamics as well as from the point of view of economics. The COP of the chillers increases from 6.01 to 7.09 when the number of cooling towers increases from five to ten. On the other hand, the power consumption first decreases and then increases which is mainly due to the increment in the consumption of fan power from 270 to 900 kW for both options. The overall power consumption decreases slightly for the combined heating and cooling option, while in the heating option, the overall power consumption increases slightly. However, it is observed that a proper operation of cooling towers is an effective means to control and/or at least reduce the potential of visible plume generated by wet cooling towers at the existing chilling plant design for this particular building. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, reasonable paths in transit networks are defined as possible paths that satisfy the acceptable time criterion and transfer-walk criterion. A recursive algorithm for finding all of the reasonable paths in a transit network that does not involve a rapid increase in program run-time with network size is presented. Realistic transit networks in Hong Kong and Guangzhou were selected as case studies of the different phases of the development of a trip planning system. Transport planning practitioners and potential users were invited to test the system to evaluate its performance. The results of the prototype evaluation were satisfactory, and the viability of the system as a useful tool for supporting decision-making has been confirmed by the positive feedback that was obtained from survey questionnaires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B3G–TDD uplink in China's FuTURE project is introduced in the paper. By taking advantage of MIMO–OFDM and special design for the TDD frame, peak data rate of 100 Mbps can be achieved. The system is required to support service in both indoor and outdoor environments, and guarantee high data rate communication even with mobility up to 250 kmph. Detail theoretical analysis was carried out to give the principle of designing frame structure for the system under different environments. In order to reduce the influence of Doppler Effect, adaptive frame structure is proposed for the uplink. By special design on the frame for different environments, the channel information can be tracked accurately with low overhead, which ensures the system performance. Through simulation based on the platform of Future Technologies for Universal Radio Enviroment (FuTURE) project, bit error rate (BER) can achieve lower than 10-6 when Eb/N0 is 3 dB for various mobility case in both indoor and outdoor environments, which satisfies the requirement of FuTURE project. By employing it into B3G–TDD uplink, robustness to Doppler Effect is strengthened greatly. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Danzhixiaoyao Wan (DW) is a common 10 herbs formulation in China for regulating several clinical conditions affecting women. This research tried to explain one of DW's functions, purging heat, using in vitro pharmacological analyses. The whole formulation and each single herb of DW were compared based on antioxidant activity with the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay, and for their inhibitory effect (IE) on nitric oxide (NO) production by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated RAW 264.7 macrophages with the Griess assay. The results showed that DW as a whole formulation had both antioxidant activity and an IE on NO production, while the individual herb component of DW varied in their ORAC values and inhibition of NO production. The ORAC value of the whole DW was 450 µmol TE g-l. The order of antioxidant (ORAC) activity of the single herbs was: Mentha haplocalyx (1352 µmol TE g-1) > Glycyrrhiza uralensis (1184 µmol TE g-1) > Gardenia jasminoides (1129 µmol TE g-1) > Paeonia suffruticosa (465 µmol TE g-1), with the contributions being additive rather than synergistic. The production of nitrite by stimulated RAW 264.7 murine macrophages (unstimulated: 0.5 ± 0.1 µM versus LPS: 38.9 ± 2.3 µM) was significantly inhibited (P < 0.05) by M. haplocalyx, G. jasminoides, Bupleurum chinense and Paeonia lactiflora. DW as a whole had an IE on NO production, but this was not significant. The single herb M. haplocalyx had the highest ORAC value and the highest IE on NO production, followed by G. jasminoides. Both of these herbs have the 'purging heat' property in the theory of traditional Chinese medicine and this property of the samples may be correlated with the antioxidant activity and IE on NO production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the mid-1990s, the effectiveness of road safety measures in Hong Kong has been weakening. Six administrations in Australia, California, Great Britain (GB), Japan, New Zealand and Sweden are selected to help review the road safety activities in Hong Kong. Nine main components of the road safety strategy, including vision, objectives, targets, action plan, evaluation and monitoring, research and development, quantitative modeling, institutional framework and funding are summarized from the road safety strategies of these overseas administrations and compared to that of Hong Kong. It is found that Hong Kong's road safety activities have to be restructured to make significant improvement. In the future, a new approach structured by the nine different road safety components is recommended. The lessons learnt can be generalized to smooth the progress of other administrations at the Intermediate Stage towards the Advanced Stage of road safety development by using the short-, medium- and long-term approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New advances in instrumentation, demonstration of proof-of-principle studies, and development of new tools and methods for data analysis and interpretation have enabled the technique of Synchrotron Radiation Circular Dichroism (SRCD) spectroscopy to become a useful tool for structural and functional biology. This paper discusses the characterisation of two new SRCD beamlines, CD1 at the Institute for Storage Rings (ISA), Denmark and 4B8 at the Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility (BSRF), China, and new applications of the method for examining biological systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to characterize and predict stock returns series in Shanghai stock exchangeusing the concepts of nonlinear dynamical theory. Surrogate data method of multivariate time seriesshows that all the stock returns time series exhibit nonlinearity. Multivariate nonlinear predictionmethods and univariate nonlinear prediction method, all of which use the concept of phase spacereconstruction, are considered. The results indicate that multivariate nonlinear prediction modeloutperforms univariate nonlinear prediction model, local linear prediction method of multivariatetime series outperforms local polynomial prediction method, and BP neural network method.Multivariate nonlinear prediction model is a useful tool for stock price prediction in emergingmarkets.

The method of spectral analysis is employed to research the spatial dynamics of urban populationdistribution. First of all, the negative exponential model is derived in a new way by usingan entropy-maximizing idea. Then an approximate scaling relation between wave number andspectral density is derived by Fourier transform of the negative exponential model. The theoreticalresults suggest the locality of urban population activities. So the principle of entropy maximizationcan be utilized to interpret the locality and localization of urban morphology. The wave-spectrummodel is applied to the city in the real world, Hangzhou, China, and spectral exponents can givethe dimension values of the fractal lines of urban population profiles. The changing trend of thefractal dimension does reflect the localization of urban population growth and diffusion. Thisresearch on spatial dynamics of urban evolvement is significant for modeling spatial complexityand simulating spatial complication of city systems by cellular automata.

This study examined the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) group for Chinese people with depression in Hong Kong. Ninety-six subjects with depression were randomly assigned to CBT and control groups. After 10 weeks of treatment, participants in the CBT group had significantly fewer symptoms of depression, dysfunctional rules, and negative emotions, and significantly more adaptive coping skills when compared to the participants in the control group. Effect size statistics showed medium to large differences in symptoms of depression, coping skills, dysfunctional rules, and assumptions and negative emotions between the participants of the two groups (Cohen's d, between 0.50 and 0.88, except for positive emotions). Forty percent of the participants in the experimental group achieved a clinically significant level [reliable change index (RC)>1.96] of improvement. Lastly, the results of a multiple regression analysis provided some evidence of a linkage between cognition and depression among the participants in the experimental group. The design and content of the CBT groups, which aimed at facilitating the understanding and modification of automatic thoughts and dysfunctional rules, and of negative and positive coping skills among the participants, might have contributed to the initial positive results. Depression and Anxiety 0:1–7, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objective: Inappropriate medication use may harm patients. We analysed medication incident reports (MIRs) as part of the feedback loop for quality assurance. Methods: From all MIRs in a university-affiliated acute general hospital in Hong Kong in the period January 2004–December 2006, we analysed the time, nature, source and severity of medication errors. Results: There were 1278 MIRs with 36 (range 15–107) MIRs per month on average. The number of MIRs fell from 649 in 2004, to 353 in 2005, and to 276 in 2006. The most common type was wrong strength/dosage (36·5%), followed by wrong drug (16·7%), wrong frequency (7·7%), wrong formulation (7·0%), wrong patient (6·9%) and wrong instruction (3·1%). 60·9%, 53·7% and 84·0% of MIRs arose from handwritten prescription (HP) rather than the computerized medication order entry in 2004, 2005 and 2006 respectively. In 43·1% of MIRs, preregistration house officers were involved. Most errors (80·2%) were detected before any drug was wrongly administered. The medications were administered in 212 cases (19·7%), which resulted in an untoward effect in nine cases (0·8%). Conclusions: The most common errors were wrong dosage and wrong drug. Many incidents involved preregistration house officers and HPs. Our computerized systems appeared to reduce medication incidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molecular phylogeographical analyses of Anotogaster sieboldii (Selys, 1854) were conducted to reveal the differentiation process of insular populations. The gene genealogy based on 845 bp of the mitochondrial genes (cytochrome oxidase subunit I and subunit II) indicated that A. sieboldii includes two deeply separated lineages. These two major lineages seem to have differentiated in Miocene before the formation of the insular East Asia. One lineage includes three inner clades that correspond to the populations of northern area (the Japanese main islands, Korean Peninsula, Yakushima), Amamioshima and Okinawajima. Populations of Central Ryukyu, including Amamioshima and Okinawajima, might have been divided from the northern populations in early Pleistocene. The other major lineage includes populations of the Yaeyama Group, Taiwan and East China. The former two populations were reconstructed as a reciprocal monophyletic group. Populations of Taiwan and Yaeyama Groups would have been separated from the continental ones in Pleistocene. These two highly divergent lineages should be recognized as distinct species. Furthermore, the mitochondrial lineages revealed six genetically distinct and geographically isolated assemblages: (1) northern populations, (2) Amamioshima, (3) Okinawajima, (4) Yaeyama Group, (5) Taiwan and (6) East China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eight native species of Acipenseriformes mainly inhabit three geographical regions in China: the Yangtze system, the Amur system and the Xinjiang area. All sturgeon populations in China have suffered from various anthropogenic impacts, pushing them to rarity or extirpation in most of their historical range. Sturgeon aquaculture in China has become popular since 1998 with eleven species and hybrids presently being cultured. In this paper, we firstly review the development and current status of aquaculture with sturgeons and paddlefish in China. Secondly, we present some of the main conclusions that can be drawn from previous conservation genetic and phylogenetic studies in native sturgeon species. The sturgeon trade control in China is also reported in this review. Considering the outcome of all previous studies, we conclude, firstly, in sturgeon aquaculture, capture breeding program is the key to establish a sustainable sturgeon culture industry in China, which will also help sturgeon conservation. Secondly, in conservation genetics, the influence of restocking and release programmes on native populations need to be assessed much more comprehensively in order to avoid admixture and hybridization among genetically different spawning stocks. This holds especially for Chinese sturgeon and Amur sturgeon. Thirdly, in trade control, considering the current endangered status of this species, catch quotas should be based on the results of scientific investigations rather than on official statistics of harvest records. Finally, species identification methods based on the combination of mitochondrial and nuclear markers are still unsufficiently developed in China and in need of rapid attention. They are the first step in structuring and implementing a successful conservation programme and provide the necessary tools for effective international trade control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaves of Adinandra nitida are consumed in southern China as health tea (Shiyacha) and as herbal medicine. In this study, the methanol and supercritical fluid extracts from leaves of A. nitida were obtained by traditional solvent extraction and supercritical carbon dioxide extraction, respectively. Both the extracts showed high 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity. By using ultraviolet-visible spectrometry (UV), infrared spectrometry (IR), nuclear magnetic resonance, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), high-performance liquid chromatography-ESI/MS, the main bioactive constituents in the methanol extract (ME) were identified as camellianin A, camellianin B, apigenin. By analysis of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, a total of 16 compounds accounting for 98.79% of the supercritical fluid extract (SFE) were identified as γ-sitosterol, vitamin E, γ-tocopherol and so on. These compounds found in ME and SFE could contribute to the DPPH radical scavenging performance of the extracts in this study. PRACTICAL APPLICATION Adinandra nitida is a kind of particular wild plant in South China. Few reports have been published about it in the world. In this study, the methanol and supercritical fluid extracts from leaves of A. nitida were respectively obtained by two kinds of industrially significant methods, traditional solvent extraction and supercritical carbon dioxide extraction. By using ultraviolet-visible spectrometry (UV), infrared spectrometry (IR), nuclear magnetic resonance, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), high-performance liquid chromatography-ESI/MS, gas chromatography-MS, the main bioactive constituents in the two extracts were identified as flavonoids and plant sterols. Both the extracts showed high 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity and this activity of the flavonoid-rich methanol extract was 10 times more than that of butylated hydroxytoluene. These results showed that leaves of A. nitida is a new kind of natural antioxidant-rich, flavonoid-rich plant source with great commercial interest in the food and phytopharmaceutical market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]