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Despite high hepatitis B (HBV) prevalence among people of Vietnamese ethnicity in Australia and elsewhere, there is limited research on levels of HBV knowledge and factors associated with such knowledge. The aim of this study was to examine HBV knowledge and associated demographic and attitudinal factors among people of Vietnamese ethnicity in Australia. People of Vietnamese ethnicity (n = 966) were recruited through community events and social media groups to complete online surveys measuring HBV knowledge, attitudes towards HBV, levels of mistrust in Western medicine, and demographic characteristics. Findings of this study indicate that levels of knowledge are mixed, with gaps in knowledge related to transmission and treatment of the virus. Those with greater knowledge of HBV tended to be older, have higher levels of formal education, have been tested for HBV, and know someone living with HBV. Those with lower levels of knowledge tended to have more negative attitudes towards the virus and greater levels of mistrust in Western medicine. Given that health literacy is connected to effective communication from health providers, we suggest that there is a need for the development of health promotion and education resources targeted at people of Vietnamese ethnicity and translated into Vietnamese. We propose that such resources be developed in consultation with Vietnamese communities and health providers to ensure that they are culturally appropriate and sensitive to people of Vietnamese ethnicity living in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of Nb and Cu on the microstructure and hardness of quenching–partitioning–tempering (Q–P–T) dual-phase steels was investigated. Nanostructured martensite and retained austenite were obtained when the steels were treated with a Q–P–T process. The hardness, volume fraction of retained austenite and final carbon content in austenite of the Nb + Cu-containing steel were higher than the Nb-containing steel. This was attributed to the promotion of Nb precipitation by the addition of Cu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of quenching temperature and tempering time on the microstructure, content of retained austenite and carbon content in retained austenite of a copper and niobium alloyed medium carbon steel were investigated by using optical, electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Results showed the microstructure of the quenching–partitioning–tempering steel consisted of lath martensite, retained austenite and carbides. With the increase of quenching temperature, the martensite laths became coarsened and the content of retained austenite increased. With the increase of tempering time, the content of retained austenite initially increased, reached to the maximum at 600 s and then gradually decreased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore whether ozonated oil recovery atopic dermatitis (AD) via immunoregulation. Methods: Mice were repeatedly challenged with the triplex allergens of staphylococcal enterotoxin B, ovalbumin and calcipotriol ointment on the back to develop AD lesions, and were treated with ozonated oil. The lesional skins were scanned by reflectance confocal microscopy to measure the thickness of epidermis. The skin tissues were stained. Th1-type and Th2-type cytokines in serum and in tissues were detected by ELISA and real-time PCR, respectively. Results: Ozonated oil significantly inhibited inflammation and healed the lesions in 7 d. Ozonated oil inhibited NGF expression as compared to the groups treated with vehicle or PBS (p < .01).The serum proteins and lesional transcripts of Th2 cytokines including IL-4 and IL-31 were lower in the ozonated oil treated group than the groups treated with vehicle or PBS (p < .05). The IL-10 level was increased with treatment of ozonated oil (p < .01). On the other hand, the expressions of Th1 cytokines including IL-2, TNF-α, and IFN-γ in the serum were not regulated by ozonated oil. Conclusions: Our results showed that ozonated oil could suppress inflammation in an AD murine via decreasing Th2-dominant cytokines response and increasing IL-10 expression. These suggest that ozonated oil may be a potential remedy for AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fragmentation of Cu75Zr25 amorphous films with varying film thickness on polyimide substrates has been investigated by uniaxial tensile testing, in combination with in situ electrical resistivity measurements, optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy. It is revealed that the cracking strain monotonically increases as decreases, which can be attributed to the constraint effect of film thickness on shear band formation and the columnar structures in the thicker films. Similarly, the buckling strain also increases with decreasing , with the delamination of Cu75Zr25 amorphous films following the strain energy criterion. The adhesion energy between Cu75Zr25 film and polyimide is estimated to be of ∼ 6.5 J m−2 based on the buckle geometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbide-free and carbide-bearing bainitic steels have been obtained. The relationship between the bainitic microstructure and wear resistance has been studied. Results show that carbide-free upper and lower bainitic microstructures obtained in the steel with Si + Al mainly consist of bainitic ferrite and retained austenite. Carbide-bearing upper and lower bainitic microstructures obtained in the steel without Si + Al consist of bainitic ferrite, carbide and trace amounts of retained austenite. The carbide-free bainite exhibits higher strength and toughness than carbide-bearing bainite, especially the toughness. Under lower wear loading, carbide-bearing lower bainite (LB) exhibits higher wear resistance. Under higher wear loading, carbide-free LB exhibits higher wear resistance, which results from the improved surface hardness due to straininduced martensitic transformation from the retained austenite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to their interface and nanoscale effects associated with structural peculiarities of nanostructured, face-centered-cubic (FCC) ultrafine-grained/nanocrystalline (UFG/NC) metals, in particular nanotwinned (NT) metals exhibit unexpected deformation behaviours fundamentally different from their coarse-grained (CG) counterparts. These internal boundaries, including grain boundaries and twin boundaries in UFG/NC metals, strongly interact with dislocations as deformation barriers to enhance the strength and strain rate sensitivity (SRS) of materials on the one hand, and play critical roles in their microstructural evolution as dislocation sources/sinks to sustain plastic deformation on the other. In this work, building on the findings of twin softening and (de)twinning-mediated grain growth/refinement in stretched free-standing NT–Ni foils, a constitutive model based on the thermally activated depinning process of dislocations residing in boundaries has been proposed to predict the steady-state grain size and simulate the plastic flow of NT–Ni, by considering the blocking effects of nanotwins on the absorption of dislocations emitted from boundaries. It is uncovered that the stress ratio (ηstress) of effective-to-internal stress can be taken as a signature to estimate the stability of microstructures during plastic deformation. This model not only reproduces well the plastic flow of the stretched NT–Ni foils as well as reported NT–Cu and the steady-state grain size, but also sheds light on the size-dependent SRS and failure of FCC UFG/NC metals. This theoretical framework offers the opportunity to tune the microstructures in the polycrystalline materials to synthesise high performance engineering materials with high strength and great ductility. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Creep tests were performed on the high stacking fault energy (SFE) nanotwinned (NT) Ni free-standing foils with nearly the same twin thickness at room temperature (RT) to investigate the effects of grain size and loading rate on their microstructural stability and creep behaviour. The grain growth mediated by the twinning/detwinning mechanism at low applied stresses (<800 MPa) and grain refinement via the detwinning mechanism at high applied stresses (>800 MPa) were uncovered in the present NT-Ni foils during RT creep, both of which are attributed to the interactions between dislocations and boundaries. It appears that a higher initial dislocation density leads to a faster primary creep strain rate and a slower steady-state creep strain rate. Unlike the non-twinned metals in which grain growth often enhances the creep strain rate, the twinning/detwinning-mediated grain growth process unexpectedly lowers the steady-state creep strain rate, whereas the detwinning-mediated grain refinement process accelerates the creep strain rate in the studied NT-Ni foils. A modified phase-mixture model combined with Arrhenius laws is put forward to predict the scaling behaviour between the creep strain rate and the applied stress, which also predicts the transition from grain growth-reduced to grain refinement-enhanced steady-state creep strain rate at a critical applied stress. Our findings not only provide deeper insights into the grain size effect on the mechanical behaviour of nanostructured metals with high SFE, but also benefit the microstructure sensitive design of NT metallic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Melting plays a critical role in cast parts production, and an electromagnetic field can affect heat transfer in the induction melting process. This paper studied a mathematical model of coupled electromagnetic and temperature fields based on a simplified physical model of the induction melting process. The '' method was applied to solve the electromagnetic governing equations, while the finite difference method of the uneven mesh was used to discretise all the control equations. The simulation results of the self-developed program and ANSYS software for electromagnetic fields had the same distribution trend and both demonstrated a good agreement of current skin effect and magnetic edge effect. However, the result comparisons illustrated that the simulation results of this program were more accurate. The simulation results explained the heat transfer mechanism of cast steel in the induction melting process, and the impact of current and frequency on heat transfer was also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triboelectrostatic Beneficiation is a suitable dry process technique recognized widely to remove unburned carbon from fly ash. One of the most significant problems related to fly ash triboelectrostatic beneficiation is the cross-sectional shape of the friction rods. It has an important effect on tribocharging process. The purpose of this research was to determine which kind of cross-sectional shape of the friction rods was appropriate to improve the efficiency of fly ash tribocharging and to remove unburned carbon. An experimental program was conducted to study the effect of four kinds of friction rods with different cross-sectional shapes on tribocharging of fly ash particles. Fly ash particles with sizes ranging from 38 to 74 µm and averaged LOI of 12.65% were used for the study. The operating conditions were electric field voltage of 40 KV and air flux ranging from 12 to 24 m3/h. The results of the study showed that tribocharging efficiency of circular shape friction rods was higher than that of others shapes of rods The removal unburned carbon efficiency of friction rods with circular shape was the best among the four kinds of friction rods evaluated, based on the LOI and unburned carbon rate removal. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Data hiding in a cover image can be used to assist in secure message communication on the Internet. In this paper, we proposed a hybrid data hiding scheme that is a combination of least significant bit substitution (LSB), exploiting modification direction (EMD) and modification of prediction errors (MPE). The aim is to maintain a balance between embedding quality and embedding capacity where high payload is the motive. The image is first embedded by EMD, or LSB followed by EMD only if the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) is greater or equal T1 dB (45 dB). The remainder payload will be embedded by recursive MPE until the PSNR of the stego-image reaches T2 dB (35 dB). Experimental results showed that the proposed scheme has a higher embedding capacity while maintaining high visual quality of the stego-image than any of the individual method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxidative injury is involved in many diseases, including ischemic and neurodegenerative diseases. Antioxidant drugs can be used to relieve the oxidative injury caused by these diseases; however, there are very few antioxidant drugs available for clinical use. In this study, we found that 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furfural (5-HMF) protects against the oxidative damage induced by cerebral ischemia in rats or by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in PC12 cells. We demonstrated that 5-HMF performs this function via apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease/redox factor-1 (APE/Ref-1). APE/Ref-1 is a multifunctional protein involved in oxidative DNA damage repair through the base excision repair (BER) pathway and in the regulation of the DNA-binding activity of several transcription factors. The current study focused on the role of APE/Ref-1 in the antioxidative properties of 5-HMF. The results show that 5-HMF inhibited the reduction of APE/Ref-1 protein level caused by cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats or H2O2 treatment in PC12 cells. Treatment with an APE/Ref-1 inhibitor blocked 5-HMF-induced protection, suggesting that APE/Ref-1's DNA repair function contributes to antioxidation. In conclusion, this study suggests that APE/Ref-1 may be a potential target for antioxidant drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

S-nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR) is the key enzyme controlling the intracellular levels of S-nitrosoglutathione and S-nitrosothiols. GSNOR has been implicated in many biological processes, such as the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. However, the role of GSNOR, the sole brain alcohol dehydrogenase, in the nervous systems is still largely a mystery. Here we report that GSNOR was induced during the PC12 neuronal differentiation. Luciferase assays indicated that the region of -88bp to -73bp of the GSNOR promoter encodes an essential responsive sequence to nerve growth factor (NGF). Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays revealed NF-κB binds to this essential sequence, which demonstrates that GSNOR can be activated by NF-κB in response to NGF. Blocking either the neurotrophic tyrosine kinase receptor type 1 (TrkA receptor) for NGF or the downstream MEK1/2 pathway inhibited the increase of GSNOR. In contrast to usual neurogenic signals in response to NGF, GSNOR negatively regulated neurite growth; overexpression of GSNOR significantly decreased the percent of differentiated cells, and knockdown of GSNOR promoted the differentiation. To our knowledge, this is the first time the transcriptional mechanism of GSNOR in neuronal differentiation has been explored. We have defined a novel role of GSNOR in neurite development and provide molecular insights into the control of neurite growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, three volume fractions (2, 5 and 10%) of 10 μm SiCp/AZ91 magnesium matrix composite were fabricated by stir casting. The as cast ingots were forged at 420°C with 50% reduction first and then extruded at 370°C with a ratio of 16∶1. The results show that the grain is refined significantly after hot deformation process, which results in the enhancement of tensile properties. The volume fraction of micrometre SiCp has significant effect on grain size by influencing dynamic recrystallisation of magnesium. By the increase in particle volume fraction, the grain size decreases, the dislocation density increases and the load transfer effect is strengthened, thus leading to the significant improvement of yield strength. The ultimate tensile strength of the composite increases with the increase in particle volume fraction due to the improved deformation uniformity of matrix and the enhanced hindering effect on crack propagation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Condensate liquids retrograde below the dew point pressure and diminish gas relative permeability and thus reduce the deliverability of gas condensate wells. The deliverability varies due to the changes of gas effective permeability and other parameters; however, the present deliverability testing methods were not applicable to gas condensate wells because those methods were all based on the assumption that the formation properties such as permeability and fluid properties were constant. A new testing method for gas condensate wells is proposed in this work, by which the variable coefficient deliverability equation can be obtained. Case study shows that the variable coefficient deliverability equation obtained from the proposed deliverability testing method can represent changes of formation properties and fluid properties, thus the deliverability of gas condensate wells can be accurately evaluated and predicted by this testing method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In abnormal pressure gas reservoirs, a traditional binomial deliverability equation is insufficient to accurately describe the gas filtration theory, but only the trinomial deliverability equation considering non-Darcy flow effect and ripple effect can be reasonable to some extent. When gas reservoirs are characterized by low porosity and permeability, strong heterogeneity, and high water saturation, gas flow, similar to liquid flow, is featured in significant threshold pressure gradient effect. Therefore, a threshold pressure gradient is added to the trinomial deliverability equation, and it is derived that the pressure drop caused by the pressure gradient is a variable related to production but not a constant. Consequently, a novel deliverability equation of abnormal pressure gas reservoirs considering variable threshold pressure drop has been established, providing theoretical guidance for determining reasonable gas production in abnormal pressure gas reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Gas-assisted gravity drainage (GAGD), solving the problem of low volume sweep coefficient for continuous gas injection (CGI) or water-alternating-gas injection (WAG) and increasing the ultimate recovery to a great extent, is a latest method for enhancing oil recovery. However, no effective predicting methods of oil recovery for GAGD exists. The oil recovery is determined by a set of parameters, such as heterogeneity of the formation, wettability, oil and gas density, oil and gas viscosity, viscous force, capillary force, gravity, gas injection rate, and other controllable parameters. Based on the research of producing mechanism of GAGD and dimensional analysis method, the authors analyzed four dimensionless varies, capillary number, bond number, gravity number, and gravity drainage number, and evaluated its influence on oil recovery. Considering the effect of wettability, viscosity ratio, and the difference between oil density and gas density, gravity number and gravity drainage number are modified. Relationship of gravity drainage number with recovery is re-established by experiments and case data. Finally a new predicting method of oil recovery for GAGD is set up. Application shows that this method is far more suitable for GAGD and its predictive result is more reasonable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reservoir pressure of condensate gas reservoir is an indispensable parameter for calculation of gas reserves, gas well productivity evaluation, dynamic analysis, and evaluation of anticondensate. The water-drive condensate gas reservoir is ranked among the most complex types during development. In the development process, reservoir pressure declines, condensate oil dropouts, and content of water vapor in condensate gas increases, while edge water invades continuously, thus accurate calculation and prediction of reservoir pressure is particularly difficult and important. Calculation of retrograde gas condensate influenced by porous media adsorption and capillary pressure, and water vapor content in condensate gas tested under different pressure, according to material balance principle, material balance equation of water-drive condensate gas reservoir is established by consideration of absorption in porous media, capillary pressure and water vapor as well, and finally reservoir pressure at any time during production could be computed by iteration. Case study shows that the reservoir pressure calculated by this method gets much closer to actual reservoir pressure and it finally shrinks the workload in field testing and brings more convenience to scientific research and production management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the development of gas condensate reservoirs, condensate oil is separated as reservoir pressure drops to the dew point pressure. The prediction for water breakthrough time, the impact of precipitation of condensate oil, is usually ignored, which results in significant difference between prediction and realistic results. In order to better develop edge water condensate gas reservoirs and accurately predict the water breakthrough time, impact from condensate oil should be considered. Therefore, a new prediction formula of water breakthrough time is derived based on fluid flow in porous media considering impact of anti-condensate. A case study demonstrates that it is necessary to consider impact of condensate oil when predicting water breakthrough time. The new predicting formula provides theoretical basis for further research on edge water displacement mechanism as well as significant guidance for management of edge water gas condensate reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The deliverability of gas condensate well can be calculated by using the modified deliverability equation of dry gas well and the pseudopressure deliverability equation. The modified deliverability equation of dry gas well, without considering the effect of condensate accumulation on the gas flow, results in a relatively large error; the practical application of the pseudopressure deliverability equation is not widespread because of the complex in calculating process of the pseudopressure function. The gas relative permeability and pressure is correlated based on the statistics of gas condensate wells, and an accurate and convenient deliverability equation of gas condensate well is derived. The results of case studies verify that the deliverability equation of gas condensate wells proposed is more appropriate to predict the production of the gas condensate wells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The critical condensate saturation is a key parameter to reflect condensate flow capacity. The authors propose an experimental method to determine the critical condensate saturation and analyze the flow characteristics of gas condensate by coreflooding and chromatography. Using this method, they perform two sets of experiments with real-core of a gas condensate reservoir and a binary mixture fluid of methane and n-pentane under 84°C. Experimental results show that the critical condensate saturation is 3.04% and 4.66% when irreducible water saturation is 40% and 27%, respectively. The results also indicate porous media will raise the dew point pressure. The irreducible water and capillary number effect is conducive to the flow of condensate. Based on experimental researches, the authors theoretically analyze the distribution and mobilization characteristics of condensate. Although critical condensate saturation is low, it doesn't mean the condensate will be able to flow freely when it achieves the value, and condensate saturation will continue to increase. Compositional simulation is performed to demonstrate that the critical condensate saturation is low, which is important for the high effective development of a gas condensate reservoir. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. An experiment was conducted to compare the development and clinical significance of foot pad dermatitis (FPD) in 4 lines of turkey poults kept on wet or dry litter for 6 d. 2. Turkeys kept on wet litter were less active and expressed fewer unique sequences of behaviour than poults kept on dry litter, suggesting that high FPD scores are associated with pain during movement. 3. Heavier lines of turkeys had higher mean foot scores that developed earlier, than those in a traditional line, but the effect was relatively small and not statistically significant after 6 d, whereas there were large differences between individuals within line. 4. Body weight gains were greater, and feed intake was lower in the commercial lines kept on dry litter compared with wet litter. There were no differences in water intake between poults kept on wet or dry litter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Non-ionizing radiation electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is generally recorded to induce the generation of free radicals in vivo. Though mitochondria are the primary site to produce free radicals, a rare report is designed to directly investigate the EMP effects on free radical generation at mitochondrial level. Thus the present work was designed to study how EMP induces free radical generation in rat liver mitochondria in vitro using electron paramagnetic resonance technique. Surprisingly, our data suggest that EMP prevents free radical generation by activating antioxidant enzyme activity and reducing oxygen consumption and therefore free radical generation. Electron spin resonance measurements clearly demonstrate that disordering of mitochondrial lipid fluidity and membrane proteins mobility are the underlying contributors to this decreased oxygen consumption. Therefore, our results suggest that EMP might hold the potentiality to be developed as a non-invasive means to benefit certain diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synthesis of the hard composite coating reinforced with TiB2-TiC on titanium alloy using laser surface engineering has been investigated in detail. A composite coating with metallurgical joint to the substrate was formed. This composite coating mainly consisted of γ-(Fe, Ni), Fe3Al, Al3Ti, TiC, TiB2, Cr7C3 and TiNi. Microstructure of this composite coating revealed microsized blocky precipitates and submicrometre sized sperical precipitates. Compared with the titanium alloy substrate, an improvement of the microhardness and the wear resistance was obtained for this composite coating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Examine incidence and factors associated with loss to follow-up (LTFU) in the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) Longitudinal Linked Randomized Trials (ALLRT) cohort.Method: ALLRT is a prospective cohort of HIV-infected persons randomized to antiretroviral (ARV) regimens/strategies in ACTG trials and followed long-term after the trial ends. Person-years were calculated from ALLRT entry until loss to follow-up (LTFU; defined using off-study reasons or &nvge;3 consecutive missed visits), death/ severe debilitation/site closures, or June 2009 (censored). Poisson regression was used to examine LTFU factors separately among participants who were ARV naïve or ARV experienced at trial entry.Results: Among 4,630 participants (22,524 person-years), 1,140 were lost to follow-up, 237 died, 29 were severely debilitated, and 443 were at sites that closed. The LTFU incidence was 5.5 and 4.2 per 100 person-years among previously ARV-naïve and ARV-experienced participants, respectively. In both groups, age ≤50, site location, being off ARVs, and viral load &nvge;400 copies/mL were associated with a higher risk of LTFU. Among ARV-naïve participants, male sex, education <16 years, intravenous drug use, and cigarette smoking were also associated with LTFU.Conclusion: Knowledge of differential LTFU can help researchers identify participants at risk of LTFU in longitudinal HIV cohorts and design retention strategies, thereby limiting study bias. The identified factors should be included in inverse probability of weighting models to account for LTFU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the 2008 outbreak of nephrolithiasis in children due to melamine-contaminated infant formula has subsided, it remains uncertain whether the present tolerable daily intake (TDI) of melamine provides sufficient protection for young children. To conduct a safety assessment for melamine in infant formula, we established a dose–response relationship based on 13 nephrolithiasis cases selected from 932 children, all of whom were under 5 years of age and had potentially been exposed to contaminated milk in China or Taiwan. According to the children's exposure history, distributions of individual daily melamine intake (mg/kg BW/day) were reconstructed using Monte Carlo simulations to account for uncertainties in exposure duration and melamine concentrations in the contaminated milk. Based on the simulated individual average daily intake (AVDI) of melamine, subjects were further classified into four separate AVDI groups: high, medium, low and a reference group. A statistical logistic model was then fitted for the dose–response relationship between nephrolithiasis incidence and daily melamine intakes using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations. Based on the background exposure, spontaneous rate, and mode of action (MOA) of nephrolithiasis in children, the simulated lower bounds of the 95% CIs daily melamine intake ranged from 0.008 to 0.03 mg/kg BW/day corresponding to an additional risks of 0.1% is proposed as a plausible TDI, which is approximately an order lower than the current WHO-suggested TDI level of 0.2 mg/kg BW/day. More stringent regulations on melamine levels in infant formula should be considered to protect young children fully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Liver cirrhosis represents the end stage of chronic liver injury. Currently, liver transplantation provides the only definite cure but it is beset with many problems, including lack of donors and risk of rejection. Stem cell therapy is very attractive in this setting because it has the potential to help tissue regeneration. In this study, we aimed to investigate the therapeutic effect of peripheral blood monocyte cell (PBMC) transplantation in decompensated liver cirrhosis. Methods A total of 40 subjects (31 men and nine females, age range 21-71 years) was recruited to two groups. Group 1 received granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) mobilization, PBMC collection by leukapheresis and PBMC transplant therapy. Group 2 received G-CSF mobilization for 4 days. At baseline and 6 months after treatment, liver function of the two groups was monitored by blood examination and ultrasonagraphy. Results Both groups gained significant improvement in liver synthetic function, such as serum albumin and prothrombin time, from baseline to 6 months after treatment (P<0.01). However, there was no significant difference in alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and total bilirubin in both groups (P>0.05). Compared with group 2, a significantly improved liver function was observed in group 1, including elevated serum albumin level and a decreased CTP score (P<0.05). No major adverse effects were noted. Discussion Autologous PBMC transplantation could be considered as a novel and alternative treatment for patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) has been employed for the first time to investigate uranium hydride. The deuterated form of uranium hydride (UD3) was formed on a polycrystalline uranium sample by exposure to high-purity D2 gas at room temperature. The characteristic positive and negative secondary-ion fragments observed from uranium hydride are reported and assigned. Our investigations show that negative-ion fragments provide the most unambiguous method for identification of uranium hydride, through the detection of [image omitted] and [image omitted] fragments. In addition, density functional theory (DFT) calculations are presented which confirm the identity and stability of, and also assign structural geometries to, the ion fragments observed within the SIMS experiment. The DFT calculations show that [image omitted] ions adopt a linear arrangement, whereas positive tri- and tetrahydride ions ( [image omitted]) adopt structures based on square planar geometries, although negative tri- and tetrahydride ions ( [image omitted]) adopt structures based on tetrahedral geometries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two copper(I)–dppm complexes, [Cu 2 (dppm) 2 (NMP) 2 ](ClO 4 ) 2 (1) (NMP&ThickSpace;=&ThickSpace;2-(4-dimethylaminophenyl)imidazo(4,5-f)(1,10)phenanthroline, dppm&ThickSpace;=&ThickSpace;bis(diphenylphosphino) methane) and [Cu 2 (dppm) 2 (phen-NO 2 ) 2 ](ClO 4 ) 2 (2) (phen-NO 2 &ThickSpace;=&ThickSpace;5-nitro-1,10-phenanthroline), were synthesized and their crystal structures were determined by X-ray diffraction. The different ligands chelated to copper(I) give distinct luminescent properties. Complex 1 shows a broad emission ( λ max &ThickSpace;=&ThickSpace;523&ThickSpace;nm) in the visible region with short lifetime (0.33&ThickSpace;ns), while complex 2 has a large red shift ( λ max &ThickSpace;=&ThickSpace;634&ThickSpace;nm) and has longer emission lifetime (0.23&ThickSpace;µs) compared with complex 1. DFT calculations indicate that emission of 1 and 2 originate from singlet ILCT excited states and triplet MLCT excited states, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new AlGaAs/GaAs/InGaAs heteroconfinement tri-state switch (TSS) prepared by metal organic chemical vapor deposition has been fabricated and demonstrated. This TSS exhibits the interesting multiple negative differential resistance (MNDR) characteristics. The NDR behavior is caused by a p + n junction and sequential two-stage barrier-lowering and potential-redistribution effect that resulted from the electron confinement at AlGaAs/GaAs/InGaAs heterointerface and lnGaAs quantum well, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Customer relationship management (CRM) is replacing the traditional ‘four Ps’ of marketing – product, price, place and promotion. Forging long-term relationships with customers is the key to stability in an increasingly dynamic market. Despite the steady growth in the number of worldwide installations, industry studies indicate that approximately 60% of web-based CRM software (e-CRM) installations are failures. System use is recognized as one of the important indicators for successful implementation of information systems (IS) and is often correlated with other constructs, such as user attitude and behavioral intention, in the literature. The technology acceptance model (TAM) is particularly useful for explaining and analyzing IS-usage behavior and subsequently, the behavior is influenced by attitude and behavioral intention. However, TAM is incomplete for either considering only part of the attributes of the innovation factor or only part of the factors affecting IS innovation process. Therefore, this study integrates TAM with an extension of innovation diffusion theory (IDT), IS innovation model, in a complimentary manner and, furthermore, empirically concludes some guidelines for practitioners to effectively assist in the diffusion of e-CRM in organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The propagation of a transient electromagnetic pulse over irregular terrain is considered. We model the wave propagation using the parabolic wave equation, which is valid for near-horizontal propagation. We model the effect of scattering from the rough terrain by introducing a surface-flattening coordinate transform. This coordinate transform simplifies the boundary condition of our problem, and introduces an effective refractive index into our wave equation. As a result, the problem of propagation over an irregular surface becomes equivalent to the problem of propagation through random media. The parabolic equation is solved analytically using the path integral method. Both vertically polarized and horizontally polarized signals are treated. Cumulant expansion is introduced to obtain an approximate expression for the two-frequency mutual coherence function. From the mutual coherence function, spatial and temporal dependence of the propagating signal can be determined. It can be shown that scattering from the irregular surface can cause broadening of the transient signal. This can have a significant impact on the performance of radio communication systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arsenic (As) is found naturally in the geological strata within the Ba Men Region of Inner Mongolia, China. A study was conducted to compare the total As measurements from two analytical techniques: instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS), and to verify nails as an exposure biomarker in this population. In 1999, nail and water samples were collected in a pilot study. Fingernails and toenails were pooled from 32 participants and analysed for total As by both INAA and AFS. Mean nail As values were 14.8±2.4 and 19.4±2.8 μg g-1 (±SEM) for INAA and AFS, respectively. Results from these two methods were significantly correlated (r = 0.93, p < 0.0001). In 2000, a second study was conducted and INAA was used to measure total As in toenails from 314 Ba Men residents. Well water samples were collected from 121 households and analysed by AFS. A significant correlation was observed between toenail and well water As (r = 0.84, p < 0.0001). Based on the results, INAA was significantly correlated with AFS and proved to be a reliable measure of nail As levels. In this population, toenail samples are a useful internal As exposure biomarker from drinking water sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flotation of coal fines in the form of hydrophobic flocs, which is termed floc-flotation, for rejecting fine mineral matters from coal slimes has been studied in this work. This process consists of dispersion, selective hydrophobic flocculation of fine organic matters, and flotation of the fines as flocs. This study was performed on two coal slimes from China, namely Taixi anthracite and Tongshan coking coal. The experimental results have shown that floc-flotation not only strongly increased the combustible recovery, but also greatly lowered the ash remaining in cleaned coals, compared with conventional flotation in the same reagent additions. This effect closely correlated with the size of flocculated organic matter. The larger were the flocs, the stronger the effect was. Also, it was found that flocculated coal fines had a much higher flotation rate than dispersed fines. In addition, the main parameters of the floc-flotation process, namely nonpolar oil addition and slurry conditioning in the hydrophobic flocculation step were experimentally studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract 1. The effect of dimethylacetamide (DMA) and dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) on the cryopreservation of gander semen were investigated. An improved survival rate of spermatozoa after freeze-thawing was obtained when semen was frozen by a fast-freezing procedure on dry ice with 9% DMA as the cryoprotectant. 2. Gander semen, which was frozen during mid season, was tested for fertilising ability in different times of the season. The percentage of fertility during d 3 to d 9 after 2 consecutive inseminations was 68% to 95%, depending on the date of artificial insemination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An infrared (IR) sensor with a lead titanate (PbTiO[sub 3]) thin film using the technology of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) has been designed, fabricated, and developed. Anisotropic wet etching of Si(111) orientation in ethylenediamine/pyrocatechol (EDP) solution is used to process a micromachined cantilever beam for better thermal isolation and the array form available. The major IR-sensing part on the cantilever beam consists of a 5-nm PbTiO[sub 3] layer deposited by RF sputtering, and a gold (Au) black layer evaporated as an IR radiation absorber, with the active cantilever dimensions of 200 x 100 x 5 mu m[sup 3] formed by the etching processes. The substrate effect on the performance of the IR sensor has been studied in both experimental and theoretical analysis. The cantilever structure exhibits much superior performance in both theory and experiment to that of a traditional IR-sensing bulk structure under incident radiation at a wavelength of 970 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new spectral conjugate subgradient method is presented to solve nonsmooth unconstrained optimization problems. The method combines the spectral conjugate gradient method for smooth problems with the spectral subgradient method for nonsmooth problems. We study the effect of two different choices of line search, as well as three formulas for determining the conjugate directions. In addition to numerical experiments with standard nonsmooth test problems, we also apply the method to several image reconstruction problems in computed tomography, using total variation regularization. Performance profiles are used to compare the performance of the algorithm using different line search strategies and conjugate directions to that of the original spectral subgradient method. Our results show that the spectral conjugate subgradient algorithm outperforms the original spectral subgradient method, and that the use of the Polak–Ribière formula for conjugate directions provides the best and most robust performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of a 52-year-old woman with a 3-day history of anorexia and jaundice. She had received an acupuncture bilaterally at Zusanli acupoint after she was diagnosed of skelasthenia. Tests showed that acupuncture caused the patient of hepatic injury. As concluded, acupuncture at Zusanli acupoint may cause hepatotoxicity and clinicians should be aware of this possibility.