Search

BACKGROUND To explore the value of serum soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1), CXC chemokine ligand 16 (CXCL16), and lipocalin 2 (LCN-2) in the diagnosis and grading of preeclampsia (PE). METHODS A total of 186 patients with PE diagnosed and treated in our hospital were included. According to the disease severity, the patients were divided into the mild PE group (99 cases) and the severe PE group (87 cases). A total of 72 healthy pregnant women who underwent antenatal care were selected as the healthy control group. The levels of serum sFlt-1, CXCL16, and LCN-2 before medication were compared among the patients, and the diagnosis and grading value of the above 3 indicators were analyzed. RESULTS For PE patients vs. healthy controls, the levels of sFlt-1 (132.71±14.49 vs. 68.43±9.28 µg/L), CXCL16 (2.15±0.35 vs. 0.61±0.12 µg/L), and LCN-2 (70.81±8.25 vs. 19.22±3.14 µg/L) were all significantly higher in PE patients than in the healthy controls (P

In the last decades, different non-thermal and thermal technologies have been developed for food processing. However, in many cases, it is not clear which experimental parameters must be reported to guarantee the experiments' reproducibility and provide the food industry a straightforward way to scale-up these technologies. Since reproducibility is one of the most important science features, the current work aims to improve the reproducibility of studies on emerging technologies for food processing by providing guidelines on reporting treatment conditions of thermal and non-thermal technologies. Infrared heating, microwave heating, ohmic heating and radiofrequency heating are addressed as advanced thermal technologies and isostatic high pressure, ultra-high-pressure homogenization sterilization, high-pressure homogenization, microfluidization, irradiation, plasma technologies, power ultrasound, pressure change technology, pulsed electric fields, pulsed light and supercritical CO2 are approached as non-thermal technologies. Finally, growing points and perspectives are highlighted.

Purpose: To build a “Four-in-one” medical talent training mode driven by “Wisdom, Integration and Characteristics” in ethnic minority areas to improve students’ humanistic accomplishment, practical and innovative ability and post competence and train high-quality characteristic application-oriented medical talents. Solutions: The “Four-in-one” medical talent training mode driven by “Wisdom, Integration and Characteristics” is created and applied to the medical talent training practice of our school by taking the educational informationization as the endogenous variable of systematic reform of education, and “integration of science and education, integration of production and education, integration of theory and practice” as the focus to improve the quality of medical talent training, focusing on the four elements of “knowledge imparting, ability development, career skill development and value shaping” in talent training, combining the functions of “scientific research, social service, cultural inheritance and innovation” of colleges and universities, and launching the reform from the aspects of “thick foundation, strong ability, pro-industry, and humanities (Four-in-one)”. Results: The students’ humanistic accomplishment, practical ability, innovation and entrepreneurship ability and post competence have been significantly improved; the level and gradation of running school have been greatly enhanced. Conclusion: The construction of “Four-in-one” medical talent training mode driven by “Wisdom, Integration and Characteristics” in ethnic minority areas can help improve the training quality of medical talents.

Objective: Explore new methods and functions of ideological and political education in the construction of online courses. Methods: Taking the construction of the online course of Chinese medicine pharmacology as an example, the necessity of ideological and political education in the construction of online course is analyzed. At the same time, combined with the disciplinary characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine pharmacology, it analyzes the new methods and effects of ideological and political education integration. Results: Ideological and political education integrates the construction of online courses, which can be integrated into the foreword of the times, models of the times, cutting-edge technology and professional cases, so as to enhance students’ patriotism, ideological morality, innovative thinking and professional skills. Conclusion: Ideological and political education runs through the construction of online courses, so as to provide new ideas for the training of students majoring in Chinese pharmacy.

Food grains constitute a vital part of the daily diet of the population worldwide, and are generally considered as safe products with high storage stability due to their low moisture contents. However, post-harvest losses (PHL) caused by insects, fungi, food-borne pathogens, and undesirable enzymes remain a major concern for the grain industry. Thermal treatments are commonly used to reduce the PHL of grains and their products without any chemical residues. Among which, radio frequency (RF) technology has been regarded as a promising alternative to traditional heating methods for improving safety and quality of food grains due to its fast, volumetric, and deep penetration heating characteristics. This review provided comprehensive information about principles of RF technology and its main applications including disinfestation, pasteurization, enzyme inactivation, drying, and roasting for processing food grains and their products. The methods to improve the RF heating uniformity and effects of RF heating on product quality were also reviewed. Finally, the current problems and recommendations for future work related to RF processing of grains and their products were discussed. This review would improve the understanding of RF heating for food grains and their products and promote the application of RF technology in the food grain industry.

Detailed characterization of the permeability and vascular volume of brain tumor vasculature can provide essential insights into tumor physiology. In this study, we evaluated the consistency of measurements in tumor blood volume and examined the feasibility of using ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) versus gadolinium-diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA) as contrast agents for MR perfusion imaging of brain gliomas in C6 Rats. Eighteen rats were intracerebrally implanted with C6 glioma cells, randomly divided into two groups and examined by 3.0T perfusion MR imaging with Gd-DTPA and USPIO. Tumor relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) and relative maximum signal reduction ratio (rSRRmax) were created based on analysis of MR perfusion images. The mean values for rCBV were 2.09 and 1.57 in the USPIO and the Gd-DTPA groups, respectively, and rSRRmax values were 1.92 and 1.02 in the USPIO and the Gd-DTPA groups, respectively, showing signifi cant differences in both rCBV and rSRRmax between the USPIO and the Gd-DTPA groups (P < 0.05). The results showed that early vascular leakage occurred with gadolinium rather than USPIO in perfusion assessment, revealing that USPIO was useful in perfusion MR imaging for the assessment of tumor vasculature.

Clustering is a process of dividing the research objects into different classes and has become an important statistical analysis technique in data mining; K-means clustering algorithm is widely used because of its excellent speed and high efficiency. However, the traditional K-means algorithm always falls into the partial optimized problem due to the random selection of the initial clustering centers, which makes the accuracy of clustering affected. In response to the problem, this paper proposes an improved K-means algorithm based on beetle antennae search. The improved algorithm uses BAS to optimize the initial clustering centers so that the clustering results can be more accurate. The simulation results show that compared with the traditional K-means algorithm, the improved algorithm improves both in efficiency and accuracy. are already defined on the style sheet, as illustrated by the portions given in this document.

This study aimed to explore the impact of different acquisition times on the evaluation of liver function levels in chronic hepatitis B using Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced T1 positioning technology under 3.0 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A total of 146 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) were classified into four groups as follows: chronic hepatitis B without liver cirrhosis (CH, 22 cases), liver cirrhosis with Child–Pugh classification A (LCA 63 cases), Child–Pugh B (LCB 47 cases) and Child–Pugh C (LCC 14 cases). Normal liver function (NLF) group was composed of 23 persons who had healthy liver and no medical histories of hepatitis. T1 mapping images were performed before and after administration of Gd-EOB-DPTA using Look-Locker sequence. Changes in T1 relaxation time (T1rt), the reduction rate of T1 relaxation time (ΔT1) and the increase in T1 relaxation rate (ΔR1) of liver over time (at 5, 10, 15 and 20 min) were investigated and compared among all five groups using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (r) was used to show the correlations of these parameters in different liver function groups. In the NLF, CH, LCA and LCB groups, postT1 gradually decreased, while the ΔT1 and ΔR1 gradually increased with time. The parameters were compared between different liver function levels at the same time point, and the differences were statistically significant except for NLF-CH, NLF-LCA and CH-LCA. There was no significant difference in the area under the ROC curve of other parameters at 10, 15 and 20 min. At each time point, no correlation was found between preT1rt and the degrees of liver function. PostT1rt was positively correlated with liver function classification, while ΔT1 and ΔR1 were negatively correlated with liver function classification. Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced T1 mapping magnetic resonance imaging is beneficial to assess liver function. Using the Gd-EOB-DTPA to enhance T1 mapping imaging to assess liver function can shorten the observation time of the hepatobiliary period and 10 min after enhancement may be the best time point.

Background: Lung cancer is one of the most common types of cancer, and it has a poor prognosis. It is urgent to identify prognostic biomarkers to guide therapy.Methods: The immune gene expression profiles for patients with lung adenocarcinomas (LUADs) were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). The relationships between the expression of 45 immune checkpoint genes (ICGs) and prognosis were analyzed. Additionally, the correlations between the expression of 45 biomarkers and immunotherapy biomarkers, including tumor mutation burden (TMB), mismatch repair defects, neoantigens, and others, were identified. Ultimately, prognostic ICGs were combined to determine immune subgroups, and the prognostic differences between these subgroups were identified in LUAD.Results: A total of 11 and nine ICGs closely related to prognosis were obtained from the GEO and TCGA databases, respectively. CD200R1 expression had a significant negative correlation with TMB and neoantigens. CD200R1 showed a significant positive correlation with CD8A, CD68, and GZMB, indicating that it may cause the disordered expression of adaptive immune resistance pathway genes. Multivariable Cox regression was used to construct a signature composed of four prognostic ICGs (IDO1, CD274, CTLA4, and CD200R1): Risk Score = −0.002*IDO1+0.031*CD274−0.069*CTLA4−0.517*CD200R1. The median Risk Score was used to classify the samples for the high- and low-risk groups. We observed significant differences between groups in the training, testing, and external validation cohorts.Conclusion: Our research provides a method of integrating ICG expression profiles and clinical prognosis information to predict lung cancer prognosis, which will provide a unique reference for gene immunotherapy for LUAD.

A quantitative image analysis method by counting photons from different samples was developed based on a near-infrared upconversion luminescence total internal reflection platform. The proposed method can not only greatly reduce the consumption of samples (10 μL) but also ensure high-throughput and fast (0.1 s) data analysis.

Epitaxial growth of an inert shell around the optical active lanthanide upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) is a general strategy to enhance their brightness. Yet, its potential as a tool in multiplexing emission tailoring has rarely been reported. Here, by developing the atomic vacancies into color selectivity actuators, we present an efficient strategy to achieve inert-shell-modulated multiplexing upconversion in 1540 nm activated UCNPs. Artificially generated fluoride atomic vacancies, owing to the decreased NaOH/NH4F dosage during shell growth, reduce the coordination number of Y-F and lattice densities in the inert shell, leading to the core-engineered shell nanoparticles with distinctive emission profiles. The multicolor tailoring is independent of shell thickness and can be readily applied to Lu3+/Gd3+-based shells. The upconversion emission can be exploited to visualize in security decoding and in vivo multiplexing bioimaging. This method of regulating atomic vacancies based on the inert-shell engineering opens new insights of upconversion modulation in core-shell lanthanide nanostructures.

Background Tuberculosis is a leading cause of death worldwide. BCG is an effective vaccine, but not widely used in many parts of the world due to a variety of issues. Mycobacterium vaccae (M. vaccae) is another vaccine used in human subjects to prevent tuberculosis. In the current study, we investigated the potential mechanisms of M. vaccae vaccination by determining differentially expressed genes in mice infected with M. tuberculosis before and after M. vaccae vaccination. Methods Three days after exposure to M. tuberculosis H37Rv strain (5 × 105 CFU), adult BALB/c mice randomly received either M. vaccae vaccine (22.5 μg) or vehicle via intramuscular injection (n = 8). Booster immunization was conducted 14 and 28 days after the primary immunization. Differentially expressed genes were identified by microarray followed by standard bioinformatics analysis. Results M. vaccae vaccination provided protection against M. tuberculosis infection (most prominent in the lungs). We identified 2326 upregulated and 2221 downregulated genes in vaccinated mice. These changes could be mapped to a total of 123 signaling pathways (68 upregulated and 55 downregulated). Further analysis pinpointed to the MyD88-dependent TLR signaling pathway and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway as most likely to be functional. Conclusions M. vaccae vaccine provided good protection in mice against M. tuberculosis infection, via a highly complex set of molecular changes. Our findings may provide clue to guide development of more effective vaccine against tuberculosis.

As one of the most fundamental aspects of nanomaterials, the crystal orientation in semiconductor nanowires (NWs) profoundly reshapes their properties, e.g. surface chemistry, optical response and electrical transport. Among the various semiconductor NWs, free-standing InSb NWs hold promise for making high speed and low power vertically integrated nanowire transistors, chemical/biological sensors, etc. However, the difficulty of controlling the crystal orientation and growing well-defined single crystal NWs is limiting the applications. In this work, (111)-orientated vertical InSb NWs are achieved on GaAs substrate through a hetero-epitaxy process by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The effects of growth parameters such as temperature, rV/III ratio on the InSb NWs have been studied systematically. In addition, a substrate caused NW morphology variation is observed and explained with a phenomenological model. This work is supported by Sun Yat-Sen University Special Project for Exploration in the Field of National Defense Scientific (76120-31143411).

Herein, we report a unique case of generalized eruptive keratoacanthoma (GEKA) in a 47-year-old Chinese man presenting with extensive pruritic papules and nodules accompanied by oral lesions. He also had a 2-year history of vitiligo and long-term experience of working outdoors. Biopsies were consistent with keratoacanthoma . Interestingly, prurigo nodularis (PN) was found in histopathology at 1-year follow up. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing a case of GEKA with oral lesions complicated with vitiligo and developed with PN.

There has been an increased interest in developing alternative physical methods for disinfesting postharvest nuts under growing international pressures to replace chemical fumigation due to its adverse effects on human health and environment. The present research explored the possibility of using radio frequency (RF) heating as a non-chemical treatment for disinfestations of pistachios. A pilot-scale, 27 MHz, 6 kW RF unit was used to study RF heating uniformity, develop a treatment protocol, and evaluate quality attributes and storage stability in treated samples. Only 5.6 and 5.5 min were needed to raise the centre temperature of 1.8 kg in-shell and 2.0 kg shelled pistachios to reach 55 °C using RF energy, respectively, compared to about 82 and 117 min when using hot air heating at 55 °C. RF heating uniformity in both types of pistachios was improved by adding forced hot air, sample movements on the conveyor and a single mixing in the middle of the treatment time. The final average temperatures on the surface and in the interior of both types of pistachio kernels exceeded 52 °C, following a holding step at 55 °C for 2 min using hot air. This provided a conservative and 100% mortality of fifth-instar Indianmeal moth (Plodia interpunctella [Hubner]). RF treated samples were not significantly different from control samples in weight loss, peroxide values, fatty acid values, fatty acid composition and kernel colour. RF treatments can, therefore, potentially provide an effective and rapid protocol against stored product pests in pistachios as an alternative to chemical fumigation. Industrial relevance A pilot-scale 6 kW RF system with conveyor belt was used to determine the heating uniformity and quality changes of pistachios. For a combination with hot air surface heating and mixing, an effective and continuous RF disinfestation method could be developed for pistachios. The RF heating technology has been successfully demonstrated for disinfesting walnuts in California, USA. We tried to expand the industrial applications of RF heating for disinfesting pistachios, to replace the chemical fumigation. This research may provide potential industrial applications of RF treatments for disinfestations based on fast and uniform heating.

Background The role of narrow band imaging (NBI) for surveillance colonoscopy in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is debatable. We aim to compare NBI versus other endoscopic techniques in surveillance of IBD basing on current evidences. Methods A systematic search of PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases was conducted for relevant studies. To assess the detection efficacy, we estimated risk ratios (RRs) for dichotomous outcomes and mean differences (MDs) for continuous outcomes. To assess the differentiation efficacy, we estimated sensitivity and specificity of NBI with reference to histology. All outcome variables were pooled using a random-effects model. Heterogeneity was tested by the Q statistic and I statistic. Results A total of 10 studies involving 938 participants were included. Statistically significant differences were not found in the likelihood of detecting patients with dysplastic lesions [RR, 1.11; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.83-1.48] nor in the likelihood of detecting dysplastic lesions by targeted biopsies (RR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.51-1.12) between NBI and other techniques, and there was also no difference in the likelihood of detecting dysplastic subtypes. NBI required shorter procedural time compared with other techniques (MD, -10.23; 95% CI, -11.53 to -8.92). The sensitivity and specificity of NBI to differentiate neoplastic lesions from non-neoplastic lesions were 0.64 (95% CI, 0.50-0.77) and 0.74 (95% CI, 0.69-0.79), respectively, and the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.7626. Conclusions Although a shorter procedural time is needed, the clinical application of NBI for both dysplasia detection and neoplasia differentiation in IBD is not superior to other endoscopic techniques.

Among the novel non-volatile memories, the electrochemical metallization (ECM)-type Resistive Random Access Memory (ReRAM) stands out from all the competitors. ECM-type memories use active metals as the electrode, such as copper. However, copper is hard to pattern by using dry etch. Therefore in this study, the copper chemical displacement technique (CDT) was applied to form the electrode of ReRAM device. We used CDT-Cu to solve the etch problem and improve the electric characteristics of device. The obtained results showed that samples using CDT-Cu exhibited lower set electric field than that of sample without CDT-Cu. The current density in the LRS, as well as operation electrical field, was also improved by CDT-Cu method. The retention of CDT-Cu sample can retain over 104 seconds.

Background The diagnosis of bacterium-negative pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and extra-pulmonary TB is challenging clinically. The detection of the anti-TB antibody has an important, auxiliary, clinical diagnostic value. Therefore, TB antibody detection kits should be screened and evaluated, and the reagents with the highest sensitivity and specificity should be chosen and used clinically. Methods The diagnostic performance of 7 commercially available TB antibody detection kits (kits A, B, C, D, E, F and G) based on the gold immunoassay detection of immunoglobulin (Ig) G or IgM antibodies were simultaneously evaluated and compared in 62 TB cases and 56 non-TB cases in a laboratory. A retrospective analysis including 2549 cases was carried out to assess the clinical diagnosis values of bacteriological examinations and TB antibody tests (kits B and H used in the clinic). Results The sensitivities of TB antibody kits A, B, C, D, E, F and G in the sera from 62 TB patients were 50.0%, 83.9%, 38.7%, 9.7%, 48.4%, 69.4% and 79.0%, respectively; the sensitivities in the sera from 24 smear-negative TB patients were 29.2%, 79.2%, 29.2%, 12.5%, 29.2%, 54.2% and 79.2%, respectively; the specificities in the sera from 56 non-TB patients were 73.2%, 25.0%, 85.7%, 96.4%, 78.6%, 78.6% and 50.0%, respectively. Of the 2549 clinically diagnosed cases, there were 1752 pulmonary TB cases, 505 extra-pulmonary TB cases, 87 old pulmonary TB cases and 205 non-TB cases. The positive results for smear, culture, TB antibody kit B and kit H in pulmonary TB cases were 39.8% (543/1365), 48.6% (372/765), 45.8% (802/1752) and 25.2% (442/1752), respectively; the results in extra-pulmonary TB cases were 3.4% (6/178), 5.8% (4/69), 35.4% (179/505), and 11.3% (57/505), respectively; the results in old pulmonary TB cases were 0% (0/64), 0% (0/30), 32.2% (28/87), and 9.2% (8/87), respectively; and the results in non-TB cases were 0% (0/121), 0% (0/56), 21.5% (44/205), and 2.4% (5/205), respectively. Of 624 smear-positive and/or culture-positive pulmonary TB cases, the sensitivities of antibody test kits B and H were 53.0% and 36.4%, respectively. Of 901 smear-negative and/or culture-negative pulmonary TB cases, the sensitivities of antibody test kits B and H were 42.5% and 19.0%, respectively. The positive rate of antibody detection in the bacterium-positive pulmonary TB cases was significantly higher than that in the bacterium-negative pulmonary TB cases (P

Objective: To explore the effect of a school-family-individual (SFI) multi-level education intervention model on knowledge and attitudes about accidental injuries among school-aged children to improve injury prevention strategies and reduce the incidence of pediatric injuries. Methods: The random sample of rural school-aged children were recruited by using a multistage, stratified, cluster sampling method in Zunyi, Southwest China from 2012 to 2014, and 2342 children were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. Then children answered a baseline survey to collect knowledge and attitude scores (KAS) of accidental injuries. In the intervention group, children, their parents/guardians and the school received a SFI multi-level education intervention, which included a children’s injury-prevention poster at schools, an open letter about security instruction for parents/guardians and multiple-media health education (Microsoft PowerPoint lectures, videos, handbooks, etc.) to children. Children in the control group were given only handbook education. After 16 months, children answered a follow-up survey to collect data on accidental injury types and accidental injury-related KAS for comparing the intervention and control groups and baseline and follow-up data. Results: The distribution of gender was not significantly different while age was different between the baseline and follow-up survey. At baseline, the mean KAS was lower for the intervention than control group (15.37 ± 3.40 and 18.35 ± 5.01, p &lt, 0.001). At follow-up, the mean KAS was higher for the intervention than control group (21.16 ± 3.05 and 20.02 ± 3.40, 0.001). The increase in KAS in the intervention and control groups was significant (p &lt, 0.001, KAS: 5.79 vs. 1.67) and suggested that children’s injury-related KAS improved in the intervention group. Moreover, the KAS between the groups differed for most subtypes of incidental injuries (based on International Classification of Diseases 10, ICD-10) (p &lt, 0.05). Before intervention, 350 children had reported their accident injury episodes, while after intervention 237 children had reported their accidental injury episodes in the follow-up survey. Conclusions: SFI multi-level education intervention could significantly increase KAS for accidental injuries, which should improve children’s prevention-related knowledge and attitudes about such injuries. It should help children change their risk behaviors and reduce the incidence of accidental injuries. Our results highlight a new intervention model of injury prevention among school-aged children.

Thermal treatments are extensively used in the food industry for control of pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms and spoilage enzymes. Food quality degradation during those treatments can be a major concern for consumer acceptance. Kinetic studies and mathematical models on quality changes of foods are essential in proper design of thermal treatments to ensure consumer satisfaction. This study provides a comprehensive review of recent progresses on quality kinetics for thermal treatments to inactivate microorganisms and enzymes in foods of both plant and animal origins. This paper mainly covers the theoretical basis for studying quality kinetics, common and special kinetic models to describe major quality attributes, such as appearance, texture, and nutrients, and potential applications of quality kinetic models to developing thermal treatment protocols. Finally, this review describes the challenges in quality kinetic studies and proposes recommendations for future research to maintain food quality and extend shelf life.

Knowledge of bacteria’s heat resistance is essential for developing effective thermal treatments. Choosing an appropriate test method is important to accurately determine bacteria’s heat resistances. Although being a major factor to influence the thermo-tolerance of bacteria, the heating rate in samples cannot be controlled in water or oil bath methods due to main dependence on sample’s thermal properties. A heating block system (HBS) was designed to regulate the heating rates in liquid, semi-solid and solid foods using a temperature controller. Distilled water, apple juice, mashed potato, almond powder and beef were selected to evaluate the HBS’s performance by experiment and computer simulation. The results showed that the heating rates of 1, 5 and 10 °C/min with final set-point temperatures and holding times could be easily and precisely achieved in five selected food materials. A good agreement in sample central temperature profiles was obtained under various heating rates between experiment and simulation. The experimental and simulated results showed that the HBS could provide a sufficiently uniform heating environment in food samples. The effect of heating rate on bacterial thermal resistance was evaluated with the HBS. The system may hold potential applications for rapid and accurate assessments of bacteria’s thermo-tolerances.

We present a system for people counting and re-identification. It can be used by transit and homeland security agencies. Under FTA SBIR program, we have developed a preliminary system for transit passenger counting and re-identification using a laser scanner and video camera. The laser scanner is used to identify the locations of passenger’s head and shoulder in an image, a challenging task in crowed environment. It can also estimate the passenger height without prior calibration. Various color models have been applied to form color signatures. Finally, using a statistical fusion and classification scheme, passengers are counted and re-identified.

Positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has been proposed as a means to enhance the pretreatment evaluation of cervical lymph node status in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). We conducted a prospective study to compare PET/CT and enhanced CT for the detection of retropharyngeal lymph node (RLN) metastasis in NPC, and to ascertain the factors that affect its diagnostic performance. Our study population was made up of 33 patients—24 men and 9 women, aged 30 to 81 years (mean: 52)—with newly diagnosed NPC who had been treated over a 2-year period. All patients underwent enhanced CT first, followed by unenhanced 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT. The detection rate of RLN metastasis on PET/CT was significantly lower than that on enhanced CT (36.4 vs. 75.8%; p < 0.001). A total of 25 of 26 nodes with a discordant finding were negative on PET/CT; they included 13 metastatic lymph nodes with low FDG uptake, 9 that were located close to the primary tumor, 2 that were confluent RLNs, and 1 that was adjacent to the physiologic FDG-avid prevertebral muscle. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of RLNs was positively correlated with the minimum axial diameter (r = 0.803, p < 0.001). The PET/CT detection rate was 0% for lymph nodes smaller than 5 mm, 9% for those 5 to 10 mm, and 73% for those 1 cm or larger. The detection rate of PET/ CT at level C1 was significantly lower than that at C2 (22 vs. 67%; p = 0.035). We conclude that unenhanced PET/CT is markedly inferior to enhanced CT for detecting RLN metastasis in NPC, especially in lymph nodes with a minimum axial diameter of less than 1 cm and those in proximity to the primary tumor. Using enhanced CT in PET/CT is justified to improve the recognition of RLN metastasis in patients with NPC.

Different morphologies of ZnO rod arrays with tunable photoluminescence (PL) were synthesized by vapor-phase transport deposition. The morphology and luminescence properties of ZnO rod arrays were found to be dependent on the deposition temperature and can be further tuned by postgrowth annealing treatment. Crystalline ZnO rods with intense UV emission at room temperature (RT) can be synthesized under a relatively lower temperature of 500 °C in a conventional tube furnace. ZnO rods grown at higher or lower temperature regions, however, showed additional defect-related emissions. Besides the commonly observed green emission from vapor-deposited ZnO rods, our samples also showed broad orange-red emission centered at ca. 620 nm. The origin of the different emission bands from the ZnO rod arrays was analyzed based on the annealing treatment in conjunction with the PL characterizations. Furthermore, two prototypes of optoelectronic devices (i.e., LEDs and FETs) were fabricated based on the as-grown ZnO rods. UV electroluminescence was achieved from ZnO rod arrays/p+-Si heterojunctions at RT, and FET based a single ZnO rod showed comparable transistor properties with previous reports on the ZnO nanorods grown at higher temperatures.

Vertically aligned Fe-doped ZnO nanorod arrays (ZnO:Fe NRAs) with weak ferromagnetism at room temperature (RT) have been fabricated by in situ doping of Fe into ZnO nanorods (NRs) using a simple thermal chemical vapor deposition method. Structure analyses indicated that the NRs have a single-crystalline wurtzite structure without any detectable segregated cluster or impurity phase. Both photoluminescence and electroluminescence (EL) showed near-band-edge and broad defect-band emissions at RT. The EL from ZnO:Fe NRAs/p-Si light-emitting diodes red shifted with increasing current injections, which was ascribed to the doping effect of the Fe.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a GIS‐based regional competitiveness evaluating software system. With a regional competitiveness evaluating software system, researchers can compare their studies with each other, so that more generally accepted concepts, models, and evaluating methodologies can be obtained. Furthermore, such a system can facilitate researchers to conduct studies more efficiently and effectively, so that a deep insight into regional competitiveness can be achieved.Design/methodology/approachBased on the system theory, a thorough investigation into the nature of a region and its competitiveness are conducted, so that the software designing demands are identified and a client/server and browser/server architecture is proposed for the system. In addition, the Delphi method is employed to improve the performance of the software system, while a primary experimental study is conducted to verify its effectiveness.FindingsDeveloping such a software system, the GIS and database techniques should be harnessed, while Delphi method should be employed to improve system performance.Research limitations/implicationsIdentifying evaluating index set and obtaining corresponding data are the main limitations of the system working.Practical implicationsThe ideology of designing a regional competitiveness evaluating software system is proposed.Originality/valueAn efficient and generic methodology of evaluating regional competitiveness is devised.

Nowadays, the measurement-based approach is one of the main methods in load modeling but it has some defects in practice, mainly, it only utilizes the data recorded during three-phase symmetric disturbances which rarely happen in power systems. In this paper load modeling during asymmetric disturbances (LMAD) is proposed. LMAD may collect data during asymmetric disturbances which occur more often in power systems. Some measured data are chosen to testify LMAD with satisfying results which not only validate the method but also are applied in power system simulation now. LMAD is promising in load modeling since it does not need extra field tests and special data acquisition instruments, both of which hardly get approval of utilities. Furthermore, the conditions on the uniqueness of identified load model parameters are discussed. Some characteristics like electromagnetic torque of the load model are studied as well.

n-ZnO nanorod/p-CuAlO 2 heterojunction light-emitting diodes have been fabricated on p + -Si substrates. The CuAlO 2 thin film was deposited by dc-magnetron sputtering while the ZnO nanorods (NRs) were fabricated using the vapor-phase transport method. The current–voltage characteristics of the devices showed good rectifying behavior with a high forward-to-reverse current ratio of around 120 at ±7 V. Strong ultraviolet electro-luminescence centered at ∼390 nm and a broad green-band emission were observed from the diode at room-temperature. The p-CuAlO 2 layer was found to facilitate hole injection from p + -Si into n-ZnO while confining the electrons at ZnO/CuAlO 2 interface, thus effectively enhancing the recombination emission efficiency in ZnO NRs.

International audience; Current pesticides such as methyl bromide are progressively removed from the market due to harmful residues in food. The stone fruit industries are thus seeking alternatives for postharvest control of insect pests. Microwave and radio frequency methods hold potential for postharvest thermal disinfestations of stone fruits to replace chemical fumigation. Knowledge of dielectric properties is essential for understanding the interaction between the electromagnetic fields and the target stone fruits and designing treatment beds in industrial applications. Here, we determined the dielectric properties of nectarine, peach, and plum between 10 and 1,800 MHz over a temperature range of 20–60 °C using an impedance analyzer. Our results show that the dielectric constant generally varied between 60 and 75, accounting for changes of 8–10 % due to temperature effect. But, the loss factor decreased linearly with frequency on the log scale at all temperatures for three stone fruits. The loss factor of Mediterranean fruit fly, nectarine, peach, and plum increased about 106, 108, 110, and 64 %, respectively, when the sample temperature increased from 20 to 60 °C. The penetration depth in all stone fruits decreased with increasing frequency and temperature. The loss factor ratio at 27 MHz of Mediterranean fruit fly to nectarine, peach, and plum was 1.65, 1.66, and 1.87 at 20 °C, respectively, suggesting potential differential heating between insects and host stone fruits in radio frequency treatments.

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) systems have attracted much attention in academic community and industry circles due to their promising applications in various domains. This paper presents the authors' research efforts on introducing complex query capabilities in a P2P environment consisting of numerous peers with large volume of data. An underlying hybrid P2P computing platform, named BestPeer is described first. The connection among peers within BestPeer is self-configurable through maintaining the nearest neighbor of peers, and the agent techniques employed in the system ensure its capability of providing sophisticated services. The designs of three P2P data management systems which are all based on BestPeer are described in detail. They provide support for information retrieval, query processing and Web services respectively. Advantages and limitations are discussed, while ongoing work is presented. Current systems can provide basic functions for keyword-based search, SQL-like query processing, and Web services querying and discovery. Some further topics on providing fully-fledged data management functionalities for P2P distributed computing systems with security guarantee are also discussed.

In this paper, we study the impact of sampling time variation on the system performance. We analyze the static and dynamic sensitivity functions of the system output to the changes of both input/output sampling time. Based on the sensitivity functions, we have proposed a compensator which can effectively reduce the impact of sampling time variation on the system performance in terms of setpoint tracking. This compensator can be easily implemented in any field device control system.

The Zulinqi acupuncture point (GB.41), on the dorsal surface of the foot, is reported traditionally to be effective for treating disorders that occur along the course of the Gall bladder channel. The authors describe its beneficial use in five, widely differing indications and give supporting case histories. The indications discussed are: metatarsal fracture, bruised finger, headache, pain in the hypochondrium, and abdominal Herpes zoster. Its use in these cases is shown to illustrate four important principles of treatment: select lower points for upper diseases, use points on the right for symptoms on the left and vice versa, restrict needling to few but effective points, and apply one point to many purposes.

We present a novel approach to vector quantization in which a feature vector is represented by a binary vector. It is called binary quantization (BQ). The performance criterion of vector quantization, distortion (distance) measure, was employed for investigating the effectiveness of BQ. At 12 b/analysis frame, the average distortion caused by BQ is even lower than the intraspeaker average distance between two repetitions of the same word (after DTW alignment). Since the output of BQ is a binary sequence, it is possible to combine it with a forward Hamming net classifier. In terms of the idea of a hierarchical model for describing a speaker individual characteristics, a text-independent speaker identification system was set up. Experimental results show that the performance of this system is very good. Not only are the small memory space and little computation required, in the speaker identification system, but, more importantly, it shows strong robustness in additive Gaussian white noise.

Introduction: Stenotrophomonas maltophilia infections have recently increased in importance in China, particularly in intensive care units (ICUs). The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics and risk factors of S. maltophilia infection in ICU of a hospital in northwest China. Methodology: The characteristics and outcomes of patients with any type of S. maltophilia infection at Shaanxi Provincial People’s Hospital, Shaanxi, China, over a two-year period (from July 2011 to June 2013) were studied. S. maltophilia antimicrobial susceptibility was tested with the agar dilution method. The risk factors for all-cause in-hospital mortality were assessed with multivariate logistic regression. Results: Forty patients (median age, 72 years; 77.5% males) with S. maltophilia infection were identified. The main type of infection was lower respiratory tract infection (97.5%); one patient had a bloodstream infection. A total of 97.5% patients were infected with two or more organisms at the same time. The main characteristics of the patients were prolonged use of mechanical ventilation, urethral catheter, and central venous catheter before the infections occurred. The case number of infection was not different in the four seasons. High in vitro sensitivity was observed to minocycline (91.2%), levofloxacin (85.3%), and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (79.4%). Most patients received therapy with a combination of agents. The crude mortality was 50%. By multivariate analysis, low albumin content and hypotension were the independent prognostic factors for mortality. Conclusions: Appropriate antimicrobial treatment had no positive impact on mortality. The impacts of albumin supplements and increasing blood pressure on mortality require further clinical studies.

Detection, classification, and characterization are the key to enhancing motorcycle safety, motorcycle operations and motorcycle travel estimation. Average motorcycle fatalities per Vehicle Mile Traveled (VMT) are currently estimated at 30 times those of auto fatalities. Although it has been an active research area for many years, motorcycle detection still remains a challenging task. Working with FHWA, we have developed a hybrid motorcycle detection and counting system using a suite of sensors including stereo camera, thermal IR camera and unidirectional microphone array. The IR thermal camera can capture the unique thermal signatures associated with the motorcycle’s exhaust pipes that often show bright elongated blobs in IR images. The stereo camera in the system is used to detect the motorcyclist who can be easily windowed out in the stereo disparity map. If the motorcyclist is detected through his or her 3D body recognition, motorcycle is detected. Microphones are used to detect motorcycles that often produce low frequency acoustic signals. All three microphones in the microphone array are placed in strategic locations on the sensor platform to minimize the interferences of background noises from sources such as rain and wind. Field test results show that this hybrid motorcycle detection and counting system has an excellent performance.

The use of hot electrons arising from the nonradiative decay of surface plasmons (SPs) is increasingly attracting interests in photodetection, photovoltaics, photocatalysis, and surface imaging. Nevertheless, the quantum efficiency of the hot-electron devices has to be improved to promote the practical applications. We propose an architecture of conformal TCO/semiconductor/metal nanowire (NW) array for hot-electron photodetection with a tunable optical response across the visible and near-infrared bands. The wavelength, strength, and bandwidth of the plasmonic resonance are tailored by controlling the lattice periodicity and topology. Finite-element simulation demonstrates that the near-perfect, polarization-insensitive, and ultranarrow-band optical absorption can be achieved in the conformal NW system. By the excitation of localized SPs, a strong field concentrates at the top corner of the NWs with a high hot-electrons generation rate. The analytical probability-based electrical calculation further shows that the SPs-enhanced photoresponsivity can be more than five times larger than that of the flat reference. Published version

Chun-xiao Li,* Hua-guo Li,* Hui Zhang,* Ru-hong Cheng, Ming Li, Jian-ying Liang, Yan Gu, Bo Ling, Zhi-rong Yao, Hong Yu Department of Dermatology, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is one of the most common inflammatory cutaneous diseases. Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) has been demonstrated to be an important immunologic factor in the pathogenesis of AD. The production of TSLP can be induced by a high level of intracellular calcium concentration and activation of the receptor-interacting protein 2/caspase-1/NF-κB pathway. Andrographolide (ANDRO), a natural bicyclic diterpenoid lactone, has been found to exert anti-inflammatory effects in gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders through suppressing the NF-κB pathway. Objective: To explore the effect of ANDRO on the production of TSLP in human mast cells and AD mice model. Methods: We utilized enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis, Western blot analysis, and immunofluorescence staining assay to investigate the effects of ANDRO on AD. Results: ANDRO ameliorated the increase in the intracellular calcium, protein, and messenger RNA levels of TSLP induced by phorbol myristate acetate/calcium ionophore A23187, through the blocking of the receptor-interacting protein 2/caspase-1/NF-κB pathway in human mast cell line 1 cells. ANDRO, via oral or local administration, also attenuated clinical symptoms in 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene-induced AD mice model and suppressed the levels of TSLP in lesional skin. Conclusion: Taken together, ANDRO may be a potential therapeutic agent for AD through suppressing the expression of TSLP. Keywords: atopic dermatitis, thymic stromal lymphopoietin, andrographolide, human mast cell

Analysis of relationships among national wealth, access to improved water supply and sanitation facilities, and population health indices suggests that the adequacy of water resources at the national level is a poor predictor of economic development - namely, that low water stress is neither necessary nor sufficient for economic development at the present state of water stress among Pacific Rim nations. Although nations differ dramatically in terms of priority provided to improved water and sanitation, there is some level of wealth (per capita GNP) at which all nations promote the development of essential environmental services. Among the Pacific Rim countries for which there are data, no nation with a per capita GNP >US$18,000 per year has failed to provide near universal access to improved water supply and sanitation. Below US$18,000/person-year, however, there are decided differences in the provision of sanitary services (improved water supply and sanitation) among nations with similar economic success. There is a fairly strong relationship between child mortality/life expectancy and access to improved sanitation, as expected from the experiences of developed nations. Here no attempt is made to produce causal relationships among these data. Failure to meet Millennium Development Goals for the extension of improved sanitation is frequently evident in nations with large rural populations. Under those circumstances, capital intensive water and sanitation facilities are infeasible, and process selection for water/wastewater treatment requires an adaptation to local conditions, the use of appropriate materials, etc., constraints that are mostly absent in the developed world. Exceptions to these general ideas exist in water-stressed parts of developed countries, where water supplies are frequently augmented by water harvesting, water reclamation/reuse, and the desalination of brackish water resources. Each of these processes involves public acceptance of water resources that are at least initially of inferior quality. Despite predictions of looming increases in water stress throughout the world, adaptation and resourcefulness generally allow us to meet water demand while pursuing rational economic development, even in the most water-stressed areas of the Pacific Rim. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Automated vehicle counting technology has been in use for many years, but developments in automated pedestrian counting technology have been limited. Pedestrians are more difficult to detect, track and count because their paths are much less constrained. In this paper, we present an advanced pedestrian counting system using a stereo camera and a laser scanner. A mapping algorithm has been developed to map the detection locations in the laser scanner coordinates to the stereo-image coordinates. For pedestrian tracking, we apply the nonparametric statistical hypothesis tests such as Kolmogorov- Smirnov test for association of close tracks, and incorporate pedestrian image features such as SIFT (Scale Invariance Feature Transform) into Kalman filter for multi-pedestrian tracking. Test results based on the data collected at a street intersection have demonstrated that this pedestrian counting system can accurately detect, track and count multiple pedestrians walking in a large group.

Two types of ZnO/Bi2O3 nanonecklace heterostructures were fabricated using the vapor-phase transport (VPT) method for the first time. These hierarchical structures were well characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) attached. The growth mechanism of the novel structures were proposed based on these characterizations. Electron-beam irradiation was found to be a powerful and controllable tool in further tailoring such ZnO/Bi2O3 nanonecklace heterostructures. In addition, photoluminescence (PL) emission from the hierarchical nanostructures showed enhancement comparing to the pure Bi2O3 powder. Accepted version

Gout is a disorder of purine metabolism in which a high serum uric acid is found and there is deposit of urate crystals within joints causing exquisite pain and tenderness. The pharmacological treatment relies upon non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the acute stage, and prophylactic drugs in the chronic state to control the level of circulating uric acid. In traditional Chinese medicine an over-rich diet is thought to cause a build-up of damp and heat internally that causes phlegm to stagnate. There is also disturbance of the Spleen and Kidney. Treatment thus involves Spleen and Stomach acupuncture points (SP.3 and 6, and ST.36 and 40) to control heat and damp and reduce phlegm. Other local points are used according to the joint involved. A case history is discussed illustrating the treatment and a series of 10 patients is reported in which there is a 70% success in reducing the chronic level of serum uric acid and the frequency of acute attacks.

We present a feasibility analysis for the development of an online ball bearing fault detection and identification method which can effectively classify various fault stages related to the contact in the coated ball bearings using vibration measurements. To detect ball bearing faulty stages, we have developed new degree of randomness (DoR) analysis methods using Shannon entropy and random covariance matrix norm theory. To classify the fault stages, we have further developed a set of stochastic models using Gaussian Mixture Hidden Markov Model (GM-HMM) theory. Test results have shown that our algorithms can predict bearing failures without using actual failure data.

Ultraviolet electroluminescence was demonstrated at room temperature from a ZnO rod homojunction light-emitting diode array. The p-type doping was realized by phosphorous (P) ion implantation into defect-free ZnO rods followed by annealing. High resolution transmission electron microscopy shows the lattice compression of annealed single crystalline P-doped ZnO rod compared to the as-grown ZnO rod, suggesting atomically incorporation of P into the ZnO wurtzite structure. p-type doping was confirmed by low temperature photoluminescence spectra and single rod current-voltage characterization. Published version

A 15-month-old boy was seen because of two distinct types of lesions, namely, yellowish papules on the scalp and face, and hemorrhagic macules and papules on the trunk. A biopsy specimen from one of the yellowish papules showed histopathologic and immunohistochemical changes of both juvenile xanthogranuloma and Langerhans cell histiocytosis. The section from the center of the biopsy specimen showed a proliferation of foamy histiocytes, among them Touton giant cells, which were positive for CD68, but negative for S-100 and CD1a. At the edges of the specimen was a predominantly histiocytic infiltration in the papillary dermis that was positive for S-100 and CD1a, but negative for CD68. The patient died 12 days after hospital admission consequent to disseminated intravascular coagulopathy. We did not biopsy the hemorrhagic lesions; however, this combination of findings suggests a possible relationship between juvenile xanthogranuloma and Langerhans cell histiocytosis, as previously reported.