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Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common disease clinically characterized by chronic recurrent eczematous lesions, dry skin, and pruritus. AD can negatively impact patients’ quality of life. The prevalence of AD in China has been increasing during the past few decades. Based on the most recent advances in the treatment of AD, we updated the 2014 version of the Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Atopic Dermatitis in China regarding the definition, epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical classification, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of AD.

Background Shoulder function complications are common after treatment for breast cancer. Quite a few survivors still report a limited shoulder range of motion, even though the free range-of-motion upper limb exercise is helpful to restore shoulder function. Mirror therapy (MT) is a classical and effective rehabilitation technique to recover motor and sensory function for the limbs; in addition, studies have reported that MT has an influence on patients with shoulder functional dysfunction including increasing shoulder range of motion, improving shoulder function scores, and decreasing pain scores. Here, we describe a protocol of a randomized controlled trial to explore if free range-of-motion upper limb exercise based on MT has efficacy on shoulder function in survivors after surgery of breast cancer. Methods/design This is a prospective, single-blind, two-arm randomized controlled trial. An estimated 70 participants will be randomly allocated to (1) the MT group or (2) the control group. The participants in the control group receive free range-of-motion upper limb exercise, and participants in the MT group will engage in free range-of-motion upper limb exercise based on MT. The intervention will start on the first day after surgery and be completed at 8 weeks after surgery. The primary outcome in this protocol is shoulder range of motion (ROM), while the Constant-Murley Score (CMS); Disability of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand Questionnaire (DASH); Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (13-item TSK); visual analog scale (VAS); grip strength; arm circumference; and lymphedema are the secondary outcomes. Assessment will be conducted before allocation (baseline) and at 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks after surgery. Discussion Based on the results that MT has an influence on shoulder function immediately after intervention in patients without nerve injury, this randomized controlled trial is to observe the efficacy of MT on shoulder function after a long-term intervention in breast cancer survivors. We look forward to the innovation of this study for both breast cancer rehabilitation and MT. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR) ChiCTR2000033080. Registered on 19 May 2020

Background More than 50% cognitive impairment was reported by cancer patients before and after medical treatment. However, there are no effective interventions to manage the cognitive problem in women with breast cancer. This pilot study was designed to evaluate the protective effect of Baduanjin exercise on cognitive function and cancer-related symptoms in women with early-stage breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Method A single-blinded, randomized control trial was designed. The trial will recruit 70 patients with early-stage breast cancer scheduled to receive chemotherapy from Shanghai in China. All participants will be randomly assigned to (1:1) the supervised Baduanjin group (5 times/week, 30 min each time) or the wait-list control group for 3 months. The effect of Baduanjin exercise intervention will be evaluated by outcome measures including subjective and objective cognitive function, symptoms (fatigue, depression, and anxiety), and health-related quality of life at pre-intervention (T0), 8 weeks (T1), and 12 weeks (T2). The PCI score in the FACT-Cog as the primary cognitive outcome will be reported descriptively, while effect sizes and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) will be calculated. The collected data will be analyzed by using an intention-to-treat principle and linear mixed-effects modeling. Discussion This is the first randomized clinical trial to investigate whether Baduanjin exercise will have a positive role in improving cognitive function in women with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy. If possible, Baduanjin exercise will be a potential non-pharmacological intervention to manage cognitive dysfunction and promote survivorship care among breast cancer survivors. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR) ChiCTR2000033152. Registered on 22 May 2020

BACKGROUND: Twin to twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) is a serious syndrome that can affect twin pregnancies involving a single placenta, impacts some of twin gestations with monochorionic diamniotic (MCDA) placentas. We validated the ultrasound characteristics of 11–13 weeks’ gestation to predict TTTS and selective intrauterine growth restriction (sIUGR) in MCDA pregnancies. METHODS: We retrospectively included all of the MCDA twin pregnancies with ultrasound characteristics, including the crown-rump length (CRL), ductus venosus pulsatility index for veins (DV PIV), and nuchal translucency (NT) thickness, at 11–13 weeks’ gestation, followed by mean difference and discordance comparison. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed for the comparison of values of these predictive markers for identification of MCDA pregnancies with high-risk of adverse outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 98 MCDA pregnancies were included in this study. Among the 98, 34 (34.7%) developed sIUGR, whereas 10 (10.2%) expressed TTTS. Significant differences in NT discordance were found among the normal, sIUGR, and TTTS groups; moreover, a significant difference was found between pregnancies with normal outcomes and sIUGR (P

Objective This study aimed to investigate the predictive and prognostic values of repeated spectral computed tomographic (CT) parameter changes for the prediction of treatment responses to the angiogenesis inhibitor AL3818 in hepatic tumors. Methods A total of 30 rabbits with VX2 hepatic tumors that underwent spectral contrast-enhanced abdominal CT before and during treatment were included in the study. The percent change (Δ, %) of the normalized iodine concentration (nIC) during the arterial phase (AP) and venous phase (VP) was used to predict the tumor response and to calculate the overall survival (OS). The threshold of the nIC for tumor response prediction and prognostic significance was determined by a receiver operating characteristic curve and Kaplan-Meier analysis. Results After treatment, there were 43% (13/30) responders and 57% (17/30) nonresponders. When ΔnICAP ≥ -13.10% was used as the threshold, the sensitivity and specificity for the prediction of tumor response were 82.41% and 92.31%, respectively. ΔnICVP resulted in 88.20% sensitivity and 76.92% specificity for cutoff values ≥10.78%. Kaplan-Meier analyses showed that high ΔnICAP and ΔnICVP were associated with improved OS. Conclusions The current study shows the capability of the changes (Δ) in repeated spectral CT parameters to predict the tumor response during antiangiogenesis therapy in small hepatic tumors. ΔnICAP and ΔnICVP were predictors for treatment response and were associated with OS.

Objective To explore prognostic factors and develop an accurate prognostic prediction model for angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL). Methods Clinical data from Chinese patients with newly diagnosed AITL were retrospectively analysed. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were estimated using Kaplan-Meier method survival curves; prognostic factors were determined using a Cox proportional hazards model. The sensitivity and specificity of the predicted survival rates were compared using area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results The estimated 5-year OS and PFS of 55 eligible patients with AITL were 22% and 3%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that the presence of pneumonia, and serous cavity effusions at initial diagnosis were significant prognostic factors for OS. Based on AUC ROC values, our novel prognostic model was superior to IPI and PIT based models and suggested better diagnostic accuracy. Conclusions Our prognostic model based on pneumonia, and serous cavity effusions at initial diagnosis enabled a balanced classification of AITL patients into different risk groups.

Background Though a number of studies have been conducted to explore the association between myeloperoxidase (MPO)-463G > A polymorphism and cancer risk, the results remain inconsistent. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to derive a more systematic estimation of this relationship. Method Relevant studies were searched by PubMed, EMBASE, CNKI, Google Scholar, Ovid, and Cochrane library prior to December 2015. The strength of the association between MPO-463G > A polymorphism and cancer risk was estimated by odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95%CI). Cumulative analysis was used to evaluate the stability of results through time. Results The current analysis consisted of 16,858 cases and 21,756 controls from 60 studies. Pooled results showed that MPO-463G > A polymorphism were associated with the overall decreased cancer susceptibility in all the genetic models included in this study (additive model: OR = 0.84, 95%CI = 0.76–0.94; allele genetic model: OR = 0.90, 95%CI = 0.840–0.954; recessive genetic model: OR = 0.89, 95%CI = 0.83–0.95). However, in the stratified analysis of cancer type, the significant results were only found in lung cancer (dominant model: OR = 0.93, 95%CI = 0.87–0.99) and digestive system cancer groups (dominant model: OR = 0.67 0.53–0.84; allele frequency model = 0.71, 95%CI = 0.57–0.87), but not in the blood system cancer or breast cancer group. When we further stratified the digestive system cancer group into digestive tract and digestive gland cancer groups, results showed a significant association between allele A of MPO-463G > A and digestive gland cancer in all the genetic models (allele frequency model: OR = 0.63, 95%CI = 0.40–0.99; additive model: OR = 0.41, 95%CI = 0.23–0.73; recessive model: OR = 0.51, 95%CI = 0.29–0.89; dominant model: OR = 0.58, 95%CI = 0.35–0.96), digestive tract cancers in allele frequency model (OR = 0.75, 95%CI = 0.59–0.95), and dominant model (OR = 0.72, 95%CI = 0.56–0.92). When stratified by ethnicity, results demonstrated that the genotype A might be a protect factor for both Caucasians and Asians. In group analysis according to source of controls, significant results were found in population from hospital in all the genetic models. In cumulative analysis, result of allele contrast showed a declining trend and increasingly narrower 95% overall, while the inclination toward non-significant association with lung cancer risk. Conclusions This meta-analysis suggested that MPO-463G > A polymorphism was associated with the overall reduced cancer susceptibility significantly. It might be a more reliable predictor of digestive system cancer instead of lung cancer, blood system cancer, and breast cancer. In cumulative analysis, the stable trend indicated that evidence was sufficient to show the association between MPO-463G > A polymorphism and cancer risk.

BACKGROUND: The primary goals of this study were to evaluate early changes in pulmonary function and retrobulbar hemodynamics and to examine the correlation between these parameters in patients with type 2 diabetes during the preclinical stages of diabetic retinopathy. METHODS: For the single-time point measurements, 63 subjects with type 2 diabetes without diabetic retinopathy (diabetes group) and 32 healthy subjects (control group) were selected to evaluate any early changes in pulmonary function and retrobulbar hemodynamics and to examine the correlation between these parameters. In the longitudinal follow-up study, 32 subjects who were newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes were divided into 2 groups according to their resistivity index (≤0.7 and >0.7). Early changes in pulmonary function and retrobulbar hemodynamics were studied in these groups and compared with the previous values. RESULTS: For the single-time point measurements, the fasting plasma glucose, 2-h postprandial blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin A1c, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglyceride levels as well as the pulmonary function parameters were significantly higher in the diabetes group than in the control group. The pulmonary function parameters were negatively and significantly correlated with glycosylated hemoglobin A1c and the duration of diabetes. The retrobulbar hemodynamics were positively correlated with glycosylated hemoglobin A1c and diabetes duration; in contrast, the correlation between retrobulbar hemodynamics and glycosylated hemoglobin A1c. In the longitudinal follow-up study, the pulmonary function of the 2 groups categorized by their resistivity index levels indicated that subjects with resistivity index levels ≤0.7 showed significantly better pulmonary function, and the pulmonary function of this group showed improvement and a significantly smaller decrease. The incidence of diabetic retinopathy in the group with resistivity index levels ≤0.7 (9 of 22, 40.9%) was significantly lower than that in the group with resistivity index levels >0.7. CONCLUSIONS: Pulmonary function and retrobulbar hemodynamics changed during the preclinical stages of diabetic retinopathy. Regulating glycemia may improve retrobulbar hemodynamics in the retrobulbar arteries (ie, central retinal artery, posterior ciliary artery, and arteria ophthalmica). By detecting the retrobulbar resistivity index and the levels of glycosylated hemoglobin A1c, we could predict future changes in pulmonary function during the preclinical stages of diabetic retinopathy as well as the degree of retinopathy. (ClinicalTrials.gov registration NCT02774733.)

The study of the application of the sliding mode observer method that estimates the state of charge. Based on the state space model of battery established on the model of improved EMF equivalent circuit, a sliding mode state observer is designed to help improve the jitter problem. Considering the nonlinear terms in the model for the analysis of the stability of the observer and the characteristics of the industry under its derivative, and using Lagrange mean value theory to guarantee the convergence conditions of the observer, the design parameters of the observer can thus be determined .Then, this thesis compares the simulation of this method under Matlab environment with the extended Kalman filter method. The results show that the method has higher estimation accuracy in the case of the same battery modeling errors. Therefore, the SOC estimation of the sliding mode observer can effectively reduce the state of charge estimation error introduced by the model error.

Background: To observe the effect of alogliptin combined with metformin on pulmonary function in obese patients with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled by metformin monotherapy (500 mg, bid po, for at least 3 months), and evaluate its efficacy and safety. Methods: After a 2-week screening period, adult patients (aged 36–72 years) entered a 4-week run-in/stabilization period. Then, patients were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (n = 55) or the control group (n = 50) for 26 weeks. The patients in the control group were given metformin (1000 mg, bid po) and the patients in the intervention group were given metformin (500 mg, bid po) combined with alogliptin (25 mg, qd po). All the patients received counseling about diet and exercise from a nutritionist during run-in and treatment periods. The primary endpoints were the between-group differences in the changes in pulmonary function parameters (vital capacity [VC]%, forced vital capacity [FVC]%, forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1)%, peak expiratory force [PEF]%, maximal voluntary ventilation [MVV]%, total lung capacity [TLC%], forced expiratory volume in 1 second/forced vital capacity [FEV1/FVC%], diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide of lung [DLCO]%, and diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide of lung/unit volume [DLCO/VA%]) between pretherapy and posttreatment. The secondary endpoints were changes from baseline to week 26 in glycosylated hemoglobinA1c (HbA1c), FPG, 2hPG, homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), waist circumference (WC), and BMI. The tertiary endpoints were the changes from baseline to week 26 in blood-fat (total cholesterol [TC], high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDL-C], low-density lipoprotein cholesterol [LDL-C], and triglycerides [TG]). The quartus endpoints were the changes from baseline to week 26 in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). The 5th endpoints were the changes from baseline to week 26 in oxidative/antioxidative parameters (reactive oxygen species [ROS], malondialdehyde [MDA], superioxide dismutase [SOD], and glutathione peroxidase [GSH-Px]). In addition, safety endpoints were assessed (AEs, clinical laboratory tests, vital signs, and electrocardiographic readings). Results: Eighty-one patients completed our clinical trial: intervention group (n = 44) and control group (n = 37). At week 26, pulmonary function parameters (VC%, FVC%, FEV1%, PEF%, MVV%, TLC%, FEV1/FVC%, DLCO%, and DLCO/VA%) had increased significantly from pretherapy values in both groups (P 0.05). Pulmonary function parameters were positively correlated with GSH-Px and SOD and negatively correlated with ROS and MDA. Mean declines in HbA1c, FPG, 2hPG, HOMA-IR, and blood-fat (TC, HDL-C, LDL-C, and TG) were significantly greater (P 0.05). SOD and GSH-Px increased more (P 0.05) between the 2 groups except for the headache and skin-related adverse events (the incidence of headache was higher in the intervention group than in controls; P

A new approach is presented to match two images in presenting large scale changes. The novelty of our algorithm is a hierarchical matching strategy for global region features and local descriptors, which combines the descriptive power of global features and the discriminative power of local descriptors. To predict the likely location and scale of an object, global features extracted from the segmentation regions is used in the first stage for an efficient region matching. This initial matching can be ambiguous due to the instability and unreliability of global region feature, and therefore in the later stage local descriptors are matched within each region pair to discard false positives and the final matches are filtered by RANSAC. Experiments show the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method in comparing to other approaches.

Because the traditional Web service lacks of the description of the semantic level. Construction semantic Web service has become the development trend of traditional Web service and based on the semantic web, the service composition technology is also evolved with demand. On the basis of analyzing the traditional Web service composition technology, the paper researches the related critical technology of constructing semantic Web service，and then uses the method by combining the ontology modeling with the OWL-S to improve the traditional service composition model. Finally, the practicality and convenience of the improved model have been proved by the experiment.

The GaN film deposited on ITO glass substrate by PECVD was characterized using XPS, SEM and reflectance spectra. XPS analysis indicated that the chemical status of the film surface was predominated in mixture phase of GaN and Ga2O3. It was observed that Tthe film annealed at 400°C exhibited platelet-shaped and hexagonal structure and c-plane textured morphology from SEM images. The reflectance spectra show that the absorption cutoff wavelength of the sample annealed at 400 °C was broadened to 1100nm roughly. From the results, Iit is concluded that the GaN film grown on ITO glass substrate by PECVD will be a promising full spectra material.

Low-temperature plasma deposition of diamond-like carbon (DLC) and gallium nitride thin-films grown on Si substrate by PECVD was investigated using atomic force microscopy and reflectance spectra for photovoltaic devices application. It was found that the morphological features of the GaN film depend on the substrates under the optimum deposition conditions. The optical band gap of the films was approximately 5.5eV for PECVD DLC and approximately 3.3 eV for PECVD GaN.

Background The Gγ-158(C→T) polymorphism plays important function in the clinical variability of HbE/β-thalassemia. There is little known about Gγ-158(C→T) polymorphism in HbE/β-thalassemia major in Southern China. This study aimed to explore the association between HbE/β-thalassemia major and this polymorphism in Southern China. Methods and Results The frequency of the Gγ-158(C→T) polymorphism has been evaluated in 32 patients with HbE/β-thalassemia major from Southern China. Further analysis of the Gγ-158(C→T) polymorphism revealed the prominent frequency of this polymorphic pattern among HbE/β-thalassemia major patients (65.63%). The presence of this polymorphism was strongly correlated with the increase of HbF synthesis. Conclusions The frequency of the Gγ-158(C→T) polymorphism was relatively high in Southern Chinese patients with HbE/β-thalassemia major, often accompanying with high production of HbF. This feature appears to be different with reports in other races and regions.

To validate the feasibility of using the parameters of spectral CT and CT perfusion and the dynamic features of real-time contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) to evaluate the vascularization of VX2 hepatic tumours.Spectral CT imaging, CT perfusion and CEUS analysis were performed on rabbits implanted with VX2 hepatic tumours, 7 and 14 days after implantation. The perfusion parameters of CT, normalized iodine concentration (NIC) and dynamic features of CEUS were measured in the rim of the tumour (TR) and the normal liver region. The expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) was also determined.Increased perfusion parameters of CT were found in the TR. In addition, the NIC was elevated in TR during the arterial phase, and the peak intensity of the CEUS of the TR was reached significantly earlier than that on normal liver region. At 14 days, the perfusion parameters of CT (blood volume, permeability surface and hepatic arterial fraction) offered higher accuracy and stability in differentiating the TR from the normal liver region. Furthermore, CEUS was more accurate in diagnosing tumours1.0 cm in diameter. In addition, VEGF and FGF2 expression was higher in the TR and were positively correlated with CT and CEUS parameters, except mean transit time, rise time, washout time and peak time.Use of spectral CT with perfusion techniques, iodine-based material-decomposition analysis and dynamic CEUS changes may reflect the angiogenesis and haemodynamic information of hepatic tumours.It is feasible to assess vascularization in hepatic cancer using CT or CEUS.