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To observe the analgesic and sedative effect of remifentanil in patients with mechanical ventilation in intensive care unit and to explore the application value of remifentanil in intensive care unit patients with mechanical ventilation. 164 patients were randomly divided into remifentanil combined with dexmedetomidine group (R group), sufentanil combined with dexmedetomidine group (S group) where 82 patients in each group. The patients in the two groups were assessed with the pain observation instrument of intensive care (critical care pain observation tool) for analgesia score and the sedative effect was assessed with the Ramsay scale. The vital signs during the treatment, the time for patients to achieve satisfactory analgesia and sedation, the time for mechanical ventilation, the time for intensive care unit hospitalization and the occurrence of adverse reactions were recorded respectively. Both groups of patients can achieve satisfactory analgesic and sedative effect. Critical care pain observation tool score of patients in the two groups was significantly lower than that before treatment (p 0.05), map of mean arterial pressure of patients in the R group was significantly higher than that in the S group immediately after treatment (p

I am 20 years old this year, and I am also a patient who is born with atopic dermatitis. Because I want to explore the treatment of atopic dermatitis and further understand this disease, I have searched many related studies, but the studies about how Psychological level of patients are affected by atopic dermatitis are relatively rare. In view of this, I want to write this study to provide some suggestion to medical personnel and other patients.

High-risk non-muscle invasive urinary bladder cancer (NMIBC) presents an increased risk of progression and cancer death. To reduce these risks, two different treatments are recommended - BCG or radical cystectomy (RC). The purpose of this study is to analyze cancer-specific survival of these two initial treatments.BladderBaSe links information from the SNRUBC from 1997 to 2014, with a number of national healthcare and demographic registers. BCG was used for 3,862 patients (399 had delayed RC), while 687 had initial RC. Propensity scores were used to match the patients treated with RC and with relevant variables such as age, gender, and tumor stage with the same number treated with BCG (673 each arm). In a further comparison, an instrumental variable analysis using hospital strategy as the instrument was used.The 5-year cancer-specific survival chance was higher for the BCG group than it was for the initial RC group, 87 vs 71%, respectively. In the population with propensity score matching, 78 died from cancer in the BCG group during follow-up and 162 in the RC group. In the instrumental variable analysis, the multivariate adjusted risk difference of cancer-specific death 2 years after diagnosis was 32 per 100 treated patients, in favor of the BCG group.BCG therapy had better cancer-specific survival than RC also when two different statistic methods were used to try to control for confounding. A prospective randomized trial will be necessary to rule out that selection is a major factor for the outcome.

Pseudogout and gout are common types of inflammatory joint disease in the elderly. However, the existence of both in a single joint in a patient is relatively rare. This case report describes an interesting case of a 42-year old man who presented with simultaneous gout and pseudogout in the knee joint, diagnosed via polarised light microscopy. There was no radiographic evidence of pseudogout. This case report serves to illustrate the need to actively exclude concomitant pseudogout, especially in patients suffering from recurrent attacks of gout.

The Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO) long-duration balloon experiment is designed to have world-leading sensitivity to ultrahigh-energy neutrinos at energies above 1 EeV. Probing this energy region is essential for understanding the extreme-energy universe at all distance scales. PUEO leverages experience from and supersedes the successful Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) program, with an improved design that drastically improves sensitivity by more than an order of magnitude at energies below 30 EeV. PUEO will either make the first significant detection of or set the best limits on ultrahigh-energy neutrino fluxes., Comment: 40 pages, 17 figures. Version accepted to JINST

Aim To establish a predictive nomogram for high-grade prostate cancer (HGPCa) in biopsy-naive patients based on the Prostate Imaging–Reporting and Data System version 2 (PI-RADS v2), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based prostate volume (PV), MRI-based PV-adjusted prostate-specific antigen density (PSAD), and other classical parameters. Material and methods Between August 2014 and August 2015, 158 men who were eligible for analysis were included as the training cohort. A prediction model for HGPCa was built using backward logistic regression and was presented on a nomogram. The prediction model was evaluated by a validation cohort between September 2015 and March 2016 (n=89). Histology of all lesions was obtained with MRI-directed transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided targeted and sectoral biopsy. Results The multivariate analysis revealed that patient age, PI-RADS v2 score, and adjusted PSAD were independent predictors for HGPCa. The most discriminative cut-off value for the logistic regression model was 0.33; the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 83.3%, 87.4%, 88.4%, and 81.2%, respectively. The diagnostic performance measures retained similar values in the validation cohort (AUC=0.83). Conclusion The nomogram for forecasting HGPCa is effective and potentially reducing harm from unnecessary prostate biopsy and over-diagnosis.

According to “Development and Utilization Program of the Tidal Flats on Jiangsu Coast”, Tiaozini reclamation project lists the second place among eight experimental sites, which is the largest one close to the coastline. Such large-scale reclamation may bring unpleasant consequences from both environmental and ecological viewpoints. The aquaculture and domestic wastewater increase the pollutant input into the water body, which causes the nutrient concentration rise. Taking inorganic nitrogen and total phosphorus as examples, the influence areas could be 179.6 and 87.7 km2, respectively. The construction process deteriorates the benthic environment and results in 15792.61 tons biomass loss. Furthermore, it may threaten the reproduction of very precious bird, Black-headed Gull due to foods in short supply. The long-term monitoring plan before, undergoing and after the construction provides powerful evidences that convince local governor to adjust the reclamation scale and to carry out ecological restoration. The experiences and lessons from Tiaozini reclamation will be undoubtedly used for reference for future development on muddy coast of China.

Background The relationship between gout medication use and cataract development is controversial. Moreover, limited clinical studies have evaluated this relationship. Aim To assess the effects of colchicine, allopurinol and benzbromarone on the risk of cataract in patients with gout. Design Population-based nested case–control study. Methods We enrolled 7900 patients who had received a new diagnosis of cataract >3 years after gout diagnosis into the study group and 33 475 patients who did not receive a diagnosis of cataract into the control group by matching for age, sex and the year of gout diagnosis at a ratio of 1:1. We used World Health Organization’s defined daily dose (DDD) as a measure to assess the dosage of colchicine, allopurinol and benzbromarone exposure. Logistic regression was used to estimate crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the risk of cataract. Results The risk of cataract significantly increased in patients who received colchicine at a cumulative DDD of ≥66.5 (OR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.01–1.36, P = 0.041). In the age-stratified analysis, patients with gout aged >60 years had a higher risk of cataract (OR = 1.27, 95% CI = 1.06–1.53, P = 0.011) than did patients aged Conclusions In this population-based nested case–control study, we observed that colchicine use increased the risk of cataract in patients with gout, especially in those aged >60 years who received colchicine at a cumulative DDD of >66.5.

$\Omega$ -gated negative capacitance (NC) FinFETs, CMOS inverters and SRAM are fabricated and analyzed. Forming gas annealing (FGA) is performed and found to not only enhance ferroelectricity (FE) but also the NCFET electrostatics, in terms of higher $\mathrm{I}_{\mathrm{ON}}$ , smaller hysteresis and subthreshold slop (SS). The SS is less than 60 mV/dec for both N-FinFET and P-FinFET in this work. Moreover, the CMOS inverter shows more symmetric and larger voltage gain after FGA.

In this paper, a flash like Al2O3/SiO2 stacked layer AlGaN/GaN-based metal insulator semiconductor high electron mobility transistor (MIS-HEMT) was fabricated using trap assisted technique. The MIS-HEMT showed a large positive shifting of threshold voltage (∆VTH) of 4.6 V after applying a low program voltage (VP) of 3 V, resulting in a very low threshold voltage of −0.3 V with a decent maximum drain current (IDMAX) of 575 mA mm−1. A ultraviolet-ozone (UV/O3) surface treatment was done prior to gate dielectric deposition to produce a thin gallium oxynitride (GaOXNY) layer at GaN/oxide interface, which correspondingly acts as a charge trapping layer, resulting in the reduction in VP. The capacitance-voltage (C–V) measurements revealed that the traps contributing to the significant positive shifting of VTH had a density of 5.7 × 1012 cm−2. These traps were attributed to the border or oxide defects. A significant reduction in gate leakage current (IG) of more than three orders of magnitude was found in MIS-HEMT, due to the high quality Al2O3/SiO2 stack gate dielectric layer compared to conventional HEMT. The flash like stack layered programmed MIS-HEMT exhibited a GMMAX of 123 mS mm−1, on-off ratio of 1.7 × 107, subthreshold slope of 121 mV dec−1 with a reduced gate leakage current of 7.5 × 10−9 A mm−1.

There are mass data that contain important defect texts in the power grid enterprise, and they contain important reliability information. And the efficiency is very low to mine the exact information about the texts especially when the texts are in Chinese. Thus, the defect text mining technique based on the modified semantic framework is proposed. All texts are translated into English and use the text mining model based on the modified semantic framework, the defect texts are divided into a fixed pattern and the digital information can be extracted accurately. Take the transformer as an example, the first step is to establish the ontology dictionary and to separate the sentence and extract the texts’ features. Then, the modified power semantic framework and the semantic slots are defined, and the slots filling method and the semantic framework construction process are discussed, which can automatically perfect the ontology dictionary by merging the word series. Finally, the researches of defect text mining results of statistical reliability are studied, and the results show that the proposed model and method is feasible and effective when applied to automatic classification and statistics of grid defect.

In order to improve the photovoltaic penetration of the power system, an optimal scheduling model of pumped storage system with large-scale photovoltaic based on carbon trading is proposed in this paper. Firstly, based on the analysis of low-carbon economy, the stepped carbon emission trading mechanism is introduced into the economic dispatch of power system. And in order to improve the calculating efficiency, an improved K-means clustering algorithm based on maximum and minimum distance criterion is proposed to cluster the photovoltaic power generation scenarios. Then the optimal scheduling model is established. Take the lowest comprehensive operation costs of the system as the objective function, and the operation economy and low carbon of the system are considered. The pumped storage is used as energy storage for peak load shaving in the generation system. At last, an improved IEEE RTS-96 system is taken to finish the case study, and the simulation results show that the model proposed in this paper is reasonable and effective.

The purpose of this study is to understand public cognition and attitudes toward water infrastructure in Taiwan through survey responses and to further explore the relationship between the two. Results show that among the cognition variables, the percentage of correct answers given by the participants for the factor related to water infrastructure and it can impact the environment and society was the highest. As for the attitude variables, such as the exploitation of water sources and the construction of reservoirs, while the majority of the public stated that the environmental impact should be considered first, they do not agree with the government collecting additional fees from the public for the maintenance of facilities such as sewage treatment plants and pipelines. The correlation analysis shows that the correlation coefficient between the cognition and attitude variables is very low, indicating that attitudes cannot be influenced by either high or low conceptual knowledge of water infrastructure.

Surface passivation is critically important to improve the current collapse and the overall device performance in metal-oxide semiconductor high-electron mobility transistors (MOS-HEMTs) and, thus, their reliability. In this paper, we demonstrate the surface passivation effects in AlGaN/AlN/GaN-based MOS-HEMTs using ultraviolet-ozone (UV/O3) plasma treatment prior to SiO2 -gate dielectric deposition. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to verify the improved passivation of the GaN surface. The threshold voltage (VTH) of the MOS-HEMT was shifted towards positive due to the band bending at the SiO2/GaN interface by UV/O3 surface treatment. In addition, the device performance, especially the current collapse, hysteresis, and 1/f characteristics, was further significantly improved with an additional 15 nm thick hafnium silicate (HfSiOX) passivation layer after the gate metallization. Due to combined effects of the UV/O3 plasma treatment and HfSiOX surface passivation, the magnitude of the interface trap density was effectively reduced, which further improved the current collapse significantly in SiO2-MOS-HEMT to 0.6% from 10%. The UV/O3-surface-modified, HfSiOX-passivated MOS-HEMT exhibited a decent performance, with IDMAX of 655 mA/mm, GMMAX of 116 mS/mm, higher ION/IOFF ratio of approximately 107, and subthreshold swing of 85 mV/dec with significantly reduced gate leakage current (IG) of 9.1&nbsp, ×10−10 A/mm.

The femtosecond laser-driven ultrafast evolution of free carriers during the phase-change process of N-doped Ge2Sb2Te5 (N-GST) film was studied in this paper. And mechanism of initial absorption peak was calculated by two-temperature model. We found that the formation of Ge-N weaken the initial optical absorbance and decreased the concentration of free carriers, then improved the temperature of crystallization in N-GST. The doping(N) can reduce the grain size because of the easing of optical energy absorbance. At last, we inferred that, if the incident laser fluence is enough for phase transformation point, the transformation velocity of N-doped GST is faster than GST.

To evaluate and compare the efficiency and safety of raltitrexed- or floxuridine (FUDR)-based transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in patients with unresectable colorectal cancer liver metastasis (CRCLM). We conducted a retrospective analysis of 81 patients with unresectable CRCLM who failed systemic chemotherapy and were treated with TACE in our department from Oct 2014 to Oct 2017. Of these, 61 patients received TACE using raltitrexed, oxaliplatin, and pirarubicin (raltitrexed group), and 20 received TACE using FUDR, oxaliplatin, and pirarubicin (FUDR group). The objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), overall survival (OS, from the first TACE), progression-free survival (PFS, from the first TACE), and adverse reactions were evaluated and compared between the two groups, and prognostic factors for OS were analyzed. The ORRs of the raltitrexed group and FUDR group were 67.2 and 45.0%, respectively (P = 0.076), and the DCRs were 86.9 and 80.0%, respectively (P = 0.452). The median OS (from first TACE) was 14.0 months in the raltitrexed group and 13.0 months in the FUDR group (P = 0.556). The median PFS (from first TACE) was 2.1 months in the raltitrexed group and 2.4 months in the FUDR group (P = 0.878). Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that the primary tumor site, Child–Pugh class, and combination with local ablation (RFA or CRA) were independent significant factors affecting survival. There were no significant differences in adverse reactions between the two groups (P > 0.05), and no treatment-related death occurred in either group. TACE treatment based on raltitrexed or FUDR is an efficient and safe alternative choice for treating unresectable CRCLM.

As a fundamental problem of data management and application technology, schema matching has aroused the universal concern of the academic circles worldwide in recent years. In order to deepen the understandings of schema matching between spatial data and to identify its uses, the documentation method is adopted in this paper to firstly summarize and describe the foundation position and guidance role of schema matching in some typical applications such as spatial data integration (including schema-level integration and instance-level integration), updating information propagation, semantic query and handling, web geo-service finding. Then, aiming to the manual performance limitations of schema matching task in most systems, the previous works on schema matching are discussed mainly from four aspects of matching implementation approaches, matching efficiency optimization, matching results representation and matching capability evaluation for designing an automated approach and system. The related theories, models, approaches, limitations and new trends of current researches on schema matching are respectively analyzed. The conclusion is drawn by these analyses that schema matching researches are still faced with many theoretical and technological problems, the matching between schemas of spatial data will be more difficult and severe, and thus needs further studies since they are more heterogeneous, vaster and complex in structure than schemas of common data.

To investigate the effects of probucol on the treatment of spinal cord injury in rat, 80 rats were randomly divided into two groups of 40: a group treated with probucol and a control group. Allen's method was used to establish a rat model of spinal cord injury. After establishment, probucol (500 mg·kg(-1)·day(-1)) was intraperitoneally injected into the treatment group rats for 1 week, while the same amount of saline was used to treat the control group. On days 1, 7, 14, 21, and 28 after treatment, the function of rats' spinal cord was evaluated according to the Bresnahan locomotor rating scale. Serum protein and mRNA levels of the cytokines [interferon (IFN)-γ, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and interleukin (IL)-17] were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and quantitative polymerase chain reaction, respectively. Protein levels of IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-17, and the downstream markers signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)-1 and STAT-3 were measured using western blot. In addition, the oxidative stress-related parameters, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA), were also measured. It was found that compared to control group, rats from the treatment group had significantly lower levels of IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-17 (P < 0.05) on days 1 and 7, as well as lower MDA levels and higher SOD activity on days 7, 21, and 28 (P < 0.05). In summary, probucol improved the recovery of locomotion function after spinal cord injury in rats through downregulation of inflammation and upregulation of anti-oxidative activity.

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of high intensity exhaustive exercise on nitric oxide (NO), malondialdehyde (MDA), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) expression in rats with knee osteoarthritis. Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into control (N = 5) and model (N = 35) groups; the model group was further divided into quiet (N = 5), low- (N = 15) and high- (N = 15) intensity exhaustive exercise groups. The low- and high-intensity groups were randomly divided into pre-exercise (N = 5), immediate post-exercise (N = 5), and 24-h post-exercise (N = 5) groups according to different time points for detection. NO, MDA, and SOD levels were compared between each group. The SOD levels in the quiet, low-, and high-intensity exhaustive exercise groups were lower than that in the control group, whereas the NO and MDA levels were higher in the former groups than in the controls (P < 0.05). The SOD level in the 24-h post-low intensity exhaustive exercise group was higher than that in the 24-h post-high intensity exhaustive exercise group, whereas the NO and MDA levels were lower in the 24-h post-low intensity than in the post-high intensity exercise group (P < 0.05). Overall, the results demonstrated that with the increase of exercise intensity, the SOD activity in the rats with knee osteoarthritis decreased gradually, whereas the MDA and NO levels gradually increased. Thus, the greater the exercise intensity, the more serious the impact on knee osteoarthritis.

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of high-intensity exercise on interleukin-15 (IL-15) expression in rabbit synovia. We utilized 24 New Zealand white rabbits, which were randomly divided equally into high-intensity exercise and control groups. The former were forced to run for 60 min/day over 4 weeks at the speed of 30 m/min. The histological changes of cartilage and knee joint synovia were investigated with hematoxylin and eosin staining. Immunohistochemistry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were performed to measure IL-15 expression. From these analyses, we identified knee articular cartilage damage and synovitis in the high-intensity exercise group. This group also exhibited higher IL-15 expression in their synovial fluid and tissues than was observed in the control group (P < 0.05). These results suggested that high-intensity exercise might lead to synovitis and articular cartilage damage, and that IL-15 overexpression in synovia might be associated with post-traumatic osteoarthritis.

Introduction In chronic liver diseases, regardless of their aetiology, the development of fibrosis is the first step toward the progression to cirrhosis, portal hypertension, and liver cancer. Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are the main profibrogenic cells that promote the pathogenesis of liver fibrosis. To date, there are no FDA-approved drugs for the treatment of liver cirrhosis; therefore, it is urgent to identify novel agents to treat liver fibrosis. Method A series of novel paeonol derivatives were synthesised and their in-vitro and in-vivo anti-fibrotic effects were evaluated. The effects of this novel paeonol derivative on TGF-β1-induced fibrogenesis and PDGF-BB-induced proliferation in HSCs were measured. The carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver fibrosis mouse model was used to examine the anti-fibrotic activity of this novel paeonol derivative. Results One of a novel paeonol derivative bearing a methoxyphenylsulfonyl side chain inhibited TGF-β1 induced α-smooth muscle actin and collagen type 1 alpha 2 expression in HSCs. In addition, this novel compound also suppressed PDGF-BB induced HSCs proliferation through blocking MAPK signalling, but no effects on apoptosis pathway. Furthermore, CCl4-induced liver fibrosis and damage were ameliorated in these novel compound treated mice. Conclusion This novel paeonol derivative bearing a methoxyphenylsulfonyl side chain exerted significant anti-fibrotic activity, which potentially suggests its use as a novel therapeutic strategy for patients with liver fibrosis. Disclosure of Interest None Declared

In this paper, a two-temperature semiconductor model was used to investigate the non-equilibrium thermal transport in Ge2Sb2Te5 thin films caused by irradiation with ultrashort laser pulses ranging from femto- to picoseconds. Photo-excited carriers were considered based on the semiconductor absorbing mechanism in a self-consistent model. As a general rule, shorter pulses led to faster thermal equilibrium between carrier and lattice systems. However, a minimum time (∼ 80 ps) to achieve thermal equilibrium between the carrier and lattice system was obtained for femtosecond laser pulses, as the thermal equilibrium rate was mainly determined by material properties instead of the pulse width, which significantly affected the ultrafast temperature rise of the carrier system. The carrier density had a strong influence to the temperatures of both the carrier and lattice systems, and photo-excited carriers played an important role in the first 40 ps during the thermal equilibrium under the femtosecond laser pulse.In this paper, a two-temperature semiconductor model was used to investigate the non-equilibrium thermal transport in Ge2Sb2Te5 thin films caused by irradiation with ultrashort laser pulses ranging from femto- to picoseconds. Photo-excited carriers were considered based on the semiconductor absorbing mechanism in a self-consistent model. As a general rule, shorter pulses led to faster thermal equilibrium between carrier and lattice systems. However, a minimum time (∼ 80 ps) to achieve thermal equilibrium between the carrier and lattice system was obtained for femtosecond laser pulses, as the thermal equilibrium rate was mainly determined by material properties instead of the pulse width, which significantly affected the ultrafast temperature rise of the carrier system. The carrier density had a strong influence to the temperatures of both the carrier and lattice systems, and photo-excited carriers played an important role in the first 40 ps during the thermal equilibrium under the femtosecond laser pulse.

This paper presents a study on implementing the ASR-based CALL (computer-assisted language learning based upon automatic speech recognition) system embedded with both formative and summative feedback approaches and using implicit and explicit strategies to enhance adult and young learners' English pronunciation. Two groups of learners including 18 adults and 16 seventh graders participated in the study. The results indicate that the formative feedback had a positive impact on improving the learners' speaking articulation, and the summative feedback aided the learners' self-reflection and helped them to track their speaking progress. Furthermore, the implicit information such as model pronunciation with full sentences and audio recast benefitted the adult learners, whereas the young learners preferred the explicit learning information such as textual information of individual words for self-correction. In addition, the results of this study also confirm that learners have different perceptions of the media modalities designed with implicit and explicit strategies in the feedback. Feedback with audio modality is more suitable for adults, whereas juxtaposed textual and audio modalities are better for young learners.

Proton beam writing (PBW) is a new direct-write technique which has shown great potential to fabricate structures down to 20 nm level in resist material. Protons can be accelerated up to a high energy (3.5 MeV) at Centre for Ion Beam Applications. Because the mass of a proton is much larger than the mass of an electron (mp:me = 1,800:1), the energy of the secondary electrons is very small compared with secondary electrons generated by electron beam lithography. Therefore, a proton will travel along a straight path into resist and secondary electrons will only expose the resist within several nanometers around the path of the proton. PBW is capable of fabricating structures with very straight, vertical and smooth sidewalls without proximity effect. This is very important when combining PBW with Ni electroplating and nanoimprinting as well as injection molding. High quality Ni molds with smooth and vertical side walls are critical in nanoimprint lithography and injection molding. In our experiments, several new resists including AR-P 3250, a mixture of AR-P 3250 and AR 300-12, and ma-N 2401 are tested with PBW for the production of high aspect ratio Ni molds and thermoplastic replication with these molds. High aspect ratio structures (up to 7) are fabricated at a width of 500 nm in Ni molds. The structures are transferred to plastic via nanoimprinting and injection molding.

Background Minimally invasive laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP) has proven equally effective as open surgery in terms of cancer control and peroperative complication rate with less bleeding and postoperative pain. However, long-term follow-up data after LRP are scarce, especially as related to quality of life (QoL). Aim To compare QoL and functional outcomes at least 10 years after LRP with a population-based control group matched for age and region. Methods Follow-up data were obtained by mailed questionnaires from patients who responded anonymously to five international questionnaires (EQ-5D, QLQ-C30, QLQ-PR25, IPSS, and IIEF). We collected self-reported outcome data directly from 49 patients who underwent LRP more than 10 years ago in our centre. The results of the patients' overall QoL and urinary continence rates were compared with 918 controls matched for region and age. Results Forty-two patients (86%) and 808 (88%) controls reported having no urinary leakage. Only 11 patients (24%) still had sexual activities 10 years after LRP, and three were without erectile dysfunction. There was no difference in four of five statements of the self-assessed QoL questionnaires between the LRP and control group. Anxiety level was higher in the LRP group (44%) than in the control group (23%). Conclusion Patients reported high self-assessed QoL, although they also reported low sexual activity 10 years after LRP. Prevalence of urinary leakage was similar in both groups. However, anxiety was more common in LRP patients.

A micro/nano Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) with a stroke of 20 mm × 20 mm × 10 mm has been developed by our group. The “Pagoda structure” with Chinese style is adopted, which has fine mechanical stability. The base of the micro/nano CMM is made of granite to achieve high thermal stability. The stages are driven by piezoelectric motors with a resolution of 1 nm in three directions. The displacements of the stages in horizontal directions are detected by homemade Michelson interferometers. The optical axes of the two interferometers are consistent with their slide way of the coplanar stages respectively, which can reduce the Abbe errors in X and Y axes as much as possible. Semiconductor laser diodes are used as the light source of the interferometers due to low-cost and small size. A linear diffraction grating interferometer (LDGI) has also been developed to detect the displacement in Z direction. After subdivision, the measuring resolution can reach nanometer scale. The micro/nano CMM is compatible with different types of probes. A model of Abbe error and its compensation method are proposed in this paper. Experimental results show that the positioning errors were reduced from 435 nm to 91 nm and from 426 nm to 151 nm via Abbe error compensation method. The flatness of a 0-grade gauge block was tested by the micro/nano CMM, the repeatability of 44 nm (K=2) was achieved.

Based on the theory of thermal effect, the temperature rise, deformation and the deformation of periodically polarized region are simulated. The theory of nonlinear transformation, the effect of thermal effect on nonlinear effect is analyzed.Based on the oscillation theory of the laser resonator, the laser resonator was proposed to be constructed, and the influence of the laser resonator and the optical parametric oscillation was analyzed to describe the optical parametric oscillation process of Nd:MgO:PPLN crystal construction more accurately.The thermal effect of the original dynamic model of OPO in the inner cavity was modified to better reflect the actual situation of the compound self-optical parametric oscillator. The experimental study of the future self-optical parametric oscillator provided a design idea and laid a theoretical foundation for the subsequent experiments.

In this study, we investigate the Tchebyshev polynomials expansion method for the kernels identification of nonlinear systems. In aerodynamic systems, all the output data to an arbitrary input may be obtained by executing the Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) program code. This calculation process may take more than several hours or days to complete. In comparison with the indicial or impulse methods our method is efficient, which does not need more output data for the identification of the second-order kernel by running CFD code repeatedly. This new approach may be applied to the aeroelastic problems. Two examples illustrate the whole process.

We compared the outcomes of endovascular coiling with microsurgical clipping of aneurysms in a Taiwanese population. In an ambi-directional cohort design, patient baseline characteristics and clinical course after treatment for ruptured subarachnoid aneurysm were abstracted from medical records from three hospitals to examine and compare differences in post-operative outcomes between those treated with endovascular coiling and those treated with microsurgical clipping. Outcomes were measured, using the modified Rankin scale, two months, one year and two years postoperatively. Of the 642 patients enrolled in the study, 281 underwent endovascular treatment and 361 underwent neurosurgery. The demographics and baseline characteristics of two groups were comparable except for a larger maximum target aneurysm lumen size (p=0.02) in the endovascular group. Patients who underwent the endovascular procedure tended to have a better quality of life than those who had neurosurgery (p Our study indicated that endovascular coiling achieves results comparable to surgical clipping for patients with ruptured subarachnoid aneurysms in a Taiwanese population.

In our experiments, we use different photoresists for proton beam writing and mold fabrication. We have fabricated Ni mold with structures down to 500nm. We first use a fine focused proton beam to expose different photoresists, Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA), AR-P 3250 and ma-N 2410. After development and nickel sulfamate electroplating, the structures were faithfully transferred from the photoresists to Ni molds.

Dental education is the foundation of a country's development of dental science. Economic conditions and cultural backgrounds vary across countries; hence, there are some differences in dental education between Chinese and Western models, including the education programmes, licensures, curricula, teaching methods, facilities. These differences may become obstacles for mutual communication and the development of dental education. In the last 5 years, China has introduced several policies and published some standards, such as the residency programmes and Accreditation Standards for Undergraduate Dental Education Programs. These actions aim to improve the current situation of dental education and reduce the gap between Chinese and Western education models. Indeed, some changes have been made. This article provides a brief introduction of the existing differences and changes and can, thus, serve as a reference for educators.

Summary What is known and Objectives: Drug disposition may show ethnicity and gender differences. The objective of this study is to assess whether there are gender and ethnic differences in the pharmacokinetics of tramadol. Methods: Fifty healthy volunteers from five different ethnic Chinese groups (Han, Mongolian, Korean, Uygur and Hui) were recruited, and blood samples were obtained for up to 36 h after oral administration of a single 100 mg capsule of tramadol. The plasma concentration–time course of tramadol was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography and the pharmacokinetic estimated. Results and Discussion: The mean maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) of tramadol was different between Chinese males and females. There were also statistically significant differences between Hui and the other ethnic groups in tramadol’s clearance (CL/F), volume of distribution (Vd/F), Cmax and area under the plasma concentration time curve (AUC0-∞) (P

In this paper, free vibrations of nonuniform rectangular plates varying in one or two directions are investigated. The plate is orthotropic and resting upon a Winkler-type spring foundation. A set of admissible functions which are the static solutions of the tapered beam under arbitrary static load is adopted. By adopting Galerkin's method, the fourth-order differential equation governing the motion of such plates can be solved. The effects of the spring foundation together with the orthotropy aspect ratio, truncation factor, and thickness variation on the natural frequencies of the plate are investigated and discussed. Some results from the present study are compared with those from other literatures.

Due to the fixed damping coefficient of the passive suspension system, it is difficult to enhance ride comfort and driving quality. An active suspension system provides extra force through the actuator which allows it to effectively isolate energy from vibrations and improve passenger comfort. This paper investigates ride comfort of a quarter-vehicle active suspension system according to the ISO 2631-1 standard. Using feedback information about the sprung mass acceleration, unsprung mass acceleration, and suspension deflection, an extended Kalman filter is developed to estimate the six unknown state variables: the sprung mass displacement and velocity; unsprung mass displacement and velocity; actuating force; and spool valve displacement. In addition, the road surface irregularities are also estimated. As compared to conventional controllers, the hydraulic actuator has time-varying, uncertain, and highly non-linear characteristics; thus, this paper applies a genetic-algorithm-based self-tuning sliding fuzzy controller and feedback linearization technique to design the actuating force. Simulation results are presented that show that the proposed controller demonstrates significant improvements in the vibration suppression of the vehicle body and ride comfort compared to a linear quadratic Gaussian controller design.

Background: Atrial enlargement occurs in patients with significant mitral regurgitation. However, the time frame of the development of atrial enlargement induced by mitral regurgitation remains unknown. Methods: Fourteen Lanyu miniature pigs (age = 6.6 ± 0.9 months) were studied. Mitral regurgitation was created by placing a predefined hole on the middle scallop of the posterior mitral leaflet under cardiopulmonary bypass. The parasternal long-axis atrial dimension was measured by transthoracic echocardiographic examinations. Results: All animals exhibited grade 3 mitral regurgitation immediately after surgery. Seven pigs expired within 2 weeks after the operation [technical complications (n = 1), acute cardiac tamponade (n = 1), and acute and subacute heart failure (n = 5)]. Seven pigs remained alive at a mean follow-up of 7.7 ± 2.1 months. The left atrial diameter indices of the 7 pigs increased significantly at 1 month (33.1 ± 8.6 mm, p = 0.018) and 3 months (41.3 ± 12.6 mm, p = 0.018) after surgery compared with baseline values (22.8 ± 5.2 mm), and the left atrial diameter index increased significantly at 3 months compared to 1 month (p = 0.018). Conclusions: Left atrial enlargement develops rapidly and progresses after the creation of significant pure mitral regurgitation.

The Sr2−xEuxAl2Si1−yMoyO7 as a new near-ultraviolet (UV) excited phosphors were synthesized and their luminescence properties under 393-nm excitation were investigated in detail. It was indicated that Sr2−xEuxAl2SiO7 could be effectively excited by 393 nm, and it exhibited an intense red emission at 617 nm. The introduction of Mo ion and charge compensator ion Na did not change the position of the peaks but strengthened the absorption of the phosphors at ∼400 nm and strongly enhanced the emission intensity of Eu3+ under 393-nm excitations. The intense red-emitting phosphor Sr1.56Eu0.22Na0.22Al2Si0.98Mo0.02O7 with tetragonal sheet structure was obtained. Its chromaticity coordinates (0.659, 0.331) was very close to the NTSC standard values (0.67, 0.33) and its emission intensity was about 1.5 times higher than that of the commercial red phosphor Y2O2S:0.05Eu3+. This is considered to be an efficient red-emitting phosphor for near-UV InGaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

Motivated by economic conditions, a great number of gas turbines' have been employed in China for power generation. High reliability and availability constraints underscore the need for a modern maintenance information system. This paper describes a non-linear gas path analysis technique based system, which is capable of providing the information of maintenance intervals of gas path components. This system broadly consists of two core modules: engine simulation and engine diagnostics. Data provided by GE mark V system are processed by diagnostics programs developed in LabVIEW environment. The results of diagnostics module are then utilised for condition maintenance decision. The application to PG9171E engine shows that this system has the advantage of high accuracy and is efficient on gas turbine performance analysis.