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Objective To investigate the changes of basophil activation before and after treatment of children with allergic rhinitis and its clinical significance. Methods A total of 18 children with moderate to severe persistent allergic rhinitis in the acute phase were included as the subjects of this study. Based on the conventional therapy for allergic rhinitis, 2 mL of anticoagulated peripheral blood was taken before the treatment (acute phase) and after the remission of clinical symptoms and signs (remission period), respectively. Inhalant allergen stimulation was performed in vitro and basophil activation status (expressions of CD63 and CD203c) was detected by flow cytometry so as to analyze the changes of basophil activation before and after treatment. Results 1. The mean value of VAS score in children with allergic rhinitis before treatment was 8 (6, 9), while that in the post-treatment remission period was 2 (0, 3.2). The symptoms were greatly improved after treatment and the VAS score was decreased significantly. The differences were statistically significant (P Conclusion According to the published basic and clinical researches, basophils may be important immune cells involved in allergic rhinitis. Basophil activation test can be used as an effective tool for allergen detection. The dynamic observation of basophil activation can provide an immunological basis for the clinical control of allergic rhinitis.

Study question Are circulating profiles of metabolic-related hormones also associated with the missed abortion (MA) in humans? Summary answer Serum levels of fatty acid-binding protein–4 (FABP4) and fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) are positively associated with MA. What is known already A cluster of endocrine hormones, including FABP4, FGF21, adiponectin, lipocalin–2 (LCN2), exhibit pleiotropic effects on regulating systematic metabolism. Serum levels of them are associated with gestational obesity and diabetes and affect pregnancy outcomes, however, the relationship between their circulating profiles and MA is under-investigated. Study design, size, duration 78 patients with MA and 86 healthy pregnant subjects matching on maternal age and body mass index (BMI) were nested from a prospective cohort in the Chinese population. Participants/materials, setting, methods Fasting serum samples from all participants were collected to test their serum levels of FGF21, FABP4, adiponectin, and LCN2 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method (ELISA). Main results and the role of chance There were no significant differences in circulating profiles of adiponectin and LCN2 between MA patients and healthy pregnant subjects. By contrast, circulating levels of FGF21 and FABP4 were significantly and independently elevated in patients with MA relative to control cases even after adjusting confounding factors (for FGF21: MA: 28.96 ± 2.17 ng/ml; HP: 19.18 ± 1.12 ng/ml, P Limitations, reasons for caution The study is limited by the sample size. In addition, our results were based-on Chinese population, whether it could be observed in other ethics group remain to be investigated. Meanwhile, the cause-effect relationship between increased serum FGF21 level and MA remains to be explored. Wider implications of the findings: Our data would suggest that serum levels of FGF21 and FABP4 are associated with MA. Moreover, circulating FGF21 levels may serve as a potential diagnostic biomarker for the recognition of M. Trial registration number IRB Ref. No.: KY201913

Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) is a hematologic malignancy that overlaps with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and tends to transform into acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Among cases of CMML, > 90% have gene mutations, primarily involving TET2 (~ 60%), ASXL1 (~ 40%), SRSF2 (~ 50%), and the RAS pathways (~ 30%). These gene mutations are associated with both the clinical phenotypes and the prognosis of CMML, special CMML variants and pre-phases of CMML. Cytogenetic abnormalities and the size of genome are also associated with prognosis. Meanwhile, cases with ASXL1, DNMT3A, NRAS, SETBP1, CBL and RUNX1 mutations may have inferior prognoses, but only ASXL1 mutations were confirmed to be independent predictors of the patient outcome and were included in three prognostic models. Novel treatment targets related to the various gene mutations are emerging. Therefore, this review provides new insights to explore the correlations among gene mutations, clinical phenotypes, prognosis, and novel drugs in CMML.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), historically considered as regional gastrointestinal disorders with heightened colonic sensitivity, are increasingly recognized to have concurrent dysfunction of other visceral and somatic organs, such as urinary bladder hyperactivity, leg pain, and skin hypersensitivity. The interorgan sensory cross talk is, at large, termed “cross-organ sensitization.” These organs, anatomically distant from one another, physiologically interlock through projecting their sensory information into dorsal root ganglia (DRG) and then the spinal cord for integrative processing. The fundamental question of how sensitization of colonic afferent neurons conveys nociceptive information to activate primary afferents that innervate distant organs remains ambiguous. In DRG, primary afferent neurons are surrounded by satellite glial cells (SGCs) and macrophage accumulation in response to signals of injury to form a neuron-glia-macrophage triad. Astrocytes and microglia are major resident nonneuronal cells in the spinal cord to interact, physically and chemically, with sensory synapses. Cumulative evidence gathered so far indicate the indispensable roles of paracrine/autocrine interactions among neurons, glial cells, and immune cells in sensory cross-activation. Dichotomizing afferents, sensory convergency in the spinal cord, spinal nerve comingling, and extensive sprouting of central axons of primary afferents each has significant roles in the process of cross-organ sensitization; however, more results are required to explain their functional contributions. DRG that are located outside the blood-brain barrier and reside upstream in the cascade of sensory flow from one organ to the other in cross-organ sensitization could be safer therapeutic targets to produce less central adverse effects.

For cable stayed bridges rain-wind induced vibrations of stay cables are probably the most widespread and controversial phenomenon. Aerodynamic countermeasures have been implemented to tackle such vibrations, but there is still not sufficient insight on the inherent mitigation mechanisms. To this goal, a numerical model, based on lubrication theory, was employed in order to study the coupled cable vibration response, aerodynamic forces, and formation and oscillation of rivulets for stay cables equipped with longitudinal ribs. Coupled equations governing the synchronous cable motion and water film evolution were established in order to understand the effects of several key parameters associated with the vibration mitigation performance of the ribs. Such parameters include the cable inclination angle, the wind yaw angle, the number and the height of the ribs. Computed results were successfully validated against experimental data. For the various studied cases, it was apparent that the ribs did not stop the formation of rivulets, but they could affect both their position and oscillation ranges. Through such a control action they could further affect the oscillation range and frequency content of aerodynamic forces, mitigating or not cable vibrations.

Over the past few decades, immunological checkpoint therapy has been an increasingly prominent strategy in the treatment of tumors, including prostate cancer (PC). There are few systematic studies of the phenotypic of tumor-infiltrating immune cells in PC tissues. CIBERSORT is an analytical tool for estimating the abundance of member cell types in mixed cell population by gene expression data. Herein, we analyzed different levels of tumor-infiltrating immunity cells in normal tissue compared with PC using CIBERSORT. The results showed that proportion of M1 macrophages and resting mast cells presented significant differences in prostate tumor than these normal tissues. A higher proportion of resting mast cells was associated with a worse outcome and M1 macrophages was associated with a favorable outcome. Moreover, the radiotherapy and targeted molecular therapy can affect the immune infiltration of M1 macrophages and resting mast cells. Resting mast cells and M1 macrophages has an important role in the prognosis of prostate cancer. Our data provides valuable information about the future treatment of PC.

The present study presents a non-surgical approach to assess colonic mechanical sensitivity in mice using colonometry, a technique in which colonic stretch-reflex contractions are measured by recording intracolonic pressures during saline infusion into the distal colon in a constant rate. Colonometrical recording has been used to assess colonic function in healthy individuals and patients with neurological disorders. Here we found that colonometry can also be implemented in mice, with an optimal saline infusion rate of 1.2 mL/h. Colonometrograms showed intermittent pressure rises that was caused by periodical colonic contractions. In the sceneries of colonic hypersensitivity that was generated post 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colonic inflammation, following chemogenetic activation of primary afferent neurons, or immediately after noxious stimulation of the colon by colorectal distension (CRD), the amplitude of intracolonic pressure (AICP) was markedly elevated which was accompanied by a faster pressure rising (ΔP/Δt). Colonic hypersensitivity-associated AICP elevation was a result of the enhanced strength of colonic stretch-reflex contraction which reflected the heightened activity of the colonic sensory reflex pathways. The increased value of ΔP/Δt in colonic hypersensitivity indicated a lower threshold of colonic mechanical sensation by which colonic stretch-reflex contraction was elicited by a smaller saline infusion volume during a shorter period of infusion time. Chemogenetic inhibition of primary afferent pathway that was governed by Nav1.8-expressing cells attenuated TNBS-induced up-regulations of AICP, ΔP/Δt, and colonic pain behavior in response to CRD. These findings support that colonometrograms can be used for analysis of colonic pain in mice.

Leptin levels are increased in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) but little is known on how this correlates with several disease characteristics including the frequency of regulatory T cells (Tregs). Here we compared serum leptin levels with frequency of circulating Tregs in 47 lupus patients vs. 25 healthy matched controls. Correlations with lupus disease activity were also analyzed, as well as Treg proliferation potential. It was found that leptin was remarkably increased in SLE patients as compared to controls, particularly in SLE patients with moderate and severe active SLE, and the increase correlated with disease activity. Importantly, increased leptin in lupus patients inversely correlated with the frequency of Tregs but not in controls, and leptin neutralization resulted in the expansion of Tregs ex vivo. Thus, hyperleptinemia in lupus patients correlates directly with disease activity and inversely with Treg frequency. The finding that leptin inhibition expands Tregs in SLE suggests possible inhibition of this molecule for an enhanced Treg function in the disease.

The paper investigates an optimized leakage locating model combining Genetic Algorithms and Bayesian Decision Theory in water distribution networks. Both of the leakage detection models based on model calibration and Bayesian Decision Theory are described in the paper and contribute to the establishment of the optimized model. A numerical example network was used for evaluation of the optimized model and proves its excellent detection accuracy and outstanding locating efficiency.

INTRODUCTION Posterior hemivertebra resection combined with multisegmental or bisegmental fusion has been applied successfully for congenital scoliosis. However, there are several immature bones and their growth can be influenced by long segmental fusion in congenital patients. Posterior hemivertebra resection and monosegmental fusion was therefore suggested for treatment of congenital scoliosis caused by hemivertebra. METHODS Between June 2001 and June 2010, 60 congenital scoliosis patients (aged 2–18 years) who underwent posterior hemivertebra resection and monosegmental fusion were enrolled in our study. A standing anteroposterior x-ray of the whole spine was obtained preoperatively, postoperatively and at the last follow-up appointment to analyse the Cobb angle in the coronal and sagittal planes as well as the trunk shift. RESULTS The mean preoperative coronal plane Cobb angle was 41.6°. This was corrected to 5.1° postoperatively and 5.3° at the last follow-up visit (correction 87.3%). The compensatory cranial curve was improved from 18.1° preoperatively to 7.1° postoperatively and 6.5° at the last follow-up visit while the compensatory caudal curve was improved from 21.5° to 6.1° after surgery and 5.6° at the last follow-up visit. The mean sagittal plane Cobb angle was 23.3° before surgery, 7.3° after surgery and 6.8° at the last follow-up visit (correction 70.1%). The trunk shift of 18.5mm was improved to 15.2mm. CONCLUSIONS Posterior hemivertebra resection and monosegmental fusion seems to be an effective approach for treatment of congenital scoliosis caused by hemivertebra, allowing for excellent correction in both the frontal and sagittal planes.

International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has stipulated the spacing of parallel runways, but it hasn’t considered different aircraft categories classified by speed. So there is no provision as a reference for the safety runway spacing corresponding to different aircraft speed combinations. This paper studied the safety spacing of parallel runways based on aircraft categories classified by speed in the ICAO regulations with the aim of providing more reasonable planning for the parallel runway configuration suited for different aircraft speed combinations. The improved simulation model is established. The innovations are mainly reflected in the following two aspects. First, based on the established evasion solution to the hazardous scenario in PLB(Parallel Landing Blunder) model, this paper added a new solution that the deviating aircraft (blunderer) corrects its course returning to the designated approach course (i.e., the course correction solution). Second, when adopting the evasion solution, this paper revised the simulated evasion maneuver command according to Doc. 8168 of ICAO, because it could better reflect the pilot’s real response. According to the simulation results, it is concluded that when the combinations consists of the same aircraft category, both A-A and B-B combinations can conduct simultaneous independent parallel instrument approaches (SIPIA) to the parallel runways with the spacing of 835m. When the combinations consist of different aircraft categories, the paper emphatically studied the A-E combinations with the largest difference of approach speed. In the case of A-E combinations, with 1035 m runway spacing, the collision risk of SIPIA is relatively high.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: MR imaging–guided focused sonography surgery is a new stereotactic technique that uses high-intensity focused sonography to heat and ablate tissue. The goal of this study was to describe MR imaging findings pre- and post-ventralis intermedius nucleus lesioning by MR imaging–guided focused sonography as a treatment for essential tremor and to determine whether there was an association between these imaging features and the clinical response to MR imaging–guided focused sonography. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifteen patients with medication-refractory essential tremor prospectively gave consent; were enrolled in a single-site, FDA-approved pilot clinical trial; and were treated with transcranial MR imaging–guided focused sonography. MR imaging studies were obtained on a 3T scanner before the procedure and 24 hours, 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months following the procedure. RESULTS: On T2-weighted imaging, 3 time-dependent concentric zones were seen at the site of the focal spot. The inner 2 zones showed reduced ADC values at 24 hours in all patients except one. Diffusion had pseudonormalized by 1 month in all patients, when the cavity collapsed. Very mild postcontrast enhancement was seen at 24 hours and again at 1 month after MR imaging–guided focused sonography. The total lesion size and clinical response evolved inversely compared with each other (coefficient of correlation = 0.29, P value = .02). CONCLUSIONS: MR imaging–guided focused sonography can accurately ablate a precisely delineated target, with typical imaging findings seen in the days, weeks, and months following the treatment. Tremor control was optimal early when the lesion size and perilesional edema were maximal and was less later when the perilesional edema had resolved.

The aim of this study was to investigate expression of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in invasive pituitary adenomas (IPAs). The streptavidin peroxidase immunohistochemical method was employed to detect their expression in 40 cases of IPA and 40 of non-invasive pituitary adenoma (NIPA). TNF-α and IL-6 were found to be upregulated in IPA tissue compared with that of NIPA (P < 0.05). These proteins may therefore play important roles in the occurrence and progression of IPA.

The Boolardy Engineering Test Array is a 6 x 12 m dish interferometer and the prototype of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), equipped with the first generation of ASKAP's phased array feed (PAF) receivers. These facilitate rapid wide-area imaging via the deployment of simultaneous multiple beams within a 30 square degree field of view. By cycling the array through 12 interleaved pointing positions and using 9 digitally formed beams we effectively mimic a traditional 1 hour x 108 pointing survey, covering 150 square degrees over 711 - 1015 MHz in 12 hours of observing time. Three such observations were executed over the course of a week. We verify the full bandwidth continuum imaging performance and stability of the system via self-consistency checks and comparisons to existing radio data. The combined three epoch image has arcminute resolution and a 1-sigma thermal noise level of 375 micro-Jy per beam, although the effective noise is a factor 3 higher due to residual sidelobe confusion. From this we derive a catalogue of 3,722 discrete radio components, using the 35 percent fractional bandwidth to measure in-band spectral indices for 1,037 of them. A search for transient events reveals one significantly variable source within the survey area. The survey covers approximately two-thirds of the Spitzer South Pole Telescope Deep Field. This pilot project demonstrates the viability and potential of using PAFs to rapidly and accurately survey the sky at radio wavelengths., 20 pages, 13 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Numerical simulations were performed to investigate the forming mechanism of the compressor/fan hub-corner separation/stall. Taking the small-scaled vortex in the detached regions into account, scale adaptive simulation model coupled with shear stress transport model (SAS–SST turbulence model) does well in capturing the flow structures in the compressor. At near stall condition, low-momentum stall cell originates from the leading edge of the stator near hub, contributes to the greater turning angle at the suction side because of endwall viscosity, rolls, and lifts up in spanwise direction. The same then interacts with the wake in the downstream passage of stator, nearly taking up the whole passage downstream. Three vortex centres are generated at the hub induced by the boundary layer separation flow, one near the stator leading edge, a second one at the blade trailing edge near the suction side, and a third one near the middle passage, and further swirled up to the blade suction surface which can be recognized as thepassage vortex developed by the radial and circumferential pressure differences. Axisymmetric-hub contouring (a type of passive flow control techniques) has resulted in performance improvement of the compressor. Main contribution of performance enhancement is attributed to the suppression of hub-corner separation. Significant influence of axisymmetric contouring has been found on boundary layer separation structures near hub and passage vortex, which affects the formation and development of hub-corner stall.

Several research and training initiatives were organized by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in collaboration with national institutions in countries such as Angola, Brazil, Burkina Faso, China, Republic of Congo, Guinea, India, Mali, Mauritania, Nepal, Niger, Peru, Tanzania and Thailand among others, to address feasible and effective means of early detection and prevention of cervical, breast and oral cancers. The impact of these activities, that involved over 600 000 participants and more than 1200 healthcare personnel trained on strengthening the local health services in terms of infrastructure, human resources and service delivery aspects in host countries and other regions, is addressed here. These studies, inbuilt in appropriate health services platforms, have resulted in the development and sustenance of several continuing point of care services of screening and treatment in most host countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, and have catalysed regional early detection programmes in India, China and Thailand. The IARC collaborative studies have evolved into major focal points of training and extending services in many countries. The large evidence base, resulting from ours and other studies is likely, in due course, to facilitate much wider scaling up of screening and treatment services through organised programmes.

To describe the clinical features of infection, and the antibiotic susceptibility of epidemic strains, and investigate plasmid maps and integrons of the isolates from an outbreak of Shigella sonnei infection at an elementary school in southwest China.Cross-sectional study.An elementary school and five hospitals in Chengdu in southwest China.There were 1,134 students in the school. 937 (82.6%) students had signs and symptoms. Of the 568 (60.6%, 568/937) hospitalized students, 93.3% 86.8%, 72.4%, and 28.9% of the hospitalized patients had diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain, and vomiting, respectively. S. sonnei strains were isolated from the stool samples of 36.0% (337/937) students. All of the outbreak isolates had the same high-level antimicrobial resistance and plasmid profiles, which were different from that of sporadic strains. All the outbreak S. sonnei isolates were positive for the integrin gene and contained class 2 integron; however, two outbreak isolates contained class 1 and class 2 integrons.Diarrhea, fever, and abdominal pain were the three most common clinical manifestations observed in patients infected with S. sonnei. High-level antibiotic resistance was observed among Shigella species.

Diabet. Med. 28, 924–931 (2011) Abstract Objective It has been suggested that serum γ-glutamyltransferase is independently associated with cardiovascular mortality and atherosclerosis. The present study is to investigate the relationship between serum γ-glutamyltransferase and potential associated damage in an adult She Chinese population. Method A multistage, stratified, cluster, random sampling method was used to select an ethnically representative group of individuals aged 20–80 years in the general population. Brachial–ankle pulse-wave velocity was used to assess arterial stiffness in the general population and the Toronto Clinical Neuropathy Scoring System was used to detect diabetic peripheral polyneuropathy among populations with diabetes. Results A total of 5385 subjects were entered into the analysis. Serum γ-glutamyltransferase levels were classified into four groups using the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles as cut points (males: 52 U/l; females: 25 U/l). As compared with the first quartile, the relative risks of arterial stiffness were 1.418, 1.667 and 2.394 in the other three categories, respectively (test for trend P

Next-generation SONET/SDH provides carriers with new capabilities for building advanced Ethernet data services. Along these lines, numerous Ethernet-over-SONET studies have been done, with most focusing on point-to-point private line type services. This paper introduces the more challenging problem of provisioning multi-point-to-multi-point Ethernet LAN services over inverse-multiplexing networks and proposes novel overlay strategies based upon star, bus, and minimum spanning tree topologies. Multi-tiered protection schemes are also developed to help set up these respective overlay designs. Detailed simulation results are then presented along with directions for future work.

The energy transfer between a chiral conjugated polymer P1 which incorporates (R)-2, 2′-bisbutoxy-1, 1′-binaphthyl and 1, 4-divinyl-2, 3-bisbutoxy-naphthalene moieties and poly(vinylcarbazole) (PVK) has been studied by using the steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The absorption spectrum of P1 has good overlap with the PL spectrum of PVK. The blend films of PVK doped with P1 only emitted the light originating from P1, although the excitation wavelength was selected at 340 nm which corresponds to the peak absorption of PVK. The decay time of these two materials varied with the weight ratios of PVK to P1. The energy transfer from P1 and PVK investigated in detail.

In the present paper, we investigate the near-infrared (NIR) luminescence of Tb3+–Yb3+ codoped lanthanum borogermanate (LBG) glasses under visible and ultraviolet light excitation. The results indicate that NIR quantum cutting occurs through cooperative energy transfer from Tb3+ to Yb3+ ions when only 4f8 levels of Tb3+ ions are excited in the wavelength region of 300–490 nm. The highest quantum efficiency under the excitation 5D4 level of Tb3+ at 484 nm is 146%. Ultraviolet excitation that populates the charge transfer band (CTB) of Yb3+ near 270 nm does not result in quantum cutting as the fast nonradiative decay from CTB to 2F5/2 level dominates. These materials are expected to be used as a converting layer for silicon solar cells to enhance their efficiency by splitting each high-energy photon into two NIR photons.

This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluated whether lamivudine given during late pregnancy can reduce hepatitis B virus (HBV) perinatal transmission in highly viraemic mothers. Mothers were randomized to either lamivudine 100 mg or placebo from week 32 of gestation to week 4 postpartum. At birth, infants received recombinant HBV vaccine with or without HBIg and were followed until week 52. One hundred and fifty mothers, with a gestational age of 26-30 weeks and serum HBV DNA >1000 MEq/mL (bDNA assay), were treated. A total of 141 infants received immunoprophylaxis at birth. In lamivudine-treated mothers, 56 infants received vaccine + HBIg (lamivudine + vaccine + HBIg) and 26 infants received vaccine (lamivudine + vaccine). In placebo-treated mothers, 59 infants received vaccine + HBIg (placebo + vaccine + HBIg). At week 52, in the primary analyses where missing data was counted as failures, infants in the lamivudine + vaccine + HBIg group had a significant decrease in incidence of HBsAg seropositivity (10/56, 18%vs 23/59, 39%; P = 0.014) and in detectable HBV DNA (11/56, 20%vs 27/59, 46%; P = 0.003) compared to infants in the placebo + vaccine + HBIg group. Sensitivity analyses to evaluate the impact of missing data at week 52 resulting from a high dropout rate (13% in the lamivudine + vaccine + HBIg group and 31% in the placebo + vaccine + HBIg group) remained consistent with the primary analysis in that lower transmission rates were still observed in the infants of lamivudine-treated mothers, but the differences were not statistically significant. No safety concerns were noted in the lamivudine-treated mothers or their infants. Results of this study suggest that lamivudine reduced HBV transmission from highly viraemic mothers to their infants who received passive/active immunization.

In order to improve the measurement accuracy of the angle and signal processing speed of operation, this paper proposes a novel method of second harmonic measurement of multi-beam laser heterodyne for the angle, which based on the combination of Doppler effect and heterodyne technology, loaded the information of the angle to the frequency difference of second harmonic of the multi-beam laser heterodyne signal by frequency modulation of the oscillating mirror, which is in the light path. Heterodyne signal frequency can be obtained by fast Fourier transform, and can obtain values of the angle accurately after the multi-beam laser heterodyne signal demodulation. This novel method is used to simulate measurement for incident angle of standard mirror by Matlab, the obtained result shows that the relative measurement error of this method is just 0.5213%.

Aims Few studies have evaluated the effect of weight change from pre-pregnancy to post-partum with the risk of cardiometabolic diseases among women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between weight change from pre-pregnancy to 1–5 years post-partum with metabolic syndrome among Chinese women with prior gestational diabetes mellitus. Methods We performed a retrospective cohort study in 1263 women with gestational diabetes mellitus at 1–5 years post-partum. Participants were divided into four groups based on their weight change from pre-pregnancy to 1–5 years post-partum: loss of ≥ 3 kg, ± 3 kg, gain of 3–7 kg and gain of ≥7 kg. Results The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 12.1%, 16.2%, 26.0% and 44.3% among women with weight loss ≥ 3 kg, stable weight ( ± 3 kg), weight gain 3–7 kg and weight gain ≥ 7 kg from pre-pregnancy to post-partum, respectively. The positive association between weight change and metabolic syndrome was observed among women with pre-pregnancy normal weight (BMI

The relationship between chronic prostatitis and fertility has been disputed for many years. Several groups have shown infection and autoimmune response against prostate antigens could have a deleterious effect on semen quality and fertility. This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that Omi/HtrA2-induced apoptosis in chronic prostatitis could be a mechanism underlying the observed clinical benefit. The Omi/HtrA2 serine protease is a nuclear-encoded mitochondrial protein, which can be released from mitochondria into the cytosol after apoptosis stimuli, inducing apoptosis in caspase-dependent and independent manners. Forty-one patients diagnosed as suffering from chronic prostatitis were included. Healthy normal individuals were included as controls. Human spermatozoa in the semen were purified by Percoll-gradient technique to separate the seminal plasma and other round cells. Measurements for sperm concentration, motility, morphology, proinflammatory cytokines, Omi/HtrA2 mRNA and protein levels in spermatozoa of chronic protatitis patients, were performed accordingly. Significantly increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines were detected in seminal plasma from these prostatitis patients. Omi/HtrA2 mRNA and protein levels were significantly higher in prostatitis men than in normal men. This study shows that chronic prostatitis patients present important alterations in their semen quality parameters, Omi/HtrA2 mRNA and protein levels of spermatozoa. We speculate that the inflammatory process involved may affect male fertility by release of proapoptotic protein Omi/HtrA2.

An integrated airlift bioreactor system was developed, which mainly consists of a multi-stage loop reactor and a gas-liquid-solid separation baffle and possesses dual functions as bioreactor and settler. This integrated system was used for on-site treatment of industrial glycol wastewater in lab-scale. The strategy of gradually increasing practical wastewater concentration while maintaining the co-substrate glucose wastewater concentration helped to accelerate the microbial acclimation process. Investigation of microbial acclimation, operation parameters evaluation and microbial observation has demonstrated the economical and technical feasibility of this integrated airlift bioreactor system for on-site small industrial wastewater treatment.

This work presents a novel approach for development of complex real-time systems, called the documentation-driven development (DDD) approach. This approach can enhance integration of computer aided software development activities, which encompass the entire life cycle. DDD will provide a mechanism to monitor and quickly respond to changes in requirements and provide a friendly communication and collaboration environment to enable different stakeholders to be easily involved in development processes and, therefore, significantly improve the agility of software development for complex real-time systems. DDD will also support automated software generation based on a computational model and some relevant techniques. DDD includes two main parts: a documentation management system (DMS) and a process measurement system (PMS). DMS will create, organize, monitor, analyze, and transform all documentation associated with the software development process. PMS will monitor the frequent changes in requirements and assess the effort and success possibility of development. A case study was conducted by a tool set that realized part of the proposed approach.

Nanostructures, such as nanowires, nanotubes and nanocoils, can be described in many cases as quasi one-dimensional curved objects projecting in three-dimensional space. A parallax method to construct the correct three-dimensional geometry of such one-dimensional nanostructures is presented. A series of scanning electron microscope images was acquired at different view angles, thus providing a set of image pairs that were used to generate three-dimensional representations using a matlab program. An error analysis as a function of the view angle between the two images is presented and discussed. As an example application, the importance of knowing the true three-dimensional shape of boron nanowires is demonstrated; without the nanowire's correct length and diameter, mechanical resonance data cannot provide an accurate estimate of Young's modulus.

This paper describes the system architecture of a newly constructed radio telescope - the Boolardy Engineering Test Array, which is a prototype of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope. Phased array feed technology is used to form multiple simultaneous beams per antenna, providing astronomers with unprecedented survey speed. The test array described here is a 6-antenna interferometer, fitted with prototype signal processing hardware capable of forming at least 9 dual-polarisation beams simultaneously, allowing several square degrees to be imaged in a single pointed observation. The main purpose of the test array is to develop beamforming and wide-field calibration methods for use with the full telescope, but it will also be capable of limited early science demonstrations., Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in PASA

This paper studies controllability properties of recurrent neural networks. The new contributions are: (1) an extension of the result in the previous paper "Complete controllability of continuous-time recurrent neural networks" (Sontag and Sussmann) to a slightly different model, where inputs appear in an affine form, (2) a formulation and proof of a necessary and sufficient condition, in terms of local-local controllability, and (3) a complete analysis of the 2-dimensional case for which the hypotheses made in previous work do not apply, 12 pages

To estimate the proportion of smokers that could potentially have been prevented from smoking by limiting the amount of pocket money received by Chinese adolescents.Cross-sectional study.Current smoking, ever smoking and the amount of pocket money were determined through self-administered questionnaires among 12,708 adolescents (aged 12-18 years) from 21 schools in Shanghai, China.Adjusted odds ratios for current smoking ranged from 2.0 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.5-2.7] for adolescents receiving 200-399 Reminbin (RMB)/month as pocket money to 6.5 (95% CI 3.3-12.7) for those receiving ≥1000 RMB/month, compared with those receiving200 RMB/month. The crude population-attributable risk percentage (PAR%) due to higher pocket money (≥200 RMB/month) for current smoking was 50.4% (95% CI 42.2-57.4), and adjusted PAR% was 43.3% (95% CI 30.7-53.1).Approximately half of current smokers may have been prevented from smoking if pocket money was limited to200 RMB/month among Chinese adolescents. An even larger proportion could have been prevented from smoking if pocket money was reduced further. It is recommended that future intervention programmes should target parents to reduce the amount of pocket money in China.

Antenatal clinics can expect at least one in five pregnant women to experience mental health problems, especially depression and anxiety. The present study aims to estimate the effects of the antenatal depressive and anxiety symptoms on pregnant, obstetric and neonatal outcomes. This was a prospective cohort study of 527 pregnancies and their neonates. Whether the women were with or without symptoms of depression and anxiety was determined by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). All the participants were followed to delivery. The prevalence of antenatal depressive and/or anxiety was 11.0%. The antenatal depressive and/or anxiety symptoms during pregnancy can increase the risk of prolonged pregnancy (RR =4.080, 95% CI: 1.249–13.325), especially in primiparous women.

International audience; In this paper, we present the main results of the BioSecure Signature Evaluation Campaign (ESRA'2011). The objective of ESRA'2011 is to evaluate through two different tasks the resistance of different online signature systems to skilled forgeries categorized automatically according to their quality. Task 1 aims at studying with only coordinate time functions the influence of acquisition conditions (digitizing tablet vs. PDA) on systems' performance. The two BioSecure Data Sets DS2 and DS3 make this possible, since they contain data from the same 382 people, acquired respectively on a digitizer and on a PDA. Task 2 then aims at assessing the contribution of the five time functions available on a digitizer (coordinates, pressure, pen inclination) on systems' resistance to different qualities of skilled forgeries. Results of the 13 systems involved in this competition are reported and analyzed for both tasks in this paper. We observe that the best system in terms of performance on forgeries of "bad" quality is not necessarily the most resistant to an increased quality of skilled forgeries. Also, we note that mobile conditions are still threatening independently of the quality of forgeries. Finally, when adding pen inclination time functions to pressure and coordinates, we find that the gap between systems in terms of performance is wider than when only pen coordinates and pressure are considered

This study was designed to investigate whether there is a correlation between the down-regulation of microRNA-218 (miR-218) and the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in the pathogenesis of cervical cancer. The participants comprised 78 women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN); 22 (28.2%) had CIN 1, 27 (34.6%) had CIN 2 and 29 (37.2%) had CIN 3. MiR-218 expression was determined by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and HPV genotypes in tissue specimens were identified with a microarray test kit. The findings showed that miR-218 levels in patients with high-risk HPV infection were lower than in those infected with low-risk or intermediate-risk HPV, or in those who were HPV-free. MiR-218 levels in patients with high-risk CIN were lower than in those with low-risk CIN. We concluded that infection with high-risk HPV lowered the expression of miR-218 and that down-regulation of miR-218 was involved in the pathogenesis of cervical cancer.

Pressure Ulcers (PrU) are a severe health problem to patients and a major financial burden to the National Health Service of the UK. The education of nurses, patients, and their careers plays a significant role in PrU prevention. Internet-based learning has offered a flexible and relatively cheap method for delivering the teaching of evidence-based practices, however, the current online education systems still lack dynamic interactivity and the provision of multimedia learning materials. Rich Internet Applications (RIAs), featured as Web-based applications function as traditional desktop applications, and provide the potential for more engaging learning experiences than the current e-Learning systems. This study proposes an adaptive online education system – AMTES which is powered by RIA technologies, primarily Adobe Flex. The preliminary evaluation result indicates that AMTES is capable of providing most students with appropriate multimedia course materials based on an estimation of their knowledge level by the system.

Udgivelsesdato: 2009-Dec BACKGROUND: Formaldehyde (FA) is a common indoor air pollutant that can cause asthma in people experiencing long-term exposure. While FA and other man-made chemicals contribute to the stimulation of asthma in the general population, the underlying molecular pathogenesis of this relationship is not yet well understood. OBJECTIVE: To explore FA as an irritant for the onset of asthma and as an adjuvant for the induction of allergy. METHODS: In the present study, 40 Wistar rats in five experimental groups were exposed to: (i) saline; (ii) ovalbumin (OVA); (iii) OVA + FA at 417 ppb; (iv) OVA + FA at 2500 ppb; and (v) FA at 2500 ppb. Current and prior occupational exposure limits in China were established at 417 ppb and 2500 ppb, respectively. Gaseous FA was administrated to the animals for 6 h/day before and during OVA immunization or saline treatment. Measured outcomes included in situ lung function analysis, cytokine measurement, and histological changes in the rat lungs. RESULTS: The airway reactivity, lung histological changes, pulmonary interleukin-4 secretion, and eosinophil infiltration in the OVA and FA exposed rats were significantly higher after gaseous FA exposures of 417 and 2500 ppb. While FA exposure alone did not induce significant structural changes to the airway, and the rate of inflammatory cell infiltration was the same as for the control group, pulmonary levels of interferon-gamma were significantly elevated in the exposed rats. CONCLUSIONS: FA may be an irritant as well as serve as an adjuvant for the onset of asthma or asthma-like symptoms.

Conventional direct conversion devices of radioisotope micro battery (RMB) suffer from small surface area and unreliability. In order to solve these problems, a method, which is verified with simulation results, is introduced for modeling the direct conversion devices. The fundamental structure of RMB is presented, and the equations of current are founded. The novel direct conversion device of vertical wall array is demonstrated. As a result, 171% increase of the surface area is acquired and the reliability is enhanced owing to the electro plating section. Simulation is performed to investigate the performance of RMB with the source density of 1mCi/mm2. Optimization of the method has resulted in that the optimum doping concentrations are NA=1017/cm3 and ND=1017 /cm3. Simulation results predicts that the method based the novel direct conversion device can get a VOC (open circuit voltage) of 180mV, a JSC (short circuit current density) of 3nA/mm2 and Pm (output power density) of 0.4nW/mm2 within a volume of 0.1mm3

SuperPower is developing a conductor design for improved mechanical properties, quench stability, and low ac losses. Coated conductors are typically 12 mm wide with a few microns of silver overlayer. SuperPower’s design modifies such base conductor designs into geometries more suited for practical applications. Wide conductors are slit into 4 mm wide tapes, in particular for cable applications, but also to reduce ac losses. After slitting, the conductor is stabilized with approximately 20 microns of surround copper stabilizer, completely encapsulating the conductor and providing a hermetic seal. Other advantages of the surround copper stabilizer configuration are rounded edges for dielectric integration and superior over‐current handling capability (9X critical current with 300 ms wide pulses). Prototype 1 m cables made by Sumitomo Electric using this practical conductor showed total ac losses under 0.4 W/kA‐m. To further reduce ac losses, especially for high frequency applications of the military, SuperPower’s conductor design involves striating the current‐carrying layers by a photolithography process. Several racetrack coils made with our practical coated conductors have been provided to Rockwell Automation for use in a demonstration motor. Recent results of our practical coated conductor will be discussed.

This paper presents a case study that explores the effectiveness of parallel conceptualization efforts to expose potential requirements issues in rapid prototyping. The case study consists of developing and comparing five design alternatives to model the safety-critical computer assisted resuscitation algorithm (CARA) software for a casualty intravenous fluid infusion pump using a set of computer aided Software Engineering Automated Tools (SEATools). The prototyping effort showed that users can efficiently create/modify multiple parallel models and reason about their complexity using SEATools. The study also illustrates the usefulness of comparative rapid prototyping to identifying strengths and weaknesses of alternative designs, improving the final result. The case study also exposed numerous omissions and discrepancies in the requirements document and highlighted useful future enhancements for SEATools.

Two issues related to the optical implementation of feedforward multilayer neural networks are discussed. First, an anti-Hebbian local learning rule is introduced to eliminate the need for error backpropagation in network training, as required by the commonly used back error propagation algorithm. Second, the effect of using square-law detectors in optical neural networks is considered, and an orthogonal vector algorithm is proposed to train such networks. While the first algorithm significantly reduces the complexity of optical neural networks, the second algorithm enables use of simple square-law optical detectors to implement neurons. Preliminary simulations have shown that not only are these two algorithms capable of solving typical pattern recognition problems, but they are also computationally effective. >