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Due to more complex anatomical features, right laparoscopic adrenalectomy (RLA) could be more challenging than left laparoscopic adrenalectomy (LLA). However, this opinion remains elusive.To evaluate the perioperative and postoperative outcomes of RLA versus LLA.A systematic literature research of the PubMed, Ovid, Scopus databases (up to March 2021) and citation lists were performed to identify eligible studies. All studies comparing RLA versus LLA were included. Data were analysed using RevMan 5.4 software.Overall, 5 studies including 780 patients (RLA 361; LLA 419) were included. The operative time was similar in both groups (WMD -9.38 min, 95% CI: -21.04 to 2.28; p = 0.11). Compared with LLA, RLA showed greater volume of estimated blood loss (EBL) (WMD 13.82 ml, 95% CI: 3.77, 23.88; p = 0.007) and higher conversion rate (OR = 3.45, 95% CI: 1.12 to 10.57; p = 0.03). RLA had comparable complications (OR = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.44 to 1.76; p = 0.71), Clavien Dindo score ≥ 3 complications (OR = 0.38, 95% CI: 0.09 to 1.65; p = 0.20), and length of hospital stay (WMD -0.07 days, 95% CI: -0.35 to 0.21; p = 0.61). The transperitoneal approach analysis showed consistent results.RLA is associated with a higher risk of bleeding and higher conversion rate.

Diabetes is a disease that seriously endangers human health. Early detection and early treatment can reduce the likelihood of complications and mortality. The predictive model can effectively solve the above problems and provide helpful information for the clinic. Based on this, it is proposed to apply the idea of integrated algorithm in DBN algorithm, collect the hospital data by investigating its related factors, clean and process the collected data, and sample and model the processed data multiple times. It is shown that a single DBN classifier is better than support vector machine and logistic regression algorithm. The model established by the integrated deep confidence network has a significant improvement in classification accuracy compared to a single DBN classifier, and solves the unstable classification effect of a single DBN classifier.

Few studies have reported the roles of the complement system in concomitant idiopathic membranous nephropathy and IgA nephropathy (IMN-IgAN). Complement factor B (CFB) is a crucial factor that involved in the alternative complement pathway. We aimed to evaluate the association between disease activity (eGFR, anti-PLA2R antibody levels and 24 h urinary protein excretion), progression and serum CFB levels of IMN-IgAN patients. In total, 39 IMN-IgAN patients (median follow-up, 46.6 months), 99 IMN patients and 92 IgAN patients participated in this study. The disease progression event was defined as end-stage renal disease (ESRD) or a 30% decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). The serum CFB concentration was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Serum CFB levels were lower in IMN-IgAN patients than in patients with IgAN only (P

Objective:. This study was aimed to determine the changes in CXCR2 expression in preeclampsia placenta and its correlation with clinical parameters. Methods:. Sixty-four gravidas ranging in age from 25 to 42 years referred to the obstetrics unit of the West China Second University Hospital from April 2012 to October 2012 were recruited in this case-control study; women were diagnosed and divided into early-onset preeclampsia group (n = 22), late-onset preeclampsia group (n = 22), and healthy pregnancy group (n = 20). After immunolocalized in human placenta, the levels of CXCR2 protein and messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Correlations between placental CXCR2 protein expression with systolic blood pressure and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in early-onset preeclampsia were examined using Pearson or Spearman's correlation coefficients. Results:. Placental CXCR2 protein and mRNA expression in early-onset preeclampsia was significantly lower than it was in placentas from healthy pregnancy pregnancies and late-onset preeclampsia (P

Digital health technologies (DHTs) enable remote and therefore frequent measurement of motor signs, potentially providing reliable and valid estimates of motor sign severity and progression in Parkinson’s disease (PD). The Roche PD Mobile Application v1 was revised to v2 to include more measures of bradykinesia, and bradyphrenia and speech tests, to optimize suitability for early-stage PD. It was studied in 316 early-stage PD participants who performed daily active tests at home then carried a smartphone and wore a smartwatch throughout the day for passive monitoring (study NCT03100149). Adherence was excellent (96.29%). All pre-specified sensor features exhibited good-to-excellent test-retest reliability (median intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.9), and correlated with corresponding Movement Disorder Society - Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale items (rho: 0.12–0.71). These findings demonstrate the preliminary reliability and validity of remote at-home quantification of motor sign severity with the Roche PD Mobile Application v2 in individuals with early PD.

Background Protein S deficiency (PSD) is an autosomal dominant hereditary disease. In 1984, familial PSD was reported to be prone to recurrent thrombosis. Follow-up studies have shown that heterozygous protein S (PROS1) mutations increase the risk of thrombosis. More than 300 PROS1 mutations have been identified; among them, only a small number of mutations have been reported its possible mechanism to reduce plasma protein S (PS) levels. However, whether PROS1 mutations affect protein structure and why it can induce PSD remains unknown. Methods The clinical phenotypes of the members of a family with thrombosis were collected. Their PS activity was measured using the coagulation method, whereas their protein C and antithrombin III activities were measured using methods such as the chromogenic substrate method. The proband and her parents were screened for the responsible mutation using second-generation whole exon sequencing, and the members of the family were verified for suspected mutations using Sanger sequencing. Mutant and wild type plasmids were constructed and transfected into HEK293T cells to detect the mRNA and protein expression of PROS1. Results In this family, the proband with venous thrombosis of both lower extremities, the proband’s mother with pulmonary embolism and venous thrombosis of both lower extremities, and the proband’s younger brother had significantly lower PS activity and carried a PROS1 c. 1820 T > C:p.Leu607Ser heterozygous mutation (NM_000313.3). However, no such mutations were found in family members with normal PS activity. The PS expression in the cell lysate and supernatant of the Leu607Ser mutant cells decreased, while mRNA expression increased. Immunofluorescence localization showed that there was no significant difference in protein localization before and after mutation. Conclusions The analysis of family phenotype, gene association, and cell function tests suggest that the PROS1 Leu607Ser heterozygous mutation may be a pathogenic mutation. Serine substitution causes structural instability of the entire protein. These data indicate that impaired PS translation and synthesis or possible secretion impairment is the main pathogenesis of this family with hereditary PSD and thrombophilia.

Background: To evaluate the performance of a machine-learning (ML) algorithm to detect and classify choroidal neovascularization (CNV), secondary to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) on spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) images. Methods: Baseline fluorescein angiography (FA) and SD-OCT images from 1037 treatment-naive study eyes and 531 fellow eyes, without advanced AMD from the phase 3 HARBOR trial (NCT00891735), were used to develop, train, and cross-validate an ML pipeline combining deep-learning–based segmentation of SD-OCT B-scans and CNV classification, based on features derived from the segmentations, in a five-fold setting. FA classification of the CNV phenotypes from HARBOR was used for generating the ground truth for model development. SD-OCT scans from the phase 2 AVENUE trial (NCT02484690) were used to externally validate the ML model. Results: The ML algorithm discriminated CNV absence from CNV presence, with a very high accuracy (area under the receiver operating characteristic [AUROC] = 0.99), and classified occult versus predominantly classic CNV types, per FA assessment, with a high accuracy (AUROC = 0.91) on HARBOR SD-OCT images. Minimally classic CNV was discriminated with significantly lower performance. Occult and predominantly classic CNV types could be discriminated with AUROC = 0.88 on baseline SD-OCT images of 165 study eyes, with CNV from AVENUE. Conclusions: Our ML model was able to detect CNV presence and CNV subtypes on SD-OCT images with high accuracy in patients with neovascular AMD.

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have distinctive voice patterns, often perceived as expressing sad emotion. While this characteristic of Parkinsonian speech has been supported through the perspective of listeners, where both PD and healthy control (HC) subjects repeat the same speaking tasks, it has never been explored through a machine learning modelling approach. Our work provides an objective evaluation of this characteristic of the PD speech, by building a transfer learning system to assess how the PD pathology affects the sadness perception. To do so we introduce a Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) architecture for speech emotion recognition designed to be transferable across datasets. Firstly, by relying on publicly available emotional speech corpora, we train the MoE model and then we use it to quantify perceived sadness in never seen before PD and matched HC speech recordings. To build our models (experts), we extracted spectral features of the voicing parts of speech and we trained a gradient boosting decision trees model in each corpus to predict happiness vs. sadness. MoE predictions are created by weighting each expert's prediction according to the distance between the new sample and the expert-specific training samples. The MoE approach systematically infers more negative emotional characteristics in PD speech than in HC. Crucially, these judgments are related to the disease severity and the severity of speech impairment in the PD patients: the more impairment, the more likely the speech is to be judged as sad. Our findings pave the way towards a better understanding of the characteristics of PD speech and show how publicly available datasets can be used to train models that provide interesting insights on clinical data.

Background The spectrum of neurological diseases related to ATP1A3 gene mutations is highly heterogeneous and exhibits different phenotypes. Phenotype overlaps, including alternating hemiplegia of childhood (AHC), early infantile epileptic encephalopathy, and rapid-onset dystonia-parkinsonism (RDP), can also occur at extremely low incidences. Currently, over 90 types of pathogenic mutations have been identified in ATP1A3. Patients and methods The family of a 2-year-11-month-old proband with AHC was recruited for this clinical investigation. The proband was screened for candidate mutation gene sites using next-generation sequencing and target-region capture technology. Sanger sequencing was used to identify carriers among family members. Results The mother of the proband with AHC was diagnosed with dystonia (later diagnosed as RDP). The biochemical and immune indices of the proband and the mother were not abnormal. Moreover, brain imaging of the proband revealed no significant abnormalities. However, the electroencephalogram of the mother was mildly abnormal, with no spike wave discharge. Brain MRI revealed slight cerebellar atrophy. Electromyography revealed neurogenic damage, with a decrease in the conduction velocity of the left ulnar and radial nerves. Based on the sequencing data, both the proband and her mother carried c.823G > C p. (Ala275Pro) heterozygotes; other family members were not identified as carriers. With a PolyPhen-2 score of 0.997 and SIFT score of 0.001, this mutation can be considered damaging. Conclusion Family genotype-phenotype correlation analysis revealed that the phenotype and gene mutation were co-segregated, suggesting that it may be a pathogenic mutation.

Background: The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiology of prelabour rupture of membranes (PROM) in China and to assess the association between clinical practice following the guidelines and early neonatal infections. Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study of 15926 deliveries in ShenZhen Baoan Women's and Children's Hospital, Xibei Women's and Children's Hospital and Chengdu Women's and Children's Hospital between August 1, 2017, to March 31, 2018. Clinical data were collected for each participant. The epidemiology of PROM was described. The association between PROM with early neonatal infectious outcomes and the influence of the implementation of the guideline on early neonatal infectious outcomes were assessed. Findings: The incidence of PROM was 18•7%. PROM was showed to be a risk factor for neonatal infectious diseases (adjusted OR 1•92, 95%CI 1•49~2•49, p

Purpose: To assess chemical degradation of various liquid chemotherapy and opioid drugs in the novel RxDestruct™ instrument. Methods: Intravenous (IV) drug solutions for chemotherapy and pain management were prepared using 0.9% normal saline in Excel® bags to a final volume of 500 mL. We investigated duplicate IV solutions of methotrexate (0.1 mg/mL), etoposide (0.4 mg/mL), doxorubicin (0.25 mg/mL), cladribine (12.4 µg/mL), fentanyl (1.0 µg/mL), and hydromorphone (12.0 µg/mL) in this study. Solutions were poured into an automated instrument to undergo pulsatile chemical treatment (Fenton reactions) for 20 minutes, and then discharged from the instrument through a waste outlet. Extent of intact drug degradation was determined by measuring concentrations of drugs before entry into the instrument and after chemical treatment in the filtrate using high-performance liquid-chromatography with ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV). Results: Following chemical reactions (Fenton processes) in the automated instrument, infusion solutions containing methotrexate, etoposide, doxorubicin, and cladribine had levels below the HPLC-UV limit of quantification (LOQ), indicating 99.5%, 99.99%, 99.9%, and 99.8% intact drug loss, respectively. Likewise, processed samples of fentanyl and hydromorphone contained levels below the LOQ (78 and 98 ng/mL, respectively), indicating extensive degradation (>92.2% and 99.2% intact drug loss, respectively). Conclusion: The novel instrument was capable of degrading intact chemotherapy and opioid drugs prepared in infusion solutions to undetectable quantities by HPLC-UV. RxDestruct™ is a possible alternative for disposal of aqueous medication waste.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and acceptability of cariprazine treatment in acute exacerbation of schizophrenia. METHODS This review included randomized controlled trials of patients with acute exacerbation of schizophrenia in relation to efficacy and acceptability. The efficacy outcomes were assessed by pooling standardized mean differences (SMDs) calculated from the difference in the reduction in the mean of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total score, PANSS positive and negative scores, and response rate. The primary acceptability outcomes were determined by pooling the risk ratios (RRs) of discontinuation for any reason, the incidence of serious adverse events, and treatment emergent events. FINDINGS Four randomized controlled trials consisting of 1843 patients met all inclusion and exclusion criteria. Efficacy analysis showed significant positive effects in relation to cariprazine therapy (SMD: -0.37, P < 0.00001 for PANSS total score change; SMD: -0.32, P < 0.00001 for PANSS positive score change; SMD: -0.32, P < 0.0001 for PANSS negative score change; RR, 1.41; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.19-1.67; P < 0.0001 for response rate). For primary acceptability outcomes, less patients taking cariprazine discontinued treatment for any reason compared with patients receiving placebo (RR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.78-1.04; P = 0.16). Significantly less patients on cariprazine had serious adverse events during the double-blind treatment period compared with patients taking placebo (RR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.34-0.89; P = 0.01). Significantly more patients on cariprazine had treatment emergent events compared with those receiving placebo (RR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.03-1.18; P = 0.006). IMPLICATIONS Results suggest that cariprazine may be an effective and acceptable treatment for schizophrenia and future research is warranted.

In view of the significant role of material science in industrial production, the analysis and research on mechanical properties of materials and parts are of great significance to equipment production and machining. This paper, based on the finite element analysis of ANSYS software, will carry out the exploration and research on characteristics of material fatigue damage within mechanical materials and parts in a degree. Then, the general laws of material fatigue properties will be concluded from theoretical analysis, drawing of curve and equal-life curve as well as some comparisons between materials and parts. Finally, the correctness will be tested with the help of ANSYS software, which is an excellent finite element analysis software with abilities of modeling and simulation. Meanwhile, the whole process can provide somewhat valuable references and citations for practical applications, teachings, researches and academic conferences on material fatigue damage theory.

INTRODUCTION This manuscript is a review of current studies and conducts a meta-analysis on the topic of partial nephrectomy (PN) and radical nephrectomy (RN) in larger renal tumors (cT2 and greater). EVIDENCE ACQUISITION A systematic research of PubMed, Ovid, Scopus (up to January 2019), and reference lists was performed to identify eligible comparative studies. All studies comparing PN with RN for cT2 or greater renal tumors were included. The quality of the included trials was assessed and the data were extracted independently by two reviewers. Statistical analyses were performed using the Cochrane Collaboration's Review Manager (RevMan) 5.3 software. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS Overall, 11 retrospective cohort studies including 19,281 patients (PN 1,146; RN 18,135) were included in the analysis. The tumor size was likely smaller in PN compared with RN (WMD -0.85 cm; P=0.05). Lower estimated blood loss (EBL) was found for RN (WMD 100.44 mL; P

Pitch is the most important auditory perception characteristic of sound with respect to speech intelligibility and music appreciation, and corresponds to a frequency of sound stimulus. However, in some cases, we can perceive virtual pitch, where the corresponding frequency component does not exist in the stimulating sound. This virtual pitch contains a deviation from the de Boer pitch shift formula, which is known as second pitch shift. It has been theoretically suggested that nonlinear dynamics in the cochlea or in the neural network produce a nonlinear resonance with a frequency corresponding to the virtual pitch; however, there is no direct experimental observation to support this theory. The second virtual pitch shift, expressed via basilar membrane nonlinear vibration temporal patterns, and consistent with psychoacoustic experiments, is observed in situ in the cochlea via laser interferometry.

Cancer patients with predominantly hepatic metastases have poor outcomes and limited options. Hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) of a therapeutic agent may be an appropriate option for producing increased drug concentrations at the tumor sites while reducing systemic adverse effects in normal tissues.Patients with predominantly hepatic metastases (n = 48) were placed in 6 groups according to nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-paclitaxel) dose level using a 3 + 3 design plus dose expansion for responsive tumor types. We evaluated the toxicity, antitumor activity, and pharmacokinetics of nab-paclitaxel delivered via HAI.Thirty-eight and ten patients underwent HAI over 1 and 4 h, respectively, at doses of up to 300 mg/m(2). The treatment was safe and exhibited antitumor activity. Pharmacokinetic analyses revealed that HAI of nab-paclitaxel over 4 h resulted in markedly lower peak drug concentrations (C max) and longer times to peak concentration (T max) than that over 1 h. The self-control pharmacokinetic studies showed that HAI of nab-paclitaxel led to much lower C max and areas under the curve (AUC), compared with intravenous infusion.HAI of nab-paclitaxel at up to 300 mg/m(2) over 4 h was well tolerated. Pharmacokinetic evaluation of C max, T max, and AUC implied that 4-h HAI enhanced hepatic extraction of nab-paclitaxel. Further preclinical and clinical studies are required to develop reliable methods of evaluation of hepatic extraction (clinicaltrials.gov registration number NCT00732836, first registered on August 8, 2008, and last updated on October 27, 2014).

Background Smartphones, wearables and other consumer technology have high-quality sensors that enable the objective, remote, continuous and longitudinal measurement of disease symptoms. This approach has the potential to be used in future drug development and clinical practice. Aim In this study, we are exploring the feasibility of using smartphone and wrist-worn wearables for high-frequency monitoring of motor and non-motor Huntington’s disease (HD) symptoms. Method Patients with HD in the ongoing ISIS 443139-CS2 clinical study (planned enrollment, n=46) receive a smartphone and wrist-worn wearable during screening. Using these tools, patients are asked to complete daily ‘Active’ tests at home that have been designed to measure a range of motor and non-motor symptoms. Motor symptoms that are being tested include chorea and gait problems; non-motor symptoms that are in focus include cognitive processing speed. In addition, patients are asked to carry the devices with them as they go about their daily activities (i.e., ‘Passive Monitoring’). The sensor data is then securely transferred via WIFI in real-time to Roche, where it is processed and analyzed for adherence and clinically meaningful sensor data features. Results Preliminary data that has been uploaded during the first 8-week observational period in the study show that adherence is good: approximately 85% of subjects completed the entire ‘Active’ test suite on 3 or more days each week. Conclusion It is feasible to measure motor and non-motor function in patients with HD using smartphone-based assessments performed at home. This technology, including real-time data transfer and advanced analytics, provides an innovative way to learn more about patients’ daily symptoms in the clinical trial setting. Data collection in additional patient cohorts will be an important next step to broaden experience with this approach. Funded by Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc and F. Hoffmann-La Roche.

Background: Methionine synthase reductase gene (MTRR A66G) polymorphism and methionine synthase gene (MTR A2756G) polymorphism have shown an association with idiopathic male infertility risk in several ethnic populations. However, their small sample sizes and inconsistent outcomes have prevented strong conclusions. We performed a meta-analysis with published studies to evaluate the associations of the 2 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and idiopathic male infertility risk. Methods: A thorough literature search was performed up to Jun 21, 2019 with Medline, Embase, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Biology Medical literature (CBM), China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), and Chinese literature (Wan Fang) databases. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were used to assess the strength of associations. Results: Seventeen studies including 3269 cases and 3192 controls met the inclusion criteria. Our meta-analysis showed that the MTR A2756G mutation may contribute to genetic susceptibility to the risk of idiopathic male infertility in Non-Asians, but not to Asian population, whereas the MTRR A66G polymorphism may be unrelated to idiopathic male infertility in both Non-Asian and Asian populations. In the stratified analysis by infertility type, the MTR A2756G polymorphism was a risk factor for both non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) and oligoasthenoteratozoospermia (OAT) patients. However, the MTRR A66G polymorphism is associated with risk for OAT in Asian, but not in Non-Asian population. Conclusion: This meta-analysis suggested that the MTR A2756G and MTRR A66G polymorphisms were risk factors for idiopathic male infertility. Studies with larger sample sizes and representative population-based cases and well-matched controls are needed to validate our results.

Smartphone-based assessments have been considered a potential solution for continuously monitoring gait and mobility in mild to moderate Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. Forty-four PD patients from cohorts 4 to 6 of the Multiple Ascending Dose (MAD) study of PRX002/RG7935 and thirty-five age- and gender-matched healthy individuals (i.e. healthy controls - HC) in a separate study performed smartphone-based assessments for up to 24 weeks and up to 6 weeks, respectively. The assessments included “active gait tests”, where all participants were asked to walk for 30 s with at least one 180\(^\circ \) turn, and “passive monitoring”, in which subjects carried the smartphone in a pocket or fanny pack as part of their daily routine. In total, over 6,600 active gait tests and over 30,000 h of passive monitoring data were collected. A mobility analysis indicates that patients with PD are less mobile than HCs, as manifested in time spent in gait-related activities, number of turns and sit-to-stand transitions, and power per step. It supports the potential use of smartphones for continuous mobility monitoring in future clinical practice and drug development.

Smartphone-based remote monitoring is a potential solution for providing long-term, objective assessment of gait and mobility in patients with Parkinsons disease (PD). In the Multiple Ascending Dose study of PRX002/RG7935, forty-four mild to moderate PD patients from cohorts 4 to 6 were included in a smartphone-based assessment for up to 24 weeks, while in a separate control study, thirty-five age-and gender-matched healthy individuals performed the same assessment up to 6 weeks. In total, over 30,000 hours of sensor data from subjects' daily activities were collected. A convolutional recurrent neural network was used for human activity recognition and extracted gait-related activities, followed by a mobility analysis on extracted mobility features during ambulatory bouts and turns. The analysis revealed that PD patients showed significantly lower mobility in terms of average ambulatory bout length — length of time of one continuous ambulatory segment, average per-step power, turn speed, and number of turns per ambulatory minute. In addition, bout-length stratified analysis shows the between-group difference of multiple features is associated with bout lengths. These study results support the potential use of smartphones for long-term mobility monitoring in future clinical practice, and also shed lights on previously inaccessible relationships between bout length and gait features under free-living condition.

Smartphone-based assessments have been considered a potential solution to passively monitor gait and mobility in early-stage Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. In the Multiple Ascending Dose clinical trial of PRX002/RG7935, 44 PD patients and 35 age- and gender-matched healthy individuals performed smartphone-based assessments for up to 24 weeks and up to 6 weeks respectively. For "passive monitoring", subjects carried the smartphone with them as part of their daily routine, while sensors in the smartphone recording movement data continuously. In total, over 30,000 hours of passive monitoring data were collected. To classify the sensor signal into activity profiles, we built a Human Activity Recognition (HAR) model using Deep Neural Networks (DNN) trained on previously published data. The activity profiles of the participants determined by the HAR model showed significant differences between PD patients and healthy controls in the percentage of time walking and frequency in which subjects changed positions (sitting and standing). This combination of sensor data and machine learning-based activity profiling was shown to hold great promise for use in future clinical practice and drug development.

Background and purpose Proflavine hemisulfate solution is a fluorescence contrast agent to visualize cell nuclei using high-resolution optical imaging devices such as the high-resolution microendoscope. These devices provide real-time imaging to distinguish between normal versus neoplastic tissue. These images could be helpful for early screening of oral cancer and its precursors and to determine accurate margins of malignant tissue for ablative surgery. Extemporaneous preparation of proflavine solution for these diagnostic procedures requires preparation in batches and long-term storage to improve compounding efficiency in the pharmacy. However, there is a paucity of long-term stability data for proflavine contrast solutions. Methods The physical and chemical stability of 0.01% (10 mg/100 ml) proflavine hemisulfate solutions prepared in sterile water was determined following storage at refrigeration (4–8℃) and room temperature (23℃). Concentrations of proflavine were measured at predetermined time points up to 12 months using a validated stability-indicating high-performance liquid chromatography method. Results Proflavine solutions stored under refrigeration were physically and chemically stable for at least 12 months with concentrations ranging from 95% to 105% compared to initial concentration. However, in solutions stored at room temperature increased turbidity and particulates were observed in some of the tested vials at 9 months and 12 months with peak particle count reaching 17-fold increase compared to baseline. Solutions stored at room temperature were chemically stable up to six months (94–105%). Conclusion Proflavine solutions at concentration of 0.01% were chemically and physically stable for at least 12 months under refrigeration. The solution was chemically stable for six months when stored at room temperature. We recommend long-term storage of proflavine solutions under refrigeration prior to diagnostic procedure.

This study finds that the four kinds of aquatic plants ofIpomoea aquatica(IA), Eichhornia crassipes(EC), Alternanthera philoxeroides(AP) andSagittaria sagittifolia(SS) have the significant effect on the purification of aquaculture wastewater through the contrast monitoring in the outdoor natural environment condition. The removal rates of the four kinds of aquatic plants are 91.37%, 94.27%, 58.64%, 90.26%, 92.67%, 100%;87.41%, 94.69%, 54.09%, 82.82%, 88.36%, 100%;83.09%, 94.91%, 51.36%, 86.67%, 87.36%, 100%;93.52%, 95.59%, 60.45%, 90.68%, 93.58%, 100% respectively to TN, TP, CODMn, NH4+-N, NO3--N, NO2--N in 10d trial period. On this basis, this study uses the aquatic plants, ozone measurement and control instrument and pump to build an ecological aquaculture wastewater purification system, it is applied in the high density running water breeding of theClarias leather, channel catfish, grass carpandOdontobutis potamophila. We harvest the adult fish 47.2 Kg per square meter, the output value is 566.91 yuan and the profit is 136.76 yuan, so it has the significant economic and ecological benefits and it explores a new model for the development of "water-saving, zero emissions" aquaculture.

The power generation system using Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is a new technology for energy recovery, but very few people have studied the control system of the organic working fluid turbine at present. This paper put forward the speed and power control strategy about the organic working fluid turbine. The parameters of the speed and power regulators are tuned to insure the steady of speed and power. A series of dynamic simulation experiments are carried out in Simulink. Through the simulation research of robustness and load disturbance experiments, the designed control system have a good effect on accuracy and dynamic response.

The aim of present study was to assess the radioprotective effects of the local application of amifostine to treat acute buccal mucositis in guinea pigs. A total of 32 guinea pigs were randomized into four groups: (Group A) topically administered 50 mg of amifostine plus radiotherapy (RT); (Group B) 100 mg amifostine plus RT; (Group C) normal saline plus RT; and (Group D) normal saline plus sham RT. The opportunity for administration was 15 min before irradiation. When administered, the cotton pieces that had been soaked with 0.5 ml amifostine solution or saline were applied gently on the buccal mucosa of each guinea pig for 30 min. The animals in Groups A, B and C were irradiated individually with a single dose of 30 Gy to the bilateral buccal mucosa. Eight days after irradiation, the animals were scored macroscopically; they were then euthanized, and the buccal mucosal tissues were processed for hematoxylin–eosin staining and ICAM-1 immunohistochemical analysis. In Groups A and B, the mean macroscopic scores were 2.9 ± 0.6 and 2.4 ± 1.1, respectively. There was no significant difference between the two groups (P > 0.05). However, when they were separately compared with Group C (4.4 ± 0.7), a noticeable difference was obtained (P < 0.05). No mucositis was observed in Group D. Comparisons of the expression of ICAM-1 were in agreement with the macroscopic data. Histologically, superficial erosion, exudate and ulcer formation were all observed in the RT groups; only the severity and extent were different. The microscopic observations in the amifostine-treated groups were better than in Group C. The results demonstrated that topical administration of amifostine to the oral mucosa is effective treatment of acute radiation-induced mucositis.

Flos Chrysanthemi is used in a variety of diseases in traditional Chinese medicine including hypertension, and the total flavonoids (rich in luteolin (LUT) and buddleoside (BUD)) of Flos Chrysanthemi is known to modulate vascular functions and reduce the blood pressure. However, the active flavonoids and their synergistic effects on anti-hypertension are still unclear. To investigate the combined anti-hypertension effects of LUT and BUD enriched extracts on spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), as well as the anti-hypertensive mechanism of LUTBUD mixture.CODA MouseRat Tail-Cuff Blood Pressure System was used to measure the systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of SHR after treated with extracts contains with LUT and/or BUD. The expressions of Ang II, PRA, ALD, ET, PGI2 and TXB2 were investigated by ELASA. Serum NO concentration was measured by the method of Nitric acid reductase.A single administration of LUT, BUD, or LUT:BUD=1:1 significantly reduced SBP by about 3.35 mmHg, 4.39 mmHg and 15.42 mmHg, respectively. Chronic administration of LBM (at 60 mg/kg; p.o. for 30 days) reduced both SBP and DBP by 4.04% and 5.24% of the vehicle group, respectively. Oral administration of LBM at 60 mg/kg inhibited the serum levels of ANG, ALD and ET, but increased serum NO concentration.This study shows the synergistic anti-hypertension effects of LUT and BUD in SHR. The effects of LBM on blood pressure are associated with RAAS and endothelial system. Thus, our experiments suggest that the combination of luteolin and buddleoside from Flos Chrysanthemi are potentially useful for the therapeutic treatments for hypertension.

With the development of cloud computing, more and more data-intensive workflows have been deployed on virtualized datacenters. As a result, the energy spent on massive data accessing grows rapidly. In this paper, an energy aware scheduling algorithm is proposed, which introduces a novel heuristic called Minimal Data-Accessing Energy Path for scheduling data-intensive workflows aiming to reduce the energy consumption of intensive data accessing. Extensive experiments based on both synthetical and real workloads are conducted to investigate the effectiveness and performance of the proposed scheduling approach. The experimental results show that the proposed heuristic scheduling can significantly reduce the energy consumption of storing/retrieving intermediate data generated during the execution of data intensive workflow. In addition, it exhibits better robustness than existing algorithms when cloud systems are in presence of I/O intensive workloads.

The purpose of this study was to quantitatively evaluate the wall thickness of C-shaped canals in mandibular first premolars using micro-computed tomographic imaging. The focus was on the relation between the radicular groove and the mesial canal wall thickness.A total of 148 mandibular first premolars were scanned by a micro-computed tomographic scanner. After 3-dimensional reconstruction of the teeth, 29 specimens were identified to contain a C-shaped canal, and then they were analyzed in software Mimics 10.01 (Materialise, Leuven, Belgium). The buccal and lingual canal wall thickness, minimum mesial and distal wall thickness, and the depth and angle of radicular grooves were measured at different root levels. Two-way analyses of variance and the post hoc Tukey's honestly significant difference test were used to compare the groups in relation to canal wall thickness.The buccal and lingual canal walls were significantly (P .005) thicker than the mesial and distal walls. The minimum thickness of the mesial walls was significantly (P .005) lower than that of the distal walls, and the locations were frequently at lingual sites, with an incidence of 67.3% for the mesial walls and 69.2% for the distal walls. Backward multivariate analysis showed that the root level and groove angle contributed significantly (P .005) to the minimum mesial wall thickness.The mesial walls of C-shaped canals in mandibular first premolars are the thinnest zones. The minimum mesial wall thickness decreases with the increased severity of the radicular groove, and it mainly occurs at lingual sites. Care should be taken to avoid perforation at danger zones during shaping and post space preparation procedures.

An effective theoretical method is developed to analyze three-ball system at contact in a bidimensional case basing on the impact law. The accurate solutions of the post-velocity have been computed in the paper. With the increase of between BallII and Ball III, the post-velocity of Ball III will be less and less. In fact, in the case of , the three-ball system in the same plane is consistent with the three-ball system in co-linear, when , the impact is happened only between BallI and Ball II. It is proved that the vibrating frequency influences only the impact time and the displacement of each ball for the three-ball system in the plane with elastic impact, but can not affect the momentum transfer and the post-velocities of the three balls, and all possible rigid solutions for impact are the limits of the theoretical results in some parameters of the system actually.

To observe the clinical efficacy and the change of airway responsiveness to Chinese medicine (CM) in treating cough variant asthma (CVA).Ninety-four patients who had confirmed the diagnosis of CVA were selected and randomly assigned to the treatment group and the control group by the blocked randomization method. The ratio of the two groups was 2:1. The treatment group had 63 patients that were treated by CM, lost in 10 cases, 53 patients had finished the trial. The control group had 31 patients that were treated by montelukast tablets and theophylline, lost in 5 cases, 26 patients had finished the trial, two weeks as one therapeutic course. The syndrome efficacy, cough efficacy, symptom score and the airway responsiveness between two groups were observed.The comparison of the syndrome efficacy: the total effective rate of the treatment group was 90.57% and the control group was 76.92%, and the two groups were significantly different (P0.05). The comparison of the cough efficacy: the total effective rate of the treatment group was 98.11% and the control group was 80.77%, and the two groups were also significantly different (P0.05). Syndrome scoring and cough scoring were all significantly lowered, but the airway responsiveness was not significantly lowered.The treatment of CM could ease the cough, improve the syndrome, and shows obvious advantages compared with the control group, which is worthy of extensive clinical application.

Embedded system is an important and popular application system for information technology. The applications of embedded system are depended on embedded hardware and software. In fact, applications of embedded systems have changed life of people in the world. They can be found anywhere, and almost can be used in every field. Since there are multiple definitions for the terminology, few people exactly know the concept of an embedded system. In this paper, some important concepts and definitions of embedded system are discussed and analyzed. The research is helpful to understand the embedded systems and apply them better.

Background: Oxidative stress is a key factor implicated in the development of diabetic neuropathy. This study evaluates the prophylactic and antinociceptive effects of the antioxidant coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) on diabetes-induced neuropathic pain in a diabetic mouse model. Methods: Total 56 mice with type 1 diabetes induced by streptozotocin were used, 20 normal mice were used as control. Mechanical and thermal nociceptive behavioral assays were applied to evaluate diabetic neuropathic pain. Tissue lipid peroxidation, immunohistochemistry, reverse transcription, and polymerase chain reaction were used to evaluate the molecular mechanisms of CoQ10. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. Results: CoQ10 administration was associated with reduced loss of body weight compared with nontreated diabetic mice, without affecting blood glucose levels. Low dose and long-term administration of CoQ10 prevented the development of neuropathic pain. Treatment with CoQ10 produced a significant dose-dependent inhibition of mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia in diabetic mice. Dorsal root ganglia, sciatic nerve, and spinal cord tissues from diabetic mice demonstrated increased lipid peroxidation that was reduced by CoQ10 treatment. CoQ10 administration was also noted to reduce the proinflammatory factors in the peripheral and central nervous system. Conclusions: The results of this study support the hypothesis that hyperglycemia induced neuronal oxidative damage and reactive inflammation may be pathogenic in diabetic neuropathic pain. CoQ10 may be protective by inhibiting oxidative stress and reducing inflammation by down-regulating proinflammatory factors. These results suggest that CoQ10 administration may represent a low-risk, high-reward strategy for preventing or treating diabetic neuropathy.

The detection and fault identification of the partial discharge is the important aspect for the monitoring of the power equipment. For the lacks of the traditional detection methods, this paper analyzed the UHF signal characteristic parameters of the power equipment’s partial discharge, and developed the UHF detection system of the partial discharge. The A/D technology of the gain equalization and quantization in the different bands is studied, and the fault diagnosis strategy of the partial discharge based on the UHF and AE is proposed. On the premise to ensure the integrity of the partial discharge signals, the acquisition, amplification, analysis and storage of the partial discharge signal is realized. The case-based reasoning technology determines the fault type and fault degree of the partial discharge to make the accurate judgment for the operational state of the equipment and improve the intelligence level and the operational reliability for the state diagnosis of the power equipment.

On the basis of studying the transformer condition assessment, the paper put forward the monitoring framework of the transformer cooler based on the intelligent electrical grid, and developed the intelligent monitoring system of the transformer cooler based on the DCS and dual PLC. The system used the DCS and dual PLC redundancy, the intelligent controller of the motor, the system’s platform for the centralized monitoring, the environmental control system and the other advanced technology, and implemented the monitoring, remote control and status monitoring of the transformer cooling system to improve the reliability and adaptability of the transformer cooler system. The system can be applied for the intelligent electrical grid. The above technologies are innovative in the high-performance distributed bus, the integrated design of three-phase solid state relay and magnetic latching relay and the cooling technology of the semiconductor in the PLC module, and lie in the leading domestic level.

Partial discharge causes mainly the insulation deterioration. It is the significant symptom and manifestation, and is an important factor of the insulation failure for the electrical power equipment. On the basis of analyzing the physical model of partial discharge, this paper used the online monitoring technology of partial discharge that combines the ultra high frequency (UHF) method and the acoustic emission (AE) method, studied the fault pattern recognition method of partial discharge based on the case-based reasoning algorithm, and established the intelligent fault identification system of partial discharge based on the case-based reasoning. The system can accurately and reliably identify the fault mode type, the specific fault location and severity of partial discharge for the electrical power equipment to make the health evaluation and improve the reliability. Through the application of the new materials and new technology, the load loss of the transformer can drop by 15%, the no-load loss can decline by 50% and the fee of electricity loss can down by 32.5%.

According to tests of 8 T concrete beams with HRB500 steel bars as stirrup, the shear behavior of beams was researched under uniform load, and the influencing factors of diagonal crack width were analyzed, such as the different concrete strength, stirrup spacing and the welded wire fabric. Experimental results show that concrete beams with HRB500 steel bars as stirrup show similar behavior to the beams with conventional stirrup, and the stirrups yield can be achieved which meets the requirement of shear behavior in structure. In addition, the welded wire fabric can be used as one of the new kinds of reinforcement to control diagonal crack width.

Diabetic neuropathic pain is reduced with tight glycemic control. However, strict control increases the risk of hypoglycemic episodes, which are themselves linked to painful neuropathy. This study explored the effects of hypoglycemia-related painful neuropathy. Pretreatment with coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) was performed to explore the preventive effect of CoQ10 on hypoglycemia-related acute neuropathic pain. Two strains of mice were used and 1 unit/kg of insulin was given to induce hypoglycemia. Mechanical sensitivity of hindpaw withdrawal thresholds was measured using von Frey filaments. Blood glucose levels were clamped at normal levels by joint insulin and glucose injection to test whether insulin itself induced hypersensitivity. Results suggest that the increased mechanical sensitivity after insulin injection is related to decreased blood glucose levels. When blood glucose levels remained at a normal level by the linked administration of insulin and glucose, mice demonstrated no significant change in mechanical sensitivity. Pretreatment with CoQ10 prevented neuropathic pain and the expression of the stress factor c-Fos. These results support the concept that pain in the diabetic scenario can be the result of hypoglycemia and not insulin itself. Additionally, pretreatment with CoQ10 may be a potent preventive method for the development of neuropathic pain.

In order to learn the present situation of heavy metals on particulate matters and evaluate their health risk, this paper cites the examples of District Xigu which is severely polluted and Town Yuzhong which is slightly polluted in Lanzhou city, the concentration of heavy metals attached on particulate matters in different seasons and different regions is measured, and the distribution proportion of heavy metals in different diameters of particulates is analyzed. Based on the health risk evaluation model recommended by USEPA, this paper evaluates health risks of pollution caused by heavy metals on atmosphere particulates at different sampling places in Lanzhou city. The result shows that heavy metal attached on particulate matter in Lanzhou city is distributed seasonally and regionally. Heavy metals on particulate matters in Lanzhou city are mainly attached on particulates of which the diameters are less than 10μm(PM10). In terms of horizontal gradient, the hazard index of heavy metal in the total suspension particulates in severely-polluted district of Lanzhou city in winter is greater than 1. In terms of vertical gradient, the hazard index of heavy metals on total suspension particulates 15m above ground in winter is greater than 1. These polluted aspects should be treated. The carcinogenic risk of chromium exceeds 10-6~10-4 which is acceptable scope stipulated by USEPA and should be well handled.

In order to understand the seismic performance of the large complex structure with multi-storey basement, the structure-pile-soil finite element model of a typical cross sections of one transfer station in a transportation junction were established by using the ANSYS software. The time history analysis was adopted, and the seismic responds of the whole system under the seismic load was analyzed, and some rules were attained. Comparing the result of the seismic responds with the rigid foundation model which the soil around the underground structure simulated by spring element, and some salutary conclusions are attained.

Thermal energy storage is the main way to ensure solar power plant to generate electric in the form of stable and continuous. In this paper, a structure optimization model for large-scale, commercialization solar thermal energy storage system is proposed according to life cycle analysis. Based on the analysis of thermal energy storage medium, thermal energy storage tanks, insulation, bottom bearing structure, pump energy and land use, the optimization of thermal energy storage system is realized. Finally, the structure optimization design for 50MW solar power plant is implemented and storage tank’s geometric parameters are calculated. This research can provide technological support for large-scale application of solar thermal generation.

The mechanical behavior research on double tower connected structure under earthquake action is more and more important gradually with wide application of high-rise building connected structures in the engineering field. Structure stress and deformation become extremely complicated due to connected structure, thereby the paper adopts two kinds of different analysis software for simulation of simplified model and system comparative analysis on a project example of one double tower connected structure, single tower separate calculation and double tower connected integral calculation are respectively conducted, structure dynamic features under the earthquake action is comparatively analyzed, the influence of connected structure on tower integral structure vibration mode, displacement and period is analyzed, thereby obtaining some conclusions beneficial for project design as references.

The aim was to demonstrate the immunogenicity and safety of a DTaP-IPV//PRP-T combined vaccine (Pentaxim ® ) compared to individual vaccines in infants in the People's Republic of China. Infants ( N = 792) were randomly assigned to receive DTaP-IPV//PRP-T at 2, 3 and 4 months of age (Group A) or 3, 4 and 5 months of age (Group B), or DTaP (Wuhan Institute of Biological Products), PRP-T (Act-Hib ® ) and IPV (Imovax ® Polio) at 3, 4 and 5 months of age (Group C). Antibody titers were measured pre- and 1 month after the third vaccination; non-inferiority analyses were performed for seroprotection/seroconversion (SP/SC) rates. Safety was assessed 1 month after the primary series. SP/SC rates for the DTaP-IPV//PRP-T vaccine were high and non-inferior to the controls. Reactogenicity was low for each group and no hypotonic hyporesponsive episode or seizure was reported. In conclusion, the DTaP-IPV//PRP-T vaccine was highly immunogenic, non-inferior to the commercially available control vaccines and had a good safety profile for both primary administration schedules.

A simulation model of the condenser in a 600MW supercritical thermal power plant was developed by using Matlab/Simulink. The important parameters such as condenser pressure, hot well water temperature and cooling water temperature were calculated by using this model. The simulation results under different operating conditions were compared with design parameters, and the relative errors were within -0.2% and +0.2%. This shows that the simulation model developed in this paper is reasonable. The dynamic performance and off-design performance of the condenser were studied by using the simulation model, which would be useful for the optimal operation of the condenser. The model of the condenser, which was developed based on the modular modeling method, would be an important basis for the simulation of the whole power plant.

We describe a new BV RI multicolor CCD photometric system situated at the prime focus of the 85-cm telescope at the Xinglong Station of NAOC. Atmospheric extinction effects, photometric accuracy and color calibration dependence of the system are investigated. Additional attention was paid to giving observers guidance in estimating throughput, detection limit, signal-to-noise ratio and exposure time.