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Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) is a promising non-invasive neuromodulation tool for deep brain stimulation. Here, we investigated the impact of LIPUS, including neuroprotective effects, on the pathology of Parkinson's disease (PD) in an animal model. Sprague–Dawley rats were injected with 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) at two sites in the right striatum. LIPUS (1 MHz, 5% duty cycle, 1-Hz pulse repetition frequency, 15 min/d) stimulation was then applied to some of the rats (the 6-OHDA + LIPUS group) beginning 2 wk after the 6-OHDA administration, while the remaining rats (the 6-OHDA group) received no LIPUS stimulation. The 6-OHDA-induced inflammatory responses and expressions of neurotrophic factors were quantified with immunofluorescence activity. The safety of LIPUS was assessed using hematoxylin and eosin and Nissl staining. LIPUS treatment significantly inhibited 6-OHDA-induced glial activation and the phosphorylation of nuclear factor-κB p65 in the substantia nigra pars compacta. Further study revealed that LIPUS effectively preserved the levels of neurotrophic factors, dopamine transporter and tight junction proteins of the blood–brain barrier in the 6-OHDA + LIPUS group compared with the 6-OHDA group. These results indicate that LIPUS acts via multiple neuroprotective mechanisms in the PD rat model and suggest that LIPUS can be viewed as a potential treatment for PD.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the therapeutic effects of transcranial direct current stimulation on swallowing function in poststroke patients.We searched for potentially eligible randomized controlled trials from electronic databases, including the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and Chinese Science and Technology Periodical (VIP) databases, from their inception to January 15, 2021. All statistical analyses were performed using RevMan 5.4, and the standardized mean difference with 95% confidence intervals was estimated for the swallowing function outcomes and to understand the mean effect size.Ten studies involving 343 participants were included in this meta-analysis. The overall analyses demonstrated a significant effect size for swallowing function. Subgroup analyses suggested that both acute and chronic stroke patients showed significant effects on swallowing function after transcranial direct current stimulation. Furthermore, compared with sham stimulation, transcranial direct current stimulation anodal to the affected, unaffected, and bilateral hemispheres can produce a significant effect size for swallowing function in stroke patients.This meta-analysis showed that transcranial direct current stimulation is likely to be effective for the recovery of dysphagia in poststroke patients, in the acute or chronic phase, and that the effect of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation to unaffected hemispheres is larger.

In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have become the standard treatment option for tumors. With the widespread application of ICIs, immune-related adverse events (irAEs) have gradually attracted the attention of researchers. Owing to the characteristics of ICIs, irAEs can affect each organ of the human body. Thromboembolism is uncommon in cancer patients receiving ICIs, but it may affect their survival. Most thromboembolic events do not cause serious effects after early prediction and treatment, but life-threatening toxic reactions are also observed. This condition should not be ignored because of vague and atypical symptoms, which make early diagnosis more challenging. This article focuses on the high-risk factors, underlying mechanisms, incidence, and prognosis of thromboembolism in patients using ICIs and briefly describes the intervention and treatment measures. This information would allow patients to effectively manage the side effects of thromboembolism during Immune checkpoint inhibitors treatment, ensuring the efficacy of ICIs and reducing mortality.

Background For treatment of advanced lung cancer, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) + chemotherapy or the combination of dual ICIs has become the standard first-line treatment in recent years. Considering the differences among patients’ immune systems, the response to ICIs may vary. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the predictive implications of patient age and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) for the efficacy of ICIs for the treatment of lung cancer. Methods We searched the PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and EMBASE databases for articles published between January 2010 and September 2020 that compared overall (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) rates between patients with lung carcinoma who were administered ICIs and control treatments. Results Twenty-four trials including 15,584 patients were selected. ICIs significantly improved the OS rates in patients aged

Caffeine is a substance that is consumed worldwide, and it may exert neuroprotective effects against various cerebral insults, including neurotrauma, which is the most prevalent injury among military personnel. To investigate the effects of caffeine on high-intensity blast wave-induced severe blast injury in mice, three different paradigms of caffeine were applied to male C57BL/6 mice with severe whole body blast injury (WBBI). The results demonstrated that chronic caffeine treatment alleviated blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI); however, both chronic and acute caffeine treatments exacerbated blast-induced lung injuries and, more importantly, increased both the cumulative and time-segmented mortalities postinjury. Interestingly, withdrawing caffeine intake preinjury resulted in favorable outcomes in mortality and lung injury, similar to the findings in water-treated mice, and had the trend to attenuate brain injury. These findings demonstrated that although drinking coffee or caffeine preparations attenuated blast-induced brain trauma, these beverages may place personnel in the battlefield at high risk of casualties, which will help us re-evaluate the therapeutic strategy of caffeine application, particularly in multiple-organ-trauma settings. Furthermore, these findings provided possible strategies for reducing the risk of casualties with caffeine consumption, which may help to change the coffee-drinking habits of military personnel.

Aim Human leukocyte antigen (HLA-B*58:01) allele screening before allopurinol administration is recommended to prevent gene-mediated severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs). The objective of the analysis was to examine the clinical utility and effects of HLA-B*58:01 genotyping on patient's outcomes in a practice setting. Patients and methods The electronic medical records covering diagnosis, laboratory results, and prescription dispensing for patients who were newly treated with allopurinol or tested for HLA-B*58:01 were obtained from a large medical organization in Taiwan between 2010 and 2014. The uptake of HLA-B*58:01 testing, incidence of allopurinol-associated SCAR, and changes in urate-lowering agent utilization were assessed. Results A total of 17 532 allopurinol new users were identified from 2010 to 2014, and the HLA-B*58:01 test was ordered for 2844 (21.76%) of 13 069 new users when available between 2011 and 2014 in the study. The allopurinol-related SCAR events decreased from 0.21% (22/4460) to 0 (0/2167) after the introduction of HLA-B*58:01 testing, accompanied by a gradual increase from 8% (326/4207) to 31% (674/2167) in genotype testing rate. However, the HLA-B*58:01 testing performed before allopurinol prescription was 60.34%, and ~40% of patients were tested after already taking allopurinol. A shift from allopurinol to other urate-lowering agent regimens appeared among new allopurinol users. Conclusion HLA-B*58:01 test was associated with the prevention of allopurinol-induced SCAR. The clinical utility of genotype testing may not be consistent with recommendations for testing, and treatment alternatives are a competitive intervention associated with effective implications in a real-world setting.

According to official Chinese survey data, the scale of China's mobile medical market reached 2.84 billion Yuan in 2014. It is expected that by the end of 2020, the scale will exceed 10 billion Yuan. The country attaches great importance to the mobile medical market and large-scale capital investment, and chronic disease patients will be the biggest beneficiary group. At present, there are many Mobile- Health (M-Health) APPs in China, but most of their functions are simple, and their usability and maturity are still lacking. Therefore, this paper mainly uses the questionnaire survey and utilizes the KANO model to analyze the elders' requirements of Zhangzhou district in China for M-Health APP's function. In addition to identifying the Must and One-dimensional M-Health APP elements, the results of this study also found that customization and personalization features will be favored by the elderly. If M-Health application developers can provide these functions that delight to old people, they not only attract new consumers, but also consolidate loyal consumer groups and enhance the use of M-Health apps.

The orienteering problem is a classical decision-making problem that can model many applications in logistics, tourism , and several other fields. In the orienteering problem, a graph is given, in which each vertex is associated with a score and the travel time along each edge is provided. The goal of this problem is to find a path that maximizes the sum of the collected scores, such that the total travel time along the path is below a given time limit. In the real world, the scores and the travel time may be uncertain, especially when the historical data are not sufficient. In this paper, we study the orienteering problem in a fuzzy environment and represent the scores and the travel time as fuzzy variables. Based on credibility theory, three fuzzy programming models under different decision criteria are proposed. For cases where the fuzzy variables are of some specific types, crisp equivalents of the models are constructed. In order to solve the proposed models, we design a hybrid intelligent algorithm integrating fuzzy simulation with genetic algorithm. A series of numerical experiments are performed to show the effectiveness and robustness of our hybrid intelligent algorithm.

Objective Pulmonary cryptococcosis (PC) is a pulmonary fungal disease caused by Cryptococcus neoformans infection, the clinical manifestations are pneumonia or pulmonary nodules, or acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in severe cases. But its clinical manifestations lack specificity, so it is often misdiagnosed or missed in recent years. Pulmonary cryptococcosis is common in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and non-HIV-associated immunosuppression, it has been found that pulmonary cryptococcosis is also common in people with sound immune function. The purpose of this paper is to report the diagnosis and treatment process of a patient with pulmonary cryptococcosis in our hospital, so as to provide reference for the diagnosis and treatment of the disease and reduce the misdiagnosis rate and missed diagnosis rate of the disease. Methods The diagnosis and treatment process of a case of pulmonary cryptococcosis in our hospital were reviewed. Results Combined with the patient's lung CT Imaging manifestations, and environmental exposure history and immune status, pulmonary cryptococcosis was considered. After empirical anti-cryptococcosis treatment, the patient's symptoms improved, and pulmonary nodules disappeared according to lung CT review. Conclusion Clinicians should identify the imaging characteristics of patients with cryptococcus pneumonicum and combine them with their environmental exposure history and immune status to avoid missed diagnosis and delayed disease.

It is very common in real life that information distorts during the process of transmission in a social network, which may lead to people’s incorrect comprehension of the information and further poor decision making. In this paper, we study how to model and minimize the distortion of information when it diffuses through a social network. We propose the concept of information authenticity to measure distortion as well as a mathematical model to characterize how information distorts during its diffusion through a social network, and study the optimization problem of maximizing the information authenticity of a social network. In order to solve the problem, we employ a framework of greedy algorithms that was proposed by Ni et al. (Inf Sci 180(13):2514–2527, 2010), which can trade off between optimality and complexity. Finally, we perform experiments to show the greedy algorithms can effectively solve the problem we propose.

A multiserver architecture consisting of multiple servers provides resources and services for clients by way of open channels. Thus, a cryptographic protocol should be offered to ensure the legitimacy of both clients and servers, and to provide communication confidentiality. In the past, a large number of ID-based mutual authentication and key agreement (ID-MAKA) protocols have been proposed regarding this issue. Several circumstances require a revocation mechanism to revoke misbehaving/compromised clients and servers before their intended expiration dates. To do so, the existing ID-MAKA protocols generally adopt a black/white list to revoke/permit clients for access authorization. So far, no work addresses the revocation problem on servers in the sense that clients should be notified to avoid malicious services or applications provided by revoked servers. In this letter, we propose the first list-free ID-MAKA protocol with an efficient revocation mechanism for multiserver architectures. Compared with previously proposed protocols, our protocol possesses three main merits. First, it provides a simple revocation mechanism to solve the management problem of both compromised clients and servers. Second, neither clients nor servers need to keep any black/white list. Finally, it is well suitable for mobile clients by performance analysis and experimental data.

Logistics project scheduling problem in indeterminate environment is gaining more and more attention in recent years. One effective way to cope with indeterminacy is to develop robust baseline schedule. There exist many related researches on building robust schedule in stochastic environment, where historical data is sufficient to learn probability distributions. However, when historical data is not enough, precise estimation on variables may be impossible. This kind of indeterminate environment can be described by uncertainty according to uncertainty theory. Related researches in uncertain environment are sparse. In this paper, our aim is to solve robust project scheduling in uncertain environment. The specific problem is to develop robust schedule with uncertain activity durations for logistics project. To solve the problem, an uncertain model is built and an intelligent algorithm based on simulated annealing is designed. Moreover, we consider a logistics project as a numerical example and illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm.

Background: Accumulative evidences have revealed the cardiac protective effects of thoracic epidural blockade (TEB), an anesthetic and analgesic method widely used in medical practice. However, TEB doesn't receive worldwide consensus in heart failure (HF) treatment. Thus, we conducted the current systematic review and cumulative meta-analysis to evaluate the therapeutic effects of adjunctive TEB in patients with HF.Methods: We conducted searches of the published literature in MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Scopus, EMBASE, CENTRAL, CNKI, VIP, WanFang databases from inception to October 2014. Clinical trials that studied adjunctive TEB in HF treatment were analyzed. Effect sizes were summarized using odds ratio (OR) or weighted mean differences (WMDs) by suitable effect model, and secondary findings in each trial were comprehensively reviewed.Results: Eighteen eligible trials with 1076 subjects were identified. Benefits of adjunctive TEB in HF treatment were shown on improving New York Heart Association (NYHA) class (OR, 11.39; 95% confidence interval [CI], 6.41 to 20.24, P

Facility location allocation (FLA) is one of the important issues in the logistics and transportation fields. In practice, since customer demands, allocations, and even locations of customers and facilities are usually changing, the FLA problem features uncertainty. To account for this uncertainty, some researchers have addressed the fuzzy profit and cost issues of FLA. However, a decision-maker needs to reach a specific profit, minimizing the cost to target customers. To handle this issue it is essential to propose an effective fuzzy cost-profit tradeoff approach of FLA. Moreover, some regional constraints can greatly influence FLA. By taking a vehicle inspection station as a typical automotive service enterprise example, and combined with the credibility measure of fuzzy set theory, this work presents new fuzzy cost-profit tradeoff FLA models with regional constraints. A hybrid algorithm integrating fuzzy simulation and genetic algorithms (GA) is proposed to solve the proposed models. Some numerical examples are given to illustrate the proposed models and the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Increasing studies in marketing and distribution channels have shown that the power of manufacturers and retailers is reversing. In this paper, we consider a pricing decision problem in which two different manufacturers compete to distribute differentiated but substitutable products through a common retailer under different power structures. The manufacturing costs, sales costs and demands are characterized by uncertain variables. Meanwhile, uncertainty theory and game-theory-based modeling approaches are employed to formulate the pricing decision problem with three different power structures under uncertain environment. How to make the optimal pricing decisions on wholesale prices and retailer markups under three possible scenarios is derived. Numerical experiments are also given to examine the effects of power structures on the equilibrium prices and profits in uncertain environment. It is found that if the sales cost is high, consumers can enjoy lower prices when facing a powerful retailer and the super retailer can also make the supply chain more efficient.

Objective.Patients with an HLA-B*58:01 allele have an increased risk of developing severe cutaneous adverse drug reactions (SCAR) when treated with allopurinol. Although one-off pharmacogenetic testing may prevent life-threatening adverse drug reactions, testing prior to allopurinol initiation incurs additional costs. The study objective was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of HLA-B*58:01 screening compared with using other available urate-lowering agents (ULA).Methods.A decision-analytical model was used to compare direct medical costs and effectiveness [including lifetime saved, quality-adjusted life-yrs (QALY) gained] in treating new patients with the following options: (1) genetic screening followed by allopurinol prescribing for noncarriers of HLA-B*58:01, (2) prescribing benzbromarone without screening, (3) prescribing febuxostat without screening, and (4) prescribing allopurinol without screening. A 1-year time frame and third-party payer perspective were modeled for both the entire cohort (base-case) and for the subgroup of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).Results.The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of genetic screening prior to ULA therapy was estimated as New Taiwan (NT) $234,610 (US$7508) per QALY gained in the base-case cohort. For patients with CKD, it was estimated as NT$230,925 (US$7390) per QALY. The study results were sensitive to the probability of benzbromarone/febuxostat-related hypersensitivity, and a negative predicted value of genotyping.Conclusion.HLA-B*58:01 screening gave good value for money in preventing allopurinol-induced SCAR in patients indicated for ULA therapy. In addition to the costs of genotyping, it is important to monitor ULA safety closely in adopting HLA-B*58:01 screening in practice.

In order to solve the problems such as low production capacity, high production costs and insufficient resources utilization in Wulongquan mine, the method of grey correlation analysis has been adopted to analyze the main affecting factors about mine production cost. Considering the changes and tendency of these time sequences, grey absolute correlation degree has been used to reflect the strong-weak degrees and orders of the relationship between reference sequence and comparison sequences better based on non-dimensional values. According to the calculating results, labor cost, depreciation cost and materials cost is main factors. So some appropriate measures have been put forward to control total cost.

For modeling decentralized decision-making problems with uncertain random parameters, an uncertain random multilevel programming is proposed. For some special case, an equivalent crisp mathematical programming to the established uncertain random programming is presented. A searching method by integrating uncertain random simulations, neural network, and genetic algorithm is produced to search the quasi-optimal solution under some decision-making criterion. Finally, the proposed uncertain random multilevel programming is applied to a production control problem.

To assess associations of the serum level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D with insulin resistance and β-cell function in a healthy Chinese female population. This cross-sectional study included 1382 female participants free of type 2 diabetes who were recruited in Shanghai. Blood samples were collected within a winter season and the serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, fasting plasma glucose and insulin, and other biochemical parameters were determined. Insulin resistance and β-cell function were assessed using the homeostasis model assessments of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and β-cell function (HOMA-B), respectively. Multiple linear regression analyses adjusted for age, parathyroid hormone, Ca2+ and BMI revealed that independent inverse associations existed between the serum level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and HOMA-IR (P

The government has been acting as an important role in the formation and operation of closed-loop supply chain. This paper focuses on how consumption-subsidy influences dual-channel closed-loop supply chain. After introducing government consumption-subsidy program and dual-channel closed-loop supply chain, the paper analyzes the channel members’ decisions before and after the government-funded program performance, respectively. Finally, influence of consumption-subsidy has been considered from the consumers, the scale of closed-loop supply chain and the enterprises perspectives, which provides an important basis for our propositions. The key propositions of the paper are listed as follows: All the consumers that purchase the new products are beneficiaries of the government consumption-subsidy in varying degrees; the consumption-subsidy is conducive to the expansion of closed-loop supply chain; both the manufacturer and the retailer are beneficiaries of the consumption-subsidy, while the e-tailer benefits or not is uncertain.

We present a novel dynamic fuzzy sets (DFS) method, which is the generalization of fuzzy sets (FS) and the dynamization of interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IVIFS). First, by analyzing the degree of hesitancy, we propose a DFS model from IVIFS. Second, we introduce the distance measure of DFS. Finally, a pattern recognition example is given to demonstrate the application of DFS, and the experimental results show that the DFS method is more effective than some IVIFS methods.

The aim of this study was to investigate the early outcome of Endostar combined with chemoradiotherapy for advanced cervical cancer. Fifty-two cases (FIGO Ⅱb to Ⅳa) were divided randomly into two groups, receiving chemoradiotherapy alone (CRT group) and Endostar combined with chemoradiotherapy (CRT+E group). For the patients in the CRT+E group, Endostar was administered daily with the dosage of 7.5 mg/m 2 , and cisplatin was administered weekly with the dosage of 20 mg/m 2 during the radiation. The regimens lasted for 4 weeks with no difference in chemoradiotherapy between the two groups. The early outcome complete remission rate was 73.1%, partial remission rate was 23.1% and the total response rate was 96.2% in CRT+E group, a significnat improvement on the 34.6%, 42.3% and 76.9%, respectively, in the CRT group. One year survive rates were 100% and 84.6% in the CRT+E group and CRT groups, the difference being significant. Endostar combined with chemoradiotherapy can improve the early outcome of the advanced cervical cancer, and adverse effects were not encountered.

Aim: Lowe syndrome is a rare, multisystem, X-linked disorder characterized by anomalies affecting the eyes, the nervous system and the kidneys. The objective of this study was to identify and characterize the clinical manifestations of mutations of the causative gene in two Chinese families with Lowe syndrome. Methods: Lowe syndrome was diagnosed based on the clinical manifestations and laboratory and imaging findings. Altogether, 164 DNA samples, including samples from three affected subjects, five family members (from two families) and 156 healthy donors, were analyzed to identify the mutations in the OCRL1 gene. Results: In family 1, proband 1 had a novel nonsense mutation (c.880G>T) in exon 10 of the OCRL1. This mutation led to a premature termination of the OCRL1 protein (p.Glu294X). In family 2, a novel insertion mutation (c.2626dupA) in exon 24 of OCRL1 was found in proband 2 and his affected elder brother. This mutation likely results in the degradation of the OCRL1 protein (p.Met876AsnfsX8). Both probands' mothers were identified as carriers of the respective mutations. These mutations were not found in the unrelated controls. Conclusions: Our study suggests that the novel nonsense mutation (c.880G>T) in exon 10 and the novel insertion mutation (c.2626dupA) in exon 24 of the OCRL1 gene cause Lowe syndrome in these two Chinese families.

Association between ten single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the human ALOX12 and ALOX15 genes and variations in peak bone mineral density (BMD) in a large sample of Chinese nuclear families with female offspring using the quantitative transmission disequilibrium test (QTDT). Our results suggest that the genetic polymorphisms in both human ALOX12 and ALOX15 may contribute to variations in the peak BMD of Chinese women. The aim of this study was to investigate whether polymorphisms in the human ALOX12 and ALOX15 genes are associated with variations in peak BMD in Chinese nuclear families with female offspring. Each five SNPs in the ALOX12 and ALOX15 genes were genotyped in a total of 1,260 individuals from 401 Chinese nuclear families. The BMD of the lumbar spine, femoral neck and total hip was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. We tested whether a single SNP or a haplotype was associated with peak BMD variations using the QTDT. Using QTDT to measure within-family associations in ALOX15, we observed a significant association between rs916055 and BMD in the lumbar spine (p = 0.027 in the permutation 1,000 test). However, in ALOX12, rs312470 was significantly associated with BMD in the femoral neck (p = 0.029 and p = 0.036 in the permutation 1,000 test). The results of a haplotype analysis supported the findings of the single locus test for ALOX15. Our results suggest that the genetic polymorphisms in both human ALOX12 and ALOX15 may contribute to variations in the peak BMD of Chinese women.

The paper describes a type of serial running mode that boost pump provides water floating and the main submersible pump runs in a no-diving mode. The practice show that this mode can effectively solve the drainage problem at the inclined shaft under the condition of large water inflow and no track, and overcome the drainage problem under the coal slime silting condition. This mode also expands the application of high-power submersible pump theoretically.

Ferroelectric PMN–PT (68/32) thin films, about 250 nm in thickness, have been successfully grown on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrate by a modified sol–gel process. Pure perovskite phase with highly (1 1 1)-preferred orientation, determined by X-ray diffraction, was formed in the PMN–PT thin films when annealed at 650 °C. The pyrochlore phase has been effectively avoided through a variation of the processing parameters such as Mg content, Mg precursor and annealing temperature during thin film deposition. FE-SEM investigation showed that the films have a smooth and crack-free surface with densely packed grains after annealed at 650 °C. The annealed films exhibited well-defined hysteresis loops, with a respective remanent polarization Pr of 16.1 μC/cm2 and coercive field Ec of 71.2 kV/cm at an applied electric field of 400 kV/cm at room temperature.

Project scheduling problem is to determine the schedule of allocating resources so as to balance the total cost and the completion time. This paper considers a type of project scheduling problem with fuzzy activity duration times. According to some management goals, three types of fuzzy models are built to solve the project scheduling problem. Moreover, the technique of fuzzy simulation and genetic algorithm are integrated to design a hybrid intelligent algorithm to solve the fuzzy models. Finally, some numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the algorithm.

For the purpose of studying material cluster design and shape design of a certain arc-shaped thermal-protection component rationally, the ablation behavior and thermal stress distribution are studied by using the method of finite element numerical simulation. The study includes ablation tests, numerical simulation of temperature field, calculation of ablation thickness and numerical simulation of unsteady thermal stress field of the component. The simulation results are consistent with the results of ablation tests, which shows that the shape design of the arc-shaped thermal-protection component is rational and the dangerous periods of the component ablation are the time of initial heating and initial ablation boundary retreat.

The aim of this study was to investigate the early outcome of the taxotere and cisplatin chemoradiotherapy to the advanced cervical cancer. Fifty-six cases with cervical cancer (FIGO II b to IVa) were divided randomly into two groups: radiotherapy alone (28 cases) and radiation plus chemotherapy (TP) group. There was no difference of radiotherapy between the two groups. The RT+C cases who received TP regimen during the radiation, and DDP once weekly injection of vain, according to 20 mg/m2 and taxotere once weekly i.v. according to 35 mg/m2.These regimen were given for 4~5 weeks, and some medicine for vomiting was given to the RT+C cases. Two groups were received an oral medicine MA 160 mg every day during the treatment. The early outcome: the complete remission rate was 64.3% and partial remission rate was 35.7% in RT+C. the complete remission rate was 32.1% and partial remission rate was 39.3% in RT. The total response rate and complete remission of RT+C group was higher than that of the RT group. There was significant difference between the two groups. The taxotere and cisplatin chemoradiotherapy can improve the early outcome of the advanced cervical cancer, the adverse effects being endurable.

Osteocalcin, a biochemical marker of bone formation, has been suggested to be involved in the regulation of energy metabolism. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible association between serum osteocalcin and markers of glucose and lipid metabolism in a large sample of healthy Chinese women.A total of 2032 healthy Chinese women in Shanghai, aged 20-94 (including 1396 discovery-study subjects and 636 postmenopausal women for a reduplication analysis) were recruited. Their serum osteocalcin, calcium and the relevant measurements were analyzed. A Spearman correlation analysis was performed between osteocalcin and the other markers of energy metabolism including triglyceride, total cholesterol, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), serum insulin, body mass index and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance. Separate multiple regression analyses were performed with data from the discovery and reduplication subjects to determine whether serum osteocalcin concentration was an independent predictor of the glucose or lipid metabolism markers.For the discovery-study subjects, serum osteocalcin was found to be negatively associated with weight (r=-0.08, P=0.002), BMI (-0.13, P0.001) and FPG (r=-0.13, P=0.001). Similar results were also found in the reduplication subjects (weight: r=-0.19, P=0.016; BMI: r=-0.23, P=0.003; FPG: r=-0.28, P0.001). In the multiple regression analysis, serum osteocalcin was revealed as a potential independent predictor for FPG (β=-0.07 and -0.210 for discovery and reduplication, respectively, P0.01) and BMI (β=-0.127 and -0.299 for discovery and reduplication, respectively, P0.01).Serum osteocalcin is negatively associated with weight BMI and FPG in healthy Chinese women. Therefore, osteocalcin might contribute to obesity and diabetes.

Objectives Mutations in the CYP27B1 gene, which encodes vitamin D 1α-hydroxylase, are the genetic basis of vitamin D-dependent rickets type 1A (VDDR1A, MIM 264700). The aim of this study was to investigate a novel CYP27B1 mutation and its clinical manifestations. Methods VDDR1A was diagnosed based on clinical presentation, a physical examination, bone characteristics on an X-ray, and laboratory results. A molecular model of the CYP27B1 protein was constructed using the SWISS-MODEL server and Swiss-PdbViewer. Results We sequenced the CYP27B1 gene in a 5-year-old male child who presented with growth retardation and a history of frequent hand, leg, and perioral twitching since the age of 12 months. We identified a compound heterozygous mutation consisting of two missense mutations: one in exon 7 (R389C [c.1165C>T]) and one in exon 8 (R459C [c.1375C>T]). We used the wild-type CYP27B1 as a receptor and calcidiol as a ligand to predict the interaction between the R459 site and calcidiol. According to the predicted structure, the wild-type R459 residue localizes to the pocket where CYP27B1 binds to its ligand. Conclusions According to the Human Gene Mutation Database, the compound heterozygous mutation identified in our patient is novel and has not yet been reported in the literature. This mutation provides a new basis for further research on VDDR1A and for the development of clinical diagnostics.

Fifty-two patients with chemotherapy comprise cisplatin, adriamycin and dacarbazine underwent antiemetic therapy form September 1994 to June 1995. The chemotherapy regimens include CAP-VDS, ACO, EP, CHOP, AMF and MFP. The dose of PDD was 60-70 mg/M 2 ,ADR was 40-50 mg/M 2 and DTIC was 300 mg/M 2 . This study was the randomized, cross-over study, ruled out any differences between individual patients. Group A: Granisetron was given on the first day of chemotherapy, Granisetron 3 mg, Dexamethasone l0 mg i.v. at 30 minutes before chemotherapy; Group B: Ondansetron was given on the first and second days, Ondansetron 8 rag, Dexamethasone 10 mg i.v. at 30 minutes before chemo-therapy. The rates of complete control-free of vomiting were 80.8% and 82.7% in both groups respectively at 24 hours (P>0.05), 57.7% and 53.9% respectively (P>0.05)at second day, and 67.3% and 53.9% respectively (P 0.05). Adverse eventswith both antiemetic treatments were mild (essentially headache), the percentage of headache with ondansetron was 9.5% and granisetron 7.7%, constipation with ondansetron was 80.8% and granisetron 61.5%. Constipation: Granisetron, given as one i.v. 3 mg injection before chemotherapy plus dexamethasone, and ondansetron, given intravenously 8 mg injection before chemotherapy at the first 2 days plus dexamethasone are similar results on acute and dalayed chemotherapy induced vomiting in patients receiving their intensely emetogenic regimen.

OBJECTIVE: Lipoxygenase (LOX) is one of the major metabolic enzymes for arachidonic acid, which has been reported to be associated with many postmenopausal and many hormone-related diseases. In rats, selective inhibition of the LOX pathway led to defective ovulation. However, little is known about the association of the LOX-related genes with menstruation in women. In this study, we investigated the possible association of two key gene (ALOX12 and ALOX15) polymorphisms with age of menarche and menopause in Chinese women. METHODS: Six tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of ALOX12 and five SNPs of ALOX15 were genotyped. The association of single SNPs and haplotypes in two candidate genes and age at menarche (AAM) variation was tested in 401 Chinese nuclear families using the quantitative transmissing disequilibrium test. Furthermore, the association between these SNPs and haplotypes and age at natural menopause (AANM) in 710 postmenopausal Chinese women was measured. RESULTS: Using family- and population-based statistical procedures, significant association was found between SNPs rs312462 in ALOX12 and AAM in nuclear families (P = 0.043), and three SNPs (rs2292350, rs312470, and rs312462) in ALOX12 were significantly associated with AANM in postmenopausal women (P = 0.012, P = 0.045, and P = 0.033, respectively). Haplotype analyses corroborated our single SNP results (P = 0.030). However, we failed to find a significant association between ALOX15 gene polymorphisms and AAM as well as AANM (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our present results suggest that genetic variations in ALOX12 are associated with both the onset and cessation of menstruation in Chinese women living in Shanghai.

Power quality problems such as three-phase unbalanced and aberrance, harmonics and so on, have become serious increasingly and the development of APF has been one of the ways to solve these problems. The detection algorithm based-on FBD theory for command current in three-phase and four-wire system, can extract the zero-sequence current and harmonic current from the load current. This algorithm is adopted in the paper to design the main circuit of three-leg with split phase capacitance and hysteresis control is used to regulate the output current. A prototype of APF based-on DSP, which provide experimental environment for high-power, is developed to test the performance of the APF and results have proved that the compensation effect of the device to zero-sequence current, harmonics and reactive power is reliable.

Active power filter (APF) often combines with thyristor switched capacitor (TSC) for the purpose of reducing cost. Traditional full-bandwidth control method of APF contains system's parallel resonant point and the harmonic of power grid will be amplified. To address this problem, a novel fractional frequency control strategy with lead compensation is proposed. This method can obtain arbitrary order harmonic reference to compensate using synchronous rotating coordinate transform method. Instruction value of APF can be achieved by adding the amplitude limited fundamental reactive power reference to the finite harmonics reference. In this way which can improve the stability of hybrid compensation system, output spectrum of APF will become numbered discrete spectral line. And a synchronous rotating coordinate transformation based lead compensation is also proposed. By adding a leading angle in the inverse transformation matrix, compensation effect is improved. And proposed methods have all been verified in experiments and practical debugging in field.

To identify the susceptibility genes for osteoporotic fracture in postmenopausal Chinese women, a two-stage case-control association study using joint analysis was conducted in 1046 patients with nontraumatic vertebra, hip, or distal radius fractures and 2303 healthy controls. First, 113 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 16 potential osteoporosis candidate genes reported in recent genomewide association studies, meta-analyses studies, large-scale association studies, and functional studies were genotyped in a small-sample-size subgroup consisting of 541 patients with osteoporotic fractures and 554 healthy controls. Variants and haplotypes in SPTBN1, TNFRSF11B, CNR2, LRP4, and ESR1 that have been identified as being associated with osteoporotic fractures were further reanalyzed in the entire case-control group. We identified one SNP in TNFRSF11B (rs3102734), three SNPs in ESR1 (rs9397448, rs2234693, and rs1643821), two SNPs in LRP4 (rs17790156 and rs898604), and four SNPs in SPTBN1 (rs2971886, rs2941583, rs2941584, and rs12475342) were associated with all of the broadly defined osteoporotic fractures. The most significant polymorphism was rs3102734, with increased risk of osteoporotic fractures (odds ratio, 1.35; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.17–1.55, Bonferroni p = 2.6 × 10−4). Furthermore, rs3102734, rs2941584, rs12475342, rs9397448, rs2234693, and rs898604 exhibited significant allelic, genotypic, and/or haplotypic associations with vertebral fractures. SNPs rs12475342, rs9397448, and rs2234693 showed significant genotypic associations with hip fractures, whereas rs3102734, rs2073617, rs1643821, rs12475342, and rs2971886 exhibited significant genotypic and/or haplotypic associations with distal radius fractures. Accordingly, we suggest that in addition to the clinical risk factors, the variants in TNFRSF11B, SPTBN1, ESR1, and LRP4 are susceptibility genetic loci for osteoporotic fracture in postmenopausal Chinese women. © 2012 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research © 2012 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research

Previous studies have suggested that changes in hip geometry increase the risk of hip fracture. The aim of this study was to identify whether body composition were associated with hip geometry or bone mineral density (BMD) in a large sample of Chinese people. A total of 2072 subjects aged 20-79 yr (including 700 males and 1372 females) were selected. The following measurements were taken: lumbar spine (L1-4); proximal femur BMD; lean mass (LM); fat mass (FM); and hip geometric parameters, including hip axis length (HAL), cross-sectional moment of inertia (CSMI), cross-sectional area (CSA), neck-shaft angle, and femur strength index (SI) by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. FM and LM were positively correlated with HAL, CSMI, and CSA, and negatively correlated with SI in both men and women. Multiple regression analysis showed that leg LM contributions to HAL, CSMI, and CSA variance were 12.6-37.6%. Compared with FM, LM was generally more strongly related to hip geometry and BMD in young and old men and women. Body composition was a good predictor for hip geometry parameter variation and BMD variation.

Aircraft Spare Parts inventory control is an important part of civil aviation aircraft maintenance and enterprise management. Use the collected tire wear and tear data, erect the process and system model. On this basis, design an aircraft spare parts inventory optimization system using minimum variance control theory. It simulates and researches the system that implements minimum variance control by MATLAB Studies, it has shown that using the minimum variance control can control the variance at a relatively low level, thereby it can reduce the average inventory correspondingly, and achieve the purpose of reducing the cost of maintenance and management. Theoretical analysis and system design results is useful to air material management of airlines.

The time-cost trade-off problem is a type of the project scheduling problem which studies how to modify project activities so as to achieve the trade-off between the project cost and the completion time. In real projects, the trade-off between project cost and project completion time, and the uncertainty of the environment are both considerable aspects for decision-makers. In this paper, an expected value model for the fuzzy time-cost trade-off problem is proposed, in which credibility theory is applied to describe the uncertainty of activity durationtimes. A searching method as a hybrid intelligent algorithmintegrating fuzzy simulation and genetic algorithm is produced to search the optimal schedules.

In real projects, both the trade-off between the project cost and the project completion time, and the uncertainty of the environment are considerable aspects for decision-makers. However, the research on the time-cost tradeoff problem seldom concerns fuzzy environments. In this paper, a new fuzzy time-cost trade-off model with the philosophy of dependent-chance programming is proposed, in which credibility theory is applied to describe the uncertainty of activity durations. A searching method as a hybrid intelligent algorithm integrating fuzzy simulation and genetic algorithm is produced to search the optimal schedule under the given decision-making rule. The purpose of the paper is to reveal how to obtain the optimal balance of the project completion time and the project cost in fuzzy environment.

A previous study showed that individuals of Japanese descent affected by early onset familial Paget's disease of bone (PDB) carried a 27-bp duplication at position 75 (75dup27) in the TNFRSF11A gene encoding RANK. Here we report the identification of a novel mutation (78dup27) in exon 1 of TNFRSF11A in a Chinese family with early onset PDB.We conducted clinical and genetic studies in a non-consanguineous Chinese family with early onset PDB. The entire coding region of TNFRSF11A was amplified and directly sequenced directly.A novel 27-bp duplication in exon 1 (78dup27) in TNFRSF11A was found in four affected individuals and one asymptomatic individual. Although this duplication was the same length as the previously identified mutation (27 bp, from bases 78 to 104), in our patients the nine duplicated amino acids in the RANK signal peptide were LLLLCALLA. The phenotypes of affected individuals in this family overlapped with both early onset PDB and classic PDB, but several distinguishing features were found in our patients. The key difference between our familial PDB and the Japanese early onset PDB was the age of onset, which in most of our patients was during their late 20s (except for the propositus' niece). Another notable difference was that the propositus' son (24 years old), who carried the 78dup27 mutation, had no clinical symptoms or bone abnormalities, except for increased serum ALP, OC and CTX.Our findings may provide a better understanding of the clinical features of early onset PDB and support the notion of a hot spot for mutations in exon 1 of the TNFRSF11A gene.

This paper presents ongoing work on using projection pursuit regression model to predict object-oriented software maintainability. The maintainability is measured as the number of changes made to code during a maintenance period by means of object-oriented software metrics. To evaluate the benefits of using PPR over nonlinear modeling techniques, we also build artificial neural network model, and multivariate adaptive regression splines model. The models performance is evaluated and compared using leave-one-out cross-validation with RMSE. The results suggest that PPR can predict more accurately than the other two modeling techniques. The study also provided the useful information on how to constructing software quality model.

Objective: To evaluate the addition of vindesine to a cyclophosphamide-epirubicin-cisplatin (CAP) regimen for treating the patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: From May 1994 to August 1998, 59 previously untreated patients with stage IIIa and IIIb non-small cell lung cancer were enrolled into this trial. Patients characteristics were the following: the median age was 52 years; the median performance status was 1; there were 19 stage IIIa and 40 stage IIIb; there were 47 adenocarcinoma, 10 squamous cell carcinoma and 2 large cell carcinoma. All patients were treated with vindesine (2 mg/m 2 , on day 1 and day 8), cyclophosphamide (0.6/m 2 , on day 1), epirubicin (40 mg/m 2 , on day 1) and cisplatin (60 mg/m 2 , on day 1) every 3 or 4 weeks. Results: Four achieved a complete response (6.8%), 29 achieved a partial response (49.2%), 15 had stable disease, and 10 had progressive disease. A clinical improvement was in 45 of 59 patients (76.3%). The most frequent major toxic effects were myelosuppressiom nausea and vomiting. Conclusion: The vindesine with CAP regimen was active combination chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced NSCLC accompanied by the limited side effects.

To investigate the feasibility and efficacy of the combination of S-1 with gemcitabine followed by oral S-1 with concurrent radiotherapy (intensity modulated radiotherapy, IMRT) and maintenance therapy with S-1 for locally advanced pancreatic cancer.Subjects selected in the study were patients who had unresectable and locally advanced pancreatic cancer without distant metastases, adequate organ and marrow functions, an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0-1 and no prior anticancer therapy. Initially the subjects received two cycles of chemotherapy, oral administration of S-1 40 mg/m(2) twice daily from day 1 to day 14 of a 21-d cycle, with 30-min intravenous infusions of gemcitabine 1000 mg/m(2) on day 1 and day 8. Two weeks after the completion of chemotherapy, S-1 was administered orally with concurrent IMRT. Oral S-1 was administered at a dose of 80 mg/m(2) per day twice daily from day 1 to day 14 and from day 22 to day 35. Radiation was concurrently delivered at a dose of 50.4 Gy (1.8 Gy/d, 5 times per week, 28 fractions). One month after the completion of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, S-1 was administered orally at a dose of 80 mg/m(2) per day twice daily for 14 d, followed by a 14-d rest period. This cycle was repeated as maintenance therapy, until unacceptable toxicity occurred or the disease worsened. Thirty-two patients were involved in this study. The median follow-up was 15.6 mo (range: 8.6-32.3 mo).Thirty-two patients completed the scheduled course of chemotherapy, while 30 patients (93.8%) received chemoradiotherapy with two patients ceasing to continue with radiotherapy. The major toxic effects were nausea and leukopenia. There was no grade 4 toxicity or treatment-related death. According to the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors criteria, the objective tumor response was partial response in 17 (53.1%) patients, stable disease in 9 (28.1%), and progressive disease in 6 (18.8%). The median overall survival and median progression-free survival were 15.2 mo and 9.3 mo, respectively. The survival rates at 1 year and 2 years were 75% and 34.4%, respectively.The combination of S-1 with gemcitabine followed by oral S-1 with IMRT and maintenance therapy with S-1 alone in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer may be considered a well-tolerated, promising treatment regimen.

There is a lack of large-scale studies on vitamin D status and its relationship to parathyroid hormone (PTH) and bone turnover markers in adults living in Shanghai. The objectives were to determine the prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency in Shanghai and to investigate the relationship of 25(OH)D with parathyroid function and bone turnover markers. This cross-sectional study involved 649 men and 1939 women aged 20–89 years who were randomly sampled in Shanghai. Serum concentrations of 25(OH)D, PTH, albumin, and bone turnover markers were measured. During the winter season, the prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency (